After being transmitted through the device, Ye Wenyu’s voice sounded slightly different from his original voice. It was a bit hoarse, and also softer.
Yan Chen pulled out his earphones and put them on, then found a corner bench to sit down on.
The earphones separated two worlds.
The noise of the swimming pool faded away, leaving only Ye Wenyu’s voice in his ears.
Perhaps worried that reading too fast would make it hard to understand, Ye Wenyu spoke very slowly, every word and pronunciation enunciated clearly, almost like a beginner’s textbook recording.
There was a short pause between each sentence. Before starting again, he could be heard softly inhaling.
When he came across syllables that couldn’t be separated, he slowed down, which made his voice even softer.
It was like someone whispering into his ear.
Once this thought appeared, the image of Ye Wenyu standing in the warm light and reciting his lines with his head down on Saturday afternoon emerged in his mind.
The unpleasant mood that had been brewing due to an entire afternoon and evening of training was gradually soothed.
The irritation dispersed, leaving him feeling completely relaxed.
The recording was not long, and the green bar quickly reached the end.
Yan Chen rested his elbows on his knees, gently pressed his earphones with one hand and dragged the progress bar back to the beginning with the other.
A new playback started, and he lowered his head and closed his eyes.
–
Ye Wenyu did not expect to receive a recording from Yan Chen after just one night.
At that time, he had just finished an elective course and was carrying a packed pork chop rice for Chi Dongting, coming out from the cafeteria beside the third teaching building.
There were too many people around and it was too noisy, so he quickened his pace, planning to listen to it after returning to the dorm.
Unexpectedly, just as he turned the corner of the teaching building, he bumped into someone.
The other person was walking slowly, and had his head down looking at his phone. The two of them bumped into each other and the phone fell onto the grass beside them.
“Sorry,” Ye Wenyu immediately apologized and bent down to help pick up the phone.
Unexpectedly, the other party was even quicker and scooped it up casually: “It’s fine, don’t worry, it didn’t break…”
When he saw Ye Wenyu clearly, his ending tone paused abruptly.
Then he raised an eyebrow: “Ye Wenyu?”
Ye Wenyu also got a clear look at him. It was a handsome boy, very thin, with a slightly effeminate smile.
He was very sure he had never met him before: “I’m Ye Wenyu, and you are?”
“It doesn’t matter.” The boy’s smile lit up: “I only saw you on the forum before. You’re even better looking in person than in photos.”
Ye Wenyu could only respond politely: “Thank you, you look good too.”
Upon hearing this, the boy chuckled softly: “You’re really polite. I have something urgent to do, so I’ll leave first. Let’s get to know each other next time～”
The boy waved at him and left.
Ye Wenyu didn’t take this incident to heart.
When he got back to the dorm, he handed the food to Chi Dongting, returned to his seat, plugged in his earphones, put them on, and played the recording.
Yan Chen’s voice slowly poured into his ears, and Ye Wenyu was stunned.
What Yan Chen recorded was not new content, but the same poem he had sent him the day before.
But that was not what made him stunned.
He just hadn’t expected such a big difference between hearing it live and hearing it through a recording.
Maybe it was because when listening in person, most of his attention was focused on Yan Chen’s lips, and now, with no person in sight, all his attention naturally fell on the voice itself.
He knew Yan Chen’s voice was pleasant, but he hadn’t expected that after being processed by electric currents, it would sound even better.
The earphones amplified every detail and every pronunciation caused his eardrums to tremble slightly, causing a tingling sensation that gradually spread to the base of his ears.
The casual tone while matching the words was much more relaxed, lacking the heaviness borrowed from the character’s emotions, and instead carried an everyday nonchalance.
The poem itself was already ambiguously romantic, and could be written to a relative or a lover.
But because of Yan Chen’s casual intonation, there arose a subtle sense of familiarity and intimacy, coupled with the slight huskiness of his voice as if he had just woken up, he spoke the world’s most romantic language, just like the whispers between lovers.
Halfway through listening, Ye Wenyu couldn’t help but take off his earphones.
But after just a few seconds, he silently put them back on and, after it ended, dragged the progress bar back to the start.
When the recording played for the third time, Chi Dongting patted him on the shoulder.
“Wenyu, are you zoning out?”
After speaking, he noticed the Bluetooth earphones in his ears: “Oh, listening to music.”
Ye Wenyu quickly minimized the recording app to the background, took off his earphones, and asked: “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, I was just bored and wanted to chat.” Chi Dongting said: “What interesting thing are you listening to?”
Ye Wenyu: “Practice recording from the dubbing competition teammates.”
Chi Dongting: “Ah, then that’s boring. I thought you were reading a love letter.”
Ye Wenyu was puzzled: “Why would it be a love letter?”
Chi Dongting pointed at his ears, speaking matter-of-factly: “Because the tips of your ears are all red.”
Ye Wenyu: “…?”
—
Third teaching building grove.
“I just saw Ye Wenyu,” In the corner of the teaching building, Zhen Lin hugged Liu Bingran’s neck: “Do you know him?”
Liu Bingran was sticky and clingy, kissing his chin: “Who is he?”
Zhen Lin: “The one who walked out of the swimming pool wearing Yan Chen’s clothes.”
Liu Bingran paused and lifted his head: “How do you know that?”
Zhen Lin smiled at him: “What don’t I know?”
Liu Bingran: “He wore it, so what?”
Zhen Lin: “So, I don’t like him.”
Liu Bingran stared at him expressionlessly without saying anything.
Zhen Lin kissed him on the lips: “What, are you angry? Didn’t I already agree to be with you?”
Liu Bingran: “But you’re still thinking about that Yan guy.”
“Yeah, I like him after all.”
Zhen Lin stroked his face: “Bingran, I already told you, one shouldn’t be too greedy.”
Liu Bingran’s face remained sullen and silent.
“Are you angry now?” Zhen Lin pursed his lips and thought for a while: “Then tonight, I’ll let you do whatever you want, okay?”
“You said it yourself.” Liu Bingran pulled his hand and kissed it hard: “Don’t regret it later!”
Zhen Lin curved his lips: “Mhm, I won’t regret it. I’ll wait for you after dance practice this afternoon.”
–
Formal dubbing practice for all members would start on Thursday.
Ye Wenyu sent Yan Chen a message in advance, asking if there were any other issues. If there were, he could bring them up now, and he would try to help him resolve them before Thursday.
He thought there should not be any.
The most difficult poetry part was already solved, and the rest didn’t pose much difficulty.
Little did he know that on the other side, the supposedly problem-free Classmate Yan was flipping through the dubbing script, fully focused on searching for possible new problems.
Five minutes later, he received a photo of the dubbing script from Yan Chen, with many places marked in red pen.
Ye Wenyu: [Are all of these the ones you can’t read?]
Yan Chen: [Mmm, the pronunciation is too tricky.]
Ye Wenyu looked at the photo again. Indeed, the words Yan Chen had marked were all relatively long and hard to pronounce.
Ye Wenyu: [Then I’ll send you a voice message. You can practice along with it.]
Yan Chen: [Doesn’t the pronunciation need to be corrected?]
Yan Chen: [I don’t have class this afternoon.]
Ye Wenyu understood what Yan Chen meant, but it was too hot outside now, and the only place he could think of was the library, where they needed to stay quiet.
Ye Wenyu: [Besides the library, is there anywhere else we can go?]
Ye Wenyu: [As for the dorm, my roommate is playing games. So it might be a bit noisy.]
Yan Chen: [The dorms are not convenient.]
Yan Chen: [Come to my place. It’s near the school.]
