Really, Really Miss You

Actually … that sentence of Toupai's was honestly very innocent.

Don't think too much into it.

Gu Sheng was instructing herself silently.

The doors of the grocery store suddenly slid open.

Two customers had come in. Dong Yiru hastily put away her mobile phone and with a show of seriousness, put on the look of a worker doing her job conscientiously. Gu Sheng's hands were in her pants pocket, and she very restlessly flipped her phone over and over again inside, wondering what Toupai had said to her in his message.

Gu Sheng, stay calm …

Toupai is the perfect Toupai. He crossed over into being a commercial voice acting celebrity a long time ago.

Gu Sheng, stay calm …

He actually didn't really say anything at all. Besides, even if there was some sort of meaning in what he said, it has nothing to do with you.

Breathe, breathe. Can't stay calm at all, you know?…

Sure enough, you should not mingle too much with famous people. Even she, someone who already floated around part-time in the 2-D world, was starting to have teenage girl feelings sprout in her heart and silly thoughts that were all over the place… She pulled her mobile phone out again and tapped it absentmindedly against the counter. So, with her mind in a mess and her heart hanging anxiously in her throat, she served another dozen or so customers until her dad finally arrived after finishing dinner to take over the shift from her.

She quickly handed over the work and, shouting backwards hastily that she was hungry, dashed out of the store.

Outside, beside the glass window, she immediately pulled out her mobile phone and tapped on Toupai's voice message.

"I just finished a 36-hour shift, and I'm guessing I'll sleep until the middle of the night, to about one o'clock or so." Toupai's voice was thick with fatigue. He was not speaking loudly and sounded like he was just casually talking with her. "If you need anything, leave me a message. I'll get it when I wake up."

He had not been speaking hurriedly. Exactly 14 seconds long.

And then, the voice message ended.

"Gu Sheng?" Someone unexpectedly stretched her head out to look over in her direction. "Why haven't you left yet? Not hungry?"

Gu Sheng was completely startled and instinctively jammed her mobile phone into her jacket pocket. "Looking for the key to my bike lock…"

So lucky … She had been listening through the ear receiver just now …

But her heart was still beating irregularly, in fear that she would be found out by this true, hardcore fan of Toupai.

"Over here." With a smile Dong Yiru picked up a key from the ground. "You must have dropped it when you grabbed your phone out. Gu Sheng, your face is… um, really red." When she finished saying this, she gave Gu Sheng a meaningful look.

Pretending to be oblivious, Gu Sheng gave a "huh?" and exchanged a couple more perfunctory sentences with her before fleeing her bicycle.

Back home, she pulled out her re-warmed dinner to eat while opening up her Weibo.

In slightly over an hour, the tweet had been reposted more than 2000 times, and the number of comments in reply was almost equal to that as well. Just the private messages alone that had been sent to her were totaling more than several dozen… Needless to say, they of course all contained remarks similar to the ones Dong Yiru had made. She debated with herself over whether she should respond with a formal and proper "Thank you, DaRen," or just pretend until the end of time that she did not even exist. She decisively chose the latter.

And then … she changed her Weibo to forbid comments.

*Sigh*

She truly could foresee that for a very long time, this entertainment circle was going to have all sorts of disdain and snubs directed at her.

She wordlessly recalled how this had all started: Simply, early one morning, she had been in her own chat room when she heard Qiang Qing Ci's voice. Then, she had mentioned Wanmei Voice Acting Group and Toupai Daren to Geng Xiaoxing … And then, like fool's luck, they had begun working together… And then, in a mere two months, which had contained a New Year's holiday and a winter break in between, she found herself hugging this whole lot of thighs …

Gu Sheng silently took a bite of her chicken drumstick.

She remembered Toupai's words: when you shut off your computer, the 2-D world becomes nothing…

Mm. Becomes nothing…

Toupai DaRen, you didn't deliberately say that right before starting to promote me as a singer in order to help prep me for what was to come, did you?

She continued to nibble on her drumstick, closing all the private messages from people whom she was not familiar with. Even her good friends, she only replied with a quick smiley face. The last message was from the president of her music association, who very calmly left his thoughts: Don't think that just because you've hooked up with Toupai, you don't have to pay off your debts. Tonight, you had better send me back "Shi Zi Fu" [The Prince's Poem]. Remember: in a false male voice!

...

...

...

...

Gu Sheng felt very dejected. What kind of taste was that?! What kind of taste in music?!

You want a male voice, go find yourself a man to sing, k? T T

Given her mood tonight, her voice would sound floaty for sure. How could she make it sound like a romantic, seductive young nobleman? She might just end up sounding like a vulgar little boy... Especially since she needed to sing…

Gu Sheng: Mr. President, could you please find a guy?

Association president: Your organization needs you, Sheng Sheng Man!

Gu Sheng: ...

Association president: I told Zou Diao'er to sing it as a duet with you. One will be gong and the other, shou.[1]

Gu Sheng: ...

Association president: You'll be the 'gong!'

Gu Sheng: ...

Although her inbox had thirty to forty or so songs that she still owed, this was a song debt to her own association. She could not hide from it, even if she tried.

After doing some organizing, she settled herself in and started. In her own room, while listening to the accompaniment, she practiced, practiced, and practiced some more … Such a difficult type of style to sing and so damaging to her vocal cords. And it had to be a gong voice, too … She muddled up the lyrics numerous times and suffered into the middle of the night before she finally managed to submit her vocal recording. By now, her voice was already raspy. She sent off the recording in an email and then private messaged the association president. When she checked the time, it was nearly 12:30 a.m.

The sound insulation in her home was pretty good. Should she try to pay off … another singing debt?

She cleared her throat tentatively and could tell there was no chance of that happening.

Now, in this time when she had nothing to do but was also not feeling the least bit drowsy, she suddenly received another private message.

She had thought it would be the association president, but unexpectedly, it turned out to be … Toupai.

Qiang Qing Ci: Mm. Awake now.

As she stared at those three words, she felt an unexplainable sense of … nervousness, like she was afraid of being found out.

She mulled over her response for quite a while before finally sending something back.

Gu Sheng: A 36-hour shift must be very tiring, right? DaRen, do you need to have a drink of water or something and then go back to sleep?

Qiang Qing Ci: Mm. Checking emails right now.

Toupai was trying to say, he was busy?

While Gu Sheng was contemplating whether she should keep bothering him, Qiang Qing Ci had already sent another message: Busy?

Gu Sheng: *shaking head* Just finished with nothing to do now. Just handed in a song.

Qiang Qing Ci: Oh? Which one?

Gu Sheng: ... "The Prince's Poem" sung in a false male voice...

Qiang Qing Ci: LOL

Gu Sheng: ...

After a few seconds, he sent over a longer message.

Qiang Qing Ci: Lying drunken on the beauty's knee; awaken to hold the control of the nation in my palm? Wine may not have intoxicated me for I have intoxicated myself? A warm canopied bed and covers?   How could it be a crime to embrace one on my left and encircle another in my right arm? Attracting a beauty's affection can lead to exhaustion, exhaustion, exhaustion?

Gu Sheng looked fixedly at the screen. DaRen really knew how to make his selections. The most suggestive lines in the song were all written right there…

At this moment, in the quiet of the night, she actually only needed to look at these lines of text and then her mind was able to conjure up Toupai's voice reciting them. And, particularly because she had just spent several hours recording the song, even the background music was resonating crystal clear in her mind, you know…?

Simply … too vivid a mental picture … T T

She struggled over her reply: Mm-hmm … That one.

Qiang Qing Ci: The lyrics are pretty amusing. Just looked it up on Baidu.

Gu Sheng: Uh-huh. Pretty amusing. O(∩_∩)O Haha~

She cleared her throat again. It was still very hoarse.

Unexpectedly, the next second, Qiang Qing Ci's reply came: Next time, don't sing in a false male voice. It's very damaging to the voice.

...

Gu Sheng stared at the screen in a daze.

DaRen …. You said … That one sentence, where you said you liked my voice the most …

You weren't serious … Were you?