Chapter 33

Act V: Avenue Q (5)

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Just because this song, "If You Were Gay" was not well known, this does not mean that it doesn't have the potential to become popular! It will definitely become popular!

The lyrics were humorous and the tune was brisk, as long as it was heard more than twice, it would be embedded into one's head, never to be forgotten.

In order to avoid being distracted by the public screen when singing, Xiang Cai minimized the YY window, so he missed all the messages left by the audience.

Fan A: Hahahahahaha, did I hear that right??

Fan B: I laughed so hard that my neighbor next door thought my rooster was crowing!!!

Fan C: I opened it! My dad asked me why I wasn’t watching the Spring Festival Gala, and instead listening to this yellow song 23333 Help 23333

[T/N: 23333 = hahaha.]

Fan D: I fell straight from my chair!!! How can anyone suppress their laughs?

Fan E: What is this treasure song? I solemnly announce that this song has risen to the top of my list of gay songs!!!!!!!

Fan F: Fans who could not hold back a smile after listening to the first few lyrics, please deduct 1 on the screen.

Fan G: 0

Fan H: 0

Fan I： 0

...

Fan Y: 0

Fan Z: What did I miss? Why were you all brushing the screen with 0’s when I entered the channel?

Others in the community had already heard this song as early as Xiang Cai’s rehearsal. They thought that the comedy had improved significantly after "much tempering", but the fans on the screen were very open-minded, left a message, and continued listening to the music.

The boy's voice was naughty and cute. It was different from the original version sung with the characteristics of a ‘stupid, straight man’ in the musical. After Xiang Cai injected his own stylish quirkiness, this character became more endearing and captivating.

After Xiang Cai sang the first two stanzas, a strange but pleasant-sounding male voice made an appearance.

Although the unfamiliar male voice only spoke, every word happened to hit the beat.

"Please stop!" The stubborn and arrogant male voice exclaimed, causing the audience to involuntarily imagine him as an ascetic elite man. "I’m trying to read, not discuss with you the topic of being gay."

On the public screen, the fans' messages rushed out like a tide.

Fan A: Hey? Who is this voice? It sounds good, is it a newcomer?

Fan B: Good +1, I recall, there is no such newcomer in the Voice of Jiuxiao?

Fan C: President, you hid them!

Fan D: The voice of the newcomer is charming, come to auntie’s bowl!

Fan E: Is it a foreign aid? Send flowers.

Fan F: Which jms can share the radio drama that the newcomer has been assigned to?

[T/N: ‘jms’ = online term that means sister in Chinese.]

The president, second son, smirked and looked at the many speculations of the fans on the screen, having no intention to jump out to clarify.

Let them guess! Even if they were given a hundred chances, they could not guess that the "shou voice" who coupled with guess was the chief gong of their society, Wang Qingyun!

You know, when she first heard Wang Qingyun's shou voice, she was really startled. After Wang Qingyun became a commercial dubber, his progress was clearly expansive. He almost completely changed his voice and became another person. If she didn't know his identity in advance, she too, wouldn't have known that it was him!

In the channel, after the tsundere “shou’s” lines were complete, Xiang Cai’s singing voice immediately followed.

At this moment, he was the character in the song. Someone who was trying to persuade his close friend, a comrade elite businessman, to come out of the closet and face his true self.

"If you were queer

I'd still be here

Year after year

Because you're dear to me

I'm happy just being with you

So why should it matter to me—"

Singing this, Xiang Cai got emotional for a bit, continuing with the following sentence, "—So what should it matter to me what you do in bed with guys?"

The lyrics drew an exclamation from his friend.

"Ew, that’s gross!" Wang Qingyun bellowed out, his indignant tone full of "pretentiousness". “I’m not listening!” He continued. One couldn’t hear it, but in fact, Wang Qingyun wanted to laugh.

On the public screen, the fans were already trapped in this song.

A large number of people had said that they were brainwashed by this divine comedy, threatening the president to quickly hand over this lovely little shou as soon as possible, they couldn’t wait to listen to his dramas!

At this point, the pair of friends wanted to show off their creative flair, setting aside the lyrics from the original "persuasion", they injected their own persuasion designed only to satiate their audience's thirst for gayness.

When the juvenile’s voice and the tsundere's voice gradually merged, the audience could imagine the two men embracing in a dance of tango on the stage, their eyes wet with tears.

"If you were gay

I’d shout, hooray!

And here I’d stay

But I wouldn’t get in your way!"

The last sentence was the chorus of the two-

"You can count on me

To always be

Beside you every day

To tell you it's okay

You were just born that way

And, as they say, it's in your DNA

We’re gay!"

With a salute sounding at the end of the music, the short three-minute song came to an end.

The song required hardly any technical musical skills, but Xiang Cai was completely exhausted and panting deeply after having poured all his emotions into his performance. His entire person almost knelt down in surrender, in front of the computer.

It... it was just too scandalous!!

He had just sang such a love song in front of so many people, he felt he had lost his integrity. During his performance, he could not help but felt so deeply caught in the act. It was as if it was both him and Wang Qingyun, holding hands and coming out of the closet together.

Xiang Cai quickly hurried away, driving away the unspeakable fantasy that appeared in his mind. He felt that if he thought about it for another second, he would desecrate Wang Qingyun.

He laid down in front of the computer with his face on the metal computer table, trying to cool his overheated brain.

After they finished their act, the two hosts returned to the stage to interact with the audience.

"Guess ... guess? Are you still online?" The hostess called his name several times in a row, and Xiang Cai responded blankly, acknowledging his existence.

"Ah, yes, I am!" Xiang Cai quickly replied.

He readjusted the minimized yy window to its max, covering his eyes with one hand, and peeking nervously at the number of people online through his fingers, fearing that some fans could not accept the coming-out song and left because of the ‘gayness’.

What he saw was beyond his expectation! Not only did the people not leave, but in just a few minutes, many more people actually joined in!!!

Overwhelming praises swept across the public screen. Xiang Cai’s YY rang for a while, and the notification bar in the lower right corner was almost shattered.

He opened it, and it turned out that it was from hundreds of friends, reminding him that everyone was expressing their love enthusiastically through private messages.

Suddenly he remembered that he was still connected to the microphone, and any noise on his side would be transmitted to all the audience.

Xiang Cai tried desperately to turn it off, but the more anxious he got, the more he couldn’t find the "off" button.

At the critical moment, Wang Qingyun ‘the hero saving the beauty’, came to his rescue, taught him step by step in private. 

guess: Sorry QAQ, I’m too nervous.

Yiming Qingyun: What are you nervous for? You see, everyone loves our "coming out song".

guess: ...

Wait, when did the song change its name?

Just as the two of them were on in the anchored room, at the mic, the two hosts were interacting enthusiastically with the audience.

Countless sentences of praise and blessings came up, along with countless "hahahas". This "If You Were Gay" successfully poisoned everyone.

Amongst these praises, there were still a few prominent issues floating to the top.

Fan: Great Guess, who is the CV of xiao shoushou? Is that a newcomer avatar?

"'Xiao shoushou’s CV'?" Xiang Cai laughed. "Actually, he is a dear friend that everyone is familiar with. It seems that his shou persona voice was very successful, he was not recognized at all." The boy’s smooth voice slipped into the ears of every listener through the radio wave, he didn’t know how many people were drunk. "So let's let him reveal his avatar— come on, xiao shoushou, show yourself."

He deliberately enunciated the two words ‘xiao shoushou’, and forgot to hide his smirk.

And this teasing smirk was clearly passed to the man's ear.

On the stage, the small light in front of the only newcomer's avatar flashed, and a clear and mature voice sounded—

— "I'm Wang Qingyun." As soon as his recognizable voice appeared, the entire public screen was like a colorful bomb, it instantly detonated. "But I want to clarify, classmate guess is more the shou than I. "

Xiang Cai: "... ????"

Great god, there was no need to elaborate like so!

...

The whole song had come to an end in a dreamlike atmosphere.

After Wang Qingyun unveiled his avatar, all listeners were astonished by the sudden revelation. They couldn't believe that the cold and arrogant elite man was dubbed by Wang Qingyun? One after another, they asked him to perform it again.

In order to satisfy them, Wang Qingyun could only reproduce his magical voice-changing prowess.

Fan A: I don’t believe it, I don’t believe it, how did you transform my favorite gong sama!!!

Fan B: [Wailing howl] Thanks to my claim to loyalty, I thought that I could always recognize the voice of the great god’s dubbing, but indeed I failed so miserably.

Fan C: I'm glad I recorded it! I want to hurry back and relive the voice of the great god!

When the propaganda poster of the song festival was released previously, Wang Qingyun's name was not disclosed. Everyone thought that the great god could not participate because of the time difference. How could there be such a big surprise!

As Wang Qingyun changed back into his avatar, the number of online users in the entire channel also went straight to the sky. By the time it was approaching twelve, nearly eight thousand people had been squeezed in the entire room!

When Xiang Cai saw all those enthusiastic fans who came to admire Wang Qingyun, he somehow felt a sense of joyful pride.

Indeed, this was the idol he admired, this was the person he admired. He wanted to pluck all the beautiful flowers in the world and gift them to Wang Qingyun because Wang Qingyun deserved such accolade.

The administrator limited everyone's speaking interval, but even so, countless praises poured down like a flood.

Xiang Cai’s eyes were not enough to see them all. Countless words swept across his retina, he could only capture one ten-thousandth of it.

But it didn’t matter, as long as he knew that, like him, they loved Wang Qingyun.

At the same time, a kind of inexplicable surprise occurred in his heart—once he was merely a member of the fan army, but like a constantly jumping little sparrow, step by step he jumped to the great god, becoming his work colleague, his friend, his confidante... and having their names appearing side by side on the program list!

This was a happiness he couldn't even imagine before, but now, this wish had come true.

As the time approached twelve, the people in YY soared to a terrifying number.

With only the last five minutes until the New Year, unexpectedly, a window popped up on the computer in front of Xiang Cai: "Your connection has dropped, please reconnect."

Xiang Cai: ???

It turned out that the fragile campus network could not withstand the devastation of such a flow of people, and finally dropped ...

He tried to reconnect again and again, and repeatedly failed.

All the CVs would be on the stage, and everyone would count down together to usher in a new year.

However, at such an important moment, Xiang Cai could not participate.

He originally thought that this time, he could spend this unforgettable New Year's eve with all his friends, but unexpectedly, in the end ... he was the only one left out.

It was okay.

Xiang Cai turned off the computer silently, leaning against the classroom window.

The moon on the night of the thirtieth day was a small crescent, a very narrow moon, but very bright, like a boat carrying dreams.

The school was located in a restricted area. Fireworks could not be set off, and there could be no other loud noises, which allowed Xiang Cai to just enjoy the moon in the night, silently.

From an unknown far away place, the wind delivered the sound of voices of men, women and children, blending together with lively rowdiness, countdown to the new year....
"60, 59, 58-"

No one knew that: on that dark campus, in the only classroom with the lights on, there was a boy, alone, leaning by the window, waiting for the New Year to arrive.

Enough, Xiang Cai consoled himself, he had already enjoyed a wonderful night. Even if he didn’t get everything he wanted, he already got 99%

The only "1%" missing was that, on the first second of the first minute of the first day of the new year, he couldn't wish Wang Qingyun a "Happy New Year"

But people had to be content, right?

... Suddenly, a buzz sounded in the empty classroom.

Xiang Cai didn’t respond at first. It wasn't until a few seconds later that he realized it his cell phone that was buzzing.

On the screen, Wang Qingyun's name appeared.

Yiming Qingyun: Guess, why did you suddenly go offline?

Xiang Cai was surprised and happy. He did not expect Wang Qingyun to notice his departure.

He thought about it and answered.

guess: [shy goose] .jpg

guess: Not offline, but disconnected ...

guess: [quack big cry].jpg

guess: The campus network is unreliable, and there were so many people on YY, the network squeezed me out! !!

guess: Never mind, don't worry about me!

guess: Great god, go ahead and count down with everyone.

Xiang Cai moved his finger and picked out a little swan smiling expression.

However, Wang Qingyun found a loophole in his words.

Yiming Qingyun: Guess, today is the New Year's Eve. Why are you using the campus network?

Yiming Qingyun: What about your family?

guess: ...

Yiming Qingyun: Are you alone for the New Year's Eve?

guess: ... There are many people in the world who are spending the New Year's Eve alone, aren't you too, great god?

Xiang Cai knew he was quibbling, but stubbornly typed this sentence. He didn't want Wang Qingyun to worry about himself on such a happy occassion.

Off-campus, those countdown voices were getting louder. Even if the air was cold, it couldn't dampen their enthusiasm.

"10, 9, 8-"

At the moment when the number receded to seven, the phone in Xiang Cai’s palm suddenly rang.

——It was Wang Qingyun! With only a few seconds left before the New Year, he initiated a voice call request to Xiang Cai!

Xiang Cai froze. He subconsciously wanted to reject the call, but his hand seemed to have its own will, and pressed the connect button.

"6, 5, 4-"

The boy's small adam’s apple rolled and he looked at the screen stupidly, only to find that he had lost his voice.

"Cai Cai?" The man's voice came. "Can you hear me clearly?"

"... Hn." He made a deep hum from deep in his throat. He was afraid that if his voice was louder, Wang Qingyun would hear his voice get caught.

He was really stupid. How could he think that Wang Qingyun was just "1%" to him?

Obviously—this gentle and careful man was 100% of his life.

... The new year was approaching ...

"Three—"

"Two—"

"One—"

The connection rustled, and at this moment, he didn’t know how many blessings were spreading among happy families, let alone how much love was flowing between lovers.

Those were things that he thought he would never have in his life.

The man's voice was pure and warm: "Happy New Year, Cai Cai."

"Happy New Year Yun Da." Xiang Cai answered.

The man at the other end would never know: although Xiang Cai’s voice was smiling, silent tears of joy had already rolled down.

Because the moment the New Year's bell sounded—the boy suddenly understood.

***

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