Marriage Concerto (Small Thing Called Love) Chapter 13

Chapter 13: Shaken

Qiao Yichen’s eyes were bewitching, especially when he stared directly at you. You wouldn’t be able to help but believe every word he said was sincere.

Therefore, Ding Meng was absolutely convinced that today she must have been devastatingly beautiful.

Qiao Yichen saw her bashfully lower her head and soundlessly laughed, “After finis.h.i.+ng your meal, come up to the second floor to train.”

“Ah?” Ding Meng blankly looked at him. Wasn’t he just saying that she was beautiful?

Qiao Yichen raised his eyebrow, “Why, you don’t want to practice?”

“……I really want to!” Ding Meng flashed him a suck up smile but stealthily rolled her eyes when she lifted her rice bowl.

Qiao Yichen looked at her and continued with composure, “Tomorrow morning I need to go work. You should stay at home to practice vocals and the guitar. Also no slacking off with the physical training. When I come back in the evening, I’ll inspect.”

Ding Meng, “……”

In the past, she was always the one inspecting his homework. Now their roles had actually switched. This was truly a sad turn of events.

However, Great Producer Qiao still had not finished his instructions. “In the afternoon, go to the broadcast building to watch the other contestants compete. At night, come back to continue special training.”

Ding Meng, “……”

This conversation was on an irreconcilable trajectory.

She pursed her lips and attempted win herself some time to rest. “I only just finished a big battle today. I figured that tomorrow I could at least sleep in late.”

Qiao Yichen laughed, “Isn’t your grandfather Ding Chunqiu? You can’t even handle this kind of degree?”

T/N: Ding Chunqiu is this evil, old, poison martial arts master from Demi-G.o.ds and Semi-Devils by Jin Yong.

Ding Meng, “……”

“How do you still remember something from so long ago? If your memory is so good, why didn’t I see you earn full marks on your exams in the past?” Ding Meng was really rather speechless.

Qiao Yichen replied nonchalantly, “Because I was going through p.u.b.erty.”

“So now you’re entering menopause?”

Qiao Yichen became silent for a moment before smiling at her, “Then I should have a good excuse for increasing your physical training by half an hour, right?”

“……Qiao dada, you’re so distinguished and admirable. How could you be going through menopause haha.”

T/N: I caved!! I’ll go back and change all my “Great One’s to” dada”. >< they="" both="" sound="" weird="" but="" dada="" flows="">

Qiao Yichen threw her a distinguished and admirable expression and ended their squabble. After the meal, Ding Meng obediently followed him upstairs for special training.

The next day when Qiao Yichen got up, he immediately went to knock on Ding Meng’s door. Ding Meng couldn’t put up with the knocking any longer and could only crawl up to the second floor to train.

Although Qiao Yichen wasn’t off to the side enforcing anymore, Ding Meng still didn’t dare slack off. She spent the entire morning earnestly training. After eating lunch at noontime, she confronted the bright sun and left to watch the compet.i.tion. When she arrived at the broadcast building, she discovered that every contestant that advanced yesterday had come too. Apparently everyone was very concerned about the strength of their opponents.

All the observing contestants sat off to the side of the stage. After the judges showed up, everyone who had been chatting immediately became silent. Ding Meng heard a girl next to her say, “Wow, Qiao Yichen is really handsome.”

She blinked twice but didn’t respond. Then the girl regretfully whispered, “It’s a pity he’s an extreme S.”

Ding Meng choked on her spit and almost coughed out loud.

Qiao Yichen walked up to the judges panel and swept his glance across the stage. After seeing Ding Meng, he retracted his gaze and sat down on his seat

After the judges sat down, the compet.i.tion quickly began. Contestants went on stage one right after another. After listening for a while, Ding Meng realized that today’s group of contestants was, generally speaking, more skillful than yesterday’s. It looked like Qiao Yichen was right. Her luck really was pretty good….

Tang s.h.i.+ Ran was also in this group. Even though she was still a music student, the quality of her performances was already on par with a professional singer’s. It could even be said that she was better than many singers out there. This was Ding Meng’s first time hearing Tang s.h.i.+ran sing. She didn’t expect the delicate looking Tang s.h.i.+ran to unexpectedly have such a powerful voice. Not only that, Tang s.h.i.+ran also had complete mastery over the song and sang it very naturally. When Qiao Yichen commented on her song, he was surprisingly good natured, as if he had a very positive opinion of her.

Tang s.h.i.+ran advanced smoothly as expected. When she received Qiao Yichen’s vote, her face lit up with such a big smile that even Ding Meng who sat far away could still see it very clearly.

At that moment, the girl at her side spoke again, “Just look at how flirtatious Tang s.h.i.+ran’s smile is. She’s practically throwing herself up there and saying ‘Dada, let me give birth to your little monkeys.’”

Ding Meng, “….”

To be honest, she wasn’t close to this girl. Everyone simply mutually knew each other’s names, that’s all. However, gossip had clearly decreased the distance between them.

“Let’s not speak of just Tang s.h.i.+ran. There are so many female singers in the entertainment circle who want to give birth to Qiao Yichen’s little monkeys. It’s a pity he won’t give them a chance.” After the girl spoke up to here, she excitedly pulled on Ding Meng and asked, “What type of girl do you think Qiao Yichen would like?”

This time Ding Meng couldn’t hold back and really did cough out loud.

Qiao Yichen quickly shot over a glance and the girl next to Ding Meng immediately froze in fear. The girl didn’t loosen her breath until after Qiao Yichen turned his eyes back on the contestant.

“Dang! Great Producer Qiao is really too intimidating. He scared the baby.” The girl pat her stomach with lingering fear.

Ding Meng looked embarra.s.sedly at her, “Sorry, I choked just now.”

“It’s fine, it’s fine. You must have been scared by him too right?”

“Ah, I’m fine….”

Ding Meng laughed a bit and then continued to listen to the contestants on stage sing. A whole afternoon of compet.i.tions quickly flew by. In the evening, Qiao Yichen still came home to eat dinner. At home, there was only Ding Meng’s leftovers from lunch, but he didn’t mind. After finis.h.i.+ng dinner, he pulled Ding Meng up to the second floor to train.

However today, Ding Meng was a bit absent-minded. After she once again sang the wrong note, Qiao Yichen finally stopped. “What are you doing? Sleepwalking?”

Ding Meng drooped her head and squeezed out the word “sorry”.

Qiao Yichen frowned and removed his hands from the piano. He looked at her and spoke, “What are your thoughts after hearing the second group of contestants compete?”

“Ah, they sang very well.” Observing today had made her realize that if there was no comparison, there would also be no harm.

Qiao Yichen snorted a laugh, “So your confidence has taken a hit? I had previously told you that you still have a huge gap between you and the other contestants.”

Ding Meng suddenly realized, the reason he wanted her to go and listen today was so she could take a hit. She became upset. Even if he didn’t do this, she would still be aware of the gap between her and the other contestants. Did he have to make things so difficult for her like this?

She imitated Qiao Yichen’s snort just now and laughed, “Don’t even mention the other contestants. Aren’t you just talking about Tang s.h.i.+ran? If you like her so much, why don’t you just go teach her!”

Qiao Yichen furrowed his brows and stood up from the piano. “That’s enough training for today.”

After speaking, he walked off without glancing back. Ding Meng felt some irritation well up inside and also returned to her room, slamming the door shut.

So what if there’s no training! Who cares!

She sat in her room feeling wronged for a bit before beginning to realize she wasn’t being reasonable. Even if Qiao Yichen hadn’t told her to watch the compet.i.tion, she definitely still would have gone. She was provoked by Tang s.h.i.+ran, yet she took her anger all out on Qiao Yichen.

Was that what it was?

She lay on her bed for a while and then pulled over the covers to sleep. Even if it appeared that she was the one at fault, she still refused go outside to apologize to Qiao Yichen. In any case, he did think Tang s.h.i.+ran was better than her, so at least she didn’t falsely accuse him there.

The next time she opened her eyes, it was because the alarm had gone off. Today she had to go to the training camp. When Ding Meng was about to leave, she noticed Qiao Yichen was also getting ready to depart. She glanced at him and then speedily walked out without even eating breakfast.

When she arrived at the training camp, she requested a pastry from a staff member. If she didn’t eat something, in a moment she might just faint while running.

This time, the training didn’t split the contestants into professional or non-professional groups. All of the Top 20 stayed together. In addition, the training’s difficulty was clearly tougher than last week’s by a lot. In terms of physical training, 800 meters of long distance running escalated into 1600 meters.

Professional knowledge and skill training began again, but this time together with the professional contestants. Ding Meng clearly felt the increased pressure. After the day of training concluded, her entire person felt weak.

When she came home, Qiao Yichen had already finished cooking dinner. Ding Meng looked at the dining room and then, just like in the morning, she walked away without saying a word.

Only, this time Qiao Yichen didn’t let her walk away. “Where are you going? Come over and eat. Then head up to the second floor to train.”

Ding Meng pursed her lips. She put her bag down in her room, washed her hands, and came out to eat. Neither of them spoke much at the dinner table. Under that oppressive atmosphere, they finished eating. During training, Ding Meng was actually very focused, but the two of them continued to not speak.

As if he knew the intensity of the training camp had increased, that night Qiao Yichen cut the training by half an hour. However, when the time came, Ding Meng didn’t have any intentions of leaving. “You can go down first. I’ll practice by myself for a bit.”

Qiao Yichen looked at her and softly spoke, “Don’t train too late. Remember to rest.”

“Okay.” Ding Meng agreed. She hopped on the treadmill and began to run.

Qiao Yichen looked at her again and then turned and walked downstairs. He first washed their dishes and then went back to his room to take a bath. After reading a music magazine for a bit, he fell asleep. In the middle of the night, he woke up and subconsciously glanced at the doorway.

Thinking of something, he rolled out of bed and opened the door to walk out. Everything was very quiet. He fumbled through the darkness into the living room and looked up at the stairs. There seemed to be some movements coming from the second floor. He stood by the head of the stairs for a short period before lifting his legs and walking up.

Ding Meng was still upstairs practicing. When Qiao Yichen arrived, she was standing by the window, practicing her tone. She hadn’t turned on the light so a single beam of light fell where she stood due to the moonlight.

Qiao Yichen wrinkled his eyebrows and walked forward, unintentionally raising his voice, “Ding Meng, do you know what time it is?”

Ding Meng’s voice cut off and she turned around to see Qiao Yichen standing by the doorway. She stared blankly for a moment. Then quickly, she apologized, “Sorry, did I wake you up? I only sang here because you mentioned this place was soundproofed. I’ll be more quiet.”

After she finished making her apologies, Qiao Yichen’s anger deepened. “You’re planning on continuing to sing? You should be sleeping right now!”

Ding Meng pursed her lips and replied, “I’m not tired.”

“I don’t care if you’re tired or not. Head downstairs immediately to sleep!”

This childish tone was just like from their childhood. Ding Meng paused, almost laughing aloud. “Qiao Dada, why did suddenly turn back into Goudan?”

Qiao Yichen’s face didn’t change, nor did he speak, but the tension between the two imperceptibly eased a lot.

Ding Meng lightly sighed and sat down against the window. “All the contestants attended the same trainings today. The difficulty suddenly increased by a lot. I’ve never even heard of some of the professional terms the instructors use. I watched all the other people easily catch up to the instructors pace. This kind of feeling… is just like I’ve returned to Jiu Middle school. While I’m still in the middle of figuring out the problem, another student has already announced the answer.”

Qiao Yichen wrinkled his brows, “So what then? Are you planning on practicing day and night, and then pressure yourself to the point of having to go to the hospital?”

Ding Meng lowered her head and didn’t speak. Qiao Yichen walked to her side and sat near her. “Before, weren’t you confused about why I would walk down the path of music?”

“Yeah.”

Qiao Yichen tilted his head and looked at her. A light seemed to appear in his eyes. “It was because of you.”