Chapter 75: Exclusive to Jinjiang 2/4

Song Fuzhi remembered; at that time in the bathtub, he hadn’t confessed his hobbies to Shi Zhang yet, but Shi Zhang, unaware of his interests, had already been encouraging him, asking him not to care about others’ opinions and to boldly try.

Song Fuzhi closed his eyes, his fingers resting on Shi Zhang’s knee. He felt the makeup remover cotton pressing against his eye corners, and Shi Zhang’s movements were gentle.

Suddenly, his eyes stung a bit, and Song Fuzhi said, “If it weren’t for you, there might not be the FuFu today.”

Shi Zhang’s movements paused for a moment, and his lips curled slightly. The internal conflict suddenly dissipated quite a bit.

Yes, regardless of how many people would love FuFu in the future, he was the one who enlightened himself. His favorite person was himself, and the fuel that propelled him on this journey was also himself.

Song Fuzhi sent the video to the program team, and the other people in the group also completed the task in various ways.

Now, they were waiting for the official editing.

With the video done, the program team began explaining the live broadcast process and event details.

The group received thousands of messages every day, and Song Fuzhi visibly spent a lot of time on them.

Recently, Song Fuzhi has been more cautious, not investing too much energy in the group. He mainly focused on the official announcements and discussed relevant processes with others. When it came to casual chatting and water-cooler talk, he didn’t participate much.

After all, Teacher FuFu was married and had a family to take care of.

Initially, Song Fuzhi used to chat happily in the group, but after being pulled away by Teacher Octopus without a word several times, Song Fuzhi realized that he couldn’t just leave Shi Zhang unattended.

 When the neglect value reached its maximum, it triggered Teacher Octopus’s blackening state.

“They’ve started chatting and goofing off, and I’m not needed.” Song Fuzhi closed his laptop and stood behind Shi Zhang, giving him a massage. “Cooking time?”

Shi Zhang was reading a research journal and paused the touchscreen pen upon hearing the question.

“Ah, you’re working. You go ahead and read; I’ll start cooking,” Song Fuzhi said.

Shi Zhang shook his head and stood up. “It’s okay; this is my fourth time reading it. There’s only one small issue left to investigate.”

Song Fuzhi sighed lightly, unable to help but marvel, “How do you manage everything? You used to work out, cosplay, and do research, and you excelled at all of them.”

“I didn’t get much sleep back then, so it was quite challenging. Later on, I eased up a bit, and I didn’t produce work as frequently.” Shi Zhang smiled. “Balancing so many aspects is really difficult if you want to do well in all of them.”

Seeing Shi Zhang engrossed in reading literature, Song Fuzhi realized it was winter break, and he hadn’t touched any books for several days.

“I find it challenging to balance work and interests alone,” Song Fuzhi suddenly realized. “Shi Zhang, in all your years of cosplaying, have your students ever recognized you?”

“Yes,” Shi Zhang almost immediately replied with a smile. “More than once.”

“One student ran into me directly at a comic con during a signing event. She was very close to me at the time. After I finished signing, I noticed her looking at me in shock and hesitantly asking if I was a professor. I guess that’s when she recognized me.”

“There was another embarrassing incident. It was my own mistake.” The tall and imposing Professor Shi recalled the scene and found it difficult to bring it up. “While discussing a paper with a student, I accidentally swiped open the Weibo interface, and the student happened to like anime. As a result, I was found out.”

Laughing loudly, Song Fuzhi asked, “What happened next with those students?”

“Actually, not much. They were shocked for a while, but everything went back to normal later.” Shi Zhang smiled. “There are so many talented people at the university; I’m not that noticeable.”

It was like that in Shi Zhang’s university, gathering the country’s top elites, each with a variety of skills. Besides their main profession, having a few other identities was not uncommon.

“But high school is different,” Song Fuzhi said, lowering his gaze. “High school teachers are closer to the students and can’t be so casual.”

Shi Zhang nodded with some helplessness. “Cosplay is fundamentally a form of entertainment. It contradicts the seriousness required by the teaching profession, so doing both well is indeed difficult.”

The conflict between interests and professions was indeed distressing.

With a softer voice, Song Fuzhi said, “But I really enjoy cosplaying now.”

“Then do it in your spare time. I’ve seen some high school teachers play cosplaying with students at the art festival. The acceptance is getting higher.” Shi Zhang smiled. “Teacher Song, you’re a good teacher, and you’re doing well now.”

Leaning on the table, Song Fuzhi sighed lightly. “To create good cosplay, inevitably, I have to show my face. I showed my face in the promotional video this time, and there will be live broadcasts later, and maybe many more times after that. Do you think my students will recognize me?”

“You wore a wig and colored contacts this time, and your face was shaped sharper, covering one eye. There’s a high probability they won’t recognize you,” Shi Zhang reassured him. “And even if they do suspect, just deny it firmly.”

Song Fuzhi chuckled. “Is that how you play it?”

“They won’t have any evidence against you.” Shi Zhang leaned lazily against the wall, carefree, with a bit of roguishness. “Let the students guess; let them be tormented for a lifetime. Ten years later, at a class reunion, they’ll still discuss whether our old teacher Song was that handsome cosplayer.”

It was such a vivid scene that Song Fuzhi burst into laughter. “That’s really cunning. It’s like graduating to become a campus legend.”

After Shi Zhang casually said that, Song Fuzhi suddenly felt that it wasn’t such a big deal.

From being an unknown observer of the second dimension to now being a cosplayer named FuFu, Song Fuzhi felt that his mindset was also growing and changing.

It was magical—entering a youthful phase at the age of maturity.

The program team worked tirelessly, and soon they produced promotional videos for several cosplayers.

As soon as the video was released, it garnered a large number of likes and barrage of comments, making it difficult to read through.

The main theme of this collaborative video remained consistent with the program’s theme, “Myriad Parallel Worlds.”

Each cosplayer chose different characters, covering a wide range of spans.

Starting with the classic Chinese animated characters that many Chinese people have seen, the video progressed over time and expanded its geographical scope. Various characters from different works appeared in a relay, ending with a grand group photo representing a myriad of worlds.

Each character existed in distinct works, but skillful transitions linked them together.

For example, the red silk of a mythical young girl floated to the riverbank and turned into the long trench coat of a melancholic girl. A tall and lean youth casually draped in a long coat, with black hair slightly curled, had his arms and neck wrapped in white bandages, and one eye covered by a bandage. The mockery and world-weary feeling on his face couldn’t be concealed.