Tag: Chinese webnovel

Thank you for your patience, everyone! Here’s chapter 60, and it’s one hilarious ride. Thank you, Izo.Ren for beta edits. Enjoy!

A warm yellow light illuminated the kitchen. The sound of sharp kitchen knives on a chopping board continued to strike, making “dada” sounds.

Rong Xu didn’t really know how to cook much, so he didn’t cut the vegetables quickly. His skills could only be said to be ordinary, and he was careful not to hurt his hands. He used a hair tie to tie his lengthy hair back, but on his forehead there were some strands of hair that couldn’t be tied back, swaying back and forth with his motions and blocking half his face.

However, at this moment, the vegetables were all washed and cut, and two eggs were also beaten. Crispy, fresh vegetable leaves were thrown into an oiled pan. 

First, stir-fry for a brief moment. When the vegetable leaves were slightly soft and the aroma steamed out, pour water into the pot and then drop in the noodles.

Rong Xu bowed his head and worked seriously. What was obviously an extremely simple task, he still undertook very seriously.

Qin Cheng then stood to the side and looked up at the young man carefully dropping in the noodles. His eyes flicked across those slender and beautiful phoenix eyes, his tall nose bridge and soft lips before finally landing on his white and fragile collarbones.

At this time, Rong Xu suddenly raised his hand and brushed back the scattered hairs on his forehead. Turning to Qin Cheng, he smiled and said: “Do you eat vinegar?”^[1]

Unable to suddenly react to the situation, Qin Cheng quickly looked away and subconsciously asked: “Eat vinegar?”

The smile on the youth’s face grew even brighter: “If you enjoy eating vinegar, I can help you add more vinegar and less soy sauce.”

Qin Cheng: “… En, I like eating vinegar.” 

Not long after, two bowls of steaming vegetable egg noodles were presented on the table. The green vegetables and yellow-orange eggs really stimulated one’s appetite. Rong Xu originally didn’t feel much, but as he was cooking and cooking, he actually became a little hungry and added some more noodles for himself.

Because he had discovered early on that Qin Cheng seemed to have the habit of “not speaking while eating,” Rong Xu concentrated on eating his noodles the entire time. Thus, he naturally didn’t realize that the man sitting opposite him had picked up his chopsticks and only taken one bite of noodles before slowly staring at the bowl in front of him, hesitating for a long time before taking a second bite, and then a third bite extremely slowly.

…… He couldn’t bear it, it had been many months since he’d eaten food personally prepared by the youth. How could he bear to eat it!

So, after Rong Xu finished his meal, he looked up and found that Qin Cheng had only eaten half of his. There was a trace of surprise in his eyes, and Rong Xu scrunched up his forehead slightly and asked: “Why don’t you eat? Didn’t you not eat dinner? Is there something about the noodle’s flavor that I didn’t control well?”

After a pause, Rong Xu asked: “Are you picky about cleanliness?”

Qin Cheng was currently picking up a treasured vegetable to admire. Hearing this so suddenly, he reflexively answered: “No.”

Then at the next moment, he saw a pair of chopsticks reaching into his bowl and gently picking up a broken noodle strand!

Qin Cheng: “! ! !”

With eyes wide open, Qin Cheng immediately looked up at the youth in shock. Unexpectedly, the latter did not notice his shook expression at all, but instead chewed the noodle carefully, and after a while, he smiled and said: “It does seem to be slightly more sour than mine, but I remember that you said you enjoy eating vinegar.”^[2]

Qing Cheng acknowledged in a low voice: “En, I…… enjoy eating vinegar.”

Rong Xu turned his head slightly, and the strands of hair that had not been tied up slipped to the side of his cheek. He said smilingly: “I will pay more attention tomorrow. I coincidentally saw that there were still some vegetables in the fridge. Right, I remember that you don’t have anything scheduled for tomorrow, do you want to go watch a movie together?”

Qin Cheng nodded: You will still cook tomorrow?!

“Then I will go choose a film first.”

Rong Xu carried the bowl and got up to walk into the kitchen. Behind him, a certain man picked up the chopsticks once again and stared at the noodles in front of him, no longer hesitating like before. They say that when eating noodles, it is difficult to ensure looking good while eating. Especially after eating fast, it was even easier to appear sloppy.

However, when Rong Xu came out of the kitchen, he just happened to see Qin Cheng finishing his last bite of noodles. His posture was elegant and peaceful, as if sitting in a fine dining restaurant. Just fifteen minutes ago, this man only ate less than half the bowl, but now only three minutes passed but he finished all of it.

At a glance, Rong Xu was slightly surprised. He looked around, and subconsciously glanced into the trash can beside the dining table: Yi, no noodles. Could it be that he really ate it all? Didn’t you feel it was a bit too sour before and was not to your tastes?

Bearing this confused mood, Rong Xu asked: “Ready?” 

Qin Cheng looked at him deeply and nodded meaningfully: “En.”

The two put the bowls into the dishwasher, and after waiting for it to wash a while, Qin Cheng entered the movie room. As soon as he walked through the door, he saw the beautiful and handsome youth standing on tiptoes and extending his arms out, seemingly trying to get a DVD from the top shelf.

Although his height was 185 cm, the highest cabinet shelf with the DVD was more than two meters high. Rong Xu could only see a name, but it was difficult to grab the disc. It was only the day before yesterday that he had seen the introduction of this movie, which was a bit similar to the script that Luo Zhentao had sent him. Thus, he really wanted to take a look at it.

This was the first time he felt his height was not enough. Rong Xu tiptoed a little higher, and his fingertips were about to touch the DVD. But, suddenly, a tall shadow was reflected on the cabinet in front of him. 

The light was completely blocked by the other party. Rong Xu turned to look slightly in surprise, but he saw that Qin Cheng had already picked up the DVD on tiptoes and was looking down at him: “Did you want to watch this?”

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Hi, all! Part 2 is late, my apologies. Recently, I’ve been volunteering time to helping companies and organizations with packaging and shipping face masks for use in communities, hospitals and schools. Just today, I and two others packaged and labeled around 2,000 boxes of masks. (μ_μ)/ So exhausted. Some friends have been staying at the company/organizations till 3 in the morning to ensure delivery (I’m not that crazy LOL but kudos to them).

This will likely go on for the next 2 weeks so posts may be a bit slow. I will still upload a minimum of 2 posts per week. For today’s post, I haven’t had time to proofread it yet, but I didn’t want to delay it till Saturday. I will edit this tomorrow night for errors. Thank you! Stay healthy!

At the same time, in B City at the top floor of a high-end apartment.

The cold and handsome man sat on the sofa with his head down looking down at his cell phone, gently swiping through the pages. The more he read, the slower his reading became, and when he saw a certain post, he directly picked up his phone to start typing.

[Lotus Seed Paste and Orange Stuffing: Of course, Rong Xu should go to the celebration party. He is the male lead and he acted very well. The 1.2 billion box office in three days is a result! 】

Not long after ——

[Replying to Lotus Seed Paste and Orange Stuffing: HaHaHa, laughs to death. Even if you let a piece of roasted meat to act, Black Clouds, this film, still wouldn’t fail! Can’t fail, understood? None of Liang Chao’s films has had a box office lower than one billion yuan, Yu Siyu’s worst artistic film also got more than 600 million at the box office! There’s so many big-name guest stars and also Qin Cheng. Qin Cheng’s worst artistic film also got a box office of three billion yuan. Let alone having Rong Xu play the male lead, perhaps even if I performed, the box office for three days would still be 1.5 billion. 23333] ^[1] 

Soon, some sunspots swarmed over to support this lz’s ^[2] point of view: [Exactly, three days and only 1.2 billion, does this do right by Ling Xiao’s more than 200 million fans? Does it do right for the tens of big-name guest stars? Even having Qin Cheng Co-star with him, the fans still have the shame to say you family’s bias ^[3] has a high box office. This year, I will live off of this joke.]

The more this was said, the more intense the sunspots became.

[I feel it was not worthwhile for Qin Cheng, If he took on a commercial film himself, within minutes and seconds, it would match the three day box office of 2 billion! Ai, Rong Xu was too rushed. If any other star played Ling Xiao, don’t know how hot this move would become.]

Qin Cheng: “…” He thought it was very worth it! Very worthwhile! Super worth it! ! !

These sunspots didn’t necessarily dislike Rong Xu. There was a high probability that they were part of the water army bought by competing films. They attacked Black Clouds indiscriminately. Some mocked that the film only had a good lineup, too overrated; some mocked Director Liang for not making any progress, the film was boring; some mocked Rong Xu as being too young, his acting skills are poor; and others scolded Yu Siyu for failing to change styles, her performance was embarrassing. 

When one movie was extremely hot, it would naturally infringe on the breathing space of other films of the same time frame.

For example, when Black Clouds first premiered, it started with 5000 theaters. Then, the results of the premiere were so good that many major broadcasting companies quickly increased the number of playing theaters. By the third day, the number had increased to more than 6000 theaters.

Huaxia only had so many movie theaters. If you wanted to increase playing theaters, other movies would definitely have to decrease their playing theaters. Also, movie enthusiasts also had a limited amount of free time over the weekends. After watching Black Clouds, they would have no time to watch other movies.

There was a commercial film that was released the day before Black Clouds. Originally, its first day’s box office was also more than 90 million, which was considered pretty good. But on the second day, its box office dropped to around 20 million! That it had dropped by three-fifths of the box office on only the second day after it was released was because the release of Black Clouds had a strong impact on it.

Rong Xu ’s fans, upon meeting these sunspots, would all argue for their family’s Rong Rong. At the same time, Ling Xiao’s music fans, Black Clouds movie fans, Yu Siyu’s fans, and Qin Cheng’s fans all sneered at these sunspots who always found something to pick at. 

But even if the sunspots were beaten badly, some worrisome discussions could still be seen. Luo Zhentao was worried about Rong Xu seeing these comments, but he did not know that Rong Xu had already expected this situation early on and did not take it seriously.

Although he knew that out of 10 people, eight or nine were water army, he still gladly took on a commercial film to prove his worth.

Everything spoke through facts. Later, the moment when he could use the box office numbers under his belt to slap the faces of these sunspots, he didn’t know what kind of expression they would make.

Thus, Rong Xu didn’t take it to heart, only as a joke. But, a certain man became angrier as he read. When he discovered that these water army actually used “Qin Cheng” as an excuse to poke at the relationship between Qin Cheng’s fans and Rong Xu’s fans, he frowned and quickly refuted.

[Lotus Seed Paste and Orange Stuffing: Qin Cheng is not suitable for the role of Ling Xiao, so he could not possibly play the role. And, Qin Cheng and Rong Xu have a very good relationship, super good, don’t even think about provoking an altercation.]

[XiXiHaHaLa replying to Lotus Seed Paste and Orange Stuffing: Hahahaha, If you say can’t act, then can’t act. If you say their relationship is good, then it’s good? Have you opened your Heaven’s eye?]

[Small Flowers in Full Bloom replying to Lotus Seed Paste and Orange Stuffing: Do you Rong powder all like YY that much. Last time, YY said his relationship with Tan Menglan was good. Now, they’ve even YY’d to Qin Cheng? This touching porcelain is really touching too much, right? ^[4] An 18-tier little star even dares to touch porcelain with Qin Cheng. Why are your faces so thick, why don’t you just directly say that Qin Cheng willingly went to Co-star with Rong Xu?] 

Qin Cheng: “……”

You’re the one with a Heaven’s Eye! You’re the one with a thick face! Your whole family has Heaven’s Eyes, your whole family has a thick face!!!^[5]

There are really too many sunspots, even if Qin Cheng had been in the circle for many years, he still couldn’t navigate the twists and turns between fans. These sunspots didn’t care about facts nor listen to reason at all. Perhaps there was only one way to deal with these people.

Five minutes later, thousands of water army arrived immediately, live broadcasting ripping sunspots apart. The hundreds of sunspots were scolding happily, but was suddenly refuted by a group of sharp-tongued fans until they couldn’t differentiate north, south, east, west. They wanted to refute, but the out-numbered them could only gape and finally leave in disgrace.

This group of water army that could have created truths from false^[6] didn’t stop, but rather continued to fight the other sunspots with Rong Xu’s fans.

After waiting for half an hour, finally , beneath the #BlackClouds# tag it was finally clear, there were no more dirty pollutants ^[7]

The man raised his eyebrows, thin lips slightly hooked, and posted a Weibo–

[Lotus Seed Paste and Orange Stuffing: #BlackClouds##QinCheng##RongXu##ChengRong# really looks nice thatI looked at it again, RongRong Kiss Kiss Kiss =3= [picture]]

Just after posting this Weibo, a rustling sound came from the entrance way. Qin Cheng’s eyes flashed and he immediately turned off his phone and put it into his pocket, not knowing the potential impact of his Weibo post. At the same time, he took out another phone and began to read the latest news calmly. 

Rong Xu changed his shoes when he entered the house. When he looked up, he saw Qin Cheng dressed in home clothes and looking down at his phone. He froze for a moment and smiled: “I thought you were out too, didn’t you have dinner gathering tonight? Have you eaten yet?”

As he was speaking, Rong Xu took off his coat, but before he walked into his room, he heard the man’s low-voice say: “No.”

His next step faltered a second. Rong Xu slowly turned around and asked in surprise: “You haven’t eaten yet?”

Qin Cheng nodded slightly.

Rong Xu thought for a moment, and the corner of his lips hooked up as he smilingly said: “Coincidentally, I also haven’t eaten. How about… I make some noodles for you?”

The author has something to say:

Orange Qin: They are saying nonsense! Rong Rong, baby thinks it is especially worth, baby and your relationship is especially good! 

Rong Rong: …… Speak, you not eating, is it because you are waiting for me to cook for you? 

TL corner: Secret Agent QC

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The timeline in the story has somehow caught up to us, and it’s almost May. In part 2, we will finally get to see QC’s perspective again!

The third day’s box office broke 1.2 billion!

On the third day after the release of Black Clouds, the crew held a grand celebration. Rong Xu and Yu Siyu were both present. Together with Director Liang, they held the small hammer and smashed the huge ice sculpture that was carved into the shape of “1200000000”.

At the celebration party, Director Liang did not skimp on his praises. He first thanked each member of the crew, and then said with a smile: “Those songs? Of course, they were all sung by Rong Xu himself. When he auditioned, he already sang very well. This was one of the important reasons why I chose him.”

Although this statement did not exactly state all the facts, it was also not a lie.

Soon, media reporters began paying more attention to Rong Xu, and some reporters stood up to ask aloud: “Excuse me, Rong Xu, do you have any intention of releasing “Lost Wings” as a CD single? Will this song be first introduced in the movie^[1], or did you only want to sing it for the movie?”

With the release of Black Clouds in the past two days, the audience had become more and more concerned about “Lost Wings”.

Songs like “Black Clouds”, “Heaven’s Marquee”, and “Norwegian Canyon”, Ling Xiao had sung them all before and had released albums for them. But “Lost Wings” was a novel song. 

Huaxia has done a great job of protecting copyrights and combating piracy. At present, any fan who wanted to hear the song “Lost Wings” had to go to a movie theater and watch the movie. No sources could be found on the Internet.

Additionally, Zhao Chuyun had also started the “Lost Wings” promotion. She didn’t tell fans at first that “Lost Wings” would be released as a CD single. Clearly, even the MV had been made and the CD was already in the process of being finalized. But, Zhao Chuyun still patiently waited, provoking the audience’s strong interest in this song.

This was a method of controlling promotional supply and demand. If it was said at the beginning that this song would be available as a CD, then no one would take it as a big deal. But now that there was no news about this song’s release, people would be nervous and seek it out.

Desiring but unable to obtain, it was that kind of mentality. The more you are unable to obtain it, the more you would desire it. Zhao Chuyun had a good grasp of the music enthusiasts’ psychology.

  Rong Xu naturally had private communications with Zhao Chuyun since long ago, and now that three days have passed, it seemed that it was also time to add fire to this wave of promotions. 

Thus, everyone saw the youth raise the microphone and say with a smile: “Recently, someone really did discuss with me about this song’s release, but the specific details of the situation cannot be announced yet.”

The reporters were immediately excited and asked one after another about Rong Xu’s news on “Lost Wings”.

The celebration party ended successfully, and Director Liang invited everyone out for a meal. At 8:30 in the evening, Luo Zhentao drove Rong Xu home.

The bustling neon lights rendered most of the sky a charming rose-red. Now that it was almost May, Rong Xu opened the car window, and the oncoming night breeze scattered the hair on his forehead to reveal a delicate and beautiful face. He squinted slightly, quietly watching the obscure lights outside the window while at the same time sobering himself up.

He was already an adult and naturally couldn’t use the excuse of being underage to deny drinks anymore.

Rong Xu’s birthday was spent with the crew of Ambush. At the time, it happened that the movie was in its final stages of completion and everyone was extremely busy, so they didn’t have time to celebrate his birthday. Rong Xu also didn’t care too much. After eating cake together with everyone, it could be counted that he had completed his coming of age ceremony. 

He also received several text messages sending blessings from Tang Menglan, Ye Qiao, and Dong Zheng, as well as from Madame Qin and Qin Cheng. Uncle Rong naturally did not send him a message, but the Steward Duan had called to wish Rong Xu a happy coming-of-age.

However, tonight, Rong Xu only drank half a glass of red wine. Director Liang knew that he had finished recording “Lost Wings” and was about to release it, so of course, he would not let him drink more. Drinking hurts the throat, it is better for a singer to drink less.

“Recently, my head and hands have been very busy and I won’t have much time to spend with you and the crew. How about hiring an assistant for you? It just so happens that your fan club and Weibo both do not have anyone managing them. You can let the assistant help you manage them.”

Rong Xu withdrew his sight and said: “Okay, Brother Luo.”

“Sure, then I will go to the company tomorrow to find you a good seedling.” 

After a pause, Luo Zhentao hesitated before saying: “Recently, many teams have sent me notices, including TV dramas and movies. There are also lots of advertisements. At present, I think you can take on an advertisement endorsement and then a drama. Do you want to take a TV drama series or a movie? “

Rong Xu replied without hesitation: “Then, a movie.”

Luo Zhentao nodded: “Okay. There are several movie notices that were very good, I will send them tomorrow for you to look at.”

“You don’t need to send me artistic films.”

Hearing this, Luo Zhentao was stunned. Coincidentally, it was a red light, and he stepped on the brakes before looking back at Rong Xu in surprise. The visual in the back seat was a little dim, so he could not see the youth’s expression, only a pair of calm and gentle eyes.

“Why do you not want artistic films?”

Looking at the world of film, there has always been the saying: artistic films are for professional judges, commercial films are for common audiences.

Certainly, it’s true that every year there would be some high box-office artistic films that could receive both awards and win the box office. But, those were ultimately few in number. For example, during the previous year, Huaxia’s artistic film market bombed. The highest box office artistic film then was Hope, directed by Pang Huang. It’s total box office was only 900 million, which wasn’t even as good as the three-day box office for Black Clouds.

However, it is difficult for commercial films to win awards because most award committees enjoyed good content and depth. For some difficult judges, they even felt that the more the audience disliked a movie, the more they should be awarded because a real movie was only appreciated by a small number of people.

Regardless of how much scolding this sort of viewpoint received, the overall situation was still like this. Basically, good-selling movies rarely won awards, and most award-winning movies didn’t sell well. Huaxia only had Qin Cheng, Wen Xuan, etc who could obtain both awards and win the box office, but they only accounted for a small percentage of people.

Listening to Luo Zhentao’s words, Rong Xu smiled slightly and calmly said: “I’m still young, it’s too early to win awards, I need the box office more.” 

Glancing at a neon sign outside the window, Rong Xu’s sight dropped as he said lightly: “I need the box office in order to prove myself. There is nothing bad about making commercial films, I enjoy it very much.”

Luo Zhentao was dumbfounded for a moment.

He could not say the words “the box office for Black Clouds is already so terrifying, is that not enough to prove yourself” because everyone knew that though the box office number for Black Clouds may have been related to Rong Xu, but even without Rong Xu, the box office would definitely still not be bad.

Rong Xu performed well and could push the box office of this film higher, but even if Rong Xu had performed poorly, the box office of this film would still definitely land in the top five of this year.

Thinking of this, Luo Zhentao laughed aloud: “Then, I will send you the scripts of the three commercial films. But Xiao Xu^[2], don’t mind those sunspots. You definitely have credit in allowing this movie to obtain such a high box office number. Your performance was spectacular, and many film critics have given you a high score. I think you can get a few award nominations for this role.”

The corner of his mouth slightly lifted, and Rong Xu raised his eyebrows: “Best Newcomer?”

  Luo Zhentao joked: “How is best newcomer enough, only the Golden Phoenix Award Best Male Lead is proper!”

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Thank you IzoRen for beta reading part 2! Words that are originally in English are Bolded.

Once this lengthy review came out, countless views were stunned, immediately recalling.

[Yes! At the time, I was crying so hard that the tears in my eyes prevented me from seeing the screen at all. But, when that song came out I couldn’t stop crying. He sang while I cried, Wu wu wu, really very nice to listen to!]

[Throughout the whole movie, there were three parts where I cried the worst. The first time was when Ling Xiao went to identify Gu Mingxiu ’s body. The second time was when Ling Xiao suddenly saw Gu Mingxiu’s phantom at the concert, and then collapsed because of the brain tumor. The third time was during the mourning at the funeral procession. The dark clouds dispersed and the sunlight sprinkled down, I saw that everyone was serene. Then, as soon as that song came out, I couldn’t help but cry.]

[Exactly what song is this? It can’t be the Music God’s song, I’ve never heard it before! Unless this is the movie’s original song? Really too good, does anyone know what song this is! Begging for help from great gods!]

At the end of each movie, there will always be teeny tiny, dense words that scrolled out on the big screen and detailed each person’s contributions to the film. Regarding Black Clouds’s crew, they even wrote down, at the end of the movie,  the name of the little brother who sent the lunch every day, thanking him once again. As long as one was attentive, they would definitely be able to spot the song’s title, singer, and writer. 

However, for many viewers, when they see the subtitles, they would directly leave the cinema without looking at the words.

However, with many people came greater strength. When the #BlackCloudsClosingSong# tag was bumped up to sixth place in the day’s hot searches, there was finally a netizen who posted a Weibo attached with some pictures, saying: [Is it this?! At the end, I was crying a little miserably and I continued to sit in my seat until the movie ended before leaving. I accidentally took a few photos. Asking great gods to help restore some of these slightly blurred pictures. Perhaps there will be information about the song in there. [Picture][Picture][Picture][Picture][Picture][Picture]]

In total, there were six pictures and this netizen didn’t care too much. But, there really were some PS (photoshop) great gods who came out to restore them to high definition pictures.

The first and second pictures were thanking all the guest stars, it wasn’t until the third picture that it started to acknowledge each crew member. The fourth and fifth pictures still thanked the crew, and then the sixth picture…..

[Ahhhhhhhhhh, I have restored it! This song is called “Lost Wings” and was actually sung by Rong Rong! It really was sung by him! The songwriter is…… eh? Ling Xiao?!]

This fact was a rock that stirred up a thousand waves.

Today was, after all, the first day of the movie’s release and many netizens had no way of purchasing a movie ticket, unable to watch the movie. And some of the netizens who had movie tickets were all gathered together to discuss the film’s plot, passing over the music aspect.

This couldn’t be blamed on them because the pictures and characters of this movie were all spectacular. Just those tens of guest stars allowed them to discuss for a whole day, where could they think about the music? 

Within the film industry, music is a part that is overlooked by many audience members. When the audience sees intense and exciting scenes, they will only think “what will happen next”, and not “this background music is really complementary”; when they see the protagonists expressing their heartfelt emotions to one another, they would only care about “Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”, not about “this song is inserted just right”.

Usually, the background music is like a small gear; without it, the audience watching it would find it difficult to be moved by the story. But with it, the audience would again be immersed in their own emotions, forgetting its (the music’s) existence.

Just like this time, many cried miserably with snot and tears when they saw the ending, but they didn’t think about how this song influenced their mood, making them unable to bear their emotions.

And now, someone pointed out this song.

Only at this time did people notice ——

[“Lost Wings” was sung by Rong Rong?! Could it be, could it be …… that all those songs were sung by Rong Rong?!]

[The singing is really good. I noticed from the start that the music played in the movie definitely isn’t the Music God’s original singing, but it was actually sung by Rong Xu? Slightly changing powder. Towards this kind of good looking and gentle singing boy, I have the least resistance.]

[Aaaahhhhhh, I actually didn’t pick up Rong Xu’s singing voice! I actually didn’t pick it up QAQ I am unworthy of Rong Rong, unworthy of being a Rong Powder! I’m going to buy a movie ticket right now. This time I’ll concentrate on listening to the song. I want to listen to Rong Rong sing a hundred times! 】

Of course, more people paid attention to the song “Lost Wings”.

[“Lost Wings” should be Ling Xiao’s work during his life, Rong Xu sang it really well.]

[You all, don’t rouse my appetite! The Black Clouds ticket I bought is for tomorrow. I really want to hear Rong Rong sing “Lost Wings”. Is this song really that good! You all, stop talking about it!!!]

At 12 o’clock that night, when the bell of the new day rang on time, Director Liang sat in the hotel room and finally received that call.

After hearing the other party’s words, Director Liang breathed a sigh of relief and couldn’t help laughing: “sharing the joy, sharing the joy, borrowing your well wishes.”

On the day of Black Clouds premiere, the box office hit 560 million!

In Huaxia, there are more than 5,000 theaters that released this movie simultaneously, and the film’s terrifying publicity storm created a box office miracle for this movie!

Black Clouds was the highest-grossing film at the box office in the last three years, close to none. The second place was a commercial film from the previous year, starring Qin Cheng, called The Inside Job ^[1] Ranked third is Wen Xuan’s commercial film last year called The Storm of Ge Cheng.

Of course, this did not mean that Black Clouds was definitely higher in commercial value than the other two films. As the critics said, this film was coincidental. If this movie was not about Ling Xiao’s life, then there would not have been so many big-name stars willing to make guest appearances; if there was no Ling Xiao, this movie would not have received so many music enthusiasts’ attention.

But in any case, Black Clouds really did explode, and it was an enormous explosion!

All of this was observed by Director Liang, and he immediately sent thank-you messages to all the actors and guests who participated in the movie. At the same time, he arranged for the publicity personnel to continue the promotion of Black Clouds.

[Black Clouds crew: On the first day, I turned around and met you. [picture]] 

Inside the building of Huaxia Entertainment, the 47th floor was still brightly lit. Zhao Chuyun looked at the Weibo post by the crew, her eyes paused for a moment on the flier photo that read “560 million” before nodding in satisfaction and making a call: “En, It’s fine now, the time is here. The promotion of “Lost Wings” can begin.”

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    [#BlackClouds# QAQ How is it so good! Although I was not a fan of Ling Xiao before, after watching this movie, I really do admire him! Change powder, Change powder!^[1] In here, Rong Rong really is beautiful and good looking, not the kind of overbearing president type, nor the cool and distant type! Just very, very good looking! ! ! 】

[#BlackClouds# When I saw Rong Xu crying, I actually cried, too… uncomfortable… why do good people never have a good ending …]

[#BlackClouds# I was originally watching this movie for my goddess Jennifer, but I didn’t expect, this black-hearted film crew, that my goddess really only had the three seconds of screen time shown in the original trailer. Initially, I really wanted to scold this deceitful cheating film crew, but this movie really was excellent. Everyone around me cried. It seems that the people sitting around me were all Ling Xiao’s fans. At the end, everyone was saying how “Rong Xu acted really well”. En, I also cried a bit, just a bit.]

Numerous praises swept the Internet community on that day. All the major forum posting platforms, Tieba and Weibo, had people discussing Black Clouds.

One early morning passed, and the movie already had three showings in theaters. During the 3 to 4 o’clock (in the morning) showing, many of the movie theaters in major cities had filled one third of their seats with audience members watching the movie. In some small cities, because there was only one movie theater that would release Black Clouds in the early morning hours, their attendance rate was high enough to be shocking.

By seven o’clock in the morning, Huaxia’s best-known movie evaluation network — Scenic Depth Movie Network’s page, Black Clouds’s public and professional scores were released.

Public Score: 9.3 !

Professional Score: 9.1 !

It had only been seven hours since the movie was released, but this movie already received such a high rating.

If you wanted to vote on the Scenic Depth Movie Network, you must first present an official movie theater ticket, which made it difficult for a Water Army’s to affect the vote. Though this method couldn’t completely eliminate the existence of Water Army votes, the cost of purchasing a Water Army became quite high, so Scenic Depth Movie Network’s scores had always been trusted by the audience.

And right now, this site gave a score higher than 9 points!

Black Clouds was technically not a cultural arts film, but rather an inspirational commercial biography. A commercial film getting such a high rating, within one year, it was difficult to have two. After seeing such high evaluation scores, many netizens immediately bought tickets to the cinemas.

Before going in, some people had whispered: “I haven’t heard of Rong Xu before, but Yu Siyu’s movies have always been good, and Qin Cheng is actually in this movie, too. With them in it, this movie wouldn’t be bad to that extent.”

The little friend who said this before entering the theaters had no doubts and was full of confidence. Exiting the theaters, he complained to his companions with tears and snot flowing: “Say… Why did Rong Xu have to cry so contagiously. I’m not crying, I … I just got bugs in my eyes, bugs! This movie really is great. Ah wu wu wu.”

There was heavy discussion about Black Clouds’s plot on the Internet. Ling Xiao fans who have watched the movie analyzed the plot and shared their thoughts. This movie truly did detail much about Ling Xiao’s life. Although there were some discrepancies in certain areas – for example, when Gu Mingxiu died, Ling Xiao had directly withdrawn from the music stage for half a year- – but in general, the movie was very good, and they couldn’t help but be moved.

[Before watching the movie, I was afraid that the God of Music would be destroyed by Rong Xu. Rong Xu is too young, there are not many of his works. If Jiao Jingshan was allowed to perform, I would feel assured. But after going to the premiere, I realized that, fortunately, Rong Xu played the God of Music! If it wasn’t him who acted, I can’t imagine what the outcome would have been like……]

[I most enjoy watching Rong Xu and Qin Shen’s co-acting with one another. Their interactions have a very nice feeling. I think they’re even more impressive than those guest stars! When they were co-acting with each other, I honestly felt like I saw the Gu Da and Xiao Xiao of those days. When they interacted with each other, it must have also been like this!】

“Gu Da” was the nickname that Ling Xiao’s fans called Gu Mingxiu by. Gu Mingxiu, this person, was indulgent and unrestrained. Once, when Ling Xiao was in an interview and was asked “How do you and Lyric artist Gu Mingxiu interact with each other”, Ling Xiao had smiled and replied without thinking: “He is the big boss, I trust him.”^[2]

And so, Gu Mingxiu became “Gu Da“.

As for Rong Xu ’s fans, after watching this movie, they all even more so cried messily. 

There were even some who had yet to walk out of the theater before falling into the arms of their friends to seek comfort. But, when they raised their head, they found that their friends had also cried until their makeup was smeared. And so, the two young women held their heads and cried in pain: “In the future……in the future, whoever dares to wrong my family’s Rong Rong, I will bite them to death! Such a good Rong Rong, wu wu wu ……cannot bully him……”

Starting from becoming the number one hot search of the day at seven in the morning until six o’clock in the evening, #BlackClouds# firmly held the number one spot on the list. 

Many of Scenic Depth Movie Network’s movie critics all expressed their opinions about this film, and at around five o’clock in the evening, a review longer than three thousand words attracted the attention of all fans, pushing the popularity of this movie to a climax.

“Movies need music, a utopian style Black Clouds and a Legendary life”

[regarding Black Clouds, it cannot be considered a commercial film in the traditional sense, but within the past two years, very few commercial films could be promoted to this extent. This film is coincidental. If you simply look at the plot, the story is very simple, and there are not many special features that are attractive. But, it is because of Ling Xiao that this movie could be special.]

The shooting style of the whole movie was Liang Chao’s favorite fragmented editing and splicing style. The pictures’ colorations were not rich, but the contrasts were strong, perfectly rendering the atmosphere of the movie. Compared with Liang Chao’s usual film works, this film’s soundtrack had a better improvement.

The whole movie might have had no less than ten instrumental tracks and twenty vocal tracks. The vocal parts that were used seemed to all be Ling Xiao’s own songs, and the instrumental parts were also very similar to Ling Xiao’s personal style. 

What I paid most attention to was the final ending. Everyone stood in front of the tombstone and mourned till the end, dark clouds scattered and golden light gradually appeared, music slowly sounding. This was the sole vocal song that was not created by Ling Xiao. This gentle song pushed the whole movie’s finale to an acme, beautifully connecting with the audience’s mood.

The movie used two hours to tell a story as a lining, using this final song to break open the firm ice and melt everything.

All in all, this movie needs the music. Ling Xiao’s creations added brilliance to this movie, and the final new song was also one of the film crew’s delicate touches^[3]. If Ling Xiao’s Black Clouds is a utopia, then the last song is close to reality- cruel yet beautiful.

Black Clouds. Worth the watch.]

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Here’s Bonus chapter 57! Sponsored by Anonymous K and Mia >w< I haven’t done thorough editing yet, only proofreading for spelling errors.

This week, I will need to reduce posts to only 2 posts instead of 3 or 4 because I realized an extreme need to clean my house. Just this week, though.

Ling Xiao’s life could not be regarded as having ups and downs^[1], but was also not smooth sailing.

Among the audience members watching the premiere of Black Clouds, most had a certain understanding of his singing career, had heard his songs and know the awards he had won, but they never knew that behind such beautiful songs, there were creators who had scrapped manuscripts again and again, sought inspiration again and again, and also failed again and again in the studio.

The first half of Black Clouds could definitely be regarded as a successful commercial inspirational film. An unknown amateur singer being unearthed by scouts, entering the entertainment industry, releasing singles, releasing albums, opening their first concert, and obtaining the first trophy of their life, gaining countless fans who loved him.

The progression of the whole movie was rapid, never lingering, directly narrating the story as it happened. 

Within it, many big-name stars already appeared, and most of them just flashed an appearance. The audience had just been issued a shock, but before they even had time to shout the other party’s name, the other party’s scene already ended.

This set-up not only gave the movie a sort of fast-paced sense of happiness, but also ensured that the audience would not lose interest. Before the movie was released, many film critics and fans had been worrying “would the protagonist be able to suppress the big-shot guests”, but now it seemed that there was no problem.

Half of the movie passed, and the audience was already fully immersed in the story of Ling Xiao, unable to extricate themselves.

Such a gentle and kind youth wandered in the entertainment circle alone. His talent was his only weapon, and his gentleness made any iron-hearted person unwilling to hurt him. Even if he was made to stumble, he would only accept it seriously, able to blame the other party, but also willing to forgive them.

There is a type of person called the Virgin Mary. Initially, when watching Black Clouds, some critics secretly wrote those words on the notebooks they carried. But after watching for a while, they crossed out those two words.

Generosity without a bottom line, that was a Virgin Mary.

Facing the world with a tolerant heart, this was gentleness.

When the audience had watched delightfully for an hour, the plot came to an inflection point: Ling Xiao was not satisfied with a song he wrote and seemed to have encountered a bottleneck. On this day, he spent an afternoon in the recording studio alone. While leaving, he was the only one left in the empty corridor, walking quietly.

Then, he finally met his life’s partner and best friend.

Watching as Qin Cheng’s handsome face appeared on the big screen, countless fans clenched their fists in excitement. Many of the fans who struggled hard to get a movie ticket for the premiere were pulling each other and were so excited that they almost screamed.

And on the big screen, there was one who was indifferent and indulgent, and one who was gentle and polite.

“How about working together with me?”

“I write the lyrics, you write the music …”

“Ling Xiao, you need me, you definitely need me.”

There was only a short five centimeters distance. In the dimly lit cinema, the two men on the screen stared at each other closely. An imperceptible smile appeared on the corner of Qin Cheng’s lips. He looked at the youth in front of him with deep eyes, as if he already firmly held the other party in his hands. But, Rong Xu was very surprised, his clear pupils trembling.

This was the first encounter between Ling Xiao and Gu Mingxiu.

Following that, was the stage of a powerful team.

“On the Other Shore”, “Heaven’s Marquee”, “Norwegian Canyon” ……

Ling Xiao’s classic songs appeared one by one in the film. One wrote the lyrics, one wrote the music, they cooperated with tacit understanding and became known as the Golden Combo in Chinese Music. In the next seventeen years, Gu Mingxiu wrote only five songs for other singers, and all the other songs were for Ling Xiao.

From love songs to rock, whatever Ling Xiao sang, he wrote, and whatever he wrote, Ling Xiao sang.

Those who were watching this scene all felt their blood boil, as if they had returned to those days. Many film critics also remembered the days when all the large streets and small alleys were filled with Ling Xiao’s songs. If you hadn’t heard his songs before, then you would be distained by others. Those able to obtain the title of “The Song God” were naturally not ordinary singers.

Then, it was the rare quarrel. Ling Xiao didn’t want to argue, so he had left first. When they met again, they were separated by a white cloth, and he could no longer listen to that person speak once more.

Rong Xu’s crying scene was projected onto the big screen, and accompanied by the film’s dubbing, made countless people in the room burst into tears. The audience members at the premiere had already seen Rong Xu act out this crying scene before, so they were a little more prepared. But, when they actually saw the pale, white-walled hospital where the usually gentle youth was crying and laughing simultaneously, stubbornly saying “This isn’t Gu Mingxiu”, the audience still couldn’t prevent their tears from falling.

Movies had a charm that could move and influence people. A good actor could make you deeply feel the inner world of their character, making it as if you have become them and could feel the emotional despair of losing your best friend.

The situation at the premiere was already like this. Then, in the other movie theaters all over the country, the audience members who weren’t prepared were even more stunned. Ling Xiao’s fan certainly knew that Gu Mingxiu had died in a car accident, but they didn’t expect that the movie would actually show it, and even to this extent.

The usual laughing youth was still laughing at this moment. But, how they would have liked for him to to just freely cry, or even wishing to take the pain for him and cry in his stead. However, he still insisted on laughing. Even though his eyes had been blurred by his tears, he still deceived himself stubbornly while weeping tremblingly.

In S City’s GuangMing Theater, a boy who had accompanied his girlfriend to see the premiere just woke up from his nap and saw his girlfriend next to him with a face full of tears. She didn’t even eat anymore popcorn, her hands hanging stiffly in the air as she cried silently. The boy immediately started: “Little Yu, what’s wrong, why are you crying? Who bullied you, I’ll help you teach them a lesson! I …”

“Shut up!”

Angry remonstrations came from all sides. The boy immediately shrunk his neck and looked at the big screen grievously. What, wasn’t this just a simple biographical film, was it so touching? Then, maybe he will also give it a look, just one look……

In J Province’s Impression Studios, a young woman quickly took off her glasses and wiped away the tears on the lenses before quickly putting them back on. But not long after she put it back on, her tears wet the lenses again. While wiping her glasses, the little girl complained sobbingly: “This…… Wuu wuu wuu…… who designed these glasses lenses, even tears can stick onto it, wuu wuu wuu…… Ling Xiao, don’t cry……”

Similar things happened in all major cinemas throughout Huaxia.

But they never imagined that this was just the beginning of the movie.

With Gu Mingxiu’s death as a turning point, Ling Xiao was at first sullen for a while before returning to music. He put even more effort into his work, working himself as if he were two people instead of one, writing music and lyrics non-stop, and constantly aiming to break the sale records that he held.  

And then, he fell ill.

Ling Xiao fell at a concert. He had held three consecutive 100,000 audience member concerts in B City. On the last day’s fifth to last song, he was singing “Heaven’s Marquee” and then his voice suddenly stopped.

The entire audience was silent as everyone watched him, staring at the God of Music on the big screen.

He stared blankly at a random point in the air, and then suddenly and unexpectedly collapsed.

The diagnosis results showed it was a brain tumor, late stage.

In the movie, Zhao Chuyun kept condemning herself. Why didn’t she find out earlier. As a manager, how could she have been so careless. But this also couldn’t be blamed on her. She was a woman with a husband and children. She couldn’t stay in Ling Xiao’s house 24/7, accompanying him and taking care of him.

Brain tumors generally had early warning symptoms. Previously, Ling Xiao had experienced many headaches, but he never went to get it checked, nor did he tell Zhao Chuyun. He only knew to bury his head to write songs and sing constantly. Now that he had fallen to his illness, fans tearfully sent their idol blessings. His friends in the entertainment circle also visited him one by one.

Ling Xiao passed the last few years peacefully. 

The him on screen was wearing a white hospital gown, lying on the bed and smiling lightly. The audience outside the screen wept silently.

Even the guy who was supposedly just accompanying his girlfriend to watch the movie moved to wipe his tears and said in a sour voice: “I can’t stand this type of terminally ill person who is still optimistic and cheerful the most. Three years ago, when my sister was on the hospital bed, she took my hand and said that she had no regrets, only wanting us to live a good life …”

Men didn’t shed their tears, only hiding the pain in their hearts.

Things that were truly touching disregarded gender and age, directly touching the soul.

Why do so many people like Ling Xiao and his songs? It’s because his songs had the purest feelings. Why were there so many good singers in the world, but only Ling Xiao was the “God of Music”? 

Because he was Ling Xiao.

He had funded and donated hundreds of Hope Elementary Schools and established the Rongyun Foundation. Even while facing the biggest ordeal in life, he could smile and face death with a strong, firm heart. Before he died, he was already extremely weak, but he still forced a smile, saying softly to Zhao Chuyun: “I’m going to find him first, those children … I leave them to you…”

After Ling Xiao’s death, his body was donated, and the Rongyun Foundation still ran steadily under Zhao Chuyun’s care. Each year, it supported thousands of poor and under-educated children.

The film ended with the prayers of a priest. Dark, black clouds oppressed the sky, and the atmosphere made one breathless. Countless big-names in the entertainment circle came, wearing black clothing and holding a black umbrella, and stood in front of this man’s grave to send him off on his last trip.

“…… For us, he brought the most touching music. Remembering him, Ling Xiao.”

At the end of the funeral procession, the dark clouds also dispersed. 

The black clouds broke apart slowly, and a bright ray of sunlight emerged from the cracks of the leaden clouds, illuminating the land. The guests put away their black umbrellas, and the black clouds covering everyone’s heart finally disappeared.

Tomorrow will come, and the only thing we can do for those who have passed is to remember them.

With an unfamiliar and soothing melody, the scene gradually darkened, and the film Black Clouds finally ended.

The fully two-hour movie came to an end. It was 2 o’clock in the morning at the premiere, and the film handed each audience member a questionnaire, and the audience members would submit their personal evaluations and ratings for it.

The crew of Black Clouds had no way of knowing the situation at the other theaters. But, in the Capital Grand Theater, when the names of the cast and staff appeared in the credits, the scene burst into loud applause. This applause was mixed with small sniffling sounds as many in the audience had reddened eyes while clapping.

The specially invited directors also stood up one by one to congratulate Director Liang. The audience applauded for a full three minutes, indirectly telling everyone their evaluation of the film.

Rong Xu stood up and turned his body, his eyes glancing gently across the audience.

Black Clouds was his first key to opening up his path in the Huaxia film industry. This key was very dangerous. If it was used well, the future opportunities would be limitless. If used poorly, his path would be lost forever. 

Today, he finally, truly opened that door a sliver.

At two o’clock in the morning, many ordinary audience members who had just watched the movie couldn’t wait to post their thoughts online. The critics also immediately logged in to their personal accounts and couldn’t help but want to publish all the words in their stomach.

At 7 o’clock in the morning, when netizens woke up and turned on their phones to casually swipe through Weibo and upload posts, the number one hot-search-of-the-day came into their view: #BlackClouds#.

Translator’s corner: Someone asked how long it takes to translate a chapter. Uh… it depends on the length of the chapter. This chapter was around 3900 Chinese characters (the average for SA is 4500 to 5500 characters) long and was translated to around 2250 English words. Reading the entire chapter in raws, translating the chapter line by line, researching modern slang and cultural references, searching up appropriate synonyms, proofreading, and posting took me around 5 hours since I don’t use a TL program. Half chapters typically take 3 to 4 hours. Hopefully, I will have an editor and beta reader soon, so I can cut down on my proofreading time orz. ୧(•w•)૭ 

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