When it came to singing, Shu Nian quite enjoyed it as a child. Sitting in front of the television, she would always sing along with the songs played in cartoons, believing she sang quite well.

Shu Nian never thought there was anything wrong with her singing.

Her parents never corrected her either, finding it cute and amusing, so they let her be.

Until junior high school began.

Music class had exams, and at the end of the semester, everyone had to go on stage and sing a song. They could choose to sing alone or find people to form a team and sing together.

At that time, Shu Nian sang Ouyang Feifei’s “Grateful Heart.”

Before she even finished, Shu Nian noticed the entire class trying to hold back their laughter. She found it strange but still persevered and finished the whole song.

After coming off stage, she asked He Xiaoying and only then learned that she had been off-key.

And she had been egregiously off-key.

After being mocked many times, Shu Nian no longer loved singing. Even if she wanted to sing, she would only do so secretly, alone in her room, quietly.

But after Shu Nian became friends with Xie Ruhe.

Once, she was in high spirits. Without thinking much, she started singing in front of him. At that time, Xie Ruhe listened for quite a while, his expression somewhat strange, and finally reluctantly said one sentence.

—”I recognize the lyrics you’re singing, but I’ve never heard this song before.”

The meaning of that sentence was the same as what Xie Ruhe had just said now.

Shu Nian lowered her eyes and remained silent.

Soon, Xie Ruhe noticed her mood and his lips moved slightly. He didn’t want Shu Nian to be unhappy, so he awkwardly offered an excuse: “If you don’t sing the lyrics, I can’t tell whether you’re singing ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’ or ‘The Alphabet Song.'”

The atmosphere went cold for a few seconds.

“These two songs,” Shu Nian thought were somewhat similar, considered for a moment, and said uncertainly, “seem to have the same melody.”

Xie Ruhe turned his head to look at her: “Is that so?”

Shu Nian thought they were indeed the same, but she didn’t dare sing to prove it, so she could only say softly: “They should be.”

“Then I must have remembered wrong,” Xie Ruhe said with a bland expression. “Your pitch is fine.”

Shu Nian paused, very lacking in confidence: “Really?”

“Mm.” Xie Ruhe said seriously, “You just need to sing along tomorrow.”

During their conversation, the two had arrived at the nearby station.

Although Shu Nian wasn’t comforted by his words, she didn’t bring up the topic again. She helped Xie Ruhe hail a taxi, and because she wasn’t quite sure how he would get into the car, she stood awkwardly beside him.

Xie Ruhe, however, was quite adept. With the door wide open, the wheelchair slightly angled, he supported himself on the armrests and, using the strength in his arms, quickly sat in the back seat. Then, he bent over and moved his legs into the car.

Feeling that she couldn’t help at all, Shu Nian simply turned her attention to the wheelchair.

But in the next moment, Xie Ruhe reached out, pressed down on the wheels, and directly detached the two large wheels. The wheelchair came apart into three pieces, which he placed inside the car.

Watching his series of actions, Shu Nian blinked, suddenly remembering: “Wasn’t your hand uncomfortable?”

Xie Ruhe’s movements paused, and he stiffly made a sound of agreement.

“Then make sure to rest well when you get back,” Shu Nian didn’t take it too seriously, “Contact me when you’re free, goodbye.”

Hearing this, Xie Ruhe looked at her. Then, he nodded almost imperceptibly.

“Mm, goodbye.”

The next day, Shu Nian arrived at the same recording studio half an hour early, according to the specified time.

During the waiting period, several more people gradually arrived outside the studio. There were fewer people than Shu Nian had imagined, around ten or so.

Shu Nian secretly observed the others, and a few looked quite familiar. They were voice-acting novices just like her, whom she often saw as she went to various recording studios.

Shu Nian brought her attention back and began to worry about the singing again.

After all, each profession has its specialties. Although Shu Nian had seen instances where senior colleagues had to sing for their roles, usually the singer would record the song first, and then the actor would lip-sync to it.

There were examples of voice actors singing, but it was never a rigid requirement.

Just then, a group of people came from the direction of the elevator. From this distance, there seemed to be seven or eight of them, most with unfamiliar faces. Apart from Li Qing, Shu Nian hadn’t seen any of them before.

She was about to look away.

Suddenly, she noticed a man toward the back, partially hidden by others. His expression was indifferent, his eyes lowered as he looked at something, with someone pushing his wheelchair from behind. A middle-aged man beside him kept talking to him, but he completely ignored the conversation.

A nonchalant demeanor.

Upon seeing the man’s face, Shu Nian’s expression instantly froze.

Li Qing walked over, greeted them, and after confirming everyone was present, he briefly introduced the group standing behind him.

They were the producer, the film director, the sound engineer, assistants…

Until the last one.

Li Qing hesitated, first glanced at the producer, then said: “This is Teacher A-He.”

The people standing in front of Shu Nian politely called out “Teacher A-He” and also gave a slight bow. Shu Nian was still in a daze, and when she reacted, she quickly called out as well, her tiny voice drowned out by the others.

Almost as soon as the words left her mouth.

Xie Ruhe raised his head, and glanced in Shu Nian’s direction, his gaze lingering on her for a moment before withdrawing. He didn’t seem particularly surprised or concerned about her presence and didn’t look her way again.

After the greetings, they went into the studio one after another.

Only Li Qing and an assistant remained outside.

Li Qing pointed to the assistant beside him and explained the general process of the audition: “In a moment, listen for him to call your name, and when your name is called, go in. First, try singing, they’ll play a demo for you to listen to. It will only be played once, and then you sing.”

Afterward, Li Qing briefly explained the scene they would be auditioning for and distributed the script: “After singing, you’ll have two minutes to adjust, then start the scene test.”

Confirming they had no questions, Li Qing entered the studio.

The surroundings quieted down, with most people looking at the scripts in their hands. Shu Nian stood in place, still unable to fully process what was happening.

So the music producer Li Qing mentioned was Xie Ruhe?

How! Could! It! Be! Such! A! Coincidence!

Shu Nian let out a frustrated breath, forcing herself to calm down. She took a pen from her bag, lowered her eyes, and began making marks on the script. Based on the general background Li Qing had provided and the character’s lines in the script, she tried to understand the character’s emotions and what she wanted to express.

She emptied her mind, trying to immerse herself in the scene.

Beside her, two women began to whisper—

“God, was that A-He just now? Is he that handsome?”

“He’s way too good-looking!”

“However, I’ve heard he has very high standards for songs and is fierce when criticizing. He especially hates when people ruin his songs, and he doesn’t give a face to anyone, even if they’re famous singers. Previously, Li Sheng seems to have been scolded…”

“…Is he that terrifying?”

“He’s just very fair, without personal bias, which is quite good.”

“Hey, he’s in a wheelchair… does he have health issues?”

After about ten minutes, the assistant called one of the women inside.

Shu Nian was very nervous, her face tense, but she didn’t quite believe what they were saying. Xie Ruhe had a quiet temperament, and even when angry, he didn’t often scold people; he preferred to intimidate through actions.

Soon, she discovered her thoughts were wrong.

The people beside her returned one after another.

The women were all quite outgoing, and before long, they were chatting together. From what she heard, Xie Ruhe didn’t speak at all during the entire process, his expression was just incredibly unpleasant, cold, and hard.

Finally, the seventh woman to go in received an evaluation from Xie Ruhe.

It wasn’t a positive one, though.

The woman stuck out her tongue and repeated what Xie Ruhe had said. She didn’t seem to mind much and even seemed a bit happy: “Teacher A-He said he never imagined that the song he wrote could be sung so poorly.”

“…”

The more time passed, the more nervous Shu Nian became.

She completely didn’t understand why they could still be happy after being scolded.

Shu Nian even began to feel relieved.

Relieved that she hadn’t sung his song in front of Xie Ruhe yesterday, thus escaping the fate of being criticized as worthless.

Soon, the assistant called Shu Nian’s name.

She swallowed, clutched her sweaty palms, and walked stiffly into the studio. She didn’t dare look in Xie Ruhe’s direction, lowering her eyes as she put on the headphones, listening to Xie Ruhe’s voice coming from the control room.

“Let’s begin.”

Xie Ruhe sat in front of the computer and played the demo of the song once. After it finished, he glanced up, noticing that Shu Nian still seemed a bit confused. He lowered his eyes and played it two more times.

Shu Nian had followed the only advice Xie Ruhe had given her yesterday—to memorize the lyrics. She felt she couldn’t excel at both aspects, so she might as well do one of them to the best of her ability.

Shu Nian obediently focused all her attention on remembering the lyrics.

After a while, the song in her ears ended.

Shu Nian nervously introduced herself and just as she was about to sing, she suddenly noticed a music stand placed in front of the microphone.

There was a piece of paper on the stand.

…The lyrics were written on the paper.

At that moment, in the control room.

Fang Wencheng stood behind Xie Ruhe, not noticing his actions, yawning from drowsiness. The producer and director standing next to them both wore solemn expressions, seeming to find the situation troublesome.

As soon as Shu Nian’s singing voice rang out, the film director was stunned: “What is she doing?”

Li Qing was also bewildered: “Is she reading?”

Fang Wencheng instantly perked up, laughing without restraint: “That pitch has gone all the way to the Pacific Ocean, hasn’t it?”

Suddenly, Xie Ruhe looked toward them, his gaze cold.

“Finished speaking?”

Fang Wencheng hadn’t recognized that Shu Nian was the woman Xie Ruhe had mentioned earlier, and thinking himself quite savvy, he called to a small assistant nearby: “Hey, prepare some tissues for the young lady.”

So that she’d have something to wipe her tears with after being scolded.

Meanwhile, Shu Nian had finished singing.

She was looking in their direction through the transparent glass, her eyes large and round, light brown, catching a bit of shine from the lights. She seemed somewhat nervous, her knuckles white from her grip.

She waited as if facing execution for Xie Ruhe’s venomous verdict.

In the next second.

“Is it Shu Nian?” he asked casually.

Because of the lyrics issue, Shu Nian’s feelings were now quite complicated, but it was her problem, and she couldn’t blame others. She stood on tiptoe and said softly into the microphone: “Yes, teacher.”

Xie Ruhe suddenly raised his head, his eyes inscrutable as he looked at her.

He stared for a few seconds.

Shu Nian felt like the end of the world was coming as he stared at her, and she managed to ask: “Is something wrong?”

Hearing this, Xie Ruhe withdrew his gaze expressionlessly, his tone casual and offhand. His voice came through her headphones, each word clear and distinct.

“You sang quite well.”