Chapter 137

unedited

【The reason why Sleek horses run fast had retired that year must be because he owed someone money】

…That’s not it…

…That’s not how, it, should, be, interpreted…

Qi Jing was quietly browsing the forum while sitting in a bus, and momentarily became speechless when he saw this popular post’s title. He suddenly thought that he must have gotten old, and was no longer able to follow young people’s train of thought, hence he sighed woefully.

“Their imagination is quite rich.” The ‘creditor’—Tan Zixian, was sitting by his side, his expression unchanging as he spoke.

“With the way you worded it so ambiguously, it’s no surprise that those who knew nothing of the situation would misunderstand.” Qi Jing just didn’t expect them to take it quite literally, making it into a money-centred dispute, with Sleek horses run fast playing the role of a scum who doesn’t pay the debts back after borrowing money from people… Still, either way, gossip or not, with no proof to back it, it would die out on its own, leaving no trace behind.

“You’re getting your share of gossip as well,” Tan Zixian took a lukewarm glance at the main forum page, where aside from that one post, there sure enough were also some that started with ‘Don’t ask for my return date’ as a key word for the titles. He then asked, “Any regrets?”

—Regrets? Does he mean asking the question before everyone?

“No regrets.” Qi Jing chuckled.

After everyone from the NPC group went on stage, the introduction event entered the conclusion, so two hours passed in a blink of an eye.

Although there was still a lot to get to know about those VAs, the fans were already satisfied with being able to see them, to hear about their individual experiences.

The wrap-up speech was delivered by Zhang Cheng—the judges’ representative. He even brought the cute little lolita along to the stage to greet the crowd, causing a wave of exclamations.

Zhang Cheng’s wrap-up speech was mainly formal thanks to the contestants, both those who won the prize and those who participated, then talked about his own new insight as the judge et cetera, ending with the thanks to the fans’ support. During the short break before their ride to the recording studio, the fans had the last chance to interact with the contestants.

During that time, Qi Jing composedly went over to greet a couple of the contestants he knew, even following the suit of the other fans and asking for the autographs with a cheeky smile.

Including Yang Jie’s, Tan Zixian’s, and Shen Yan’s.

During that whole time, the fans kept a close eye on them till the very end, wanting to see how Don’t ask for my return date and Kitty’s Papa would interact, whether there was something fishy going on between them. Unfortunately, his attitude toward the three of them was all the same, all of their behaviour just as ‘friendly’, ‘comradely’, ‘same-minded heroes supporting each other alike’, thwarting their hunger for gossip.

The only difference was—Yang Jie and Tan Zixian signed their autographs on his notepad, while Shen Yan wrote it directly on Qi Jing’s sleeve.

And unlike how he would chat a bit after getting an autograph with everyone else, he didn’t have a single word with Shen Yan, only meeting his gaze and exchanging smiles before they parted.

All the way from the exit to boarding the bus, they didn’t have a single interaction.

And right now, while sitting in the same bus as the contestant and going to where Zhang Cheng’s company was located, Qi Jing also chose to sit with Tan Zixian, while Shen Yan sat far away in another row together with Yang Jie.

Leaving no space for any guesses—

Qi Jing held the sleeve signed with Shen Yan’s name, chuckling quietly while lost in thought. Then, as everyone else was lost in a merry chatting and under the cover of the seat in front of him, he lowered his head to kiss it.

Regret?

He didn’t regret, not a single bit. Quite to the contrary, he felt accomplished instead.

Tan Zixian saw how his expression was calm and at ease, so he didn’t pursue the question. Rather than that, he waved his phone with a message on the screen for Qi Jing to see, “This one, will you go?”

Qi Jing took a sideways glance—it was actually a message from Tan Zixian’s ‘debtor’.

【The company arranged the contestants to eat dinner together with the Teachers tonight, so going out for dinner won’t do, but I think we can go out for a drink after the banquet is finished? I’ll drive my car to get you guys. Help me ask Don’t ask for my return date if he’ll come. If he won’t join, that guy will probably refuse to come as well…QAQ】

“Pffthaha.”

The originally serious sentence instantly turned pitiful with that emote at the end, making it look just so silly.

Qiu Tianyang had to take care of the venue along with the company workers after the introduction event, then had to return to the company to handle some matters, so he couldn’t ride the bus along with them. Outside of that, the beef between him and Shen Yan still remained unaddressed, and staying together would make it awkward, so he left the few of them for a while. At that time, he also sent the message with a call for help to his saviour number one and two.

“Fine, I’ll ask Shen Yan,” Qi Jing resumed his proper tone of voice after laughing, “But it’s not my decision whether he wants to come or not. If he refuses, then I won’t force him to do that… I just need you to know this beforehand.”

Tan Zixian nodded his head.

And so, Qi Jing sent a message to Shen Yan. Not even three seconds after he sent it, he saw Shen Yan in the front seats of the bus lowering head to look at his phone, then turning his head back to look at him. Qi Jing smiled at him, but didn’t say anything.

After a moment, Shen Yan’s reply showed on his screen.

【Okay.】

The moment Qi Jing saw this message, he sighed with relief.

That’s good, at least it’s a good start if he didn’t turn it down right away—

The bus arrived at the destination half an hour later, stopping by the film company’s entrance to let the contestants out to be led inside by Zhang Cheng. His family’s little lolita was even more proactive than her dad, determined to pull Qi Jing forward and acting as his guide herself, and hell-bent on rushing ahead of her dad. Qi Jing chuckled, letting her lead him forward, paying attention to not go too far away ahead of Zhang Cheng’s group.

Once they stepped through the entrance, a woman suddenly stood up from the sofa in the lobby, her expression shocked as she watched him and the little lolita pulling him inside.

“Mom~” Little lolita’s sweet call made her identity known to Qi Jing.

So it was Zhang Cheng’s wife… It seemed like she was waiting at her husband’s workplace for his and their daughter’s return. This being the case, Qi Jing took two steps forward, starting off with introducing himself politely.

“Hello Mrs Zhang, Teacher Zhang Cheng is outside, he’ll be coming inside in a moment. Ah, that’s right, I came here by the bus for the contestants from ⟪Order to End the Heavens⟫ competition…” Although he wasn’t a champion, he was indeed a contestant.

Considering how she didn’t know him, seeing her baby daughter coming in with a strange man with her dad nowhere to be seen, anyone would get worried—so to avoid her misunderstanding the situation, Qi Jing needed to clarify his identity right away.

When Mrs Zhang heard his voice, she momentarily blinked, staring at him for at least three seconds.

This left Qi Jing baffled, but little lolita already pounced at her mom, once again showcasing her supreme skill of hugging thighs as she plastered herself tightly on her mom’s trousers, saying in a high voice, “It’s Emperor Uncle~ The one who talked with dad on the computer~”

Mrs Zhang lowered her eyes for a bit and by the time she looked back up, her expression had already changed into that of an indignation.

—She didn’t seem too happy to see him.

“So you are that Don’t ask for my return date?” When she coldly spat those words out, Qi Jing could finally make sure that she not only ‘didn’t seem’ too happy about seeing him, but was very unhappy with this meeting, which caught him by surprise.

“Yes, I am…”

To be honest, he didn’t know why Mrs Zhang would hold any animosity toward him. It was their first time meeting, and he also didn’t remember how he could possibly offend her or her husband. If it was because he led the little lolita inside, then didn’t he already make it clear a moment ago?

At that time, Mrs Zhang suddenly continued, “Someone shared a site with me, a certain thread from some forum. People there seemed to have a very lively discussion about some ‘Long Term’ ship—so you are that ‘Don’t ask for my return date’ who keeps this fishy relationship with my husband?”

As she spoke, she slowly lowered her sad and angry face, holding little lolita’s hand as if she felt pained, unable to accept the proof of such infidelity.

When he heard this, Qi Jing secretly felt like he was about to spit blood from the emotional damage—Mrs Zhang! You can’t believe the gossip in the circle so easily!

It was exactly because he didn’t want to see any gossip cropping out of it that he hoped so dearly for no ‘Long Term CP’ to get created at the time, but turns out he had no chance of stopping the forum girls from creating a thread for it happily, letting their thoughts go wild there.

It was fine if he didn’t go in there, out of sight, out of mind, but why would be so idle… Actually sending some ‘Long Term’ shipping threads for Mrs Zhang herself to see—wasn’t that causing trouble out of pure malice? Women with a family and children were very sensitive to rumours like this, so someone was being especially vile here.

“Mrs Zhang, those people online are only being unserious and talking without thinking, please don’t treat it seriously,” His tone ill at ease and voice nervously hasty, he lowered his head to say quickly, “I—”

“Pfft…” Just as he was losing his mind wondering what to do, this Mrs Zhang suddenly laughed deeply, cutting his words short—a genuine laughter she really couldn’t hold back anymore.

Following was her clear and sonorous hearty laugh that went on for a while, “Ahahahaha…”

Qi Jing was taken aback, but he then saw her raise her head while laughing. The expression on her face was now completely changed, no more grave indignation or sadness to be seen anymore, only a pair of eyes narrowed from the laughing—a face full of playful cheekiness.

“Return Date, ah, Return Date,” She laughed lightly, her tone heavy with meaning, “Three years has passed already, yet you’re still getting married off against your will at every possible occasion~”

…Ah?Qi Jing’s heart shook a bit.

This shortened way she called his ID sounded so familiar—people he just met would usually never call him this, and even if they did, they would at least add stuff like ‘Lord’ or ‘-sama’ to it. Those ‘three years’ she mentioned were referring to the time he spent in the circle since he entered it, while ‘getting married off against his will’ was always the root of his troubles throughout that time. For her to actually know all of that to this degree, she had to be an old friend.

“You are…” Who?

“Haha,” The woman laughed languidly, lifting a brow, “How are the folks from ‘gradually inching towards quitting the community’ doing?”

Hearing this, Qi Jing’s eyes widened.

‘Gradually inching towards quitting the community’—it was the only group chat for staff members he had ever joined in the voice acting circle, Ninth Lady was the owner of the chat and there were few members. They were all the staff members he got to know the earliest, so he had a strong and experienced relationship with them.

But because the members were gradually growing sparse, it became just a place for idle chat and gossip, and Qi Jing himself found pleasure in it.

Outside of the members, no one else would know of this group’s existence.

“You…”

It couldn’t be Ninth Lady—Ninth Lady was from the time-difference gang, currently studying PhD in the US.

It couldn’t be Rolling Ball of Meow Meows—this girl was crying about how studying the design major is going to take her dear life not so long ago, these days she had been pulling all-nighters trying to meet all the deadlines, so there was no way she had spare time for any outings.

It couldn’t be iCookie—she was still worrying about how she can’t find a boyfriend, so where would she suddenly get a husband and daughter from.

It couldn’t be I won’t survive if I won’t procrastinate or Plainclothes with vermillion embroidery, both of those good-for-nothings were in the chat everyday, stuffing themselves full with all the delicious gossip, so why would they ask stuff like ‘how are those folks doing’. Someone who would ask this was probably away from the group for quite a while—

“Could it be that you’re…” An ID appeared in his head, so he tried calling it probingly, “Bumpy?”

“Heh,” She didn’t deny this question, so it seemed like he guessed right, “We haven’t talked online for such a long time, I didn’t expect that I would bump into you IRL first, Return Date.”

“Is this really you?” His eyes lit up, even his breathing speeding up at this exciting surprise.

‘Bumpy, not Indented’, nickname ‘Bumpy’—her and Ninth Lady were so close, Ninth Lady would call Bumpy ‘her CP’.

Even though back in the day, her biggest commitment was to react with ￢＿￢ every time Ninth Lady was obsessing over her main life core Swift horses run fast, pouring cold water on her enthusiasm with her jabs, but it never stopped her from becoming one of Ninth Lady’s most trusted companions and staff members. Aside from their attitude to creating audio dramas and the personal conduct being very much in tune with each other, her editing skills were also superior, her ID gaining a fame of one of the best sound designers in the circle at the time.

Ah—Qi Jing suddenly remembered something, first quickly looking at her, then again looking just as quickly at the little lolita plastered on her leg.

“A marriage… A child…” He muttered.

“Hm?”

“You really are busy with your IRL…”

“IRL huh… These days my it’s especially busy, I have to rush to finish my workload before making a year-end summary, and with the weather getting cold, the child easily gets sick as well.” She stroked her daughter’s hair, watching as the little thing played cute, rubbing her face against the leg of her trousers. Then, she sighed.

“A sound designer… with skills on par with Lifetime’s Lock’s” He finally arrived at the crucial point.

Hearing him say so, she lifted her chin and laughed, “Lifetime’s Lock? Are you talking about that sound designer for the modern underworld drama ⟪Trap⟫…? Ah my, what ‘on par’ are you talking about—if I were to get serious, I would crush her with no problem?”

Hearing this tone full of self-confidence, Qi Jing felt warmth in his chest, as if everyone’s fighting spirit for creating audio dramas was back—he suddenly felt that his companions didn’t lose out a single bit to Bronze Sparrow Terrace’s pack, or maybe were even more outstanding.

But, no matter how outstanding they were, they couldn’t escape the most realistic of questions, “Ninth said that you’re unable to accept any new dramas—is that true?”

Sure enough, she nodded her head.

“Mn, I haven’t done anything as a production staff for quite a long time, currently I’m also half-retired from the circle—if I have some free time, it’s just enough to go browse the forum for gossip. This is the biggest problem here.” She pointed at said ‘this’ by her leg. Little lolita looked with her pure and unblemished eyes at her mom—no matter how big of a trouble, she was still an adorable one, making it impossible for people to blame her.

“And the other problem is—”

Just as she said that, Zhang Cheng walked in through the main entrance. She and Qi Jing turned their heads in unison, both pointing fingers at him at the same time, “This one.”

What this, what that? Zhang Cheng was taken aback, only later realising that his wife was chatting with Qi Jing at the moment. With a surprised ‘eh?’, he asked, “Xiaotu, so you actually knew each other?”

Tu Xiaotu smiled brightly, “What is it, are you jealous?”

Zhang Cheng coughed, embarrassed, then hastily shook his head. Qi Jing sighed inwardly—Teacher Longbow, you’re so silly it’s kinda cute… You’ll get bullied a lot by your wife like this.

Tu Xiaotu waved her hand to make him move closer, then said quietly into his ear, “No need to get jealous, Return Date is looking for a boyfriend, not a girlfriend.”

Hearing this, Zhang Cheng couldn’t help but laugh, “I know, after all, didn’t he find one already?”

This in turn left Tu Xiaotu astonished. She quickly asked, “Strange, strange—why would you know it before me? And how do you know that? Who’s the boyfriend?”

Zhang Cheng pointed innocently behind his back, “It’s Return Date who told me himself—his boyfriend is one of the contestants, I already saw him during the introduction event.”

At that time, the contestants entered one after another. Tu Xiaotu was a woman of insatiable curiosity, so her gaze scanned through the group walking in. When her gaze fell on Went off with a bang, she skipped him without any word before stopping on Tan Zixian.

“Is it the one in black suit? He’s quite a looker.”

“…No,” Qi Jing quietly thought that little lolita’s beauty standards were surely passed on from her mother, then he raised his sleeve, pointing at the name on it with a smile, “It’s this one.”

“Shen Yan.” Tu Xiaotu read out loud.

One man from among the contestants seemed to have heard his name, jerking his head up and meeting their gaze right away—this way, Tu Xiaotu instantly knew this was the person in question.

Shen Yan saw Qi Jing smiling at him and Zhang Cheng chuckling at his sight. An unfamiliar woman stood by their side, looking him up and down, leaving him dumbfounded—but he still abided by the etiquette and greeted her with a nod.

“Shen Yan,” This time it was Zhang Zheng who spoke, calling him over with a smile and waiting for him to come closer, “Let me introduce you two to each other—this is my wife Xiaotu, she also works in this company as an audio designer and editor.”

Qi Jing had already heard about Tu Xiaotu having a sound design-related job, but it was only that day when he finally got to know the details, “So that’s how it is… Then it’s no wonder that you’re here.”

Tu Xiaotu laughed, “My job isn’t actually all that impressive, just the usual stuff. But it’s only because I’m working in this industry that I met Zhang Cheng. Ah… We keep talking between ourselves, yet I still haven’t properly said hello—nice to meet you, Mr Shen. Besides the introduction they gave me just now, I’m also old friends from the circle with Return Date. I’ve known him for a long time now, so I’m happy to know that he finally found a home for himself.”

When Shen Yan heard her saying how happy she was for Qi Jing, he instinctively broke into a smile, then said warmly, “Thank you.”

The four of them chatted for a while. When a question about Shen Yan’s job got asked, Qi Jing replied in his stead with a smile, “Shen Yan works in a veterinary clinic—he’s a kind and considerate doctor that really looks after the animals.”

Tu Xiaotu had an epiphany, “A veterinarian… So he’s actually a healing top.”

Qi Jing asked curiously, “How do you know that he’s a healing top?”

Although this guess was completely right, he was still curious how Tu Xiaotu came to this conclusion.

Tu Xiaotu patted his shoulder, her reasoning sound and clear, “It’s simple—that’s because you ‘receive’ the doctor and his treatment.”

…Bumpy, you won…

Qi Jing wanted to say something to that, but suddenly Zhang Cheng by his side exclaimed, as if he got spooked by something. Just as he wanted to turn his head to see what was going on, all of a sudden, he felt a sudden grip of an arm around his neck, so he instinctively exclaimed as well.

Everyone in the hall looked their way, surprised.

Qi Jing didn’t even have time to struggle before he heard a familiar voice coming from behind, “I just knew I could smell the seedlings here—so that’s how it is.”

A/N:

Kitty’s Papa will soon ‘receive’ his own share of ‘treatment’ as well~ (eh?)

Teacher Yuan, you’ve got a plenty of seedlings here for you~ (eh?)

P.S.: I didn’t realise that I accidentally tossed some Time Limit crumbs inside… *facepalms*