Chapter 3: Appearance

Before Yan Mu Lin arrived to this world, the original Yan Mu Lin had claustrophobia. When he got admitted to Imperial Media College, it depended on his grades. His interview did not require entering a recording booth so Yan Mu Lin did well. He had a good image, a great voice, and talent. His cultural course grades were pretty good too, so all the examiners pa.s.sed him.

However, when Yan Mu Lin entered the school and began taking broadcasting cla.s.ses, he encountered the problem. He discovered that he had claustrophobia. For the whole year, all the teachers knew that he could not enter the studio, let alone make a good recording. He gradually disappeared into the teacher’s eyes.

It was no wonder why the teacher was surprised when he received this kind of work from Yan Mu Lin. The teacher also had doubts, after all, cheating happens frequently. Some students cheat in examinations so that they can receive a chance to dub. However, he does not allow this in his cla.s.s. He would not let his students destroy his reputation.

After receiving Yan Mu Lin’s work, the teacher called Yan Mu Lin to a recording studio. He wanted to verify what was happening with this child. He doubted him, but that was only suspicion. He must first verify his capabilities. The reason why he did this was because he liked the sound that Yan Mu Lin pa.s.sed. It wasn’t something a common student can show. It showed different feelings, such as warmth and comfort. If there weren’t anything wrong, then he would submit this audio directly to the advertisers for screening. After all, they had the final say.

Yan Mu Lin immediately went to the recording studio after he was called by the teacher. The professional course teacher was surnamed Chen. Yan Mu Lin saw Teacher Chen standing in the control room. He waved at him and motioned for him to put on his headphones. Yan Mu Lin could guess what the situation was, and wore the headset. Yan Mu Lin heard Teacher Chen’s voice from the headphones.

“Yan Mu Lin, repeat the content you pa.s.sed to me.”

Yan Mu Lin expected this. Of course the teacher would doubt whether the work was his. When he did not hesitate to walk inside the recording studio, Teacher Chen should no longer doubt the authenticity of his work. However, facing the teacher’s skepticism, he still took the recording seriously. He also wanted to use this as an opportunity to get closer to his teacher in preparation for their future meetings. Also, he was an honored senior, a good student must respect him.

Facing the condenser microphone, Yan Mu Lin thought that he would fluently and professionally present his own audio.

There was no difference at all. Teacher Chen could no longer doubt him. He did not know how the student overcame his psychological obstacles. In fact, when he found out that Yan Mu Lin had claustrophobia, the counselor already advised Yan Mu Lin to change his major, but in the end he still respected the student’s wishes. The result was that Yan Mu Lin continued to major in broadcasting.

Today, when he heard Yan Mu Lin’s voice, Teacher Chen was very shocked. Yan Mu Lin was actually such a good seed. He almost abandoned a student that had such talent. Teacher Chen was ashamed of his previous behavior, but he believed that Yan Mu Lin will be carefully coached in the future.

However, did Yan Mu Lin need his guidance? We’ll see.

The next day, Teacher Chen announced the names of the three students who were selected in his cla.s.s. Sheng Xia Xiao, Yan Mu Lin, and another outstanding student’s name. After Yan Mu Lin’s name was mentioned, the whole cla.s.s were shocked. They did not believe that Yan Mu Lin was able to complete this task. Especially when he was grouped with Sheng Xia Xiao at the same time. Sheng Xia Xiao hinted for a cla.s.smate to stand up and question the teacher.

Cla.s.smate A raised his hand and said, “Teacher, why was Yan Mu Lin chosen?”

Cla.s.smate B quipped, “Yes, yes, teacher. You must be fair!”

Teacher Chen knew that the lackeys of Sheng Xia Xiao would cause trouble. He said truthfully, “You don’t have to doubt Yan Mu Lin’s abilities. This teacher would not be biased.”

Sheng Xia Xiao and the others snorted. In fact, Sheng Xia Xiao already had some reputation in the circle. He has even made a background for himself. His path in the voice acting industry was smooth, then suddenly, a half-brother emerged and shared the profession with him. There was anger in his heart. He could not tolerate Yan Mu Lin’s existence.

Truthfully, the teacher did not have any favorites. Regardless of whether this was just Yan Mu Lin’s temporary or permanent recovery, he was still happy that his students had such talent. As for what happens later, he would not be able to control it. This was the producer’s business. Whoever they want to choose was their business.

The three students only submitted a sample, and not the full version. After the final selection, the production unit will contact Teacher Chen as the middleman. Sheng Xia Xiao believed that the company would choose him instead of Yan Mu Lin, who has never done any work.

Yan Mu Lin, who was questioned, did not care about them. He would not do anything right now. He wanted to plan his future’s direction and looked forward to the production company’s reply.

Sheng Xia Xiao was confident because he was invited to partic.i.p.ate in anime voice acting last semester. He even got a supporting role. The original manga was not very popular, but when it had an anime adaptation, it became really popular. It was because the protagonist was voiced by Cheng Ye, a popular CV star. Sheng Xia Xiao only got in because of the investment of the Sheng Family’s company. Otherwise, it wouldn’t be possible for him to take the role. He was not aware of that.

Of course, Sheng Xia Xiao’s ability was not that bad compared to the young voice actors.

Sheng Xia Xiao wanted to completely humiliate Yan Mu Lin. He motioned to Cla.s.smate A next to him. Cla.s.smate A said, “Teacher, I propose for Yan Mu Lin to perform on the spot, otherwise we can’t accept this.”

Can’t accept it?

Yan Mu Lin raised an eyebrow. Then I’ll make you accept. 

Teacher Chen was naturally willing for his cla.s.s to be lively, so he agreed.

Teacher Chen thought for a moment, “Well, then, I’ll be the one to choose the theme. Today is an imitation lesson so it would be better for us to imitate 《Courting The Phoenix》.”

《Courting The Phoenix》 originally spoke of Sima Xiangru and Zhuo Wenjun’s love story. It was then adapted to a cla.s.sic love drama. It became a hit TV series of a major TV station. The protagonist’s voice actor became even more popular, and through this drama, he won the Best Male CV award. His status increased.

The drama’s script was really excellent. There were several cla.s.sic lines that was unforgettable to the audience. Teacher Chen gave the simplest yet most difficult verse today:

There is a beautiful lady; once seen she cannot be forgotten.
If I can’t see her for a day, thinking about her would lead to madness.
I’m like a male phoenix flying, soaring, and roaming over the four seas searching for my female phoenix.
Unfortunately, that beautiful woman is not at this eastern wall.

Using the guqin as subst.i.tute for words, to relieve myself of these feelings.
When will I see your acceptance, and relieve my restless anxiety?
A word will bring union with one of her virtue, hand in hand we’d be joined.
Since we are not able to fly, it caused me depression and ruin.

Reading these verses with emotion, while trying to match it with the drama’s scenes, it was definitely not easy. It was said that Cheng Ye spent a lot of time on this, and specifically sought guidance from ancient poetry professors.

In people’s eyes, reading a poem is simple. Everyone could read poetry. Every day in kindergarten, “Goose, goose, goose, she is singing towards the sky, with her beautiful neck bending in such lovely curve. Her pure white feather coat floats on the jade green water, her red feet stirs crystal waves on the lake surface.” For ordinary people, reciting poetry was only a small part of literature cla.s.s, and wasn’t something done every day. However, as a student who majors in broadcasting, if your determination was that low, then go home and eat yourself. Don’t dare come to school.

In here, broadcasting majors specializes in imitating, acting, and lip syncing. The hardest part in being a CV was “finding the mouth”, which was lip syncing. If the mouth shape doesn’t match, then the dubbing was a failure. You don’t qualify as a CV.

Teacher Chen edited the completed video and played it in front of the cla.s.s. The ones who questioned Yan Mu Lin volunteered to voice the characters. This also included Sheng Xia Xiao. They would be graded by a number of students from other cla.s.ses, and teachers. The judging was very fair.

All the students that went on stage tried to imitate Cheng Ye’s voice and made all sorts of deep love to Mai. They used the best and most touching feeling to match this paragraph. Five people were grading them. There were two students who dubbed first, and the scores they received were pretty similar. In addition to Teacher Chen, one of the judges was the excellent student, Sun Wen Run. He also partic.i.p.ated in a TV drama’s dubbing, but he relied on his abilities instead of family background. One of the few students recognized by Sheng Xia Xiao.

When it was Sheng Xia Xiao’s turn to dub, he stood in front of Yan Mu Lin and said, “Be careful not to pee your pants like a coward, not daring to go on stage and dub.”

Yan Mu Lin countered with a serene smile, “You think you have the ability to make other people pee their pants?”

Suddenly, a female cla.s.smate laughed. Yan Mu Lin did not know whose jab she found funny. Sheng Xia Xiao snorted and turned around. He stood up on the stage and walked over to the microphone.

A 《Courting The Phoenix》 filled with endless emotions once again sounded out in the room.

Shengxia Xiao followed after the video and read the script, “There is a beautiful lady; once seen she cannot be forgotten….”

While Sheng Xia Xiao was reading, Yan Mu Lin carefully focused on the video. He saw that Sheng Xia Xiao could not convey the feelings of the voice. He was only lip syncing. Just by this, he already could not match up with Cheng Ye. It was almost possible to hear his voice. Compared with the other two students, he was a little better.

Teacher Chen and the others gave him a higher grade than the previous two students.

Sheng Xia Xiao confidently walked down the stage. Although he was not satisfied with his score, he believed that Yan Mu Lin would not score higher than him.

Yan Mu Lin went to the stage without hesitation and adjusted the height of the microphone. He kneaded his throat and two cheeks slightly to adjust his vocal cord’s width. Then he motioned for his cla.s.smates who operated the video to start playing it.

This time, Yan Mu Lin did not use various superstar’s voices, but conducted an imitation. When the teacher played the video, he remembered the timbre of Cheng Ye’s voice in the video. He controlled his throat’s opening and vocal placement. Changing the vocal placement and switching between what is true and what is false would make it possible to achieve Cheng Ye’s tone color. It wasn’t too hard, the hard part was to use this voice to present the emotion of the original video again.

He started to talk.

“There is a beautiful lady; once seen she cannot be forgotten.
If I can’t see her for a day, thinking about her would lead to madness…..”

At that split second, everyone on the scene was attracted by his voice. They seemed to be in the scene of the verse. They saw a beautiful woman yearning for something day and night, and they were the man looking for her but was not allowed.

There is a beautiful lady; once seen she cannot be forgotten.
If I can’t see her for a day, thinking about her would lead to madness.
I’m like a male phoenix flying, soaring, and roaming over the four seas searching for my female phoenix.
Unfortunately, that beautiful woman is not at this eastern wall.

Using the guqin as subst.i.tute for words, to relieve myself of these feelings.
When will I see your acceptance, and relieve my restless anxiety?
A word will bring union with one of her virtue, hand in hand we’d be joined….

。。。

Courting the Phoenix  – Sima Xiangru sang this while playing the guqin for Zhuo Wenjun. If you want to read more about it then,  home and eat yourself – you are fired;  you are on your own.

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