In the Penguin Music interview room, Zhao Zhenxun suddenly spoke. “Gu Xun’s Weibo account followed you.”

Qi Cong was adjusting the position of the microphone and paused for a moment after hearing that. Then he continued to move his microphone in accordance with the instructions of the staff. He asked, “Can I back off?”

Zhao Zhenxun frowned. “Qi Cong, you–”

A staff member came over to adjust the lighting and background arrangements, so Zhao Zhenxun could only bide his time. After the staff member left, he looked at the time, lowered his voice and said to Qi Cong, “First prepare for your interview. Don’t be afraid to say the wrong thing. I don’t need you to set up any persona for yourself, just be as real as possible. When the interview is over, let’s talk.”

Qi Cong knew that Zhao Zhenxun was embarrassed by his wayward demands. As he answered, his fingers touched the wound on his palm covered by a band-aid. Lowering his eyes to adjust his emotions, he got up and walked to the middle of the room where staff were ready to welcome him. After shaking hands with the host and exchanging pleasantries, he took the seat and waited for the interview to begin.

The side screen of the interview room was synchronized with the screen of the live broadcast room which was playing the “A New Life” MV on it and attracting people’s attention. Qi Cong looked over, and it just happened to show the bird chasing the illusion of his lover in the fog. His mood became rattled without any warning. He suddenly remembered when he and Gu Xun were hiding in the corridor and Qi Cong played this song for him.

At that time, he was full of hope and felt that the future was promising, so Qi Cong tried to respond to Gu Xun’s feelings and promised him a future together. Gu Xun had hugged his hand tightly and said three “don’ts” to him, which were: don’t lie to me, don’t play with me, don’t get sick again.

Qi Cong still remembered his answer at that time which was only one word, “alright.”

But, the result was, he played and lied to Gu Xun. He was still useless and couldn’t even control his own body.

When the bird on the screen was exhausted, it finally realized that the lover in front of it was just an illusion created by the fog in order to drag it deeper into the abyss. It wailed, unwillingly being dragged by God into the darkness, its colorful feathers gradually fading.

Qi Cong didn’t blink, watching the bird fall prey little by little, then being swallowed and completely disappearing.

The music of the MV suddenly became lower. After the interlude, the fog cleared, and the bird that had been robbed of all its colors opened its eyes in the swamp. The eyes were a darkish gray and vaguely evil.

The once warm soul, tainted by evil, had fallen into the abyss.

Qi Cong eyelashes fluttered as he hurriedly moved his eyes away.

“The song is great, and the MV is very creative.”

A gentle female voice rang out next to him, and Qi Cong  hurriedly reined in his mood and looked at the presenter looking at the side screen with her head propped on her hands.

The host, as if she sensed his sight, also looked at him and smiled. Her tone was soothing and encouraging. “I’m a person with a high threshold for tears, but when I saw this MV and the music Vlog sent by Manju Entertainment in advance, I still cried. Qi Cong, this song can convey a lot of things, and everyone will love you and your work.”

[Your new song will be liked by a lot of people. I’m sure of it. ]

The words that Gu Xun once said suddenly flashed in his brain. Qi Cong fell into a trance for a moment then his fingers pinched into his palm. He said to the brightly smiling host, “You must be a very gentle person.”

The host was stunned for a moment and blinked. “Hmm?”

A person who would say a phrase like that must be gentle. No matter her appearance, she was gentle inside.

Qi Cong smiled at the host, locking all his emotions deep into his heart, and said, “I like to talk to gentle people because they’re good at taking care of people’s emotions. Thank you.”

In hindsight, the host realized that she was complimented. She smiled so brightly that even her eyes bent as she spoke to Qi Cong. “You’re not quite what I thought you would be. I’m now looking forward to the interview even more.”

 

…..

 

At exactly 8: 00, immediately after the Weibo and Le Play open screen disappeared, Qi Cong’s Weibo and Le Play accounts released a music video at the same time, titled ‘A New Life.’

Almost in the next second, Gu Xun followed Qi Cong’s Weibo account, and then retweeted the music video without any accompanying text, only adding a water drop emoji picture.

After this, the official accounts of Shen Jia, Lian Pengxing, Manju Entertainment Company, the “Legend of Youth”, Qin Zhengji, Wang Yue and many other artists and official bloggers also forwarded the music video one after another. Each added a short text congratulating Qi Cong on his official debut and releasing new songs.

Among them, Shen Jia’s text was the longest and most exciting. There were a lot of congratulations and blessings for Qi Cong and concluded it with a sentence using several exclamation marks: “Brother Cong punch!!!” At the end, his tone was so messy that you could tell at a glance he typed it himself.

The official account of “Legend of Youth” not only congratulated him, but also vaguely revealed that Qi Cong would sing a track on the OST for one of the episodes. The post remarked that they were looking forward to Qi Cong’s interpretation of that episode.

The netizens who were agitated by the news of Qi Cong opening a Weibo account immediately got excited, and many of them couldn’t help but shout out “sure enough”.

Sure enough.

Qi Cong just opened a Weibo account and for sure had some action!

Various melon eating made the public familiar with the name Qi Cong and his life experience. Countless people, either because of excitement, curiosity, sympathy, or just purely with the idea of joining in the fun moved their mouse or fingers in unison and clicked on the music video with a painted bird on the cover.

Wow.

The piano sounded, and the bird hovered towards the camera, bumping into a soft flower petal.

With the soft soundtrack and special animation, as well as bright and warm colors, the audience was captured almost instantly, both audibly and visually as they couldn’t take their eyes off.

The flower petals disappeared and the picture suddenly brightened as the bird spread its wings and flew toward the camera. It soared over the forest against the sunrise, then the name of the song and the name of the singer appeared.

– Qi Cong.

The audience was unconsciously stunned. Their attention was dragged out of the context of the scene as they couldn’t help but think of these wretched images of Qi Cong being bullied in the surveillance videos. The never ending articles and medical analyses on the internet.

The music suddenly changed to a higher level. The bird chirped lightly after rushing into the forest to return to its nest and back into the arms of his parents. He rubbed against them clingingly, while a gentle, clean, with a little sand male voice sounded.

He sang: I always expected the luxury of hope after I was born.

The audience’s attention suddenly was pulled back by the song as they looked at the subtitles of the lyrics that appeared at the bottom of the screen.

This voice… was Qi Cong?

The male voice continues to sing: But the world is like a journey, always full of ups and downs and unpredictable.

The male voice spread gently, his tone quiet, like a traveler who had passed through a thousand voyages telling a story without knowing whether it was true or not.

The bird grows up little by little under the care of its parents. It sang in the morning, passed by the lake in the afternoon, and kissed the blooming flowers in the evening.

The male voice continued to sing : I also begged, hoping to stay the same after the first sighting.

The bird opened its ebony eyes to look at another small bird probing behind the leaves, fanned its wings and tentatively approached.

The audience only then woke up one by one, slightly opening their mouths as they continued to listen to a male voice singing the next line: But feelings are like ink, it is difficult to polish them as you carry them through time and space.

Playing with his companions, a small bird inadvertently intruded into another bird’s habitat and foolishly crashed into a warmly arranged nest, locking eyes with a beautiful adult bird in the nest that was much larger than him.

The music added a drumbeat, like someone’s first out-of-order heartbeat.

The male voice became warmer with a hint of sadness: I think it’s your proximity that has changed me.

Suddenly in a world filled with thick fog, a small bird ran away from his parents and friends and secretly picked flowers for his beloved. The bird holding a flower branch tilted its head in confusion and fanned its wings.

The next second, the sound of music steeply raised, while the fog suddenly seemed to gain its own life and turned into a tornado. It went after the bird. The bird flew up in surprise, scattering petals and feathers.

The male voice also followed and raised, from the calm narrative of a bystander to the twists and turns of the one who experienced it. He sang: If one day I become a demon, will you run away or hold me tight?

The sudden rise of the male voice made the gentle, slightly sandy but contradictory and quiet quality of his voice become more and more obvious. There is also a sense of nostalgic emotions released with the music. The audience felt a jolt in their eardrums, as their eyes couldn’t help but widen again.

The male voice continues to sing: If one day I lose myself, will you push me away or reach out?

The music became sharp and deep, as if in heartache, which was previously felt only shallowly, quickly overlapped as the male voice sang.

He sang: If one day I become a coward, will you be disgusted or help me?

If one day I get sick, will you dislike me or comfort me?

As the male voice sang, the bird in the picture gradually became wretched from being chased by the fog. It lost its way, its beautiful feathers were messed up by the branches hanging around and there were wounds on its wings.

Suddenly, the bird stopped as it saw the figure of its lover appearing in front of it. Its dull eyes became bright as it chirped and rushed anxiously toward him.

The male voice sang again: If I have no memory, will you help me find my way home?

The bird approached the figure in front of it again and again, but the figure pulled away time after time. Still, the bird chased after it, bumping into various branches and vines time after time. He was already tired but didn’ t want to give up and persevered time after time. Finally, when it was about to be exhausted, he caught up to the shadow. It was so happy that it lunged forward, but the shadow of his beloved dissipated, turning into a fog that captured him, dragging it toward the depths of the gloom.

The bird was startled, flapped its wings and struggled, but it was still dragged into the depths in despair.

The male voice slowly fell back from the rising state:

I didn’t dare to relax for fear of missing your choice.

I began to close my eyes, I understood your choice.

After an interlude, the fog lifted and the bird’s once colorful feathers were dyed black. He then opened his eyes in the depths of the swamp, its eyes dark and vaguely evil.

The music gradually quieted down, and the bird soared in the blue sky again. It flew toward the forest and its nest but there was no longer any hint of the previous warmness.

The male voice became low again:  I once fantasized that there were no twists and turns in my life.

The bird with all black feathers and an unsettling black aura was attacked as soon as it entered the forest. It looked over and fought back full of hostility.

The male voice continued to sing:  But fate is too unpredictable, full of twists and turns, ups and downs.

The bird was attacked by a flock of birds but its parents rushed in to save it. However, it escaped after pecking its parents.

The music became depressing, and so did the male voice as it sang again: There was a time when I was naive, believing that nightmares had nothing with me.

The fleeing bird bumped head-on into his little buddy, who froze but didn’t mind. The bird had greatly changed in appearance and its friend approached it in an intimate manner only to be hit hard.

The male voice sang again: Dreams are like books, which will inevitably lead to joys, sorrows or eternal separation.

The bird saw its beloved at the edge of the forest, waiting for it at the lake as promised. But even his beloved froze at the sight of him, then approached with concern, but the bird pecked its beloved’s wings cruelly.

The subtitles changed, and the male voice sang again: After what I have experienced you must never come near me again.

The bird became a symbol of obscurity and madness and wherever it flew, it was greeted by fear, exclusion, and destruction. It became bruised and battered once again, and it gradually became as thin as a bone.

The music swelled higher again, and the male voice rose: If one day I become a demon, will you run away or hold me tight?

Once again, when it was violently driven away, the parents who were once chased away by the bird appear again to protect it.

The male voice sang again: If one day I lose myself, will you push me away or reach out?

The little friend who had once been hit by the bird kindly helped the bird’s parents repair its nest and played with the bird every day after the bird was brought back by its parents. The bird’s friend continued to do so, even when the bird wasn’t able to remember its past and responded with hostility and violence when it was approached.

The male voice continued to sing: If one day I become a coward, will you be disgusted or help me?

The bird ran out and hurt people, making other residents of the forest want to drive it away. In the face of the possibility of being driven away, the parents and friend didn’t choose to leave the bird, but took it to a corner of the forest to live and continued to take good care of it.

Now the flute joined in, making the music and the male voice fill with a little hope. The emotions in the male voice gradually increased as he sang:

If one day I get sick, will you dislike me or comfort me?

If I have no memory, will you help me find my way home?

The bird’s sweetheart also came to the bird’s side after he recovered from his injuries, despite the residents of the forest resisting, he just gently bowed his head when the bird tried to peck at him again and gave him a brilliant rose.

The male voice burst out abruptly:

I stared in surprise, not daring to believe your choice.

I trembled and buried my head, crying over your choice.

The images of the MV suddenly began to change rapidly, the rhythm of the music suddenly became faster, as the male voice rose again even higher, emotions completely bursting out.

When one day I turned into a demon, you didn’t run away but held me tight.

When one day I lost myself, you didn’t push me away but reached out.

When one day I became a coward, you weren’t disgusted but helped me.

When one day I was sick, you didn’t dislike me but soothed me.

The bird’s parents broke into the fog and found an antidote for the bird. The bird friend found all the things they had played with before to help the bird regain its memory, while the bird’s beloved found the freshest food and water to feed the bird.

The depressing picture was getting brighter and brighter as the ominous black slowly faded after the little bird ate the antidote, then the rage and hostility in his eyes also gradually diminished.

The male voice rose to its highest, as the burst of emotion was at the highest. Then music burst into catalysis, as male voice sang:

When I had no memory you were always there to help me find my way home.

When I was no longer me, you were still afraid that I would be  displaced, miserable and lonely.

The male voice began to hum loudly as the images completely lit up, the bird fluttered its wings and left the nest under the eyes of its parents, friend and beloved. He once again soared in the blue sky. When the sun fell on its beautiful feathers they were so bright that they glowed like a rainbow.

The music slowly fell back to a gentle piano solo.

The humming of the male voice also gradually turned calm and warm, full of hope, and then the humming stopped. He sighed contentedly as he sang: 

I have been in despair, and felt that my life was lost.

The bird soared in the blue sky, chirping happily in the breeze. Finally, it lowered its head as it circled around and then swooped happily in the direction of its parents, friend and lover. Where the water was clear and the flowers were fragrant, there was his home, prepared for him by those who loved him.

The male voice finally sang: 

It’s your proximity that has changed me, thank you for your proximity that has changed me.

Wow

The bird swooped into the arms of his family, friend and lover, shaking up the soft petals and leaves of the trees. Then those petals and leaves twisted and transformed into the words “A New Life” before fading away.

The music faded before disappearing completely.

The song ended, the video screen turned black, but the audience couldn’t come back to their senses for a long time.

 

Edited by: Antiope1

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