CH 61

The event organizer replied to them quickly with a brief introduction of the event – “God and Goddess Voice Meeting”. It may sound mediocre, but the information was sufficient to understand its purpose. Essentially, the event invited a few well-known voice actors from the online community to participate in an offline event where they would perform voice acting, showcase their work, as well as play some small games, acting as a form of promotional exposure.

It was a carnival-style event that had invited many voice actors but none were considered top-tier celebrities. The promotional materials listed two top-tier stars that were on the “planned list”, but ‘plan’ always means that realistically only three to four B-list actors would make an appearance.

The event was only for one day, split into morning and afternoon sessions scheduled for the 18th of December. However, the organizers required Xiang Wan and Yu Zhou to arrive one day in advance for rehearsal and to test out the equipment for live broadcasting.

The event was held in Qingshan Park in Qing City. Although the salary wasn’t much, it did include their accommodation, meals and transportation fees. The organizers had reserved a three-star hotel nearby with individual single rooms for each guest.

As Yu Zhou needed to accompany Xiang Wan, she communicated with the organizers to ask if they could pay money to upgrade their accommodations to a standard twin room. However, the organizers felt conflicted because they had already reserved single rooms with the hotel. In general, voice actors did not need agents or assistants to accompany them.

Yu Zhou reassured them that it wasn’t a problem, and then she found the hotel and booked another single room herself.

Once the hotel was settled, Yu Zhou arranged for both herself and Xiang Wan to take a train on December 16th. Xiang Wan’s ticket could be reimbursed by the organizers while Yu Zhou paid for hers.

After arranging everything efficiently, she opened a website to search for travel information and the best food spots in Qingcheng. Meanwhile, she received a WeChat notification.

A message from Su Chang.

“My cat can do a backflip.”

“? Let me see.”

Two minutes later, Su Chang replied, “I didn’t manage to capture it.”

“… Tell me when you capture it next time, okay?”

Usually, Su Chang would reply with a simple “Okay” or not reply at all.

But this time, she replied, “No.”

Yu Zhou ignored her. Su Chang seemed to become more childish after raising the cat.

Just as she was about to put down her phone, it vibrated in her palm – Su Chang unexpectedly called.

Yu Zhou picked it up, Xiang Wan wanted to lower the volume of the TV but Yu Zhou shook her head, signaling her while going to her bedroom to answer the call.

“What’s up?”

Su Chang was silent for a moment as if she hadn’t thought of her reason for making the call.

“Speak?”

The person on the other end chuckled and asked, “Do you want to come to my home and see my cat do a backflip?”

“Are you insane?” Yu Zhou scolded her.

Su Chang probably realized how ridiculous she sounded and laughed too.

After laughing, she asked, “Did you have something important to do today, since you didn’t stay for dinner?”

“No, I just noticed that Xiang Wan seemed troubled so I took her back to ask.”

“Oh, did she tell you?”

“Yeah,” Yu Zhou said as she sat on the windowsill. “She said that you wanted to sign her.”

“Hmm, how does she feel about it? Did you give her any advice?”

“I think she’s interested, but she’s not sure if this is the right career for her.”

Su Chang agreed, “Yes, She can take some time to think it over, there’s no need to rush.”

Su Chang was sure that Xiang Wan was a good fit for the job: she had a great voice and excellent intelligence. She accurately captures emotions, and what’s more, she appears to be a modest young lady but also with a great sense of freedom. Acting as a shouting pregnant woman for the first time, she shows no sign of fear.

But in the end, the path is hers to walk, so it’s better for her to think things through carefully.

Su Chang had nothing to say, she was going to end the dull conversation until she noticed hesitancy in Yu Zhou’s voice.

“What’s wrong?” Su Chang asked in a low voice.

“Nothing,” Yu Zhou muttered.

Su Chang laughed lightly as if she fully understood Yu Zhou’s question. “Are you wondering if it’s awkward that I want to sign someone that likes you?”

“Uh…” Why say it so bluntly?

“When Xiang Wan talked to me, she wanted to bring that up too, but I told her that it wasn’t related to signing her.”

Su Chang has always been clear about the boundaries between public and private matters. She already said she signed her for no other reason, really just appreciated her talent.

She will not show any favoritism due to personal feelings during work, as she has basic professional ethics and fundamental moral principles in dealing with people.

But…this didn’t mean that in her personal life, she wouldn’t be affected by Xiang Wan’s relationship with Yu Zhou.

In fact, she felt more than a little bit of emotion.

But she knew it clearly, what really bothered her was the relationship between Yu Zhou and someone else, not specifically Yu Zhou or that other person.

For instance, when she heard someone casually ask if Yu Zhou wanted some fruit while she was in the streaming room.

It didn’t matter who asked or what kind of fruit it was, she only cared that there was someone who could casually bring up such a trivial matter to Yu Zhou on an ordinary night.

She didn’t want there to be anyone else, only herself.

Her possessiveness was haunting and often made her feel like a completely different person.

But unfortunately, Yu Zhou didn’t feel the same way.

Yu Zhou felt that it could be anyone, but it couldn’t be Su Chang… it only couldn’t be her.

Actually, this kind of state is torturing Su Chang. She often has illusions when she jokes and chats with Yu Zhou, who is becoming more and more relaxed. It seems that they are still together, but when it comes to the next topic, she needs to “find” a topic before “finding” Yu Zhou, which once again reminds her of the boundary between them.

She used to be very confident and believed that with her professional ability, she could hold on until the end of the collaboration to have an honest conversation with Yu Zhou without affecting the work.

But later, she realized that why must the heartfelt conversation come after the collaboration? This in itself implies that she was highly skeptical about whether she could remain professional in front of Yu Zhou under any circumstances.

She had never told anyone that she was actually a little afraid.

She was afraid that Yu Zhou would be cruel and tell her once again that she really doesn’t like her anymore, and then she won’t be able to record any more.

For Su Chang, if Yu Zhou doesn’t want her, she can be shaken. But if she can’t do recording because Yu Zhou doesn’t want her, it would be enough to destroy her.

So she put herself in such a state of torture, sometimes relaxing the tense strings through her contact with Yu Zhou, and sometimes slowly tightening them up during the three to five days when she had no news from her.

Caught in a cycle of repetition, she didn’t know when this string would break.

People often say, “The biggest weakness of human beings is their reluctance to let go.” It’s probably true.

We always hesitate to throw away clothes that we will never wear again, to replace a table that is full of scratches, to let go of someone we have said goodbye to, and to let go of the past that has been terminated.

Some people know that certain things are doomed to be impossible, but they still greedily indulge in the intoxication of a few more seconds, while others know that some things have already been lost, but they still wonder if they can ask one more question.

Su Chang was reluctant to hang up the phone just like being reluctant to go to sleep, and was enduring this conversation like knowing that staying up late is harmful to health but still.

In the end, they didn’t say anything and silently breathed for a minute.

Then Yu Zhou said, “Hey, are you still there?”

“Yes,” Su Chang replied softly.

“If there’s nothing else, I’ll hang up.”

“Okay, good night.”

“Good night.”