Marriage Concerto (Small Thing Called Love) Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Use Your Voice and Make Everyone Remember You

The first day at the training center pa.s.sed by pleasantly. Ding Meng did not stay after training ended at 4:30. Instead, she retrieved her things and left the premises.

By the time Qiao Yichen returned home from work, Ding Meng had already finished cooking a table full of dishes and was waiting to eat together with him.

Qiao Yichen raised his eyebrows, took off his suit jacket, and hung it next to the door.
Then, he asked, “Why are you suddenly so hardworking? What time did you get back?”

“I came home as soon as I was done with training.”

Qiao Yichen walked over to the table, looked down at her, “Great… slacking off again.”

Ding Meng responded to his remark by rolling her eyes. She asked, “Are you blaming me for coming home to cook for you?”

Qiao Yichen thought this was somewhat laughable and asked, “Who asked you to cook for me?”

“You paid for my training,” Ding Meng pointed at the table full of food. “If I don’t do something to repay you, I won’t be able to keep a clear conscience. I just bought all of the ingredients from the supermarket with my own money.”

As Qiao Yichen moved the corners of his mouth to speak, Ding Meng interrupted him and said, “Don’t you dare say that I can repay you with my body; I will call the police.”

Qiao Yichen bent over in laughter for a moment. After walking to the kitchen to wash his hands, he returned to his seat at the dining table, picked up his bowl and chopsticks, and began to eat.

As he ate, he felt that Ding Meng’s cooking technique was not nearly as good as his own, but to him it was very delicious. He figured that this was probably a sickness, but he didn’t want to cure it.

Each of the dishes on the table had been personally tasted by Ding Meng so she was confident in how they tasted. However, she couldn’t help but wonder, how much money would she owe Qiao Yichen in the end when they eventually divorce?

However, there was no need to worry. If her alb.u.m became a big seller, the tables would turn and she would become a wealthy woman capable of providing for him. This kind of potential future made her blood race with antic.i.p.ation. She took two bites of rice before glancing up at Qiao Yichen and saying, “I heard a coworker from the company say that you are very busy at the company and frequently work overtime late into the night.”

“En,” Qiao Yichen casually confirmed.

“Oh.” Ding Meng ate another bite of rice before glancing over at him again, “But why do I feel like you always come home at a normal time?”

Qiao Yichen’s chopstick movements stopped midair. Before he had a chance to recover, she pursued, “Especially throughout the compet.i.tion, you wouldn’t have purposely rushed through your work to come home to cook for me, right?”

After she said that, Qiao Yichen’s complexion changed again. As Ding Meng calmly continued staring at him. , Qiao Yichen placed some shredded meat in his bowl.

He cleared his throat and replied, “Things are not the same as the past. Now that I have a wife, how could I leave her all by herself at home?”

Ding Meng, “…”

She had underestimated his shamelessness. This round was her loss.

After being verbally taken advantage of, she ladled two big spoonfuls of mapo tofu into her bowl. Lowering her head, she directed all her efforts into eating her dinner.

Qiao Yichen was very satisfied with this result. Smiling, he raised his chopsticks to get more shredded meat and slowly spoke “Besides, my job is flexibl
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e. If there is work that cannot be finished at the office, I can always bring it back to work from home.”

Ding Meng continued to eat quietly.

When it came time for the evening’s training, Qiao Yichen did not forget about the additional half an hour of physical training he gave her in punishment that morning. As she ran on the treadmill to the brink of exhaustion, any wishful thinking she had earlier disappeared into thin air.

The next day was still a full day of training. Compared to the compet.i.tion’s training camp, the company’s training center had much more drinking water readily available. However, Ding Meng still brought her big water bottle with her.

During break, she drank tea as her main drink of choice. Xiao Zhou made a special trip over to see how she was doing. After the two chat for awhile, Xiao Zhou astutely noticed the water bottle in her hand,. “Eh! Your bottle looks a lot like Qiao Yichen’s bottle.”

Ding Meng was stunned for a moment. Then, she half-heartedly replied, “No way… Qiao Yichen uses such a cute water bottle?”

“He really does! He leaves his water bottle in the recording studio! At first glance, I thought I was seeing things as well. It’s just that his bottle is blue colored… Wait a minute! Could these bottles be a couple set?!”

As she looked at Ding Meng, Xiao Zhou’s expression immediately became dubious. As CEO Xiang’s secretary, she knew a thing or two about how much Qiao Yichen looked after Ding Meng.

Ding Meng felt like she had just come across the most critical moment of her lifetime. Remaining as calm as possible, she said, “I bought this bottle online. The seller didn’t say that it was a couple item.”

Xiao Zhou spoke, “Che, the seller was really immoral to break . apart a couple item and sell them separately. Thankfully, they have now been reunited.”

Ding Meng, “…”

Xiao Zhou was actually quite romantic.

Seeing how Xiao Zhou wanted to continue gossipping, Ding Meng was grateful that the next cla.s.s was about to start. She excused herself and returned to the cla.s.sroom.

It looked like she would need to bring a different water bottle tomorrow.

Inside the recording studio, Qiao Yichen put down his water bottle on the table and spoke into the microphone, “Stop.”

Liang Yanyan’s voice stopped again. She took off her headphones, pressed her lips together, and looked through the soundproof gla.s.s at the person on the other side. The sound technician who sat in front of the equipment silently pitied her. She was finished. Great Producer Qiao was going to flip out again.

Qiao Yichen opened his mouth to speak, but suddenly, he remembered what Ding Meng said to him last night. He pursed his lips and rephrased what he was about to say. “Your voice is very unique. I must admit that within the music industry, it is very distinguishable. Many people overlook the shortcomings of your singing because of your cute voice. However, as a professional producer, I cannot do the same. If you can maximize the potential of your voice by putting more of your effort into singing, I am confident that you will have a very outstanding song.”

The sound technician sitting nearby was shocked. He thought to himself, “What happened? This was so out of the ordinary… when did he become so diplomatic?”

This kind and gentle Qiao Yichen was really too out of character.

Liang Yanyan looked as though she had seen a ghost. Qiao Yichen frowned. He really shouldn’t have taken Ding Meng’s advice. People who don’t sing well deserve to be yelled at.

He was just about to repeat himself in his usual manner when Liang Yanyan began to cry inside the booth,, “Sor… I’m so sorry. I have been diligently practicing this song, but I don’t know why… I always do fine during practice, but, but once I step into the recording booth, I always make mistakes…”

The sound technician “…”

Who wouldn’t be able to figure out why?! Of course it was because Qiao Yichen was too intimidating.

Liang Yanyan wiped away her tears and pulled herself together, “I will sing it well next time. I promise.”

Qiao Yichen looked at her silently for a moment. Then, he slightly pursed his lips to say “Prepare yourself. Starting from the beginning.”

After starting over, Liang Yanyan’s performance was better than any of her previous attempts. Although she still failed to meet Qiao Yichen’s standards, her number of errors was significantly reduced.

The sound technician sighed with admiration, “This strategy of yours was really good. Her singing is much better now.”

Without replying, Qiao Yichen crossed his arms and watched Liang Yanyan sing.

In the evening after getting off work, he and Ding Meng got home around the same time so they began cooking together in the kitchen. The snacks that Qiao Yichen ordered for her yesterday had already arrived. A potato chip dangled from Ding Meng’s mouth as she washed vegetables by the sink.

After Qiao Yichen finished cutting up the meat, he turned his head to look at her “Liang Yanyan came back to record today.”

Ding Meng finished off the potato chip in her mouth after a couple bites and then asked casually, “Oh, how did it go?”

“After I recognized her strengths, she actually did sing much better.”

Ding Meng proudly laughed, “I was right wasn’t I? These are the strategies to teach to one’s strengths. Do you understand now? You will only be able to obtain the best results by using different methods for different people.”

Qiao Yichen laughed, “However, I won’t be adjusting my teaching methods for you. If you sing poorly I will definitely not be lenient.”

Ding Meng, “…”

In other words, her hard work would only benefit Liang Yanyan?

She wanted to give herself a medal.

Probably because she actually did gain some good karma through her actions, the next day, she received a piece of good news from Jiang Man. “The lineup of singers for the concert has been decided. I managed to add your name into the very last slot.”

Even though Qiao Yichen had previously mentioned that Jiang Man was very capable, Ding Meng was still stunned, “Are you saying that I can attend?”

“Yes.” Jiang Man nodded her head and handed a copy of the program to Ding Meng. “This is the concert’s finalized list of songs which Qiao Yichen has provided. Because you were added at the last minute so you did not have a say.”

Ding Meng looked over the program. At the very top was Mo Zhen. He would be singing two songs in total, and one of them was actually his own. The next were Gu Xin and Sima Xiaoxiao, who would be doing the same. She skimmed to the very end of the program and saw her own name: Ding Meng – Ruan Lingyun You Wanted to Break Up Today..

Her heart sank and the joy she had felt earlier died down considerably. At a time when pop music had just become mainstream, Ruan Lingyun was a s.h.i.+ning queen within the music industry. It could be said that her music represented an entire era. Having the opportunity to perform her song was definitely very good. Only, her song You Wanted to Break Up Today … was not very interesting.

Ruan Lingyun’s remarkable appearance and voice had been the rage of an era. However, this young and remarkable queen had an exceptionally rocky love life. She dated two lowlife men in a row but ultimately found a boyfriend who seemed to be the one. However, she still ended up getting cheated on.

You Wanted to Break Up Today was a song that this queen had written herself while grieving and dealing with her heartbreak.

Ruan Lingyun’s voice could be considered flawless, but her writing talent … was nonexistent orz.

The lyrics and melody of this song were both mediocre at best. She figured that Qiao Yichen chose this song because it held special meaning to Ruan Lingyun.

Not only was that because this song was Ruan Lingyun’s only self-composed song, but also because she pa.s.sed away due to a traffic incident right after she finished recording this song.

On the surface, You Wanted to Break Up Today seemed mediocre but it had gone down in history as the most meaningful song of the queen of an era.

However, to sing such a plain and boring song at a concert that was bringing back cla.s.sic songs was… ah whatever. It’s not like she would have had the chance to sing a better a song.

Jiang Man noticed that she looked somewhat downcast and said, “Even though you don’t have say in choosing your song, being able to appear in this concert is already very good. However, if you are unwilling, I can take your name off the list at any time.”

“No, I am willing to sing. Thank you for helping me fight for this opportunity.” Ding Meng was not foolish enough to let go of such a great opportunity.

Jiang Man nodded her head,:“Then get prepared. The dress rehearsal will begin a few days.. I will notify you of the time and date later. As for how to perform the song, that will be Qiao Yichen’s responsibility. He will be contacting you about that.”

“Sounds good, thank you.”

Although Ding Meng understood, she couldn’t help but feel a slight sense of disappointment. Later, she carefully looked over list of names once more. Even Liang Yanyan, who was just an average singer, had been given a pretty good song. At least she was the champion of a compet.i.tion…

After Qiao Yichen finished cutting up the vegetables, he saw Ding Meng slowly was.h.i.+ng the vegetables off to the side. He muttered to himself before speaking, “What, you can’t accept it?”

Ding Meng blanked momentarily, not understanding what he just said, “Huh?”

Qiao Yichen spoke, “Giving you Ruan Lingyun’s You Wanted to Break Up Today.

Ding Meng nodded her head vigorously, “It’s not like that. I don’t even have a song of my own yet. In the music industry, even Liang Yanyan is more impressive than I am.”

Qiao Yichen looked at her and spoke, “I will be able to complete your new song very soon. This is the way of the music industry. If you want to have a say, just use your voice and make everyone remember you.”