CH 25

Peng Xiangzhi and Xiang Wan followed each other on Weibo, making Yu Zhou have an inexplicable feeling that Xiang Wan might be on the verge of success.

However, her premonitions were usually wrong because, on every sleepless night, she would feel that her luck was about to change the next day.

Despite this, Yu Zhou thought the fact that Xiang Wan’s first and second followers were her and Peng Xiangzhi was significant. Of course, the “significance” mainly came from Peng Xiangzhi. 

Nevertheless, it was a good start.

An even better start was when Xiang Wan received two small orders from WeChat, totaling only five lines. One of the teachers praised her voice as exceptionally lovely and unique.

Yu Zhou taught Xiang Wan how to high-five as a celebration.

Xiang Wan looked at her while smiling, “I’ve seen it again.”

“What?” Yu Zhou asked.

“With pride,” Xiang Wan’s eyes twinkled with a hint of pride, “this time, it’s because of me.”

Well, objectively speaking, Xiang Wan’s achievements were far less than Su Chang’s, but she was happy because of Yu Zhou’s encouragement. Yu Zhou didn’t want to dampen her spirits, so she nodded, “Yeah, yeah, you’re incredible.”

However, Xiang Wan’s smile disappeared as she gave Yu Zhou a meaningful look.

“What’s wrong?”

“That’s fake. If you were genuinely proud, it would show in your eyes.” Whether it’s pride for oneself or others, Yu Zhou never spoke when she was genuinely pleased.

Feeling mischievous, Yu Zhou stopped talking before retreating to her room to write.

The day started off quite well but ended up being rather unremarkable, just like that.

The next day came and  it was time for the studio recording again. 

On this day, Yu Zhou ran into Su Chang in the lobby. Su Chang was at the coffee shop on the right side of the hall, carrying a cup of coffee. 

She was dressed in a black wide-leg pants suit with her jacket opened, revealing a low-cut top underneath. It gave her a bit of a feminine look, but she was wearing a pair of sporty flat shoes and her grey dyed hair made her look somewhat dashing.

However, this was not what Yu Zhou was thinking about. What she thought was that in their three encounters, Su Chang had changed into three different styles of apparel: exquisite-simple-exquisite. Was there another reason for this?

She used to be good at dressing up, but her style didn’t change this often before.

Su Chang didn’t give Yu Zhou a chance to think about it for too long before she led Yu Zhou to the entrance gate by swiping her face, walking ahead without looking back as she asked her, “Didn’t they record your face?”

“Huh?”

“If you’re going to come here for the recording often, let them record your face, or give you a guest card.” Su Chang pressed the elevator button.

“No need, no need to go through that trouble,” Yu Zhou said, “I probably won’t be coming very often.”

Su Chang glanced at her.

“What I mean is, in a few days, won’t we be done with the recordings?”

“There’s still a second season.” Su Chang said.

For some reason, Yu Zhou heard the meaning of “there are more days to come” from this ordinary fact.

Entering the elevator, both of them stayed quiet. Just before they arrived at their floor, Su Chang looked at her while asking, “Did you not sleep well?”

“I slept quite well…” Oh, which day was she referring to? Yesterday was fine, but the day before that, not so much sleep. Was it that obvious?

It seemed that after 25, her skin condition had really started to decline. Yu Zhou felt a little depressed.

Su Chang chuckled lightly but without any laughter in her eyes, only watching the numbers on the elevator’s display. “Really?”

“What?”

“Nothing. We’re here,” she said.

The next day’s recording went very smoothly, mostly focusing on the interactions between the main characters. After the previous day’s collaboration, they had developed a good rapport. Peng Xiangzhi, the director, was quite delighted with their work as her expression showed satisfaction.

The chemistry between the characters was evident. The actors were all very professional, so she had no concerns about their skills; Peng Xiangzhi only worried about whether the chemistry would shine through. However, looking at the current progress, it didn’t seem to be a problem.

But Yu Zhou suggested that the entire scene they just recorded had to be scrapped and redone.

“Why?” Peng Xiangzhi was shocked. The sparks between them were great.

Su Chang and Zhou Ling stopped before looking outside the glass room.

Yu Zhou glanced at the teachers in the recording studio and hesitated for a moment.

Peng Xiangzhi raised her hand to mute the microphone, “Now you speak.”

“Um, this story is actually about experiencing sex before falling in love. In this episode, the two characters go in search of a Buddha niche together. Qiao Qiao has a unique ability to sense the greed within the Buddha niche. This greed represents people’s wishes that they’ve made in front of the niche. This is the first time Qiao Qiao senses this, and coincidentally, this niche holds the Joyful Buddha, who’s known to control desires by using them. Many people who come to cultivate their spirit here focus on releasing their desires. As a result, Qiao Qiao finds herself unable to resist her feelings.”

She said earnestly, holding the script while explaining the story.

Su Chang couldn’t hear a thing, only watching her through the glass window, taking in the lines of her profile and the slow, determined movement of her lips as she spoke.

Peng Xiangzhi listened attentively, her brows furrowed as she examined the script.

“So, at this point, the conversation between Qiao Qiao and Shen Bai should carry a hint of teasing that neither of them fully recognizes. But this is different from simple sweetness, because Qiao Qiao hasn’t fallen for Shen Bai yet,” Yu Zhou said.

“Just now, the two teachers’ performances had a bit of sweetness, but I feel like it lacked a hint of seduction, and it didn’t need to be that sweet.”

Actually, she was a bit nervous and unsure of how Peng Xiangzhi would react. After all, it was an adaptation, so modifications could be accepted. Many listeners nowadays enjoyed sweet tidbits, even Yu Zhou herself liked them. She wouldn’t find heart-stirring plots too abrupt at the beginning, but would probably binge shipping them.

“It’s just…” It’s just my thoughts, and I’m not a professional. Director Peng, just take it into consideration and do as you like, Yu Zhou wanted to say.

Unexpectedly, Peng Xiangzhi said, “Well, let’s try it again.”

Yu Zhou looked at her, pressing her lips together. She felt a sudden rush of emotion, which may have stemmed from the fact that the director – who has led many popular projects – was seriously listening to her, an unknown author. Or perhaps it was because, in the pause as Peng Xiangzhi blinked and pondered, Yu Zhou caught sight of a hint of the work ethic that she rarely perceived.

As an ordinary wage worker, she usually handled her job with the bare minimum effort. When it came to writing, she sometimes took shortcuts too since not many people were reading her work anyway.

But after listening to her, Peng Xiangzhi found her thoughts valuable and worth considering, which motivated Yu Zhou in a strange way.

She glanced up to see Su Chang gazing thoughtfully at her.

Peng Xiangzhi turned the microphone back on, explained the situation briefly, and then casually said, “I’ve made my request. Whether you can achieve it… Well, that’s up to you.”

She playfully raised her eyebrows.

“This is so difficult~” Zhou Ling exclaimed with a laugh, “We have to be seductive, but act like strangers at the same time, without any sweetness, and still create chemistry. Oh my God, you might as well just kill me~”

Su Chang chuckled a little and moistened her lips.

Feeling slightly guilty, Yu Zhou, the creator of this challenge, moved to the side to watch them record.

At one point, she went to the restroom. Upon returning, she found that the atmosphere in the studio had changed.

The two leading voice actresses stood in front of the recording equipment, with Su Chang staring at the script without uttering a word.

When she noticed Yu Zhou entering through the door, Su Chang glanced at her before returning to her script.

“Can we start now~?” Peng Xiangzhi asked with a tilt of her head, trying to be cute.

Su Chang cleared her throat but ended up sighing into the microphone.

Yu Zhou sensed that something was off, she picked up the script, feeling embarrassed too as she realized this scene was the “sex” in the “sexing before love” she had just mentioned earlier.

Attempting to maintain her composure, she bit the inside of her lip while wondering if she could burn a hole in the script with her intense gaze.

Seeing that Su Chang remained still, Peng Xiangzhi made eye contact with her as she silently mouthed, “What’s wrong?”

Su Chang raised her right hand, placed it on the microphone, extending her index finger to draw a circle in the air.

“Damn!” Peng Xiangzhi instantly bristled after realizing what she was implying, “Su Chang! What the hell are you doing?”

Yu Zhou was startled as she heard Peng Xiangzhi scold her, “You’re getting too big for your britches! Demanding an empty set for intimate scenes? You won’t be able to stay in this industry if word gets out!”

Su Chang simply raised an eyebrow, not commenting.

Struggling to suppress her anger, Peng Xiangzhi tried to calm down after several attempts, knowing she couldn’t do much to change the situation. She then changed her tone to negotiate with Yu Zhou, “Uhm, well, how about…”

“Oh, it’s fine, it’s fine. I was just thinking about going to the restroom again,” Yu Zhou said.