Chapter 143: "It’s Not Like I’m Not Coming Back"

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Mingzhou

Inside a hotel

“Ran, let me offer you this toast. If it weren’t for you, your sister here would never have performed so well today.”

Holding a wineglass in the private room, Zhang Yuan raised it toward Zhou Ran. She was visibly thrilled. During the recording of the third episode of *The Sound of Heaven*, Zhang Yuan had relied on Zhou Ran’s help to claim first place.

More importantly, with Zhou Ran’s assistance, Zhang Yuan had finally broken free of her comfort zone. She was no longer trapped in the same narrow cycle of sentimental love songs and overly artistic performances.

With the song “Love You,” Zhang Yuan had been able to experiment with different styles and try all kinds of performances. Most importantly, the song had given her tremendous confidence. Before this, she would never have dared attempt something of this type. She had been afraid that if the performance failed, she would destroy the carefully cultivated image she had spent years building, leaving her with nothing to show for it.

But with Zhou Ran’s help, Zhang Yuan could break through the limitations imposed on her. She now had the chance to venture into a broader sky and explore various styles, rather than allowing the audience’s impression of her to remain fixed as that of an artistic goddess or a minor queen of love songs.

“All right. Since you’ve toasted me, I’ll return the gesture with a glass of cola in place of wine. But it’s settled—you’re not allowed to drink anything else after this!”

When Zhang Yuan offered him a toast, Zhou Ran could sense the sincerity behind it. She simply wanted to thank him; she was not trying to curry favor with him.

Zhou Ran readily returned the toast, though because of his singing habits, he avoided anything that might harm his voice, including cigarettes and alcohol. So he used cola in place of wine.

He took excellent care of his throat. He never touched anything too irritating, and he continued practicing the basic vocal exercises he needed to do every day. Out of the three hundred and sixty-five days in a year, he practiced on all three hundred and sixty-five. He never skipped a day, no matter how packed his schedule was; he would always find time for it.

Zhou Ran knew very well that no matter how gifted a person was, diligent practice and proper vocal care were still essential. Therefore, he would not take even a sip of water handed to him by strangers. Anything that had left his sight, even briefly, was something he would never drink.

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This was to prevent anyone from poisoning him out of malicious competition or some similar motive. It would be wrong to think Zhou Ran was simply being too cautious. It was a very real concern. In his previous life, a male entertainer had once been poisoned by an enemy in an accident, leaving him permanently voiceless. The incident had caused a huge uproar, yet the culprit was never found.

Some entertainers even took out insurance policies on their voices, with enormous sums involved, simply because they feared that some unforeseen accident might occur.

After the recording of the third episode ended, Zhang Yuan had deliberately invited Zhou Ran and Zhang Xiaofeng to dinner. She wanted to see them off, since the two of them would be leaving for Kangcheng the next day to attend a film festival. She had arranged the meal mainly to thank Zhou Ran for all his help over the past few days.

After all, Zhou Ran was only obligated to help Zhang Yuan write songs. He had no obligation to help her rehearse. Everything beyond that had been his own choice. He could easily have sat by himself and watched Zhang Yuan practice, yet he had still chosen to guide her.

“Oh, come on, Sister Yuan. Why are you making it sound like we’re saying our final goodbyes? It’s not as if I’m never coming back. I’ll be back in a couple of days!”

Zhou Ran was amused by Zhang Yuan’s words. She made it sound as though he were never returning, as though this were some tragic separation. It was almost as if the music from *Titanic*, “My Heart Will Go On,” had begun playing in his ears. Zhou Ran quickly stopped the imaginary music and returned to reality.

There was another reason Zhang Yuan had invited Zhou Ran to dinner. She wanted to try performing in the fourth episode without using one of his original songs, relying solely on her own ability to see whether she could win first place on her own.

Since Zhou Ran would not be present in the next episode, Zhang Yuan wanted to test whether she could achieve a good ranking by covering and rearranging a song herself.

“Sure. I believe in you. With your level of ability, getting a good ranking shouldn’t be a problem.”

After hearing Zhang Yuan, Zhou Ran was not upset in the slightest. Since she wanted to try performing alone, using a cover rather than one of his original songs, he was quite happy to let her do so. It would allow him to save a few songs, and he had nothing to lose.

As he listened to her speak, Zhou Ran sensed that Zhang Yuan had not told him everything. There were still things she was keeping hidden. But he did not expose her. Since Zhang Yuan had said these things, she had clearly given the matter careful consideration.

Zhou Ran respected her choice. Besides, if she truly had some difficulty she could not speak about, forcing her to explain would accomplish nothing. If she wanted to talk, she would do so of her own accord. There was no need to pressure her or interrogate her. Everyone was entitled to retain a certain degree of privacy. There was no need to know every detail of another person’s life; doing so would only create unnecessary trouble.

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In truth, Zhang Yuan had not told Zhou Ran the real reason. She had chosen to do without his help in the fourth episode because many people online had recently been saying that all her achievements on the show were due to Zhou Ran’s assistance. Without him, they claimed, Zhang Yuan was incapable of doing anything.

It would have been better if she had never seen those comments. The moment she did, however, she could no longer hold herself together. She refused to let the audience reduce her performances on the program to a single verdict: that she had achieved everything simply because of Zhou Ran.

So Zhang Yuan intended to take advantage of Zhou Ran’s absence in the next episode. She would perform a cover on her own—or perhaps even create a song herself—and give those commenters a crushing answer. She wanted to use this opportunity to prove that she, Zhang Yuan, was not someone who could succeed only by relying on Zhou Ran.

Deep down, she was also somewhat indignant. Zhang Yuan was, after all, a minor queen of pop. Naturally, she possessed a little pride. How could she accept criticism that completely dismissed the results of all her hard work?

Yet when Zhang Yuan chose to perform alone, she had no idea that she had already fallen into someone else’s scheme.

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Chapter 143: “It’s Not as If I’m Never Coming Back” — Free Reading

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