Chapter 54

TLC: Lilies & Jie

Editing: Whiteflare

Despite the stark divergence in scores given by each of the three judges, Went off with a bang currently still had the highest score out of every contestant so far—if it weren’t for the shocking rock-bottom score of 1.0 from Pu Yuzhi that dragged his score down, his results should’ve been even much better than that.

What Qi Jing cared more about was the mere score of 2.5 points Longbow gave him in the “charisma” category. During the previous round, Longbow’s commentary gave Qi Jing some insight into his professionalism and meticulousness, his way of scoring made one think him reliable. Now, looking at the low score he gave, it was more or less obvious that he had a similar opinion to Pu Yuzhi—that wasn’t something Uncle Bang’s diehard fans could accept.

Audience 1: I can’t take it, I’m about to burst out cursing!! What the hell is wrong with the second judge!! （︶︿︶）=凸

Audience 2: This bullshit professor, could you please not impose your overly academic opinions here?? This is online voice acting, not your university! He did so well while voice acting, yet you only gave him 1.0 point for the charisma, there’s something wrong with your head!!

Audience 3: I just don’t understand—what sin did our Uncle Bang commit to get smeared by the judges in each competition… But I guess that’s fine, I just went through the scores of the previous contestants—even with his score being marked down, the first place is still as good as his, am I right?? ╮(╯▽╰)╭

It was a competition after all, so it was natural for the voices of protest to emerge; opposing opinions would appear just as quickly. It was even more the case with part of the audience disapproving of that flamboyant style of Uncle Bang’s, who, one after another, started gloating over his misfortune.

Audience 4: Oh dear, the banging fans actually got shamed into a rage, huh~ Are you really starting to throw out personal attacks at the judge just like during the last competition?

Audience 5: Smashing the like button for Teacher Pu! To be honest, I felt like his voice acting was odd, although I can’t put my finger on it as I didn’t read the original novel. But my friend is a fan of the original work and she told me that this Master was completely off.

Audience 6: ╰(￣▽￣)╮Answering the previous commenter, I need to shake hands with your friend. As a fan of the original novel, I’ll just say—it was a complete OOC.

……

……

The continuous fierce exchanges seriously affected the normal course of the competition. The MC Yang Chunqu could only step up and mediate, “Dear listeners, please, there’s no need to get too excited, we will ask the judges’ representative to explain the issue with the contestants’ scores when the time comes. Next, let’s invite the next contestant, number twenty…”

The reality proved that the fans of Went off with a bang did, indeed, have the right to brag. It was because each of the following contestants, no matter whether it was for their voice or their acting, was still worse than Uncle Bang, so his score steadily stayed on the top of the ranking. Qi Jing’s brows stayed locked together as he listened. He reached out to hold the cup of milk before him in his hand, though it was a pity that its warmth was already gone—he could only feel the claminnes of the cold sweat on the palms of his hand.

Every time a contestant read out the lines, he would subconsciously rap his fingers on the cup as he waited anxiously. By the time the tips of his fingers went numb from tapping, contestant number twenty seven finally finished his acting and it was time to tally his scores.

Finally, only a minute left. Qi Jing breathed in a mouthful of air as he said in his heart, Don’t be nervous, don’t worry, everything will be okay.

“Dear listeners, the current round of the competition is nearing its end, but we still have three contestants who haven’t performed yet. After those three contestants have finished their auditions, everyone, please remember not to leave us yet—we will later ask Teacher Pu Yuzhi to give us feedback.” Yang Chunqu diligently reminded everyone of the upcoming commentary segment, it would be worth listening for anyone with doubts concerning the scores.

“Alright then, next up, we have…” She was about to invite the next contestant from the list when her voice faltered. During that moment, only a soft stifled chuckle came from the mic, as if she couldn’t help but laugh, “Eh… We will ask contestant number twenty eight, Kitty no Papa—hehe, that’s right, let’s welcome Kitty’s Papa now!”

Qi Jing’s face was already stiff from nervousness, but at that moment he also couldn’t help but giggle, his expression easing a bit.

A lot of contestants taking part in the competition had brought their fans with them, so when the MC called their names, the fans would cheer and toss flowers to their idol—but this Kitty の Papa clearly wasn’t met with such a treatment. It was because besides Qi Jing, no one knew of him, and even Qi Jing, with his logged in ID of Don’t ask for my return date, couldn’t publicly cheer for him.

Nevertheless, this ID still caused some of the more curious listeners to actively start a discussion.

Audience 1: Huhu, this ID, Kitty の Papa really does sound adorable! (/≧▽≦/)

Audience 2: I’ve never heard of this contestant, is he a cute type? Hahahaha. Seems like he didn’t bring any fans with him, is he a little nobody? Don’t worry, don’t worry, this sister will cheer for you~

Audience 3: Σ(⊙▽⊙ I feel like this ID is completely different from the ones before… Pfft, but it doesn’t matter what his ID is like, as long as he doesn’t have the small cute shou type of voice, it should be good.

Audience 4: ╮(╯▽╰)╭ Such a name really doesn’t give off any traces of alpha vibes. Forget it, the earlier it’s finished, the earlier our Uncle Bang will grab the first place of the preliminaries.

Audience 5: … The commenter above, can’t you calm down for a moment? Are names other contestants choose so hard on your esteemed eyes?

Audience 6: Hurh, some people… Don’t get too full of yourselves now! Ignore them Kitty の Papa, all the best, all the best! We have a cat at our home, so it felt really homey to see that ID of yours haha~ ≧3≦

……

……

The MC Yang Chunqu seemed to have caught sight of the conversation in the public chat—she was amused herself, an unfading smile could be heard in her voice. “Then, contestant Kitty no Papa, can I ask you to check your equipment? If you have anything to say to the audience, you can test it now.”

The moment of truth finally came. Qi Jing held his breath and stared as the ID he was most concerned about moved to the top of the mic listing.

He didn’t dare to blink—he even felt as if he could crush the ceramic cup in his hand into pieces at any time. He couldn’t help it, after all… he really felt a need to hold onto something firmly, so as to lessen the stress he felt.

Everything was silent.

Even though the activity status only stayed grey for a couple of short seconds, it still made Qi Jing ill at ease. Just as he was seriously considering whether he should charge into the neighbouring room to see if there was any sort of problem with Shen Yan’s equipment, he suddenly heard a faint static noise in his headphones. Through the static, a barely discernible sound of a person breathing could be heard.

Then came that person’s words, spoken in a low voice.

“I’m ready, we can start now.”

“Phew… “ It seemed like there wasn’t a problem with the equipment. Qi Jing slowly fell back from getting up and sat down limply on his seat, sighing with relief.

Meanwhile, the public chat blew up instantly.

Audience 1: What the heck!! His real voice gave me a jumpscare!! With an ID like Kitty’s Papa I was sure he’d have an uncle voice k2211;(k3063; kK0;k414; kK0;;)k3063;

Audience 2: What the heck!! This one’s real voice is so good, mad props!! This kind of voice is absolutely my cup of tea!! Although I can’t imagine it for the old grandpa role (kneels) k2026;Still, I really think he should try giving one of the main characters a go~

Audience 3: Kitty’s Papa, do you do audio dramas?? Please do!! Some director, quickly, rope him in!! (holding my heart)

Audience 4: I just want to say… Isn’t this voice completely out of place here… It clearly should be used for voicing a righteous and youthful gong or something! (holding my heart as well)

Audience 5: I didn’t expect to hear such a pleasant-sounding youth voice during this audition for an old grandpa! ∑(っ °Д °;)っ

Audience 6: pleasant-sounding youth voice +10086! But it seems like his sense of age would be kind of lacking for this role…

……

……

“Hehe.” Qi Jing snickered lightly before the screen.

Exactly the same—the reaction of the audience was exactly the same as his when he first heard Shen Yan’s original voice. To be fair, his voice wasn’t the type that would particularly stand out, but Qi Jing had a strong preconceived impression of him having “the immortal grandpa voice through and through” voice at the time. Thus, the moment he heard Shen Yan’s real voice for the first time, the discrepancy from his expectations was so big it caught him unawares, leaving him unable to forget it.

And the current situation wasn’t quite the same.

First, the audience took note of the seemingly very adorable and healing ID. Then, they heard such a strong and righteous voice, only to finally think of how this youthful voice was about to play an old grandpa. Those three qualities seemed entirely incongruous, which was exactly what would make them so astonished.

Even Yang Chunqu seemed unable to react for a moment—it took her a while to remember that she’s still in the middle of the live broadcast and she immediately coughed a couple of times, “Cough cough—, before the start of the audition, contestant number twenty eight, is there anything else you would like to say?”

The activity status kept indicating that his mic was inactive. After Yang Chunqu’s question, it lit up once again, only for everyone to hear the person behind the mic barely open his mouth, “The reason why I chose this role… It was because I wanted to commemorate my grandpa, thank you.”

He didn’t add anything else after that.

Most of the contestants would use this opportunity to make their pre-game declarations, asking everyone for support, striving to win over as many votes as possible, and currying favour with the judges or something. Such short words that seemingly did nothing to help him in the competition were way out of everyone’s expectations—except for Qi Jing’s.

He knew why Shen Yan would say so—all the anxiety in his heart was unknowingly soothed by those words, his emotions mixed.

Out of sudden he felt as if this ranking, this whole passing to the next stage were all irrelevant.

As long as Shen Yan arrived at this much-anticipated stage, even if it was too foreign for him, the light too blinding—as long as he was able to say the words he wanted to say, express the feelings he wanted to express… Then, there would be no moment more precious than that.

The reaction of the audience to these words wasn’t small, with most of the reactions being positive. Even the mocking and ridiculing comments of the hater minority were mocked back.

Audience 1: … I suddenly feel… so warm… I really cry way too easily *sobs* ┭┮﹏┭┮

Audience 2: Number 28 really gives an unusual feeling, his words are also unusual, but I still want to say that his voice, speaking manner, role, all the way to his ID seem so out of place when put together, haha. Oh, but it doesn’t matter, I personally really like it!! ≧ω≦

Audience 3: Number 28 makes me feel like he’s kind of mismatched for the competition←this is a good connotation.

Audience 4: Deliberately playing the sympathy card to gain some points?? Who can’t make up a reason like commemorating a grandpa or something? ╮(╯_╰)╭

Audience 5: Some people should learn to speak properly! Don’t you have a grandpa as well! Kitty’s Papa, don’t mind those people and do your best!

Audience 6: This kind of voice is just my cup of tea!! Even if you don’t pass this stage, Kitty’s Papa, I beg of you, you need to leave your contact information!! I’m an audio drama producer, I want to rope you in!! /(ㄒoㄒ)/~~

……

……

It seemed like he made a good choice to come up with a temporary ID for Shen Yan, otherwise Geese Fly North’s QQ account would probably get poked into mush by the producers.

Qi Jing looked intently at the discussion in the public chat. Suddenly, he felt a sense of superiority appearing in his heart.

A very selfish sense of superiority, one he couldn’t share with anyone else.

He really wanted to say that in fact, he could fall into a sound sleep while listening to that voice any day, even more—he could snuggle for warmth in the embrace of the owner of that voice… It was a pity that he still couldn’t talk about that bliss aloud.

His eyes curved up slightly as he smiled craftily—he really wanted to see more of the audience just itching to recruit Shen Yan.

Still, there were more important things at hand.

“Well then, now I’ll turn off my mic. Contestant number twenty eight, please start after the beginning of the countdown.” Yang Chunqu turned off her mic, and the timer started counting down 120 seconds.

“Good luck, boyfriend.” Qi Jing murmured, his whole attention focused on listening to every sound coming through his headphones.

The thing pounding in his chest was like those seconds counted down on the timer display, its strong impact hitting him with every second passing.

At the beginning, there was no sound.

”Who’s that at the door?”

Just as everyone started thinking that this silence would carry on, it was cut short by a deep, low, and upright grandpa voice. This voice was formidable, both steady and imposing, mighty but not irascible. Up to this moment, it still had that grandeur of Xiao Shan Sect master.

At this point, there was a moment of silence for the unspoken line.

The public chat also seemed to have plunged into a moment of silence, with no one daring to utter a word.

Then, that grandeur of a sect leader has disappeared. The voice from deep within his headphones gasped, seemingly coming to a sudden realisation and the joy rushed forth, replacing the astonishment—it was a joy of welcoming a dear person, now devoid of the mannerism of the sect leader, “Is it… Qin Tuo?”

There was a slight pause in the middle of his words that made the momentary hesitancy obvious. It was easy to imagine the Old Man judging who the person outside the door was, somewhat not daring to confirm, then the astonishment, the joy, and the fear of it being but a mistake—all of those contradictory feelings.

The next line came after the old man completely recognised the identity of the visitor.

“Oh you,” There was a helplessness and regret in his tone, but he still laughed dotingly, “You’re finally willing to come back, huh?”

Hearing this line, Qi jing suddenly realised he had already forgotten to breathe for a long time and gasped twice as if he was about to drown.

It really was Geese Fly North.

It really was Geese Fly North with his gentle grandpa voice he didn’t hear for so long. It didn’t feel even a bit odd, both natural and steady. Not only did it make one think of a benevolent elderly man’s face— more importantly, one could even imagine his expression.

Clearly, he wasn’t the only one to feel this, but also the whole audience present.

A moment ago, the public chat was shocked into a period of silence, but now it was shaken into frenzy by the spamming comments.

Audience 1: … What the fuck!! Number 28, you’re some great god using a smurf, aren’t you!! Grandpa is so doting and benevolent!! TAT

Audience 2: Σ( °△ °|||)︴The moment he started, I was completely dumbfounded… Is he really the same person? I was so shocked, really… To have worried that his sense of age would be lacking before, I really am so stupid…

Audience 3: The heck!! Quick, give us the voting window, now!! I can’t take it anymore, I need to vote, NOW!!

Audience 4: So… It feels so real… I suddenly got an urge to cry “grandpa, pat my head!” _(:з」∠)_

Audience 5: I want to spam the like button!! It’s honestly so in character, he has a feeling of the genuine sect master, a very majestic old grandpa, but at the same time, he loves his disciples dearly. The last line made me remember my own grandpa… *sobs* /(ㄒoㄒ)/~~

Audience 6: Crap crap crap!! It’s simply a living example of the Old Man Xiao Shan!! Please!! Sect Leader, take me as a disciple!!【I really am too much】

……

……

The reaction was way better than what he had expected.

Qi Jing’s heart was still pounding—he kept feeling as if he didn’t cover it with his hand, that heart would jump out of his chest.

With all kinds of feelings welling up inside him, he looked at the screen, at the positive comments that kept coming in on the public chat. His throat was parched, but he couldn’t keep the corner of his mouth from curling up.

The first scene finished quickly.

The second scene began.

It was the conversation between Old Man Xiao Shan and Bai Ke. Qi Jing looked forward to this scene the most since he saw the announcement of the lines; it was because Shen Yan’s next audition was for no other than “Bai Ke”, so he would presumably have an outstanding comprehension of how he should perform.

As a fellow CV, Qi Jing really wanted to hear how his approach would look compared to Uncle Bang’s, and learn from it.

“Bai Ke, when you go on this trip down the mountain, please always remember to be careful and not to be rash.”

The first line of the second scene rendered Qi Jing stupefied. It was probably because he still didn’t recover from the feelings of the previous scene, he was still immersed in the peaceful and serene atmosphere between the student and the master. But at that moment, the tone of Shen Yan’s voice suddenly changed drastically—it was so cold his whole body shivered, his nerves like a bow stretched taut.

Turns out, the tone of solemnity in his voice came out…

He sounded very serious and very concerned, as if he wanted to make Bai Ke carve each of his words into his very own being.

“Your junior, he…” Just like Uncle Bang, Shen Yan acted as if he wanted to say something, but hesitated. But he softened his voice during the latter part, as if he realised he was about to compare his two disciples and thought it inappropriate, even though still had to say it, “Your Junior is sometimes too spontaneous and often gets into trouble… But he’s also good at getting out of it.“

When he talked about Qin Tuo, a bit of helplessness appeared in his voice, together with a sigh. He trusted his abilities, but he never could bring himself to approve of Qin Tuo’s way of doing things. And when the topic came back to Bai Ke, he talked more from the stance of doting his disciples.

“Your Master is more worried about you…” It was genuine worry, with not a speck of falsehood.

If it could be said that during the previous scene, his acting was more or less similar to Uncle Bang’s in terms of the speaking manner, then now, it has already diverged into a completely different direction.

What’s more, it didn’t resemble most of the previous contestant’s acting.

Despite how Qi Jing thought this attitude of his was very convincing, he was still a bit worried whether the judges would accept his interpretation. Would they give him a disappointing score?

The time kept passing quickly without leaving Qi Jing the leisure to think too much, so he could only continue listening. The next, third scene was even harder to pull off than the two of the previous scenes. There was no prompt for the tone of the voice in the published lines, it required the contestants to act on their own accord, following the content of the lines and using the tone they themselves thought was the most suitable.

There was only forty seconds left on the timer, but this time, Shen Yan’s silence lasted for the longest. It was so long that the audience started to feel anxious for him, continuously spamming the public chat with “did he get disconnected” and other similar questions.

At that moment, a suppressed gasp could be heard in his headphones. His breath was nothing like in the previous two scenes—there was no more grandeur of a sect leader or an earnest guidance of a master; rather it was tinted with melancholy. At the end of the gasp, this breath slowly started to tremble, as if that person had to exert a great effort to be finally able to speak.

“Really… Bai Ke, he…”

Yet another pause.

But he didn’t sigh towards the Heavens like Uncle Bang, nor did he cry poignantly. He simply managed a dry laugh that actually even contained some hints of misery in his voice as he mumbled to himself, “Well, I guess it’s fine… It’s okay… Let’s take it that we were rid of a wicked disciple. From now on, that man is no longer related to the Xiao Shan Sect and this old man won’t ever have to see him, or… worry about him again.”

As he finished those words, his voice and breath became somewhat muffled, like a candle-end in a strong gale, gradually dying out. It was as if upon hearing, one could see a flame fading away, not daring to even let a breath out, fearful that a careless breath could extinguish the flame.

But at that exact moment, a suddenly aged voice gave a heavy laugh—it was a continuation of the previous, bitter laugh, yet now it was filled with despair. After a moment, the end of that laugh was suddenly choked with sobs—the pain of losing a student and the pain of a child dying before his parent had both torn open at that exact moment. One after another, they reverberated intermittently, stifled in the silence.

Qi Jing blinked his eyes. Without him realising, a drop of something rolled down his cheeks, scaring him silly; he promptly lifted his hand to rub it off.

He didn’t know why, but as during the first part he just sighed, feeling a tinge of sympathy, the moment he heard the second part, he remembered that memorial photo on the grave, as if he could see that elder’s sorrowful expression. When fiction and reality blended together, he felt like he could actually see the image of an elder sending Shen Yan off. His heart couldn’t take that association and it left him with a lump in his throat.

At that exact moment, the 120 second count had hit the limit; the sobbing voice disappeared at once—every contestant would be automatically ejected from the mic when the time finished.

The already silent for a long time chat had reached its boiling point yet again.

Audience 1: 〒▽〒 Waah, I’m so hurt, so hurt, so hurt, so hurt, so hurt!! Even though Bai Ke clearly is a bastard who didn’t deserve pity even upon death!

Audience 2: 〒▽〒 So hurt +MAX!! I feel so sorry for the Master!! The last part really made me cry *sobs*… What was that about him being a cute type!! He clearly angsted me into crying *sobs*…

Audience 3: ……Suddenly I don’t know what to say, I can only make /(ㄒoㄒ)/~~ face…….

Audience 4: I feel like there’s only one thing I can complain about No. 28… And, that, is, his, ID!!【And also, I won’t admit that I cried while listening】

Audience 5: A fan of the original novel here, rolling around before the computer screen while crying! I’m not saying that the previous contestants weren’t good, in fact, their standards were not bad, but they were still quite different from the original image in the novel. Yet this, this is just his perfect reconstruction!

Audience 6: I didn’t feel anything just by looking at the lines, but listening to the last bit really got me… No. 28 is so awesome! Really, so amazing! Mad props!

……

……

Upon seeing this, Qi Jing couldn’t help but crack into a smile through his tears.

How wonderful… It seemed like the audience approved of Shen Yan, approved of Kitty の Papa. At last, he finally, smoothly, completed his first time voice acting with a live audience of over ten thousand people.

He lowered his head to take a deep breath. After thoroughly calming down his emotions, he reached his hand out with a smile and decisively clicked “vote” on the voting window—confirm and send.

His heart was surging with emotions during the thirty second wait for the judges’ score.

It wasn’t because he was itching to see the results of the competition, he didn’t think stuff like results was in any way important, what mattered was the process—even if every judge would issue a score of zero points, he wouldn’t feel in any way dispirited, because he had already seen everyone’s evident reaction to Shen Yan’s voice, to his emotions. As long as he got to know that… then his objective for the competition had already been accomplished.

With a “ding”, the score window finally opened.

Qi Jing leaned on the back of the chair, closing his eyes for a while. He composed himself, then slowly opened his eyes to take a look.

It was completely out of his expectations.

However, it was out of expectations in a positive way—

【Voice Quality】: 4.5, 4.0, 4.0, average score 4.17

【Enunciation】: 4.5, 4.0, 4.0, average score 4.17

【Foundation points】: 4.5, 4.0, 3.5, average score 4.0

【Charisma】: 4.5, 4.0, 3.0, average score 3.83

Judging panel’s evaluation: 16.17+0.922 = 17.092 points

Additional audience vote points: 92.2% voting ratio = 0.922 points

Overall score: 16.17+0.922 = 17.092 points

The first surprise was the final score that overthrew Went off with a bang, pushing him to second place by as many as two points.

The second surprise was that Pu Yuzhi actually gave him four points in each category. From the beginning of the competition, none of the scores she had ever given was higher than 3.5 points and she was thus called the “Four Points Slayer” by the audience trembling in fear—yet this “Four Points Slayer” had now made an exception.

The third surprise was those two very incongruous numbers starting with a three on the score window, pushing the average score in the last category below four points. Moreover, upon close looking, it was evident that the same judge gave him a score lower than Went off with a bang in each category, clearly showing a sign of bias.

But it didn’t matter.

Qi Jing couldn’t care less about the following development of the competition. He decisively took off the headphones, stood up, and didn’t take another look at the public chat buzzing with cheers, sighs of admiration, and even voices of contention.

The voice he wanted to hear was next door.

He went to hear it with his own ears and heart—the genuine one, not passed through a mic or headphones—Shen Yan’s voice.

T/N:

Whiteflare: 92% Audience voting! SY’s AMAZING