8 Chapter 7 – Sauteed Black Pepper sLittle” Ribs 2 (1/2)
Gu Sheng shut off her computer and threw herself onto her bed. Hugging her blankets, she started rolling around, back and forth. It was like her blood vessels had all completely burst. Her mind was filled with nothing but this amazing cast of people. It was practically the most desired line-up that she had been hoping for her entire life, k?
She was so thrilled she did not even hear her mobile phone until it had rung countless times.
When she picked up, it turned out to be the person she had just said goodbye to in the YY room: Geng Xiaoxing.
”Congratulations, Friend Gu Sheng.”
She laughed and asked what was going on and why was she calling so late.
”Actually… uh… I wanted to have a heart-to-heart chat with you.”
”Heart-to-heart chat?” Gu Sheng was puzzled. ”We saw each other everyday — eating, sleeping, going to class together — and you never wanted any heart-to-heart chats. How come now we're on holidays, just past Lunar New Year, and you start to have matters on your heart?”
On the other end of the phone, the other party started to hem and haw.
Her intuition told her this was an issue revolving around love. An issue regarding love? Then there was a high chance it had to do with that Wanmei Group Leader DaRen.
Sure enough, Geng Xiaoxing would start to say something, then stop, and finally, after several times of this, she confessed that she had just had her first-ever-in-history WeChat[1] session with Jue Mei Sha Yi. It was a purely personal, purely for friendship session. All he had done was merely tell her a ghost story, and she had fallen into bliss and was now unable to sleep.
Gu Sheng was about to die laughing as she listened to this. Jue Mei most definitely did not tell her just an ordinary ghost story. It was obviously one from Strange Tales of Liaozhai about the ghost with the painted skin who would steal a person's soul[2].
”Friend Geng Xiaoxing,” Gu Sheng said in a low tone so that her mom, who was watching television in the living room, would not be able to hear her. ”Have you turned completely into a voice lover?”
”Huh?” Geng Xiaoxing was quiet for two seconds, and then she, too, lowered her voice. ”It seems, perhaps, maybe… yes.”
”If a guy is ridiculously handsome but his voice sounds bad, would you like him?”
”I think, it seems… no.”
”If a guy is sweet and considerate but his voice sounds bad, would you like him?”
”Probably… not.”
”If a guy is filthy rich but his voice sounds bad, would you like him?”
”No… no, I wouldn't.”
”Congratulations! You have made the complete transformation into a voice lover.”
Gu Sheng breathed out a long sigh, and, in a somewhat mournful voice, she stated, ”If a guy's voice sounds bad and his standardized Mandarin pronunciation is not correct, but he wants to spend an entire lifetime with you… Oh, how painful that would be.”
Geng Xiaoxing had previously scoffed at her views on this, but now she was fully in agreement.
Not handsome? But as long as he was clean, that was good enough. Not sweet? Well, he could be taught. And nowadays, if you did not have money, you could still work hard and earn lots in your career...
However, if his voice sounded bad…
Simply unimaginable!
As these two voice lovers came into agreement, they had completely forgotten why Geng Xiaoxing had made the phone call in the first place.
She never thought that Toupai was absolutely the high-efficiency type. After only a few days, the planner for the song was starting to arrange a time with Gu Sheng for the first rehearsal for ”Sword Cry in the Land of the Rivers and Lakes.”
Gu Sheng's reply, of course, was that any time was fine with her.
Those people all had eminent statuses, and she would definitely conform to their needs, wholly and completely.
As a treat to Wanmei's fans, this rehearsal was completely open to the public. Each of these people had plenty of his or her own fans. While Gu Sheng logged in and waited for the start time of the rehearsal, she watched as the audience numbers jumped from being in the thousands to ten thousands. She was becoming less and less calm. The screen below was continuously scrolling down like flowing water, so quickly that the comments were unreadable.
As she hung out there, waiting, she saw a sentence pop up in her private chat. It was Toupai
Qiang Qing Ci: Did you practice ahead of time?
Gu Sheng: Mm-hmm. Dada, don't worry. I practiced for a long time.
Worried that she would embarrass Toupai or something along those lines, she had dared not go without practicing.
Even though she only had a few lines, the others with her were all golden voices… Pressure was intense, k?
Qiang Qing Ci did not reply again.
Following closely behind were private messages from Feng Ya Song, Jue Mei Sha Yi, and even Dou Dou Dou Bing telling her not to be nervous. Dou Dou Dou Bing also very considerately told her: Even if you sing better than all of us, you'll still be criticized. You're a new person… You'll have to withstand some pressure, eh. Add oil!
Gu Sheng immediately expressed her resolve: Don't worry. My heart is extremely healthy and strong!
After another ten minutes or so, they began chatting.
Listening to them, they all sounded like old friends, joking and bantering with each other. As usual, Qiang Qing Ci maintained his cool, withdrawn demeanor and did not come on his microphone… Gu Sheng, on the other hand, was too much of an unknown and really did not have much to say to these respected elders, so she also kept her microphone off and merely listened.
More than ten thousand people. It was almost equivalent to an outdoor concert.
But these hardcore fans were also happily listening to all these DaRen, many of whom had practically gone into hiding, chat away casually. Couldn't ask for more, k?!
Although this was called a rehearsal, because of the vocal delay problem that occurred in YY, it was not possible for them to actually sing a song together live. As a result, the format merely was, whoever amongst them wished to sing would then sing a couple lines. In reality, they were simply calling this a rehearsal in order to provide a pre-event warm-up for Wanmei's anniversary.
Sure enough, after the others had sung and it was Gu Sheng's turn, the fans below were not very enthusiastic.
The incessant love declarations to one's own Dada continued as before, completely treating her as if she was thin air.
Her singing was in superb form, and after completing her part, she discovered that, besides a few comments that had said her breath control was unsteady and she did not seem to have enough breath control, there really was not much criticism. She honestly felt good and at ease. Thankfully, she had not embarrassed Toupai.
”Our talented and refined Toupai DaRen?” Dou Dou Dou Bing very wisely turned the cannons toward the biggest heavyweight of the night, Toupai. ”Toupai? Toupai? Where are you? Come and receive your suitors[3]~”
Dou Dou Dou Bing was his old friend, so naturally she spoke more freely.
The channel went quiet for a few seconds.
”Mm. I'm here.” Qiang Qing Ci answered her, completely