Chapter 98
Editor: Whiteflare
Bronze Sparrow Terrace went about it differently than Qi Jing.
He didn’t taunt Qi Jing, only preambling his performance with some PR. Not only did he not taunt him—he also went for the lofty “harmony above all” facade, enough to put on an attitude.
Just like a woman used to adorning herself with thick make-up wouldn’t go out without one, it seemed like whenever he appeared on the stage, he wouldn’t feel at ease without a few pretty words.
“Although I feel a bit hurt after yesterday’s misunderstanding, out of my admiration for the judges, I still can’t make myself abandon the competition.” Since Longbow was conveniently out of the picture, Bronze Sparrow Terrace could slip insinuations for everyone without naming the people, as if providing proof that the whole mess the day before was just a big misunderstanding. “In my opinion, voice acting requires a whole lot of dedication and it deserves respect—that’s why, I don’t want people to use low means to slander the results of others’ work.”
Bronze Sparrow Terrace’s voice was superior by nature; no matter its tone or timbre, it was absolutely captivating, enough to let its charm take lead with the persuasiveness.
As he spoke those smooth-sounding words, his little fans’ hearts were already fluttering like flags in the wind; none of them cared about any logic, any evidence, only drowning their male god with the declarations of an unconditional love.
Audience 1: ヾ(≧O≦)/〃 Bronze Sparrow is so cool! Don’t sweat it, there’s no way a person with such an amazing voice is a bad guy! Rather I can’t believe the rumours other people spread to discredit you!
Audience 2: ヾ(≧O≦)/〃Go get them Bronze Sparrow! Some blind folks don’t like you, but we will always love you~~~
Audience 3: (╭￣3￣)╭ My life core, no need to feel bad about it, the misunderstandings will always get cleared up!! The judges will surely understand your true ability!! Go get them, give those who frame you and make rumours about you a good lesson, mwah~~~
Audience 4: ┭┮﹏┭┮ Seeing how Bronze Sparrow got wronged yet still keeps being so strong, my heart hurts so much...
Audience 5: ┭┮﹏┭┮ my heart hurts so much +1
Audience 6: ┭┮﹏┭┮ my heart hurts so much +2
Having received such a stimulus, his fans rushed forward with a rapid momentum, almost flooding the chat completely in a mere three seconds.
The voices of support for Bronze Sparrow Terrace occupied most of the chat, truly an awe-inspiring sight.
“Thanks everyone,” Bronze Sparrow Terrace’s thanks was brimming with emotions and his voice was somewhat shaky—who knows how many of his fans would cover their hearts from pain upon hearing it, “Whenever I’m met with injustice, it’s always you who stand up to encourage me, to comfort me... In my eyes, my fans really are the sweetest fans in the world.”
Once he had that, one could even hear him sniffling quietly.
“The sweetest fans in the world” were all instantly touched.
“Heh heh.” Qi Jing’s expression was steady like a mountain, even his brows didn’t twitch—he just laughed twice gloomily.
Compared to the points given for the voice quality, acting skills, or the overall points, pity points would always be the easiest to acquire.
Now, even the passersby who didn’t know the truth started to pity him, feeling that this man was pretty nice, graceful, tolerant, magnanimous and with that low, subwoofer-like voice that could make one feel all soft and tingly—it all made his likability rise drastically.
With that “Lord Truth’s” post on the forum mixing up truth and lies as a prep work, even among those who had been present during the audition the day before, the amount of people getting swayed started to rise. And many didn’t dare to be rash with taking a stance and chose to just silently observe the show from the middle ground between Bronze Sparrow Terrace and Don’t ask for my return date.
“Today, I hope that I can get an answer, as well as justice.” It was already clear enough at whom Bronze Sparrow Terrace’s words were directed. “If one does something wrong, then it’s enough if they just admit it—is there someone who has never done a wrong thing?” That bewitching, alluring male bass came through unhurriedly, numbing the listener’s hearing first, then taking a step further and numbing their reason, “I’m not a petty person. After making everything clear to each other, we can still be friends.”
Upon hearing it, Qi Jing started to really wish that Bronze Sparrow Terrace’s voice could also numb the nerves in his stomach. At least this way he wouldn’t get such a reflux—
“Fine, Ms Host, I already prepared my equipment.” Having finished his meaningful opening speech, Bronze Sparrow Terrace smiled faintly as he spoke to Yang Chunqu, but his words were directed towards the judges to hear, “Both of the teachers are veterans I have a great deal of respect for in our professional voice acting circle, so I’m happy to receive both of your guidance.”
He grouped himself with professional voice actors just to draw a line between him and the members of the online voice acting circle, that of course including Qi Jing.
“Don’t underestimate the actual professionals.” Qi Jing snickered coldly, already too tired to bother with those tidbits. Bronze Sparrow Terrace’s professional voice acting experience was all from the advertisement branch of the trade, which was fundamentally different from the film and TV voice acting that was very particular about the acting skills, yet he still bundled them together with such a generalisation. Saying this was only to suck up to the judges.
Unfortunately for him, Qi Jing didn’t think that Yuan Zheng Ming or Pu Yuzhu would buy that. If this kind of trick would work on them, then they wouldn’t have taught so many excellent students.
He watched the screen indifferently as he moved the mouse to push the record button. Automatically, a YY saving notification cropped out—he had recorded Bronze Sparrow Terrace’s opening statement and saved it in a folder, setting it aside for a moment. He leaned back slightly on the chair, like a hunter freezing still in waiting, observing its prey without a slightest movement.
Bronze Sparrow Terrace was the tenth contestant to perform.
Even for the main character “Qin Tuo”, there were only three scenes’ worth of lines. Because the first scene was long, none of the nine people before him managed to get to the second scene. Those who did badly were cut the moment the thirty seconds were up and those who did well all fell around the forty seconds mark.
It was like this for a full third of the thirty contestants. Yuan Zhengming’s strictness made everyone click their tongues, but also made the heat of the atmosphere rise, reaching a boiling point.
And exactly because of that, Bronze Sparrow Terrace’s faithful fans all took the results for granted and placed the highest expectations on their idol.
Audience 1: o(*&#k2267;&#k25KB;&#k2266;)&#k30A4; Good luck Bronze Sparrow-sama!!
Audience 2: o(*&#k2267;&#k25KB;&#k2266;)&#k30A4; Bronze Sparrow-sama, whip out your absolute Gong vibes~
Audience 3: o(*≧▽≦)ツ Bronze Sparrow-sama, you will certainly be able to get to the one minute!!
Audience 4: Commenter above, what are you talking about?? Sparrow will hit the two minutes for sure!! (＃｀皿)
Audience 5: That’s right, that’s right! Sparrow will surely have no problem with finishing the audition, he’s so great! Crap, the sole thought that I can hear him do the emperor Gong voice makes me cry from the feels...┭┮﹏┭┮
Audience 6: (shifting around) Commenter above, I understand you all too well!! Because Sparrow was busy with this competition, he didn’t do any karaoke on our channel lately and with that terrible incident the day before, he probably won’t feel like singing for us, thinking of this makes me feel so lonely... ┭┮﹏┭┮
...
“Then, I’m passing the mic.” Yang Chunqu informed courteously.
Different from before, this time the timer started counting from “0:00” to “2:00”. The moment Yuan Zhengming shouted CUT, the timer would stop and the number displayed would make up for the contestant’s score. Meanwhile Pu Yuzhi would give the points according to the previous rules as the second judge.
“Start.”
“Ding—” A timer plugin jumped out suddenly, starting to count.
Qi Jing raised his chin slightly as he stared at the number on the timer grow, his expression solemn, silently waiting for Bronze Sparrow Terrace’s version of the first scene.
It was when “Qin Tuo” played around freely down the mountain as a normal disciple of the Xiaoshan sect. That man loved to frolic and had friends all around; the secluded life of cultivating in the deep mountains didn’t suit him, so he often went down the mountain to a town, keeping it a secret from the masters of the sect as he entered this boisterous secular world to roam around for a bit.
He was a charming man with an open personality, and there was no lack of children from the local rich families among his friends; each and every one a youth in their prime who rarely shied away from frequent visits at the pleasure houses.
“Hahahaha, another cup?” The scene opened with a deep laughter from the depths of his chest, with the expected half-drunken, half-sober carefreeness.
Bronze Sparrow Terrace released the strongest male hormones he could with his voice as he spoke, as if it was sweet words between the lovers, “Not to mention a single cup, if you pour the wine for me, Miss, then even if it was a pot, a bucket or a barrel, I would drink it all.”
With each of his words filled with flirtatiousness, an image of a romantic wastrel instantly appeared before everyone’s eyes.
“Oh...” Qi Jing raised his brow. He didn’t expect Bronze Sparrow Terrace to actually do his homework and to pay mind to the background details.
For this part, the organisers only added “drinking wine” as an acting prompt, but it didn’t mention him “getting drunk”. Only those who reviewed the original novel would know how to act out the drunken state in this dialogue—to compete for this male lead, Bronze Sparrow Terrace was even willing to do his preparations, even though before this he didn’t even bother with taking a look at the original work.
And objectively speaking, that emperor-like voice of his was very popular among the female audience. If there really was a crowd of courtesans at his side, then he could bet that they would react just as his fans—completely intoxicated, unable to extricate themselves.
Audience 1: o(*////▽////*)q O~M~G~ This voice, this voice... *sobs* IT REALLY COULDN’T SOUND BETTER!!
Audience 2: o(*////▽////*)q I can’t!! This kind of attractive voice is a straight up crime!!
Audience 3: o(*////▽////*)q Lord Bronze Sparrow Terrace, I can come to pour you a drink too, is that okay? I’m actually starting to imagine Lord laying on my lap while drinking wine, and ahhhhhhh, I’m getting so shy!【covers face】
Audience 4: o(*////▽////*)q How could the girl from the comment above spell out my bold dreams? I even imagined Sparrow drinking wine with his clothes in a disarray... Huhu, doesn’t it make you blush and your heart to race?
Audience 5: Great God Bronze Sparrow Terrace really is quite good... There’s not many of those subwoofers anymore, pft.
Audience 6: *Nods head*, it looks like he’s making more effort to act than before. Don’t know if it’s because of what happened yesterday, but I feel like he’s about to make a comeback. Hahaha, but this absolute top voice or whatsoever really is something. ╮(￣▽￣”)╭
...
Although it was far from the boundless infatuation of the fans, a part of the onlooking audience also couldn’t escape the effect of great god’s hormones, after all, one’s sense of hearing was always quite honest.
Not to mention that this effect of his on the fans continued increasing in impact.
“Good Miss, talk to me to cheer me up, would you?” The flirtatious tone in Bronze Sparrow Terrace’s tone was getting more and more prominent—he chuckled while breathing just by the mic, making any pure little girl blush from just hearing it, “I haven’t left the mountain for such a long time, I don’t know if something interesting happened in the town. Can you tell me something about it?”
Qi Jing kept tapping his index finger regularly on the desk, but when it came to this point, he stopped suddenly with the finger still in the air.
At this moment, the thirty seconds mark passed. Yuan Zhengming’s ID on the tip stayed grey, showing that for now, he had no intention of interrupting him.
Qi Jing stayed quiet and the hanging finger tapped again making a noise, as if the pause from just before had never occured. But it was completely different for his fans who kept a close eye at the timer and now proceeded to cry from joy of their male god crossing the first pitfall, spamming the chat with the rows upon rows of little red flowers.
Audience 1: ┭┮﹏┭┮ It’s thirty seconds now!!
Audience 2: ┭┮﹏┭┮ Thirty seconds!! It already passed, and that judge didn’t call cut~~~ My family’s Sparrow really has that in himself!! I’m crying from the feels!!
Audience 2: ┭┮﹏┭┮ I just knew that male God wouldn’t possibly fail us! Offering the flowers, just the two lines already made me smitten till I’m all over the place, it’s amazing... I have to listen to this recording a hundred times before going to sleep tonight. Hundred times! Until my heart turns into mush!
...
To pass the thirty second without getting a CUT, it really proved that Yuan Zhengming thought that Bronze Sparrow Terrace wasn’t half bad.
Qi Jing remained calm as he continued to listen.
Whenever the organisers announced the chosen lines, they usually wouldn’t give the context. According to the original novel, the courtesans would now tease “Qin Tuo” a bit, wanting him to speak first.
This time, Bronze Sparrow Terrace came prepared, so he spoke without any worry or haste, acting out the bantering flirts according to his impression.
“Hehehe... Fine then, I will tell one story and you will tell me another one in return; let’s take turns listening, how about that?” With him speaking in that intoxicated voice, his pronunciation was a bit fuzzy, but its smiling tone was yet to recede. It was only when he mentioned his master later when heaved a long, dull sigh as he said resentfully, “Honestly... it’s so boring up on the mountain. My master only knows to stay aloof from the world, separating himself from the secular matters; he rarely goes down the mountain.”
Hearing this, something flickered in Qi Jing’s eyes and his finger once again hung in the air.
“My senior had been brought up by our master—unlike a disciple taken in halfway like me, he has the same temperament as our master, independent and detached,” Bronze Sparrow Terrace put himself in Qin Tuo’s shoes, using a resentful tone as he described Bai Ke who he usually had a bad rapport with, “Even during the usual sword practice he wouldn’t practice together with a junior disciple like me...”
Qi Jing cocked his head and the finger hanging in the air swung from side to side, not getting back down anymore.
At this moment, he heard a decisive voice in the headphones: “CUT.”
“Ding—” The timer stopped abruptly at “0:59”.
“Pft...” Qi Jing was incredibly gentlemanly—when he laughed out, he didn’t forget to raise his hand to cover his lips slightly, so as not to sound too unkind. If anything was to blame, then it was this timer stopping at too unfortunate of a moment.
“Just a second away from the full minute, such a pity.” He chuckled slightly.
Audience 1: !! What the hell!!
Audience 2: Why was he called to stop!! Where did he act incorrectly, I didn’t hear anything out of place!!（╯‵口′）╯︵┴─┴
Audience 3: Hahahaha! I don’t know why Teacher Yuan CUT him, but the timing of it was just so... I’m so sorry for the god’s fans, but I can’t keep myself from laughing, hahahaha...
Audience 4: Hahahaha, this feeling of almost breaking through the one minute mark yet getting cockblocked in the process, it really is... Will Great God be able to get it up later??
Audience 5: The two commenters above are really too much! Are you fans of some other contestants? You really gotta have no heart to mock people like this! But I’m sorry to inform you that, even though Sparrow got stopped at this moment, he still has the longest time from among all contestants so far, those little nobodies of yours no one had ever heard of before can beat it!
Audience 6: ╮(╯▽╰)╭ Oh my, it starts once again. You think Great God is so extraordinary?? Old Macaque Teacher surely has a reason for calling the CUT, so god’s fans, you don’t have to cry injustice~
...
Bronze Sparrow Terrace himself also seemed to be in a shock—since his time still wasn’t completely gone, he didn’t get ejected from the mic sequence yet, so he squeezed out the upset, “...Teacher Yuan, why did you have to call CUT, where did I make a mistake?”
Yuan Zhengming wasn’t at all interested in providing the explanation right away, so he only tossed a bland, “For you to ask this is precisely the reason why you got cut—now, I will elaborate on my reason during the feedback segment, so if there’s nothing else going on, then we’ll now begin the scoring stage.”
Bronze Sparrow Terrace probably didn’t expect to get refuted like this—they could only hear him take a quick deep breath so as not to let his facade drop on the spot. Yuan Zhengming hence treated it as no objection on his part and ejected him from the mic sequence. By the time Bronze Sparrow Terrace reacted with a short “ah-”, it was unfortunately cut midway, momentarily leaving the channel completely silent.
Right now, Bronze Sparrow Terrace kept fighting for every pity point, so Qi Jing finally decided to contribute his vote to it.
But despite that, the pity points couldn’t change one’s final score.
【Elapsed Time】：0:59
【Voice Quality】：3.5
【Enunciation】：4.0
【Foundation Points】：2.5
【Charisma】：3.0
Judging panel’s evaluation: 0.59+3.5+4.0+2.5+3.0=13.59 points
Additional audience vote points: 70.8% voting ratio = 0.708 points
Overall score: 13.59+0.708 = 14.298 points
The points for time used and the voting ratio were both the highest among the all contestants so far.
Even with the usual strictness of Pu Yuzhi, it didn’t hinder Great God from getting up the first place of the overall score ranking square and fair. The unnecessarily noisy mob of fans also slowly toned down their complaints and turned to congratulating Bronze Sparrow Terrace. His face probably didn’t look too good, but as long as he attained his goal, he shouldn’t go as far as to incite his fans to make a disturbance.
Qi Jing calmly looked at the disputes rising endlessly in the chat before he muted the channel. Then, he opened the recording he took from Bronze Sparrow Terrace’s opening remark and closed his eyes, wholeheartedly focusing on listening to it as the contestant No.11 started his performance. Only when No.11 left did he shift his attention back to the competition.
“Next, contestant No.12 Don’t ask for my return date, please take the stage—” Yang Chunqu had seen how the day before, those two people had fallen into a conflict, so when she read Qi Jing’s ID, she was almost stunned, a hint of embarrassment showing in her behaviour.
All of the listeners present heard the host call him, and as expected, it spurred a bout of comments. It could be seen that the post on the forum worked right away—the sender of the post was probably bursting with pride at that point.
“Contestant Don’t ask for my return date,” Yang Chunqu did her best to ignore the cries along the lines of “ungrateful bastard”, “quickly apologise”, and “shameless”, her bearing showing the proper composure and warmth a proper official host should have, “Before the start, you... do you have something you’d like to tell everyone?” She spoke rather hesitantly, with a strong “if you don’t want to say anything then you don’t have to” hint hidden behind her words, making him feel very grateful at his heart, but he had to say what needed to be said.
Qi Jing took a deep breath and pressed F2.
First what appeared was that unhurried tone, “Although I feel a bit hurt after yesterday’s misunderstanding, out of my admiration for the judges, I still can’t make myself abandon the competition.”
The audience momentarily got stumped.
And he didn’t stop, continuing to repeat that person’s words, not changing even a single one.
“In my opinion, voice acting requires a whole lot of dedication and it deserves respect—that’s why, I don’t want people to use low means to slander the results of others’ work.”
Bronze Sparrow Terrace, I will throw your words back at you, completely untouched—
A/N:
Would Bronze Sparrow Terrace think that Teacher Longbow that day was already very gentle towards him... (thinks deeply)
I’m sorry, those two chapters 2Yan is going through a complete blackening, if there’s someone who thinks it’s too much, then you can take it as the numbers on 2Yan’s fluff-metre plunging whenever he’s away from Kitty’s Papa... (The hell is that!)
T/N:
Lucilla: Now, let’s see how karma works! Mwahahaha~ Also blackened Qi Jing is so *chef’s kiss*
Whiteflare: ahhh the slap back is so satisfying ~
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