4 Chapter 3 — Clear Noodles in Beef Curry Soup 1 (1/2)
It was the last day of the New Year holiday.
Mom and Dad had gone to Grandma's[1] house. It was ten o'clock by the time Gu Sheng arrived at the grocery store to help her cousin[2] with closing and told him she had other activities that night. Her cousin was a guy who was completely unfamiliar with the things of the 2-D world[3], except for playing Sword 3[4], and really could not comprehend this lifestyle in which everyday, she would lock herself in her room and babble away alone, or the instant she stepped through the door, she would go hang out with a bunch of weird software and tune away at its sounds continuously.
Gu Sheng could not be bothered to explain and got ready to add up the total sales for the day.
She had just opened up the cash register when she heard a ”ding dong” sound signaling an unexpected customer. It was a young man dressed in a black down jacket and jeans. Without saying anything, he walked in and stepped around the boxes that Cousin had just moved there to block additional customers from coming in. He was wearing black gloves, and now he removed, stuffed them in his pocket, and grabbed a bottle of mineral water from the cooler.
Gu Sheng's dog that she had brought from home enthusiastically ran over and looked over this stranger.
She stared blankly at Cousin. Normally, at least seven or eight boxes were used to block the door, but just now, Cousin had been so preoccupied with talking to her that he had only moved two. It was not unreasonable, therefore, that this person would think they were still open for business. Cousin looked on helplessly as well and addressed the man, who was half a head taller than him. ”We're closed now. Would you be able to hurry and bring your things over to checkout?” When he finished speaking, he reached over and with a bang, closed the cash register in front of Gu Sheng again.
The young man was very cooperative and hurriedly walked over to place the items in his hands on the counter: a bottle of water, a package of crackers, and a bottle of yogurt. The yogurt was the type that had large chunks of fruit.
”13.60 yuan.” Cousin speedily quoted the total price, took the bill of money, and returned the change.
Gu Sheng went to the side of the counter, picked up her dog, and glanced over curiously at this man who liked to drink yogurt with fruit chunks. A very clean-looking man. His eyes were surprisingly beautiful – outer corners turned up slightly, very large, and monolid.
Gu Sheng unconsciously recalled what was written in the physiognomy books she read. Boys with this type of eyes were usually very focused, and once they committed to something, they would not easily give it up. This was especially true in work and relationships, where they were particularly stubborn and persistent…
When she looked at him, he was putting the change back into his wallet. He suddenly seemed to think of something, and his brows creased together slightly, causing the outside of his eyes to turn upwards a bit more…
Realizing that she was examining him a little too closely, she quickly lowered her head and petted her dog.
The door let out another ”ding dong” and slid open. The customer had left.
Each day, many people came and went through the grocery store, and because it was across the street from the district hospital, business was especially good. When she was watching the store, in just one day, she would see so many of this type of man that it was too numerous to count. But, this man alone caused Gu Sheng, an absolute voice lover, to suddenly imagine curiously what it would be like if he were to open his mouth and speak.
Of course, it was only a thought.
When she returned home, she discovered that Geng Xiaoxing was online in QQ[5].
Gu Sheng rapidly typed off a string of words and sent them over: Y(^_^)Y Middle of the night and you're not sleeping. Which handsome guy are you waiting for?
Geng Xiaoxing: ^O^ Nope,nope. I'm listening to Jue Mei DaRen PIA script.
...
Gu Sheng: Eh? Why is it I get this feeling that, when you type the words, Jue Mei, they are surrounded by a pink lace border?
Geng Xiaoxing: ... I'm DaRen's diehard fan... that's all...
Gu Sheng: Oh. Which room?
Geng Xiaoxing speedily rattled off a string of numbers and gave her the password.
Gu Sheng told her to inform the people of her coming for her. However, when she entered the room, she took a quick sweep through and could not find Geng Xiaoxing's name. Finding this strange, she sent a Q message to Geng Xiaoxing: Where are you? Didn't see you.
Geng Xiaoxing: Shh… I'm listening in secret. I'm on QQ voice chat with Jue Mei, and he has secretly turned on the audio mixing and editing program on his computer for me to listen in on their voice acting group's training session for new people…..
...
...
Such professional terminology and shady actions, and Geng Xiaoxing actually understood it all.
Gu Sheng had a feeling she must have missed a lot of exciting things.
There were not too many people in the room. Gu Sheng listened for a while and realized it was Wanmei's own internal activity, along the lines of teaching new actors how to PIA script live. Jue Mei Sha Yi seemed to be in an especially good mood and was personally teaching the newbies how to find the emotion of a scene.
Some of those newbies seemed to have particularly bad cases of facial paralysis — no matter how they delivered the lines, there was still no feeling in them.
The name list did not include Qiang Qing Ci.
She recalled the string of words left behind on the screen when Qiang Qing Ci had said goodbye last time. It had seemed a tad peculiar. Her dog ran up to her and started whimpering and rubbing against her feet. Gu Sheng gleefully picked him up and asked in a low voice, ”Chocolate, your tummy seems like it's not feeling very well tonight. Did your grandmother secretly give you some strawberries to eat, huh?”
While she murmured to him, Chocolate kept rubbing back and forth against her naughtily.
In her headset, she could hear the conversations that were taking place during their break time.
”When Feng Ya Song first joined the entertainment circle, his trademark was his facial paralysis.” Jue Mei Sha Yi heaved a long sigh. ”Why don't you describe to the new people your history of how you used to get slapped around?”
Feng Ya Song let out a laugh. ”I didn't have any sense of feeling for the script. I'm guessing all of you haven't really dated any girls?” While he spoke, there was a slight echo. Being the intelligent person that he was,
he straightaway laughed, ”Hey, whose audio mixing isn't turned off?”
Gu Sheng instantly was delighted by this.
She quickly banged off a row of words to Geng Xiaoxing: The secret's slipped out? Your affair's been exposed…
Geng Xiaoxing: .........
”I'm using a different computer today.” Jue Mei gave a light cough. ”Can't turn it off.”
”Oh…” Feng Ya Song answered with a slight chortle. ”And here I was wondering who was letting their own girl listen in in secret.'
Go back to talking about conveying the feeling,” Jue Mei chuckled.
”I'll say, it's really quite simple.” Feng Ya Song joked nonchalantly, ”If you want to be able to convey feeling, go pester a few girls or boys. You'll get 'the feeling' right away, especially in romance scenes.”
Everyone was being delightedly entertained as they listened.
Jue Mei, however, gave a lengthy sigh. ”But according to what you've said, what's Qiang Qing Ci, who's never had a girlfriend before, to do? He's a professional voice actor doing commercial projects. Specializes in the romantic, charming young noblemen, the deeply tender and loving type.”