Exclusive Rights to An Online Voice Actor

Chapter 129

unedited

There were 4900 shares under this Weibo post, quickly approaching a five thousand milestone. As this was the fifth post of an already years-long retired god, this number was bound to continue growing—a number of followers approaching six digits was not to be trifled with.

Ning Xiaoxiao had already completely abandoned her lady-like facade as she almost huffed and puffed through her nose, exclaiming loudly, “Senior! Don’t you think it’s lit! Don’t you think it’s sweet! This is exactly the legendary ‘Big Sleek Horse’, Little Ninth’s life core—did you forget it? The one who’s the reason why you’ve been called ‘Little Sleek Horse’ in the past? A VA of his rank actually came back from death to speak up for Crossing the Bridge Noodles! Ahhhhh~!”

“Junior, Junior, get a grip...” As someone who had already heard Sleek Horses Run Fast appearing in Crossing the Bridge Noodles place in the background, Qi Jing waved his hand at her with relative composure, afraid that she would flip the hot pot in the moment of excitement.

“So handsome! So handsome! For the great god of his calibre, crushing you all is easy like crushing ants with this kind of power!” Ning Xiaoxiao remained deep in her fantasy.

Like crushing ants... indeed. “It really was a killing shot.” Qi Jing muttered subconsciously, suddenly empathising a bit with Da Qiao’s predicament. You reap what you sow, and this time she sowed an utter defeat.

Even if Sleek Horses Run Fast used a slightly smiling Weibo emote in this quote post, the butterfly effect it initiated... It wasn’t something that could be softened by a single smile only.

He could empathise with her mainly because back when it was him who was in the middle of hate from Bronze Sparrow Terrace’s fans’, faced with the one-sided torrent of critique, he also experienced the feeling of being crushed like an ant between someone’s fingers. The only difference was, he was innocent back then, while she got what she deserved.

Who knows, maybe even the happy crowd enjoying the drama from the sides didn’t even change—thinking of this, he didn’t have it in him to laugh at it easily.

For good or bad, Bronze Sparrow Terrace himself had his godly halo and plenty of fans, so he would be able to survive such a situation. But a mere president of a fan group like Da Qiao was far worse off...

Da Qiao quickly deleted that post after this situation, but since it got forwarded by a lot of people before deletion, this stain on her reputation would forever stay there, unwashable. She probably got quite scared, even disabling the comments as her comment section right now would certainly be full of derision.

This lady might really have to kill this ID off because of this—“Maybe it’s a good thing, focusing on her real life and studies shouldn’t be that bad for her.” He had heard that this lady was still in the first year of uni, so this case would just perfectly let her gather her mind and return to reality. Qi Jing breathed a long sigh as he leaned back on a cushion.

As the proverb says, “take a look at the owner before hitting his dog”—and Sleek Horses Run Fast was an individual so scary, he didn’t even need to take a look at anyone’s master. So if this dog’s owner continued to stay silent for any longer, the next one to take a hit would be him.

No matter if it was due to the pressure from the public or fans, Bronze Sparrow Terrace finally made an appearance.

CV-Bronze Sparrow Terrace: To bully a little lady before so many people, is this really becoming of a former great god? //@CV-Sleek horses run fast: How about me? //@Da Qiao of Bronze Sparrow’s Harem

“...Wonderful.” Way to twist the situation.When quoting the post, he made sure to leave out the original part of Da Qiao cursing Sleek Horses out, while using everyone’s inclination to side with the weaker and putting the emphasis on “bullying a little lady”. What’s more, he also intentionally or otherwise stressed this tad bit mocking ‘former’, giving him another push down—truly beautiful.

Qi Jing realised that every time Bronze Sparrow Terrace handled a critical public image issue, he would always have to make an update for the high score of thickness this man’s face could attain.

Qi Jing thought to himself that he would never be able to outscore this achievement.

But Sleek Horses Run Fast outscored it with much ease.

CV-Sleek Horses Run Fast: In that case, I will ask the current great god to show me what’s becoming and apologise to Little Noodles in your little lady’s stead? //@CV-Bronze Sparrow Terrace: To bully a little lady before so many people, is this really becoming of a former great god?

...Help...Qi Jing could virtually see the scene of Sleek Horses Run Fast and Bronze Sparrow Terrace standing face to face, both giving each other a fake smile—this was simply too beautiful.

But he had to admit, Sleek Horses Run Fast’s response was really clever. He received the curveball Bronze Sparrow Terrace had thrown at him and even returned him a killing spike the other didn’t even have time to react to, especially the way he used that ‘current’ to parrot the shade perfectly... Sure enough, Bronze Sparrow Terrace started playing dead afterwards.

“Big Sleek Horse sure isn’t easy.” Qi Jing spoke without thinking.

Because he got used to cute kaomojis he used like “╮(￣▽￣”)╭” and “(づ￣ 3￣)づ” before, he forgot that this guy was also in possession of a ‘great god’ title. In this online VA circle ridden with haters and drama, those worthy of this title couldn’t possibly be sweet and pure little sheep, they all had more than one trick up their sleeves.

Also... This wasn’t only him defending his lover before the public. It wasn’t only protection—here, he took an initiative to attack as well.

“He can’t possibly mean to drive Bronze Sparrow Terrace out of online voice acting?” Qi Jing said in half a joke, but Shen Yan, who had been looking at the screen without saying a word, actually replied to it.

“If he really sets himself on driving someone out, he has means to do that,” He paused here, his following words bleak, colourless and tasteless like the glass of water in his hand, making it impossible to discern any flavour in his tone, “And patience.”

Hearing this caught Qi Jing by surprise.

...Huh?...

But then, Shen Yan tipped his head to drink the remaining half glass of water.

By the time Qi Jing turned his head to stare at him, stupefied, he already put the glass back on the table, silently wiping his lower lip. Along with the water, he seemed to also swallow back those words right now, only leaving the remaining couple of clear water trails at the inside of the glass—easily missed unless someone looked carefully.

This is... just a comment from an observer’s point of view, right?Qi Jing opened his mouth, but before he could ask him, he was already outdone by the wide-eyed Ning Xiaoxiao sitting opposite to him, “Eh, Kitty’s Papa, how do you know that? Unless... Ah!”

She got too excited for a moment and bumped the tablet with her hand, resulting in it falling on the table with a thump and a few droplets of broth falling on its screen, so she wiped it hurriedly. Her fingers swiped across the screen, and so Sleek Horses Run Fast’s Weibo homepage got scrolled all the way down by her, stopping right at the message he posted two years ago.

【I’m sorry】

There was also a crying emote at the end.

Shen Yan’s gaze coincidentally passed by it, then suddenly stopped still fixedly. After a long while, he again lowered his gaze to look at the date of posting and furrowed his brow, then slowly looked away with an indifferent face. “I don’t know that.” He gave a rather simple reply, “I guessed.”

“So you just guessed,” Ning Xiaoxiao was cleaning the splattered tablet with utmost care. When she heard him, she raised her head aggrieved, face coloured with disappointment after having her anticipation let down, “And here I thought that you two knew each other...”

Qi Jing came back to his senses, realising that this topic could be a bit too much, so he quickly smiled and gently diverged from the topic, “But speaking of it, during a battle of reputation and fans, the old nobodies like us have no say here. At times like this, we can only join the people watching from the sidelines.”

This was true.

It wasn’t only online voice acting, this stayed true no matter the circle. Sometimes facts don’t mean anything—if the opponent has a huge fanbase, they can gradually talk everyone into believing black is white and vice-versa. Sleek Horses Run Fast had something him and Shen Yan didn’t, and that was—support.

Hearing this, Ning Xiaoxiao said out of the blue, “Senior, a VA with a personality like you... How to say this, although you won’t have many fans, but you will have friends.”

Qi Jing was stupefied by her words.

“I’m chummy with a lot of staff members, and those who take their job seriously all speak highly of you, saying you’re both gentlemanly and charming... It makes people think that you’re worth getting along with for a long run.” Then she remembered something and added, “Ah, it’s just the whole ‘God of Playing Dead’ thing is scaring people off. They’re afraid that you would drag out the recording process for way too long, so they don’t dare to invite you...”

Only after talking by herself to this point did she realise that Qi Jing was staring at her with a deeply shaken expression. “...I never thought you would say something this rational, it makes me feel like my Junior finally grew up...”

Ning Xiaoxiao’s face flushed red, then snatched a meatball from his bowl with her chopsticks and wolfed it down.

Qi Jing laughed heartily.

“But I’m being serious here, your popularity literally exploded after the end of ⟪Order to End the Heavens⟫ competition! Aside from the normal listeners, I’m sure that a lot of staff members are talking about you two.” Although they couldn’t compare with the great gods of Sleek Horses Run Fast’s calibre, Ning Xiaoxiao still found it worthy of celebration, eating as she continued talking, “Ah, right! Right! Kitty’s Papa is going to go the ⟪Order to End the Heavens⟫’s company headquarters in Beijing for signing the contract, right?”

“Mhm...” Shen Yan nodded his head slightly.

After the competition concluded, the organisers sent an announcement through the mail, asking the champions for each character role to wait those two days until the notice about the next procedure. Aside from the official contract to voice-act in the game, the prize for the champions who were living across the country was a gift coupon for a return aeroplane ticket to Beijing—the full price of the flight, including taxes, was covered by the organisers. After signing the contract, the contestants would proceed to the professional recording studio there, with two days and one night for the recording process. The hotel for the stay during that period would also get arranged and covered by the company.

“But Senior won’t be able to go... such a pity.” Ning Xiaoxiao was still brooding about Qi Jing’s whole ‘double runner-up’ case, bitterly chomping a bite out of a meatball.

“I can actually go if I want to, I just need to cover the expenses myself.” Qi Jing smiled and said.

He already had plans for it. When the date for Shen Yan’s trip to Beijing was set, he would go there with him under the name of a ‘fan’. After all, the developers’ introductory event was open for fans, but he heard that they had to purchase a ticket... After all, what kind of a commercial company wouldn’t take a chance to grab some cash.

“Oh, then if you’re both going, then I beg you to persuade that ‘Two’ fellow to voice-act in an audio drama!” Ning Xiaoxiao’s staff-mode was now on. She was talking to Qi Jing, but her eyes were shining as she stared at Shen Yan. From the moment she got to know that Kitty’s Papa knew ‘Two’, and that Kitty’s Papa is Shen Yan, she was already making calculations on her small abacus.

“Junior, did you come here to atone for your sins or to fool around...”

“Can’t I do both of the above?”

“You can’t.” Qi Jing once again put on a gentlemanly smile, pinching her other cheek. Very well, very well, soon enough both will be swollen into symmetry.

“Gah...”

The dinner meeting concluded successfully in this boisterous atmosphere. Qi Jing and Shen Yan sent Ning Xiaoxiao to the bus stop, only then going back home.

This hour was already past most of the people’s rest time, leaving the streets bathed in silence, with only the rustling wind scraping by the tree branches. It wasn’t a particularly pleasant sound, but it had a sense of peacefulness unique to the winter. The street lamps kept their solitary watch at the sides of the street, spreading a layer of pale warmth on the asphalt road beneath their feet.

Aside from it, there were also two shadows casted on the road—at first only side by side, but later conjoined together. It was because when they were going out, neither of them remembered to bring gloves, so Shen Yan just took Qi Jing’s hand, putting it into his overcoat pocket alongside his own.

Qi Jing was already used to this kind of small gestures of intimacy. The only difference was, when they usually held hands, it was Shen Yan’s that were warmer. But now, Shen Yan’s hands were colder than his. Qi Jing was afraid that he wore too little, so he quickly held it tighter.

By the time they were back, the two of them were far from feeling tired, so he played for a bit with Big Goose and Little Return Date.

It was only as Shen Yan later opened the computer to check for the work emails as usual when he discovered that the developers of ⟪Order to End the Heavens⟫ had already sent an email.

“There’s an email from developers.”

“Ah, this quick?” He thought that it would take two or three days. When Qi Jing heard Shen Yan say so, he put Little Return Date who was rubbing against his thigh back at Big Goose’s side, shifting over to take a look.

There was an already published date for the contract signing in the notice, a week away from now.

The contents of the email was only very formal thanks to every contestant participating and so on, with the flight gift coupon number and the address written at the very end of it.

“If it’s next week, then...” Can you arrange some free time?

Shen Yan had yet to finish his question when he suddenly paused. After opening the link, he was sent to the flight coupon exchange interface, and there, he clearly saw “2” in the “available tickets” section.

Qi Jing was curious why he stopped talking midways and looked at the screen, then he also couldn’t help himself from exclaiming from surprise, “The organisers actually gave you two flight tickets, huh.”

Shen Yan stared at this “2” for a long time, saying nothing for quite a while.

But Qi Jing found an explanation to that—Shen Yan was a double champion, so it wouldn’t be surprising if there were twice the amount of prizes prepared.

“Turns out the organisers really didn’t spare the second ticket for a double champion... And here I thought that a commercial company like this would be a bit stingy, saving a bit on the fact that you’re one person getting two roles.” Qi Jing said with a smile. At the TV station he would often hear about some professional voice acting projects where for the sake of skimping on the post-production, the investors would have one actor voicing multiple characters, no matter whether it was reasonable or not. In comparison, the developers of ⟪Order to End the Heavens⟫ sure were quite generous.

Shen Yan still didn’t say anything, looking down without a word, as if pondering something.

Qi Jing supported his chin on Shen Yan’s shoulder, muttering to himself, “But... This way I can accompany you without having to buy a ticket for myself—as if they knew that I want to go. It’s almost too timely.”

Hearing him say so, Shen Yan’s eyes moved slightly. He looked up and stared at the webpage.

“Qi Jing.”

“Hm?”

“Can you bring me a cup of warm milk?” Shen Yan turned his head to ask him. Usually, he almost never took an initiative to ask Qi Jing to do something for him in their daily life—this time was a rare exception.

“Of course.” Qi Jing was surprised at first, then smiled slightly and kissed his brow, going out of the study and to the fridge, taking out the milk to warm up.

—This would probably take about three minutes.

After sending off Qi Jing with his gaze, Shen Yan went back to that email, clicking the “official page” link included below.

The official page of ⟪Order to End the Heavens⟫ changed back to the default look. It was mainly about the current progress of developing the fifth instalment of the game, the usual character introductions for some of them, the in-game scenery wallpapers, the reviews for the original novel and so on. Aside from the time during the competition when he came here to take a look at the list of contestants, he never paid attention to any of it at all.

Shen Yan searched on the page for a while, finally finding a row of small letters at the very bottom—”about us”. Opening it sent him to the game company’s own main page. Shen Yan’s gaze sweeped by the menu on the left side, stopping at the “team introduction”. After he opened it, there was another page with a list of all the important workers in the company, along with their names and positions.

He slowly looked through it from top to bottom, the cursor of his mouse following each of the names his gaze passed by, as if to make sure that he didn’t omit a single person.

Suddenly, the cursor stopped.

His eyes grew wide, his gaze as if frozen by the same place the cursor did.

“Come with me.”

Qi Jing came back from the living room with a steaming-hot cup of milk. When he came in, he heard Shen Yan, who was sitting before the computer with his back facing him as he said so, leaving him a bit lost.

“I intended to do so in the first place.” He came over with a smile, putting the milk on the desk.

“I was afraid you wouldn’t have time...” After all, Qi Jing had just come back from Beijing, if he were to go for another trip, who knows if his higher-ups wouldn’t get angry back at the TV station.

“I will fight for the permission.” Qi Jing promised him.

Shen Yan turned to him slowly, his expression tired for some reason. He quietly hugged Qi Jing’s waist, resting his head against his belly like a child. Qi Jing had a hunch that there was something unusual in him doing so, but he didn’t quite know why it was the case.

“Are you going to call them about that additional ticket, ask if they made a mistake?” It wasn’t impossible for some worker to make an error. Qi Jing raised his hand to stroke Shen Yan’s hair, the other one resting on his shoulder and pulling him closer into the embrace.

“No need to,” Shen Yan sounded muffled, a bit more hoarse than usual, “No need to ask, if it’s two tickets, then it’s two tickets... It shouldn’t be a mistake, so just use it.”

Deep into the night, Shen Yan went alone back to the study, slowly pulling the chair back to sit down. He had already slept a few hours during the afternoon, so he wasn’t tired yet.

Although Qi Jing also wasn’t tired, it was still a work day for him the next day, he had an interview he needed to wake up early to. What’s more, after having just returned from afar and spending long intimate hours in the bed, he was certainly tired, so he couldn’t change Shen Yan’s mind on making him go to bed and rest.

Shen Yan sat at the chair for a long time, then finally turned the computer on and downloaded Skype.

The last time he used Skype was many years ago already. Before YY became a thing, it was the main platform for online voice actors to practise acting with others, but these days, it was gradually getting forgotten.

He remembered that after the last time he finished using Skype, he uninstalled this program from his computer altogether. Now, he had to reinstall it if he wanted to use it.

But he still remembered his old login and password—

Like an old directory. Even though he clearly hadn’t contacted the people there for many years, he still remembered the faces of some of them, still recalled the scenes of some memories. Sometimes... he would have a thought of going back to leaf through it. And now, with a similar thought, he was quietly watching the installation progress bar filling, just like slowly opening the first page of the directory.

“Ding—” After the software finished installing, a log-in window popped out.

Shen Yan took a deep breath, typing in the login and password that he hadn’t used in many years.

—He didn’t know if he could still log in. With a bit of uncertainty, he hit enter. After a few short seconds of buffering, he actually managed to sign in.

All contacts (1/5)

Currently online (1/5)

When he first saw that number “1”, his back tensed a bit. But as he took a look, he saw that the one with the green online mark was “IV”, not “V”.

He sat there in stupor, releasing a long breath out.

The “V” was grey, just as the “I”, “II”, “III” above it.

In fact, it wouldn’t be a problem if it wasn’t grey... Just, he didn’t feel prepared to speak with him directly yet.

At that time, a message popped out. It was probably “IV” who saw him online and wanted to inquire about the situation, surprised.

IV: ...Real deal?

VI: Mhm.

IV: Aaaaaah! Are you actually the real deal?!

VI: Mhm.

Unsurprisingly, the very next moment a green microphone symbol started flashing. Shen Yan put the headphones on and prepared the mic, then accepted this voice call invitation.

“Six?” He heard a young woman’s voice. Unlike Jade Butterfly with her voice of a well-bred lady from an affluent family, she gave an experienced and straightforward impression. “Is that really you?”

“Long time no hear, Four.” Shen Yan greeted her lightly, “Is Three on duty tonight as well?”

“He is. Surgeons sure have it hard.” She grumbled unhappily, “It’s so boring to be alone at home~”

“I had consulted him about the stuff to be careful about during the recovery from the bone fracture before; I still need to thank him for answering so many of my questions,” Shen Yan said quietly, “Although I had thanked him then through the call... if it’s convenient, I would ask you to pass it to him, thanks.”

After he said this, the woman chuckled, her laughter lined with deeper meaning.

“The one who broke the bone... he’s your boyfriend, right?”

“Yes.”

He wasn’t covert about it, admitting it with complete composure.

For a moment, ‘Four’ didn’t say anything, as if figuring out whether the composure in his tone was really caused by the actual calmness in his heart. After a while and making sure that it was the case, she finally sighed with a smile, “...And here I thought that you would never log into this Skype account anymore. Having a person by your side really makes a difference—your boyfriend seems incredible. He’s a good man.”

Hearing this, Shen Yan understood that his previous conjecture was correct, “Thank you for that time during the competition too. That ‘Doing good things in passing’... It was you, right?”

‘Four’ seemed stupefied.

Then, after a moment, he heard a puff preceding her laughter hit the mic, brisk and jolly.

“I actually got seen through... Tell me, how did you know?” She said unhurriedly, not at all flustered like someone who had just gotten exposed—more like, leisurely content.

“The tone,” Shen Yan said calmly, “Especially that tone when you talked to Two. I couldn’t think of anyone else speaking like this.”

“Haha, you sure are sharp.” She fiddled lazily with something on her desk at the other side of the call, causing a clear tinkling sound, her mood visibly merry, “You don’t actually have to thank me. Just as that ID says, I was just doing good things in passing, that’s all. But later on, you two need to be more careful. Nowadays, there’s a lot of people who know how to check IPs. Even if during the finals your IP wasn’t the same, all of the IPs for the semi-finals were identical.”

“Doesn’t matter,” Shen Yan said lightly, “If there’s anybody interested in checking it, then they may as well do that. It won’t have any effect on our relationship.”

Hearing this, ‘Four’ clicked her tongue, but sounded as if she was smiling at the same time.

At that point, Shen Yan suddenly said, “There’s one more thing I want to thank you about—thank you for not letting Two continue asking that time.”

The smile on ‘Four’s’ face slowly washed away. “This thing, huh,” She spoke slowly, as if she needed to consider every word before saying it, “At that time that dumbass kept asking you questions like this was also because he’s obtuse and insensitive. But aside from your grandpa passing away... you also had some other reason you couldn’t talk about, right?”

Shen Yan didn’t say anything.

After a long while, he asked in a low, hoarse voice, “I never told that to anyone... How much do you know, after all?”

The woman laughed bitterly, “Bingo. I wasn’t supposed to know, but... Five... After he got drunk once, I heard him talking by accident. Ah, but don’t worry, I haven’t told the things I heard that day to anyone, even to Three.”

This time the silence was even longer, even more pressing. Until Shen Yan broke it in a gravelly voice. “What did he say?”

“He said,” She paused for a slight moment, hesitating for a while before continuing, “Back at that time... It was him who drove you away.”

A/N:

We’re starting to count the old scores...

T/N:

Lucilla: Back to the uploading and it seems like we’re starting strong already! xD