Time Travel: The Queen's Coronation

After being named one of the top ten campus singers, I wrote a song and had Rong Zixuan arrange it. The more I looked at my work, the more I loved it. I felt an urge to share it with the world, but how could I do it? I thought again and again, and realized that video production was all the rage right now. I could have Rong Zixuan sing it, then film it and upload it online. I started by thinking about how to film it, whether to shoot it straight, create something like a music video, or even add some action effects, since I already knew how to edit and Photoshop. As I thought about it, my ideas grew and became more adventurous.

This is my first song, and I need to present it to the public with a flawless image. First, I needed to find a professional recording studio. In a vast capital like Beijing, there are many such studios, but they do cost money. For my own work, I needed to make the investment. I compared various studios online and ultimately chose a well-known one. The price was 3,000 yuan per hour, which was acceptable given my savings.

Over the weekend, I took Rong Zixuan to the studio to record a song. I'd had him practice numerous times beforehand, and even forbade him from eating anything spicy, only a bland diet to protect his voice. Under the guidance of a professional teacher, Rong Zixuan quickly got into the groove and finished recording the song in four hours. That was the first step; after that, I'd have them clean up the vocal cords and send them to me. Leaving the studio, my steps felt incredibly light, as if I'd let go of a heavy burden.

"Zixuan, what do you want to eat? Let's go eat something delicious," I said, holding Rong Zixuan's arm.

"Of course it's hot pot, the spicy kind!"

"Stop, it will burn your throat."

"We have already finished recording, what are we afraid of?"

"It's better to be safe than sorry"

"Don't worry, my singing voice is fine."

"You like spicy hotpot, but I don't like it spicy."

"It's okay!"

One night, while writing a novel in my dorm room, I suddenly thought about creating a plot for this song and filming a music video. That way, the song would be complete. Inspiration flowed like water from a faucet, and I quickly wrote the initial script and fell asleep with the plot in mind.

The next day, I continued revising my script. I spent three days revising it completely, and even made preliminary casting calls. My roommates, including Rong Zixuan's roommates, were all drafted in as extras. The theme of this song is regret. The script is about a couple who were separated due to some conflict in their youth. They meet again later, but each finds their other half and can't be together.

I was the head director, Rong Zixuan was the male lead, Zheng Lan was the female lead, and the others were extras, dropping in wherever needed. We filmed at school during break time, and the process went smoothly because I was the only one with social anxiety, while the others were all socially adept. If someone walked by, as long as I didn't feel awkward, no one else would feel awkward. After the shoot, I treated everyone to a meal, and everyone was so happy to talk about the filming experience—some laughed, some misspoken, some blocked the camera's view due to misalignment... We finished the shoot happily, and the editing was my responsibility.

I worked through a lot of material, constantly piecing together and transitioning scenes, turning each video into a complete MV, and then adding the audio recordings. This process took me a full month, and although it was arduous, the moment I finished, all the fatigue disappeared.

“Yeah, I’m done,” I announced happily, hitting save and raising my fists in the air.

"Let me see," Liu Xiu immediately stood up and came over to take a look. Hu Ning also hurriedly got out of bed to take a look. Zheng Lan was still taking a shower, otherwise she would have come over too.

I played it for them from the beginning, and when it was finished, they all found it incredible.

"Oh my god, Rong Zixuan is such a good singer!"

"Yes, at that time, the top ten singers just thought they were pretty good. Recording in such a professional studio, the sound has been improved to a higher level."

"Of course not. The equipment is all professional. The equipment of the top ten singers is relatively amateur. But this MV and the singing make me want to cry. It interprets regret to the extreme."

"Really? I didn't see you wanted to cry."

"That's because I knew Zheng Lan and Rong Zixuan, and I knew they weren't a couple and were acting, so I didn't get caught up in it. But if someone who didn't know them saw it, I think it would be touching."

"But yeah, they both have pretty good acting skills and good looks, they can apply to film school, hahahaha"

“You all think it’s good.”

"Yes," they both said in unison.

"Don't try to trick me, express your opinions sincerely."

"This is our point of view. This is a good shot and the song is nice too."

"Yeah, hey, Zheng Lan is out, why don't you ask her. Lan'er, come here for a moment."

"What are you doing? My hair is still wet."

"Look at this MV. We agreed. If Qing'er doesn't believe it, take a look at it."

"Okay, let me take a look"

When the song reached its climax, Zheng Lan covered her mouth and laughed, "Oh my God, this can win an award. But then again, the performance was so awkward and funny, I didn't expect it to be so affectionate after the editing."

"Right, Qing'er, you see we didn't lie to you, did we?"

I was so happy that I couldn't speak. Zheng Lan grabbed the mouse and said, "Let me take another look. Oh my god, you are so talented." The next day I showed the MV to Rong Zixuan, and he also looked at me with surprise, "Oh my god, you are a genius! You can do such a good job!"

"You think it's good too!"

"What else? You wrote the songs and scripts, and I sang the songs and acted in the plays. Together, we are invincible!" Rong Zixuan held the notebook and looked at it over and over again.

“So I posted it online?”

"Publish it! Such a good work needs to be appreciated by everyone. There are too many cheesy songs lately, so we need to produce more good songs like this!"

I hugged him and smiled shyly. That afternoon, I used the few minutes before class to upload the video to my various social media accounts, eager to see how it would be received online. During class, I was a bit distracted, but I forced myself to pay attention. After class, I opened one account after another, but there were no messages and few views. I consoled myself by thinking it was only less than an hour. After school, I resisted opening my accounts and went about my business, trying to distract myself from this.

At night, I was reading a book, and Liu Xiu yelled, "Oh my god!"

"What's wrong?" Zheng Lan said slowly while applying the facial mask.

"Qing'er, your song is trending, number nine."

“No, it’s number six now.”

I walked over and checked Liu Xiu's phone. Sure enough, my song was number six on the trending search list, and its popularity was still rising. Trembling with excitement, I shakily opened my account. There were thousands of red dots, and the play count had reached over ten million. The play count on other platforms was also quite good. I was so excited that I didn't notice Rong Zixuan's message, and he complained about it. This night was destined to be a sleepless one. My work received rave reviews, and I was so immersed in the praise that I didn't fall asleep until after four o'clock.