Qiong Ren entered the complex belonging to Ai Kuxun with his agent, the rehearsal for the Love Encounter Starlight Night took place on the first floor.

 

 

The agent said, “Wang Yaoqing will also be here. This year is the 100th anniversary of his teacher Su Huaizhang’s birth. Rong Zhen and Li Kui are also his students, and there will be a special commemorative event lasting about ten minutes.”

 

 

Su Huaizhang was an old filmmaker who had made great contributions to the film industry, he had taught at the Longcheng Theater Academy during his lifetime, and many of the big names in the film and television industry nowadays had been his students.

 

 

Qiong Ren had seen the ink film “Ask the Sword” directed by the old gentleman many years ago, he showed the dashing and floating style of a sword immortal to the fullest.

 

The old gentleman had passed away a few years ago and had lived a long life.

 

 

The performance repertoire set by Qiong Ren was his upcoming song “Zhi Gui Ling”, taken from the Kunqu opera “Peach Blossom Fan”‘s “Ai Jiangnan” suite.

 

Zhang Hao invited Qiong Ren to write a theme song for the movie Peach Blossom Fan. Originally, Zhang Hao wanted to use the song “Leaving the Pavilion Feast”, but Qiong Ren thought it was inappropriate.

 

 

Although this song was good and the phrase “I see him rise to the Zhu Tower” was well put, the lyrics expressed the pain of the downfall of the Southern Ming Dynasty, which was passionate and sharp, and wasn’t suitable for the movie.

 

 

He actually felt that if he had to choose, “Zhe Guilin” and ” Mei Jiu” would be more appropriate. The lyrics were written in a way that was in line with the melancholic tone of the movie “Peach Blossom Fan”.

 

 

 

The song was naturally newly written, but the original song had been sampled and blended in, with the mournful sound of the Xiao and the slightly inorganic psychedelic electronic instruments unexpectedly matching well.

 

 

The original song was written by Su Kunsheng, who revisited Jinling after the fall of the Southern Ming Dynasty, and was inspired by the bleakness of his home country. Qiong Ren’s voice lacked the pathos of the vicissitudes of life brought about by the passage of time, so it was better to re-score the song.

 

 

In fact, “you will not have a good end” had also been done, but the entertainment industry was very sensitive, he was afraid that people would think he was satirizing who, he’d just save it for the underworld.

 

 

Qiong Ren opened his voice in the lounge, the staff member who came to call him to rehearsal was a man of about forty or less, and Qiong Ren felt familiar at first glance.

 

 

He carefully searched in his head and finally remembered, this person was called Zhou Mi, a new director, a few years ago he made a horror movie called “Turn on the Lights”.

 

 

Watching it was a rare movie-going experience in Qiong Ren’s life.

 

 

It was a horror movie where there were ghosts, but the ghosts didn’t appear directly. It was said to be extremely scary, but Qiong Ren didn’t feel it, he was afraid only when the ghost appeared, if the ghost didn’t appear, he didn’t care whether there was a ghost outside the screen or not.

 

 

As long as the screen contained zero ghosts, he had no problem.

 

 

It didn’t scare him, but the plot was really interesting. He watched all of the director’s works and thought that he was really good at filming.

 

 

Zhou Mi made interesting films whether it was horror or short films, to put it plainly, he was good at storytelling, ordinary stories could be told in his hands, and if the plot was good, the more he could take advantage of it.

 

 

Qiong Ren was looking forward to another masterpiece from the director, but it turned out that Zhou Mi just disappeared into obscurity.

 

 

“Hello, may I ask if you are director Zhou Mi?”

 

 

The staff nodded in surprise, “You actually recognize me.”

 

 

Qiong Ren smiled, “Of course I recognize you, you’re very good at filming.”

 

Zhou Mi smiled bitterly and didn’t answer.

 

Seeing that he was a bit disheveled, Qiong Ren asked, “Can I take a picture with you?”

 

 

Zhou Mi was a bit surprised.

 

 

Qiong Ren smiled, “I love your movies, I’ve watched Turn on the Lights many times.”

 

 

Zhou Mi: “You weren’t scared? To be honest, Turn on the Lights made me shiver when I watched it.”

 

 

Qiong Ren: “I’m a bit slow in that department, so I think it’s okay, but I like the story and the way it was filmed.”

 

 

Zhou Mi had been a bit bereft throughout, but after hearing Qiong Ren’s words, the corners of his eyes lifted upward quite a bit and didn’t droop as much.

 

The two of them then took a picture in the corridor.

 

 

Zhou Mi and Qiong Ren talked about some interesting things that happened during the shooting, the two of them walked and chatted, and in a while, they walked to the studio, but Zhou Mi still felt a bit unfulfilled.

 

It had been a long time since he had told anyone about the things he had done while making a movie.

 

 

On stage, the last rehearsal was still not ready. A girl came over and whispered, “Director Wang wants to rehearse again, it will be done soon, please wait.”

 

 

Qiong Ren raised his eyes and saw Wang Yaoqing. He was speaking in a subdued manner about how Old Su had taken care of him back then, and he also treated him as his biological father.

 

 

It seemed like he wanted to brand himself with the words Teacher Su’s closest disciple.

 

 

Qiong Ren turned his head, “I remember that you also graduated from the Longcheng Theater Academy, did Old Su teach you?”

 

 

Hearing him speak of his alma mater, Zhou Mi now finally believed that Qiong Ren really wasn’t acting interested because he was nice, he responded with a smile on his face, “Yes. Mr. Su was very good to me. When I was in school, he should have retired according to his age, but then he was rehired by the school.”

 

 

“The students there were relatively more free, but Mr. Su was particularly strict, he didn’t allow students to casually miss classes. For some time, in order to curb the phenomenon of students skipping classes, Teacher Su often held a small notebook, suddenly appearing at the back door of the large classroom to roll call.”

 

 

“That feeling, was just like being in high school again. His house was right next to the school, and my family background wasn’t good compared to my classmates. Learning our profession was expensive, so when I couldn’t get by, I often went to his house to grab a meal.”

 

 

When he graduated, he got famous, but then it got worse and worse, and he emptied his house to make a horror movie, but he had no money to do the post-production, and he couldn’t get any investors.

 

 

The job in Aikuxun was introduced by Li Kui, originally Li Kui wanted to pull him together to shoot a variety show, but Zhou Mi felt that he was really not doing well in these few years, and didn’t want to bring down his senior.

 

 

Moreover, although they were both directors, there was a big difference between variety arts and movies and TV, if he intervened, what if Li Kui’s variety arts yield dropped?

 

 

As the two chatted, Wang Yaoqing finished rehearsing, Qiong Ren casually glanced towards the stage.

 

 

“Eh?”

 

Why was there an old man standing on the stage ……

 

 

Qiong Ren was already accustomed to all kinds of sudden paranormal events, he didn’t ask if you guys had seen that old man, nor did he secretly wonder who that old man was, instead he immediately looked towards the big screen in the background.

 

 

Sure enough, the old man on the stage was exactly the same as Elder Su on the big screen.

 

 

His hair was all white, his body was still straight, and he held a carved walking stick, which he was slamming into Wang Yaoqing’s head.

 

 

Unfortunately, the new ghost was weak in power. In addition to the year of death, the power level of the ghost also depended on how heavy the grudge was.

 

 

Su Huaizhang had a natural death and looking at his calm temperament, he didn’t have the potential to be a vengeful spirit at first glance.

 

 

Wang Yaoqing saw a particularly eye-catching young man close to the stage, he was dressed in simple clothes, but was particularly conspicuous. His eyesight wasn’t very good, so he squinted for a few seconds before realizing it later.

 

 

Wasn’t this that little brat Qiong Ren?

 

 

This temperament, this look, it was unmistakably the mythical beast Qilin from his new drama!

 

 

The most important thing in a fairy mountain and sea-themed drama was the persona, the actor must stick to the character, because that world was so far from human life, if the actor didn’t stick to it, the viewers would easily get detached.

 

 

Wang Yaoqing knew that no one was more suitable than Qiong Ren. Qiong Ren had refused to appear in the show three times, and in his eyes, this was Qiong Ren intentionally ruining his new drama.

 

 

That was why he hated Qiong Ren so deeply.

 

Other than Qiong Ren, which little idol would refuse his offer to act?

 

 

He didn’t know what was good for him.

 

 

He sneered as he descended the steps, raising his noble head.

 

 

In a trance, he seemed to see Jin Xuesheng smiling at him, Wang Yaoqing’s feet slipped and his butt landed on the ground, sliding down the steps.

 

 

The staff was so scared that they rushed up to help him, Wang Yaoqing was in excruciating pain, but he still showed a bashful smile, “It’s no big deal, I accidentally slipped and fell, I’m sorry, I made you laugh.”

 

 

Old Su came down the steps and saw Zhou Mi beside Qiong Ren, revealing a heartbroken face, “Ai, good boy, you have suffered. What kind of world is this, you can’t make a name for yourself, but Wang Yaoqing has become a famous director.”

 

 

At this time, Wang Yaoqing had already walked to Qiong Ren, revealing a fake sympathetic smile, “Little Qiong, I’m glad to see you on this occasion.”

 

 

 

Qiong Ren saw that the dark circles under his eyes were falling down to his cheekbones, so he couldn’t even cover them up, and asked sympathetically, “Is Director Wang patrolling the internet at night again? Why else do you look like you haven’t slept for five days. At your age, you can’t stay up, after one or two times, it’s easy to wear people down.”

 

 

Master Lin hadn’t returned yet, so Wang Yaoqing could only endure the humiliation, “Thank you for your concern.”

 

He turned his head to look at Zhou Mi, and patted Zhou Mi’s shoulder a few times, “Xiao Zhou, how are you doing here at Aikuxun? Don’t mind me talking too much, you can’t give up this line of work just because being a director is too tiring, you’re very talented, in the past, Elder Su always praised you.”

 

 

Zhou Mi barely lifted the corner of his mouth, but this expression could hardly be called a smile.

 

 

“Thanks to senior’s concern, I’ve actually been wanting to release the …… film I made a few years ago.”

 

 

Wang Yaoqing looked up as if he had seen someone important, “There are still things to do today, let’s talk later, Xiao Qiong, bye ah.”

 

 

Qiong Ren looked at his posture and felt it was a bit strange and reminded, “Director Wang, remember to go to the hospital, don’t break your tailbone.”

 

Wang Yaoqing huffed in his heart, but still turned back with a smile, “Okay, I’ll remember.”

 

 

“Teacher Qiong, you can rehearse now.” The girl was worried that these two would fight, luckily, after a flurry of swords and shadows, there was no on-the-spot brawl after all.

 

Qiong Ren looked at the bereaved Zhou Mi, the angry Elder Su who kept waving his walking stick at Wang Yaoqing’s back, and said, “I’ll rehearse first, wait for me to come back.”

 

His gaze slid past Zhou Mi and met with Elder Su’s line of sight again.

 

 

Qiong Ren purposely nodded to Elder Su before going on stage.

 

Elder Su was stunned, this kid could see him?

 

 

He was so excited that the live stereo suddenly burst into a murmur, the murmur went high and low for a while.

 

 

Everyone covered their ears, not understanding what happened.

 

 

The sound engineer who couldn’t find the cause was busy sweating.

 

 

Qiong Ren stared silently at Elder Su on the stage, I know you’re excited, but it’s better to calm down a little.

 

 

He made a downward pressure gesture.

 

 

The old man confirmed that he could indeed see him, his excitement calmed down a bit, and he hastily looked around, worried that others would know that he was the one who caused the sound accident.

 

 

But soon, the old man lowered his head in frustration; these people couldn’t see him at all, so naturally they wouldn’t blame him.

 

 

Love Encounter Starlight Night didn’t provide a band, Qiong Ren also didn’t mind, he went on stage and didn’t have stage fright, he held the microphone and sang.

 

 

“Ask about the old window shed in Qinhuai.”

 

 

Elder Su heard the lyrics clearly, and was so angry that his beard flew up.

 

 

Good kunqu opera, good words, what had it been changed into?

 

 

When this child finishes rehearsing, they had to have a good talk.

 

Zhou Mi was filled with amazement, he had also heard the original song, Qiong Ren’s version and the original version was of course not the same thing.

 

 

 

But his adaptation wasn’t as frivolous as some songs that used traditional opera as a gimmick. It sounder sad and melancholic, and the pronunciation was clearly learned from Jinling dialect. Dialect singing did indeed sound more charming.

 

 

The song penetrated his heart, as if he had also seen the red leaves and tender yellow flowers of the old Jinling, with butterflies weaving through them. Trees, flowers, and birds were thriving, but they only added to the loneliness of the world.

 

 

Elder Su’s angry expression also gradually faded, revealing a sad look.

 

 

 

Who understood better than the dead, what was meant by things were different?

 

 

After death, natural things rested.

 

 

 

Although Rong Zhen and Li Kui celebrated his 100th birthday, how many people in the audience would actually know him?

 

 

Even students who shared interesting stories about him on stage may not truly miss him in their hearts.

 

 

His wife left early, his child was abroad, and in his later years, he often had students accompanying him, so he didn’t feel the desolation of his twilight years.

 

 

 

But he didn’t expect that before death, there would be a bustling family, and after death, not to mention burning paper and offering incense, not even many would go to his grave to lay flowers. Only then did he realize that those people wanted the attention that came with being his disciple, and they were looking to develop their own networks through him.

 

 

After living for nearly a century, he couldn’t even see through this kind of trick, as if he had lived in vain.

 

 

Originally, he felt that although Wang Yaoqing had mediocre talent, he was a hardworking and down-to-earth person, and he took extra care of this student with compassion.

 

 

But once he died, the books and films he treasured during his lifetime were sold by Wang Yaoqing, and the precious information was weighed as waste paper.

 

 

He spent his whole life collecting things, but because he died too hastily, his ultimate fate was one yuan per kilogram. The paper collector also felt that the paper was too old and wanted to lower the price to 80 cents.

 

 

Every time he thought about it, Su Huaizhang felt like he had a knife in his heart.

 

 

Zhou Mi was still young and didn’t have the same feelings as Elder Su, but he couldn’t help but think of his former self who was full of energy. At that time, he was determined to leave a name in film history.

 

 

Later on, he suffered a series of setbacks, his filming was not going well, the investor backed out and withdrew the money, the actors ran away, he was working hard for his movie every day, but there were always new problems waiting for him.

 

 

Either questioning his filming techniques, or saying that the story wasn’t interesting enough, or saying that the actors weren’t famous enough, or saying that horror movies hardly gained interest and insisting that he created an image as archetypal as Sadako.

 

 

Being rejected by people more, he really became doubtful, even if this film wasn’t really garbage, maybe he was really a very bad director, and his past success was just luck.

 

 

Li Kui and Rong Zhen tried to help him out, but he had no confidence left.

 

 

After his wife Yu Wei became pregnant, she encountered a car accident yet she was worried about going to work before she could recover. She had always supported his dream, but he couldn’t repay his wife’s efforts with success.

 

 

Although his current job had little to do with directing, it was a stable job that prevented his wife from worrying about the baby’s milk powder and diapers.

 

 

Comparing the past and present, Zhou Mi felt both guilty and sad.

 

 

In order to fit the mood, Qiong Ren purposely changed his singing voice, so that his voice was mellow with a bit of abrupt hoarseness hidden in it, as if the person who sang it could no longer contain his sadness.

 

 

This bit of imperfection, on the contrary, made Zhou Mi and Elder Su’s hearts tighten at the same time, they were worried that Qiong Ren would let his singing be interrupted because of his overly rich emotions, and because of that hoarseness, the sadness in their hearts suddenly erupted.

 

 

“The autumn water is long and the people are too few, the cold and clear falling light, a tree left bending over the willow.”

 

 

The hustle and bustle of the past no longer existed. The desolate scene wasn’t just witnessed by the sunset, the people also saw it.

 

 

This desolation coincided with Elder Su’s mood, and he subconsciously shed two tears. This child sang well, he sang too well.

 

 

This word and sentence resonated with the heart of this old man.

 

Zhou Mi’s eyes turned red, and he lifted his head, hoping to use this action to stop tears from falling.

 

 

The accompaniment lowered, and Qiong Ren sang the last two lines again. During the recitation, it became even more mournful and moving, and the ending gradually lowered, trembling with the heartstrings of the audience.

 

 

After the song finished, Qiong Ren stood on the stage for a moment, covering his eyes with his hands.

 

 

When the moisture in his eyes dried, he put down his hand and bowed toward the stage, his voice still a little astringent: “I’m done rehearsing, thank you all.”

 

 

No one on stage applauded, they were like statues, silent and shedding tears.

 

 

Zhou Mi and Elder Su followed Qiong Ren and returned to his lounge together.

 

 

As soon as they entered, Qiong Ren turned and asked, “Director Zhou, to be honest, I’m very interested in your movie, can I invest in it?”

 

 

Zhou Mi, who was full of grief and disillusionment, and was planning to talk to Qiong Ren about his sorrows, couldn’t turn around for a moment, and his footsteps lurched: “What did you say?”

 

 

Elder Su was quite excited, “You have a keen eye. Xiao Zhou is very particular. It’s hard to say whether you’ll make money or not, but the quality is guaranteed.”

 

 

Qiong Ren didn’t suddenly have a soft heart, his underworld video platform was currently operating well, and Li Kui’s special edited version of “Psychic 101” was also online in the underworld, with a strangely high hit rate.

 

 

The mega ghost traffic made his humble little website unable to withstand it, and it crashed eighteen times in one day, comparable to the green Jinjiang in the underworld.

 

 

HBL2003 had urgently hired more home grown computers and rented additional servers to make the small website barely stabilize.

 

 

In the last few days, the number of hits on Psychic 101 far exceeded the total number of documentaries that had been purchased earlier.

 

 

The situation was now clear, the underworld video network was indeed very promising, it was popular among the masses, and also had economic prospects.

 

 

He could have continued to buy variety shows and movies from Aikukun, but Qiong Ren felt that besides looking good, a work had to be rooted in the masses in order to have longevity.

 

 

No matter how good the stories of the living world were, they were ultimately about people, not ghosts. The residents of the underworld should also have their own movies and TV.

 

 

“If our cooperation goes well, I might not only invest in that movie you have in hand, but I will also invite you to do others,” Qiong Ren said, “There’s just one thing, are you afraid of ghosts?”

 

 

Zhou Mi didn’t know the killing power of these words at the moment, and innocently shook his little head.

 

“Elder Su, he’s not afraid of ghosts, do you have anything to say?”

 

 

Qiong Ren spoke into the empty space.

 

 

 

His agent was alarmed, “What are you doing? Can such things be casually talked about outside?”

 

 

Zhou Mi had just said that he wasn’t afraid because he didn’t believe in ghosts in the world at all, but as soon as he heard the agent say that, his heart thumped.

 

 

Elder Su, was it his teacher Su Huaizhang?

 

 

Qiong Ren continued to talk to the air, “Why don’t you say one thing that can prove your identity.”

 

 

He saw Qiong Ren’s look of listening, and he nodded his head every now and then, then Zhou Mi steeply remembered how Qiong Ren became popular, the man shivered a little, but then a little anticipation was born.

 

 

“Elder Su said that you used to go to his house often to dine. One time his old friend gave him a box of mushrooms that came in by air, and when you went to dine again, you took it to fry rice and ate it, and that night you got hurt. Poor old Su was old and still had to take care of you, a fool.”

 

 

Zhou Mi listened and felt numb, Qiong Ren could actually say this thing ……

 

 

Back then, old Su received mushrooms and he got confused, forgetting the power of wild mushrooms from Nanzhao, when he came over, he was told he could use the mushrooms but he just thought that he could use the mushrooms to fry rice and it’d surely be delicious.

 

He was half starved, so he casually fried it and ate, thinking that Old Su bought the artificial product produced by the supermarket, so there would be no problem.

 

 

Later, when he was poisoned, he thought that he had stayed up too late and finally boiled his brain out of his mind, and that was why he saw a row of little people dancing hand in hand on the ceiling.

 

 

This incident fully illustrated how unreliable their teacher-student duo was, and both of them were so vain that they made a pact not to tell others about this kind of stupidity.

 

Zhou Mi burst into tears, “Teacher, are you really here?”

 

 

Elder Su also wiped his tears frequently, “Ai, it’s all fate.”

 

 

Qiong Ren waited for the two to calm down a little before saying, “It’s like this. That movie of yours lacks post-production and special effects, and I happen to have an advantage in this area.”

 

 

Zhou Mi immediately looked at Qiong Ren with anticipation, “You have a post-production company?”

 

 

The designation changed.

 

 

“No,” Qiong Ren shook his head, “I’m very different from ordinary investors, ordinary investors can give you money and resources, I, my money is not much, the network, there is not much of a network in this side of the world.”

 

 

Zhou Mi: “That ……”

 

 

He noticed that Qiong Ren said the words “this side of the world”, the implication was that he had connections in the underworld?

 

 

But wasn’t this too fantastical?

 

 

Qiong Ren said, “It’s like this. I really don’t have the money to invest in making fake special effects, but we can do it for real.”

 

 

Zhou Mi: “Really ……”

 

 

“People have already seen too many ordinary ghost movies,” Qiong Ren said, “If we want to make it, let’s make a real ghost movie, really haunted, with real ghosts starring in it, and give it to real ghosts to watch when it’s released, and of course, we won’t spare the viewers of the living world… what do you think?”

 

 

“I can even hire real ghost musicians to write the movie soundtrack for you, isn’t this unique in the whole world?”

 

 

Zhou Mi was still trying to digest the amount of information in Qiong Ren’s words, but Old Su was agitated.

 

 

Why he didn’t go to the underworld after his death, but became a lonely ghost wandering around, wasn’t it because some old ghosts who died earlier told him that the underworld was very boring, not only did they have to go to work every day just like on earth, but they also didn’t have such a wealth of cultural activities like on earth.

 

 

He loved movies and art, and that was why he was wandering around in the living world.

 

 

“Xiao Qiong, if it’s true that movies can be made underneath, then is it true that I can make them too?”

 

He stopped making movies in his later years, partly because he was concentrating on teaching, and partly because he was getting old and really couldn’t keep up with his physical strength.

 

 

Qiong Ren nodded, “Of course, as long as you’re willing, you can join my studio in the underworld and try the water by making some short stories first. Haven’t you made ink and wash style animated movies before? If you want to take on traditional Chinese paintings, we have many masters in the underworld, Wu Daozi and Zhou Fang haven’t even been reincarnated yet.”

 

 

Su Huaizhang’s heart surged!

 

 

He didn’t think that there would be this kind of benefit to dying, to be able to discuss movie styles with painters from a thousand years ago, he felt like he was about to pass out from happiness just by thinking about it.

 

 

“But you have to go to hell to go through the reincarnation process and become a proper citizen of the underworld before you can work in my studio, if you figure it out, I can notify the underworlders to come pick you up.”

 

 

Su Huaizhang nodded repeatedly and said yes, he suddenly remembered something and said to Qiong Ren, “Xiao Qiong, help me to tell Zhou Mi that he has had bad luck for the past few years and has a problem, I didn’t believe in gods and ghosts even when I was alive, but after I died and turned into a ghost myself, I realized that my former self was too narrow minded.”

 

 

“I’ve been visiting him from time to time over the years, and I feel like he’s been victimized.”

 

Qiong Ren frowned and asked Zhou Mi, “Elder Su said that you have been unlucky in the past few years, do …… you?”

 

His pupils shrunk.

 

Unlucky and abnormal, the highly anticipated new director suddenly fell silent, and then he could not turn over, in order to make ends meet, he could only do other jobs.

 

 

 

This experience, why was it so familiar?

 

 

Wasn’t it exactly the same as him a few months ago?

 

 


TN:

See ya tomorrow ✌️

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