10 Chapter 9 – Sauteed Black Pepper sLittle” Ribs 4 (1/2)

She was feeling like she had been tossed into the clouds and was unable to climb out.

Moqingcheng?

DaRen's name was Moqingcheng?

Mo Qingcheng [莫倾城[1]]? So…. not an unassuming name? Gu Sheng opened up her WeChat, searched for this ID, and successfully added it. And then… the other end was very quiet and did not send over any messages. For a moment, she even wondered whether she had added the wrong person. In the end, she very sincerely input a message: Qiang Qing Ci Dada, this is Sheng Sheng Man.

Conversing at such a close ”distance” with Qiang Qing Ci was totally different from the atmosphere in YY.

This one-on-one conversation window, along with her bunny profile picture, was making her feel that things were just too close.

My gawd, my gawd.  So close that she was feeling a little too nervous.

She held her phone, waiting, and then, when she saw the status change to ”other party is inputting,” her eyes immediately widened. Soon, inside her WeChat app, Qiang Qing Ci had sent over a voice message.

Voice message…

DaRen … Can you not… take this one step at a time and start with just text?

She stared wordlessly for a while at that unlistened to voice message.

All of a sudden, she set down her mobile phone, slipped quietly to her door, and locked it. Through the door, she listened to the sounds in the living room.  Dad and Mom were watching a Spring Festival program, and things were very lively at the moment. They would not be paying any attention to her for the next little while.

Confirming that there would be no immediate risk, she hopped back onto her bed.

She picked up her phone once again, switched the sound over to headset mode, and listened to the message he had sent.

That voice that had been in a countless number of period dramas and commercials was now answering her casually, ”I knew it was you.”

...

So… should I be using text or voice messages?…

Since DaRen had used a voice message, it wouldn't be very good if I continued to be all high and mighty and aloof and use serious, reserved text, right? …

Gu Sheng lightly cleared her throat and softly practiced a few sentences to make sure she was in relatively good form.

Then, she held down the ”hold to talk” button.

And then... she did not know what to say.  Anxious, she accidentally released the button, and the message was sent off. T T

A blank message of white noise had been sent off.

Oh crud…

Stupid WeChat!  There was no way to cancel sent voice messages… aaah!

Qiang Qing Ci speedily sent back a reply: ”What's that?”

Gu Sheng was about to burst into tears, feeling that her image in Toupai's eyes had definitely taken a hit. Painfully, she buried her face in her arm and silently scoffed at herself. ”Gu Sheng, just go die … You can choose whatever method you want…” Do you think Toupai Daren has a lot of time on his hands?  Everyday, he has tens of thousands of @, tens of thousands of comments that he doesn't have time to read, you know? He may have ten inboxes that have exploded because they were so full, you know? …

After cursing herself as speedily as she possibly could, she hastily coughed a couple of times, and then this time, she very prudently thought about what she would say before pressing the ”hold to talk” button.  ”Um … May I ask why Daren is contacting me?”

It seemed… a little too formal, didn't it?

She fidgeted a little nervously.

”No real reason.  I remember you owe me a song.”  His voice was leisurely, and he seemed to be outdoors.  The sound of road traffic could be heard in the background.

”Uh… DaRen, you… want to listen to one now?”

Gu Sheng almost felt tears springing up in her eyes.  She glanced at the time on her mobile phone: 11:30 p.m. already.

”Now?” Qiang Qing Ci's voice sounded a bit surprised and also contained a hint of a doting chuckle…

How did it turn into her volunteering herself up again?  Gu Sheng continued feeling as if she was going to cry.

She was already reaching for her throat lozenges, having decided that no matter what, she would go all out and sing for Toupai.

Qiang Qing Ci suddenly sent over another voice message: ”It's too late now. Tomorrow.”

Such a considerate DaRen…

Gu Sheng exhaled lightly in relief.  ”Thank you, DaRen. I will definitely get ready to sing for you tomorrow.  Mm-hmm.”

”Okay.”

And so… they were done?

Gu Sheng looked at the chat history in WeChat, wondering how she could somehow save the messages, download them to her computer, and edit them so she could hoard them in her private collection. In the future, if there was anything on television with Toupai doing the dubbing, she could take these out and show them to Mom and Dad … Well, maybe she'd just forget about that idea. She would show them to… Ugh, she suspected no matter whom she showed them to, she'd still be chased down and killed…

Better just to keep them in her private collection…

While she was still planning out what she was going to do, another alert all of a sudden sounded from her phone. Qiang Qing Ci had sent over two messages back to back. The first one was 60 seconds long, the second one was 20 seconds.

Two minutes ago?  Really just two minutes ago?