Amateur talent show? Top mentors are my students.

When Shen Yiheng and Han Yu sat in the conference room, the atmosphere between them was neither particularly harmonious nor tense.

It's more like a daily routine where people don't like each other but have to sit at the same table for the sake of business.

A sheet of music lay on the table, written by Han Yu, the title track for NOVA's next album.

He came to Aurora Media's office today to discuss the direction of music arrangement with Shen Yiheng.

The two had been arguing about the key of a bridge for nearly forty minutes, and neither had convinced the other.

"You wrote this melody line too narrowly." Shen Yiheng tapped the score with his pen. "The verse is very narrative, but the chorus lacks momentum—they can't get the emotion going there."

"The reason it can't reach higher frequencies is because the arrangement didn't provide enough space." Han Yu leaned back in his chair, arms crossed. "If you expect me to fill the entire space with low frequencies, what will the singer use to sing?"

"So you think it should be left empty? Leaving it empty will only make it feel less dynamic."

"I didn't mean it should be empty, I meant it should be—"

The meeting room door was pushed open.

Yang Sheng stood at the door, the collar of his training T-shirt soaked with sweat, his hair disheveled and plastered to his forehead.

Jiang Yang and Song Yingwen followed behind him. The three of them had obviously just finished training and hadn't had time to change their clothes yet.

"PD, Teacher Han Yu—we've finished practicing." Yang Sheng walked in, his gaze lingering for a moment on the sheet music spread out on the table. "Want to hear the demo today?"

Shen Yiheng glanced at the time: "No rush, you guys rest for a while. We'll talk about it tomorrow—"

"By the way, Teacher He can speak now."

Yang Sheng said this in a very casual tone.

He even picked up the water bottle on the table, unscrewed the cap, and took a sip while speaking, completely unaware that he had just dropped a bomb.

There was a moment of silence in the conference room.

Shen Yiheng's pen froze in mid-air: "...What did you say?"

"Teacher He." Yang Sheng put down his water bottle and blinked. "He called me at noon today. His throat is better, he can talk again, and his voice is quite nice."

Jiang Yang added from the side, "He called Yang Sheng! He only called Yang Sheng! I asked him why he didn't wake me, and he said he was sleeping!"

"Noon?" Shen Yiheng's voice carried a hint of nervousness, as if he'd been preempted. "He called you? Why didn't you tell me this afternoon?"

"I've been busy." Yang Sheng glanced at him, speaking at a measured pace, "I was planning to message you tonight—"

Before he could finish speaking, Shen Yiheng had already picked up his phone from the table and unlocked the screen quickly and urgently.

Han Yu reached for his phone, which was next to the sheet music, almost simultaneously—the two of them bumped into each other, their elbows hitting the edge of the table.

Then, under the watchful eyes of the three little stars, the two of them walked out of the conference room at the same time and headed towards one end of the corridor.

Shen Yiheng's phone was already pressed against his ear. It rang once, then rang again.

His knuckles turned white as he gripped the phone.

Han Yu's voice came from the side, tinged with barely suppressed urgency: "You dialed his number?"

"What else?" Shen Yiheng turned his head and glanced at him. "You'll hit me?"

"I'm playing too."

The two of them stopped at the same time, took their phones away from their ears, and glanced down at the screens.

Then they both fell silent.

The same line of text was displayed on the screen: "Call in progress".

"You're busy." Shen Yiheng's voice carried a subtle, almost imperceptible hint of gritted teeth.

"It's because your line is busy." Han Yu's tone was exactly the same as his.

"My line is busy? Didn't you see the words 'busy'?"

"You dialed first, so of course your line is busy."

Shen Yiheng stared at Han Yu for two seconds, then put the phone back to his ear and continued to wait.

Han Yu didn't hang up either. The two of them stood under the fluorescent lights in the corridor, holding their phones, silently waiting for the busy tone on the other end to end.

Three seconds later, a short "beep" came from Shen Yiheng's phone—the call was disconnected.

Then it was Han Yu's phone—it also gave a short "beep".

"He hung up on me?" Shen Yiheng's voice was tinged with disbelief.

Han Yu paused for a moment, then took the phone away from his ear and looked at the screen.

Then both of their phones vibrated at the same time.

Message notification.

From the NOVA group chat, the only group chat where both of them are present.

When Shen Yiheng opened the group chat, his fingers were still trembling slightly.

There was only one new message on the screen, from He Xu, which was a voice message.

Duration: 60 seconds.

He glanced at the duration and his heart skipped a beat—a 60-second voice message, at He Xu's speaking speed, could probably fit in three hundred words of profanity.

He opened the voice message and held the phone to his ear.

Then he froze.

He recognized the voice coming from the receiver, yet he didn't.

—That was He Xu's voice, but it wasn't any version of He Xu he remembered.

The He Xu he knew had a voice that was either clear and sharp like a blade before he was injured, or low and rough like sandpaper after he was injured.

But the sound that entered my ears at that moment was completely different—the low frequencies were still there, with He Xu's unique, languid magnetism.

But that magnetism was no longer suppressed by the hoarseness; instead, it flowed from the receiver clear, clean, and with a slight hoarseness, as if the person had just woken up.

It sounds good.

It could even be described as excessively pleasant to listen to.

...Then the voice started swearing.

"Are you two crazy? Calling in the middle of the night? It's 2:30 AM in Los Angeles! -- I thought something terrible had happened, so I got up to answer the phone, and you two just wanted to check if my throat was better? I had surgery less than a month ago! How am I supposed to recover if I don't sleep?! -- I'm hanging up, stop calling. If you call again, it won't just be a voice message anymore. I'll yell at you face to face when I get back."

The audio recording has ended.

Shen Yiheng remained standing still, holding his phone in the same position.

He kept replaying those sixty seconds in his mind—the content was swearing, but the clean, crisp tone with a deep, resonant bass made those few swear words sound like some kind of luxurious gift.

He noticed that his ears were getting hot.

Han Yu stood next to him and listened to the entire audio recording.

His expression was calmer than Shen Yiheng's, but his hand gripping the phone was very tight, his knuckles turning white.

He remained silent for several seconds before speaking, his voice half an octave lower than usual: "...His voice really has changed."

"Hmm." Shen Yiheng only responded with one word, because he found that he couldn't say anything more.

NOVA's group chat was silent for about five seconds after the voice message was sent—everyone was processing the same thing: He Xu's voice was fine, and so fine it was almost unbelievable.

Then Jiang Yang was the first to go crazy.

He sent a string of "hahahahahahaha," but then immediately followed up with another message: "Wait, wait—Teacher He's voice just now—why was it so nice??? Did I hear that right???"

Li Bufan followed closely behind: "Holy crap, I was going to laugh at the PD, but after listening to the voice recording, I forgot what I was going to laugh about... Brother He Xu, what happened to your voice?!"

Lu Yiming sent a shocked cat emoji.

Wang Yijun typed an objective comment: "It really sounds good. Much better than before."

Song Yingwen: "+1".

Li Bufan then added, "Brother He Xu's insults are still so sophisticated. It warms my heart."

Qi Xunan's words were only two words: "Serves him right."

Yang Sheng was the only one who didn't comment; he only posted one line: "Goodnight, Teacher He."

Shen Yiheng stared at the scrolling messages on the screen, and for a moment he didn't get angry.

He looked down at the 60-second voice message, his thumb hovering over the screen. He hesitated for two seconds, then, almost unconsciously, tapped it again.

He Xu's voice came through the receiver again, even clearer than before.

Han Yu glanced at him from the side and asked, "How many more times do you want to hear it?"

Shen Yiheng immediately turned off his phone: "...Just once."

Han Yu rolled his eyes, speechless.