Chapter 1

**Bang!**

The sound of the door closing echoed through the room, and Zhuang Xiang's body trembled slightly, but he also felt a bit of relief.

He had been in this world for two days and had finally accepted the fact that he had been transported here.

Originally, he was a 25-year-old young man, responsible for the music recommendation column of the largest music website in the country, mainly recommending songs based on each issue's theme.

After completing the list of the 100 most unforgettable songs for the 80s and 90s and celebrating with his colleagues, he woke up in this messy, doghouse-like room.

His body was no longer his own, but that of a 37-year-old man with greasy long hair and a scruffy beard, with decades of memories in his mind.

This man was also named Zhuang Xiang.

At 18, he became a top idol star with his good looks.

For two consecutive years, he was voted the most desirable boyfriend among celebrities.

At 20, he went to court with his original management company to marry the woman he loved.

Although he got his wish and married her, he was completely blacklisted by the company, and his entertainment career ended. After paying a huge breach of contract fee, he was left penniless.

Even the fans who once shouted that they would give him children turned into passersby or even haters after his marriage.

At 21, his daughter was born, but his wife died due to complications during childbirth.

Under the dual blow, the young Zhuang Xiang became increasingly depressed and his temper worsened.

For a few years, he could still rely on his remaining popularity to sing in bars or take on a few small commercial performances.

After a few more years, that little bit of popularity was gone, and his bad temper had offended almost everyone he knew. Even bars and commercial performances no longer wanted him.

Living off his savings, they didn't last long. If the house hadn't been bought in full at the time of his marriage, he and his daughter would have been homeless long ago.

In recent years, their entire expenses have been covered by the meager earnings from his daughter's part-time job at a convenience store after school and her training allowance at an entertainment company. Zhuang Xiang was essentially considered socially dead.

How embarrassing, truly embarrassing! Although these were the actions of his predecessor, even as the same-named Zhuang Xiang, he felt it was too embarrassing.

He wondered if there was a穿越人士管理委员会 (穿越者管理委员会) (穿越者管理委员会) (Committee for the Management of Transworlders) and if he had unintentionally offended it.

Otherwise, most people who were transported to another world would have a famous girlfriend or a superstar wife, but why did he end up with a burden... sorry, he himself was the burden.

So for the past two days, he waited for his daughter to leave before going to the dining room to eat the breakfast she had prepared. At noon and in the evening, he would make do with whatever food he could find at home, and then hide back in his room before she returned.

He quietly opened the door and peeked outside, then tiptoed to the dining room. On the table was a bowl of soy milk and two fried dough sticks, the soy milk still steaming.

"Phew~" Zhuang Xiang sighed in relief. Although it might seem a bit shameless to say, his daughter's breakfast-making skills... compared to the soy milk and fried dough sticks from outside, the latter was better.

He tore the fried dough sticks into pieces and put them into the soy milk, eating while thinking about his future plans.

Since he was here, and he was afraid of pain, he couldn't try to die and see if he could return. So, he could only live here.

On Earth, he was still single and had no attachments. His only father, who raised him as a single parent, was a workaholic and lived in his phone, often not contacting him for four or five months.

This world was somewhat similar to Earth. The country here, Huaguo, was roughly the same as the country he lived in on Earth, just a few years behind in development. 4G networks were just starting to become widespread, and short videos and live streaming were just beginning to rise.

However, the people in this world seemed to have exceptional language skills, with most people proficient in two or three languages. Even the embarrassing predecessor Zhuang Xiang was fluent in Huaguo, European, and Japanese languages.

This led to more frequent cultural exchanges between the people of different countries.

After much thought, Zhuang Xiang decided that his future livelihood would depend on his and his predecessor's old profession—music. To put it bluntly, it meant copying songs.

His advantage was that his work had filled his mind with various classic songs from Earth, and the 37-year-old Zhuang Xiang's memory contained a solid foundation in music, allowing him to easily transcribe the songs in his mind.

Moreover, the music in this world seemed a bit rough to Zhuang Xiang. There was only ordinary pop music, and genres like folk and rock were still very niche and undeveloped. He could enrich the entertainment life of the people in this world.

When the internet was just beginning to rise, online music sharing became popular, and physical albums became difficult to profit from. Many songwriters and singers began to transition, and the music market became extremely barren.

Fortunately, countries realized the importance of protecting intellectual property and enacted comprehensive copyright laws. In the past two years, the music market had started to recover.

Zhuang Xiang was now thinking about how to monetize the songs in his mind, as the family's financial situation was very dire.

"How is it? Are the fried dough sticks good?"

A voice came from behind him. Zhuang Xiang, lost in thought, responded without much thought, "They're okay, but the fire was probably a bit low when they were fried, so the skin is a bit hard."

"Hey, I didn't know you could fry dough sticks too?"

At this moment, Zhuang Xiang finally realized someone was talking to him.

He turned around and saw a girl with a resemblance to him, her arms crossed, looking at him coldly.

"It's not easy to see you. If the breakfast wasn't always eaten up every morning, I would have considered going back to my hometown to invite the whole village for a meal. Do you think eight dishes or ten dishes would be better?"

As she spoke, Zhuang Jingwen walked into the dining room, passing by Zhuang Xiang's room and glancing inside, only to be surprised.

In her memory, Zhuang Xiang's room was worse than a doghouse unless she cleaned it every two to three months. But now, everything was neatly arranged.

At this moment, she noticed something different about Zhuang Xiang. Although his hair was still long, it was clean and neatly tied back, and his scruffy beard gave him a ruggedly handsome look.

"Didn't you go out?" Zhuang Xiang asked awkwardly, caught in the act.

Although he was now a father to this girl, he hadn't figured out how to communicate with her. After all, the 37-year-old body contained a 25-year-old soul, and he had no experience raising a daughter.

Looking at her father, who seemed different, Zhuang Jingwen thought: Perhaps he just had a moment of inspiration, or maybe...

But she suppressed that hope. Over the years, she had hoped so many times, but the saying "the greater the hope, the greater the disappointment" was true.

"Did I say I went out?" Zhuang Jingwen asked irritably. Although she was harsh, the past two days of her father's unusual behavior had made her worried. She had set up this scene to see what was wrong with him.

But seeing her father, who seemed different, she was momentarily at a loss for words.

An awkward atmosphere began to permeate the house. It had been too long since they had a proper conversation.

"Um, I want to be a good person."

After a long pause, Zhuang Xiang finally managed to say something, and then quickly added:

"More importantly, I want to be a good father."

"A good father?" Zhuang Jingwen sounded as if she had heard a fairy tale, finding it hard to believe.

"How do you become a good father?" For some reason, hearing this, Zhuang Jingwen suddenly felt very angry and hurt.

For over ten years, since elementary school, her grandmother had passed away, and her father had become increasingly useless, like a plant that could still walk and eat.

She had hoped countless times for a good father, but what was the result? Now he suddenly says he wants to be a good father?

Do you know how I've lived these ten years?

Years of suppressed emotions suddenly burst forth.

"A good father? Can you show up at every parent-teacher meeting and sports day to tell everyone that I'm not a child without parents?"

"A good father? Can you give me a small cake on my birthday, put a candle representing my age, and tell me to make a wish before blowing it out, or it won't come true?"

"A good father? Can you tell me that it's normal when I first get my period and hide in my bed crying?"

Zhuang Xiang was about to say he would try, but he was speechless and could only look at his daughter awkwardly.

"You ask why I didn't go out today? Because it's the weekend, and I have to write a new song at home. If I don't pass the next small exam, my living allowance will be gone. Do you know, my good father?"

Zhuang Xiang, like a student, raised his hand to his ear and said weakly:

"Um, can I help you write the song? If you can, I'll help you."