Chapter 166: Sudden Accident, Poking A Hole In The Sky
“Look at you, I’m only asking because I care about you.”
Chi Ye heard Sister Shang say this and felt that the other party was too sensitive. Also… she insisted on buying it, could she really have fallen in love with that feeling?
Chi Ye was puzzled but didn’t continue the topic, just asking: “So, do you actually have a schedule available or not?”
“……Depends on my mood.”
Chi Ye: “?”
“If I’m in a good mood, then yes.”
Chi Ye asked: “What if you’re in a bad mood?”
“Still yes.”
Chi Ye: “……”
“Forget it, I’m not joking with you anymore.” Sister Shang waved her hand. She had already seen her assistant jogging over toward her. Seizing the “last moment,” she turned back to ask Chi Ye: “Why are you asking about my schedule? Planning to pick a time to ride my coattails?”
“Yeah.”
Shang Youshu: “……”
Are people this straightforward now?
Chi Ye also looked toward the assistant running over and casually said: “It’s just that my studio is preparing to start a movie project at the end of the year… The movie I’m filming now is about to wrap up.”
“Oh……”
Sister Shang suddenly realized: “Looking for me to invest?”
Chi Ye: “……You should head back. Goodbye.”
“Aiya, look at you. I’m only asking because I care. And now you’re mad.”
Sister Shang walked toward the assistant with a smile: “Why did you run over here?”
“Sister Shang… Grandmother Shang… why are you with…”
The assistant saw Chi Ye nearby, her pupils shook for a second, and she instantly swallowed the words she was about to say. She just used her eyes to signal Shang Youshu: Grandmother, the agent side is going crazy. Stop tormenting us and hurry back.
“Oh.”
Shang Youshu seemed to understand the look, turned back to Chi Ye, and blinked her eyes: “Chi Ye, I’m recommending you good food this time. You can’t pit me in the future.”
Chi Ye was stunned.
“Contact me on WeChat later and let me see the script.”
She waved her hand and followed the assistant to the business car with free and easy flair.
Chi Ye stared at her back, just about to praise her.
But he saw a few bystanders nearby who seemed to have noticed this side. The originally graceful and straight-backed Sister Shang suddenly hunched over, sneakily urging the assistant: “Hurry, hurry! Someone spotted me!”
The assistant: “……”
Chi Ye: “……”
Back to normal, the vibe is right again.
……
The second day, after arranging the music team provided by the program team for himself plus his own new album team, Chi Ye flew straight to the capital city—his destination was the Big Shot film crew, but before that, he was going to visit the set of the long-unseen Empress Dowager.
Ever since Xing Ni wrapped up, the Empress Dowager had joined a movie film crew.
This project was a big pie in the industry, with huge investment, directed by Director Zhang, known as the Guoshi.
Jin Xia was playing the female supporting role in it.
When Chi Ye arrived at the film crew, he found the Empress Dowager had just finished and was free, holding her mobile phone and poking away energetically, not knowing what she was doing.
“Teacher Chi.”
“Teacher Chi… Ah, Teacher Jin Xia is treating everyone to milk tea and coffee!”
“Thank you, Teacher Jin Xia!”
The shouts of the film crew’s on-set staff came from his ears, along with a chorus of “Thank you, Teacher Jin Xia.”
The Empress Dowager was startled, abruptly looked up, and saw Chi Ye walking toward her with a smile.
“Ah, Teacher Chi… how did you get here?”
Her eyes first flashed with surprise, then delight as she stood up and jogged toward Chi Ye. Her little face still had some makeup smudges, clearly not removed yet.
“Not welcoming me? What bad thing are you doing behind my back?!”
Hearing this, Chi Ye immediately did a Sichuan opera face change and “questioned” Jin Xia.
Jin Xia stopped in her tracks, then panicked and glanced around before lowering her voice: “Don’t tell anyone!”
Chi Ye: “?”
Huh?
She really did something bad behind my back?
“I cursed out all those people who said you sing badly.”
Chi Ye: “……There are so many of them. Can you curse them all?”
Jin Xia glanced down at her mobile phone and shook her head dejectedly: “Only the 132nd one. I started from last night. I’ve been working really hard, Teacher Chi.”
Chi Ye glanced at her and saw her chin raised proudly, just short of saying: Hurry up and praise me, or I’ll be unhappy if you don’t.
He shook his head: “No, still not hardworking enough. If you were really hardworking, you wouldn’t have only done this much. Here’s the deal: By nine o’clock tonight, you must curse them all.”
Jin Xia opened her mouth: “Ah?”
“Ah what? No cursing, no dinner.”
Chi Ye lifted the things he was carrying: “I’ll give them all to Aunt.”
“……Chi Ye, you have no conscience.”
The Empress Dowager dropped the act, snatched the bag, and happily rummaged through it: “What’s all this? Eh… what’s this fish tail?”
Chi Ye was startled.
“How is there this in my bag… That shouldn’t be.”
“This looks pretty good. I’ll try one.”
The Empress Dowager had already pulled out a bag of fish tails and was about to open it.
“No no, don’t eat it.”
Chi Ye hurriedly snatched it back and shook his head firmly: “This stuff doesn’t taste good.”
“?”
Jin Xia looked at Chi Ye suspiciously: “Teacher Chi, you’re not holding out on me with something good, are you?”
“You bought it yourself. Something you bought for me—could it not taste good?”
Chi Ye: “……It really doesn’t taste good. And it’s not called fish tail.”
“Not fish tail?” Jin Xia looked puzzled at the name on the packaging bag: “Then what is it called?”
“Chrysanthemum Surprise.”
Jin Xia was dumbfounded: “Chrysanthemum Surprise? What’s that?”
Chi Ye thought for a moment and asked: “Have you played Honor of Kings?”
Jin Xia shook her head honestly: “I don’t play games, Teacher Chi.”
Chi Ye: “……Fine. There’s a hero in it called Orange Youjing.”
Jin Xia: “???”
Chi Ye stopped talking about this topic and didn’t care if the Empress Dowager understood… This kind of thing, it’s best if the Empress Dowager never understands it her whole life. It’s too embarrassing.
“Come on, let’s go inside and talk. You don’t even invite me in to sit?”
He changed the subject and pushed the Empress Dowager into the RV.
……
Meanwhile.
Film crew, Director Zhang’s filming location.
One shot had just ended. He had just slurped some goji berry tea when the executive director hurried over and said softly: “Chi Ye came to visit the set.”
“Chi Ye?” Director Zhang was stunned for two seconds before vaguely remembering: “The singer?”
“Ah… He acts now too.”
The executive director nodded.
“Visiting the set is visiting the set. What’s the issue?”
Director Zhang didn’t understand why the executive director was telling him this.
Honestly, with his status and connections in the industry, ever since filming started, big stars visiting the set had been coming nonstop. Chi Ye wouldn’t even rank in the top ten.
“Um… The producer just happened to see him come over and thought, for our movie’s OST, could we get him to write a few songs?”
The executive director thought and said: “Lately, his popularity is pretty high.”
“Oh.” Director Zhang suddenly realized and nodded: “I know, that singer. My granddaughter watches him all the time.”
He then said: “Sure, have the producers contact him. This kind of thing follows the standard cooperation process.”
Seeing that Director Zhang had no “ill feelings” toward Chi Ye, the executive director nodded and hurried away.
Director Zhang didn’t pay attention to it anymore, screwed on the tea cup lid, and prepared to continue filming.
……
Before, Chi Ye actually had no status in the industry. For example, before Singer aired, if he visited the set of a big production like this, it wouldn’t alarm many people.
But after “Ji Ni Tai Mei,” he took a portion of Lao Ji’s fans, and his recent popularity was explosive, naturally drawing attention from many who hadn’t cared about him before.
In the RV.
“Teacher Chi, you’re so nice. You know exactly what I like to eat.”
Chi Ye looked at the Empress Dowager across from him, stuffing things in like a little hamster, and was glad she could “eat by herself.”
But the next moment.
“Teacher Chi, help me tear this open.”
“Teacher Chi, I can’t open this.”
“Teacher Chi, the AC is a bit cold. Go adjust it.”
Chi Ye rolled his eyes: “How about I just move your house here for you?”
Jin Xia was stunned, pointed at the stuff aggrievedly: “Teacher Chi, this is the dried mango you like to eat, this is the lemonade you like to drink… And the AC temperature—you said you like 24° best, but it’s only 22° in here now… I was planning to use them for you…”
Chi Ye was stunned, instantly feeling a bit guilty.
Wait, no…
If it’s for me to use, why make me do it myself?
“Aiya, don’t overthink it! Just do as I say. Whatever I tell you to do, you do it. Be obedient!”
Chi Ye: “???”
Am I a dog? Am I a dog?!
“Not doing it.”
Jin Xia sneaked a glance at him, wanted to act tough, but didn’t want to make a fuss in front of Chi Ye. After thinking for a long time, she poked Chi Ye and whispered: “Teacher Chi, listen to me, and next time I’ll let you… um… have your fun.”
Chi Ye: “!”
He perked up: “Have my fun? You mean by ‘fun’…”
Whoosh.
The car door was suddenly pushed open. Sister Mi walked in with a sour face, glanced at Chi Ye, and said sarcastically: “Yo, the Heavenly King is here.”
“Ah, the Heavenly King is here, and you still won’t pour him a glass of water? Unscrew the lemonade, tear open the dried mango, adjust the AC to 24°…”
Sister Mi: “?”
She glanced at Chi Ye, didn’t go help, but picked up the remote and adjusted the AC to 24°.
See, she really did it!
Of course, even so, Chi Ye’s expression wasn’t great. He also had a sour face, a bit annoyed that Sister Mi came at the wrong time.
“Time to film. Director Zhang is urging me to get you over for makeup touch-up.”
Sister Mi glanced at Chi Ye: “If you’re not busy, stay a bit longer…”
Chi Ye checked the time and shook his head: “I have to head back soon. This was just a quick stop to see you all.”
After saying that, he clearly noticed Jin Xia’s mood wasn’t high. He paused and said: “How about next week you take a day off and come to the Singer live performance to hear me sing?”
The Empress Dowager’s eyes lit up, then she wilted and shook her head: “Can’t.”
She didn’t say why not, but Chi Ye guessed—Director Zhang’s crew, female supporting role, she really couldn’t just leave.
Thinking about this, Chi Ye felt a bit uneasy inside… Looks like the studio’s movie project needs to be prepared faster.
Sigh, it’s just that the female lead in the first movie really isn’t suitable for the Empress Dowager. Her face is too regal. Otherwise… he’d have gone with her.
After all, free and effective!
But no worries, there’ll be opportunities later.
Chi Ye planted the thought in his mind, didn’t delay the Empress Dowager’s work any longer, stayed another ten minutes, then hurried to the airport with his team.
Jin Xia watched his back longingly.
“Why don’t you throw a tantrum? Anyway, even if you do, no one dares to force you.”
Seeing this, Sister Mi raised an eyebrow: “Don’t you usually do this kind of thing all the time?”
“……Sister Mi, I don’t really want to act like this in front of Teacher Chi all the time.” Jin Xia thought and sighed: “Otherwise, he’ll think I’m too much of a handful. I want to leave a good impression on him.”
Sister Mi: “?”
“You really think he doesn’t know how much of a handful you are?”
Jin Xia instantly rolled her face, and after a while said: “So what if he knows? He likes it even knowing!”
Sister Mi: “……You’re really something. Have you evolved to this level already?”
Jin Xia shook her little head and told the truth: “And it’s fine if I do this, but I’m afraid others will think he whispered in your ear, and it’ll give him a bad impression.”
Sister Mi: “Didn’t expect you to be such a good wife and loving mother.”
Jin Xia glanced back at her: “Sister Mi, if you sarcasm me again, you can go back tomorrow.”
Sister Mi: “!”
“Sorry, sis talked too much. Get up, sis has to kowtow to you…”
“……”
……
On the airplane.
“How’s it going outside now?”
Chi Ye leaned back in his seat and asked Xiao Liu. As for Keke, after returning to the capital city, she had gone back to the studio.
“Um… It’s getting noisier and noisier.”
Xiao Liu replied.
Getting noisier and noisier.
From last night after Singer ended, with Chi Ye’s “sudden emergence” exploding the hot search, the topics of Chi Ye beating Xiang Tiamo and Chi Ye’s Chinese style hadn’t gone away.
By today, with rivals from all sides and even real bystanders joining in, the incident had fermented more intensely, the arguments more terrifying, gradually spreading from Weibo to Douyin, Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, even real life.
Actually, this was a good thing for Chi Ye, because as the center of the incident, the attention he got was predictable.
But he didn’t expect the development of this matter to far exceed his expectations, or even those of everyone trying to mess with him.
—Now the whole internet was arguing about two topics.
1. Is it reasonable that Chi Ye beat Xiang Tiamo?
2. Chinese culture versus Western culture.
This was the biggest topic, even overshadowing the first one, so no one was paying attention to the ranking anymore.
This topic, going deep, even touched on East-West cultural heritage, cultural confidence, and even deeper sensitive issues.
For example, on the current hot search list, there was #What Exactly Is Chinese Style?# and #Don’t Blindly Follow Political Correctness and Close Your Eyes to the World#.
Both hot words had exploded.
In the Chinese style hot word, the discussion wasn’t really about what Chinese style is—everyone didn’t need a verdict. Most people just felt, does this so-called “innovative” style even count as a “style”?
Connecting to the second hot word, many netizens… even bloggers thought you can’t blindly follow political correctness just because the name has “China” in it. The Western music industry is advanced, their style and culture are superior. You can’t close your eyes to the world over this.
In plain words, many people didn’t recognize this so-called Chinese style that just emerged, and deep down they felt that the East just doesn’t have the prestige of the West.
Chi Ye, wrapped in the “skin” of political correctness, easily beat Xiang Tiamo. Is that reasonable?
Additionally, setting aside the song, in all aspects of life, the West’s influence worldwide is huge. You can’t “close the country” for various so-called reasons, right?
Yes, the topic had developed to the point where it had nothing to do with the song anymore, because Singer’s phenomenal influence, with Chi Ye beating Xiang Tiamo last night as a trigger point, caused long-accumulated topics to explode like a bomb in the current gradually relaxing public opinion environment.
It caught everyone off guard, left the parties involved and all competitors dumbfounded.
Including the official side.
It had blown up to the heavens.
……
Morning.
Jin Zhao arrived at the unit early, had the driver park the car, and got out first with his briefcase.
Because he had just been transferred to the capital city not long ago, he had been keeping a low profile lately, arriving at the unit very early every day.
But he came early, others came even earlier. Jin Zhao’s expression unchanged as he greeted the various colleagues who had been waiting who knows how long, then walked into the office.
“Sigh, starting tomorrow, let’s work normal hours.”
Seeing the secretary close the door, he casually said: “No need to pick me up so early tomorrow.”
“Okay.”
The secretary nodded lightly and began reporting today’s work.
Half an hour later, Jin Zhao took off his glasses, rubbed his eyes, and then asked: “What was the deal with the internet yesterday?”
“Um… It’s like this…”
The secretary immediately gave a clear and concise account.
Ten minutes later, after hearing the report, Jin Zhao pondered expressionlessly.
“You see, on the public opinion side…”
“Our people still need more cultural confidence.”
Jin Zhao paused and said: “Keep a close eye on it. Anything too sensitive still can’t…”
He gave a few low-voice instructions, then asked: “Does this matter still relate to Chi Ye?”
The secretary was stunned, not understanding why Jin Zhao suddenly asked about a star’s name, and from that frown…
Goodness, he was unfazed by those earlier topics, but this…
The secretary’s heartbeat slowed half a beat, and she cautiously said: “Um… The incident started because of him and the Singer program team…”
“……”
After another conversation, Jin Zhao calmed down.
Little brat, you better behave, or don’t blame me for picking on you.
……
In recent years, or say the past twenty years, this vast ancient country of China has begun its revival. Our industry, manufacturing, production— all leading globally. Among them, new energy vehicles, photovoltaic industry chain, steel, wind power, and dozens of other industries have achieved world first.
The public has gradually grown confident, with national heritage and cultural confidence blooming in multiple aspects, standing out.
But undeniably, due to various historical issues, Western culture’s impact and invasion on countries worldwide has been huge, unimaginably so.
People like the silent girl type who shout “we’ve revived” on their lips but admire Western culture deep down and in their bones are not few, even occupying the majority.
So the topic triggered by Singer and Chi Ye exploded, so the situation developed to this unimaginable scene.
What to do? How to wrap it up?
The Singer program team was dumbfounded.
Yue Na, Hua Yichen, Teacher Na, even Yu Yan and other rivals of Chi Ye were dumbfounded.
Chi Ye himself…
Was also dumbfounded.
