Chapter 373: You"ve Had A Bowl To Yourself, I Think You"d Better Head to Chu Tian Hospital For A Check-Up
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Master Chen"s face turned red out of embarra.s.sment and rage.
“Okay, okay, okay. Don"t be angry, big brother. I"m coming over right now,” a young voice could be heard from the other end of the phone.
Nan Jingheng was finally satisfied as he hung up. Then, he turned to Master Chen, “That"s enough. Since you aren"t satisfied with us industry outsiders, we probably can"t afford someone as reputable as you. You are welcome to leave.”
Master Chen"s expression remained dark and gloomy from the sarcasm and he immediately left whilst looking upset.
Shang Xiling did not know them well either. Even if she wanted to chat longer, she had to leave due to the awkward situation.
Thus, the three of them sat down. Nan Jingheng said to Xu Moyan, “Sis-in-law, you don"t need to be bothered about that arrogant p.r.i.c.k. Who does he think he is? Just because he made a small name for himself within the industry, he thinks he can lose his temper like some artistic personality.”
“I"m fine. Don"t be angry. I really didn"t sing well and both of you are forced to stay here because of me,” Xu Moyan said apologetically.
“It"s nothing. We"re already aware that you don"t sing well and were prepared for it. It wouldn"t be right of me if I knew you weren"t a good singer and pulled you in anyway, only to end up complaining about you,” Nan Jingheng waved his hand.
Even though he had openly admitted that he thought she sang badly, the way he had said it did not embarra.s.s Xu Moyan at all.
Nan Jingheng took out his phone and turned on a delivery app. “Let"s order us some food. That guy will take some time to come over. It"s close to lunchtime anyway. Let me know if there"s anything you"d like to have that is not in the app. I"ll get him to buy it on his way over here.”
However, they did not trouble the young man in the end.
Nan Jingheng did not initially contact that Zhezi whom he had spoken to on the phone, but had gotten Master Chen instead because Zhezi might have been busy recently. Otherwise, judging by the casual demeanor in which Nan Jingheng had spoken to Zhezi with earlier, it would be impossible that Zhezi would not be his first choice.
From what Xu Moyan knew, there was a singer-composer in the music industry called Zhezi who was really famous and was pretty young.
He had started in the industry at age 19 and was initially known for his cla.s.sic take on popular songs. He later tried out different musical styles, which include love songs, R&B, rap, country music, and jazz. Every song he wrote became hugely popular, and he wrote many well-known theme songs for period dramas.
He had also written the theme song for the film, Ma.s.sacre. It was a song that portrayed heroism with a touch of tenderness. This made it a song that brought tears to many people"s eyes.
In this era when the music industry seemed to be in a decline, he was one of the rare few who could still release a profitable physical record. Every time he released one, it would sell out immediately, with his new music always shooting straight to the number one spot on music charts.
No matter what song was previously at the number one spot on the charts, and regardless of how critically acclaimed the song was or how popular the singer, if Zhezi"s music was suddenly released, it would shoot straight to the top in a matter of hours and dominantly occupy that position.
There once was a female singer whose popularity had recently waned who approached Zhezi to write her a song. It successfully turned her career around and made her into one of the top female singers in the industry.
Even back when Shang Xiling had first debuted and had a duet with a top singer, the song she had sang was also written by Zhezi.
Shang Xiilng"s management company had wanted to get Zhezi to duet with Shang Xiling, but they were rejected. This was because Zhezi did not do duets with anyone.
Xu Moyan wondered if the Zhezi that Nan Jingheng mentioned was the same person, but knowing Nan Jingheng, he probably would not look for just anybody for help. In this case, there was only one Zhezi who was renowned within the music industry.
It was one thing that he had to come all the way to the studio for someone tone-deaf such as her, but it was another to actually get him to buy food on the way to the studio. He was probably never treated this way by others.
Even when Zhezi wrote songs for others, he would never personally handle the recordings.
As both of them needed to continue recording their song, lunch was mainly light and easy on the throat. However, Nan Jingheng ordered himself some baby lobsters.
When the delivery arrived, the fragrance of the baby lobsters made Xu Moyan viciously berate Nan Jingheng in her heart.
It left them both groaning as they took in the wonderful smell but were unable to taste it!
It was around this time that a man in a baseball cap and mask walked into the studio. He had a pair of black frames on his face and looked like a bad guy from the movies who was trying to hide from the police.
It was the first time Xu Moyan had seen a celebrity disguise himself so intensely.
When the man took off his baseball cap and mask, it revealed his face to show that he was indeed Zhezi.
Even Xu Moyan, who rarely followed celebrity news, got excited. Her face was red with excitement and her eyes shone brightly as she looked dreamily at Zhezi.
Nan Jingheng called Zhezi over. “You haven"t eaten, have you? I"ve just ordered some food, so come have some.”
Zhezi did not eat the baby lobsters either. Instead, he had the lighter meal along with Xu Moyan and Wei Zilin.
“Let me introduce everyone. This is Zhezi, my bro. That"s right, it"s the little diving king of the music industry. These two are my brother and sis-in-law, we"re as close as real brothers. You can just refer to them as Big Brother and Sis-in-law,” Nan Jingheng made the introductions with pride.
Zhezi was renowned within the music industry and was well-liked. He was also known to have a good personality. He did not show any traces of arrogance at all while spending time with them in the studio.
He wore a baseball jacket paired with a white T-s.h.i.+rt and a pair of jeans, making him very low-profile. After Nan Jingheng made the introductions, he happily referred to both of them as Big Brother and Sis-in-law.
“Sis-in-law, the song you are singing was written by Zhezi at my request, but the singing wasn"t done by him. He has a high standard when it comes to making music, so he will need the song to be sung in top form. If we have to wait for him to come up with the finished product, no one would know when it will be ready. That was why I got someone else to sing it. When the song gets pushed out and we reveal the person who had written it, it will definitely shock many people!” Nan Jingheng said as he peeled the baby lobsters.
“Just one online game and you"re using every single connection you have. That"s a lot of work,” Wei Zilin was speechless at this effort.
He had gotten an extensive list of people Nan Jingheng to work with him, including Wei Zilin and Xu Moyan, who did the voiceover work for him. The public relations company was Lin Yi while the main theme was written by Zhezi. As for the spokesperson for the online game, he had contacted Han Zhuoli directly and gotten the most popular celebrities under his company to help out as well.
As this was a Wuxia game, the action sequences were ch.o.r.eographed by the stunt coordinator from Ma.s.sacre. Even the special effects team who had worked on Ma.s.sacre all those years ago had been brought in, led by a well-known post-production personality.
It was no exaggeration when Wei Zilin had commented that Nan Jingheng had gone through a lot of trouble for this.
Xu Moyan did not have the heart to calculate the budget involved based on these hires alone.
Xu Moyan took a short break after lunch and drank some water to make sure her throat was moisturized.
The thought of singing in front of Zhezi made Xu Moyan nervous. Her face was so red that she could not bring herself to look up.
“Urm… If I don"t sing well, you… Just be honest with me,” Xu Moyan said in embarra.s.sment.
Besides the first time she had gotten to know Wei Zilin, she had never felt this way before. Wei Zilin watched her as his eyes narrowed.
Zhezi smiled and nodded. “Sis-in-law, don"t stress yourself out, just sing it once for me. I won"t interrupt you. I need to find out which part of the song you are unable to properly grasp. Then, I"ll make some changes according to your capability. This time, you won"t be adjusting to the song, it"ll be the song adjusting to you.”
Nan Jingheng happily put his hand on Zhezi"s shoulder. “That" right! I"ve said before that there would be no problem with Zhezi here. That Chen fellow should really not lose his temper and try to pretend to be a professional when he, in fact, knows nothing. He doesn"t know how to do anything except how to blow up over nothing.”
Wei Zilin and Xu Moyan got into the recording studio again. Wei Zilin"s voice floated toward her lightly. “So, do you like Zhezi a lot?”
Xu Moyan gave him a blank stare. She was feeling nervous, but immediately forgot all about it when Wei Zilin suddenly asked her this question.
“I really do like his music, but since I"ve started working, I don"t have much time to listen to anything. He is the only singer whose songs I know quite a number of. When I was in university, I always listened to his music while walking to and fro from the campus and the hostel,” Xu Moyan smiled and said.
She noticed Wei Zilin had a weird expression on his face and she quickly covered her mouth, revealing only her eyes, which were now two little curves. “Are you jealous?”
“It"s the first time I"ve seen you admire a man so much, besides me,” Wei Zilin said.
“Well, you did say besides you. You"re still the one I like the most. He may write good songs, but I don"t really listen to them as much anymore because I"m so busy with work. As such, I"m not familiar with any of his new music. Your voice, on the other hand, is something I will listen to no matter how busy I am. I would always listen to your voice at night and slowly drift off to sleep,” said Xu Moyan. This was absolutely true.
When Wei Zilin was her idol, no one could dethrone his position as the No.1 in her heart.
Now that he was her boyfriend, and even moreso, fiancée, the position has been cemented.
Xu Moyan blushed. Even though… there was no ring, since he had mentioned marriage to both sides of the family, they were probably considered engaged.
Wei Zilin finally cheered up. He gave it a thought and said, “Tell me which of his songs you like and I"ll sing it for you when we get home.”
“Really?” Xu Moyan grabbed Wei Zilin"s arms excitedly as she looked up to see Wei Zilin smiling casually.
It gave her a sudden warning with tinge of guilt, so she replied, “It"s okay. I don"t really listen to him much anymore.”
As expected, Wei Zilin"s smiled turned warmer when he heard Xu Moyan"s reply.
The previous smile was like some sun trying to s.h.i.+ne through dark clouds in the middle of a cold winter"s day. It was weak and did not have much effect.
However, this smile was a truly warm smile that brought life to everything around him.
Wei Zilin and Xu Moyan sang from the beginning to the end. There were no interruptions, regardless of if they had sung the wrong notes in the middle. It was because of this that they also started to rediscover the emotion of the song. Even though it was a simple feeling, they had successfully grasped the basics of it.
This time, Xu Moyan managed to do well throughout most of the song. There was only one portion that she kept repeating the same mistake.
Nan Jingheng was able to tell which part this was as he had heard the song many times before. Zhezi was able to tell too. He took a look at the composition notes and started to hum the music to himself.
“We"ll amend the notes on this part for Sis-in-law, that way, it won"t sound strange when you sing it. It"s won"t differ too much from the original either,” Zhezi made the change after giving it some thought.
The portion where Xu Moyan kept making the mistake was changed to another note, but it was also not the note that Xu Moyan hit by mistake. The way the sound transitioned at the end was slightly higher than it originally was, but it still matched the overall song and sounded natural. It had unexpectedly matched the accompaniment.
Zhezi then got Xu Moyan to sing it again to see how it sounded. This time, she got the note right.
“I have no idea what happened. I kept making mistakes at that particular part, but after it was amended, it was easier for me to remember, even though it was different than before,” said Xu Moyan.
Zhezi smiled. “It was my fault for not writing it well. I did not take into account the effect it would have on a tone-deaf person.”
Xu Moyan had mixed emotions about being called tone-deaf by this little divine king.
The next recording attempt went unexpectedly smoothly. They sang from beginning to end with beautiful emotions.
When it got to the part where they needed to sing together, they could not help looking at each other. It reminded Xu Moyan of when she started doing the voiceover for Qing Siyu. Before she knew it, she had immersed herself in the lyrics.
When they finished singing, there were tears in her eyes.
Wei Zilin helped her to remove her earphones before removing his own earphones. Then, he lifted his hands to wipe away the tears from her eyes.
“It"s okay. Everything is fine now,” Wei Zilin consoled her with a loving voice. She could feel the warmth in his low tone directed at her.
Even so, she could not pull herself out of the song lyrics. When she heard Wei Zilin"s voice, her tears would not stop flowing.
Xu Moyan thought it was embarra.s.sing and quickly wiped them off. “The lyrics were written so beautifully. I can"t help thinking about the story.”
“It"s a good ending that was incorporated into the lyrics,” Wei Zilin consoled her. His warm voice seemed to encompa.s.s her. It was like being in a hot spring, and she gradually calmed down.
“I know. It"s a good ending here, but it reminded me of the sad ending in the film. I was thinking, it would have been nice to have a good ending… from the very start. I just… I can"t help it,” Xu Moyan sniffled.
“I wasn"t laughing at you at all,” Wei Zilin replied in a low, gentle tone. It was slightly teasing, like warm rain sprinkling onto her heart. This slowly pulled her emotions away from a state of sadness.
“What would you like to eat tonight?” Xu Moyan asked when they got out of the recording studio.
Wei Zilin glanced at the box of food on the table, “Baby lobsters.”
Xu Moyan could not help laughing. “What a coincidence. I was thinking of having that too. I"ll buy some fresh ones and make them for you when we get home. Deliveries are not hygienic. The baby lobsters are not cleaned well at all.”
Wei Zilin nodded happily and looked at Nan Jingheng. “Okay. Did you hear that? Deliveries are not hygienic. You"ve had a whole bowl to yourself, so I think you"d better head to Chu Tian Hospital for a check-up.”
Nan Jingheng, “…”