In the end, she found a set of pajamas on Qin Yu’s bed and huffily handed them to Qin Yu, who was still in the bathroom.

When Qin Yu came out of the bathroom, Lin Ziyao held out a mop. “Go clean the floor yourself!”

Lin Ziyao’s cheeks were puffed up, but Qin Yu cheerfully accepted the task. After all, she was partly responsible for getting the floor wet.

As Qin Yu cleaned up the floor she’d gotten wet, Lin Ziyao began settling the score. “You asked me to get your clothes. You could’ve just called out to me from the bathroom.”

“If I’d spoken too loudly, the cameras might’ve picked it up. We don’t want the audience finding out about this!” Qin Yu gazed at her with wide, watery eyes—an utterly innocent look.

But Lin Ziyao had been fooled before, and she wasn’t about to believe Qin Yu so easily. She steeled herself, turned her head away, and gave a quiet snort.

In the end, Qin Yu’s eyes were too much for her. Lin Ziyao took out a change of clothes and got ready to shower.

As soon as she turned on the shower, steam began to rise. The comfortably warm water touched Lin Ziyao’s skin, soothing her and easing the tension that had kept her wound tight all day.

Now she finally had a moment to take a proper look at the system. Before, she’d been too busy completing missions and exchanging rewards to sit down and study it.

Aside from the mission system and the option to choose her own rewards, everything else in the system was still locked. One tab simply read: Unlocks when the fan count reaches the required amount.

Looks like she’d have to wait until the show aired for her fan count to grow.

By the time Lin Ziyao came out of the bathroom with a clean towel wrapped around her damp hair, Qin Yu had already cleaned the floor. She was sitting on the bed, flipping through the sheet music.

Since the show’s crew had collected everyone’s phones, most of the guests had brought books or scripts to pass the time.

When Lin Ziyao came out, Qin Yu glanced at her. “That was quick!”

Lin Ziyao didn’t answer. She just gave Qin Yu a huge eye roll, sat down on the bed, and started drying her hair with the soft towel.

Lin Ziyao seemed like a kid who hadn’t quite grown up. Qin Yu couldn’t help wanting to tease her, just to see her pout—then give her a piece of candy.

Qin Yu rose from the bed. Her movement caught Lin Ziyao’s attention, and she stopped what she was doing, eyeing Qin Yu warily. “What are you doing?”

Qin Yu took the towel from her hand and held her still when she tried to squirm. Then she carefully dried Lin Ziyao’s damp hair. “Rubbing your hair like that can damage it.”

“I-is that so?” Qin Yu’s change in attitude caught Lin Ziyao off guard, but the pleasant feeling on her scalp was real. Qin Yu took a lock of her hair and dried it from root to tip. It was far better than Lin Ziyao’s usual vigorous, haphazard rubbing.

Gradually, under Qin Yu’s gentle ministrations, Lin Ziyao’s defiance began to melt away.

Mm. Qin Yu really did seem to think of Lin Ziyao as a cat. Smooth down its fur, and it stops getting angry.

“Hey,” Lin Ziyao called softly.

“Hm?” Qin Yu asked, curious.

“Director Chen wants to shoot a music video for my song.” Lin Ziyao brought up the idea Director Chen had just mentioned.

“So you want my opinion?” Qin Yu kept drying her hair. Lin Ziyao had a lot of it, so it took some care.

“Weren’t we going to record the song at your studio?” Lin Ziyao started to turn toward Qin Yu.

“Don’t move!” Qin Yu held her by the shoulder. “You didn’t actually have to tell me. Recording the song won’t interfere with shooting a music video.”

Qin Yu’s touch was gentle, as if she were handling precious silk. Lin Ziyao yawned, feeling utterly relaxed. “I thought I should let you know.”

“Even without Director Chen’s invitation, I was planning to make a music video for this song.” When Qin Yu heard that, her hands faltered slightly.

Director Chen’s invitation hadn’t been part of Qin Yu’s plans. But after thinking it over, she understood what he was aiming for. Given how talented Lin Ziyao had shown herself to be, it was all but certain she’d become a hit after this episode. So offering to shoot a music video was more like doing her a favor while the timing was right.

A helping hand in hard times meant more than a favor when everything was already going well.

“You’ve already got a plan? Then I’ll have Director Chen get in touch with you.” As her future business partner, Lin Ziyao trusted Qin Yu’s judgment.

When Qin Yu finally lowered the towel, Lin Ziyao was free to move again. She picked up the guitar Qin Yu had brought back and gently plucked the strings.

“Want to hear it? The song I wrote for you?” She hugged the guitar and walked to the balcony, looking up at the night sky as she gave Qin Yu a sincere invitation.

She’d already chosen the song for Qin Yu while she was in the bathroom. Now it was time to keep her promise.

“Wait!”

At Qin Yu’s voice, Lin Ziyao watched as she got up and searched around the room, eventually finding one of the cameras the show’s crew had hidden there. It was still running.

“Hey! What are you doing? The show’s crew put that there!”

When she saw what Qin Yu was doing, Lin Ziyao hurried over to stop her. But she was too late. Qin Yu had already unplugged the camera’s data cable. After checking several times that it was off, she set it down.

“I’m just playing it safe. This is a new song!” Qin Yu waved the data cable at Lin Ziyao. Seeming to notice her concern, she lowered her voice and added, “The crew must know that guests have things they don’t want filmed. This is just an unspoken understanding.”

“Then why didn’t you unplug the cable earlier? You could’ve waited until I came back!” Lin Ziyao clutched the guitar and glared at Qin Yu.

“It’s not like I have some weird fetish.” Qin Yu pretended not to notice Lin Ziyao’s expression.

What was done was done. There was no point dwelling on it, so Lin Ziyao could only sigh in resignation, sit on the bed, and begin her performance.

Unlike her earlier performance in the room, this time she played the entire song for Qin Yu from beginning to end.

When she finished playing, Lin Ziyao sneaked a glance at Qin Yu’s expression and asked cautiously, “Well?”

Qin Yu kept staring at her until Lin Ziyao felt her scalp prickle. Only then did Qin Yu let out a long, complicated sigh. “I really want to know what’s going on inside your head.”

“Both songs are inspirational, but ‘Invisible Wings’ is more understated. The one you gave me really puts its message into words.” Qin Yu was still immersed in the lyrics.

“And the conviction behind it fits perfectly. You even hid an Easter egg in the lyrics.”

Lin Ziyao was so embarrassed by Qin Yu’s praise that she couldn’t meet her eyes. She was only moving forward on the shoulders of giants.