Xiao Can and Tan Zhen’s relationship was far from the point where they could talk about their personal lives.
Judging by common sense, Tan Zhen was probably just joking, or even considered it a form of showing affection.
Xiao Can instinctively wanted to avoid such topics and just smiled along without saying much.
For some reason, Tan Zhen sighed again, raised his hands to stretch lazily, and said, “Come on! Let’s get everything done today!”
Before coming, Xiao Can had memorized the entire song and received rave reviews from Mu Nianwen when he sang it to him. But in the recording studio, things were completely different.
He kept recording over and over again, but the results were still unsatisfactory.
While he was ecstatic while singing, the raw audio sounded so embarrassing that it made him blush.
The recording engineer comforted him, saying that since this wasn’t live, as long as one line sounded good in each take, it was considered successful, and they could edit and polish it later.
But the problem was, Xiao Can felt like none of his lines were good enough.
Listening to his own parts alone wasn’t too bad, but compared to Tan Zhen’s, he felt ashamed.
He didn’t know what went wrong. His speaking voice wasn’t bad at all, but his singing voice was nowhere near Tan Zhen’s.
During the break, he squatted on the ground and filmed a vlog, lamenting into his phone.
“No pain, no gain. I only realized how bad I am when I came to the recording studio. Tan Zhen is too good, his voice is like it’s been professionally tuned, lighting up the whole room with just one word. While he sings, I ‘bang’ along with each word he says.”
Tan Zhen couldn’t help but laugh as he rushed over from the other corner of the room to stop him, “It’s not that exaggerated!”
As Xiao Can stood up, he continued to talk incessantly, “Listen to this. Just three simple words, but when he says them, they sound so melodic and pleasant…”
Furrowing his brow, Tan Zhen counted on his fingers and asked, “Isn’t it four words?!”
Just as the two were joking around, the door to the rest area suddenly opened.
Xiao Can instinctively turned around and froze when he saw who it was.
He Xingzhou took a step into the room, surveyed the surroundings, then looked at Xiao Can, pointing his finger, “You, come here.”
Xiao Can trembled, “W-why?”
His voice was a bit low, and it seemed like He Xingzhou didn’t hear him as he turned around and walked away without a word.
Seeing Xiao Can standing still, unsure of what to do, Tan Zhen pushed him gently, “He must have something to discuss with you, go quickly.”
Xiao Can didn’t want to go from the bottom of his heart, but he couldn’t explain to Tan Zhen, so he had to put away his phone and walk out of the room with a stiff head.
He Xingzhou was waiting in the corridor, and when he saw Xiao Can, he turned and walked in the other direction.
He was over ten centimeters taller than Xiao Can and walked faster, so Xiao Can had to take three steps to keep up with his two.
He Xingzhou led him into a relatively small rest room and then naturally closed the door.
Xiao Can shivered immediately.
His reason told him that He Xingzhou wouldn’t do anything out of line at this time, but his instinct remained on edge, unwilling to let his guard down.
He Xingzhou seemed oblivious to his discomfort, sitting down on the sofa and gesturing for him to come over.
As Xiao Can reluctantly moved closer, He Xingzhou spoke up, “Stand there.” Then, before Xiao Can could protest, he added, “Take a deep breath and adjust your state.”
Xiao Can realized what he meant and stopped resisting, obediently following his instructions.
He Xingzhou’s guidance was effective.
He straightforwardly told Xiao Can that the recording effect just now had basically met his expectations, and continuing to record like this would be difficult to improve further. However, if Xiao Can was still unsatisfied, he could try slightly changing his vocal technique. It was impossible for him to catch up with talented singers like Tan Zhen in the short term, but he would make some progress.
Following his advice, Xiao Can practiced for a while and was surprised to find some changes.
Besides vocalization, He Xingzhou also gave him some small suggestions on details, advising him to change his breathing timing during the more intense parts of the lyrics.
Xiao Can tried it out and indeed felt much more comfortable.
“The segment I gave you completely falls within your comfort zone,” He Xingzhou said. “The effect isn’t bad at all, and at this stage, it’s already fully qualified. If you demand so much from yourself, what you should do is find a professional teacher for proper learning beforehand, instead of repeatedly doing useless work in the studio.”
He made sense, and Xiao Can, feeling somewhat guilty, gave up arguing and expressed his gratitude, albeit a bit awkwardly.
“Thanks a lot, you’ve been a big help,” he said without looking at He Xingzhou. “But didn’t you say you weren’t interested in coaching me at first?”
“I said that?” He Xingzhou asked, then thought for a moment. “After all, I hadn’t received payment at that time.”
“Is Baitao so generous?” Xiao Can said. “I thought you took on this job because of Tan Zhen.”
“Does any of this concern you?” He Xingzhou asked.
“It’s somewhat related,” Xiao Can said. “You seem to care a lot about him, so… have you ever done anything to upset him?”
He Xingzhou raised his eyes to look at him, his brows creasing slightly. “Are you trying to seduce me?”
Xiao Can jumped up in shock. “How could I!”
“Then why were you standing so close to me?” He Xingzhou said as he stood up, putting some distance between them.
Only then did Xiao Can realize that he had unintentionally stood too close to He Xingzhou.
Strange, he was clearly very resistant to He Xingzhou, so how could he unconsciously do something so contrary to his intentions?
“Don’t waste your efforts,” He Xingzhou said condescendingly, looking at him from above. “The thing I hate the most is someone like you with a twisted mind.”
Being criticized, Xiao Can felt both embarrassed and angry, pointing at him and scolding, “Stop accusing me baselessly!”
As soon as he finished speaking, there was a knock on the door.
Both of them turned their heads, and Tan Zhen’s voice came through the door, “Is it okay if I come in?”
Xiao Can glared at He Xingzhou and shouted, “Yes!”
Tan Zhen opened the door and walked in, smiling, “What were you talking about? It sounded lively, I could hear voices even through the door.”
“N-Nothing,” Xiao Can moved closer to him and asked, “Did you need me?”
“Teacher Xia asked if you wanted to record again,” Tan Zhen said.
“Then let’s go!” Xiao Can said, walking out briskly, completely ignoring He Xingzhou, who had just given him careful guidance.
Tan Zhen followed behind him, entering the corridor. He quietly asked Xiao Can, “Did he say something inappropriate again?”
Xiao Can had a good impression of Tan Zhen, but they had only met for the second time, and their relationship wasn’t close enough for him to freely complain about his partner.
“Nothing, He Xingzhou was teaching me how to vocalize,” he had to lie, “I was just… warming up.”
Tan Zhen breathed a sigh of relief and asked, “How’s the effect?”
“It should be… somewhat helpful?” Xiao Can said.
Indeed, it was helpful, but not much.
After all, He Xingzhou wasn’t a magician who could elevate his skill level in just twenty minutes.
This recording studio was owned by He Xingzhou’s friend, named Xia, who was very professional and patient, willing to accompany Xiao Can to slowly find his feeling.
Time was ample. If it didn’t work out today, they could try again tomorrow.
Baitao had rented a hotel near the recording studio for his convenience.
When the evening ended, it was already past nine o’clock. Xiao Can felt that his experience had accumulated to the critical point of leveling up. Fearing that if too much time passed, he would lose his feeling. After excusing himself from Teacher Xia, he went to the small room where He Xingzhou had coached him before and practiced for a while.
When he felt he had unlocked his acupoints, he checked the time and found it was already ten thirty.
The floor where the recording studio was located was underground. Although the corridor was still lit, it was eerily quiet, making people feel uneasy for no reason.
The main elevator was at the other end of the corridor, a bit far, so Xiao Can chose to use the auxiliary elevator nearby. Just as he turned the corner, he immediately saw a familiar face standing outside the elevator.
It was truly a narrow encounter, and it was He Xingzhou again.
He Xingzhou heard footsteps and turned his head to look at him, asking, “Why are you still here?”
Xiao Can instinctively wanted to turn around, but unwilling to show weakness, after a brief hesitation, he remained silent and walked to the vicinity of the elevator, keeping some distance from He Xingzhou.
He Xingzhou didn’t care about Xiao Can’s forced ignorance and remained silent.
The elevator arrived quickly. After the ding sound, the doors opened, and the two of them walked in one after the other.
He Xingzhou pressed the button for the upper garage floor and asked, “What about you?”
Xiao Can was about to speak when the elevator, which had just started running, suddenly jerked and then abruptly stopped, and the lights on the top of the elevator flickered twice.
“What’s going on?” Xiao Can reached out and grabbed the wall.
He Xingzhou pressed the door-open button twice, but the elevator showed no response, though the light on the ceiling flickered again.
He muttered softly, “Feels like a haunted place.”
Xiao Can widened his eyes, “D-don’t talk nonsense!”
