Chapter 200: The Mysterious Guest In short, it's about Wan Da...

It's that time of year again for TVB's anniversary celebration.

Compared to previous years, the top-tier artists standing at the forefront this year are busier than ever. Some are holding concerts, others are filming movies, all striving to use Hong Kong as a base to expand globally. The atmosphere of the entire entertainment industry seems to have become hurried and hectic due to this busy schedule.

Ultimately, as it was the 28th anniversary, a year of great auspiciousness, the TBL executives were unwilling to see it dim its brilliance in an instant. Therefore, while Li Sishi was having an emergency rehearsal with Pei Yansang, who was serving as the captain of the female singer team for the last time, many familiar agents could be seen coming and going nearby from time to time. It seemed that they were probably discussing the "appearance fees" of their artists with the executives.

Of course, this "appearance fee" is definitely not in real money, because all the ticket revenue from this year's anniversary program, along with the donations and prize money earned during the anniversary celebration, will be donated to Kwong Wah Group of Hospitals as funding for free medical services.

Therefore, what TBL promised this time was other non-material rewards, such as TV advertising and various event awards—which are more favored by artists and agents than real money.

After all, TBL's appearance fee is only so much. If it weren't for the fact that it is the largest publicity platform in Hong Kong and the "alma mater" of many artists, it would have been difficult to gather so many stars in the past.

Therefore, instead of haggling over appearance fees with TBL, it would be better to focus on their most valuable publicity and exposure, using that as a foundation to increase exposure and publicity for next year's plans. Incidentally, awards can also be used as a basis to negotiate higher prices for commercial endorsements and performances in the future.

With such mutual efforts, Li Sishi was soon able to see many familiar faces she had seen last year.

The viewership guarantee of the Four Heavenly Kings goes without saying. Tang Jingwen and Chen Weilan, who originally did not plan to come, were also invited back. Together with Pei Yansang and Li Sishi, they formed another Four Heavenly Queens who could rival the Four Heavenly Kings.

Nevertheless, the female singers are ultimately "weaker" – although there is always a change of the old and the new in the music scene, it has only been a few years and the "Four Heavenly Queens" have changed three times. Compared to the "Four Heavenly Kings" who have never changed since their formation, this is obviously a bit of a gap.

Especially for Li Sishi, whose "status" rose the fastest among them, this was even more poignant: when she first joined the TVB Anniversary Gala in 1993, she only managed to get into the "Four Days" group by filling in for a vacancy; this year, in 1995, she was only participating in the TVB Anniversary Gala for the third time, yet she had already risen from a vacancy-filling girl to a highly successful singer.

The newcomer rose to become the vice-captain, second only to Pei Yansang.

Even though she became the vice-captain because Tang Jingwen and Chen Weilan's personalities were not suited to playing around, how could she not feel sentimental as she watched her former seniors leave one by one?

"Don't worry, it's not like we'll never see each other again. It's just that everyone has their own work and life arrangements, so there will be fewer opportunities to work together." Pei Yansang put her arm around Li Sishi's shoulder and gently comforted her for a few words. Then she patted her to cheer her up. "Our arch-rivals are still here this year, and that's the most important thing!"

While it may be easy and satisfying to dominate weaker opponents, a stage that is one-sided from the start is a fake competition that no one except die-hard fans would want to watch.

This isn't just about viewership ratings; it's also crucial to showcasing the female singers' own skills—only in a closely contested competition can such a dynamic be truly effective.

Only then can one further enhance their fighting spirit and performance.

"I understand, Sister Pei. I will definitely work hard," Li Sishi said.

“That puts my mind at ease. After all, you have a lot of tasks this year, especially since Xilian isn’t here and I have to deal with Ah Yeah, the captain of the boys’ team. When we play games, you’ll need to ‘one-on-one’ with Hanyou…” Pei Yansang patted Li Sishi’s back again with a sigh.

Although Cen Xilian shifted her focus to Taiwan last year and stopped appearing on the singers' anniversary celebration program, the program was more packed with segments last year and there were more people, so there were no one-on-one battles. This year, the music scene is not doing well, and many singers from the middle and lower levels have retired or changed careers. Those who are still able to make a living in the music scene will have to be scattered and each take on a portion of the program's time.

The decline of Hong Kong music began much earlier than that of Hong Kong cinema, but even in the twilight of this era, there are still many people who persevere and strive to shine, hoping that the darkness will come more slowly and that this fading starlight will leave more memories in people's hearts.

Before Li Sishi, who had already foreseen the future ending, could wallow in melancholy for long, a burst of cheers and a nonchalant "What's going on today?" interrupted all her thoughts.

"Why is he here too?" Li Sishi looked at Pei Yansang speechlessly as she watched Rong Juezhang chatting and gossiping with a group of people.

"Oh, didn't he tell you?" Pei Yansang was a little surprised, but still answered Li Sishi's question. "This year, TBL's anniversary celebration and Guanghua have a very close partnership, and he also made a comeback this year."

So, to give TBL some face, they gave TBL a chance to "come back" as a mystery guest on the TBL singers' anniversary stage.

"I see..." Li Sishi nodded thoughtfully, then seemed to remember something, "Then will he appear in my part?!"

"It's because your part happens to be singing his song. But don't worry, with me here, he won't dare to mess with you." Pei Yansang said confidently, "Anyway, he's not part of the boys' team, so let him mess with Hanyouzai."

As a "pursuer," a young man inevitably has to "protect the girl from the wind and rain"—Pei Yansang thought to herself, and felt that her idea was absolutely brilliant.

After all, if it were to be a one-on-one PK, MayMay, who has strength, talent and fighting spirit but is a girl, would always be at a disadvantage in terms of physical strength, would find it difficult to compete with Shang Hanyou, a physically strong guy who only got excellent grades in physical education in high school!

Given Shang Hanyou's straightforward personality—though he knows his limits, he disregards emotions once he's on stage—and the fact that he attacked Cen Xilian, his sworn sister, without hesitation, makes it even less likely that he would show any leniency towards Li Sishi.

While thinking to herself, "No wonder he can't catch anyone yet," Pei Yansang ran over and pulled Rong Juezhang to a corner, clearly intending to "win over" Rong Juezhang, a variable that might affect the outcome of the competition, before Shang Hanyou could find time to come to the rehearsal.

Watching Rong Juezhang being forcibly pulled aside by Pei Yansang for a "private talk"

As Li Sishi suppressed a laugh and turned around, she unexpectedly met Ling Chen's thoughtful and suspicious gaze.

"Don't doubt it, Sister Pei is just doing something underhanded." Li Sishi shrugged at him quite bluntly.

Unexpectedly, Li Sishi was so "generous" in telling him the truth, and Ling Chen was both amused and exasperated: "That's not what I meant..."

"So what do you mean?" Li Sishi retorted. "Trying to go back and tattle again?"

"How could that be? Do I look like that to you?" Ling Chen quickly retorted.

Anyway, Cheng Erjian's performance segment and Li Sishi's performance segment basically have no overlap this year, so he doesn't need to be too wary. As for Shang Hanyou's side... given Li Sishi's fighting spirit of "once you're on stage, there's no more friendship left," Shang Hanyou probably won't get any good results in this anniversary celebration.

"I don't believe you, one of the backbone of the men's team. Get out of here, get out of here. We'll be enemies soon. Don't get so close to me!" Li Sishi waved her hand to shoo him away.

There's only one such "tense playful moment" a year, and Li Sishi inevitably gets a little carried away.

So, in the early hours of the morning, he could only follow Li Sishi's lead and, with a wry smile, walked back to the male singers' rehearsal line.

The rehearsal time for the anniversary celebration is quite short every year. It is already difficult enough to get most of the people together. After a simple two-day rehearsal, the moment to officially go on stage arrived immediately.

This year's main color scheme for the battle is red for the woman and black for the man. This is another red theme following Li Sishi's deep red rose suit when she first appeared on the anniversary stage. Therefore, she changed into a bright red suit, just like Pei Yansang's suit, and even changed the style to a more comfortable cropped skirt and pants, to be used as her "battle outfit" for the first round of battle after the opening chorus.

Considering that she would run faster and faster in time with the music during the battle, the hem of her skirt and pants was designed with an irregular, wavy shape. When she came out backstage after changing, her two mischievous friends, Pei Yansang and Rong Juezhang, kept plucking at the brightly colored hem of her skirt and pants and praising it, saying that it would definitely look exceptionally good when she ran, and that she would definitely jump and be eye-catching like a burning flame.

When Rong Juezhang learned that the designer of the skirt and pants was Li Sishi's cousin, Zhou Huichang, a freshman majoring in design at Hong Kong Polytechnic University, he was even more impressed with her talent. He repeatedly said that if Zhou Huichang had free time during the holidays, she could try doing high-end custom design at his fashion store. This would allow her to better utilize her design talent than interning at a clothing company to work on mass-produced products.

Li Sishi nodded repeatedly: Ever since Zhou Huichang was admitted to the design major at Gangcheng Polytechnic University, she had been considering letting her talented cousin Zhou Huichang enter a higher level of design.

Of course, this is not to say that the "Theme" brand they collaborated with before was bad. In fact, the two cousins, Li Sishi and Zhou Huichang, earned quite a bit in endorsement and design fees from it. Zhou Huichang even achieved financial freedom at the young age of 18 by sharing the design fees. However, as Rong Juezhang said, if you really want to fully develop your design talent and continue to move up the ladder, you still have to do high-end custom designs that are completely unrestricted.

"Alright, go on stage with peace of mind. As for everything else... in short, I'll take care of everything."

After Pei Yansang, who had already taken the stage, announced the start of the grand chorus for this year's anniversary celebration, Rong Juezhang gently nudged Li Sishi, signaling her to confidently go on stage and perform, as she was serving as vice-captain for the first time and was also the first to perform.