Marriage Concerto (Small Thing Called Love) Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Special Training

On one side, the brief exchange between the two brothers had ended, but on the other side, Mama Qiao was pulling Ding Meng out of the kitchen with great enthusiasm. She  ran over turned on the TV. “I nearly forgot that today that Heavenly Voice compet.i.tion is airing. Earlier I saw on a commercial that Yichen is a judge.”

Ding Meng froze. It couldn’t be….?

While the TV screen was still turning on, a voice began transmitting from the stereo. “Greeting the judges. I am number 65, Ding Meng.”

Ding Meng, “…..”

She could only think that this situation was even more coincidental than winning the lottery. Yet this kind of story like situation had actually happened.

Ding Meng’s face appeared on the screen, which piqued even Qiao Yixing’s interest enough to stay in the living room, no longer in any rush to leave.

….. They wouldn’t think that she knew Qiao Yichen was a judge and deliberately signed up to compete right? Ding Meng felt that the circ.u.mstances unfolding before them needed some explaining. “About this, please don’t misunderstand. I only found out after signing up that Qiao Yichen was a judge. Really!”

Qiao Yichen also opened his mouth to speak. “Yeah, even though she’s my wife, I definitely won’t help her with any favoritism. You guys don’t need to worry.”

Who knew that Mama Qiao would disagree? She looked at him and said, “If you aren’t even going to help your own wife, who are you going to help? Meng Meng used to help you so much with your schoolwork. What’s wrong with helping her out professionally?”

Qiao Yichen, “……”

Didn’t you used to teach me that a person needs to be impartial and fair and avoid bribery and fraud? Why would that change after growing up?

Mama Qiao completely ignored Qiao Yichen’s shaken moral values. At the moment she was unhappy with the evaluation Qiao Yichen gave Ding Meng. “Meng Meng sings way better than you do. From where do you get the confidence to scold other people like that?”

Qiao Yichen, “……”

Standing off to the side, Qiao Yixing couldn’t stop himself from laughing out loud.

Qiao Yichen decided to give up on explaining himself and rapidly came up with a plan. “Right now Meng Meng is competing on Heavenly Voice. In order to avoid arousing suspicion, don’t go around telling people about our marriage.”

Qiao Yixing replied, “In order to avoid arousing suspicion, shouldn’t you be the one giving up your judge position?”

Qiao Yichen, “……”

He shot Qiao Yixing a glance and turned around while pulling Ding Meng along. “Meng Meng, let’s leave!”

“Ah, oh……” Ding Meng stretched out her arm out to grab the bag sitting on the couch and quickly followed Qiao Yichen out the door.

In the car, Ding Meng decided to explain to him one more time. “I really didn’t know you were a judge when I signed up.”

Back when commercials were running to advertise Heavenly Voice, they had very clearly used Qiao Yichen’s name as a means of attracting an audience. Now, her saying she didn’t know really did seem a bit far-fetched, but she really didn’t know!”

Qiao Yichen concentrated on driving the car and didn’t look at Ding Meng. “It doesn’t matter. In any case, I’ve already said that I won’t open the back door for you.”

“Che.” Ding Meng rolled her eyes indifferently. “If you gave me first place through the backdoor, I wouldn’t even want it.”

Qiao Yichen laughed and glanced at her from the corner of his eyes. “Okay, it looks like our family’s Meng Meng is actually quite ambitious.”

“Hmph.” Ding Meng raised her head haughtily and ignored the teasing in his voice.

“The day after tomorrow, the program organizers will gather you all to begin special training. Of course, everyone will be matched to cla.s.ses of different difficulties according to each individual’s skill level. However, everyone will partic.i.p.ate in vocal cla.s.ses, musical theory lessons, and physical training. If you really have so much ambition, then let me see how much you can improve after a week.”

Ding Meng’s fighting spirit was ignited by him. “You better keep your eyes wide open. I’m going to advance by leaps and bounds!”

Qiao Yichen calmly nodded his head. “Okay, as the saying goes, start out low to jump higher later. Your starting point is so low that you’ll definitely be able to jump really high.”

Ding Meng, “….”

She swore, if Qiao Yichen wasn’t driving the car right now, she definitely would have given him a big pinch just like when they were kids.

After they returned home, Ding Meng locked herself in her room and prepared to begin selecting her next compet.i.tion song. While hesitantly looking through a couple of potential songs, a phone call from Mama Ding rang.

She picked up the phone. “Mom, what’s the matter?”

Mama Ding: “Meng Meng, when did you sign up to partic.i.p.ate on Heavenly Voice?”

Ding Meng, “…..”

Dang it. She had forgotten her family also had a TV……

“Ah, well that, that happened when I accidentally encountered it while walking around.” Ding Meng hemmed and hawed out her answer. Mama Ding appeared to resent the fact that Ding Meng didn’t ask for her approval first. “Then what about your job? Won’t this affect it?”

“Ah……” Ding Meng hemmed and hawed even more. “Mom, actually, there’s something I haven’t told you yet. I resigned two weeks ago….”

That day she had been entangled for a long time with yet another gamer who was making a huge fuss over nothing. Ding Meng endured half an hour of getting yelled at and finally couldn’t help but start yelling back. In the end, she earned a complete victory. After hanging up the phone, Ding Meng didn’t bother waiting for the gamer to file a complaint against her. Instead she went ahead and turned in her resignation.

Due to the fact that almost every day in the customer service department, an old person would leave and a new person would join, the manager was fairly calm. However, after seeing her reason for resigning, the manager’s composure was a little shaken.

“Since the world is so big, I want to go and scold elsewhere.”

Manager, “……”

That day, Ding Meng departed with the wors.h.i.+p and admiration of every colleague in the customer service department. She imagined the view of her back was definitely very cool – just like a hero who had proudly severed all connections.

However, in Mama Ding’s eyes, she was just a restless flea. “You resigned again? Now I see clearly why you moved to Qiao Yichen’s home so urgently. You were just scared of how we would handle you after this was exposed, huh!”

…….

Ding Meng’s eyes twitched. She nervously laughed and said, “Mom, today I visited Yichen’s family home. His mom said that if you have some the time, our families should go out and eat a meal together. If you’re free, just contact Yichen directly. I’ll be hanging up first. Bye bye!”

After speaking, she deftly ended the call and turned off her phone in one fluid motion.

She let out a sigh as she watched the screen turn black and then threw herself onto the bed.

After graduating, she had switched between quite a few jobs. The longest one she held was only for a year. It was reasonable to say that she had long pa.s.sed the post-graduation time period of not knowing what to do, but in her heart there was always a small voice saying, no, this was not what she wanted to do.

But, what did she want to do?

Even she didn’t know.

If taking a break from school had altered her life’s course in the past, then could this singing compet.i.tion become another turning point in her life?

She crawled out of bed, finally deciding on which song to perform at the next compet.i.tion.

The next day, a staff member contacted her about the upcoming week of special training and gave her the time and address. The special training wouldn’t take up the entire day so during the evenings, contestants could return home. Organizers had even arranged lodging for contestants from other regions.

For the next round, only forty contestants would be able to pa.s.s. The instructors reviewed each contestant’s information and performance during the preliminary round and divided everyone up into either the professional or non-professional group. Obviously, Ding Meng, who was a complete rookie singer, was placed into the non-professional group.

The non-professional group’s vocal training and music theory lessons were more basic than those of the professional group’s, but the physical training was all the same.

While running circles around the field, a girl rushed from the back to catch up with Ding Meng and began running by her side. “Ding Meng, I’m so happy to be able to see you again.”

Ding Meng turned her head to look and realized this was girl with the pear flower hair who had chatted with her during the preliminary round. “Ah, you’re Tang s.h.i.+ran.”

Tang s.h.i.+ran smiled at her. “I noticed you just now in the big hall. You’ve been put into the non-professional group?”

Ding Meng replied with a bit of embarra.s.sment, “Yeah, I told you I was an amateur.”

Tang s.h.i.+ran pursed her lips and laughed a bit, “I had a cla.s.smate who was eliminated in the preliminary round. An amateur like you turned out to be even more impressive than some professionals out there.”

Ding Meng felt like Tang s.h.i.+ran’s words had hidden meaning, as if she had deliberately concealed her strength or something. However, the teachers had already placed her in the non-professional group. Why did Tang s.h.i.+ran have speak like that?

Ding Meng felt a little uncomfortable, but she also didn’t want to overthink things. Instead she laughed a bit and looked like she was concentrated on running, not saying any more. Very soon after, a boy ran over to start a conversation with Tang s.h.i.+ran. As the two talked, they gradually ran off together. Ding Meng started to breath a sigh of relief.

However, just as she raised her head, she noticed Qiao Yichen standing outside the running track and their eyes happened to make contact. The sigh that had just reached her mouth was entirely swallowed back down.

Qiao Yichen stood on the field and watched for a bit before turning around and leaving. That short duration of time was enough to cause an uproar among everyone there. From time to time, Ding Meng would hear words like “Great Producer Qiao”, “so handsome”, and “genius” floating around her ear.

Apparently things were just as Tang s.h.i.+ran had said. A lot of people really wished for Qiao Yichen to help them produce a song.

At noon, the organizers gave out lunch boxes and everyone rested for an hour. Then the special training intensely began again. Right now was summer and originally hot anyways. Vocal training made everyone even more thirsty. The training camp’s bottled water was used up especially quickly.

Organizers had placed three water dispensers in the training camp, but they still weren’t enough for everyone to drink. Ding Meng also didn’t bring a bottle so she could only use a small paper cup. Every time, she could only dispense a little bit of water. As she looked at the completely empty bottled water bucket, Ding Meng considered bringing a large bottle tomorrow, one that could hold a lot of water with a single trip!

Special training ended in the afternoon at 6PM. Ding Meng felt like this was even more exhausting than military training. All this training had nearly peeled off a layer of her skin. The organizers didn’t provide any dinner, so Ding Meng could only return home to eat. She bought two pastries from the supermarket downstairs and only realized when she got home that Qiao Yichen had actually already made dinner.

Qiao Yichen came out of the kitchen holding a bowl of soup. Seeing that Ding Meng had returned, he said, “I made a lot. If you haven’t eaten yet, let’s eat together.”

At this time, Ding Meng couldn’t care less about what the contract said. She was really way too hungry. She eagerly picked up a piece of julienned potato and put it in her mouth. Ding Meng spoke in amazement. “Heavens Goudan, you made this?” Unexpectedly, it was really delicious!

Qiao Yichen, sitting across the table, beamed as he looked at her. “Darling, what did you call me?”

Ding Meng, “…..”

All she did was call him Goudan. He didn’t have to be so nauseating.….

Ding Meng didn’t say any more. She completely devoted herself to resolving the food in front of her. Qiao Yichen, on the other hand, ate without urgency and asked neither too quickly nor too slowly, “What did you think of today’s special training?”

Ding Meng’s mouth was filled with rice. She replied to him in a rather m.u.f.fled manner. “Vocal training and musical theory were really useful, but what the heck is up with physical training?” Just thinking about it brought tears to her eyes. The weather was already so hot. Why did they still have to do physical training…..

Qiao Yichen replied, “A singer needs to be in good physical shape. You think just anyone can sing and dance on stage at the same time and carry on for a two-hour concert?”

Ding Meng thought this made some sense and simply nodded her head. Qiao Yichen continued, “Don’t slack off during physical training. Improving your physical strength will be very beneficial to controlling your breathing.

“Got it, Great Producer Qiao.”

This form of address made Qiao Yichen raise his eyebrows. Ding Meng looked at him and blinked. “There are a lot of people among the contestants who idolize you. Great Producer Qiao, can you let me hug your thigh?”

T/N: Hug your thigh means to cling on to an influential or famous person

The corner of Qiao Yichen’s mouth hooked upwards. “Do you know how many people have lined up in front of you wanting to hug my thigh?”

Ding Meng shot him a look of disdain and didn’t say any more. After finis.h.i.+ng dinner, Ding Meng reasoned that since Qiao Yichen made dinner, then she would wash the dishes. However, before she could make it to the kitchen, she was called to a halt by Qiao Yichen. “Come with me to the second floor.”

Ding Meng stared at him in confusion. “Go to the second floor to do what?” Wasn’t that his working area?

Qiao Yichen looked at her and laughed. “Let you hug my thigh.”