Perfect Superstar.

"I once dreamed of carrying a sword and traveling to the ends of the earth to see a bustling world." 

In Lu Chen's heart, this was his favorite song. 

Words express the heart, and songs convey desires. 'The Way You Are' reflected Lu Chen's past dreams and experiences, embodying courage and confidence in life - an accurate portrayal of who he was now. 

Although it was his first time singing in a recording room, he poured intense emotion into the performance, singing his true self. 

"A youth's heart is always a little frivolous, nowadays you lead a wandering life." 

Through the high-quality audio equipment's monitors, his voice echoed clearly into the control room, where everyone in the Nirvana Band fell silent. The mocking smiles, the derision, the sneers had all disappeared. 

The more one understands music, the more one realizes the weight and power of a truly great song. It was the first time any of them had heard "The Way You Are," and they were deeply moved. 

This was the kind of song they had dreamed of writing and performing, but had never been able to achieve. 

Even the rebellious long-haired youth put aside his disdain and skepticism of Lu Chen. 

They listened quietly to the end. 

"...Experiencing the warmth of the many states of the world, these smiles are warm and pure!" 

The echoes remained in the recording room. 

Lu Chen lightly ran his fingers over the guitar strings, savoring the moment. 

Perhaps it was the unique environment of the studio, or perhaps it was his long-held desire to sing wholeheartedly, but he was in extraordinary form. 

This state - called "being in the zone" for actors and "being in the moment" for singers - was what truly moved people. 

Wang Hui turned his head and said seriously to Wang Jing, "Sis, his songs are better than yours." 

Wang Jing glared at him and raised her hand to slap him, but stopped in mid-air. 

Because she couldn't refute him. 

The man in the T-shirt was not convinced. "How do you know he wrote the song himself?" 

Wang Hui didn't answer. He just pointed to the computer screen. 

On the 30-inch monitor, the Greater China Music Library website displayed the result of the latest lyrics search, which confirmed everything. 

''Work title'': ''The Way You Are 

''Lyrics'': Lu Chen 

''Composition'': Lu Chen 

''Registered Copyright Owner'': Lu Chen 

Thanks to the wonders of modern technology, tech-savvy people need only a few mouse clicks to identify songs and lyrics. The evidence was indisputable - there was no arguing with the Greater China Music Library. 

The T-shirt Man was speechless. 

After finding his rhythm, Lu Chen sang the whole song once. Then he separately recorded the guitar accompaniment and an a cappella vocal track. 

Since this was just for fun, he only recorded each track once. The final mixing was left to the engineer. 

Pushing open the soundproof door, Lu Chen stepped out and handed the guitar back to Wang Jing. "Thanks for letting me use your guitar." 

Wang Jing silently accepted it with a complicated expression on her face. 

As proud as she was, she had to admit that she couldn't write a song like this. Neither could the Nirvana Band. 

The long-haired young man extended his hand to Lu Chen. "Hello, I'm Chen Zhiyong, the drummer of the Nirvana Band." 

Lu Chen smiled and shook hands with him. "Lu Chen. Nice to meet you." 

The Nirvana Band, part of the Nirvana Workshop, had four official members and one assistant member. Chen Zhiyong was the drummer, the T-shirt man Zhang Yang was the bassist, and the short man Sun Hao was the keyboardist. 

The band leader was Wang Jing, who was also the lead singer and guitarist. 

As for the supporting member, it was of course, Wang Hui. 

The Nirvana Band mainly provided music and accompaniment for the workshop but also performed at venues— though rarely at bars. 

"Brother Chen, come listen to the final mix!" 

Wang Hui worked quickly and finished the audio mix with the software in just a few minutes. 

He enthusiastically handed a pair of monitoring headphones to Lu Chen. Although they had just met, he addressed Lu Chen warmly, almost familiarly. 

"Have some dignity!" Wang Jing bit her lip and glared at Wang Hui. 

Wang Hui ignored his sister and looked at Lu Chen expectantly, even nervously. 

"Thank you." 

Lu Chen took the headphones and listened to the playback of the mixed recording. 

Due to the physiological structure of the human body, the way one hears one's own voice is different from the way others hear it. 

Lu Chen had heard recordings of himself before, but those were low-quality livestream videos on the Internet - acceptable to casual listeners, but unbearable to discerning ears. 

This was a completely different experience. 

The professional recording captured his voice in high fidelity. Wang Hui had even made some real-time audio adjustments, which made the recording sound remarkably good. 

No one's voice is flawless, and high-quality vocal recordings without any post-production will magnify even the slightest imperfections. But thanks to Wang Hui's skillful adjustments, the result was excellent.

So post-production is crucial. 

A high-quality album often requires recording engineers or audio editors to spend a lot of time refining and adjusting the recordings to achieve perfection. 

Wang Hui's real-time adjustments during the session couldn't achieve perfection, but for Lu Chen, the result was already excellent. The vocals sounded clear, pure and full of emotional power. The overall tone tended toward warmth and richness, arousing the listener's emotions. 

In particular, the handling of the song's climax was something that made Lu Chen very satisfied. 

Taking off the monitoring headphones, Lu Chen gave Wang Hui a thumbs up. "Impressive!" 

Wang Hui, however, seemed dissatisfied. "Not good enough," he said. "At best, it's a five or six out of ten. I only used software adjustments. The effect is far from ideal. With proper instrumental arrangements to enrich the sound and three or four days of fine-tuning, it could easily reach an eight or nine!" 

Lu Chen chuckled. "It's already good enough." 

Although Lu Chen was still unfamiliar with the rest of the Nirvana Workshop, he had developed a sense of trust in Wang Hui. 

At least this visit hadn't been in vain. 

Chen Zhiyong asked, "Lu Chen, will this song be part of your album?" 

Earlier, Wang Changsheng had instructed them to give proper attention to the song Lu Chen brought, hinting that there would be a full album to follow. 

Lu Chen nodded. "Unless something unexpected happens, yes." 

Sun Hao interjected, "Which company are you currently signed to?" 

Lu Chen smiled. "I'm not signed with any entertainment company, and I don't plan to be. For now, I'm going solo." 

"Going solo?" 

The members of the Nirvana Band exchanged glances. Although Lu Chen's answer wasn't completely unexpected, they were still surprised to hear it being confirmed. 

Chen Zhiyong remarked, "It's really hard to make it as a solo artist, even if you have great songs. 

Lu Chen understood this only too well. 

In today's world, not to mention celebrities in the entertainment industry, even Internet personalities needed professional marketing and promotion. Trying to stand out on your own in such a saturated environment was almost impossible. 

With people hyping, supporting, smearing, and promoting others, how could a lone wolf hope to become famous? It was nothing but a pipe dream. 

Even Lu Chen's moderate success on Whale TV was due to signing a contract and receiving support and promotion from the platform. 

The entertainment industry was much more competitive and ruthless. 

Standing up to Jin Hongwei had cost him his place in the auditions for The Strongest Singer. 

That was the price of having no support. 

But Lu Chen had already decided to take a different path. His determination was strong, and he was working towards it. 

Suddenly, Wang Jing, who had been silent, spoke up. "You're right." 

Lu Chen looked at her in surprise. 

At that moment, Wang Changsheng returned. 

Seeing everyone in the control room gathered around Lu Chen, he asked confusedly, "What's going on?" 

Lu Chen smiled. "I was just chatting with everyone. I listened to Wang Hui's recording, and it was excellent. I now believe that entrusting my work to Nirvana Workshop was the right choice." 

It cost nothing to say nice things, and Lu Chen sincerely hoped that they would take his work seriously. 

Wang Changsheng was pleased. He patted his son's shoulder with a hearty laugh. "Good, good!" 

Lu Chen added, "Manager Wang, let me invite everyone for dinner tonight. After all, I'm counting on everyone's hard work." 

Wang Changsheng quickly waved his hands. "No need, no need. I'll treat you instead!" 

How could he let a customer pay for dinner? 

Teacher Wang's thought was simple and genuine. 

Wang Jing watched coldly from the sidelines, adding two words to her evaluation of Lu Chen in her mind: 'Cunning'. 

At the same time, she felt a tinge of frustration - how could someone like this write such incredible songs? 

Of course, Lu Chen had no way of knowing Wang Jing's thoughts. However, he had formed some ideas about the Nirvana Workshop and the Nirvana Band. Unless something unexpected happened, there would probably be many opportunities for them to work together. 

Therefore, he was more than willing to establish a good relationship with Wang Changsheng, Wang Hui, and the others. More friends meant more opportunities. 

In the end, it was Lu Chen who invited everyone to dinner that night. 

Two days later, he received the finalized instrumental accompaniment from Nirvana Workshop. 

Everything was ready, waiting only for the right moment! 

'(End of Chapter)' 

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