Captivated by You Chapter 3

Sorry for the late update. I will try to update more frequently. 

Mo Lan stood by the lake for some time, until the sun set in the west and the weather turned cold. She tucked her hands in her coat pockets and turned around to look for an inn.

This trip was wasn't originally on her agenda,,and as a result she could not catch the last train back to Nanking. Mo Lan had no other option but to stay in Hangzhou for the night. Even so, she did not mind. After all, she could walk around and visit some places since she was here.

After checking in , Mo Lan grabbed the room key and walked towards the elevator.

She had specifically booked a room with computer. After swiping the door with her keycard, the first thing Mo Lan did upon entering the room was to switch on the computer, ready to save all her crush's photos into her USB.

Mmm… The wifi speed was speedy.

Mo Lan nodded her head in satisfaction as she opened her Weibo. Before she could fantasize on her crush's blog, she was alarmed when she glanced at  her notifications.

In the top right corner… It clearly showed that the comment box was up to more than 2000 comments, and the shares were more than 3000  She was completely lost.

So… What just happened?

Mo Lan tried to sort the events in her head, but it was in vain. As a nonent.i.ty outside of the Internet world, she just wanted to check on her idol's Weibo activity while listening to his deep-toned voice, and to share events that were on her group page. Mo Lan had been using Weibo for more than 3 years. She had shared barely more than 300 posts, and her fans numbered only 500 people, excluding friends, colleagues, and family.

Mo Lan scrolled down one post at a time. As she clicked the comment boxes she noticed something odd… Those who commented on her page  were mostly fans of her idol, and they replied below her own comment on her idol's post.

'My house is in Hangzhou. I'll take you to eat glutinous rice, crab soup buns, go to the river bank of Xi Hu to see the Lei Feng Tower and Lin Ying Shrine!'

'T.T, even though I'm not in Hangzhou, I can fly over there now. Please wait for me!'

Reading through such comments, Mo Lan was stunned. So… in this situation, it could be that…

Mo Lan clicked on the share box. She saw that it was not her Weibo that those people commented on.  She had replied and shared her own response accidentally while she was preoccupied with drooling over her crush…

No, no, no, this was not the main point. The main point was that her idol replied her!

His reply was brief. It was only this sentence: Is it? Such a coincidence.

But seeing this reply, Mo Lan felt electric shock waves throughout her body. She did not know what to say. She sat dumbfounded in front of the computer, unable to  process what just happened.

What was the occasion today? First, her idol first posted something on his blog, and now he even replied to her comment… She'd  had a crush on him and had been following him for four years, so she knew how rare it was for him to reply to any comments. At this moment Mo Lan felt as if she'd won first prize in a lottery. It felt amazing yet unbelievable.

After half a minute, Mo Lan anxiously took out her phone and took a screenshot of  her idol replying to her comment.

Is it? Such coincidence.

Mo Lan processed that sentence multiple times while hugging her phone like a maniac, then she started to imagine her crush saying those words to her… She would have fainted and called the ambulance.

However, the day was not over yet.

Because… An Xiao Luo called again.

"Xiao Lan…" An Xiao Luo's voice sparked on the other side of the phone. Her voice was m.u.f.fled as if she had just woken up.

Mo Lan asked suspiciously, "Cousin, are you alright?"

"I'm fine… Just got back after work. I just want you to pinch me to see if I'm dreaming," the voice was still astounded.

Mo Lan said, "You're too far away from me. I'll pinch you when I'm back, but I think I'm the one who needs the pinching… Did you know that  my idol replied to me just now?  Quick!  Tell me if I'm dreaming!"

An Xiao Luo regained her senses and said excitedly, " I called to to tell you, but now I have even more bombarding news than this! It's the best of the year! I feel like burning some joss sticks in the temple!"

"What happened?" Mo Lan narrowed her eyes. She had always been suspicious of her cousin's words.

"Don't get too excited, don't throw your phone, and don't bite the telephone line when I tell you this," An Xiao Luo warned before saying  calmly, "Our idol, he's going to get a new job."

Once An Xiao Luo finished her sentence, Mo Lan's hand slipped and her phone dropped on the floor.

Mo Lan went back to the computer table without hesitation and scrolled with  lightning speed through her crush's Weibo, and true enough, she saw a post by him from ten minutes ago which stated:

'Sorry for letting you guys wait for so long. I'm getting a new job. Inclusive of radio dramas, birthday dramas, tea talks.'

The comment box exploded with thousands and thousands of comments.

'Is this true, is this true, is this true? Can somebody tell me that it's true? I couldn't believe my eyes!'

'New job… Oh my goodness…'

'You mean… I can sleep peacefully now without hugging those two radio dramas from three years ago? You once asked us to wait for you to get a new job, and I've waited for it, and now I'm speechless… Cried, I love you my idol, sincerely. T.T'

'This is the best news I've heard in this entire year!'

Mo Lan's eyes grew bigger and bigger as she read from the computer screen.

The amazingly talented voice started to flutter through her mind. He said, 'A group of women were having their time under the trees along the lake. They were having so much fun that when it was time for them to leave, they left with a heavy heart, each step they took they turned around and started to miss the place…'

This was Mo Lan's favourite sentence from her idol.

A thought popped into her head, making her instantly suspicious… Today was not April's Fool, was it?

Mo Lan hugged her phone, lost in her own world.  She was startled to realize that she had not replied to him yet. She typed a whole row of sentences on her phone screen and deleted them, and then she typed again and deleted them again. At last, she replied to him, her heart beating fiercely: 'Idol, the air became fresher with you in Hangzhou… Please meet me.'

She was certain that her crush would never reply to her this time. After she finished replying to him, Mo Lan threw her phone aside and started to scroll through Baidu on the computer. This was her first trip to Hangzhou, so she wanted to find the most popular night market in town.

Mo Lan scrolled on Baidu for almost half an hour. Right before 7 p.m., she decided to go to the famous Wushan Night Market in Hangzhou.

Mo Lan pulled on  a woolen beanie, wrapped herself in a thick scarf, zipped her coat up to her neck, and then she walked out of her room.

When she got out of  the taxi, Mo Lan was greeted by rows of Chinese lanterns with a hint of cla.s.sic night view. She felt a sense of familiarity with her hometown back in Wuzhen.

The place was filled with huge crowds, accessories of different types, rows of colorful lanterns and scented delicacies along the street.

Mo Lan strolled through the market, pausing  occasionally when she saw something interesting along her way. Even though her hometown in Wuzhen had a similar night market, she was still excited about this night stroll. There were rounded fans with ancient paintings, rings made of water jade, colorful porcelain China – and a lot more.

As she was walking, Mo Lan noticed a group of people surrounding something. It looked merry, so Mo Lan walked forward to see what was going on.

As she drew closer to the crowd she saw an opera stage which looked as if it had been  set up at the  last minute. The opera singers were wearing costumes while singing selections from the opera 'Du Dan Ting'.

The sleeves on the stage were swaying gracefully, their steps were as light as the clouds and their actions were so beautiful. All she could think  of when she watched was the sad lines of the poem 'Jiang Er Shui': 'Unlike the flowers and trees who are loved by everyone, we live and die as human beings, we take control of our lives and destiny. Even as we encounter unpleasant things, we ought to live happily for the rest of our days.'

Unlike the flowers and trees who are loved by everyone, we live and die as human beings, we take control of our lives and destiny. Even as we encounter unpleasant things, we ought to live happily for the rest of our days…

Mo Lan had always been fond of 'Du Dan Ting', so her feet were stuck to the ground as she heard the main character, Du Li Niang sing this verse.

She always thought of how lovely the singing was, along with the meaningful lyrics and graceful acting.

Mo Lan stood among the crowd until the actors bowed and thanked the audience. She slowly regained her senses after the crowds left.

People lived and died, that was life.

The author who composed this poem…his sentence remained evergreen, even after so many decades.

Even though the opera singing was not of an excellent level, the scene would still retain its mood when it came to 'Du Dan Ting'.

Mo Lan lowered her eyes as she thought of the realistic view of a love such as the one that was described in the poem. Would such a love ever exist?

After a while, she looked at the time and realized it was nearly ten. Mo Lan dared not stay out late alone, so she turned and called a taxi to take her back her hotel room.

After a long night of walking, Mo Lan treated herself to a comfortably warm bath. She then put on her face mask and began scrolling through Weibo before sleeping.

Just as she scrolled to her post, Mo Lan was shocked by what she saw! Her face mask almost fell off.

If she was correct, her crush had posted again,  one hour ago.

This was truly unbelievable! Mo Lan opened up the comment box and saw, 'What! Today was the one day when you posted so much stuff, I can now die in peace!'

She opened that post with glee.  Mo Lan heard her idol's low-toned voice among the silence:

'I noticed your beauty from afar… I've always wanted to find you, but I noticed you were sitting sadly in the corner.'

Mo Lan's hand went rigid, because… these sentences was taken from the poem that she loved, 'Du Dan Ting'.

If she were to paraphrase this, it would meant something like there are no other things as beautiful as you. In order to see you, I've searched far and wide, and finally I saw you sitting sadly in the corner.

This particular sentence was saddening, his voice was elegant and deep.

It was better than the opera act.

Moreover, Mo Lan could imagined the scene as he sang it wholeheartedly.

This was probably what everyone was imagining when they spoke of how talented he was.

Without that perfect talent, even if one recited this poem hundreds of time, it would be boring and dull. This was not the case for her idol. He was born for this. He could be anyone and anything with his amazing talent.

After hearing him, Mo Lan was shocked by the  picture he'd posted.  It was her, listening attentively to the act in front of the opera stage.

Mo Lan felt as if she could die right here right now. So her crush was in Wushan Night Market as well? She was so close to him… Had her hardworking att.i.tude at work touched G.o.d's heart?

As she stretched out her fingers shakily, Mo Lan typed her reply, 'Idol, either I am too good or too bad. I was in Wushan Night Market too! I could not meet you even though we were so close… I feel like I just won a lottery of five hundred million dollars but my hand slipped and my ticket fell into the drain. Please comfort me. T.T'

Just as Mo Lan hit the reply b.u.t.ton, fans started to explode the comment box:

'I was there too! I brought my brother to eat… I saw the opera stage but I just walked past it. I'm going to kill myself now!'

'I was there! Couldn't believe you would stop and listen to the opera act. I'm too greedy, I know it's hard to meet you! PS: Join  the army act. I would run with you just to listen to your act!'

'You're so good, even at singing  opera. You sound as good as you talk! I won't mock my father for listening to opera ever again, please sing more lines!'

'You posted two posts in one day… I could live another year more with of these. There will probably be a new radio drama soon. Suddenly my life is bright! Good night everyone >3<>

After scrolling briefly through the comment box, Mo Lan noticed there were so many people who were so close to her idol. Maybe she was not that good yet.

To be honest… It really felt great to have her idol posting everyday.

Mo Lan hummed this tune as she fell into dreamland that night.