Chapter 43

Act VI: The Little Prince (5)

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[Yiming Qingyun: Also, I love you.]

Xiang Cai’s wrist shook, and the phone fell from the inside of the desk to the ground, making a loud noise.

The originally quiet atmosphere in the self-study class was broken. Teacher Chu Ping raised her eyebrows, picked up a piece of chalk, and threw it in a beautiful parabola that accurately landed in the center of Xiang Cai’s forehead, instantly leaving a bright red mark.

Xiang Cai hurriedly lowered his eyebrows and made an expression of studying hard. He secretly bent down and quietly picked up his mobile phone again.

guess: I don't remember how to say ‘I love you’.

He was lying.

guess: Actually my Russian is very below average.

He was still lying.

guess: I'm in class now, and it's not convenient for me to speak to you.

This sentence was not a lie.

Wang Qingyun sent a smiley face, saying that it was okay, and that he was about to get in the car, they could chat again later.

Xiang Cai sighed carefully in relief.

The simple three words "I love you" were now less and less spoken. Everyone knew that this was the most solemn of promises. It was the most lethal arrow in Cupid's hand. No one dared to pull the bowstring before the critical moment.

It was strange that when the words "I love you" were changed to another language, it seemed to become a lot ‘lighter’.

It was no longer a confession between lovers, but an innocent joke among friends.

But Xiang Cai didn't want to treat it as a joke.

The boy blushed and saved the phrase "I love you" sent by Wang Qingyun, and ended up having a sweet dream that night without his consent.

There were two protagonists in this beautiful dream.

...

It turned out that this dream is not so easy.

At 4:45 in the morning, before the wake-up bell rang, Xiang Cai rose up from the bed and rushed into the bathroom. He didn't even turn on the lights. He dragged the washbasin in the dark and dipped all the sheets in his arms into the water.

If it weren't for the basin being too small, he would have liked to get himself into the water.

His ears were red and scorching hot. He seemed to be standing in a crater of a volcano that was about to erupt, and when the vibrations began struck, his body shook up and down with it.

But soon, he realized that it wasn't an earthquake—it was because his heartbeat was too fast, which gave him an illusion in the silent late night.

The sound of the flowing water awakened the other classmates in the dormitory. The boy who slept to Xiang Cai’s right yawned drowsily, got out of bed swaying, and pushed open the door of the bathroom.

"Xiang Cai, what are you washing at night?"

After a crackling sound, the gas bulb above their heads was instantly lit, and the dazzling light spilled into the small bathroom.

Under the bright light, the teenager wearing only thin pajamas squatted there with a look of panic, and the sheets soaking in the basin could not be hidden at all.

Xiang Cai: "..."

Dormmate: "..."

Xiang Cai: "I ... you ... you listen to me ..."

The roommate shook his head and shouted, "F*ck, brothers! Don't go back to sleep yet!!! Our little ballet prince’s spring has come!!!!!!"

Xiang Cai: "!!!"

Three minutes later, the entire dormitory was brightly lit. The roommates, like a group of uncivilized cannibals who were about to sacrifice someone, "lifted" Xiang Cai out of the bathroom.

Someone scratched his waist and neck, and another squeezed the soles of his feet, trying to draw out a confession from him - who was this peerless beauty that he had dreamed of? 

School life was generally boring. For these restless adolescent boys, the topic of "sex" was always the best choice used to tease one another and to light the flames against boredom.

In fact, as long as Xiang Cai casually threw out the name of a female star, he could escape. But his head had already become a mass of paste, and he just clenched his teeth, refusing to reveal the name of his sweetheart.

The fair-skinned boy was flushed with shame throughout his face, and two tears hung from the corners of his eyes. He was staring at his roommates in anger and shame, but this look only made the matter worse, causing the others’ mischievous desires to intensify.

A roommate said: "Don't be shy, Xiang Cai! I know, did you copy Teacher Cang's teaching film from Chen Ziran? He is the famous film king in our dormitory building!"

Xiang Cai did not understand: "Teacher Cang's teaching film?"

"..." The roommate screamed, "No way! Which planet did this little prince land from, you don’t even know the most famous Teacher Cang on earth?"

The roommate hurriedly threw out a few more familiar names, only in exchange for Xiang Cai’s increasingly blank expression.

However, Xiang Cai’s IQ was still online. When he heard his roommates screaming these names, he immediately realized the real “career” of those “teachers”.

He struggled to free himself from them, turned, and ran straight to the bathroom. He ran through the door, locked it, and blocked the door with all his strength, so that those uncivilized orangutans could not see his heated face. He just wanted to wash his sheets in the basin.

He leaned back against the door, refuting loudly: "I haven't seen Huang ... Huang ... what’s weird about that!"

The voice of a roommate came from the door: "Little prince, don't be embarrassed to admit it, which man in this world doesn't like a good-looking beauty with big breasts?"

"..." Xiang Cai stared at the bubbling sheets in the basin and thought, ‘This man! I don’t like it’.

At this moment, Xiang Cai realized in hindsight that he was different from others.

‘They pursue girls, and i pursue boys.’

‘They like good-looking women, while I am obsessed with a voice, who's owner I have never met.’

It turned out that he was incompatible with them.

At such a "critical" moment, Xiang Cai was inexplicably distracted.

His thoughts fluttered, and actually drifted to The Little Prince that he had just watched before bedtime.

The little prince met the snake who seemed to be very lonely and asked why the snake was by himself?

"But I am lonely among others, too," said the snake.

To Xiang Cai, it seemed that he was also lonely among others.

...

This morning, Xiang Cai was harassed in the bathroom by his roommates, and there was still a basin of sheets waiting to be cleaned in front of him.

Today he still did not understand the little prince.

However, he understood the snake.

※

The day in Silicon Valley began busily.

Tan Yiming ate breakfast, went downstairs to meet the other candidates, and then took the bus to Blizzard Entertainment.

On the bus, nearly seventy candidates from six countries got together and checked each other out.

Tan Yiming was surrounded by fellow Chinese compatriots.

From China’s big and small voice-acting circles, those who could get an official place to enter the door of Blizzard Entertainment were basically the famous "number one man" in the industry.

Being from the same industry, the ten people had cooperated together before and were all familiar with each other. After they've met, they talked and laughed, becoming close once more.
 

One of them said: "Oh my English level is not good, don’t make fun of me."

Another said, "I'm out here on a government trip on public expense. I’m going to buy a bag for my wife, and a few skincare products."

No matter how many dark tides were hidden underneath their friendly exchanges, they were at least good brothers on the surface.

Compared with the others, Tan Yiming was the most out of place.

He looked very young, with a temperament between a student and a working man. He was fluent in English and could not only understand the materials sent out without any problems, but could also communicate smoothly with the staff.

The main thing was, unlike the other 'ten people', he was a new face.

Sitting next to Tan Yiming was a man in his early thirties who had good characteristics, a good voice with a low magnetic tone. He took the initiative to reach out to Tan Yiming, and smiled, saying, "Little brother, my name is Xiao Qing, from Zeng Yinan's studio. Which company are you from and why haven't I seen you before?"

"It turns out that you are Teacher Xiao, I’ve long admired you." Tan Yiming held the man's hand and shook it firmly.

Xiao Qing was a well-known predecessor in the industry. He was not only the official voice actor of a certain Hong Kong film emperor, but also participated in a lot of Hollywood productions.
 

Fortunately, Tan Yiming's psychological quality was very strong. He did not feel intimidated by  his strong opponents, but it instead aroused his competitiveness.

"I'm not from any company," Tan Yiming said. "I got in with a letter of recommendation from Ms. Ikeda, the head of the animation department."

"Oh ..." Xiao Qing smiled meaningfully, who knew whether it was true or not. "Amazing."

Tan Yiming nodded: "Well, I really am amazing."

"..."

...

The three-day closed assessment was fully arranged, and not one second was wasted.

On the morning of the first day, they visited several major departments of Blizzard Entertainment and met with the main game chief of "q", Zhu Mei.

In the afternoon, everyone turned in their mobile phones and watched the game demo of "q" in the conference room, also receiving detailed character background introductions according to the different roles.

There was a full two-page character setting, and even the protagonist's family members were covered.

Wang Qiang, a 32-year-old Chinese soldier, was once a fighter pilot who later became an astronaut. When landing on Mars, he unexpectedly encountered a Martian storm, which eventually caused the landing to fail. He ended up in outer space. When he finally returned to Earth after thousands of hardships, he found that hundreds of years had already passed by. Earth was devastated by evil alien creatures, and the people he once loved had already turned into ashes. All he could do was to take up arms against those evil aliens who destroyed earth.

Wang Qiang was good at operating all means of transportation. And because he had been exposed to cosmic radiation, his body was hardened. He was now so strong that he could tear open his armor with his bare hands.

Someone in the crowd yelled, " This is no ordinary Chinese astronaut? Obviously, he is 'Captain China'."

For the audition, each candidates were only given eight lines to showcase their talents. They had to dub in both Chinese and English. Those eight lines were designed to exhibit their acting and vocal prowess through panic, distress, and resolution.

The auditions for Japan, the United States, and France were set for the morning of the next day, whilst the auditions for China, Russia, and the West were set for the afternoon. Each person had only ten minutes of exhibition time. There could be two recording opportunities within that ten minutes. The final results early in the morning of the third day.

The schedule was very tight, but Tan Yiming didn't feel even a little nervous.

He stood there, on the ready, so he wouldn’t allow himself to think of retreating.

***

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