Shu Nian hurriedly accepted it, lowering her gaze to look at the content on the A4 paper.
Li Qing said, “When you’re ready, go into the booth.”
There wasn’t much time for her to prepare.
Shu Nian knew this principle well. She closed her eyes to cultivate the right emotional state, and quickly entered the recording studio.
The recording studio wasn’t very large, with four or five people sitting inside. The room was sealed, with no air circulation, and the smell was a bit unpleasant. The environment wasn’t great—no air conditioning, yet it was stuffily hot.
Shu Nian walked to the microphone and put on the headphones.
The display screen in front of her came to life.
Typically, before her formal sound test, they would play the visuals once.
This was for her observation and memorization.
In her ears was the original audio from when the actors were filming. She needed to remember the actors’ lip movements, every breath, the timing of speech, the moment of opening mouths—everything had to match perfectly.
The recording studio was crowded, but quiet.
Shu Nian was very nervous. The space inside was small, with many people, already lacking oxygen. At this moment, she felt she could barely breathe.
The original audio in the headphones ended, and the images on the screen stopped as well.
The voice of Li Qing came from the control room: “Are you ready?”
Shu Nian swallowed and gripped the paper in her hand tightly: “Ready.”
The beginning of the scene was silent.
A young girl stared at herself in the mirror, her expression blank, her eyes gradually turning red, silently shedding tears. And outside the frame, Shu Nian’s eyes also reddened, as if she had entered the role completely.
…
After the voice test, Shu Nian voluntarily retreated to the back. She was still immersed in the character, unable to detach herself, her throat involuntarily making tiny whimpering sounds.
Shu Nian rubbed her eyes and left the recording studio.
“Not bad, it’s you then.” Li Qing seemed quite satisfied, his expression much nicer than before. “Go get yourself together. I’ll give you the script later. There’s no scene for you today, we’ll start recording tomorrow.”
It was probably just a minor supporting role with continuous scenes, not particularly important.
Li Qing made the decision directly, without needing to show it to the production side.
Shu Nian pressed her lips together and nodded, softly responding, “Alright, thank you, Director.”
Because of this news, Shu Nian’s mood improved considerably.
There was no bathroom in the recording studio, so Shu Nian left and found the public bathroom on the floor. Walking along the way, she realized that this entire floor was all recording studios.
Shu Nian washed her face and, looking at her pale reflection in the mirror, hesitated before taking out lipstick from her bag to touch up her lip color. She didn’t plan to go back immediately; following her habit, she would stay until midnight.
Even if she didn’t have work herself, she could listen to others’ voice acting and gain some experience.
Two girls next to her were also applying makeup.
One of them suddenly spoke up: “I heard Li Sheng is here recording a song today, should we secretly go see? I like him!”
“How would we get in there?”
“Well, I’m just saying. I heard the song he’s recording this time was written by A He.”
Shu Nian was walking toward the door when she heard this name. She instinctively looked back, her expression dazed. Quickly, she came to her senses, shook her head firmly, and didn’t listen any further.
Leaving the bathroom, Shu Nian retraced her steps. Walk straight, turn left twice, and she would be back at the recording studio from earlier.
On the way, she inexplicably thought again of the phone call from “Xie Ru He” yesterday.
She couldn’t remember what she had said afterward. It seemed like she had spoken, yet also like she hadn’t. Perhaps she had apologized and then hung up.
But she still remembered clearly what the person on the other end of the phone had said.
He had said, “You’ve got the wrong person.”
She had made a call, and the other party didn’t answer. Then they called back asking who she was.
She asked, “Is this Xie Ru He?”
He answered, “You’ve got the wrong person.”
Shu Nian didn’t know if she was being too sensitive.
She felt that if the person on the other end wasn’t Xie Ru He, wouldn’t the normal response have been something like “You’ve got the wrong number”?
Amid her confused thoughts, Shu Nian made the first turn.
Her peripheral vision caught two figures ahead, and Shu Nian looked up to see two people—one standing, one sitting in a wheelchair.
That familiar face again.
The scene she had witnessed that day was not her illusion.
Xie Ru He was dressed casually today, in a loose black hoodie and gray casual pants. The person in front of him was saying something, and he seemed to have no patience at all, turning his face away, his expression gloomy and cold.
He truly looked displeased.
Not long after,
Xie Ru He suddenly curved his lips, his black pupils tinged with heavy color, full of mockery. He let out a light sneer, saying with an ambiguous smile, “If they can’t sing it, I’ll just replace them, won’t that do?”
“…”
The person standing in front of him maintained a respectful demeanor, though his tone grew anxious.
Xie Ru He couldn’t be bothered to listen. As if noticing her presence from the corner of his eye, he glanced over at Shu Nian.
Just for a moment, his expression froze.
Shu Nian’s emotions had largely recovered, but her eyes were still red, the corners drooping down. Her skin was very fair, making the redness around her eyes even more noticeable.
Their gazes met.
For less than a second.
This time it was Shu Nian who averted her gaze first, silently walking past them and continuing forward.
Watching her back, the mockery on Xie Ru He’s face gradually receded, his eyes revealing a hint of bewilderment. His fingertips twitched slightly, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
With a slight force of his hand, the wheelchair rolled a bit, then stopped.