The audition, September 11th.

Zhao Zhenxun came very early. He entered the door without mentioning that day’s work and just said, “Gu Xun changed his Weibo background, Weibo ID and Weibo avatar again in the middle of the night. He also deleted his last post about you. Did the talk yesterday go wrong?”

Qi Cong paused for a moment, then shook his head towards Zhao Zhenxun and replied, “No, it went well. Come inside first, I’ve made breakfast. We’ll talk while we eat.”

A few minutes later, the two of them each settled down at the dining table. Without waiting for Zhao Zhenxun to ask further questions, Qi Cong took the initiative to tell him everything that happened yesterday, including the fact that he went to see Jiang Zhaoyan and all the details of their meeting.

Zhao Zhenxun listened with a frown. After listening, he actually didn’t accuse Qi Cong of acting recklessly but asked him after he finished, “You and Gu Xun separated peacefully?”

Qi Cong nodded. “Sort of. He may still have a bit of resentment in his heart, but I apologized to him.”

Zhao Zhenxun looked at Qi Cong, who looked as if he had placed a big stone in his heart, and made the aura around him settle down quietly. In his heart, Zhao Zhenxun somewhat admired Gu Xun’s tactics. He picked up the chopsticks and said, “Resentment is resentment. Eat then we will look at the script.”

Qi Cong understood that Zhao Zhenxun wouldn’t mention anything more so he took the initiative to say, “What I did to Jiang Zhaoyan yesterday, in case he exposes -”

“He wouldn’t dare to expose it.” Zhao Zhenxun’s tone was certain. “Gu Xun, even just for his own reputation, will keep Jiang Zhaoyan’s mouth completely sealed. Work at ease. Later, if Jiang Zhaoyan bothers you again you don’t need to care. I will handle it.”

As a result, Gu Xun was once again involved. Qi Cong bit back the rest of his words, gathered all his thoughts, and focused on today’s work.

At two o’clock in the afternoon, Qi Cong, who had been reading the script all morning, followed Zhao Zhenxun  to the site of today’s audition-an activity center in Beishi.

What Qi Cong was auditioning for today was Male Lead No.4 from a workplace drama. He would act as a newcomer to the workplace who had a crush on the female lead. On the way there, Zhao Zhenxun gave Qi Cong a general overview of the audition process, and then mentioned the other two contenders.

“I asked around. You have only two people competing with you for this role. One is a small newcomer who has just made a bit of a splash in a variety show, while the other is a somewhat popular singer who wants to switch to acting. It’s not much of a competition. You…” Zhao Zhenxun suddenly paused, looked at Qi Cong and said, “Perform well. There is no need to feel too much pressure about the result. The emphasis is on participation.”

Qi Cong was puzzled by Zhao Zhenxun’s pause and strange attitude, but he had a sense not ask any more questions and just nodded in response. “I will.”

After arriving at the audition location, Qi Cong got out of the car and entered the activity center. Following the process, he asked the staff for the audition pages before bidding goodbye to Zhao Zhenxun and followed the staff to the waiting room for the actors that were auditioning.

The waiting room already had seven or eight people sitting in it, all of them male actors. Qi Cong’s memories were disconnected for three years, so today’s generation of new artists in the entertainment industry could only be said to be unrecognizable to him. Therefore, after entering the door, he only politely nodded towards a few actors looking over, and then found a corner seat to focus on the script.

There was a bit of commotion, with vague whispers coming from the room.

“Yes he seems to… what is he doing here?”

“Manju there…”

“…… collapsed, right?”

“Most likely, the Weibo background and avatar all changed.”

“Ah? He has offended Gu Xun?”

The room suddenly became quiet as a certain person’s surprised question was highlighted. The air seemed to freeze as Qi Cong no longer could pretend not to hear. He looked up in the direction of the exclamation that came from the front and saw a youthful teenager sitting there. The other party was too embarrassed to look at him so he didn’t pursue the matter further. He only said to the other party, “Look at the script, the audition is about to start.” After saying this, he looked down and continued to study.

The silence lasted for a few more seconds, then the sound of papers turning over sounded one after another, as no one gossiped anymore.

About ten minutes later, a staff member came to remind several actors auditioning for the Male Lead No.4 to get ready. A total of four actors, including Qi Cong, responded to their words.

Qi Cong became a little confused.

How come there were four? Didn’t Zhao Zhenxun say that there were only two people competing with him?

After a few more minutes, staff began to call for auditions. Qi Cong was coincidentally placed first.  He stood up in the full view of the room and followed the staff member to the big room next door.

The audition process was faster and simpler than Qi Cong expected. After he entered the door, he greeted everyone and briefly introduced himself. The casting director behind the long table didn’t say a word, and directly asked him to start performing, with a slightly perfunctory attitude. Qi Cong noticed the attitude and the expressions of the casting director and several crew members. Without saying much, he put the script in his hand to the side, then returned to the center of the open space and stood still. Recalling the script he had read today, his expression changed as he got into character and entered the scene in a second.

Two minutes later, his performance was over. He gathered up all the emotions that belonged to the character, stood and said politely to the director, “My performance is over, thank you for watching.”

The casting director changed his previous perfunctory manner. He looked at Qi Cong with a surprised expression. Then he frowned as he looked at the information at the table with a bit of embarrassment while others whispered to each other.

“You entered the scene very quickly.” The casting director looked up at Qi Cong, his attitude much more sincere than before. “Your performance is even more unexpected, even though you don’t have a professional background, it was very theatrical. Um… Thank you for your hard work and coming for an audition. You can go back first and wait for news. We will inform you if you pass the audition.”

Qi Cong nodded, returned polite words after collecting the script pages and left.

Once the door was closed, the casting director immediately leaned back into his chair and raised his hand to grab a small amount of his hair. “Just look at how well he acted. How could he act so well? If he was a bit worse I…. Ouch.”

“Okay, don’t dwell on it. He was originally jammed in by Manjuu and now that he has offended Gu Xun, his good acting skills are useless. Our production crew is still hoping to board the big ship of Gu Xun’s investment film. Instead of Male Lead No.4, I am sure that Manjuu will find him better resources again.”

“I feel a little sorry, he acted very well. Ah, don’t you think the state in which he entered the character was a bit like…”

“Like what?”

The casting director stopped talking again. He looked at Qi Cong’s information on the table, sighed and moved it away, putting it on a pile of actors that couldn’t be used.

More than being unable to use, it was more like being broken… yeah.

Without waiting for the other actors to finish the audition, Qi Cong was directly pointed by a staff member to where Zhao Zhenxun was waiting and they directly left the audition room.

Zhao Zhenxun also seemed to know that Qi Cong would come out soon, so after being joined by Qi Cong, he directly left with him and took the script out of his hand as he spoke. “You don’t have to look at this drama script anymore, concentrate on preparing for the next audition.”

Qi Cong wasn’t a fool and the strange attitude of the casting director was too obvious. He asked, “This role is already taken?”

“Well, I got the news that the crew found a more suitable actor than you to parachute in for the audition so it has most likely already been decided internally. You didn’t see anyone in the lounge?”

Qi Cong nodded and shook his head. “I saw people, but I couldn’t recognize anyone.” He didn’t recognize anyone.

Zhao Zhenxun’s shock was a rare moment for him and then he looked at Qi Cong. There was a trace of the usual anger that showed up on his face when his artist was politely rejected by a crew. He finally asked, “When you went in, someone spoke to you?”

“Yes.”

“Get used to it.” Zhao Zhenxun said. “The impact of your ‘breakup’ with Gu Xun is by no means just this. You won’t be clear of it for days.”

“Brother Zhao.”

“Yes?”

“The next audition, I’ll try my best to get it.”

Zhao Zhenxun paused for a moment and then looked sideways at Qi Cong. A few seconds later he raised his hand and patted Qi Cong’s shoulder without saying much.

Time seemed to have suddenly pressed the fast forward button and on the twelfth of September. Qi Cong had a photoshoot in a closed environment for one day, barely staying in peace for one day. On the 13th, Qi Cong performed his new song live for the first time.

When Qi Cong’s car drove to the TV station building, a lot of media suddenly swarmed up and surrounded the car.

“Qi Cong! What’s going on with you and Gu Xun? Why did he block you? “

“Qi Cong, what is your relationship with Gu Xun? Have you had a falling out? Why?”

“Qi Cong?”

“Qi Cong….?”

“Qi Cong!”

Some reporters jumped directly at the car door, tapping on the car window.

Qi Cong frowned at the situation, but Zhao Zhenxun was calm and just asked, “Do you want to get out and respond, or just go in?”

Qi Cong looked at the reporters almost sticking to the car door and shook his head. “Go straight in.”

The car moved little by little to the entrance of the parking lot under the protection of the TV station’s security guard, and then entered smoothly. Qi Cong didn’t look up during that time, and focused on flipping through the program workflow for a while.

There was a small dress rehearsal before the official recording of the program, and Zhao Zhenxun noticed that Qi Cong was once again working too hard during the rehearsal. Not as much as last time, now Qi Cong’s state was more calm and steady.

Zhao Zhenxun crossed his arms as he watched Qi Cong’s perfect performance on the stage and tapped his finger on his arm. Putting down his hand, he finally called Qi Cong to his side when he finished rehearsing, saying, “Qi Cong, have you never bothered to check the results of ‘A New Life’ and your popularity on the internet these days?”

No he didn’t. Because he was busy and didn’t want to open Weibo for various other reasons, so he never bothered to check. Qi Cong finally shook his head and asked, ”Do you need me to check it out?”

Zhao Zhenxun didn’t answer but only replied, “Qi Cong, you have already debuted, you’re an official artist now. You should take a good look later.”

Take a good look? Look at what?

Qi Cong didn’t quite understand.

Half an hour later, the program officially started recording. When Qi Cong appeared from backstage after the host’s introduction he saw excited audience members waving neon sticks and heard screams that almost broke the roof. Plans A, B, C and D that he prepared for today suddenly disappeared.

He stopped at the exit, not expecting to be greeted by such enthusiastic screams and cheers.

“Come on, Qi Cong!”

Some audience members noticed his pause and suddenly shouted loudly. Then more and more people shouted cheers, and finally the shouts became unified and neat as everyone, led by a few people holding lit signs, shouted towards him, “Go Qi Cong! You are the best!”

The straightforward and enthusiastic kindness and fondness came from all around, making Qi Cong’s eyes a little swollen. He blinked, stepped forward and went to stand next to the host according to his position during rehearsal. Bowing briefly, he smiled toward the audience and sincerely said, “Thank you. Hello, I am Qi Cong.”

Enthusiastic screams and cheers rang out again.

Qi Cong finally understood what Zhao Zhenxun wanted him to see.

He raised the microphone and started to sing. When the chorus came, it was also sung by the audience one after another, making it so loud that it almost overshadowed his singing. He couldn’t help but smile as his eyes reddened.

The goal of his to let the public know the real him seems to have taken a small step. People were watching him carefully, looking at the real him now.

There seems to be hope again.

At the end of the song, Qi Cong bowed for a long time, then straightened up and smiled brightly at the audience. “Thank you.”

Screams and applause rang out together for a long time.

That night, Qi Cong finally opened his Weibo for the first time in a few days.

He first went to look at his artist Weibo.

The number of fans had already exceeded five million, and the latest tweet posted had more than 30,000 comments and a high number of likes and retweets, with a surprisingly high level of fan activity.

When he opened the comments, there were a lot of rainbow farts and words of encouragement, while the screen was so full of flowers and love that it almost made people dazzled.

He curved the corners of his mouth and looked carefully at the comments of several people in the front row, then turned off Weibo and prepared himself mentally first before entering the words ‘Looking Back on the Flowers’ in the search box.

Several related entries popped up, and the top one was “Gu Xun changed his ID from ‘Looking Back on the Flowers’

Qi Cong clenched his fingers and directly clicked on the post.

A short news article posted the day before yesterday titled “Gu Xun changed his ID from ‘Looking Back on the Flowers’” appeared at the top of his page.

According to the news article, Gu Xun suddenly changed his Weibo ID from ‘Looking Back on the Flowers’ to his real name in the early morning of September 11th, and changed all his Weibo avatars and backgrounds that hadn’t been changed for a long time.

At the end of the post, the author also vaguely guessed the reasons for Gu Xun’s sudden change of ID, Weibo background and profile picture, suggesting that Gu Xun might be emotionally frustrated.

The corners of Qi Cong’s mouth curved, then fell as he repeatedly stared at this post, his finger moving but still not clicking on the comments below. Finally he just typed in the words “Gu Xun” in the input box and clicked enter.

The search results jumped out, Qi Cong found Gu Xun’s homepage and clicked on it.

A beautiful but completely unfamiliar landscape photo appeared in front of him, not of the sky and forest, but of rivers and mountains.

Qi Cong looked at Gu Xun’s avatar again, and the poster of ‘Heaven Asked?’ which he had already seen countless times and was very familiar with came into view.

It really changed… everything was changed to a different photo and not to the previous cat background and cat avatar.

Not knowing what was on his mind, Qi Cong stared for a while, then moved his fingers and looked at Gu Xun’s Top Weibo and his latest Weibo post.

 

Edited by: Antiope1

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