Voice Acting Extra
You record, and I’ll direct you on the spot.
Lu Zhenqiu brought Jin Shuilan into the recording studio. The others were startled to see her, then quickly greeted her one after another, “Hello, Teacher Jin. Have you eaten, Teacher Jin?”
They were exceptionally enthusiastic.
Lu Zhenqiu turned her head to look at Jin Shuilan, who said, “Not yet.”
She had rushed over right after finishing her work. The editor from Miqi Magazine had offered to treat her to a meal, but she had politely declined. Instead, she came here to eat takeout. Fortunately, Ji Zibo had bought a lot, so she casually picked a couple of dishes. After eating, she held the milk tea Lu Zhenqiu had just bought, took a sip—it was slightly sweet—and Lu Zhenqiu sat down beside her. “Have you settled the matter of the autographs?”
Having just joined the new magazine, the editor-in-chief wanted the first edition to have thirty seconds of special autographs1. Jin Shuilan hadn’t done special autographs for several years; even standard personal signatures were rare, with most being printed signatures. This was to prevent them from being resold at high prices. Now that they were proposing special autographs, she hesitated for a few days. The magazine’s condition was to add one percent to her tax2. Jin Shuilan wasn’t particularly concerned about this one percent tax point, so she asked for Lu Zhenqiu’s opinion. Lu Zhenqiu said, “If it were me, I’d definitely want it.”
In the end, Jin Shuilan agreed to ten seconds of special autographs.
She had gone over today to discuss this very matter.
She nodded. “It’s settled.”
“Is it ten seconds of special autographs?” Lu Zhenqiu said. “It’s fine. If your hand gets sore, I’ll massage it for you.”
Jin Shuilan looked at her and smiled. “A massage won’t be necessary. You can just help me do the things my hand can do.”
Lu Zhenqiu was puzzled. “What can your hand do?”
Jin Shuilan leaned close to her ear and whispered something. Lu Zhenqiu shot up to her feet, her face flushing red. She glared at Jin Shuilan in annoyance and said, “I’m going to record.”
Her awkward appearance was just too cute.
Jin Shuilan really liked it, so, so much.
Her gaze was gentle as she watched Lu Zhenqiu enter the room, and she also got up to follow behind her. Seeing her come in, Ji Zibo proactively gave up her seat, moving aside with one hand on the keyboard. “Sit.”
Jin Shuilan turned her head. “Bai Mao didn’t come?”
“Nope,” Ji Zibo said. “She’s like a high-and-mighty young lady, difficult to invite.”
Jin Shuilan smiled and sipped her milk tea. Ji Zibo asked her, “Where’d you get the milk tea?”
The person before her said as if the clouds were light and the wind was gentle3, “My wife bought it.”
Ji Zibo: …
Look at you being so smug.
She huffed, and with a grand wave of her hand, had her assistant go across the street to buy a cup for everyone in the studio. Jin Shuilan lowered her head. “Where are you up to in the recording?”
Ji Zibo said, “Pretty fast. The first part is already done. You came at just the right time. Help me listen to the first bed scene, see if the performance was too forceful.”
She couldn’t hear any problems herself and thought the dubbing was excellent, but since Jin Shuilan was here, she might as well get her opinion.
Jin Shuilan sat in front of the computer and put on the headphones. Ji Zibo tapped the keyboard, the mouse clicked, and a soft, charming voice sounded out. Having heard this voice countless times, Jin Shuilan’s body trembled. She leaned back against the chair, crossed her arms, and tried to keep her expression calm, but an inexplicable emotion surged in her heart.
The rustling sound of clothes being taken off was very distinct, along with the dry sound of fabric tearing. For the first time, Jin Shuilan felt that Ji Zibo’s sound effects were unbearably good. She didn’t dare close her eyes.
Afraid that the moment she did, her mind would be filled with images.
The sounds of kissing mixed with the friction of clothes, along with short breaths and soft pants, crawled through the headphones and into Jin Shuilan’s ears, one by one. She shifted her body, changing her position. Ji Zibo asked her, “How is it?”
Jin Shuilan didn’t answer her, merely pressing play on the next segment to continue listening.
Her mouth was dry, her tongue parched.
Jin Shuilan sipped the milk tea. The warm drink seemed to take on a higher temperature, scalding a path down her chest. For a moment, she didn’t want anyone else to hear Lu Zhenqiu’s voice like this.
Ji Zibo patted her on the back. “Jin Shuilan?”
She came back to her senses, looked up, her gaze feigning calmness while a tide of emotion churned within her. Her voice was light. “It’s alright.”
Ji Zibo muttered, “Just alright? I thought it was great. Well, should we re-record it? You can direct her on the spot?”
Jin Shuilan almost choked on the milk tea rising in her throat. She gave two muffled coughs. “No need…” Before she could finish, she looked toward Lu Zhenqiu and said, “This is fine. It’s very good.”
Ji Zibo nodded. “So it passes?”
Jin Shuilan hummed in agreement.
While recording, Lu Zhenqiu saw the two of them with their heads together, muttering about something she couldn’t hear. She was busy running lines with Bai Nuannuan and getting into character, so she didn’t go over. By the time the recording finished, it was already 9:30 PM. Ji Zibo took the group to a hotel. Bai Nuannuan’s home was nearby, so she drove back. Lu Zhenqiu and Jin Shuilan, of course, weren’t staying there either. They parted ways at the studio entrance.
As they got in the car, Jin Shuilan asked her, “Do you want to get something to eat?”
Lu Zhenqiu had only had a bowl of congee for dinner, but the milk tea was filling, so she wasn’t very hungry. She asked Jin Shuilan, who said she was fine with whatever. In the end, the two picked a roadside stall and went in for a casual bite.
After returning home, Lu Zhenqiu went to shower first. Jin Shuilan went online to check for news. Yu Wen’s feed was still on yesterday’s Weibo post. Tang Yingxia had already cleared out her Weibo and deleted her account. Netizens were still criticizing the two of them, digging up a lot of old dirt, and getting angrier the more they cursed. After a quick glance, Jin Shuilan entered her and Lu Zhenqiu’s Super Topic.
A lot of new fanart had been posted in the Super Topic, all of it quite cute. She selected a few pictures of Lu Zhenqiu and saved them. Then she read some fanfiction, which was written—
Quite interestingly.
Jin Shuilan smiled.
When Lu Zhenqiu came out from her shower, she saw Jin Shuilan looking at her phone with a smile playing on her lips. She walked over curiously. “What are you looking at?”
Jin Shuilan turned her head. “Finished washing up?”
Lu Zhenqiu, fresh from her shower, still had damp eyelashes. Her eyes were bright, and her cheeks were flushed pink from the hot steam. Her hair was casually pinned up with a clip, with a few light red strands clinging to her neck, wet with water, tracing an alluring curve.
Truly a picture of a beauty emerging from her bath.
Jin Shuilan held up her phone. “Looking at the Super Topic.”
Lu Zhenqiu was confused. “What’s in the Super Topic?”
“Fanfiction,” Jin Shuilan said.
As she spoke, she pulled Lu Zhenqiu down to sit on the sofa next to her, and clicked on one of the pictures. “Do you want to read it?”
Lu Zhenqiu looked down for a few seconds, then her face reddened. She consciously put some distance between herself and Jin Shuilan. “I’m not reading that,” she said.
These fans, why do they have to write such astringent4 fanfiction!
There was no way to start.
Lu Zhenqiu got up to put out dog food for Maomao. Jin Shuilan stopped teasing her, put down her phone, and went to the bathroom to shower. Listening to the splashing sound of the water, Lu Zhenqiu glanced twice toward the bathroom before sitting down on the sofa, picking up her own phone, and continuing to read the fanfiction she hadn’t finished.
Although it was astringent.
It was still quite good.
Lu Zhenqiu was engrossed in reading when a phone call came in, startling her so much that the phone spun several times in her hand before she managed to keep it from falling to the floor. After finally steadying herself, she answered the call. “Hello.”
It was the person in charge from Chang’an. They had previously mentioned arranging a radio drama with her, and Lu Zhenqiu remembered. The person asked if she was interested in coming for an audition. After asking about the time, Lu Zhenqiu said, “Let me check my schedule. I’ll contact you before I go.”
The other person agreed with a couple of “ai’s.”
Lu Zhenqiu went online and searched for the novel Chang’an was adapting into a radio drama. Romance novels still had a large readership, and this one was quite popular. Recommendations for it were everywhere, as were short videos and edits. Its Super Topic already had over two hundred thousand fans. It was a very rare major IP5.
A major IP had its pros and cons.
If the voice acting was done well, everyone would be happy. If it was done poorly, you would be criticized endlessly.
Lu Zhenqiu didn’t let the prospect of a major IP go to her head. Instead, she first went to the website to look at the novel’s character profiles. When Jin Shuilan came out, Lu Zhenqiu was still reading the novel on her laptop. She peeked over Lu Zhenqiu’s shoulder. “A novel?”
“Whose?”
Lu Zhenqiu said, “It’s for the radio drama from Chang’an. They asked if I was interested.”
She had just read a few chapters and had a preliminary impression of the characters. Seeing the serious expression on her face as she took notes, Jin Shuilan found her so cute she wanted to hug her. In order not to disturb Lu Zhenqiu’s work, Jin Shuilan also went to the study to work.
Lu Zhenqiu read a good portion of the book, then looked up. Not seeing Jin Shuilan, she glanced curiously toward the study and heard the sound of Jin Shuilan typing—clatter, clatter—at an extremely fast pace. She got up and walked over. “Are you word-crafting6?”
Jin Shuilan glanced up, touch-typing, and replied, “Mhm.”
Lu Zhenqiu was curious. “Is it a new book?”
The publication of her old work had already been revised, so there was no need to write anything for that. After thinking it over, the only possibility was a new book, but Jin Shuilan shook her head. “No.”
As she spoke, she printed out the text she had just finished writing—two or three sheets of paper.
Lu Zhenqiu watched her hold the papers and then hand them over. Looking closely, the character names were from the radio drama she was currently recording, Bai Mao’s book. Lu Zhenqiu suddenly remembered the scene of Jin Shuilan and Ji Zibo discussing something that evening. She asked Jin Shuilan, “Is this for a re-recording?”
“It’s not for a re-recording,” Jin Shuilan said.
She took away the first page and said to Lu Zhenqiu, “I want you to read it to me.”
Lu Zhenqiu looked down at the content on the second page and bit her lip. Although the lines were exactly the same as what she had recorded in the studio, the atmosphere then had been professional. Now, however, she found it difficult to say them out loud.
Jin Shuilan glanced at her, walked to the study door where Maomao was squatting outside with its head tilted, patted its head, pushed it out, and closed the door directly.
The lighting changed a degree, dimming immediately. The study’s curtains were drawn, so it seemed much darker than before. Jin Shuilan walked to the desk and pulled Lu Zhenqiu’s hand. Lu Zhenqiu thought she was going to have her sit in the chair in front of the desk, but instead, the woman lifted her directly onto the desk. Then Jin Shuilan sat in the chair. The height difference was immediately apparent; looking up, Jin Shuilan’s head only reached her waist.
Lu Zhenqiu lowered her eyes and heard Jin Shuilan say, “Record.”
She bit her lip, her face completely red. How could she record this? She couldn’t even get the lines out!
Seeing her silence, Jin Shuilan looked up at her, then suddenly reached out, wrapped her arms around Lu Zhenqiu’s waist, and pulled her closer. The thin pajamas couldn’t hide the erupting emotions. The surrounding temperature ignited. Jin Shuilan hadn’t even done anything yet, but Lu Zhenqiu could no longer hold out.
She sat on the desk with Jin Shuilan in front of her and nothing behind her, one hand tightly clutching the two or three sheets of paper. Jin Shuilan asked her, “Do you want me to help you find the mood?”
Lu Zhenqiu lowered her eyes. “How… how do you find it?”
Jin Shuilan leaned in closer, lowered her head, and buried it in her pajamas. The tip of her nose brushed against skin, and a dense, tingling numbness swept through her entire body. Lu Zhenqiu’s right hand clenched the paper tightly. She closed her eyes, a soft moan escaping her lips.
The words on the paper leaped into her mind. The dual stimulation, both physical and mental, drove her to the brink of madness. Jin Shuilan, still not satisfied, tilted her head up slightly after a quarter of an hour and asked Lu Zhenqiu, “Found it yet?”
Lu Zhenqiu’s tense body trembled lightly.
The author has something to say:
Jin Shuilan: Qiuqiu, your voice acting is so lovely to listen to.
Lu Zhenqiu: Don’t… don’t talk.
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