Pat Me Please

Naturally, Su Chang said “I like it very much,” and not just once. However, there were a lot of things that were not suitable to talk about here.

The recording for “Pat Me Please” was scheduled for Wednesday. Before that, Su Chang, as the voice director, went over the script with Yu Zhou every night. They quickly finished the script reading. Yes, every night.

On Wednesday, the two of them woke up early. Yu Zhou came out with a yawn, and as she opened the door, she noticed the little cow cat lying outside their bedroom once again.

She squatted down and stroked the kitten’s head: “I’ve noticed that ever since you patted it, it’s become so attached to you, sleeping at the door every day.”

Su Chang glanced indifferently at the kitten: “It’s taking advantage of the air conditioning.”

“Huh?”

“Yes, it did the same last summer.”

“Pfft. You’re so smart.” Yu Zhou rubbed the cat’s round head, marveling at the cat’s ability to find comfort in the cool air seeping through the crack of the door.

Since she was going to meet Chao Xin, Yu Zhou decided to take the time to put on makeup. She even retrieved the curling iron she hadn’t used in a while and styled her hair into big waves. Su Chang leaned against the door, watching her with a tinge of jealousy.

Yu Zhou saw her in the mirror and smirked, “What are you doing?”

“You haven’t curled your hair for a while.”

“Well, it’s Ms. Chao after all.” Yu Zhou’s brow furrowed as she placed her hand over her heart and shook her head.

Su Chang turned and left.

“Last time you mentioned that Ms. Chao’s daughter likes Xiang Wan; then how old is she? Can she act as Xu Zhizhi? Xu Zhizhi is a young girl, after all.” As Yu Zhou dabbed some perfume on her wrists and applied it behind her ears, she walked out and asked Su Chang.

Su Chang was focused on peeling an egg and ignored her.

Yu Zhou walked over and gently brushed her wrists against Su Chang’s jawbone, spreading the pleasant fragrance, making smell feel nice too, hahahaha.

After the egg was peeled and placed in her bowl, Yu Zhou ate it like a skewer, sticking chopsticks through the middle. “Why are you jealous? Shouldn’t I be adoring Ms. Chao? Isn’t she a leading figure in your voice acting industry?”

“Yes,” Su Chang replied, her expression softening slightly now that she smelled pleasant as well.

“Ah, it’s really nice. I never thought that I would have a chance to work with Ms. Chao one day.” Yu Zhou took a bite of the egg as she looked down at her phone, “But let me tell you, my group is also very impressive. They told me they plan to invite Ji Mingcheng, Miss Ji.”

“Also, during these days when we were going over the script with them, they were really professional. They had all read the original novel, and it’s going to be a studio recording, probably using the studio of Three Sounds.”

Su Chang listened to her chatter while calmly peeling the egg for herself. Only then did she ask softly, “Are they really professional?”

“Yep. I think the results should be quite good, much better than I expected.”

Su Chang didn’t respond.

“What’s wrong?” Yu Zhou nudged her with her elbow.

Su Chang put the eggs in the bowl, “Who is the professional here? Them or me?”

Yu Zhou almost choked.

She then laughed, “Hey, I’m saying, why don’t I add some vinegar for you? Vinegar with eggs is quite delicious, isn’t it?”

Yu Zhou didn’t know what madness had taken over Su Chang. What had she done to provoke Su Chang?

Su Chang glanced at her. Yu Zhou’s curly hair provoked her, her delicate eyelashes provoked her, her perfectly symmetrical eyeliner that took thirty minutes to draw provoked her, and the brows that she painted with her mouth wide-open, not daring to take a breath, were provoking her.

The prettier she was, the more provocative she became.

“Well, I think so. Your jealousy makes me very happy. But speaking of the basics, do you want your wife’s group to be professional or not?” Yu Zhou crossed her hands on the table, tilting her head to talk reason with her.

Su Chang pursed her lips at the corner before looking up at her.

“Whose group?”

“My group, the group from my novel.”

“That’s not the word.” She raised her eyebrows slightly.

“Ah? What did I say then?” Yu Zhou pretended to be confused.

“It’s not that.” Su Chang stared at her, her eyebrows furrowing as she spoke in a breathy voice.

“You are really quite persistent with this word. I have told you, stop watching those stupid Weibo and Zhihu things and that kind of couple showing off their love online. It’s all fake.” Yu Zhou said, knocking on the table seriously.

“But if you really want to hear it, want those awkward things, I can do it too.”

She leaned closer, “Wife, dear, madam, lady, and laopo.”

By the end, both she and Su Chang couldn’t help but laugh. Su Chang affectionately gazed at her, imprinting Yu Zhou’s wide smile and the little parentheses beside her mouth in her memory.

After dinner, they drove to the studio.

The lady boss was feeling quite coquettish today, walking with a slight swagger. However, nobody else was in the studio; she was the only one who had named herself the ‘lady boss’.

Ah, it was just such a little bit of arrogance. If there were truly other people around, she wouldn’t dare to be so coquettish.

That’s why when Chao Xin entered, she saw a curly-haired quail.

Hunching her shoulders and sitting between Su Chang and Xiang Wan, her aura was completely withdrawn in contrast to the powerful presence emanating from both sides. It was like three phone cards, with two displaying 5G while she had forgotten to recharge hers and it showed a mere 2G.

Perhaps this was because Chao Xin’s aura was truly strong, as she stood at a similar height to Yu Zhou, with her high heels making her slightly taller.

She was wearing a silk shirt and a one-step skirt, accompanied by a grey blazer draped over her arm. She didn’t carry a bag, but instead held a mobile phone in her other hand.

Her curls were natural, as if her hair had been ripened by her aura. The waves cascaded down in large, defined curves, and even the occasional messiness within the waves seemed to be designed.

“Boss Su.” Chao Xin tilted her head playfully to greet, narrowing her eyes, there was no trace of cunning, just a usually aloof senior showing a sense of familiarity.

Yu Zhou glanced at her, unable to make out her age… perhaps in her thirties, around thirty-five?

The three stood up, and Chao Xin extended her hand to shake hands with Su Chang. Then, with a smile, she reached out to Xiang Wan: “Du Ling, hello.”

Addressing her as her character’s name at their first meeting indicated her preparedness and quickly diminished the distance between them.

Xiang Wan reciprocated with a slight bow: “Ms. Chao.”

The distance was widened again.

Wow, their back and forth was like a fierce match, Yu Zhou fantasized a lot in her mind.

After exchanging pleasantries, they went to the recording studio. Studio 01 was the best one, which Su Chang had reserved specifically for their production crew. It wasn’t much different from the one used by Three Sounds, but all the equipment was newer, the control console was larger, and the glass windows of the observation room were brighter.

The appearance of recording studios was quite similar; only relying on ears could one discern the difference in equipment.

The sound engineer was prepared. Su Chang first talked about the character’s design with a notebook in hand, aiming to determine the voice.

Yu Zhou was curious, could this senior with a strong aura really hold the role of Xu Zhizhi?

Before her curiosity even started to ferment, Chao Xin spoke up: “According to the character’s short biography, she has a voice between 18-22 years old.”

“So, is it… 18?” She raised the pitch of her voice, creating a young girl’s voice.

“20?” She lowered it slightly.

“22?” Lowered it a bit more.

The subtle differences in age were fully revealed between her opening and closing her mouth, yet her expression remained undisturbed. Without any pause or adjustment, she distinguished the voices with just a few numbers.

“Wow!” Yu Zhou was amazed by her basic skills.

Su Chang, leaning on the control console with both hands, tilted her head as she glanced at Yu Zhou.

What? Can’t I admire her? Yu Zhou was baffled, what was she jealous of?

Su Chang looked at her for three seconds and laughed, whispering, “She is asking you, mother of the novel. What age?”

“Oh oh oh.” Realizing her mistake, she hurriedly replied, “Let’s go with 22, not too young.”

“Okay.” Chao Xin nodded.

Having settled on a voice, it was almost time for the voice to warm up. They began rehearsing; Su Chang’s habit was not to start from the first scene, as if the grasp of the voice line in the opening scene wasn’t sufficient, the audience’s ears might repel it.

Seeing them getting on track, Yu Zhou took out her phone to browse Weibo for a while but received a message from Peng Xiangzhi in the group: “Has Chao Xin arrived?”

She didn’t know who the question was for, but no one answered her.

Yu Zhou replied: “Yes, they are recording now.”

“How old is Ms. Chao? She doesn’t look like she has a daughter.” Yu Zhou couldn’t help but gossip.

Peng Xiangzhi: “Her daughter is either 10 or 12, but she’s not married.”

“Ah?”

“People in the circle don’t know the details and don’t gossip about personal lives.”

“Got it.”

When Yu Zhou put down the phone, they began to record the scene of Du Ling’s first differentiation. The script read: Du Ling, lying on the bed, endures the pain of differentiation alone. Biting her teeth, she says to Xu Zhizhi, “Get out…”

Xiang Wan, who rarely records such themes, was having trouble getting into the mood.

Su Chang said through the microphone, “I don’t know if you’ve ever seen a cat in heat. Because the body is tense and the strength is concentrated in the lower half, your vocal positioning shouldn’t be too high. Don’t let your voice float up just to perform desire. Keep it down and add a bit more resonance in the head.”

Yu Zhou watched her in amazement, impressed that she could draw on her experience of petting the little cow cat to think about voice acting techniques.

Su Chang scanned the script again, pondering, “Don’t act on desire in your performance, I want you to act out the pain.”

“But…” If it’s just pain, would the audience understand?

“Let your voice lean towards pain, suppress it, then give me a few breaths in a second track. I’ll have post-production insert it and use background music to build up the desire.”

Yu Zhou felt Su Chang was really trying to understand her perspective. When she wrote the differentiation scene, she was portraying Du Ling’s restraint and helplessness. However, many readers might have only seen the stimulation.

In this scene, desire should be just an embellishment to the pain.

After the differentiation completed, Du Ling was completely drained and lay on the bed, gasping quietly. Xu Zhizhi walked in and the two entered a confession segment.

Xu Zhizhi said, “You were a time-traveler, right? And now you’re telling me you’re an ABO. How can someone carry two themes at once?”

She found it absurd.

Just as Du Ling was about to speak.

Yu Zhou tapped Su Chang and shook her head.

“Stop for a moment.” Su Chang signaled to the observation room with a nod of her chin.

Yu Zhou thought for a moment, then leaned close to the microphone and said, “I have a different opinion on this part. When Du Ling previously mentioned her time traveling experience, Xu Zhizhi was very frightened. But the two of them have been together for over a month now, so when another unbelievable thing happens to Du Ling, the sense of absurdity would be lessened and there would be more teasing.”

“Distinguishing it from the first time Xu Zhizhi discovered that Du Ling was different from ordinary people, and this also serves as an important testament to the progress of their relationship. So, could I ask Ms. Chao to tone down the surprise a little and add more humor?”

She looked at Su Chang, who nodded her agreement. Chao Xin also thought it made sense, so the sound engineer went back to the previous line to re-record it.

Yu Zhou stepped back and continued to listen quietly.

But Su Chang’s mind began to wander a bit. She remembered that during the recording of “Shrine,” Yu Zhou had also made a suggestion, but at that time, she had asked Peng Xiangzhi to mute the microphone before daring to speak up. Although Su Chang couldn’t hear what she said, she could see her eyelashes trembling and her lips hesitating as they moved.

Su Chang smiled. Zhouzhou seemed to be rebuilding herself and renovating herself as well.

Yu Zhou saw Su Chang’s slightly upturned lips from the side, knowing what she was thinking.

Publicly, Yu Zhou was the author of this novel and the screenwriter of the audio drama. Privately, she was Su Chang’s girlfriend and a close friend of Xiang Wan. Therefore, she regarded this drama as a joint work between the three of them.

Of course, she wouldn’t allow herself to be the weak link.