“Xiao Shi, you might not perform well this time.”

When the message came from Yan Siyu, Shi Sheng understood.

He tapped the screen with his finger and sent a message: “It’s okay, it’s okay. I’ll adjust as soon as possible. I’ll definitely do better next time.”

“Okay.”

Shortly after, the group announced that Fu Xin would be voicing the male lead in “Qingshou” this time. The group disbanded, and Shi Sheng threw his phone aside, closing the document on his computer.

He tidied up the things in the recording room and leaned back on the table.

To say he wasn’t disappointed would be a lie. Except for not getting up this morning, he had been doing morning exercises at six o’clock every day for the past few days, training his breath and diaphragm, flipping through many notes and books brought from home, trying hard to recall and practice.

But he just couldn’t get the hang of it, as if with his amnesia, he had also forgotten his many years of hard work.

It’s ridiculous, to let those two idiots benefit for nothing.

Shi Sheng looked at the big, bold words “Broadcasting and Hosting” on the table and pushed the professional book aside. Then he glanced at the time. Lu Lin should still be training.

He got up and hopped out, slamming the door shut.

It was almost autumn.

When Shi Sheng arrived at the training ground outside, they were doing floor exercises. On the wall, there were four big words that read “Strict Requirements, Strict Training.” From afar, he recognized one of the people hanging from the wall as Lu Lin.

“Chief, come on, surpass him, surpass him!”

“Wow, look at Lu Lin climbing the building.”

“Iron Pillar, can you do it? We’re all worried about you!”

On the field, the firefighters were all dressed in orange rescue uniforms. If they each had a broom in hand, they would look like a group of janitors having a meeting. Shi Sheng looked up at Lu Lin, who was climbing up fast and steadily, feeling a sense of pride for some reason.

Lu Lin climbed to the window at the top, then quickly jumped in. Another person hesitated for a moment before following him. Soon they came down again, and another group of people went up for training.

Someone called out to Lu Lin, saying that his little friend had come.

He turned to see Shi Sheng sitting outside, took off his hat, and wiped his sweat.

He walked over. “What’s up, is the audition over? Didn’t pass?”

“How did you know?” Shi Sheng handed him a bottle of water.

“Even if you passed, would you still be watching me train with such deep resentment?” He took the water, gulping down a few mouthfuls, licked his lips, and looked at him. “Don’t put too much pressure on yourself.”

“I know.”

Shi Sheng felt a bit better, propping his head and watching Lu Lin standing in front of him, sweating profusely. “This time, for this radio drama, the sponsors gave a lot of money. Fu Xin and Zhou Hancun were afraid I would pass the audition, so they used this dirty trick of causing an allergic reaction with alcohol, preventing me from participating…”

Lu Lin’s eyes darkened. “What do you want to do?”

“Dog eats dog, tit for tat. Fu Xin got this role, but Zhou Hancun may not be happy about it. I want to stir up some trouble.”

“Is there anything I can help you with?”

Shi Sheng gestured for Lu Lin to come closer.

Puzzled, Lu Lin bent down, and Shi Sheng raised his hand to wipe the sweat off his forehead. “As long as you make me feel good.”

Lu Lin was stunned, meeting Shi Sheng’s cunning eyes.

However, Shi Sheng didn’t get a chance to execute his plan.

In the evening, a newcomer who had just joined the studio recently suddenly posted several ten-second voice messages in the group chat. Shi Sheng took off his headphones, sat on the revolving chair, and casually clicked play.

“They definitely don’t know that you arranged for someone to make that call. They also don’t know how serious Shi Sheng’s allergy is. What if it doesn’t reach the point of losing his voice?”

Shi Sheng was stunned, and the next message played automatically.

“It’s all your fault. I told you to persuade him to drink more.”

“It’s because Yan Siyu, that woman, stopped me. When I saw Shi Sheng’s expression just now, it seemed like he guessed it.”

“Don’t worry, he has no evidence to say that this is what we did. At most, it’s a coincidence.”

…

Although the voices of the two were played for the second time and somewhat blurred, it was not difficult to distinguish who was who. Wu Nan er silently typed a question mark in the group.

“Wow, what a bombshell.” Shi Sheng exclaimed in surprise. It seemed like a hero had appeared to help when needed.

For a moment, in the large group, everyone bombarded Fu Xin and Zhou Hancun with questions, asking them to clarify whether they deliberately did it.

“Allergies can be fatal. Is it worth it just for an audition?”

“I can’t believe neither of you came forward.”

“What’s wrong with you two? Watch out for a lawyer’s letter from Shi Sheng.”

The newcomer suddenly apologized, saying he didn’t know why his account was hacked, but all of this was unimportant.

Amidst the flood of criticism and onlookers in the group chat, Fu Xin suddenly sent a twenty-second voice message. Shi Sheng quickly opened it to see that it was full of curses targeted at him, concluding that this was his doing.

In an instant, the group was filled with anger and voices flying everywhere. Shi Sheng had never realized that his colleagues’ voices could be so pleasing.

Fu Xin quickly deleted the voice message.

“Don’t delete it,” Shi Sheng typed. “If you have the guts to do it, have the guts to admit it.”

The principal culprit being exposed, the group chat exploded again. Shi Sheng was enjoying the spectacle when Li Ting, as the PR person, came over to say that this matter would be satisfactorily dealt with.

“No problem, thanks for your trouble at this late hour,” Shi Sheng said, lazily spinning in the revolving chair. “This matter is not urgent, it can be handled tomorrow.”

Li Ting on the other side of the screen choked up: dragging it to tomorrow?

Soon, Fu Xin and Zhou Hancun withdrew from the group chat. Shi Sheng looked at the reduced number of people in the group chat, smiling satisfactorily. It seemed that the matter of expelling them was a done deal.

“What’s going on?”

“Why are you laughing so happily?” Lu Lin came in after training.

Shi Sheng looked up, opened Wu Nan er’s chat window, and typed a line: Was it you who did this?

He casually threw the phone onto the bed and jumped up towards Lu Lin. “Good news! Revenge is taken, injustice is cleared, shall we celebrate with a bottle of beer?”

“You still want to drink? Are you asking for trouble?”

Lu Lin raised his finger and tapped Shi Sheng’s forehead, then hugged him back to his seat.

Shi Sheng playfully tugged at his collar, grinning. “It’s all thanks to you for arriving in time that day, otherwise, where would I have this chance for revenge?”

He told Lu Lin about the exciting gossip just now and analyzed that the recording was made shortly after Lu Lin arrived. He didn’t notice how intimate he was sitting on Lu Lin’s lap at the moment.

“In that case, I deserve credit too.”

“Of course!”

Lu Lin looked at him with eyebrows raised, amused.