Chapter 119
unedited
Only after the audition started Qi Jing realised what Crossing the bridge noodles meant by being able to be a bit of a ‘little girl’. Turns out he wasn’t just joking—
“My lord…” He heard a shy and limpid voice of a boy, sounding so pinchable as if he would shed droplets of pure and clear water upon squishing him. He only heard this boy call him probingly before he stammered slowly, “My lord, how is Your body? Does it still hurt, do You want Lu Wei to serve You?”
Like a young and obedient little wife, shifting closer while gently asking if his lord was cold.
Especially that ‘serve You’, even though everyone knew very well that it was meant literally, but for some reason hearing it would make one’s thoughts go astray…
Audience 1: Σ(っ °Д °)っ Holy crap??
Audience 2: Σ(っ °Д °)っ Holy crap?? The change was so instant, damn!!
Audience 3: Pfhahahaha, the two above are surely hearing Little Noodle’s actual voice for the first time? This is Little Noodle’s real form! ╮(￣▽￣”)╭
Audience 4: Wait… I feel like Noodle’s actual voice isn’t this, it should be the youth voice~ Just listen to how he normally speaks during the beginning and you will know. It’s just, he would always take the roles of this type of soft and feeble bunny-like shous, so everyone just… mistook it for his real voice.【Pfft】
Audience 5: I, I’m hurrying up to tell the one above—I actually like this Little Noodles more!!【That’s right, I’m a proud bottom lover】
Audience 6: Hahahaha, he really sounds like a girl this way, so adorable! And as for serving and all of that… Return Date-sama, quick, give him some love! Otherwise I will take him for myself! (smitten stare）
Fortunately, Qi Jing was listening to Crossing the bridge noodles’ audio dramas before and had some awareness of it, and only thanks to that he didn’t crack up and laugh on the spot. But the corners of his lips still twitched in spite of his effort.
As he smiled, the “Qi Jing’s” little smile just perfectly morphed into “Fang Yisheng’s” bitter one.
He didn’t know how it was for other people, but for him, the expressions were very crucial when voice acting. Often to reflect a character’s emotion, he, as a VA, needed to shape this emotion both through his voice and his face—be it joy, anger, or sadness, if a person stays expressionless, then their voice would sound “fake” too.
Qi Jing lowered his gaze, his tone and a faint sigh heavy, but he still needed to make people hear that “smile”.
So he put that smile of his into the sigh, both of them mixed together as making them inseparable was what he aimed for.
“The flare ups from the remaining poison have passed already. It doesn’t hurt now, I’m merely tired.” His tone was just as composed as before, the mannerism of the Listen to the Wind Inn’s owner still there in its full glory, but when faced with this page boy who had accompanied him for so many years already, his tone would get more familiar, like an elder’s. This way, the listeners from the audience could easily imagine him reaching his hand out to rub the boy’s head.
“Don’t be afraid… Lu Wei, don’t be afraid, this lord won’t die.” He said slowly, comforting the person before him in a soft voice.
“My Lord,” Suddenly, Crossing the bridge noodles choked with tears. This time, the way he called him was even more miserable than before, as he even sniffled twice, seemingly trying to control his sadness, “It was You, my Lord, who saved Lu Wei’s life. If one day my Lord was gone, Lu Wei wouldn’t have a place to go anymore, so he would stay guarding Your grave till death.”
“Haha.” Qi Jing laughed, having a coughing fit in the process. It was as if each time he laughed was incredibly difficult for him, every single sound coughed straight up his lungs—a very image of a person on a sickbed.
“Silly child, a dead person will only turn into a pile of dried up bones, what’s the use of you guarding them? The world is so big… A man’s ambition shouldn’t stop at that. If there’s one day when I really pass away, you should leave this place, go wherever you wish to go, live the life of your dreams.”
So calm towards life and death, yet so distressed towards parting away.
This is the true man of flesh and blood—
This dialogue should happen in the latter part of the novel, as they lay low while living in a forest. During his life, “Fang Yisheng” experienced numerous deceit and he was also a ruthless man himself. But for “Lu Wei”, this simple and oblivious boy who grew up in a village, he became a normal person, a master, a brother, no longer having to always be on guard and scheming.
This was yet another face of the cutting blade-like “Fang Yisheng” thatQi Jing played in his previous audition. Each of his words was from the bottom of his heart, his tone warm and sincere.
And set off against the sobbing tone of Crossing the bridge noodles’ boyish voice, it sounded especially gong—deep, low, and doting. And with those emotional and earnest lines, it really sounded… quite ambiguous.
Although in reality, it was only sentiments between a master and his servant, there was already no stopping to the listeners’ thoughts reeling in a different direction.
Audience 1: ┭┮﹏┭┮ The beauty! Of! Master! X! Servant! Those two types of voices really suit each other so well! Aiyayaya, so beautiful! Begging you guys to later play a CP together!
Audience 2: ┭┮﹏┭┮ What the commenter above said!! I have only listened to Bronze Sparrow Terrace (not listening to him anymore though, hmpf) doting on Little Noodles, but I didn’t expect Don’t ask for my return date to fit him so well, so cute aaah… This type of tone isn’t too much, but at the same time, it makes me feel like he really loves Little Noodles, *sobs*… Begging for more of Time Limit!!
Audience 3: (*艸’*) Begging for more Time Limit!! +10086【To be honest, my brain right now is completely full just thinking whether it’s the older bottom or the older bottom that would work best←Oi】
Audience 4: (*&#k8278;’*) For now the older one should top, he will get his share of it in the future!!&#k3010;Oi oi oi&#k3011;
Audience 5: (*&#k8278;’*) giving my probs to the enlightened brain cells of the one above!&#k3010;oi oi oi oi oi&#k3011;
Audience 6: &#k2026;Cough cough, a silent fan of the original novel passing by. Although I have no idea what the ones above are talking about (do I really though), according to the original novel, little Lu Wei is really soft and obedient. So I really want to say that, the way they brought out the sadness of the boy feeling hurt for his master, and the doting in inn owner Fang’s voice, isn’t it all beyond amazing!! Now I want to beg for inn owner Fang’s to dote on me lovingly too!!&#k3010;Just scram already, you&#k3011;
When, in this atmosphere full of positive comments, a different kind of comment suddenly appeared, it quickly caught everyone’s eyes.
—”Disgusting”.
This different comment really was too incongruous with the rest. The sender also specially chose to use an eye-catching red and big font, spamming it in the chat in a chain of messages. Qi Jing’s gaze only sweeped by the chat, but he still saw it clearly.
It’s still the middle of the performance, I can’t get distracted—he thought, trying to remain calm and carry on steadily with the acting.
This listener with an ID “Dissing Slag Men” was incredibly persistent, unrelenting in spamming the whole chat, to the point where neither Qi Jing or Crossing the bridge noodles could ignore it. The whole comment barrage turned red, filled with those two words as if this commenter wanted to create a ruckus so big, they couldn’t continue acting.
Audience 1: = = …Who is that guy above?? Have some dignity, won’t you??【The ID is so low-brow too】
Audience 2: = = …Maybe it’s a fan of that Went off with a bang just now?
Audience 3: Oi oi oi, don’t be so quick to take a blind shot, us Bang Bang’s fans aren’t this bored~ (shrugging)
Audience 4: (sneer) Those two are only playing those lines according to the script, it’s just us in the audience who are brain rotting here. There’s nothing wrong with them, so if you need to curse people out,okay, just don’t curse the contestants?
Audience 5: ╮(╯＿╰)╭ I feel like this person is only trying to cause trouble, can we have the moderators ban them?
Audience 6: ╮(╯＿╰)╭ Also asking the moderation for that ban!! It’s already influenced the contestants’ chances in the competition, so the organisers wouldn’t possibly ignore that.
Of course the organisers wouldn’t ignore that. Not even ten seconds had passed before the comments from this user ceased in the chat—it seemed like the management took care of this account behind the scenes. But it was hard to deny that the chat barrage full of those red words just now ruined the atmosphere of the audition to some extent, with the voices previously lively discussion about “Time Limit” disappearing almost entirely. On one hand, their enthusiasm got put out, and on the other, they didn’t want to cause their favourite contestants to get even more undeserved hate.
Fortunately Qi Jing and Crossing the bridge noodles were both pretty calm about the hate, not letting it affect their minds, so that the performance could go on.
Just as everyone present was ready to pretend nothing had happened, a particularly eye-catching comment suddenly appeared in the chat—even the font size was the same as that Dissing Slag Men’s, the colour too.
Their ID was very simple, they called themselves “Doing good deeds in passing”.
Doing good deeds in passing: “Dissing Slag Men”—the owner of “Little Private Room”, no other channel information aside from that, probably a side account. IP address XXX.XX.XX.XXX. That’s all, you’re welcome. (づ￣ 3￣)づ
Audience 1: =口=
Audience 2: =口= Holy heck!! Wild tech god??
Audience 3: =口= What kind of situation is this? Did they look into the company’s servers that they knew what channels this person has created? (By the way, “Little Private Room” makes me think of a certain type of channel, cough cough) But how did they get to this guy’s IP? 【I went through the channel index and the information was matching, so could it be that this IP is also…】
Next moment, there were already more people who called from surprise.
Audience 4: Σ( °△ °|||)︴So this “Doing good deeds in passing” is a black vest!!
Audience 5: Σ( °△ °|||)︴Black vest account? Holy… So is it some actual worker from the company? Do we really have such a high-level person listening to this competition?
Audience 6: Oooh, I heard that YY employees can check users’ IP, so that IP above can actually be real?? (If it’s an employee from YY, then they would surely take responsibility for what they’re saying, so the probability of this info being true should be really high). I can’t, I can’t—it’s the first time for me to see a black vest… It looks so handsome and mighty!! (starry eyes)
Fortunately, this “Doing good deeds in passing” fellow waited until both of them completed their lines before speaking, otherwise everyone’s attention would probably get completely led away.
“It’s fine as long as you don’t forget to vote.” Yuan Zhengming had to give the listeners a friendly reminder. He also noted with distress that his existence was being pretty much overlooked tonight…
During the voting period, Qi Jing hurried to send a private message.
【You】said to【Crossing the bridge noodles】: Noodles, do you know this “Doing good deeds in passing”? Can it be one of your fans?
【Crossing the bridge noodles】said to【You】: I don’t have any impression of this ID, and I can’t say for sure if they’re my fan, but I don’t know any YY administrator in person and I also didn’t hear of anyone like this being among my fans. If they are, then they’re the type to always stay silent.
【You】said to【Crossing the bridge noodles】: I also have no impression of seeing this ID. *scratching walls* I’m really so curious now!
【Crossing the bridge noodles】said to【You】: I looked up that IP quickly, their localisation is in C city.
…C city. A blurry light flashed in Qi Jing’s mind, and after thinking with his brows furrowed for a moment, he finally remembered who lived in C city. Almost at the same time, him and Crossing the bridge noodles said this person’s name: “Bronze Sparrow Terrace—”
Still, Qi Jing shook his head slightly, turning this guess down. Although Bronze Sparrow Terrace was shameless, he was still clever and craftful. This almost childish way to spam the chat to vent didn’t really suit the slick style he always presented. And today, he was also one of the contestants, so he probably wasn’t as idle as to register a new side account solely to haul abuses at them.
But compared to this type of haters, Qi Jing was more interested in knowing where that “Doing good deeds in passing” came from.
Just as they talked, the scoring results were finally out.
【Group Score】: 4.0, 4.0, average score 4.0
【Elapsed Time】: 60 seconds = 0.6 points
【Audience Votes】: 89.1% voting ratio = 0.891 points
—————————————————–
Overall group score: 4.0＋0.60＋0.891= 5.491 points
“Don’t ask for my return date” individual score:
【Voice Quality】: 4.0, 4.0, average score 4.0
【Enunciation】: 4.0, 4.0, average score 4.0
【Foundation Points】: 4.0, 4.0, average score 4.0
【Charisma】: 4.5, 4.0, average score 4.25
—————————————————–
Overall average scores: 4.0＋4.0＋4.0＋4.25= 16.25 points
Additional audience vote points: 80.9% voting ratio = 0.809 points
Overall score: 16.25＋0.809＋5.491 = 22.550 points
“Crossing the bridge noodles” individual score:
【Voice Quality】: 4.5, 40, average score 4.0
【Enunciation】: 4.0, 4.0, average score 4.0
【Foundation Points】: 4.0, 4.0, average score 4.0
【Charisma】: 4.5, 4.0, average score 4.25
—————————————————–
Overall average scores: 4.25＋4.0＋4.0＋4.25= 16.5 points
Additional audience vote points: 83.8% voting ratio = 0.838 points
Overall score: 16.5＋0.838＋5.491 = 22.829 points
“Not half bad, we got a pretty high group score.” Qi Jing said with a smile. This team score was currently among the very best so far in its category, so even just this was enough to make Time Limit shippers happy for quite a while.
In terms of individual scores, Crossing the bridge noodles took the win with his voice suitability and the amount of fan votes, but aside of those two points, the two of them were basically equally matched.
While closing his chatbox with Crossing the bridge noodles, he took a look at the progress of the competition. His next team was 52, so it was still early. He could spare himself a short rest.
But Shen Yan was about to start his first group audition in a few minutes. Even after finishing his audition, Qi Jing had to take care of all kinds of matters that cropped up during it, so he didn’t have a chance to talk to him… Suddenly, he felt a bit guilt-stricken, so he hurried back to the QQ window to poke that person.
Don’t ask for my return date: Sorry, are you still there? T__T
Geese Fly North: Mhm.
Don’t ask for my return date: It’s because I couldn’t find time to chat, before I went to ask for a recording for that “How long away is forever”, and later I had to go to inquire about that hate spammer in the chat from just now, I think you saw that too.
Geese Fly North: Mhm.
Was he just imagining it… He kind of felt like Shen Yan was a bit quiet.
Although he never was as articulate of a person, but with him, he wouldn’t really act this sulky. Qi Jing realised that there seemed to be something unusual between the lines. He didn’t even bother to type a message, calling him directly through a voice chat, “What’s going on? Did something happen?”
There was nothing amiss in Shen Yan’s tone, it was just as warm as always, “Nothing happened. Why are you asking?”
Hearing him say so, Qi Jing calmed down. He said with a chuckle, “I don’t know why, but I thought that something was on your mind. Just now, when you were messaging me… It kind of felt a bit different from usual.”
When he said so, Shen Yan fell silent for a moment, then finally sighed and said in a hoarse voice, “…Was it really so obvious? I’m sorry, I didn’t intend to sound like that.”
So I didn’t just imagine it?
Qi Jing asked with worry, “What happened?”
The other man hesitated for quite a long before finally admitting slowly, “Actually I… I am a little bit jealous.”
A/N:
(づ￣3￣)づ Happy Mooncake Season!! Everyone have a happy Mooncake Season!!
Speaking of Mooncake Season, it throws me back to the time when 2Yan first went to send Kitty’s Papa mooncakes, only to steal some glances and get a stealthy sleeptime picture of him, hahaha
Although Time Limit is sweet, but my OTP is still Returning Geese~ (heart)
T/N:
Lucilla: damn, Returning Geese sounds so mmmh for a ship name, I can’t… qaq