Chapter 50 - Let’s go! Big brother will take you to slap some faces!

“Not every father is good. There are also irresponsible ones like me. I am not a good father, nor am I a good man.” Unlike the warm colours of the previous two segments, the third segment opened with a pure black screen. Shen Yi’s young but exhausted voice also rang out at this moment as the voice-over.

Unlike the distinct realistic style of the first two segments, the opening of the third segment was particularly manic.

Bars, beautiful women, cigarettes, beer. The youths that revelled in nights like these recklessly declared their passion. And Shen Yi was one of them. However, unlike the sea of single youths, Shen Yi was a young father at 21 years old.

A year ago, he had a night of fun and had a son.

He didn’t want to get married, but he had to. He didn’t want to carry the responsibility, but he had no other choice but to. He hadn’t yet had enough fun for the night, but already had to return to his family. This made him discontent and thus he detested the child, thinking it was nothing but a burden.

He had never held the child. Not even when he was about to turn one month old.

However, his life was turned upside down and the end of the world came. Living people turned into zombies and regarded their fellow humans as food. Soon, humanity fell to the lowest end of the food chain.

The moment the young father opened his eyes, he found that his wife had turned into a zombie. Fortunately, his child was fine. The saddest thing of all was that his wife bit him hard on his hand just as he was preparing to escape with the child in his arms.

Once someone had been bitten, they would turn into a zombie. He couldn’t escape from this fact and it was also impossible for him to survive. But what about the baby? He was not even a month old yet!

Just as he was in a dilemma, the screen faded to black.

Everyone had their hearts in their mouths for the fate of this young father. However, the scene that appeared next left everyone dumbfounded, or rather, deeply shocked.

The young father who clearly did not want to assume the responsibility, the young father who clearly had never held his child, the young father who clearly treated his family as a burden. When it mattered the most, he still tried his best to find a way out for the child.

In front of him hung a bloody piece of raw flesh. As for the baby, he was securely strapped to his father’s back. A pacifier was stuffed into the baby’s mouth to minimise the likelihood of him crying. And the bottle close at hand gave him access to his own food.

The young father trudged aimlessly. He had long lost his reason after turning into a zombie, but that piece of raw meat enticed his primitive desire for food and made him constantly move onwards.

In the end, it wasn’t until a stranger shot him that he finally stopped and the child strapped to his back was found.

The child was still alive.

In the final scene at the end of the film, the stranger who shot him cried as held the child in his arms, while the young father who finally accomplished his mission fell to his knees. His soulless eyes could no longer be called human, but it still seemed as if he was pleading, begging for the stranger to save his child.

“There is a man, who you might think is not responsible or mature enough, nor does he love you enough, but he will still try as much as possible to give you the best chance he can at a critical moment. He, too, is a father.”

Everyone who saw this short film fell silent. After the extremely heavy ending, the self-reflection and feelings that remained were unexpectedly powerful.

“I’m going to cry to death. Wen Ran, this script really is….. emotionally abusive.”

“I can’t. I suddenly want to give my dad a call. It’s been almost half a year since I’ve been home. I don’t know why but I really miss him.”

“I’ve always hated my dad. I always thought he controlled me too much and was old-fashioned. I don’t know why, but after watching this short film, I suddenly want to go back and spend time with him.”

“I want to see my dad too, but I can only do it in my dreams.”

Many people were touched by the short film. There were those who were nostalgic, those who felt that they were fortunate, those who wanted to repair their relationship, and those where it was too late to regret.

The evaluations given by the entertainment boards of major forums were equally high. As for the professional film critics, they were similarly moved, but also marvelled at the writing, directing, post editing and the skills of the actors. Especially Shen Yi.

Previously, Luo Tong had guided public opinion, saying that Song Yucheng had used his connections to stick Shen Yi to famous actors, actresses, screenwriters and directors before he debuted. Although the crowd’s doubts were mostly alleviated after the trailer of Director Yang’s movie was released, there were still some people who didn’t quite acknowledge him. Now, this short film had finally done Shen Yi justice.

Who said that Shen Yi was just another pretty face? Who said that Shen Yi had no acting skills? That was simply a joke!

“I have to say, the third segment of Picture Domain’s public welfare short film stood out the most. What surprised me even more was Shen Yi’s acting. He interpreted that despair so realistically. If he was lacking anywhere, the acting would’ve felt too empty or too contrived.”

“That’s right. Especially since the interpreters of the first two segments are very famous artists. Shen Yi was not overshadowed one bit. More importantly, look at his age. Shen Yi is only 18 years old this year. To have such amazing acting skills at this age, you could say he has a promising future.”

“You have to attribute some of his success to his manager, Xie Qianchen. Although he doesn’t look very reliable and his reputation is somewhat bad right now, he was the top manager in the industry back then. Sure enough, he’s pretty capable.”

Overnight, this three-part short film instantly exploded in popularity. It triggered a huge public discussion and Shen Yi once again hit the hot search. However, it wasn’t through any tricks this time, but by his strength alone.

Due to the short film, interest in Shen Yi heightened, and to everyone’s surprise, he was only a third-tier artist.

“How could it be? How could Shen Yi be a third-tier artist? His popularity is only hovering around the fourth or fifth tier. Isn’t this a miscalculation?” Many people were astonished. However, the relevant data presented by the authorities silenced these people.

Shen Yi’s popularity was indeed insufficient, but his acting prowess and future potential scored ridiculously high. In the end, these two criteria pulled up his overall score, skipping him past the fourth tier and slotting him into third tier.

He was the first person to achieve such a feat within the entertainment industry in recent years. Even with such data, some remained unconvinced and questioned it.

“Even if Shen Yi’s acting is good, it’s just a short film. He had also acted in a web series before and wasn’t that a mess? I can only say that the team had packaged him well!”

“Furthermore, Shen Yi doesn’t qualify for the third tier. Based on the pictures and trailer of the New Year’s movie that was released, Shen Yi has a major supporting role at most! As for the short film, he was only in one of the segments, not the entire thing. It’s strange to think that he could reach the third-tier with a repertoire like this. What would a proper third-tier artist think?”

“I’m not convinced!”

Many people followed and started questioning Shen Yi’s evaluation, causing an uproar in the circle. In the end, fans of other actors started jumping on the bandwagon.

Due to regulations previously set in place, there was practically no one cursing this time and they were instead calmly discussing Shen Yi’s qualifications. Some people meticulously analysed that one part of acting and felt that Shen Yi’s official rating was a bit too exaggerated.

Shen Yi was a newcomer and did not have many die-hard fans. Although he had pretty decent popularity recently, it had also made him into a target, even if it was unfounded.

Picture Domain could not sit still any longer. If it were as usual, this kind of situation would have warranted a public relations campaign, but Song Yucheng did not allow it. It was fine if he refused, but the man himself did not make a move and let the public discuss as they pleased. He remained indifferent as if Shen Yi was not an artist he was in charge of.

“No, Qianchen, I know you have a plan in mind, but you should at least let me know what it is, right?”

“Regardless of what happens, don’t add to the mess and don’t take the initiative to explain. Keep waiting.”

“So what exactly are you waiting for?” The PR department was really worried for Song Yucheng, but it was useless even if they were. Taking Song Yucheng out of the situation, Shen Yi himself was too stable for an 18 year old rookie.

He was being questioned by the public, but the person in question simply continued with his daily routine, attending classes and filming every day, even eating and drinking without a trace of worry.

In the end, Picture Domain’s PR team no longer bothered and waited to see how Song Yucheng would handle it.

Ding Mingcheng’s side followed suit.

Speaking of which, Ding Mingcheng and Song Yucheng were mortal enemies. When Song Yucheng first debuted, he had a bright future ahead of him. Even if it was tempting, Cao Kun probably wouldn’t have pushed him to the brink of ruin. That was, if Ding Mingcheng hadn’t provoked him.

After Ding Mingcheng saw the original Xie Qianchen, he had also wanted a taste of him after Cao Kun dragged him down into the mud. Thus, he had ruined the original Xie Qianchen’s life for his own selfish interests. And what happened to Han Feiran later on made the relationship between him and Song Yucheng utterly irreconcilable.

Cao Kun could see the purpose behind Song Yucheng’s insistence on signing on Tang Zhi, so Ding Mingcheng could see it too. However, Song Yucheng was still one of Cao Kun’s subordinates, so he didn’t dare make a direct move on him. But that didn’t stop him from giving Song Yucheng a small lesson.

Wasn’t Shen Yi going to be in the third tier? He had to stir things up and make him fail. This was Ding Mingcheng’s way of giving Song Yucheng a little warning for him not to extend his hands too far. Otherwise, he would cut off his claws!

With this in mind, Ding Mingcheng gave his uncle a call. He did not immediately request anything, just saying that he missed him and wanted to go see him tonight. He planned to talk about Shen Yi with his uncle.

To stop someone like Shen Yi from entering third tier was child's play.

Ding Mingcheng truly felt that Song Yucheng was stupid. After so many years, he still couldn’t understand such a simple truth as absolute power.

However, what Ding Mingcheng never expected was that though power was indeed important, public opinion always came first. He never thought that Song Yucheng’s retaliation would always be swifter and more direct than he imagined.

In just one afternoon, before he had the chance to mess with Shen Yi, Song Yucheng brought Tang Zhi to Feiyue Records and slapped the faces of 90% of its singers.