Captivated By You: Chapter 3 A

ONE’S DESIRE TO LOVE
ALIKE CLUTCHING A TORCH
GOING AGAINST THE WIND
CERTAIN TO SUFFER BURNT HANDS

Early next morning, Mo Lan bought the ticket to return to Nanjing.

Mo Lan lugged her pink suitcase home while panting. An Xiaoluo with a deadpanned face, sat properly at the dining table in the living room, as she faced the computer without saying a word*, not knowing what she was thinking of, she didn’t even hear Mo Lan came in.

(一言不发 yī yán bù fā – an idiom)

Mo Lan dragged the suitcase in, set it aside and closed the door. Only then did An Xiaoluo puzzledly walk over.

“Cousin… it’s broad daylight, why do you look like you’ve seen a ghost?”

An Xiaoluo heard Mo Lan’s voice close-at-hand, and finally returned to reality: “Xiao Lan, Xiao Lan, you’re finally home! Did you know, did you know, Secretly Captivated dada* will be participating in our association’s YY interview at 7:30pm this evening!”

(大大 dà dà – lit big big. It’s a thing to multiply names and nicknames by two. It’s the same as the Da in Mi Da.)

Mo Lan’s eyes widened sharply, and looked at her in disbelief.

At the most, Secretly Captivated would only go on YY once or twice a year, it was almost as rare as going to the beach house twice a year. Mo Lan stretched her arm out, her expression as if she was in a dream, “I must not be dreaming, right? Cousin, hurry up and bite me…”

“It’s absolutely true*!” An Xiaolu nodded continuously, suddenly, not too sure of what went through her mind, her eyes dimmed, and she dispiritedly* continued, “But I have to work overtime tonight and what’s more, it’s with the boss*…”

(千真万确 qiān zhēn wàn què – an idiom)
(有气无力 yǒu qì wú lì – weakly and without strength (idiom))
(anything that’s in italics = it’s written as it is in the raws)

An Xiaoluo worked as a financial director of a medium-size company. Although in front of Mo Lan, she has always been this insane* and obvious when she faced her teenager sickness*, but once she faced work-related matters, she would immediately transformed into a successful career-minded workaholic woman. In the company, she has always passed like thunder and moved like the wind* and she always kept her word*.

(疯疯癫癫 fēng feng diān diān – deranged/erratic)
(中二病 zhōng èr bìng – some translates as second disease but I think it’s more in the lines of the crazy obsessed voice enthusiast “sickness”. It’s an internet slang too apparently. One of the readers explains it way better in the comments below :))
(雷厉风行 léi lì fēng xíng – idiom – swift and decisive reaction – I seem to see this idiom a lot)
(说一不二 shuō yī bù èr – idiom – lit say one not two – to keep one’s word)

Slightly sympathising, Mo Lan patted her shoulders, and strived hard to look regretful: “Don’t worry, I will record it properly and wait for you to come home.”

As a result, in the afternoon, Mo Lan ran to the magazine’s office and respectfully gave all the materials to her boss. After she returned home, she diligently huddled in her bedroom for the whole afternoon and wrote her article. She managed to send the manuscript to her editor’s mailbox in advance.

Looking up at the clock, it was a few minutes to seven. So now that everything’s ready, all that was lacking…

Mo Lan took a deep breath and with unusual cautiousness connected the important headphones to the computer. She logged into YY, and just when she barely entered the YY channel; Sound of Charm, the phone suddenly rang at this inopportune time.

Sighing, Mo Lan reluctantly picked her phone up. On the other end of the phone was Rong Xiaxia’s cheerful voice: “Momo, did you buy my West Lake Longjing tea?”

Mo Lan chuckled: “Of course I bought it, I wouldn’t dare to forget your command.”

“That’s good, that’s good, I’ll give you the money tomorrow when we meet! Just in time, I’m going home tomorrow and can give my mum some, she has been obsessing over it for a long time.” Rong Xiaxia seemed relieved, then she flatteringly complimented, “I know Momo’s the best!”

Mo Lan smiled, looked down at her headphones next to the computer and replied with joy: “As long as you know I’m the best, that’s right, let me tell you, my favourite*… has announced he’s accepting new works.”

(本命 běn mìng – from what I can tell is a borrowed Japanese term meaning favourite/likely winner)

Rong Xiaxia was silent for a moment, then she spoke, her voice full of incredulity, asking: “No way, right? People who have disappeared for three years… would actually come out of retirement?”

“Even though I don’t know why he would come out of retirement, but it’s great that he’s able to obtain new work. Being able to listen to his voice in a radio drama again, just thinking about it – happiness.” While Mo Lan cradled her phone, the corner of her mouth couldn’t help but curv upwards, a gentle smile appeared, her face relaxed: “Okay, I won’t continue anymore, I still have to standby at 7:30 pm and wait for him to log onto YY. Let’s chat another time, bye bye.”

“… you with your voice but no heart human! Goodbye!” Rong Xiaxia snorted and hung up somewhat reluctantly.

Mo Lan smiled indifferently, found Sound of Charm’s YY channel, went in, and put on her headphones.

Upon entering the channel room, Mo Lan was shocked by the number of people in the room. There was still at least another half an hour, and now there were already more than 9000 people in the room…

Fortunately, An Xiaoluo and her had installed wireless broadband network at home. She still remembered in the past, when she was still in college, almost every time she listened to SC’s YY channel, her campus network adapter card always dropped*.

(it says campus network adapter card flies away so I assume same meaning)

Suddenly, a familiar BGM burst through the headset, Mo Lan’s eyes lit up, this music… was the theme song of《Cross Me*》.

(渡我 dù wǒ – to cross/to pass through/to ferry me – could also mean “bring me” but because the drama uses “cross” near the end so I’ll stick with cross)

Speaking of《Cross Me》, Secretly Captivated’s second radio drama, this heartfelt performance also truly did help him establish his number one throne among the network of CVs.

In this radio drama, he played a carefree senior monk, he purely and wholeheartedly led an ascetic life, and was called Jia Luo. He grew up in Zixia Temple since he was a child. His biggest aspiration was to cross all living things to become an immortal and attain enlightenment*.

(a Buddhist ultimate spiritual goal – to attain nirvana)

One day, as he was meditating and practising asceticism at Moonlight Creek*, he happened to save a small snow-white fox from the jaws of a tiger.

(at first I translated it as under the bright moon near a mountain gorge but then Google Translate became smarter and gave me the name which I think makes more sense as the story goes on)

Later, it followed a tacky plot, this little fox fell in love with the Taoist monk. Five hundred years later, she became an adult, changed her name to Ah Zhi, and went looking for him at Zixia Temple. However, Jia Luo who had wholeheartedly devoted his life to Buddha, he who was completely without any emotions* and desires, locked his door and refused to see her, without any guilt.

(七情 qī qíng – seven emotional states namely joy, anger, anxiety, thought, grief, fear, fright)

The little fox didn’t give up, she wandered around and refused to leave. Later, she simply stuck around him, stayed by his side all day every day, and followed him closely*.

(寸步不离 cùn bù bù lí – idiom – to follow somebody closely)

Early in the morning, she would stand quietly by his side, and accompany him to ring the wake-up-call bell. In the afternoon, she would transform into her original form and lay down on the praying mat in the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion, accompanying him to study and copy the scriptures. At night, with her chin on her hand, she would sit under the tree, and accompanied him as he meditated and practised asceticism.

In this way, day after day, year after year, and as before, the monk continued on, and as before, the little fox still obstinately persisted*.

(執迷不悟 zhí mí bù wù – an idiom – to obstinately persist in going about things the wrong way)

However, all of a sudden an unexpected catastrophe happened. Overnight, in the village next to Zixia Temple, all three hundred villagers died tragically, for unknown reasons. Upon investigation, all of Zixia Temple head monks believed that the murderer was Ah Zhi. A demon would always be a demon, sooner or later she couldn’t help but absorbed a person’s qi*, and reveal the cloven foot*.

(qi – read more about it here)
(露出马脚 lù chū mǎ jiǎo – an idiom – to unmask one’s true nature)

Thus, on the night of thunder and lightning, hundreds of disciples from Zixia Temple surrounded Ah Zhi outside of the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion, and burnt her alive using true Samadhi fire from the Buddhist doctrine.

At that time, within the Tibetan Scripture Pavilion, Jia Luo with his eyes closed was right in the middle of tapping the mokugyo over and over again, he chanted the Purifying the Heart incantation.

mokugyo also known as wooden fish

Outside of the pavilion, Ah Zhi wailed agonisingly, she called his name continuously, and asked him to save her.

Alas, after no less than an hour, from beginning to the end, he never came out.

Eventually, the little fox’s body gradually burnt into ashes by the true Samadhi fire, she turned into dust and immediately afterwards, her soul fled.

Whilst in the pavilion, the closed eyes upright Jia Luo was still softly chanting, the mokugyo in his hands abruptly broke into pieces, and fell to the ground.

He opened his eyes, his pupils were strangely akin to a pretty strong and flirtatious blood colour.

“Hey, don’t aim for nirvana, all right? Take me away, the earth is so big, we could go anywhere.”

“I don’t want to leave, I like you. Wherever you are, I naturally want to be present.”

“Jia Luo! Come out! Why aren’t you coming out? I hate you, I hate you!”

…

The girl’s silvery laughter resounded in his ears, word by word, it inflicted hallucinations*.

(走火入魔 zǒu huǒ rù mó – (Buddhism/Taoism) to misguidedly focus on hallucinations that arise during meditation)

That night, Jia Luo began a massacre in Zixia Temple. After that, he fully relinquished his immortal being and became a demon. Throughout the whole journey, he pursued Ah Zhi, and tracked down her three immortal souls and seven mortal forms* which were scattered in all directions, he wandered destitutely among the three realms of fairies and demons.

(三魂七魄 sān hún qī pò – a Daoism thing. You can read about it here. It took me a while to understand this!)

When he finally managed to collect all of Ah Zhi’s souls*, Jia Luo, who was seriously injured, returned to Zixia Mountain, where they met that year for the very first time at Moonlight Creek.

(the hunpo from above)

She absorbed the spirit of heaven and earth, dissipated herself to rejuvenate, she crossed* over and was reborn.

(渡 dù = to cross, ferry, survive – same first word as the radio drama’s title)

However, after the rebirth, the little fox no longer recognised him.

In the finale of the whole radio drama, Jia Luo concluded with a brief, clear, aloof, reticent and bleaked sentence, his tone evidently very close to despair, a bit indistinct, somewhat relieved. 

He laughed softly, with a light tone, it flowed like white jade, comparable to a chess piece tapped by a monk: “Ah Zhi, if there was life after death… I vow that I will surely not choose to attain nirvana.”

white jade

Looking back at the plot, Mo Lan bit her lower lip, and still felt that it was indeed extremely cruel.

In this《Cross Me》radio drama, Jia Luo’s emotional world was actually quite difficult to grasp. Altogether, he had experienced three different phases in his life: initially, the carefree indifference, followed by the haunted obsession, and finally, he discovered the world of mortals.

Yet Secretly Captivated, grasped it perfectly, he completely lacked any mistakes.

This radio drama was perfection*, regardless of the selection of CV dubbers, the BGM or post-production. It was considered to be a masterpiece in the Internet Voice Circle, and all the more at that time, it managed to extort everyone’s tears.

(尽善尽美 jìn shàn jìn měi – an idiom – the best of all possible worlds, as good as it gets)

This was also one of the rare radio dramas that Mo Lan did not dare to listen too much of.

Sometimes, she also wondered, when all was said and done, what kind of person was Secretly Captivated. This voice allowed imaginary characters to appear vividly one after another on paper, it gave them a brand new spirit.

As she pondered, the voice of Jia Luo from the radio drama suddenly resonated from the headphones. It was carefree, aloof and refined like a white lotus in the pond, a bit similar to a vulture on the mountaintop, Buddha fiddling with a flower, and the leaves smiling.

white lotus

He said, “One’s desire to love, alike clutching a torch, going against the wind, certain to suffer burnt hands.”

Immediately after, the scene switched, and in the night of the thunderstorm, the little fox ablazed with fire suffered and struggled in agony, she yelled out quite desperately: “Jia Luo! Come out! Why aren’t you coming out? I hate you, I hate you!”

Actually at this moment, Jia Luo was just sitting on the praying mat* with a clear and aloof tone mumbling, “Cause of love sorrow is born, cause of love fear is born. By averting love, no sorrow no fear.*”

(same one little fox was on)
(of course, it rhymes better in Chinese)

His voice simply vividly and thoroughly* used Jia Luo’s merciless and apathetic expression from before, the living spirit and the living image*.

(淋漓尽致 lín lí jìn zhì – lit. extreme saturation – idiom – in great detail/ without restraint/ (of a performance) brilliant)
(活灵活现 huó líng huó xiàn – idiom – true to life/ vivid and realistic)

Later… It turned out that he took the whole night to transform himself into a demon.

In Zixia Temple, the disciples were all massacred with practically nothing left. He stood among the bloodbath, his body faintly discernible and embodied in dust. Jia Luo calmly picked a white lotus flower from the pond, and in a ruthless tone, he tacitly mocked himself, “Even if it was the devil’s path for all of eternity… I would still acquiesce and want you to come back.”

Afterwards, just as he dissipated and cultivated*, he arrived at Moonlight Creek with his dying breath. Facing him stood a young lady who looked like peach blossoms with her unchanging complexion, but he lost because he had withered, his white hair atop his ash-grey weather-beaten face. He gingerly coughed, and spat out blood, he was undeniably at the end of his line*, yet with an indiscernible smile on his face, he spoke, “It doesn’t matter who I am, never forget though, you are called Ah Zhi.”

(散去一身修為 – what Ah Zhi went through when she was reborn – I take it to mean as pretty much dying)
(山穷水尽 shān qióng shuǐ jìn – idiom – mountain and river exhausted)

peach blossom lady

Finally… accompanied by the poignant BGM, Secretly Captivated’s delicate voice, as if he finally discovered the world of mortals, was reluctant to leave. Before the young lady panicked*, he smiled, and slowly closed his eyes, he softly said, “Ah Zhi, if there was life after death… I vow that I will surely not choose to attain nirvana.”

(惊慌失措 jīng huāng shī cuò – idiom – to lose one’s head out of fear)

With a sigh, his tender voice faded into thin air.

He said that if there was life after death, he pledged to not choose nirvana. So from now on, there will be no Jia Luo.

The radio drama finally ended, Mo Lan recovered her senses from Secretly Captivated’s voice which was like a monster disoriented people’s feelings and spirit, only to find that the public forum was already bursting to the seams, the messages were all along the lines of “Actually using《Cross Me》for the opening! The host is too much! I want to cry even before Mi Da arrives ying ying ying!” and so on.

Mo Lan smiled and glanced at the time on the computer, 7:28, the interview should be starting soon.

Sure enough, in the next second, she saw from the upper left corner of the channel that the host had switched on her mic. The host’s ID was Purple Ceramic Glaze. She always had a good relationship with An Xiaoluo in Sound of Charm, and was also Secretly Captivated’s fan. At the moment in her headphones, her pleasant voice gently stimulated the crowd:

“Good evening everyone, I’m Ceramic Glaze. First of all, thank you very much for joining our Sound of Charm YY Channel tonight. Of course, I know that everyone is here because of that one person… hai. Actually, me too, after knowing that this dada was accepting new works, I dare not believe my eyes, you know! Although he had mysteriously hidden for three years, but in everyone’s heart, we have never forgotten him. After all, a good voice would never be stifled. Just now《Cross Me》, I believed everybody is quite familiar with it, at that time it totally earned much of Ceramic Glaze’s tears.”

(咳 hāi – a Chinese sigh)

At the same time, the response in the public forum still came in waves, the room manager had no choice but to set a speed limit.

“When you enter, you would have heard one’s desire to love, alike clutching a torch, practically in an instant there was a cacophony of tears, right!”

“Male god, if you’re still not appearing, I will run out of tissue papers T^T… Actually using《Cross Me》, you deliberately did it, isn’t it, host.”

“Obviously at a later stage after turning into a demon it would garner more likes all right, if there’s such a thing as life after death vowing to not attain nirvana whatever!”

“WTF* it so happened that I wasn’t wearing my headphones and my mother has been pestering me asking who’s that man who sounded so so good, Mi Da do you know you also have old-aged fans?!”

(卧 槽 wò cáo – internet slang for WTF)

Purple Ceramic Glaze chuckled and continued, “But everyone has wronged me, I don’t think《Cross Me》was more classic, hai. Okay, okay, I know you don’t want to listen to my nonsense. Next, let’s invite the first guest: Su Qingmo SAMA!”

Su Qingmo was also here? Mo Lan was surprised, but soon thought that it made sense that he came. After all, he and SC were both members of the Ninth Heaven* Dubbing Group. From the beginning, they’ve always had a good relationship. In the eyes of a few fujoshi*, they have always been the Internet Voice Circle’s unshakeable official matching CP*.

(九霄 jiǔ xiāo – ninth heaven – the highest of heavens)
(腐女 fǔ nǚ – woman who likes mangas about male homosexual love)
(CP – couple or character pairing normally in dramas, movies or books (Chinese internet slang). Others might use “ship” instead)

“Su Qingmo has come? Ah ah! There’s just simply too many benefits tonight!”

“Su DaDa you must be here to cheer for your family’s dearest*, we gotcha meow! QVQ”

(為你家親愛的 wèi nǐ jiā qīn’ài de – for your family’s dearest – hinting that he’s here to give moral support to his boyfriend (belongs to his family) i.e. SC – cause you know the CP and all. I actually laughed at this!)

“Gotcha +1!”

“Gotcha +2!”

“Gotcha +10086*!”

(10086 – internet slang for I really really really agree with you – a well-known customer service number in China)

Everyone posted on the public forum like wildfire, while Su Qingmo was given the mic control by Sound of Charm:

“Good evening, nice to meet everyone here.”

The calm and warm voice sounded, hundred percent definitely an uncle’s* voice, his adorableness existed* for many people.

(大叔 dà shū – term used to address a man about the age of one’s father)
(萌點所在 méng diǎn suǒ zài – cute point exist)

“Hai, actually the reason why I’m here tonight, is the same as you… because I haven’t seen Xiao Mi* for a long time, I actually do kinda miss him, that’s why I’m here to see if he has died or not.”

(similar to Xiao Lan for Mo Lan, Xiao Mi is an affectionate way of calling SC whose Chinese name is An Li Zhao Mi)

“Every time Su DaDa mentions these 2 particular words Xiao Mi, he’s especially full of emotion… hehe, pretending I didn’t hear anything.”

“Didn’t hear anything +1”

“Didn’t hear anything +2”

…

Mo Lan looked at the public forum, couldn’t help laughing, and then posted a sentence: “Didn’t hear anything +N”.

Su Qingmo also laughed, his soft low laughter came out from the speaker, the voice enthusiasts couldn’t help but get excited. From the headphones, he whispered, with his warm yet rich and low deep voice: “I haven’t seen Xiao Mi for a long time, when I knew he was coming back, whatever I say would also boost the excitement. En… Then let’s talk about when I first met him. That year, Ninth Heaven was recruiting new people. I happened to be in charge of the newcomers PIA*-ing script, it must be providence, my pia script was Xiao Mi’s scene. Actually, I have now mostly forgotten the script, just remembered that my partner and I were stunned when he spoke. The voice really captured my ears and there was also passion. Consequently, without any suspense he was then recruited, and then there was nothing much to say. You all know, altogether he had only dubbed two radio dramas, on the contrary his popularity was superior to the me who have dubbed more than ten dramas. Hai, should I say that I was born at the wrong time*…”

(pia – it was in the raws as pia – so if you’ve read Really Really Miss You which I’m sure all of you have, you would know what it means. If not, you can click here and scroll to the 3rd footnote section for the explanation. In short it’s something like practising lines)
(生不逢时 shēng bù féng shí – idiom – unlucky)

When he finished that sentence, he stopped and chuckled, nevertheless his tone was calm, “However, Xiao Mi’s disposition was still excellent. We all like to talk to him in private because his voice is so nice to hear, haha.”

“Happiness is being able to listen to Mi Da speak everyday ying ying ying!”

“Su DaDa, you really love Xiao Mi! The perfect combination of male god x male god, I wish you white hairs of old age*!”

(白頭偕老 bái tóu xié lǎo – idiom – to live to a ripe old age in conjugal bliss/ until death do us apart)

“It really is an official match! Once he spoke, I already knew if it existed!”

Purple Ceramic Glaze smiled, and then exclaimed, “Exactly ah Su Qingmo SAMA, normally in the internet circle, you have always been known as the habitually silent kind, how come once you come upon the topic of SC DaDa you have so much to say? Indeed you’re the irreversible official match.”

Su Qingmo 囧 and snorted, “You guys are really amazing in fantasising okay, I obviously didn’t say anything…”

Just then, suddenly, a third person’s voice appeared in the YY room: “Fess’ up*, MoMo, stop denying it, the flirt who came in between you and Ah Mi got beaten up okay, you can go take a look at the forum right now, both of your CP post is still on the first page never reaching the red flag*.”

(行啦 xíng la – to me it feels like a “can la” as in you’re able/capable/competent, you can la)
(紅旗不倒 hóng qí bù dǎo – red flag/banner not falling – tried googling – I’m guessing not in the danger of falling away from the main page?)

Once you’ve heard this person, it was definitely a southern accent. Although it was bright and energetic, on the contrary, it carried a hint of velvety and syrupy feeling too, which was extremely recognizable.

He was Bai Yu Luo Bo*, a rare adolescent voice in the Internet Voice Circle.

(白玉蘿卜 bái yù luó bo – lit white jade radish – should I just call him BYLB or WJR? haha)

Su Qingmo grudgingly declared, “I’ve already said you are not allowed to call me MoMo.”

The host, Purple Ceramic Glaze heard Bai Yu Luo Bo’s* voice all of a sudden and was astonished. Then, she babbled a little stupidly: “I say, Xiao Luo Bo, who said you could hog the mic? Room Admin, you’re too much, you actually didn’t even let me, the host, know and just let this person use his mic!”

(if I remembered correctly, the room admin/manager have the ability to only allow certain users use their mics)

On the public forum, there was another bloody storm:

“Ah ah ah Luo Bo Luo Bo quickly dub <Sichuan’s Difficult Path>!”

“You accepted Total of Ten Thousand Years – is it out already?”

“Xiao Luo Bo is the second episode of your new drama too difficult to deliver? It’s been almost half a year and it still hasn’t come out ying ying ying.”

“I’m begging you girls to please slow down… I’ve been stuck three times already…”

After reading the comments on the public forum, Bai Yu Luo Bo immediately screamed injustice: “No ah, for the new drama – you have to ask post-production, I have already submitted my part, I’ve truly been wrongly accused. Also, who said I’m suffering, I’m clearly the attacker okay~”

At the end, his velvety and syrupy voice was a little coquettish, it all the more agitated everybody’s motherly-instinct minds to complete shambles.

He chuckled again, very refreshingly: “Well, as today’s second honoured guest, let me also talk about how I got to know Ah Mi, even though it definitely won’t be as profound as MoMo’s, cough cough. It is said that, when I first met him, it was on Ninth Heaven’s YY channel, at that time, I was still a newcomer, a small nobody, and was pia-ing a drama in a room with a girl who was also new. I felt that since no one was there, I didn’t lock the room. As a result, Ah Mi came in, and as soon as he spoke I nearly peed, okay! The girl next to me got a fright and was speechless. At that time, I thought a recording was being played… How could a real person’s voice sound so good ah, dang! Later on, he guided us on how to discover the core sense of a drama, how to record a few similar “laughs”, and how to do a “cold humph!” sound, from then on I’ve thoroughly grovelled at his jeans, by the way, I have met Ah Mi face to face.”

Face to face?

Mo Lan was curious, excited, and astounded.

In the 2D world, one of the most frequent topics of discussion was the appearance of each CV. Some CVs naturally liked the limelight, often posting selfies or something or rather on Weibo and especially enjoyed disclosing private matters. Of course, there was also the completely opposite type of CV, who cared very much about privacy, and was extremely sensitive to anything related to the 3D world, who belonged to a minefield that nobody else could touch. Secretly Captivated belonged to the latter.

Mo Lan still remembered, one of the few conflicts that SC was involved in, a few of them were related to photos.

Three years ago, when he was at the peak of the Internet Voice Circle, a friend from his real life somehow found out that he was an Internet CV, and then posted a photo of SC’s back on Tianya*. At that time, this photo caused a great stir in the ancient-style circle, each and every fan was endlessly excited, the right-click button almost coming apart. As a result, when SC found out, he posted a special Weibo statement, if there was anyone who still raked up his 3D photo, he would retire immediately, and later the post on Tianya was also deleted by his friend.

(popular internet forum in China, similiar to Reddit me thinks)

Looking down, sure enough Mo Lan found that the comments on the public forum was like when the water flooded Jinshan. The speed limit of 280s was not enough, Mo Lan thought silently.

“WTF what did I hear? So… Xiao Luo Bo are you preparing to expose Mi Da’s looks? (Starry eyes)”

“Saw his face!!! Not asking for a photo, Luo Bo, describing it a little would be enough, at the very least my mind has a fantasy boyfriend, pretty please…”

“What fantasy boyfriend? X fantasy boyfriend? 23333333333*”

(23333333333 = lols the more 3s the more lols)

“Remembering the post by the shore of Daming Lake… I would say that I did right-click at that time, although there wasn’t a real face but his figure was just simply too magnificient, wanna bet a cucumber that he’s 185cm! QVQ.”

i know not the back but good enough ^.^

Mo Lan recalled the photo lying in her USB, and then posted: “Two cucumbers, the male god is definitely 188!”

“ying ying ying all of you are too much, bullying people like me who haven’t looked at the picture!”

…

In the chaos, Bai Yu Luo Bo began to speak, his voice carrying a hint of mischief: “Wow, hurry up, buy and leave, how tall is Ah Mi actually? Guess right and there will be a reward~”

Hearing this, Purple Ceramic Glaze first asked: “Reward? What kind of reward ah Xiao Luo Bo, can the host participate?”

“Ceramic Glaze, don’t follow him and make trouble, in a while, if Xiao Mi comes and sees this scene…” Su Qingmo stopped there, as if he could already imagine the picture, and couldn’t helped but crack up.

“Coughing up jealousy*, male god has been ruined by you all! I’m guessing it’s between 187 ~ 189!”

(吐艳 tǔ yàn – i think it’s some sort of slang?)

---

Me: This was a very very very long chapter. The translations of the poems/stories were not the easiest! I really salute those who continuously and faithfully translates according to the schedule. I’m really glad I did not over commit! The next chapter is pretty swoon worthy. Heh.

Me (May 2022): Trying to fix typos and grammatical errors! I’m unsure if I’ve mentioned this before but the reason the sentences run on and is so long, it’s because that’s how the author wrote her book. Of course, it looks much shorter in Chinese but thought I would try to keep it as close to the author’s voice as much as possible.