Jiang Cheng was indeed reliable; the recording studio he booked, "Echo Workshop," was a top-tier venue ranked among the top three in the industry in Jingzhou.

With fully imported equipment, just the monitoring system in the control room alone was worth hundreds of thousands.

When Lu Zhixian pushed the door and entered, the recording engineer had already brewed tea in the control room and was waiting.

A middle-aged man in his forties with a buzz cut, wearing a washed-out black T-shirt, with a string of polished Buddhist beads wrapped around his wrist.

Jiang Cheng leaned over and whispered some background: "This is Brother Zhou, everyone in the circle calls him Old Zhou. He's handled no fewer than fifteen to twenty A-list singers; he's a total Old Cannon."

Old Zhou stood up and shook hands with Lu Zhixian, his attitude polite and beyond reproach.

"Hello, Teacher Lu. I've heard much about you."

He said that, but Lu Zhixian had such sharp ears that he immediately caught the perfunctoriness in his tone; polite as he was, he didn't take him seriously at all.

This was normal.

In the eyes of these veteran recording engineers, being able to write songs and being able to sing them well were two completely different species.

In this industry, there were countless producers who tried to transition into singers only to reveal their true colors once they entered the studio.

Lu Zhixian didn't bother to waste breath explaining; he casually took off his coat and draped it over the back of the chair.

"Brother Zhou, let's start directly. The first song, 'the beach'."

Old Zhou raised an eyebrow: "Not going to warm up or do a soundcheck first?"

"No need."

Old Zhou glanced at him, didn't try to persuade him further, and sat back down at the mixing console with a nod.

Lu Zhixian pushed open the heavy soundproof door, walked to the microphone, and put on the monitoring headphones.

The accompaniment flowed out of the headphones like water.

Lu Zhixian closed his eyes, his chest rose and fell as he took a deep breath.

He opened his mouth.

"Empty is this the beach."

The moment the first note pierced through the monitors, the air in the control room froze.

Old Zhou's finger on the fader jerked violently.

He had been in this industry for twenty years; what kind of god-given voice hadn't he heard?

But the sound hitting his headphones—the texture and granularity were simply ridiculously good!

Most importantly, this was the first take.

No vocal warm-up, no getting into the zone; he just came out with a god-level live performance right off the bat!

Old Zhou stared intently at the computer screen, his palms starting to sweat.

A song of over four minutes, Lu Zhixian sang from beginning to end without a single stumble or pause.

As the final note faded, the recording studio was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

Old Zhou took off his headphones and sat in a daze for a full half-minute.

Finally, he turned around, looked at Lu Zhixian through the glass booth as he was taking off his headphones, and swallowed hard, his throat feeling incredibly dry.

"I've been in this damn business for twenty years... it's the first time I've seen someone record a song as easily as drinking water."

Lu Zhixian came out, took the mineral water Old Zhou handed him, and took a few gulps, his expression as calm as ever.

"What do you think, Brother Zhou? If there are any flaws, I'll record another track."

"Another track? Another track my ass!" Old Zhou cursed, pulled the timeline back for playback, and pointed at the screen. "Listen for yourself! This thing doesn't even need pitch correction; it's good enough to go straight to mixing!"

Lu Zhixian smiled: "Alright, then while I'm still in the zone, let's record 'heart flying wild'."

Old Zhou was dumbfounded.

"Back to back? Aren't you going to rest a bit and let your voice recover?"

"No need, this is nothing."

If someone else had said this, Old Zhou would have definitely slapped them for acting pretentious.

But with the quality of 'the beach' right in front of him, he forced himself to hold his tongue.

'heart flying wild' had a section of head-voice and mixed-voice at the end with a massive range; the requirements for vocal cord function and breath control were practically insane.

Looking at the entire Chinese music scene, the number of people who could pull off that section dry was fewer than five.

Lu Zhixian recorded it twice.

Actually, Old Zhou thought the first take was already perfect, but Lu Zhixian wasn't satisfied with one of the breath breaks and requested a safety take.

After the second take came out, Old Zhou compared the two versions and completely lost any temper he had left.

The attention to detail was simply hair-raising.

He slumped back in his chair, and the way he looked at Lu Zhixian had changed from seeing a 'peer' to seeing a 'monster.'

"Teacher Lu, I, Old Zhou, am truly impressed. You decide the schedule; just tell me what time to come, and even if I have to crawl out of bed in the middle of the night, I'll be there on call!"

Lu Zhixian patted his shoulder: "You're too kind, Brother Zhou. Let's refine it carefully and take our time."

He said they'd take their time, but after finishing two songs, it hadn't even taken three hours in total.

If this efficiency got out, it would make his peers' jaws drop.

Noon.

Jiang Cheng and Su Qing arrived with some high-end takeout to visit.

Before Jiang Cheng even entered the room, his loud voice arrived first: "Brother Lu! How's the battle going? Play it quickly so I can cleanse my ears!"

Lu Zhixian tilted his chin toward Old Zhou.

Old Zhou nimbly pulled up the rough mix demo of 'the beach' and pressed play.

Su Qing was originally unwrapping her takeout chopsticks.

After listening for less than half a minute, her hands stopped.

Jiang Cheng had better composure and managed to listen through the entire song.

Then he stared blankly at the speakers, and after a long while, he blurted out:

"Brother Lu, is this a sound a human can actually make?!"

Lu Zhixian laughed and kicked him: "Get lost, let's eat."

The few of them gathered around the coffee table for lunch.

Su Qing poked at her rice and suddenly looked up: "Teacher Lu, if this album is released, those people who teamed up to blackball you will probably wake up startled several times in the middle of the night."

Lu Zhixian was gnawing on a braised rib and didn't even look up.

"Then kindly remind them to stock up on more sleeping pills."

In the afternoon, they recorded 'Love is Simple.'

Lu Zhixian was extremely meticulous with this song, polishing it word by word with Old Zhou.

When they reached the line 'I love you, love is simple'...

He closed his eyes.

The lazy and warm R&B melody slowly unfolded in his headphones.

The recording session came to a close, and the sky outside had turned dark.

Lu Zhixian sat on the sofa in the lounge area, handling WeChat messages one by one.

Just as he was about to lock the screen, his phone suddenly vibrated.

[Mom]

Lu Zhixian held the phone, his thumb hovering over the answer button, suddenly feeling a bit stiff.

The studio was very quiet; Jiang Cheng and Su Qing had left long ago, and Old Zhou was in the next room tinkering with the equipment.

Three seconds later, he swiped to answer.

"Xiao Xian, are you busy right now?"

The voice on the other end was gentle and soft, with the ending notes slightly rising, carrying a bit of hesitation for fear of disturbing his work.

"Mom saw you singing on TV on New Year's Eve; it was really beautiful. Your dad is such a stubborn man, but that night he held his phone and watched your video over and over seven or eight times."

Lu Zhixian opened his mouth.

He wanted to respond, but his throat felt choked up.

It took several seconds before he finally found his voice.

"Mom."

There was a pause on the other end, as if she sensed her son's mood wasn't quite right today.

But his mother didn't think much of it and soon began chattering about household matters again.

Circling around, the core message was just one.

Chinese New Year was approaching, she missed her son, and wanted him to come home early.

Lu Zhixian leaned against the back of the sofa, pressing the phone tightly to his ear, listening quietly.

Occasionally, he would give an "mm" or reply with "I know."

His mother spoke for a full ten minutes before reluctantly preparing to hang up.

Her final words were: "Don't push yourself too hard out there, eat on time, and take care of your health."

Beep...

The busy tone sounded.

Lu Zhixian remained in the position of taking the call, sitting in place for a long time without moving.

He opened his phone's photo album and scrolled all the way up to some old photos left by the original owner.

He stared at the photos, his eyes feeling slightly warm.

In his past life, his parents had passed away very early.

He had grown up depending on his grandmother, and after she passed away, he was truly left alone in the world.

Eating takeout alone, carrying equipment to gigs alone, and staying up until his eyes were bloodshot in the recording studio late at night alone.

He had long been used to that deep-seated loneliness.

But now, someone was waiting for him to come home.

Back at the hotel that night, just after showering, Lin Shiya's WeChat message came in.

She asked about the album's progress as if it were routine business.

Lu Zhixian replied briefly, and on a whim, he typed another line and sent it.

"Teacher Lin, are you going home for the New Year?"

The other side was silent for a full half-minute before a single word popped back.

"Return."

Looking at this solitary word, Lu Zhixian laughed out loud and casually sent a silly "cat giving a thumbs up" emoji.

He didn't continue the topic.

He put down his phone and calculated the timeline in his head.

He'd go full throttle over the next week to finish recording all the dry vocals and rough mixes for 'the beach,' 'heart flying wild,' and 'Love is Simple.'

The arrangement for 'Gazing at the Spring Breeze' still needed some refining, so he'd leave that for after the New Year.

There was plenty of time.

He directly opened the ticket booking app and searched for high-speed rail tickets from Jingzhou to his hometown.

The 28th day of the 12th lunar month, 10:20 AM.

Order placed.

Ticket issued successfully.

——

Lying on the soft hotel bed, Lu Zhixian sent a WeChat message to his mother.

"Mom, the ticket is bought. I'll be home on the high-speed rail on the 28th."

Just as the message was sent, the other side replied almost instantly.

A series of voice messages came "shoo-shoo-shooing" over, instantly filling the screen.

He turned on the speaker and listened to them one by one.

"Oh! You really got it? That's great, I'll go tell your dad right now!"

"Bring a few more thick clothes! Our hometown isn't like Jingzhou, the wind is strong there, don't sacrifice warmth for style!"

"Your dad has spoken; he'll drive to the high-speed rail station to pick you up when the time comes."

In the background of this last voice message, a man's somewhat awkward grumbling could be heard: "Who said I was going to pick him up... let him take a taxi himself..."

Although he was being stubborn, the joy that couldn't be hidden overflowed even through the screen.

Lu Zhixian listened to these voices and gently pressed the phone to his chest.

The ceiling light was a bit dazzling.

He reached out and snapped off the light, plunging the room into darkness.

Just as he was about to fall asleep, the phone vibrated again.

It was from Lin Shiya.

"I have some preliminary ideas for that duet love song. When you come back after the New Year, let's set a time to meet up."

Two seconds later, she added another one.

"Happy New Year. Saying it in advance."

Looking at those four words on the screen, Lu Zhixian imagined this ice queen diva typing them with a serious face.

He quickly typed a reply: "Happy New Year."

Tucking the phone under his pillow, he rolled over and wrapped himself tightly in the blanket.

The moment he closed his eyes, one last thought flashed through his mind.

The 28th day of the 12th lunar month.

A four-and-a-half-hour train ride.

He, a transmigrator from another world, was finally going to meet his "closest kin" whom he had never met before.