Secretly Captivated: Chapter 11A

LOVE AND JOY CONCEALED IN THE TIP OF YOUR BROWS

Mo Lan stood in front of the full-length mirror. She had already changed her clothes three to four times.

Beside her, stood An Xiaoluo with an apple in her hand, her eyebrows raised watching the dry and dull process of Mo Lan repeatedly wearing her clothes, looking in the mirror, undressing, and then tried on her clothes again.

Not until Mo Lan put on a white and green Korean-style dress, An Xiaoluo eyes finally lit up: “This is not bad.”

“Really?” Mo Lan answered distractedly, and once again walked towards the full-length mirror.

This piece of dress, the top was a white cropped sweater, and the bottom an A-line skirt, Mo Lan’s normal colours were white, gray and black, so because the colour of this skirt was excessively bright, so she has rarely worn it.

But… looking at it now, it was actually really bright.

An Xiaoluo placed beside her the half eaten apple that was in her hand, then stood up, helped Mo Lan tidy the dress while encouraged, “Aiya*, just wear this dress ba, your skin is so fair, looks good when wearing green, why in the world would you wear all those old-fashioned clothes all the time?”

(interjection of wonder, shock or admiration)

Mo Lan stared at herself in the mirror, rather somewhat out of sorts on how to cope with this bright and beautiful colour, but under An Xiaoluo’s intense encouragement, she also agreed.

Mo Lan was very slim, even though she was wearing very thick black wool leggings, both of her legs resembled a pair of chopsticks, perfectly straight and slim.

An Xiaoluo stared at her for a few seconds, then sighed enviously: “Xiao Lan, how do you not get fat from eating the way you do? Whatever you wear, you still look like Sister Lin*, as if you’ll fall once the wind blows.”

(The heroine from Dream of Red Mansion)

Mo Lan 囧ed and was about to say something, but heard An Xiaoluo exclaimed: “Oh shoots oh shoots, it’s almost nine, I need to rush to the company, I wish you a blessed meetup, remember to take a few pictures of Secretly Captivated SAMA for me! I’m leaving first!”

That’s right, this weekend, An Xiaoluo continued to be exploited by captitalism by working overtime, so it was a pity that for the Ninth Heavens 7th Anniversary gathering, she couldn’t attend with Mo Lan.

Nanjing Deji Plaza

After An Xiaoluo left, it was exactly 9am in Beijing, Ninth Heavens 7th Anniversary meetup was at 11am, the venue was at a restaurant in Nanjing’s Deji Plaza, reportedly it was where the people in the dubbing group first met, so this place was very memorable for them.

Mo Lan stood silently and foolishly for a while, then, she sat in front of the vanity mirror, looked miserable as she rummaged through her makeup bag, her almost never used makeup ever since she bought it.

Because Mo Lan’s skin was very fair and smooth, so she basically didn’t need to use BB cream*, she tossed aside the full tube of BB cream and took out the eyeliner.

(beauty/blemish balm – somewhere between a moisturiser and a foundation)

En… a little bit of eyeliner was enough.

Twenty minutes later, Mo Lan faced the mirror and nodded with satisfaction, then picked up a light-colour lip gloss, and lightly applied it to her lips.

Lip gloss was an essential going-out item for Mo Lan, because she was very fair, if she doesn’t apply any embellishment such as lipstick or lip gloss, she would have looked quite pale.

After a little tidying up of the wardrobe that turned into a mess when she was trying on clothes, Mo Lan looked at the time, it was already a bit over 10, it was almost time to leave.

She took a pair of black ankle boots from the shoe cupboard and wore her favorite black woolen coat.

Matching the three colours, black, white and green together, looked very harmonious.

En… simple, stylish, very nice.

After looking at herself again in the mirror by the door, she confirmed that she had prepared herself very adequately, then Mo Lan walked out of the house.

Sitting in the backseat of the taxi, Mo Lan turned her head and quietly looked at the winter scenery from the window. The weather forecast said that there will be heavy snowfall in Nanjing in the next few days, Mo Lan looked up at the sky, there seemed to be no sign of snow.

She took a deep breath, but still felt very nervous.

Going to meet Secretly Captivated.

Going to meet the 2D favourite whom she has been a fan of for four years.

Going to meet… Gu Ye Mi.

Accustomed to biting her lips, she suddenly realised that she should not destroy the lip gloss that she had just applied, Mo Lan forced herself to once again take a deep breath, hoping to calm down her violent heartbeat.

The driver in front of her, looked at Mo Lan who ever since she stepped into the taxi, looked as if she was facing a big enemy, couldn’t help but teased her: “Little girl, are you going on a blind date?”

Blind date…

Mo Lan 囧.

She replied, her voice a little weak: “No…”

“Then going to see your boyfriend?” The driver’s eyebrows raised and threw out another possibility.

“Uh… neither.” Mo Lan continued to deny.

The driver was obviously confused, he blanked for a moment before curiously asked, “Then who are you actually going to meet? Dressing up so beautifully, and yet you still look all tensed.”

Mo Lan looked down a little embarrassed, she opened her mouth wanting to reply the other person, a multitude of thoughts flashed through one by one, but, she suddenly realised, she didn’t know how should she ought to answer.

Should she say… that she was going to meet her idol?

Better forget it.

The driver’s attention quickly shifted to the traffic condition, and he didn’t continue questioning.

It was quiet for the rest of the journey.

After she paid, Mo Lan got out of the car and walked into Deji Plaza.

Nanjing Impressions* was a very well-known classic family restaurant in Nanjing. The restaurant was very big, with its quaint antique decoration, all kinds of snacks were arranged in front of a window, for guests to choose and to help themselves. All the tables and chairs were all made from sandalwood, which was quite similar to the teahouses and pubs in the late Qing Dynasty and early Republican period*.

(南京大排檔 nán jīng dà pái dàng – Nanjing big row shelf – Nanjing sidewalk snack booth – famous for duck dishes apparently – you can watch this to see what it actually looks like inside – it’s pretty much a food court)
(China around 1911)

Couplet lanterns were clearly seen everywhere, and there was also a little boy servant in ancient costume standing by the door calling out loudly, simple and elegant, full of aura.

Mo Lan stood by the door of Nanjing Impressions, her movement a little stiff. She could hear her rapid heartbeat, one after another, just as if she was on a swing, swinging up, swinging down, a restless feeling.

After tucking a strand of hair behind her ear, Mo Lan closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then gathered her courage and walked in.

There have always been many customers in Nanjing Impressions, almost every table was filled, and there were many people lining up in front of each window. The waiter in an ancient costume saw Mo Lan and hurried over enthusiastically greeting her, Mo Lan was somewhat at a loss.

Suddenly, a male voice sounded behind her, deep and very gentle: “Mo Lan, here.”

It was Su Shen’s voice.

Mo Lan turned around and walked a few steps towards the voice, then she lifted her head, in the next second, she was caught off guard as she fell into somebody’s line of sight.

That person was sitting next to Su Shen, and at this moment, he stood up, elegantly, picturesquely. His pair of eyes smiled and calmly looked at Mo Lan.

In the evidently black and white pair of eyes, a faint misty shade of peach blossom appeared, hazy, one stroke at a time, each and every stroke endless. Surrounded by this quaint antique teahouse and pub, Mo Lan almost thought he was a prince from the mortal world that just walked out of a painting.

She looked at him and somewhat trembled, inside Mo Lan’s head, it was a great mess and was very noisy, there was only one sentence which overwhelmed all other thoughts, floated clearly in front of her eyes–

Aloof and elegant, ten thousand times magnificent, all picturesque.

Using these few phrases to describe him, was more than appropriate.

The man looked at her, his lips curved, he showed a somewhat distinct and aloof smile.

He spoke, somewhat tender, somewhat indolent, the voice if amidst a hundred other voices, she would still be able to identify in a second.

He said, “Momo, I’m Gu Ye Mi.”

Gu Ye Mi?

Mo Lan lifted her head and looked at him, unconsciously nipped her lower lip, then asked softly, unaware that a slight imperceptible tremor appeared: “Have… we met before?”

As soon as this sentence was spoken out loud, the next second, Mo Lan regretted.

Because, she remembered.

The man who slept in the bullet train, the man beside the ambulance that night who had a glimpse of her… all were him.

Surprisingly, it was him.

Or she should say, it actually turned out to be him.

Gu Ye Mi chuckled, and genuinely smiled, really extremely distinguished*: “You still remember, I’m very honoured.”

(风流 fēng liú – distinguished and accomplished/ outstanding/ romantic/ dissolute/ loose – I’m not sure if I could tell what a romantic voice sounds like so I’ve only ever either used distinguished or outstanding. What say you?)

Mo Lan suddenly couldn’t control her somewhat blushing face.

His voice… was really too nice.

As she was about to say something, she saw the few girls giggled beside him, one of them beckoned at Mo Lan and said with a smile, “You’re Ye Lanshan meizhi? I’m Shui Shui Ruo Er, quickly come and sit.”

Coming to her senses, Mo Lan slightly lowered her eyes, walked over a little embarrassedly, and found a place to sit.

At the moment, not everybody had arrived yet, there were about 10 or so people around the table, the girls were the ones who often chatted with Mo Lan in the Ninth Heavens Dubbing Group, the oldest was already 28 years old, married and has a son, the youngest, just started her second-year* of high school. Among the men, one was Gu Ye Mi, one was Su Shen, and there was a man with a crew cut who looked very capable and experienced, Qingshang.

(11th grade, 16-17 yo)

Qingshang was also a very popular CV in the Internet Voice Circle, famous for his clear, rich and melodious voice, because there was really no interaction with the other party, so Mo Lan didn’t have the nerve to further talk with the other party, merely gave a slight nod to say hello.

Her eyes swept back and forth around the table, until after she had finished greeting everyone, Mo Lan lifted her eyes, and finally somewhat embarrassedly met Gu Ye Mi’s eyes.

The other person’s slender fingers was right in the middle of spinning his phone over and over again, his deep jet-black eyes gazed at Mo Lan without blinking, the corner of his lips absently drawed out a smile.

Ran Ran looked at Gu Ye Mi for a bit and sighed, her expression seemingly very miffed: “Hey, Mi Da, we have already met two or three times, why have you never looked at me with this kind of expression? My heart is crumbling into pieces soon you know.”

“That’s right, have you had plans towards somebody’s meizhi since a long time ago?” Honey Lemon sat next to Ran Ran also started ribbing.

Su Shen also laughed, a deep laughter, his whole person instantly became a lot more friendly: “You all should speak less, can’t you see somebody’s blushing?”

“Aih… okay, let’s change the subject, why hasn’t Xiao Luo Bo arrived yet?” Tasseled Pendant opened her mouth and shifted the topic in a timely manner.

Su Shen frowned slightly, then raised his wrist and glanced at the time, and replied softly: “He did say he wanted to finish an assignment before coming, looking at the time now, it should be anytime soon.”

Bai Yu Luo Bo studied at Southeast University, he just started his second year.

“Like that ah… I think we should go get some food first.” Bamboo Jade coughed, very tactfully* grabbed Ran Ran and the other girls, planning to go get some food from the windows.

(善解人意 shàn jiě rén yì – idiom – to be good at understanding others)

She just blurted out her suggestion and immediately went into action*.

(一呼百应 yī hū bǎi yìng – idiom – a hundred answers to a single call, to respond en masse)

After the girls at the table left, the atmosphere became quieter all of a sudden.

Qingshang looked at Mo Lan and curiously asked: “Meizhi, what is your relationship with Xiao Mi*?”

(xiao = small – a nickname coupled with a person’s name bestowed upon another person younger than oneself)

Mo Lan’s fingers which was holding the glass stiffened, then she cleared her throat and answered as steady as possible: “No relationship, well, I’m his fan.”

Or maybe she should have said, his fangirl…

“Huh, but I think, the two of you gives off the impression of something very subtle, don’t look like an ordinary CV and his fan.” Qingshang was obviously dissatisfied with Mo Lan’s answer and continued to ask unrelentingly.

Su Shen, who was sitting next to him, good-naturedly helped Mo Lan out of the predicament: “I can testify that the current relationship between the two of them is still pure, in the future… not necessarily.”

Consequently, Mo Lan felt even more embarrassed.

The ever silent Gu Ye Mi, timely stood up, his evidently black and white eyes glanced at Mo Lan, his voice very gentle: “Go grab food?”

The ending lilt up faintly, an enquiring tone.

But probably because his voice was too nice, Mo Lan felt that her current blood tank practically emptied, her mind was simply not focused on the content of this sentence.

Gu Ye Mi looked at her as if he was smiling, and then he opened his lips, his face gentle and soft and repeated his question.

Mo Lan slowly came back to her senses, eventually realising what happened and stood up.

Su Shen and Qingshang couldn’t helped laughing.

Su Shen looked at Mo Lan, who was extremely embarrassed, and said comfortingly: “It’s nothing it’s nothing, it’s the first time hearing Ah Mi’s natural voice, this reaction is already not too bad, at least way better compared to when Xiao Luo Bo first met him.”

But it was still very embarrassing okay… so embarassed that at this very moment Mo Lan wanted to hang herself on the southeast branch.

With her head down, she quickly followed Gu Ye Mi’s back and left the table.

Carefully lifting her eyes and stared at Gu Ye Mi’s back, as expected Mo Lan found that she couldn’t even reached the other person’s shoulders, 188cm… was indeed very tall.

He was wearing a blue down jacket, and yet you don’t feel as if he’s bloated, the collar of his gray checkered shirt jutted out a little, covered his fair elegant neck, the whole person’s temperament was distinct and aloof as well as neat.

She blankly followed him from behind, until Gu Ye Mi stopped in front of a window and began to line up, Mo Lan then also stopped.

She took a quick look at the sign hanging on the snacks window, Mo Lan saw the words “Ancient Style Candied Taro Seedling”.

“Ancient Style Candied Taro Seedling” was a well-known dessert in Nanjing, using fresh taro seedlings coupled with osmanthus flower syrup, simmered together in a big wok, after the taro seedlings soften then you add the lotus root starch, eating the fragrant sweet soft sticky taro, with the fragrant osmanthus flower floating. It was a traditional Nanjing dessert that Mo Lan must order every time she came here.

“Do you like to eat candied taro seedling as well?” Mo Lan could not helped asking, her voice was finally calmer compared to before.

“Um… I don’t really like to eat sweet food.” Gu Ye Mi heard her question and answered somewhat indolently. As if afraid that Mo Lan couldn’t hear him, as he replied he turned sideways slightly, his head lowered.

Because there were many people in the queue and the hallway wasn’t long enough, so it was very crammed, Mo Lan had no choice but to endure and squeezed close to Gu Ye Mi, when he moved sideways, his down jacket grazed against Mo Lan’s woolen coat, producing a little sound.

It was simply a light graze between the jackets, in a split second, Mo Lan felt that her heartbeat seemed to be somewhat violent again.

“But, don’t you like it?” Gu Ye Mi didn’t seem to notice, he turned his head and softly asked, with a slight smile in his tone.

Mo Lan blanked for a moment, she was a little confused and disoriented by the other party’s voice, she thought about it, and spoke cautiously and earnestly, with a little doubt: “Urm… male god, how did you know?”

“You’ve shared before in Moments.” Gu Ye Mi smiled lightly, the more you slice the more you polish, the more you cut (gems) the more it wears down, (as if they were eager to learn from each other), totally extremely alluring.

(Sorry I couldn’t make heads or tails out of this phrase and I gave up after a while. Here’s the original if you wanted to try: 顧謁迷輕笑，如切如磋，如琢如磨，極盡誘人)

While Gu Ye Mi spoke, he simply turned his whole body around and faced Mo Lan. He lowered his eyes, his expression very calmed, and in a state of confusion, Mo Lan heard his voice, tender and indulgent: “Just call me Gu Ye Mi.”

“Gu… Ye Mi?” Intoxicated by the other party’s voice, Mo Lan subconsciously repeated these three words.

Her tip of the tongue lightly touched her teeth, Mo Lan heard these three words clearly coming out from her mouth, and it suddenly felt a little wonderful, so wonderful, that it was a little inconceivable.

But seeing Gu Ye Mi curled his lips, his evident black and white eyes looked at her, his eyes and eyebrows smiled: “That’s me.”

Mo Lan lifted her head and looked at him, her face blushed almost to the base of her neck. She couldn’t help but silently sighed for the 1001st time in her heart, people who used their voice as a weapon was really scary, it was practically just like the mast and scull were destroyed amidst the talking and laughing* all right.

(間檣櫓灰飛煙滅 tán xiào jiān qiáng lǔ huī fēi yān miè – from what I can tell it’s a line from a poem where somebody destroyed somebody’s ship so easily and casually so in short it means to easily accomplished something)

The number of people in front of them lessen one by one, Mo Lan stood behind Gu Ye Mi, she couldn’t see his expression, she could only hear his faint voice ordering two candied taro seedlings from the kitchen lady behind the window.

Mo Lan was able to feel that he had already tried to lower his voice as much as possible, to make himself less recognisable. But… but, it still sounded way better compared to a normal person.

She couldn’t help but leaned on her side, wanted to see at this very moment what kind of facial expression the kitchen lady had, as expected, Mo Lan saw the other party paused for a moment while taking a bowl, then the kitchen lady looked up, and with a somewhat astonished expression looked at Gu Ye Mi.

Mo Lan all of a sudden recollected, the night of the accident, why were the people who were standing opposite Gu Ye Mi looked as if they saw a ghost when they stared at him.

It must be because he had such a beautiful voice.

Gu Ye Mi didn’t say anything, he seemed to be accustomed to this kind of situation, he was merely standing there casually, a peaceful look, his temperament distinct and aloof.

Mo Lan suddenly had that slight sense of fireworks from the world.

She had liked that Internet Voice CV for four years, and now he stood right in front of her, his soothing tone helped her order a bowl of candied taro seedling.

Not as far away as one had imagined, nor as unattainable as rumoured. It was as if he had fallen into this ten-foot soft red city* from the skies above, he really stood in front of her, talked to her, smiled at her, his each and every movement was unfathomably warm and beautiful.

(十丈軟紅 shí zhàng ruǎn hóng – idiom – describing a flourishing/bustling city)

Mo Lan looked at his back and her eyes could not help but turned slightly red.

All the nights falling asleep while listening to him all showed up one by one, when she was happy, sad, troubled, or lost, accompanying her, all of those times was the voice of this person.

But in fact, she truly had never thought, that there will be such a day where she would meet him.

Gu Ye Mi took a tray from the kitchen lady and turned around.

The steam from the candied taro seedlings drifted and circulated around his whole body, the air filled with the somewhat hazy mist, and his picturesque appearance, distinct, aloof and elegant.

Mo Lan looked at him, suddenly unable to control herself and said: “Gu Ye Mi, I truly really like your voice.”

Gu Ye Mi’s footsteps paused for a moment, then he chuckled softly, the temperature of his speech melted and soften, just like a feather, light as a feather smashing into her heart, nevertheless making her heartbeat throbbed violently, wave after wave.

He said, “I know.”

---

Notes:
1. Fangirl – 脑残粉 nǎo cán fěn – lit. brain powder fan – a fan so crazily obsessed that their brain turned into mush/powder. Don’t know if I’ve ever explained what I meant when I translate it as fangirl but thought I should clarify. I’ll put this somewhere in the earlier chapters once I finish translating the whole novel! Fangirl/fanboy was what one of the MTL gave me.