Chapter Seventeen: Are You All Out of Your Minds?

Beside him, Xiao Wu looked at his colleagues with a sense of speechless resignation.

He wanted to explain, but after thinking it over, he swallowed his words. Forget it, there was no way to make them understand. Even if he explained until the sky fell, they would never believe that Chen Qi was capable of such a thing.

At this moment, he actually felt a bit of regret. Chen Qi's advertisement was indeed impressive, but the requirements of the national broadcaster were notoriously strict. If that ad was rejected, wouldn't he become the object of ridicule?

Yet, he had no idea that things were far from as simple as being laughed at. His casual remark had directly evolved into an event.

For reasons unknown, a few colleagues relayed the story as a joke after leaving the office, and then...

Word spread like wildfire.

In less than half an hour, the explosive news had swept through the entire company.

"Did you hear? The new guy in the Creative Department made his own public service ad..."

"I just heard—what a bragger!"

"They say he didn't even go through the production team, handled everything from concept to post-production all by himself."

"It's true. I just came from Creative; he really made such bold claims when he started."

"Now that you mention it, I actually want to see this ad of his."

"Ha, he'll be questioning his life once the broadcaster rejects his work."

"Rejection by the broadcaster? Will it even meet the submission standards? If people start tossing any random project at the broadcaster, won't that just embarrass us?"

The whole company was abuzz.

Amused and incredulous, everyone seemed eager for chaos, waiting to watch Chen Qi's downfall.

He really was too young!

It was obvious he hadn't been beaten down by society yet.

Anyone with a bit of experience would never utter such arrogant words!

Guaranteeing selection by the broadcaster?

He probably didn't understand what those two characters represented.

It could teach him humility in an instant, believe it or not.

If it were so easy, why would it take over a month to get even one project selected?

If it were so easy, why would they watch helplessly as a competitor with three selected ads crushed them?

Of course, though nearly everyone was waiting to see Chen Qi embarrassed, most harbored no malice.

Under pressure themselves, they simply found the situation entertaining—a chance to witness firsthand a naive youth being ruthlessly trampled by reality. The thought alone was a little thrilling.

...

While the rumors spread, Chen Qi himself remained completely unaware.

He was busy working with the post-production team.

"Yes, yes, just splice them together in this order."

"The audio goes in position three."

"Wait, wait, are the lip movements and the sound a bit off?"

Editing and dubbing, thanks to ready-made materials, didn’t take much time. It was the background music that drove him nearly mad.

He knew nothing about music.

So, trying to perfectly reproduce the background score felt monumental!

Though he had memorized the music by heart the day before, when it came to humming it for the music teacher, he kept running into trouble.

He wasn't a vocal mimic; only one kind of sound came from his mouth.

Worse still, he couldn’t even distinguish what instruments played each part of the background music.

So embarrassing!

Luckily, the beautiful music teacher was extremely patient, tirelessly trying various instruments with him.

"Is it this sound?"

"No."

"How about this?"

"Oh, that feels right. Yes, that's the sound."

After finally identifying all the needed instruments, correcting the tones took even more time and effort.

The end result was that they spent most of the day crafting just those few seconds of background music.

It was only thanks to the teacher’s experience; if she’d been a newcomer like him, the outcome would have been uncertain.

After thanking the beautiful music teacher repeatedly, Chen Qi hurried off to the editing room.

By three in the afternoon, "Washing Mother's Feet" was finally complete.

As the lovely editor handed him the finished product, Chen Qi truly felt a weight lift from his shoulders.

The process had been far more complex than he’d imagined.

He’d never thought it would be so intricate.

“Thank you,” he said gratefully to the editor, who had cooperated so fully.

She shook her head, looking at him with a complicated expression.

“What’s wrong?” Meeting her gaze, Chen Qi instinctively glanced down at himself.

Nothing seemed out of place.

The editor hesitated, then smiled with a hint of emotion, biting her lip and shaking her head. “It’s nothing.”

Chen Qi was baffled, but didn’t dwell on it.

“I'm off,” he said, waving, before turning to leave.

On his way to Manager Zhao’s office, he couldn’t help but calculate how long it would take to receive that one hundred thousand yuan.

It was the first large sum since arriving in this world.

The thought was genuinely exciting.

“Look, look, that’s Chen Qi.”

“So young—makes sense now.”

“I think he came from post-production. Is the ad finished?”

On his walk, he noticed people subtly pointing at him, but when he looked back, they quickly pretended nothing had happened.

“What’s going on?” Chen Qi was confused and a little uneasy.

It felt as though he’d become the center of attention for the whole company.

Recalling the editor’s strange gaze, he stopped by a glass door to check his own appearance.

Nothing seemed wrong.

These people were insane!

Suspicious and uneasy, he arrived at Manager Zhao’s office and knocked.

“Come in.”

Chen Qi pushed the door open and, as he shut it, couldn’t help but glance outside in bewilderment.

Seeing Chen Qi, Manager Zhao, who had been busy, immediately stopped what he was doing and looked at him with a mix of sympathy and pity.

Truthfully, Manager Zhao was just as confused about the situation.

Who knew how the news had leaked?

If the general manager hadn’t asked, he might never have noticed.

Thinking about how Chen Qi was about to play out a spectacular, unresolvable drama before the entire company, his feelings were complex.

Reason said he shouldn’t be so gleeful, but deep down he was eager to see Chen Qi ridiculed.

Ah… so conflicted!

“Manager, did everyone outside take something strange…” he gestured toward the door, but stopped mid-sentence.

“No… are you all out of your minds?” Chen Qi was on the verge of losing it!

Others were one thing, but why was Manager Zhao looking at him with such a strange expression, too?