695 Serving The Country

The advertisement began with an exciting drum beat. Qin Guan nearly collapsed on the couch. The edited clip made him regret accepting the job.

After the rhythmic beat, a messy site that looked like it had just survived a typhoon appeared on TV. A serious voice delivered a pained speech.

"If there were no hard-working community service volunteers around us..."

"If there was no interest in the common good..."

"Then this miserable scene would be America's future."

Qin Guan and Cong Nianwei felt terribly awkward as they watched the advertisement. They both had a different response to the next scene.

"If you are smart enough though, you will act just as he is."

The camera slowly zoomed in on the library. Qin Guan grinned at the audience, revealing his white teeth. His face, which occupied the whole screen, looked very honest.

"You can help children with their homework..."

"You can clean the park and enjoy the fresh air..."

The sweat on Qin Guan's forehead shone brightly on the screen.

His big smiling face was shown again and again at the end of each scene to impress the audience. Cong Nianwei started laughing and rolling around on the couch the second time she saw his face.

The short snappy ads felt as long as TV family dramas to Qin Guan.

When he finished packing products and showed his white teeth for the last time, the kind cameraman finally let him go.

The whole advertisement went exactly like this,

"You are wondering how to perform community service? Just look at Qin Guan's smile!"

"We all need to volunteer for our community. Just look at Qin Guan's smile!"

The ad was simple and smooth. The post-production crew was feeling regretful though. Given enough time, they would have enhanced Qin Guan's white teeth at least five times.

Cong Nianwei was laughing to death. Qin Guan was stupefied and sceptical, but every American had watched the proactive advertisement.

Qu Xuemei, who took pleasure in Qin Guan's misfortune, uploaded the advertisement to his blog so Qin Guan's fans could see this unusual side of their idol.

Qin Guan turned on his computer hastily, worried about getting negative feedback. The discussion in the public forum confused him though.

"He is an award-winning actor indeed."

"That was some wonderful acting! It was really close to real life."

"According to my analysis, he used at least three different acting methods in the ad."

Qin Guan himself had no idea he had done that.

"Qin Guan satisfied his fans with his perfect looks."

"I wonder if I could get electrocuted by kissing the screen. I sure want to try!"

"His face is the size of a real person. I took a picture next to the TV."

Everybody focused on Qin Guan's looks. No one paid any attention to the details.

Armani's response made Qin Guan relax.

"Yes." It was concise and comprehensive, without any sign of reproach.

Actually, Qin Guan was afraid that fashion designers would look down on him.

Fortunately, all brand managers congratulated him. There was no criticism whatsoever. Otherwise, fashion magazines would be sneering at his performance the very next day.

Qin Guan had been thinking too much. If this had been a commercial product, all famous brands would have deserted him. This was a public-interest ad organized by the local government though. The words "public-interest" and "government" were considered good in the fashion circle, as was the support of such causes.

Qin Guan was praised consistently online. It was both funny and annoying. Qin Guan had to vent his anger on his girlfriend. Cong Nianwei closed the door of the bedroom with a cry. The Silver Bear was left on the table, the other awards on the shelf looking at it arrogantly.

After having some fun with his girlfriend, Qin Guan met the smiling principal at the dean's office the next day.

Thanks to the public-interest ad and the donations the government had received for community construction and service, the New York City Hall had decided to award Qin Guan a Community Service Innovation Medal.

That medal was awarded to upstanding citizens like Qin Guan. After negotiating with Columbia, it had been decided that the college's anniversary celebration and the award ceremony would be held during the same period.