Chapter 26: Viral Explosion
Time flew by. Jiang Si was busy using AE to create the final special effects while running the shop. Whenever he had a spare moment, he dug out the notes left by his grandfather to look up knowledge points for writing the Intangible Cultural Heritage application.
Working day and night, he finally made the deadline at the end of the month and released the video.
The online reaction was better than Jiang Si had expected. The night it was posted on the official account, Jiang Si received a bombardment from Luo Yan. “Go look at the comments! Boss Jiang, you’re really famous!”
“So excited?” Jiang Si smiled and opened the comment section. Below the video, it was a clean sweep of praise and compliments.
Luo Yan kept talking: “Don’t blame me for being excited. In this era of traffic, whoever grabs the heat wins. For years, we’ve just watched other cities go viral with envy. Now it’s finally Rong City’s turn.”
“We’re preparing to coordinate with various departments over the next few days to offer the best service possible, to attract people during the summer vacation.”
Jiang Si didn’t understand the logistics, but he was interested in food. He enthusiastically recommended, “If you have time, you can go to a barbecue shop on Xiang’an Road to shoot some videos. It’s a decades-old brand with a secret sauce. Very delicious.”
They chatted a bit more. After hanging up, Jiang Si finally had time to seriously read the comments.
The video already had over 800,000 views, and the comments had surprisingly reached over 10,000. No wonder Luo Yan was excited.
This kind of promotional video made with stop-motion animation was a first for the general public. It was novel and well-liked.
The only downside was that some people said the video looked eerie and made their hair stand on end.
Seeing this comment, Jiang Si thought: Of course. It’s acted out by a paper doll possessed by a powerful ghost. How could it not be scary?
However, selectively ignoring those, everyone else praised different aspects.
[This opera singing is so good! It has so much flavor; it’s professional singing pronunciation. Completely different from those who just pinch their throats to imitate opera!]
[That young lady character is so beautiful. She looks like a model; I didn’t expect it to be a paper doll.]
[This creative concept is amazing. Using opera dance to bring out different historical scenes, and the story connects, too. So interesting!]
[Ahhhhh, I’m a local of Rong City! I never expected my hometown to break out of the circle in this way. So proud! Welcome everyone to Rong City! The scenery is good, the pace of life is slow, the food is amazing, and there are all kinds of cultural relics to visit!]
…
Jiang Si read for a while, then turned off his phone to continue reading his books. Luo Yan said he needed to write about the history, techniques, and characteristics of paper effigies. He had to review the history and look to the future, preferably innovating on the current development.
All in all, Jiang Si wrote an application of over ten thousand words. He went through all the ancient books left by his grandfather and finally finished writing.
When he came out of his room, he saw that Xiao Fengxian had actually dug out the home projector and was projecting that promotional video on the wall.
While watching, she was gesturing and explaining enthusiastically to Xu Lanyue and Bai Qi-niang: “Look at this. Yes, right here. This is the stage walk I’m best at. Jiang Si said it didn’t fit, but thanks to me fighting for it, we kept it…”
“And this, a somersault with a costume change. Cool, right?!”
“…”
The more Bai Qi-niang watched, the more envious she became, clamoring that she wanted to film one too. Xiao Fengxian deliberately pulled up the comments to show her, making her jealous.
Xu Lanyue participated the whole time, so she didn’t find it strange. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, she remarked faintly, “Actually, I think filming horror movies suits us better.”
After all, the natural advantages were there. Everyone who saw them agreed.
Hearing them already planning their future filming careers, Jiang Si was speechless.
Aren’t they thinking a bit too far ahead?
Hai Di had remained silent throughout, not joining the conversation. Seeing Jiang Si come out, he came to life, walked over, and asked, “Are you done?”
“Done.” Jiang Si covered his mouth and yawned, his eyes full of fatigue. “After rushing for a few days, I finally finished everything.”
He pointed to his eyes. “I even have dark circles.” His already pale face looked even more haggard, with two green-black shadows painted like ink under his wocan (under-eye area).
He was very tired.
Hai Di noticed that the curly hair on top of Jiang Si’s head was drooping. The blue hair, usually quite vivid, was now much dimmer. He couldn’t resist reaching out to touch it, as if to comfort him. “Then you rest now?”
“Of course not. We have to celebrate. Eat something good to reward ourselves.” Jiang Si thought of the barbecue shop he had just recommended to Luo Yan and took out his phone to order passionately.
Finally, remembering something, he looked at Hai Di. “What do you want to eat?”
Hai Di: “…Can I eat?”
“I asked Master Shen for a few talismans.” Jiang Si handed the phone over, letting him pick a few items. Since Hai Di was a ghost after all and wasn’t interested in human food, he picked two random things and withdrew his hand.
Jiang Si then took the phone to ask the others. After going around the circle, he paid and placed the order.
Just as he sat down, Wang Zhao called. He must have seen the Rong City promo video too. “Old Jiang, Director Zhang and I both reposted it. You did a great job. Director Zhang was just talking about you, saying if he had known earlier, he would have poached you to be the storyboard artist for the crew.”
“You both reposted it?” Jiang Si was surprised. Despite how cowardly Director Zhang had been when seeing a ghost on Yanming Mountain last time, he was a top-tier A-list director in the country, specializing in movies, with plenty of domestic and international awards.
With Director Zhang’s repost, Jiang Si was riding the wave to fame.
“Yeah. Director Zhang just happened to see it and ran over to ask me if this person had the same name as you. I looked—hey, isn’t that you!”
As Jiang Si listened, he hurriedly opened his social media app. He found that Wang Zhao, being the guy he was, had specifically tagged Jiang Si’s account. In just a few hours, he had gained tens of thousands of followers. Even his previous works were being dug up and mentioned.
Among them, the comment section of his graduation work “Escaping the World” started buzzing with discussion again.
Some people even DM’d him asking how he went from Guofeng (National Style) to this style.
Hmm.
Because they paid too much, Jiang Si thought.
Wang Zhao: “Whoa, Old Jiang, don’t mention it. Just in this short while, lots of people have asked me about you. Let me see… seems like a lot of them are our classmates. When you resigned, plenty of people asked me about it too. What are you, a giant panda? So many people watching you.”
“Maybe because I’m too handsome,” Jiang Si replied without thinking.
“Hey! Shameless…”
Jiang Si laughed. Hai Di walked over at that moment and handed him a glass of water. Jiang Si looked up at Hai Di with smiling eyes. “What are you looking at? I didn’t say anything wrong.”
The light in his smiling eyes spilled out, like a drop of spring rain falling suddenly onto a calm lake, creating ripples. Hai Di, helpless, sat down with him.
“Mhm, you’re not wrong.”
Wang Zhao heard everything clearly on the other end. “…Who are you talking to? Is there someone else at your house?”
“A friend,” Jiang Si said. “How are things over there? Is filming going smoothly?”
Director Zhang had changed locations to continue filming the movie, and Wang Zhao had followed, burying himself in another big mountain.
“It’s okay, but there’s nothing to eat.” Wang Zhao wailed, “I’m going crazy craving barbecue.”
Jiang Si laughed at him. “That works out. I’m having barbecue in a bit; I’ll send you two photos to satisfy your craving.”
“You’re too cruel—”
Wang Zhao sighed and groaned for a while, then hung up to continue working.
Just then, the takeout arrived. Jiang Si opened the door to get it. Hai Di sharply noticed there were also two packs of beer. “You bought alcohol.”
“Barbecue must be paired with beer.” Jiang Si thought he was making a fuss over nothing. He stuffed a pack into Hai Di’s arms and said righteously, “This is just wheat beverage.”
To set the mood, he found a speaker and played songs as background music.
It was supposed to be a happy occasion, but after taking two sips of beer, looking at the table full of barbecue, Xiao Fengxian suddenly started crying. Her “Wah” startled Jiang Si immediately. He hurriedly took a small sip, tasted it, smelled it, and wondered, “It hasn’t gone bad.”
Xiao Fengxian wiped her tears with her sleeve, a bit embarrassed. “I haven’t drunk alcohol in a long time.”
“…” Jiang Si pushed the whole twelve-pack over, gesturing with his hand. “Then drink more today.”
“Sigh. Actually, it’s not that I want to drink. I just remembered the old days.” Xiao Fengxian cupped her face, gazing at the alcohol in the cup.
The old days? Jiang Si and Hai Di exchanged a glance. Xiao Fengxian had always been tight-lipped about the past, but today she actually wanted to talk.
“Did you drink often in the past?” Bai Qi-niang broke the silence, asking curiously.
Xiao Fengxian revealed a smile full of mockery. “It wasn’t me drinking; it was me accompanying others to drink.”
Bai Qi-niang was stunned. Xiao Fengxian ignored her slip of the tongue and continued on her own, “When I was young, my family was poor. They had four children to raise. I was the eldest, so they sold me first. I entered the opera troupe at eight to learn singing. Actually, I ran back secretly later, only to find that of the five people left in my family, those who starved had starved to death, and those beaten to death were dead. Not a single one survived.”
“Life in the opera troupe was bitter, but at least there was food. Even if we had to practice before dawn every day, enduring cold and sleepiness, I had to bear it. Back then, I felt that being able to survive was good enough. Running around with the troupe every day, watching the people on stage singing and fighting, looking majestic—sometimes I envied them.”
“Those good days didn’t last long. Famine combined with war, and bandits were everywhere. Where would ordinary families have spare money to watch operas? It was those bandits who, after robbing the common people, forced us to sing. They didn’t have meat, only some rice and vegetables. What they had most of was alcohol. I was already a leading actress (jue’er) in the troupe then. The other little ones were only eleven or twelve; how could I let them go accompany the drinking?”
“At that time, singing during the day, drinking at night… endless wine.”
Xiao Fengxian still remembered those gaunt, fierce men, the smell of blood and alcohol splattered all over them from killing people.
The air stagnated with her words. Bai Qi-niang suppressed her anger and asked, “What would happen if you didn’t drink?”
“Not drink?” Xiao Fengxian smiled. “They were all men, and every one of them had a gun. Stolen from the Japanese army, or homemade muskets—any one of them could easily kill us. We couldn’t resist.”
Seeing everyone’s ugly expressions, especially Xu Lanyue who looked like she was about to cry, Xiao Fengxian took a breath, slammed the table, downed the wine in her cup, and said, “But I wasn’t someone to let them bully me freely. They liked listening to opera, right? I sang for them, but if they wanted me to sing, they had to pay the price.”
“I drugged the wine, took some explosives, and blew them all to hell.”
Xiao Fengxian: “Don’t look at me like that. Me alone in exchange for over a hundred of their lives? What a bargain. I consider it ridding the nearby villagers of a scourge.”
An entire opera troupe, and in the end, only she remained. Where did the others go?
No need to ask to guess.
Jiang Si stood up holding his beer, clinked glasses with Xiao Fengxian across the table, and said sincerely, “Sister, you’re the best.”
He drank it all in one breath and signaled Hai Di and the others with his eyes. The others raised their glasses one after another, congratulating her on being able to avenge herself.
Bai Qi-niang, feeling uneasy about bringing up the topic, was the first to toast, looking like she was about to cry. “In the future, no one can force you to drink. I won’t snap at you anymore either.”
“…Did a hedgehog eat your brain?” Xiao Fengxian felt extremely unaccustomed to her attitude. “Don’t. I didn’t come here to sell a sob story.”
Beer wasn’t as spicy as white liquor (baijiu). Drinking baijiu was like swallowing knives; one mouthful felt like it pierced the gut. Xiao Fengxian drank several glasses in a row and felt that it was indeed different. Not just the alcohol, but the people she was facing.
The music was still playing. Jiang Si deliberately steered the topic to the production of the promotional video, and the atmosphere finally livened up.
Quietly breathing a sigh of relief, Jiang Si didn’t notice that he had already downed four or five bottles in a row. Even with three ghosts acting as air conditioners in the room, he still felt a rush of heat shooting straight to his brain.
Jiang Si pulled open his shirt jacket, wanting to catch his breath. Hai Di noticed his abnormality. “Are you drunk?”
“?!!” Jiang Si was amazed. “How can you get drunk on beer!”
“…Mhm.” Thieves won’t admit they are thieves, and drunk people won’t admit they are drunk—the two most stubborn groups in the world.
Thinking Hai Di didn’t believe him, Jiang Si straightened his upper body and leaned in. His head was spinning, and he didn’t know his eyes were red, looking like he had been crying. He wanted to prop his hand on Hai Di’s shoulder, but he slipped, propped on empty air, and fell right over.
“Hiss—”
Completely unprepared for the sudden movement, Hai Di was pinned directly to the floor by him, both crashing down together.
Hai Di was a ghost after all; he had no sensation and felt no pain. But Jiang Si’s arm hit the ground hard. He endured the pain, suppressing a scream.
He lay on top of Hai Di, feeling that the other was like a steel plate—cold and hard, with no breath of a living person. It was uncomfortable no matter how he lay. Hai Di, however, could hear Jiang Si’s breathing and heartbeat clearly, especially the sharp intakes of breath from the pain.
“Don’t move—” Jiang Si’s arm was wedged in the gap between the sofa and the floor; if Hai Di moved even slightly, he would hit it.
Hai Di’s expression turned serious. He turned his head to look, carefully propping up the sofa to let Jiang Si slide his hand out.
“How is it?” Hai Di’s voice was extremely low.
“It’s okay, shouldn’t be broken,” Jiang Si said muffledly. He used his other hand to push off the ground, intending to get up. In the moment he turned his head, his lips accidentally brushed against something ice-cold.
Instantly, both of them froze.
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