Xie Ruhe quieted down, seeing Shu Nian still enthusiastic, and didn’t remind her that she had misunderstood his meaning. He pressed his lips together, then withdrew his gaze.

Noticing this, Shu Nian blinked and asked, “Why did you suddenly ask me to say that?”

Xie Ruhe paused, not knowing how to explain, and unable to say such words again.

“…Just saying.”

“Oh.” Shu Nian seemed not to care much, suddenly calling his name, “Xie Ruhe.”

“What is it?”

“After the voice test, I don’t have anything else to do.”

“Hmm?”

“Let’s go see a movie.”

Hearing her make such a request for the first time, Xie Ruhe was a bit slow to react, standing stunned for a moment, but quickly nodded and said, “Alright.”

Shu Nian lowered her head, taking her phone out of her pocket: “Then let’s book tickets first.”

Xie Ruhe asked, “What movie do you want to see?”

“It’s that… the animated film I went to G City to dub, it’s been released recently.” Shu Nian looked at her phone, saying softly, “What time should we book? I don’t know how long the voice test will take.”

“What times are available?”

“Three forty, six thirty, and eight twenty.”

Xie Ruhe thought for a moment: “Let’s go with eight twenty, we can watch after dinner.”

Shu Nian responded with a yes: “Then I’ll book it.”

“Mm.” Xie Ruhe asked again, “What’s it called?”

Shu Nian, with one hand held by him, wasn’t watching where she was going. Her gaze remained on her phone, looking very focused, absentmindedly answering his question: “I like you.”

Xie Ruhe suddenly turned his head: “What?”

Noticing his reaction, Shu Nian also looked up.

After staring at each other for a few seconds, as if feeling embarrassed, Shu Nian averted her gaze and awkwardly corrected herself: “It’s called ‘Cream Cat.'”

“…” Xie Ruhe said, “What did you say just now?”

Shu Nian lowered her head, her grip on the phone tightening slightly, mumbling unclearly: “I misspoke the name just now.”

“Ah.” Seeing her like this, Xie Ruhe immediately understood, his long eyelashes drooping as his lips curved up, “It’s called ‘Cream Cat,’ right?”

His response was as if he hadn’t heard what she just said.

Shu Nian sighed in relief, nodding: “Yes.”

“Okay, I got it.” After saying this, Xie Ruhe’s voice paused for a few seconds, then he suddenly leaned down, his lips close to her ear, saying softly, “Thank you, I like you too.”

The studio founded by Huang Lizhi was newly established, so there weren’t many members in the workforce yet. She co-founded it with a senior voice actor, and many of the members they brought in were their former students.

Or some new voice actors they had met during previous work.

Probably needing some newer voices with a bit of foundation, most of those who came to audition this time were semi-new voice actors like Shu Nian, all people she knew.

Not knowing how long it would take, Shu Nian had found a dessert shop nearby for Xie Ruhe in advance.

Letting him sit there and wait.

Due to her illness, Shu Nian’s social skills had deteriorated significantly. Her timidity and fear of approaching strangers hadn’t lessened much, and in addition, her previous Weibo posts had exposed her entire life thoroughly.

So, in crowded places, Shu Nian would just quietly stay aside and look at her phone.

The group was almost all acquainted with each other.

They all generally understood each other’s personalities and were accustomed to how to interact with each person.

Except for Shu Nian, the other girls were quite lively and talkative. Huang Lizhi hadn’t arrived yet, so the group was chatting in the break room, very noisily.

Shu Nian quietly listened to them talk.

After some time, suddenly one of the girls noticed Shu Nian sitting in the corner. She waved and called out, “Shu Nian, come over and chat with us!”

Suddenly hearing her name, Shu Nian looked up bewilderedly: “Huh?”

Another girl held her back, whispering: “Shu Nian prefers quiet, don’t disturb her.”

“But we can’t…” the girl scratched her head, saying foolishly, “always let her sit there alone. I just think that this break room isn’t that big, and we’re already quite noisy, so even if she sits far away, she can still hear us.”

As soon as she said this, a short-haired girl directly asked: “Nian Nian, do you want to come over?”

Shu Nian instinctively clenched her fist, too embarrassed to refuse, and could only hesitantly stand up.

“…Okay.”

Afterward, Shu Nian walked over and sat at the edge, feeling somewhat uneasy. She worried that they might bring up previous events, or perhaps curiously ask her about some of their questions.

Those words made her feel awkward and helpless.

But none of that happened.

They were still discussing the TV series they had been talking about, recent entertainment gossip, occasionally asking Shu Nian if she had seen or heard about it, but not mentioning a word about what she had gone through.

As if they didn’t care.

Shu Nian gradually relaxed and began to softly participate in their topics.

At this moment.

Shu Nian even felt like she had returned to the time before that accident happened.

On campus, participated in clubs she was interested in, playing games with friends at the playground in the evening, listening to them talk about interesting recent encounters.

No strange gazes, no quiet conversations behind her back.

Just a pleasant breeze, an unknown fragrance drifting over, and a good night’s sleep.

It turned out that not everyone in this world was like that.

People who show their emotions without hiding, probing someone’s wounds, without any concern.

Besides those, there were also most people.

People whom Shu Nian no longer dared to approach, to understand.

They would understand your pain, and feel sad hearing these things, but wouldn’t make it a topic. They would accommodate you, perhaps with feelings of sympathy, but ultimately because of the kindness in their nature.

They would tell you through their actions, silently.

Closing yourself off is not the best way to save yourself.

Open the shackles, push open that heavy, sturdy door, leave that lightless small room, go outside and see the world you’ve resisted for so long, touch the sunlight you haven’t seen in a long time.

You will discover.

The world you treated with gentleness isn’t as unbearable as you imagined. In places you’ve overlooked or haven’t reached, it will treat you in the same way.

Whether sooner or later.

But eventually, that day will come.

After it was over, Shu Nian said goodbye to her colleagues, left the recording studio building, and walked toward the dessert shop. She looked down at her phone, changing the contact names for the few people she had just added.

Shu Nian hadn’t told Xie Ruhe she was out, planning to go directly to the dessert shop to find him.

Earlier, Shu Nian had specifically chosen a seat near the floor-to-ceiling window for Xie Ruhe. Now, after crossing the street, through the glass, she could directly see Xie Ruhe looking down at his laptop.

She could also see someone who was walking over to sit across from him at that moment.

It was a woman.

Shu Nian paused, staring at the woman’s face, feeling somewhat familiar but unable to recall who it was.

The woman seemed to have come in to buy desserts, still holding the shop’s takeout bag. She wore sunglasses, revealing a small nose bridge and full lips. At this moment, her mouth was opening and closing, saying something unknown.

Xie Ruhe only instinctively looked up when she approached, and didn’t look at her again afterward.

After about half a minute.

Xie Ruhe finally showed a reaction, just silently shaking his head, still seemingly not inclined to speak.

The woman’s smile became awkward, she said a few more words, and shortly after, she stood up and left.

Seeing this, Shu Nian lowered her head, kicking small stones on the ground, continuing to walk slowly. But she didn’t walk toward the dessert shop entrance, instead walking to the floor-to-ceiling window next to Xie Ruhe.

She crouched down, like a small animal, seriously knocking on the glass three times.

When Shu Nian approached, Xie Ruhe had already noticed her and was about to come out to find her, but her action made him stop and ask: “What’s wrong?”

Through the glass, Shu Nian couldn’t hear the sound, she could only read his lips.

She immediately guessed what he said.

Afraid Xie Ruhe wouldn’t understand what she was saying, Shu Nian thought for a moment, deliberately slowing down her speech, enunciating word by word: “Who-was-that-person-just-now?”

Xie Ruhe recalled for a moment, then suddenly picked up a notebook and pen that were aside, and wrote three characters.

— Lin Qiqi.

Seeing these three characters, Shu Nian instantly overlaid the woman’s face with someone from her memory.

Lin Qiqi.

Shu Nian slowly asked again: “What-did-she-say-to-you?”

Xie Ruhe wrote in the notebook.

— Self-introduction, wanted WeChat.

“Did-you-give-it?”

— No, didn’t talk to her either.

Remembering what he had said before about “won’t speak to Lin Qiqi,” Shu Nian was stunned, couldn’t help but crinkle her eyes, and didn’t continue asking, just smiling at him.

Xie Ruhe flipped the notebook page and wrote another sentence.

— Want to come in? Or should I come out?

Shu Nian kind of liked this way of communicating, saying: “Wait a bit.”

Xie Ruhe raised his eyes at her, with a questioning look.

Shu Nian met his eyes: “What were you doing just now?”

Xie Ruhe patiently guessed what she said, and then wrote the answer on the paper.

— Writing lyrics.

“Oh, are you done?”

— No.

“Can-we-go-now?”

— Yes.

Shu Nian didn’t stand up because of his words, still crouching on the ground, childishly talking to him through the glass: “It’s still early, you-can-finish-first.”

Xie Ruhe thought for a moment, then nodded.

Thinking that Shu Nian would come in when she was done playing, he didn’t rush her.

So the two of them were like this.

One spoke with the elongated pronunciation of each word, and the other responded with paper and pen.

Like two children who hadn’t grown up yet.

After a while.

Shu Nian suddenly closed her mouth, and lowered her head, no longer speaking as before. Then, she silently took out her phone from her pocket, opened the notes app, and typed a line.

— Teacher Ahe, can you come out and help me?

Xie Ruhe stared at that sentence, silently asking: “What’s wrong?”

Shu Nian crouched like a little mushroom, embarrassedly pointing at her leg.

“My-leg-is-numb.”

“…”