12 Chapter 11 – Poached sPearls” with Conch 2 (1/2)
Qiang Qing Ci did not seem to mind.
”It's okay. Let's just chat then.” He finally said a full sentence. There was still a sense in his voice, though, that he had just woken up, or in other words, his vocal chords still had not completely warmed up yet.
Such a fortunate thing. It made his voice seem a lot more real.
As a cover singer of ancient-style songs, she was completely powerless to resist voices spoken in ancient-style that were able to conjure up vivid images.
If her mind was brought back to modern times … Uh, well, she could remain slightly more composed.
She sent back: ”Sure, Dada.”
And then … did not know what she should talk about.
Gu Sheng never mingled in the online entertainment circle. In the 2-D world, besides knowing the fellow members in her own music association, the only others she would associate with were the occasional person who asked her to sing songs composed by someone else. The reason why she had chosen to be an ancient-style cover singer and not be a CV in the first place was because she felt that singers did not need to socialize. She could teach herself the post-production work, and then she would still be able to have fun by herself. A CV, however, could not voice act a drama with just herself, right?
That was the reason why many CVs had their own public WeChat accounts and could handle the attention with ease.
Singers who were articulate were a rarity.
Gu Sheng leaned back into the couch and contemplated for a long while what conversation topic would be suitable to talk about with DaRen.
”DaRen, you're not busy?”
”Mm. Resting right now.”
”Well, um … DaRen, what do you usually do during your rest periods?”
”Sleep.” Qiang Qing Ci paused briefly, then added, ”Or go to the recording studio.”
So … the rumors were true that Toupai had a career that was very busy? Being a commercial voice artist was just a … side job?
Gu Sheng's admiration for Toupai grew that much more.
”DaRen, wlll you be going to the recording studio today?”
”Mm-hmm.”
”Doing voice acting for a video game?”
Collaboration between video game producers and the various 2-D world entertainment circles was the most common type of partnership seen. This included working with writers and CVs, and even big name ancient-style singers were often invited to sing the theme songs for video games. She seemed to recall there was a recenty released video game that had teamed up with three of the different circles: writers had provided background support while CVs and ancient-style singers had taken part in the promotional video.
”Mm-hmm.”
”Um… DaRen, it's been three years since you participated in Wanmei's anniversary celebration. How come you've decided to take part this year?”
”This year happens to be the tenth anniversary celebration.” Qiang Qing Ci was quiet for a moment. ”It's not very likely I'd be able to get out of Wanmei's tenth anniversary event.”
No wonder this time around he was making an appearance. Tenth anniversary was a big event.
”That's true … Um, then, DaRen, are you planning on coming back into the online entertainment circle?”
”No,” he answered simply. ”After this tenth anniversary celebration, I'm going to completely retire my mike in the online world.”
”... That's a shame.”
Several years ago, Qiang Qing Ci already had stopped accepting new projects, voicing dramas, and doing special performances for birthday celebrations. These last few years, all of his works had come out of a recording studio and were all commercial voice projects … However, even when he was still doing online voice acting, he had not voiced very many dramas. All of his friends in the circle were veteran figures who had been around in the beginning when online voice acting had not yet become popular.
People who were not close to him were not familiar with him at all, and those who were close were all good friends…
Not the least bit of gossip about him was available.
Or rather, no one had information on him to gossip about.
The direct result of this was that Gu Sheng could not find a topic to carry out a conversation with him. She knew very much about Qiang Qing Ci, knew how many dramas he had voiced, to the point she could even recite every single classic line he had ever spoken. But … she also did not know him. As a real person, which city he lived, what his occupation was, and even whether he was working or still studying were all things she knew absolutely nothing about.
She thought hard about what question she could ask next.
”Your chatting is more like an interview,” Qiang Qing Ci very gently corrected her.
(⊙o⊙)… It did seem so.
Gu Sheng blew out a breath, then confessed, ”I actually don't know what DaRen likes to talk about…”
”I haven't been in the 2-D world for a long time. Treat me like a 3-D world [real life] friend. Talk about anything.”
”Uh … well… DaRen, have you eaten?”
Alright. 3-D world topics were even less exciting.
Who could tell her, how were two people, who had completely gotten to know each only through online interactions, supposed to talk in a real life, 3-D world way?
She gradually started to recover her sense enough to recall her original intention for contacting Qiang Qing Ci. ”Oh right, Daren, I remember the reason why I wanted to talk to you …”
Mirth could be heard in Qiang Qing Ci's voice. ”That was not an easy thing for you… Go ahead.”
”It's just that, I suspect, because DaRen you helped me get that opportunity to sing with all those Dadas, there might be some… not so good rumors circling on the Internet.” From the standpoint of one of Qiang Qing Ci's supporters, Gu Sheng told him very seriously, ”At the start, my thoughts on this were really very simple. The opportunity to work with all those Dadas … is every little unknown singer's dream. But now, I'm afraid … I've brought some negative impact on DaRen, you.”