Soon, the private message began flashing again.
Qiang Qingci: Go to the kitchen, find the sesame oil, and take a small sip. You'll feel better tomorrow morning.
Gu Sheng: Huh? Does that work?
Qiang Qingci: Mm.
Gu Sheng: Nodding, I'll go right away.
For her, the condition of her voice was truly of utmost importance.
Although occasionally disguising her voice as a man's to sing a song or two wouldn't have serious consequences, since it was the Top talent's suggestion, it absolutely! Definitely! worked! She made her way to the kitchen. Because it was so late, she didn't dare turn on the light and instead relied on the moonlight to search for the sesame oil bottle. She opened them one by one, sniffing until she finally caught the rich aroma of sesame oil, then secretly took a sip.
Mom and Dad... please don't be disgusted with me...
After completing the task, she noticed a plate of side dishes on the table. She leaned over to examine it for a while, quickly guessed what they'd be eating for lunch tomorrow, and then contentedly slipped back to her room.
Upon returning, she earnestly reported to Qiang Qingci:
Sir, I've finished drinking it.
Qiang Qingci: Smiling.
At that moment, her mouth was truly filled with the taste of sesame oil, so fragrant it was almost sickeningly sweet.
Thinking of the debts in her email, she suddenly hesitated. To properly practice the lyrics along with the melody would take quite a bit of time, and she'd need to record the raw audio when her voice was in good condition... T T When on earth did she agree to over forty songs? Was she going to be paying off these debts until next winter break?
Qiang Qingci: Typing is a bit tiring. Would you mind switching to QQ voice chat?
She was still mentally tallying how many songs she needed to record when this line of text... struck her heart. Although it was late, with such good soundproofing in her room, voice chat was completely fine... Besides, since entering the Ancient Style Music Circle, her parents had grown accustomed to her recording late at night.
But...
Gu Sheng stared at that line of text, still feeling a bit breathless.
After YY Voice Chat and WeChat... was she really about to get Qiang Qingci's QQ too??
How did it feel like the world was becoming mysterious and incomprehensible...
Just as she stared at the screen, slightly dazed, Qiang Qingci had already sent over a string of QQ numbers.
She let out a soft sigh, quickly added the QQ, put on her headset, and inexplicably, her heart began to race wildly.
This felt completely different from YY, okay...
In a YY Room, even with just two people, it still felt like a public platform. But QQ voice chat was strictly one-on-one, making it feel much more private... Not to mention, on YY, she always just sang and left, never engaging in idle chat...
In short, it was incredibly nerve-wracking.
It felt like waiting for a private call from Qiang Qingci.
Soon, he smoothly accepted.
Then, he sent an invitation for a voice chat.
After accepting, Gu Sheng grew even more nervous.
The usual WeChat... was just taking turns sending voice messages, completely different from this real-time conversation.
"Are you there?" Qiang Qingci suddenly called out to her.
"Huh?" Gu Sheng gently pressed her hand against the Microphone, adjusting its position. "Sir, I'm here."
"Go on."
Huh?
(⊙o⊙)... Go on with what...
"Um... I just went to drink the sesame oil..." She despised herself for having absolutely no topic. "Sir, aren't you tired anymore?"
Qiang Qingci faintly hummed in agreement: "Just woke up, looking for something to eat."
His voice was so clear, as if he were right in front of her.
Gu Sheng silently berated herself... Why did it feel like this was her first-ever voice chat...
Silence fell again.This isn't WeChat—silence is awkward, okay? T T
Gu Sheng was quite conflicted, thinking of the ingredients she had just seen in the kitchen: "I... um, just went to the kitchen and saw the conch meat my mom prepared... We'll probably have Sliced Conch with Pearl Meatballs for lunch tomorrow."
Qiang Qingci gave a faint, almost imperceptible "Mm."
There seemed to be the sound of food being unwrapped—potato chips?
Alright... soon after came the sound of someone eating potato chips...
Since the Top talent was having a midnight snack, she might as well take the lead in the conversation. T T
"I've always really liked this dish," Gu Sheng hurriedly searched for the recipe on Baidu. After finding it, she slowly read through it, digesting it into her own words. "Slice the conch meat into large pieces, wash it clean with warm water, and place it in a soup bowl with blanched bok choy and slippery mushrooms. Then finely chop green onions and ginger, mix them with cooking wine and water to extract the juice, making a green onion and ginger broth.
Next, prepare the 'pearls'—the pearls are actually chicken. Mince the chicken into a paste, add egg whites and fatty pork, mix well, then shape it into small meatballs about one centimeter in diameter. Bring water to a boil, gently poach the meatballs over low heat, add sesame oil, MSG, and pepper, then pour everything hot into the soup bowl... um, and it's ready to eat..."
She finished speaking.
She clearly heard Qiang Qingci let out a helpless laugh: "Mm, I know, it's a famous dish in Shandong cuisine."
...Alright, it's fine... she could just treat it as studying the recipe herself...
Qiang Qingci sighed softly.
Then... he succinctly told her: "I think... I'm even hungrier now."
He said it so casually.
Oh no... but why did she feel so overwhelmingly guilty...
"Top talent, I'm sorry," Gu Sheng said with deep remorse, speaking earnestly into her headset. "I... can I sing for you as compensation?"
It seemed the only thing she could do, and the only thing Qiang Qingci liked, was her singing?
"Alright," he laughed.
Gu Sheng silently closed her eyes.
Midnight, having a voice chat with her Favorite Voice Actor...
She was seriously going to die from this...
She opened her music library, slowly and carefully searching until she finally found a relatively soothing song.
She cleared her throat slightly, feeling a bit more comfortable.
This song wasn't strenuous to sing, and it should be... quite pleasant to listen to.
She turned on the BGM (background music), a very ethereal melody that slowly began to play. She hummed along with the intro for a while, then softly started singing:
"I brew idle sorrow into a pot of parting wine,
Drinking midnight rain as it drifts beyond the mountain,
Worldly memories cling like shadows, leaving a verse behind,
If I became immortal, why would I refuse to let go...
The eaves where you once lived are now soaked in morning dew,
Painted into the distant deep autumn with ink,
Candlelight disturbs, I mock myself as drifting duckweed flowing east,
Calling the moon, melting the fading light to dissolve idle sorrow..."
This was a song she adored, so naturally, she sang it with great familiarity.
She hardly needed to look at the lyrics to sing it smoothly.
Qiang Qingci seemed quite familiar with this song too. Recognizing it as "Moonlight Shines Upon the Nine Provinces Once More," he even mentioned the song's name during the interlude, leisurely telling her: "The lyrics of this song incorporate a poem. I really like it too."
That low, magnetic voice, accompanied by the interlude...
Gu Sheng was so captivated she nearly forgot to sing the second half...
Fortunately, she quickly regained her professionalism and finished the entire song.
Since it was so late, after she finished singing, the Top talent told her she needed to go to sleep.Gu Sheng was a bit reluctant, but she obediently closed QQ and her computer, then climbed into bed. Wrapped in her blanket, she kept thinking about the voice message she had just exchanged with the Top talent, which felt almost like a private phone call. So... now she had actually, quite happily, obtained all of the Top talent's contact information except for his phone number?
She could hardly believe it...
Drifting in this euphoric mood, she fell asleep.
When she woke up the next day, it was already 11 a.m.
It was the second-to-last day before the start of the semester...
Still groggy, she sat up in bed and heard the sounds of cooking coming from the kitchen. After quickly washing up, she casually turned on her computer. As soon as she logged into Weibo, she saw that she had inexplicably been @-mentioned dozens of times again.
At first, her heart skipped a beat, but judging by the number... well... it probably wasn't the Top talent's fans...
It was almost becoming a psychological burden.
╮(╯▽╰)╭
She opened it to look and unexpectedly found...
"I, I, I, I, today was my first day interning at the recording studio, my first day! And I actually saw my idol @Qiang Qingci! Idol, don't worry, I promised you, I swear! I won't leak any of your photos or information! #But can I just tell the truth, idol, you are seriously too! handsome!! Isn't that right!!!! T T, Sheng Sheng Man... I... envy... you!!!!#
Author's Note: T T It's off the charts again!... Sob sob sob sob ps. A lot of people have been asking me, whose version of Ode to the Heir sounds the best? I've listened to many versions, and I think Asdv's cover is the best. She's a girl, by the way. Another ps. For Moonlight Shines Upon the Nine Provinces Once More, the original singer is already the best, yeah."
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