Today was the start of the weekend, An Xiaoluo, who rarely gets half a day off, after receiving notice confirming that she didn’t need to work overtime, began to enslaved Mo Lan to make dinner.
Mo Lan, who was working hard without complaining was stir-frying dishes in the kitchen, and An Xiaoluo, who was hogging the laptop by the dining table, not sure what she saw, suddenly exclaimed: “Xiao Lan Xiao Lan! Extraordinary news!”
Her pretty eyebrows wrinkled, Mo Lan with a spatula in her hand turned the oil stewed eggplant in the pan, not really caring and asked, “What’s up?”
yum!
An Xiaoluo spoke, her tone unclear: “Do you still remember Blue Wolf Doomsday*?”
蒼狼末日 cāng láng mò rì – dark blue/deep green/ash-gray wolf last day/end/final days/doomsday
“I remember, the main CV for《Ten Years of Cold Mountain》, what’s wrong? Has he been killed*?” Remembered that it was possible for CVs from the Internet Voice Circle to be killed* by anti-fans just because of trivial matters, Mo Lan’s tone was very calm.
(not literally kill but something like being hacked into – 挂 guà – to hang/suspend/dead/ (slang) to kill)
An Xiaoluo sighed, her voice slightly at a loss: “But this time it’s really a big deal, Blue Wolf Doomsday used his voice to deceive his female fans to meet him to open up a room*, he was reported, dialogues were recorded, there are also the girls who were swindled, witnesses and material evidence are all there. Now, there are several great gods* who have reposted the original long Weibo po*, condemning Blue Wolf Doomsday, it seems that… it is true.”
(like in the hotel to have sex)
(大神 dà shén – big god – like DaDa and male god’s ‘god’, similiar to great gurus)
(literally po in the raws – Po is Taiwanese internet slang, just the first half of the English word “post” – can you believe I found the answer in Reddit?)
Sterilisation Cupboard
Mo Lan still calmly took a plate out of the cupboard steriliser, scooped the last braised eggplant out of the pot, then carried it to the dining table, she saw An Xiaoluo frowned staring at the computer screen, she couldn’t bear it and also felt sad.
For a voice enthusiast, all they would care about was the voice of the person, as for what they look like, tall or short, fat or thin, their family background, a voice enthusiast would not care. However, this didn’t mean that their moral character could be deplorable either.
Taking advantage of your fans by using one’s own voice, deceiving them to meet up and to open up a room, defaming the innocent. Even if the fans were stupid and ignorant, but, for Blue Wolf Doomsday to act in this way, would merely disillusioned the fans even more.
The Internet Voice Circle was not a particularly clean and pure circle, with the different types of explosive allegations, quarrels*, there would always be people who goes after one another, even if you honestly called them out to prevent them from going on stage, it would be complete shambles. After all, in this 2D world, they are the Internet Voice CVs, the beautiful voices who chatted cheerfully and wittily together, but in reality, how would you know what kind of decisive thoughts would the person in front of the computer screen kept?
(掐架 qiā jià – a northerner saying – pinch support – so smaller than a fight – refers to a quarrel, arguing constantly)
Since the birth of the Internet Voice Circle, there have been an uninterrupted number of pink and even purple CVs that have been pulled down from the altar because of all sorts of dark history, at the same time, there have also been a continuous stream of fans who goes from disappointment to despair, from being fanatical to a damned heart.
Fortunately… so far, Secretly Captivated was still clean.
An Xiaoluo snapped her laptop closed, took the chopsticks and started eating, but her expression was still unnatural.
After grabbing a few dishes with her chopsticks, she finally couldn’t helped but become a chatterbox: “Xiao Lan, after knowing this matter, are you angry? Sad? Although Blue Wolf Doomsday isn’t one of my favourites, but at that time I’ve also listened to his drama, I really didn’t expect… that he was such a person.”
Mo Lan silently chewed her rice, swallowed the food in her mouth, and softly replied: “Disappointed definitely, but, cousin, I know your thoughts, you are worried, that one day the same thing will happen to your favorite CV too.”
Halfway through picking a dish, An Xiaoluo paused, she spoke, her tone couldn’t conceal her frustration: “Precisely of course, we only know the 2D characterisation of these CVs, how we would know what they are actually like in the 3D world. It’s not like this is the first or second time this kind of thing happened in the Internet Voice Circle, there’s no lack of CVs who would take advantage of their fans cheating them out of their money and love*, right?”An Xiaoluo said word by word, frowning, the sharp look between her eyebrows looked a little like she was at work, Mo Lan knew that she was really disappointed.
(it’s actually sex)
Pursing her lips, Mo Lan was about to respond, when An Xiaoluo suddenly met her eyes, and asked seriously, “Xiao Lan, just imagine, if you swap Blue Wolf Doomsday to Secretly Captivated, how would you react?”
Mo Lan was taken aback by her serious expression. After a while, she showed a soft and beautiful smile as before, her voice somewhat faltering: “To be honest, I don’t know how I would react, but, at least for now, I still believe in him. Secretly Captivated… doesn’t feel like he’s this kind of person, the favourite that I choose, I would certainly believe in my foresight.”
His voice, every word he said, every Weibo post, and furthermore for the past four years, there haven’t been the slightest hint of dark history in his clean background. She truly believed that Secret Captivated in reality, and also in the 2D world, was a good person.
An Xiaoluo peered at her, looked at the gentle smile that still remained on Mo Lan’s face, tilted her head and thought for a long time, finally her eyebrows smoothened out, and also nodded in agreement: “That’s also true, for so many years, in the Internet Voice Circle Secretly Captivated SAMA is considered as one of the very best gossip insulator*. Ai, even if he was exposed one day, I really would not believe in voices anymore.”
(he’s insulated against gossip, no gossip can touch him)
Mo Lan smiled and avoided that topic, on one hand added food to An Xiaoluo’s plate, on the other she softly said, “Cousin, you have been working overtime for several days, eat more.”
So happy that she perked up smiling brightly and beautifully, An Xiaoluo was pleased and ate sweet and sour pork ribs, while eating, she somewhat vaguely said, “The food made by Xiaolan is still so delicious, speaking of this, really don’t know who will be so blessed in the future to be able to marry you.”
The two of them let the matter be and continued chatting and laughing while finishing their meal.
After dinner, An Xiaoluo as always took the initiative to start washing the dishes. Mo Lan cleaned and tidied the table outside, after she finished, she told An Xiaoluo, and went back to her bedroom to continue writing the manuscript.
Writing, writing, don’t know why, but she felt a little perturbed and was unable to concentrate.
Her low inefficiency was simply making her hair stand, Mo Lan kept writing in this manner until almost 11pm, before she sighed, and finally admitted that she really had no mood to write the manuscript tonight.
With her enthusiasm waning, she closed the Word document and shook her head, her mind was still going back and forth with the words An Xiaoluo just said at the dinner table-
“We all know that these CVs characterisation are after all only from the 2D world, we don’t actually know what kind of person they are in the 3D world. It’s not like this is the first or second time this kind of thing happened in the Internet Voice Circle, there’s no lack of CVs who will take advantage of their fans to cheat them out of money and love, right?”
Although what she said may be on the extreme side, but this was the truth.
Her fingers which were typing on the keyboard stopped, Mo Lan crossed her legs and stared at the computer screen with a dazed expression.
After a bit, she opened Weibo, and read the insider’s long Weibo post carefully again.
Thousands of comments have been left below and had nearly exploded, Mo Lan turned over a few pages, generally there was just a few type of standard response. All the fans were sad and dejected, felt unbelievable, the majority declared that they’ll shed their fan status from now on. One after another, passer-bys mocked and looked down on Blue Wolf Doomsday, furthermore… it had been reposted by various well-known CVs and ancient-style circle singers.
Su Qingmo also reposted the original Weibo po: A bit disappointed, I remembered meeting with Blue Wolf Doomsday a few months ago, didn’t expect him to do such a thing, I hope everyone will be more sensible, don’t be taken in again in the future.
Even they would also feel disappointed?
Mo Lan pulled the corner of her mouth, revealing a somewhat sad smile.
If even the CVs felt disappointment, needless to mention the mood of the fans at this very moment.
Fortunately… he’s Blue Wolf Doomsday.
Or it could be said that, fortunately, he was not Secretly Captivated.
After Mo Lan shook her mind awake, she could not help but opened Secretly Captivated’s Weibo, the clean and refreshing Weibo homepage, his last Weibo post, was still the reposted post of Mo Lan’s guzheng version of《Senbon Sakura》.
Blue Wolf Doomsday’s event was so blatant that it became colossal news, the whole Internet Voice Circle tongues were wagging abuzz, all sorts of famous CVs, ancient style singers and public figures from the circle were also busy forwarding, criticising and make known their positions, yet he seemed to not have any feeling, still as silent as before, still kept to himself, not condemning nor choosing sides, apparently not really caring what other people thought about his lacked of response.
Does he not want to respond, or, did he basically just felt it was beneath him to respond?
But, that is his style.
Tilting her head, Mo Lan reached out to type, and commented on his Weibo:
Thank you, for never letting me down all this time.
After Weibo showed a “successfully sent”, Mo Lan switched off the computer, finally perfectly satisfied, she got up to take a shower, applied a facial mask and prepared to go to sleep.
After putting on the mask and laying on the bed, she switched off the night light, and planned to sleep. Suddenly, her mobile phone which was charging on the bedside table began to ring, Mo Lan reached out for her phone, unlocked it, and found that Secretly Captivated sent a WeChat voice message.
Somebody’s heart began to go out of control again, at sixes and sevens*, Mo Lan put on her earphones, her finger shook slightly, and opened the WeChat message.
(七上八下 qī shàng bā xià – perturbed state of mind/ in a mess)
Sound of the wind whistling past popped out of her earphones, just by listening to it, could make people feel very cold.
“I tried the method you mentioned the other day, but what a pity once it was ready I received an urgent call to go back to work, by the time I get home… I reckon it’ll already be cold ba.” Having said up to this point, he smiled a little helplessly, his light water-like tone alike composing a melodious music, flowed out leisurely, as elegant and poignant as the moonlight tonight.
From the earphones, his voice paused for a moment, the biting cold wind was as before, he continued: “Thank you for trusting me, and I hope, I will never ever let you down. I’m going to work now, good night, Momo.”
His voice was calm and peaceful, just like a soft and gentle light shining in the dark night, which was contrary to the frigid bleak environment, illuminating the darkness. It was obviously so refined that his tone was somewhat pure and cold, but it did inexplicably made people feel the wonderful unspeakable warmth.
In that split second, her heartbeat seemed to have reached its peak.
Mo Lan hugged her phone and was so floored that she couldn’t respond. After a while, she stretched out her somewhat stiffed fingers and started typing slowly: It’s so late and you’re still working, your boss is too much T^T Try to quickly rest as soon as you’ve finished working, remember not to heat up the cold noodles to eat, it’s bad for your health. I’m going to sleep o, good night~
She didn’t dare to send a voice message because she knew that her voice must be trembling beyond recognition right now.
After the WeChat message was sent, she placed the phone back onto the bedside table, Mo Lan hugged a pillow in her arms, her whole body curled up in the quilt, her expression was still somewhat helpless and at a loss.
Was this considered as him giving her a guarantee?
But, why would he give her a guarantee? She was merely just a small fan.
Mo Lan was no longer a little girl who’s had her first awakening of love, her heart knew very clearly, that it wasn’t a good thing to be too excessively absorbed towards one’s voice, but, by the time she realised, it was already too late.
What’s more, the owner of this voice called her in such a soft and gentle tone and wished her good night.
Recently, Molan’s QQ was very lively, the main reason was because she added the official Ninth Heavens* Mandarin Dubbing Group.
(Previously Jiuxiao)
She didn’t really like to talk much in the group, but, it doesn’t mean that she didn’t like to keep an eye on the chat. But today, as she was scanning, she was suddenly named.
Producer-Honey Lemon: Ye Lanshan meizi, you here?
Feeling that the other party must be wanting to talk to her about the script for the new drama Mo Lan quickly typed back:
Ye Lanshan: I’m here, what’s the matter?
Producer-Honey Lemon: What’s the title of the play?
Mo Lan saw her question and at first blanked for a moment, after a bit then she reacted and felt a little embarrassed, when she emailed the script over at that time she actually had forgotten to include the title, which was simply the rhythm of crying stupidly.
Ye Lan Shan:《A Look at Jiangshan*》, really sorry, I forgot to include it T^T
江山一顧 jiāng shān yī gù: jiang shan can mean the city in Quzhou or rivers and mountains/ landscape/ country/ state power. yi can mean one/ entire/ whole/ all/ throughout. gu means to look after/ to take into consideration/ to attend to. My interpretation would be to “always look after/protect/preserve the country/state power a.k.a. Chengde”.
Producer-Honey Lemon: No problem~ received!
Screenwriter-Ran Ran: By the way, in just over a month we’ll be celebrating the anniversary, the new drama should be done by then?
Screenwriter-Bamboo Jade: All the dry sounds* have been handed over, just waiting for post-production.
(raw recording)
Post-Production-Shui Shui Ruo Er: This is but just a short drama, should be very soon, trust me!
Designer-Falling Jade Necklace: The posters are also almost ready…
Mo Lan watched silently and couldn’t help lamenting at the high efficiency of the members of Ninth Heavens Dubbing Group, some clubs weren’t even likely to be able to produce one play in a year.
Post-Production-In A Flash Rosy Cheeks Becomes Old: I just read Xiao Luo Bo’s interview in《Unrestrained Light Wind》and nearly peed in my pants, is Mi Da actually 188?
Designer-Falling Jade Necklace: Did you just realised…that the 159s have been crying and fainting in the toilet, feels too short to be qualified to meet Mi Da (waving a handkerchief)
Post-Production-Shui Shui Ruo Er: Although I’m 170, I still feel that I’m not qualified to meet Mi Da (waving a handkerchief)
CV-Su Qingmo: Xiao Mi doesn’t like too tall either, you still have a chance.
Su Qingmo was here? Mo Lan was surprised. The QQ group was quiet for a few seconds, and then everyone got excited.
Producer-Honey Lemon: Su DaDa! Grab the live person!
Screenwriter-Ran Ran: Momo rarely pops up, front row!
Designer-Falling Jade Necklace: Even if he doesn’t like too tall, but a 159 like me definitely has no chance…
Screenwriter-Bamboo Jade: Solve this equation: 188-159 =?
Screenwriter-Ran Ran: A very difficult question.
Producer-Honey Lemon: A very difficult question +1
Post-Production-In A Flash Rosy Cheeks Becomes Old: A very difficult question +2
CV-Su Qingmo: 29.
29 centimetres… Mo Lan imagined silently in her mind, if the difference of height between two people was 29cm, hai, it was quite a bit of difference. However, recently, the adorable height differences have been popular online, so it was nothing.
Not sure where his mind went, Su Qingmo sent another message:
CV-Su Qingmo: How tall is Lanshan meizi?
Ye Lanshan: Uh, 165 (囧).
CV-Su Qingmo: 23, not bad.
Mo Lan froze for a moment, then suddenly felt a little embarrassed, and continued to imagine… if it was 23 cm, there wasn’t that much of a difference, especially, since she doesn’t like to wear high heels.
After letting her mind go in a mess for a bit, Mo Lan finally realised for what reason was she thinking about all of this… it’s got nothing to do with her anyway T^T.
Suddenly, her phone rang happily.
Mo Lan reached out and picked her phone up, the caller ID showed Rong Xiaxia’s name.
But… it was already nearly 8 o’clock in the evening, what was she doing calling her?
When she answered, Mo Lan’s voice was a bit puzzled: “Hello, Xia Xia?”
“Momo, are you free now?” Rong Xiaxia’s voice sounded a little eager, and seemed to be very anxious.
With her brow frowning, Mo Lan replied softly, “I’m free ah, what’s wrong?”
Rong Xiaxia sighed, her tone as if she was at her last gasp: “Well, would you be able to come and help me look after the shop? My brother have been pestering me the whole afternoon, insisting that I must take him to go buy the Transformers toy, it’s a pity that the ones in my shop have all been sold out, he’s been crying non-stop, disturbing the whole shop, this won’t do…”
Before Rong Xiaxia finished, Mo Lan was very empathetic: “Okay I understand, I’ll come now.”
With a thousand grace and ten thousands of gratitude from the other party, Mo Lan hung up the phone.
After a simple farewell in the group, Mo Lan switched off the computer, covered herself completely with her scarve, coat, wool hat, and gloves, and bravely walked out of the house.
Maybe because the weather was too cold, just barely past 8pm, there weren’t that many people on the road. While Mo Lan walked with her neck tucked into her scarf, she admired the winter night scenery of Nanjing streets.
The bare branches, the withered leaves, the cold wind blowing through, the dried yellow leaves twirled in the air one by one, then falling gently, beautiful yet desolate, like a dying butterfly.
As a young literary and artsy girl, Mo Lan could sometimes be quite sentimental*.
(傷春悲秋 shāng chūn bēi qiū – lit. wounded spring sad autumn – sadness caused by the change of seasons and scenery – traditional literary theme of “grieving over spring” and “mourning for autumn” – being sentimental)
Rong Xiaxia has a toy boutique on Pearl River Road. The store was not large, but the decoration was beautiful and the quality of the toys was good. Therefore, although the price was a little expensive, there have never been a shortage of customers.
When Mo Lan walked towards the door of “Xia Xia’s Summer*” toy store, Rong Xiaxia was already waiting by the door with her eight-year-old brother.
(Rong Xia Xia’s last two names means summer so it’s kinda a play on her name)
The cute-looking little boy was crying and complaining while holding onto Rong Xiaxia’s hand, Rong Xiaxia had a helpless look, she had been badly burned about the head* by him.
(焦头烂额 jiāo tóu làn é – an idiom – fig. hard-pressed, under pressure)
Mo Lan walked over, first squatted down, then stretched out her hand and wiped the little boy’s tears: “Xuan Xuan, what’s wrong? Was your sister bullying you again, don’t cry don’t cry, our Xuan Xuan is a man, come here, let’s wipe your tears first.”
The little boy who, just a moment ago was stubborn and pouty, heard what was said, actually stopped his tears, sniffed, raised his head, and looked at Mo Lan with his red, swollen and aggrieved eyes.
Rong Xiaxia stood beside, she who was unable to coax her younger brother for half a day, couldn’t help but gave a long sigh when she saw the scene in front of her: “Why would this terrible boy listen once he’s in front of you? This is irrational all right!”
Mo Lan smiled, stood up, and said softly, “Okay, hurry up and take him to buy the toy, if it’s any later all the shops will be shut.”
“Okay okay, Momo, you are my life-saving benefactor! I’ll be back soon me me da“
麼麼噠 me me dā – kissing sound
With her eyes following* the two of them getting into a taxi, Mo Lan pushed the door open and walked in.
(目送 mù sòng – to follow with one’s eyes (a departing guest etc))
After being bored to death standing by the checkout counter, the wind chime at the door tinkled, Mo Lan raised her head and saw a couple walked in, laughing and whispering.
“Welcome, please let me know if you need anything.” Mo Lan gave a very standard service smile and looked at the sweet couple.
The girl smiled at her, walked in and started to browse through the toys.
Mo Lan was standing behind the cash register, brushing* Weibo one after another.
(like swiping over the posts on FB/Twitter)
Suddenly, a familiar voice rang in the store—
“There are loquat trees in the courtyard, planted the year my wife passed, now there’s a pavilion.”*
(the last lines of an actual poem)
A clear and familiar voice seeped into her ears.
Very tranquiled, but indescribably agonising. Very gentle, while suddenly made people want to cry, a somewhat restrained and low voice, word by word, desperate and forlorn.
Mo Lan raised her head all of a sudden, this passage was from “Xianji Xuanzhi“, which was Secretly Captivated’s earlier recording. His voice, she would not have misheard.
Once the girl who was looking miserable choosing a toy heard the voice, she hurriedly and flusteredly took her phone out of the pocket. Mo Lan looked at her, embarrassed for a moment, only to discover, that the short passage was this girl’s text ringtone.
She silently felt that Secretly Captivated fans were really everywhere… Mo Lan was not surprised, she lowered her head again, and quietly continued to surf Weibo.
“Hey, didn’t I tell you not to use this person’s voice as a text ringtone?”
“You’re so annoying, jealous even of a 2D person.”
“You listen to his lousy radio drama every day, replying to his Weibo three or four times faster compared to replying to my text, please, are you going out with him or with me?”
“If he was willing to go out with me, would you still exist? I say, you have no right to say this to me, aren’t you the same, you just know how to play LOL everyday, you don’t even accompany me to window-shop, have you considered my feelings?”
(League of Legends)
…
black lines
black lines
The whole of Mo Lan face had black lines on it watching the previously sweet couple bickering in the shop, she struggled in her heart as to whether to console them, but then saw that the couple gave each other a cold humph, and then walked out of the store, one after another without even looking at her.
She 囧 and stared towards their backs for a moment, Mo Lan recovered, felt that the plot was simply too classic, and could not help but posted on Weibo:
Helping my friend to watched over her shop, as a result a couple started bikering in the shop, the reason was that the girl used Secretly Captivated’s voice as her text ringtone, the man became jealous, should I be moved that my favourite’s charm is extremely large =3=.
After she posted on Webo, not long after, she received enthusiastic comments from Secretly Captivated fans:
“Pffff 2333333, the first time my boyfriend heard my text ringtone also reacted pretty much the same way, and for a very long time asked me who the person was…”
“(Hands spread) You mortals, these single dogs* have nothing to worry about.”
(单身狗 dān shēn gǒu – internet slang for person who is single and normally used self-deprecatingly)
“A few days ago, I saw Mi Da‘s fangroup at an anime expo, goes to show that male god’s fans could indeed be found all over the country, really want to bow down.”
Mo Lan continued surfing Weibo, and managed to sell two dolls, time passed quite quickly, not long after, Rong Xiaxia brought her younger brother back.
She glanced at her phone, it was almost 10pm, she quickly explained and gave the money to Rong Xiaxia, Mo Lan hurriedly wore her hat and planned to go home.
She just opened the door and walked out a few steps, the next second, she was stunned.
Outside of the shop was the originally desolated road, now there were a lot of people inside and outside, it seemed that… someone was involved in a car accident.
Couldn’t helped but drew near, Mo Lan tiptoed and finally saw a motorcycle lying on the ground, at the scene of the accident, the windshield was shattered, there was blood on the ground, it looked to be quite serious.
The crowd on the sidelines were discussing spiritedly, but Mo Lan, who was a little thin and weak, couldn’t squeezed in.
She stood outside the crowd, she sighed and thought for a while, she had better take the courage to pat the shoulder of a woman in her thirties who stood next to her, and softly asked, “Umm… excuse me, has anybody called the police?”
She spoke, the heat from her mouth condensed into a cloud of white smoke in the air, and then dissipated.
Mo Lan couldn’t helped but lift her scarf up again, inwardly thinking, if nobody called the police… she will report to the police before leaving.
The woman turned her head and glanced at her, then replied: “A man just called the police.” Once she finished speaking, she seemed worried that Mo Lan couldn’t see, she very enthusiastically pointed to the centre of the crowd: “There, that young man, the tallest one.”
Following the direction of the woman’s finger which was pointed towards the crowd, Mo Lan saw him at first glanced, standing in the middle of the crowd and supporting an old woman, with his back towards her.
The man was wearing a navy blue down jacket and black trousers, he stood there very calmly and coldly, nothing unusual, but it made people unable to look away.
He’s really tall… Mo Lan thought inwardly while she raised her head and looked at him.
And now, he was carefully supporting the old woman who was hit by the motorcycle, Mo Lan’s eyes swiped down and saw that the old woman had a scarf tied on her arm, the dark red blood almost soaking fully the light coloured scarf.
Already bandaged? Really attentive.
Mo Lan tilted her head and couldn’t helped but look at the man a few more times. The more she looked, the more she felt that the man looked familiar.
He lowered his head slightly, and seemed to be talking to the people around him, from Mo Lan’s standpoint she wasn’t able to hear his voice, nor could she see his expression, she could only see that the people around him were staring blankly, watching motionlessly, seemed to earnestly listened to him.
Mo Lan frowned, and was suddenly a little curious as to what the man was saying, making these crowds looked like they saw a ghost.
While thinking, suddenly, the sound of a 120* ambulance echoed through, the sound moving closer, finally, the ambulance stopped right by the crowd.
(Phone number for ambulance in China)
First aid staff, nurses, stretchers, the complete range.
Mo Lan relaxed a little, and saw that the ambulance staff took off their surgical masks, as they looked a little eager talking to the man, after a while, she saw the man supported the old woman, they walked together and went into the ambulance.
She wasn’t sure if it was her illusion or something else happened, but before he went into the ambulance, the man seemed to have felt her gaze, Mo Lan felt that he seemed to have turned his head over, glanced at her and not really minded.
His eyes were indolent, unusually bright in the night, brighter than the glaring lights of the ambulance.
His eyes… seemed to be slightly peach blossom-y*.
(represents a love relationship, kinda like stars and hearts in the air)
It was but a split second, when Mo Lan reacted, the man had already stepped into the ambulance, with door tightly closed.
Mo Lan froze in place, her eyes widened, all of a sudden she remembered, this man turned out to be the man she had met before on the bullet train to Hangzhou.
He was actually in Nanjing as well.
The ambulance quickly disappeared into the dust, Mo Lan finished recalling the past, shook her head, not thought too much, and took the steps to leave.
A few people walked past Mo Lan, she could clearly hear their murmurs:
“Good guys like the young guy from just now are rare, he took the initiative to help her, and wasn’t afraid that the old lady would turn around and slap him.”
“That’s right, we have been looking for a while and also dare not help. However, why did he go to the hospital too, it’s enough for a good person to stop at that point, after going to the hospital, once the family of the old lady arrives, they might twist his words, and when the time comes, he could have unspeakable bitter suffering.”
“Did you not hear, when the first aid staff arrived, not sure what they talked about, the anesthesiologists in the hospital are understaffed, asked him to follow them.”
“Ah? Do you mean that… the guy is an anesthesiologist?”
(In case you didn’t know (I wasn’t compeletely sure) but there’s a difference between an anesthesiologist (a doctor) and an anesthetist (a nurse). Read more about it here. Google translated both. According to another dictionary, an anesthesiologist is a different term. But they called him doctor so I’ll stick with the anesthesiologist for now.)
“Should be, I just heard a few nurses calling him Dr. Gu.”
“Huh, the reputation of anesthesiologist haven’t been very pleasant in the past few years, that young man looked clean and classy, not sure about his character.”
…
The voices went further and further away, until it vanished into the thin air.
Mo Lan frowned.
He’s… an anesthesiologist?
As the onlookers just discussed, in recent years, the reputation of anesthesiologists have been very poor in the society, the more specific reason was because in recent years, there have been more and more negative news about anesthesiologists’ abusing their power to sexually abuse female patients on the operating table. As a result, more and more family members of patients are asking to enter the operating room to supervise the entire work process of the anesthesiologist, it was said that it’s supervision, but in fact it’s just surveillance.
As long as there was a slight stirring of grass, the patient and their family would vigilantly guard against the anesthesiologist, labeled them with sexual assault, alarming each and every anesthesiologist in the hospital. There were also several baffling cases brought to court by the patient’s family, although the other party lost the case in the end, this series of reoccuring negative incidents also influenced and pressured public opinion in society.
As far as Mo Lan knew, recently, just in Gulou Hospital, two or three anesthesiologists had resigned because of the excessive psychological pressure.
Sighing softly, if he’s an anesthesiologist, she reckoned that he wouldn’t have an easy life, his psychological and mental capability was truly strong.
A burst of biting cold wind blew through, Mo Lan’s body couldn’t help but winced, putting her hands in her pocket, Mo Lan soon forgot about this brief incident and hurried back home.
Today was the start of the weekend, An Xiaoluo, who rarely gets half a day off, after receiving notice confirming that she didn’t need to work overtime, began to enslaved Mo Lan to make dinner.
Mo Lan, who was working hard without complaining was stir-frying dishes in the kitchen, and An Xiaoluo, who was hogging the laptop by the dining table, not sure what she saw, suddenly exclaimed: “Xiao Lan Xiao Lan! Extraordinary news!”
Her pretty eyebrows wrinkled, Mo Lan with a spatula in her hand turned the oil stewed eggplant in the pan, not really caring and asked, “What’s up?”
yum!
An Xiaoluo spoke, her tone unclear: “Do you still remember Blue Wolf Doomsday*?”
蒼狼末日 cāng láng mò rì – dark blue/deep green/ash-gray wolf last day/end/final days/doomsday
“I remember, the main CV for《Ten Years of Cold Mountain》, what’s wrong? Has he been killed*?” Remembered that it was possible for CVs from the Internet Voice Circle to be killed* by anti-fans just because of trivial matters, Mo Lan’s tone was very calm.
(not literally kill but something like being hacked into – 挂 guà – to hang/suspend/dead/ (slang) to kill)
An Xiaoluo sighed, her voice slightly at a loss: “But this time it’s really a big deal, Blue Wolf Doomsday used his voice to deceive his female fans to meet him to open up a room*, he was reported, dialogues were recorded, there are also the girls who were swindled, witnesses and material evidence are all there. Now, there are several great gods* who have reposted the original long Weibo po*, condemning Blue Wolf Doomsday, it seems that… it is true.”
(like in the hotel to have sex)
(大神 dà shén – big god – like DaDa and male god’s ‘god’, similiar to great gurus)
(literally po in the raws – Po is Taiwanese internet slang, just the first half of the English word “post” – can you believe I found the answer in Reddit?)
Sterilisation Cupboard
Mo Lan still calmly took a plate out of the cupboard steriliser, scooped the last braised eggplant out of the pot, then carried it to the dining table, she saw An Xiaoluo frowned staring at the computer screen, she couldn’t bear it and also felt sad.
For a voice enthusiast, all they would care about was the voice of the person, as for what they look like, tall or short, fat or thin, their family background, a voice enthusiast would not care. However, this didn’t mean that their moral character could be deplorable either.
Taking advantage of your fans by using one’s own voice, deceiving them to meet up and to open up a room, defaming the innocent. Even if the fans were stupid and ignorant, but, for Blue Wolf Doomsday to act in this way, would merely disillusioned the fans even more.
The Internet Voice Circle was not a particularly clean and pure circle, with the different types of explosive allegations, quarrels*, there would always be people who goes after one another, even if you honestly called them out to prevent them from going on stage, it would be complete shambles. After all, in this 2D world, they are the Internet Voice CVs, the beautiful voices who chatted cheerfully and wittily together, but in reality, how would you know what kind of decisive thoughts would the person in front of the computer screen kept?
(掐架 qiā jià – a northerner saying – pinch support – so smaller than a fight – refers to a quarrel, arguing constantly)
Since the birth of the Internet Voice Circle, there have been an uninterrupted number of pink and even purple CVs that have been pulled down from the altar because of all sorts of dark history, at the same time, there have also been a continuous stream of fans who goes from disappointment to despair, from being fanatical to a damned heart.
Fortunately… so far, Secretly Captivated was still clean.
An Xiaoluo snapped her laptop closed, took the chopsticks and started eating, but her expression was still unnatural.
After grabbing a few dishes with her chopsticks, she finally couldn’t helped but become a chatterbox: “Xiao Lan, after knowing this matter, are you angry? Sad? Although Blue Wolf Doomsday isn’t one of my favourites, but at that time I’ve also listened to his drama, I really didn’t expect… that he was such a person.”
Mo Lan silently chewed her rice, swallowed the food in her mouth, and softly replied: “Disappointed definitely, but, cousin, I know your thoughts, you are worried, that one day the same thing will happen to your favorite CV too.”
Halfway through picking a dish, An Xiaoluo paused, she spoke, her tone couldn’t conceal her frustration: “Precisely of course, we only know the 2D characterisation of these CVs, how we would know what they are actually like in the 3D world. It’s not like this is the first or second time this kind of thing happened in the Internet Voice Circle, there’s no lack of CVs who would take advantage of their fans cheating them out of their money and love*, right?”An Xiaoluo said word by word, frowning, the sharp look between her eyebrows looked a little like she was at work, Mo Lan knew that she was really disappointed.
(it’s actually sex)
Pursing her lips, Mo Lan was about to respond, when An Xiaoluo suddenly met her eyes, and asked seriously, “Xiao Lan, just imagine, if you swap Blue Wolf Doomsday to Secretly Captivated, how would you react?”
Mo Lan was taken aback by her serious expression. After a while, she showed a soft and beautiful smile as before, her voice somewhat faltering: “To be honest, I don’t know how I would react, but, at least for now, I still believe in him. Secretly Captivated… doesn’t feel like he’s this kind of person, the favourite that I choose, I would certainly believe in my foresight.”
His voice, every word he said, every Weibo post, and furthermore for the past four years, there haven’t been the slightest hint of dark history in his clean background. She truly believed that Secret Captivated in reality, and also in the 2D world, was a good person.
An Xiaoluo peered at her, looked at the gentle smile that still remained on Mo Lan’s face, tilted her head and thought for a long time, finally her eyebrows smoothened out, and also nodded in agreement: “That’s also true, for so many years, in the Internet Voice Circle Secretly Captivated SAMA is considered as one of the very best gossip insulator*. Ai, even if he was exposed one day, I really would not believe in voices anymore.”
(he’s insulated against gossip, no gossip can touch him)
Mo Lan smiled and avoided that topic, on one hand added food to An Xiaoluo’s plate, on the other she softly said, “Cousin, you have been working overtime for several days, eat more.”
So happy that she perked up smiling brightly and beautifully, An Xiaoluo was pleased and ate sweet and sour pork ribs, while eating, she somewhat vaguely said, “The food made by Xiaolan is still so delicious, speaking of this, really don’t know who will be so blessed in the future to be able to marry you.”
The two of them let the matter be and continued chatting and laughing while finishing their meal.
After dinner, An Xiaoluo as always took the initiative to start washing the dishes. Mo Lan cleaned and tidied the table outside, after she finished, she told An Xiaoluo, and went back to her bedroom to continue writing the manuscript.
Writing, writing, don’t know why, but she felt a little perturbed and was unable to concentrate.
Her low inefficiency was simply making her hair stand, Mo Lan kept writing in this manner until almost 11pm, before she sighed, and finally admitted that she really had no mood to write the manuscript tonight.
With her enthusiasm waning, she closed the Word document and shook her head, her mind was still going back and forth with the words An Xiaoluo just said at the dinner table-
“We all know that these CVs characterisation are after all only from the 2D world, we don’t actually know what kind of person they are in the 3D world. It’s not like this is the first or second time this kind of thing happened in the Internet Voice Circle, there’s no lack of CVs who will take advantage of their fans to cheat them out of money and love, right?”
Although what she said may be on the extreme side, but this was the truth.
Her fingers which were typing on the keyboard stopped, Mo Lan crossed her legs and stared at the computer screen with a dazed expression.
After a bit, she opened Weibo, and read the insider’s long Weibo post carefully again.
Thousands of comments have been left below and had nearly exploded, Mo Lan turned over a few pages, generally there was just a few type of standard response. All the fans were sad and dejected, felt unbelievable, the majority declared that they’ll shed their fan status from now on. One after another, passer-bys mocked and looked down on Blue Wolf Doomsday, furthermore… it had been reposted by various well-known CVs and ancient-style circle singers.
Su Qingmo also reposted the original Weibo po: A bit disappointed, I remembered meeting with Blue Wolf Doomsday a few months ago, didn’t expect him to do such a thing, I hope everyone will be more sensible, don’t be taken in again in the future.
Even they would also feel disappointed?
Mo Lan pulled the corner of her mouth, revealing a somewhat sad smile.
If even the CVs felt disappointment, needless to mention the mood of the fans at this very moment.
Fortunately… he’s Blue Wolf Doomsday.
Or it could be said that, fortunately, he was not Secretly Captivated.
After Mo Lan shook her mind awake, she could not help but opened Secretly Captivated’s Weibo, the clean and refreshing Weibo homepage, his last Weibo post, was still the reposted post of Mo Lan’s guzheng version of《Senbon Sakura》.
Blue Wolf Doomsday’s event was so blatant that it became colossal news, the whole Internet Voice Circle tongues were wagging abuzz, all sorts of famous CVs, ancient style singers and public figures from the circle were also busy forwarding, criticising and make known their positions, yet he seemed to not have any feeling, still as silent as before, still kept to himself, not condemning nor choosing sides, apparently not really caring what other people thought about his lacked of response.
Does he not want to respond, or, did he basically just felt it was beneath him to respond?
But, that is his style.
Tilting her head, Mo Lan reached out to type, and commented on his Weibo:
Thank you, for never letting me down all this time.
After Weibo showed a “successfully sent”, Mo Lan switched off the computer, finally perfectly satisfied, she got up to take a shower, applied a facial mask and prepared to go to sleep.
After putting on the mask and laying on the bed, she switched off the night light, and planned to sleep. Suddenly, her mobile phone which was charging on the bedside table began to ring, Mo Lan reached out for her phone, unlocked it, and found that Secretly Captivated sent a WeChat voice message.
Somebody’s heart began to go out of control again, at sixes and sevens*, Mo Lan put on her earphones, her finger shook slightly, and opened the WeChat message.
(七上八下 qī shàng bā xià – perturbed state of mind/ in a mess)
Sound of the wind whistling past popped out of her earphones, just by listening to it, could make people feel very cold.
“I tried the method you mentioned the other day, but what a pity once it was ready I received an urgent call to go back to work, by the time I get home… I reckon it’ll already be cold ba.” Having said up to this point, he smiled a little helplessly, his light water-like tone alike composing a melodious music, flowed out leisurely, as elegant and poignant as the moonlight tonight.
From the earphones, his voice paused for a moment, the biting cold wind was as before, he continued: “Thank you for trusting me, and I hope, I will never ever let you down. I’m going to work now, good night, Momo.”
His voice was calm and peaceful, just like a soft and gentle light shining in the dark night, which was contrary to the frigid bleak environment, illuminating the darkness. It was obviously so refined that his tone was somewhat pure and cold, but it did inexplicably made people feel the wonderful unspeakable warmth.
In that split second, her heartbeat seemed to have reached its peak.
Mo Lan hugged her phone and was so floored that she couldn’t respond. After a while, she stretched out her somewhat stiffed fingers and started typing slowly: It’s so late and you’re still working, your boss is too much T^T Try to quickly rest as soon as you’ve finished working, remember not to heat up the cold noodles to eat, it’s bad for your health. I’m going to sleep o, good night~
She didn’t dare to send a voice message because she knew that her voice must be trembling beyond recognition right now.
After the WeChat message was sent, she placed the phone back onto the bedside table, Mo Lan hugged a pillow in her arms, her whole body curled up in the quilt, her expression was still somewhat helpless and at a loss.
Was this considered as him giving her a guarantee?
But, why would he give her a guarantee? She was merely just a small fan.
Mo Lan was no longer a little girl who’s had her first awakening of love, her heart knew very clearly, that it wasn’t a good thing to be too excessively absorbed towards one’s voice, but, by the time she realised, it was already too late.
What’s more, the owner of this voice called her in such a soft and gentle tone and wished her good night.
Recently, Molan’s QQ was very lively, the main reason was because she added the official Ninth Heavens* Mandarin Dubbing Group.
(Previously Jiuxiao)
She didn’t really like to talk much in the group, but, it doesn’t mean that she didn’t like to keep an eye on the chat. But today, as she was scanning, she was suddenly named.
Producer-Honey Lemon: Ye Lanshan meizi, you here?
Feeling that the other party must be wanting to talk to her about the script for the new drama Mo Lan quickly typed back:
Ye Lanshan: I’m here, what’s the matter?
Producer-Honey Lemon: What’s the title of the play?
Mo Lan saw her question and at first blanked for a moment, after a bit then she reacted and felt a little embarrassed, when she emailed the script over at that time she actually had forgotten to include the title, which was simply the rhythm of crying stupidly.
Ye Lan Shan:《A Look at Jiangshan*》, really sorry, I forgot to include it T^T
江山一顧 jiāng shān yī gù: jiang shan can mean the city in Quzhou or rivers and mountains/ landscape/ country/ state power. yi can mean one/ entire/ whole/ all/ throughout. gu means to look after/ to take into consideration/ to attend to. My interpretation would be to “always look after/protect/preserve the country/state power a.k.a. Chengde”.
Producer-Honey Lemon: No problem~ received!
Screenwriter-Ran Ran: By the way, in just over a month we’ll be celebrating the anniversary, the new drama should be done by then?
Screenwriter-Bamboo Jade: All the dry sounds* have been handed over, just waiting for post-production.
(raw recording)
Post-Production-Shui Shui Ruo Er: This is but just a short drama, should be very soon, trust me!
Designer-Falling Jade Necklace: The posters are also almost ready…
Mo Lan watched silently and couldn’t help lamenting at the high efficiency of the members of Ninth Heavens Dubbing Group, some clubs weren’t even likely to be able to produce one play in a year.
Post-Production-In A Flash Rosy Cheeks Becomes Old: I just read Xiao Luo Bo’s interview in《Unrestrained Light Wind》and nearly peed in my pants, is Mi Da actually 188?
Designer-Falling Jade Necklace: Did you just realised…that the 159s have been crying and fainting in the toilet, feels too short to be qualified to meet Mi Da (waving a handkerchief)
Post-Production-Shui Shui Ruo Er: Although I’m 170, I still feel that I’m not qualified to meet Mi Da (waving a handkerchief)
CV-Su Qingmo: Xiao Mi doesn’t like too tall either, you still have a chance.
Su Qingmo was here? Mo Lan was surprised. The QQ group was quiet for a few seconds, and then everyone got excited.
Producer-Honey Lemon: Su DaDa! Grab the live person!
Screenwriter-Ran Ran: Momo rarely pops up, front row!
Designer-Falling Jade Necklace: Even if he doesn’t like too tall, but a 159 like me definitely has no chance…
Screenwriter-Bamboo Jade: Solve this equation: 188-159 =?
Screenwriter-Ran Ran: A very difficult question.
Producer-Honey Lemon: A very difficult question +1
Post-Production-In A Flash Rosy Cheeks Becomes Old: A very difficult question +2
CV-Su Qingmo: 29.
29 centimetres… Mo Lan imagined silently in her mind, if the difference of height between two people was 29cm, hai, it was quite a bit of difference. However, recently, the adorable height differences have been popular online, so it was nothing.
Not sure where his mind went, Su Qingmo sent another message:
CV-Su Qingmo: How tall is Lanshan meizi?
Ye Lanshan: Uh, 165 (囧).
CV-Su Qingmo: 23, not bad.
Mo Lan froze for a moment, then suddenly felt a little embarrassed, and continued to imagine… if it was 23 cm, there wasn’t that much of a difference, especially, since she doesn’t like to wear high heels.
After letting her mind go in a mess for a bit, Mo Lan finally realised for what reason was she thinking about all of this… it’s got nothing to do with her anyway T^T.
Suddenly, her phone rang happily.
Mo Lan reached out and picked her phone up, the caller ID showed Rong Xiaxia’s name.
But… it was already nearly 8 o’clock in the evening, what was she doing calling her?
When she answered, Mo Lan’s voice was a bit puzzled: “Hello, Xia Xia?”
“Momo, are you free now?” Rong Xiaxia’s voice sounded a little eager, and seemed to be very anxious.
With her brow frowning, Mo Lan replied softly, “I’m free ah, what’s wrong?”
Rong Xiaxia sighed, her tone as if she was at her last gasp: “Well, would you be able to come and help me look after the shop? My brother have been pestering me the whole afternoon, insisting that I must take him to go buy the Transformers toy, it’s a pity that the ones in my shop have all been sold out, he’s been crying non-stop, disturbing the whole shop, this won’t do…”
Before Rong Xiaxia finished, Mo Lan was very empathetic: “Okay I understand, I’ll come now.”
With a thousand grace and ten thousands of gratitude from the other party, Mo Lan hung up the phone.
After a simple farewell in the group, Mo Lan switched off the computer, covered herself completely with her scarve, coat, wool hat, and gloves, and bravely walked out of the house.
Maybe because the weather was too cold, just barely past 8pm, there weren’t that many people on the road. While Mo Lan walked with her neck tucked into her scarf, she admired the winter night scenery of Nanjing streets.
The bare branches, the withered leaves, the cold wind blowing through, the dried yellow leaves twirled in the air one by one, then falling gently, beautiful yet desolate, like a dying butterfly.
As a young literary and artsy girl, Mo Lan could sometimes be quite sentimental*.
(傷春悲秋 shāng chūn bēi qiū – lit. wounded spring sad autumn – sadness caused by the change of seasons and scenery – traditional literary theme of “grieving over spring” and “mourning for autumn” – being sentimental)
Rong Xiaxia has a toy boutique on Pearl River Road. The store was not large, but the decoration was beautiful and the quality of the toys was good. Therefore, although the price was a little expensive, there have never been a shortage of customers.
When Mo Lan walked towards the door of “Xia Xia’s Summer*” toy store, Rong Xiaxia was already waiting by the door with her eight-year-old brother.
(Rong Xia Xia’s last two names means summer so it’s kinda a play on her name)
The cute-looking little boy was crying and complaining while holding onto Rong Xiaxia’s hand, Rong Xiaxia had a helpless look, she had been badly burned about the head* by him.
(焦头烂额 jiāo tóu làn é – an idiom – fig. hard-pressed, under pressure)
Mo Lan walked over, first squatted down, then stretched out her hand and wiped the little boy’s tears: “Xuan Xuan, what’s wrong? Was your sister bullying you again, don’t cry don’t cry, our Xuan Xuan is a man, come here, let’s wipe your tears first.”
The little boy who, just a moment ago was stubborn and pouty, heard what was said, actually stopped his tears, sniffed, raised his head, and looked at Mo Lan with his red, swollen and aggrieved eyes.
Rong Xiaxia stood beside, she who was unable to coax her younger brother for half a day, couldn’t help but gave a long sigh when she saw the scene in front of her: “Why would this terrible boy listen once he’s in front of you? This is irrational all right!”
Mo Lan smiled, stood up, and said softly, “Okay, hurry up and take him to buy the toy, if it’s any later all the shops will be shut.”
“Okay okay, Momo, you are my life-saving benefactor! I’ll be back soon me me da“
麼麼噠 me me dā – kissing sound
With her eyes following* the two of them getting into a taxi, Mo Lan pushed the door open and walked in.
(目送 mù sòng – to follow with one’s eyes (a departing guest etc))
After being bored to death standing by the checkout counter, the wind chime at the door tinkled, Mo Lan raised her head and saw a couple walked in, laughing and whispering.
“Welcome, please let me know if you need anything.” Mo Lan gave a very standard service smile and looked at the sweet couple.
The girl smiled at her, walked in and started to browse through the toys.
Mo Lan was standing behind the cash register, brushing* Weibo one after another.
(like swiping over the posts on FB/Twitter)
Suddenly, a familiar voice rang in the store—
“There are loquat trees in the courtyard, planted the year my wife passed, now there’s a pavilion.”*
(the last lines of an actual poem)
A clear and familiar voice seeped into her ears.
Very tranquiled, but indescribably agonising. Very gentle, while suddenly made people want to cry, a somewhat restrained and low voice, word by word, desperate and forlorn.
Mo Lan raised her head all of a sudden, this passage was from “Xianji Xuanzhi“, which was Secretly Captivated’s earlier recording. His voice, she would not have misheard.
Once the girl who was looking miserable choosing a toy heard the voice, she hurriedly and flusteredly took her phone out of the pocket. Mo Lan looked at her, embarrassed for a moment, only to discover, that the short passage was this girl’s text ringtone.
She silently felt that Secretly Captivated fans were really everywhere… Mo Lan was not surprised, she lowered her head again, and quietly continued to surf Weibo.
“Hey, didn’t I tell you not to use this person’s voice as a text ringtone?”
“You’re so annoying, jealous even of a 2D person.”
“You listen to his lousy radio drama every day, replying to his Weibo three or four times faster compared to replying to my text, please, are you going out with him or with me?”
“If he was willing to go out with me, would you still exist? I say, you have no right to say this to me, aren’t you the same, you just know how to play LOL everyday, you don’t even accompany me to window-shop, have you considered my feelings?”
(League of Legends)
…
black lines
black lines
The whole of Mo Lan face had black lines on it watching the previously sweet couple bickering in the shop, she struggled in her heart as to whether to console them, but then saw that the couple gave each other a cold humph, and then walked out of the store, one after another without even looking at her.
She 囧 and stared towards their backs for a moment, Mo Lan recovered, felt that the plot was simply too classic, and could not help but posted on Weibo:
Helping my friend to watched over her shop, as a result a couple started bikering in the shop, the reason was that the girl used Secretly Captivated’s voice as her text ringtone, the man became jealous, should I be moved that my favourite’s charm is extremely large =3=.
After she posted on Webo, not long after, she received enthusiastic comments from Secretly Captivated fans:
“Pffff 2333333, the first time my boyfriend heard my text ringtone also reacted pretty much the same way, and for a very long time asked me who the person was…”
“(Hands spread) You mortals, these single dogs* have nothing to worry about.”
(单身狗 dān shēn gǒu – internet slang for person who is single and normally used self-deprecatingly)
“A few days ago, I saw Mi Da‘s fangroup at an anime expo, goes to show that male god’s fans could indeed be found all over the country, really want to bow down.”
Mo Lan continued surfing Weibo, and managed to sell two dolls, time passed quite quickly, not long after, Rong Xiaxia brought her younger brother back.
She glanced at her phone, it was almost 10pm, she quickly explained and gave the money to Rong Xiaxia, Mo Lan hurriedly wore her hat and planned to go home.
She just opened the door and walked out a few steps, the next second, she was stunned.
Outside of the shop was the originally desolated road, now there were a lot of people inside and outside, it seemed that… someone was involved in a car accident.
Couldn’t helped but drew near, Mo Lan tiptoed and finally saw a motorcycle lying on the ground, at the scene of the accident, the windshield was shattered, there was blood on the ground, it looked to be quite serious.
The crowd on the sidelines were discussing spiritedly, but Mo Lan, who was a little thin and weak, couldn’t squeezed in.
She stood outside the crowd, she sighed and thought for a while, she had better take the courage to pat the shoulder of a woman in her thirties who stood next to her, and softly asked, “Umm… excuse me, has anybody called the police?”
She spoke, the heat from her mouth condensed into a cloud of white smoke in the air, and then dissipated.
Mo Lan couldn’t helped but lift her scarf up again, inwardly thinking, if nobody called the police… she will report to the police before leaving.
The woman turned her head and glanced at her, then replied: “A man just called the police.” Once she finished speaking, she seemed worried that Mo Lan couldn’t see, she very enthusiastically pointed to the centre of the crowd: “There, that young man, the tallest one.”
Following the direction of the woman’s finger which was pointed towards the crowd, Mo Lan saw him at first glanced, standing in the middle of the crowd and supporting an old woman, with his back towards her.
The man was wearing a navy blue down jacket and black trousers, he stood there very calmly and coldly, nothing unusual, but it made people unable to look away.
He’s really tall… Mo Lan thought inwardly while she raised her head and looked at him.
And now, he was carefully supporting the old woman who was hit by the motorcycle, Mo Lan’s eyes swiped down and saw that the old woman had a scarf tied on her arm, the dark red blood almost soaking fully the light coloured scarf.
Already bandaged? Really attentive.
Mo Lan tilted her head and couldn’t helped but look at the man a few more times. The more she looked, the more she felt that the man looked familiar.
He lowered his head slightly, and seemed to be talking to the people around him, from Mo Lan’s standpoint she wasn’t able to hear his voice, nor could she see his expression, she could only see that the people around him were staring blankly, watching motionlessly, seemed to earnestly listened to him.
Mo Lan frowned, and was suddenly a little curious as to what the man was saying, making these crowds looked like they saw a ghost.
While thinking, suddenly, the sound of a 120* ambulance echoed through, the sound moving closer, finally, the ambulance stopped right by the crowd.
(Phone number for ambulance in China)
First aid staff, nurses, stretchers, the complete range.
Mo Lan relaxed a little, and saw that the ambulance staff took off their surgical masks, as they looked a little eager talking to the man, after a while, she saw the man supported the old woman, they walked together and went into the ambulance.
She wasn’t sure if it was her illusion or something else happened, but before he went into the ambulance, the man seemed to have felt her gaze, Mo Lan felt that he seemed to have turned his head over, glanced at her and not really minded.
His eyes were indolent, unusually bright in the night, brighter than the glaring lights of the ambulance.
His eyes… seemed to be slightly peach blossom-y*.
(represents a love relationship, kinda like stars and hearts in the air)
It was but a split second, when Mo Lan reacted, the man had already stepped into the ambulance, with door tightly closed.
Mo Lan froze in place, her eyes widened, all of a sudden she remembered, this man turned out to be the man she had met before on the bullet train to Hangzhou.
He was actually in Nanjing as well.
The ambulance quickly disappeared into the dust, Mo Lan finished recalling the past, shook her head, not thought too much, and took the steps to leave.
A few people walked past Mo Lan, she could clearly hear their murmurs:
“Good guys like the young guy from just now are rare, he took the initiative to help her, and wasn’t afraid that the old lady would turn around and slap him.”
“That’s right, we have been looking for a while and also dare not help. However, why did he go to the hospital too, it’s enough for a good person to stop at that point, after going to the hospital, once the family of the old lady arrives, they might twist his words, and when the time comes, he could have unspeakable bitter suffering.”
“Did you not hear, when the first aid staff arrived, not sure what they talked about, the anesthesiologists in the hospital are understaffed, asked him to follow them.”
“Ah? Do you mean that… the guy is an anesthesiologist?”
(In case you didn’t know (I wasn’t compeletely sure) but there’s a difference between an anesthesiologist (a doctor) and an anesthetist (a nurse). Read more about it here. Google translated both. According to another dictionary, an anesthesiologist is a different term. But they called him doctor so I’ll stick with the anesthesiologist for now.)
“Should be, I just heard a few nurses calling him Dr. Gu.”
“Huh, the reputation of anesthesiologist haven’t been very pleasant in the past few years, that young man looked clean and classy, not sure about his character.”
…
The voices went further and further away, until it vanished into the thin air.
Mo Lan frowned.
He’s… an anesthesiologist?
As the onlookers just discussed, in recent years, the reputation of anesthesiologists have been very poor in the society, the more specific reason was because in recent years, there have been more and more negative news about anesthesiologists’ abusing their power to sexually abuse female patients on the operating table. As a result, more and more family members of patients are asking to enter the operating room to supervise the entire work process of the anesthesiologist, it was said that it’s supervision, but in fact it’s just surveillance.
As long as there was a slight stirring of grass, the patient and their family would vigilantly guard against the anesthesiologist, labeled them with sexual assault, alarming each and every anesthesiologist in the hospital. There were also several baffling cases brought to court by the patient’s family, although the other party lost the case in the end, this series of reoccuring negative incidents also influenced and pressured public opinion in society.
As far as Mo Lan knew, recently, just in Gulou Hospital, two or three anesthesiologists had resigned because of the excessive psychological pressure.
Sighing softly, if he’s an anesthesiologist, she reckoned that he wouldn’t have an easy life, his psychological and mental capability was truly strong.
A burst of biting cold wind blew through, Mo Lan’s body couldn’t help but winced, putting her hands in her pocket, Mo Lan soon forgot about this brief incident and hurried back home.
