Chapter 73

Act IX: The Secret That Cannot be Told (7)

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Due to the weather, all flights to Huacheng were delayed.

Xiang Cai’s plane hovered in the sky for a long time before it riskily landed at Huacheng Airport.

Xiang Cai came out in a hurry, with only a small suitcase. He rushed out of the pick-up lane, and the driver of a black car immediately came over to stop the passengers. He claimed to be a regular Didi driver, but his price was two or three times higher than taxi fares.

"Young man, let's go!" The driver of the black car graciously went to grab Xiang Cai’s bag for him. He was tall and big, with a stern face. A string of wooden beads hung around his neck, and a small bracelet made of walnut encircled his wrist. He seemed enthusiastic, but had a faintly strong buying and selling stance. "This price really isn’t asking much. If you don't believe me, go and ask. Now you’ll have to queue at least an hour for a taxi. I can see that you have something urgent, so get in my car!”

With that, the driver of the black car dragged Xiang Cai to the parking lot.

At that moment, a male voice rang behind them.

"Brother, you can work, but you can't justify intercepting another person’s guest, right?" As he said this, the man's hand pressed over, and he directly retrieved Xiang Cai’s suitcase from the black car’s driver.

"You..." The driver of the black car looked back and saw that the man behind him was tall and straight, and he didn't look like his ‘fellow comrade’.

The airport was a very special place, and the driver of the black car was familiar with others whose jobs were to pick up passengers. However, this one in front of him was indeed a new face.

The driver of the black car asked suspiciously, "...Do you run a Didi?"

"No." The man smiled, "I am a Huolala."

Black car’s driver: "???"

The man turned his head aside to the silent Xiang Cai: "This is my old customer."

Xiang Cai: "..."

Man: "Right, old customer?"

Xiang Cai: "Yes." He said helplessly, "Thank you, you’ve worked hard in coming to pick me up."

Tan Yiming laughed, and with one hand on Xiang Cai’s shoulder and the other holding his suitcase, he led him away from the driver of the black car's sight.

Tan Yiming’s car was parked in the underground garage. Xiang Cai’s plane had been delayed for over three hours, so Tan Yiming waited for over three hours in the airport reception hall.

He knew that Xiang Cai was going to be on stage in a while, and fearing that he would not have time to eat, ran to the nearby convenience store and bought two sandwiches and a bottle of coffee. He didn't think that after only a few minutes, Xiang Cai would almost be robbed by another driver.

Tan Yiming asked triumphantly: "Have I saved the princess from the evil dragon?"

Xiang Cai asked: “If I am the princess, then what are you?"

Tan Yiming felt that this question was fraudulent, but couldn't figure out where the pit was. He could only follow along and say, "Uh...I am a prince or a knight?"

Xiang Cai turned out a red hat from who-knows-where, and then put it on Tan Yiming’s head: "I think you are a Super Mario."

The car started and drove out of the airport, slowly following the flow of traffic.

It was still raining outside the window, and the windshield wipers swayed from side to side. They had just wiped it clean, but soon, they were blurred by the rain.

Xiang Cai’s cell phone kept ringing, and the news in his work group spit out notifications without stopping for a moment.

After a while, the producer called and hurriedly asked where Xiang Cai was.

"I’ve just gotten off the plane...En, en...It had been delayed for several hours...Well, I know that there is no time for a rehearsal... Please take me with Sister Yan'er... Well, um, don’t worry, I’m already in a car...No...A friend came to pick me up...we are almost there now—"

Tan Yiming listened with his ears upright, and immediately added: "—I'm going quickly, just past the fifth ring."

So Xiang Chai obediently said to the phone: "I'm going quickly, just past the fifth ring."

Tan Yiming added: "There is a traffic jam, expect to arrive in over an hour."

So Xiang Chai parroted: "The road is very congested in front of us, it will take more than an hour for me to arrive."

The producer on the phone urged him with a few words, and he honestly answered the questions one by one. After talking back and forth for over ten minutes, the call was hung up.

Tan Yiming asked: "Your leader?"

"It's the producer." Xiang Cai sighed, "I originally booked myself the earliest flight today, planning to arrive at the theater by noon and still have time to mingle with the crew. I didn’t think because of a plane delay, I wouldn’t have time for rehearsal. I’ll need to hurry up and put on makeup."

Although everyone's scripts were the same, each actor had a different understanding of the role and would incorporate their own style when performing.

For example, Xiang Cai’s male lead was a bit more young and vigorous; but the injured man’s male lead had a mature and romantic performance style...It was precisely the different interpretations of the cast members that attracted the audience to buy tickets and walk in again and again.

Sister Yan’er, the female protagonist of the North China tour group, was a signed artist of Happy Pancake, and she was also the first card of the show [?]. Xiang Cai was inevitably nervous about acting with her; he was worried that he would underperform and be suppressed by her light live onstage, letting the audience down.

Hearing his worries, Tan Yiming was quite surprised: "So you are also afraid before going onstage?"

"Who is not afraid?" Xiang Cai said lightly, "I am afraid that I will forget my lines, I am afraid I will sing out of tune, I am afraid that I will not jump high enough, I am afraid I am not good enough... Every time I stand under the spotlight, I am actually afraid. I'm afraid I can't give life to the character, I'm afraid I can't bring the audience to think deeply... But it is also because of these fears that I have the motivation to spur myself, step by step to where I am today."

This was not only fear, but also a kind of awe of the stage. Only after crossing the abyss could he reach the peak.

Xiang Cai suddenly asked, "Have you ever been afraid of the microphone?"

"I have never been afraid of the microphone. After all, we stand in a soundproof room when we record. There is nothing but our own voices and the images in front of us, and our error tolerance rate is much higher than yours. It is no big deal to re-record wrong lines..." Tan Yiming paused and smiled sadly, "...But I'm afraid of the other things the microphone brings to me."

One could not escape fame and fortune in the adult world. The commercial voice-acting circle could be regarded as half-entertainment-circle, but there would be no less trouble.

Tan Yiming's original intention in starting the studio was just to dub with a group of like-minded friends. However, as the company got bigger and bigger, he found that he had less and less time left for dubbing, and his energy was more focused on company decision-making, professional performances, and various chores.

In addition to the identity of ‘CV Wang Qingyun’, he was still a dubbing director, Class Leader Tan, and a boss.

It made him even more dumbfounded: the commercial department submitted a feasibility report not long ago, suggesting that the entertainment department use the form of operating a fan support group to run Wang Qingyun’s fan base... He only took a glance at this report before he found it too spicy, hurriedly looking away.

He was just a voice actor, he hoped his fans loved him because of his voice, not because of other messy things.

After talking about this, Tan Yiming sighed. However, he didn't expect another sigh to sound beside him.

Tan Yiming was taken aback, and asked Xiang Cai: "Why are you sighing?"

Xiang Cai was also taken aback: "Did I sigh just now?"

"Of course!"

"Could it be that you got it wrong?"

"How? There is no third person in this car."

As soon as he finished speaking, the two fell silent at the same time.

Tan Yiming stared at the rear-view mirror, and Xiang Cai turned his head a little bit and looked at the backseat.

Fortunately - it was empty.

The two breathed a sigh of relief at the same time.

Tan Yiming said, "So you still won’t admit that you sighed!"

"If you want to blame someone, please blame yourself." Xiang Cai said angrily, "Sighs are contagious, you must have infected me!"

"Comrade Xiao Xiang, I have only heard that a cold can be contagious, this is the first time I’m hearing that sighs are contagious!"

The two bickered all the way, and the dull atmosphere from just then unknowingly washed away.

The car sped along the highway and quickly turned off the fourth ring road. Because of the heavy rain, the city was very congested. The radio jumped through several stations, all of which were talking about the heavy rain.

It was better to listen to music than listen to talking.

Xiang Cai felt bored, so he took out his phone and connected it to the car stereo.

Tan Yiming originally thought that Xiang Cai would play excerpts from some musical, such as The Phantom of the Opera, or Romeo and Juliet... A few seconds after he thought this, a melodious pop song wafted from the stereo.

Xiang Cai squinted, leaning in the passenger seat. His fingers swayed from side to side like he was conducting, and he hummed the song in a low voice.

"...The most beautiful thing is not a rainy day,

But the eaves that shelter you from the rain..."

They were familiar lyrics, and it was familiar music. Although Tan Yiming couldn’t remember the name of this song for a while, he still knew that this song was written by the most famous male artist in Taiwan.

[T/N: Jay Chou]

Tan Yiming asked, a little surprised: "So musical actors also listen to pop songs?"

"What kind of misunderstandings do you have about us?" Xiang Cai sat up in his seat and snorted angrily, "Now, even cross-talkers are going to perform Learn to Meow, so of course musical actors have to keep up with the times, ah!"

He muttered: "We are always going to the KTV, right? If there weren’t a few down-to-earth tunes, wouldn't class reunions have to be set aside?"

"Yo, I didn't expect you to be a mic hog." Tan Yiming said deliberately.

"I’m a little stronger than someone who sings out of tune like you, class leader." However, listening to the boy's proud tone, it was more than ‘a little stronger’.

"Furthermore, I am not a 'betrayer of the cause’." Xiang Cai raised his head high. "This song was originally the theme song of a movie, but was later reproduced into a musical, becoming a rare 'jukebox musical', the first one in China!"

[T/N: jukebox musical = a musical of songs that are already popular, instead of original songs specifically made for the musical.]

Tan Yiming liked to watch him talk about his profession; he had shining eyes, as if he was a little dragon guarding his treasure, showing his collection enthusiastically.

In the song, the piano and the violin entangled and rushed to the top together.

This was a sad song with a sad tone. It sung the scene of when lovers met again after breaking up.

"...You use your fingertips to stop me from saying goodbye

Why change the times that we have already missed? ..."

Xiang Cai subconsciously shrugged his shoulders, following the notes.

The rain outside the window grew heavier and heavier, becoming a curtain of water that crashed on the car window.

A subtle coolness drilled in along the gap in the car window, and Tan Yiming asked, was he cold?

Xiang Cai flinched, then stomped his feet in hindsight, his body shrinking.

An autumn’s rain and an autumn’s chill. The first rain in Huacheng had just been overtaken by Xiang Cai.

Tan Yiming turned on the heating in the car. He felt that the flow was not strong enough, so he stretched out his hand to adjust the air outlet; he didn't think that Xiang Cai would also reach out at the same time.

As a result, the two fingers bumped together.

Xiang Cai was afraid of the cold, and his fingertips were chilly, but Tan Yiming's palm was hot.

Both of them were taken aback. Obviously, it was just ordinary physical contact, but the overlap of only that square centimeter of skin caused their souls to vibrate.

Xiang Cai retracted his hand first, and said, "Static..."

Tan Yiming attempted to look normal and manipulated his expression and voice, trying not to expose himself. "En..." He said vaguely, "In the autumn, static electricity is normal."

He randomly pushed on the air outlet a few times, but he couldn't tell whether he adjusted the wind up or down.

He retracted his gaze and held the steering wheel tightly with both hands, not allowing himself to be distracted by other things.

The name of the song - “The Secret That Cannot Be Told” scrolled on the car screen.

Tan Yiming thought, this song was really suitable.

Because between him and Xiang Cai, there was also a secret that they knew but could not tell.

***

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