Shu Nian was a bit confused and asked, “Do you want to record the song earlier?”

When he had said those words, Xie Ruhe had felt a bit uncomfortable, and now he was startled. Looking at Shu Nian’s clear eyes, he remained silent for a few seconds, lowered his gaze, and couldn’t think of any other excuse: “…Mm.”

Shu Nian agreed directly: “Around what time?”

Xie Ruhe asked, “Are you free tomorrow morning?”

“Yes,” Shu Nian answered honestly, “I usually don’t need to go to the recording studio in the morning.”

“Then what time do you usually wake up?”

“It depends. Usually, I wake up at noon…” At this point, Shu Nian stopped, puzzled, “You don’t need to ask me that. Whatever time you want to start recording, I can be there on time.”

As if he hadn’t heard her last sentence, Xie Ruhe lowered his eyes, contemplated for a moment, and then spoke as if nothing had been said: “Let’s make it one o’clock in the afternoon then.”

“…”

After Shu Nian left, Xie Ruhe returned the way he came, back to his home.

It was dinnertime, and both the housekeeper and Fang Wencheng were there. Dinner wasn’t ready yet. Fang Wencheng was sitting on the sofa. Hearing the sound at the door, he immediately stood up, forcing a smile: “Young Master, you’re back?”

Xie Ruhe lifted his eyelids and glanced at him, his expression indifferent, saying nothing.

Although Ji Xinghuai had said that if Xie Ruhe got angry, he could push the responsibility onto him, Fang Wencheng didn’t dare to do such a thing unless it was the last resort.

He took a deep breath and said all at once what he had been organizing in his mind all afternoon, speaking in an official, stiff manner.

“I’m sorry, Young Master. The situation is this: Because we really couldn’t find a suitable singer, and I could see Hua Jing’s deadline getting closer and closer, I was truly very anxious. In such a state of anxiety, I suddenly had a flash of inspiration and remembered that you once praised Miss Shu Nian’s singing, so I came up with this less-than-ideal solution.”

Fang Wencheng’s tone was pleading: “I hope you can be understanding, Young Master.”

Xie Ruhe looked at him, calmly repeating two words: “Less-than-ideal?”

Fang Wencheng didn’t know how he had triggered him again, his scalp going numb, instantly changing his words.

“Solution! So-solution!”

But Xie Ruhe didn’t get angry as Fang Wencheng had imagined, he just casually moved his wheelchair to the side of the tea table and poured a cup of water: “Tell me in advance next time.”

Fang Wencheng quickly replied: “Certainly.”

Xie Ruhe picked up the water cup and suddenly seemed to remember something. His movement paused, and he murmured as if repeating: “You made a mistake.”

Fang Wencheng had just breathed a sigh of relief, but now was again on full alert due to these words: “Yes, I made a mistake.”

The next moment, Xie Ruhe raised his head, his expression thoughtful: “Then you should reflect on it.”

Fang Wencheng was bewildered: “Ah?”

Xie Ruhe looked at him, his eyes dark, calm, and quiet.

Fang Wencheng realized what was happening and put on a penitent expression: “Alright, I’ll go reflect on it.”

Xie Ruhe said: “Right here.”

“…” Fang Wencheng was increasingly unable to understand what this boss was thinking, and reluctantly said, “Here?”

“Mm.” Xie Ruhe said expressionlessly, “Let me see how you reflect on it.”

“…”

When Shu Nian went to Huang Lizhi’s place, she didn’t have anything particular to do. Mainly she felt it was still early, and she didn’t know what to do alone at home, so she simply went to hang out at the recording studio.

Shu Nian didn’t enter the booth but watched from outside as they recorded inside. She didn’t stay too late, thinking about going home to practice singing, and left the recording studio at around ten o’clock.

When Shu Nian got home, she washed up and went to her room. With her half-wet hair loose, she sat at her desk, turned on the computer, opened a music software on the desktop, and then adjusted the position of the microphone.

She transferred the audio file Xie Ruhe had sent her to the computer.

Shu Nian planned to sing and record at the same time, and then compare the differences herself. Otherwise, singing alone like this, she wouldn’t be able to identify where her problems were.

She first played the complete version once.

The light and lingering music resounded in the quiet room.

Before long, Shu Nian heard the lyrics she had practiced over and over today, and strangely lost focus, remembering what Xie Ruhe had said today.

He sat in his wheelchair, his bangs hanging down, his fine, dense eyelashes concealing the emotions in his eyes. Then, quite naturally, he said to her: “I’ll sing it once, and you follow along.”

…

Regarding Xie Ruhe’s blatant following of Shu Nian after they met again, and his pretending to be deaf and dumb when she called him out on it, Shu Nian found this feeling very familiar.

Because in the past, such things had happened many times between the two of them.

Back then, it happened almost every day without fail.

From home to school, and then from school to home.

Xie Ruhe followed her every day and did so without any attempt to hide it. Even when discovered by her, he wouldn’t shy away, just standing quietly in place.

At first, Shu Nian thought it was a coincidence and didn’t think much of it. But as it happened more often, she noticed something was off and frowned, asking him: “Why do you keep following me?”

Xie Ruhe didn’t remain silent; his demeanor was cold and matter-of-fact: “I’m not.”

“What?”

“Not following you.”

Shu Nian was prone to believing others, and was immediately led astray by Xie Ruhe’s words, feeling that she had misunderstood him again, and stammered an apology to him.

This quiet “coincidental route” continued for several more days.

Shu Nian couldn’t hold it in anymore. Holding her bag strap, she looked back, her mood oddly peculiar, and asked inexplicably: “Are you not following me?”

Xie Ruhe showed no panic at being caught, and said flatly: “I’m also walking this route.”

This time Shu Nian couldn’t bear it anymore, her face tense, unhappily exposing him: “Your home is not in this area, why are you walking this route?”

Xie Ruhe didn’t speak again, as if he thought her question was stupid and didn’t bother to answer.

Later, when Shu Nian continued to ask, he acted as if he hadn’t heard.

Shu Nian felt that Xie Ruhe was lying. His home wasn’t in this area, and he had no business coming here, so why was he always walking this route? And just when he reached the small path in front of her house, he would turn and leave.

She didn’t understand at all and also felt the frustration of being unable to shake off this little tail.

And it was a little tail that didn’t like to talk.

The two seemed to be at a standoff, neither giving in.

Shu Nian no longer initiated a conversation with him, treating Xie Ruhe behind her as if he were air. And he was always taciturn; if Shu Nian didn’t speak, he wouldn’t initiate conversation either.

Thus, they coexisted peacefully for a week, peacefully maintaining a three-meter distance.

Until one day.

On her way home from school, Shu Nian was stopped by an unfamiliar uncle who asked her to come over and help with something. Her expression was doubtful, and she stood in place without moving, asking softly: “Help with what?”

Shu Nian vaguely felt something was strange.

It was early April at the time, and the weather was still very cold, with the cold air piercing to the bone. The surrounding trees had all lost their leaves, bare and bleak, desolate and gloomy.

The unkempt man with a face full of beard before her was wrapped in a knee-length overcoat. As if extremely cold, both hands were tightly clutching the zipper of his coat, wrapping himself very tightly, yet his lower legs were bare, shuffling in a pair of dirty sneakers.

His smile was malicious and dark.

Shu Nian instinctively took a step back.

The next moment, the man suddenly made a move, throwing open his coat, revealing his bare lower body. His eyes gleamed with light, perverted and disgusting: “Help uncle see if it’s big!”

Her mind went blank, completely not knowing how to react in that instant. She didn’t even have time to scream, her throat feeling as if it were being choked, fear fermenting and emerging.

Shu Nian’s legs went weak, and she took two more steps back, wanting to run away.

Before Shu Nian could move,

The scene before her was suddenly obscured by a layer of fabric; it was a piece of clothing thrown over by someone, with a faint soap smell, still carrying some warmth, somewhat comforting.

Shu Nian gripped the clothing tightly, completely unable to react, instinctively closing and then opening her eyes. Through the gap in the clothing, she could see Xie Ruhe’s sneakers quickly walking past from the side.

She held her breath and pulled the clothing off her head.

Just at that moment, the man in front of her let out a miserable wail. He was thin, with his bones protruding noticeably, segment by segment, like ribs. He was half a head shorter than Xie Ruhe.

Xie Ruhe’s expression was gloomy, filled with killing intent, forcefully yanked the overcoat on the man’s body, not making a sound.

The man didn’t know what he intended to do and struggled desperately, but couldn’t overcome his strength. In the process of resistance, his bones made sounds, scraping against the nearby wall, bringing forth blood.

As if extremely angry, Xie Ruhe raised his foot and kicked him with all his might.

After pulling off the overcoat, the man was left wearing only a tight-fitting short-sleeved shirt, his lower body bare. His body was extremely weak, and he fell directly to the ground, so frightened that he kept scrambling backward.

Xie Ruhe crouched down, his eyes emanating coldness, the shattered ice like sharp blades. Then, he lowered his eyes, his beautiful face appearing especially terrifying at this moment, and said softly: “What did you want to show?”

“…”

“Shall I take a look for you?”

The man was sobbing with tears and mucus, shaking his head, both cold and scared, his whole body trembling: “No… no, no… I’m leaving… don’t hit… don’t hit…”

Xie Ruhe stood up, no longer paying attention to him, turning his head to walk in Shu Nian’s direction.

Shu Nian had watched the entire process of him beating the man, her expression blank, but the sense of fear mysteriously dissipated. Seeing Xie Ruhe walking towards her, she didn’t know what to say, clutching the clothing in her hand.

Xie Ruhe took the initiative to grab her backpack and walked in another direction.

As if nothing had just happened, Xie Ruhe returned to his usual demeanor, but did proactively say one sentence: “Today, let’s go home via this route.”

“Ah—oh.”

Leaving this small path, Xie Ruhe released her backpack, threw the overcoat he had just pulled from the man into a trash bin, and again, like before, followed behind her.

Shu Nian wasn’t like him, unable to treat this matter as a passing breeze, over when it’s over. She stopped, hesitantly stepped back a few steps, and walked to Xie Ruhe’s side: “Are you okay?”

Xie Ruhe lazily made an “mm” sound.

“Just…” Shu Nian licked her lips and asked him, “Why did you pull off his clothes?”

Xie Ruhe curled his lips: “Didn’t he want people to see?”

“…” Shu Nian was genuinely frightened, afraid that others might experience the same misfortune as her. She swallowed and timidly asked, “That way, won’t he scare others?”

Hearing this, Xie Ruhe looked at her and coldly said: “What do other people have to do with me?”

Shu Nian pretended not to hear, continuing on her own: “If he’s not wearing clothes, when the police see him, they should arrest him, right? What he did should be illegal.”

Xie Ruhe didn’t respond to her words.

“What if he doesn’t get caught?” As she spoke, Shu Nian’s eyes reddened, her voice becoming nasal. “What if he remembers me, and then comes to cause me trouble later…”

“…”

“He’s a bad person, we should report him to the police.” Shu Nian was young and hadn’t experienced many serious situations. Her originally tense emotions relaxed at this moment, and she began to tear up, choking as she said, “How-how can this be, how can there be people like this, wuwuwu I want to tell my dad…”

Xie Ruhe was stunned, not expecting her to cry while talking to herself.

“What should I do…” Shu Nian sobbed as if the sky was falling, “What if he comes to cause me trouble later, I’m so short, and I can’t beat him… He deliberately scared me… I didn’t do anything, why would he do this to me…”

Xie Ruhe had a headache from her crying and said perfunctorily: “He won’t.”

“You’re not afraid because you say he won’t!” Shu Nian cried and lost her temper, “You’re not afraid because you can beat him, if I could beat him, what would I be afraid of? What kind of person are you!”

“…”

Shu Nian lowered her head, feeling that her temper was truly too bad, so she stopped talking, holding back her sobs. Her eyes were naturally a bit downturned, looking as pitiful as a little dog abandoned by its owner.

Xie Ruhe pressed his lips together and compromisingly called out to her: “Shu Nian.”

Shu Nian’s voice was still trembling: “What?”

“I’ll take you home.”

Shu Nian looked at him, not understanding: “What?”

Xie Ruhe also looked at her, not explaining what he had just said, and flatly finished what he had to say: “Tomorrow morning, I’ll wait for you at your doorstep and accompany you to school.”

Her eyes still contained a bean-sized tear, and she said in a soft voice: “Are you going to protect me?”

Xie Ruhe neither confirmed nor denied.

Shu Nian used her sleeve to wipe her tears clean, feeling at this moment that he was the best person in the world. After a pause of a few seconds, she said gloomily: “But why are you helping me like this, I don’t have money to give you. Then how should I repay you?”

Xie Ruhe didn’t keep the topic on this, continuing to walk forward: “Let’s go.”

“I don’t have money…” Shu Nian thought for a moment, rummaging through the small pocket of her backpack, “But I have a lot of candy.”

“…”

Shu Nian, like tempting a small child, handed him a piece of candy, saying carefully: “Then if you take me home from now on, I’ll give you candy every day, okay?”

Xie Ruhe remained silent, lowering his eyes to stare at the candy in her hand, then lifting his eyelids, quietly looking at her.

Shu Nian looked nervous, fearing he would change his mind.

As she waited and became somewhat anxious, Xie Ruhe turned his gaze away and softly replied: “Okay.”

Ever since that time at lunch when Chen Hanzheng said those things to Shu Nian, their relationship had become distant. Along with He Xiaoying who had joined in mocking her at that time, Shu Nian hardly spoke to her either.

She was always one to hold grudges, feeling their behavior was particularly hurtful.

Because she didn’t actively talk to others, Shu Nian’s presence in the class became increasingly low-key.

Although she didn’t mind this matter too much.

The encounter with the pervert became the catalyst for Shu Nian and Xie Ruhe’s relationship to officially improve.

Shu Nian’s relationships in class were decent, but she didn’t have particularly close friends and did many things on her own. This was the first time she went to school with someone every day, and then went home together.

Not alone, and not like before with Xie Ruhe, where although they were together, they didn’t speak like strangers.

As the two spent more and more time together, their relationship became more and more familiar.

Although most of the time, it was Shu Nian happily talking about what had happened to her that day, while Xie Ruhe silently listened to her. Occasionally, when he heard her complain about his silence, he would reluctantly say a bit more—

“Called upon to answer a question.”

“Not sleeping, was listening to the class.”

“I heard.”

“Did not skip class.”

The second year of middle school ended quickly.

After the summer vacation ended and the third year of middle school began, the school organized a class placement test. Based on rankings, they created an advanced class.

Shu Nian was assigned to the advanced class.

What surprised her was that Xie Ruhe had also tested in, with the lowest passing score.

The two often spent time together, and rumors gradually spread in the class that they were dating, along with various rumors that Xie Ruhe had a one-sided crush on Shu Nian.

Shu Nian didn’t understand why they could think about such far-fetched things at such a young age. She had mentioned it once to Xie Ruhe, but it was later dropped.

Later on.

The once-per-semester music test was coming up again.

Shu Nian had been mocked for four consecutive semesters, feeling extremely desperate. During those days, her mood was very low, sighing at the slightest thing.

Xie Ruhe noticed her abnormality: “What’s wrong with you?”

Shu Nian looked up at him, suddenly remembering that their relationship was very good. She sat up straight and said to him: “Xie Ruhe, shall we team up for the music test?”

Not knowing why she brought this up, Xie Ruhe found it a bit strange but didn’t ask much.

“Okay.”

“I need to be honest with you.” Shu Nian said, forcing herself to continue, “My singing doesn’t sound very good.”

“I know.” Xie Ruhe didn’t comfort her, speaking very directly, “You sang in front of me a few days ago.”

“…”

“I don’t want to sing.” Having been discouraged by him, Shu Nian was very unhappy, “Others laugh at me.”

Hearing this, Xie Ruhe was slightly stunned: “Are you unhappy?”

“Of course I’m unhappy.” Shu Nian was dejected, thinking of that scene made her afraid, “It’s not funny, why laugh at me… It’s not like I want to be off-key.”

Xie Ruhe was quiet for a few seconds, then asked: “What do you want to sing?”

Shu Nian didn’t know what to sing, puffing out one side of her cheek: “I want to find something easy.”

Xie Ruhe thought for a moment: “How about ‘The Insects Fly’? Have you heard it?”

Shu Nian nodded.

Xie Ruhe said: “Then sing it once for me to hear.”

Shu Nian wasn’t afraid of embarrassing herself in front of him and obediently sang once.

Xie Ruhe was silent: “When is the test?”

“This Thursday.”

“…Let’s practice.”

So they practiced for a few days.

After guiding Shu Nian through several repetitions, Xie Ruhe changed his approach: “I’ll sing once, and you follow along once.”

But it didn’t have much effect. Shu Nian wouldn’t be off-key when following along. But once it became just her singing alone, her pitch would wander, and it was always the same pitch each time.

Shu Nian was extremely frustrated.

During the breaks before the music test, Shu Nian pulled Xie Ruhe to a nearby small open space, nervously saying: “Let’s practice one more time.”

Xie Ruhe guided Shu Nian again in singing: “The dark dark sky hangs low / The bright bright stars follow…”

“The dark dark sky hangs low / The bright bright stars follow…”

“The insects fly / The insects fly…”

“The insects fly / The insects fly…”

Xie Ruhe’s voice paused, and he repeated once more: “The insects fly…”

Shu Nian’s voice became stumbling: “The-the insects fly…”

“Yes, just like that, sing once by yourself.”

Shu Nian made an “oh” sound and obediently sang once.

When she looked up again, she found that Xie Ruhe had turned his face away, his hand against his lips, as if laughing. Shu Nian was stunned for a moment, became angry, and threw the lyrics in her hand at him: “Are you laughing at me?”

Xie Ruhe shook his head: “No, you sang it correctly.”

Under his affirmation, although Shu Nian had doubts, she became a bit more confident, going on stage with him to sing, performing the classic children’s song “The Insects Fly” together.

Then, there was still the burst of laughter that was within her expectations.

But after coming off stage, what surprised Shu Nian was—

Both of them had been off-key.

According to her deskmate, amazingly, they were off-key in the same way.

…

…

The next afternoon, Shu Nian arrived punctually at one o’clock outside Xie Ruhe’s residential complex. The security guard proactively opened the door to let her in. After walking a few steps, she saw Fang Wencheng coming down to meet her.

He looked as if he hadn’t slept well the previous night, with a layer of grayish-blue around his eyes.

He looked spiritless.

Shu Nian greeted him: “Assistant Fang.”

Fang Wencheng also greeted her, smiling: “Let’s go up, Teacher Ahe is waiting.”

Shu Nian responded with an “Okay.”

“Teacher Ahe’s mood has been a bit unpredictable lately.” Fang Wencheng kindly reminded her, “Pay attention, besides recording the song, try not to bring up other matters.”

“Alright.”

After saying this, Fang Wencheng began to apologize to her: “Also, I’m sorry about yesterday. It was me who didn’t proactively tell Teacher Ahe about this matter, and it affected you.”

Shu Nian said: “It’s okay.”

“Yesterday because of this matter, Teacher Ahe made me reflect.” Fang Wencheng said helplessly, “Isn’t this just writing a self-criticism? I thought I could write it after going back, but he made me write it on the spot.”

“…”

Fang Wencheng sighed: “It made me think it was so serious I was going to be fired, and I couldn’t sleep all night.”

Shu Nian stiffly comforted him: “It shouldn’t be that serious.”

The two entered Xie Ruhe’s home. Shu Nian changed her shoes at the entrance and stood in place waiting for Fang Wencheng. But he didn’t seem to have any intention of coming in, waving his hand at her: “I have other matters to attend to, you can just go in directly.”

Shu Nian nodded: “Goodbye.”

Shu Nian walked in and found Xie Ruhe in the living room, currently lowering his head, writing something on the coffee table. She walked closer and formally called out to him: “Teacher Ahe.”

Hearing her voice, Xie Ruhe instinctively moved what he was holding to one side and raised his head to look at her.

“Did you practice singing after going home?”

Shu Nian answered seriously: “I did.”

The next moment, her gaze casually glanced over and suddenly noticed the paper that Xie Ruhe had moved to the side. On it was very seriously written two characters—”Self-criticism.”

Shu Nian thought it must be the one that Fang Wencheng had handed to him.

Looking further down, however, she found that the signature was—

“Xie Ruhe”.