20 Chapter 19 – Yan Du Xian Salted Pork Soup 4 (2/2)
But when she discovered that the second time around, Toupai did not even need to look at the lyrics… she realized that this second practice was really only for her benefit…
This time, besides singing himself, Toupai was mainly paying attention to her. After he had finished singing his own part, he immediately looked over at her.
Gu Sheng originally could have come in at her part just fine, but with his one glance, she actually stumbled in early.
”Sheng Sheng, don't be nervous, don't be nervous,” Dou Dou Dou Bing could not help laughing gleefully. ”Even though I totally understand that completely normal feeling you're having, where you can't stay calm after Unrivalled Allure Toupai DaRen has taken one look at you… But, it gets better after you get used to it.”
Mo Qingcheng's eyes glanced over to the other side of the glass wall. Silence fell immediately.
Gu Sheng forced herself not to get distracted and was finally able to get through this round.
”It's for real now, little girl.” Even the recording engineer was finding this situation very amusing. ”It's okay. Once you have officially sang through once, there will be a lot of lines where you will each have to go back to re-record separately.”
”Alright.” Gu Sheng's face was burning.
Everyone here was clearly amusing themselves by making fun of her, you know? T T
First time meeting all of them too, you know…
”Don't be nervous.” Toupai's voice was low and soft and had the power to calm a person's heart.
Very quickly, the musical introduction of the song could be heard.
With one hand on the microphone's frame, Mo Qingcheng finally started singing the first line along with the background music:
”Your wedding gown like fire has scorched the horizon
Henceforth, the setting sun will sear my heart ['til red] like vermilion…”
When he opened his mouth to sing the first note, Gu Sheng swore she clearly heard her own heartbeat.
Seriously, it sounded so good it could make someone cry.
Effortless high notes that carried an intense sense of anguish and unwillingness to let go.
He even gave the listeners the feeling that he was the general in the story – someone who did not want to give in, did not want to let go of the woman he loved, but caught between the country and the princess, he had no choice but to only stand and watch as the princess left, to allow her to enter into a political marriage…
Gu Sheng was a person who loved music, and at the same time, she loved any stories set in the ancient times.
The cruelest thing in the world, perhaps, was after having possessed something, to lose it again. If one had never experienced those beautiful feelings before, they would not be etched into the bones and engraved on the heart. And then to use a knife and slice away, one inch at a time, those veins and bones that were joined together because of love. That was really too cruel.
As she sang this song, she could not help looking straight up at Mo Qingcheng.
Mo Qingcheng's deep black eyes also carried her reflection in them.
As the two of them neared the end of the song, that gentle yet sorrowful section, she deliberately sang slightly offbeat to Mo Qingcheng. His male voice sang first followed by her clear and somewhat mournful repetition of his lyrics.
”Drifting petals are falling again in this season,
Yet your wedding gown is more brilliant than those falling flowers
Your lips move, as if once again to sing 'Shang Ye' [Oh Heaven]
But what you say is 'I am willing to part from my love for him.'”
What a sorrowful sentence: I am willing to part from my love for him.
As Gu Sheng sang the last note, she found she was having difficulty removing herself from the story.
But then, to her surprise, she heard Toupai unexpectedly start to speak some lines, lines that had not even appeared once when they were rehearsing. ”I desire to know you deeply and love you. Forever may this be unchanging…[1]”
He even… changed the word in the poem from ”jun[2]” to ”er[3].”
In Mo Qingcheng's voice, she had a sense of rapport, as if he, too, was captured within this story.
Blossoms swirling in the sky of Chang'an. The smell of blood, strong as wine, carrying on the wind.
He looked straight into her eyes and told her, ”'Til the different directions of the world no longer exist, 'til the seas dry, only then will I cease to love you.”
[1] The first two lines of the ancient poem, Shang Ye.
[2] In formal literature or ancient texts, this means ”you” and is used when addressing a man.
[3] In formal literature or ancient texts, this means ”you” and is used when addressing a woman.