In the middle of the night, Fang Li stood precariously on a stool in the room where he stored his records, pretending to search up high. Qin Weidong knew he was stalling on purpose, yet the higher Fang Li climbed, the more Qin Weidong’s eyes and hands followed him involuntarily, unable to look away.
“You put your new album all the way up here to gather dust?”
“Well, of course! Precious things deserve a spot up high… Didn’t you notice how Grandma used to store all the valuables on top of the cabinets when we were little?”
Fang Li rambled as he faked a bit more searching, hoping that if he dragged this out a bit longer, they could just go to bed without finding it. He hadn’t expected the MV to get so much airtime on so many music channels in Hong Kong.
“Maybe I left it at the office…”
Still pretending to search, he was caught off guard when Qin Weidong, growing impatient, wrapped an arm around his waist and scanned the record shelf. His gaze suddenly fixed on something. He picked up a VCD. “‘Never Say Goodbye,’ this one?”
He remembered Wu Xuxu had mentioned that song specifically.
“What? You—” Fang Li stared in disbelief as Qin Weidong held his album in his hand. It was the VCD version, the one the company had given him. Damn it…! It must’ve been when Yang Xiaoliu brought it over—Fang Li told him to put it away, and he must’ve left it right there!
“Haha… wow, amazing… how did you manage to find it so fast…” Fang Li said awkwardly.
Qin Weidong, already seeing right through him, didn’t waste time talking. He lifted Fang Li down from the stool.
“Now that we’ve found it, let’s watch.”
The two went to the small sitting area in the bedroom. Qin Weidong stared at the album cover. It was a front-facing photo—Fang Li’s face, framed by lily petals, looked flawless, almost angelic. The soft gray-and-white lighting gave the whole image a faintly withering floral feel.
Qin Weidong stayed silent, eyes fixed on the cover, while Fang Li grew increasingly uneasy. But then he thought—wasn’t it Qin Weidong who agreed to let him release the album in the first place? What was there to be afraid of? Hadn’t Qin Weidong said he would respect his choices?
Emboldened by the thought, Fang Li leaned in closer and said, “…Well? Not bad, huh? I think I look pretty good.”
The team at both Waves and the Hong Kong label had said the same—that this cover was striking at first glance, utterly captivating.
Qin Weidong’s gaze slowly moved down. On the cover, Fang Li’s collar was slightly open, exposing his pale collarbone.
“You took off the pearl necklace I gave you.”
Fang Li froze. “No, I didn’t—just for the photo. The photographer asked me to remove it for a bit. I still wear it now.”
He pulled the thin platinum chain with the pearl pendant out from under his shirt and showed it to him.
Seeing it still around his neck, Qin Weidong didn’t press the issue. His thumb brushed over the image, gently tracing the exposed collarbone.
“So… the people buying your album, do they get this view at home too?”
Fang Li didn’t even have time to react. By the time he did, he was already fuming. He smacked Qin Weidong and snapped, “What the hell—! Who buys an album just to—just to grope at it like you?! People buy it to listen to my music! My songs!”
Qin Weidong’s head tilted from the hit. Ever since he was sixteen or seventeen, he’d hated being smacked on the head by Fang Li. But Fang Li always did it anyway.
The depth in Qin Weidong’s eyes signaled he was about to lose his temper—but just then, he caught sight of the fresh love bite blooming on Fang Li’s fair neck, and he held back.
The disc slid into the VCD player. Qin Weidong grabbed the remote and settled on the sofa. Fang Li had no choice but to sit beside him.
But the moment the TV lit up and the blue light from the player blinked on, it felt like there was a needle stabbing under Fang Li’s seat—he couldn’t sit still.
The night was silent, but his heart was anything but calm.
Because the MV had a storyline, it was longer than the actual song. In the first few seconds, it showed Fang Li standing alone on a rooftop, looking toward the heroine’s apartment in the breeze. Just as the musical intro was about to start, Fang Li lunged forward and snatched the remote, pressing pause.
The image froze right on the handwritten words introducing the title track “Never Say Goodbye.”
“What now?” Qin Weidong frowned.
Fang Li rested his hand on Qin Weidong’s thigh. “Okay, let’s make a deal first. After you watch this… can you promise not to get mad?”
“No,” Qin Weidong replied coldly.
Fang Li smacked his arm and glared. “You just got back to China—how are you already this petty?”
“This has nothing to do with coming back,” Qin Weidong shot him a glance. “It’s midnight. Stop stalling. Press play.”
When he said that, it usually meant his patience was running thin.
Fang Li took a deep breath. Qin Weidong and his jealous streak weren’t going to let this go until he saw it. Might as well get it over with—better now than later. He braced himself and hit play.
The reason “Never Say Goodbyee” sold so well in its first week wasn’t just because of the movie’s box office buzz—the song itself was a well-crafted commercial track, with solid composition and lyrics. The MV’s first 20 seconds were harmless: Fang Li playing a part-time barista, making coffee in uniform, looking fresh and sweet.
Qin Weidong watched in silence.
At 28 seconds, the heroine appeared—a woman eight years older than Fang Li. A chic, slightly mature office worker, she met his eyes at the cash register. Following the director’s direction, Fang Li gazed at her with a spark of intrigue, drawn to her presence.
Hunched over with his knees hugged to his chest, Fang Li snuck a peek at Qin Weidong. Sure enough, his face had started to darken.
At the one-minute mark, the heroine was stuck working late. She couldn’t catch a cab, and the boy—who had waited a long time—kept her company at the bus stop. That’s when they truly met. She found his youthful awkwardness endearing. When she casually lifted her long, dark hair, it brushed right into the heart of a boy just discovering love. The next day, while making coffee, he zoned out, consumed by the scent of her perfume lingering in his thoughts.
“Oh? So that’s your type?” Qin Weidong said, his tone chilling.
A shiver crept down Fang Li’s neck. He swallowed. “It was all the director’s request… the director told me to act like that…”
Qin Weidong let out a cold snort. “She can give you a son.”
Fang Li immediately understood what he meant. He muttered under his breath, “That’s old news… You’re still bringing that up?”
Qin Weidong said, “You were the one who said it. Why shouldn’t I bring it up?”
He was doing it on purpose. Fang Li was at a loss for words—blamed it on being young and clueless back then! He grumbled, “Let’s see how long you can keep this up…”
Qin Weidong didn’t even look at him. His eyes stayed fixed on the TV. “If you want to dig things up, I remember stuff from ten years ago.”
Oh, come on…! Fang Li felt a headache coming on. Not only was Qin Weidong a bottomless vinegar jar, but he had a memory like a steel trap. How was anyone supposed to live like this?!
The MV kept playing. The spark between the teenager and the older white-collar woman gradually grew. The teenager worked up the courage to invite her to his graduation ceremony. The female lead, overwhelmed with stress from work at the time, agreed. At the ceremony, classmates teased them, saying the beautiful woman was his girlfriend, and encouraged them to take a photo together.
Fang Li, in a graduation gown, stood beside the female lead for the picture. The teenager didn’t know how to express his feelings. He tried to put his hand on her shoulder but didn’t dare. That shy, cautious affection—it was the woman who ended up holding the camera, taking a selfie with him and wishing him a happy graduation. Their smiling faces froze in the frame. It was beautiful. At the same time, the chorus of the song began.
Fang Li had sung this song over a hundred times, but now he couldn’t hear a single note. Especially when the MV showed how close their heads were in the photo, he snuck a glance at Qin Weidong—damn, his face looked scarier than the King of Hell!
Fang Li stood up, trying to flee. “Uh… I’m a bit tired. Gonna go sleep…”
He bent his legs and had just stood up when Qin Weidong grabbed him. Grinding his molars, Qin Weidong pulled him straight into his arms without room for protest. Fang Li yelped and tumbled into his embrace, trapped there, Qin Weidong’s expression dark and unreadable.
“Sleep here. I’m finishing this.”
The MV continued. With the mood fully built, the two characters grew closer. The white-collar lady began to show more smiles in front of the boy and opened up to him. Their feelings escalated quickly. One day, the barista (played by Fang Li) finally decided to confess. He prepared a cake with great care, but the woman received a call. Her blind date had come to pick her up.
Watching it unfold, Fang Li could feel Qin Weidong’s grip on his waist tightening—almost painfully. The plot entered the most heartbreaking part: the female lead was getting engaged and moving abroad. The camera showed the cake he’d prepared rotting away in the rain, abandoned. She never showed up. The teenager chased after her car as she was about to move…
A love they both knew had no future vanished in that summer, tender but left unspoken.
Honestly, “Never Say Goodbye” was a well-done story MV. From storyline to production, it was above average. As soon as it was released earlier this month, it shot up the request charts on major music stations.
Apart from the bold storyline of a relationship between an older woman and a younger man, Fang Li’s performance as the waiter was a real eye-opener. His flawless features, even in motion, left no angle unflattering, effectively silencing the tabloids that had accused his album cover of being overly retouched.
Though his acting was still a bit raw, it won him a fervent fanbase of female admirers.
The final scene, the true highlight of the MV, was set at the heroine’s wedding. Holding a bouquet, she stood before her fiancé—an older man, clearly much older than her. The shot widened to encompass countless simultaneous weddings.
The ending elevated the MV’s theme, confronting how society readily accepts older-man-younger-woman romances, yet often frowns upon relationships where the woman is older. Countless couples like “her and him” are never able to fulfill that promise to meet—no matter what, don’t miss it.
Say what you will, but Hong Kong production companies truly dare to push boundaries, and this MV earned the buzz it aimed for.
When it ended, Fang Li couldn’t help feeling a little melancholy. This MV always resonated with him, no matter how many times he watched it. Wasn’t his and Qin Weidong’s love just like this? Like how society could only accept love between a man and a woman… he and Qin Weidong would never truly be able to hold hands out in the sun.
Qin Weidong’s face was as dark as the bottom of a pot. He hadn’t even started scolding Fang Li for filming this without telling him, when he heard the man in his arms softly sniffle. Looking down, he saw Fang Li’s eyes had reddened. He frowned, puzzled.
“Why are you crying?”
He hadn’t even said anything yet.
Fang Li grabbed a tissue and blew his nose. “…You really have no heart. Didn’t you think it was touching?”
Touching? Touching that Fang Li and the female lead were practically flirting in the MV? Qin Weidong inhaled deeply and ignored him. “This is the only time. No more of this in the future.”
“Why not?” Fang Li heard him and tossed the tissue aside. “Everyone films an MV when they release an album…”
Qin Weidong’s patience was already thin. “So you’re planning to shoot another one? Flirt with someone else next time? And let everyone watch it again as part of your album? Wasn’t this time enough for you?”
“What are you even saying?!” Fang Li got upset. Why did any conversation about this always end up making him so angry?
“Are you having another episode? Do you remember what you promised me before you went to America?”
“I promised not to lay a finger on you again, and that I’d never stop you from singing,” Qin Weidong said, biting out the words. He had knelt for six nights to make that promise—of course he remembered. “I said you could sing. But filming things like this was not part of the deal.”
“You expect me to report to you about every single decision?” Fang Li stood up and faced him. “Qin Weidong, do you even understand what it means to respect me? To respect my career? This is work—a part of my job. Can you understand that?”
Fang Li spoke directly, but Qin Weidong simply couldn’t accept it. All he could think about was how that video of Fang Li—his Fang Li—would be bought by so many people, watched in who knows how many homes, at any time. The thought alone made him restless with frustration. He was already doing his best just to speak to Fang Li calmly.
“I can’t understand, Fang Li. I’m your husband. You needed my approval for this.”
Qin Weidong looked at him and enunciated every word, his voice tight with barely contained anger.
The commanding aura he exuded made it hard for anyone to say no to him.
But Fang Li met his gaze head-on. The fire in his chest flared higher and higher. Gritting his teeth, he snapped, “I needed your approval?”
“You think you didn’t?”
Fang Li could’ve screamed. He took several deep breaths, then—without another word—snatched up the pillow from the couch and hurled it right at Qin Weidong’s face.
“I NEEDED YOUR APPROVAL?! Say that to me again! You bastard, why is it every time you open your mouth it’s the same damn macho nonsense?! You really think you’ve been reflecting on yourself? Or did you throw all that self-reflection into the dog’s stomach?!”
Axolotl Translations 
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