Chapter 6.1 - Beauty is Offered, but Whose Soul is Given? (1)
Shi Yi counted down the days, one by one. She was somewhat nervous and asked him whether she needed to meet the other members of the Zhou family ahead of time. Zhousheng Chen turned down this suggestion in a very simple fashion. His exact words were, "There is no need to meet them in advance. At most three years, and then I will return to the normal trajectory of my life. You should do the same. There is no need to change anything."
She knew, by "normal trajectory," he meant it would be like the him in the Xi'an research institute.
The one who wore a white laboratory coat and led a team of researchers to study materials that she would never understand.
Even though she was about to be engaged, she still needed to participate in several events that were within the scope of her work.
For example, all the voice actors of East Media were required to participate in a singing program that was being recorded as a perk for the listeners. These voice actors did not often open their mouths to sing, but if they were to step into a recording studio and musical accompaniment were to start playing, their singing would almost certainly amaze the overwhelming majority of listeners. As a result, since the first installment three years ago, this had become an annual event that occurred every May.
She did not even have the opportunity to request time off.
By the time Uncle Lin had driven her to the recording studio, there were already many people there waiting. Some were standing while others were sitting, all of them dressed casually, and they laughed and chatted amongst each other. When Shi Yi pushed open the door and entered the room, two middle-aged women laughed and joked, "Hey, look! The one who won the this year's 'Best Sounding Voice' has arrived." They were both seniors in the voice acting industry and would frequently tease her. She heaved a sigh and jokingly as well, bowed deeply towards them and said, "Seniors, your junior has transgressed and won this year's award. My bad, my bad."
Everyone guffawed.
That was the nice thing about voice actors. The did not show their faces, and their reputations and the knowledge of their names were limited to within the industry. As a result, they were generally people who were indifferent to fame and fortune. Shi Yi was pretty, her disposition was kind and polite, and she was very respectful to the more seasoned seniors of the industry, so naturally, she was very well liked.
She walked over and out of habit, sought out Mei Lin to ask for the script.
However, the latter only stood there, hands folded across her chest, and said very embarrassedly, "This year, the rules have changed. The boss said, we need to learn from Good Voices and have you guys record the thing that you do best. We will have a competition out in the public eye."
"Really?" Shi Yi looked around at everyone and discovered that their hands really were not holding any papers.
"Really," Mei Lin laughed, and then in a lowered voice, asked, "Should we use your face for the poster?"
Shi Yi gave her a hard jab with her elbow.
Mei Lin whispered to her, "I'll tell you something: Wang Yingdong is here today."
Wang Yingdong. D. Wang. A very low profile and extremely talented producer. Most importantly, he had liked Shi Yi for a long time now, so long that everybody knew about his feelings, but yet he had never once told her directly. Shi Yi was not slow-witted, but given that they belonged to the same company, she more or less would still need to have some contact with him. She had already asked Mei Lin to, as much as possible, arrange for all her work to avoid interactions with him, but for this type of big project, she could not evade it.
Her brows came together in a slight frown, and she did not speak.
If possible, she hoped that this life would be simple and straightforward.
Besides Zhousheng Chen, she did not want to have any connection whatsoever with anyone else.
Fortunately, they were all sitting together in the lounge.
Besides being able to hear Wang Yingdong's voice when recording inside the live room, there would otherwise be no interaction with him.
According to Mei Lin, the format had indeed changed this year. Every person was required to recite a quote spoken by a character of some sort. Furthermore, in order to capture a variety of entertaining and funny tidbits, they truly were not to be given any prompts or hint. When each of them stepped into the live room, the background music of a song, chosen at random and to which they would have to sing along with, would be played. It was fortunate the songs were all formerly popular ones and only a small number of people were unable to sing along with theirs.
However, a few who specialized in doing the voiceover for documentaries truly did not listen to popular music, and these people simply ended up having to have the song played several times while the recording was occurring and learning it on the spot.
When Shi Yi was pushed into the room, Wang Yingdong did not make things difficult for her.
The lines chosen for her were ones that she was most familiar with, and the song was one that she had heard many times and knew well.
"Wo De Ge Sheng Li" [You Exist Within My Song].
A song that had been sung in all streets and alleyways and was so hugely popular because of its performance on a talent show[1]. She put on her headset and saw, on the other side of the glass, D. Wang, who was also wearing a black headset, give her a thumbs-up, his signature gesture that indicated she should get ready.
The music came on, and she hummed softly for a little bit along with the melody line.
Very simple lyrics.
Each line summoned up many thoughts.
"[0:17] Not the least bit prepared,
Nor the least bit apprehensive,
And then you appeared just like that in my world......
......
[0:45] You exist deep within my mind
Within my dreams, within my heart
Within my song......"
She still remembered when he had suddenly appeared. They had both been taking an early flight, so there had not been many people in the airport. And it was fortunate that there had not been many, for otherwise, he would have even more so felt she was being rude and obtrusive. Every expression of his had been very vivid to her. For instance, he had turned toward his left to look back, and in his hands, besides a computer, passport, and boarding pass, he had not been carrying any other unnecessary items.
He wore a light blue and yellow, checkered dress shirt, and his eyes had an untainted sense.
When his gaze landed on her, he had not shown any superfluous emotion, but that had only served to make the expression in her eyes appear even more flustered.
With one hand resting on the metal microphone stand, Shi Yi sang softly. Never before had she been so immersed in a song as she sang.
Through the glass, only D. Wang and Mei Lin were watching her.
Both of them seemed to perceive that she was singing for someone with feelings that were not tainted by anything. D. Wang slowly lowered the volume of the music until she was nearly singing a capella. He thought, this woman, who was one of the "Top Four Female Voices in Mainland China" and who had just received an important award, perhaps was truly dating someone in a secret, romantic relationship. The media gossip from that night's award ceremony had led him to believe that Shi Yi's pure, firm values had started to wane, but tonight, her singing was clearly conveying that right now, she was very much in love with a man.
Regardless of how much that man's wealth might be, she had genuinely invested her feelings into this relationship.
She finished recording her part and then very quickly left.
She, therefore, was unaware of how the rest of the people inside the recording studio were teasing D. Wang. Someone gently patted D. Wang's shoulder and grinned, "East Media's prettiest girl seems to have found a significant other who is really quite good."
D. Wang lightly tapped the worktable with two fingers and did not say anything. Instead, he laughed rather resignedly. "As long as she likes him, then there is nothing more important than that."
This strict, demanding producer unexpectedly said such touching words. The entire room fell into a rare moment of quietness.
When she arrived downstairs, Zhousheng Chen was already waiting by the roadside for her.
Shi Yi presumed that he must have kept to his usual practice of arriving fifteen minutes early. It was nearly the rainy summer season, and the roads at night would often become dampened by a sudden drizzle. A few green leaves from Chinese parasol or gingko trees would become stuck to the road surface, and the soft, spongy feeling when stepping on them would give the illusion that you could sink into them. Shi Yi walked up beside him. "Have you taken the teachers back to the hotel?"
Zhousheng Chen nodded. "They were back an hour ago."
"An hour?" She calculated out the time and distance. "How long have you been here?"
"Thirty minutes."
"Thirty minutes?" She laughed, "Didn't you say your practice, when you wait for someone, is to be fifteen minutes early?"
He opened the car door for her and casually answered, "If it is to wait for my fiancée, doubling that waiting time would not be considered excessive."
She had not expected him to say that. As she took a seat in the vehicle, she noticed Uncle Lin seemed to be smiling.
The car turned a corner and drove steadily onto the main road that was lit up as bright as day by the streetlights. Shi Yi saw him open the window down one quarter of the way, just enough to allow fresh air to flow in freely but not so much that wind would tousle the hair. A wooden armrest was between the two of them, but he did not place his arm on it and left it for her to use instead.
She suddenly noticed these tiny, insignificant details.
Perhaps he had always been like this when he was with her.
Even though love was something that was to be gradually fostered, he had truly done all that was required to be done -- setting aside time to spend with her, as well as giving her space and freedom and not allowing the many complicated family rules to become shackles on her, despite the fact that these rules were not easily broken, something she had become aware of in that one and only time she had met his mother.
She very lightly bumped his arm with her hand.
Zhousheng Chen turned his head to look at her.
Shi Yi subtly pointed at the front seat. He understood and closed the soundproof glass partition between the front and back compartments.
"In your family, when you get engaged, are there any specific things that must be done?" she asked him.
Zhousheng Chen thought about it carefully. "Nothing in particular. Anything that could be omitted, I have already left out."
"Then, will we need to put on a ring?"
He smiled, "Yes."
"Then, after putting on the ring," she looked into his deep black eyes and asked, "do you need to kiss your fiancée?"
Zhousheng Chen was a little taken aback by this, but he still thought over the question carefully. "This... they did not inform me."
A hint of laughter could be heard in his voice.
Shi Yi supposed, he might perhaps have generally understood what she was trying to say.
But, yet he also seemed like he did not understand.
"Come a little closer," she told him in a low voice.
He was very obedient and gently leaned closer toward her, the look on his face still appearing somewhat puzzled.
Blushing, she asked lightly, "If you asked for these details, would people feel awkward?"
He pondered briefly, then answered, "Perhaps."
She did not know what else she could say, and Zhousheng Chen merely politely and quietly waited.
When they were sitting, he was still quite a bit taller than her and had to lower his head to speak to her. So close, so beguiling.
If she did not do it now, she might not have the courage again tonight to do it at all.
Shi Yi suddenly closed her eyes and brought her face up toward him. In that instant, when their lips made contact, she could not separate whether this was the past life or the present one. This type of feeling made her unable to breathe, afraid to move, and scared to open her eyes.
There was only the furious beating of her heart, like a drum, as she grasped tightly to the wooden armrest between them.
In that brief moment of stillness, she could even feel on her his eyes that were right there before her. She squeezed her own eyes shut even tighter so that even her eyelashes were quivering slightly, but stubbornly, she refused to pull away. Fortunately, he very quickly started to softly and tenderly return her kiss, instinctively using the tip of his tongue to gently part her lips and teeth and overturning his previously passive stance to now take the lead.
And his hand lightly enclosed hers, engulfing it in his palm.
His palm was warm. His grip was not forceful.
Lips and tongues pressed up against one another. This sort of distance was something she had once not even dared to imagine. He was not rushed, and there even seemed to be the sense that he was being patient and paying careful attention to the details as he kissed her. Inch by inch, bit by bit he seemed to draw away her consciousness and ability to think. She was reluctant to leave his touch, and he did not have any intention of letting her go either. And so, over and over, they carried on like this for a long while.
At last, when he finally left her lips, he gently kissed her on her cheek.
Wordlessly, they pulled away from one another.
He seemed to want to say something, but in the end, he simply smiled.
Shi Yi dared not look at him again and very swiftly turned her head away to stare out the window at the passing scenery.
Their vehicle was still traveling onward steadily. Buildings were continuously disappearing off into the distance, and lights were coming unendingly towards them. If they could just continue driving, continue looking out like this at everything along the way, how wonderful that would be.
[1] This song, called 我的歌声里 "Wo De Ge Sheng Li" or "You Exist in My Song" was composed, arranged, and sung originally be 曲婉婷 Qu Wan Ting (Wanting Qu). However, it was not very well known until 李代沫 Li Dai Mo, as a contestant on the talent show, 中国好声音 "The Voice of China", sang it. His performance brought the song to the attention of the general audience and caused it to skyrocket in popularity.