Gone With the Wind

Sui Qingchi went to film an MV for the main song of his new album, and Mao Zhen was invited to direct the shoot. He’s a renowned director in the industry, famously known for making very emotional MVs for Tang Du, LOTUS and An Jie. Sui Qingchi was somewhat reluctant when he first heard that the other party was Tang Du’s previous go-to director, but Liu Mei persuaded him. “Him and Tang Du just worked together. Is it necessary to bring in personal feelings? Besides, the theme for the song is ‘Pure Innocence’ and the higher-ups wanted to have him direct the project.”

The rented shooting site was at the top floor of a five-star hotel with a mighty height of 69 floors and a 270° panoramic french window. It was a cloudy day, and the fog seemed so vast, it was like they were in heaven, seeing the world below from high above the clouds.

Mao Zheng planned to turn the MV into a black-and-white film, and put in extra effort during the shooting. Seeing the constructed set, Wang Xiaoou thought the MV would definitely get shot smoothly and blow up once it was uploaded, but additionally, Mao Zheng put forward an extra request.

He asked Sui Qingchi to stand in front of the 270° panoramic window fully naked.

At that time, Wang Xiaoou was delivering water to Sui Qingchi. After hearing the director’s request, cold sweat burst out. She looked up and stole a peek at Sui Qingchi. In mid November, the weather had begun to turn cold. Sui Qingchi had just changed his clothes for the shoot; a white shirt and a smoky gray windbreaker sitting on his shoulders. Maybe it was the skillful hand of the makeup artist, but his divine face looked so clean and warm as if it was just washed in the purest spring waters. It made it seem like he calmly listened while the director requested this thing straight to his face. But Wang Xiaoou was sure she definitely heard the thunderstorm brewing in his mind.

And as Wang Xiaoou expected, Sui Qingchi already uttered a “Motherfucker–” in his heart. He couldn’t believe that the other party would put forward such a request to him. In front of so many people, as if he was just a small actor or model who would sell his body to please the director’s every request.

“Why.” He hung his eyes and coldly screwed on the lid of the thermos.

The air seemed to freeze to a negative degree in an instant, making Mao Zheng utterly stunned for a moment. He thought that this request was very simple and common. However, since Sui Qingchi was not your everyday idol, he was still patient. He explained how the scene will be shot. It won’t be too exposed. Instead, leaning more towards an aesthetic feel. Finally, he conceited and added, “It’ll be more in line with the artistic concept of the song.”

In less than ten minutes, Sui Qingchi was already sure he would never get along with this director. He felt that this person was too headstrong. He had worked with other directors before, and it wasn’t without special requirements or dangerous scenes. But which director wouldn’t ask for his opinions politely? Tang Du’s director is really good, isn’t he? As soon as he came, he said to him, “You need to blablabla later.” He didn’t mean to discuss it at all. Now to explain to him the reason with impatience and a condescending tone, as if he was saying, ‘You mortals talk a lot of pointless shit.’?

“What kind of artistic concept does this song have?” Sui Qingchi coldly drew a smile and asked.

This time, Mao Zheng saw Sui Qingchi’s tight frown, making his eyes seem quite oppressive. He also saw that Sui Qingchi was unwilling and asked, “Which part of it do you not like?”

Sui Qingchi raised an eyebrow and sneered, “What do you think?”

You have the nerve to even ask?

Wang Xiaoou was right next to Sui Qingchi. It felt like standing next to a freezer with the door open. Her legs and stomach were shivering because of the cold.

Later, the crew began to prepare the scene lights. Mao Zheng didn’t easily compromise and didn’t say to change the plan at all. Sui Qingchi obviously didn’t agree to take such a shot. Wang Xiaoou was worried about a stalemate, so she went to the dressing room to find Liu Mei who was talking to her husband on the phone. Liu Mei also had a headache after listening to it. Fortunately, because of the sudden rain, the visibility outside the window became too low, and the shooting was delayed until after the rain stopped.

It seemed that the rain wouldn’t stop for a while. It was noon, after being so busy, everyone took a break and had lunch. Sui Qingchi went downstairs to the car. As soon as he got on, he grabbed the windbreaker on his shoulders and threw it on the seat. “Whether for a song, a director, or a film, do you think it’s worth it for me to appear entirely naked?”

The windbreaker slid down from the seat. Wang Xiaoou quickly picked it up and patted it painfully.

Liu Mei said, “He only wanted to add a bit of spice. No need to be so angry, right?”

Sui Qingchi put down his legs and pointed out outside the window. Mao Zheng was drinking coffee while talking and laughing with the cameraman, “He might want it, but I don’t.”

Liu Mei nodded wordlessly, and sighed in her heart, ‘Haa, look at you.’

“Why do so much for the MV? Songs are for listening. Can you express the connotation by shooting a few shocking scenes and editing them? A mere MV director dares to talk to me about the artistic concept of my music?”

Wang Xiaoou sat beside Sui Qingchi and nodded vigorously.

When the rain stopped at 1:00 PM, Liu Mei had to negotiate. Finally, Mao Zheng agreed to give up the plan to appear completely naked. Instead, he asked him to be half–naked. As Liu Mei conveyed the director’s words, Sui Qingchi listened to it on the sofa, impatiently smacked the script on the sofa and sternly said, “Naked, naked, naked. I. don’t. want. to. be. naked.”

His voice wasn’t surpressed at all. His natural voice deliberately wanted to be heard by the world, even if he didn’t shout, everyone could hear him.

The scene was extremely awkward.

After finishing filming, Liu Mei thought that this incident was finally over. Unexpectedly, the aftermath was still great.

A few days later, a “Sui Qingchi NP[1]” hashtag parachuted its way into Weibo’s for hot search. The reason was that Mao Zheng was insinuating on Weibo that “NP was played, but he refused to appear half-naked and made himself look like a chaste saint.”

There was sudden speculations under the post. Soon someone guessed that it was Sui Qingchi, and Mao Zheng replied with a “That’s your guess. I didn’t say it” and stamped it.

The hot comments were fired.

——Sui Qingchi playing NP? He’s that crude?!

——I knew that his private life seemed bad but I didn’t think it’d be this bad.

——How the hell would you know Sui Qingchi played NP? Have you ever been played by him? Sorry, I don’t believe he has such vulgar tastes!

——Blogger, are you squatting under the bed? I hope you know that you have to pay legal responsibility for spreading rumors!

——There is no wind in a hole, and there is no wave without wind. There must be a definite clue for Director Mao to say so. When did you see him say things about the other artists he has worked with?

——Blogger, NMSL[2]!!

On the day of the hot search, Liu Mei accompanied Sui Qingchi at the airport. Sui Qingchi sat on the sofa and lowered his head to browse through his phone. Obviously, he also browsed Weibo. Wang Xiaoou looked at Sui Qingchi’s back from a distance and dared not go there with the coffee in her hand. Unexpectedly, Sui Qingchi just laughed angrily after reading it.

Liu Mei sighed with relief and scolded, “What the hell is this!” Then comforted Sui Qingchi, “Don’t respond to this, I’ll deal with it.”

Sui Qingchi finally glanced at his phone, turned off his Weibo and calmly raised his hand to Wang Xiaoou, “My coffee.”

Sui Qingchi’s true and false NP news is making a lot of noise on the Internet. All kinds of gossip and marketing accounts posted one after another. AK also forwarded a post about Sui Qingchi’s NP in his circle of friends. Fu Cuo didn’t want to see any of it. Without even reading or clicking it, he annoyedly replied, “Don’t forward these things in the future.”

AK : “Sorry, I’m just so shocked. How did he degenerate into this type of guy?”

“It’s none of your business or mine whether he fell or soared,” Fu Cuo said.

After that, a WeChat reply pops up again. He doesn’t want to see it anymore, so he just blocks AK.

He has a Weibo, but he seldom goes on it. He’d only swipe through it to pass the time when he is free on the subway. Now he even wants to uninstall it. Why on earth would he keep such a troublesome app? He’s no longer in the music circle and doesn’t play rock and roll. His fans have long dispersed. Is there any use hanging his name on Weibo? This trash app is like a time bomb even for entertainment. From time to time, it would explode with the news of Sui Qingchi.

Huanyi sent a Cease and Desist letter asking Mao Zheng to delete the Weibo post and make a public apology. At the same time, a war of public opinion also broke out. Under the guidance of the brokerage company, the army of fans swarmed Weibo like a flood.

——Don’t know how the NP rumors spread so much. If there’s evidence, go ahead, but if there isn’t, don’t talk rubbish. Just because its Sui Qingchi, can you attack him so casually?

——There is no sun or shadow at all. Some people are so stupid that they rush to lick Sui Qingchi’s scandals as soon as they see it. They make it seem like Sui Qingchi commited a war crime so he’d be hated by the whole world.

——He’s really foul-mouthed, how can he not even be half-naked? Think about it, guys!

——Mao Zheng especially likes to shoot singers naked. Female singers, male singers, no exception. I don’t know how many second-line and third-line artists have been wiped off by him. This time, Sui Qingchi just refused, so he got angry with shame.

Under the pressure of public opinion, Mao Zheng finally made a vague apology. It simply said that the NP matter was just a rumor he heard, and ‘apologized’ to the artist he hurt.

In the car, Wang Xiaoou was still angry when she saw this insincere apology. “What’s that supposed to mean? ‘Hearing rumors’? Isn’t he implying that he learned from somewhere that you’re playing NP? You’re not angry?”

As soon as she looked back, she saw Sui Qingchi looking down at his phone with his brows twisted and his face ashen. He looked much more irritated than the last time he saw his NP rumor at the airport. But to her surprise, it seemed like he wasn’t even looking at Weibo. His phone was held horizontally.

Liu Mei sat on the seat next to Sui Qingchi. At a glance, she saw that he was watching the competition video of The Golden Voice. The singer in the video was the young man who had been hyped as the mini Sui Qingchi.

At first, when she heard that he was the younger version of Sui Qingchi, she thought it was exaggerated. But now, looking at the young man wearing a red plaid shirt and jeans sitting on that high stool, if he just held an accoustic guitar in his arms, he’d look exactly like when Sui Qingchi made his debut. She could understand Sui Qingchi’s displeasure, but she couldn’t understand how his irritation with this mini version of himself exceeded the NP rumor’s.

Sui Qingchi is really like an eighth-grader. Even his agent can’t deny it.

But she was wrong to think that Sui Qingchi would forget about the NP rumor. That night, Sui Qingchi sent a Weibo directly to Mao Zheng, “I don’t accept this apology. Who the fuck would want to accept it. If I don’t see an apology with 2000 words in 24 hours, I’ll see you in court.”

It was followed by a series of marketing accounts, all of which used this rumor to make news and smash the heat. And so Weibo exploded once again.

——Oh, mother! It’s Sui Qingchi! He found all the marketing accounts to obliterate Mao Zheng’s Weibo!

——After all these years, imagine losing to a chuuni lololol

——How many people will have to stay up late tonight to write an apology letter for the King, ah!

——God, he really is a chuunibyou! He quietly lurked in the shadows before firing a damn nuclear bomb out of nowhere!

The next day when he went to the company, Sui Qingchi met his senior An Jie in the elevator. As soon as the elevator door closed, An Jie smiled and asked him, “How’s it going?”

“How’s what?”

“Marking papers. You assigned them so much homework yesterday, you kept those guys so busy!”

Sui Qingchi shrugged and smiled faintly. He had nothing more to say.

The two walked out of the elevator and went to the company’s conference room. Sui Qingchi saw An Jie lowering her head and opening Weibo. It seemed that she was replying to several of her students from The Golden Voice.

“Is it tiring to be an instructor?” He asked.

“It’s alright.” An Jie put down her phone and asked him, “Why didn’t you accept the invitation?”

“Afraid of offending others.” 

Believe it or not, I still remember.

“You, afraid of offending people?” An Jie laughed and finally thought, “You know, the ones who passed the audition are really good. It’s not easy to eliminate them and pick who can stay. It’s even harder to select students. I was really lost when I first started, and even now I’m still unsure…”

“Do you have any favorites?” Sui Qingchi suddenly asked.

“Yeah,” said An Jie. “Zhong Dao in the resurrection round… Ah, the boy who looks like you. I really like him. If he wants to come to me, I’ll try my best to make him a champion!”

Sui Qingchi glanced at her.

An Jie was also a little embarrassed, “Well, I was just saying. No one can guarantee a winner or anything.”

“But I don’t think he’s good enough.” 

“Ah?” An Jie was surprised. “Zhong Dao? What’s wrong with him?”

“He’s not stable enough,” Sui Qingchi said. “Whether it’s his psychological endurance or his live performances, he’s too far away from the other contestants. You can guide him to sing, but I don’t think you can be his caretaker. Moreover, the main reason he broke through the resurrection round this time was because the song he sang was well written. When evaluating his singing and expressiveness, he takes off the feel of the song. That’s all.”

An Jie really didn’t expect Sui Qingchi to say such things, but what he said seemed reasonable. Zhong Dao’s performances were indeed unstable. It’s no exaggeration to say that at least half of his recent victory was due to the song. Now that the song is booming online, it could be seen that Sui Qingchi’s words were true.

Sui Qingchi looked at An Jie, who was slowing down to think, and said, “Of course that’s just my personal opinion. Who to choose is still your own decision to make.”