19: Chapter 19 Pre-match Preparations

The taxi was stuck on the East Third Ring Road for twenty minutes.

Yu Liang leaned back in his seat and used his phone to search for the registration page of The Actors Voice.

The page design was very flashy, with a gold gradient background and a massive slogan—

"Not just a good play on stage, but a good voice in song."

Below was a silhouette poster of the judge lineup. The three black silhouettes were labeled as "Mysterious Superstar," "Diva of the Music World," and "Queen of Hit Dramas."

He scrolled down and saw the competition format. The show was divided into two halves: the first half was a dubbing performance, and the second half was crossover singing.

The entire show would be broadcast live, with open mics and no pitch correction.

In other words, whether you're a mule or a horse, you have to be taken out for a walk to show your worth.

Yu Liang clicked on the registration form.

Name, age, representative works, acting experience, and a short acapella audio clip.

He paused for a few seconds at the "Representative Works" column and finally filled in "joy of life as Teng Zijing (To be aired)."

The three words in the parentheses made him feel a bit guilty, but he wrote them down anyway.

He opened a video and casually sang a song acapella. The driver glanced at him several times through the rearview mirror.

"Young man, are you a singer?"

"No, I do Cross-talk performance."

The driver was silent for a moment. "...Well, you sing quite beautifully."

Yu Liang smiled, said thank you, and clicked submit.

An animation popped up on the page: "Registration successful! Please wait for the Production Team's review."

He put away his phone, not holding much hope.

---

Meanwhile, in the meeting room of the Mango TV The Actors Voice Production Team.

A casting assistant was screening the last batch of registration forms. There were over a hundred names densely packed on the screen. Her mouse scrolled from bottom to top, stopping when it reached "Yu Liang."

"Yu Liang? Who is this?" She clicked on the profile. "Representative works... joy of life to be aired? Doesn't this mean he has no works?"

Just as she was about to drag this registration form into the "Eliminated" folder, a colleague next to her leaned over to take a look.

"Wait a second."

"What's wrong?"

"This Yu Liang is the one from Douyin."

"Which one from Douyin?"

The colleague handed over a phone. On the screen was Yu Liang's Douyin profile, with 6.87 million followers.

"He's a popular Douyin streamer. Our show is a joint production with Douyin, and they specifically listed him on the recommendation list."

Xiao Zhou's hand moved away from the mouse.

"You mean..."

"This person cannot be rejected."

The meeting room door was pushed open, and Producer Fang walked in, holding her phone with an expression of suppressed excitement.

"Yu Liang registered? That's great."

Xiao Zhou was stunned. "Producer Fang, you know him?"

"It's not that I know him." Producer Fang turned her phone screen around. "It's this person who knows him."

On the screen was a WeChat chat record. The contact name was: Judge Yang Mi.

The message was just one line:

"Producer Fang, that actor who played Teng Zijing in the joy of life trailer, Yu Liang—did he register? If he did, keep an eye on him for me."

Xiao Zhou looked up and exchanged a glance with her colleague.

Producer Fang put away her phone, looked at the waveform of the acapella audio on the screen, and decisively clicked "Pass."

"Send the notification."

That evening, Yu Liang received a text message.

"[Mango TV] Mr. Yu Liang, congratulations on passing the The Actors Voice Production Team's review. The recording schedule will be notified separately. Please keep your phone reachable."

He stared at the text for three seconds, then took a screenshot and sent it to Guo Qilin and Wang Churan respectively.

Guo Qilin replied instantly: "Holy crap, bro, you're actually going!!!"

Yu Liang: "I didn't expect to actually get in."

Guo Qilin replied: "To be fair, bro, if you use your KTV singing style less, you can actually sing pretty well."

Wang Churan, who hadn't finished work yet, said enviously: "I want to go sing too."

Yu Liang chuckled and tossed his phone onto the sofa.

---

Three days later, the official Weibo of The Actors Voice released the formal lineup.

The poster was a ten-person collage. Mentors Mentor Wu Yifan, Na Ying, and Judge Yang Mi occupied the top center positions, and below them were the combined promotional photos of the seven starting contestants.

Yu Liang's photo was placed in the smallest box at the bottom right, using a screenshot from the joy of life trailer—the profile of Teng Zijing lying in a pool of blood.

The comment section was initially a formation of fans controlling the comments with emojis and flattery. After scrolling through several screens, voices of doubt began to emerge.

"I can understand Na Ying and Mentor Wu Yifan being mentors, but what right does Judge Yang Mi have? Has she ever even sung?"

"Jia Jialiang, Bai Baihe, Hua Chenyu, Dilraba... Is Mango TV serious with this lineup?"

"Why is a Hua Chenyu mixed into an actor's singing show?"

"Wait, who is that Yu Liang in the bottom right? How have I never heard of him?"

"I searched him; he's a Crosstalk performer from the Deyun Society who's been popular on Douyin recently. But what does that have to do with acting or singing?"

"[Huahua is not only a singer-songwriter but also a very hard-working actor. He made a cameo in Unexpected and filmed a personal documentary I Am Me. But I really don't know who this nobody Yu Liang is.]"

"To the fan above, if you want to praise Huahua, just praise him. Why do you have to drag Yu Liang down?"

"I'm not dragging him down. I just find it strange. If this fashion influencer can participate, why can't our Huahua?"

"[Let me educate you: Yu Liang was in joy of life; he's in the trailer the crew released. Also, Yu Liang is the Douyin Recommendation Officer for this show. He was pushed by Douyin's official team.]"

Yu Liang stared at the comment defending him for a long time.

So this was how it felt to be protected.

It wasn't him alone facing the screen, arguing line by line, staying up until five in the morning only to be mocked by the entire internet the next day.

It was someone speaking up for him in a place he couldn't see.

The document was very long. He skipped the polite introductory parts and flipped directly to the competition rules.

Seven starting contestants, with the last place being eliminated. Replacement and challenger mechanisms would be announced later.

One competition per week, divided into two halves.

The first half was script dubbing, and the results would determine the performance order for the second half.

The second half was crossover singing. The scores from both rounds would be added together, and the last person would be eliminated.

Entirely live broadcast. Open mics. No pitch correction.

Yu Liang closed the file and leaned back on the sofa.

Dubbing and singing.

He hadn't formally studied either of them.

The basic skills of Crosstalk are 'speaking, imitating, teasing, and singing,' but that 'singing' was meant to make people laugh, not the serious singing performed on a stage.

As for dubbing, he didn't even know which way a recording studio door opened.

He picked up his phone and sent a message to Guo Qilin: "Da Lin, do you know any dubbing teachers?"

Just as he was about to put his phone down, a new message popped up on the screen.

It wasn't from Guo Qilin.

The profile picture was a cat.

Judge Yang Mi.

Yu Liang was stunned for a moment and clicked it.

"Hello, Mr. Yu, I'm Judge Yang Mi. Please accept my WeChat request; there are some things I'd like to chat with you about."

Yu Liang looked at the message and was silent for a few seconds.

The top star of Jiahe Media had personally tried to add him on WeChat several times.

He remembered what Director Sun Hao had said: "Director Sun, I'm definitely taking this actor."

He clicked "Accept."

A system prompt jumped into the chat box: "You have added mi. Now you can start chatting."

The 'typing' status on the other side flashed a few times, then stopped. After a few seconds, it flashed again.

Finally, a message came through:

"I heard you registered for The Actors Voice?"

Yu Liang replied with an "Mm."

"What a coincidence. I'm a judge."

Yu Liang stared at those words for a long time.

Enemies meet on a narrow road.

Judge Yang Mi sent another message: "Prepare well. I won't go easy on you just because I want to sign you."

Followed by a smiling emoji.

Looking at that emoji, Yu Liang suddenly felt that this woman was much harder to deal with than the manager surnamed Zheng.

Director Zheng's arrogance was written on his face and could be seen through at a glance.

Judge Yang Mi was different.

Every word she said seemed casual, but every sentence made him feel like she had a hold on something.

He replied with one word: "Okay."

Then he placed his phone face down on the table and took a deep breath.

Xinli Media, Jiahe Media. Judge Yang Mi, President Zhao.

The multiple-choice questions were piling up.

But now was not the time to think about those things.

He opened his computer and created a new document, typing four words as the title:

"Song Selection. Scene Selection."

The cursor blinked on the screen.

There were still fifteen days until the recording.

Actress Li Xiaoran's call came the next day.

"I've contacted a dubbing teacher for you," she said, getting straight to the point. "Mr. Voice Actor Li Lihong. Do you know him?"

Yu Liang was stunned.

Voice Actor Li Lihong!

The narrator for A Bite of China, Emperor Liang in Nirvana in Fire, and the Jade Emperor in Journey to the West—they were all dubbed by him.

"Ms. Xiaoran, this..."

"I worked with Mr. Li before on Young Justice Bao, and he also served as my dubbing teacher."

After Actress Li Xiaoran mentioned it, Yu Liang did remember.

In the drama Young Justice Bao, Actress Li Xiaoran played Lan Rushi. Voice Actor Li Lihong dubbed for Gongsun Ce, played by Li Zonghan.

"Favors are used up once they're spent, so cherish this."

"I will."

"Also," Actress Li Xiaoran paused, "I've also asked a vocal teacher for you. Singer Li Jian happens to have an opening in his schedule in Beijing."

Yu Liang held his phone, not knowing what to say.

"Don't thank me." Actress Li Xiaoran's tone carried a hint of a smile. "Just remember to treat me to dinner once you're famous."

Yu Liang remembered that night in Duyun, the moonlight peeking through the gaps in the curtains, and the way Actress Li Xiaoran looked up at him.

"Ms. Xiaoran, I..."

"Practice hard," Actress Li Xiaoran interrupted him. "Don't embarrass me."

The call ended.

---

Voice Actor Li Lihong's dubbing class was in a recording studio on the East Fourth Ring Road.

The studio wasn't large, and the equipment was old, with the faders on the mixing console worn shiny. The walls were covered with TV drama posters.

Romance of the Three Kingdoms, Legend of the Condor Heroes, Demi-Gods and Semi-Devils, Nirvana in Fire... every single one had Voice Actor Li Lihong's name on it.

Voice Actor Li Lihong himself was younger than Yu Liang had imagined. In his early fifties, wearing a faded black T-shirt and round-rimmed glasses, his voice wasn't loud, but every word was delivered clearly to your ears.

"Actress Li Xiaoran told me you studied Crosstalk?"

"I studied it for a few years."

"Then it'll be easier to handle." Voice Actor Li Lihong sat down in front of the mixing console. "A Crosstalk performer's mouth skills are trained for breath and articulation. Dubbing needs that too. But there's one difference—"

He turned his chair to face Yu Liang.

"Crosstalk is about delivering every word to the audience's ears, clear and resonant, for fear they won't hear properly."

"Dubbing is different. Dubbing emphasizes delicacy, variety, control, and fitting the character."

Voice Actor Li Lihong picked out a few clips for him...

---

The vocal lesson was in a rehearsal hall in Chaoyang. Wooden floors, floor-to-ceiling mirrors, and a Yamaha upright piano stood in the corner.

Singer Li Jian looked thinner than he did on TV. Wearing a dark grey sweater with his hair combed meticulously, he exuded the aura of a gentle and refined intellectual.

He sat at the piano, his fingers lightly pressing a few chords on the keys, then looked up at Yu Liang.

"Sing the one you're best at."

"Are you sure?"

"Goodbye, mother, I'm setting sail tonight..."