Chapter 243: Row of Egrets Ascend Towards The Heavens
Translator: Dragon Boat Translation Editor: Dragon Boat Translation

“‘Voice Legend’? Guest appearance? Sister Bai, are you joking?”

Voice acting has always been one of Meng Fan’s dreams. Meng Fan had seen most of the related TV series that are based around voice acting, and he’d seen all of the first season. Afterwards, when the second season kicked off, Meng Fan had been following it religiously as well. He had a good understanding of this series.

The first season of “Voice Legend” had been very popular and well made, too. There were some inevitable faults such as Mango TV’s nasty habit of editing out one of the winning competitors from the show and their annual concert completely, or cutting Bianjiang out of the show and being cursed for setting up the winner. But overall, it was a show with a high level of production and looked great, without draining much celebrity time.

Meng Fan was very shocked to hear Bai Zhi offer him this position. The celebrities on this show were all famous actors in the industry including their guest stars. This included the most famous voice actor in the country, Bianjiang. It was a very popular show.

Meng Fan didn’t think he was nearly famous enough to be a guest on this show.

11/11?

The fight?

This kind of fame had nothing to do with voice acting.

Plus, he didn’t have a demo of his own. The only important roles he had played were from “Forest Exploration” and “Nine Days”, both of which haven’t aired yet.

Because of this, Meng Fan had taken Bai Zhi’s offer as a joke; but seeing her expression, it didn’t feel like a joke at all. How strange.

“I’m not joking with you. I’m serious. I’ve watched your voice acting stream, and I can see your potential breaking through the roof! I genuinely want to ask you for your help.”

“No, sister, are you trying to bring me there so I can be popular?” Meng Fan guessed that this was a possibility. “I’ll pass. I’m not trying to get into the entertainment industry. Why do I need popularity? It would be awkward if everyone else brought a superstar, and you bring in me, who is essentially unknown. They might think you’re an unsociable person who has no friends in the industry.”

“Why would I bring you there to gain popularity? If you wanted that you would have gone on all those reality shows.” Bai Zhi said. “I just need you. Okay, okay. Let’s just say I have no friends in the industry. One word: Help. Are you going to help me or not?”

“Okay, okay, okay, I’ll do it! But will your crew allow it?”

Honestly speaking, Meng Fan had no interest in their previous invites, but he was very interested in this one.

Whether it was popular or not, Meng Fan did not care. Popularity could be converted into stream views, and Meng Fan knew this. Now, he could complete the [Famous Streamer] task even faster.

Thus, Meng Fan noticed that Bai Zhi already had her request approved by the crew, so he hurriedly asked: “Then will the filming take a long time?”

He was still thinking about self-defense classes.

“We’ll fly down in the afternoon and wrap up by tomorrow.” Bai Zhi responded. “Are you up to something?” She asked.

This was an acceptable answer for Meng Fan. “I am, but it’s not urgent.”

“So I’ll take that as a yes, then!”

Bai Zhi saw Meng Fan nod and immediately got her assistant, sister Sun, to book the airline tickets. After purchasing the next flight out, she told Meng Fan: “The flight is at 11:45 am, so pack your stuff. We’re heading for the airport, okay?”

“Alright.”

Meng Fan went to his room to pack some clothes since there was nothing else to bring. All he needed was a simple outfit.

Ding Dong.

He’d just finished packing when the doorbell rang. Bai Zhi got up from the living room to peek through the keyhole before smiling at Meng Fan slyly. “And you said there were no girls here!”

She opened the door to Wu Tong, hands full with grocery bags.

“Si…Sister Bai!”

Wu Tong was stunned to see Bai Zhi awaiting her at the door. She’d noticed Meng Fan didn’t look too good in the morning, and wanted to cook him a hearty meal. She didn’t expect to see Bai Zhi there.

“Ah, Wu Tong is here. Come in, come in! My, my, did you just buy groceries? No wonder I didn’t see you when I arrived. Are you the one cooking? That’s not okay. Don’t spoil this brat. Things like cooking should be left up to the men. Oil and grease is not good for your skin!”

Bai Zhi was an intuitive thinker. Her words made Wu Tong flush red, and also eliminated all possible misunderstandings.

“Sister Bai, you’re mistaken. I don’t live here,” Wu Tong said after being pulled inside by Bai Zhi.

“Okay, okay, okay. You don’t, you don’t.”

Bai Zhi obviously knew what a girl-inhabited apartment looked like, but she couldn’t help teasing her a little. “I’ve known Fan’s older sister for a long time now, and I’ve met Fan’s mom, too. Aunty is a very open-minded person and would never think to meddle with Fan’s personal relations, especially when it comes to love!”

Meng Fan’s eyes almost rolled inside his brain. Sis, I really wish that were the case!

Wu Tong saw Meng Fan’s expression and suppressed a smile. Since Bai Zhi continued to mistake them, she had nothing left to explain to her. She took the groceries and headed into the kitchen. Wu Tong turned around and asked: “Sister Bai, will you stay for lunch today?”

“I’m afraid I don’t have the pleasure.”

Bai Zhi looked sullen as she told Wu Tong about inviting Meng Fan to her voice acting show and the time of their flight.

Meng Fan was also solemn. He was even regretful! If he’d known Wu Tong was going to come cook lunch, he would have turned down the offer, or at least requested a later flight.

Wu Tong heard this and smiled. “Then you have to come try my food next time.”

Since they were returning in a few days, Wu Tong took out the groceries from the bags and placed them in the refrigerator. She then headed downstairs with Meng Fan and Bai Zhi.

Sister Sun had already pulled up outside, waiting.

“Then I’m off.”

Wu Tong just returned, and he had to leave. This significantly dampened Meng Fan’s mood.

“Okay.”

Meng Fan’s subtle change in mood could not escape Wu Tong’s eyes. She thought about it and added: “If you run into a celebrity I like, please get an autograph for me.”

“I heard prince Zhang Xiao* made it into the annual show, so if you run into him, please get me an autograph! If you don’t run into him…Heh. I’ll come find him myself.”

*This actor’s name is Zhang Xiao, but because of his domineering and often bold character, people addressed him as the ‘young master’, or prince

Meng Fan nodded. Waving, he entered the car and chatted casually. Aside from talking about poetry, lyrics, and life ideals, they also discussed movies, songs, and what celebrities Wu Tong liked. Meng Fan knew this, of course.

For example, prince Zhang Xiao. One day, they had discussed dark comedies, from foreign films like “Lock Stock and Two Smoking” and “Get Out” to the domestic “NightClub” and “Crazy Stone”. From these films, Wu Tong had mentioned she really liked Jason Statham from “Lock Stock and Two Smoking” and prince Zhang Xiao from “Cock and Bull”. Both actors were exemplary at portraying the common tough guy, but with added comedic value. They were all around great actors.

Meng Fan already thought at that moment that he himself was also this trope. To be even more bold, he didn’t know if Wu Tong had told him this on purpose, but it made him smile for a long time.

After leaving for the airport, Wu Tong also left the neighborhood and headed back to school.

She had learned a lot from her trip to Beijing, and felt that the experience had been extremely beneficial to her creative process for Chinese painting. If she didn’t have to make lunch for Meng Fan to give him more nutrition, she would have been in the studio long ago.

“That idiot, leaving after I just got back. Is he purposefully trying to avoid me?”

Thinking of this, Wu Tong suddenly felt irritated. In one breath, she painted a dozen or so donkeys.

Afterwards, she took a photo of them and sent the photo to Meng Fan. She then changed Meng Fan’s nickname to Dumb Donkey, pressed screenshot, and sent it as well.

“I drew a bunch of donkeys, and for some reason they remind me of you, so I changed your name to Dumb Donkey.”

I’m a generous girl, but sometimes I have to be sassy too, hmmph!

In 2019, most domestic flights were already equipped with Wi-Fi for mobile devices such as phones. Meng Fan naturally began to message Wu Tong from the plane.

After seeing the message, Meng Fan couldn’t decide if he should laugh or cry.

Maybe he was in heaven. Meng Fan’s guts swelled as he typed the response: “You should know, the animal I like to draw the most is birds, because they can land on sycamore trees.”*

*Wu Tong’s name is synonymous with the name for Sycamore trees (wutong)

“So you’re gonna change my nickname to Dumb Bird? (Angry emoji)”

“Of course not. Do you know what my favorite bird of all time is? The egret.”

“Egret?”

“Yes, because I like the line from the poem “a row of egrets ascend towards the heavens”. How nice, they can reach the heavens just by flying, and when they descend, they rest on sycamore trees.”

“Please, the one that sits on the sycamore is a phoenix okay! You talk big, are you going to change my nickname to Egret?”

“Of course not, I’m going to change your name to ‘Beloved Profession’.”*

*Here Meng Fan refers to a Chinese saying “do a job, love a job”, so the nickname is a provocative slang hinting Wu Tong is a ‘job’ he enjoys doing

“…I’ll give you one chance to recall that message! (knife emoji)