The last day of New Year's holiday.
Her parents had gone to her grandmother's house, and it was already ten o'clock when Gu Sheng arrived at the supermarket to help her cousin close up, telling him she still had plans for the evening. Her cousin, a man who knew nothing about the two-dimensional world and at most dabbled in Sword Three, found it hard to understand her daily routine of shutting herself in her room, humming and murmuring, or opening the door only to face strange software, endlessly adjusting audio.
Gu Sheng couldn't be bothered to explain and went to tally the day's earnings.
She had just opened the cash register when she heard a "ding-dong"—another customer had arrived. It was a young man in a black down jacket and jeans, walking in silently. He bypassed the boxes her cousin had just moved to block customers, took off his black gloves, stuffed them into his pocket, and grabbed a bottle of mineral water from the fridge.
The dog she had brought from home happily trotted over to take a look at this stranger.
She glanced at her cousin in surprise. Usually, seven or eight boxes were needed to block the entrance, but her cousin had only moved two earlier while chatting with her, so no wonder the man thought they were still open. Her cousin sighed helplessly and said to the man, who was half a head taller than him, "We're closing. Please hurry and bring your items to the counter." With that, he reached out and snapped the cash register shut in front of Gu Sheng.
The young man cooperated, quickly walking over and placing his items on the counter.
A bottle of mineral water, a pack of biscuits, and a bottle of yogurt. The yogurt had large fruit chunks.
"Thirteen sixty," her cousin quickly announced the price, took the cash, and handed back the change.
Gu Sheng walked to the side of the counter, picked up her dog, and curiously glanced at this man who drank yogurt with large fruit chunks. He was a very clean-looking man, with unexpectedly beautiful eyes—slightly upturned at the corners, large, and single-lidded.
Gu Sheng instinctively recalled the books on physiognomy she had read. Boys with such eyes were usually very focused, unwilling to give up once they committed, especially persistent in both work and relationships... As she watched him, he was putting the change into his wallet, seemingly thinking of something, frowning slightly, the corners of his eyes lifting even more...
She realized she was observing him too closely and lowered her head to pet her dog.
The door slid open with another "ding-dong," and the customer left.
The supermarket saw a constant flow of people every day, and business was especially good since it was just across the street from the district hospital. Gu Sheng encountered countless boys like him while minding the shop. But this one, Gu Sheng, an absolute voice fetishist, suddenly found herself curiously imagining what his voice would sound like.
Of course, it was just a passing thought.
When she returned home, she noticed Geng Xiaoxing was online on QQ.
Gu Sheng quickly typed a line and sent it: Y(^_^)Y, not sleeping so late at night, waiting for which handsome guy?
Geng Xiaoxing: ^O^ No, no, I'm listening to Jue Mei pia drama...
...
Gu Sheng: Huh? Why do I feel like the words "Jue Mei" you typed are inexplicably adorned with pink floral borders?
Geng Xiaoxing: ...I'm just an obsessive fan of his...
Gu Sheng: Oh, which room?
Geng Xiaoxing quickly typed out a string of numbers and gave her the password.
Gu Sheng asked her to say hello for her and entered the room, but after searching around, she couldn't find Geng Xiaoxing's name.
She messaged Geng Xiaoxing in surprise: Where are you? I don't see you.Geng Xiaoxing: Shh... I'm black listening. I'm on a QQ call with Jue Mei, and he secretly turned on mixing so I could black listen to their dubbing group training newcomers...
...
...
Such professional terms and activities, and Geng Xiaoxing actually understood them all.
Gu Sheng felt she must have missed a lot of exciting things.
There weren't many people in the room.
After listening for a while, Gu Sheng realized it was an internal activity within Perfect. Probably training a batch of newcomers in live pia drama, and Perfect Killing Intent was actually in a good enough mood to personally guide the newcomers' acting sense.
Some of the newcomers were so expressionless that no matter how they read their lines, there was no feeling at all.
Qiang Qingci wasn't on the list.
She remembered the line of text on the screen when Qiang Qingci said goodbye last time and felt a slightly strange sensation. The dog ran to her feet, rubbing against her and whining. Gu Sheng was overjoyed, picked it up, and whispered, "Chocolate, you seem to have a bit of an upset stomach tonight. Did your grandma secretly feed you strawberries? Hmm?"
She muttered to herself while Chocolate squirmed and fidgeted restlessly.
In the headset, there was their mid-break conversation.
"When Feng Ya Song first entered the circle, his defining trait was being expressionless," Jue Mei sighed deeply. "Come on, tell the newcomers about your own history of being harshly pia'd."
Feng Ya Song chuckled: "No acting sense, probably never dated a girl, right?" As he spoke, there was a slight echo. Being such a clever person, he immediately laughed, "I say, who didn't turn off their mixing?"
Gu Sheng immediately laughed.
She quickly typed to Geng Xiaoxing: Exposed, huh? You've been found out~
Geng Xiaoxing: …………………………………………………………
"Changed computers today," Jue Mei coughed lightly. "Can't turn off the mixing."
"Oh~" Feng Ya Song smiled meaningfully. "I thought it was someone letting their own girl black listen."
"Back to acting sense," Jue Mei laughed.
"I already said, it's simple," Feng Ya Song teased lightly. "If you want acting sense, go mess with a few lonely girls and restless youths, and you'll get the feeling right away, especially for romantic scenes."
Everyone was listening and enjoying it.
But Jue Mei sighed deeply: "What about Qiang Qingci, who's never had a girlfriend? He's a commercial voice actor, specializing in charming playboys, and he's very deeply affectionate."
Gu Sheng, who was petting the dog, immediately paused her hand, thinking she had misheard.
She had been moved countless times by the characters Qiang Qingci voiced.
Especially in the popular historical drama on Watermelon TV, she completely watched the show with her eyes closed just to listen to the voice without having to look at the unsightly male lead...
Feng Ya Song exclaimed: "Forgot about our top talent. He's naturally gifted with acting sense, can't compare."
With the two of them saying this, the dozen or so newcomers immediately got excited.
After all, most of them had joined this dubbing group because of Qiang Qingci's reputation.
The name Perfect had been popular for six or seven years because of Qiang Qingci.
Sometimes when Perfect members went to do commercial voice-overs and mentioned they were from the Perfect Dubbing Group, recording engineers would immediately laugh and say, "Qiang Qingci's group, right? That kid still hasn't left the circle?"
Most famous people prefer to be freelancers; who would want to be tied down by a folk society?
Gu Sheng didn't know the reason behind this.
But she liked to imagine beautifully that it must be because Top Talent was a good person, nostalgic, and no matter how famous he became, he never forgot his roots...Because Jue Mei Sha Yi brought it up, everyone was asking if they could hear Qiang Qingci demonstrate live, promising they would definitely be on time no matter how late the appointment was. Jue Mei didn’t reply immediately, seemingly considering it.
In the brief silence, Gu Sheng didn’t even dare to take a deep breath, also waiting for the answer.
After all, the chance to hear him perform a non-commercial drama live had long been gone...
“Sheng Sheng Man?” Suddenly, Qiang Qingci’s voice came through the headset.
She was startled, her heart pounding wildly.
He was actually here.
And once again, he was using Jue Mei Sha Yi’s microphone...
Qiang Qingci casually asked, “May I bring you on mic?”
So polite, so unexpected, and so ambiguous.
She actually thought of that word, like a newcomer who had just entered the circle.
Wasn’t it normal for an admin to “bring” someone on or off mic? But if it was suddenly your favorite voice asking you this... Gu Sheng felt her ears grow warm, deeply despising herself for a moment, then pretending to be generous as she typed the word “Yes.”
She successfully got on mic.
For a moment, it was quiet, neither of them speaking.
“Actually, emotional scenes are quite simple.” Qiang Qingci spoke slightly more formally, and his voice was already incredibly pleasant.
Gu Sheng didn’t know what scene he wanted to rehearse with her.
She just stared intently at the announcement board. When she observed other voice-acting groups rehearsing dramas, they would paste their lines on the announcement board and read from them... She just didn’t know why he had chosen her.
But aside from the newcomers, there were only two men here, so he could only rehearse with her.
Gu Sheng explained it to herself this way.
Yet she still nervously took a deep breath... Having a cover singer rehearse a scene was like forcing a duck onto a perch...
“Sheng Sheng Man?” Qiang Qingci suddenly called her.
“Hmm?” She tried hard to look at the announcement board, but there were no lines at all.
“I love you.”
The sudden line.
Simple, direct, and filled with deep affection.
She was instantly stunned, completely and utterly.
“Do you...” His voice carried a slight resonance, as if bewitchingly gentle, “love me?”
“I...” She bit her lip, trying to calm herself. How should she reply without any lines? Love? Don’t love? Do you love me or not?
She struggled for a few seconds before finally confessing, “Love... I love... your voice.”
“Thank you,” Qiang Qingci replied lightly, “I’ll bring you off mic.”
He chuckled, returning to his usual somewhat indifferent tone. “That’s the feeling. Practice more and reflect on it.”
Author’s Note: Oh dear, the curry beef vermicelli soup will have to wait until the next chapter = =
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