Chapter 108: Cutting Off the Fire at the Bottom of the Blade
"I heard you went to 'meet the parents' with Leo today?" As soon as Li Sishi returned to the TV station, she was immediately caught.
"Yes, I also brought back some 'wedding cakes,' would you like some?" Li Sishi smiled and handed over the takeout box in her hand.
Unexpectedly, Li Sishi was so generous in turning the tables. Shang Hanyou touched his nose, no longer worried about today's rumors: only guilty people would try to cover up their scandals, while those who directly bragged about the topic mostly didn't have much of a heart for it.
He deliberately staked out the location to catch people, not only to gather firsthand information, but also to warn Li Sishi to be wary of those elusive paparazzi.
Although the response of "bride cake" didn't sound very nice to him: In the Cantonese region, when a girl is about to get married, her family usually sends out wedding cakes to relatives and friends. Therefore, the common name for this kind of wedding cake is "bride cake".
"Your 'wedding cake' is no good. It only comes in one flavor. Look at Lianxiangji's, they have red and white ones, several colors and several fillings..." Shang Hanyou complained as he took a flaky egg tart from the takeout box and ate it.
"You're talking so much even though you have food to eat. I need to give you another cup of hot lemon tea to shut you up..." Li Sishi took out another cup of hot lemon tea from the bag. "I'm taking some over to my senior brothers. Have you seen them over there?"
"Look, she's practicing in that corner over there at three o'clock." Shang Hanyou took the hot lemon tea without ceremony, casually pointed out the way to Li Sishi, and then called over one of his male assistants to help Li Sishi's assistant distribute afternoon tea.
Li Sishi arrived at this corner carrying a bag of egg tarts and milk tea. There she saw Cheng Erjian and Luo Xuan, two handsome young men, their faces covered in soot and grime from the smoke of the burning charcoal...
"It's so hot! I can't even walk a step slower!" When they saw that Li Sishi had brought iced lemon tea, Cheng Erjian and Luo Xuan quickly came up to take it and then happily distributed it to their group.
Looking at the crackling charcoal path next to their group, even though Li Sishi knew that their group had soaked their feet in medicine and received special training beforehand, she still felt a little scared when she saw it with her own eyes.
"Don't be afraid, everything is prepared in advance. I can carry you across." Cheng Erjian was quite carefree.
Luo Xuan chuckled and gave him a push: "Don't scare her. If you do, Leji will scold you for bullying your junior sister and punish you by not letting you play games."
"If that's the case, I'd be more than happy with it. If he's involved..."
If he had any more professionalism, he wouldn't have grown his hair so long! Every time Li Sishi thinks about how Cheng Erjian grew his hair to a medium length so he wouldn't have to wear wigs in period dramas, she can't help but want to complain about him.
Although he is one of the few male celebrities who can pull off a long hairstyle, the reason he gave for growing his hair out is just too ridiculous...
“I’ll be cutting my scenes later, so you don’t need to nag me anymore.” Cheng Erjian held an egg tart in his hand, and after telling Li Sishi that Luo Xuan was taking courses on period dramas, he casually asked, “Speaking of which, it’s rumored that you are the first choice for the role of Fairy Yunya, so when will you have time to film a TV series?”
With the strong approval and support of the actress playing the female lead, Luo Xuan might have a better chance of competing for the male lead role.
"I probably won't be back until after the New Year, I've been quite busy with work lately." Li Sishi glanced at Luo Xuan, "Don't worry, if possible, I also like to take photos with people I'm familiar with."
“There’s no need for that, I will try my best to achieve it,” Luo Xuan quickly said.
"I'm doing this for myself too. The male lead is the most crucial character in this drama. If the male lead isn't good enough, no matter how brilliantly I act, it won't matter," Li Sishi said very seriously.
Although both generations of actors who played Yang Si in the Hong Kong version were recognized as handsome, it's a pity that Hou Beihua's version was too old and missed the good time when TBL TV series was making a big splash in mainland China. Therefore, the version starring Luo Xuan was a perfect combination of timing, location, and people. With the right opportunity and careful production, it eventually became the most classic version in the hearts of this generation.
In Li Sishi's opinion, although Luo Xuan, who is still a young and handsome man, may not be as good as Hou Beihua back then, his appearance, personality and experience are more in line with the character of Yang Si. Therefore, he was able to perform the most touching version of the Divine Eagle Hero at the most appropriate age.
While chatting, Li Sishi glanced down and noticed the oyster omelets in the basket next to Cheng Erjian. She immediately picked one up to take a look: "Wow, they're pretty good, but they're a bit cold."
"Ah Wu is still practicing over there. If you want something hot, just go and get two." Cheng Erjian pointed in a direction to Li Sishi. Li Sishi looked up and saw Wu Shanluan and Long Qiwu, two male artists from Taiwan, practicing their performance of singing and frying oyster omelets at the table with their respective female partners.
Although all four seemed to have cooking experience, and it was unlikely they would produce some ridiculous performance like frying a pan in the middle of a steelmaking disaster, their limited focus and lack of prior experience significantly hampered the overall effect. Therefore, all four of them...
I got splattered with boiling oil countless times by the jumping and bouncing around...
"No, I have to go to rehearsal. Let's talk about it another time." Seeing their clumsy and awkward manner, Li Sishi politely declined, afraid that she would be implicated if she went over.
After saying that, Li Sishi ran back, passing by Xu Zhou'er, who had stuffed himself into a 21-inch TV, Master Wu Kang, who was lying on broken glass with no protective gear or clothes on his upper body and being stepped on, Zhang Chu, the 1994 Miss Hong Kong winner, who was practicing jump rope on ice and said hello, and Zhang Zhichen, who was being practiced archery while being suspended up... It has to be said that TBL's early "acrobatic troupe" was really colorful.
However, even with numerous safety measures in place, many people still grit their teeth and go for it – there's no other way; in this day and age, it's impossible to gain more exposure and popularity without taking risks and pushing hard.
Even she, one of Miss Zhuang's favorites, had to go through a lot of trouble with the production team at many galas last year, doing things like aerial acrobatics and high-altitude dancing. After practicing for a while, she had to overcome her fear and go on stage.
She was relatively lucky this time, as she was able to perform using her skills and also encountered a relatively safe project.
Li Sishi sighed and walked back to her practice area, where she quickly picked up her notebook to memorize lyrics in preparation for the 8 PM show.
Le Yun, taking a break from her busy schedule, brought her old partner Yin Mei over to see Li Sishi for a couple of seconds, and also took a box of egg tarts and two cups of hot lemon tea, asking meaningfully, "How's the memorization going?"
"Don't worry, it should be fine." Li Sishi winked at him, then took the vinyl record signed by Yin Mei that Le Yun had brought back for her. "Thank you, Master!"
"Your sister Yin Mei said she admires you a lot, and she'll teach you a couple of tricks when she has the chance." Le Yun nodded, and then took Yin Mei to another place to practice singing.
Practice time always flies by, and before they knew it, it was already 8 p.m., time for the show to start. After changing into the red hoodie provided by the production team and going out with the rest of the group to make an appearance, Li Sishi quietly continued to memorize lyrics backstage, waiting to become a human teleprompter for her mentor later.
He rushed over in the early hours of the morning, sang a song, and left in a hurry, only managing to wave goodbye to Li Sishi from afar as a token of farewell—before being immediately dragged away by his manager to another event. He looked so pitiful, like a duck being herded onto a shelf…
Seeing this scene where the guest "stole the show," Li Sishi frowned almost imperceptibly.
Although he can be a bit playful and lazy in the early hours, it's quite something that his manager is so brazenly chasing him around everywhere.
That's actually a bit too much interference.
Not to mention her, even Shang Hanyou, who was sitting next to her reciting lyrics, immediately frowned upon seeing this situation: Although their relationship had been somewhat strained because of Li Sishi, Ling Chen was, after all, his junior from the same record company and the godbrother of the same godfather, and the Four Heavenly Kings had frequently collaborated and had a good relationship with him in recent years...
“If this continues, either he will take the initiative to cut his losses and change agents, or that agent will start to dominate the industry.” Seeing that this kind of agent-suppressive behavior is common in the industry, Shang Hanyou’s expression naturally grew increasingly grim.
"Should we mention it to him when the time is right?" Li Sishi suggested.
"Yes, we should let you know as soon as possible if there's an opportunity," Shang Hanyou nodded.
If two good brothers both like the same girl, they can occasionally use some tricks to trip each other up in their pursuit. This won't affect their "fair competition" and their friendship will remain intact for the time being. They won't fall out over this issue.
After discussing this topic, the two quickly got back into the intense preparation of memorizing song lyrics.
However, since Shang Hanyou had a singing and dancing performance coming up, he didn't have enough time to memorize the lyrics, unlike Li Sishi, who was an "outsider." So, he could only mutter to himself in the dressing room while changing clothes, looking just like his sworn brother, who was being chased around by his manager...
However, he might be in a worse situation because he is so busy because he has high standards for himself, while he was forced to be busy in the early morning by his manager. Well, we're all busy working men, so let's not laugh at the top guy.
While reciting the lyrics, Li Sishi listened to the sounds outside to make sure the energetic singing and dancing had stopped. Then, following the staff's instructions, she joined the group and prepared to go on stage as a human backdrop.
This team had quite a few familiar faces or people whose names you could recall: You Jiating, Wen Huihui, Kang Baoyi, Zhang Zhichen, Wu Shanluan, Long Qiwu, and others.
She recognized them; they were all singers who could sing a few lines.
On the other side, on the sofa in front of the advertising board, where most of the singers were human backdrops, Le Yun and Shang Hanyou had just finished their lines urging the public to donate more money.
The host instructed the two to each choose a wealthy patron who had donated money, and then each of them would represent that patron in the competition. The host then loudly announced, "Alright, now that Leji and Hanyou are both here, our next game is about to begin!"
"The rules of this game are very simple: just guess the song titles. The side that guesses the most songs wins." The host explained the rules of the game and then announced that the two big shots standing next to him would donate 150,000 to the winner and 100,000 to the loser after the competition.
"Let's see what kind of chemical reaction the competition between Leji and Hanyou will bring us..."
For artists competing in games that require on-the-spot reaction, they only need to know the rules beforehand. As for the actual effect on stage, it really depends entirely on their performance on the spot.
Li Sishi stood in the line with great interest, openly watching the show while whispering to Wu Shanluan next to her, "Your oyster omelet smells so good, how did you make it?"
Who would have thought that this handsome young man with thick eyebrows and big eyes also had such culinary skills in pan-frying snacks?
Li Sishi was quite interested in learning how to make some for her mother-in-law when she had time, as a way of showing her filial piety.
"I'll go backstage and fry a few more for you, and I'll write you a recipe sheet while I'm at it." Wu Shanluan answered quite naturally, probably because he had taken a lot of food products and asked a lot of questions today. He even seemed genuinely pleased that the ingredients weren't being wasted. "There are still a lot of ingredients backstage that Qi Wu and I can't finish."
Li Sishi smiled and nodded: "Thank you very much..."
Then she turned her attention back to Le Yun and the others who were walking towards them: It was rare for the best male singer of the older generation and the best male singer of the new generation to come together to compete. Who wouldn't look forward to the chemistry between the two?
Seeing that Li Sishi finally stopped whispering with the handsome guy next to her and turned her gaze back, Shang Hanyou hadn't even had time to be happy before he turned around and saw Le Yun taking the opportunity of walking behind to quietly talk to Wen Huihui, Kang Baoyi and other female singers who were standing next to him, asking them to help him if he couldn't remember the lyrics.
I want all of these, big fish or small fish, and Wen Huihui and Kang Baoyi, who both agreed, are former partners and junior colleagues in the same company... On the spot, Shang Hanyou, with a resentful face of "being betrayed by everyone," shouted: "Hey Leji, you called so many people to help you, so I won't be polite and bring someone to help me out too—come out!"
As he spoke, he pulled out Li Sishi, who was happily waiting to watch the show: "You want to be your master's human teleprompter, huh? Watching the show while secretly whispering to others, huh?"
These past few days, watching you casually recite lyrics in front of me without saying a word, weren't you just waiting for this "undermining" move today?
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