CH 27

Yu Zhou felt that Xiang Wan was very talented.

This was evident when she only had to record four times to meet the demanding requirements of Peng Xiangzhi.

Seizing the opportunity, Peng Xiangzhi handed her the script for the fifth episode, in which Aunt Qian had to hold her baby while telling Shen Bai about her past. In her previous life, Aunt Qian was a man, so the memories of the plot were presented by a male voice actor.

As for the modern Aunt Qian, played by Xiang Wan, she only needed to say a few lines.

“I came from the dust of the past, from thousands of generations, through the scales of time, switching between male and female bodies, all just to…”

“There’s nothing earth-shattering, nor am I seeking grandeur. The happiest times are when he cooks me a small bowl of noodles after his evening shift, and then I crack an egg on the side. The most painful times are when I give birth to our child.”

“I want to stay here, be an ordinary person to simply love him.”

Since it was essentially a monologue, Xiang Wan could finish it by herself.

However, after handing her the script, Xiang Wan didn’t respond for a long time and didn’t give an OK.

Peng Xiangzhi grew curious due to her prolonged silence. Eventually, Xiang Wan raised her head before saying, “I can’t understand it.”

“?”

Peng Xiangzhi was dumbfounded.

“Damn.” Yu Zhou was also shocked, forgetting that the script was in simplified Chinese characters. It was fine with no lines earlier, but now that she needed to perform a not-so-short solo, it was a different matter.

“What do you mean, ‘can’t understand’?” Peng Xiangzhi frowned.

“I…”

Yu Zhou stepped forward and said, “She can’t read.”

Peng Xiangzhi’s question marks in her mind multiplied by three. Even Su Chang couldn’t help but glance over.

Illiterate? It seemed unlikely for a young and beautiful girl nowadays to be illiterate.

“Well…” Yu Zhou wanted to make up a story about favoring boys over girls, but when she caught a glimpse of Su Chang beside her, she couldn’t make herself lie.

As she hesitated, she heard Su Chang whisper to Peng Xiangzhi, “I’ve heard from her that she just came down from the mountains area, and her family wasn’t particularly favorable.”

“Eh?”

Yu Zhou glanced at Su Chang as she surprisingly used Yu Zhou’s words from the other day to help explain for Xiang Wan. 

When these outrageous words came out of Su Chang’s mouth, they sounded much more credible. 

Her cold and objective expression could vouch for anything. 

Yu Zhou scratched the back of her neck.

Peng Xiangzhi flipped through the script, looking at Su Chang with a puzzled face. “When did you talk to her?” 

Su Chang didn’t answer. 

“And when have you been such a gossip?” Peng Xiangzhi pressed on aggressively. 

Su Chang still didn’t respond.

“Damn,” Peng Xiangzhi leaned closer, covering her mouth with the back of her hand, “You didn’t actually fall for her, did you?” 

“No way, no way! You’re over a decade older than her, and she’s already got such a heavy family burden. Are you going to support her whole family in the future?” Peng Xiangzhi playfully jabbed at Su Chang’s waist with her elbow.

Su Chang frowned and clicked her tongue softly, before moving her body away from Peng Xiangzhi’s noise. 

“Hahaha!” Peng Xiangzhi knew it was impossible, but she just wanted to tease her for a bit, enjoying Su Chang’s helpless expression; it was so much fun. 

After laughing, she cleared her throat with the remaining joy before saying, “Well…”

Either try to memorize it, or change the person; the unfeeling director Peng was ready to make a decision. 

“Wait!” Yu Zhou pulled out her phone. Her mind worked quickly; she had already input the lines into her phone and converted it into traditional characters before she sent it to Xiang Wan’s phone. 

She gestured for Xiang Wan to take out her phone. “Wanwan, read it from your phone.” 

Peng Xiangzhi’s gaze drifted over and fell on Yu Zhou’s phone screen, which astonished her again. “You can read traditional Chinese characters?” 

It was evident that the amount of information she had received in a short time had overwhelmed her mind. 

“Uh, yes,” Yu Zhou tucked a strand of hair behind her ear before whispering, “When she first started working, she had no money, so she bought those second-hand novels from Hong Kong and Taiwan in traditional Chinese characters at street stalls, and taught herself.”

Feeling guilty, especially since she had promised Su Chang not to lie, she couldn’t help but wonder why her lies came out so smoothly now, without even stammering.

Speechless.

But she listened to the light, delicate breath coming from the side, as if Su Chang was laughing.

Ah, women, they are really hard to understand, one moment angry and the next laughing, thought Yu Zhou, pursing her lips in her mind.

“Alright.” Peng Xiangzhi didn’t say much more. When she stopped joking, this matter was probably a little beyond her usual scope.

“You can start.”

Xiang Wan nodded and picked up her phone as she read the passage while looking at the phone screen.

In the stillness of everything, the breath could be heard. The person from past life spoke the words of this life.

“I came from the dust of the past, from thousands of generations, through the scales of time, switching between male and female bodies, all just to…”

Find you.

Yu Zhou suddenly understood the charm of the voice even more.

The voice, like the text, is a timeless connection that can cross millions of years and the vast sea of people, still striking to the core.

The voice is also like text, the romance within romance. Because they represent confessions, they are both honest expressions.

They…are also searching for those who truly understand them.

We use text and voice as our small trumpets, defending, expecting, fighting, and narrating, making a unique, one-of-a-kind rebel in an unremarkable world.

As Xiang Wan’s last note faded away, she turned to look out the glass window.

First she looked at Yu Zhou, then at Peng Xi.

Peng Xiangzhi nodded, “Not bad, except for a slight mic popping in the second to last sentence, you can record it again to fix that.”

Although this role only had a few lines, her standard had always been high. She originally only wanted Xiang Wan to give it a try, but she did better than expected.

Her voice had an ancient charm, with a hint of a cadence that modern people usually wouldn’t use, which fit perfectly with Aunt Qian, straddling both ancient and modern times.

Well, Peng Xiangzhi was a little satisfied while feeling a tiny bit of happiness in playing the role of a talent scout.

Yu Zhou was also quite excited, waiting for Xiang Wan to finish so she could run over to give her a high-five. She didn’t expect Xiang Wan to be so lucky, so soon to contribute her voice to Director Peng’s work.

However, Xiang Wan didn’t seem that happy. She walked out slowly to a corner, waiting until Su Chang and the others went in to start recording. With her back to everyone, she stood there silently against the wall.

“What’s wrong?” Yu Zhou walked to her, looking up at her from below her chin.

Xiang Wan lowered her gaze before meeting her eyes but didn’t answer.

“If you won’t talk to me, I’ll keep looking at you like this. From this angle, you have a double chin, and it’s not pretty.” Yu Zhou said.

Xiang Wan stretched out her hand to push Yu Zhou’s head away, keeping her back to Yu Zhou as she faced the wall, “I’m just feeling a little upset.”

Her shoulders rose and fell, thin and frail, as if even her breathing was restrained.

Yu Zhou looked at her back while thinking of their first meeting when Xiang Wan was dressed in ancient garb. She felt a bit dazed. The T-shirt that Xiang Wan wore now didn’t suit her well, since her elegant neck and black hair should have been accompanied by delicate hair accessories and pearls.

Suddenly, Yu Zhou understood what had made Xiang Wan sad.

The lines she had just recorded must have resonated with her. Xiang Wan lacked a sense of belonging and security, so she was perhaps afraid.

Aunt Qian was able to put down roots because of her love for someone, but what about Xiang Wan? She had no future or past and didn’t know why she had come here or when she might leave.

She was a passerby, not meant to have deep feelings or connections. As a passerby being, her feelings were even more fleeting than the short, simple life she had led in the Li Dynasty.

Yu Zhou also realized that when this girl was truly heartbroken, it wasn’t with sobbing and tearful chest-clutching. Instead, she turned her back to everyone to face the wall, her breath controlled and restrained.

“Xiang Wan,” she gently called her from behind.

“Let’s go out.” she whispered.

They walked to the hallway; Xiang Wan looked up at her, staring intently for a while.

Feeling a bit uncomfortable, Yu Zhou tentatively asked, “Is there something you wanted to say to me?”

“You brought me out here,” Xiang Wan’s eyes were clear, but her gaze was weak, quite pitiful. “Weren’t you going to comfort me?”

Yu Zhou paused for a moment, then sighed, “I just thought it would be better to be in the hallway. There are too many people inside. They’ll all come asking you what’s wrong.”

Xiang Wan opened her mouth as if she wanted to say something but stopped herself. A hint of annoyance appeared on her face. Leaning against the wall, she remained silent.

But getting angry like this, she couldn’t bring herself to feel upset.

Seeing that she was feeling better, Yu Zhou smiled before leaning against the wall as she put her hands in her pockets, stretching her leg out diagonally a little, swaying absent-mindedly.

The two of them idled around in boredom for a while before Xiang Wan suddenly left the wall and walked up to Yu Zhou, touching her wrist.

It was still a bit awkward, but Xiang Wan wanted to talk to her.

“What is it, go ahead.” Yu Zhou had learned her lesson and was very respectful this time.

Taking a step forward, Xiang Wan looked into her eyes while asking, “Do I live up to your expectations?”

“Huh?”

“You once said that I had to be very accomplished to be worthy of your role. I’m asking you now, have I lived up to your expectations?”

Xiang Wan slightly narrowed her eyes, staring at her intently.

Damn. Yu Zhou looked up at her, frowning, “Xiang Wan, have you grown taller recently?”

Why did Xiang Wan suddenly seem to have been half a head taller than herself?

“Your legs aren’t straightened.” Xiang Wan glanced at her legs.

“Oh, right.” Yu Zhou stood up but still felt Xiang Wan was a bit taller. They used to both be 168cm, but Xiang Wan now looked like she must be at least 170cm.

After a while, she doubted herself, what can be discerned by comparing 168 cm and 170 cm? She laughed a little.

Xiang Wan’s eyes fluttered, waiting for her answer.

“You’ve done quite well, really,” Yu Zhou said with a smile, “but can you not use this top Su [1] tone when you speak outside of the film set? It’s pretty funny.”

Xiang Wan got the answer she wanted as she stepped back to create some distance before asking curiously, “top Su? What does that mean?”

“Uh, top Su is… I don’t know.” Yu Zhou found it hard to explain so she didn’t want to say any more. She turned her back to walk away, hands in her pockets.

“What’s the relationship between ‘top Su’ and Su Chang with the surname ‘Su’?” Xiang Wan asked again.

Yu Zhou laughed, “Why don’t you ask her?”

She shouldn’t be discussing others’ rights and wrongs during her leisure time, now she suddenly saw Su Chang and Peng Xiangzhi approaching. 

Glancing at Yu Zhou, Xiang Wan went up to Su Chang before asking, “I have a question I’d like to consult you about, Miss Su.”

“Hm?”

“What’s your relationship with top Su?”

Hey! Yu Zhou wanted to shout and cover her mouth. 

Su Chang was momentarily stunned while Peng Xiangzhi bent over laughing at the side. 

Leaning to the side, she continued to tease Su Chang, “So direct, huh?” Well done.

Su Chang cast a glance at the pale-faced Yu Zhou nearby and let out an inaudible sigh. 

Peng Xiangzhi, pulling Xiang Wan’s hand, led her towards the exit, “Why are you so quick to inquire about people’s sexual orientation? It’s none of Su Chang’s business whether top or not, bottom or not, straight or not.”

“As for her, she hasn’t figured out how to love yet.”

“You should focus on your studies. Why bother thinking about these trivial matters? Isn’t focusing on your career a better choice?”

“Oh, right, you should also keep up with your cultural courses. Go back and catch up on your lessons, learn to recognize the characters at the very least, otherwise, how could you dub?”

…

The voices of the two gradually faded away. 

Yu Zhou listened to Su Chang’s footsteps approaching, stopping in front of her with a faint fragrance lingering. 

“Let’s go,” she said.

Ah, it was time for afternoon tea.