It’s an important chapter! Toupai finally answers a question that many of you have asked me or commented about. Your patience has paid off… (Told you I wouldn’t abandon the project.) :) 8 more chapters to go…
Chapter 45 – “Splendid” Rice with Pickled Vegetables and Pork (4)
She could see her mother’s expression start to change to one of anger, and she honestly felt she was going to faint. Beside her, Mo Qingcheng was extremely calm and gently nudged her in the back, signaling that she should bring him to formally pay respect to auntie.
I… am not completely mentally prepared for this yet, ah…
She was weeping inside of herself as she walked up and, in a quiet voice, said, “Mom… um… this is my boyfriend…”
She did not dare look at mother’s face, absolutely did not dare, AAAAH, k?…
“Auntie, how do you do?” His voice had instantly changed, almost like he was an entirely different person. The doting and teasing from a moment ago were completely gone, and replacing it was a simple sophistication and composure that straightaway calmed people’s hearts. “My name is Mo Qingcheng.”
“Mm… hello.” It was absolutely a – 30oC type of icy voice.
“Please do not get the wrong idea. I’m a doctor here in this hospital,” Mo Qingcheng said with a smile, directly cutting through that layer of awkwardness and clarifying. “I just brought Sheng Sheng here to meet my cousin-sister. She is going abroad tomorrow for further studies.”
“Ah… a doctor.” Uh, the temperature had risen to +30oC… “Little Mo, you work in OB/GYN as well?”
How come he had become Little Mo? T.T ……
Gu Sheng finally dared to look straight at her mother and her little aunt[1], who had come for her prenatal check-up. Little Aunt’s eyes were very nosily fixed upon Mo Qingcheng…
“No, in cardiology.” Mo Qingcheng’s deep black eyes were shining. So indescribably gorgeous. “On the seventh floor.”
“Cardiology… cardiology is good.” The temperature of her exalted mother’s voice skyrocketed, and her whole face beamed delightedly as she pointed at the pregnant woman beside her. “This is your little aunt. I came here with her for her prenatal check-up. You don’t need to be polite and formal, just address her directly as Little Aunt.”
“Yes, yes, don’t need to be polite,” Little Aunt smiled, an expression of complete approval on her face. “Just call me Little Aunt.”
How come he could address her straight as Little Aunt? T.T ……
Unrivalled allure, indeed… No problem just nonchantly and completely winning over two old aunties, ah…
Right at that moment, Ling Long Ti Tou had finished off her work at hand, and seeing this scene, she immediately understood what was going on. She quickly strode over. “You must be Sheng Sheng’s mother. How do you do, auntie? I’m his cousin-sister and one of the OB/GYN doctors here.” As she was introducing herself, she noticed Little Aunt with her pregnant belly. “I should call you big sister, right? Or…”
Right away, little aunt’s age was dropped down by an entire generation…
Little Aunt was beaming like a blossoming flower. This was an obvious compliment that she looked young. The family of this neice’s future husband really knew how to flatter… “Call me auntie, just like Sheng Sheng, even though I am younger than my big sister by more than a dozen years.”
“Then I’ll call you auntie.” Ling Long Ti Tou immediately took Little Aunt’s hand in her own. “I am so sorry, auntie. I will be leaving the country for studies tomorrow, so I cannot personally take care of you. I will recommend you to a doctor who is especially experienced.”
“Oh, that would be too much trouble for you.”
“How could this be considered trouble? We’re family.”
……
……
How come they were family now? T.T ……
Toupai and Ling Long Ti Tou, this big sister-little brother pair, were like a duo singing in perfect harmony as they worked together seamlessly until, in the end, Mom was stretching out her hand and clasping Mo Qingcheng’s, not wanting to let go. Gu Sheng very embarrassedly got to experience her first “meet the parents” event. She felt that all those scenes she had read before in those novels were simply pathetic, you know? Were there any where the meet the parents happened in the OB/GYN ward and after only a few, brief words, it was like they had recovered a long lost son, huh?…
In the end, he escorted her, her mother, and Little Aunt to the main doors of the hospital, waved down a taxi, and at the same time, pulled out 100 yuan from his wallet and slipped it into her hand. “I need to head off right away to the secondary hospital campus. Take good care of your mom and Little Aunt for me, and make sure they get home safely.” She answered with an “mm,” and clutched the bill in her hand…
“Auntie,” Mo Qingcheng’s voice rang up over her head to address her mom directly, “This meeting was truly too rushed, but I am very serious about my relationship with Sheng Sheng. I am absolutely regarding this relationship as one with marriage as the ultimate purpose. So, next time, I will certainly come to formally pay a visit at your home.”
……
……
With marriage as the ultimate purpose, wha…? … Their relationship had just started, ah.
Hadn’t it?…
This feeling of being slowly, one move at a time, swallowed up really wasn’t an illusion?…
Those eyes were turned up slightly at the outer corners, a smile in them.
“Good, good.” Her exalted mother’s voice had reached the high temperature of 100oC and showed no signs of coming down at all.
This future son-in-law’s words were so pleasant on the ears!
Gu Sheng simply could not keep up with his rhythm. However, when she wanted to find him to talk, he was still so busy in the secondary hospital campus he did not even have a spare moment to attend to anything else. She was like a dumpling swimming in boiling water, bobbing and rolling from top to bottom and bottom to top until finally, she just was floating on the surface of the bubbling water.
Floating and rocking, floating and rocking…
She carried on like this until the next night. It was only five minutes before Wanmei’s anniversary celebration was ready to begin, but he was still busy.
Your Toupai isn’t coming? Geng Xiaoxing private messaged her in YY.
Hmm… he should be coming, I think. Just don’t know when…
When he got busy, he was the type that forgot about anyone else…
For the anniversary celebration of such a large association, counting the number of well-known CVs alone, there were already twenty to thirty of them. Plus this particular event was a joint collaboration with Geng Xiaoxing’s website, so many special guests from outside the association had also been invited. Even if Qiang Qing Ci could not make it, all these people could certainly adequately handle the event. She quietly observed, and observed some more. It was past eleven o’clock, and he still had not arrived yet.
“It seems our Toupai DaRen really won’t be able to make it,” Jue Mei Sha Yi said, lightly clearing his throat.
“Tonight is his farewell performance, ah” Feng Ya Song sighed regretfully. “Farewell performance.”
Feng Ya Song deliberately paused for several seconds.
Tonight was Wanmei’s anniversary celebration event. Tonight was also Qiang Qing Ci’s official farewell performance.
It seemed, if the screen was not flooded by comments like rushing tidewaters, it would not be a worthy enough tribute to their Unrivalled Allure Toupai DaRen…
In just those dozen or so seconds, the public comment screen was inundated with several hundred comments: “Noooo, Toupai DaRen……” “Do you really need to have your farewell performance?! Do you really need to retire from the entertainment circle?!” “DaRen, don’t retire, ah! Even if you don’t release any more dramas, just knowing that you’re around is good enough for us, AAAAH!!!” “This person’s heart has shattered into smithereens. This person is completely dead…”
……
……
Jue Mei and Feng Ya Song definitely did that on purpose, deliberately bringing about these floodwaters of comments to create a perfect farewell for Qiang Qing Ci. She stared at the screen, from laughing at first as she read to not being able to even read the words that were flying past her eyes like garbled encoding as the screen scrolled and scrolled upwards.
She felt her nose tingle, and her eyes were also stinging.
So touching.
She was immersed in her own emotions when suddenly she heard someone put on a song.
All too familiar…
That day, after she and Toupai had finished their cover of it, she had developed a habit of always listening to this song.
Oh god, they were actually using this song as the farewell performance?……
Her entire body felt as if it was burning up. The love she had for the 2-D world and this entertainment circle that had accumulated in her heart year after year as well as the emotions of all these years of listening through her headset to those songs and dramas all seemed to rush forth.
“Your wedding gown like fire has scorched the horizon
Henceforth, the setting sun will sear my heart like vermilion…”
Just like that, his high notes charged into her ear and reminded her of their first meeting at the recording studio, how he had stood in the recording area, behind the soundproof glass, looked out at her, and told her that he was Qiang Qing Ci.
Right at that moment, someone private messaged her.
She clicked it open.
It was Qiang Qing Ci, who had just come online.
This next bit that I want to say is somewhat annoyingly emotionally stirring. It’ll be better if I use text to say it.
Not long after I first met you, I asked you a question. I asked you, “Do you love me?” Your answer was,” I love your voice.” This is a very remarkable answer. I think I can I understand how you feel. There are countless voices in this world but only one voice will cause you to feel, “This is the one I love” the instant you hear it.
A few years ago, I heard a demo at Ling Long Ti Tou’s place. There was a voice softly humming a melody. There were no lyrics. Ling Long Ti Tou played it over three times, then told me, this girl was so talented, she could arrange and compose music and her voice was beautiful. I felt the same, too. Of course, there was also something that she had not experienced: the heart stirred by aroused emotions.
At that time, that voice was not yet “Sheng Sheng Man” and in fact, there was not even a name associated with the singer. It was simply, “sheng” [sound].
Later, I found her.
She stared at this passage of text.
She could not even feel if her heartbeat still existed…
She had always thought that no one would understand, it really had been love at first listen with him.
She had never thought the one who most understood her would be Qiang Qing Ci himself.
Very quickly, he sent her another row of text:
I learned how to make a new dish: splendid pickled vegetables and pork rice. Next time you come, I’ll make it for you.
She could not help laughing. A food dish again…
From the very beginning, he had used recipes to lure her. But actually, no matter how enticing those delicious foods were, they could not compare to the draw of his voice.
Do you believe there is a voice in the world that, after you’ve listened to it, will cause your heart to be stirred up with emotions?
In that moment, you will be frozen in your spot, in a daze, unable to hear your own heartbeat.
There will only be your breathing, very light breathing, for fear that you will disturb that voice, wanting to continue to listen to it. Continue listening forever…
The song in her headphones was gradually nearing the end.
She distinctly heard his voice speaking the final monologue:
“’Til the different directions of the world no longer exist, ‘til the seas dry, only then will I cease to love you.”
He had added this line in himself. Besides the people who had been present at the studio that day, no one else had heard it before. Not only were the fans on the screen going crazy with excitement, even the special guests who had been invited to the event had joined in with the army that was deluging the screen with comments: “It is better not to encounter one whose beauty can topple a city[2], AAAAH!!!! DaRen, if you go, my entire world is going to become just like a silent film, AAAAH!!!!” “Begging DaRen to not retire!”
Yellow vests IDs were incessantly continuing to pop up on the public comment screen.
Even Feng Ya Song could not help adding in his comment: Toupai DaRen, it was because of you that I entered the entertainment circle at the beginning. Please look into my sincere eyes… You, are my dream, ah…
Gu Sheng burst out in a giggle.
Qiang Qing Ci’s microphone indicator finally lit up, as if he had just come in. “My apologies, everyone. I have been extremely busy since last night.” It was still the same light, refined voice.
If you did not listen carefully, you would not be able to sense that his voice had a rare, although slight, tremble in it.
In order to gain control of his emotions, he cleared his throat, and hesitated for a brief moment. “In reality… there is no such thing as so-called ‘retirement.’ In this entertainment circle, there will always be people continuously leaving, some people because they are tired, some people because of rumors and gossip, some people because of the busyness of real life…”
When he spoke, he was always steady and deliberate…
Gentle, yet at the same time, distant. He made people love him, yet also made them feel like they could not get close to him. Perhaps this was the reason he was making this decision today.
He always was aware of one principle: “friendship between gentlemen should be bland as water[3]”, and he was always able to carry through with this principle, regardless of how much praise he received or how much slander…
Qiang Qing Ci.
A very light and reserved color, but with a hint of warmth in it. Just like him…
[1]小阿姨. Maternal aunt. Younger sister of her mother. The 小 implies that she is quite a bit younger, or possibly the youngest of the siblings.
[2] Refer to footnote 1 in Chapter 36.
[3] Orig. 君子之交淡如水. An idiom from Zhuangzi. Friendship between gentlemen – people of high moral conduct – should be bland as water, i.e. pure, and not muddied by things like fame, wealth, personal gain, etc.
Additional Comments:
Without adding in another footnote, just reminding everyone that “qiang qing ci” is actually a metallic turquoise-y colour, like the colour of light glinting off certain mineral rocks.
Okay, I’m a sap. The first time I read this, I liked it, but this time, while I was translating and editing this chapter, I started tearing up, everything from Mo Qingcheng’s confession of how he fell for Sheng Sheng’s voice to his farewell words. The farewell isn’t even over yet. I wonder if I’ll get misty when I edit next chapter, too. I think I’ve spent so long translating this now that I’m more invested in Sheng Sheng and Mo Qingcheng. So, what do you all think of his reveal that he had fallen for her voice several years ago? I keep wanting to know, did he search hard for her? How did he find her? Hoping that MBFB will write an epilogue from Toupai’s perspective, but that’s probably dreaming…
Anyways, the middle of this chapter was actually supposed to be the end of the entire novel, right after the monologue in the song. The last line was planned to be “’Til the different directions of the world no longer exist, ‘til the seas dry, only then will I cease to love you.” When this “final chapter” was posted, fans went crazy, saying they hadn’t had enough of Sheng Sheng and Toupai yet. So, the author gave in to fan request and continued the story and even lengthened the chapter. From Weibo, “In my opinion, the story started with the anniversary celebration [planning] and ended here with the [actual] anniversary celebration, started in the 2-D world and also ended in the 2-D world. It’s a very good full circle, ah…… At this point, it is actually a complete story, and all the extras that follow now are a little surprise for all those who collect my novels…”
Actually, I do tend to agree with MBFB. Everything started in the 2-D world, from Toupai and Sheng Sheng first hearing and falling for each other’s voices, to their friendship and Toupai’s courting, to their dating. And now, Toupai has officially retired and is pulling out of the 2-D world. He can close that chapter in his life and we could be left to imagine their relationship in the 3-D world. However, like all the other fans who love this couple, I am glad that MBFB is giving us more glimpses of their 3-D world relationship…
