Chapter 138

unedited

This voice, this tone, this enthusiasm in his quest for the ‘seedlings’… It didn’t take long to realise who that was.

“Teacher!”

“Teacher Yuan!”

Zhang Cheng and Qi Jing both exclaimed at the same time, so the person who hung his arms around their necks laughed, finally loosening his grip.

Qi Jing finally escaped, laughing helplessly as he turned his head only to see a man in his forties standing behind him. With the impudent years of youth past but still not quite yet ready to draw his claws, it was precisely the time of the life when a person’s character would be at its most steady point.

His brows formed a typical pair of sword-like sharp lines, invoking respect even when he didn’t show his anger, his eyes appearing a bit deep-set whenever he smiled. His outfit was quite leisurely as well, with traces of some not quite fully shaved stubble—it seemed like he usually didn’t pay much attention to his image in his willfulness and out of habit of doing as he pleased.

Nevertheless, when heard not through a mic, but directly, his voice still had this indescribable striking power, like a bullet just shot from a barrel, as strong as the first impression he gave people. “There’s so many fine seedlings around here today, even the ones that grew crooked are all present—”

At that time, Zhang family’s little lolita raised her head with gleaming eyes to ask, “Uncle Yuan~ The seedlings, is it about Xiaomiao? Did I grow crooked?”

Speaking about this, her name, Zhang Miao, it was her parents who asked Yuan Zhengming to think of for their child—

Yuan Zhengming grinned and bent down to lift the little lolita by her armpits, raising her high and taking her for a full spin, “Haha, Xiaomiao isn’t crooked, Xiaomiao grew well and healthy, it’s the uncle right there who grew all bent.” He pointed to Qi Jing.

Bent? How is this uncle bent? A bit lost, little lolita looked at Qi Jing’s straight posture, showing that she didn’t really understand what Uncle Yuan was telling her.

Once everyone heard it was Yuan Zhengming himself, all of the contestants swarmed over to give their polite greetings. After all, Yuan Zhenming’s name still held quite a bit weight within the professional world and there were quite a lot of contestants who worshipped him, especially those who dabbled in the professional voice acting.

The crowd surrounding Yuan Zhengming couldn’t be short of the another crooked seedling, “So Teacher Yuan is actually younger than I imagined—”

“Tsk tsk,” When Yuan Zhengming heard this voice, he knew right away who it belonged to. He turned his head to take a look—and oh boy, not only this fellow’s clothes were splattered with blood, he even was wounded himself. But rather than gasping in surprise, his reaction was closer to a sigh of admiration, “Crooked seedling No.2… And here I was worried that you would change your mind and refuse to show up. Just look at you, look at you—this sorry look of you, I once ended up like this as well before… Looking at you now, it makes me think back to those hot-blooded days of mine…”

Yang Jie was stunned first, then laughed with raised brows, “What is it, did Teacher Yuan also use to fight the thieves?”

Yuan Zhengming laughed along, “It wasn’t thieves I fought. Ah, my, it would take a while to talk about those days…”

Without waiting for him to start talking about ‘those days’, there was already someone on the side who reached their hand out to pull on the collar of his shirt, tugging the slightly askew thing into a more proper look while nagging him in a low voice, “You’re in the presence of the students yet you still can’t keep your clothes neat—are you not afraid of making a fun of yourself for everyone to see?”

It was a pleasant voice, speaking neither too fast nor too slow with perfect enunciation—really just like the ancient people would say, “clear like the sound of marbles falling”, with a mature and splendid temperament.

With a voice like this, the person herself was none different.

With a small brooch pinned into the black jacket and a pure white skirt with bits of grey lacing, she looked dignified, in her element and very much properly dressed for the occasion. Her long hair was styled into a bun with no ornaments—not that she needed any, her face itself was enough to attract attention. Although she was already in her forties and the slight crow feet had started to form at the corners of her eyes, one could imagine that twenty years ago she surely had plenty of adorers.

“Is it really that bad,” Yuang Zhengming grumbled. But despite complaining, it didn’t seem like he intended to disobey her, lifting the collar of his shirt obediently and shaking it twice, “Look, the students didn’t even say anything…”

After complaining this much, he turned his head back, only to see a frown on the woman’s face, which promptly made him swallow the rest of his words back.

When Qi Jing saw Yuan Zhengming getting so unusually scared for once, he could more or less guess the identity of this person, so he said with a smile, “It’s nice to meet you, Teacher Pu.”

Hearing him call her so, everyone followed his suit and greeted her one after another, each and every person in hurry to pay their respect to her.

Pu Yuzhi returned the greetings with a slight smile and a nod.

At that time, Shen Yan stepped forward and gave her a deep bow full of respect, “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Teacher Pu.”

This bow was unlike the one he gave to Zhang Cheng or the fans—it was more formal, more careful than those two before. With both hands close to his sides and gaze lowered to the ground, he stayed still in this formal greeting of a junior paying respect to his elder.

Pu Yuzhi looked closely at him for a while, finally smiling warmly when he finally straightened his back, “So you are Shen Yan—

Shen Yan raised his head slowly before her, light flickering in his eyes.

Yuan Zhengming loved his seedlings, and Pu Yuzhi loved them too. Her way of expressing that wasn’t quite as evident, but neither of their love was any weaker than the other’s.

There was a plenty of contestants worthy of attention in this competition, but the one she was the most interested in was this ‘Kitty の Papa’. Maybe it was because of her occupation as a professor who was often in touch with students, but aside from paying attention to the voice acting alone, she also paid attention to the voice actor’s history.

“One’s history would always leave some kind of trace on their voice acting.” She said.

Shen Yan walked on her side, listening respectfully in silence.

On their way toward the recording studio, they followed unhurriedly behind the big crowd, letting a small distance separate them&#k2014;this was Pu Yuzhi’s intention. Unlike Yuan Zhengming who would often stay in big groups, she much preferred to talk one on one, as only this way she would be able to speak more frankly about some things.

“I can see that your grandfather taught you well,” She smiled at him gently, “You’re modest, honest, and polite—you’ll get successful easily in any industry.”

“Thank you.” Shen Yan said in a low voice—not because Pu Yuzhi approved of him, but because she approved of his grandpa who raised him.

“I’ve seen your information, and it seems like you only had professional training before you started working?”

“Yes…” Shen Yan hesitated a bit before replying—his academic history being subpar was one of the reasons Ning Xiaoxiao used to judge whether he was a good match for Qi Jing before. Qi Jing had a bachelor’s degree from a famous university, so in terms of education, Shen Yan was far behind him. Even if Qi Jing himself didn’t mind it at all, it had always been a tiny black spot in his heart.

“Mn,” Pu Yuzhi didn’t sound like she meant to discriminate against him—more than that, she suddenly said something that caught him completely off guard, “I know that you’re currently working, but… Would you want to get a bachelor’s degree?”

A bachelor’s degree. If those words one abandoned for ten years already were put once again before them, just about anyone would get dazzled, including him.

He didn’t know how to reply, because he was always sure that had no chances to answer this question, but when he heard it from Pu Yuzhi’s mouth, it had such a tangible sense of feasibility to it.

“I—” He couldn’t say he didn’t, but if he said otherwise yet couldn’t achieve it in the end, it would be even more difficult to bear.

So his voice broke, then he pursed his lips without finishing.

“My university has one of the best broadcasting and voice acting majors in the country,” Pu Yuzhi watched his lowered eyes closely, her expression very earnest, “I have good relationships with the admission office of our faculty, so if you were interested in participating in the next year’s October college entrance exams and passed with high enough score for the specialisation and Humanities exams… I could have them make an exception and enrol you as a junior college student, so you could finish the undergraduate course in three years.”

Those words were like a rain shower, catching him unprepared and landing straight on his unguarded heart. His thoughts were also like a window on a rainy day, its glass washed down with countless traces of raindrops that turned it into a misty dark blurr, making the view around him grow hazy to the point where he couldn’t see the road he was supposed to take.

He stood there, lost, his breathing irregular like the droplets falling on the window panes, at times quick and at times scarce. A complete chaos—

Then, he shook, chilled by this rain, his head now cool.

What stretched out before him was the harsh reality, as cold as this rain.

“Teacher Pu, my professional training had nothing to do with voice acting…” He was trained as a veterinarian, so not to mention voice acting, it didn’t even have anything to do with any art-related specialisation.

“I know, but as I said, as long as you pass the specialisation and Humanities exams, I can handle the rest with a few words.” As a teacher, she knew very well that it took a great deal of encouragement to let someone to break out of their shell, “And even if you get a degree, you don’t necessarily have to switch to working as a full-time voice actor, you could accept work offers in the spare time after your main job depending on your needs, save up more money for the household. This way you could take care of both your hobby and your livelihood, so I think it’s not that bad of a choice.”

There wasn’t many occasions with producers as bold as those of ⟪Order to End the Heavens⟫, who dared to use so many amateur voice actors in their game. If someone wanted to get more official contracts, enter the more professional movie-making industry, the academic history still had a certain value to it.

Shen Yan looked at her, lost, then his eyes instinctively searched for Qi Jing among the crowd ahead of them, staying on his back after he found him.

To be honest, Pu Yuzhi’s offer really tempted him for that one moment, but…

“I don’t want to add to my partner’s economic burden…”

If he started an undergraduate course, he would have to pay the tuition. The life in Beijing was bound to be more expensive than back in their province—he was afraid that if Qi Jing had to work alone, providing for the car, the rent, and two people’s worth of expenses… The burden on his shoulders would only double.

Voice acting, academic degree, a richer life. He wanted it, of course, but it wasn’t all that necessary—

“Thank you for this opportunity, Teacher Pu, but if I have to be honest… My current circumstances wouldn’t allow it.” Shen Yan smiled faintly with a bitter taste in his mouth.

“Don’t you want to consult with him first?” Pu Yuzhi asked suddenly.

“Him?” Shen Yan was taken aback, momentarily unable to react.

“Haha, I think I can more or less guess who that ‘partner’ of yours is.” Pu Yuzhi laughed as she looked in the direction in which Shen Yan had been gazing. There, Qi Jing was standing along with other contestants, laughing, cheering and clapping his hands as Yuan Zhengming was telling them all kinds of anecdotes from the dark bits of his voice acting history.

Pu Yuzhi pointed out calmly, “Just as Zhengming had said before, the tacit understanding between you is a bit different than that of other groups. You’re not that good at lying, you could still somehow cover it up as ‘getting into the role’ during the audition itself, but during the opening speech… you weren’t really able to hide that. It might be because I listened to my students practising for way too long, but I can hear whether someone’s feelings are genuine or not when they’re speaking—and you two genuinely love each other, and I mean the ‘lovers’ kind of love.”

Shen Yan breathed a long, slow sigh, which counted as him admitting it silently.

Pu Yuzhi returned back to the main topic, “I understand your worry, but adult decisions should be discussed along with your other half, to avoid regrets in the future.”

Shen Yan recalled how Qi Jing almost abandoned the prospects in his career for him. His feelings mixed when putting himself in Qi Jing’s shoes, he finally agreed with a soft “Alright”.

The tour around the recording studio was very simple. They mainly got to know the sound engineer responsible for their recordings along with the other related workers, then they tested the equipment under Zhang Cheng’s guidance while they listened to Yuan Zhengming pointing out the important things to remember as their voice director.

Since the contestants all dabbled in voice acting, they all more or less knew what to do with the recording studio’s basic equipment, so the sound test also went smoothly.

Since a lot of the time there would be two or more people in the booth during the actual recording, Yuan Zhengming prepared the printed out timetables for them beforehand, giving one to every contestant to get familiar with after going back to spare them some time during the next day.

Qi Jing himself worked in a TV station, so he had seen quite a few of such studios before. Aside from that, he also wasn’t meant to participate in the recordings, so as Shen Yan and the rest of contestants listened to the three of the teachers explaining, he went to chat with Tu Xiaotu who was just as idle.

“Speaking of which, why did you disappear from the group for such a long time?” No matter how busy she was, it wasn’t like she had no chance to visit QQ every once in a while, right?

“Oh, that account was the one I used only for the audio drama circle. Since I didn’t have time to accept new works or to gossip with other folks, I just didn’t use it much anymore.” Saying this, Tu Xiaotu paused for a moment, then coughed in embarrassment, “Cough cough, there’s also something you don’t know about, that is… I actually fought with Ninth.”

“Ah?” Qi Jing got caught by a surprise. He thought that their relationship was so good, they wouldn’t possibly ever fight, “Why?”

“Because she argued with about whose voice sounded better, Sleek Horses Run Fast’s or Longbow’s.”

“…You two sure are something…” Qi Jing had to express his utmost admiration.

“You know it, she’s always been his huge fan, and me… of course I would choose my man.”

That’s of course.

“If it was you, you’d probably also think that your dr Shen’s voice sounds the best, am I wrong about that?” This rhetorical question from him feel his face grow hot.

…Can’t… deny… that…

Finally, Tu Xiaotu looked up and sighed woefully, “At that time, I still haven’t told her that Longbow is my man. I also didn’t expect that after I told her, she would cry from the shock before ignoring me for quite a while.”

Don’t you know that for a bestie, her friend’s man is her own love rival? Qi Jing berated her in his mind.

At that time, Tu Xiaotu spoke again, “If I also told her that I actually saw her life core plenty of times IRL, even ate a dinner with him, then our friendship would probably be finished.”

Hearing this, Qi Jing raised a brow, “Could it be that you also…”

Tu Xiaotu laughed with an impish look in her eyes, “I know, the Department Director of the company developing ⟪Order to End the Heavens⟫ is that legendary Big Sleek Horse~ ⟪Order to End the Heavens⟫ has always collaborated with our company for the voice acting, and he also has a good relationship with Longbow and Teacher Yuan, so I already knew that before. And from that ‘also’ you just said I guess that you probably met him during the introduction event as well.”

Qi Jing thought back to that post with “Sleek horses run fast owes someone money” in the title and couldn’t help but laugh in his heart. Unable to reign in his curiosity, he asked, “That’s right, Bumpy—you spent more time in the circle than me and you also know Big Sleek Horse in real life… Do you know why he retired?”

But even Tu Xiaotu could only shake her head. “I don’t know. I just remember that his retirement at that time was rather sudden, and thorough. Even staff members he had the best rapport with didn’t manage to convince him to come back and take on a new project.”

“It can’t be that he really had some shady relationship with one of his female fans…”

“No, he didn’t. Although he had a lot of female fans, he was very principled in this matter and never met with his fans IRL. Not like some VAs these days, who slept with who knows how many of their fans in private.”

Qi Jing had already heard plenty of similar ugly gossip in the circle three years ago, but he didn’t believe that ‘Five’ wouldn’t have a bottom line like this.

“He…” Before he could even finish those words, the door to the studio opened suddenly and the contestant poured out from inside. It seemed like that was the end of the tour.

So they had to put that topic aside for a moment, standing up to welcome them.

“Return Date, would you like to join us for dinner?” Zhang Cheng took the initiative to invite him.

“Right, seedling No.1 should come with us too.” Yuan Zhengming said as well.

“Maybe better not.” Qi Jing smiled, embarrassed. He was actually a bit worried that other contestants would find a mere runner-up like him as an attention-seeker here—it could bring the mood down. Although no one would say anything, but everyone kept their own thoughts and grudges to themselves, so he would be better off declining politely on his own accord, “This dinner is supposed to be for the winners and the teachers, I just came over to meet you, teachers, and didn’t intend to stay for too long. If I still followed you to mooch off a meal and the drinks, this would be just too much—what if the developers got to know about this and didn’t even let me have the second prize?”

His last comment had the people around laughing.

Went off with a bang seemed to be quite approving of this standpoint as he nodded his head smugly, dying to make his identity as the champion known to the entire world, that there was a difference.

Qi Jing was sure it wasn’t only Uncle Bang who thought so.

“You really won’t go?” At that time, Pu Yuzhi went over and asked him. Qi Jing had a lot of respect for her because of Shen Yan, so when she came over to urge him to stay today, he felt warm in his heart.

“Mn,” But since he had already said his part, he had to follow up with it. He smoothed his hair sheepishly and said with a smile, “The fact that I even came here was in a spur of a moment, I had already planned to meet with my friends from Beijing to have dinner somewhere else.” He came up with a reason to sound more natural.

“Then there’s really nothing we can do about it.” Zhang Cheng said with regret.

“Unfortunately.” Qi Jing raised his eyes as he spoke, just in time to meet Shen Yan’s gaze.

Shen Yan probably didn’t expect him to not go at all. He furrowed slightly, seemingly wanting to say something, but in the end he chose not to. Qi Jing smiled silently at him, then as he urged Yuan Zhengming and the rest to quickly go fill their bellies, he used the pretext of sending his ‘friends from Beijing’ a message, he secretly sent one to Shen Yan.

【I asked Zhang Cheng’s wife about the place you’ll be eating at, it’s close to here, you’ll walk there together. I checked a map, there’s a Starbucks two streets away from it, I’ll order a coffee and pastry to eat while waiting for you there.”

【You won’t eat your fill like this.】

【Haha, no problem, soon we’ll bleed Five’s wallet to buy us something better to eat~ ^_^ And it’d be a better place for him to stop his car there when he comes to receive us later, so that no one recognises him as the company employee.】

Shen Yan didn’t reply back, only turning his head to look at him from afar and sighing helplessly.

So Qi Jing sent another message.

【Be a good boy, mwah.】

With the sending of that ‘mwah’, he finally managed to put a smile on Shen Yan who lowered his head to read the message. Qi Jing was thus satisfied, and pocketed the phone.

When he went outside, although it was already getting dark, the entire Beijing was set alight.

Yet the outline of the city all looked as if put through a filter in an editing program, the warm light of the street lamps as if coming from behind frosted glass, the scattered particles of their colourful light falling one after another onto the snow, reminding one of the houses made of candy from fairy tales.

Because it was past dusk, the outside was already dark, so the only snowflakes that were visible to an eye were the one falling below the street lamps, looking as if they were dropping straight from the light itself to dance downwards—Qi Jing couldn’t help but sigh in admiration at the sight.

He was sitting by the window in a cafe, gazing outside.

He didn’t know if it was because he didn’t eat and his sugar level was low, after sitting for a while he started feeling the cold creeping up his toes, and only managed to ward it off with a cup of coffee.

There weren’t that many choices on the menu, most of the food being baked goods with no freshly cooked meals, so he just bought a sandwich to eat slowly.

In a chain store from the West like Starbucks, they paid more attention to the Christmas season than the other shops—the windows were decorated with gold and silver cut-outs in the shape of bells, and there were a bunch of little white snowflakes made with a spray. On each of the tables was a square glass with a red candle inside, its flame jumping about, cutting a small warm corner out from the world around—quite romantic. Indeed, if he just weren’t here alone to see it, it would be so, so romantic.

“Hah…” He had to admit that he felt a bit lonely, and even regretted a bit—he regretted that he didn’t do his very best back then and didn’t get any first place. This way, he would at least be able to sit along with them fair and square, talking and laughing along.

After they left, Shen Yan hadn’t sent him any message.

Was it because he was upset that he didn’t come along, or maybe Teacher Yuan pulled him into a long conversation he couldn’t escape, or maybe…

Qi Jing’s finger moved back and forth on the touchscreen. By the time he opened the inbox for the twentieth time to see no new message in it, he couldn’t stop himself from sending one himself.

【The windows in this cafe are so pretty.】

After writing this, he attached a photo of the bell cut-outs on the windows he had just taken.

Not even a minute passed when Shen Yan suddenly replied.

Qi Jing’s eyes lit up and he quickly raised the phone to see it.

There was not a single word in the reply, only a photo—it was also a photo of a window, the very same window as the one he had sent, but the angle was different—it was taken from the outside.

And behind the window was him, his head lowered while writing a message—

Qi Jing trembled, but before he could even raise his head in shock, someone’s arm already pulled him from behind to hug into a warm chest.

And when this person spoke, he could feel its rise and fall as he breathed.

“Hello, mister,” The man asked in a low voice, “How about making it two coffees?”