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.