Really, Really Miss You (很想很想你) – Chapter 44

February 4, 2015 by hoju 45 Comments

Oh, Sheng Sheng and Dr. Mo, how I have missed you! Thank you to those who followed along with our little My Sunshine marathon, and thank you to everyone who has been patiently waiting for the translations. I’m so happy to be back in my little happy place with Toupai DaRen.

An interesting place for a meeting… And uh-oh for Sheng Sheng!

Chapter 44 – “Splendid” Rice with Pickled Vegetables and Pork (3)

The day before Wanmei’s anniversary event, she finally handed over the song.

In that moment when she sent off the email, she finally breathed out in relief. Now, what followed would be a long and torturous process. Actually, she very much enjoyed collaborating with people who had similar ideas and interests as her, slowly working together to grind out a song, and then, to watch the song get released… Such a wonderful process.

Perhaps only someone who was doing it purely for interest could relish in this sort of thing.

She reckoned it would be at least several days before she would get an opinion or response, and so she packed up her things and went home. She had not anticipated that she would not even get a chance to sit down at home for very long before her mom sent her off to the grocery store to help out.

Gosh, the grocery store on the weekend was honestly very busy, especially since this one was directly across from a hospital.

She sat at the checkout counter, watching Cousin and Dong Yiru exchange flirting glances, and immediately, she felt as if she had missed out on something. She was about to investigate further when an alert sounded from her mobile phone, indicating that she had a private message in Weibo.

Ling Long Ti Tou? Such a fast response…

Sheng Sheng,

I listened through it once, and I think it has a good feel to it. Of course, I’ll have lots of opinions and suggestions on changes to be made.

Since I’m heading out of country tomorrow to study abroad, I will be very busy for two months and it will be hard for me to connect with you often. To avoid holding up the progress, I was hoping to meet up with you tonight. It will take about half an hour. If we can talk face to face, it will be much more efficient.

Also, I will be paying you the advanced deposit today. You can just send me your account number tonight.

 — Ling Long Ti Tou

Meet-up? Tonight?

For this type of commercial collaboration, if it was convenient, meeting in person would of course be better than communicating through email. Although she had understood early on that she would certainly at least have 3-D world telephone conversations with Ling Long Ti Tou or, if they were in the same city, even have a meet-up with her…

The problem was…

Tonight?

How does she know that I am in the same city as her? But, that was very possible. Ling Long Ti Tou and Toupai were friends, so she she should know some stuff about her?

Gu Sheng tried her best to think in a positive direction.

After all, Ling Long Ti Tou’s reputation in the entertainment circle was very respected, and her character was widely known to be good…

She had not finished battling within herself yet when her private message indicator started flashing again:

I’m at Mo Qingcheng’s hospital right now. You should have been there before?

……

What was the chance? …

Gu Sheng contemplated, then replied: I’m in the grocery store across from the hospital right now. If it’s convenient for you, we could arrange to meet now. You can tell me where you are and I can go over to find you. Or, we could meet up outside the hospital at the Yon Ho[1]?

Ling Long Ti Tou: You can come here first because I can’t really guarantee if I can get out of here right at this moment. I can chat with you when I have a free moment…

Gu Sheng: Sure. I’ll come find you, then. Tell me which floor you’re on. I will be able to be there in about ten minutes or so.

Ling Long Ti Tou very quickly sent over the floor level she was on.

Gu Sheng immediately told Cousin, “I’m going out right now. I’ll be back in half an hour.” When she finished saying this, she slipped out from under the checkout counter and left.

Cousin bared his teeth threateningly. “Hurry! Your mom has things to do today and can’t take over my shift. I’ll be waiting here for you to come back before I can go have dinner.”

She answered with an “mm” and ran off.

The hospital on the weekend was, as normal, so busy it was scary.

To be honest, she had actually never once come here for Toupai… She exited the elevator on the floor Ling Long Ti Tou had told her and to her surprise, discovered there were numerous pregnant women — young girls, older aunties, etc. — walking back and forth here. She had come to the obstetrics and gynecology department?

Ling Long Ti Tou was here for… a prenatal check-up?

She was embarrassed by this thought and did not continue thinking in that direction.

On the left was the gynecology department while the right was the obstetrics department. And so, she could only stand right there in the middle, holding her mobile phone, ready to send a message. However, before she finished typing, someone tapped her on the shoulder. She was taken aback briefly and then looked back.

A female doctor was smiling at her.

It was that “I know you” type of smile…

“Hi Sheng Sheng.” The female doctor very warmly hugged Gu Sheng’s shoulders. “I’m Ling Long Ti Tou.”

“Hello.” She was shocked once again, this time over the revelation that Ling Long Ti Tou was a doctor. And furthermore, how did she recognize her? Could it be that Toupai told her? …

“Let’s not stand out here. Come with me,” Ling Long Ti Tou smilingly invited her.

She gave an “mm” and said, “I thought you were here as a patient. I didn’t think you’d be a doctor, too.”

No wonder Ling Long Ti Tou had retired so early. She had been popular for so many years, yet this was the very first album she had ever put together. It turns out she also had such a busy career. “Our family has many doctors,” Ling Long Ti Tou laughed. “Your Toupai DaRen is only one of many.”

……

……

She carefully dissected and analyzed this statement and then became even more astonished.

Could it be, the two of them were relatives?

That’s impossible, ah! How come Toupai’s friends did not know at all?

Ling Long Ti Tou motioned for her to follow her to the end of the corridor on the gynecology side and into her own examination room. By now, it was nearing the end of clinic hours, there were no patients here. Gu Sheng stepped inside, and then Ling Long Ti Tou continued explaining with a smile, “My cousin-brother[2] and I had a gentleman’s agreement long ago that in the 2-D world, we could not mention that we are sister and brother… Actually, what I’m nervous about is that his crazy fans will somehow try to find him through me. Scary, isn’t it?”

She laughed.

Gu Sheng also laughed.

Definitely needed to be kept a secret. Otherwise, if someone accidentally let the information slip and fans started coming to her door, it would be very frightening…

“But Jue Mei knows I’m his cousin-sister. Didn’t he ever tell you?”

“Nope.” She shook her head. Jue Mei, you big black belly[3]… Not only did you not tell me, you took the opportunity to lead me in the wrong direction… saying stuff like Ling Long Ti Tou had a crush on Toupai… So evil. They are relatives, eh. Relatives, AH…

Gu Sheng suddenly made a mental association with something. “So you asked me to do the song writing because Mo Qingcheng and I are…”

“How’s that possible? I would never fool around with my own album,” Ling Long Ti Tou immediately denied. “This album is very important to me and can be considered a way for me to commemorate my time in this entertainment circle.”

Gu Sheng gave an “mm.”

She understood this feeling.

Ling Long Ti Tou sat down, not continuing with the idle chitchat anymore, and cut straight to the point by starting to discuss the song with her. She was undeniably the strong, dominant female type and had complete control over the flow of the conversation. Gu Sheng also felt very happy. As they chatted more, she became more relaxed and less restrained. In regards to the song, she felt like they were two people who both keenly appreciated each other’s talents finally meeting one another.

“Did you know, I had actually already wanted to arrange to work with you several years ago after listening to a song you wrote,” Ling Long Ti Tou told her with smile, confirming that same sense of finding a bosom music friend. “However, that period was when I was busiest and I didn’t have the time. Luckily, several years later, I have come looking for you and you are still in this entertainment circle.”

“Hmm, back at that time … Back at that time, I still hadn’t really entered the circle yet,” Gu Sheng recalled. “I think, I was just helping out my classmate occasionally and didn’t even know there was a circle that existed specifically to create ancient-style music.”

“That particular instance was an especially neat coincidence. Someone had actually invited me to sing that song of yours.” Ling Long Ti Tou continued recounting, “I listened to the demo of you humming the main melody and thought it sounded very nice. I even thought, ‘This girl is so talented. She can compose and arrange, and even her humming sounds so beautiful.’ ”

“Back then, there was no Luo Tian Yi software[4].” Gu Sheng felt particularly embarrassed about this. “If there was, I would not have hummed it… I would have just input it into the software…”

Ling Long Ti Tou wanted to say something more, but at that moment, the telephone rang. She picked it up, said a couple of “mm-s” into the receiver, and then unexpectedly laughed. “Your girlfriend is here with me. Do you want to come down to see her?”

With that one sentence, she hung up.

Just like that, he was going to come?

She had originally intended to tell him that she was at the hospital after meeting up with Ling Long Ti Tou, and if he had time, they could see each other briefly… Now, it was even simpler. Ling Long Ti Tou had just directly summoned him down…

When Mo Qingcheng stood at the doorway, Gu Sheng was discussing with Ling Long Ti Tou the next step in the plan and arranging when next time to send the song to her after the modifications were made. A light cough was heard from the doorway. Gu Sheng immediately looked back in that direction and then had her breath taken away.

He had already changed back into his street clothes – a white button-up shirt, something he seldom wore, with a pair of light blue jeans. He looked completely like a tall, clean, and handsome student. Clearing his throat again, he stepped into the room, wanting to laugh but also feeling somewhat resigned, and said to Ling Long Ti Tou, “So, you still ended up meeting up with Sheng Sheng before you left the country.”

“Of course.” Ling Long Ti Tou looked him over with a quick glance. “You hid her too well, so I had no choice but to make a move myself.”

Mo Qingcheng walked over and patted Sheng Sheng’s head as he gave a chuckle.

The connotation behind that action was very obvious: My wife is so easily duped. If I had known that in the beginning, I wouldn’t have taken those roundabout tactics with her.

Ling Long Ti Tou cast a glance at her watch and felt that she should go back to her work. After all, she was going to be flying out tomorrow, and there were still some matters that she needed to handover to other people. She gestured for the other two to follow her out. There happened to be a nurse who came over to talk to her, so Gu Sheng and Mo Qingcheng stood off to the side and waited…

And waited…

And waited…

Mo Qingcheng answered a phone call.

One was on the phone, the other was talking to a nurse. Gu Sheng, the only person who was not a staff member there, could only stand in the middle of the other three people and let her eyes wander to the other side of the corridor.

That pregnant woman’s profile looked so familiar…

That person beside her looked even more familiar…

How could it not be familiar? Twenty plus years ago, that person delivered her right here in this very place, you know?…

Gu Sheng’s mother also looked disbelivingly at her. She glanced around at her surroundings… It was right. This was the OB/GYN department. What’s my unmarried daughter doing here? Together with a young man? And with a white-coated female doctor?!

Mom’s eyes speedily turned to Mo Qingcheng, who was standing beside her daughter.

And with perfect timing, he had just finished his phone call. Using the back of his hand, he gently bumped her face. “What’s wrong? Who do you see?”

Gu Sheng could clearly see her mom’s eyes widen. In a tiny voice, she moaned, “My mom…”

%>_<%

Mom, you must keep your thoughts pure…

I only came to OB/GYN to discuss changes to a song arrangement with my boyfriend’s cousin-sister, AAAAH…

 

[1] 永和豆浆 “Yong He Dou Jiang or “Yong He Soybean Milk.” It goes by the English name Yon Ho. A café style restaurant specializing in breakfast foods and soybean milk.

[2] 堂弟 “tang di.” This relationship implicitly means that Ling Long Ti Tou and Mo Qingcheng’s fathers are brothers, so they are cousins who share the same surname. In Chinese culture, these types of cousins are closer in blood than others, and they are called堂 “tang” siblings. They would address each other as “brother” and “sister.” Ling Long Ti Tou called Mo Qingcheng her “tang di”, which means he is her younger “tang” brother. For this relationship, I’ll use “cousin-brother” and “cousin-sister” to describe it.

[3] 腹黑 Literally means “black belly.” Many of you who read lots of c-novels will be familiar with this term. It is used to describe someone who puts up a good, kind front but inside is scheming.

[4]洛天依. “Luo Tian Yi”. Sheng Sheng is referring to the VOCALOID 3 software, where you input the melody of the song and the lyrics and then choose which character/voice, also called a VOCALOID, will sing the song. Luo Tian Yi is the name of a Chinese VOCALOID.