She debuted after having a child with a celestial being.

After the contract between Hechao Music and Taihe Music was finalized, the first thing they did was not to go into the studio, but to hold an A&R positioning meeting.

The A&R manager sent by Taihe was named Chen Zhu, who was in his early thirties, wore black-rimmed glasses, and habitually tapped the table with the tip of his pen when he spoke.

He worked in artist positioning at Taihe for seven years, handling cases of all kinds, from folk to hip-hop, but this was the first time he had encountered a crossover combination like HF, an "actor + singer-songwriter".

The conference room is on the twelfth floor of Taihe's headquarters, with floor-to-ceiling windows overlooking the traffic flow of the East Third Ring Road.

Liu Yifei sat next to Xiao He, wearing a cream-colored knitted cardigan, twirling a ballpoint pen without a cap in her hand. She looked relaxed, but her eyes followed Chen Zhu's pen tip.

She knows that making an EP is different from acting in a movie.

Movies have scripts, characters have personas, all she has to do is fit herself into the role.

But the music EP was tailor-made for her: she sang the lyrics, she composed the music, and every note was her own voice. She couldn't hide behind the role.

"I've listened to both the sheet music and the demo that Xiao He gave me."

Chen Zhu spread a stack of sheet music on the table and pointed to the bridge section of "Crossing the Line".

"The three songs, 'Crossing the Boundary,' 'Insomnia Flight,' and 'What I'm Expecting Isn't Snow,' are already confirmed. Adding the verses he wrote specifically for Yifei, the overall auditory style is very clear: urban romance, with piano and strings as the foundation, and the chorus building up the emotion. Do you agree with this direction?"

"I approve," Xiao He said.

"Then it's settled. Next is the album's copywriting and positioning." Chen Zhu opened the folder and pointed to a few lines of text.

"The name 'HF' itself has a certain neutral tone and a sense of fashion. If it's a duet, the first impression is emotional interaction, which fits the current direction of song selection. Yifei's existing impression on the audience is somewhat aloof, but this EP needs to let everyone hear the 'real person.' So my suggestion is that we can directly use 'sibling music duo' as the initial label for promotion. 'In the name of siblings, singing about love that transcends boundaries' can be used in the copywriting to push the natural expression of identity and emotions to the market, and also leverage his popularity as the center to directly push it onto the charts."

Liu Yifei twirled the pen.

She understood Chen Zhu's intentions, of course—her Weibo post from April this year, "What's there to be afraid of?" was still trending, and the whole internet was speculating about their relationship.

Instead of letting marketing accounts guess, we should define our own labels.

The label of "sibling music duo" is both safe and topical, providing a reasonable explanation for their duet.

But every song on this EP goes beyond the boundaries that siblings should have.

"Crossing the Boundary," "Insomnia Flight," "What I'm Expecting Isn't Snow"—she's listened to all the demos, knows what the lyrics are about, and knows who she was thinking of when she sang those lyrics in the recording studio.

But that's something that happens in the recording studio.

She put down her pen, looked up at Chen Zhu, and said, "Okay."

"Okay. Regarding the visual direction of the cover and inner pages, the company plans to push forward with several photographer proposals, and we will provide candidate information at that time. The song order and track descriptions will serve as the backbone of the subsequent EP liner notes, and will be confirmed again before publication."

Chen Zhu closed the folder and turned her gaze to Xiao He.

"From now on, we'll do as you say. He Chao will be in charge of all production, and Taihe will only handle distribution. Have you set the recording studio dates? You'll find the producer and mixing engineer yourself."

"I'll come find him," Xiao He said.

"Once the mother is brought out, she will be handed over to us, and the publicity and distribution will begin simultaneously. When would you like to release it?"

Late August.

Xiao He considered this timing for a long time, leaving two weeks for post-production polishing, just in time for the end of the summer season.

He turned to Liu Yifei, "Sis, what's your schedule like..."

"I have no announcements. The studio is cleared out, I can come in anytime."

Liu Yifei spoke crisply and decisively, then paused for a moment.

"It's all gone"—these three words would have been something she would never have said a few years ago.

She debuted at the age of fifteen and has never had a time when she had no gigs in the past eighteen years.

But now, after saying that, she wasn't flustered at all.

It's really great to have a younger brother like Xiao He; he's already started to rely on him so quickly.

No matter what, we absolutely cannot show it, otherwise this kid will definitely get cocky.

Chen Zhu looked up at her, said nothing, and simply pushed the promotional material that read "Sibling Music Duo" in front of her.

She paused for a moment, the tip of her ballpoint pen resting on the line of words "HF," before quickly signing her name.

Then she picked up the pen cap from the table and screwed it on with a snap.

The recording studio was set at "Tingxin" Recording Studio, founded by Jiang Beisheng in Chaoyang District, Beijing. Li Ronghao had recorded an album there before, and it has a very good reputation in the industry.

Xiao He contacted the producer himself. The producer is a music producer who has worked with Taihe for a long time and is good at string arrangement and vocal coaching. His surname is Zhou, and he is known as Lao Zhou in the industry.

Old Zhou has been working in the studio for over a decade, handling everything from rock to love songs, and there's no stage he can't control. But this is the first time he's worked with a crossover group in HF's studio.

The EP production proceeded as scheduled, but as the producer and creative core, Xiao He was well aware that cost control of Hechao's first EP was crucial to the company's subsequent operations. He asked the assistant in the studio to compile a detailed list of expenses for each stage for his review.

The recording studio equipment list was longer than expected—professional equipment such as Neumann U87 microphones, Avalon 737 microphone preamps, and RME Fireface audio interfaces ensured high-quality sound recording.

Mixing consoles and monitors are charged separately based on the project cycle, and basic wear and tear costs are also incurred for instruments, music stands, and other supporting equipment provided in the studio.

After the producer's fees and utilities were all listed, the legal department also checked the installment payment schedule for the advance payment in the Taihe Distribution Contract, confirming that the initial recording budget was all within Hechao's budget.

Another technician was also recommended by Taihe.

Mixing engineer Han Dong is known in the industry as "Han Yitiao" because his master tapes are usually done in one take and rarely need to be redone.

Han Dong's participation was arranged by Xiao He himself, and it took three meals to finalize the schedule.

At the third dinner, after finishing a whole cup of tea, Han Dong slowly spoke: "My habit is to work on each track one by one—vocals, strings, bass, drums—each track is pulled out and fixed separately. If there are any problems, I send it back to be re-recorded, regardless of who the producer is. Can you accept that?"

Xiao He said yes. Han Dong nodded.

"Save the master tape for grinding after all the mixing is complete."

On the day she entered the studio, Liu Yifei wore a simple white T-shirt and jeans, with her hair casually tied back.

She suddenly remembered that in 2006 at the Sony recording studio in Japan, the producer made her repeat the ending note of the chorus over and over again.

She was only nineteen years old at the time, and she didn't understand anything. She was only told to "sing the high notes and that's it".

This time is different.

This time, she's going to sing a real duet.

Someone took her on a musical journey.

"Yifei." Old Zhou's voice came through the microphone in the prison cell, interrupting her reverie. "Come in and listen to it once. Don't rush to sing, listen to the arrangement."

The first time is to listen to the complete sample.

The arrangement is much more substantial than the demo we previously submitted to Taihe—the piano forms the foundation from the verses onwards, while the strings build up layer upon layer in the bridge section.

Her part was lowered by two keys, which landed right in the most comfortable position in her mid-range, while the chorus deliberately avoided the high notes that required falsetto.

When she sang "The light from the cell phone illuminated the ceiling again," her voice trembled slightly, but Lao Zhou didn't stop her.

The recording engineer and the mixing engineer exchanged a glance behind the mixing console.

During the second take of the chorus, another problem arose.

Someone unconsciously walked towards her in the studio. Old Zhou saw Xiao He standing next to the microphone stand through the soundproof glass, gently pressing down on her shoulder.

"Sorry, I'm not feeling well."

Liu Yifei took half a step back from the microphone stand, her gaze sweeping over the back of his hand: "Let's do it again."

This time, I turned my back and didn't look at him. The chorus was perfectly timed, the ending notes exquisitely precise.

Han Dong turned up her vocal track separately behind the mixing console and listened to it twice: "This one doesn't need any editing, just go straight to the master tape."

He took off his headphones, turned to Lao Zhou, and whispered something that no one could hear.

Old Zhou pressed the call button into the recording studio and said to Xiao He, "After you changed your improvised two-part harmony, it's actually more lively than the original arrangement."

"I also accepted the second verse," Xiao He said.

"Okay, let's add the harmony again later."