Marriage Concerto (Small Thing Called Love) Chapter 32

Chapter 32: Come sleep in my office

She put away the concert details, picked up Qiao Yichen’s list of items, and walked toward the training center to sign up for cla.s.ses.

When the time came to pay, the staff member informed her that her fees had already been taken care of by Qiao Yichen.

Ding Meng blinked in surprise a few times before returning the credit card in her hand back to her bag. The staff member made her fill out a form and then handed her a training card and cla.s.s schedule. “Every time you come to cla.s.s, swipe it once. The fee will automatically be deducted. It’s already lunchtime now so come back in the afternoon to attend cla.s.s.”

“Okay.” Ding Meng filled out the form as she listened to staff member speak.

“The teachers won’t start work until 2PM, but the cla.s.srooms will be open. You can go inside and practice on your own.”

“Got it, thank you.” She gave her filled out form to the staff member and put away the cla.s.s schedule and training card before proceeding to the dining hall.

At this time, there weren’t many people in the dining hall. She bought a set meal and concluded that Xiao Zhou really hadn’t been lying to her. The food here much better than her university’s dining hall food. After eating, She felt a little sleepy. When she returned to the training center, she discovered that not a single person was inside.

Ay, looks like all the singers nowadays were very lazy. They weren’t hard working at all. As she formed those thoughts, she found a lounge and laid down on a desk to take a noon nap.

After Qiao Yichen finished eating lunch, he made a special trip to the training center to take a look. He soon discovered Ding Meng happily dreaming inside the lounge. After watching her from outside for a moment, he walked in and knocked on her desk.

Ding Meng jumped up in surprise. When she looked up and saw Qiao Yichen standing in front of her, she suffered yet another scare. “About this, I wasn’t slacking off! The teachers haven’t arrived yet!”

Qiao Yichen looked down at her and a soft laugh flowed out of his mouth, “Come sleep in my office.”

“Ah?” The way the situation was unfolding was completely contrary to her expectations. He must be jesting with me.

Ding Meng thought for a moment and ultimately decided that refusing was a safer option, “That wouldn’t be very good, right?”

“My office has a very soft couch.” Qiao Yichen threw out the bait, turned around, then walked away. After hesitating for two seconds, Ding Meng happily followed him.

Qiao Yichen’s office was only one floor below CEO Xiang’s office. This made Ding Meng even more confident of her earlier suspicion…

The chen in Guangchen was definitely a portmanteau of the chen in Qiao Yichen.

Qiao Yichen’s office was very s.p.a.cious and let in a lot of natural lighting. Ding Meng immediately went over to the couch, sat down, and discovered that it actually was very soft.

Qiao Yichen continued working after returning to his office. As Ding Meng lay on the couch and watched the person working in front of the office desk, she asked, “What are you doing?”

Qiao Yichen responded without looking up, “Composing a song for you.”

These five simple words somehow caused Ding Meng’s heart to skip a beat. She replied rather unnaturally, “Ah, thanks for your trouble.”

Qiao Yichen laughed but didn’t speak. Ding Meng thought about her contract with Xingyao and became a little worried, “How is it going with Xingyao Entertainment?” Had they already placed her on their blacklist?

Qiao
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Yichen responded, “The representatives sent by the company to take care of it have already returned. The relevant departments will follow up shortly. You don’t need to worry about it.”

“Ah, then what about that song?”

“The song written for the winner? I hear they gave it to Tang s.h.i.+ran. Xingyao is probably going to invest a lot in Tang s.h.i.+ran now…” He spoke up to there and looked up at Ding Meng, “to purposefully compete against you.”

Ding Meng, “…”

Looks like she really had been placed on their blacklist.

She was quiet for a moment before thinking of something else, “Then what about you? Didn’t you agree to help them record that song?”

“I agreed to help the winner record a song. Matters concerning the runner-up have nothing to do with me.”

Ding Meng, “…”

He had definitely been placed on Xingyao’s blacklist, too.

Thinking about the concert Jiang Man had talked about, she spoke eagerly, “Goudan, I saw on that commemoration concert’s details that you’re the music director!”

Qiao Yichen raised his eyebrows and spoke with a straight face, “I’m warning you again, don’t call me Goudan, especially at work!”

“Eh…” Ding Meng looked a little regretful, “Well, thank you for helping me pay for my training fees, Goudan-dan.”

Qiao Yichen, “…”

Did she not understand Chinese?!

He suppressed his irritation and spoke as calmly as possible, “I am aware that Jiang Man is trying to get a spot for you in this concert. Even though I am the music director, I don’t have the authority to decide the lineup.”

Ding Meng replied comfortingly, “That’s fine. Don’t blame yourself too much. I hadn’t placed my hopes on you anyhow.”

Qiao Yichen, “…”

Get off my couch right now and get out of my office!!

After his inner tirade, Qiao Yichen felt much more comfortable, “Jiang Man is very capable. There shouldn’t be any problem if she personally takes action. You can look forward to the good news.”

“Okay.” Ding Meng looked at him while blinking. “Actually, I am curious about something. What did you have to sacrifice to convince her to take me?”

…

Qiao Yichen took a deep breath and stopped moving the pen in his hand, “Are you actually going to sleep? If you’re not going to sleep, go to the training center to practice.”

“Okay okay okay, I’ll sleep.” Ding Meng laid on the couch and was quiet for two seconds before she spoke again, “Goudan.”

Qiao Yichen, “…”

Get out! Immediately! Right now!

Ding Meng turned over and readjusted her position on the couch, “I saw how you scolded Liang Yanyan today. Aren’t you being a bit too harsh?”

Qiao Yichen gave a cold snort, “With her singing like that, did you want me to praise her instead?”

Ding Meng spoke, “I know you’re strict because you want her to sing better, but Liang Yanyan and Sima Xiaoxiao aren’t the same. Sima Xiaoxiao is definitely the eager to excel type. The more you scold her, the more you evoke her desire to succeed. However, Liang Yanyan is so delicate, and she’s not even a professional singer. Recording with you is already intimidating. If you continue to scold her, you’ll only damage her self-confidence even more. I think you should remind her of her strengths and stop scolding her so miserably.”

Qiao Yichen raised his eyebrows and looked up at her, “You’re teaching me how to do my job now?”

Ding Meng, “…”

c.r.a.p…

“Tonight’s physical training will be increased by half an hour.”

Ding Meng, “…”

She turned over on the couch and quietly went to sleep.

However, for reasons she couldn’t understand, she wasn’t sleepy at all anymore. Earlier in the lounge, she had clearly slept very well.

Ding Meng figured that because Qiao Yichen was right next to her, she couldn’t relax and therefore she couldn’t sleep. She stealthily cast a glance at Qiao Yichen. His head was lowered and his eyebrows were slightly wrinkled, as if he was contemplating something. People say that men are the most attractive when they are in the middle of working. Ding Meng finally understood the meaning of those words. Qiao Yichen’s concentrated expression made him look more handsome than usual.

“Is there something else you wanted to say?” Even though he hadn’t looked up, Qiao Yichen could still detect Ding Meng’s small movements.

“Ah, I…” She couldn’t say that she had become fascinated while peeking at him. “Mm, are you using the computer on your desk?”

“Not using it.”

“Then let me use it to go on the internet.”

Qiao Yichen, “…”

Ding Meng began to use Qiao Yichen’s high-end, personal computer to browse Moubao.

T/N: OK so I figure the author doesn’t want to use the names of actual businesses, which is why QQ is written as Penguin (QQ’s mascot is a penguin) and Toubao is written as Moubao. Toubao is like an eBay/Amazon online shopping website.

Nearby, Qiao Yichen watched silently, “Weren’t you very tired earlier?”

Ding Meng, who was browsing enthusiastically, responded, “Who would still take a nap when there’s a computer available?”

Qiao Yichen, “…”

He couldn’t argue against that.

“Goudan, look. This box of imported snacks is pretty good huh. It even has my favorite honey potato chips.”

Qiao Yichen looked at the glittering snacks that filled the screen and responded, “Aren’t you scared of getting fat?”

“No way, my workload is so big right now. It’s impossible for me to become fat.”

Qiao Yichen stole the mouse from her hand, “You can either sleep or you can return to the training center.”

Ding Meng stared at Qiao Yichen with resentment, but Qiao Yichen was completely indifferent.

Ding Meng ultimately decided to sleep. Before she closed her eyes, she didn’t forget to remind him, “I always carry my pervert blocking alarms on me. Don’t think that you can act recklessly just because I will be asleep.”

Qiao Yichen, “…You’re too confident in yourself.”

This time, the very confident Ding Meng actually fell asleep. As if he had finally succeeded in coaxing to sleep a bratty child who refused to go to bed, Qiao Yichen let out a heartfelt sigh of relief.

He made up his mind to never let her come to his office again.

It was very peaceful after Ding Meng fell asleep. He watched her sleeping face for a moment and then quietly smiled. Forget it, he would let her come again tomorrow, but only tomorrow.

His gaze returned to the box of snacks on the screen. Qiao Yichen thought for a moment before logging into his account and buying this box of snacks.

However, the recipient was listed as Ding Meng and the telephone number listed was also Ding Meng’s.

He could just imagine how surprised she would be when she received these snacks.

Pleased with himself, Qiao Yichen closed the web page.

At 1:30 pm, Ding Meng was ruthlessly woken up by him and was chased off to the training center. In the afternoon, two more singers came and attended cla.s.s with her. Everyone was very concentrated. Ding Meng’s thoughts and att.i.tude really changed after having to pay a fee.

During the half-way break, she received a text message.

“Dear foodie, your snack order has already been delivered to Tongtong Express Delivery and is currently on the road, rus.h.i.+ng to be delivered to you! Order Number x.x.xXX, check your delivery status at any time~ wis.h.i.+ng you happiness every day, and deliciousness at every meal!”

Ding Meng stared in confusion. What the heck? Had she bought that box of snacks while sleepwalking?

She held her phone and thought for a moment before bursting out in laughter. She flipped to Qiao Yichen’s number and sent a text:「Qiao dada, did you not know that Moubao sends a text message when the delivery is s.h.i.+pped? 233333」

T/N: 233333 = “hahahahaha”; the more 3s in the back, the harder the laugh! Reason for this: on a popular Chinese forum (Mop.com), the LOL emoticon is No. 233

Qiao dada, “…”

Just like that, his surprise had been ruined. He decided to give the seller a poor rating.

At that moment in time, Gu Xin had returned to the lounge area after recording a song.

The TV in the lounge was playing the Heavenly Voice finale. Even though he was watching it on TV, he could still perceive how extremely stunning Ding Meng’s performance was. “First Flower of February——blossoming among the wind and snow! No need for anyone to appreciate, my solitary fragrance.”

Gu Xin’s manager entered from outside just in time to hear that line. “You’re also watching this compet.i.tion? I think this season’s winner was…”

“Ding Meng.” Gu Xin finished.

“Right right right, Ding Meng. I heard that she signed a contract with Guangchen.”

Gu Xin was a little surprised, “Not with Xingyao?”

The manager blinked at him as he gossiped. “I received information that Qiao Yichen didn’t like Xingyao’s song and even stole their first place winner.”

Gu Xin laughed, “That’s Qiao Yichen’s style.”

“Right now, it seems like Jiang Man will be managing her. I just met Jiang Man when I was confirming the concert details. She wants to add Ding Meng to the lineup.”

“Ah, I’m really looking forward to it.”

The manager’s gossipy personality resurfaced, “You’re also interested in her?”

Gu Xin avoided the question by asking, “What do you think about her singing?”

The manager thought hard and gave a fair judgment. “Her voice is very nice and her singing skills are still improving. Overall, she can be considered very promising.”

Since she was able to sing First Flower of February like this, it wasn’t hard to understand why Guangchen was willing to pay such a large penalty fee to sign her over.

“I think similarly.” Gu Xin’s eyes paused on Ding Meng’s face on screen, “The music industry has already become as still as stagnant water. It’s about time we had newcomers like this to revitalize it.”