1novels Chapter 607 The Wind Rises
Chapter 607 The Wind Rises
……
……
"You guys keep putting me down, do you really think I have a good temper?"
"I'll make you all so angry and so envious!"
Zhang Jingyi walked on the stone path on campus, her canvas shoes crunching over a few dry sycamore leaves, making a soft, crisp sound as she talked to herself.
finished,
Zhang Jingyi paused for half a second, then looked around to make sure no one was around before smiling with relief. "Why do I feel like I'm being a bit teasing?"
She admitted,
When she showed off the bag Gu Qing gave her, there was indeed a slight element of intentionality in it.
But can you blame her?
Those guys are always being sarcastic and sarcastic in the dorm. They're obviously jealous of me, so they should just say so. Why do they have to pretend and act like that?
"Fine, tea it is then,"
Zhang Jingyi removed her hand from her cheek, adjusted the chain on her shoulder, and hummed softly, "Anyway, I'm telling the truth."
Having vented his anger, Xiao Zhang felt incredibly refreshed.
She walked towards the school gate, her canvas shoes clicking on the stone pavement, her ponytail swaying behind her head.
As soon as she reached the school gate, Zhang Jingyi saw the four luxury cars parked side by side in the distance.
The male students in the class gathered around the car, laughing and joking, striking all sorts of poses and expressions, some nonchalant, others with e-cigarettes dangling from their mouths.
From an outsider's perspective, it is undoubtedly quite ridiculous.
As an art student at Beijing Film Academy, luxury cars are nothing new to me.
Every time school lets out, there are always all sorts of luxury cars belonging to "godfathers" parked on the roadside in front of the school.
These scenes unfold day after day at the school gate, like a never-ending soap opera.
It subtly changes the values of every student who walks out of this door.
Many students succumb to this temptation, fall headlong into it, and never get out.
Xiao Zhang is both lucky and unlucky.
The boss is Zhou Xun, her deskmate is Gu Qing, and she played the second female lead in her first drama, "Love O2O," which became a huge hit online.
Despite being a student who hasn't even debuted yet, he has already witnessed the most glamorous scenes in the entertainment industry.
Both their vision and threshold have been raised to extremely high levels.
The boys in the class were showing off and flaunting the several rented luxury cars parked at the school gate.
She felt nothing at all, and even had the thought that "these boys are so childish and immature".
It's hard to blame Xiao Zhang for this.
It is easy to go from frugality to extravagance, but difficult to go from extravagance to frugality; this is an eternal truth.
She had seen truly beautiful things, so beautiful that they made the light of everyone around her seem dim.
Therefore,
Looking at all the boys around him now, Xiao Zhang really finds them bland, boring, childish, and unattractive.
"Handsome, can I take a picture?"
Students passing by the college were naturally drawn to the luxury cars parked at the entrance; some simply stopped to take pictures.
Some female students even went up to them with bright smiles, took the initiative to contact them, and exchanged contact information.
One was greedy for money, the other lustful; each got what they wanted.
Xiao Zhang quietly stepped aside, not rushing over, but standing next to a willow tree, its thick branches obscuring her delicate figure, deciding to wait a while longer.
She kept Zhou Gongzi's words firmly in mind.
She should be careful on campus and not get too close to boys to avoid being photographed and recorded, so that her rivals won't use it against her after she debuts.
Zhang Jingyi is now a somewhat well-known celebrity; most students have seen her photos or heard her name.
After "Love O2O" finished airing, her blog gained several new followers, and she would occasionally be asked for autographs and photos by younger students when walking on campus.
If she's photographed standing too close to a guy, the gossip accounts could easily twist the truth and turn a white lie into a black one.
As for dating, forget about it.
If she accidentally gets a boyfriend and he has ulterior motives and secretly takes a photo of them together and posts it, her career will be basically ruined.
This year,
The younger sister who is a fan of celebrities has moral standards for female celebrities that are several orders of magnitude higher than those for ordinary people.
Male celebrities dating is considered a "broken house".
For female celebrities, especially newcomers, dating is practically "ruining their careers."
"If you want to date in the future, date properly within the industry. Date as many as you want. Everyone has basic rules and bottom lines, and not many people dare to break them."
These were Zhou Gongzi's exact words of comfort, which undoubtedly shocked Zhang Jingyi.
Does the entertainment industry actually have any bottom line?!
This was something she hadn't anticipated.
She thought the bottom line of the entertainment industry was like the sea level, constantly dropping.
However, upon further reflection, Zhang Jingyi realized that this statement was actually quite reasonable.
She had personally witnessed how Senior Sister Jing Tian and classmate Gu Qing filmed their kissing scene on set.
That scene took an entire afternoon to film.
Senior Sister Jingtian would always find various excuses to NG (make up for the NG), and even when the director yelled "cut," she would still be kissing passionately.
Zhang Jingyi stood by as a background figure, and by the end, her Dao heart shattered, and she couldn't help but slip away.
How could a normal person not be moved by such close intimacy?
"Sigh, I think I'll just focus on my career and making money."
Xiao Zhang leaned against the willow trunk, looked up at the withered yellow branches swaying in the wind, and mentally gave himself a year-end summary.
Zhang Jingyi now feels that dating is impossible.
unless,
She was fortunate to meet a boy who was just as good as Gu Qing; otherwise, where would she have gotten excited?
……
"Xiao Zhang, what are you doing here?"
A gentle voice, tinged with laughter, came from behind.
"Good afternoon, Teacher Zhang and Teacher Zhou!"
Zhang Jingyi peeked out from behind the willow tree, blinked twice, recognized the person, and immediately ran over excitedly.
"LV? Zhang, you've struck it rich?"
As the weekend approached, Zhou Yiwei felt he no longer needed to put on that teacher's airs.
He forced a smile, trying to crack a joke.
But that smile... well, his features combined naturally carried a sharp edge.
When he's not smiling, he's like a silent guardian deity; but when he smiles, the sense of oppression he exudes is even stronger.
Zhang Jingyi was so startled by his smile that she slammed on the brakes, the soles of her canvas shoes scraping lightly half an inch on the stone pavement, and she almost lost her balance.
"Yiwei, look how scared you've made the child!"
Zhang Songwen smiled and reached out, giving his old friend a light elbow to the chest. "The bag was a gift from Xiao Gu."
"Was this a gift from Xiao Gu?"
Zhou Yiwei was taken aback at first, then smiled meaningfully and glanced at Zhang Jingyi, whose face was flushed.
"Teacher Zhang, Teacher Zhou, this is a return gift from Gu Qing."
This misunderstanding was sweet, but Xiao Zhang still felt that he had to explain things clearly and couldn't just take Gu Qing's place for nothing.
"I understand, I understand. We two old folks won't participate in your stories, you young people's stories."
Zhang Songwen smiled and waved his hand, "Let's go, let's get together first, we'll talk after everyone is here."
Zhang Jingyi opened her mouth slightly, then picked up her handbag with a troubled expression and followed behind the two teachers.
Upon arriving at the school gate,
Zhang Songwen was so surprised by the four luxury cars lined up in front of him that he exclaimed "Whoa!"
"With this kind of entourage, are you going to see a movie or to cause a scene?"
I was already planning to call taxis for you guys—but you each drove a luxury car, more impressive than me, the teacher.
"Haha, Teacher Zhang, Teacher Zhou, it won't affect anything. It's much more convenient to drive there yourself."
"After all, Brother Gu booked out the entire theater for us to watch a movie, so we can't let him down."
"Hey? Jingyi, want to ride my Phantom?"
Seeing Zhang, the school beauty, in her unusually fresh outfit, the boy who had initially been all pink quickly switched to what he considered his most charming smile.
He straightened up from the car door, tossed the car keys in his hand into the air and caught them, and said casually, "Get in my passenger seat, I'll take you for a spin."
"No, no, I already called a car before I came."
Zhang Jingyi's lips twitched slightly. She quickly raised her phone and waved it, but the screen was black.
"Jingyi, calling a taxi is such a hassle. Why don't you just cancel your order and ride with me? I'll drive slowly, so you won't get carsick."
"The driver has already accepted the order, so let's just forget about it."
Xiao Zhang forced himself to continue the lie.
"Alright, since you have a car, let's set off."
Zhang Songwen, a former tour guide and actor, is a very perceptive person. He noticed Zhang Jingyi's predicament early on and offered his help:
"Just be at the cinema at 2 o'clock sharp, don't be late. Your classmate Gu has booked the whole theater and is treating us, so it would be impolite to be late."
"Huh? Teacher, aren't you going to sit down?" a student asked.
"If we teachers were to ride in your students' luxury cars and others saw us, what kind of situation would that be?"
Zhou Yiwei began to criticize him seriously.
While everyone's attention was drawn away by the two teachers, Zhang Jingyi took the opportunity to lower her head and pretend to be nonchalantly replying to messages, while her fingers quickly tapped on the ride-hailing app on her phone screen.
In the blink of an eye, the car I had called arrived at the school gate.
"Teacher Zhang, Teacher Zhou, would you like to come along?"
Zhang Jingyi opened the back door of the car and instinctively turned around to invite him.
"Xiao Zhang, you..."
Zhang Songwen shook his head, both amused and exasperated. Looking at the child's sincere expression as he looked up, he couldn't help but sigh and offer further advice:
"If you want to make it in the entertainment industry in the future, you need to be more careful."
"You can't expect your classmate Gu Qing to protect you every time you're filming, can you? He can't protect you forever."
There are some things he's too embarrassed to say too bluntly.
Has the Beijing Film Academy never had any scandals involving teachers and students?
Even the Central Academy of Drama has quite a few!
In the entertainment industry, the so-called teacher-student relationship is as fragile as paper; there's no difference between them.
Only when you yourself become famous and have a voice can this flimsy teacher-student relationship truly have some effect.
Before that, the people who would stab you in the back the hardest were often the teachers and students from your own school.
Because of the resources provided by the school—recommendation slots, audition opportunities, and connections.
It's meant to encourage competition between you teachers and students!
Zhou Yiwei was too lazy to say anything, he just kept waving his hands.
"..."
Zhang Jingyi blinked and mentally went over Zhang's words again and again.
"Does Teacher Zhang mean... that I should think of a way to get Gu Qing to protect me for the rest of my life?"
She seemed to understand something, closed the car door, sat in the back seat and fastened her seatbelt, then waved to the two teachers through the car window.
quickly,
The car Zhang Songwen called arrived.
He glanced suspiciously at the four luxury cars still parked at the school gate, "Aren't you leaving yet? We're going to be late."
"Teacher Zhang, we rented the car to take the girls out,"
One student chuckled awkwardly and scratched the back of his head. "Just because the school beauty Zhang doesn't like us doesn't mean others don't. I'm still waiting to use it to flirt with girls."
"It's...it's good."
Zhang Songwen silently gave the students a thumbs up, then got into the car with Zhou Yiwei and drove away.
A ten-minute drive
Zhang Jingyi arrived at the cinema near the school first. As soon as she got out of the car, she went straight to the milk tea shop.
How many drinks should we order?
Xiao Zhang found a chair, sat down, scanned the QR code, and looked at the milk tea interface that appeared on his phone screen, feeling conflicted.
Should we give some to the whole class?
Thinking of those classmates who secretly spoke ill of her behind her back, she knew they weren't so kind.
"Let's order three drinks, one for Teacher Zhang and one for Teacher Zhou."
"But if those people see me giving the teacher milk tea, won't they start gossiping about me behind my back? Saying I'm trying to curry favor?"
Zhang Jingyi gently tapped her head with her palm, feeling quite conflicted.
I've encountered the first challenge for college students: how to overcome being too shy?
"Never mind, I'll just order three drinks. Teacher Zhang and Teacher Zhou have always taken good care of me, why should I care what other people think?"
"As Gu Qing once said, 'A mediocre person is one who isn't envied!'"
Zhang Jingyi quickly placed an order and mentioned masks again.
After the milk tea was ready, I carried the bag and took the elevator to the cinema.
After a while
A group of handsome men and beautiful women stepped out of the elevator, chatting and laughing, attracting a lot of attention along the way.
"Who do you think invented this stuff? It tastes really good."
Zhang Songwen and Zhou Yiwei were already drinking the milk tea that Xiao Zhang had given them, and they kept saying, "The only downside is that it's too high in calories and can easily make you fat."
"Teacher Zhang, do you also need to control your weight?"
While eating freshly fried popcorn, Zhang Jingyi subconsciously slowed down her chewing speed. "I thought only male celebrities like Gu Qing, who are idols, would control their diet."
"Xiao Zhang, what kind of talk is that?"
Zhang Songwen was devastated, saying, "Any actor has to control their physique, okay?"
"..."
Zhang Jingyi shrank her neck and didn't say anything, but she glanced at her teacher Zhang's slightly protruding belly again.
The control measures are...not very effective.
"Teacher Zhang, Teacher Zhou."
The students greeted each other.
"Is everyone here?"
Zhang Songwen scanned the area.
"Everyone's here."
"Okay, no need to check tickets, just go in. The movie starts in a few minutes."
Zhang Songwen also reminded everyone, "Take whatever you want to eat and drink here, your classmate Gu will reimburse you, but please be careful not to waste food."
"Oh? Mr. Gu is treating us? Teacher, you should have said so earlier, otherwise I wouldn't have bought it downstairs."
"Forget it, I won't drink this. I want the one Brother Gu is treating me to."
The students hurriedly ordered from the staff at the front desk.
One thing Zhang Jingyi observed was that when the male classmates passed by her, they would always turn their gaze to her bag with strange looks.
"You little bitch, you're definitely spreading rumors about me again!!"
Even with her good temper, Zhang Jingyi couldn't help but curse a couple of times in her mind.
She took a deep breath, didn't speak to anyone else, picked up her bag, stood up, and walked into the theater without saying a word.
She walked through the middle row of seats that were already occupied, without stopping, and went straight to the first row at the very front, stopping in front of the two innermost chairs.
I took the seat on the outside, then put my bag on the chair on the inside, and sat down on the chair on the outside.
Nobody's going to bother me while I'm watching the movie!
Xiao Zhang stood there angrily, arms crossed over his chest, chin slightly raised, staring intently at the still-unlit screen in front of him.
In the dim light of the screening room,
Her usually gentle face, now divided into light and shadow, possessed a cold and aloof quality that seemed unapproachable.
"Jingyi, why are you sitting in the first row? Aren't you bothered by the noise?"
As students entered the venue later, they bent down and approached her, feigning concern.
Zhang Jingyi didn't even turn her head, but coldly uttered two words from her throat: "Don't make a fuss."
Her voice wasn't loud, but the harshness in her tone, which kept people at arm's length, was completely different from her usual gentle and easy-going manner.
The female classmate who had spoken to him paused for a moment, then awkwardly straightened up and turned to find a seat at the back.
Not to mention,
Zhang Jingyi found that when she put on a cold face, these people became afraid and timid.
Instead, a vacuum zone with a radius of about two or three rows of seats was formed around her, and everyone tacitly avoided her.
The scene suddenly became very quiet, with only occasional whispers coming from the back row, but no one dared to approach her anymore.
The resentment she felt finally subsided somewhat.
quickly,
We arrived precisely at 2 PM, and the lights in the theater slowly dimmed.
When the dragon emblem appeared on the big screen, scenes from "Duckweed" also appeared on the big screen.
Zhang Jingyi raised her head, leaned back in her seat, let her scarf slip off her shoulder and drape over her knees, and stared intently at the screen.
The film officially begins.
Deng Chao plays the race car driver "Xu Tailang," whose tragic first half of life is vividly portrayed on screen.
He portrayed the awkwardness and clumsiness of the traditional Chinese father-son relationship in a way that was both pitiful and hilarious.
At first, there was only soft laughter in the screening room, as if someone was suppressing their laughter and dared not let it out. Only a few "hehe" and "haha" sounds drifted out intermittently in the darkness.
Until the scene where Deng Chao gets kicked in the face by his father, played by Gu Qing, because he failed his exam,
Joyful laughter finally filled the theater uncontrollably.
After Deng Chao was in a car accident, he traveled to the 1990s in a dream world, and the wonderful scenes from the promotional video appeared one by one.
The dialogue with the teacher, being saved by his father when he was young while catching a robber,
Laughter filled the screening room continuously, with hardly a dull moment.
Zhang Songwen and Zhou Yiwei, who were acting as mentors, focused more on Gu Qing's performance.
“Gu’s performance is very relaxed now,” Zhang Songwen said, turning to the side and lowering his voice. “And he rarely looks directly at the camera anymore. He has completely changed all the bad habits he developed when he was an idol.”
"Look at that scene where he was chasing Deng Chao in the alley; he didn't look at the camera once the entire time. All his attention was on his opponent."
His tone was gratified, "He truly deserves to be my most valued student."
"It's good, and it even uses the original audio,"
Zhou Yiwei did not turn his head; his gaze remained fixed on the screen.
"His facial expressions were relaxed and lively, but his delivery of lines seemed to lack a bit of skill. In some places, his pronunciation was too soft, and there was still a clear gap compared to Deng Chao."
"Nonsense, Deng Chao is a movie star, you're not even as good as him, and you're still talking about Xiao Gu."
Zhang Songwen glanced at his friend with disdain, "When you were Xiao Gu's age, you couldn't even memorize your lines. Don't compare yourself to him now, okay?"
"Yes, yes, I was wrong. I was indeed not as good as Xiao Gu when I was young."
Zhou Yiwei nodded helplessly, without refuting it.
Although he is a strict person, he never hesitates to acknowledge those who have real talent.
Moreover, what Zhang Songwen said was true.
His lines when he was 22 years old were indeed not as good as Gu Qing's now, and there's no denying that.
The two of them watched very intently.
They actually felt more deeply about Han Han's film, a nostalgic look back at the 1990s.
On the screen, there were plaid shirts, bicycles, handwritten posters outside video arcades, and bottled soda on convenience store shelves.
Every detail is a true mark of their youth.
Especially Gu Qing's outfit of a denim jacket and jeans, he looked every bit the part of a male lead in a 1990s Hong Kong film.
That scene immediately brought back Zhang Songwen's memories.
"Back then, Andy Lau's middle-part hairstyle, along with this denim outfit and that motorcycle—who wouldn't want to buy a set like that?"
When "A Moment of Romance" was released, I went to a video arcade to watch it three times. Afterwards, I went to a hair salon and got the same middle parting as Andy Lau.
As a result, my mom dragged me by the ear to the barbershop and shaved my head bald.
"Director Han Han is very skilled; even the motorcycle that Xiao Gu used to save the day was a perfect replica of the original model from the movie."
Even Zhou Yiwei couldn't help but sigh slightly. His gaze fell on the afterimage of the motorcycle that roared past on the screen, his eyes filled with nostalgia.
As you get older, looking at these things inevitably brings a touch of sadness.
That motorcycle was once the most unattainable dream for so many people in their youth.
Now, a younger generation casually rides it past in a movie.
The weight of the era suddenly becomes incredibly real in this frame.
The joyful laughter of the students around them, devoid of any worries, only made the two middle-aged men feel more melancholy.
When they were young, they watched "A Moment of Romance," and many people cried buckets of tears during the scene where the boy rides his motorcycle to the church with his beloved girl.
Now, these kids are seeing the same scene, but they're finding the humor in something else entirely.
Times have changed, and so have the moviegoers. Only middle-aged viewers, wistful and melancholic, stare blankly at their own youth in the cinema.
The story on screen continues to unfold.
Xu Tailang, played by Deng Chao, finally enters the emotional world of his parents when they were young.
"My real name is Niu Aihua..."
"No! This is not allowed!"
"You've passed the test, husband, come out of the closet."
"You guys are playing way too insane!!"
"Hahaha--"
The terrified Old Deng and Gu Qing in the tattered wardrobe brought the laughter in the theater to a climax.
Is Gu Qing coming out as gay?
Zhang Jingyi covered her flat stomach, laughed so hard she bent over, her ponytail slipped down her shoulder and hung down beside her face, and she curled up into a small ball on the seat.
Then later,
The film's pace is like a race car with the accelerator pressed, bombarding you with one hilarious scene after another.
"Could you open your eyes a little wider?"
"I've already opened my eyes as wide as they can!"
"..."
"Snapped--"
"Did you leave your vocal cords at home?!"
One joyful scene after another unfolded.
"Wow, Yiwei, this feels just like watching Stephen Chow's movies in the theater when I was young!"
Even Zhang Songwen's cheeks hurt a little from laughing so hard.
This kind of comedic rhythm hasn't been seen in theaters for years.
It can make the jokes in a comedic way that feel natural and not awkward, and make the audience laugh out loud in the theater.
Instead of relying on canned laughter and subtitles to remind the audience "it's time to laugh."
In today's film and television industry, this is a skill that is extremely rare.
Many projects claiming to be comedies tout their "packed with laughs" from the very beginning to the end of filming.
When the finished film was released, the entire theater was completely silent, except for the main creative team who were awkwardly laughing uproariously at the premiere.
"Most importantly, whether it's Xiao Gu, Deng Chao, or Li Ying, all three of them are very natural,"
Zhou Yiwei didn't burst into laughter; instead, he leaned back in his chair, his left hand covering his nose and his fingers obscuring half his face.
But judging from the wrinkles around his eyes and the unconscious upturn of his lips, his smile was no less intense than Zhang Songwen's.
“There’s not a trace of ‘acting’ at all. They’re not acting in a movie, they’re just living their lives, like a sitcom.”
"You have a very keen eye for detail."
The 102-minute film came to an end in the blink of an eye.
At the end, Tai-Lang makes the gang's coded gesture to his young father at his bedside.
The foreshadowing that ran throughout the entire film was cleverly resolved at the very last moment, and the film came to an end.
"Huh? That's all?"
"How could it be so fast! I haven't seen enough!"
"Couldn't we film for another two hours? It's only this late!"
The theater was filled with the students' wails and cries. Some looked at the time on their phones, unable to believe that a movie had ended so soon.
"it's over……"
Zhang Jingyi leaned back in her chair, watching the scrolling subtitles on the screen, a vague sense of loss welling up inside her.
This is the feeling a good movie gives its audience.
She glanced at the six words "Leading Actor Gu Qing" flashing across the white subtitles, and the corners of her mouth turned down slightly for a moment.
But then I thought about it again...
I'll be able to see Gu Qing at the premiere in the capital tomorrow, so how could I possibly be sad? My heart is filled with joy and happiness.
"By the way, what was the surprise Brother Gu said he had for us?"
A boy in the back row suddenly asked, his voice filled with a mixture of anticipation and confusion.
"Our male god Gu treated us to a whole restaurant, isn't that a wonderful surprise?"
"That's true... Free popcorn and Coke, what more could you ask for?"
The man scratched his head, seemingly realizing that his request was a bit excessive.
Just as everyone was discussing, the scrolling subtitles on the screen suddenly stopped.
It wasn't the normal way the end credits would stop scrolling to the end; the screen was cut off.
The end credits didn't roll; instead, the camera suddenly panned to a warm recording studio.
Warm yellow light streamed down from several spotlights on the ceiling, enveloping the entire space in a soft and relaxing hue.
In the very center of the image,
Gu Qing sat on a high stool, wearing a simple white T-shirt, without makeup or hairstyling, her black hair hanging naturally in front of her forehead and behind her head.
A natural wood folk guitar rested on his lap, its strings reflecting a subtle silver light under the lamplight. He smiled at the camera and waved.
"Hello to the students of the 17 Acting Department."
Gu Qing's voice came from the screen, clear and gentle, with a unique cheerfulness and purity.
"Didn't expect to be in the post-credits scene of the movie, did you?"
He paused, tilted his head slightly, his eyes curving into a slight smile, and the corners of his lips turned up, as if waiting for a reply from the person on the other side of the screen.
Then he continued his own sentence, his voice carrying a hint of teasing laughter:
"do you miss me?"
"ah?!!"
In the screening room, some people were getting up to throw away their popcorn buckets, while others were stretching in the aisle.
Even a male student who had already reached the door and was in a hurry to use the restroom froze on the spot.
Some people had their mouths half-open, some almost dropped their Coke cups, and everyone was dumbfounded.
Zhang Jingyi was stunned, staring blankly at the face on the screen that was so familiar.
The entire screening room was so quiet that you could hear someone in the back row swallowing.
No one could have guessed that at the end of the film, Gu Qing would cut into the scene and 'talk' to them.
"Alright, enough with the chit-chat,"
Gu Qing lowered his head, his slender fingers gently plucked the guitar strings, and tested the sound.
The strings emitted a clear and gentle resonance that echoed for several seconds in the quiet screening room.
He raised his head again, smiled at the camera, revealing his neat white teeth, and said in a clear and firm voice, "The next song... is a gift I'm giving to you."
"It is also a gift for all students."
"Everyone... must cherish your youth."
As the last word fell, the first chord of the guitar flowed from the fingertips, as if adding a gentle footnote to the sentence.
At the bottom of the recording studio screen, a line of subtitles slowly appeared.
Song: "The Wind Rises"
Singer: Gu Qing
The soothing interlude and simple guitar chords resonated in the suddenly quiet screening room.
No one spoke, no one moved, and even their breathing was very soft.
In the scene, only Gu Qing is seen gently playing the guitar in the recording studio.
None of you here are music students; you haven't studied professional music theory, so you don't understand what highbrow music is.
But everyone has ears.
As Gu Qing's slender fingers glide across the strings, the sound of the guitar washes over everyone's ears like water—warm and gentle, simple and unadorned.
The piano accompaniment joined in, its ethereal sound like raindrops falling on a lake, rippling outwards in concentric circles.
The warm and gentle guitar and the ethereal piano intertwine in a rustic way, resonating on the same frequency to create an atmosphere that exudes youthful energy.
The original song of "The Wind Rises"
"Jealousy" was a classic representative work created by Japanese singer Yu Takahashi.
The song's original intention was to describe a scene in a young man's daily life where he sees his girlfriend, who works part-time at a convenience store, chatting happily with a male colleague.
On the surface, they had to pretend to be nonchalant in order to cover up the subtle jealousy and unease surging inside them.
It's a neon-style classic abstract youth.
The reason it became a hit in the country was because of its lyrics and cover songs.
Migo's lyrics elevate the humble jealousy in the original song into a broader sense of nostalgia and acceptance of lost youth.
Later, due to copyright issues, the song was taken down. The cover artist, Mai Lajiao, also used coupons to personally contact the original composer, Yu Takahashi.
Yu Takahashi expressed very high praise after listening to the newly written Chinese version.
The team was personally involved in the recording, and a completely new version was rewritten, which resulted in a huge hit in China.
Compared to the pathetic romance in "Jealousy" that revolves around the confined space of a convenience store,
From a lyrical perspective, "The Wind Rises" describes more of a longing for and acceptance of youth.
Gu Qing leaned close to the microphone, her eyes lowered. The last chord of the guitar faded from her fingertips, and a gentle, clear voice joined in:
"This journey, with its stops and starts,
Following the trail of the boy's drifting journey.
Just before stepping out of the station,
There was a slight hesitation.
As soon as the first four lines appear,
The image of a prodigal son leaving home and stepping into the campus immediately comes to mind for everyone.
In a daze, Zhang Jingyi even saw herself.
After graduating from high school, I carried my heavy luggage for the first time and traveled alone from the station in Shonan to the capital.
Outside the car window, Mom waved with red eyes, her lips moving several times before finally saying, "Remember to call when you arrive."
The fear and unease I felt before setting off were gently and completely awakened by this song at that moment.
"I can't help but laugh at this feeling of trepidation as I approach my hometown, yet it's still unavoidable."
And the sky over Nagano,
It's still so warm.
The wind has stirred up memories of the past.
The former is wandering, the latter is returning.
The lyrics swirl with dual timelines, echoing the complete emotional journey of youth from beginning, confusion to nostalgia.
Hearing this, the older Zhang Songwen and Zhou Yiwei were even more deeply moved.
"Now that I have walked through this world,
I lingered there, completely captivated.
Turning the pages of time,
Your smile unexpectedly appeared.
When these lyrics appeared, Zhang Jingyi's fingertips suddenly clenched frantically on her knees.
She will always remember the first time she met Gu Qing.
At that time, this most dazzling idol and top star in the entertainment industry was chased into the classroom by his crazy senior classmates.
She was still looking down at her script when the door was pushed open. She looked up when she heard the scream.
I saw a boy wearing a mask and hat, with only his eyes showing, being surrounded by a group of people and forced into the classroom.
When he took off his mask and hat, his slightly messy hair couldn't hide his handsome and elegant appearance.
At that moment, Gu Qing glanced around the classroom, her gaze lingering for a moment on each unfamiliar face, then gave a slightly apologetic smile, her voice clear and gentle:
"Hello, students."
Zhang Jingyi wondered if at least half of the girls in the classroom had forgotten to breathe.
Although later,
Gu Qing mistakenly identified her as Zhou Ye's senior sister, and the two ended up sitting together by chance.
Only then did Zhang Jingyi muster all her courage to secretly observe this most dazzling idol in the entertainment industry up close out of the corner of her eye.
She held her textbook up to cover her face, pretending to look at the blackboard, but in reality, all her attention was on the person next to her.
The weather was very nice at the time.
The afternoon sunlight filtered through the gaps in the curtains, falling on Gu Qing's face.
His eyelashes were long, casting two faint shadows under his eyelids.
A classmate secretly took a picture of him with his phone. He turned around and saw the camera. He wasn't impatient at all. Instead, he smiled and raised his finger to make a peace sign.
The peace sign he made was casual, but paired with his smile, it seemed to brighten the entire classroom.
that moment,
The heart of a young girl is just like the lyrics of this song.
……
"I was once overwhelmed by the vastness of the world,"
They also indulged in their sleep-talking.
Disregard truth and falsehood, make no struggle, and fear no ridicule.
Gu Qing played and sang at the same time, her slender fingers pressing out each chord on the strings.
The fearlessness of youth is fully expressed in the lyrics.
"I once turned my youth into her,"
I once played out the summer with my fingertips.
What the heart is moved,
Let it be.
But how can youth be a smooth and beautiful journey?
The short road, with its stops and starts, has already covered quite a distance.
……
Seeing you again in the cool morning light, smiling so sweetly…
……
"The evening breeze stirs the gray hairs at your temples / Smoothing the scars left by memories..."
Sweetness is mixed with the cruelty of time; the irreversible marks of time remain in everyone's heart.
Zhang Jingyi felt she must look terrible right now; her eyes, nose, and mouth all stung…
Fortunately,
She could hear the sounds of her classmates behind her gasping for breath.
Even Mr. Zhang, who is usually a warm and gentle man, was more emotionally fragile than a young girl, constantly wiping away tears.
Zhou Yiwei was completely bewildered and wanted to raise his hands to prove that it wasn't him who punched him and made him cry.
"I eventually returned my youth to her"
Along with the summer that flicks from fingertips.
What the heart desires, it goes with the wind.
In the name of love, are you still willing?
The song came to its finale, as if each line was a response to the boy in the chorus.
Gone with the wind, in the name of love.
It corresponds to the opening song, "The Wind Rises".
Love? Friendship? Youth?
It allows everyone to claim their own story in the lyrics.
……
...(End of this chapter)