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Chapter 12: Unexpected
Throughout her morning classes, Li Erqin struggled to pay attention as her mind kept replaying the splendor of Rong Si’s beatific smile. Every time she tried to encourage herself to concentrate in class, Rong Si’s smile would come to mind again within a few seconds. She didn’t dare look back when Peng Zige wanted to talk to her. Specifically, she didn’t even know what she was so afraid of. However, the mere thought of possibly making eye contact with Rong Si was enough for her ears to start burning.
While Li Erqin was trying to understand what she was so afraid of, Peng Zige was earnestly worried about the sudden change in the way Li Erqin was treating them.
As soon as the bell rang, he immediately got up and patted Li Erqin’s back, “Hey, let’s go grab a bite!”
Li Erqin was just packing up her books when she was caught off guard. However she still didn’t dare look back. “Oh. You guys should just go ahead first.”
“But why?” Peng Zige was utterly dumbfounded
“Nothing! It’s just that I want to go to the supermarket to have some instant noodles this afternoon.” She randomly offered an excuse.
As Peng Zige was still struck dumb, Rong Si was the one who spoke first: “Then let’s go together.”
“Ok then…” she immediately responded without thinking.
Rong Si observed her back, her sullen demeanor and her tight lipped mouth: “Let’s go.”
Five minutes later, the trio was sitting  outside the supermarket, under the shade of an umbrella.
It was a little quiet.
Rong Si was accustomed to staying quiet.  Li Erqin was coping with the flustered and chaotic thoughts of her heart. Peng Zige was still trying to guess what was going on in Li Erqin’s brain.
When their noodles were finally ready, Li Erqin immediately dug in with gusto, stuffing her face hurriedly.
Seeing this, Peng Zige’s moodiness resurfaced, “What’s the matter, why are you scarfing down your food so fast?”
Are you really in such a hurry to get away from us? He supplemented the questions he didn’t dare ask inside his heart.
Li Erqin stopped slurping her noodles. There was a long pause before she continued to finish the rest of her noodles at a slower pace. “So…is this speed better?”
Her response caused Peng Zige’s mind to momentarily go blank – he had no suitable comeback at all. Peng Zige dismally resumed eating his noodles, telling her, “Any pace is fine, just eat as you please.”
Li Erqin reflexively turned to Rong Si with a puzzled look on her face, only to notice his cool and indifferent demeanor.
Li Erqin didn’t know what happened, but she suddenly calmed down.
“When you’ve finished eating, you guys can just head back to class first,” she said: “I have a few matters to attend to after this.”
Peng Zige wanted to investigate with more pressing questions when Rong Si indifferently shot him a glare. Obediently, he held his tongue and bent his head to drink the soup.
Li Erqin finished off her noodles at an even faster pace than before and then stood up: “Well, I’ll get going then.”
Rong Si nodded his head while Peng Zige seemed as if he was acting difficult and refused to reply.
Li Erqin pursed her lips. Seeing that Rong Si’s expression did not change, she looked at Rong Si, doubtful.
After Li Erqin had left, Peng Zige put his chopsticks into the noodle cup and stuffed it into a plastic bag, announcing in disgust, “Those noodles were gross! Ah Rong, why didn’t you let me ask her?”
“You ask too many questions,” Rong Si slowly replied, “Let’s go. Let’s go see if there’s anything left at the cafeteria.”
Fortunately, it wasn’t too late when they got to the cafeteria, so there was still some food left for them to eat.  When they finished eating, Rong Si used patrol duty as an excuse and left, so Peng Zige returned to class on his own.
Rong Si slowly followed the sports field to the shaded forest and trail. Sure enough, he saw Li Erqin sitting cross legged on the low wall.
With an absent minded look on her face, she gazed off into the distance, softly humming a tune he didn’t know.
Whether it was because her wordless tune was strangely mesmerizing or because of some other unknown reason, Rong Si subconsciously stopped in his tracks  and watched her from a few meters away.
Li Erqin continued to hum for a while.
When Rong Si noticed that all her air began to slowly settle down, she stopped singing. She picked up a notebook that was beside her and peered earnestly at its contents. As he was wondering what Li Erqin was looking at, he heard her speak: “The road that I’ve taken has not been easy. When you professed your love to me, I was still deeply in love with Tao Fugu”
At this, she stopped, picked up her notebook with a frown and continued to stare hard at the pages. Finally, she took a deep breath and with a gentle tender voice said:
“The road that I’ve taken has not been easy  When you professed your love to me, I still loved Tao Fugu. Still, you said it didn’t matter, that you just needed me to like you a little bit.  However,I didn’t know….that all you wanted was a little of my love. I didn’t really understand, now that I want to give more of that love, you may not be able to accept it.”
Li Erqin’s voice has always had a cool and refreshing quality to it, and with the extra depth of emotion that was just injected into it,  even Rong Si found  himself slightly moved.  After her recitation, Li Erqin picked up a recorder that was by her side to play back her lines. Tilting her head to think for a moment, she suddenly turned her head for no apparent reason and caught sight of Rong Si.
Rong Si couldn’t escape her sudden gaze and walked up apologetically, saying “I had something to say, that’s why I came looking for you.”
Perhaps Li Erqin had not reemerged from her state of mind, as her expression seemed exceptionally cold and calm as she looked at him: “This time, I really am not up to anything.”
Rong Si touched his nose and asked, “What are you doing then?”
Li Erqin waved the notebook in her hand saying, “A radio drama, I need to submit a voice recording.”
Although he was not very familiar with radio dramas, he had a basic idea, so Rong Si asked, “So you’re into this, huh?”
“Yup,” Li Erqin nods meekly, “So…why were you looking for me?”
“Zige keeps worrying that you took those girl’s words yesterday to heart.”  Rong Si explained straightforwardly, “He’s afraid that you’ll distance yourself from us.”
“I won’t!”
“I know that!” laughed Rong Si, “However, your actions today suggested otherwise so I came to talk to you about it.”
Listening to Rong Si’s explanation about what had occurred that afternoon, her ears began to flush red again. “I wasn’t trying to alienate you guys.”
Rong Si, having accomplished his original objective, shifted his attention onto Li Erqin, asking, “ Have you been dubbing for a long time?”
“I started at the end of middle school, when the pressure became too much.”
When the pressure got intense, she started dabbling with voice acting?
Rong Si nodded his head, commenting on Li Erqin’s earlier enactment. “When you were recording the last bit, it was not bad at all.”
Li Erqin played back her recording and lowered her head pensively, “It just feels like something’s not quite right.”
“Is there anything I can do to help?”
Li Erqin bit down on her lip in consideration, “ It’s just that.. I am the voice of the lead female character in the text.  The person that she loves is about to die. They have not met in a long time. The female lead regrets not cherishing their past, and is also heartbroken over the male lead. Oh, he’s also the one she truly loves.”
“Could I take a look at your notes?”
“Umm, sure.”
Rong Si quickly scanned through the notebook that Li Erqin handed to him. He then made a request, “Can you please replay the recording again?”
“Sure.”
As Rong Si listened to the playback, while he read the script, he quietly thought it over: “It’s actually quite good. You can try suppressing some of those intense feelings of despair and anguish. So for some sentences, try leaving some subtle pauses for effect.”
Li Erqin’s lips parted in surprise: “Rong Si, do you also dub?”
He merely shook his head.
“Your advice is so clear and logical.”
Rong Si couldn’t help but smile. “This is just my understanding of the script. You can give it a try.”
“I don’t understand. How do I express my repressed feelings of regrets and longing?”
This time, even Rong Si looked momentarily perplexed.
“It’s okay, don’t worry about it!” Not wanting to see him look troubled, Li Erqin grabbed her notebook saying, “I’ll keep trying to figure this out myself.”
However, she heard Rong Si begin to recite in a reflective tone:
“I didn’t know….that you really wanted only a little of my love. I had never understood, but now it turns out that I have given you more love than you want, and you cannot accept it.”
Li Erqin didn’t expect him to start speaking, finding herself suddenly caught up in the moment. . Her own heart felt as if it was being wrenched fiercely and she was almost compelled to respond in kind.  When she realised that Rong Si was only reciting the script, she had to bite down on her lips, in awe of Rong Si’s ability to capture and weave those repressed feelings of regret and anguish together. She was afraid to break the spell he had cast.
Li Erqin had always known that she loved the sound of Rong Si’s voice. Still, she had to acknowledge that even amongst the good male voice actors within the industry, Rong Si’s voice was decidedly on par.  Then again, never did she expect that Rong Si’s clear articulate voice could take on such expression that even she, who was used to the trained voices in the field, couldn’t help but feel moved.
“Did I get it wrong?”  After waiting a long time for Li Erqin’s reaction, Rong Si laughed, embarrassed. “This is just my interpretation of it.”
“Ah? No! It’s really good!”
Li Erqin was still trying to gather her wits. “I am just a little surprised.”  She lightly cleared her throat, “Let me try again.”
Rong Si gave a nod.
Li Erqin lowered her head as she mentally prepped herself. She recalled Rong Si’s articulation and tone and then very naturally completed the dialogue.  Taking up the recorder, she listened to the playback and was satisfied with the outcome. “Rong Si, thanks so much.”
“Don’t mention it.” Rong Si lifted his hand to check his watch: ”Let’s head back. It’s almost time for class.”
After packing up her things, Li Erqin walked behind Rong Si in complete adoration. She inexplicably felt that Rong Si was starting to look more and more handsome, to the extent that she couldn’t take her eyes off of him.
She asked, “ Rong Si, did you come in first in your whole city for your Middle School exams?”
Rong Si had not expected that she would suddenly bring this up and thus, after a delayed paused, replied “Yup.”
“Woooow.” Li Erqin could only exclaim.
Rong Si tilted his head, a calm expression on his face. Then, he turned back: “I don’t have any other interest or hobbies, I only know how to study.”
“I heard you received a few Science awards.”
Rong Si blandly replied: “Those are all a few small-scale awards.”
Li Erqin couldn’t resist persisting: “They’re definitely not minor! You’ve seen my physics results! They’re literally too tragic to look at. I can’t even wrap my head around it.  Chemistry is slightly better I suppose.”
“It’s really not that difficult.” Rong Si slowed down to wait for her. “If you’d like, I can tutor you during our evening remedial classes.”
“Really?”
Rong Si nodded.
Li Erqin was extremely happy, but then she hesitated: “I am really dumb in this aspect.”
“It’s alright.” Rong Si’s tone ended up carrying a hint of laughter.
The two of them were carrying on their conversation as they headed back to class, when they passed by the Bulletin Board.  Li Erqin turned back at the board and excitedly said “ Oh?”
“What’s it? Rong Si followed her back.
“The School broadcasting club is recruiting.”
Rong Si inadvertently glanced at Li Erqin, “Are you interested?”
“If it’s Broadcasting, then it’ll will be related to voice acting right?” Li Erqin took out her notebook to record the details “Tuesday lunch break…..isn’t that soon….” Talking to herself, she turned to Rong Si, “If I get into the broadcasting club, then maybe there will be a quieter classroom, or something like that that I can use. Then I won’t have to go to the riverside anymore. It does get a little noisy there.”
Rong Si understood: “Good luck.”
Li Erqin lifted her head, unexpectedly looking into Rong Si’s eyes. They were brilliant and clear, reflecting a faint smile. She felt her face heat up once again.
Translated by minodayz
Translation checked by tranzgeek
Edited by yun, maripaz