Chapter 52

Act VII: Fan Letter (4)

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This weekend, Xiang Cai and Cen Manchuan had a date.

Xiang Cai bought two ntlive tickets and made an appointment with Cen Manchuan to meet directly at the subway station.

[T/N: ntlive = National Theatre Live, which is explained later.]

Because Cen Manchuan was now an interning teacher in an elementary school, he lived in a dormitory arranged by the school, and because Xiang Cai was busy with his graduation musical, during their two months together, the two seldom met.

Because it was so difficult for them to finally go on a date, both people cherished this opportunity.

On the phone, Cen Manchuan asked, "Live? What live?"

Xiang Cai answered, "It’s the ‘25th Year Anniversary of Les Miserables’, tickets are very difficult to grab but my trusted friend managed to grab two of the best seats in the house for us."

Cen Manchuan said quickly: "Then I will dress up well and definitely live up to the two tickets you've grabbed!"

Xiang Cai laughed: "Okay, then I look forward to the cool and handsome appearance of Teacher Cen."

In a flash, it was the weekend.

When Xiang Cai walked out of the subway station, he saw his boyfriend leaning on the red motorcycle, waiting for him.

Cen Manchuan was like a huge luminous body. He stood in the most prominent place of the subway station exit. Everyone passing by Cen Manchuan subconsciously turned their head to stare at him, and there were even some daring people secretly lifted up their mobile phones to take photos of him.

The reason why Cen Manchuan was so prominent was not because he was handsome and tall, but because—

"How can you dress like this?" Xiang Cai smirked. In this hot summer, his boyfriend was dressed as a walking feather duster. He wore a colorful Indian-style robe with sequins and feathers, and a row of English was written on his face with colored paint. Only when he got closer could he see the writing: ‘We Will Rock U’.

Cen Manchuan looked like a big dog who had done wrong. He watched the passersby coming and going vigilantly, and whispered, "Didn’t you say that we’re watching a live concert ... Why isn't anyone around holding glow sticks and light signs?."

Xiang Cai knew what he had misunderstood.

Xiang Cai couldn't help but explain: "It's ntlive, not live! Simply put, it is to record a foreign musical and introduce it like a movie, letting it play on the big screen."

ntlive was a non-profit performance broadcasting program for cultural promotion established in the UK since 2010. When there were musicals and dramas in the West End, there would be more than a dozen cameras recording it on the scene. After editing, the effect would be similar to that of a movie.

And Les Miserables was an enduring classic musical. During its 25th anniversary, it once held a commemorative concert at the London Coliseum. All the actors gathered to sing all the classic tracks in the musical. Today, Xiang Cai and Cen Manchuan had come to see such a ‘concert’.

"... So it's like this." The physical education teacher who didn't pass his culture class scratched his head and said frustratedly, "I thought that this rock band's name sounded so sad, it's actually called Les Miserables. No wonder it debuted for 25 years and is still not popular..."

This was not the first time Cen Manchuan had made such a joke.

The worlds of the two of them were too far apart, and Cen Manchuan still hadn’t figured out yet, how exactly did he fold down Xiang Cai, this flower?

Seeing him downcast, Xiang Cai quickly apologized: "Sorry, I didn't make it clear."

"How can I blame you? If I searched it on Baidu in advance, I wouldn’t have made such a blunder."

"It's my fault. I hadn’t fulfilled a boyfriend's obligation to remind you."

"No, no, no, it's me, this old hat, can mix up musicals and concerts."

[T/N: old hat (as a way to describe someone?) = someone who is ignorant and can’t keep up.]

They took turns apologizing for a long time, and then finally laughed with each other at the same time.

Xiang Cai thought he was very cute when frustrated, so he stood on tiptoe and touched his furry head. He accidentally received a hand of gold glitter.

"..." Xiang Cai thought, Teacher Cen literally was dressed up from head to toes.

The theater was only a short distance from the subway station, and the small motorcycle was so fast that it reached its destination in less than ten minutes.

When entering the court, Cen Manchuan really caught the attention of many people. There were many female spectators coming to the scene, and Cen Manchuan was 1.95 meters tall, so it was as if he was standing in a flock of chickens. Many girls were watching him secretly.

Cen Manchuan was dejected, and even the sequin feathers on his body were dim: "Do they all think I'm ridiculous?"

"How come," Xiang Cai took his hand and comforted him, "They’re just peeping at you because they think you are handsome."

After entering the venue, the two took their tickets and sat in a prominent position in the center of the theater.

Cen Manchuan was so tall that even when he sat down, his head stood up, blocking the view of the rear audience.

A few girls behind them whispered, "What can I do, this person is so tall, I can't see anything."

Cen Manchuan listened, and hurriedly hunched, curling up his long legs with grievance. His upper body also buckled.

After thinking for a while, Xiang Cai said, "Otherwise, you can lean on my shoulder. It will be more comfortable."

So, Cen Manchuan immediately leaned happily on his boyfriend's shoulder.

As a result, the girls behind were even more unhappy.

"Well!" They said, "Why did we come to see this sad musical, but also have to endure this dog food?"

Xiang Cai: "..."

The whole live was about three hours. Less than half an hour after the opening time, Cen Manchuan on Xiang Cai’s shoulder already made long breathing sounds.

When Xiang Cai looked towards his side, as expected, Cen Manchuan had his eyes closed and was sleeping soundly.

As he fell asleep, he breathed deeply, and the feathers on his chest fluctuated in sync. The English rock words on his face were actually written with luminous pigments, shining brightly in the dark place. Xiang Cai felt helpless and somewhat affectionate. He wrapped his coat around him, worried that he would catch a cold because of the air conditioner.

Three hours passed by.

When the last "Do You Hear The People Sing" sounded, all the audience in the theater joined the chorus, everyone laughing, crying, and singing loudly. Xiang Cai was excited, dreaming that one day he would be able to appear on such a great and brilliant stage, that he would be starring in this masterpiece.

The applause awakened Cen Manchuan. He stumbled and stood up suddenly. Before he could figure out what was happening, he was applauding along with everyone else in a daze.

He was a bit light-headed but felt that his sleep was exceptionally sweet, his nose still haunted by the soft smell of his boyfriend.

He still had a red mark on his face, and dazedly followed Xiang Cai to leave the theater.

Xiang Cai asked, "Are you tired recently?"

"No, not tired ..." Cen Manchuan blushed. He fell asleep because he was really not interested in musicals. His usual favorite genre was the kind of popcorn movies that bombed wildly. The actors he admired were muscular tough guys like Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.

He hadn’t had a long relationship with Xiang Cai, and had been trying to find a balance between each other's hobbies. Xiang Cai had watched The King of the Circus with him before. The actor was his favorite muscular male Wolverine in the form of Xiang Cai’s favorite musical.

Unfortunately, he still looked drowsy in such works. Cen Manchuan must admit that he may indeed be an artistic insulator.

"It's okay, if you don't want to watch it, you don't have to force yourself." Xiang Cai said understandably. "I can't understand basketball or football. Everyone has something that they are not interested in."

Cen Manchuan felt even more guilty. Although Xiang Cai was not interested in the movement of several men chasing a ball, he would not fall half asleep.

After the two walked out of the theater, they went to a nearby restaurant for dinner.

This restaurant had a romantic setting and was a great place for couples to date. The lead waiter saw the two men come to eat dinner together, and inevitably took a few more glances.

The domestic climate was conservative, but Cen Manchuan was unfazed by the many gazes of those around him.

After the two ordered their meals, Cen Manchuan pulled out his mobile phone and called his friends to play games. Who knew why, but after knocking out the first little boss in the dungeon, he suddenly had a stomach cramp and left for the bathroom.

The bathroom signal was poor. If he dropped out, he would definitely be a pit teammate. Before leaving, Cen Manchuan threw his phone to Xiang Cai and asked him to continue the game for him. 

Xiang Cai asked in a panic, "How can I do that?"

Cen Manchuan was anxious: "I have taught you several times, how can you still not learn! Just press this, press this, and this. When you finally see that the boss’ blood is almost gone, then hit this, this and this."

"..." Without waiting for Xiang Cai to figure out which one ‘this’ was, Cen Manchuan had run away holding his stomach.

In King's Canyon, Xiang Cai faced the mobile phone in a desperate state, not knowing what to do to keep his boyfriend alive.

Fortunately, although he was not strong, his teammates were very strong.

Xiang Cai hid in the last row and paddled all the way. He was really lucky to get to the final round.

[T/N: paddling means to not really participate, or be lazy in a game, and just let the teammates carry you.]

Also known as: a lying win.

Seeing the words "You Win!" Popping up on the screen, Xiang Cai breathed a sigh of relief, and found that his palms were sweaty. He felt that playing a game was more laborious than performing on stage.

He was about to go offline, when a message popped out of his teammates channel.

@Hairy thighs: Stupid, are you here?

@Hairy thighs: Are you there, stupid?

@Hairy thighs: Talk back, Talk back, Talk back.

@Hairy thighs: F*ck, are you really angry with your grandpa?

@Hairy thighs: Should I apologize?

@Hairy thighs: If we have a contradiction to solve offline, do you really need to play paddling?

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

What was the matter with this person?

Xiang Guai knew this ‘Hairy thighs’. He was Cen Manchuan’s classmate since junior high school, who trained in long distance running. Because of his surname Mao, Cen Manchuan kindly called him Hairy thighs [T/N: Mao Datui].

Xiang Cai knew that it was the daily life of contemporary male college students to scold each other and call themselves grandpa and dad. He didn’t want to rush into his boyfriend's circle of friends.

When he just thought of quitting the game, WeChat popped up automatically, and the page that stayed turned out to be a private chat between Cen Manchuan and Hairy thighs.

Looking at the time, the last sentence was from twenty minutes ago.

Hairy hairy hairy thighs: smash, what have you been doing recently?

Teacher Cen: What are your father and I doing these days? You wouldn’t know. You, the child, were brought to play in the elementary school.

Hairy hairy hairy thighs: I asked you something!

Teacher Cen: If you have any questions, grandpa can answer your 100,000 whys.

[T/N: Referring to a youth science book called One hundred thousand whys]

Seeing this, Xiang Cai couldn't hold back a laugh.

Hairy hairy hairy thighs: Roll, don't take advantage of Laozi.

Hairy hairy hairy thighs: What, I heard Old Gao ...

Hairy hairy hairy thighs: Have you been abnormal recently?

Teacher Cen: ?

Teacher Cen: How have I been abnormal recently?

Hairy hairy hairy thighs: Just that.

Teacher Cen: ...

Teacher Cen: F*ck.

Teacher Cen: You are the f*cking abnormal one.

Teacher Cen: I still have to do a few more papers. I'm almost graduated but I haven’t passed the make-up exam.

Teacher Cen: Don't pay attention to who’s on your father's bed.

Seeing this, how could Xiang Cai not understand it?

Homosexuality was a minority, after all, and for most people, this was still an "unspeakable" thing.

Homosexuality was not surprising in Xiang Cai’s field of culture and art. His sexuality did not affect his interpersonal relationships. Even after he had contacted the basketball captain of the sports university, many girls still ran to "take lessons" from him.

On the other hand, Cen Manchuan, a sports student, faced far more pressure than him. Basketball was a group confrontation sport. Before playing, it was normal for teams to trash talk each other. This was a place that placed too much emphasis on "male hormones". As the captain, Cen Manchuan suddenly dated a boy of the same sex. How many people look at him differently because of this?

Hairy hairy hairy thighs: Don’t your brothers care about you?

Hairy hairy hairy thighs: And your former girlfriends were all white and beautiful with long legs.

Hairy hairy hairy thighs: You have suddenly become gay, can't dad care about your mental health?

Teacher Cen: Laozi’s boyfriend is still white and long-legged.

Teacher Cen: You care about my mental health so much. You might as well go to the hospital for treatment of early baldness and premature ejaculation.

Hairy hairy hairy thighs: Have you taken gunpowder medicine?

Hairy hairy hairy thighs: Roll, I’ll beat you next Saturday.

Hairy hairy hairy thighs: At 2 o'clock in the afternoon, we’re playing at the South Gate Stadium. The brothers we haven’t seen in a long time will all be together.

Hairy hairy hairy thighs: I haven’t taught you a good lesson, you even dare stand up to your dad.

Teacher Cen: Can I bring someone?

Hairy hairy hairy thighs: Bring a fart, we won’t even take it.

Hairy hairy hairy thighs: A group of big men playing, what girl can you call?

Teacher Cen: My target is also the old man.

Hairy hairy hairy thighs: F*ck, that's even more forbidden!

Teacher Cen: Then I won't go.

[T/N: Sorry I can’t]

The last conversation ended with two fools throwing a bunch of shit emoticons at each other.

After reading this conversation, Xiang Cai was confused but could get the gist of it from all the clues.

He just learned that Cen Manchuan had been with a girl before dating him.

He just learned that in the eyes of Cen Manchuan's friends, having a boyfriend was synonymous with abnormalities.

He had a mixed taste in his heart—if he hadn't met him, Cen Manchuan could have had a life script that looked perfect to his other brothers.

Xiang Cai locked the phone screen and put it on the table.

At the same time, he also threw the words "abnormal" and "ill" together into the distance.

He was a very qualified actor. He was very good at hiding his mind. When he posed with a smiling face, Cen Manchuan, the silly straight man, couldn’t see the waves under the calm water.

When Cen Manchuan returned to his seat, the dishes were already served.

While blowing off the steam, he peeled the shrimp for Xiang Cai.

He asked, "Where shall we go next weekend?"

"..." Xiang Cai remembered the chat record he just saw, held his chopsticks still, and said, "Chen Ziran has a show to be recorded next week. He told me to go and be his cheerleader. Sorry, I can't be with you."

"Ah, it's all right!" Cen Manchuan said. "It’s just perfect, thigh and Old Gao asked me to go play, so I'll go with them."

"Yeah." Xiang Cai gave him meat with his chopsticks and pushed it into his bowl. "It’s a little too much after all, I’ll give it to you.”

※

In the outer room of the recording studio, Gu Liang took off the monitor headphones and made a gesture towards Tan Yiming in the studio.

After recording, Tan Yiming stepped out of the recording studio and took a sip of coffee from the table.

Gu Liang shouted, "Stop it! That's the coffee my wife lovingly made for me!"

Tan Yiming: "How could she do this herself, this clearly has the taste of Nestle Instant 1 + 1."

"The hot water she boiled with her own hands, even the hot water was made lovingly!" Gu Liang cried.

Gu Liang—or ‘Gu Yan’ —was Tan Yiming's first friend he dug up when he set up the studio.

Gu Liang had a good voice, the standard clear beauty that was full of temptation. His then-girlfriend used to plan for Jiuxiao, and she pulled him in to fill the pit. After marriage, the two had a baby, and they couldn't continue to take care of matters on the network.

After Tan Yiming returned to China, he desperately needed manpower, and threw an olive branch towards the couple. The cost of raising a child was too high and they were just ordinary employees of small state-owned enterprises who earned only a little bit of money each month. So, together, the couple resigned and jumped ship to become two generals under Tan Yiming.

Gu Liang was now the vocal director of Blockbuster Studio, while his wife, Ye Ye, was in charge of the business part and had multiple roles.

Gu Liang asked: "Old Tan, what's wrong with you recently? Why do you keep dazing out?" He tapped on the screen. "Look, it’s just a few words, but how many times have you dubbed it?”

Tan Yiming was silent for a while, then suddenly said, "I found him."

"He? Who?-Ah! You mean Guess?" Gu Liang was startled. "How did you find him?"

Gu Liang had an impression of Guess from five years ago. The child had a good voice and a good personality, especially his swan emoji packs, which still existed on his QQ.

At the farewell song meeting of Tan Yiming, after singing "Puisque c'est ma rose", Guess suddenly left without saying goodbye

He withdrew from the group, logged off Weibo, and deleted everyone's QQ, as if he was the little prince returning to his own little planet, disappearing silently from everyone's sight.

Only the songs and expressions left by him could prove that he really existed.

In recent years, Tan Yiming had been looking for the figure of Guess.

Gu Liang asked Tan Yiming, what was his relationship with Guess? Tan Yiming said he was a friend.

However, Gu Liang felt that if it was just a friend, it would be impossible for Tan Yiming to be so obsessed.

Now that Tan Yiming had found Guess, Gu Liang was really happy for him. "Isn't this a good thing? How do you say it—there is no unfinished business, only dogs who don't work hard enough!!!"

"..." Tan Yiming had a headache. "You have watched Special Agent Wangwang with your son too much".

"Barely." Gu Liang asked, "I got it now. Did you ask him why he left at that time and deleted everyone’s contact information?"

Tan Yiming replied: "...He was still a high school student at that time, he was too busy with his studies, and he deleted it without considering the second dimension."

He casually gave a fake reason. It was so fake that Gu Liang could hear that he was lying, but he just looked at his face and did not expose it.

Gu Liang was already an emotional person.

He vaguely guessed it, and tentatively asked, "Now that you have found Guess, you should be happy."

"... I also thought that I would be happy." Tan Yiming thought, he really should be happy.

He should be happy that he got what he wished for, that Cai Cai overcame his inferiority, for all those five years he had moved forward on the road of life—but in fact, Tan Yiming fell into a deeper sense of loss.

Within just a few days, he compiled all the information related to Xiang Cai that could be found on the Internet, and pieced together a story line for the past five years.

Douban, Weibo, and school posts. Everywhere he might appear, he turned over inch by inch.

He heard that there were many students from art colleges who liked to play "Tik Tok". He found one, and then found a lot of small videos in Huacheng Dance Academy.

It was all thanks to the Internet, and thanks to the children's desire to share things. Xiang Cai had a classmate who happened to be a Tik Tok celebrity, with 20,000 or 30,000 fans. He had updated frequently recently. Almost every day, he wanted to share small clips of their musical department’s graduation play.

In those clips, Tan Yiming saw a different Xiang Cai—not the Xiang Cai who was in the sequined skirt of that day, but a teenager Xiang Cai who was just like the other boys in his class. He was half-naked, wearing loose track pants, and dancing and singing in the classroom.

He and the other dancers stepped on the high-heeled boots and jumped on and off the table. The charming and deceptive person on the recent musical stage was not seen during these earlier amateur performances but he was still full of heart. Because of the intensity of the dance routines, his hair was always wet, he just had the vitality of a boy of his age.

However, Xiang Cai was not always in the little Tik Tok celebrity’s videos. Sometimes Xiang Cai only appeared in the corner for a second, but even so, Tan Yiming still took it seriously.

Younger colleagues were complaining to him, saying that he had become a strange middle-aged uncle who browsed Learning to Sound Like a Cat every day on Tik Tok.

[T/N: Learning to Meow or Learning to Sound Like a Cat is a Chinese song with a notoriously bad reputation especially on Tik Tok]

Tan Yiming thought that it was obviously Learning to Sound Like a Swan. It was true that they were "quack quack quacking" together.

Gu Liang saw Tan Yiming inexplicably fall into his own world and sighed helplessly.

Many times, the authorities were fans. As an outsider, he had to wait patiently for the development of things. The paper window should be ripped by the involved parties themselves. The help of outsiders would only be counterproductive.

Just then, there was a knock on the door of the studio.

Ye Ye’s head came through the crack in the door, she blew a kiss towards her husband, and then turned to Tan Yiming.

"Leader." Ye Ye said, "Just now, the program group of Sound In The Ear contacted me and said that they would like to invite our group next week. I saw that the appearance fee is okay, and it is good publicity. You see... ? "

Ye Ye was the company's commercial director, and she had to check related program cooperation.

Now the commercial dubbing industry was gradually moving from behind the scenes to the stage. Many commercial voice actors also had their own fan groups. Well-known commercial dubbing companies such as Blockbuster Studio had previously received invitations from a multitude of variety shows to invite them on.

"Oh oh, this show is very popular now!" Gu Liang said, "Xiao Qing took a few kids from Zeng Yinan Studio before. This is a show where the voice actor dubs on the spot, and several stars will be invited ... If its the old voice actors, then its fine, those traffic stars will basically only be rubbed into the ground."

Tan Yiming nodded: "Okay, Ye Ye, if you think it's worth it, then send a few people."

Ye Ye: "Aren't you going this time?"

"No. I’m not the only CV in our company, give the children below some more opportunities to show their faces." He turned to Gu Liang, "If you are free, take the team."

Gu Liang asked his wife, "Do you know who the celebrities are? I won't go if there are those bastards."

"Bastards"—referred to those stupid traffic stars who said that their lines were unfavorable and could only memorize nonsense from their agents.

"..." Ye Ye showed a helpless smile, "There’s the first place person of the list of people you’ll never dub in your life— Chen Ziran.”

"!!!" Gu Liang immediately changed his face. "No, I will accompany my son to the Lego class."

In fact, he hadn't seen Chen Ziran himself, but was directly in the studio with Chen Ziran's agent at that time. Since then, the name Chen Ziran had been blacklisted by him.

Seeing that the couple was arguing about it, Tan Yiming sighed and said, "Is it Chen Ziran? ... I'll go."

Even if he could no longer approach Xiang Cai, it was good to be able to get closer to the people around him.

***

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