No Ex Before Me – Synopsis:
There are no exes in the world. Even if there were, they would never admit it. This is the story of a playboy king and a playgirl queen who fall into genuine love, only to destroy each other in the end.
The synopsis on the promotional poster was kept short. If it were on Maoyan or Taopiaopiao, it would have been written in a convoluted, exhausting way that would make people lose interest before even considering buying a ticket.
"Nothing good's out lately. This Chinese film protection month… what are they even protecting?" Hong Hu sighed.
Hong Hu was once a small-time actor, barely scraping the bottom of the entertainment ladder. Now he was a successful businessman, but his most talked-about accomplishment was still the same: being the husband of Zhang Ning, a triple crown Best Actress winner.
Zhang Ning, who owed her life to Xing Lü, had become half of a Little Fruits member and half an older sister figure. She often invited Chu Zhi over for meals, because her husband's cooking was simply that good.
That husband, of course, was Hong Hu. And yes, his cooking had earned Chu Zhi's personal stamp of approval.
Today, his wife had taken their child back to her parents' home, and work was quiet. With a rare free afternoon, he thought he might slip away to the cinema for a horror film. But when the previews rolled, everything looked… like trash.
He loved watching horror movies alone. But if he couldn't have that, he would settle for a decent regular film—except that option seemed nonexistent. Another heavy sigh escaped him.
He considered heading to a teahouse instead, but then a familiar name caught his eye. On the trailer for a new film, the words flashed: "You Get Me Drunk – Promotional Song (or Theme Song) for No Ex Before Me, by Chu Zhi."
"Huh? Xiao Jiu's song?" Hong Hu clicked it without hesitation.
Lyrics, composition, and arrangement were all by Chu Zhi, and he was also the singer. Hong Hu muttered to himself, "The film studio must have money to spare, hiring Xiao Jiu to write an original song."
As a businessman, Hong Hu naturally thought about the cost. He knew all too well how much it would take to get someone like Chu Zhi to produce a song like this.
The intro was a moody, slightly piercing piano melody, paired with a montage of the film's male and female leads arguing. It… worked, somehow.
Then came the breakup. The male lead went from partying endlessly with his friends to drowning himself in drunken misery.
🎵"Drive to the city's edge, roll every window down, Trade speed for a moment's rush… Oh, love makes me blind, oh, love makes me seek my own pain.
You get me drunk, you make me cry, You shoulder all the blame, and I try desperately to make it right." 🎵
Chu Zhi's voice was powerful and moving. Hong Hu found himself unexpectedly touched by the male lead's hangover despair.
Especially on the line you get me drunk—the faint sob in his voice, paired with the scene of downing glass after glass, made Hong Hu think of his own younger days, when love had left him reeling.
People might think Zhang Ning, with her beauty and career, had always been the one pursued. In truth, she had been the one to confess first.
Back then, Hong Hu had just gone through a breakup. He sat on the roadside, knocking back beer after beer straight from the can. That was when Zhang Ning, fresh off filming with their crew, walked by.
She was already the female lead. He was just an important supporting role.
After that night, Zhang Ning began openly pursuing him. When he once asked what she liked about him, she said, "The way you cried so hard from that breakup, with your nose all runny—it was hilarious."
It was absurd. And yet, remembering it now, Hong Hu could only smile.
"Xiao Jiu's singing is too much," Hong Hu exhaled. "With the male lead's lousy acting, I should've been pulled right out of it. But paired with Xiao Jiu's voice… I actually remembered my own past."
By the end of the two-minute trailer, Hong Hu wanted to watch No Ex Before Me.
He wasn't alone. Most viewers who clicked on the trailer felt the same—Chu Zhi's voice had reached them. His singing style was like that of immortal wine, with eighty percent Voice of Despair mixed in. It was heartbreak distilled into sound.
His voice didn't just carry the sorrow of ninety-nine breakups. It was the kind of bad luck where you get dumped, your phone gets stolen on the bus, and you come home only to realize you forgot your keys.
"Ugh, this reminds me of my first love. That summer, I finally got the courage to speak to her for the first time."
"Damn it, can you believe a trailer made me cry? Brother Jiu, how many breakups have you gone through to sing with that kind of sob in your voice? I'm a grown man and my heart's still shaking. I actually feel sorry for you. I can't imagine how the female fans feel."
"Female fan reporting in. My heart's shattered. Do not disturb."
"As another female fan, let me be blunt: with Jiu-yé's looks, there's no way he's ever been dumped."
"This voice… not a single cigarette in this world is innocent."
Comment after comment called the song a tearjerker. For most singers, "opening their mouth is telling a story." For Chu Zhi, "opening his mouth is a life accident."
Bona Pictures had struck gold. The impact of this song was something no amount of extra advertising could buy. Sure, Chu Zhi's fee was high—but the value was undeniable.
Voice actor Qiu Yuebai even left a comment: "I became a Brother Jiu fan after Desert Island. Back then, I thought his voice was made for tragic love songs. Many people have covered Desert Island, but his is my favorite. Whenever I feel upset and need to cry but can't, I listen to it.
I never thought he'd stop singing love songs later. I was devastated. This one, though… his skill has clearly grown. The sadness in it is even more moving.
Please, give us a full album of love songs. I love them, but most of the ones I listen to are from the 80s and 90s."
Qiu Yuebai's comment gained hundreds of thousands of likes. Clearly, the demand for love songs was huge—only, there weren't many who could sing them this well.
Soon, discussion about You Get Me Drunk branched into another dimension entirely.
"Why does Chu Zhi sing with the emotion of someone who's gone through eight thousand breakups? Listeners cry, and hearts ache just hearing it."
This topic drew even more attention. It was a valid question. Of course, a singer doesn't need personal experience to convey emotion in a song, but the intensity of feeling he infused into it was almost too much.
To many, it didn't seem logical.
A well-known influencer named Qi Jiaoxiong joined the debate.
This guy had previously taken part in the online "The Unspoken Sutra" cover challenge. Now he had over two million followers across the web. Known for his covers, he had once attempted to tackle The Unspoken Sutra, but even switching to A Thousand Miles Away had nearly beaten him.
"I've covered songs from many celebrities, and my conclusion is: Jiu-yé's songs are the hardest to cover.
This isn't flattery. Not flattery. Not flattery. Important things must be said three times.
Let me give an example. Songs like Backlight, Once I Was Ready to End It All, Brightest Star in the Night Sky, and The Most Beautiful Sun—I've listened to them all at least a hundred times. I can pinpoint exactly where to use chest voice and where to use head voice. Once you remove tone color differences, my version should sound close… yet somehow it still feels like a completely different song.
It's almost surreal. Including You Get Me Drunk, Jiu-yé has an unmatched ability to pour raw emotion into a song. People say songs express feelings, but in this respect, Jiu-yé is unbeatable.
Let me show two clips—"
The videos showed Chu Zhi performing Opera 2 twice—once at a cultural forum in St. Petersburg, and once for a commercial gig at Litchi TV's anniversary celebration.
"The comparison is clear. The techniques and high notes are the same in both, but at the St. Petersburg forum, there's a distinct undercurrent of sorrow. In the anniversary performance, the mood was upbeat, so he showcased only the power of the high notes.
This proves he can deliberately weave emotion into a song at will. It's not coincidence."
The evidence was solid, and the public's impression of Chu Zhi's vocal skill—and the difficulty of covering his songs—was reinforced once again.
By the end of August, Shiyi Lang finished filming. After half a year on set, Chu Zhi finally wrapped his role. Filming in Beijing had saved him a great deal of travel time.
"Sister Rong has taught me so much," he said.
"Say no more," Ge Zongfeng replied. "When I get back to Shancheng, I'll send you loads of hot pot base."
"Brother Quan," Chu Zhi told You Quan, "next time we meet, you have to succeed in quitting drinking."
When he first joined the crew, everyone addressed each other as "Teacher." By the end, they were all calling each other "brother" or "sister."
Half a year together will do that, even for ordinary coworkers—let alone when you're playing the Emperor Beast.
For peers or those within fifteen years of his age, it was easy to bond. But playing the Emperor Beast gave him a knack for befriending older cast members too. Director Wang Anyi was pleased enough with being called "Uncle Wang."
"So Yi Yi is the only one who taught you much? I didn't?" Ge Zongfeng pretended to be offended. "This can't be settled without at least three packs of authentic hand-fried hot pot base."
"Brother Feng, what are you saying? Five packs." Chu Zhi held up his hand with a grin. "Do you really need a reason to ask me for hot pot base?"
"Hahaha, fair enough," Ge Zongfeng laughed.
"I heard from Director Wang that the film will be going to the Venice Film Festival," Rong Yi said. "Next time we meet, you might already be a Best Actor."
Chu Zhi quickly waved her off. "No, no, Sister Rong, that's too big a goal. I can't manage that."
Counting everything, he had only acted in two films and one drama. Winning Best Actor felt unreal to him.
"Don't underestimate yourself. Director Wang's expectations for you were high," Rong Yi said. She didn't mention one thing—Director Wang Anyi was one of the most skilled talent-spotting directors in the country. Even though he often said Chu Zhi had no natural gift for acting, she spent much of the shoot personally coaching him. To put it bluntly, Wang Anyi was a benefactor in Chu Zhi's acting career.
As for Best Actor, Chu Zhi thought privately: if he really won it, he'd perform Itch.
Another flag set.
"You can't rush quitting alcohol. It's something you fight for a lifetime," You Quan said.
That made Chu Zhi think of Lao Qiu's decades-long battle with quitting smoking.
The other actors left, but Chu Zhi stayed behind.
He still had two tasks: recording the theme song When Love Has Become the Past, and providing the singing voice for Su Shiyi's opera scenes.
The two jobs took a week. After that, the rest of the film's post-production had nothing to do with him.
By early September, he had finished all his domestic work. He wanted to record an album, but time was short—the Wacken Open Air heavy metal festival abroad was about to begin.
"First time at a European music festival, don't put too much pressure on yourself," Wang Yuan told him. She wanted to add that discrimination against Asians in the West wasn't new, and it was even more pronounced in the arts.
"No pressure. I just want to broaden my horizons and sing a couple of songs while I'm there," Chu Zhi replied with a smile.
Old Qian and Xiao Zhuzi accompanied Chu Zhi on the flight to Hamburg International Airport. Wang Yuan was too busy to go, though she wished she could.
Hamburg was one of Germany's three major cities, a hub for finance and commerce. Chu Zhi and his team would transfer there.
Wacken itself was just a small town in Steinburg County, known for little else besides its music festival. Without it, hardly anyone would know the place existed.
It had neither an airport nor a train station, but it was only about eighty kilometers from Hamburg.