Toupai pays an edible tribute to the development of his relationship with Sheng Sheng.  Why do I find this so, so sweet?  ❤

Chapter 31 – Floured Beef Steamed in a Cup (1)

“Mo Qingcheng, what did you do to her?” A figure was leaning against the kitchen doorway. It was Feng Ya Song, who was there to hurry them to bring the dishes out. He had always been someone who would very generously dole out verbal a.s.saults in his young n.o.bleman-style voice. And right now, he was taking good advantage of the opportunity to do so, eyeing Gu Sheng and Toupai over from top to bottom. “Look at how red Sheng Sheng’s face is, eh. Worse than a Red Scarf [Young Pioneers of China].”

The sauce was ready to come out of the wok and, with some fresh chopped scallions, was poured onto the fish.

Such a delicious aroma wafting everywhere.

Toupai finally picked up his dish of fish and then cast a single glance at Feng Ya Song. The latter immediately put away his teasing expression and very submissively, came into the kitchen, picked up the fish, and brought it back out to the table. You know, these days, if you offended Chef Toupai, you wouldn’t get any good food to eat …

After Feng Ya Song retreated, the kitchen was still filled with the whirring sound of the range hood fan. She felt as if the noise had shaken her soul out of her body already, and she seemed to hear herself say, “I’ll go out first. I’m not much help anyway…”

What did Mo Qingcheng say?

No idea.

She walked back outside. In the dining room, which was off in a corner beside the living room, everyone was already sitting around the table, a nosy grin on each of their faces as they made room for Gu Sheng. Because of Feng Ya Song’s exclamation at the kitchen door, everyone’s mind was painting his or her own version of a picture, but the main idea was still the same: Toupai… must have done something naughty.

As for what sort of naughty thing he could have done?

Everybody’s eyes were fixed on Gu Sheng. To her left was Jue Mei, who was drinking beer, and to her right was Dou Bing, who was holding a pair of chopsticks and stealing tastes of the food. The star of the show was being closely protected by these two, and everyone else was not given any chance to have any fun with her, k? But just like this, our female lead was focused on the nonstop drinking of her orange juice and was even blushing a brighter and brighter red with each sip…

Toupai’s cooking speed was incredibly fast.

His efficiency was completely like that of a head chef of a hotel. The dishes were being brought out, one after another: peppered pork stomach and chicken soup, snow peas stuffed with shrimp paste, yuxiang-flavoured thousand layer eggplant, clear noodles in beef curry soup, spicy black bean clams, sautéed black pepper short ribs, poached “pearls” with conch… and the last dish… yan du xian… T.T… This was completely an edible account of how they had met and gotten to know each other…

She had tried to make one or two of these dishes, and although they did not turn out awful, they were nowhere near as enticing as these ones looked. She had not even tasted them yet, and she was willing to bet that they were absolutely delicious.

“Such a feast today, eh.” Wwwwk eyes were so wide they were about to fall out. “Just soups alone, there are two different types.”

She took a sip of her juice, also staring dazedly at the table of food.

Dou Dou Dou Bing thought she was worried about being teased by everyone and cleared her throat to ask, “Sheng Sheng, how did you initially get into the ancient-style music circle?”

“Me?” Gu Sheng pulled her attention back from the dishes. “Actually… at the start, I was just enslaved by one of my cla.s.smates to help her rearrange a song. That’s how I came to know of the circle in the first place…”

“You know how to arrange music?” Dou Dou Dou Bing was astonished. “Then you must compose as well?”

“I’ve composed a few, but they were all sung by people who aren’t really well known.”

Dou Dou Dou Bing’s eyes shone brightly with excitement. She, herself, was part of both the ancient-style music and online voice acting entertainment circles, so she of course knew that a person who could both compose and arrange music was… highly valued. “And you’re a singer? … Sheng Sheng, I didn’t know you had so many abilities in one package. No wonder Toupai likes you so much T.T …”

Fei Shao also had a stunned expression on his face. “In the ancient-style music circle, people who can compose and arrange music can walk around sideways and no one would say anything. Sheng Sheng, a lot of the smaller music a.s.sociations don’t even have one composer in them. Your a.s.sociation president is too lucky! I’ve decided, I’m going to poach you. Sheng Sheng, come to our music a.s.sociation.”

A certain someone was still enthusiastically trying to poach Sheng Sheng when Mo Qingcheng had finished washing all his cooking utensils and equipment and was walking out of the kitchen.

Rolling the sleeves of his shirt back down, he immediately transformed from chef back to the suave, refined Toupai DaRen. He did not seem the least bit surprised about the discussion regarding Sheng Sheng’s composing and arranging talents… Well, he should not be surprised. Gu Sheng had told him before that she wanted to arrange a song for him…

He sat down in the seat beside Gu Sheng.

The beverages in front of each person were different. From beer to white wine to juice, and then over to him… it was yogurt… Such a forever yogurt lover…

Gu Sheng discovered she could not help noticing his every little movement and gesture. Even the way he held his chopsticks, such a little action, seemed to her like it was being magnified by several times. In a very natural way, Mo Qingcheng took his chopsticks, picked out the most tender part of the fish near the fins, and placed it in Gu Sheng’s bowl. “Didn’t you say it smelled good? Have more.”

“Mm……” She quietly picked up her bowl and with everyone’s eyes, which were not the least bit discreet, on her, quietly ate her fish.

And then… the tender fish meat on the other side was also dropped into her bowl.

Alright… The two parts of the fish everyone had been eyeing had both been given to the golden master. For fear that Toupai would end up giving the entire fish to his own wife, everyone hastily stretched out their chopsticks, and very quickly, the fish was completely divided up.

Please! Toupai DaRen rarely cooked fish, you know…

Toupai DaRen’s fish was very tasty, you know…

As for Toupai, while everyone was fighting to get a piece of the fish, his chopsticks were already reaching towards the other dishes. In short, the best was all given to Gu Sheng. And she, seeing all that food in her bowl, felt this really would not do and focused all her efforts on eating. One was completely focused on getting food for her with his chopsticks while the other was completely focused on eating. Less than ten minutes into the meal, she already felt she was full T.T……

Likely because they saw that Toupai DaRen had found the someone to whom he could entrust the rest of his life… everyone started to reminisce about those days when they had first entered the entertainment circle. So sad and frustrating. While munching on the bamboo shoots in her bowl, Dou Dou Dou Bing heaved a long sigh. “The ancient-style music circle is still the best. At least, in that circle, half the fans are guys. The vast majority of fans of the voice-acting circle are girls. There’s honestly no place for a female CV in it…” She looked over at Sheng Sheng with a grin and continued, “But if I was a guy, I would be overwhelmed. For example… these guys sitting here each have tens of thousands of fans, but all of those fans can be cla.s.sified into one of two categories: one where the fan hopes her idol loves men, and the other where the fan hopes her idol loves her…”

Gu Sheng gave an “mm-hmm” in reply. That was totally normal…

Actually… she fit into neither category. She was purely someone who was satisfied by merely listening to the voice.

As for why things had developed into this relationship, uh…

Fortunately, there was a voice-acting compet.i.tion going on that night for a video game, and Mo Qingcheng happened to be one of the judges. He needed to first take Gu Sheng back to her school and then go home to get online. After another half an hour, when Gu Sheng finally raised her white flag in surrender and had truly reached the point where she could not eat another bite, Mo Qingcheng also set down his chopsticks. Leaving a room full of people, the two of them left first.

This particular hour happened to be when traffic was the worst.

Gu Sheng had originally said that she would go back herself, but Mo Qingcheng was already leading her down to the nearest metro station.

She mentally gauged the time. Seven stops in total. To go to her university and back would take a total of one hour, roundtrip, just enough time to make it on time for the compet.i.tion… Her mind felt a little bit more at ease after she worked this out. The heat inside the metro station was very ample, and as the two of them stood on the platform waiting for the train, they each held their own jackets. She looked up to check the clock for the waiting time. The next train was still another 2 minutes and 48 seconds from entering the station.

Mo Qingcheng was answering a phone call.

Her gaze drifted around and settled on the billboard across the track.

It just so happened to be… an ad for that particular video game.

“Hurry, hurry! I need to go back and listen to the compet.i.tion…” Behind her, a young girl sounded very anxious.

“There’s still time, there’s still time.” Another young girl tried to calm the first. “The character for tonight, I thought your idol didn’t sign up for it? His character should be coming up next week, right?”

“Don’t tell me… you… didn’t… know… that my biggest idol… Qiang Qing Ci… is a judge… tonight…”

*cold sweat*……

She did not dare look back, but she clearly heard that the girl’s every word was spoken through gritted teeth…

T.T ……

She glanced over at Toupai, who very calmly gave an “mm” and said into the phone, “Alright, I know,” as well as something along the lines of doing additional studies. She could not tell if he truly had not heard or had simply heard so many similar things before he was basically numb to it all… Anyway, the little unknown that she was could not comprehend the mentality of people like Toupai, who had long since been elevated to G.o.d status…

“Toupai’s one of the judges? Toupai’s one of the judges?! AH, AH, AH, AH! Why didn’t you say so earlier? If you had told me earlier, I wouldn’t have gone to eat curry fish b.a.l.l.s and could have saved those ten minutes I spent waiting in line!”

Two hardcore fans…

Beside these two young girls was someone who very apparently was not familiar with the online entertainment circle, and when she saw the two enthusiastically discussing the same noun — “toupai” — she became slightly intrigued and inquired about it. Immediately, she became subject to brainwashing and indoctrination. Without exception, every topic revolved around the lines of the unrivalled allure of Toupai DaRen, that he had more than a hundred thousand fans online but yet was a low-key person, that he did not have a single black mark on his profile…

Gu Sheng continued to look up at the countdown clock for the next train. Another 20 seconds.

Why did she have a desire to protect Toupai from being found out? Feeling very guiltily apprehensive, she prayed that time would move faster so they could hurry up and get on the metro. By now, a bright light could be seen at the far end of the track. The train was finally arriving.

“Do you know when I started to like Toupai? So early on. I’m his old fan, so old I’m like cremated remains. I’ve loved him since he started to do the dubbing for Gin Ichimaru! You have to go back and listen to it! I swear, the instant you hear him in that, you’ll become his diehard fan. I cried back when I heard him in that role…”

(⊙o⊙)……

Such a coincidence.

Me too…

The doors to the metro train opened. Inside, there were not too many people, enough room to squeeze in those two young girls and the two of them. Mo Qingcheng had finally finished his phone call. He brought Gu Sheng into a corner in the area where two train cars connected, encircling her protectively. He was tall, and he stood on the outside, using his body to stop anyone who was b.u.mping too close to them.

But… this posture of his — his hands pressed against the wall, his two arms on either side of her and enclosing her in front of his body — was really…

Was really one that made a person feel too awkward to move.

“When was the first time you heard my voice?” Mo Qingcheng had lowered his voice slightly to a volume that was suitable for two people to carry out a quiet, private conversation.

He actually heard what those people had said?

(⊙o⊙)…… And he was so calm about it…… Truly, such a veteran in the circle.

“Also Gin Ichimaru,” she answered softly, feeling a little sheepish. “In the dubbing you did for Gin Ichimaru.”

“Him…” Mo Qingcheng chuckled, “Have you ever noticed, Jue Mei Sha Yi’s and my name are both somehow related to him? ‘Jue Mei Sha Yi’ is the name of one of Gin’s fighting moves, and ‘qiang qing ci’ is the color of Ichimaru Gin’s captain’s robe.”

Of course she knew…

“Qiang qing ci” was the color inside Ichimaru Gin’s robe……

Gin Ichimaru wearing robe that is “qiang qing ci” colour on the inside

And both Jue Mei and Qiang Qing Ci had done the voice acting for this character before, except one of them did it for the earlier seasons while the other did it for later seasons… This point had been dug up a long time ago by fans already and been very logically reasoned out. However, to hear the subject of the discussion personally explain it to her several years later was still such a very happy thing.

Her favourite j.a.panese anime.

Her favourite character.

And her favourite voice actor doing the dubbing. It was too perfect.

The train was beginning to announce the next station, but she was thinking of the scene in the anime, when Gin Ichimaru was leaving his beloved, Rangiku, knowing that he was going to go undercover and would be in dangerous surroundings…… Very nonchalantly, very tenderly, he had said that one sentence.

Gu Sheng exhaled lightly. “My favourite line is when Gin was leaving, what he said to Rangiku- …”

She had not finished what she was saying before Mo Qingcheng very naturally had already continued for her, “Goodbye, Rangiku… I’m sorry.”

Rangiku Matsumoto

He did not need any time to build-up the necessary feeling at all.

His voice was absolutely perfect and was immediately able to rouse the emotion in the listener…

Back then, with headphones on, she had watched this scene over and over more than a dozen times just so she could listen to Qiang Qing Ci’s flawless voice acting… And now, before her eyes, beside her ear, this voice… just for her… was reproducing that original moment…

So happy and blessed…

So happy and blessed she could die T.T …

紅領巾. The Young Pioneers of China is a youth organization for children between the ages of six to fourteen. A red scarf is the only uniform piece for this group, and the group itself is often simply referred to as the “Red Scarves.”

Fictional character from the j.a.panese anime/manga series, Bleach.

錆青磁. Just to recap, “qiang qing ci” is actually a unique color. 錆 “qiang” is a certain color of a mineral, 青 “qing” can mean a blue-green color, and 磁 “ci” means magnetic. It is referring to the metallic, shiny turquoise/teal color that certain minerals possess.