Yao Ling prepared for three minutes. Taking a few deep breaths, she gave an OK gesture to signal that she was ready. The staff began to play the video.
“I really want to hide this side of me till I die —”
Her voice was hoarse and sharp as it broke. The interviewers all frowned.
What happened? Was this… Yao Ling’s voice?
…
In the lounge.
Xin Yue took out her phone to scrolled through Weibo. She seemed to be in a good mood and kept her eyes on the time.
9.35 A.M.
Yao Ling should be finishing up soon. Just as Xin Yue had this thought, the door to the lounge was opened forcefully. Everyone turned to look instinctively and saw the staff accompanied Yao Ling coming out. Her face was ashen and her eyes red. She kept her head low.
Everyone was shocked.
Everyone had ten minutes in the interview room but only five minutes had passed. Why was Yao Ling back already?
The staff looked at Yao Ling and said gently, “Go have a rest and drink some water. See if your voice recovers later.”
Yao Ling kept her lips sealed and nodded. “Thanks.”
The staff looked at the list of names and looked at the crowd. “Fang Siyu, it’s your turn.”
Fang Siyu got up from her chair and headed inside. Yao Ling went to her seat and sat down.
The girl beside her frowned and asked, “What happened?”
Yao Ling seemed to be terrified. Her nails dug into her hand. She replied in a hoarse voice, “During the interview my voice was broken. I couldn’t do the voice over.”
The girl found it odd. “But your voice sounds fine now.”
Yao Ling bit her lips and her eyes reddened. “I have no idea. Although it sounds normal when I speak, I just can’t do voices at all. I tried to use a higher pitch but it didn’t work either.”
When the girl heard that it was so serious, her face changed. They were professional voice over actors and their most important asset was their voice. The girl became silent and nobody spoke.
All of a sudden, a thought flashed across the girl’s mind and she looked at Yao Ling. “Yao Ling, I think that you’ve been set up!”
Yao Ling was confused. “What do you mean?”
The girl pursed her lips and seemed to be in a dilemma.
She inched closer to Yao Ling and kept her voice low. “I know of a type of medicine that has this kind of effect. It doesn’t affect you when you speak normally but it has strong effects on voice actors and singers.”
When Yao Ling heard of this, her calm and gentle eyes filled with rage. “Are you saying that someone drugged me?”
The girl responded, “That’s how I feel. If not, nothing would happen to your voice so suddenly.”
Yao Ling gripped her fingers as her breathing became heavier uncontrollably.
The girl asked her, “Do you know when your voice started to have issues?”
Yao Ling gave it a thought and mumbled, “I have the habit of warming up my vocals in the morning. My voice was still fine before coming here.”
“Are you saying that the problem only occurred after you arrived here?” the girl asked.
Yao Ling gave it a careful thought and looked at the girl with certainty. “Yes, I’m sure it happened to me while here.”
As she said that, she frowned and looked at the cup of water in front of her. Could the water have been laced with something? She was not the only one who had drank water that had been provided by staff.
The girl sensed it too and whispered, “Let’s wait till Fang Siyu’s interview ends. If nothing happens to her and only your voice has a problem, someone must be targeting you.”
Yao Ling nodded with an ugly expression.