Chapter 16

The person who arrived was impeccably dressed in a suit, extremely formal, holding a stack of documents, and wearing a formulaic smile on his face.

He walked up to Qin Mingchuan, slightly bent down, and politely extended his hand.

“Hello, are you Mr. Qin? I’m Mr. Su’s lawyer,” the lawyer, Mr. Zhou, introduced himself in an orderly manner.

At this moment, Qin Mingchuan, who was standing across from him, had a completely stunned expression on his face.

In the span of a single second, his eyes went from joy to surprise, then quickly turned into disappointment.

Eventually, all these emotions dissipated, replaced by a firm and unrelenting anger.

Qin Mingchuan never imagined that after spending several days preparing for what he thought was a romantic dinner, he would end up with Su Xingyao’s lawyer…

Who the hell wants to sit here and discuss things with this person!?

Already on the verge of exploding, Qin Mingchuan clenched his fists so tightly that veins popped out, creating hideous marks on his skin.

He shot a furious glance at the man in front of him, too angry to say another word, and stormed off.

“Mr. Qin…” the driver looked at Qin Mingchuan, who came out so quickly, in surprise.

Wasn’t he supposed to have dinner? Why had he suddenly come back?

Qin Mingchuan’s eyes were red from anger, and he didn’t hear what the driver said.

After slamming the car door, he buried his head, took out his phone, and started frantically dialing Su Xingyao’s number.

The driver had never seen Qin Mingchuan in this state. Seeing that he was visibly upset, the driver was so frightened that he didn’t dare to ask where to take him. He just aimlessly started the car, choosing a quiet and smooth road to drive on.

While Qin Mingchuan was making calls, Su Xingyao was working on design drawings.

The staff of The Voice of Heaven had confirmed the details of his performance makeup with him the day before. The voice-changing microphone had already been completed on their side, and they were just waiting for his performance costume.

The production team had asked for his preferences and were ready to prepare a set for him, but Su Xingyao declined and designed the drawings himself to have them custom-made.

He didn’t like being disturbed while working, so he had his phone on silent.

By the time he finished and noticed missed calls, Qin Mingchuan had already called him forty-six times.

Seeing the same number calling persistently, Su Xingyao didn’t need to guess who it was.

When the next call came through, he answered.

“Why didn’t you come today? Are you busy?”

Qin Mingchuan immediately spoke, his voice heavy with an obvious sense of disappointment.

He was angry that Su Xingyao had stood him up, but when the call was answered, he suppressed all his emotions and even came up with an excuse for why the other party hadn’t arrived.

However, Su Xingyao, who was focused on reviewing the design drafts, didn’t notice Qin Mingchuan’s disappointment and calmly informed him.

“Talk to my lawyer about the contract termination, he’s more professional.”

Realizing that Su Xingyao couldn’t even be bothered to give him a perfunctory response, Qin Mingchuan took a deep breath and fell silent for a long time.

“Can we at least have a meal together? Let’s talk things over.”

Qin Mingchuan lowered his voice, much gentler than usual. “Where are you now? I’ll come pick you up.”

Engaging in small talk with Qin Mingchuan was tiring, and Su Xingyao didn’t want to waste time. He put down the design draft and prepared to hang up.

“I’ve already eaten.”

Noticing that Su Xingyao was likely about to end the call, Qin Mingchuan quickly stopped him.

“I’ve already replaced all the people from the Yingxing group.”

His tone was very urgent, eager to let Su Xingyao know all that he had done for him during this time.

“I know everything they did to you in the past. It was my management’s oversight, and I apologize for that. But Xingyao, I never intended to treat you like that…”

Qin Mingchuan spoke anxiously, his voice rising slightly.

Su Xingyao moved the phone slightly away from his ear, waiting for him to finish before replying calmly.

“I know.”

There was no evaluation, just the two words, said as if he were casually agreeing to something as insignificant as having fried rice for breakfast that morning.

Su Xingyao didn’t understand what had triggered Qin Mingchuan to say all this, but he knew that none of it mattered to him anymore.

Whether Qin Mingchuan replaced people or not had nothing to do with him.

So there was no need for him to specially mention it.

Thinking this, Su Xingyao felt even less need to continue the conversation with Qin Mingchuan and considered hanging up the phone again.

Their relationship had come to an end here.

Once the contract was terminated, there would be no need for further contact.

But it was clear that Qin Mingchuan was unwilling to give up so easily.

Su Xingyao’s indifferent attitude throughout the conversation was something he couldn’t accept, so he spoke again.

“I know that saying all this now won’t change anything, but it was I who had you sign with the Yingxing, so I’m responsible for you. This is my problem. Can’t I at least have a chance to make it up to you?”

When he said this, the usually proud Qin Mingchuan’s tone had almost become pleading.

This was the first time in so many years that he spoke so humbly to Su Xingyao.

His attitude had sunk to the lowest point.

“We were at least friends once.”

The word “friends” made Su Xingyao fall silent.

He didn’t deny what Qin Mingchuan had said.

They had indeed been very good friends once.

As the campus heartthrob of a neighboring prestigious school, he never put on airs in front of him, and in fact, he often stood up for Su Xingyao, the orphan with no parents.

But all that friendly relationship had been built under the condition that it didn’t involve Shen Huaixi.

Su Xingyao also remembered.

Not long after he had returned home, Shen Huaixi had invited him to go bike riding.

As a young master who had been pampered since childhood, he couldn’t even ride a bike properly, wobbling all over the place.

After laughing at Shen Huaixi for being clumsy, Qin Mingchuan went to buy water for them, then asked Su Xingyao to support the bike from behind.

But then, an accident happened.

While going downhill, Shen Huaixi inexplicably sped up, and this sudden acceleration caused Su Xingyao, who was supporting him, to fall as well.

His arm scraped against the ground, leaving it badly bruised, and Shen Huaixi lost control of the bike and fell off.

After Shen Huaixi’s hand was injured, it was Qin Mingchuan, this friend, who came to ask him first.

Why had he deliberately pushed Huaixi?

Su Xingyao couldn’t really remember how he felt when Qin Mingchuan misunderstood and blamed him back then.

Now, thinking back, aside from the lingering pain from the abrasions, the misunderstandings didn’t really matter to him anymore.

He had already said goodbye to the past.

“Qin Mingchuan.”

Su Xingyao calmly called out his name.

“These things are all in the past now.”

A faint smile curled at the corners of his lips. “I think I’ve made myself clear enough just now.”

“If you have any other questions, please contact my lawyer.”

A busy signal echoed in his ear.

Qin Mingchuan stared blankly at his phone for a long time after the call was disconnected.

When he snapped back to reality, he realized the driver had already brought the car near the Shen family mansion, slowing down and driving aimlessly.

Seeing the familiar place, Qin Mingchuan frowned.

“How did we end up here?”

He clearly hadn’t said anything about coming here.

The driver, seeing that Qin Mingchuan was in a bad mood, didn’t dare to confront him and explained as usual.

“You didn’t say where you wanted to go earlier, so I just drove randomly. Didn’t you used to come here often? I guess it was on the way, and I didn’t realize we’d come to Young Master Shen’s house.”

Qin Mingchuan didn’t feel relieved by the driver’s words. Instead, his frown deepened.

Because the mention of “Young Master Shen’s house” that the driver blurted out sounded extremely offensive to him.

If this had been in the past, he wouldn’t have found anything wrong with that term.

But now, he didn’t want to hear anyone say it like that at all.

This was clearly also Su Xingyao’s home.

But it seemed like no one had ever acknowledged that.

Even his own driver subconsciously thought that only Shen Huaixi was the son of the Shen family, as if Su Xingyao didn’t exist at all.

But Qin Mingchuan knew very well.

In fact, everyone knew of Su Xingyao’s existence, but no one cared.

In their subconscious minds, a consensus had already been reached. They all implicitly accepted that Su Xingyao was an insignificant, peripheral figure in the Shen family…

He wasn’t worthy, nor did he need to be noticed or mentioned.

Six years had passed, and Qin Mingchuan realized that only now had he noticed this issue.

The image of Su Xingyao’s pale face when he fainted resurfaced in his mind.

Thinking of the words he had said to him back then, Qin Mingchuan slammed his fist against the car window, his heart heavy with discomfort.

—

Although Qin Mingchuan felt unwilling about the things Su Xingyao had said over the phone, he still managed to maintain the last shred of dignity.

He called in his lawyer to discuss the contract termination with Su Xingyao’s lawyer.

He had no intention of making things difficult for Su Xingyao, so the process went smoothly.

On the day of the contract termination, Yingxing Entertainment kept their promise and deleted all of Su Xingyao’s files from the company’s records.

From then on, Su Xingyao had no further connection with Yingxing Entertainment.

Without the constraint of the agency contract, Su Xingyao regained his freedom.

As soon as the contract was terminated, he received the contract for the “The Voice of Heaven” show. After carefully reviewing the terms, he signed the contract himself for the first time for a program he wanted to join.

Xiao Li had actually been in touch with Su Xingyao a while ago.

But because Su Xingyao hadn’t responded, by the time they finally confirmed things, the program had already been nearly prepared and was about to begin.

Su Xingyao was also the last contestant confirmed for the show.

Once he signed the contract, the production team began their promotional campaign.

“The Voice of Heaven” was a music variety show.

Unlike traditional singing competitions, it leaned more toward a talent show format.

However, the contestants on this show weren’t trainees from major companies, nor were they well-known singers.

Instead, the production team had scouted talent from all over the internet, inviting skilled individuals from various fields to compete.

These contestants were unfamiliar new faces to the general audience. While they brought a strong sense of freshness, there was a significant drawback in the early stages.

That drawback was the lack of appeal.

If the show couldn’t even attract viewers at the start, no matter how promising the program was, it would be hard to make it a hit.

Moreover, this program was a music variety show, which naturally had less buzz and attention compared to popular genres like dating shows and talent competitions.

The show’s director, Song Yingming, who had previously worked on both talent shows and dating reality shows—each of them major hits—was well aware of this flaw.

To address this, he decided to apply the same strategy he had used in his earlier talent shows.

He hired four high-profile mentors, plus one superstar guest to act as a headliner.

With these five stars involved, even if the contestants didn’t generate much buzz in the early stages, their presence alone would create enough spectacle.

Soon, the production team announced the mentor lineup on the official WeChat account.

The first mentor officially announced for The Voice of Heaven was Sheng Yan, a top idol who had risen to fame in the last two years and was currently at the peak of his career.

Next, the powerhouse vocalists Wen Yun and the musical genius Xu Beizhou were also announced.

These three were all well-known in the music industry and recognized by the audience.

Even Sheng Yan, a traffic idol, was no slouch in terms of vocal ability, with many well-known songs to his name.

As a result, after these three mentors were revealed, everyone eagerly anticipated the final mentor.

However, it wasn’t until the day before recording that the official announcement was made.

The fourth mentor was a bit of a surprise.

The production team had invited Shen Huaixi.

A traffic star with fans for his acting skills, singing talent, and good looks.

Perhaps because Shen Huaixi’s profile was so different from the first three mentors, his name immediately trended on social media after the reveal, just as expected.

So, even before the show had officially aired, The Voice of Heaven had already gained attention thanks to its mentor lineup.

—

The online buzz had nothing to do with Su Xingyao.

He was currently struggling with two mascot costumes he had received.

The reason was that these two costumes were based on the images of Sunset and Coral, designed as a dog and a cat suit.

He was scheduled to record at the venue tomorrow, but his two mascots, who had always had a good relationship, had started fighting because one of them was supposed to wear that costume.

Of course, the dog and cat didn’t actually fight. They simply refused to give in, each sitting in front of their respective mascot costumes, staring unblinkingly at Su Xingyao.

“How about you two play rock-paper-scissors?”

Not wanting to offend either side, Su Xingyao suggested a solution when they were stuck in a standoff.

Sunset, who always supported whatever Su Xingyao said, immediately understood and raised its feet twice, signaling its readiness to settle things with a showdown.

Coral squinted at it and gave a look, as if to say “are you kidding me?”

It lifted its cat paw, stuck out its tongue, and licked it.

What a joke, with their paws outstretched, what could they possibly produce, except fabric?

Rock-paper-scissors wasn’t going to work, but Su Xingyao quickly came up with a solution.

He took out a dice and decided to use the simplest and most primitive method.

Whoever rolled the higher number would wear their respective costume.

After the decision was made, the two animals immediately carried out the plan.

Although Sunset was slightly bigger than Coral, its roll came up five points lower than Coral’s.

In the end, the petite Coral rolled a six, and successfully got her headgear to accompany Su Xingyao to the opening stage of The Voice of Heaven.

After choosing the cat costume, Su Xingyao began to carefully inspect it.

In order to make it easier for singing and holding the microphone, the mascot costumes were specially customized.

However, since he didn’t make it himself, he noticed some small issues in the details.

Especially the mouth area, which was too thick and didn’t help with singing.

So, he dismantled that part and made a small opening, replacing it with a thinner, black mesh that couldn’t be seen through.

While he was sewing, Lu Jiuxu walked over.

These past few days, as Su Xingyao was drawing up plans and modifying the mascot costumes, Lu Jiuxu had been squatting next to him, watching him work and talking to him.

“How do you know so many skills?”

In addition to this, a few days ago, he even made an animal-themed bus for Lu Zhiyun. He personally designed every aspect of the bus, and it was vivid and very exquisite.

Because Su Xingyao was so handsome and had fair skin, people often thought that he had lived a pampered life, never lifting a finger.

So, seeing him do so many things that most people couldn’t do, Lu Jiuxu couldn’t help but be curious.

Once Su Xingyao finished sewing the final mesh, he clapped his hands with satisfaction.

He tilted his head slightly, a smug smile on his face, and said to Lu Jiuxu.

“I learned it from my sister when I was young.”

After his foster mother passed away, his foster father had a bad habit of gambling and drinking.

Since the family had no income and often couldn’t afford enough food, his sister started making various handicrafts from middle school to help support the family.

The happiest time of Su Xingyao’s childhood was when he would make handicrafts with his sister after school or on weekends while they sold pancakes.

Whenever there was no one around, they would quickly make beautiful, delicate things and sell them at night markets in the evening.

At first, because he was so young, he would just watch his sister do everything.

But as he kept watching, he learned. His sister, seeing his eagerness to help, began involving him in the work.

Life was difficult back then, and their handmade crafts didn’t sell for much.

But as long as he was with his sister, doing these little things outside, he didn’t have to go home and face his abusive foster father.

These moments were incredibly precious and hard to come by for Su Xingyao.

When Lu Jiuxu heard Su Xingyao mention his sister, his eyes shifted slightly, as if he was reminded of something.

After a while, he spoke again, “You have a sister?”

Su Xingyao didn’t notice his subtle change, and after nodding, he softly replied.

“Mm, I do.”

“But she’s already passed away.”

Seeing the faint smile on Su Xingyao’s lips, Lu Jiuxu realized he had brought up a painful subject.

He immediately apologized and didn’t press further.

“Sorry.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine.”

Su Xingyao quickly smiled and picked up the mascot costume, then opened the camera app on his phone.

“Mr. Lu, what do you think?”

He then held the costume with his right hand and waved at Coral and Sunset.

“How about taking a photo for us as a keepsake?”

—

Early the next morning, Su Xingyao took a taxi alone to the The Voice of Heaven recording site.

However, since the venue was newly built and the driver was new to the route, he ended up taking the wrong turn and dropped Su Xingyao off at the wrong stop.

After using real-time location tracking with the staff, Su Xingyao realized the venue wasn’t far, so he decided to walk there himself.

The distance seemed short, but in reality, he walked for nearly twenty minutes.

When he finally arrived, Su Xingyao noticed that Voice of Heaven was quite wealthy, and the recording venue was enormous.

The B entrance he needed to go to was still separated by a vast plaza.

Having already walked for over twenty minutes, Su Xingyao, with his mascot headgear on, was both exhausted and thirsty.

Seeing the last stretch of the journey, he decided to rest for a moment before continuing.

However, he had just stood there for less than a minute when he heard a commotion behind him.

Then a large group of uniformed people rushed past him.

One of them, walking quickly, accidentally bumped into him.

Su Xingyao, already clumsy in the mascot costume, nearly lost his balance from the force of the impact.

His arms flailed in the air, and he struggled for a long time before finally stabilizing himself.

Su Xingyao felt a little uncomfortable, as he had been bumped into without receiving an apology. The other person’s lack of manners bothered him.

He frowned and looked up, wanting to see who these people were, walking so arrogantly.

However, just as he lifted his head, he saw the group of people suddenly stop in their tracks and then walk toward him.

The man at the center of the group quickly reached Su Xingyao and stopped in front of him.

“Sorry, did I knock you over just now?”

Through the mascot headgear, Su Xingyao clearly saw the face of the polite man in front of him.

It was Fu Qingyan.