Chapter 203: Does Your Mother Recognize Me?
“Why isn’t Sister Liu here?”
At three in the afternoon, Yu Wei met up with Qi Luo An and her group at the airport. Besides her, Shen Yutong and her agent Xiao Deng were also going along.
Shen Yutong is also a singer who’s been extremely popular in the music scene these past two years. Although she’s low-key, she has both strength and talent, so there’s no reason for the concert not to invite her.
Better than Nan series…
It’s not just for attending the event; her going along is also convenient for practicing singing and competing with Qi Luo An. They just got “Rain Butterfly,” so they still need to rehearse it together.
For a large-scale event like the Capital Concert, related work still needs the agent to handle the docking.
Yu Wei simply greeted Shen Yutong’s agent and teased, “Someone didn’t buy a ticket for my agent.”
Actually, Liu Ning had gone ahead in advance. The organizers attached great importance to Yu Wei, and some things needed early communication. He couldn’t get away from recording the program, so he could only have Sister Liu handle it.
“Still want to rip me off, huh?”
Buying a plane ticket for Yu Wei without reimbursement had already made Qi Luo An lose big. If she had to buy another one, she’d really be a sucker.
Stop freeloading off her; what does a female university student have to freeloak? Isn’t freeloading off the company more appealing?
“If you buy her a ticket, Sister Liu is happy, but if you don’t buy her one, Sister Liu isn’t happy.”
The group chatted and laughed as they walked into the airport hall, suddenly drawn by a commotion not far away. They saw a group of staff surrounding someone in a semicircle, seemingly filming the person in the middle.
Yu Wei instantly realized there was a colleague.
This colleague was none other than Chi Leying, who had finished recording the program with him that morning. She was facing the camera, pretending to walk forward naturally.
So that’s how those airport street shoot candid photos are taken…
Female stars really love shooting at the airport. Search for a star on a search engine, and lots of pictures are from the airport.
The photos are basically all the same: wearing a mask and walking forward with head down, or actively waving and greeting, looking very approachable.
They’re actually all there on assignment. Airport street shoots are not only a platform for stars to showcase their image but also a carefully planned marketing tactic.
For stars, the airport has natural advantages: upscale environment with high foot traffic, which can maintain the star’s mystique while creating a natural and casual effect.
Airport photos are actually similar to red carpet shots; both rely on photo dissemination to drive traffic and hype popularity. It’s just that the former is more down-to-earth.
Many stars gain popularity this way: on one hand, showcasing private outfit taste via airport street shoots; on the other, maintaining public exposure.
It doesn’t even have to be private outfits; plenty cooperate with brand parties as human hangers, just to find opportunities to advertise and trick people into searching for the same styles.
If it were Yu Wei, it’d be like carrying a keyboard on the road…
“How about I take a couple photos for you too?”
Qi Luo An unexpectedly felt a bit of inexplicable competitive spirit. If others have it, her family’s Yu Wei should have it too!
He doesn’t even have a few decent airport street shoots. People who don’t know might think Yu Wei isn’t popular.
“Yu Wei doesn’t need that, right.”
Shen Yutong didn’t care if this was their little game; she seriously analyzed, “Lots of mid-to-small female artists do this. Male artists do it relatively less, so he needs it even less.”
Yu Wei obviously doesn’t need to increase exposure by posting photos; he writes novels and creates content to maintain his own popularity…
Looking at it this way, Yu Wei is practically a marketing genius. Photo posting marketing— is there anything faster than his daily updates?
Plenty of cases where the song is popular but the person isn’t, but if you ask which star writes novels, even the auntie at the village entrance can say a few things about how that kid Yu Wei is something.
“Then why aren’t you doing it?”
Yu Wei turned to look at Shen Yutong upon hearing this. Mid-to-small female artists need to maintain popularity—doesn’t that perfectly fit her?
She’s the type where the song is popular but the person is average. Lots of netizens know there’s a young female singer by this name, but they won’t specially follow her.
Singers have very weak sense of presence when not releasing songs, so they need other means to maintain popularity.
“Me? I can’t…”
Shen Yutong seemed not to expect Yu Wei to ask this and just said faintly, “I’m not good-looking enough.”
What temperament type— in the end, it’s still not good-looking enough. It wasn’t really appearance anxiety, but Shen Yutong had a clear cognition of her own looks.
She doesn’t rely on her face to eat anyway, so photo-taking to gain fans is obviously not for her. Better to honestly sing her own songs.
Yu Wei didn’t say anything, though he felt Shen Yutong was still good-looking. But looks are for oneself; others’ opinions don’t matter.
The group didn’t disturb Chi Leying who was busy shooting material, but quietly left for security check and boarding. After all, it’s a public place; better to keep a low profile.
Honestly, Yu Wei’s current popularity is already very high, but aside from that one specially organized time, he’s never encountered fans picking him up at the airport.
The airport is a busy place; everyone has their own things. Even if recognized, at most they’d wave hello from afar.
The really idle ones are mostly from the fan circle.
After formally boarding, Yu Wei and Qi Luo An made eye contact and had the following exchange.
“Start?”
“Okay, 3000 it is.”
Shen Yutong and Xiao Deng made eye contact, completely not understanding what they were saying. Some kind of two-person code?
Actually, it was industry jargon. They both spontaneously planned to write. Shanghai to Beijing is about two hours; a 3000-word sprint room is just right.
Cyber room-opening is truly delightful.
Ever since being found out by an acquaintance, Qi Luo An no longer hid her writing from people. The shame only lasts a few days; what needs to be written still needs to be written.
She actually types faster than Yu Wei. She thought she had it in the bag, but midway, Yu Wei was actually leading by a wide margin.
“Damn, you actually started?”
Yu Wei usually writes like squeezing toothpaste—one segment, then rest. Two chapters take half a day. Why so fast today?
“Indeed.”
Yu Wei really started. He was writing chapter three of “The Devotion of Suspect X.” If he dragged it further, readers would forget the first two chapters.
Plus, if he updated the main text early, Qi Luo An could follow the plot better; otherwise, his readers would really curse.
Just writing straight along—how could it not be fast? No need to think…
Yu Wei felt a bit dizzy and rested for a while. Writing on a plane is still uncomfortable after all. Qi Luo An seized the chance to overtake him.
But Yu Wei adjusted quickly and soon overtook again, finally breaking the room half an hour before landing.
“Just open a 30,000-word room directly. Not about speed—who writes more.”
Writing still needs someone together; otherwise, it’s easy to feel lassitude. Competition brings progress.
This time Yu Wei slowed down a lot; he was thinking about what song to sing at the concert…
“Music Blind Box” at least lets you tailor to the civilian guest each episode. For this large performance without theme limits, it’s harder to choose.
Casual is the hardest to do.
In a formal and grand occasion, singing lovey-dovey stuff isn’t appropriate. Better to pick some with big scope for more face.
Got it—how about singing “Universe Super Invincible Big”? The mystery is right there on the surface; that’s really big.
“What does Yutong plan to sing?”
Tomorrow is rehearsal, so the song definitely needs to be reported. Yu Wei planned to reference a few to set his own tone.
“Willow Catkins,” my new song.”
This song is actually her reading reflection on “Malice.” When the avalanche happens, no snowflake is innocent. The evil of human nature is no different.
The reason it’s called “Willow Catkins” is taken from the line “Not as good as willow catkins rising with the wind.” Directly calling it snowflake would be too plain; using willow catkins as metaphor is just right, and it’s a literary allusion.
“Singing malice in this setting? Craving the purple egg?”
This was Yu Wei joking. Although the concert has official endorsement, song selection is still very free. Singing main melody is a bonus item, but other types are fine too.
Before coming, he also asked Meng Han, who only said he planned classic reconstruction but didn’t specify what song.
“No problem. If anything, just say An An instructed me to do it. The song’s inspiration comes from your book—we’ll eat it together.”
Good food must be shared, of course…
“Not my business; I can’t go anyway.”
This thing isn’t for sharing.
Even Su Xinnan with declining popularity has no chance; a civilian like Qi Luo An is even less possible. Just stay home and watch the live broadcast peacefully then.
“But Xiao Chen will go; just don’t know what she’ll sing.”
Calling her mom Xiao Chen—probably only she could pull that off. As Chen Ping’s own daughter, Chen Jinyi will naturally sing.
But she’s a host after all, doesn’t sing much. Her exact standard will only be known once there…
“Does your lady mother know me?”
Although Yu Wei had never dealt with Chen Jinyi, her late father, wasteful husband, silly son, and disobedient daughter all knew him, so logically she should know him.
Thinking carefully, none are acquaintances—it’s more like grudges. What do you mean Dad passed twenty years ago and still gets whipped by little Deng?
If this were a fantasy worldview, she’d be yelling “Don’t hurt my son” and slapping over!
“Who in the world doesn’t know you.”
Qi Luo An brushed it off casually. She couldn’t say it either—her mom uses Yu Wei to tease her own daughter every day. Could she say that?
If she did, Yu Wei wouldn’t dare come home for dinner…
Actually, Yu Wei wasn’t too worried about this. Birds of a feather flock together. For her to pair up with a salted fish like Old Qi for life, Aunt should be quite an interesting person, not that petty.
Things have come to this; time to write first.
After the plane landed, Yu Wei was temporarily leading with 1024 to 775 word count. For a 30,000-word room, it’d probably take a few days.
Not long after the group exited, they soon noticed the commotion in the terminal. Fans who had been waiting in the airport for a long time let out a low rumble.
There are actually fans picking up at the airport?
Yu Wei instinctively glanced at Shen Yutong. This doesn’t make sense—not to mention his fans rarely do this, and he hasn’t announced his itinerary.
Bad people in the crowd?
“Not me; I keep a low profile too.”
Shen Yutong, being so reclusive, certainly wouldn’t arrange such things. The group looked closely and saw that the support items had Chi Leying’s name.
Her flight should be an hour later, yet her fans arrived this early?
Little Chi is really popular.
“Go around; her fans are pretty into you.”
Qi Luo An muttered softly. She quite liked watching fan circle fun, peeping at star Super Topics now and then.
Chi Leying’s fans follow the main star— a bit shrewd. Qi Luo An had seen several times them shipping pairings; they were quite hungry for Yu Wei as “brother-in-law.”
Little Musician, her number one big rival after Yu Yuan!
Yu Yuan is just pure dislike; Musician really plans to steal her peach. In the Super Topic, she could even scroll to R18 fanfic involving Chi Yu…
Shen Yutong saw right through what her best friend was thinking. What collateral damage to Chi Yu or Yu Lu—all inferior to our Qi Xing Yu?
Luckily, Chi Leying’s fans knew the main star’s plane hadn’t arrived yet, so the queue was quite loose and not very alert. Yu Wei easily slipped out.
In the north in the second half of the year, dusk always comes hurriedly. When leaving the airport, the sky was already darkening. Yu Wei looked at the afterglow on the horizon and suddenly thought of thousand-layer cake.
He was a bit hungry.
“That’s perfect—come to my house for dinner. I’ll have Xiao Chen make your favorite mapo tofu.”
“Really?”
Confirming it’s not the big-mouth slap she loves most?
