CH 221

Just after hanging up the phone, the phone rang once more. Borg glanced at the caller ID, picked it up and whispered, “What else?!”

“……” “The original song contest is live tonight?” Borg frowned gently and looked at Jonas sleeping in the distance, and whispered into the phone, “Got it. Be downstairs at Jonas’ at 5 pm sharp. I’ll take care of waking him up. ”

Borg hung up and picked up his phone, walking towards the bathroom as he made a call, “Hello, it’s me. I want you to look into someone for me. ”

“Um, yeah. Name’s Nigelus. He claims to be from a small village east of the imperial capital, so ask around for me. I’ll send you a picture of him later. He’s under 25 or so, only a few years into adulthood. He’s a rare omega, so he should be pretty recognisable. ”

“I’ll pay you the same as always when the job is done. Okay, that’s it. Hang up first.”

…………

The original song competition was in full swing, and at that moment, the mineral water commercial that Bai Lixin was endorsing finally began airing.

Bai Lixin originally thought that the commercial would be seen in a month or so, but in the middle of it, Brother Mansley decided to re-shoot a few scenes out of the blue. So Bai Lixin had to accompany the crew back to Mount Shengzi to make up a lot of scenes before it was over. So, by the time the commercial started to air, it was already more than two months later.

The two-minute-long commercial was almost as long as a music video.

In the middle of the silent green forest surrounded by white clouds, a sudden clear bird’s song is heard, followed by an emerald warbler flying through the trees. The camera moves with it, and the scene gradually shifts to the clear Shengzi river. The warbler stops at the river’s edge, where it rests and lowers its head to peck at the water. The camera slowly gives a close-up of the river.

Below, the crystal clear water runs over pebble after pebble, with emerald green branches stretching above the surface of the river, making the scene serene and clean. By now, no music had been played and there was no sound other than the quiet gurgling of the river.

Suddenly, the sound of a branch being trampled comes into the frame.

The sound was like a stone thrown into the river, a stone that stirred up a thousand waves, and the picturesque scene was suddenly broken. The sound of the river flowing disappears as the warbler spreads its wings and flies away as the wind blows. The leaves fall above the water and slowly flow away. It’s as if this still nature has suddenly come to life, revealing a verdant vibrancy!

The song “The Call” begins to appear in the commercial, and along with it, a young man fades into the picture from downstream along the river. His flowing, gauzy clothes were flying like a stream of clouds, his body free as a gust of wind. The young man takes a deep breath of the fresh forest air and then listens sideways, seemingly drawn to something. He looked around him, searching and frowning in confusion. His eyes lit up at the sight of the clear water, and his slender white hands brushed the river’s edge as he once again headed upstream like a rolling stream of clouds.

Along the way, he crossed rocks, passed fields of flowers, and stepped over thorns. The accompanying music also reached its climax, with high voices iterating and clear singing accompanying this beautiful image, each frame cut out as a work of art.

It was hard to believe that such a beautiful image was a commercial.

The wind-like young man, with a perpetual smile and love on his face, kept searching tirelessly, enjoying the process. At last, he stopped in front of the Shengzi spring, the origin of the river. The song also drew to a close, and with it the climactic part of the song.

Bai Lixin slowly walked towards the spring. He bent down and detained a handful of water, bringing it to his mouth, and the song came to an abrupt end. The scene then slowly turns to the sky, giving a bird’s-eye view of the Shengzi River as well as Shengzi Spring. In the image, the logo of Shengzi Spring mineral water appears, while a voice with a low bass slowly rang out, “The call of nature, the clearest and purest search – the voice of nature, Shengzi Spring.”

At this point in the commercial, people listened to the familiar “The Call” and remembered the images from earlier. Not only did the song match the commercial, but the commercial was specifically designed to follow the song. The combination of video and song was surprisingly perfect to the point of being flawless.

It was as if the ad was tailor-made for The Call, but on second thought, it was as if the song had been written specifically for Shengzi Spring Water. The lyrics as well as the theme were so fitting for the main theme of Shenzi Spring that the song and the ad, surprisingly, made each other.

In a flash, the internet was buzzing about “The Call” and the advertisement for Shengzi Spring Water. Some netizens even opened posts to discuss it.

“Oh my god, is this a commercial? This is basically the music video for “The Call,” right?!”

“I’d believe it if I was told that this is the music video for “The Call!”

“You guys, isn’t Mitchell simply gorgeous in this music video?”

“Don’t you guys think it’s weird that this ad is so fitting for the lyrics? Did Mitchell compose this song specifically for this commercial? Did Mitchell know the executives at Shengzi Spring Mineral Water?””

“The ad was inspired by the song! What makes you say that the man adapted the song for the commercial? It’s obvious that the song came first and then the commercial. ”

It got so skewed that the netizens started to divide into two factions: those saying the commercial came first and those saying the song came first.

The situation was so incompatible that some onlookers began to take evidence from all sides to verify their claims.

One side said that “the sound of nature” had always been the theme of Shenzi Spring and that the brand had been created from the very beginning. On the other hand, it was Bai Lixin who created “The Call” first, before the advertisement was shot. The stalemate between the two sides intensified, causing the crowd to think that Bai Lixin and the advertising agency contracted to endorse him were having contractual problems.

And before either side could conclude, another voice intervened. The face of the Shengzi Spring Water advertisement was supposed to be Jonas, the imperial singing voice, but it ended up being the unknown Mitchell. The source of the story was so convincing that he posted a picture of Jonas walking into the studio on the first day, surrounded by the managing director of the mineral water company.

Once again, the internet exploded with this story.

Jonas had been around for more than a decade and been praised as a popular singer with an “imperial voice”. He had a global fan base that could drown a city with a single drop.

When it was revealed that Bai Lixin had stolen Jonas’ endorsement, his fans couldn’t sit still any longer! They rose and attacked Bai Lixin, counting him down from the beginning to the end.

Numerous so-called “gossips” about him began to appear on the internet, with black stories that portrayed Bai Lixin as an arrogant, narrow-minded, and scheming singer who had earned his success by selling his body. The internet even said that he had a scorpion heart, that his innocent look was a disguise and that he was a slut with a messy personal life and a wrong outlook.

Jonas’s fans also formed an “Anti-Mitchell Club”, refusing to buy anything about Mitchell or listen to any of his music. Their slogan was “Mitchell should get out of the entertainment industry”!

Bai Lixin laughed a little helplessly at these comments on the internet, pointing at his computer screen and saying to Hallyvette, “Although it’s black material, it’s surprisingly right on several counts.”

Hallyvette raised an eyebrow and looked through it from the side of Bai Lixin’s neck. His face suddenly turned black. “Do you know who’s doing this to you?”

Bai Lixin grinned cheekily, “Yes, but I don’t need you to do anything. Let me handle it myself first, and then switch to my dear Lord Hallyvette if I can’t manage. ”

He paused and added, “Actually, people are right. I did “sell my body to get an advertising endorsement” ah, I do have a “scorpion heart” and my “innocent appearance is also a disguise”! How good! It seems that fifty percent of the revelations are true. ”

Hallyvette couldn’t help laughing. “Since it’s all a pretence, let’s keep pretending on the outside, whether it’s real or not. Baby, what’s the fear of pretending to be pure when we’re doing things like hiding our marriage anyway?”

“Hey, others are red hot. I’m stinking black now. My ad won’t have an impact on your company’s performance, right? ” Bai Lixin sighed and looked at Hallyvette worriedly.

Hallyvette curled his lips indifferently and smiled, “Baby, you’re underestimating the Lambert family business. That is just a mere mineral water company. I’ve never relied on it to support my family. Don’t worry, I just wanted to help you, but I ended up hurting you instead. ”

“Someone wants to hurt me, and he will have a thousand reasons to do so. Even if I hadn’t done this commercial, he would have found other reasons. He’s only there to stimulate his listeners’ dissatisfaction with me. What does it have to do with what ad I’m doing or what I’m singing?”

Hallyvette looked at Bai Lixin deeply and pressed his lips to Bai Lixin’s, kissing him deeply.

A slurping, watery sound emanated from their mouths as their lips and tongues intertwined in the ultimate tangle.

It was only after a long time that Hallyvette let go of Bai Lixin and held him in his arms, whispering against his ear, “Baby, even if everyone in the world thinks you are black, you are the most natural and pure one in my eyes. Even if everyone in this world refuses to listen to your song, I will always be your most faithful listener. Your song is so beautiful, and those who love you will not change their love for you just because of the slander of others. If someone turns away from you because of all the slander, it only means they don’t understand you. They may just like your song, but they don’t see your essence through the song to like you as a person. I’m sure there will be listeners who can hear your heart in the song, and they will still support you relentlessly. Although their voices may be small now, a spark can start a prairie. I can be the spark that can start a prairie.”