Chapter 50: Only you are priceless
Just half a year ago, Gu Xin was an unreachable idol to Ding Meng. However, now, Qiao Yichen was telling her that he wanted her to beat Gu Xin and stand in his position.
But the strangest part about this was that when Ding Meng looked closely at Qiao Yichen’s eyes, she actually thought that she could accomplish that.
After the Golden Melody Award was presented, the Grand Music Awards ended soon after. When Ding Meng began to leave, she came across Tang Shiran. Tang Shiran’s complexion wasn’t very good, and it was a far cry from the proud manner she had entered with.
She didn’t say anything to Ding Meng, and Ding Meng wasn’t the type to force her way over either. Instead, she followed the stream of people and left the premises.
When Jiang Man’s assistant dropped her off at the entrance to her building, she raised her head to size up the luxury apartment building, “Wow, you live in the same complex as Qiao dada?”
Ding Meng, “…”
She unexpectedly knew that Qiao Yichen lived here as well…?
Ding Meng laughed nervously, “I only found out after I moved in. Haha.”
The assistant nodded unsuspectingly and said, “If I had known earlier, I would’ve let Qiao dada send you home. Ah, although it wouldn’t have been good if other people saw.”
Ding Meng laughed it off and quickly ended the conversation, “Thank you for sending me home. Stay safe on the road. Good night.”
After she finished speaking, she opened the car door and quickly got off. Not long after she got home, Qiao Yichen returned as well.
After Ding Meng finished showering, she came out of the bathroom while drying her hair. When Qiao Yichen saw her, he went up and hugged her. He took in her fragrance and said, “Wife is the most fragrant.”
Ding Meng helplessly tried to shake him off, “You can go make yourself smell fragrant too.”
Qiao Yichen laughed as he bent over and sniffed her hair again, “There’s no hurry. I have something I’d like to give you.”
Ding Meng retorted, “Please don’t say that it’s yourself…”
The smile on Qiao Yichen’s face deepened. He walked over to a table and opened the drawer, pulling out a small gift box, “I’ve belonged to you from the start. This is what I wanted to give you. Congratulations on winning the Newcomer Award.”
Ding Meng took the box in his hands and gave it a couple glances. Judging by the size of the box, it looked like a small accessory. It couldn’t possibly be a ring, right?
She suspiciously looked over at Qiao Yichen and opened the box. Inside there was no ring, but there was a jade necklace. When Ding Meng picked up the necklace to study it more closely, she noticed that the jade was engraved with a little bird biting an ear of wheat.
“Wishing you in advance that your album is a big seller.” Qiao Yichen said with a smile.
“Thank you.” Ding Meng really liked this jade necklace. The carving of the little bird looked very lively. Each and every grain of the wheat was engraved with the utmost care and looked quite plump. Although she wasn’t a jade expert, she could tell that this piece of jade was definitely not cheap from just one glance at the workmanship, “Was this very expensive?”
Qian Yichen replied, “I bought it from a friend. It was only a few thousand.”
“Only a few thousand?” Ding Meng didn’t quite believe him. After all, this piece of jade was three-dimensional rather than flat. It should be worth at least $10,000, right? “What type of jade is this?”
“Nephrite.” Qiao Yichen took the jade and walked behind her, “Let me help you put it on.”
“Ok.” Ding Meng obediently stood still, letting him put on the necklace around her neck. After it was secured, she looked at her reflection in the mirror. The small and exquisite jade landed right in the middle of her collarbone in a very cute manner, “This is so beautiful. Thanks Goudan.”
Qiao Yichen laughed and kissed her cheek, “You’re welcome, Darling.”
Ding Meng, “…”
Her ears started to turn noticeably red.
Qiao Yichen hugged her. Unable to resist any longer, he began to kiss her more. Ding Meng pushed him away, “Go shower first…”
“Together?” Qiao Yichen didn’t want to let her go.
Ding Meng, “…I just showered.”
After getting chased off, Qiao Yichen reluctantly went to the bathroom and took a navy shower. The entire shower lasted less than five minutes. Afterwards, he’d happily pulled his wife along to perform that night’s physical training. The night was filled with good dreams.
After the award ceremony, everything went back to normal. Ding Meng returned to the training center and recording studio routine. However, the enthusiasm from the awards ceremony continued online for a period of time. Ding Meng’s followers on Weibo steadily climbed up to four million and her comments were filled with congratulations from fans.
At four million fans, Ding Meng finally took a selfie that was satisfactory and uploaded it on Weibo, “Thank you for all of your support. My follower count has broken four million at a shocking speed! I’ll continue working hard~\\(≧▽≦)/~ My new album is already in production. Please look forward to it~ *blow kiss*”
When her fans heard that she was recording an album, half of them were delighted while the other half was concerned on her behalf.
“If Leader Meng is recording an album, won’t it be a while until we can hear your mesmerizing voice again? QAQ”
“Recording an album will take at least half a year, right? …The only way we’ll be able to get our fix in the meantime is through commercials and magazines *bye*”
“You guys need to think about how we’ll be able to listen to all ten songs in one go when the album drops!”
“Don’t panic! There’s still that collab with Handsome Gu! With You is going to be released very soon!”
“Leader Meng is actually going to release an album! There are currently only a handful singers who still continue to produce albums. Leader Meng is so damn cool QAQ When the album comes out, I will buy twenty of them!! Ten for myself and ten to give away!”
“OH OH OH I support Leader Meng’s new album! I’m so excited! As one of the leaders of the four main divisions, I, on behalf of the Southeast division, promise to buy one hundred copies. Any Little Lemons who want some should pay attention to my wall and fanpage. I will announce information about activities on them!【Like this post so that everyone sees it】 ”
“Wait, isn’t it too soon to talk about activities_(:з」∠)_ Regardless, I will still support Meng Leader’s album! Time to start saving!”
…
Unwittingly, December 25th arrived and With You was released as scheduled. Every major music platform put this song on the most prominent section of their home page. With You quickly gained momentum and became the number one song across the charts.
Ding Meng felt that riding on Gu Xin’s coattails was really great.
Not only was this song popular on the Internet, but the CD also sold well because the CD included a postcard. In addition, CDs for singles weren’t expensive so there were still many fans willing to buy it. Of course, the Gu Xin’s power to rally his fans was also one of the most important reasons.
Afterwards, when Ding Meng went on Weibo, she discovered that many fans had tagged her CD promotion post. It seemed that she had also contributed to a portion of the successful sales.
Because of her, Qiao Yichen had specially asked someone to help him buy a CD, which he brought into his office to take a listen.
The lyricist and composer for With You were both Gu Xin. Singers possessing a talent for originality like this could be considered rare treasures within China’s music industry. In fact, China wasn’t lacking in talented and original musicians, but rather most of them were not able to earn the respect and protection they needed. When they could no longer maintain their livelihood with music, they had to give up creating original works. As a result, what slowly developed was that singers want to sing, but could not find songwriters.
If the creators and copyrights were not properly protected, it would be very difficult for the music industry to revive. Qiao Yichen felt helpless whenever he thought about the matter.
He placed the CD in the CD-ROM drive and opened the video player.
The intro was an extremely pleasing solo. In just a split second, it caused the listener to be washed with sense of excitement.
He knew that this was Gu Xin’s doing.
While Gu Xin’s songs were guaranteed to be of high quality, Ding Meng’s performance also gave Qiao Yichen a nice surprise. Even though her voice was bright and lively, there was also a hint of sexiness.
Her outfit was also very pretty. It faintly felt as though a kitten’s claws were scratching at one’s heart and giving off a tickling sensation.
…This appearance should be for his eyes only.
Qiao Yichen let the song finish playing before ejecting the disc and placing it back in the case.
At that moment, Ding Meng was in the process of confirming her upcoming schedule with Jiang Man. The reception to the commercial that Jiang Man had previously signed her up for was not bad. As a result, Jiang Man took advantage of the fact that Ding Meng had recently won an award by signing her up for another two.
Both were snack commercials.
Ding Men was very satisfied with these two commercials.
After they finished discussing work matters, Jiang Man noticed the jade necklace hanging around Ding Meng’s neck. Her eyes flickered and she asked casually, “Your necklace looks quite nice. Did you buy it yourself?”
Ding Meng subconsciously stroked the jade around her neck and spoke, “No, a friend gave this to me. It’s just a small thing.”
“A small thing?” Jiang Man looked at her and laughed, “If I am not wrong, that should be an original, single-seed carving. Not only that, the Nephrite looks very pure and the engraving is also exquisite.”
Ding Meng frowned. She really didn’t understand much about jade, “What does a single-seed carving mean?”
“It means that your piece of jade wasn’t carved out of a bigger piece of jade, but rather it was made from a single, intact piece of Nephrite. An engraving specialist created a design following the jade’s original shape and then carved it. Both facets of creating the piece and carving the design are demanding tasks for the engraver. The design and carving of your jade are both very impressive. It must’ve come from a highly-skilled Master.”
“Master?” Holy crap! Hearing all of that makes it seem quite intense. “So about how much is this worth?”
Jiang Man replied, “I would estimate it to be at least $1,800,000.”
T/N: Hahaha that’s like 260k in USD. That darn thing could buy a house in some places LOL
Ding Meng, “…”
Jiang Man glanced at her with an increasingly ambiguous gaze, “The person who gave this to you probably has other intentions, don’t you think so?”
Ding Meng, “…”
Instead of waiting until the evening to discuss this at home, she went straight to Qiao Yichen’s office.
The secretary by the door assumed that she had come to discuss the album with Qiao Yichen so the secretary didn’t stop her.
When Ding Meng forced her way in, Qiao Yichen was on the computer looking at something. She closed the door and walked over.
Qiao Yichen looked up at her and asked, “What’s up?”
Ding Meng’s eyes swept across the With You CD on his desk. Then, she asked rather flusteredly and exasperatedly, “How much did you say this necklace costed last time?”
Qiao Yichen replied, “A few thousand.”
Ding Meng, “…”
He was still lying to her!
“Just now Jiang Man told me that this is worth at least $1,800,000. Did you really think that no one would be able to tell?”
Qiao Yichen, “…”
“Why did you lie to me and tell me that it was only worth a few thousand?”
He silently looked at her for a bit, “Well, if I had told you the real price, would you have still worn it?”
“Of course not!” Just thinking about how she had paraded herself around town wearing an object worth over a million dollars around her neck for the past few days made her nervous. “This kind of object should be safeguarded at home. And you are really too much! Why are you giving me such an expensive object?”
Qiao Yichen looked at her for a moment and then spoke, “Objects like these which have a price aren’t that precious. To me, only you are priceless.”
Chapter 50: Only you are priceless
Just half a year ago, Gu Xin was an unreachable idol to Ding Meng. However, now, Qiao Yichen was telling her that he wanted her to beat Gu Xin and stand in his position.
But the strangest part about this was that when Ding Meng looked closely at Qiao Yichen’s eyes, she actually thought that she could accomplish that.
After the Golden Melody Award was presented, the Grand Music Awards ended soon after. When Ding Meng began to leave, she came across Tang Shiran. Tang Shiran’s complexion wasn’t very good, and it was a far cry from the proud manner she had entered with.
She didn’t say anything to Ding Meng, and Ding Meng wasn’t the type to force her way over either. Instead, she followed the stream of people and left the premises.
When Jiang Man’s assistant dropped her off at the entrance to her building, she raised her head to size up the luxury apartment building, “Wow, you live in the same complex as Qiao dada?”
Ding Meng, “…”
She unexpectedly knew that Qiao Yichen lived here as well…?
Ding Meng laughed nervously, “I only found out after I moved in. Haha.”
The assistant nodded unsuspectingly and said, “If I had known earlier, I would’ve let Qiao dada send you home. Ah, although it wouldn’t have been good if other people saw.”
Ding Meng laughed it off and quickly ended the conversation, “Thank you for sending me home. Stay safe on the road. Good night.”
After she finished speaking, she opened the car door and quickly got off. Not long after she got home, Qiao Yichen returned as well.
After Ding Meng finished showering, she came out of the bathroom while drying her hair. When Qiao Yichen saw her, he went up and hugged her. He took in her fragrance and said, “Wife is the most fragrant.”
Ding Meng helplessly tried to shake him off, “You can go make yourself smell fragrant too.”
Qiao Yichen laughed as he bent over and sniffed her hair again, “There’s no hurry. I have something I’d like to give you.”
Ding Meng retorted, “Please don’t say that it’s yourself…”
The smile on Qiao Yichen’s face deepened. He walked over to a table and opened the drawer, pulling out a small gift box, “I’ve belonged to you from the start. This is what I wanted to give you. Congratulations on winning the Newcomer Award.”
Ding Meng took the box in his hands and gave it a couple glances. Judging by the size of the box, it looked like a small accessory. It couldn’t possibly be a ring, right?
She suspiciously looked over at Qiao Yichen and opened the box. Inside there was no ring, but there was a jade necklace. When Ding Meng picked up the necklace to study it more closely, she noticed that the jade was engraved with a little bird biting an ear of wheat.
“Wishing you in advance that your album is a big seller.” Qiao Yichen said with a smile.
“Thank you.” Ding Meng really liked this jade necklace. The carving of the little bird looked very lively. Each and every grain of the wheat was engraved with the utmost care and looked quite plump. Although she wasn’t a jade expert, she could tell that this piece of jade was definitely not cheap from just one glance at the workmanship, “Was this very expensive?”
Qian Yichen replied, “I bought it from a friend. It was only a few thousand.”
“Only a few thousand?” Ding Meng didn’t quite believe him. After all, this piece of jade was three-dimensional rather than flat. It should be worth at least $10,000, right? “What type of jade is this?”
“Nephrite.” Qiao Yichen took the jade and walked behind her, “Let me help you put it on.”
“Ok.” Ding Meng obediently stood still, letting him put on the necklace around her neck. After it was secured, she looked at her reflection in the mirror. The small and exquisite jade landed right in the middle of her collarbone in a very cute manner, “This is so beautiful. Thanks Goudan.”
Qiao Yichen laughed and kissed her cheek, “You’re welcome, Darling.”
Ding Meng, “…”
Her ears started to turn noticeably red.
Qiao Yichen hugged her. Unable to resist any longer, he began to kiss her more. Ding Meng pushed him away, “Go shower first…”
“Together?” Qiao Yichen didn’t want to let her go.
Ding Meng, “…I just showered.”
After getting chased off, Qiao Yichen reluctantly went to the bathroom and took a navy shower. The entire shower lasted less than five minutes. Afterwards, he’d happily pulled his wife along to perform that night’s physical training. The night was filled with good dreams.
After the award ceremony, everything went back to normal. Ding Meng returned to the training center and recording studio routine. However, the enthusiasm from the awards ceremony continued online for a period of time. Ding Meng’s followers on Weibo steadily climbed up to four million and her comments were filled with congratulations from fans.
At four million fans, Ding Meng finally took a selfie that was satisfactory and uploaded it on Weibo, “Thank you for all of your support. My follower count has broken four million at a shocking speed! I’ll continue working hard~\\(≧▽≦)/~ My new album is already in production. Please look forward to it~ *blow kiss*”
When her fans heard that she was recording an album, half of them were delighted while the other half was concerned on her behalf.
“If Leader Meng is recording an album, won’t it be a while until we can hear your mesmerizing voice again? QAQ”
“Recording an album will take at least half a year, right? …The only way we’ll be able to get our fix in the meantime is through commercials and magazines *bye*”
“You guys need to think about how we’ll be able to listen to all ten songs in one go when the album drops!”
“Don’t panic! There’s still that collab with Handsome Gu! With You is going to be released very soon!”
“Leader Meng is actually going to release an album! There are currently only a handful singers who still continue to produce albums. Leader Meng is so damn cool QAQ When the album comes out, I will buy twenty of them!! Ten for myself and ten to give away!”
“OH OH OH I support Leader Meng’s new album! I’m so excited! As one of the leaders of the four main divisions, I, on behalf of the Southeast division, promise to buy one hundred copies. Any Little Lemons who want some should pay attention to my wall and fanpage. I will announce information about activities on them!【Like this post so that everyone sees it】 ”
“Wait, isn’t it too soon to talk about activities_(:з」∠)_ Regardless, I will still support Meng Leader’s album! Time to start saving!”
…
Unwittingly, December 25th arrived and With You was released as scheduled. Every major music platform put this song on the most prominent section of their home page. With You quickly gained momentum and became the number one song across the charts.
Ding Meng felt that riding on Gu Xin’s coattails was really great.
Not only was this song popular on the Internet, but the CD also sold well because the CD included a postcard. In addition, CDs for singles weren’t expensive so there were still many fans willing to buy it. Of course, the Gu Xin’s power to rally his fans was also one of the most important reasons.
Afterwards, when Ding Meng went on Weibo, she discovered that many fans had tagged her CD promotion post. It seemed that she had also contributed to a portion of the successful sales.
Because of her, Qiao Yichen had specially asked someone to help him buy a CD, which he brought into his office to take a listen.
The lyricist and composer for With You were both Gu Xin. Singers possessing a talent for originality like this could be considered rare treasures within China’s music industry. In fact, China wasn’t lacking in talented and original musicians, but rather most of them were not able to earn the respect and protection they needed. When they could no longer maintain their livelihood with music, they had to give up creating original works. As a result, what slowly developed was that singers want to sing, but could not find songwriters.
If the creators and copyrights were not properly protected, it would be very difficult for the music industry to revive. Qiao Yichen felt helpless whenever he thought about the matter.
He placed the CD in the CD-ROM drive and opened the video player.
The intro was an extremely pleasing solo. In just a split second, it caused the listener to be washed with sense of excitement.
He knew that this was Gu Xin’s doing.
While Gu Xin’s songs were guaranteed to be of high quality, Ding Meng’s performance also gave Qiao Yichen a nice surprise. Even though her voice was bright and lively, there was also a hint of sexiness.
Her outfit was also very pretty. It faintly felt as though a kitten’s claws were scratching at one’s heart and giving off a tickling sensation.
…This appearance should be for his eyes only.
Qiao Yichen let the song finish playing before ejecting the disc and placing it back in the case.
At that moment, Ding Meng was in the process of confirming her upcoming schedule with Jiang Man. The reception to the commercial that Jiang Man had previously signed her up for was not bad. As a result, Jiang Man took advantage of the fact that Ding Meng had recently won an award by signing her up for another two.
Both were snack commercials.
Ding Men was very satisfied with these two commercials.
After they finished discussing work matters, Jiang Man noticed the jade necklace hanging around Ding Meng’s neck. Her eyes flickered and she asked casually, “Your necklace looks quite nice. Did you buy it yourself?”
Ding Meng subconsciously stroked the jade around her neck and spoke, “No, a friend gave this to me. It’s just a small thing.”
“A small thing?” Jiang Man looked at her and laughed, “If I am not wrong, that should be an original, single-seed carving. Not only that, the Nephrite looks very pure and the engraving is also exquisite.”
Ding Meng frowned. She really didn’t understand much about jade, “What does a single-seed carving mean?”
“It means that your piece of jade wasn’t carved out of a bigger piece of jade, but rather it was made from a single, intact piece of Nephrite. An engraving specialist created a design following the jade’s original shape and then carved it. Both facets of creating the piece and carving the design are demanding tasks for the engraver. The design and carving of your jade are both very impressive. It must’ve come from a highly-skilled Master.”
“Master?” Holy crap! Hearing all of that makes it seem quite intense. “So about how much is this worth?”
Jiang Man replied, “I would estimate it to be at least $1,800,000.”
T/N: Hahaha that’s like 260k in USD. That darn thing could buy a house in some places LOL
Ding Meng, “…”
Jiang Man glanced at her with an increasingly ambiguous gaze, “The person who gave this to you probably has other intentions, don’t you think so?”
Ding Meng, “…”
Instead of waiting until the evening to discuss this at home, she went straight to Qiao Yichen’s office.
The secretary by the door assumed that she had come to discuss the album with Qiao Yichen so the secretary didn’t stop her.
When Ding Meng forced her way in, Qiao Yichen was on the computer looking at something. She closed the door and walked over.
Qiao Yichen looked up at her and asked, “What’s up?”
Ding Meng’s eyes swept across the With You CD on his desk. Then, she asked rather flusteredly and exasperatedly, “How much did you say this necklace costed last time?”
Qiao Yichen replied, “A few thousand.”
Ding Meng, “…”
He was still lying to her!
“Just now Jiang Man told me that this is worth at least $1,800,000. Did you really think that no one would be able to tell?”
Qiao Yichen, “…”
“Why did you lie to me and tell me that it was only worth a few thousand?”
He silently looked at her for a bit, “Well, if I had told you the real price, would you have still worn it?”
“Of course not!” Just thinking about how she had paraded herself around town wearing an object worth over a million dollars around her neck for the past few days made her nervous. “This kind of object should be safeguarded at home. And you are really too much! Why are you giving me such an expensive object?”
Qiao Yichen looked at her for a moment and then spoke, “Objects like these which have a price aren’t that precious. To me, only you are priceless.”
