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nTLC: lilies

nEditor: mashiro

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nThe moment the fracture in his arm began to ache, Qi Jing knew the weather was about to change.

nAs expected, even though it was just cloudy at noon, the sky became completely overcast and was covered by the murky clouds by five in the afternoon. It seemed like the continuous decrease in the temperature these days couldn’t go without the company of the autumn rain.

nFortunately he had departed with the crew in the company car, so he didn’t need to worry, even if it really started to rain. Once they finish the last round of undercover investigation for today this part of their job would be done, so his co-workers would no doubt send him home.

nOn their way back Little Return Date, who had been enacting a sickly cat for a whole day, was now lying on Qi Jing’s lap languidly. Its cat instinct made it react to the change of weather, so it was now completely dozy—no matter how Qi Jing tried, no cat food could attract its attention. It only wanted to drill inside its owner’s jacket, treating it as an improvised bedding and hiding its head inside it to catch up on its sleep.

n“Your friend lives in an old town—it’s kinda far away from the company. If you were to return to your usual work, wouldn’t it be very time-consuming to go back and forth?” The equipment assistant, who also doubled as a driver, drove the car to the address Qi Jing gave him and remarked with a sigh as he looked at the multitude of old residential buildings. This place was peaceful, sure, but it was far from the city centre, making it inconvenient.

nQi Jing first froze, then his voice sank to a whisper as he replied, “Yeah… I would have to take both the metro and bus, so it would probably take me around an hour to get there.“

n“I guess you’d have to move back by then?” The equipment assistant remembered the address of Qi Jing’s apartment—it was only half an hour of a bus ride from the TV station.

nIt was just a mindless comment by the speaker but it struck a chord in the listener’s mind.

nQi Jing did his best to avoid this question, unwilling to face it—just as he was unwilling to remind himself that his current state of life is only temporary, that there was a time limit to him and Shen Yan’s living under the same roof. According to what the doctor had said at the beginning, after a few days, he would have to go to the hospital to take an x-ray photo to confirm the condition of the bone after operation. As for when his cast would be taken off, it was all dependent on his recovery speed.

nIt’s so contradictory… Shen Yan did his best to take care of him, paying attention to making every meal nourishing and consolidated, making sure that Qi Jing had sufficient sleep—all of it for the sake of letting him recover as quickly as possible.

nYet the day he fully recovers would be the day he has to go back and return to his old life.

nAt the moment, he was unable to imagine the days without Shen Yan. Their ancestors were truly full of wisdom: “It’s easy to go from frugality to luxury, but the reverse is hard”—those words couldn’t be any more true. For him, Shen Yan was his biggest luxury.

n“Sigh… “ His sigh was almost inaudible.

nQi Jing’s brows seemed to be weighted down by the heavy rain clouds outside the car window as he furrowed, staying silent for a long time while leaning against the back of the seat. The scenery along their way fleeted by, looking as if a layer of colour had been washed off from it, losing its vibrancy, its gloominess making one unable to continue admiring it.

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nOnce he realised that the time to face the reality was closing in, an inevitable sense of worry sprouted in his heart. Those feelings accompanied him until the car pulled over. Only then did he come back from his stupor, realising that the entrance to the district he had slowly grown used to lately had appeared before them already.

n“Qi Jing, we’re here.” Not hearing any movement from him for quite a while, the equipment assistant turned his head and called him.

n“Thank you so much for the ride.” Qi Jing pulled up the corner of his mouth, putting on a smiling expression. Not caring whether he managed to do it, he silently reached out his hand to lift Little Return Date and put it in the box before packing his things. He said goodbye to his colleague and got out of the car while hugging the box with his hand.

nSending off the company car with his gaze, Qi Jing kept standing in the place for a while. He stared helplessly at Little Return Date before heaving a sigh.

n“And there’s also you, little fella—if I were to move back, what would happen to you?”

n“Meow meow?”

nLittle Return Date’s eyes were hazy from sleepiness and once again didn’t understand his mumbled soliloquy. It twisted its head to look at its owner’s face, pawed at him with its fleshy paw, then turned away to continue sleeping. For a moment, Qi Jing felt envious of its lack of worries.

n“Qi Jing.” At that moment, he heard an unexpected voice at an unexpected place.

nStartled, he turned his head all of a sudden, only to see the man who was just in his mind walking towards him. A sudden sense of reality instantly washed all over him, completely engulfing his previous worries. Everything became bright and all at once, he was finally able to form a genuine smile, “Why are you here?”

n“I saw that the weather looked bad and it might start raining soon, so I went out beforehand to wait for you at the intersection.” When Shen Yan stopped before him, Qi Jing finally noticed that he was holding a foldable umbrella in his hand.

nFrom the entrance of the district to the front of the apartment building, it was a journey no longer than five hundred metres and a walk, even at the slowest pace, wouldn’t last more than fifteen minutes.

nBut Shen Yan didn’t want him to brave the rain, even for this five hundred metres long walk.

n“Does your current behaviour count as being overprotective?” The corners of Qi Jing’s eyes crinkled into a smile as he looked at Shen Yan—there was no reproach in his voice, only a hint of a tease.

nHearing that, Shen Yan lifted his head, meeting Qi Jing’s eyes. His gaze was earnest, not at all discouraged by Qi Jing’s words. Maybe the heavens above also heard those words, because at that exact moment a couple of raindrops fell suddenly, landing on the cat’s box with a patter, the sound crisp and clear. The little guy inside stuck up its ears, seemingly woken up by the rain.

nIt really did start raining… Qi Jing looked up towards the sky, speechless.

nShen Yan smiled faintly as he opened the umbrella, covering two men and a cat with it. “See, didn’t this come in handy? So it should be called ‘appropriate protection’”.

nTo be honest, that rain wasn’t heavy and there was no need for using an umbrella. But Qi Jing decided to seize this opportunity to enjoy his share of this ‘appropriate protection’.

nWhen they returned back home, dinner was surprisingly ready to serve. The delicious aroma of freshly prepared food filled the room, it looked so appetising his stomach almost rumbled. Qi Jing couldn’t help but stop and suck in a mouthful of air, quietly appreciating this fulfilling feel of being welcomed home.

nAs for now, he didn’t want to mull over the things to come. The future matters are to be thought of in the future, now, he would rather treasure what was before him.

nThe warm light from the hanging lamp contrasted against the gloomy darkness outside the window. Wind and rain both grew more and more intense and the window pane was already thickly covered with the raindrops—it seems they had returned quite timely and didn’t meet the strong rain. Still, the sound of the rain water drumming while flowing off the eaves interweaved with the sound of bowls and chopsticks clashing, complementing their happiness. It made the warmth of spending the days together more vivid.

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nTwo people sat side by side as usual, chatting about that day’s progress in their respective works while eating the meal. Little Return Date, on the other hand, had already eaten its fill, drank to its fullest, and was now licking its claws happily.

nWhen he was eating alone before, Qi Jing would turn on the TV during his meals and follow the evening news broadcast at 6PM. Now he changed even this habit—he would either watch the news at 10PM or catch on it the next day on the internet when he arrives at the company. There was no other reason for it than his wish to chat with Shen Yan a little more during meals.

n“Today,《Order to End the Heavens》team will officially announce the list of contestants qualified for the finals.” This was Qi Jing’s main focus for today.

n“Mhm, I remember.” Shen Yan seemed plenty calm and unperturbed.

n“Aren’t you nervous?” Qi Jing asked as he nudged at Shen Yan’s arm with the back of his hand.

nShen Yan turned his head to look at him, his smile indecipherable. He moved his hand over, touching the back of Qi Jing’s hand with his in a similar manner, nudging him with a finger and questioned, “If I didn’t qualify to get through the preliminary stage, would you look down on me?”

n“No way.”

n“Then I’m not nervous.” Shen Yan smiled as he took back his hand and continued adding vegetables to Qi Jing’s bowl. Qi Jing didn’t react for a while, then he started giggling—it seemed like he was worrying for nothing.

nBoth of them maintained a calm frame of mind, talking and laughing as they finished the meal. They cleaned the table and went to the computer together.

nThe official website for《Order to End the Heavens》voice acting competition had already issued an eye-catching advertising banner. The list of contestants who passed the first round of selection had been already announced and the detailed list of qualified contestants could be opened by clicking on the role name. The order of performing for the preliminary contest had been already arranged randomly and was displayed as a number before the contestant’s ID.

nEven though Shen Yan himself had said he wasn’t nervous, Qi Jing couldn’t help but hold his breath. The mouse didn’t move for a long while, as he was hesitating which role they should check first.

n“Just check whichever you want, no need to worry so much.” Shen Yan stood by his side, easing Qi Jing’s misgivings with his smile.

n“I’d better check the roles I chose first.” Thus, Qi Jing decided to start with himself to pre-empt any possible disappointments.

nHe first opened the “Emperor Chang” role. Because of the age difference, this was the role he was the least sure about during recording. If an average CV pinched their throat to make their voice sound older, the performance would get more or less affected and wouldn’t sound as natural. Qi Jing had specially asked the “Forever a Grandpa” Shen Yan to teach him about the know-hows in that regard.

nBut some things still do require a certain level of talent. When Shen Yan was teaching him, he just used a voice of a thirty, forty years old uncle. It was still far cry from being a grandpa voice, but Qi Jing still felt as if his voice sounded fake and strained when he tried to imitate Shen Yan. He couldn’t imagine how Shen Yan managed to produce such a natural-sounding grandpa voice. Basically it was very impressive and mysterious.

nThirty people qualified from the preliminary contest to the finals. His eyes searched through their IDs one after another and after not seeing his ID among the first fifteen people, he didn’t dare to continue scrolling downwards anymore.

n“I think I probably didn’t get this one…” Just as Qi Jing’s hand on the top of the mouse showed a sign of letting go, Shen Yan suddenly grasped it; their hands joined one on top of the other, calmly keeping Qi Jing’s hand on the mouse.

n“You definitely passed.” The voice by Qi Jing’s ear was low and deep, enough to appease his anxious heart.

n“Mhm.” Qi Jing composed himself, subconsciously leaning back towards the source of the warmth from behind him, his hair pressing against the Shen Yan’s chest. This posture finally gave him the strength to move his finger, so the scroll wheel started rolling once again.

nNo.16: Don’t ask for my return date.

nWhen he finally saw his ID, Qi Jing’s whole person heaved a long sigh of relief. It was as if the thoroughly exhausted alpinist chose not to return, but to persist on going just a little further, finally managing to cross the peak and see the first rays of the rising sun with his own eyes.

n“Congratulations.” Shen Yan laughed lightly, his cheek touching Qi Jing’s hair as he congratulated him.

n“Thank you.” Qi Jing felt the other’s undulating breath on the side of his face—it was so warm his face began to feel hot.

nGoing further down the list, Bronze Sparrow’s Terrace also appeared on the name list, but he got the number far behind Qi Jing—he was 25th in the line up.

nIn reality, the performance order also had a kind of influence on the grading during the competition. Having to perform early could easily result in a harsh evaluation, with the score ending up on the lower side. Performing too close towards the end could lead to being compared with the previous competitors; the score in that case could end up either high or low, it depended on the situation. His line up for the “Emperor Chang” role right now wasn’t half bad.

nHe then clicked on the MC 1 role “Qin Tuo”: No. 10 Bronze Sparrow Terrace, and No. 12 Don’t ask for my return date.

n“My line up with that role is so close to the great god, it’s basically back-to-back.” With such a close line up, it was one hundred percent sure that they would be compared with the other when the time comes. But with the results for “Emperor Chang” as the baseline, he wasn’t as nervous when checking the results for “Qin Tuo”. He was relaxed enough to comment on it lightly.

n“It will be fine as long as you give it your best shot.” Shen Yan’s hand was still placed on Qi Jing’s. At that time, he bent his thumb a little, rubbing against Qi Jing’s knuckles for a while. Both his voice and his moves were full of comforting, making Qi Jing feel happy from the bottom of his heart.

n“I will try my best,” He promised with a laugh. He would make sure to give it a good show without holding back.

nThe last role Qi Jing decided on trying was “Fang Yisheng”. It was the one he chose purely because it suited his voice type the most and it was also the one that Ninth Lady with the rest of the girls looked forward to the most.

nIt couldn’t be said he felt particularly strongly about this role, as he started off with the idea of competing with the great god Bronze Sparrow Terrace and this one didn’t overlap with the roles the great god chose. But after he got to know that Shen Yan chose “Bai Ke”, his enthusiasm spiked up immediately.

nHe could get into the finals with this role almost without any suspense. The only thing he didn’t expect was that among his competitors there was an ID that was pretty high-key these days, and its position was quite closely snuggled against him.

nNo.7: Don’t ask for my return date.

nNo.8: Crossing the bridge noodles.

nDo you really want to be closer to me than to your family’s great god, Crossing the bridge noodles-kun? Qi Jing complained internally.

nHe could imagine how after this name list came out, the three of them managed to provide a lot of material for the online shipping community. There would certainly be some discussions in the CP towers.

n“Crossing the bridge noodles… I’ve seen this ID before.” Even Shen Yan showed some reaction towards this person.

nCould it be because of the post he had forwarded last time…?

nAll of sudden Qi Jing’s heart skipped a beat and he didn’t dare to follow this sensitive topic. After all, Crossing the bridge noodles had—in front of the great god Bronze Sparrow Terrace and thousands of their mutual fans—claimed to like him.

n“His fans had said some unpleasant things about you in the post thread for《Trap》before.” Shen Yan slowly opened his mouth to speak. He didn’t use words like “insult” or “mocking”, seemingly to avoid deepening the sense of conflict between the other party and Qi Jing.

nSo he actually meant the matter of antis from the audio drama thread who requested giving my role to Crossing the bridge noodles. Qi Jing smiled, relieved, “It’s because a lot of fans worship his and Bronze Sparrow Terrace’s CP, so it’s only natural they’re unsatisfied with a transparent nobody like me forming a CP with their great god. It doesn’t matter, they can say whatever they want.”

nShen Yan looked sideways to check his expression. It didn’t look forced, so he nodded his head without saying a word.

n“I passed with all of my three roles, so let’s see yours now.” Qi Jing copied Shen Yan as he curled his thumb, stroking the side of the other’s finger while reminding him in a light voice.

nShen Yan gave a soft hum in response and started with clicking on “Old Man Xiao Shan” calmly.

nQi Jing was also very calm. It was because he was completely confident in Geese Fly North’s grandpa voice, and had no doubts concerning it at all. Just as expected, on the list of the contestants qualified for the competition, a string of letters appeared—No.28: Kitty の Papa.

nOnly one thing left Qi Jing worried: “Your position is so near the end, will you be influenced by other people?”

nShen Yan smiled as he shook his head lightly. There was this faint sense of tenacity behind his obsidian eyes, “I won’t. After reading the source material, I made my grandpa a reference point for this role. With this kind of deep impression in my mind, no matter how the other people perform, they won’t be able to influence my performance.”

nQi Jing had heard Shen Yan mentioning this elder quite a lot of times and he could see how deep Shen Yan’s feelings towards that person were. It wouldn’t be easy to sway him.

nThus, he also felt somewhat reassured.

nNext was “Bai Ke”, the villain role who had a lot of scenes with “Fang Yisheng”. To be honest, this role was too different from Shen Yan’s temperament, it was hard for him to get a grasp of it. Coupled with it being youthful voice, the type of voice with the least shortages in the online voice acting circle, his rivals were most probably too many to count.

nQi Jing somehow didn’t dare to look. When the icon was opened with a clicking sound of the mouse, he closed his eyes subconsciously.

nAt that time, Shen Yan’s calm voice could be heard: “No.30.”

nHearing that, Qi Jing opened his eyes quickly, once again towards the screen. The Kitty の Daddy ID could only be seen at the end of the long list.

n“Phew… So you got this one too.” He felt as if he was relieved from a burden—at last the other stone weighing on his heart was gone, “But why is your position always so far to the end?”

nPreviously it was the third position from the end, now it straight up became the last. Qi Jing even suspected that the officials thought an ID like “Kitty の Daddy” was not trustworthy and placed it at the end on purpose—if that was the case, then wouldn’t it make Qi Jing an unredeemable sinner?

nShen Yan seemed to be aware of his worries. He smiled and said, “Doesn’t matter, it’s not important what number I get. Either way I will play the way I want to play.”

n“Okay then.” Qi Jing was also influenced by his optimism. He tilted his head to the back, resting it on Shen Yan’s shoulder as he said with a smile, “Regardless of that, congratulations on smooth qualifying into the finals.”

n“Wait, there’s still one role for which we don’t know the results yet.” Shen Yan’s voice faltered suddenly—it was lower than just a moment ago, his thoughts even harder to fathom.

nQi Jing even felt Shen Yan’s body move—his back straightened stiffly and the strength with which he held Qi Jing’s hand increased slightly. In the next moment, Qi Jing heard Shen Yan take a deep breath—it sounded similar to a suppressed gasp. He had said he wasn’t nervous, yet he unexpectedly showed some signs of nervousness.

nEven though he had been so calm up till a moment ago.

nQi Jing was confused, he didn’t know what was the source of the pressure for Shen Yan this time. The last one left to check was “Marquess Shunyan”, the role Qi Jing had believed he didn’t need to choose. But he didn’t know why, it became the first role Shen Yan chose on his own accord.

nThe reporter’s instinct was telling him that Shen Yan wasn’t just doing this to compete with the great god, but also for something else.

n—I want to overcome something. Qi Jing recalled the words Shen Yan said back then. He didn’t understand the hidden meaning behind those words and Shen Yan didn’t explain himself. But his instinct kept warning him to not dig into it rashly. He always felt as if, if he started digging, he would excavate a dark and bottomless abyss—not only he would fall into it, but he would also drag Shen Yan, who had painstakingly crawled out of it, back inside again.

n“Well then, let’s have a look,” Qi Jing said suddenly. There was no need to dig into it, he could still detour that abyss and continue moving forwards, “Since you had already signed up, it doesn’t matter what the outcome would be. Looking won’t change anything.”

n“You’re right.” After keeping silent for a while, Shen Yan seemingly laughed faintly and his breathing slowed down by a lot.

nBoth of them moved their fingers almost at the same time, clicking at the role icon.

nNo.14: Bronze Sparrow Terrace.

nNo.22: Kitty の Papa.

nIt was still a close to the end position and with the great god performing before him, the comparability would be strong—the amount of unfavourable factors wasn’t something ordinary. But no matter what, he had already been officially qualified for the contest.

n“Then, can I officially congratulate you now?” Qi Jing lifted his eyebrow as he said.

nShen Yan looked at the name list on screen in silence for a while, his eyes full of mixed feelings. When his eyes finally lowered down, the corners of his lips on the other hand rose up, forming a seamless smile.

nIt was his first step moving forward. Even though he didn’t know what journey awaited him, he was already prepared to press on and find joy despite the hardships he might face.

n“Thank you.” He said while lowering his body to bury his head slowly by Qi Jing’s neck.

n“Maybe let’s… celebrate a little?” Qi Jing’s heart was stirred by this behaviour of Shen Yan’s. He asked in a low voice, warmth spilling in his heart from the cuddle, “Both of us had qualified for all three roles, doesn’t that deserve a celebration?’

n“Okay.” Because of how Shen Yan had his head buried in Qi Jing’s clothes, his voice was hoarse but gentle.

n“How do you want to celebrate it?”

n“Anything goes, you decide.” For Shen Yan, besides getting cozy in each other’s arms, he didn’t seem to have any extravagant wishes.

nSo Qi Jing chose the most common way of celebration. “Right, can you drink?” He proposed with a smile, “We can drink a couple of glasses to celebrate.”

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nThe correct answer is: Dr Shen can’t drink.

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nMashiro :……the author shouldn’t have said that. Now I am really looking forward to seeing the drunk Shen Yan （。＞ω＜）。

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