Tang Ximian shifted her voice from a deep uncle voice to a youthful Shota voice: “Like this?””
Then switching to a soft Puppy Dog Voice: “Or this?”
Changing to a commanding Dominant CEO Voice: “Or perhaps like this?”
The person in charge immediately stood up, his chair clattering to the floor: “What’s your name!”
“My name is Tang Ximian. Liu Mengjia referred me,” Tang Ximian didn’t forget to mention her friend.
“So you’re Little Tang?!” The other person relaxed slightly: “Hello, Sister Tang, I’m Xu Yongkang. Sister Jiajia told me about you! Please, have a seat, let’s talk properly!”
Xu Yongkang’s attitude instantly changed: “I never expected my cousin to send me such an amazing gift! Sister Tang, I just turned eighteen this year, you can call me Xiao Kang! Hehe, there aren’t many voice acting jobs here, but if you’re interested, I can ask around for you. We pay by time here – one yuan per minute! For shorter pieces, we pay by word count – one yuan per hundred words.”
Tang Ximian nodded: “I currently have translation work with Mr. Lü, so my time is quite limited. Just send me whatever jobs you have, I’ll take whatever I can handle.”
Xu Yongkang nodded: “Sister Jiajia told me your family situation is somewhat special. She asked me to look out for you more! Just focus on your work with Uncle first!”
As he spoke, he found a five-minute clip: “Sister, take a look at this. The subtitles are already done, but the actor’s voice is a bit hoarse. Give it a try.”
The original voice indeed wasn’t suitable. The character was a simple rural woman. Tang Ximian looked over the lines and nodded: “If I successfully dub all the characters in this, can I take all the payment?”
In this clip, the actor’s voice part was five minutes, plus two other characters’ voices, totaling twelve minutes.
“Of course!” Xu Yongkang agreed without hesitation: “Sister, just give it a try first. If you do well, the money will come lining up!”
Tang Ximian smiled, put on the headphones and began her work.
The voice recording equipment at that time wasn’t great – simple microphones and recording devices were already treasures ordinary families couldn’t obtain.
Only when she started working did Xu Yongkang realize what an incredible person his cousin had found him!
Portraying a rural housewife, her voice was crisp and efficient, yet retained the shyness of a country girl; when switching to the male lead, her voice became smooth and natural without any awkwardness, carrying the simple honesty of a country man.
Playing an old woman, her voice turned hoarse yet sharp, creating such immersion it could make one’s blood pressure rise!
When the twelve-minute dubbing was complete, Xu Yongkang was utterly stunned.
This could rival even those voice actors from Beijing’s film and television industry!
Tang Ximian took off her headphones and smiled: “So, Xiao Kang, what do you think? Will it work?”
Xu Yongkang nodded repeatedly: “It works! It absolutely works! Sister, no need to say more. From now on, you’ll handle the voice acting for these two main characters!”
Many people at that time couldn’t switch voices well. Besides the male character, both the female lead and her mother-in-law needed voice acting.
Tang Ximian nodded, accepting the twelve yuan he handed her: “Alright, then I’ll come every Tuesday and Wednesday from now on!”
Xu Yongkang nodded: “Great!”
After all, the county town doesn’t have as many complications as the capital!
There’s no guarantee of earning money even if I go there, so I should just focus on my own affairs.
With money in hand, the first thing Tang Ximian thought of was to buy the seasonings she wanted.
In the 1990s, barbecue stalls had already begun to proliferate, but at this time there weren’t many yet. She wanted to search for seasonings first, and see if she could use this money to earn even more.
In her previous life, she had built her fortune through food—it would be a shame to give that up now!
She found pepper powder, Sichuan pepper powder, monosodium glutamate, and Thirteen Spices, but none of them were cheap.
Tang Ximian bought a little of each—not much, but it still cost over ten yuan.
“We don’t have Ziran or fennel right now!” the salesperson said truthfully. “These aren’t used much. If you really want them, I can bring some for you next time I restock! But they’re quite expensive!”
“Then I’ll trouble you,” Tang Ximian smiled without refusing.
Carrying her purchases, Tang Ximian finally had some time to take in the local customs and scenery.
A county town was still a county town—it had more goods and faster sales, making it slightly more prosperous than the towns.
Ahead, someone was selling fried dough sticks. Tang Ximian spent three fen for a bowl of soy milk and one dough stick, handed over a liang ration ticket, and sat down to eat slowly.
Not far from her was a young woman holding an infant in her arms.
The child looked only two or three months old. The woman ate while gently patting the baby’s swaddling clothes, probably to help it sleep.
Noticing Tang Ximian’s gaze, the woman nodded at her friendly, and Tang Ximian smiled back.
A man sitting not far from Tang Ximian finished his meal, slapped his money on the table, turned, and left.
Tang Ximian frowned slightly, her heart inexplicably beating faster.
Who was that man? Why did he give her a sense of danger?
This was the sixth sense she had developed from years of working alone outside. She always stayed away from anyone who gave her a dangerous feeling, but today…
Watching as the man walked toward the woman, Tang Ximian slowly stood up.
The man had already passed by but suddenly turned around, brandishing something in his hand, and lunged violently toward the sleeping child.
At the critical moment, the woman screamed and shielded the child, while Tang Ximian’s soy milk bowl flew out and shattered against the man’s forehead with a sharp crack.
“Ah!”
The man roared, wildly swinging the retractable dagger in his hand.
By then, the woman had already hidden under the table with the wailing child—they were safe now.
Tang Ximian’s face darkened as she charged forward.
The crowd grabbed stools and bottles, but seeing the knife in his hand, no one dared to approach easily.
“Put the knife down now!”
“Who is this guy?”
“No idea! A madman! Drop the knife!”
“Call the police, quick!”
Amid the chaos, the man fixed his eyes on Tang Ximian, who had struck first, and swung his knife straight at her: “Meddlesome bitch, I’ll kill you!”
The man’s eyes were bloodshot—one might think he was high on drugs!
“Damn psycho!”
Tang Ximian ducked under his dagger and delivered a swift kick to his arm.
The dagger clattered to the ground.
Tang Ximian and two burly men who had been ready to pounce quickly subdued him, pressing him to the floor.
Swish!
A silver flash caught them by surprise. Tang Ximian felt a sharp pain in her arm as her elder brother stomped heavily on the man’s left hand and kicked away another dagger. “Think you’re tough, huh?” he snarled.
Several people surged forward, surrounding the woman and child.
Someone brought rope and tied the man up tightly.