Secretly Captivated: Chapter 15A

KING OF THE BLADE
THUS I AS THE SHIELD WILL DEFEND
AND PROTECT YOU IN GOOD HEALTH

Ever since she got drunk at the classmate gathering, Mo Lan haven’t been out for the whole two days, and was also embarrassed to contact Gu Ye Mi, with a nothing-left-to-live-for expression* on her face she passed her time at home.

(生無可戀 shēng wú kě liàn – internet slang – lit. life no can long for)

As for An Xiaoluo who under Mo Lan’s earnest and patient persuasion and encouragement, bought a flight ticket to Shanghai, and left yesterday afternoon.

Hopefully, she would be able to bring back the good news between her and Su Shen.

As for at this very moment, Mo Lan wrapped herself in a fluffy blanket, and curled her long hair with a pen, on one hand she bit her nails and on the other hand she looked miserable producing words.

Secretly Captivated’s new drama… how should she write it?

Truly unable to find a solution, there wasn’t even a bit of inspiration.

Mo Lan sighed for the 28th time at the computer screen.

Right at this time, the QQ notification in the lower right corner of her computer screen suddenly flashed.

It should be Ninth Heaven Dubbing Group’s QQ, the remaining enthusiasm of the New Year have dispersed over the past few days, everyone had also begun work and school one after another, so the group had become more lively.

However, Mo Lan who was right in the middle of struggling to find inspiration presently had not much mood to read the news.

She briefly opened and looked at it, in the next second, Mo Lan was surprised to find, the message box displayed the surprise that was Bai Yu Luo Bo’s private QQ message.

Bai Yu Luo Bo: Lanshan meizi, are you there?

Mo Lan was a little puzzled, basically Bai Yu Luo Bo wouldn’t privately look for her, now he looked for her… it must be something important.

With this in mind, she immediately replied:

Ye Lanshan: Here, what’s the matter?

The other party seemed to hesitate for a bit, then sent words over:

Bai Yu Luo Bo: I know suddenly asking like this might be a little out of the blue, but… could you answer me seriously, do you like Ah Mi?

Mo Lan’s fingertips on the keyboard went stagnant, her eyes could not help widened, she read those words back and forth several times, and still didn’t quite understood Bai Yu Luo Bo’s intention.

The like that he mentioned… what kind of like was it?

After carefully deliberating for a long time, Mo Lan bit her lip, absolutely cautiously and carefully replied:

Ye Lanshan: I really like his voice, and, he has also always been my sole favourite in the Internet Voice Circle for these many years.

Bai Yu Luo Bo: If I weren’t talking about his voice, what about him as a person? If he wasn’t Secretly Captivated, just an ordinary person, would you like him?

If he wasn’t Secretly Captivated…

Mo Lan suddenly blanked.

It seemed that ever since she met Gu Ye Mi up until now, in front of him she have been nervous, apprehensive, bewildered, the most fundamental reason was because she knew, the person that stood right in front of her was Secretly Captivated, the first CV she had quietly liked for four years in the Internet Voice Circle.

She had never thought of treating him like an ordinary person, with regard to who Secretly Captivated was to her, he was a myth that would never fade in the Internet Voice Circle, a perfect voice that couldn’t be forgotten once heard by a voice enthusiast, and also in Mo Lan’s heart a cautious and solemn unattainable beautiful dream.

Yet it had never only been about Gu Ye Mi.

However, at this very moment, Mo Lan closed her eyes, and discovered that the first thing that appeared in her mind, was actually the scene when she first saw him at Nanjing Impression.

His picturesque appearance, his temperament distinct and aloof.

He stood there, looked at her calmly, with a faint smile in his obvious black and white eyes, just like a clean, gentle and soft scenery, where it caused one to forget.

The Gu Ye Mi at that time, inexplicably made Mo Lan thought of the short passage in the Book of Songs*. Gazing at the obscure river, green bamboo yi yi*. A bandit or a gentleman, as definite as polished, as cut (gems) as sharpened.

(诗经 shī jīng – an early collection of Chinese poems and one of the Five Classics of Confucianism)
(瞻彼淇奧，綠竹猗猗。有匪君子，如切如磋，如琢如磨) (chapter 11A – same)
(猗 yī – an exclamation of admiration)

His each and every movement, every frown and every smile, everything was just right, he was exactly made in this way by the heavens and arranged by the earth*.

(天造地设 tiān zào dì shè – idiom – ideal/ perfect)

In the past, every time when Mo Lan thinks of Gu Ye Mi, the very first thing she would surely thought of would be his soliloquy, the radio dramas he had dubbed, his voice.

But now, when Mo Lan once again thinks of Gu Ye Mi, the picture that flashed through her mind one by one was in fact when his body turned around with two bowls of candied taro seedlings in his hand, when he walked alongside her on the road to send her home, when he waved at her from afar asking her to go upstairs, as well as that night, where he carried her on his back rambling under the thousands of shimmering lanterns on Ten Miles of Qinhuai.

Since don’t know when, his voice already gradually faded away, all that remained and became clearer, was only this person Gu Ye Mi.

He was Secretly Captivated, but also not merely just Secretly Captivated.

Mo Lan silently reflected for a long time, until the black computer screen glowed with the blue light, only then did she finally come back to her senses.

Opening the QQ messaging system, Bai Yu Luo Bo did not push for an answer at all, he seemed to also wait patiently.

She bit her lower lip out of habit, Mo Lan typed, and very solemnly answered each word:

Ye Lanshan: I will.

It actually wasn’t that complicated, she did like his voice, but she liked the person even more. Or to put it simply, no matter the voice, or the person, as long as he’s Gu Ye Mi that would be enough.

Bai Yu Luo Bo: That’s good. Maybe because of the fear of rumuors flying all over the place, Ah Mi have always especially paid attention to keep his distance from his female fans, Flower Burial who recently confessed was also rejected by him. I’ve thought about it, it seemed that among all that happened to him the only exception is you, prior to you, I have never seen him been so kind to any other female fan. En… I feel, Ah Mi might really really like you.

Mo Lan saw the other party quickly sent these words, she saw the last sentence, and her heartbeat was once again a little quicker, she inexplicably felt a little awkward and embarrassed.

So now… how should she reply?

Before she finished being embarrassed, suddenly, something else happened that made Mo Lan felt even more embarrassed.

Gu Ye Mi called her.

Mo Lan’s eyes stared straight at the mobile phone that was right in the middle of vibrating incessantly on the computer desk, her heart practically surging like a gathering storm incapable of being subdued. Actually… actually at the moment she haven’t really figured out how to forget the fact that she was drunk that night, and how to then calmly faced Gu Ye Mi T^T

After being confused for about five or six seconds, Mo Lan took a deep breath, and answered the phone with a devoted to righteousness that inspired reverence* expression.

(大义凛然 dà yì lǐn rán – idiom)

The background noise on the other side of the phone sounded very noisy, he seemed to be in the city centre, but his voice still rang clearly from the chaos, and entered her ears without missing a word: “Momo, are you free now?”

“I’m free, what’s the matter?” Mo Lan strived to reply calmly, she tried hard to keep her voice calm, and silently prayed in her heart that he had already forgotten what had happened two days ago.

The other party was silent for two or three seconds, then he spoke, and inquired softly: “This afternoon at three o’clock, the qin se pipa* ensemble classical concert, wanna come and watch?”

(琴瑟琵琶 – qín sè pí pá – guqin se pipa)

• 

  pipa

• 

  guqin

• 

  se

When he said the last sentence “wanna come and watch?”, the ending rose slightly, it turned a teeny bit, and added a bit of charm and tenderness. His intonation was undoubtedly serene and somewhat indifferent, but it just made people feel, if they gave a negative answer, the heavens would simply be angry and the person would complained.

Mo Lan teared silently, and her heart couldn’t help but started to light a candle for the colleagues who worked with Gu Ye Mi. She really was a hundred percent sure, if Gu Ye Mi used this kind of tone to talked to others in real life, no matter what he asked, the other party would just nod and say okay.

She felt like her brain seemed to have crashed all of a sudden, Mo Lan on this side didn’t adjust and was immersed in his voice inconspicuously for a long time, after a while, she just suddenly reacted afterwards, what Gu Ye Mi just said… it turned out to be her favorite classical concert combination of guqin, se and pipa!

Qin se pipa, the ensemble altogether consist of eleven individuals, the performance would be pure musical instruments, not only the ensemble would be extremely beautiful, but the soloists was also not inferior in any aspect. Each member in this ensemble were all exceedingly proficient in China’s classical musical instruments, such as the guzheng, guqin, pipa, bamboo flute and so on, they have an impressive reputation in the 2D world, and were previously acclaimed as the “Twelve Girls Band” in the ancient style circle.

女子十二樂坊 Twelve Girls Band – they exist

This time’s qin se pipa concert was held in Nanjing, Mo Lan naturally also knew about it, but because the tickets were not all released this time, so she also didn’t even have the intention to go listen, she didn’t expect, Gu Ye Mi actually had tickets in his hands.

But after thinking about it, it also made sense, based on Gu Ye Mi’s status in the ancient style circle… it should be that someone sent him his share of tickets.

“Of course I want to, I like qin se pipa the most!” She blurted out, excitedly, Mo Lan even lost that little reservedness from when she originally answered the phone.

She faintly heard a chuckle from the other end of the phone, Gu Ye Mi spoke, a tender and serene tone and to some degree a smile: “Okay, at two o’clock this afternoon, I will wait for you downstairs by your house.”

“Okay…” The Mo Lan who was still excited that she couldn’t come back to her senses, until after she ended the call, then realised afterwards and started to be nervous.

Going to a concert together with Gu Ye Mi…

However she thought she felt it was a very magical thing.

After Mo Lan became foolish for five minutes towards her mobile screen that already went black, Mo Lan inadvertently shoot a glance at the clock on the wall, only to swiftly realise that it was less than an hour away from three o’clock*.

(I thought it should be 2pm but that is what it is in the raws)

Needed to hurry up and get ready.

What to wear?

Mo Lan stood in front of her closet, and once again sighed at the row of clothes that neatly and tidily hung inside. In the past, An Xiaoluo had told her on more than one occasion, that she had too many monochrome and gray clothes, the whole person looked old-fashioned, and did not look like a young girl at all. At that time, she merely listened, then just laughed and brushed over it, absloutely not taking it seriously.

If you thought about it carefully, perhaps because at that time the person didn’t mind, thought that it was just herself that’s all, so it didn’t matter what she wore.

But now, just like the first time a teenage girl had her first crush, she consequently started to involuntarily pay attention to one’s own appearance, one’s words and actions, hoping that when they appeared in front of that person, it would allow the other person to pay a bit more attention to oneself.

Here Mo Lan dawdled for almost half an hour, and eventually chose her clothes.

A loose pink sweater with pearls, black suede shorts, cotton leggings, the last outer layer to match it all was a white mid-length down jacket.

After everything was ready, Mo Lan stood in front of the full-length mirror and looked at herself, she suddenly wasn’t sure… she hasn’t dressed up too grandly had she?

Although if compared with other girls she wasn’t that more remarkable, but for the usual Mo Lan, wearing like this was truly already considered very grand.

Mo Lan stood in front of the full-length mirror, as she was about to bite her lip all confused if she should change to a black down jacket instead, suddenly, she inadvertently turned her head, and from the living room window she accidentally saw the familiar figure downstairs.

Midday yesterday, the brutal cold winter Nanjing finally ushered in the first snow of this winter, the snow raged in a torrential rush, without stopping to sleep or to have a rest* it fell for a whole day and night, until it gradually stopped this early morning.

(不眠不休 bù mián bù xiū – lit. no sleep no stop – it’s so short in Chinese haha)

After the baptism of the snowstorm, the whole of Nanjing looked completely new*, everywhere was clad in silver*, a vast expanse of whiteness.

(焕然一新 huàn rán yī xīn – idiom – brand new/ changed beyond recognition)
(銀裝素裹 yín zhuāng sù guǒ – idiom – to describe the outdoor snow scene as beautiful)

And Gu Ye Mi stood still and calmly in the snow, the whole person was even more conspicuously distinct, aloof and neat.

A black down jacket, a white thin wool sweater, a pair of simple dark coloured jeans. He stood downstairs, with his back towards her, one hand absent-mindedly in his pocket, obviously very natural and very casual, yet it made people felt, that the scenery was naturally pieced together.

Mo Lan stared blankly at Gu Ye Mi’s back for about three or four seconds, and finally realised that it was already too late to change her clothes. The weather was this cold, to let him wait downstairs because of this kind of thing, she would really have felt guilty to death.

Consequently, Mo Lan began to flusteredly grab her bags, changed her shoes, and got ready to leave. Just when one foot had stepped out of the house, in the flash of lightning, she suddenly thought of the scarf that she had previously promised to give Gu Ye Mi.

Without even changing her shoes* she ran into her bedroom, took the carefully well-packaged bag in her hand, and finally hurried down the stairs.

(I don’t know if it might confuse some but we (most Asians) don’t wear our outside shoes/slippers into our houses. Some have house slippers but not where I grew up.)

After scurrying all the way down from the third floor, Mo Lan quickly walked out of the hallway, and as soon as she looked up, she was right in Gu Ye Mi’s line of sight.

He looked at her, his features picturesque-tic, luminously magnificent.

The corner of his lips curled up a little into a smile, Gu Ye Mi’s voice seemed to be very relaxed and pleased: “We’ll go by train, the snow on the road is too deep, we might get stuck if we drove.”

“Ah, okay.”

Inexplicably feeling a little bit shy, Mo Lan scooted to his side, and the two walked towards the train station nearby the neighbourhood.

Didn’t expect that after barely walking a few steps, unexpectedly they came across a neighbor who lived opposite of Mo Lan and An Xiaoluo, she was roughly a sixty plus years old grandma*, surnamed Wang. Although she was older, her body was unexpectedly healthy, she would also normally cared after Mo Lan and An Xiaoluo.

(婆婆 pó po – husband’s mother/ mother-in-law/ grandma – pronounced pour pour – it’s good manners to call anybody who is older than you a “title” – I tried going with grandma but after a few paragraphs, it just didn’t seem right so it’ll be used interchangeably with popo)

Now, with a basket in her hand, she seemed to have just returned from grocery shopping. En… even though it was currently the 21st century, single-used plastic bags and environmental friendly bags have already become the mainstream in the market, but when many elderly people buy their groceries, they still liked to carry baskets, although it didn’t look pleasing to the eye, but at the very least it was more convenient and more practical than those single-used bags.

Mo Lan stared at the basket in Grandma Wang’s hands and drifted away for a while, then suddenly realised that she shouldn’t be thinking about this now, because, the way the other person looked at her, her face showed that kind of expression, it was very obvious that…

No way right……

Mo Lan opened her mouth to speak, just as she was about to gain the initiative by striking first, but she was still not in time, because Grandma Wang had already walked to their side, and stood still, she looked up and down at Mo Lan several times, then smiled and narrowed her eyes: “Xiao Lan ah, did you dress up so beautifully to go on a date with your boyfriend? I usually see you wearing some dark coloured clothes all day, but I didn’t expect that after dressing up you still look quite good.”

Popo… must you say it so honestly T ^ T

Mo Lan looked at her silently, she could only follow by a slightly embarrassed smile, she already didn’t dare to turn her head around to look by her side at Gu Ye Mi’s expression at this very moment.

Having him know that she purposely dressed up to meet him, it was simply extremely humiliating all right.

Clearing her throat, Mo Lan spoke, and intended to explain: “Um, popo, you’ve misunderstood le…” The next sentence ‘actually we’re only just ordinary friends’ have yet to be spoken, when Grandma Wang had already very naturally ignored her, as she turned her face and spoke to Gu Ye Mi: “This young man is really good-looking, nowadays, you don’t see many youngsters with such clean eyes, at a glance one would straightaway know that you’re a reliable and accomplished* good boy.”

(上进 shàng jìn – to make progress/ to do better/ fig. ambitious to improve oneself/ to move forwards)

… just by a glance you could see that he’s a reliable and accomplished good boy? However, no matter how good he is, he really isn’t my boyfriend.

Being all confused in this way and dragged into the red thread*, don’t know… would Gu Ye Mi be unhappy.

(红线 hóng xiàn – red thread/line – refers to the invisible red cord around the finger of those that are destined to meet one another in a certain situation as they are “their true love” – is used to signify romantic relationship)

Thinking in this way somewhat anxiously, Mo Lan couldn’t help turned her head to look at Gu Ye Mi’s expression, after she saw the faint curve of the other person’s lips, her mind was at ease at last.

“Popo, your* cervical spine* is not that good right? You can usually do more head exercise, remember not to buy pillows that are too hard, it’s best to put something under your neck when you sleep.”

(您 nín – the formal/courteous you)
(the author used the proper name for the neck)

Gu Ye Mi’s very articulate pronounciation and vocals resonated, an exquisite tone, very magnetic, low, it also wasn’t an exaggeration to say it was a precious stone voice. Even Mo Lan who was already used to his voice, her heart also couldn’t help but palpitated for a bit.

Looking again at Grandma Wang’s expression, sure enough she looked like she saw a ghost. She blankly stared at Gu Ye Mi for a very long time, so long that Mo Lan was somewhat embarassed and wanted to call her to snap her out of it. Eventually, Grandma Wang cleared her throat, then turned to look at Mo Lan, and very seriously asked: “Xiao Lan, is your boyfriend a radio announcer or a TV host?”

Mo Lan 囧, automatically ignored the first half of the sentence where she described Gu Ye Mi as her boyfriend, and replied completely honestly: “No, he’s an anesthesiologist. But… his voice is really very nice, right?”

At the end, Mo Lan’s tone still brought a little hint of smugness.

After all, there’s someone who likes the voice of her own favourite, which in itself was precisely a very worthy and happy thing.

As a result, this conversation segment of Gu Ye Mi switching profession to broadcasting was repeated and emphasised four to five times by Grandma Wang before it concluded.

It wasn’t until Grandma Wang returned with her basket to cook for her grandson, that Mo Lan and Gu Ye Mi resumed walking towards the train station, half a beat later Mo Lan then finally felt the conversation just now… did indeed caused one to misunderstand greatly.

He didn’t deny, so she also followed and didn’t deny.

She didn’t dare to think what it meant, there wasn’t also time to think about it, because her brain, was soon occupied by something else.

The scarf in her hand… when should she give it to him? Actually, giving it to him now would be a more suitable time, cause if she hold onto it for the whole day, and waited until after the concert finished to only then give it to him, would it look too insincere?

But now, what was the best way to give it to him?

Just directly passed it to him like this? What if… what if he had already forgotten about it then how?

But it was also impossible to not give it to him…

Very muddled.

With her mind all tangled into numbness, Mo Lan suddenly felt that the bag she carried became unspeakably heavier.

The two walked into the train station, and after buying the tickets, they waited by the waiting area for the train that was arriving in seven minutes.

There were many people taking the subway at this time, the waiting space in front of each train gate was packed with people. Although, there was a benefit in having more people, that it didn’t seem as cold.

Mo Lan wore comparatively thinner trousers, and after she left the house then she genuinely and earnestly felt that the recent snowfall in Nanjing was that much colder, it was that awfully damp kind of cold, furthermore once in a while the wind would burst through, in short it made one very uncomfortable.

Gu Ye Mi, who had been standing quietly beside her, suddenly opened his mouth, “Wait here a bit for me.”

Mo Lan froze for a moment, after she instinctively nodded, she saw him walked towards a Coco milk tea shop nearby, and began to queue up very naturally.

Did he see that she was a bit cold?

Just like the previous cup of lemon tea, Mo Lan suddenly felt, that he was truly a very gentle and considerate person.

After about four to five minutes, Gu Ye Mi returned, in his hand he held a cup of warm milk tea.

He drew near, when he handed over the milk tea, Mo Lan only realized that he actually bought her favourite pearl pudding milk tea.

“How did you know I like to drink this?” Mo Lan took the milk tea, and couldn’t help but raised her head revealing her bright eyes to ask him this question.

(I wanna know too)

Yet she saw Gu Ye Mi looked at her and smiled tenderly without answering.

Right at this moment, the train suddenly beeped through as it entered the station, simultaneously accompanied by a burst of wind that whistled by, Mo Lan’s body couldn’t help but curled up shivering, and grasped tightly the cup of milk tea in her hand.

The train steadily stopped little by little, after the people got off from the train one after another, the tide of people began to crowd around to get onto the train.

Mo Lan also followed and moved with the crowd, she turned her head back a little bit, and saw Gu Ye Mi stood behind her. Pressing into the crowded train, Mo Lan finally breathed a sigh of relief.

The air-tight train was packed with people, although it was uncomfortably crowded, but the only benefit was that it was not cold.

Mo Lan optimistically comforted herself, she held the cup of milk tea in her hand with some difficulty, as people surrounded her in all directions, she challengedly grasped the railing with one hand, and strived hard to straightened up, she didn’t want to bump into other people.

Suddenly, a shadow fell in front of her, Mo Lan suddenly found her surroundings seemed to be much more spacious.

She lifted her eyes, her line of sight just happened to face the zip of Gu Ye Mi’s black down jacket.

His jacket’s zip was simply very casually pulled down to his chest, a part of the thin white wool sweater showed, it was unexpectedly naturally nice, it didn’t made one feel the little bit frivolous.

Mo Lan stared at his silver zip for a while, then realised afterwards that Gu Ye Mi was now standing in front of her, with one hand on the railing, he stood still in this train full of people for her and freed up a space that was neither too big nor too small, and obstructed the surrounding crowd.

Sure enough… the height of 188, indeed was really an advantage.

She couldn’t help but raised her head, and saw Gu Ye Mi’s line of sight gazed indifferently out of the window, a pair of distinctly black and white eyes that appeared to have a faint misty peach colour, where else the side of his lips seemed to hold an absent smile, not sure what was he thinking of right then.

He seemed to have felt Mo Lan’s eye on him, he lowered his head, his long eyelashes casted a shadow on his eyelids, his features were picturesque, magnificent among the ten thousands, unfathomably attractive.

Just when Mo Lan was bewildered by the beauty before her, she suddenly sensed Gu Ye Mi reached out and gently touched her hair, his actions was very tender, and his voice even more tender:

“Very uncomfortable? Hold on for a bit, only two more stops till we reach.”

Even though it was a biting cold windy winter day, but listening to his warm whispers at this very moment, yet Mo Lan felt that she was warm all over, just as if she had a low fever, it tortured one bit by bit, one’s hands bounded and unable to do anything about it*.

(束手无策 shù shǒu wú cè – idiom – fig. helpless in the face of a crisis)

He looked so good, his voice was also so nice, this precisely and undoubtedly broke all the rules right…

Up until after the two people got off the train, Mo Lan had struggled for a long time, and still did not have the courage to give the scarf to Gu Ye Mi. But with a very clear conscience she had a new excuse for herself, if she gave it to him now, once he accepted it he would still have to keep holding on to the bag, which would make the person even more apologetic, so… she had better hold on to it first, then wait until the concert was over and give it to him on the way home.

---

Me: I was going to split this chapter into 3 but there weren’t any obvious breaks so yay for you! Only 4.5 more chapters till we finish the main story. Yikes.

Btw, I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned this before but the reason almost all of the sentences are so long is because I’m following the way the author wrote it. I did contemplate splitting them up but then felt like the author’s flavour would be lost. Can’t believe there are so many small little decisions to be made while translating. And I proofread this using my mobile which is not as handy as using a laptop. Will fix the colour of one of the parag