Volume One: Soaring at Debut Chapter Forty-Nine: Premonition

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, it was Saturday.

That morning, Chen Jing arrived at the company early. Although today was the final competition of Voice of China, the live broadcast wouldn’t begin until the evening. Chen Jing and the others only needed to head to the studio in the afternoon, so there was no rush.

After arriving, Chen Jing didn’t go to the recording studio to continue practicing his songs. Instead, he sat leisurely in his office, lost in quiet contemplation.

“Hey? Ah Jing, you’re in your office? I thought you hadn’t come in yet,” Lin Zitan said as she entered, startled to see Chen Jing sitting on the sofa. She patted her chest in relief.

Chen Jing smiled at her but said nothing.

Seeing his silence, Lin Zitan asked curiously, “What are you doing?”

He shook his head, “Nothing much, just thinking.”

“Oh, then I won’t disturb you.” Lin Zitan stuck out her tongue playfully. She and Lin Xi shared a good habit: whenever Chen Jing was deep in thought, they’d do their best not to interrupt him. In their eyes, so many of his works were born from these moments of silent reflection, so they never wanted to interfere with his “creative process.”

As Lin Zitan left, Chen Jing frowned slightly. In truth, he wasn’t thinking at all—just staring off into space.

Leaving his apartment that morning, Chen Jing had felt uncharacteristically uneasy. No matter what he did, he couldn’t calm down, as if something was about to happen.

He was no stranger to this feeling. Back when he still had his special ability, such gut instincts would warn him of impending danger during missions. They allowed him to prepare in advance, ensuring his team always emerged unscathed. He couldn’t explain why this intuition occurred—he always credited it to his abilities.

What puzzled him was that ever since he’d stopped using his powers, this feeling hadn’t surfaced—until now. Was this a good thing or not?

“Could it be the recent infiltration of Pandora agents in Xiang City that’s triggering my alarm? That shouldn’t be it…” Chen Jing muttered. Usually, his intuition only responded when danger threatened people or matters close to him. The Pandora operatives wouldn’t suspect anything about him, nor could they find Molly. There shouldn’t be any connection.

No matter how he turned it over in his mind, he couldn't pinpoint what might go wrong. Although he couldn’t determine the source or reason for this sudden intuition, experience told him that something was bound to happen. On this point, he never doubted himself.

He shook away the tangled thoughts and forced himself to focus on songwriting. If he couldn’t figure it out now, there was no need to worry; he’d find out soon enough. When the time came, he’d deal with whatever came his way.

After a while, there was a knock at the door. Chen Jing looked up—it was Lin Zitan again.

“Ah Jing, Sister Lin Xi wants you to come over. Can you go now?”

“Alright.” Chen Jing nodded and headed to Lin Xi’s office.

“Is something the matter, Sister Lin Xi?” he asked as he entered, addressing the poised and elegant woman seated inside.

“I didn’t bring this up while you were busy recording the other day, but since you’re free today, I wanted you to have a look,” Lin Xi said, handing him a folder. “It’s from Zhang Qishan, one of China’s most renowned television directors. He recently made a war-themed drama. After listening to your song ‘Birch Forest,’ he felt it fit his series perfectly and wants to buy the rights to use it as his theme song.”

“Oh?” Chen Jing was surprised and took the folder, asking with curiosity, “Is his drama any good? War dramas are everywhere these days.” He didn’t mind licensing his song as a theme, as long as the work was genuine and matched the spirit of the song—it would be a win-win.

“Zhang Qishan is one of the better directors. Among all the recent war dramas, his has been the most popular,” Lin Xi replied, pointing to the synopsis in Chen Jing’s hand. “This is the outline. I think it matches the story in ‘Birch Forest’ quite well.”

Chen Jing read through the synopsis carefully. It told of a country youth forced to leave his home by war. After years of hiding with his wife, he realized he couldn’t provide a safe environment for his children. He bid farewell to his wife, joined the army, and after many years of service, died a hero just as victory was at hand.

The drama’s story was essentially a television adaptation of ‘Birch Forest.’

After reading, Chen Jing said, “It really does suit ‘Birch Forest.’ If you think the quality is up to par, Sister Lin Xi, then just agree to it.”

“His productions are always top-notch. What price do you want to set?”

“What do you suggest?”

Lin Xi said calmly, “If possible, I hope you’ll let him have the song for free.”

Chen Jing looked at her in surprise.

She explained, “In recent years, Director Zhang’s works have been well received. His reputation is rising fast. If you give him ‘Birch Forest’ for free, it’ll earn you goodwill. If you ever want to move into film and television, it’ll open a door for you.”

After thinking it over, Chen Jing agreed. “Alright, Sister Lin Xi, just handle it as you see fit.”

With business concluded, Lin Xi relaxed and asked, “Not rehearsing your songs today?”

He shook his head. “No need. I’ve prepared everything. I’ll just perform directly this afternoon.”

“That’s good. It’s important to relax. Even though it’s the finals, there’s no need to be nervous. Believe in yourself. The championship is yours,” Lin Xi comforted him, thinking his silence that morning was due to pre-match nerves.

Chen Jing nodded, not bothering to explain. “I understand. Don’t worry.”

Around noon, Chen Jing, Lin Xi, Lin Zitan, Ling Ruohan, and her assistant/manager Wang Li headed to the Voice of China studio.

The live show would only start in the evening, so the contestants had a whole afternoon to rehearse their performances.

To everyone’s surprise, Guo Feng’s duet partner was Wei Guoqiang, and Yang Xingli’s was Huang Wenhao. Plus, Xie Weiyu’s partner was Su Tingting—three guest singers, all of them judges on the show. It was unclear whether this was a deliberate arrangement by the producers.

When Guo Feng and Yang Xingli saw Ling Ruohan arriving with Chen Jing, they both gave bitter smiles. They hadn’t expected Chen Jing to invite Ling Ruohan—currently the hottest female singer in the country—as his duet partner. They’d been proud to have judges as their partners, but compared to Ling Ruohan, no one could compete in popularity.

Xie Weiyu’s expression turned stormy as well when she saw Chen Jing’s duet partner was Ling Ruohan. She’d thought inviting Su Tingting was impressive enough, but Chen Jing had gone one better. It was infuriating.

Standing beside her, Su Tingting also fell silent, her face darkening.

Noticing that Ling Ruohan kept glancing at Su Tingting, Chen Jing asked curiously, “Do you have some history with Su Tingting?”

Ling Ruohan bit her lip. “When my album exploded in popularity, suddenly a bunch of trolls appeared online, slandering me. I investigated and, though I found no solid evidence, it was almost certainly Su Tingting who hired them.”

Lin Xi, standing nearby, said coolly, “No need to doubt—it was her.”

Lin Zitan chimed in, “Exactly! Let me tell you, Su Tingting is really scheming.” She was about to share more gossip when a look from Lin Xi made her stop. She could only stick out her tongue and say, “I’ll tell you more later.”

Chen Jing smiled. “Well, that’s perfect. We’ll settle old and new scores together on stage.”

Ling Ruohan nodded, joking, “Absolutely. Let’s outshine them so thoroughly they can’t even show their faces!”

Chen Jing shrugged. With this competition’s format, it wasn’t possible to completely humiliate the others—it wasn’t a head-to-head knockout. If it were a direct contest with Xie Weiyu, he could simply perform well and crush the competition.

Once preparations were complete, rehearsals began. The contestants took turns, but none of them practiced their actual performances—only the transitions.

Chen Jing watched the rehearsals with some boredom until suddenly, his phone rang. Seeing the caller ID—his apartment’s landline, which he’d set up for Molly to contact him—he narrowed his eyes.

He answered, “Hello? Molly? What’s wrong?”

Hearing Molly’s voice, he paused, then replied, “Alright, I understand. It’s nothing serious. Just wait for me at home—I’ll come back. I’m hanging up now.”

After ending the call, Chen Jing turned to the three women and sighed. “Sorry, I might have to skip rehearsals. Something’s come up that I need to take care of.”

The three looked at him in astonishment, not understanding what had happened.