Really, Really Miss You

Toupai sings!  Be still, my heart.  Pardon me while I go off to a corner and fangirl with everyone else.  What’s the crowd’s reaction going to be?

With all her might, Gu Sheng forced herself to remain calm. Calm like she was a professional lyrics scroller.

However, when the musical introduction came through in her headphones, she thoroughly lost her cool, to the extent that, with her hands on the keyboard, she was ridiculously fl.u.s.tered.  What would Toupai’s voice sound like when singing? What would it sound like? &h.e.l.lip;

She was too anxious, so much so that when he sang the first word, she thought she was hallucinating.

“Wearing a bamboo hat in the misty rain, quietly waiting for the light to break through from behind the clouds
Listening to the teachings of the Three [Taoist] Pure Ones and reciting ‘so I have heard Buddha’s words’[1]
One turn of the hand overturns fortune maps[2], another turn alters Heaven and Earth&h.e.l.lip;”

Such a deep, low, authoritative voice, k?! It sounds just too good, k?!!!!

If the female version of this song could be described as ethereal, then Qiang Qing Ci’s version gave the feeling of someone standing with arms crossed as an onlooker over the world.

Misty-eyed.

Such amazing resonance in his chest voice!

Such amazing control when changing registers!

The chorus came to an abrupt halt.  In her headphones, the singing suddenly became speaking.  Qiang Qing Ci was speaking the lyrics using his ancient-style voice:

“The path to divinity appears close, but actually walking it out, [realize that] it is far
Continuous rain, unending snow
Lonely, but may as well face people with a smile&h.e.l.lip;”

A slight reverb had been added to his audio, making that doting tone heard at the end of his phrases all but vanish.  Now, it was truly a voice that conjured up the image of a man of graceful bearing and a scene of boundless serene beauty&h.e.l.lip;

If she had not been putting up lyrics, she would definitely have been covering her chest with her hand.  DaRen, can you not have such an amazing ability to convey emotion?

He truly did!  Too much so, in fact!

A CV who could sing was an enemy to all singers. Every art had people who specialized in it.  Those who specialized in speech were weak in singing; those who sang well were utterly unprofessional in delivering lines. But&h.e.l.lip; this type of general knowledge was totally invalid when used on Toupai.

It was not only Gu Sheng&h.e.l.lip;

The excitement level of every person in that room was rocketing off the meter.

This was something that could only be happened upon and not asked for.  Only happened upon and not asked for, ah.

All that the fans could do, besides making love declarations, making love declarations, and making more love declarations, was just make love declarations. Aside from love declarations, there was nothing that could express the exhilaration they were feeling. Gu Sheng wanted to look at the screen that was being flooded with comments, listen to the singing, and, at the same time, also do a good job of putting up the lyrics.  Totally mentally and physically draining. She felt that because she had not been able to lie quietly on her bed and listen carefully to Toupai’s song , she honestly was never going to be able to find the feeling of love again.

Finally, even the administrators, Dou Dou Dou Bing and Feng Ya Song joined in with the army that was spamming the screen with comments, complaining with all their might about how Qiang Qing Ci really knew how to hide his talents deep away.

Dou Dou Dou Bing: Qiang Qing Ci, you should just change your name to ‘Qing Guo Qing Cheng‘ [Unrivalled Allure]. I’ll be your diehard fan forever!

Feng Ya Song: Wanmei’s temple is too small&h.e.l.lip;Simply too small.  In the end, it can’t contain the great beauty that you are&h.e.l.lip;

Fei Shao: D*mn! I’m going to wash my hands in the golden basin[4]! No way I can make a living now&h.e.l.lip;

Just when everyone was listening to the point they felt they were going to burst a blood vessel, the background music abruptly stopped.

“Let’s leave it at that.” He cleared his throat and stated lightly, “That’s about it.”

Gu Sheng had an urge to start crying.

Dou Dou Dou Bing had already jumped in and was the first to turn on her microphone: “That’s too cruel! Who only sings half a song??!! Toupai, that’s too unprofessional of you! So infuriating!

“I’m not a cover singer.  I don’t need to have professional ethics when it comes to this,” he chuckled. “It’s good now. It’s enough.”

Good?  Enough?

That’s something you should ask your audience, k, Toupai DaRen?&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;

“Alright, alright.  It’s not as if you guys don’t know Qiang Qing Ci’s temperament.”  Jue Mei Sha Yi’s very timely voice came onto his microphone, trying to pacify the crowd&h.e.l.lip; “How about I sing a little pa.s.sage for all of you?&h.e.l.lip;”

“You get lost.” Dou Dou Dou Bing did not bother giving their group leader any face at all. “There are so many golden voices here tonight. You take your leave now!”

“Fine&h.e.l.lip; I’ll shut off my mike.” Jue Mei Sha Yi was known for his easygoing nature; otherwise, when faced with this nasty bunch, there was no way he could be the “purple horse.”

“Well&h.e.l.lip; now.” Dou Dou Dou Bing immediately turned the topic back around. “Unrivalled Allure Toupai DaRen, I’m now, ahem ahem, now seriously starting to get nervous when I talk to you. Gosh, you know me; I love men who can sing.”

“Can you possibly suck up even more? &h.e.l.lip;” Feng Ya Song burst out laughing. “&h.e.l.lip; O our great a.s.sistant group leader.”

“You go take your leave from your highness’s presence now.” Dou Dou Dou Bing gave a hmph. “Those who are tone deaf are not allowed to speak tonight.”

With tail between his legs, Feng Ya Song also turned off his microphone.

“Unrivalled Allure Toupai DaRen?” Dou Dou Dou Bing continued to wag her tail.

“Hmm?”

“What&h.e.l.lip; are you doing?”

Qiang Qing Ci thought over his answer briefly. “Listening to you guys talk.”

“DaRen, do you have any other special program, or do you have anything you want to say to the fans?”

He seemed as if he wanted to leave, and from the sounds of it, it really did appear as if he was winding things down. “Let me think.”

A hush settled momentarily over the channel.

Considering that tonight, Unrivalled Allure Toupai Daren’s performance had sent everyone’s blood surging much too fast, they were all extremely looking forward to how he was going to conclude.

“What I want to say is&h.e.l.lip;” He seemed to be eating something along the lines of a throat lozenge, and his enunciation was not very clear. In a m.u.f.fled, gentle, doting tone, he gave a low laugh and said, “Don’t invest yourself too much into liking someone simply because you are infatuated with a voice. You never know, on the other side of the Internet, what type of person the owner of the voice is, right?”

Right?

Right&h.e.l.lip;

No! Not right, k?!

If someone else had said that, it might have been more convincing.

But Toupai DaRen, tonight, you first used your voice to seduce everyone and then warned everyone not to be too infatuated with a voice &h.e.l.lip; Did you do that on purpose? You must have did that purpose. Absolutely, it was on purpose!

Sure enough, the fans very fittingly started spamming the screen, all of them crying, Daren, I love you. Forever behind you!

Jue Mei Sha Yi was giddy with glee.  Clearing his throat, he used his domineering, manly voice to override the fans’ enthusiasm.  “Qiang Qing Ci Dada meant, liking the voice is good enough.  Don’t let the voice deceive your feelings.  Oh, you know, a rational type of liking. Uh, yeah, a rational type of liking.”

Fine, he knew that he was making up bullsh**.

Gu Sheng, the little lyrics scroller, had apparently been forgotten and engulfed into the crowd as she listened to their bantering and mocking.

So amusing.  It was because they were all speaking through the Internet that everyone was so amusing.  This was what was meant by birds of a feather flock together&h.e.l.lip;

She felt Qiang Qing Ci must have left already. Turning off the sound recording function, she started to search for her software, with the intention of clipping out Toupai DaRen’s half a song that he had sung.She had just opened up the software when Qiang Qing Ci unexpectedly sent over a private chat.

Qiang Qing Ci: Have something urgent to do.  I need to go.

Gu Sheng hastily typed off on her keyboard: DaRen, hurry and go then ^^

As for why DaRen would suddenly say goodbye to her, uh, she guessed it was probably to be polite or something&h.e.l.lip;

A polite goodbye to the little lyrics scroller whom he had just collaborated with for the first time.  Uh huh.

Qiang Qing Ci: Do you have WeChat?

Gu Sheng: Yup, Dada.

Qiang Qing Ci: Is it okay to add each other in WeChat?

Gu Sheng stared at the screen dazedly&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip; DaRen he&h.e.l.lip;wants&h.e.l.lip;wants&h.e.l.lip; wants&h.e.l.lip; wants to add me as a friend in WeChat?

Qiang Qing Ci: Moqingcheng.  That’s me.  Sorry.  Need to go now.

Gu Sheng continued to gaze blankly at the screen&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip; This is DaRen’s&h.e.l.lip;his&h.e.l.lip; his&h.e.l.lip; his&h.e.l.lip; his WeChat ID?

The Three Pure Ones, 三清 are the three highest G.o.ds in Taoism. “So I have heard Buddha’s words” 如是我闻 is a phrase frequently seen in Buddhist scripture. This line is saying the person knows both Taoism and Buddhism but does not belong to either.

 命格 ‘ming ge.’ Also known as one’s “birth chart” or “natal horoscope.” In Chinese fortune-telling, one’s fortune, encounters, love, etc. are laid out already at birth and are written into one’s “ming ge.’

 倾国倾城. Literally ‘downfall of a country and city.’ This idiom describes beauty that can cause the ruin of a country or a city and is usually used to describe a woman. In this context, it is a teasing tone but it is meant to say that Toupai’s talents and allure are unrivalled. This nickname for Toupai will come up many more times. For readability, I may simplify this as “Unrivalled Allure.”

In wuxia stories, a pugilist would wash his hands in a golden basin to signify his retirement from the pugilistic world.

 牛鬼蛇神 “niu gui she shen.” Literally, “ghosts with heads like an ox, G.o.ds with bodies like serpents.” Originally used to describe things of fantasy or grotesque things but evolved to become a metaphor describing all sorts of ugly things or bad people.

YY horse levels, described in chapter 6 footnotes. The purple horse is the channel founder and owner. In a more casual sense, the “purple horse” of a group is the leader.

I tried very hard to find a good male cover of the song Toupai sings but to no avail.  (Of course, my silly Mac couldn’t play many of the covers I found, so there may still be some out there.)  The Youtube video is the original version of the song.  If you really need a male singer, is one by Qi Ran, an online cover singer, although I find it just so-so.

As promised, below is the full translation of 醉梦仙霖 “Drunken Dream in Divine Rain.” I tried to find an MV with eye candy, but all the fan-made MVs seemed to focus on a romantic love theme.  The lyrics, I believe, aren’t really about romantic love at all, so I decided to let your imaginations fill in the video portion.