Defeated By Love

Translated by Fairy_Dust

If you enjoy the novel then please think about showing the novel some support by buying a Ko-fi~

“…”

Fang Wencheng felt that his plan was not that good. Not only did it involve an innocent person but it also made her feel ridiculed. It was a waste of time and had even hurt her feelings.

However, Xie Ruhe’s mood was so bad that Fang Wencheng didn’t dare to say anymore. He just wanted to take Shu Nian out first before solving the matter.

Fang Wencheng spoke to Shu Nian in a low voice: “Let’s go.” He gestured for Shu Nian to walk in front of him.

Xie Ruhe sat in place while staring at Shu Nian. There was a blank look in his eyes. After realising that Shu Nian was going to leave, he reacted and said in a low voice. “Fang Wencheng.”

Fang Wencheng looked at him: “What’s wrong?”

Xie Ruhe said: “Get out.”

Fang Wencheng glanced at Shu Nian: “Yes, we’re leaving.”

It was silent for a moment.

Xie Ruhe’s expression was more ugly than it was just then. His eyes were dark and stormy. His jaw was clenched like he was trying to suppress his anger. He looked at Fang Wencheng and calmly said: “I meant, you get out.”

“…” Fang Wencheng fully turned to face him. “Huh?”

Xie Ruhe didn’t repeat his words. He just stared at him.

Fang Wencheng immediately understood and randomly threw out an excuse: “Ah, right. I forgot to call the record company. Apologies, but I’ll leave first.”

He cast a sympathetic look towards Shu Nian before heading out.

Shu Nian stood in place. She could guess the meaning behind Xie Ruhe’s behaviour. She lowered her head and whispered: “Teacher Ah He, I’ll go back first. I’ve disturbed you.”

“Shu Nian.” Xie Ruhe called out to her and licked his lips. For a moment, he didn’t know how to explain himself. He chose his next words cautiously. “Aren’t you here to record the song?”

“I am.” Shu Nian raised her eye to quietly look at him. She wondered what he meant by those words. She didn’t know why he was always changing his attitude, the only she understood was that she was not angry at him. “I shouldn’t have come over. I’m sorry.”

Xie Ruhe’s Adam’s apple slid up and down: “I wasn’t referring to you just then…”

“What?” Shu Nian just wanted to get out of there as quickly as possible. “I think you should find someone else. On the day of the audition, I also tried to sing your song but I couldn’t sing it well. The theme song is really not for me to sing. Finding a replacement is the best choice, I don’t want to ruin your song.”

Xie Ruhe was silent for a few seconds and then asked: “You don’t want to sing?”

“It’s not that I don’t want to sing.” She was in a bad mood but she didn’t want to offend him so she gently said. “Teacher Ah He’s song is very good so it’ll also need a very good singer to sing it.”

Hearing those words, Xie Ruhe set aside the guitar and whispered. “Then you sing it.”

“…”

Xie Ruhe moved his wheelchair towards a certain room: “Follow me.”

Shu Nian’s sense of being wronged and unhappiness intensified. She stood where she was for a while with the thought of just turning around and leaving but she tightly squeezed her lips together and tagged along behind him.

There were about four rooms in the house. Xie Ruhe went to the innermost one and pushed open the door. Shu Nian went in with him and looked around awkwardly.

It was a private recording studio with a lot of space and it had all the professional equipment.

It was a little different from the recording studios that Shu Nian was used to. There was no screen for playing the movie scenes. Instead, there was a music stand in front of the microphone and some musical instruments hanging around.

Guitar, bass, drums and more.

Xie Ruhe went to the control panels. He looked back at her and pointed to the seat next to him: “Sit here.”

Shu Nian “oh’ed” and went over there. She asked: “You don’t want me to enter the studio?”

Xie Ruhe turned on the computer and whispered: “Listen to the song a few times first.”

Shu Nian said: “Okay.”

Shu Nian watched him operate the computer. She could see that the song name was called “Stars Falling Down”. Xie Ruhe played it to let her hear.

" "

There were no words, only a melody and tune.

Xie Ruhe explained it to her: “The demo needs to be sung by someone. It’s not the completed version.”

Shu Nian quietly listened to him for two minutes. Her mind seemed to have turned into paste. She felt that it was the most difficult task yet: “So will I listen to this melody and then sing the lyrics?”

Xie Ruhe knew that she couldn’t do it so he stored the music score away.

“I’ll sing the full version to you first.”

Shu Nian was stunned: “You will sing?”

Hearing those words, Xie Ruhe looked in her direction and said: “There’s only me and you here.”

Shu Nian scratched her head: “I was just thinking that the rest of the crew aren’t here.”

“No, I don’t just let everyone enter my studio.” Xie Ruhe withdrew his gaze. He changed the topic. “Click here in a moment.”

Shu Nian was a little confused by his previous sentence but her attention was soon drawn away by his next sentence. She leaned forward: “When do I press it?”

“When I’m in the studio.”

“Oh, okay.”

Xie Ruhe went to the microphone and put the score on the stand.

He moved his eyes to the transparent glass and looked at Shu Nian. Then, he softly nodded.

Shu Nian lowered her eyes and clicked the button he told her to press.

The song was quite different from Xie Ruhe’s previous one. It had a soothing rhythm that was slow, fresh and bright. It gave the listener a very happy feeling like being in a large forest during summer.

His voice was heavy and slightly hoarse. The words were clear and the emotions being conveyed were gentle, as if it was trying to tell a small story.

Xie Ruhe sat in the studio. His body seemed to radiate light that made him appear as a very happy boy.

Occasionally, Xie Ruhe would look at Shu Nian but he would quickly and causally retract his gaze.

If it weren’t for the producer’s request, Shu Nian would think that the song was most suited for him to sing. It was like something had touched her soul and now the feeling was resonating throughout her body.

It was like some kind of strong force penetrated the darkness and had now brought down beams of light that illuminated the heart.

After a while, the accompaniment stopped.

Xie Ruhe returned to the control room and briefly handled some of the post-production issues.

There was little communication between the two.

His voice still echoed in Shu Nian’s mind. She couldn’t help but say: “You sing so beautifully.”

Hearing that, Xie Ruhe’s hand stilled but he didn’t turn his head. He paused for a few seconds before the corners of his mouth curled up. He seemed to be in a good mood now.

After a while, Xie Ruhe suddenly realised something and called her: “Shu Nian.”

“Yes?”

“I’m twenty-two turning twenty-three years old.” Xie Ruhe’s tone was very serious. “I’m less than two months older than you. You don’t need to use a respectful term when addressing me1.”

Shu Nian calmed down and said: “I should.”

Xie Ruhe didn’t understand her meaning and spoke in a low voice. “You didn’t use it before.”

“That’s because I didn’t know you were Teacher Ah He before.”

Although he had felt that the tone of her voice was different from usual, it wasn’t until that moment that Xie Ruhe realised something was wrong. He blankly looked at her: “Are you angry?”

Shu Nian replied in a muffled voice: “No.”

“Why are you angry?” Xie Ruhe recognised the stiffness in her voice and was at a loss. He began explaining himself. “Was it because of my words just then? I wasn’t talking to you. I didn’t even look up so I didn’t know it was you who was there.”

Shu Nian didn’t speak.

Xie Ruhe didn’t know what else to say. Suddenly, he remembered that in the past, Shu Nian had always lectured him——

“You’re being rude.”

“You shouldn’t say such things, you’re going overboard.”

“Why do you always ignore people? Think about it this way, would you be happy if others ignored you?”

“I’m sorry.” Xie Ruhe returned to his senses and hesitatingly admitted to his mistake. “I shouldn’t have said that no matter who it was.”

Shu Nian lowered her head and played with her fingers. After hearing his apology, she finally opened her mouth and said in a stiff tone: “You shouldn’t be like this.”

Xie Ruhe didn’t know what else he did wrong but when he heard that she had dropped the polite speech2, he was relieved and quickly answered.

“En.”

“I don’t treat you badly, nor have I wronged you.” Shu Nian had been aggravated for many days now. Her voice was low, she had been bottling it in all that time. “Why are you always like this towards me?”

Xie Ruhe paused: “What?”

Shu Nian was a grudge holder and she listed them one by one: “I try lending you an umbrella but you ignore me. When I called you, you said that I’ve called the wrong person. You clearly know that I can’t sing but you teamed up with the others to laugh at me and force me to sing this song.”

“…” For the first two, Xie Ruhe did do them so he couldn’t deny it.

But the last one…

Xie Ruhe couldn’t help saying: “I didn’t laugh at you. I said you sang very well.”

“But you know I don’t sing well.” Shu Nian finally raised her head to look at him with a sullen face. “You said that on purpose so the others would pay more attention to my tone-deafness.”

“…”

“You wanted to pretend to not know each other so I didn’t take the initiative to bother you but you went around laughing at me with other people.”

“I…”

The more Shu Nian thought about it, the angrier she became. She didn’t know what else she could blame him with so she could only repeat.

“I’m not bad towards you.”

Xie Ruhe silently listened to her criticisms and once again admitted to his mistake: “It’s my fault.”

Shu Nian’s misery dissipated a bit. Suddenly, she thought of something: “You can’t complain about me to the producers because of this. I’m speaking to you from the viewpoint of a friend.”

Xie Ruhe didn’t understand what she meant for a moment: “Huh?”

“You can’t mix chats that happen between friends with business matters.” After saying what she wanted to say, Shu Nian’s rationality came back. She became a little nervous and began speaking in a nonsensical manner: “I think of you as a friend, I let you borrow my umbrella. I also sent you to a taxi…”

Xie Ruhe inexplicably found her to be amusing: “Okay.”

Shu Nian was still worried: “You really won’t?”

Xie Ruhe nodded: “I won’t .”

After confirming that he would not complain, Shu Nian began to remember all the wrongs she had to endure before. Her attitude changed and she didn’t forget to remind him: “Since you’ve made so many mistakes then remember to reflect on them.”

“…”

Seeing that he had no response, Shu Nian stubbornly pursed her lips as she stared at him.

Xie Ruhe was silent for a few seconds.

“…OK.”

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!

TRANSLATOR NOTE IMPORTANT: I’m sorry but exams are quickly approaching for me so I may not be able to support the 2-4 days update schedule for the next month or so. I hope that you’ll understand and no, this doesn’t mean I’m going on a hiatus. I don’t plan on doing so because I will continue to translate, I am just notifying you incase I go MIA a few days more than usual. Anyways…

Thanks for reading!

Footnotes

She used 您 (nín) instead of 你 (nǐ) when speaking to him. 您 (nín) is used when addressing an elder or as a show of respect for the person concerned.She had reverted back to informal speech with the usage 你 (nǐ)