Ah, I forgot to ask for his name.
By the time Qi Jing thought of it, it was already after dusk.
Beyond the window, was a myriad of twinkling lights; people who were used to taking a walk after dinner went on their stroll while fanning themselves with a rush-leaf fan to cool off the summer heat. The daytime hustle and bustle of downtown had settled down, and it was a good time to sit down and write.
Qi Jing was a little annoyed at his carelessness as he shook his head while turning on the desk lamp. But perhaps there was no need to askโafter all, the other party did say that they didnโt want to provide the information under their personal name, but instead, the name of the hospital.
The ceiling light in the room was not turned on. The dim light from the desk lamp created a small private space, and the coffee for refreshment was placed to one side, an atmosphere that was more conducive to his creativity.
Qi Jing took out his notepad, turned to the pages he had written today, and reviewed it again.
Cautious, thoughtful, responsible, etcโฆ
These terms virtually made up the criteria that are often published in womenโs magazines for finding a spouse.
โPfft.โ
When that thought crossed his mind, a laugh couldnโt help but escape his lips. He really didnโt know how he wrote down all these words at that time. If any of his female colleagues caught sight of this, they might think heโs doing a feature report on blind dating.
In the spur of the moment, he dialed for Ning Xiaoxiaoโs phone.
She worked as a scriptwriter in the 2D world and an editor in the 3D one. Although she wasnโt an editor for womenโs magazines, it could be considered related to relationships.
โHello? Senior?โ The other party obviously couldnโt guess the reason for his call. โWhy did you suddenly think of calling me?โ
โBecause I need some insights from your women’s intuition.โ
โHuh? What are you talking about?โ Ning Xiaoxiao couldnโt make heads or tails of what he said.
Qi Jing ignored her question, instead, he lifted the notepad in his hand, selected a few keywords written on the page and read them out in one breath, โMeticulous, dedicated, cautious, responsible, patient, compassionateโalright, now tell me your first thoughts after hearing these words.โ
Ning Xiaoxiao paused for three seconds before she suddenly uttered these six words, โYou can marry that person already.โ
Qi Jing burst into laughter, โWhat, it really does sound that way?โ
Like a hound hungry for gossip material, Ning Xiaoxiao keenly sniffed out the smell of gossip. โSenior! Out with it now! Did you find someone youโre interested in? When did you find him? Have you hooked up?โ
This lass had been paying close attention to his romantic relationships since he’d been single for many years.
โDonโt be ridiculous, heโs straight.โ The words came out of his mouth without thinking, then, he paused. I guessโฆ
โHeโs straight huh? What a pity. If I didnโt already have a boyfriend, I definitely wouldโve begged you to introduce him to me.โ His junior expressed how regrettable she found the situation to be.
Qi Jing could not help but silently light a candle in his heart for that reporter comrade.
โSpeaking of which, Senior, where did you meet such a good man? I may be taken but I have a few girl friends who are looking for boyfriends. Perhaps, I just might become a matchmaker.โ Ning Xiaoxiao was quite skilled at netting information.
โAn interviewee for a news report. I didnโt even catch his name.โ
โAn interviewee? Youโve interviewed him but you still donโt know his name?โ It was clear in her tone that she was feeling a little upset by that.
โIt was an oversight on my part, but since there will be follow-ups, we will be keeping in touch,โ Qi Jing said, his fingers lingered on the notepad for a bit, slowly tracing over the indentations from his writing.
โRemember to ask for his contact information then!โ Since that guy was straight, then there was no reason to leave him for Qi Jing, so sheโll just go ahead and recommend him to her friends.
โNoโpeโโ Qi Jing said with an eyebrow raised, โit is the professional ethics of journalists not to divulge personal details.โ
โHmph!โ Ning Xiaoxiao expressed her extreme disdain through a loud humph.
The two of them chattered around for a while and somehow, Ning Xiaoxiao redirected the subject back to his romantic life.
โSenior, when I was listening in the audience to your run-through the other day, Bronze Sparrow Terrace seems to be pretty interested in you. Do you wanna consider forming a CP with the Great God or something?โ
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
That process of their run-through that night, along with the concert that took place before it was recorded by some fans and was even later posted on the forum for download. The suggestive remarks that Bronze Sparrow Terrace made to him instantly became a hot topic for gossip, and some people have even begun to have fantasies about their pairing. He supposed this phenomenon will become more prevalent after the release of the first episode of the audio drama.
Cr rbwfbcf ktb vlilufcais ogfdefcafv atf obgewr, la rtbeiv mbwf jr cb regqglrf atja tf vfolclafis xcfk atlr.
โC 2G JU pera rbecvr rb ojg-ofamtfv.โ Qtjaโr wbgf, atf qfgrbc lc defralbc kjr rbwfbcf tf ktb tf bcis xcfk atf nblmf jcv cbatlcu firf. Ktf ajix jybea yfmbwlcu oglfcvr bg rbwfatlcu kjr rlwqis abb ecgfjilralm.
โWell, you guys can arrange a face-to-face meeting.โ
His junior would often participate in gatherings for STAFFs in the online voice acting circle, so she had a rather open-minded attitude towards it.
โI heard that Bronze Sparrow Terrace lives in C City which isnโt too far from here. Compared to people who lived all the way on the other side of the planet, this is much more plausible.โ
โOh, so heโs from C City huh.โ Indeed, it wasnโt very far from where he lived.
โHeโs met up with crews from other dramas before, theใTrapใproduction crew can also try arranging a gathering too. A friend of mine said that she had seen Bronze Sparrow Terrace in person and she said heโs rich, tall, and handsome through and through. Ah, it makes me wanna see him as well.โ
Ning Xiaoxiao appeared to have unintentionally exposed her true motives.
Qi Jing quietly lit another candle for Ning Xiaoxiaoโs policeman boyfriend before carefully considering if he should remind her not to drool onto her phone screen.
โIf heโs rich, tall, and handsome then all the more, I dare not want to meet him. What do I do if a poor, short, and ugly person like myself contaminate the eyes of the Great God?โ Qi Jing asked wittily.
This remark aroused the strong dissatisfaction of his junior, because she was highly confident in her evaluation of menโs outward appearances and felt that she was quite objective as well.
โSenior! In what way are you poor, short, and ugly?! …Uh, well, I guess it depends on how you define โpoorโ, but I definitely donโt agree with โshortโ and โuglyโ!โ
Qi Jingโs appearance wasnโt the conspicuous type but his facial features were well-defined and he was a cultured young man. He had the charisma and could be considered handsome.
โIn any case, the Great God already has a CP, I donโt wanna become a mistress.โ He remembered that there were a lot of CP fans amongst the fans of Bronze Sparrow Terrace which couldnโt mess with.
โYou mean Crossing the bridge noodles?โ
โUn.โ He hadnโt heard many of the works by Crossing the bridge noodlesโ,ย probably because the genre wasnโt his cup of tea. As for the CVโs voice, Qi Jing did have an impression of it. It wasnโt the type that could do a voice change so it was the relatively stable type. Itโs the type of fresh and beautiful sounding youthful Shou voice and his sense of play was quite good.
โThat one is unlikely to be a real CP. Itโs just something the fans got excited about all by themselves. Besides, Crossing the bridge noodles is in the capital, unless heโs in a long-distance relationship with the Great God.โ
Ning Xiaoxiao completely dismissed Qi Jingโs point.
Seeing that the topic was going in the direction of Platoโs high-level love analysis, Qi Jing decided it was better for him to go back to writing his draft. Hence, after chatting with his junior for a while more, he hung up the phone and entered his night work mode.
However, before he officially started on his work, he had the habit of logging into his QQ to deal with the messages that were waiting for his reply.
Just as he logged in, the first thing that popped out was a system notification.
As a CV, Qi Jing would receive friend requests from producers from time to time. So without much thought, he was all ready to click on โAcceptโ.
However, against his expectations, what he saw was: Group admin ofใKeep the Cloud, Borrow the Moonใ, Producer – M.E.E. has removed you from the group
…Eh?
Qi Jing was taken aback. If memory served him right, the first episode of the audio drama was in the production stage and has not ended. In addition, the supporting role he was playing as had quite a fair bit of scenes so it didnโt really make sense for him to be removed from the group at this time. Just last month, the producer was still rushing him for his dry recordings.
What on earth had happened?
Qi Jing quickly scanned through the list of private messages on QQ and M.E.E.โs message was on that list. Although her message was not lengthy, the contents were not what Qi Jing had expected.
M.E.E.: Iโm so sorry, Donโt ask for my return date-sama! Thank you for accepting the teamโs invitation to play to take on the main supporting role in the drama back then and for delivering your recordings last month. We are truly grateful for all of this. Howeverโฆ After some discussion, the crew ultimately came to the decision that you are not suitable for this role and have decided to replace you. Iโm sorry that we wonโt be using the dry recordings that you have done. I donโt want to say anymore. Anyway, thank you for your participation! Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorryโฆ (kowtowing to sama)
โItโs the legendary good guy card.
But wasnโt the timing of issuing this card a little too strange?
Qi Jing did not mind the crew replacing him, but what he found strange was that the reason for the change was that he was โnot suitable for the roleโ. When the producer first invited him, he read the script and saw the role, and even sent in a recording to audition for the role, for the crew to review. At that time, the producer even praised his audition very excitedly and said that he was โvirtually the characterโ, yet now, their attitudes took a 180. It was just too weird.
Since it was an important supporting role, the amount of lines he had wasnโt small. And after taking the time to record, the dry recordings he had totaled up to forty minutes long.
And now, all of it had basically gone to waste.
โSighโฆโ Qi Jing briefly replied that it was alright and wished them all the best for the show.
Since that was the decision the crew had come to, it wasn’t too good for him to argue any further.
In the first place, arguing with them was not a rational way to do things.
This time was just an accident. There were all kinds of people in the community, each with their own set of values. Things like that do happen occasionally. However, when he received private QQ messages from two other producers in the next two days, he began to realiseโthis might not be an accident.
For example, theใPalace CoupใProduction Crewโ
Prospective prime minister: Return date-samaโฆ Forgive me for what Iโm about to say at this time, but, but, due to various reasons, we canโt use your recordings and will be replacing you. I know that this is just a side character with only a few lines, but you have also taken the time to record it yet thereโs this sudden change now. Iโm so sorry, I really am!! (Kneels)
Or for example, theใHis Happy TimesใProduction Crewโ
Fried cake: โฅ๏นโฅ Return date, please donโt get angry when you see what Iโm about to sayโฆ The thing is, the crew has recently caught wind of some thingsโฆ and we may have to replace you with someone else. Really! Please donโt get mad! I have no choice either! Sob sob sobโฆ
He had already submitted some dry recordings for the two shows mentioned above The DEMO forใPalace Coupใhad already been out for two months and he had already submitted the final set of dry recordings for it. So there was no way that he could be unsuited for the role. As for what the โvarious reasonsโ and โthings that they caught wind ofโ were exactly, he had no idea.
The only difference in treatment was probably that they didnโt immediately kick him out of the group. But it was only a matter of time before he was kicked out.
Could it beโฆ that they thought he was a problem CV due to the post which criticised him on the forum from the last time?
However, itโs been a month since that incident, wasnโt the reaction time of the producers a little too long? Whatโs more, both he and Bronze Sparrow Terrace had come forward to clear the misunderstanding and the post was also deleted. Even theใTrapใproduction crew that was in the eye of the storm did not change him, why did these production crews need the change?
Being screwed over so many times, even Qi Jing couldnโt help but start to feel frustrated despite his good temper.
Sometimes, inquiring is not to change the outcome, but to prevent similar situations from occurring again. Amongst the three producers that contacted him, felt that he had the best relationship with Fried cake. And since Fried cake was normally a walking gossip transmitter to begin with normally, she had the highest possibility of slipping up. Hence, he decided to find out the truth behind the matter as he felt he had the right to know.
He didn’t expect to have to use the skills from his occupation in the 3D world in the 2D world.
Donโt ask for my return date: Poking at Fried cakey.
Fried cake: ฮฃ( ยฐโณยฐ|||)๏ธดR-Return date, youโre onlineโฆ Have you seen the message?
Donโt ask for my return date: I saw it. And Iโm here to say that Iโm enraged by it. (๏ผ๏ฝ็ฟ)
Fried cake: !! Donโt!! Please, donโt get mad!! Youโll make me so guilty I feel like dying!! โฅ๏นโฅ
Donโt ask for my return date: I plan on blocking you. What do you say?
Fried cake: Donโt block me!!! โฅ๏นโฅ
Fried cake: Really, please donโt block me, Return date!! Iโm not doing this on purpose!!!!
Fried cake: C-Come out, Return date!
Fried cake: โฅ๏นโฅ You couldnโt have blocked me already, have you?? Return date??
Fried cake: โฅ๏นโฅ Let me explain!
He had succeeded in goading her. That last line was just what he was waiting for from Fried cake.
A faint smile crept up on his face as he stared at the screen and casually issued his ultimatum: If you donโt give me a proper explanation, I will block you for good.
Sure enough, Fried cake fumbled for words, revealing bits and pieces of the truth and clues to him.
Fried cake: โฅ๏นโฅ Return date, Iโm only telling you this because I believe that youโre not the kind of person to go out and casually run your mouth off. So Iโm telling you, please donโt ever take screenshots or anything! If this gets out, a fried cake like me will be reduced to a rotten dough!
Donโt ask for my return date: You still think youโre in the right after taking my dry recordings then screwing me over? You! Are! Blocked!
Fried cake: โฅ๏นโฅ Just give me a minute! Let me explain!
Donโt ask for my return date: Iโll give you sixty seconds.
Fried cake: โฅ๏นโฅ That sixty seconds or whatever sounds like a countdown to my beheadingโฆ
Donโt ask for my return date: Fifty-five seconds left. Your call.
Fried cake: Iโll talkโฆ
Fried cake: Actuallyโฆ erhmโฆ (Scratches head)
Fried cake: Actually, I can’t really tell you the details, itโs just kinda thatโฆ itโll cause some trouble for the crew if you were to stay. By trouble I mean the composition of the teamโฆ
Donโt ask for my return date: Twenty seconds left. If this is your explanation, Iโll be blocking you after twenty seconds.
Fried cake: โฅ๏นโฅ Alright, alright!! The fact is that thereโs someone who said that they will quit the crew if youโre in it!! Thatโs it!!
Fried cake: โฅ๏นโฅ Although Iโm very apologetic to you for this, he is more important to the show so I had no choice but to make that decision!!
Fried cake: โฅ๏นโฅ The STAFFs that are close to him have heard of this rule as well, so youโll probably be replaced in the crews that they are in too!! I really can only say this much!!
…So that was the case.
Once Fried cake blurted everything out, the smile on Qi Jingโs face gradually disappeared, replaced with a frown. Based on her description, this โsomeoneโ should be quite famous.
Qi Jing didnโt even know when he had offended such a big shot.
For them to make such a ruthless move that they couldnโt exist in the same crew.
Since the other party was a character he couldn’t afford to mess with, he certainly wasn’t in a position to force the name out of Fried cake. He plastered a smile on his face and gave her a few words of comfort. He then silently closed his QQ. He leaned back into his computer chair, tilting his head up to the ceiling with his eyes closed as he wearily massaged the bridge of his nose.
He was feeling downcast and he didnโt want to think about the online voice acting circle for the time being. Oftentimes, even if he felt that he had done his best upon self-reflection, others might not reciprocate those feelings.
Forget it.
Qi Jing shook his head got his spirits back up to deal with the mountain of work that had been piling up recently. The 3D world would not adjust the level of stress it brought according to oneโs mood.
He closed all personal browsing pages and logged into the companyโs internal email system, ready to write up the summary report that his superior had assigned to him yesterday and send it in. Suddenly, he caught sight of a briefly titled email in his inbox which caused his eyes to freeze on it momentarily.
โโThe kittensโ recoveryโ
Qi Jingโs eyes lit up slightly. It was really weird, somehow, his mood had improved just by looking at this dry title.
As expected of kitties, they really are healing for the heart.
The corners of his lips subconsciously curled into a smile as he moved his cursor to check the box next to the title as โImportantโ.
A/N: Actually, dogs are very healing too… (feels like I’ve completely missed the main point)
What the hell, who’s messing up with him? Is it that noodles something? Is he jealous? Hmppp.
But Qi Jing! Is it really the kitties or the sender tht healed you? Hehe
Thank you for the chapter!
I bet it is the fangirl that dm’ed him last time >.<*
To whoever that’s causing trouble: you’re trash trash trash tRASH
Thanks for the chapter! ๐
Wow, what a petty person, whoever that is Dx Just compare later the casting list and you will know who it is.
Hmm, let’s just say that animals are balm for ones soul? :3
Thx for the ch (ใ หใ ห)
I bet it’s the director from Trap, the Bronze Sparrow Terrace’s crazy fan! Is she reacting this way just because her idol flirted with Qi Jing? That’s dumb. AGGGH.
But Qi Jing has better things to do with his time!!
Thanks for the chapter!
Nah, I think that was the sound editor or something along the lines. The director agreed that ‘Geese flying North’ played the character better.
You’re right. I was thinking of the sound designer. That unpleasant lady. ๐ก
For that person messing up with Qi Jing: come outside, ain’t nobody gonna jump you ๐
Thank you for the chapter โค
beloved protagonist, begging you to cross reference the staff list to sus out your hitlist nominees. also… totally loving the fluff therapy aspect
thanks for the chapter!
I’m angry on Qi Jing’s behalf. He has such a good temper. I hope the truth comes out and all these people feel regret. Ahhh. No point getting worked up. These are probably all just young adults afraid of offending someone important. I can’t blame them too much. Even if they aren’t conducting themselves very well. Sparrow sounds like a bit of a jerk. Yay for kitty recovery! Thanks for the chapter.
Would be most likely the noodle guy. If not because he’s in a relationship with that bronze shoe then he feels threatened that his CP with bronze shoe will drown and he will become a nobody
Wow, he didn’t even do anything but that “someone” felt so threated LMAO. Says so much about his own skills and how he managed to become poPulaR
That sound designer bitch?….but someone to be in all the dramas he is likely to be some supporting character or a editor I guess
I smell petty bitches and they don’t smell good ๐๐
Mc’s paying more and more attention to ml ( โง่ธโฆ) … Seriously though, both of them have such great qualities.
Oof. Drama and face slapping (~`โฝยด)~