Chapter 130
Chapter 130
Unedited
This thingis it true?
For
Four
to ask this, it showed that she also didnt want to try believing it.
No one would ever believe it.
Shen Yan lowered his gaze, saying nothing, then finally rubbed his face with a tired expression. He couldnt tell whether it was his hands that were colder, or his face.
No matter if its true, its already in the past.
Thats right, its in the past. Time can change a person, perhaps even two.
He also didnt want to dwell on something other people wouldnt believe. Dwelling on it wouldnt benefit anyone. People like
Four
and the rest of the bunch were, after all, outsiders, with little s.p.a.ce to get involvedonly between the involved could this matter get thoroughly unfolded and discussed. And as for that day, the only obstacle keeping them from doing that was the opportunity to talk face-to-face.
Lets leave it at this, just forget what he told you. Shen Yans voice sounded a bit hoa.r.s.e, as if he didnt rest for seventy two whole hours.
Fine. When the woman heard him say so, she knew that he had his own sorrows. Thats why she sighed and said with a bitter smile, Six, how to say that Sometimes youre too considerate, caring too much about the bigger picture, putting up with everything. When Two was questioning you, you didnt mention Fiveit was to avoid driving a wedge between them, right?
Twos love for voice acting is genuine, hes not a scheming guy. And his relations.h.i.+p with Five is good. It would cause no good if he knew about this.
It would only create more problems, so whats the use?
Four
fell silent for a while. To be honest
She seemed to waver if she should try to help that guy in restoring his impression for a moment, stuck uncomfortably for quite a while before she finally spoke. To be honest, Five is actually really thoughtful with his friends. For example Two, I dont know if you heard about it, but he worked as a professional voice actor for a while before. He got unlucky and was employed by a studio that treasured money more than talent, pus.h.i.+ng him to voice act unreasonable stuff to ingratiate themselves with the clients, so he got mad and quit, refusing to have anything to do anymore with the professional circle Frankly, with his skills, itd be too much of a waste. This time, Five half coaxed, half coerced him to enter the professional compet.i.tion, and it was for someone to scout his talent once again.
Shen Yan didnt make a sound.
Four
s
smile was a bit weak as she said slowly, I dont know anything about what happened, but I hope that one day, the two of you will be able to sit together and make everything clear. If anyone did wrong, then admit to it; if theres a need, then beat each other up a good time. But dont remain standing in place, refusing to move on for the rest of your lives.
I know. This time, he replied in a low voice. He replied twice, once for her, and once for himself, I know that
After turning the computer off, Shen Yan left the study without turning the light on. The only source of light seeped in faintly from the street lamps outside, as if covering the black walnut furniture with a thin layer of frost. Only one who felt this light on their skin would be able to tell if its warm or cold,
black and white stark against each other
.
He stood there in place for a long while, gaze moving around the apartment he once lived in with his grandpa. The number of residents in this apartment shrunk from two to one, then, after a long time, finally changed again into twohe didnt want to, nor would he let this number to once again go back to one.
Huu He released his breath, shaking his head slightly, and finally walked back to the bedroom door, gently turning the door handle.
Clack.
The moment the door opened, He suddenly saw something flash brightly in the darkit was somewhere around the pillow. At the same time, he could hear rustling of the duvet being pulled over, before all of it disappeared in the silence.
Shen Yan was surprised at first, then understood it after a moment.
He quietly walked over to the bedside, then suddenly pounced over, trapping the down duvet beneath him, along with the person hiding underneath. His attack seemed to have given quite a scare to that manhe sprung up beneath the thick duvet like a caught fish being pulled out of water in a fishnet, his struggling a spitting image of one thras.h.i.+ng about its tail in panic.
So youre not sleeping like a good boy, even playing with your phone while hiding under the duvet? Shen Yan said in a low voice.
He didnt know at what point his hands found the other mans hands, not letting him hide the incriminating evidence under the pillow. When Shen Yan spoke, his breath pa.s.sed lightly by this mans cheek, blowing strands of the hair on his temples aside, the whole image feeling a bit like a punishment.
He got caught in the crime.
Qi Jing momentarily blushed with shame.
It wasnt actually any alarming crime, but being told off by Shen Yan like this, he couldnt stop the scalding warmth from creeping up his cheeks. He struggled a bit, but didnt manage to struggle free. And the man on top of him almost seemed to hug him still, his elbows at both of Qi Jings sides limiting the s.p.a.ce, not even leaving him enough to turn over, not to mention breaking free.
He had no other choice but to consider employing the soft measures. I couldnt sleep
It was actually because he slept for too long during the day, so he was still full of energy at that point. During the time when Shen Yan was still in the study, he had been staring at the ceiling for half an hour and yet still didnt feel sleepy, so he only searched for the phone to browse Weibo when he was extremely bored. He didnt expect that he would get caught red-handed.
Its so dark here, and the phone screen is so bright, do you want to ruin your eyesight? Shen Yan not only didnt soften, he also furrowed his brows, voice getting even heavier with reproach, If youre not feeling guilty of anything, then why would you be so sneaky hiding it from me?
I feel guilty, of course I do.
Qi Jing coughed slightly. Shen Yan was always resolute in his approach towards Qi Jings health.
Fine, fine, I was wrong. So, do release me, please?
Shen Yan did not release him.
Qi Jing had no other choice.
His hands werent free anymore, his whole body wrapped still in the duvet like in a coc.o.o.n, and the man above was pressing on him with half of his body, leaving him unable to budge. The only thing he could do was to employ his last movek2014;he suddenly lunged his body forward, head raised to search for the source of that mans voice, only to seal it viciously.
Ngh
Shen Yan was about to open his mouth to say something, but Qi Jings tongue already invaded it halfways, bringing with it some of the moistness, so spa.r.s.e in the wintertime. It gently pushed what he was about to say back up, not letting him continue talking down at him.
He closed his eyes subconsciously, breathing growing urgent. His grip loosened in this moment of inattention. Qi Jing took this opportunity to free his hands, peeling a hem of the duvet from himself, then peeling a hem of the outermost layers of Shen Yans clothes along the way. He caressed and undressed him in the dark, pulling him into a snuggly entanglement of limbs under the duvet, kissing him wantonly for a long-lasting moment.
It lasted until both of them were short of their breaths, when Qi Jing finally broke the kiss, nuzzling his nose against Shen Yans.
As his breathing slowed down, he suddenly felt playful. With a smile, he flipped over, pus.h.i.+ng Shen Yan beneath himself, getting the man who had just pushed him down to lay below him. Qi Jing buried his face behind his ear, rubbing against it, only content when their bodies were snuggled close against each other. He lazily hooked his finger around the b.u.t.ton hanging on Shen Yans clavicle, playing with it in a good mood.
To his surprise, Shen Yan actually let him have his way, choosing to not pursue the case of him playing with his phone, only quietly circling his arms around Qi Jing. He turned his head to kiss his hair, the kiss tender beyond any words.
Suddenly, Shen Yan called him.
A-Jing.
What are you
calling me this for.
He froze for a moment, face scalded with blush. He wiggled around beneath the duvet to hug this man even closer, bed sheets rustling.
If, Whenever Shen Yan started with
if
, it was always because he felt at loss and uncertain about something that happened in his lifethis was what Qi Jings experience told him. But what he said next, Qi Jing couldnt quite link with their current life, If one day, I was left with nothing Even if this apartment, even if this place we live in was gone, could I still remain by your side?
Qi Jing was taken aback.
What are you even talking about with someone who has neither an apartment
or
car? When he came back to himself, he asked half-jokingly.
But Shen Yan didnt laugh, tightening the hold of his arms instead, as if he wouldnt let go before getting an answer.
Qi Jing reined in his smile, fingers combing through Shen Yans hair lovingly as he replied with utmost sincerity, Silly Wasnt it you who said that the home is where your loved ones are?
Shen Yans head on his shoulder moved slightly. He only made a soft noise in reply, not saying anything more.
Meanwhile, Qi Jing continued talking, If we cant stay in this apartment, then we will rent another one. Either way, next year we will also need to rent one when we go to Beijing.
Mhm.
If we want to think further, then we can also slowly save up to buy one as well. Its always good to have a goal in life.
Mhm.
To make it short, I will provide for you, dont worry. Qi Jing used his most top voice for this on purpose, then heard Shen Yan laughing softly. He reached a hand to hold his, no longer saying anything.
It was warm. Or at least it was warmer than on their way back home.
So warm that he could keep holding it for the whole night, until the sun rose.
Ever since he officially returned to working in the TV station, Qi Jings days, busy with his work arrangements, also returned. To free up two days of leave for the sake of accompanying Shen Yan to Beijing, he had to clench his teeth and cram a weeks worth of a.s.signments into five days, choke-filled with everythingfrom interviews to gathering resources outside. This, coupled with Shen Yans house being far away from the company, meant that he would go out in the wee hours in the morning and return home after 9pm.
Qi Jing, do you really have to push yourself so hard His colleague was outright appalled when he saw him sitting before the computer and writing a draft during the lunch break.
If I dont, I wont be able to take a leave this weekend. Qi Jing took a sip of coffee with a wry smile, End of the year will also be a h.e.l.l of a busy time.
Youre right, were about to have Christmas and New Year. Once the holidays arrived, every single worker of the TV station was like a magnet tossed into a pile of iron dust, instantly attracting all the work, whether it was holiday specials or holiday parties They were all too busy to find any free time.
Fortunately, he would somehow find some time to have three meals a day on time with the boxed meals Shen Yan prepared for him beforehands, but he didnt have any choice for the resting time.
After going home and having a shower, the remaining time would only be enough to get hugged gently into the bed by Shen Yan. He didnt even have a chance to use the things in the drawerwith a kiss from Shen Yan on his eyes, he was already deep asleep.
And so it was four days later when Ning Xiaoxiao finally pa.s.sed him the news that
Ninth Lady
wanted to contact him urgently after giving him a series of desperate calls.
The arrangements for his work that day were a bit unusualan interview with a large-scale exhibition in the afternoon and an obligatory attendance dinner party arranged by the company, leaving him a little bit of time in the morning. After sending Shen Yann off to his work and preparing breakfast for Little Return Date and Big Goose, he finally got a chance to open his QQ.
And
Ninth Lady
, the one he was always only be able to talk to in the mornings his time
Sure enough, her QQ account was online.
Qi Jing quickly sent her his greetings.
Dont ask for my Return Date
: Ninth, its been ages since we talked online, how are you doing? ^^
Ninth Lady
: Aaaaaah! Return Date!
Ninth Lady
: (holds face) Speaking of which, why are you online at this time Usually when Im online, youre off to that mess of a work and sleep schedule of yours
Dont ask for my Return Date
: Ah, luckily today most of my job will be in the afternoon and evening, thats why I had some free time to come over to talk with a time-difference gang member like you. Whats up, do the students have holidays over there in the US now?
Ninth Lady
: We have over a week off, but I followed my cla.s.smates to go skiing in the national park after we were done with the finals, and we went camping too After a few continuous days, Im dog-tired. Even after logging onto the forum I had no energy left to browse it
Dont ask for my Return Date
: Me too
Ninth Lady
:
Dont ask for my Return Date
:
Ninth Lady
:
Pft.
Dont ask for my Return Date
:
Pft.
Ninth Lady
: Same as always, arent you~ ()
Dont ask for my Return Date
: You too~ ^^
As the one who formally introduced
Dont ask for my return date
VA
to the online voice acting circle,
Ninth Lady
could count as one of his closest and most trusted staff members within it. He didnt have to be secretive when talking to her, he could let himself be at ease, with no burden weighing him down.
Usually, the voice actors and staff members basically had a cooperative relations.h.i.+p, so there were a lot of things that couldnt be saidno one could say if the other person wouldnt stab them in the back when they didnt look.
Unless their relations.h.i.+p went up from cooperation partners to friends.
And even at the friends stage, it wasnt guaranteed they would tell each other everything.
But Qi Jing had no such misgivings about
Ninth Lady
, he could basically be almost one hundred percent frank with her, aside from some especially private mattersand as for those, she knew well enough to not ask about, so Qi Jing felt very much at ease around her. For a producer to be able to develop long-term within the circle, aside from contacts and skills, the most important was to understand how to treasure other staff members and voice actors. Only this way, one would have friends to help them when some accident happened.
To quote
Ninth Lady
s own words, they would get tormented to h.e.l.l and back by the antis if some of our chat logs got leaked.
Such as the comments roasting
Bronze Sparrow Terrace
if anyone posted any of those online, the angry fans would finish up the author of the comment.
But Qi Jing knew that she wouldnt do that.
She knew that Qi Jing wouldnt do that as well.
Dont ask for my return date
: March Bamboo Shoots told me that you had some urgent news for me?
Ninth Lady
: I do A few days ago, I finally managed to get back to the dormitory, soak comfortably in a warm bath, and then I opened my computer The shock was so great that even my face mask cracked.
Dont ask for my return date
: I think I can guess why you got so shocked
Ninth Lady
:
Ninth Lady
:
Ninth Lady
: THIS LADYS MAIN LIFE CORE RETURNED!! This ladys main life core Sleek horses run fast suddenly returned!! Can you comprehend my feelings when I saw my life core return after four years of retirement?!! ()
Dont ask for my return date
: I can But you calm down first (((o)
It really was because of Sleek Horses Run Fast
Qi Jing chuckled helplessly. It seemed like even someone as burnt out with the circle and almost completely retired veteran staff member as
Ninth Lady
couldnt resist the impact of her life core VA coming back
Before, when
Sleek Horses Run Fast
called him dumba.s.s, he only appeared for a mere flash, with no actual follow-up. But this time, with his tip-for-tac with
Bronze Sparrow Terrace
, he really came back.
Dont ask for my return date
: So since the Big Sleek Horses returned, you came looking for Little Return Date to fangirl about him together?
Ninth Lady
: Of course not Who are you taking me for =A= My excitement about my main life core returning is true, but I came rus.h.i.+ng for you with a serious matter.
Dont ask for my return date
: ??
Ninth Lady
: The producer for Trap, Rouge Flower, had retired from the circle yesterdaydid you know about that?
What
The previously merry atmosphere broke in an instant. Qi Jings expression changed into a distressed one as he straightened his back slowly, face coloured with shock.
Why A single word escaped his lips before something stuck in his throat, instantly breaking his thoughts into a disarray.
He felt that his typing speed was no longer enough to keep up with his want for explanation, so he put the earphones on, starting a voice call.
Just what happened, why did she retire? No matter if it was for the voice actor or a staff member, retiring from the circle was a very big decision for them all. Qi Jing furrowed slightly, an unpleasant premonition forming in his mind.
Eh,
Ninth Lady
sighed faintly. After all, as a seasoned producer experienced with years of the online voice acting circle drama, she was rather composed when talking about this sort of matter, When I got back from my outing four days ago, I found a message she left me on QQ. It was a pretty long and messy one, the gist of it being how much she wants to apologise to you, that it was her who looked for you to play in this drama and yet it turned into a huge mess like this. Because it was me who gave her your contact info, she also pa.s.sed her apologies to me.
I was so puzzled. I tried asking her what happened but she didnt reply to me, and two days ago she suddenly @ed everyone in the production crew,
Bronze Sparrow Terrace
included, saying that Because of the various accidents that occurred during the Order to End the Heavens compet.i.tion, as well as your quitting, she spent too much time looking for the new voice actor for the second episode. And because she couldnt reach an agreement about the new voice actor choice with the other staff members, coupled with the great increase in her IRL studies workload, she wishes she could manage it, but she has no strength to do so.
So, she decided that shes no longer able to continue being in charge of Trap production and concluded that from that day on, she gave up her duty as the producer, pa.s.sing the right to the latter two episodes.
When Qi Jing heard that, his heart staggered. Who did she pa.s.s it to?
To the main force behind looking for the new VA
Bronze Sparrow Terrace
s close confidante, as well as the sound designer for Trap.
Ninth Lady
s tone was especially gloomy.
Its finished Qi Jings first thought was only this, This audio drama is completely finished
Seems like it Itll certainly be popular, after all they still have the advantage of
Bronze Sparrow Terrace
s great G.o.d t.i.tle. But the original plot will probably get obliterated.
Ninth Lady
said.
Let me guessif that sound designer lady is responsible for finding a replacement VA for me, then the new guy she found is around 0.5 shou, an androgynous voice of a graceful beauty?
Eh, how did you know?
Ninth Lady
s reaction confirmed his conjecture. He facepalmed in silence.
Since the beginning,
A Lifetimes Lock
wasnt choosing people in accordance to the original plot, but rather according to whose voice type would suit the CP with
Bronze Sparrow Terrace
the best.
As expected, from what
Ninth Lady
managed to gather, the newly chosen person was exactly this type of sweet beauty voice, as well as a moderately famous pinky voice actor in the circle. He was also one of the
Bronze Sparrow Terrace
fans and had a very good rapport with
Da
and
Xiao Qiaos,
as well as with
Lifetimes Lock
.
So the producer No, the previous producer saying that she couldnt reach an agreement about the choice of the candidate was pointing to
Thats right,
Rouge Flower
didnt want to use this person, but the sound designer hardly insisted on using him, so the disagreement within the production crew was too great. Now that I think of it, it might be that
Rouge Flower
s retirement could also be forced onto her.
Qi Jing listened to all of it with his brows furrowed, not knowing what to say aside from sighing.
He didnt actually feel all that aggrieved when he left the production, it was only a sacrifice of two versions of dry recording and a dozen or so hours of recording and retaking some parts. But for
Rouge Flower, Puppet Show,
and
Knives cutting in from four corners
, who did it out of love and poured their lifeblood into creating it, the scale of this impact was completely different.
Is it because I was too impulsive at that time? To be honest, he was the fuse for this situation.
Dont think like this,
Ninth Lady
said bleakly, In our circle neither creating audio dramas nor voice acting for them are paid for, so theres no reason for you to still continue recording if other people inconvenience and bully you. No one owes anyone anything, if the cooperation doesnt work out, then it simply disbands. When this lady first started working on audio dramas, people like
Bronze Sparrow Terrace
werent even there yet. If he wants to court a disaster, then let him court it.
Qi Jing wanted to laugh at it, but couldnt really muster himself to.
With all said and done, he really felt sorry for it
The producer left the production and the sound designer took her place. She will certainly act as both, so how about the original script-writer and director?
The script-writer girl is so unlucky She already finished writing the script for the second episode, but now, with the transfer of the rights, she can neither withdraw the script or leave it in their hands So the sound designer girl made a smart move, quickly saying that since she already handed the script for the second episode, theres no take-backs, and that she also already began to edit the background sound effects according to it, so it cant be withdrawn. The script-writer girl is such a meek sweetheart, she couldnt argue with her, so she just agreed. She asked them to find someone else for the third episode, as she was busy with her IRL matters and couldnt continue Of course, its obviously an excuse.
The script for the second episode sure enough was already finished a long time ago, and it was quite probable that the one for the third episode could already be done as well, only waiting for the final approval.
This
Puppet Show
was a very honest girl, so she probably felt terrible getting caught in a crossfire
Then how about the director?
The director girl was even more straightforwardshe straight up shared the producers weibo post with a quote saying Im sorry, I also couldnt reach an agreement about the new choice for the main role with other staff members, especially with the new producer, so as the director, I cant possibly continue working on this audio drama. Please dont notify me about the changes in the staff, see you never again in Jianghu.
Qi Jing couldnt help a bitter laugh when he heard that.
Wouldnt that clearly show that they parted their ways because of the break in their relations.h.i.+p? It definitely matched
Knives cutting in from four corners
style.
But with only one episode out, to already have one of the leads, producer, script-writer, and even the director publicly announcing their quitting Trap really could count as one of the wonders in online voice acting circles history.
So, Return Date. Do you have any ideas? At that time,
Ninth Lady
suddenly asked him.
T/N:
Lucilla: Im terribly sorry for another delay, lately I didnt have time or the attention span to translate, hence the continuous hiatuses Im working on getting back into shape though. Thank you all for your patience!
