World Hopping: Avenge Our Love
Translator: translationraven
First Published on Chaleuria
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“Not every father is a good father. There are irresponsible ones too. I’m not a good father, nor a good man.” The third segment was different from the previous two rather heartwarming ones. The opening scene was pure darkness. Shen Yi’s young, yet weary voice became the audio focus.
Unlike the first two segments, which had been of possible scenes from real life, the opening of the final segment was a scene of disorder.
Bars, beauties, cigarettes, beer — the youth lived nights full of these, throwing themselves fully into it. Shen Yi was one of these youths. What was different about him from the mostly single youths was that Shen Yi was a 21-year-old father.
He had had a night of indulgence a year ago which resulted in a son.
He didn’t want to get married, but he had to. He didn’t want the responsibility, but it was thrust upon him. He had not had his fill of fun, yet he was expected to go back to his family. This made him resentful, and he was disgusted by his own child, seeing it as a burden.
He never even hugged him when he was almost a month old.
But the end of the world came abruptly, and living people became zombies. The zombies fed on humans, and humans had fallen to the lowest end of the food chain.
When the young father opened his eyes, he discovered that his own wife had become a zombie. The child was fine, fortunately. He gathered up his son in his arms and made to escape, when, tragically, his wife-turned-zombie bit his hand.
He would become a zombie after being bitten. There was no way out of it, and no way to live. What about the child? He wasn’t even a month old!
Shen Yi was caught between a rock and a hard place. The scene gradually dimmed.
The viewers had their hearts in their mouths, and they were full of worry for the father and son. The following development stunned everyone, shocking them to the core.
The young father, who had obviously hated being responsible… the young father who had never even hugged his child, who saw his family as a burden… At the most crucial point, he did all he could to find a way for his child to live.
He tied a piece of bloody meat in front of himself, and tied his son on his back. A soother had been put in his son’s mouth to reduce the chances of him crying. He’d also put a baby bottle close at hand to give his baby access to food.
The young father advanced aimlessly. As a zombie, he’d lost conscious thought a long time ago. However, that piece of raw meat stimulated his most primitive desire to eat, and that kept him moving forward.
He finally stopped walking when a human killed him — and that was when his son on his back was discovered.
The child was still alive.
In the last scene of the film, the human who killed zombie Shen Yi held the tiny baby as tears fell. The young father, his life’s mission finally complete, fell to his knees. His soulless eyes could not be considered human anymore, but they still seemed to be pleading “save my child”.
“There’s a man who may not look like a reliable man to others, and immature… He may not love you enough, but in critical times, he will still try his best to give you the best chances for life. This is also a father.”
All the people watching the short film fell silent. The film had left them with a heaviness, and it was surprising how much it made them reflect on their feelings.
“I’m crying so much my eyes are gonna fall out. Wen Ran’s script is really…”
“I can’t take it anymore. I need to call my old man. I haven’t been home in half a year. I really miss him for some reason.”
“I’ve always hated my dad and thought he was too much of a busybody with his ideals stuck in the past. I don’t know why though, but I suddenly want to pay him a good visit after watching this short film.”
“I want to see my dad too, but I can only see him in my dreams now.”
Many people were touched by the short film. Some missed their fathers, some felt that they were lucky, some wanted to feel warmth and closeness again, and some felt it was too late for regrets.
The evaluation from the various entertainment forums was equally high. As professional critics, they had been touched, and were in praise of the script, the director, the post editors and the artistes. Especially Shen Yi.
Luo Tong had guided public opinion, and said that Xie Qianchen used his connections to well-known award-winning actors, actresses, directors and a script writer to help Shen YI debut. The public’s opinion of him had become a little better after Director Yang uploaded the trailers, but there were still a lot of people who didn’t acknowledge him. This short film helped Shen Yi prove himself.
What? Shen Yi’s just a pretty face? No acting skills? What a joke!
“Man, you know what? The third segment of Picture Domain’s public welfare film is the most brilliant and the most shocking. What surprised me more was Shen Yi’s acting. His desperation was very real, and he portrayed it very well — not enough and it would fall flat, too much and it’ll come off as artificial.”
“That’s right. The leading roles in the first two segments were played by award-winning artistes, but Shen Yi’s performance was not weak at all compared to theirs. And what, he’s only 18 this year? If he can act like this at 18, then his future is limitless.”
“But this is also thanks to his manager, Xie Qianchen. The guy’s reputation is crap and he doesn’t look reliable, but he was the top manager in the industry. He has the skills.”
This three-segment short film went viral overnight, and sparked a huge public discussion. Shen Yi’s name went up on the trending search terms list again, not because of some tactics this time, but because people acknowledged his ability.
At the same time, Shen Yi finally qualified to join the ranks of artistes with the release of the short film. He was ranked a major celebrity.
“How’s this possible? How can Shen YI be a major celebrity? Isn’t his popularity only at the level of a minor celebrity?” Quite a few people were surprised. However, the data given in the official report quieted these doubts.
Shen Yi’s popularity had indeed been lacking, but the assessment of his acting ability and potential was ridiculously high. These two variables pulled his average score up, and past the level of minor celebrities, and placed him as a major celebrity.
He looked set to be the top person in the entertainment industry. Even so, this data was not enough to convince some people, and they questioned it.
“Even if Shen Yi is good at acting, this is just a short film. He also acted in a web drama, and that was a flop, wasn’t it? It’s only because his team packaged him nicely!”
“Plus, Shen Yi’s experience doesn’t even add up to that of a major celebrity. He only has some still shots and clips, and the most he is in the projects is a supporting character that’s a little bit important. In the short film too — he was not the main actor for the whole thing but just for a segment of it. Just this small bit of a portfolio is enough to get him ranked as a major celebrity? What the heck would actual major celebrities think of this then?”
“I don’t agree with this!”
Many people voiced their disagreement too, and there was a mess in the industry because of Shen Yi’s matter. The fans were pulled into it in the end.
The previous regulations were in place, so barely anyone slang insults. Most were calmly discussing the problem of Shen Yi’s qualifications. Some people had made a detailed analysis of his acting, and felt that the assessors’ evaluation of Shen Yi’s performance was too exaggerated.
Shen Yi was a newcomer and didn’t have many die-hard fans. He had good popularity with casual fans, but it was also rather untenable that he would shoot to the top. Picture Domain could not sit idle any longer. In normal circumstances, issues like these would have been handled by the public relations department long ago, but Song Yucheng forbade it. Never mind that he didn’t, but he was unflappable too, and let the internet have a lively discussion. The indifferent way he behaved was like Shen Yi was not one of the talents he managed.
“Hey, Qianchen. I know you have a plan, but you should at least tell me what you’re planning to do, right?”
“Don’t worry, and don’t cause trouble. Don’t offer an explanation either. Just wait a little longer.”
“What is it that you’re waiting for?” The public relations department was getting really anxious. All that worry was no use, however. Xie Qianchen aside, Shen Yi was not like a 18-year-old newbie either.
The public was doubtful, but what they did not know was that Shen Yi had went for lessons daily, as scheduled, went for filming as arranged, and even drinking water and eating without delay. His time had been calculated and optimised for the best result.
This was why the Picture Domain public relations department could do nothing other than wait to see how Xie Qianchen would handle this.
Meanwhile, Ding Mingcheng was being pulled through the mud.
Ding Mingcheng and Xie Qianchen were old enemies of a sort. In the beginning, when Xie Qianchen had debuted, his future was bright. Even if it had been very tempting, Cao Kun would not necessarily have been able to force him into desperate straits if he ruined his future. He could not resist the instigation from Ding Mingcheng, however.
Ding Mingcheng had had his eye on Xie Qianchen, and he wanted a taste of him after Cao Kun pulled him down into the dirt. It was his selfishness which had ruined Xie Qianchen’s life. What happened to Han Feiran later gave rise to the never-ending grudge Xie Qianchen had against Ding Mingcheng.
Cao Kun could see that Song Yucheng was planning something when he wanted to sign Tang Chi on, and Ding Mingcheng saw it too. However, Xie Qianchen was still one of Cao Kun’s people, so he did not dare to do anything directly. This didn’t stop him from teaching Xie Qianchen a little lesson, however.
Shen Yi was ranked a major celebrity, huh? Ding Mingcheng was going to raise a fuss about this. This was a warning from him to Xie Qianchen, to tell him not to overreach — or he would chop his claws off!
He thought about it, and gave his uncle a call. He did not request anything right away but just said that he missed him, and would visit him in the evening. He made the decision to talk to his uncle about Shen Yi’s situation by the end of the day.
Ranked as a major celebrity? He was not going to let that happen. He’d play with him like a toy.
Ding Mingcheng felt that Xie Qianchen was an idiot. So many years had passed, but Xie Qianchen still did not understand the simple concept of staying down after getting hit.
His power was indeed important, but what he did not expect was that public opinion always outweighed it. What he didn’t foresee either, was that Song Yucheng’s metaphorical slap to his face would come so unimaginable swiftly, and so directly.
In just one short afternoon, before Ding Mingcheng had time to deal with Shen Yi, Song Yucheng had unleashed Tang Chi and slapped 90% of the singers of Leap Records so hard their faces swelled.