/
After Shen Xingsui finished chatting with Anran, Anran couldn’t wait to leave.
The filter he had of Anran’s protagonist status was also completely broken. In fact, he knew from a long time ago that Anran was not as kind as he showed. The outburst of hostility was too strong, to the extent that someone as clumsy as him could feel it.
This was the first time he cooperated with Anran. He was a little flustered, he didn’t trust Anran very much, so he turned around and went to the monitoring room of Hengtong Building. With a little effort, he got a copy of the coridor’s monitoring from the staff. Thanks to the building’s excellent security measures, the communication between Anran and Shen Xingsui was completely recorded.
He needed to have this to guard against sneak attacks in the future.
After finishing all this, around afternoon, he went back to the corridor to wait for director Zhang Jiang. Fortunately, at one o’clock, the receptionist notified him, “Mr. Zhang Jiang is back, come in. “
Shen Xingsui nodded, “Okay, thank you.”
Shen Xingsui was somewhat curious about this producer who he had only heard of. After entering, he saw a man sitting on a chair. The middle-aged man wore a low-brimmed hat, overalls, and a sweater jacket. He had a messy beard growing. Currently, he was taking a nap on a chair with his legs propped up on the coffee table.
After Shen Xingsui shook his head, he quickly bent down and bowed, “Hello, Producer Zhang.”
“You’re Suisui, right?” Zhang Jiang’s voice was sleepy. He took out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket, and said, “Do you mind if I smoke here?”
Shen Xingsui shook his head, “I don’t mind.”
The flame of the lighter lit up the dark room, and the smell of smoke slowly wafted out. Zhang Jiang sighed softly, and then looked at Shen Xingsui, “I heard your work in the recording studio of that movie from two days ago. I think you have great potential. But I heard you don’t cooperate with them anymore?”
Shen Xingsui was surprised by this sudden praise from a famous producer. He finally nodded obediently:,”Well, they found someone else. If this isn’t rude, can I ask, why are you there?”
“They asked me for help.” Zhang Jiang blew out a puff of smoke, “That team is just so-so anyways. Too much money talking.”
Shen Xingsui did not dare to answer.
Zhang Jiang flicked the cigarette ash to the ashtray on the coffee table. “Although I think your arrangement is not bad, you also have a lot of problems. Beginner’s mistake, mostly. To be honest, I didn’t plan to consider you at the beginning.”
“However,” Zhang Jiang paused, “I also heard of your original composition on Weibo. I think you just lack a solid foundation. You have good talent, just need a serious polishing. This type can be saved, so… here I am, asking you to have a look.”
His misfortune led to such a fortune!
“My foundation is indeed not solid, but I can learn.” Shen Xingsui showed enough modesty, “Actually, I used a night to improvise the composition of the song “Of Great Rivers”. I was in a hurry, so there’s indeed some sections that can be fixed. I’m willing to spend more energy and time to polish it up. I want to make good music!”
Zhang Jiang was a little surprised by this declaration. He raised the brim of his hat for the first time, his dark eyes looked up and down the young man in front of him. He originally was just a little bit curious about Shen Xingsui. But this really moved him. He felt that these days, pure artistic type celebrities like this youth have been completely washed out thanks to the power of connections and money.
Zhang Jiang pursed his lips and smiled, “One night?”
Shen Xingsui nodded slightly.
Actually, Shen Xingsui didn’t quite catch Zhang Jiang’s underlying meaning. Composing something that brilliant in the span of one night was nothing short of miraculous.
Zhang Jiang stood up. “Come here.”
Shen Xingsui followed.
Zhang Jiang stopped in front of a piano in the room. He sat down, put a new cigarette in his mouth, then started playing. He didn’t play too much, but simply played a few simple tunes before stopping.
“Come on, make a simple short song with the tone I just played.” Zhang Jiang stood up, looked down at him, almost provocatively, “Can you?”
Shen Xingsui hesitated for a moment, then nodded firmly. “I can!”
Sitting down by the piano, Shen Xingsui took a deep breath after parsing through the tunes he was given. He hummed it out loud, then put down his fingers on the piano key. Slowly but surely, a simple melody was formed. At first, it was jilted and awkward, but after several trial-and-error, Shen Xingsui finally had an idea of how the short song should sound like. Finally, a complete melody came from the piano, pleasant and ethereal.
The young man looked shy and reserved at first. After finishing this short song, he exuded a confident aura, and his brows were firm. He believed in his own music, just as the music also believed in him .
After the song was over, the room was quiet for a moment.
Then, there was a slow applause, and a big smile appeared on Zhang Jiang’s face. “I really lucked out on finding you, Shen Xingsui. Well, let me tell you the truth. That snippet of tune was something for Mr. Fu’s new song. The lyrics have already been written. Actually, that song has been unfinished for more than half a year, and countless arrangements have been made, but none was satisfactory. It seems getting a fresh perspective like yours was the key.”
“?!”
Shen Xingsui stood up with a loud “crash“, falling off the piano bench. He stammered as he got up, then pointed at himself and said, “Teacher Fu’s new song?! Me??”
Zhang Jiang was caught by surprise and worried about the youth for a moment. But seeing he was fine, he answered with a nod. “Yes.”
The youth was shocked stupid, all incoherent with excitement. “Me, I will arrange music for Teacher Fu? You really think highly of me, I can’t do it, how could I arrange music for Mr. Fu, I…”
Zhang Jiang shook his head and scolded him lightly. Why was he so unconfident the moment he brought up Fu Jinxiao? “Hey, does Mr. Fu have any grudge against you? Are you so unwilling?”
Grudge?
No!!
Shen Xingsui’s head shook like a rattle, “There is no hatred, no hatred, I just feel that I… I am not worthy to arrange music for Teacher Fu.”
Zhang Jiang actually understood what Shen Xingsui meant. The youth was a newcomer, so of course he’s going to be nervous when suddenly tasked to compose a song for a very famous artist like Fu Jinxiao.
For someone like Fu Jinxiao, there were countless people throwing themselves at his feet for the slim chance of collaborating. These people weren’t nobodies either, many of them were people with profound qualifications and outstanding strength.
So, Shen Xingsui must feel too unqualified in comparison. It must be embarrassing.
Zhang Jiang rubbed his chin and thought of a good response. He finally said, “Whether you are worthy or not is not up to you. Sometimes seniority is not the only criterion for measuring ability, and I didn’t say that I will pick you in the end. It still depends on your performance. If you think you aren’t capable, do not try to self-sabotage yourself, or–”
Shen Xingsui panicked and cut the producer off, “I definitely won’t do that!”
“?”
“It’s Teacher Fu’s song, I will definitely go all out to present my best state and work!” He was impassioned as if he was declaring some oath, “I will definitely not fool you.”
Zhang Jiang slowed down and let out a muffled laugh, “Okay, it seems that you are very motivated. Then, I will give you the materials, you can take them back and have a look. I don’t care where you work, just do your best. If there’s something you don’t understand, don’t be shy to ask me. I can provide you with all the help in these five days, okay?”
Shen Xingsui nodded like a pecking chicken, “No problem!”
This lucrative job really cheered him up. So what if he didn’t get chosen in the end? Getting recognition from someone of Zhang Jiang’s caliber was enough to give him a boost of confidence.
After Shen Xingsui returned home, he originally wanted to go upstairs to get ready for bed. He didn’t expect that the house was brightly lit. He stood at the door in confusion, looking at his family members sitting on the sofa not far away.
Shen Yong and Shen Minglang sat side by side. While on the opposite of those two were Shen Xingchen and Xu Enzhen, who were eating freshly peeled apples. They looked… like waiting for him. But for what?
Full of confusion, he asked, “Uhm… why are you all home today? Dad, Dage, aren’t you very busy? You are usually in the company or on a business trip at this point? Mom, aren’t you participating in new product design abroad?”
After Xu Enzhen heard Shen Xingsui’s words, she took a deep breath and said, “Suisui, why do you think we are here?”
Shen Xingsui hesitated, “Why…what?”
He had never been in a family meeting like this before, and it flustered him. He didn’t know what to say, and he began to wonder if they’re going to discuss that plagiarizing scandal. Did that scandal cause trouble for the Shen family? Or… did that scandal make them think that Shen Xingsui was a thankless thief?
All kinds of bad guesses kept running through his mind, which made him at a loss of what to do. His eyes began to drift when looking at his mother, feeling aggrieved and not knowing how to speak.
Shen Yong sat up straight, with a lot of momentum in the family, he said heavily, “When such a big thing happened, you didn’t discuss it with your family.”
He continued, “I’m even less informed when I’m abroad, and your mother doesn’t have the habit of watching entertainment gossip. If Shen Xingchen hadn’t told me, I wouldn’t have known.”
Xu Enzhen then continued angrily and urgently, “This child, are you going to piss off your mother?”
Shen Xingsui: “…?”
Shen Xingchen was still claiming credit, “Hehe, yeah, I’m the one who told them all.”
Shen Minglang pushed his glasses and said, “I’m on a business trip just yesterday. Because of jet lag, I only heard about it from Xingchen today. I’m to blame too.”
Seeing them like this, Shen Xingsui quickly said, “No, no, Dage, how can you blame yourself for this? It’s my fault. In fact, I also want to solve it as soon as possible. After all, if there are public opinions and scandals, it may affect the company and other family businesses. I know it’s bad, plus everyone is busy, so I can’t… I can’t solve it fast enough and uh… I didn’t tell you about it. I’m afraid I’ll mess it up and… yeah.”
After Shen Xingsui’s messy speech, the room was silent for a moment.
Xu Enzhen was shocked at first, and then seeing Shen Xingsui’s anxious look, her annoyed heart instantly softened. At that moment, her heart was filled with endless sadness and pity.
He’s really unlike Shen Xingchen, who would whine at them the moment he found himself at a difficulty. He knew he had solid support from his family, so he would lean on them and ask for help. He knew that if the sky was falling, his loved ones would help him prop up the sky.
On the other hand, Shen Xingsui, subconsciously feels alone. He only knew how to solve his problems by himself. He even worried about whether he would cause trouble to those around him or be rejected. He lives carefully, because he has nothing but himself.
Xu Enzhen stood up, her low voice was very gentle, and she called softly: “Suisui.”
Shen Xingsui jolted and straightened up. His posture was rigid.
Xu Enzhen approached him, held his somewhat cold hand, and raised the other hand to caress Shen Xingsui’s somewhat thin face. Looking at his clean and fragile eyes, she trembled. “I’m sorry.”
The youth’s eyes widened. Then, he felt his mother’s tight yet fragile embrace.
Xu Enzhen hugged him, exhaled softly. She gently patted the back of her youngest son’s head. “Mom is not angry with you. She’s angry with herself. You are accused by a thief, but I didn’t know until it was this late. I’m not by your side, helping you through these hard times. I just… I can’t forgive myself when I think about how you spent these two days…”
Shen Xingsui’s body froze, and then, his heart lightened. He exhaled a sigh of relief he didn’t know he held.
It turned out his family didn’t dislike him.
If you can, please support me by donating on my ko-fi~ For every 2 ko-fis, I’ll release an additional chapter ^^