Chapter 60: 《when You》
Chi Ye glanced at her sideways: “I haven’t asked you for the ticket money yet.”
Jin Xia said happily: “If you sing well, I’ll shower you with a sports car!”
“Little Jin, remember what you said.”
Chi Ye felt he couldn’t stoop to the Empress Dowager’s level and urged: “Let’s go.”
The two “zongzi” slipped out of the venue, hailed a car not far away, and headed straight to the upscale KTV shown on the navigation.
“Teacher Chi, what is a KTV like? Besides singing, what else can you do?”
On the road, the Empress Dowager couldn’t contain her curiosity and kept asking Chi Ye.
Chi Ye listened, hesitating to speak, but finally said: “Adult stuff, kids shouldn’t ask.”
“Teacher Chi!”
The Empress Dowager was unhappy and lowered her voice to “complain”: “We’re all adults, is there anything I can’t hear?”
Chi Ye glanced at her: “Meng Yixun collapsed in some upscale KTV… um, that place is also called an upscale clubhouse.”
Jin Xia: “…”
Humming and hawing: “That’s really not a good place!”
The driver in the front couldn’t help but glance at the two through the rearview mirror, muttering to himself.
Are young couples playing so wildly nowadays?
Coming to my car to flirt?
The two keenly noticed the driver uncle’s gaze and immediately pretended to be ostriches.
All the way to the place, only after getting out of the car did they breathe a sigh of relief.
“Sigh, being public figures is too hard.”
Jin Xia said wistfully: “Even going out to play once is so… um… so difficult.”
Chi Ye looked up and sized up the KTV in front of him, nodding in satisfaction.
He had chosen this high-end KTV, with private rooms equipped with various musical instruments, perfect to test his hand.
“Eh!”
The Empress Dowager also noticed the KTV in front of her now, furrowing her pretty brows: “Are we going here?”
Chi Ye glanced at her, knowing the Empress Dowager didn’t like places that were too “high-end,” and casually said: “It’s safe here, what if we’re photographed elsewhere?”
“…Alright.”
Jin Xia was a bit deflated.
“I’ll order some barbecue takeout for you later, perk up, don’t lose face.”
Chi Ye encouraged.
This trick worked like a charm, and the Empress Dowager immediately perked up, rubbing her little hands through thick cotton gloves: “Elbow! Let’s go in!”
The two walked into the lobby together, booked a large private room with musical instruments, bought the Empress Dowager a cup of iced cola, and Chi Ye, true to his word, ordered a bunch of junk food for the Empress Dowager before entering the private room and locking the room door.
“Take them off, no one can see.”
Chi Ye took off his hat, mask, and down jacket all at once, feeling much more comfortable.
“Take them off?” Jin Xia looked at Chi Ye suspiciously: “Teacher Chi, you don’t mean…”
“Yes, I do.”
Chi Ye walked to a guitar, eagerly picking it up and strumming a few times.
“I want to try this.”
Jin Xia: “…”
Then she looked at Chi Ye curiously: “You know how to play this too?”
“?”
Chi Ye really couldn’t hold it in this time and turned around to say loudly: “I’m a boy group debut after all, okay?”
Jin Xia: “…”
Lightning-fast coquetry: “Don’t get excited, Teacher Chi, I just saw you pick up the guitar, are you going to sing and play yourself?”
“Has the album got songs ready?”
“Not yet.” Chi Ye shook his head: “Just half a song written.”
“Oh oh.”
Jin Xia didn’t mind, sitting on the soft sofa and turning on the big television to select songs: “Which one are you going to sing, Teacher Chi?”
Chi Ye was also thinking on his side.
The gains from this New Year’s Eve Concert were plentiful.
【Extreme Vocal Range】【Mixed Voice Transition】【Breath Control】【Superb Vocal Talent】【Instrumental Foundation】…
These five advanced skills/talents were all music-related.
But 【Superb Vocal Talent】 was different from the other four.
The other four were skills, this one was a talent!
It could even copy the “timbre”?
Chi Ye didn’t quite understand what this copy meant.
His own timbre was actually very nice, but his high notes talent was poor, and his pitch accuracy was very bad, so he easily went off-pitch when singing.
Even the Empress Dowager was better than him at this.
But Extreme Vocal Range and Breath Control could make up for these shortcomings.
What about Superb Vocal Talent then?
Chi Ye tentatively hummed a couple of notes and found that his habitual off-pitch problem had magically disappeared.
Moreover, after singing out, his original timbre had subtly changed.
It was still his voice, but it became clearer and more pleasant, faintly carrying some penetrating power and emotional infectivity.
This singing voice… sounded a bit like JJ from his previous life!
“Hm?”
Over here, the Empress Dowager heard his sounds, “as if hearing immortal music, ears suddenly clear,” looking at him in utter surprise: “Teacher Chi, you…?”
“Wait a sec.”
Chi Ye stopped her, feeling his current most natural singing style, and hummed a couple of notes.
“Not a hero~ doesn’t read Three Kingdoms”
Vocal range easily crossing from G3 to A3.
“If a hero, how could he not understand loneliness~”
A3 to B3.
“After bustling thousands of years, everything starts anew~”
Chi Ye went up almost without hindrance, the G4 pitch he could never reach before going up as naturally and easily as eating and drinking.
—Before, from E4 “bustling” to G4 “thousands of years later,” he would 100% break pitch toward the end.
Now not only did he hit it, but every pitch was perfectly accurate, transitions smooth and natural, high notes passionate and surging, as if breaking through the sky.
Low notes winding, like babbling streams, soft yet highly recognizable, carrying emotional infectivity.
Holy crap!
Is this still me?!
Chi Ye himself was stunned.
G4 is in the high note range, requiring rapid high-intensity vibration of the vocal cords, demanding extremely high closed breath control from a singer.
This precise control, let alone his past self, compared to those “powerhouse singers” in the internal entertainment circle now, was no worse.
Chi Ye was dumbfounded.
Jin Xia was even more dumbfounded.
A pair of usually charming pretty peach blossom eyes stared at Chi Ye in shock, showing unexpected emotion for the first time.
“Teacher Chi… you… what was that you just sang?”
“I don’t think I’ve heard this song…?”
“…”
Chi Ye came back to his senses and glanced at her: “Of course you haven’t heard it.”
“I haven’t released it yet, what are you listening to!”
Jin Xia: “…”
But forgetting their usual banter, still in disbelief: “How did you… what you just sang…”
“Teacher Chi, tell me honestly, how many Sister Shi Shis did you eat?”
Chi Ye: “?”
“Little Jin, no vision.”
He patiently explained: “I’m a boy group captain, you didn’t really think I had no strength, did you?!”
Empress Dowager: “…”
She was confused now too.
It seems… like… yeah?
“If I dared to sing like this at Yue Na, believe me, they’d never let me go in this lifetime.”
Chi Ye touched his Adam’s apple.
Jin Xia’s gaze followed his hand, blinking her eyes, then nodding emphatically: “As expected of mine!”
Chi Ye: “?”
Why does she seem prouder than me?
“Cough cough… this one only has two lines so far, I’ll continue when inspiration strikes.”
Chi Ye picked up the guitar and strummed, but in his mind was thinking about how to choose songs.
Copying songs isn’t impossible, but micro-copy, rhythmic and sustainable copying, not big copies, not random copying, must fit his current “persona” and situation!
So 《Cao Cao》 can definitely only have two lines for now.
His “first EP” should pick songs that fit the current situation.
He had basically shortlisted one or two—both Lin Junjie’s!
Who let this world not have his songs at all!
Perfectly, his current singing timbre and style were so similar to his, not copying would be a waste of such a similar “talent”.
“So what about the other half song for your new album? Sing it quick!”
The Empress Dowager was savoring the voice she heard earlier, and seeing no movement from Chi Ye, she urged.
“Aren’t you going to shower me with a sports car?”
The Empress Dowager waved her hand: “I’ll give it, sing first! I want to be your first ‘fan’!”
Chi Ye nodded pretentiously, seeing the Empress Dowager now biting the straw of her iced cola, cheeks puffed, and felt a stir in his heart.
“That one is too sad… I wrote it at Yue Na, doesn’t fit today’s atmosphere, but the other half…”
He pointed at the Empress Dowager: “Don’t move.”
Empress Dowager: “?”
Blinking her pretty peach blossom eyes, she immediately sat straight like a schoolgirl.
“I’m ready!”
Chi Ye: “…”
“No need to be so formal.”
He thought about the lyrics, feeling his “superb singing skill” for the second time, slender fingers strumming the guitar, a pleasant melody and voice rising.
“If one day, I go back to the past”
“Back to the most primitive me, would you think I’m not bad”
“If one day, I’m far from you”
“Can’t meet with you anymore”
“Would you realize, I’ve already said goodbye~”
Chi Ye looked at those surprised and joyful peach blossom eyes, humming and hawing, squinting into crescent moons.
“When your eyes squint in a smile”
“When you drink cola when you chatter”
Jin Xia froze, looking down at the cola in her hands.
“I want to be good to you”
“You never know”
“Missing you missing you, can become an addiction”
Chi Ye stopped.
Not because he didn’t want to continue, but… the Empress Dowager blushed!
The Empress Dowager actually blushed!
Since he met the Empress Dowager, though the young girl looked charming and enchanting, she was actually silly and straightforward inside, clear about everything, but she had never really been shy.
But now, the Empress Dowager covered her face with little hands, her pretty peach blossom eyes long shifted from him, showing a flawless side profile, the straw spit out from her mouth, looking like a aggrieved little bun.
Chi Ye: “?”
“Teacher Chi… you… don’t do this… I didn’t expect you to write this song for me, I’m really moved, but…”
Jin Xia hung her little head, whispering: “But if you do this… I can be happy for at most a year, no more.”
Chi Ye: “…”
“Good that you know!”
He changed tack.
The reason he picked 《When You》 was because the Empress Dowager had once been caught by him drinking cola from a thermos cup, and unfortunately, their past “private” interactions were all known to the program team.
After 《Jian Ni》 airs, not only can it explain why he wrote this song, but it can also give candy to the CP fans always scrutinizing for sugar!
He really thought it through!
Even, he started considering finding more CPs, so love songs would have “material,” and he could do a “sugar for eight families”!
“Um… you sing really well, Teacher Chi, really!”
The Empress Dowager was indeed a bit dazed now—dazed from listening!
She really didn’t expect Chi Ye to “write” this kind of song “for her.”
Too… too embarrassing!
Teacher Chi really… good thing no one else here, otherwise she really… she really wants to show off!
Let the whole world know!
“Um, Teacher Chi…”
The usually quirky Empress Dowager was rarely bashful, but secretly expectant: “When is this album of yours releasing?!”
Chi Ye: “This… sigh, to be honest, funds are short, gotta wait.”
“?!”
The Empress Dowager panicked: “Wait?! How long?! Your songs are so good, you have this strength, letting fans… embarrassed, no fans yet… doesn’t that make me one? I want to hear the full version soon!”
Chi Ye sighed, saying nothing.
But a pair of pretty eyes secretly glanced at Jin Xia, like Yang Zi.
Yet he found the Empress Dowager’s face back to normal, humming at him: “Teacher Chi, can we stop acting between us.”
Chi Ye: “…”
“How much are you short now? I’ll cover it!”
Chi Ye displeased: “See, you’re anxious again.”
Jin Xia was still immersed in the highlight moment of Chi Ye “singing her song for her” earlier, not speaking.
Chi Ye pondered long, no more joking: “I don’t want money, nor borrow money, I want to cooperate with you.”
“Cooperate?”
The Empress Dowager came back to her senses, looking at him puzzled: “Teacher Chi, tell me how much you need, I can give it to you, really.”
Chi Ye: “…I really don’t want money.”
Jin Xia got curious: “Then how do you want to cooperate?”
Chi Ye shared the idea he’d thought about for a long time: “I’m planning to start a personal studio, want to join in?”
“Studio?” The Empress Dowager was stunned, getting serious: “You… you’re planning… you don’t want to sign with a new company?”
Chi Ye said nothing.
Jin Xia fell silent.
She also thought of Chi Ye’s situation, and just thinking about it made her grit her teeth.
Yue Na, you deserve to die!
“So how are you going to start it? Need my help?”
Chi Ye nodded: “Going solo will be tough at first, but comfortable later… My current plan is a personal studio, involving music and film, but with just my own funds, it’s not quite enough… cough, of course, album funds are also short.”
“Oh.”
The Empress Dowager suddenly understood, not caring about that, waving her hand: “Just name the number, for this project, President Jin invests!”
Chi Ye: “…”
Boss is generous!
He wasn’t surprised by the Empress Dowager’s reaction.
Even without 《When You》, with the Empress Dowager’s personality, if he asked, he could definitely “borrow” the money.
But one must know gratitude and repay.
The Empress Dowager asked for nothing, helped him a lot, he felt he should give back.
Even if the young girl might not yet realize what she “got.”
“Then it’s settled, once the funds arrive, I’ll get to work.”
“Great great.”
Jin Xia sat properly, biting the cola straw again, red lips glistening under the private room lights, tone soft and coquettish: “Teacher Chi, I want to hear you sing that song properly again, sing it for me, okay?”
“Sure.” Chi Ye agreed happily.
“Oh right, what’s this song called?”
“《When You》”
“《When You》? Great name, I want to hear it a hundred times!”
Chi Ye: “???”
“Alright, ten times, watch me sing, okay?”
Chi Ye: “…Big sis starting to tease me already?!”
Not in great shape, two updates today, will make up soon
