Sister Hua opened her mouth, wanting to ask how he planned to promote "Phoenix Legend," but in the end, she didn't. Perhaps an unknown surprise would be more interesting. Or, if he failed, it wouldn't be too embarrassing. After all, Chu Tian hadn't explicitly stated his reasons; maybe he was uncertain? Sister Hua, filled with worldly wisdom, could only forcefully restrain her curiosity and smile.

"Alright then, I'll leave the house in your care."

「 」

Although she had said it would be in a couple of days, Sister Hua, true to her workaholic nature, whisked Xu Qingqiu away the very next day. This made Chu Tian completely bewildered when he woke up early the next morning to find the neighboring villa empty.

Only after checking his phone did he see the messages Xu Qingqiu had left.

"Don't get up so early this morning. Sleep in; I'm leaving first~"

"Don't worry about me. Sister Hua called Yiyi back, and she even found me a few bodyguards, so rest assured."

"Oh, and they're female bodyguards. Remember to text me back when you wake up~"

He glanced at the time; the message had been sent a little after five in the morning. Chu Tian was speechless. He knew they were leaving today, but this was way too early, wasn't it? He had slept in, thinking he would help with breakfast and see them off. So much for that.

Chu Tian sighed, phone in hand, about to reply, when DING DONG, another message popped up.

"Hey, I'm at the airport! Is the little sleepyhead up yet? I'll be boarding soon. If I don't reply, I'm probably on the plane, so don't worry."

Seeing this, he couldn't help but smile, his thumbs flying as he typed a quick response.

"I'm up. I'm standing right at your front door. I didn't expect you all to leave so early."

"Huh? Didn't you see the message I sent? You're up so early again! Why not go back and catch some more sleep?"

"No, I just woke up and came over. I only saw it now. I'm not going back to sleep; I'll head to the company to get things ready. Work first."

"I'm sorry, Chu Tian. I didn't expect Sister Hua to hand them over to you. If you don't like it, I'll talk to Sister Hua about it later."

"It's fine, what's there to mind? Just focus on your safety and take care of yourself. Don't worry about me."

Just like that, exchanging messages back and forth, Chu Tian stood at Xu Qingqiu's front door, chatting for a full half hour. It wasn't until she had to board her flight that he realized his feet had gone numb.

Putting his phone away, Chu Tian shook his head with a wry smile. Only apart for a day, huh? Is this what being head over heels feels like? Wanting to stick together every single second. Seriously, their combined age was fifty, yet they were acting so childish... But... as long as they were happy, why worry about anything else?

After freshening up and changing at home, Chu Tian drove to the studio. Since he'd made a promise, he naturally had to see it through. Today, he planned to try and launch Yang Lin and Chen Feng. He wondered if it would work.

"You've been practicing for several days. How's the singing coming along?"

Not long after Chu Tian arrived at the studio, Yang Lin and Chen Feng showed up. They ran straight into him, which made their hearts skip a beat.

"Um... well, I... I think it's pretty much there," Yang Lin said, her eyes darting towards Chen Feng. Chu Tian noticed all their little movements.

"And you, Chen Feng? How do you feel?"

"Heh, President Chu, you know I only have those two lines. How could I not be ready?"

Hearing this, Chu Tian almost burst out laughing, struggling to keep a straight face. It was only then he realized the song he'd chosen was the one that got an old acquaintance from another world nicknamed 'Stay Bro.' He also realized he'd apparently asked a foolish question.

Chen Feng wore a wry smile. Initially, he'd been so excited he could barely contain himself. He'd thought, 'I finally got a piece from the master Youmeng! I'm finally debuting! I'm gonna be famous!' When he saw the lyrics, although he found them a bit cheesy, the song itself had an unexpectedly catchy feel. 'Not bad,' he'd thought, 'at least it's a good song.' But after going back to study it, he'd realized—holy cow!—all his lyrics combined were shorter than a single line of Yang Lin's part. Suddenly, Chen Feng felt the world go dark. But now, seeing Yang Lin—usually so carefree and confident—looking troubled, he thought maybe this wasn't so bad. They were getting paid the same for the same job, and he only had a few lines to memorize, which was a breeze. But Yang Lin? She had to sing practically the whole song. Just memorizing the lyrics must be exhausting. Thinking this, Chen Feng felt an inexplicable little thrill of schadenfreude.

His amusement was a bit too obvious, however, and he quickly earned a sharp glare from Yang Lin.

"COUGH, COUGH. I wasn't laughing. Really, I wasn't. My mouth just twitched."

Yang Lin's face darkened. "You'd better not have been..." she said, displeased.

"Alright, alright, we'll find out once we try," Chu Tian interjected. "Let's go in and run through it. If there are no problems, we'll start recording this afternoon. And let me tell you both upfront: your debut date depends on your progress with the song."

"If you're not in a hurry and want to drag it out, then you'll just have to wait longer. Understood?"

Hearing Chu Tian's words, the two of them suddenly felt the pressure.

"Under... understood..."

"Alright, head inside, put your things down, and get ready. We'll start if there are no issues."

After entering the recording studio, Yang Lin and Chen Feng quickly reviewed the lyrics once more, and then they began. It was clear that both of them... well, Yang Lin, at least, was really putting her heart into it.

After the first run-through, Chu Tian pondered for a moment. He had a general idea now. Her singing wasn't perfect; there were definitely issues. But these could be addressed gradually. The problems stemmed partly from their limited understanding of the song and partly from their own current abilities. Still, her current level was quite impressive. Yang Lin must have put in a lot of practice on her own. As for Chen Feng? Best not to mention him. His workload was minimal, practically negligible.

"Okay," Chu Tian said. "There are still some issues with breath control, some spots where the pitch isn't quite right, and the vocal runs aren't smooth enough. Otherwise, it's mostly fine."

"So, we'll start recording this afternoon. We'll do several takes."

"I don't expect a perfect take on the first try, nor do I expect you to finish in just one recording."

"We'll likely do some tuning and editing afterward, so don't feel too much pressure. Just give it your all, okay?"

A perfect take on the first try? Such singers existed, but they were incredibly rare. Apart from the truly, exceptionally talented, only singer-songwriters who intimately knew their work and had performed it countless times could manage it. Purely performing singers would find it very difficult to achieve on short notice.

The backing track was already prepared. Chu Tian only made minor adjustments to parts of it, leaving most of it unchanged. After all, a System-produced track was bound to be accurate. Was it less than perfect? This wasn't for Xu Qingqiu; it was just a debut single for newcomers. Honestly, even if it were done exceptionally well, not many would care. It's not like netizens nitpicked every song. Besides, their current status and fame were different. Making it too perfect would be like winking at a blind man—pointless.

Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.