Chu Zhi did two things.
The first was to help Ai's mother find a decent job. It wasn't charity. Ai's mother had raised her daughter alone by working in a factory and had honed impressive handcrafting skills. Chu Zhi simply introduced her to a sales channel—through a live commerce streamer known as Sister Quan, one of the top influencers whose product cart sees constant traffic.
Everyone knows the advertising slots for top-tier livestreamers are incredibly expensive, but there are cheaper backdoor channels where products get placed quietly in the cart. The hosts don't promote them directly, yet with the massive viewer base, plenty of people still click and buy. This way, Ai's mother's handmade sachets could not only sell better, but also fetch higher prices.
The second thing Chu Zhi did was light up half a star in Ai Yu's profile.
One of Ai's goals was: [Take good care of Mom and let her enjoy a life of food, fun, and daily square dancing.]
Chu Zhi also made a special request to the app maintenance team—never delete user accounts. As long as someone had registered, their profile would remain. He understood that as time passed and the database grew, maintenance costs would increase. But this was a decision he made fully aware of the consequences.
"Even if you registered an account ten years ago and never logged in since, as long as Orange Home still exists, your data stays. That's what a home should be. No one disappears just because they left for a while," Chu Zhi told the head of app maintenance.
The head nodded without further objection, though he suspected that when the app's daily users skyrocketed, the boss might change his mind.
People die three times. The last time is when no one remembers them. Chu Zhi was determined that, at least while he lived, Ai Yu would never face that final death. The post-it note he had taken from Ai Yu's bedroom now rested in his rehearsal room.
Same sky, different people. Different places. While it rained in Shanghai, snow fell over Otaru.
On Otaru's Irohani 1-Chome, specifically at 1-10 Street, stood a small yakiniku restaurant called Black Cow Kurosawa. It wasn't large. Even though the crew had booked the entire place, it couldn't accommodate everyone. Only core staff were invited—no script supervisors, no assistant cinematographers.
Inside the restaurant, a farewell party was underway. Chu Zhi had wrapped his scenes as Tōi Ki in the film When I Close My Eyes, shot under the guidance of director Liao Dachong.
Though credited as the male lead, the actual screen time of Nakamura Yuriko far surpassed Chu Zhi's. Then again, more lines doesn't always mean more impact. Take Earth's Love Letter—everyone remembers Takashi Kashiwabara, but few recall the female lead's name.
Chu Zhi didn't care for sake, so the crew toasted with Kirin beer instead. Everyone except the underage Hashimoto Maki raised their glasses to Chu Zhi.
"Chu-san, I must have a drink with you. This film couldn't have come together without you."
"I'll drink first, Chu-san, feel free to go easy."
"Thanks for looking out for me on set, Chu-san."
...
Nicknamed "Immortal Among Booze," and with a history of frequent drinking at home, Chu Zhi's tolerance had soared. Not even a barrage of toasts from the director and art director could bring him down.
"Sukiyaki's not really to my taste," Chu Zhi said mid-meal, even after several rounds. As the restaurant's name suggested, beef was the specialty. They had wagyu sukiyaki, grilled wagyu, tempura bowls, grilled snow crab—everything.
What suited Chu Zhi's palate more was actually the tempura rice bowl. Thanks to anime and dramas, wagyu was famous back in China, but its heavy marbling made it overly rich. Even a meat lover like Chu Zhi could only manage a few bites.
Though filming had wrapped, the crew didn't leave Japan right away. KAO Corporation's cosmetic brand Sofina had agreed to Chu Zhi's profit-sharing terms for endorsing their AZ lipstick series, which included five shades.
Before returning to China, Chu Zhi had several photo shoots scheduled—this time not with the film crew, but at Sofina's Tokyo studio.
The plan: seventeen promotional posters and two short commercials, each around ten seconds.
One ad featured Chu Zhi asleep in bed, as his girlfriend playfully applied lipstick to his lips.
The other was pure budget special effects. Five beams of light descended from the sky, swirling around Chu Zhi before zipping into his body with a whoosh. It looked like he was about to transform into Ultraman. But in reality, it just meant five lipstick marks appeared on his face, each matching one of the AZ shades.
Chu Zhi figured that, having already acted in a movie, commercials would be a breeze. The first one went smoothly—he nailed the sleepy expression effortlessly.
But the second… Not so easy.
The special effects wouldn't be added until post. Chu Zhi had to pretend to see magical beams of light and act out being enveloped by them. In professional terms, it was "objectless acting."
"This commercial is bursting with sexual tension," Wang Yuan murmured, unable to take her eyes off the monitor.
Lao Qian joked, "Hey, hey, wake up, Your Majesty. You're drooling."
Instead of being flustered, Wang Yuan slowly turned to stare at him. It was the kind of look a cat gives when you step on its tail—a silent, searing glare that made Lao Qian uncomfortable.
"Ahem," he cleared his throat. "My bad. I shouldn't have disturbed you."
She gave a small "Mm," then turned back to the screen.
Sofina paid handsomely. The first ad featured Chu Zhi's collarbones. The second showed his waist. And Wang Yuan wasn't the only one glued to the screen—female staff members either snuck glances or openly watched.
"Tsk tsk. Brother Jiu's looks might not topple kingdoms, but they'd definitely ruin a nation," Lao Qian muttered. "He could've coasted on looks alone like me. Why bother being talented too?"
"Wait... why does that makeup artist look like my future girlfriend?" Lao Qian caught sight of a young stylist, Takeuchi.
He shuffled over, subtly entering her social bubble. Suddenly, he asked in broken Japanese, "If AZ lipstick… you will sell?"
Startled, Takeuchi turned and saw a stylish older man. His Japanese was clumsy—he'd mixed up "buy" (買う) and "sell" (売る).
She giggled. "I'm not really a fan of Chu-san, but this ad is so seductive, I'd definitely buy," she emphasized the word "buy."
"Ahem." Lao Qian realized his blunder and looked sheepish.
He may have looked like a businessman, but his awkward flirting was strangely endearing.
"I've only just started learning Japanese, lots of mistakes," he said.
Anyone who understood Japanese would know—"buy" and "sell" sound nothing alike. No way someone like Lao Qian would make that mistake… A true hunter always plays the fool.
Filming wrapped around 4 p.m. Chu Zhi stayed in Tokyo for the night.
Back at the hotel, he noticed he'd completed two more achievements:
Left early from ten scheduled events
Ate spicy food five hundred times
Reward: five + eight personality tokens. With two already in his balance, he now had fifteen.
Even sneaking out during filming counted as "early departure." He'd triggered it three times.
"Time for a draw. The second album and Korean single are coming up." Chu Zhi took a deep breath. This time, he wanted to be bold.
He didn't even check the pool—just selected a blind box.
Golden light burst from the screen.
[Custom Album Voucher ×1]
Chu Zhi blinked. "Didn't Xu Song already get one of these?"
Looking closer, this was even better than the regular voucher.
A custom album voucher allowed him to create an album of ten songs using ten personality tokens.
"Not bad. Great value… But ten tokens…" Chu Zhi hesitated. He could easily make that Japanese concept album now. Still, after agonizing over it, he couldn't bring himself to spend it.
Next time. For sure. Besides, the EP had only been out for ten days. No rush for a Japanese album yet.
[Would you like to view other available draws?] the system prompted.
"No need. What's done is done. If there's a better prize in there, it'd just annoy me. As long as I don't know, this one's the best," Chu Zhi replied. He had a gut feeling the system wanted to mess with him.
"With ten tokens left… Let's do one more." This time, he checked the prize pool.
[Advanced Modern Dance Choreography]
[Title: Wild Performer God]
[Mystery Candy: Dry Stare Sweet]
[Hotel California Package]
[We Will Rock You Package]
[Special Prize: Teresa Teng's Vocal Talent]
Dry Stare Sweet? Lets you keep your eyes open forever. Useless.
The "Wild Performer God" title was epic tier—more people in the audience, more power gained. Super useful for concerts or international showcases. Full buff mode.
"We Will Rock You"—a Queen classic, the 1994 FIFA World Cup anthem. Even non-football fans knew this song.
He completely ignored the Hotel California bundle.
"Of course I know Teresa Teng. Wherever there are Chinese people, you'll hear her songs," Chu Zhi said, puzzled. "But was her vocal technique really that amazing?"
He remembered her sweet ballads like Tian Mi Mi, I Only Care About You, The Long Road of Life, and Small Town Story.
Checking the prize description, he realized just how ignorant he'd been.
Teresa Teng's talent was S-tier. Possibly the only one in that tier.
While she was best known in China for her soft ballads, in Japan she also performed rock and even mastered a semi-traditional Japanese vocal style without formal training.
She had one of the most versatile singing techniques—rock, dance, jazz, folk. She even covered MJ's "Beat It". On Earth, you could still find the video online. In this world, not so much.
Her vocal production was scientifically refined. She didn't just sing well—she crushed the entire music scene. A true dimensional powerhouse.
Mandopop didn't really exist before her. Her precision in articulation and advanced techniques like slides, bends, and glides became the foundation for 70% of all Chinese female vocalists between the 1970s and early 2000s.
"Didn't expect Teresa Teng to be a genius at both languages and music…" Chu Zhi muttered. "Stereotypes really are dangerous."
It had been a while since he drew a special prize. Tonight felt right.
Sadly, luck didn't smile on him. He picked another blind box. Inside was:
[We Will Rock You Package]
===
"We Will Rock You" by Queen (1977)
"Beat It" by Michael Jackson (1983).
Mention: Teresa Teng performed a version of this song in the Japanese market.
"Tian Mi Mi" (甜蜜蜜) – Sweet, Sweet Artist: Teresa Teng (邓丽君)
Known for revolutionizing Chinese pop music and bringing professional vocal techniques to the genre.