Chapter 76 When will you write one for me too...?

Qi Qiu froze on the spot as if he had been frozen in place, and even Jiang He was stunned.

After Fang Xingu mentioned the song title "Please Listen to His Explanation," Qi Qiu felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over his head. Although it did not extinguish his anger, it did calm him down.

Everyone knows how popular the song "Please Listen to His Explanation" was five or six years ago, and it's still a staple on the hot song charts. Qi Qiu and Jiang He, as professionals in the industry, are even more aware of the song's significance.

Back then, "Please Listen to His Defend" swept so many awards: Song of the Year, Best Composer of the Year, Best Singer-Songwriter... How many of those honors should have belonged to Fang Xingu?

This is simply unbelievable. Six years ago, without Fang Xingu's knowledge, Tan Zhi appropriated the song Fang Xingu had submitted to him and even made a comeback with it. Fang Xingu, knowing the truth, never revealed the secret behind it and endured it for six years.

If Fang Xingu hadn't been Qi Qiu's artist, he would have suspected that all of this was fabricated by Fang Xingu.

Six years! Is Fang Xingu really the kind of person who can swallow his anger like this?

However, considering that this matter might be related to Jing Yitong, Qi Qiu felt that it wouldn't be surprising how things would turn out.

Qi Qiu slumped onto the sofa, only one possibility in mind: "Why don't you come forward to expose Tan Zhi? Is it because you don't have any evidence?"

To everyone's surprise, Fang Xingu replied with absolute certainty: "No, I do."

Relying on Fang Xin's habit of using the trumpet, he liked to talk to himself on the trumpet while composing, sometimes recording piano accompaniment. He did the same when writing "Please Listen to His Explanation".

Moreover, the content on his alternate account related to "Please Listen to His Explanation" can be traced back to the filming period of "Us Without Tomorrow," which is more than half a year earlier than when he submitted the song to Tan Zhi. He doesn't believe that Tan Zhi can fabricate evidence that is earlier and more irrefutable than his.

Qi Qiu was even more puzzled: "What exactly is going on? Why won't you tell me if you have evidence?"

Fang Xingu slowly explained, "Back when 'Us Without Tomorrow' was being filmed, my brother invited me to visit the set..."

At this point, Jiang He, who was pretending to be a quail, suddenly raised his hand and interjected, "Teacher Fang, who is your brother?"

Fang Xingu casually replied, "Oh, it's Jing Yitong."

Jiang He: ...How come the issues that have been dragged into this are getting bigger and bigger?

Jiang He really wanted to ask what kind of "brother" this was, but he wasn't very familiar with Fang Xingu, and it would be impolite to interrupt at this point. So he could only laugh awkwardly and say, "Haha, please continue."

Fang Xingu nodded: "My brother told me about the plot of his character 'Qin Zhe' on set. After listening to him, I went home and started writing a song for the character Qin Zhe. Later, I created 'Please Listen to His Explanation'. After finishing the song, I was still thinking about how to submit it to the production team because I wanted to give my brother a surprise. So I couldn't let him know about it in advance through him."

“At that time, I found You Zhicheng—who later became the producer of ‘Star Journey’. We knew each other before. I asked him if there was a way to submit this song to the ‘Us Without Tomorrow’ production team. You Zhicheng asked around for me and finally got the news that Tan Zhi of Zhiyu seemed to be collecting songs for this movie, so I tried submitting it.”

"Tan Zhi did respond at first, but they asked if I was willing to sell the credits to them as well, which meant my name wouldn't appear in the lyricist and composer section. But my original intention in writing this song was to give this gift to my brother in my own name. If I couldn't get credits, then all of this would be meaningless, so I refused without even thinking about it."

“After I refused, I heard nothing from Tan Zhi. I thought they had found a better option. Later, You Zhicheng helped me find out that the production team had received a suitable song. Although I was quite disappointed at the time, I thought that I would have more opportunities to write songs for my brother in the future, so there was nothing to regret this time.”

"After 'Us Without Tomorrow' was released, I happened to be participating in a study tour organized by my school, spending a month abroad. I missed the movie premiere, and by the time I heard about 'Please Listen to His Confession,' it was too late, and..."

At this point, Fang Xingu paused, looked up at Qi Qiu, and asked, "Do you remember the story about Qin Zhe in 'Us Without Tomorrow'?"

Qi Qiu recalled the relevant plot of the movie, and then his pupils contracted as he understood Fang Xingu's meaning—he dared not speak.

.

Six years ago, in winter.

Fang Xin had only been on winter vacation for a few days when he inexplicably received a text message at the dinner table one day, reminding him that his plane ticket from Shanghai to Ancheng for the day after tomorrow had been successfully issued, and that he could click the link to view the ticket details.

Fang Xin's first reaction was that it was a scam. He hadn't bought any plane tickets recently, so how could a flight suddenly be available?

Sitting across from him, Wang Jinxu watched him fiddling with his phone halfway through dinner and reminded him, "It'll get cold if you don't eat soon."

Fang Xingu deleted the text message, casually put his phone on the dining table, and continued eating with his chopsticks: "It was a scam message that said it had bought me a flight to Ancheng. I deleted it."

Wang Jinxu raised an eyebrow: "Xiao Tong is filming in Ancheng recently, right?"

Fang Xingu paused slightly with his chopsticks. Hearing Jing Yitong's name, a ripple stirred in his heart, but he dared not show it in front of Wang Jinxu. He mumbled, "Right? But it couldn't have been him who bought it for me."

After saying that, Fang Xingu lowered his head and started eating, while Wang Jinxu looked thoughtful and said, "Maybe."

Fang Xin thought back to the dinner after the college entrance examination, and how their contact had become increasingly less frequent. He felt a little lonely and depressed, and scoffed, "How could that be?"

But the slap in the face came very quickly. The moment Fang Xingu finished speaking, a buzzing vibration rang out on the dining table, and Fang Xingu and Wang Jinxu's eyes fell on the source of the sound at the same time.

Fang Xingu received a phone call, and the caller ID displayed a contact name that read "Brother".

Amid Wang Jinxu's teasing laughter, Fang Xingu awkwardly answered Jing Yitong's call: "Hello, brother."

Jing Yitong's familiar voice came from the other end of the phone: "Xin Gu, did you receive a text message with flight information just now?"

Fang Xingu frantically clicked on the recently deleted messages in his text messages list and restored the messages he had just deleted. He said, "I received it. Did you buy it for me?"

At this moment, Jing Yitong's voice sounded younger and more energetic than it would have been six years later, with even a hint of amusement in his tone: "Yes, weren't you quite curious about my film crew before? I knew you were free the day after tomorrow, so I just bought a plane ticket and forgot to ask if you had any new plans. So are you coming the day after tomorrow? If not, I'll cancel the ticket."

If Jing Yitong hadn't bought a plane ticket and had directly asked Fang Xingu if he wanted to go to Ancheng, Fang Xingu might not have agreed. But now that Jing Yitong had already bought the ticket, Fang Xingu hesitated, but then caught a glimpse of Wang Jinxu's encouraging gaze, and finally chuckled and replied, "Okay, I'll come the day after tomorrow."

After agreeing on a time and hanging up the phone, Wang Jinxu said to him, "Have fun, be careful on the road, and listen to your brother."

Fang Xingu happily put away his phone and agreed to everything. Wang Jinxu then pushed a card to him: "Give this to your brother. The password is your birthday."

Fang Xin looked at the bank card and sighed softly, "Okay."

Two days later, Fang Xin arrived in Ancheng by plane. As soon as he stepped out of the airport, he saw Jing Yitong waving at him from the waiting area.

Fang Xingu was walking with his head down and expressionless, but the moment he saw Jing Yitong, he couldn't help but smile. He quickened his pace and ran towards Jing Yitong, dragging his suitcase. Then, Jing Yitong stretched out his arms and hugged him tightly.

"Xin Gu, welcome to Ancheng," Jing Yitong said, rubbing Fang Xin Gu's head vigorously. "Did you miss me?"

Fang Xingu, a freshman that year, had not yet participated in "Star Journey," while Jing Yitong, a sophomore, was just starting out, having only played minor roles in a few TV series and movies. No one in the crowd recognized them, so they could hug each other freely in front of everyone—even though it looked like just a hug between brothers.

Fang Xingu was stunned for a moment while nestled in Jing Yitong's arms, then he hugged Jing Yitong back: "Hmm, I miss him a little."

Jing Yitong bent his arm and gently pushed the person away a little, looking hurt: "Just a little?"

Fang Xingu actually misses Jing Yitong every day. Even before going to bed every night, he would secretly look at photos of Jing Yitong in his dorm room and watch compilations of the characters Jing Yitong played. But he insisted on saying, "It would be good enough if I could have even a little bit of that."

The onlookers cast friendly smiles at the two strikingly good-looking brothers. Jing Yitong poked Fang Xingu's forehead, but he couldn't do anything about it. He then led the group into the car and drove towards the film set.

Ancheng is a northern city. It was late January, and Ancheng had just had a snowfall. The sky was overcast and the air was filled with a biting chill.

Sitting in the warm car, Fang Xingu asked first, "Brother, how's the new film crew doing?"

Jing Yitong laughed and said, "It's great. It's a masterpiece by a famous director, and there are many senior actors involved. Although I'm playing a villainous supporting role this time, at least I'm not just an extra."

Fang Xin insisted, "What's wrong with playing minor roles? You played your previous roles very well too."

Jing Yitong teased, "So it seems you've watched all the dramas I acted in before?"

Fang Xingu was embarrassed to admit it and looked down at his hands: "No, I just looked at some."

Jing Yitong said angrily, "This won't do. You have to support my work more! You must go to the cinema to see this movie. It's my first role with a name, a character, and a complete storyline. I got this role through hard auditions. My agent said that if I act well, I might win the Best Newcomer award."

When Jing Yitong talked about his new role, he became more talkative. It was clear that he really liked the new production team. He kept sharing his recent experiences with Fang Xingu, who was very willing to listen to him and responded to him earnestly.

However, Fang Xin Gu couldn't help but feel sorry for Jing Yi Tong. In fact, Jing Hong and Song Jiao did not agree with Jing Yi Tong taking this path at all. They even complained to the Fang family elders several times that if their son and Fang Xin Gu were not so different in age, they would have suspected that the two children had been switched at birth.

How come Jing Yitong, who comes from a family with a long history in maritime transport, went to study acting, while Fang Xin, whose family has several artists, studied naval architecture and ocean engineering in college?

So despite his illustrious family background, Jing Yitong's artistic career received no help from his family whatsoever. In fact, his parents cruelly stopped his credit card and cut off his living expenses, forcing the young master to start from scratch as an extra and bear all the costs himself.

Thinking of this, Fang Xin took out two bank cards from his bag: "Brother... are you short of money lately?"

While driving, Jing Yitong glanced at Fang Xingu and saw the two shiny bank cards in his hand. He quickly refused, "You and Grandma aren't trying to secretly slip me money again, are you? I'm not rich now, but I earn enough to live on."

Fang Xin was trying to figure out whether Jing Yitong was putting on a brave face. Unfortunately, from the moment Jing Yitong saw him, his face was full of smiles, and he couldn't see any bitterness at all. But considering that Jing Yitong could only borrow his manager's car to drive, it was obvious that he was living a very frugal life.

Finally, Fang Xin made up his mind and stuffed the card into Jing Yitong's coat pocket.

Jing Yitong felt a mischievous hand fiddling with him. He glanced over and saw Fang Xingu's little trick. He smiled helplessly: "I really don't lack money."

“Consider it an investment from us. The password is my birthday,” Fang Xingu patted his pocket, his tone a little proud. “The money in that card of mine is all earned by myself.”

Jing Yitong was surprised: "Our young master is already going out to work?"

“If our young master can go out to work, why can’t I?” Fang Xingu leaned back comfortably in the passenger seat, squinting like a cat. “But I don’t really work. I just wrote a few songs and submitted them, making a small profit.”

At a red light, Jing Yitong brought the car to a steady stop. He turned to look at Fang Xingu, his eyes filled with a secret expectation and longing: "I want what others have too. When can you write one for me?"

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Author's Note: Teacher Jing: [Please!]

Teacher Fang: ...Now! Immediately! Write it right now! [Angry]