Chapter 36
Act V: Avenue Q (8)
----------
Tan Yiming never thought that he would encounter the ‘unspoken rules’.
[T/N: You probably know of this, it’s the unmentionable fact that some in the entertainment industry sleep with backers to get roles and resources, or are threatened to. I don’t know if it’s true?]
"How could this seen as the unspoken rules?" Yao Yin found it inexplicable. "In nature, when a male animal is courting, the first step is to defeat other competitors, and the second step is to offer prey. Since i there are no other competitors, the first step is redundant; as for this recommendation letter, it is the prey I've prepared for you—you can take my hard-earned prey, but then shouldn’t you then give me the right to mate?”
"..."
However, Tan Yiming was not an animal, after all. Although he really coveted the piece of fat that was delivered to his mouth, he didn't want to sacrifice his love nor his body for it.
Yao Yin felt that he was bound to get Tan Yiming. He gave Tan Yiming a month to consider it—it was now February, Blizzard Entertainment’s auditions were in April. As long as the letter of recommendation was submitted by mid-March, then Tan Yiming was eligible to participate in the selection.
...
This Spring Festival, Tan Yiming felt that every day was very long.
On weekdays, he had to attend class and work, striving to be an elite investment banker, paying attention to the graph on the big screen, and struggling hard to survive on the financial battlefield. On the weekends, he would go to the recording studio again, using his own voice to inject soul into one small character after another, living many different lives.
Only in the evening, the short period of time before falling asleep, belonged to himself, allowing him to think about the "prey" presented with strings attached, by Yao Yin.
But he was reluctant to use love as a bargaining chip.
After thinking about it, he decided to try "hunting the prey" himself.
In between the recording sessions, he talked to his studio colleagues about the new game from Blizzard.
The bearded sound engineer said, "I did catch wind of it, but I don’t know the people at Blizzard. Even if I did know them, I would be too low-level to help you with the spot—why don’t you ask Yao Yin directly, you guys are friends. Hasn’t he introduced you to works before? He knows a very wide network of people. If you ask him for help, he will definitely help you."
"... Thank you, but I don't want to bother him with this matter." Tan Yiming smiled bitterly. He did not expect that in the eyes of his colleagues, he and Yao Yin were already bound to each other.
This road came to a dead end, so Tan Yiming gave birth to a second plan.
He went to foreign SNS platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to find those who were certified as employees of Blizzard Entertainment. He sent them a self-recommendation one by one, hoping to impress the other.
Helplessly, the big guys in high positions basically all turned off the private message functions for those who were not friends; while the small employees, though were very enthusiastic, they really couldn’t help recommend him...
This road was another dead end.
There was really no way, he could only turn to domestic friends.
He called President second son of Voice of Jiuxiao Radio Drama Company across the ocean and told her that Blizzard Entertainment’s new work was about to recruit voice actors.
"That’s awesome, Xiao Yunyun!!!" The second son was very excited. "However, it's a heavy rain!!! If you get on this big ship, never mind whether you stay in the United States or return to the country. There will definitely be a spot for you in the commercial dubbing circle!! "
"The problem is that I can't get it right now." Tan Yiming said his true purpose, "I heard ... I heard a friend say that five domestic distribution companies have received invitations. Can you help me inquire which five? If I can, I want to pay for a spot."
"Okay, I got it." The second son agreed very easily. She was one of the first batch of ‘seniors’ of the online dubbing circle. She had entered the circle many years earlier than Wang Qingyun. Some of her peers had retired and some had entered the field of commercial dubbing.
A few days later, he inquired about the second son’s results.
"Xiao Yunyun, this matter ... is a bit troublesome." The second son said over the phone with embarrassment. "Three of the five companies are subordinate to the national prefix. Even if you want to buy in, they don’t sell translations to others. "
"What about the other two?"
"There are also two purely private commercial voice acting companies. There are great gods gathered in it, including the royal voice actor of a Disney protagonist, and the Hong Kong film emperor … but they have both bashed their heads in and bled to have the chance to take the spot."
As a result, this last road was also blocked.
Tan Yiming didn't want to miss this precious opportunity. He had been trying to find a way out, but after looking, returned to where he began like a ghost hitting a wall.
Only the glittering shortcut remained in front of him.
The second son also said, "In addition to the invitation letter, those commercial dubbing companies also have the basic background and introduction. I inquired, and found that the game code is ‘Q’ and the setting is in the future. Among the protagonists, the male Chinese character is a thirty-something-year old astronaut who is lost in space during the mission to land on Mars! Such a brilliant setting, no wonder those big businesses and bosses are so excited."
Just like actors wanted to encounter a good script; as a voice actor, each CV sincerely hoped to be able to challenge a unique role.
Even if the second son was not able to provide much information, the more one listened to it, the more fascinated it was.
The second son asked with pity, "I really can't help you here ... Where are you, can you hug a big guy's thigh and hand over a resume or something?"
In the face of his old-friend-of-many-years’ inquiries, Tan Yiming couldn't help but confess his troubles and concerns this time.
He never mentioned this matter to others from beginning to end, and even George and Xiaorui didn’t know the deal Yao Tin privately proposed.
For a long time, Tan Yiming had been bearing this pressure alone, but sometimes, he also wanted to unload his baggage and take a deep breath.
The second son listened with a stunned expression, and suddenly slammed her thigh, shouting, "F*ck, isn't that laoniang's favorite crispy duck setting! A talented, good-looking actor without a good script can only accept the unspoken rules of the golden master in tears! "
[T/N: Laoniang= this old lady, like referring to yourself highly (because generation is rank). Basically equivalent to laozi (I, your father). Crispy duck is kind of an online term for gay.]
"..." Tan Yiming said, "I'm hanging up."
"Wait!" The second son hurriedly stopped. "I'm kidding! I don't know about you, but it seems to me that you can’t accept this condition yet and still need to discuss it with me."
Tan Yiming murmured ‘en’.
"But, honestly... Are you really, really, really really not a little bit moved?" The second son whispered, "We are not children anymore, this is the adult society, and things like unspoken rules, transparent ceilings, etc., have always existed. "
"..."
"Listening to your narrative, I feel that Yao Yin is a very good person in all aspects. A person like him must not have suffered any setbacks. The more you refuse, the more interested he is in you." She said, "If you want the opportunity, I say that you just have a good relationship with him. After all, you aren’t suffering if you associate with him, but taking advantage. If you grow any feelings, that’s a good thing; if you have no emotions, then you will break up. It doesn't matter. "
Tan Yiming was shocked speachless, he did not expect that the other party would give such advice.
This was like some black chicken soup that he had seen before—there were no fairy tales in the adult world, only truth. It was precisely because the second son treated Tan Yiming as a true friend that she could tell him the truth that ‘interests come first’.
[T/N: black chicken soup: the opposite of chicken soup (which is warm, cringey stories).]
After all, from the moment Tan Yiming stepped into society, he needed to learn to make a choice. Family, career, love ... were all things to choose from.
In fact, every time the road in front of Tan Yiming was blocked, the moral stone in his heart loosened.
He thought that it seemed that he was just another ordinary person struggling among all the living beings.
...
Because of the impact of this matter, Tan Yiming's working condition was severely impacted. His mind often wandered during meetings, and he made frequent mistakes while in the studio.
Later, he simply took a day off and slept in the dorm for a day.
It was almost dusk after he woke up; George just came from class and was surprised to see him in the dormitory.
"You didn’t go to work today?" George, such a straight man, didn’t realize that he was in a bad mood recently. He happily said, "It just so happens that we were issued two tickets for a musical tonight. Xiaorui doesn’t have time, so would you like to watch it with me?"
"What is it about?" Tan Yiming asked in a spirited manner.
"Let me see the details ..." George took out the brochure and turned it over. "Oh, the story is: after graduating from a prestigious school, the male protagonist who cannot pursue his dream nor find work moves to a cheap shared apartment, and then meets a bunch of friends like him who also can't pursue their dreams nor find jobs. "
Tan Yiming had every reason to suspect that everything in this world was going against him.
"... Why did you guys issue such a ticket?"
"Who knows." George shrugged. "Maybe we're afraid that we won't find a job after graduation. Give it a shot first?"
Tan Yiming raised an eyebrow: "How can you not find a job as a high-achieving PhD student in Computer Science?"
"You can't say that. After all, there is always a gap between dreams and reality." George said, "Not all doctoral students in computer science can enter Google FB as soon as they graduate. Most people just live a busy life and eventually lose sight of their dreams, forgetting their ambitions, and moving from one small company to another. With good fortune, I can get an opportunity in an independent company; with lesser fortune, I will return to China for a few years for food to eat... Life is so short, and there are so many fleeting opportunities; if you miss them, you really can’t catch them again.”
"..." Tan Yiming licked his dry lips and asked, "What time is it?"
"What?"
"The musical, what time is it and what is it called?"
“At seven in the evening, and it’s called Avenue Q."
Tan Yiming reacted.
He asked, "Is there a famous song in this musical called “If You Were Gay”?"
Half a month ago, he sang this song with the little swan at the Spring Festival Song Festival. Obviously, only 15 days had passed, but his relaxed mood at that time could not be recalled at all.
"Well! I really don't know." ‘The steel straight man’ George replied, "But there is a song in this play called “The Internet is for Porn”!"
[T/N: Warning, the song is a little inappropriate.]
"..."
Tan Yiming thought, ‘What kind of musical is this…’
----------
The author has something to say: Tan Yiming and Cai Cai are facing different dilemmas at different ages.
Cai Cai is still in his adolescence. His main dilemma is himself. The fourth act, Billy Elliot, focuses on how he re-understands himself and learns to dance again.
Tan Yiming is an adult who has already stepped into society. The dilemma he is facing is external, the self-realization of his life value, and how to face temptation.
And Yao Yin represents this ‘temptation’.
Everyone stay calm, everything has its own consequences.
----------
Tan Yiming never thought that he would encounter the ‘unspoken rules’.
[T/N: You probably know of this, it’s the unmentionable fact that some in the entertainment industry sleep with backers to get roles and resources, or are threatened to. I don’t know if it’s true?]
"How could this seen as the unspoken rules?" Yao Yin found it inexplicable. "In nature, when a male animal is courting, the first step is to defeat other competitors, and the second step is to offer prey. Since i there are no other competitors, the first step is redundant; as for this recommendation letter, it is the prey I've prepared for you—you can take my hard-earned prey, but then shouldn’t you then give me the right to mate?”
"..."
However, Tan Yiming was not an animal, after all. Although he really coveted the piece of fat that was delivered to his mouth, he didn't want to sacrifice his love nor his body for it.
Yao Yin felt that he was bound to get Tan Yiming. He gave Tan Yiming a month to consider it—it was now February, Blizzard Entertainment’s auditions were in April. As long as the letter of recommendation was submitted by mid-March, then Tan Yiming was eligible to participate in the selection.
...
This Spring Festival, Tan Yiming felt that every day was very long.
On weekdays, he had to attend class and work, striving to be an elite investment banker, paying attention to the graph on the big screen, and struggling hard to survive on the financial battlefield. On the weekends, he would go to the recording studio again, using his own voice to inject soul into one small character after another, living many different lives.
Only in the evening, the short period of time before falling asleep, belonged to himself, allowing him to think about the "prey" presented with strings attached, by Yao Yin.
But he was reluctant to use love as a bargaining chip.
After thinking about it, he decided to try "hunting the prey" himself.
In between the recording sessions, he talked to his studio colleagues about the new game from Blizzard.
The bearded sound engineer said, "I did catch wind of it, but I don’t know the people at Blizzard. Even if I did know them, I would be too low-level to help you with the spot—why don’t you ask Yao Yin directly, you guys are friends. Hasn’t he introduced you to works before? He knows a very wide network of people. If you ask him for help, he will definitely help you."
"... Thank you, but I don't want to bother him with this matter." Tan Yiming smiled bitterly. He did not expect that in the eyes of his colleagues, he and Yao Yin were already bound to each other.
This road came to a dead end, so Tan Yiming gave birth to a second plan.
He went to foreign SNS platforms such as Twitter and Facebook to find those who were certified as employees of Blizzard Entertainment. He sent them a self-recommendation one by one, hoping to impress the other.
Helplessly, the big guys in high positions basically all turned off the private message functions for those who were not friends; while the small employees, though were very enthusiastic, they really couldn’t help recommend him...
This road was another dead end.
There was really no way, he could only turn to domestic friends.
He called President second son of Voice of Jiuxiao Radio Drama Company across the ocean and told her that Blizzard Entertainment’s new work was about to recruit voice actors.
"That’s awesome, Xiao Yunyun!!!" The second son was very excited. "However, it's a heavy rain!!! If you get on this big ship, never mind whether you stay in the United States or return to the country. There will definitely be a spot for you in the commercial dubbing circle!! "
"The problem is that I can't get it right now." Tan Yiming said his true purpose, "I heard ... I heard a friend say that five domestic distribution companies have received invitations. Can you help me inquire which five? If I can, I want to pay for a spot."
"Okay, I got it." The second son agreed very easily. She was one of the first batch of ‘seniors’ of the online dubbing circle. She had entered the circle many years earlier than Wang Qingyun. Some of her peers had retired and some had entered the field of commercial dubbing.
A few days later, he inquired about the second son’s results.
"Xiao Yunyun, this matter ... is a bit troublesome." The second son said over the phone with embarrassment. "Three of the five companies are subordinate to the national prefix. Even if you want to buy in, they don’t sell translations to others. "
"What about the other two?"
"There are also two purely private commercial voice acting companies. There are great gods gathered in it, including the royal voice actor of a Disney protagonist, and the Hong Kong film emperor … but they have both bashed their heads in and bled to have the chance to take the spot."
As a result, this last road was also blocked.
Tan Yiming didn't want to miss this precious opportunity. He had been trying to find a way out, but after looking, returned to where he began like a ghost hitting a wall.
Only the glittering shortcut remained in front of him.
The second son also said, "In addition to the invitation letter, those commercial dubbing companies also have the basic background and introduction. I inquired, and found that the game code is ‘Q’ and the setting is in the future. Among the protagonists, the male Chinese character is a thirty-something-year old astronaut who is lost in space during the mission to land on Mars! Such a brilliant setting, no wonder those big businesses and bosses are so excited."
Just like actors wanted to encounter a good script; as a voice actor, each CV sincerely hoped to be able to challenge a unique role.
Even if the second son was not able to provide much information, the more one listened to it, the more fascinated it was.
The second son asked with pity, "I really can't help you here ... Where are you, can you hug a big guy's thigh and hand over a resume or something?"
In the face of his old-friend-of-many-years’ inquiries, Tan Yiming couldn't help but confess his troubles and concerns this time.
He never mentioned this matter to others from beginning to end, and even George and Xiaorui didn’t know the deal Yao Tin privately proposed.
For a long time, Tan Yiming had been bearing this pressure alone, but sometimes, he also wanted to unload his baggage and take a deep breath.
The second son listened with a stunned expression, and suddenly slammed her thigh, shouting, "F*ck, isn't that laoniang's favorite crispy duck setting! A talented, good-looking actor without a good script can only accept the unspoken rules of the golden master in tears! "
[T/N: Laoniang= this old lady, like referring to yourself highly (because generation is rank). Basically equivalent to laozi (I, your father). Crispy duck is kind of an online term for gay.]
"..." Tan Yiming said, "I'm hanging up."
"Wait!" The second son hurriedly stopped. "I'm kidding! I don't know about you, but it seems to me that you can’t accept this condition yet and still need to discuss it with me."
Tan Yiming murmured ‘en’.
"But, honestly... Are you really, really, really really not a little bit moved?" The second son whispered, "We are not children anymore, this is the adult society, and things like unspoken rules, transparent ceilings, etc., have always existed. "
"..."
"Listening to your narrative, I feel that Yao Yin is a very good person in all aspects. A person like him must not have suffered any setbacks. The more you refuse, the more interested he is in you." She said, "If you want the opportunity, I say that you just have a good relationship with him. After all, you aren’t suffering if you associate with him, but taking advantage. If you grow any feelings, that’s a good thing; if you have no emotions, then you will break up. It doesn't matter. "
Tan Yiming was shocked speachless, he did not expect that the other party would give such advice.
This was like some black chicken soup that he had seen before—there were no fairy tales in the adult world, only truth. It was precisely because the second son treated Tan Yiming as a true friend that she could tell him the truth that ‘interests come first’.
[T/N: black chicken soup: the opposite of chicken soup (which is warm, cringey stories).]
After all, from the moment Tan Yiming stepped into society, he needed to learn to make a choice. Family, career, love ... were all things to choose from.
In fact, every time the road in front of Tan Yiming was blocked, the moral stone in his heart loosened.
He thought that it seemed that he was just another ordinary person struggling among all the living beings.
...
Because of the impact of this matter, Tan Yiming's working condition was severely impacted. His mind often wandered during meetings, and he made frequent mistakes while in the studio.
Later, he simply took a day off and slept in the dorm for a day.
It was almost dusk after he woke up; George just came from class and was surprised to see him in the dormitory.
"You didn’t go to work today?" George, such a straight man, didn’t realize that he was in a bad mood recently. He happily said, "It just so happens that we were issued two tickets for a musical tonight. Xiaorui doesn’t have time, so would you like to watch it with me?"
"What is it about?" Tan Yiming asked in a spirited manner.
"Let me see the details ..." George took out the brochure and turned it over. "Oh, the story is: after graduating from a prestigious school, the male protagonist who cannot pursue his dream nor find work moves to a cheap shared apartment, and then meets a bunch of friends like him who also can't pursue their dreams nor find jobs. "
Tan Yiming had every reason to suspect that everything in this world was going against him.
"... Why did you guys issue such a ticket?"
"Who knows." George shrugged. "Maybe we're afraid that we won't find a job after graduation. Give it a shot first?"
Tan Yiming raised an eyebrow: "How can you not find a job as a high-achieving PhD student in Computer Science?"
"You can't say that. After all, there is always a gap between dreams and reality." George said, "Not all doctoral students in computer science can enter Google FB as soon as they graduate. Most people just live a busy life and eventually lose sight of their dreams, forgetting their ambitions, and moving from one small company to another. With good fortune, I can get an opportunity in an independent company; with lesser fortune, I will return to China for a few years for food to eat... Life is so short, and there are so many fleeting opportunities; if you miss them, you really can’t catch them again.”
"..." Tan Yiming licked his dry lips and asked, "What time is it?"
"What?"
"The musical, what time is it and what is it called?"
“At seven in the evening, and it’s called Avenue Q."
Tan Yiming reacted.
He asked, "Is there a famous song in this musical called “If You Were Gay”?"
Half a month ago, he sang this song with the little swan at the Spring Festival Song Festival. Obviously, only 15 days had passed, but his relaxed mood at that time could not be recalled at all.
"Well! I really don't know." ‘The steel straight man’ George replied, "But there is a song in this play called “The Internet is for Porn”!"
[T/N: Warning, the song is a little inappropriate.]
"..."
Tan Yiming thought, ‘What kind of musical is this…’
----------
The author has something to say: Tan Yiming and Cai Cai are facing different dilemmas at different ages.
Cai Cai is still in his adolescence. His main dilemma is himself. The fourth act, Billy Elliot, focuses on how he re-understands himself and learns to dance again.
Tan Yiming is an adult who has already stepped into society. The dilemma he is facing is external, the self-realization of his life value, and how to face temptation.
And Yao Yin represents this ‘temptation’.
Everyone stay calm, everything has its own consequences.
***
Lol I was half expecting Rent to pop up. But Avenue Q's the internet is for porn is the first song I've heard from that. Also ugh I can relate so much to ML who is torn with staying in an industry that is overworked and underpaid while having the luxury of an option to work on a corporate setting. And now that he's chosen to pursue his passion, it's so hard to move forward when you're just an ordinary person from an ordinary family. Wish I'm a fuerdai like some of my friends
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