41 Chapter 40 – Salt and Pepper Mushrooms 3 (1/2)
After Mo Qingcheng finished saying this, he straightened and gestured to Gu Sheng to hurry to the restroom to remove her make-up and change. After all, it was still very cool in early spring. That remarkable feeling from just a moment ago was still lingering around the two of them, so much so that Gu Sheng dared not really look at him. However, as the two of them walked back up towards the top floor ands they could see in the distance their companions laughing and horsing around, she suddenly halted her steps.
”Mo Qingcheng…” Unexpectedly, she darted in front of him and turned around to face him.
He gave her a puzzled look.
She stared at him with 70% apprehensiveness… and 100% embarrassment.
He grew even more perplexed, a smile adorning the corner of his eyes and brows.
The most captivating thing about Gu Sheng was that all her emotions would, without any restraint, be completely displayed on her face and in her eyes. She was twenty-two years old now. How did she manage to be so open and authentic, yet get through life safe and sound without getting tricked or taken advantage of these last twenty-two years?
He could not hold back a faint smile.
Seeming to have worked up her determination, she stretched her hand out and gently wiped his lips.
He understood now, so he stood very quietly, looking down at her and letting her destroy all the evidence.
Once, twice … Anyway, it took several swipes before his lips were completely clean.
The lipstick… was applied very thickly indeed…
”Is it clean now?” he asked in a low tone, his voice filled with mirth.
”Mm.” Acting as if nothing had happened, she turned around and started walking again. With difficulty … she kept moving forward. Even though she had wiped it clean herself, she still felt guiltily uneasy, fearing that there might still be something left on his lips…
”Sheng Sheng, you still haven't removed your make-up?” The make-up artist was standing in the hallway making casual conversation with someone when she saw her walking towards them. Immediately, she pulled out her make-up remover and facial cleansing milk and handed it to Gu Sheng. ”How come so much of your lipstick is gone? Did you ingest it?”
...
”Huh? It's gone?” Gu Sheng used the back of her hand to wipe at her mouth, pretending to act nonchalant.
Mu Mu took a glance at her and then very professionally and sincerely advised, ”That type of stuff isn't good for you to consume. Next time, try not to ingest so much.”
...
Okay, people, could we stop discussing the topic about ingesting or not ingesting? T.T...
Everyone then took the topic from how the lipstick on Gu Sheng's lips managed to get eaten away, to ingesting lipstick was very bad for you, to some lipsticks were made from natural botanical materials and seemed safe to ingest… and finally to… in the future, they should develop a line of lipsticks called ”Lovers' Lipstick” that was specifically designed to be ingested…
She was there in the restroom, rapidly removing her make-up with the aid of the make-up artist and listening through the wall while the topic expanded to this extent. Silently, she endured this, holding it all in until she was nearly going to die of internal injuries…
Mo Qingcheng seemed to be in a good mood.
Apart from when they had been out on the terrace taking photographs and he had been scowling, he was actually saying more than he normally did. However, that, too, was still limited to when he was talking with Mo Bai and Mu Mu… To everyone else, he was definitely someone who innately kept away from the female gender, someone who could only be observed from a distance with no chance of anyone getting close enough to start a conversation.
⊙﹏⊙b
In regards to this… Why was it the Toupai she knew was forever affable and warm and always took the initiative? …
Under Mo Bai's persistent wheedling and pestering, in the end, their couple's dinner date completely turned into McDonald's + karaoke night, and on top of that, it was with a crowd. After taking photos together, joking and complaining together, changing in and out of costumes together, and chatting away together over a tray of French fries in McDonald's, this group of people, which only a few hours ago had been strangers to one another, had successfully gotten to know each other.
However, after listening to people sing in the private karaoke room for only one hour but hearing the three words, ”Qiang Qing Ci” spoken more than a dozen times, she finally realized there was something very wrong.
She was Sheng Sheng Man. Beside her was Qiang Qing Ci.
She was an ancient-style singer. Toupai was a voice actor who could sing better than most singers.
Even though, right from the beginning, they had already colluded with Mu Mu and Mo Bai to keep their 2-D world identities a secret, wouldn't they be exposed once the microphone was put in front of them? … Glancing at the person beside her, she took a sip of her milk tea. The tapioca pearls shot up the straw and slid into her mouth…
”I want to sing 'Drunken Dream in Divine Rain'!” There were two young girls huddled together at the counter where they could request songs, and there were another two standing behind them giving instructions.
”Can you sing those high notes?”
”Doesn't matter. I just want to sing it to commemorate that this was the first song my Toupai DaRen sang.” The girl choosing songs immediately flaunted her status as a senior Qiang Qing Ci fan…
Gu Sheng successfully managed to… swallow her two tapioca pearls whole.
Mo Qingcheng was calm as always.
”Want to hear me sing?” The voice beside her suddenly put forward this wonderful, yet dangerous suggestion.
Yes… of course she wanted to…
In the glow of the continuously flashing strobe lights, she looked at him somewhat uneasily. Thinking over it for a few seconds, she brought her lips up against his ear and said quietly, ”Qiang Qing Ci Dada, aren't you afraid of being found out?”
He smiled and also lowered his voice to reply, ”Sheng Sheng Man Dada, as a voice actor, to be able to change and use a variety of voices is a basic skill.”
... Alright. Touche. He got her.
Since the name, Qiang Qing Ci had first made its appearance in voice acting, aside from his voice's ability to strike straight into the heart of the listener, the aspect that generated the most praise was his talent to create a wide variety of different voices. As long as it was not too much of an out-of-the-ordinary type of role, he would completely be able to handle it.
How could she forget? He was Qiang Qing Ci, ah.
⊙﹏⊙b
After the girls had all settled on their songs, he walked over and started to choose.
As he stood there at the counter where songs were requested, his head lowered, looking over the list of songs, more than half the crowd's eyes lit up. Who didn't like a handsome guy? And when a handsome guy dared to go up to request a song to sing, that meant his singing was definitely not bad! But the key point was, to this entire room of girls, of which half were were voice lovers, this was a huge enticement.
Plus …
When they spied the song names he had selected, their blood immediately seemed to start burning.
It was Chinese style! This handsome guy was a kindred spirit! You could find people who could sing pop music all over the world, you know? But someone who could sing ancient-style songs well was a rare gem, k? Did you think just anybody could sing ancient-style songs? Tell the guy next to you to give it a try and you'd know!
”Um… can I feebly ask you, DaRen, do you know how to sing 'Drunken Dream in Divine Rain'?...”
The senior Qiang Qing Ci fan suddenly came up with this idea and very eagerly presented this song request.
He smiled and shook his head.
This KTV was not really up to date with the times and had very few ancient-style songs that had been released online. Most of the ancient-style songs were actually Chinese style songs that had been released by pop singers. Finally, he chose the most recently released one in the list, ”Hong Chen Ke Zhan” [Red Dust Inn or Worldly Inn]. He had just finished deciding on his selection and then the girls who had been picking songs before him immediately declared generously, ”Please skip over ours and give first priority to the handsome guy…”
The result was, the song he had just requested was brought up the queue to be the next song.
Gu Sheng nibbled on the straw of her milk tea and listened as the introduction gradually started playing. She was lightly holding her breath… When he had sang to the crowd on YY, he had used his natural voice, so now, even she could not help wondering what it would be like when he used another voice to sing…
Until the microphone was turned on.
Until his first note appeared. Until, still biting on her straw, her breath was completely taken away.