Marriage Concerto (Small Thing Called Love) - Chapter 38

Chapter 38: That’s right, I’ve gotten caught up in this act

Translator: pwip

The kiss was as light as a feather, but raging emotions surged through Ding Meng’s head.

What the hell! Where had this dominant personality type suddenly come from? What about the contract they had agreed upon? The contract?!

No no no, those weren’t even the biggest issue at hand. The biggest issue was that she had just been kissed!

Her first kiss in 25 years!

An explosion went off in Ding Meng’s head and turned her thoughts into a complete mess. What was she supposed to do now? Should she throw the screeching device or use the pepper spray? Or maybe make a break for the kitchen to find a knife?!

After blanking out for what seemed like half a day, she simply ended up covering her mouth with both of her hands. She glared fiercely at Qiao Yichen, “The contract specified that both parties are not to have unnecessary physical contact!”

Her muffled voice traveled indistinctly through her palms, but Qiao Yichen heard her clearly. He laughed and said to her, “Our lips simply touched just now, and it was completely necessary.”

Ding Meng, “…”

What was she supposed to do when the one who initiated the kiss was this shameless?!

Qiao Yichen wore an expression that said “just give up” and continued, “Besides, what’s wrong with kissing my own wife?”

“…You’re getting too caught up in this act!” Profanities of every kind ran through Ding Meng’s mind.

Qiao Yichen approached her and her eyes were immediately captured by his dark pupils, “That’s right, I’ve gotten caught up in this act. As long as you do too, we can move forward with the ninth item on the contract.”

He lifted up her chin with intense focus. Ding Meng’s hands were still tightly covering her mouth. When she saw that he was trying to kiss her again, she suddenly stomped on his foot, “Screw off!”

Recoiling from the sudden attack, Qiao Yichen cringed as he let go of Ding Meng. Ding Meng seized the opportunity to push him backwards and rushed back into the safety of her room, flipping both of the locks on her door.

After taking a couple deep breaths while leaning against the door, she dashed into the bathroom to splash some cold water onto her burning cheeks.

Right after she finished wiping her face dry, Qiao Yichen calmly knocked on her door, “Come out. My foot is swollen because of you.”

Ding Meng flashed a small smile before turning her head towards the door and shouting, “I’ve already let you off easy by not using my knee to attack your important place! Your foot is swollen? Deal with it!”

Qiao Yichen, “…”

Based on his own principles of not lowering himself to fight with his own wife, Qiao Yichen magnanimously expressed, “Then let’s call a truce. Come out to finish eating the noodles. They’re going to become bloated soon.”

When he put things like that, Ding Meng’s did feel a smidgen of heartache. Her noodles! She hadn’t even taken a single bite! However, trying to use this sort of trick to lure her outside? Haha she was far too clever to fall for that.

“Who’s calling a truce with you? Go away!”

Qiao Yichen, “…”

He laughed and then knocked on her door twice more, “Well you can kiss me too. Wouldn’t that make us even?”

“…In your dreams!”

Qiao Yichen stifled a laugh. Yeah, that would be a nice dream.

“I’m going back to my room. The noodles are on the table. You can come out to eat it when you want.

Qiao Yichen returned to his own room. From beginning to end, he hadn’t tried to corner her. Ding Meng’s ears perked up when she heard a door closing. After waiting for a bit, no longer hearing any activity, she gathered up her courage, preparing to go out and carry the noodles back into her room.

However, she still didn’t feel reassured. She picked up the pepper spray in her drawer and cautiously opened her door. Qiao Yichen really seemed to have returned to his room. The hallway was empty. Like a little rabbit, she quickly ran out, picked up the bowl of noodles, and ran back to her room.

The noodles had really become a bit bloated. As she used her chopsticks to give them a good mix, she wondered to herself whether or not Qiao Yichen would have added something strange inside. Ah…whatever, he wouldn’t be that wicked.

After finishing her noodles, Ding Meng didn’t dare go back outside to wash her dishes because of the hungry wolf outside. She had no choice but to leave her empty bowl on the table and go to sleep filled with confused emotions.

In her dream, Qiao Yichen had used all sorts of poses and tricks to seduce her, and in the end, she had actually given in!

That dream scared her awake.

As she woke up, realizing that she was lying in bed by herself, she let out a deep breath. After washing up, she came out of her room just in time to bump into Qiao Yichen. He was right in the middle of putting on his suit. When he saw Ding Meng, he also stared at her blankly. After they silently stared at each other for three seconds, Ding Meng grabbed her personal screeching device and chucked it at Qiao Yichen. Afterwards, she bolted out like a gust of wind.

Qiao Yichen, “…”

He picked up the screeching device, took out the batteries, and threw it in the trash.

After Ding Meng rushed out of the neighborhood, she finally realized that she hadn’t even eaten breakfast yet. She rummaged inside her bag to find a small box of crackers which she had casually tossed inside last night, which she reluctantly ate as her breakfast.

When she arrived at the company, she was summoned to Jiang Man’s office.

Jiang Man wore a happy expression, “The concert yielded better results than I had expected. I will notify Qiao Yichen to push out your new song as soon as possible to take advantage of your current popularity. I’ll also tell him to include You Wanted To Break Up Today into the release.”

Ding Meng nodded her head like a student as she listened to Jiang Man say, “And also, Gu Xin’s manager contacted me saying that Gu Xin wants to collaborate on a song with you.”

Ding Meng’s eyes immediately widened, “He wants to collaborate on a song with me? Does this mean he wants to sing a duet?”

“Yup, that’s right.” Jiang Man nodded. “I believe that this is a very good opportunity. If you don’t have any objections, I will tell them to start preparing for this matter.”

“Ah…” Ding Meng appeared hesitant, “Who will be in charge of the song?”

“Of course it’ll be Gu Xin. His talent for writing doesn’t lose to Qiao Yichen’s. You have heard of his new album Lose Control before, right?

“Yes…” Every song in Lose Control was personally written by Gu Xin himself. Of course she wasn’t doubting his musical talent. Only…

“Why are you hesitating? Don’t you know how many people want to collaborate with Gu Xin but don’t have the chance?” Jiang Man frowned at Ding Meng’s hesitation.

“The main issue is…” At home there was still Goudan, and he particularly disliked it when she and Gu Xin got too close. “May I think about it for a bit? I won’t take long, I promise.”

Jiang Man looked up at her contemplating for a bit. After some time passed, Jiang Man spoke, “I’ll give you a day.”

“Okay, sounds good. Thanks. Then, I’ll be heading to the recording studio.”

“Okay.” Jiang Man faintly nodded her head. “Oh right, did you have a chance to look at your Weibo after going home yesterday?”

Ding Meng spoke, “Not yet. What happened?” Yesterday, after getting back home, she was so tired that she didn’t want to do anything. Afterwards she was even taken advantage of by Qiao Yichen so she was even less interested in doing anything.

You’re almost at 100,000 followers.

Ding Meng was a little shocked. Jiang Man added, “They weren’t bought by the company.”

“Ah….Eh.” Ding Meng didn’t know what to say. Jiang Man waved a hand, motioning for her to leave. After exiting the office, Ding Meng immediately took out her phone to browse her Weibo. Her follower count had already surpassed 99,000. She only need a few thousand more to reach 100,000.

This Weibo account hadn’t even been active for half a month, but her follower count was constantly setting new records. Ding Meng couldn’t help but sigh due to this pleasant surprise. It would be nice if the value of the stocks she had bought could rise like this.

The number of followers who left comments had also grown by quite a lot. She skimmed over them and posted an update on the status of her new song before heading over to the recording studio.

Qiao Yichen was already waiting for her inside the recording studio. When he saw her, he acted as if absolutely nothing had happened last night. In a very natural tone, he spoke, “Jiang Man talked to me already. She wants me to finish producing this song as quickly as possible. However, the pace of song making depends primarily on the condition of the singer.”

Eh, then was he implying that the lack of progress with this song was all because of her?

He scolded her all day in the recording studio. Then, after returning home he still wanted to kiss her. Hah.

Ding Meng wrinkled her nose and spoke, “Manager Jiang told me just now that Gu Xin wants to sing a duet with me.”

Qiao Yichen’s eyes flashed quickly before he turned around to leave, “I’m not your manager. You don’t need to report to me for these sorts of matters. Go inside to record your song after you finish preparing.”

Ding Meng glanced at him and then walked straight into the recording booth without saying a word. After only a few lines, she was cut off by Qiao Yichen, “I’ve told you before to avoid focusing so much on your technique. Right now, you’re not singing. You’re just bragging.”

Ding Meng, “…”

She had only sang three lines! Even if she wanted to brag, she hadn’t had enough time yet!

“Start over.” Qiao Yichen ignored her and issued another command.

The intro music began to roll once more. This time Ding Meng only managed to sing one line before getting cut off by Qiao Yichen. “Have you lost your head from happiness after a little bit of success? Not a single note is on key. Are you testing my listening abilities?”

Ding Meng, “…”

He was definitely deliberately provoking her!

She looked at the sound technician sitting next to Qiao Yichen. The sound technician sympathetically shook his head at her helplessly——Great Producer Qiao’s in a bad mood. You should just bear with it.

Ding Meng, “…”

After getting cut off again, Ding Meng stared at the person beyond the glass window, waiting to see what kind of reason he came up with this time.

“We’ll start again after ten minutes.” This time, Qiao Yichen had taken the initiative to suggest a break. After speaking, he left without turning back.

Ding Meng took off her headphones and opened to door to leave, “What happened?”

The sound technician, “No clue. He was in a great mood before you got here. I actually thought he had won the lottery or something yesterday.”

Ding Meng, “…”

She really felt like breaking things off with Qiao Yichen. She took out her water bottle with the intention of getting some water. When she passed by the desk, she noticed the water bottle Qiao Yichen had placed on it.

It was the one she had given him in the past.

The sound technician noticed she was looking at the water bottle and spoke to her in a gossipy tone, “This bottle is actually Qiao Yichen’s. Unexpected, right? His tongue is usually so poisonous, but his water bottles are actually this cute. Could this be what people refer to as tsundere?

Ding Meng silently got some water for herself without responding.

While she sat on the couch, she browsed Weibo. The post she had just published earlier already had over a thousand comments. Ding Meng had never experienced a feeling like this before. Just a couple months ago, Jiang Nanqing was the only one who commented on her posts.

While this feeling made her feel like she was floating on clouds, it also made her feel strangely terrified. Wasn’t there a common saying that went, “The higher you are, the harder you fall”?

A private message notification suddenly popped up on her screen so she pressed it to take a look. It was actually from Gu Xin.

“You must have already heard about us potentially working together, right? Jiang Man said that she needed to delay giving me a response. Are you possibly unwilling to collaborate with me?”

Ding Meng suffered a scare and immediately responded, “That’s not it ~~o(>_<)o ~~”

Gu Xin, “Is it because of what happened that day in the lounge? I’m sorry if I scared you. I really didn’t have any ulterior motives. My reason for wanting to collaborate with you is because I admire your singing abilities.”

Ding Meng, “That’s really not it QwQ. I know you didn’t have any ulterior motives.”

While she was still figuring out how to give Gu Xin an explanation, Gu Xin sent another private message, “Then, is it because of Qiao Yichen? I could tell that he doesn’t like the two of us being together.”

Ding Meng, “…”

Even though Qiao Yichen had expressed that pretty clearly, she was still unable to straightforwardly admit it.

Gu Xin, “However, there’s something I don’t get. Qiao Yichen is only your producer. Why do you have to listen to him so obediently?”

Ding Meng pondered for a moment before replying, “Qiao Yichen isn’t just my producer. He was also my competition judge. I know that everything he does is for my own benefit. He has nothing to do with this collaboration matter. I just don’t have much experience with rock ‘n’ roll so I’m not very confident ~~o(>_<)o ~~”

Gu Xin, “OK, I don’t want to pressure you. You should focus on your new song first. We can discuss the matter of collaborating in the future.”

“Thank you.” Ding Meng put away her phone and subconsciously glanced in the direction that Qiao Yichen had departed in.