Chapter 657: Extra: Childhood 14

Extra: Childhood 14

They exchanged sharp words for a few sentences; in the end, Grandfather Mu cleared his throat and brought the topic back: "All right, all right, since Master Lin is willing to teach, let's just go with that."

Lin Tingsong said no more, merely lowering his gaze to look at Mu Youyu; the little girl was looking up at him, her eyes clear and bright.

He bent down, his voice soft: "Little friend, hello! Your grandfather invited me to teach you drawing. Do you want to learn with me?"

He has lived to this age, taken on heavenly gifted disciples, and seen too many children who are constantly propped up and praised.

Mu Youyu tilted her head: "Uncle, are you very skilled?"

Lin Tingsong was modest: "Not bad, I'm better than others."

"Who are the others? Then how do you compare to Teacher Tan?"

Lin Tingsong laughed: "In art, I'm better than him."

Tan Jingyan snorted, flicked his sleeves, and left.

Lin Tingsong's six-month agreement thus began.

In the blink of an eye, Mu Youyu studied painting until she was seven, and even became Lin Tingsong's inner-door disciple.

In June, Mu Nian's college entrance exam ended.

He came out of the exam hall, and Mu Youyu ran up to her brother, pattering her feet: "Big brother, you've worked hard!"

Mu Nian smiled: "Not at all; our little treasure should be the one who's worked hard."

"I'm not tired either!" Mu Youyu grabbed his hand: "Big brother, is the college entrance exam hard or not?"

Mu Nian bent down, picked her up, and said: "Not bad, anyway the exams are over."

"However, our little treasure doesn't need to worry about this; if you don't want to take exams in the future, you don't have to—learning isn't that important, I'm just here to experience it."

Mu Youyu still had a vague notion of the college entrance exam, only knowing that these past days the elders and brothers at home kept mentioning it.

Meanwhile, her big brother looked relaxed coming out of the exam hall, and she judged that this was something worth being happy about!

So she, too, would have to take it in the future.

Two days later, Mu Yunshuo and Song Ningsheng packed their luggage, preparing to set off on a trip around the world.

This was a decision they had made after long discussion; they had been in love for a long time, it was a pregnancy-before-marriage situation, and in the years since their wedding they rarely went out together properly.

Nowadays, their eldest son has graduated from high school, his studies in conglomerate management are nearly complete, and he can manage the conglomerate under the title of president.

There's nothing major at home requiring them, and there are plenty of servants, so they can go out and enjoy themselves leisurely.

Mu Youyu clung to her mother's calf, refusing to let go, her face buried in her skirt, her voice muffled: "Mom, how long will you be away?"

Song Ningsheng squatted down, tidying her daughter's disheveled bangs, and said: "My dear, we don't yet know how long we'll be gone; if anything comes up, you can call Mom and Dad, and they'll miss you!"

Mu Youyu let her head droop.

Mu Yunshuo also came over, bent down to look at her, and said: "Dad bought you a gift, left it in your room—remember to open it."

A gift?

"All right, then I'll go open the gift!" Mu Youyu pattered off into her room, not seeing them off.

Song Ningsheng and Mu Yunshuo exchanged a helpless smile, then slipped out the door in the gap.

Mu Youyu quickly put her parents' overseas trip out of her mind.

The house remained lively, with the Butler and Qing Ma overseeing things; Mu Xi and Jiang Liangjin kept her company every day, and she didn't feel like she was missing anything.

During that time, she even went to Y Guo to play with Mu Xin for a month.

Halfway through summer vacation, Second Uncle Song came specially to the Mu family to find his little niece.

He is a gold-medal novelist and screenwriter, currently preparing a radio drama adaptation of his own novel.

Everything was fully staffed except for the second female role's voice acting, for which no suitable candidate had been found.

That character's voice setting is childlike, lively and spirited, but after trying several professional voice actors, he felt they all lacked something.

Second Uncle approached his little niece, probing: "Youbao, you're back—Uncle has a job I'd like you to help with."

Mu Youyu only cared about one thing: "Is it fun?"

"It's fun, especially fun!" Second Uncle took out a script, patiently explaining: "Look, this role is a little rabbit that goes into the forest to find gems, meeting many friends along the way."

Mu Youyu tilted her head: "Why does the little rabbit need to look for gems?"

"Because she needs to replenish her energy so she can transform."

"Then, on her way to find the gems, won't she be eaten by Brother Huai Xian? Brother Huai Xian loves to eat rabbits."

"... No." Second Uncle planned to go back and talk about his own son.

Thinking so, he handed the script to her: "Youbao, take a look at this first."

Mu Youyu flipped through a few pages casually, finding it increasingly interesting: "Where is this job located? Can I also bring A Jin along?"

"Sure, sure! You can bring whoever you want—Uncle will give you the green light!"

On the recording day, Second Uncle brought Mu Youyu to the recording studio, and Jiang Liangjin was also brought along.

The recording studio used glass for soundproofing, with several microphones set up inside, while outside sat the recording engineer and other voice actors.

Second Uncle personally presided over the mixing console, explained the script to Mu Youyu once, and then had her recite it several times.

Mu Youyu stood before the microphone, picked up the script, and said: "Hello, who are you?"

From the monitoring headphones came that clear, pure child's voice; the recording engineer's eyes lit up, and he immediately gave Second Uncle a thumbs-up, full of praise.

"Exactly, exactly, exactly, exactly! This is the vibe! This tone is perfect—better than all the ones we tried before!"

Second Uncle smugly raised the corner of his mouth: "That's right—my nephew… the person I personally sought out, how could they not be excellent?"

Thus, Mu Youyu inexplicably became the voice actor for the top-notch adaptation of this radio drama.

The voice acting work requires recording two to three times a week, each session lasting about an hour.

Mu Youyu didn't feel tired at all; she thought it was fun to sit in that room full of buttons and microphones and talk.

Mu Yichi would occasionally come by on his way to pick her up, wait for her to finish in the lounge next to the recording studio, and then take her and Jiang Liangjin out for ice cream.

One day, the uncle who was looking at the script saw him indeed come again, and taking the opportunity, said, "Since you're here too, want to dub this little fox? It appears in the next episode."

He originally wanted to call Jiang Liangjin, but this kid was too robotic, lacking emotion in tone, so he gave up.

Fortunately, Mu Yichi agreed readily, "Sure, I'll keep my sister company."

Over the next few days, the siblings ran back and forth to the recording studio intermittently.

Mu Youyu dubbed all the lines for the little rabbit, Mu Yichi tried a few lines for the little fox, but the director disliked it, saying it sounded like an emoticon; he then let loose, becoming more and more unrestrained in his dubbing.

The uncle looked at the finished episode, felt this version unexpectedly had the comedic effect he had envisioned, and simply kept this part as well.

One afternoon, Mu Youyu and Jiang Liangjin sat together on the sofa outside the recording studio to rest, while the uncle opened the computer to playback yesterday's recording.

Mu Yichi had just returned from the restroom when he heard himself recite: "This fox is the handsomest cub in this forest!"

He pursed his lips, "So chuuni, can this part be deleted?"

The uncle glared at him, "No, it's already mixed into the final cut, can't be taken down, you should have said earlier!"

Mu Yichi: "……"

After the radio drama went online, relying on the popularity of the original work and high production quality, it quickly topped the recommendation chart for its period.

In the comment section, besides discussing the plot and post-production, many people talked about that little rabbit: "Who is Lingling's voice actor? The voice is too cute!"

"Rumor has it that it's the child of a certain voice actor in the cast, a complete amateur."

"Holy cow, this is exactly what I imagined Lingling's voice to be, so moe! It melted this old auntie's heart!"

"I don't know if they'll dub anything else in the future."

"Then I'm still looking forward to it!"

This radio drama thus became a fun little interlude in Mu Youyu's childhood.

Eight-and-a-half-year-old Mu Youyu and Jiang Liangjin were already fourth-grade students.

Mu Xi had grown a head taller compared to last year.

He began frequently going in and out of C Shi International Music Center, with Tan Jingyan arranging several public lectures and small performances for him, paving the way.

The front rows of the audience were filled with influential figures from the industry, everyone eager to catch a glimpse of Tan Jingyan's closed-door disciple's demeanor.

Despite his young age, Mu Xi had already accumulated considerable fame in the circle; as his performances increased, the audience seats were always full, and external discussion of him grew ever more heated.

At every performance, Mu Youyu sat properly upright in the first row, listening quietly to the whole show.

After the performance ended, she quickly ran backstage, lifted her gaze and said, "Second brother, you're amazing," then took the bouquet handed by staff and stuffed it into Mu Xi's arms.

At this moment, the little person in Mu Xi's heart danced with joy.

That year, ten-year-old Mu Xianyan won the gold medal at the international violin competition in Y Guo.

When the prize money came down, she immediately transferred it to Mu Xianqi, asking him to pass it on, "This is pocket money for my sister, don't tell her it's from me."

Mu Xianqi received the video call, sitting at home reading a book, he frowned at the screen and said, "Can't you give it to her yourself?"

Mu Xianyan was still on her way back to the Duke's Mansion, "I'm a bit embarrassed, okay okay, please transfer it for me, brother, I love you."

"Cut it out…… I don't have any?"

"Ugh, you also have the nerve? How old are you still asking me for money? Don't keep it all, that's for Youbao."

"Got it, got it."

After hanging up, Mu Xianqi switched accounts and transferred a sum, with the note: "Your shy aunt transferred this candy money to you."

At fourteen, Mu Yichi and Mu Yichen also formally agreed to attend the B Da youth class at the start of the school term.

After enrollment, the pace of their lives completely sped up.

Mu Yichi occasionally would find time to make a video call home, with the background mostly a lab or dormitory.

Mu Yichen, on the other hand, rarely initiated contact; occasionally showing his face in a video, he would just wave and then lower his head to look at the screen.

Mu Yichen and Mu Yichi returned home to live less and less often; each stay lasted only a day or two before they rushed back.

Mu Youyu knew they had their own things to do, and grew accustomed to their absence.

But whenever she received their video calls, she would still set aside that time, seriously chatting a few sentences, talking about her recent drawings, what she'd eaten, and where she went to play with A Jin.

Over time, Mu Yichi and Mu Yichen no longer proactively contacted other family members; when relatives called or messaged, they either ignored them or answered perfunctorily.

Only when facing their sister did they take the initiative to care, always responding and constantly worrying.

The fourth-grade schedule added several other courses and changed classrooms, but the F5 seats remained firmly welded together.

Mu Youyu and Jiang Liangjin were desk mates, Lin Ning sat to Mu Youyu's left, Yu Ci and Gu Xingnan sat in front of them, forming the most stable small group in the class.

That day after class, Lin Ning was the first to spring up from her seat, shoving her math textbook into her desk, "Finally class is over, I was almost asleep in this lesson, I don't know who likes math."

She said this, then began to scoot her chair toward Mu Youyu, "Want to go get ice cream after school this afternoon? The weather's cool, ice cream feels best."

Jiang Liangjin, who had been slumped over the desk, half-woke up at the mention of ice cream, lifting half his face.

Mu Youyu very much agreed with Lin Ning's words, but unfortunately someone was supervising her.

Her hand sketching didn't stop, she only sighed, "No, I just got over a cold, my older brother won't let me eat."

Jiang Liangjin then relaxed and slumped back down.

Lin Ning clicked her tongue, "Alright alright, right, your fridge really is gone?"

Mu Youyu also had no recourse, "Yeah, my older brother sent people to dismantle it."

Yu Ci also heard about this, turned back, "So your family will have no fridge from now on?"

"Impossible, it'll be put back in summer."

While they were talking, Gu Xingnan came back from outside, holding a few forms, and sat down in the seat beside Yu Ci.

He whispered, "The sign-up sheet for next month's recitation contest is here; those who want to participate can register with me."

Lin Ning raised her eyebrows, "Xingnan, saying that in our area is useless; you need to go on stage and tell the class."

After getting to know Gu Xingnan gradually, everyone realized he seemed reserved and introverted, but actually was a boy with delicate thoughts and a gentle, soft demeanor.

Yu Ci waved his hand, "No problem, no problem, I'll say it later."

They said, taking the form and flipping through it, "Art Competition? Isn't it just standing on stage reading a script? Not interesting."

Mu Youyu lifted their head from the quick-write notebook, "A Ci, you didn't say last time you wanted to perform a program on stage?"

Yu Ci didn't expect Mu Youyu to still remember, "Youbao, I was just saying it offhand, don't take it seriously."

Mu Youyu: "Alright, next time I won't take it seriously."

Jiang Liangjin waited until they had slept enough, then placed the thermos from inside the desk drawer at the corner of Mu Youyu's desk, "Your water."

Mu Youyu poked their arm with a pen cap, "Thanks, A Jin."

"You're welcome."

Yu Ci exclaimed in surprise, "Sleepyhead, you finally woke up, you've slept all morning."

Jiang Liangjin said in a cool tone, "It's none of your business."

Gu Xingnan laughed, "Let's do homework first."

Lin Ning sighed, "What class is next?"

"Next class is in the meeting room."

"Again the meeting room—when will this day ever end?"

"……"

That afternoon school ended early; after returning home, with an hour left before the interest class, Mu Youyu played in the garden for a while.

That white swing set was installed this year by Mu Nian, painted white and hung with light purple vines.

Mu Youyu changed into a pink skirt and sat on the swing, swaying.

Jiang Liangjin stood behind them, hand on the chain, gave a gentle push, the swing moved, and the wind blew their hair up.

Aunt Qing raised the camera, responsible for taking photos and recording.