Sorry for messing up the schedule time earlier this day, apparently scheduling chapters at 2AM might lead to malfunctioning of brain circuits _(:3ăâ )_
TLC: Lilies & Jie
Editing: Whiteflare
Qi Jing froze, his hand subconsciously stopping partway through the action of helping Shen Yan up. Because he couldnât predict how big of an impact the words Pu Yuzhi was about to say would have, he didnât know whether he should still get Shen Yan stand up or if it was the wrong time for that.
Yet, Shen Yan shook his head and chose to stand up himself. âDonât worry, itâs what I want to hear.â
Qi Jing took a look into his eyes as those wouldnât lie about his current frame of mind. But in reality, that pitch blackness was way more steady than he imagined. He never forgot the sea that was hidden within Shen Yanâs eyes. Every river would return to the seaâno matter how rapid or how turbulent the river, they would all revert into calmness after entering the sea.
Shen Yan⊠heâs really stronger than Qi Jing thought him to be.
Qi Jing agreed with short âMhmâ and took his hand away from Shen Yanâs back, holding his hand instead.
If Shen Yan didnât need support, then keeping him company was just as good.
At that time, through the faint noise of background static, Pu Yuzhiâs voice could be heard; it reverberated in the room. âFirst of all, I want to talk about my feelings regarding what you said before the audition.â
Not only were her words unexpected for the listeners, Qi Jing was also plenty surprised by it. He thought she was about to criticize Shen Yanâs voice acting techniques, but looking at where it was going, it didnât seem to be the case.
âJust as many of our listeners had said before, it feels as if youâre out of place in this competition. And thatâs right, I also feel the sameâI think you treat voice acting very seriously. And thatâs very good, being earnest and meticulous in what you do should be highly praised in any field or occupation. But I donât know if my intuition is right⊠I feel like your meticulousness stems from some kind of sense of duty, not from the love for what youâre doing.â
Shen Yanâs expression changed.
Out of sudden⊠he felt as if he was laid bare. It was as if he had suddenly been jerked awake, and he subconsciously moved to lightly cover his mouth.
âShen Yan, donât speak, donât say a word.
âBut I can talk if I play âsomeone elseâ
It was a psychological suggestion that took root in his mind for twenty odd years. Even though its literal meaning was gone, his subconscious was still being influenced by it.
His initial motivation behind getting into voice acting was to forget himself, to break away from the pressure of being âShen Yanâ. Later, he gradually used it as a means of treating his selective mutism, to gain the freedom and courage of talking through the acting.
Then, his friends talked him into helping them with run-throughs and also playing some minor roles in audia dramas as requested by the producers who reached out to himâŠ
Behind his conscientiousness of answering every plea, he didnât feel any sense of fulfilment. In fact, for him it simply remained a kind of âmeans of treatmentâ and âdutyâ, nothing more.
âI think that⊠you actually donât derive any pleasure from voice acting.â Pu Yuzhiâs voice wasnât loud, but the power in her words could not be ignored, hitting hard at his very heart, âYouâre here just to finish your duty, to complete your understanding of the role, the same way you said you wanted to commemorate your grandpa. As for the final outcome, what the reaction would be likeâI guess it didnât cross your mind at all, nor did you care about it.â
It really was like that.
But with how Pu Yuzhi broke it down all the way to that point, Qi Jing couldnât keep himself from sighing inwardly. Indeed, Shen Yan had exactly this kind of mentalityâas if he was completing his assignment by going on the stage and playing diligently until the curtains closed, only to leave the scene without either saying anything nor seeing the outcome.
In fact, Qi Jing was just about to say this to him, but he didnât expect Pu Yuzhi to also see through that.
Actually⊠voice acting shouldnât be just a duty, it could also hold a deeper meaning.
âI have already expressed my evaluation of your acting skills. I assume that everyone could see that what you showed this evening was a brilliant performance and can imagine how much time you usually spend practising and put a lot of effort into analysing and understanding the role. But if you choose to continue voice acting, unfortunately, your choice of the characters would get more and more limited, and the room for improvement in your performance would be just as small.â Pu Yuzhi seemed to sigh with regret, âMoreover, you seem as if you can quit at any moment.â
âAhâŠâ A short exclamation escaped the depths of Shen Yanâs throat as his fingers trembled a bit.
Qi Jing felt that he was on the verge of turning away.
Pu Yuzhi continued speaking, âIt might be perhaps my instinct as a teacherâI believe talents like you are very precious and letting such a talent go on waste would be a great pity; however, the final decision is still up to you.â
Qi Jing quietly nodded to her words.
âBut before you make this decision, you should first see how the audience was moved by your voice acting.â At that moment, Pu Yuzhi chuckled gently and raised her voice, âThereâs a lot of professional voice actors among my pupils. When theyâre in school, they gain joy from winning the teachers over with their performance, and when they start to work, theyâre happy to influence the audience with their acting and take pride in that. Once you recognize the enjoyment youâre bringing to other people, you will also start to feel this joy. Only this way you can keep walking the path of voice acting.â
âOnly this way can you truly recover.â Suddenly, Qi Jing added another phrase.
Shen Yan froze momentarily before turning abruptly to look at him. Qi Jing turned his head to meet his eyes, the light of the screen reflecting in his eyesk2014;those radiant and honest eyes watched Shen Yan with a gentle smile.
So⊠just getting used to performing and talking before numerous strangers still doesnât count as true recovery?
At that moment, Qi Jing motioned with his chin towards the screen, guiding the other party with his glance. Shen Yan seemed to understand something, blinking blankly before he finally shifted his gaze to face the source of that light.
The screenâs light appeared to be even more blinding and intense in the darkness. He felt compelled to take a step forward and after some hesitation, slowly moved his gaze to the public chat in the channel window.
Audience 1: ~\(â§âœâŠ)/~ Do your best, Kittyâs Papa!! I really love your voice acting!! It really can move the listener, I hope you can continue!!
Audience 2: Teacher Pu is right, Kittyâs Papa made me feel he was about to disappear once the task was done. Here, here, here, look here, look here!! I just want to say I really appreciate your acting, itâs truly a pleasure to my ears and I swear the angst hit me right in the feelsă*sobbing* Itâs all because that part just now was too sadă⊠Cough, cough, I mean, what I wanted to say isâplease, you have to continue voice acting, youâre amazing, really!
Audience 3: Hahahaha, what Teacher Pu meant to say to No. 28 is, heâs very good and very conscientious, yet he limits himself to small roles akin to a passerby whoâs only here to buy soy sauce. To be honest, CVs like him should have a much bigger audience~ Iâm raising my paw as well, I hope No. 28 can continue voice acting and give more roles a try, as well as let himself feel more joy doing it. I promise that I will certainly be among your audience!!
Audience 4: I agree with the commenter above!! I was the one who said that he felt mismatched for the competition, hahaha~ At that time I didnât really know why that was a case, only now Teacher Puâs words made me realize the reason behind ităI am just too stupid _(:Đ·ăâ )_ă⊠Kittyâs Papa, you should be proud your performance made us covered in snot and tears!! Itâs neither a bad thing, nor tall talk but a demonstration of your abilities!!
Audience 5: ăâœăWhat? Can quit voice acting at any time? Come, Iâll show you my tears now! I just hope that my face full of tears will make you think it through thoroughly! I really love your voice acting, although weâre already satisfied as the listeners, itâs obviously best if you yourself are happy as well!!
Audience 6: Hm, I also have a feeling that youâre not voice acting out of love for it, but out of sense of duty. I might not know the reason for it, but I hope you can derive pleasure from voice acting, just as how we feel pleasure listening to it~ â§ÏâŠ
Thatâs rightâŠ
Before, he had always hid behind the curtain. Even if he occasionally appeared at some corner of the stage, it would be just him willingly resigning himself to serve as a stage prop.
Today, he had overcome his psychological barrier and arrived at the centre of the stageâbut the light there was too strong, too dazzling, rendering him afraid. He wholeheartedly wanted to do his job earnestly and finish the performance he had to show before turning away and heading back into the darkness.
But that wasnât recovery.
Just standing on a stage and finishing his performance still couldnât be counted as a full recovery yet.
He would attain a full recovery only if he made one more step ahead and passed through the spotlight, breaking away from the fear and blindness brought by that dazzlingly white light, persevering in walking towards the frontmost part of the stage. Only then would he be able to look down towards the auditorium, see the pleased smiles of the audience, hear their prolonged applause.
Only by realising this would he be able to understand that his voice could bring joy to other people and that it wasnât like how the woman always admonishedâthat it would only bring troubles.
Only by realising this would he finally be able to⊠wish to open his mouth, wish to speak up.
Shen Yan stared fixedly at everyoneâs encouragement on the screen. He suddenly felt his throat throb and couldnât utter a word for quite a while.
Qi Jing only smiled as he lightly scratched the palm of his hand.
At the same time, Pu Yuzhiâs commentary was also reaching an end, âI never gave any contestant a full score of 5.0 points in any of theăOrder to End the Heavensăcompetitions. That means that the highest score I will give out is 4.5âeveryone may think of it as my personal âfull scoreâ. And thatâs because I believe that everyone has room for improvement. That deduction of half a point isnât because Iâm dissatisfied with any of youâitâs just me placing hope in your future, hoping that you can take to heart the principle that thereâs no bestâthereâs only better.â
She stopped for a moment, then softly chuckled behind the mic, âIâve just specially checked the list of contestants and it seems that number twenty eight, youâve also applied for other contests, so I believe that weâll have another chance to meet. If by that time you can still maintain your current standards and also let me feel that you started to genuinely enjoy voice acting itself, then Iâll be more than willing to give you 4.5. Iâm looking forward to that dayââ
The moment those words were heard, the public chat got so spammed with red flowers, they seemed to merge into one.
Audience 1: ăâœăCrap! From today on, Iâm Teacher Puâs brainless fan!
Audience 2: ăâœăTeacher Puâs brainless fan +1!
Audience 3: ăâœăTeacher Puâs brainless fan +2!ăI have to say that Teacher Pu feels just like my previous class teacher, both are strict but treat their pupils very well ă
Audience 4: ăâœăTeacher Puâs brainless fan +3! Ah, right, right, count me in as Kittyâs Papaâs brainless fan as well!
Audience 5: ăâœăI didnât think Iâd chance upon such a good harvest while listening to âȘOrder to End the Heavensâ« voice acting contest, it was worth it!! Five stars for Teacherâs Pu feedback style!! And five stars for Kittyâs Papaâs performance!! Looking forward to seeing other scenes in the finals!!
Audience 6: Hearing Teacherâs words, I immediately ran to check the official page, Kittyâs Papa is actually signed up for Bai Ke and Marquess Shun!! I was so surprised!! And so hyped!! Iâll make sure to come and cheer for you, best of luck!! ~\(â§âœâŠ)/~
âThank you⊠Teacher Pu.â Even though he was aware that the other person couldnât possibly see him nor hear his words, Shen Yan still bowed before the screen as he voiced his most sincere thanks in a low voice.
âThank you, Teacher Pu.â Qi Jing also gave his thanks with a light smile.
âQi Jing,â Shen Yanâs gaze left the screen and turned towards him as he said in the same, husky voice, âthank you too, for accompanying me all the way here.â
âIt was you who first made me happy, donât you remember?â Qi Jing cocked his head childishly, raised his brow and said with a smile, âAt that time, Iâve just come back after having a car accident. You contacted me online, and we chatted about that first time we acted together. Do you remember what I said then?â
He remembered.
They enjoyed acting togetherâQi Jing said so and so did he.
Turns out he already had those feelings, itâs just this time, it wasnât just Qi Jing, but thousands upon thousands of people that⊠that gave him the joy of approval and recognition.
But this wasnât the biggest joy voice acting brought him.
âHaving been able to meet you⊠Iâm so happy.â Shen Yan said in a low voice and slowly brought Qi Jingâs hand to where his heart was, putting it on his chest as if declaring some kind of sovereignty. He closed his eyes, a soft, choked sob escaping his throat as he leaned his head against Qi Jingâs shoulder to slowly sort out his bittersweet emotions.
âMe, too.â Qi Jing murmured in his ear.
Looking past Shen Yanâs shoulder, he saw that bustling YY channel window. It wasnât long before the final list of qualified contestants appeared on the screen.
1st place: Number 28 Kitty ăź Papa, total score of 17.092 points.
2nd place: Number 19 Went off with a bang, total score of 14.761 points.
He believed it was just the beginning.
No matter if it was for him or for Shen Yan, their road as voice actors was still long and broadâmerry things were bound to happen, just as unknowns were bound to appear.
As for Qi Jing, the unknowns started to crop up even before the start of his contests, their number snowballing with the time.
The next day was his first working day of that week, and it would be just as packed and busy as the previous weeks. Shen Yan went to the clinic to work as usual while he took Little Return Date out to carry on the undercover investigation of the veterinarian clinics.
Even though he had listened to two competitions in a row the day before, he could still have a good nightâs sleep by that personâs side, so his fatigue disappeared completely, his spirit fully restored. Not to mention getting up in the morning, he could even eat that personâs piping hot breakfast! Qi Jing felt that today, no matter if it was for work progress or quality, he could take it all to new heights.
âManâs spirit is invigorated after chancing upon a joyous occasion.â One of his colleagues sized him up from head to toe during the lunch break and made quite a fair conclusion.
âYou can think of it like that.â Qi Jing responded, his eyes curving up in a smile.
He had personally witnessed Shen Yan take a step out of the shadows, even earning the first place and advancing in the ranks, it could be said that merriment arrived at their homeâof course he would feel happy for Shen Yan.
âDid your request for the job as a news anchor go through?â His colleague seemed to be well-informedâthe director was a blabbermouth, so it seemed like everyone in the whole channel knew about this matter already.
âNo,â Qi Jing laughed as he shook his head, âI still donât know anything about that one yet. Weâll see. Iâll do my best to try it if I get a chance, but otherwise, I can only continue working towards it.
The 3D world matters were never going as smoothly as the 2D ones. Nevertheless, Shen Yanâs experience gave him a kind of motivationâif the other could make a step forward, then he should also advance towards his goal. Every obstacle could be overcome as long as one had confidence and perseverance.
After eating lunch, there was still an hour before the next interview.
The company driver had to take a nap, and a couple of his colleagues went to the shopping district to buy stuff in passing, but Qi Jing didnât follow them. He sat at the back seat and played with Little Return Date on his lap while freeing up his hand to unlock his phone.
There were two pages opened up in his browser. One was the original novel for the fifth part of âȘOrder to End the Heavensâ«, about half a million characters altogetherâhe intended to slowly read through it today and conscientiously research all three of his characters. The other one was a newly opened, popular thread on the voice acting forum titled âȘEveryone, letâs talk about the voice acting competition for this yearâs installment of Order to End the Heavensâ«.
In fact, this post thread was opened the previous evening. At that time, he was engrossed with listening to the competitions and didnât browse the forums, so he missed some of the live commentary and discussions.
The thread started with a discussion about the happenings of the first competition for the âLiu Suyuâ role.
Because of Crossing the bridge noodles, Qi Jing couldnât avoid becoming one of those galsâ topics. Actually, the moment he opened the forum and saw the thread name for his and Crossing the bridge noodles CP thread, âȘGolden wind and autumn dew arriving at their tryst, envying not immortals, only mandarin ducks coupleâ«, he was already aware of what he was about to see.
[Comment 24]:
It finally started!! But why did Crossing the bridge noodles have to be so unlucky and draw the first place in the line up⊠_(:Đ·ăâ )_
I feel very good about the MC sister, as for the three judges⊠I need to wait and see, I hope theyâre more reliable than those three from the previous competition. There was only one judge who was serious about scoring in that competition, but I just have no strength to rant about the other two. I love both Crossing the bridge noodlesâ voice and acting, hope he can smoothly advance to the next stage of the competition.
[Comment 25]:
ÎŁ(ââœâ What the hell!! The moment he got to the mic, Crossing the bridge noodles asked if Donât ask for my return date was there!! Whatâs with that blatant ambiguity?? Is Bronze Sparrow Terrace being made into a stepping stone by this liaison of his two little shous, hahahaha⊠What to do, I would actually love to see that.
[Comment 25]:
My God, I also heard that! (I say, Noodlesâ voice when heâs sick suddenly sounds so gong, pfftâŠ) It also looks like Donât ask for my return date has responded! Quickly, tell me if Iâm right, tell me, tell me, tell me!
[Comment 27]:
Youâre right!! Donât ask for my return date has also told him âbest of luckâ or something like that. I could virtually see the great god Bronze Sparrow Terraceâs utterly devastated expression!! âź(âŻâœâ°)â
[Comment 28]:
o(*////âœ////*)o Crap⊠Iâm really falling into the Time Limit CP pit, what to do! Now Iâm headcanoning this âphilandering gong x pure and virtuous shouâ pairing⊠Help!! Once my head receives such an idea to work with, my brain just canât stop!!
[Comment 29]:
The commenter above, you can go to the next door CP thread to discuss it! Itâs exactly thatăGolden wind and autumn dew arriving at their tryst, envying not the immortals, only mandarin ducks coupleăpost thread. They have given us quite a lot of working material before, but with how weâve got more of it now, itâs enough to fill a book~ o(â§oâŠ)o
He just couldnât bear to look straight at the posts related to him.
Qi Jing skipped them in silence. He flipped a page and continued scrolling until he found a reply that managed to catch his attention firmly, making him stop his breath subconsciously.
[Comment 410]:
I really, really want to know who exactly that âKitty ăź Papaâ is!! I bet my dignity as a producer, if thatâs a smurf, then I have to sniff out the big name behind it!!ïŒâŻïŒïŒżïŒïŒâŻâ§â§
A/N:
It would be so good to meet someone like Teacher Pu within my life.ïŒâŹïŒżâŹïŒ
And as for the pace of the plot⊠Uhm, seems like no matter what part of the novel weâre in, there will always be readers saying itâs too slow, or that it was just fine before⊠I also donât know what I should do to correct it anymore, so I think I can only stick to my original outline. The commentary in the previous chapter was indeed too long, thatâs just my habit, please pardon me. As for how slow the plot of their real life was going, thatâs probably also a problem with my style⊠(I canât live without bedcovers and details *collapses*)
In the end, Iâm the one who wants it to finish quickly!! ăâœă Finish it, then jump into a new pit⊠(Hey, shouldnât you fill the first pit up first!)
T/N:
lucilla: The chat⊠the chat was so wholesome QAQ I also want to spam red flowers for Teacher Pu!! And I absolutely love the authorâs attention to details, donât take away my detailed descriptions, please? _(:3ăâ )_
whiteflare: Ahhh, love the imagery in this chapter with the turning away from the light and then going through it⊠The netizens were super cute, too!
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