Studio Superstar: Chapter 83 Part 2

[Such sounds exist in my memory.]

[I remember when I was standing on the side of the road—]

The scene switched to when Xie Jia was young. He was thin as he stood on the side of the road.

Vehicles were flowing continuously on the street, their horns blaring frequently.

[Or when standing on the edge of the construction site.]

The moment the scene changed, there was a transport truck waiting at the edge of the construction site. The engine kept making a rumbling sound.

[Or maybe it was when someone was renovating upstairs.]

Little Xie Jia sat on the floor and played with toys when there was the sound of an electric drill from upstairs.

[Now, I heard it again… I finally heard it again!]

The scene returned to this moment.

Xie Jia turned his head suddenly. He had red eyes as he smiled in a silly manner at Mu Sheng.

Mu Sheng’s eyes darkened, and his Adam’s apple moved slightly.

[Who knows, I couldn’t bear to take it off at all. I really want to continue listening to it!]

[He knows… he definitely knows.]

……

On the way to send Xie Jia back to school, Mu Sheng said, “If your hearing isn’t protected in time, it will continue to decline and become more serious. You are already too late… it is best not to delay it any longer.”

Xie Jia kept looking at his lips. “I know. I am working and saving money just to buy hearing aids. Now, I am still a bit short…”

Mu Sheng stopped and faced him. “I can help you.”

Xie Jia was slightly startled.

He said nonchalantly, “…There are so many hearing-impaired people in this world. You can’t help them all.”

Mu Sheng’s gaze didn’t look away at all. There was no hesitation on his face.

He stared at Xie Jia intently and said, “But I only met you.”

Xie Jia was stunned.

Mu Sheng said that his little niece was studying in a special education school, and there were many people like his little niece.

…So what did ‘I only met you’ mean?

Xie Jia became embarrassed. His cheeks turned red again, and his gaze wandered.

On the screen, the two people stood opposite each other. Mu Sheng stared at him for a while before suddenly saying softly, “You should know that I don’t treat you as a little nephew, right?”

In the studio, the audience screamed.

This was a confession!!

If this wasn’t a confession, what was it?!

The reason why Mu Sheng cared about Xie Jia wasn’t just because Xia Jia and his little niece were similar. It was because when they first met, the two of them fell in love with each other at first sight!

But Xie Jia didn’t hear clearly.

He only knew that Mu Sheng said something in that second. However, he was shy and lowered his head, so he didn’t see it.

He hurriedly raised his head and asked, “What did you just say?”

Mu Sheng looked at him tenderly and said, “I will tell you again one day when you can hear it.”

Xie Jia pursed his lips.

……

After returning to the dormitory, Xie Jia was extremely confused.

He dug out his wallet. There was only 200 yuan left in it.

He turned on his phone again and found that Alipay’s balance was over 1,000.

Then he opened the text message on his phone. Three days ago, a bank sent him a balance change text message, reminding him that the total balance on the card was over 3,500.

In total, there was less than 5,000 in capital.

Just like what he said to Mu Sheng, he didn’t have enough money to buy a better pair of hearing aids.

Here, the audience could basically see that Xie Jia’s parents had no involvement in his life at all. Xie Jia’s tuition money was most likely earned by working part-time.

The money he could earn from working part-time was too limited. No matter how hard he worked, there would be very little money left after paying tuition and deducting part of the living expenses.

Xie Jia lay on the dormitory bed.

[Accept help.]

[Wait a bit longer.]

[Accept help.]

[Wait a bit longer.]

Xie Jia tore the tissue like this and struggled internally.

His roommates suddenly burst in, chattering loudly.

Xie Jia only glanced at them and continued his ‘work’ with his hands.

Then he discovered that the tissue in his hand had been torn until there was only a long and thin strip left, like a thread.

Xie Jia suddenly stopped.

[At this time, I suddenly remembered a sentence that I always used to remind myself.]

[Life changes linearly. Every decision I make will have a long-term impact on my future.]

One of his roommates said loudly, “You didn’t see the scene just now. Dongzi was so timid when he confessed his love to that girl. No one could hear his low voice. We saw the girl suddenly blush and knew that he had finished!”

“Hahahaha!”

Another roommate was on the phone. “Mom, what are you saying? Speak louder. It is very noisy here. I can’t hear clearly.”

Another roommate sat down and played games on his mobile phone. He shouted to the friend on the upper bunk, “D*mn, where are you? Didn’t you hear me calling you just now? I’m going to die!”

“I’m coming, coming, coming!”

Xie Jia sat up abruptly and looked down at the slender piece of paper towel in his hand.

The audience’s hearts were tense.

The scene filmed by Shen Tingyan was wonderful.

Xie Jia and his roommates seemed to be separated into two worlds, but in fact, they were closely connected.

Sound was inseparable from the human world.

It was true that hearing loss didn’t mean he couldn’t live, but if he could participate more in the world, who wouldn’t want that?

Who didn’t want to hear about love, family, and friendship?

[I am still short of some money. Maybe two or three thousand, maybe four or five thousand, or more… But I have hands and feet. I can always earn it and pay it back.]

[But once my hearing is completely lost, even a hearing aid might not restore it.]

Xie Jia had lived too long in a world where noises were gone. He didn’t realize at all that perhaps he would never come back if he took one more step.

It was the appearance of Mu Sheng’s voice that dragged him back.

Xie Jia tightened his fingers and clenched them into fists.

After a moment, he took a deep breath and got up from the bed.

……

Xie Jia was able to figure it out. This really relieved the audience.

Sometimes, people didn’t really need to think about things in too complicated a manner. There was no need to be too stubborn!

When one needed help, they should accept it openly!

As long as they didn’t forget to pay it back, what could they not do?

The rhythm of the film once again increased. The soundtrack became brisk.

The screen switching became more compact.

Xie Jia started to run to the hospital to have his ears checked.

Mu Sheng had experience, so he did all of this with Xie Jia.

Xie Jia was a bit nervous when he stepped into the hospital.

He finally had to face his problem formally. Just like people of a certain age were afraid of seeing the results of physical examinations, he also had a bitter face and trembled throughout the entire process.

This was until the results came out and the dust settled. He finally sighed with relief. Mu Sheng couldn’t help laughing at the sight.

At the same time, he continued to work hard. In addition to his job at the convenience store, he found a job as a tutor again.

This time, the child was very well-behaved and polite. He taught very smoothly.

A few days later, Mu Sheng took him to a professional hearing institution to have his hearing tested and his hearing aids selected.

Xie Jia was very excited, and his eyes lit up. Mu Sheng kept looking at him with a smile.

The story was about to reach its final climax. The audience was full of enthusiasm.

……

Xie Jia received a phone call.

It was his mother, who hadn’t been in touch with him for a long time.

Mother Xie probably felt a bit lonely and wanted to talk to her son.

But the act of ‘caring for her son’ was too unfamiliar to her, so she was hesitant and vague.

This was until she heard that Xie Jia was in a hearing institution. She was stunned for a moment before asking, “Where did you get the money?”

Xie Jia answered, “I earned it myself… and also borrowed it from friends. We scraped it all together.”

Mother Xie was silent for a moment and said, “Aren’t you afraid that others will look at you? I have told you many times that after you put on hearing aids, you will—”

Xie Jia interrupted her. “Will I become disabled?”

“But if I don’t wear it, will I not have a hearing disability?”

“Mom, do you need to talk so loudly when you are talking on the phone with someone with normal ears?”

Mother Xie was silent.

Xie Jia sat down in a chair in the corridor.

There was no heated argument like that night in high school. At this moment, he just said calmly, “Besides, do other people’s eyes really matter?”

“If it really matters… then I’ve been looked at by such eyes for ten years.”

When he couldn’t hear others calling him, when he spoke loudly because he thought others couldn’t hear clearly, when he was misunderstood because he tried hard to read other people’s lips…

Every minute and every second, strange eyes surrounded him.

There was dead silence on the other end of the phone.

Xie Jia’s head tilted back as he leaned lightly against the wall.

He caught something in his peripheral vision and turned his face sideways.

Mu Sheng walked out of the room, stopped at the door, and looked down at him.

The eyes of the two people met silently in the air.

Xie Jia looked at the man while speaking.

“If I am destined to become a ‘special’ person, why don’t I simply become the most unique one?”

……

The screen went black.

The surging melody, like ocean waves, gradually started to sound.

When the screen lit up again, Xie Jia picked up two small hearing aids.

With the help of a professional, he put two hearing aids in his ears.

The degree of hearing loss in both his ears was different.

“It might take some time for you to get used to wearing hearing aids at first.”

The noisy, screeching sound came again.

The staff member adjusted the position of his hearing aids, and the noisy sound faded instantly.

The staff member smiled. “You must wear it correctly or there will be noise.”’

“Can you feel it now? Is there anything uncomfortable?”

The rhythm of the soundtrack melody was getting tighter and tighter, and the waves were getting higher and higher.

Xie Jia lowered his eyes and said, “…It is a bit stuffy. There are still a lot of sounds, and it is a bit noisy.”

“This is normal because you haven’t gotten used to it yet. After you get used to it, we will have to adjust it again. It will take several adjustments to reach the level that best suits your ears.”

“…Yes.”

The camera focused on Xie Jia’s face.

The audience didn’t know where he was looking.

His gaze wandered.

Or he might not have found the target he should focus on at this moment.

Suddenly, he seemed to finally remember something. He turned his head in a daze and looked out the window.

Under the watchful eyes of the staff member and Mu Sheng, he walked to the window step by step. raised his arms and opened the window.

At the moment when the soundtrack reached its most exciting climax—

All the melodies came to an abrupt end.

The world fell silent.

Xie Jia closed his eyes.

He took a deep breath.

The wind was blowing gently, making a ‘hu… hu…’ noise.

The leaves were rubbing against each other, making a rustling noise.

The little bird chirped before suddenly flapping its wings and flying away.

Somewhere far away, someone was talking loudly, and a vehicle was honking its horn.

There were a lot of noises.

What beautiful noises.

He also heard footsteps.

The footsteps slowly approached him.

Then, another breath.

A breath that haunted him.

He turned around. Mu Sheng stood in front of him and said to him, “Do you know what I said to you that day?”

The man leaned over toward his ear and whispered.

“I said, I love you.”

Xie Jia’s pupils constricted.

The whispers that he would’ve never heard in the past exploded clearly in his ears.

A gentle, intoxicating voice.

The sunlight outside the window shone on Xie JIa’s eyes.

His eyes sparkled.

The corners of his lips curled up, and he said in a nasally voice, “Liar. Your words that day were definitely longer than these three words.”

Mu Sheng said, “I didn’t lie to you. What I really wanted to say to you that day were these three words.”

Xie Jia’s eyes turned red.

He stared at Mu Sheng.

Then he whispered, “I love you.”

He still swallowed his words a bit. He sounded a bit strange, so he looked annoyed.

Mu Sheng took his hand and said again, “I love you.”

Xie Jia followed him and learned from him. “I love you.”

“I love you.”

“I love you.”

[How amazing.]

[It turns out I can still hear his heartbeat.]

On the big screen, the two of them were talking. Their foreheads were pressed together as they laughed.

[Just as fast as mine.]

[Up to this moment, it was the best sound I had ever heard in my life.]

[There should be more beautiful sounds, right?]

[However, now I am no longer in a hurry.]

—

The end of the film.

In the audience, the applause was like a tide. It started from the back row to the front row, finally converging together and forming a wave-like sound.

Many viewers were teary-eyed.

The audience stood up and applauded this film, Xue Xiao and Shen Tingyan.

White Lily

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