Chapter 146: Wronged Yu Wei
The Louvain International Film Festival lasts five days. The first day is the opening ceremony and welcome reception, followed by two days of screenings and screenings, and finally the awards ceremony and cultural performance.
The schedule is relatively relaxed, so at least Yu Wei has plenty of time for writing. The only issue is the time difference…
Belgium Daylight Time is six hours behind domestic time. When they arrived at the hotel, it was probably around 3 a.m. back home.
When the fifth episode of Music Blind Box updated, they were still on the airplane, so they didn’t see it right away.
Yu Wei originally didn’t want to catch up on it, but under Qi Luo An’s soft persuasion and insistence, he agreed anyway. He watched a bit and then went to sleep.
After 9 p.m. at night, a single man and woman watching a variety show in the hotel—would anyone believe it if word got out…
Yu Wei sank into the wide, soft sofa. The air conditioning blew warm air, and the air was filled with the hotel’s signature faint elegant fragrance and the sweet fruity scent from Qi Luo An’s hair beside him.
“Nice shampoo.”
He was fine not mentioning it, but once he did, Qi Luo An got a bit excited instead. She subconsciously tilted her head toward Yu Wei, thinking, if you like it, smell more.
This episode didn’t have much to watch. The part where Yu Wei taught Hu Xing how to write a novel left outsiders baffled, but only web novel readers would get a knowing smile.
“I think I’ve scrolled past this book of his.”
When Qi Luo An saw the book title Yu Wei gave the civilian contestant, she clearly paused. The book was from her batch, and she had seen it in the library.
So, did Yu Wei get the idea to write something himself only when he saw others writing novels?
“But the performance is pretty average.”
For web novel new releases, it’s all about pull and follow-up reads. Pull is how many readers are attracted, and follow-up reads is the number of people keeping up with the latest chapters.
Drawing readers in is one thing; keeping them is another. The gimmick Yu Wei came up with for Hu Xing is decent, but the follow-up reads are low now—probably just not written well…
Yu Wei had read the early plot. He flipped through a few later chapters and found the issue: Hu Xing was overthinking it.
“Why do all newcomers like making the protagonist grow? It’s going fine, then suddenly on a whim they add personality charm…”
That’s where Hu Xing went wrong. Protagonist growth is fine, but not to grow directly after just a dozen chapters.
Starts off poor and desperate to make money, but before earning much, suddenly decides to be a sober soul, highlighting the protagonist’s vision.
“Idealism.” Qi Luo An paused. “It’s normal to get expressive after a few chapters, then force your own ideas onto the protagonist.”
Yeah, pretty normal. Newcomers love dwelling on the protagonist’s inner journey, what kind of person he should become…
Everyone starts as small characters for immersion, then suddenly “How can sparrows know the ambitions of a swan”—scares the readers away?
You’re right, but we are the sparrows.
“How come you didn’t make that mistake?”
Come to think of it, Qi Luo An is a newcomer too. How did she avoid plot and persona pitfalls? Is she really a talent-type contestant?
“My protagonist is you. How could I mess up on you… cough, with a persona, it’s hard to mess up.”
What the heck is she saying?
The program’s dialogue blurred into a buzz in his ears, but Qi Luo An’s heartbeat was deafening.
Even Yu Wei, used to big scenes, was a bit startled by that line. Does she really think she’d mess up on him?
“Comrade Qi, you can’t commit errors in principle, got it?”
Qi Luo An didn’t reply. Amid the awkwardness, she quickly realized the key: it’s not her fault; he’s the one tempting her.
Messing up on someone you like is human nature.
The program’s process continued, but Qi Luo An’s attention was elsewhere. She got it—this was a golden opportunity. Time to mess up.
At first, tilting her head was just to let Yu Wei smell her hair, but with a flash of thought, her body tilted slightly, her shoulder gently pressing against Yu Wei’s arm.
Qi Luo An hadn’t enjoyed the intimacy for long when her shoulder suddenly lost contact, landing in empty space.
She tilted her head to look: Yu Wei had twisted his body, pushing his shoulder away to the other side, perfectly dodging her surprise attack.
“Iron Mountain Rely—never seen it, huh.”
Qi Luo An really hadn’t. Mainly, she’d never seen someone play dumb while fully aware…
She was a bit shy at first approaching him, but once he dodged, her rebellious streak flared. Today, she was determined to lean on that shoulder.
She didn’t say anything, just let her arm that was on the sofa back slide down slowly, naturally wrapping around Yu Wei’s shoulder, then casually pulling him back into place.
“Comrade, sit straight.”
Only then did Qi Luo An get her wish, leaning against him like a kitten finding a cozy nest, letting out a barely audible sigh of satisfaction.
Not even pretending anymore?
Yu Wei hadn’t expected her to be so bold, and his heart started racing a bit.
He could clearly feel the subtle rise and fall of Qi Luo An’s body with her breathing, and the warmth seeping through her thin clothing.
Qi Luo An seemed proactive, but her brain had actually crashed. Impulse is the devil; only after did she realize how bold she’d been.
She felt her cheeks burning, blood surging faster through her veins, bringing a slight dizziness and unprecedented clarity.
Awkward, but worth it…
The two tacitly stayed silent, leaning together to watch the latter half of the program. The old man’s chorus with Meng Han successfully amused Qi Luo An; Yu Wei could feel her shaking shoulder from laughter.
She kept shaking like a sifter. Annoyed by it, Yu Wei lightly bumped back as retaliation, but Qi Luo An bumped right back unyieldingly.
The somewhat ambiguous vibe suddenly shifted; the two bumped each other back and forth like Newton’s cradle balls.
“A song I wrote before?”
Hearing Yu Wei on the program say Someone Like Me was something he wrote before, Qi Luo An clearly perked up, though the shoulder bumping didn’t stop.
“You’ll know when you listen.”
Combined with the performance on screen, the two swayed left and right like at a concert. Outsiders might think they were keeping beat.
But when the line “Someone as excellent as me should have shone through life” rang out, Qi Luo An, who was winding up sideways for a bump, instinctively froze.
This was probably written back when he was still bottom tier…
Yu Wei didn’t notice and bumped into empty air, his body tilting and nearly toppling onto Qi Luo An. Close call—almost turned into a cheesy idol drama.
Hu Xing’s voice was rich and slightly husky, as if each note carried the trivia and sadness of life.
No technique, all emotion. Even listening again, Yu Wei still felt he was the most stable among his current six teammates.
“How after more than twenty years
Still drifting in the sea of people.”
Qi Luo An curled up on the sofa, her fingers unconsciously rubbing the hem of Yu Wei’s T-shirt nearby, feeling an inexplicable sourness.
His days back then must have been really tough. Sigh.
She was just about to comfort him when she heard “Why trade a romance for a body full of scars”…
“Hm?”
Qi Luo An shot up from the sofa like a spring. Oh wow—a romance, scars all over.
“Expresses the author’s longing for home.”
Yu Wei glanced up at her. Artistic works get embellished, right? Normal.
Does writing “A new storm has appeared” mean they’ve seen a storm?
Qi Luo An got the logic, but the program team was too mean—right at that line, they gave Yu Wei a close-up shot.
The other three guests nearby were all looking at him. The scene was kinda funny.
“Someone as lost as me
Someone searching like me
Someone as mediocre as me
How many have you seen?”
Listening to the lyrics full of self-mockery and sadness, Qi Luo An’s heart trembled. She casually poured a glass of water to play it off.
She only stood up to drink some water.
When the final line “Someone as inexplicable as me—will anyone feel sorry for them” faded slowly, Qi Luo An instinctively glanced at the quietly sitting Yu Wei, feeling a bit unsettled.
So those unspeakable resentments, the loneliness too embarrassing to admit, the anxiety gnawing at self-esteem in the dead of night—he’d long set them to music and written them out.
In the absolute silence, she seemed to hear her own answer bursting out: Who says no one cares? I do, about you!
“I didn’t write this song. Don’t take it seriously.”
“I get it.”
People like to cut ties with their past selves. Qi Luo An didn’t like talking about her child star days either. It happens.
She’d even seen someone pretend to have split personality just to distance from their dark history…
“It’s 11 p.m. I need to sleep. You should head back.”
Yu Wei had been sleepy the whole flight and watched the program for half a day. His eyelids were fighting.
The rest of the delegation were staying nearby. They hadn’t said anything outright, but they were definitely watching their moves.
If Qi Luo An lingered, tomorrow would be awkward…
If something happened, let them talk. But if nothing did and they still gossiped, it’d be annoying.
“Then, good night.”
Though reluctant, tomorrow had real business, so Qi Luo An kept her head clear.
She knew Yu Wei’s concerns. When leaving, she slammed the door extra loud to make sure the nosy neighbors heard.
Understand what “feelings arise from emotion, stop at propriety” means?
After confirming Qi Luo An was back in her room, Yu Wei dragged his tired body to bed. With the program done, he could finally write about Fei Hong’s competition.
Also Someone Like Me, but in the video Fei Hong sent, his style differed from Hu Xing’s on the program.
Hu Xing sang out that struggling, lost feeling because he’s just an ordinary guy adrift in life’s whirlpool.
But Fei Hong sang the tearing apart of self-cognition—the disillusionment of his youthful ideals.
The contrast between shining through life and drifting in the sea of people was a real experience in his growth, the powerlessness of blending into the crowd.
With this song, Fei Hong shouldn’t lose tomorrow’s revival match plot.
Notably, due to Yu Wei’s absence this episode, the replacement artist Music Blind Box brought in was Fei Hong. Clearly, the program team wanted to ride the song’s popularity to boost the newcomer.
Whether he’d become popular again, he didn’t know, but it was an opportunity at least.
“What to write for the day after tomorrow…”
Yu Wei was already plotting the day after. During the visa wait, he’d scheduled Tong Yulu, Zhang Lingye, and Meng Lei as minor idols—all won without exception.
Only acquaintance left is Chen Chen; the others are minor idols. To make the competition exciting, he’d need some natives to stir things up.
Bubble might be too supermodel. This time, Yu Wei planned some internet celebrity song to handle it. Controversial as they are, they’re still better than sing-and-dance flops minor idols.
Only issue: he didn’t remember the original singers’ voices, so no way to tune the AI naturally.
Yu Wei thought it over and decided to play dirty. During tomorrow’s live broadcast, randomly pick some fated audience voices for the material library…
Real stars, fake stars done—writing real netizens isn’t overkill. Then just mix some voices and produce in bulk.
Internet celebrity songs don’t need top models anyway. AI won’t go off-key; it’ll always sound good.
Want fun? Come be my cannon fodder.
Reader, you form the head!
