After smoothly leaving the airport lobby and getting into the pick-up car, Qi Cong immediately grabbed the necklace around his neck and looked at Shen Jia. “Jia Jia, why did you just put this on me in front of the fans?”

Shen Jia didn’t answer, but secretly glanced at Zhao Zhenxun with a wishy-washy expression. He didn’t seem to be acting the same as when he gave Qi Cong the necklace just now .

Xiao Han and others in the same car also didn’t dare to speak, but their eyes couldn’t help but glance at Qi Cong’s neck with gossip in their eyes.

Zhao Zhenxun looked at Shen Jia with a frown, but he didn’t lose his temper, even after staring at him for half a day. Finally he looked sideways at Qi Cong and helped Shen Jia reply. “He is vaccinating fans in advance, implying that you will make your debut in the future. When you really make your debut, fans won’t resist. He also let them see that you aren’t working as an assistant to Shen Jia in a premeditated attempt to leech off Shen Jia’s fame. This necklace is a souvenir that Shen Jia got when he took part in the debut competition to win the championship. Fans all know it and the meaning it represents. “

Qi Cong squeezed the necklace around his neck that seemed to still have Shen Jia body heat on it, then looked at Shen Jia again. “Jia Jia you…”

“Actually, I wanted to give this to you for a long time.” As soon as Shen Jia saw that Zhao Zhenxun didn’t lose his temper, he immediately became energetic. He leaned over and held Qi Cong’s shoulder and smiled proudly. “When I was competing, you didn’t come, and when I won the championship, you were not there. I’ve always felt very sorry about this. Now that you are all right, my victory is half of yours! You will be given half of my luck!”

Qi Cong tightened his hand again, looked at Shen Jia and smiled. He said sincerely, “Thank you.” Thank you for being here all this time.

 

……

 

Maybe he really rubbed off some of Shen Jia’s luck but while they were preparing for a rehearsal at the performance site in the afternoon, Qi Cong discovered that his “Chivalrous Bones” on the old website of jiangwan.com received many rewards from readers, visitors, and even writers from the same site. The total amount had almost broken ten thousand.

Not only that, but there was a short message from the site lying in his inbox, reminding him that his old novel has reached the standard of signing on, censorship-free to the Jiangwan website, and if he decides to sign the contract and update the old novel, the site will pay him a monetary and a promotion reward. According to the data standards at the end of the message, the monetary reward was divided into four levels: low, medium, high, and special. It was the same with promotional rewards, all of which would be rewarded after a novel was finished and the data was verified.

Qi Cong looked at the standards and found that according to the current data of “Chivalrous Bones”, as long as he could finish the novel, he would receive the highest reward.

Jiangwan.com was very generous, and the bonus of the special prize was 100,000.

100,000. In the past Qi Cong wouldn’t care about this amount, but now Qi Cong felt very moved.

One hundred thousand means that he could immediately buy a better and more comfortable house for his parents, pay off some of his debt to Shen Jia and buy him a thank-you gift. He could also buy a suitable thank-you gift for Gu Xun.

He rubbed the case of his phone, and touched the necklace around his neck. Lowering his head, he clicked the “apply for contract” button at the bottom of the website.

Almost immediately, a short reply came back.

Qi Cong was stunned by this efficiency and opened a new website.

Editor Cold Wind Like a Knife: Update three chapters first, and send them to me after the update. I will open the signing channel for you in the background. Write well, don’t be influenced by internet gossip. Looking forward to your finished product.

Editor Cold Wind Like a Knife? Knife…or [Dao]?

Qi Cong remembered that Brother Dao in the chat record sent by Hui Nantian first replied to the message on the website to indicate that he knew him. He opened the browser, typed in the words “Editor Cold Wind Like a Knife” and clicked search.

An encyclopedia popped up.

Cold Wind Like a Knife, real name Leng Feng. The former well-known author of Jiangwan.com who was good at suspense and reasoning themes. He has many representative works such as “Dark Night”, “Twelve Mysteries”, “The Reasoning Collection”, etc. In 2013 he put down his pen and transferred to an editor position. He is now the editor-in-chief of Jiangwang.com and president of The Jiangwang Screenwriter Association.

Editor-in-chief?

Qi Cong was surprised and confused.

By all rights, someone sitting in a position like editor-in-chief should no longer be responsible for signing up new people, right?

He realized something and looked at the last words sent by “Cold Wind Like a Knife” and opened the Weibo software that hadn’t been opened since yesterday when the live broadcast ended.

After the software was opened, a lot of comments, likes and follow-up messages were squeezed out together, directly jamming the page.

Qi Cong frowned and after waiting for the page to slowly load, he hurriedly turned off the message notifications, then searched Weibo for Hui Nantian. He followed his account and then forwarded the Weibo posted in the early morning by Hui Nantian, with a postscript of two words: Thank you.

After doing this, he hesitated for a while and then searched for Gu Xun’s Weibo and clicked “Follow”.

A message of mutual relations popped up.

Qi Cong was stunned, and looked at it carefully again. He found that he hadn’t misread it, and that it was really the ‘Mutual Relations’ prompt, not the ‘Follow Success’ prompt. That told him Gu Xun followed him before he followed Gu Xun.

The lake of his originally calm emotions suddenly rippled, and he couldn’t stop his wild thoughts.

When did Gu Xun pay attention to him? Was it at the live broadcast yesterday? Anyway, it was definitely not today. Gu Xun hasn’t replied to his WeChat today.

“Brother Cong, it is time for Jia Jia’s rehearsal!” Xiao Han next to him suddenly tugged at Qi Cong.

Qi Cong was confused at first by how Xiao Han addressed him, but he hurriedly reined in his thoughts, locked his phone, stuffed it into his pocket and looked towards the stage.

Although it was only a dress rehearsal, the organizer turned on the lights and everything.

On the gorgeous stage, with highly rhythmic music playing, and holding a silver custom microphone, Shen Jia was sent to the stage by the lift platform, surrounded by other dancers. He was in a dance-ready position, his head slightly to the side, revealing the perfectly beautiful side lines of his face.

The rhythm of the music suddenly changed and Shen Jia, who was originally on his side, moved from stillness to movement, using a crisp hand dance movement, raised the microphone to look at the camera in front of him, officially starting the performance.

When Shen Jia spoke, his voice was clear and youthful. But when he sings, his voice will be lower and powerful, like the first ray of sunshine penetrating dark clouds, warm and open. Here’s a sense of clean power. In the aspect of dance, Shen Jia must’ve practiced hard. His movements were very neat and beautiful, and no worse than the professional dancers near him.

Enthusiastic music, powerful singing, a dazzling and pleasing dance. Qi Cong looked at Shen Jia, who had all the lights on stage focused on him and he didn’t even blink.

There was something rolling gently in his heart.

The timid youth who once followed behind him grew up proud and upright, like a green bamboo, in the time he had forgotten.

It was dazzling.

 

……

 

After singing two songs, Shen Jia immediately put down the microphone and, not bothering to wipe the sweat from dancing on his forehead, he looked at Qi Cong who stood under the stage for the first time, his eyes filled with a little expectation and uneasiness.

Qi Cong gave Shen Jia a thumbs up without stinginess and boasted, “It was great!”

Shen Jia smiled widely, ran to the edge of the stage, and crouched down. Without caring about his image, he said a little embarrassed, “Actually I didn’t play it right, and I didn’t even open my voice properly before singing.”

“Is that so? It sounded perfect to me. What you say makes me look forward even more to your performance tonight.” Qi Cong said with a smile, took out wet tissues and handed them to Shen Jia. Qi Cong noticed something and suddenly looked to the other side of the stage.

A girl with a staff shirt put down her mobile phone and smiled awkwardly at Qi Cong, then turned around and ran away.

Shen Jia also noticed her as he wiped his face with a wet tissue and said eccentrically, “I think we’re going to have CP fans soon.” He said this in a strange tone.

Qi Cong, a real nerd who has been out of touch with the times for three years, withdrew his attention and asked in confusion, “What are CP fans?”

“Uh… just think we’re close brothers and it makes our fans envious.”

Zhao Zhenxun, who had been standing on the edge of the stage talking to a person in charge, suddenly turned his head and shouted, waving Shen Jia and Qi Cong over.

Qi Cong wondered, “Should I go, too?”

“I think so.”

Shen Jia pulled Qi Cong up from under the stage, and the two of them walked to Zhao Zhenxun together.

Zhao Zhenxun first asked them to say hello to the person in charge next to him and then looked at Qi Cong and said, “Go get a microphone, then stand in the center of the stage and sing a song. I want to hear your timbre.”

Qi Cong froze.

Shen Jia also became visibly nervous with the speed visible to naked eye as he looked from Qi Cong to Zhao Zhenxun. He asked, “You are going to listen here? Shouldn’t you choose a quiet room–“

“There’s a whole set of professional sound equipment here that will amplify people’s voices and make out some details better.” Zhao Zhenxun looked at Qi Cong and said, “I also need to make sure you have the ability to perform stably on a big stage. I’ve only managed to get five minutes, so hurry up, the opportunity is gone if you miss it.”

Knowing that there was nothing to change, Shen Jia looked at Qi Cong again.

Qi Cong glanced up and down at the stage. There weren’t many, but still a few staff members around. Looking at Zhao Zhenxun, he nodded, “I understand.” With that, he went to pick up a microphone.

Shen Jia hurriedly put his own customized microphone into Qi Cong’s hand. Obviously, he didn’t try to calm himself down because he looked even more nervous than Qi Cong, the party in question. He just said repeatedly, “Use mine, use mine. Don’t be nervous, Brother Cong, sing at ease, he is just going to listen to your timbre. If you can’t sing well, it doesn’t– “

“You’d better try to sing a complete song. You may not be able to sing beautifully, but you should still have some attitude, ” Zhao Zhenxun interrupted Shen Jia.

Qi Cong tightened his hand on the microphone that still held Shen Jia’s body temperature. Then he suddenly smiled at Shen Jia. “You’re sharing half of your victory with me.”

Shen Jia was so nervous that his brain couldn’t stop spinning, and he stupidly said “Huh?”

Qi Cong smiled and patted Shen Jia’s shoulder, gripped the microphone and turned to walk to the center of the stage. Facing the stage, he looked at the staff who was watching him. Xiao Han and others were attracted by his movement. He raised the microphone.

Three years ago, Qi Cong never knew what stage fright was, and neither did Qi Cong three years later.

Time could change a lot of things, but it also couldn’t change a lot of things.

Qi Cong skillfully slowed down his breathing and adjusted his breath.

Although he hasn’t sung any solo songs in front of people or on a big stage, he has made speeches, participated in competitions and debated on many big occasions.

It was just singing to a bunch of empty seats, no problem.

Also, if this audition fails….

He looked far away and remembered the “apply for contract” button and 100,000 yuan reward that he saw before and opened his lips.

If he doesn’t pass, he will make other preparations early.

 

Edited by: Faro

 

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