Defeated By Love

Translated by Fairy_Dust 

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Sorry for the long wait! Here is a full chapter to compensate~ 

Shu Nian had always easily believed what others said. Because of Xie Ruhe’s words, without knowing it, a thought had formed in her mind. She no longer felt that she was tone-deaf or that her singing was way out of tune.

He made her feel like she had sang a heavenly song.

But when Shu Nian looked up and noticed the expressions of the other people in the control room, she knew that her assumption was wrong.

The atmosphere had become very subtle.

Soon, Li Qing said into a microphone: “Get ready to start auditioning in a short moment.”

He then cut off the communication system.

Through the glass window, Shu Nian could see that the man standing next to Xie Ruhe had began to speak with obvious excitement. It was like he couldn’t believe what Xie Ruhe had just said.

Noting his mouth shape, Shu Nian could faintly guess that he was imitating the way she had just sung. Her scalp felt numb and she was extremely embarrassed. She looked away from there.

Shu Nian emptied her thoughts and looked at the contents of the script. She gradually immersed herself in the play.

" "

The character was a girl with cancer. She was an orphan, who was both slow and lively. In front of others, she was always positive, like a little sun even when she was at death’s door.

In that particular scene, it was after the girl’s condition had worsened and she had called her friend to learn that her ex-boyfriend was already in a new relationship.

Li Qing’s voice floated through her headphones: “Okay, you can begin.”

Shu Nian nodded and cleared her throat. She altered her voice to be what she thought would be the most suitable for that kind of character. Her voice became crisp and clear, it was evident that she was a girl who lacked a good upbringing.

When the news was revealed to her by her friend, she appeared loud and heartless.

“That’s too much! How long has it been since he broke up with me!”

“She must be ugly, that girl must be ugly. Definitely, without question that she is extremely ugly!”

“…too beautiful, I also want to chase her.”

A long time later, the girl hung up the phone and sat alone in her room. She was in a daze.

“That’s good, there are no more worries.” The girl chuckled softly. The end of her voice trembled. “I won’t drag him down.”

At the end of the audition, Shu Nian gave a bow in the direction of the control room. When she raised her eyes again, she just happened to see Xie Ruhe through the glass. Compared with his lazy appearance from earlier, his expression had obviously stiffened quite a lot.

His pupils were very dark. It was like a piece of black cloth, without any light.

Shu Nian thought that it was because she had done a bad job but when she looked at the other people in the control room, that didn’t seem to be the case.

Shu Nian was left really puzzled as Xie Ruhe’s reaction was completely different from the others. There wasn’t much time for her to think about it though. She took off her headphones and left the studio.

There were only a few people left who hadn’t auditioned yet.

Several people came forward to question her. They had curious looks and asked: “Did Teacher Ah He say anything?”

Shu Nian didn’t dare to be truthful so she bravely lied: “No.”

As the next woman was about to go in for the audition. The door of the recording studio opened and Xie Ruhe came out, followed by a man who was probably his assistant.

Everyone fell into silence.

Xie Ruhe seemed to be leaving. He didn’t say a word. His eyes didn’t move and he didn’t look at anyone.

After he left, the group of around 10 people began to mutter amongst each other.

“Is Teacher Ah He leaving? But I haven’t even auditioned yet.”

“Does that mean he’s chosen?”

“No way…”

Shu Nian didn’t listen to them. Looking at Xie Ruhe’s back, she became dazed.

They entered the elevator.

“Tell Huajing.” Xie Ruhe whispered. “They can decide the winner of the audition, I will find the singer separately.”

Fang Wencheng scratched his head and said: “I thought you would choose Miss Shu.”

Xie Ruhe didn’t say anything.

He had such an idea.

If it was like that then he would be able to see her every day. But Shu Nian wasn’t good at singing. Even if he were to patiently teach her, she would still dislike singing in front of others.

He could still choose her but if she found out about it in the future, she would feel that she was not recognised for her dubbing abilities and be unhappy.

Furthermore, with the way he was now, he shouldn’t like her.

He’d just drag her down.

At least until his body got better, at least until he was not trapped by the shackles under him.

He had to at least wait until then.

“When you said those nice words back there, we were all blown away.” Fang Wencheng couldn’t help but say. “Why did you say that or were you just being sarcastic?”

“No.” Xie Ruhe didn’t continue. He went back to the previous topic. “You can look for the singer.”

Fang Wencheng responded quickly: “Who do you want to look for?”

Xie Ruhe was in a bad mood and was not particularly interested: “I don’t care.”

“Just find one.”

…

After everyone had finished auditioning, Li Qing came out of the recording studio and said: “Thank you for coming today! The results will be released in about a week. For now, you can all go back.”

Shu Nian was not in a good mood either. She looked at the time and decide that she wanted to go to the another studio to find Huang Lizhi. She said a “goodbye, director” and then carried her bag out.

She walked out of the studio. As she was about to enter the elevators, Shu Nian suddenly heard a set of loud footsteps behind her. Someone tapped her on her shoulder.

Shu Nian subconsciously turned around and took a few steps back. She looked alert.

Thinking that she was scared, the other person laughed and then said: “Oh, I’m sorry. Did I scare you?”

She was one of the women that were in the audition and the only one who got scolded by Xie Ruhe.

Shu Nian recognised her and shook her head: “It’s okay.”

“My name is Lin Qiqi.” The woman appeared very familiar with her. “Do you remember me? I went to the recording studio in Shangdu before and saw you there many times!”

Shu Nian did feel that she was familiar and hummed softly.

Lin Qiqi said happily: “Let’s add each other on WeChat.”

Shu Nian rarely contacted people now. Generally, a few people would want talk to her but once they did, they would give up the idea of being friends because of her lack of words.

Shu Nian didn’t know how to refuse so she only nodded and scanned her QR code with her mobile phone.

After accepting the request, Lin Qiqi looked to the side and said a “hello” to a girl she seemed to know. She then told Shu Nian. “That’s it! Let’s go out and play together in the future! I’ll be leaving now!”

Shu Nian agreed but she felt that they would not see each other again. She just turned around and left the building.

…

After sending Xie Ruhe home.

Fang Wencheng turned around and reported the matter to Xie Ruhe’s grandfather, Ji Xinghuai.

Ji Xinghuai was nearly 70 years old. He had three children and a house full of grandchildren. Ji Xiangning, his only daughter had died for many years. The only child she gave birth to was Xie Ruhe.

Since then, Ji Xinghuai shifted all his love for his beloved daughter to Xie Ruhe. He put a lot of thought and attention into that grandson.

When Fang Wencheng was speaking, Ji Xinghuai fell into silence. After a while, he asked with a kind and friendly voice: “What’s the name of the little girl you just mentioned?”

Fang Wencheng said: “She’s called Shu Nian. It’s just the words nian shu in reverse1.”

Ji Xinghuai became dazed.

He remembered that many years ago when he went to Shiyan Town for the first time to pick Xie Ruhe up. At that time, he was still very young, only fifteen years old. He looked like his mother. Both thin, tall and very good-looking.

But he was not as gentle and good-tempered as Ji Xiangning.

He had an aura of hostility around him. He would hide his thorns from others if they didn’t take the initiative to provoke him but once someone approached him, whether that person carried goodwill or malice, Xie Ruhe would immediately display all of his thorns. He refused to let people get close to him.

Except for one little girl.

She was a slim and small girl. She was born white and cute, wearing a wide school uniform which made her look even smaller.

Her name was Shu Nian.

Before leaving Shiyan Town, Xie Ruhe only went to see Shu Nian. He said many words to her. He repeatedly stressed a lot of things to her and he only left after receiving her assurance.

After arriving at the Ji house, Xie Ruhe was only willing to talk to Ji Xinghuai but what he said was still very little. Ji Xinghuai once found out that he would occasionally call Shu Nian. It was only then would he say a few words more.

Before that, Ji Xinghuai had never met him.

Ji Xinghuai didn’t even know what Xie Ruhe looked like when he was younger or whether he was as silent and gloomy as he was now as if he had no will of living on.

Only in front of Shu Nian would he become livelier.

Thinking of the past, Ji Xinghuai’s eyes begun to tear up. He looked much older in an instant. He reached out and touched his eyebrows. He earnestly told Fang Wencheng: “If that lady wants to, let them meet more often.”

If there’s any errors in the text then please kindly ping me on discord in the ‘report typos’ channel or leave a comment down below! I always check them even if I don’t give a response.

Thanks for reading!

Footnotes

Her name is 书念 but if you reversed it to 念书 then it means read/reading or recite.