Chapter 122 - 121: Lip-Syncing or Live Singing

Chapter 122: Chapter 121: Lip-Syncing or Live Singing

Around 7:30 PM, Yu Zhiming was called out of his bedroom for dinner and noticed several new dishes on the table.

Gu Qingning said with a smug, show-off expression, "This fruit salad, this vegetable salad, and this seaweed egg drop soup—I made them all."

Yu Zhiming scoffed, his tone dripping with disdain. "Those are the easiest dishes to make, and you actually have the gall to brag about them."

"And look at the fruit you cut. Some pieces are big, some are small. It’s obvious you just hacked away at it with no basic knife skills."

Gu Qingning was so angry she wanted to punch Yu Zhiming to death, but since she was living under his roof, she had to endure it.

She channeled her anger into her appetite and began to wolf down her food.

Yu Xiangwan changed the subject. "Fifth Brother, I heard there was a huge shake-up at your hospital, a big adjustment in the leadership?"

Yu Zhiming grunted in affirmation. "Three of the hospital’s top leaders were replaced, and almost half of the department-level cadres were shuffled around."

"I don’t know them well, so it doesn’t affect me."

He then added with a touch of schadenfreude, "But I am happy to see that Vice President Yuan Qi is gone..."

Just then, Gu Qingning suddenly burst into a violent coughing fit, spraying a mouthful of spittle all over Yu Zhiming’s face.

Without bothering to wipe his face, he immediately got up, went behind Gu Qingning, and patted her on the back a few times.

Meeting his Fourth Sister’s worried gaze, Yu Zhiming said, "She just choked for a second. It’s nothing serious!"

Gu Qingning’s coughing quickly subsided, and she hurriedly wiped the tears welling in her eyes with the back of her hand.

It was only then that she noticed the entire table of food had been caught in the crossfire of her spray.

"I... I... I didn’t do it on purpose."

Gu Qingning explained sheepishly, then said, feeling very embarrassed, "Um, let’s go out to eat. My treat!"

"Or, I could order a bunch of takeout?"

"Fourth Sister, can you just boil a few bowls of dumplings?" Yu Zhiming stated his preference and went to the bathroom to wash up.

When he came out of the bathroom, he saw Gu Qingning sitting alone at the dining table, still stuffing her face.

"You’re not grossed out?"

Gu Qingning looked up at Yu Zhiming, her face a mask of misery. "How can I be grossed out by my own spit?"

Yu Zhiming couldn’t help but chuckle. "That’s true. You can’t be grossed out by yourself!"

"Well, this spread is enough to last you a day or two. Eat up. It’s better for you to put on some weight."

The comment about putting on weight reminded Gu Qingning of what that bastard had said about her figure the other night.

This time, however, she didn’t get angry.

"Yu Zhiming, am I really too skinny?"

Yu Zhiming gave a serious-sounding assessment, "Whether a body is fat or thin is a matter of personal preference. To each their own."

"But from a scientific, medical perspective, a slightly fuller figure is optimal."

"Being too thin or too overweight are both suboptimal."

Gu Qingning huffed. "Someone said last time that a fuller figure feels better to the touch. Now you’re hiding behind the banner of science."

Yu Zhiming retorted without a hint of embarrassment, "I’m a doctor. Of course my personal preferences follow the path of science."

Gu Qingning gave Yu Zhiming a massive eye-roll...

After dinner, Yu Xiangwan went to the kitchen to clean up.

At Gu Qingning’s request, Yu Zhiming reluctantly played a famous erhu piece for her, *The Moon Reflected in the Second Spring*.

When he finished playing, Gu Qingning politely clapped twice. "Not bad. I couldn’t really hear the tragic, sorrowful feeling, but at least you played it smoothly."

"Hey, your eldest sister said that she had you learn the erhu so you could perform at weddings and funerals?"

Yu Zhiming grunted. "My dad was the master of ceremonies for all the ’red and white affairs’ in our village. He had a lot of power."

"Let me tell you, the bands for those events make good money. For a single funeral, each person could get several hundred yuan."

"That’s a pretty hefty income in a rural area."

"Later, when my eyes got better and I got into university, my dad finally gave up and stopped pushing me to practice the erhu."

Gu Qingning said, "Oh," and chuckled. "Zhiming, you shouldn’t give up the erhu. You should practice for half an hour every day."

"I’ll apply to your eldest sister to be your practice supervisor."

Yu Zhiming shot her a look and threatened, "Gu Qingning, don’t go looking for trouble. Be careful, or I’ll kick you out and you’ll be homeless on the streets."

Gu Qingning scoffed and changed the subject again.

"Sister Xiang Wan said you treated the celebrity Jiang Xiyan and gave her a physical examination."

Gu Qingning asked enthusiastically, "I’ve seen the TV shows Jiang Xiyan has been in, and her photoshoots too."

"Her figure... TSK TSK. Even as a woman, when I see it, I can’t help but want to touch."

"Zhiming, you personally examined her. Do you have any inside info you can spill?"

"Everyone on the internet says her figure is the result of plastic surgery."

Yu Zhiming looked at Gu Qingning, whose inner flame of gossip was burning brightly, and rolled his eyes.

"I’m a doctor, and she was a patient."

"If I leaked any of her information and it caused a negative impact, I would be held legally responsible."

"Are you trying to get me sued?"

Gu Qingning pouted, then started chattering again. "The night before last, I was singing with Sister Xiang Wan."

"Sister Xiang Wan said that when singers perform, you can tell just by listening who’s lip-syncing and who’s singing live. Is that true?"

Yu Zhiming didn’t deny it, nodding. "Vocal recognition is one of my greatest strengths."

"No matter how well they match their lips to the track, the sound and the lip movements will never be a 100% perfect match. I can tell just by watching and listening."

"I can tell you for a fact, at all the major galas, including the Spring Festival Gala, very few of the celebrities are actually singing live."

Gu Qingning said, "Oh," pulled out her phone, and brought up a video.

"Zhiming, this is a concert I went to a while back. This is a short clip from the live performance."

"Take a look. Is she singing live, or lip-syncing?"

Yu Zhiming took the phone and was surprised to see that the performer on stage was none other than the famous A-list singer, Rao Yi.

Yu Zhiming had listened to several of this singer’s representative songs on repeat when he was relaxing.

He watched the video and listened carefully for a moment before speaking. "She wasn’t singing live during this song!"

"You’re sure?" Gu Qingning’s eyes widened.

Yu Zhiming nodded. "Look, she’s singing and dancing. No matter how stable her breath control is, there will always be subtle changes in her voice when she’s jumping around."

"Also, when she jumps, the microphone fixed by her mouth would also shake slightly, causing subtle fluctuations in the sound."

"But I can’t hear any of these minute changes."

"I’m certain it’s lip-syncing."

Gu Qingning chuckled slyly. "Zhiming, let me tell you something. That concert was organized by a culture company owned by a friend of mine."

"Let’s just say, the big star made a lot of money from this concert, but my friend’s company lost money."

"Not only that, but Rao Yi’s company is also suing my friend’s company for taking on unapproved advertisements."

"They’re demanding a lot of money in compensation."

"However, the performance contract they signed explicitly forbids lip-syncing, hmph hmph..."

Yu Zhiming quickly interjected, "Gu Qingning, I’m not going to stick my neck out and testify about something like this."

"Besides, nobody would believe my testimony anyway."

Gu Qingning giggled. "Zhiming, don’t worry. I won’t let you get into trouble."

"Now that we’ve confirmed Rao Yi was really lip-syncing, my friend has all the leverage they need to negotiate with them."

"The other party has a guilty conscience, so they’ll definitely compromise in the end."

Gu Qingning reached out and patted Yu Zhiming’s shoulder, her tone promising a reward. "After this is settled, there’ll be something in it for you."

Yu Zhiming scoffed and stood up.

"So that’s why you suddenly wanted to hear me play the erhu. Your real goal was to have me determine if someone was lip-syncing."

"Gu Qingning, your mind is full of too many twists and turns. Be careful it doesn’t get tangled in a knot and give you a cerebral infarction."

With that, Yu Zhiming walked into his bedroom.

Gu Qingning opened her mouth, but in the end, she didn’t call out to stop Yu Zhiming. Instead, she got up and went to the kitchen.

"Sister Xiang Wan, I think I made Zhiming angry..."

Yu Xiangwan stopped scrubbing the pot and listened as the girl chattered on, explaining the whole story.

Yu Xiangwan chuckled lightly and said, "It’s a small thing. Fifth Brother won’t be truly angry."

"But still, Qingning, in the future, it’s better to just be direct about things."

"Fifth Brother doesn’t like mind games or beating around the bush..."