Poor Relationship - Chapter 2

Xu Yizhou cursed this damn job every single day, yet he had no choice but to endure it—after all, he had to take responsibility for the roles he took on. In his room, there was a dedicated recording studio, complete with all the equipment, all paid for by Wen Jiang. It was soundproof. The reason was simply to prevent him from disturbing Wen Jiang’s sleep and affecting his rest.

After all, their schedules were completely opposite. Putting on his headphones, adjusting the equipment, he opened Adobe Audition. He played the dry audio file that Little N had thoughtfully sent over. The breaths of the male and female characters were erratic, as if they were passionately kissing.

But only they knew that, in reality, it was just two people nibbling on their own hands.

He truly wasn’t skilled at controlling his breath in such scenes, so it sounded as if he was being overpowered by the female character.

Xu Yizhou raised his left hand and sighed:

“Sooner or later, I’m going to chew my hand raw.”

He had never had a girlfriend, and even with his ex, he had never kissed her.

Zero experience. But in voice acting, it was all about imagination. He could only rely on the feelings of kissing scenes from TV dramas and novels he had read. After struggling through another take, he sent it to Little N.

Within seconds, a voice message came through.

“Teacher Xu, it doesn’t feel quite right. Could you tone it down a bit? This version gives off a very ‘submissive’ vibe, you know… like… you get it, right?”

Little N was already being quite tactful. Xu Yizhou’s voice was naturally on the softer side, sounding rather refined. Gentlemanly tones came easily to him, but what gave the studio’s sound engineers the biggest headache were his kissing scenes. For some reason, they always gave off the impression that he was being dominated by the female character.

Helpless, Xu Yizhou lowered his voice a bit more and recorded another version before sending it over.

After sending it, he set his phone aside and flipped through his scripts. He remembered having a photocopied sheet with tips on how to produce kissing sounds. He was sure he had left it in the drawer, but after searching for a while, he couldn’t find it. This time, there was no immediate response, and he thought he had finally passed.

Who knew that the next second, another call came through.

“Teacher Xu, you’re not asleep, are you? Please finish recording and send it to me as soon as possible. I still have to edit it tonight!”

Little N urged anxiously, her voice trembling as if she were on the verge of tears.

“Huh? Didn’t I already send it? Did it not go through?”

Xu Yizhou scratched his head in confusion. Just as he was about to check if it was a network issue, a WeChat notification popped up on his phone.

【Brother: Not bad.】

“Not bad what?”

Xu Yizhou muttered as he unlocked his phone and opened Wen Jiang’s chat window.

Right above those three conspicuous words was the audio he had just re-recorded.

“Fuck, how did I send it to him!”

Embarrassment, awkwardness, and shame flooded over him all at once. Xu Yizhou’s face turned pale with fright, and he could barely hold his phone steady.

“Huh? Teacher Xu, who did you send it to?”

On the other end of the line, Little N stared at her computer screen, utterly confused.

Xu Yizhou frantically tapped on the audio file, trying to recall it, but in his panic, he accidentally hit delete instead.

“Shit, it’s over.”

Xu Yizhou stared at the chat window in despair, wishing he could slap himself twice.

He had no idea how a file meant for Little N had ended up being sent to Wen Jiang.

“Teacher Xu?”

Little N called out again, and only then did he realize the call was still connected.

After hurriedly responding with a few words, Xu Yizhou hung up the phone.

“Ah, is today some kind of social death day? Why is this happening to me!”

Xu Yizhou wailed, burying his head in his hands. Never before had he wanted to dig a hole and disappear more than he did now. His face was visibly flushed, even his earlobes turning a delicate pink. Looking at the three words Wen Jiang had sent him, he couldn’t help but think of what had just happened. He couldn’t imagine what expression Wen Jiang had on his face after hearing it, or whether he might have misunderstood.

Thinking this, Xu Yizhou quickly typed on the screen:

“Bro, I sent it to the wrong person! This was something the studio asked me to re-record!”

Who could understand? His heart was practically about to leap out of his chest. The more he looked, the more awkward it felt—he was so embarrassed he could have dug out a three-bedroom apartment. As the seconds ticked by, Xu Yizhou stared at the screen without blinking, terrified that Wen Jiang might think there was something wrong with his sexual orientation.

After what felt like an eternity, a reply finally came from the other side:

【Mm, got it】

He realized Wen Jiang was truly a man of few words—not even an extra punctuation mark.

Seeing this, Xu Yizhou finally let out a long sigh of relief. But then he remembered he still had to meet Wen Jiang in the future, and the social death feeling intensified. Wiping his face, Xu Yizhou resent the audio to Xiao N, who had already sent over a dozen messages.

Then he didn’t even want to look at his phone anymore and buried himself under the covers.

When faced with anything, don’t panic—just sleep first. Maybe it was all just a dream.

Thinking this, Xu Yizhou felt his eyelids grow heavy, and drowsiness washed over him before long.

Meanwhile, in Wen Jiang’s room, it was pitch dark, the only light source coming from the phone screen. On the screen, that audio clip was still playing. By the time Xu Yizhou got up to wash up the next day, it was already past ten in the morning.

On the table were two breakfasts—bread and milk. It was clear one portion had only been bitten into once, probably because someone had rushed off to work in a hurry.

This was often how things were between them: Wen Jiang would be at work while he was asleep, and by the time he got off work, Wen Jiang was already sleeping. So the two of them hardly ever ran into each other. But that was just as well—otherwise, if he saw Wen Jiang today, he really wouldn’t know how to face him.

After all, last night had been way too embarrassing. By the time Xu Yizhou finished getting ready, it was already eleven. Remembering the audio from last night and wondering what Xiao N had said about it, he reluctantly opened his phone to check.

Fortunately, Xiao N hadn’t said anything, which meant he didn’t have to redo it. His phone vibrated, and a chat that had been second in line jumped to the top.

【Bro: Remember to eat breakfast】

It was from Wen Jiang. He was surprised Wen Jiang knew he had just woken up.

But then it occurred to him—this was pretty much how it was every day. Subtract the work hours, and it wasn’t hard to figure out. So he didn’t dwell on it.

Casually typing an “Okay” and sending it, the previous conversation reappeared on the screen. Xu Yizhou couldn’t help but facepalm—this was undoubtedly a reminder of last night’s social death. But why could Wen Jiang act so calmly, as if nothing had happened?!

Xu Yizhou arrived at the studio looking utterly dejected. Someone was already recording in the sound booth. He still had one last character left to voice. The demands for radio dramas these days were overwhelming for them. Once they started, it usually meant a whole morning or afternoon, sometimes even several episodes in a row. But with such a heavy workload, it was impossible to do justice to every character, so Xu Yizhou had turned down quite a few scripts.

The last role was a supporting character, and the scene with the male lead was originally scheduled to be recorded at their studio. That’s why he arrived almost exactly on time.

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