Chapter 226: Wishes Fulfilled (Part 2) So…
"What if, I mean, what if the song that wins the award is yours?" Seeing how honestly and obediently he answered the question, Yan Yingyi smiled and continued to ask questions.
"No matter what, it's the same as last year. In short, we'll keep working hard next year." Although he didn't really believe he could beat Li Sishi, Cheng Erjian thought about it very seriously before answering.
"And what about you, Ah May?" Yan Yingyi looked over at Li Sishi again.
"Me? I'll congratulate and wish Erjian well first, and then, like him, I'll continue to work hard next year." Although she said that, seeing how enthusiastically the two hosts asked Cheng Erjian questions and gave him more screen time, Li Sishi felt more and more confident that she had a sure thing.
Since they didn't win an award, they naturally didn't have the opportunity to give an acceptance speech. The fact that Cheng Erjian is getting more screen time now is actually hinting at their respective fates.
“May congratulated you, but you didn’t congratulate her?” Brother Dan chimed in.
“I’ll have plenty of time to congratulate her later, so what’s a little extra now? After all, we’re filming a movie together right now.” As Cheng Erjian spoke, he had an expression on his face that suggested he already knew the outcome, and he opened the envelope in his hand.
Li Sishi also began to take action.
After they both opened the envelopes, Li Sishi, as expected, immediately saw her name inside, while Cheng Erjian's envelope only contained the four large characters "Keep up the good work".
"Speaking of which, the names of our two songs are quite a good match..." Cheng Erjian remained calm, having already prepared himself mentally, seeing that the result was not unexpected.
After all, even he himself admitted that he couldn't beat Li Sishi in the music scene, so without any expectations, he naturally wouldn't be disappointed, and then he could let his mind wander and think about other things.
For example, although they were in the same competitive group, the names of their songs were quite "matched": his song was "A Person Who Is Willing to Go Through Fire and Water for You", while Li Sishi's song was "If I Were a Myth".
Hearing his words, Li Sishi looked over with a smile, receiving a sincere blessing from the person beside her: "In my heart, you will definitely be a 'legend'..."
"Thank you, senior brother." Li Sishi's smile widened.
Whether he let it slip or meant it sincerely, the title "senior brother" seemed to be enough to temporarily bury everything that should and shouldn't have been said.
Hearing Li Sishi suddenly change the way she addressed him
Cheng Erjian, sitting in the audience, immediately exchanged a glance with Shang Hanyou next to him.
Cheng Erjian is quite a handful; everyone used to treat him like a brother-in-law, but unexpectedly, he turned around and took advantage of everyone's inattention...
They started secretly eyeing the grass near their nest...
This behavior was so outrageous that it made these two people, who were rivals in every way, want to join forces to watch his "show"—not to mention that when Li Sishi, that clever little devil, deliberately changed the subject, he felt helpless, but when it happened to someone else... hehe, it looked quite satisfying.
At this moment, Cheng Erjian on stage also realized something: what he said seemed to be a bit too intimate, to the point of being enough to cause rumors.
However, given his personality and limited speaking skills, he couldn't say anything to Li Sishi to make up for it, so he could only give a slightly silly smile and act like a naive and innocent senior brother as he watched Li Sishi go to the center of the stage on the other side to prepare to perform her award-winning song.
"Actually, let me tell you, the fact that this song was taken out of this box is already proof that it's a pretty good song." With the last song awarded, Brother Dan naturally added a few words of explanation.
The Hong Kong music scene releases countless new songs every year, and to be among the top ten most popular songs in each quarterly Jade Solid Gold Awards already means that a large number of competitors have emerged from the same period.
A total of forty songs from the four quarterly selections make it to the final selection. At the awards ceremony at the beginning of the following year, nearly half of them are eliminated. Finally, the ten winning songs are calculated based on the results of the previous year. Therefore, even if a song is eliminated in the final top ten competition, it is still a good result of ranking in the top twenty in popularity for the year.
The reason Ah Dan said that is because the fact that a song could be taken out of the box by them truly proves that it is a very good song in this year's performance statistics.
"I will definitely continue to work hard." Cheng Erjian nodded and, as he stepped off the stage, quickly rushed to the center of the stage to give Li Sishi, who was preparing to perform, a thumbs-up as the cameras were no longer on him.
This small gesture was harmless, so Li Sishi, who received the support, smiled and returned a thank-you gesture.
Upon receiving Li Sishi's smile, Cheng Erjian subconsciously smiled back and then quickly ran back to his seat. His lively movements made him seem more like a junior brother than a senior brother.
Uninformed people would assume
These two senior and junior students have such a good and close relationship, but in the eyes of some "insiders," this is undoubtedly just another case of a male peacock displaying its plumage whenever it gets the chance...
After Li Sishi finished her performance, won the Golden Melody Award, and returned to her seat, Zou Huayan, who was sitting next to her, gently poked her forearm and whispered, "Don't you think you and your senior brother are a little...too close?"
If it were someone else, he probably wouldn't bother with these things.
But Li Sishi is a great partner with whom he works very well, and she seems to have an ambiguous relationship with Ling Chen in private—especially when Cheng Erjian made some small movements while leaving the stage just now, Ling Chen's face was so sullen, it looked like he was about to trip him...
It was fortunate that Zou Huayan was not careful enough while being "attentive," otherwise if he had looked a little closer, he would have noticed that although Shang Hanyou next to Ling Chen was still smiling on the surface, his eyes had an indescribable coldness.
"Shh, don't overthink it. For now, I just think of everyone as good friends." Li Sishi hasn't wavered at all. Before her career reaches a certain height, anyone around her can only be considered a "pursuer."
She had already made her point quite clearly, but since her "pursuers" had come all this way and were determined not to give up, she couldn't just force them to like her, could she?
"Oh...I see, I think I understand now." Zou Huayan nodded.
∮
It's perfectly normal for a beautiful woman to have many suitors. And when you have enough capital and "qualification" to stand next to a beautiful woman, you should definitely keep showing her that you are a "suitor" at all times—even if the beautiful woman is not interested in dating at the moment, what if she suddenly has this idea?
When the time comes, what will a pretty girl who's thinking about dating consider? She'll definitely think about the people around her first.
And this is a great opportunity for the "pursuer".
Unless a beautiful woman's thinking is completely unconventional, the success rate of a "pursuer" is definitely higher than that of a "good friend," "ordinary friend," or "stranger."
Knowing that he was an outsider and therefore ineligible for the final three major awards, and having already won most of the other awards he could, Zou Huayan sat in his seat and began to indulge in gossip...
Don't let his seemingly innocent and kind older brother demeanor fool you; everyone has a gossipy side, especially when it comes to someone like Li Sishi, with whom he has a close relationship to the point of almost considering her his...
When he sees a pretty girl as almost a girl, he'll be even more gossipy than anyone else.
After presenting the last Golden Melody Award, it was time to present the final three major awards.
Following the same awarding rule that the more prestigious the award, the later it is presented, the first round of awards presented was the Most Popular Male and Female Singers in the Asia-Pacific region.
Although the award is nominally for the "Asia-Pacific region," it actually mainly considers popularity in China and the Pacific coast. Therefore, Hou Beihua, who released many Mandarin songs this year, was unsurprisingly selected as the most popular male singer in the Asia-Pacific region this year.
As for the female singer category, since Tang Jingwen, who had the best domestic record, was not present, this award was won by Peng Ning, whose albums have been critically acclaimed but not commercially successful over the years.
Compared to Hou Beihua, who is used to winning awards and therefore has a relatively calm and composed expression, Peng Ning, whose new album sales this year are unusually good and who has won one of the three major awards for the first time, was stunned on the spot when the host Yan Yingyi called out his name.
Finally, the host, Brother Dan, added with a smile that she hadn't misheard. Peng Ning then hurriedly stood up from her seat. When she went on stage to accept the award, her expression showed excitement and surprise that was almost obvious to everyone. She even burst into tears of joy during her acceptance speech.
After Hou Beihua and Peng Ning finished their performances, the next round was the awarding of the Most Popular Male and Female Singer awards.
Ignoring the calls and shouts from the various factions in the audience, after a brief introduction, Ah Dan and Yan Yingyi solemnly invited the two award presenters to present the two major awards: evergreen Gu Huangying and superstar Lun Yongnan.
"Every year around this time, the whole city is always in an uproar..." Ever since the first Jade Solid Gold Awards Ceremony in the 1980s, the end of each year and the beginning of the next year has been a time for TV station executives, agents and fans to make a big fuss.
As a senior artist who once decided to permanently withdraw from competitive award categories during his prime due to a controversy surrounding an awards ceremony, Lun Yongnan first used his own experience to advise the younger generation before concluding, "This year is so 'tightly packed,' no one can overwhelmingly dominate others—this kind of flourishing diversity is the best situation for the music industry."
"As for what I want to say to the next winner, you are able to receive this award because it is the final recognition of your achievements this year and the result of your hard work throughout the year."
"What you need to worry about is not whether you deserve it, nor is it the support others give you, or..."
It's not that I don't support you; it's that you need to keep working hard and strive to maintain this good performance next year, and try to sing more good songs to repay the fans who like and support you. This is what a singer needs to focus on most.
While speaking from the bottom of his heart, words that could only be understood through his own personal experience, Lun Yongnan, who had been trying his best to remain serious, suddenly made a very exaggerated facial expression and retreated, reverting to his mischievous nature: "Eh?!"
"What are you doing, Alan? Are you shocked by this name?" Brother Dan asked after glancing at it.
“I was indeed ‘surprised,’ but not in the sense of being shocked, but rather astonished.” As soon as Lun Yongnan said this, Li Sishi immediately felt the gazes coming from all directions.
After all, while there were no unattractive female singers at the event, the only one who would be praised as stunning by the well-traveled Lun Yongnan was this beauty pageant winner who crossed over from the beauty pageant world to the music scene.
"How did you all guess before I even said it? Honestly, at least let me finish saying the name before you react! Aren't you making me, the presenter, very embarrassed?" Lun Yongnan said, feigning annoyance. Then, amidst the laughter and applause of the audience, he loudly read out the name on the envelope, "The most popular female singer of 1995 is—Li Sishi!"
The applause grew even louder. After receiving a blessing kiss from Chen Weilan and a handshake of blessing from Zou Huayan, Li Sishi hurriedly walked onto the stage and excitedly accepted the award from Lun Yongnan.
Having won the Most Popular Female Singer award in less than three years since her debut, and with the achievement being, as Lun Yongnan said, the result of her hard work throughout the previous year, her rapid rise in the music scene is comparable to that of her idol, Pei Yansang, and her future looks bright—how could she not be so excited that her eyes welled up with tears?
Tonight's awards ceremony seemed to make a first attempt to change the norm for the three major awards: not only did Li Sishi win the prestigious Most Popular Female Singer award with her supernova status, but the name announced for the Most Popular Male Singer award was Shang Hanyou, who had always been considered ineligible for the award!
Because he had attended a charity fundraising gala on the neighboring channel, Shang Hanyou has never received better treatment than Guo Jianglong at the Jade Solid Gold Awards, which is dominated by TBL, no matter how good his sales are in recent years. He can win the Gold Song Award, which is based on strength, but he cannot win the Most Popular Male Singer Award, which is based on popularity.
Moreover, the Most Popular Male Singer award heavily relies on popularity votes, and in this regard, handsome idols like Ling Chen and Hou Beihua have an advantage, except for that...
There are some unspoken rules that are inconvenient to talk about, and according to the competition rules, he is also facing some difficulties in this award race.
His luck with awards has never been good. He went to the Golden Lotus Award full of ambition but returned empty-handed, which has left him recently immersed in the frustration of busy work and failure to win awards. On top of that, there's a particularly annoying senior classmate who's been rubbing salt into his wounds...
Hearing his name finally called upon for this award, even Shang Hanyou, a seasoned winner of numerous accolades, was overcome with emotion. He rushed onto the stage to accept the award and then delivered his heartfelt acceptance speech: "Thank you, thank you... Actually, even I had already given up..."
"But unexpectedly—in short, many thanks to the TBL Sound Management Department for their kindness, and also to all my friends who supported and encouraged me..."
After reading out a list of names of people to thank, Shang Hanyou turned to Li Sishi, who was smiling and clapping beside him: "The last person I want to thank is my good friend Ah May. Thank you for your 'good luck' and support, which helped me win this award..."
Although he could only express his gratitude in such a vague way, seeing him carefully place Li Sishi last in his speech naturally made some of the CP fans at the scene cheer even more: On the surface, he meant that he had finally reconciled with TBL because of his cooperation with Li Sishi, but given their cooperation and "friendship," wasn't this tantamount to an official announcement to some extent?
Those who understand the art of CP (couple pairing) will naturally understand, especially since Shang Hanyou even pulled Li Sishi aside during the following performance to sing "My Love Is You," the song that unfortunately became a solo performance at the end of the movie, giving them a live duet version as a treat—wow, tonight not only did their idol "get what they wanted," but these CP fans also "got what they wanted," okay!
Seeing the little blue hats sitting next to them waving their flags excitedly in support, the little red hats, who were also waving their flags and cheering for their idols, suddenly became a little anxious: although their idols won the grand prize of the Golden Melody Award at midnight tonight, as the saying goes, "If you are unlucky in love, you will be lucky in your career." They had lost a little!
While the Little Red Riding Hoods were stamping their feet in frustration, the celebratory banquet on the other side saw Ling Chen becoming increasingly calm.
Although the two consecutive attacks from his love rivals had indeed angered him, they were all adults and couldn't express their emotions so freely in such a situation. He restrained himself, and eventually, he came to terms with it: these two were only so "glamorous" because of their collaboration on a film; what about the people Li Sishi would be working with next?
But it's him.
Fortune changes every ten years. What's wrong with letting them have their laughs for a while? The one who laughs last is the real winner!
With this self-comforting yet undeniably reasonable thought in mind, Lingchen smiled and shook hands with a big shot at the table, then turned to head back to his seat.
His table would be right next to Li Sishi and Rong Juezhang's table, so he might be able to exchange a few words with them.
Unexpectedly, Ling Chen, who only intended to come over and say hello, was grabbed by Zou Huayan, who was sitting to Li Sishi's left, before she could even stand between Li Sishi and Rong Juezhang: "Are you going to change seats again?"
"Huh?" Not understanding what Zou Huayan meant at first, Ling Chen looked blank and said "Ah?"
Seeing the young man's bewildered expression in the early morning was so realistic, Zou Huayan secretly admired the young man's increasingly superb acting skills. At the same time, he became even more proactive: "Don't be shy, if you want to change seats, it's just a matter of saying a word. No need to fall down or anything..."
Hearing this, Ling Chen finally understood what Zou Huayan meant—however, recalling how his unintentional fall had been mistaken for a deliberate blunder, Ling Chen immediately wore a helpless expression, both amused and exasperated: "I didn't..."
“We’re all men, how could I not understand what you’re thinking? Do you dare say you didn’t mean it that way?” Zou Huayan leaned closer and whispered.
"I really didn't..." At this moment, Ling Chen's expression became increasingly helpless.
Just as he was about to wave his hand to show that he really wasn't such a scheming person, Zou Huayan ignored his explanation and instead said, "Just tell me if you want to sit here or not."
"...Thinking about it. When love and face are placed side by side, it seems that the latter is somewhat insignificant."
"Then I'll switch seats with you again." Upon hearing Ling Chen's reply, Zou Huayan generously pressed him into his own seat.
Last year, because of his manager's betrayal, Ling Chen was used as cannon fodder by his record company to compete against his own blockbuster album. He suffered a lot of grievances during that time. Now that I have the opportunity to help him pursue his sweetheart twice, I will take it as compensation for him.
Seeing Ling Chen take over Zou Huayan's seat to Li Sishi's left, Rong Juezhang, who was sitting to Li Sishi's right, raised an eyebrow slightly: Is this some kind of comedy show?
However... this plot is actually quite fun.
After stroking his chin and thinking for a while, Rong Juezhang got up from his seat and went to talk to Zou Huayan: "Hey, Huayan, I'd like to ask you to help me with my new movie..."
You're playing a cameo role...
"Yes, yes, that's right, you can just play yourself."
"It's about playing a big star who's always seated next to the female lead, and then 'kindly' switching seats with the male lead to bring the two leads together..." Rong Juezhang explained the plot of the movie to Zou Huayan while also telling him about the character setting of this cameo role.
Of course, during the last seat exchange, because the male lead was in a hurry to catch up with the female lead and couldn't get a first-class ticket, this character, with a smile that said "helping others is more meritorious than building a seven-story pagoda," exchanged tickets with the male lead and was then led by the flight attendant to a new seat in economy class...
In a production interview after the release of "Hidden Man, Hidden Woman 2", when the host asked Rong Juezhang why he chose Zou Huayan to play a comedic, goofy character who always swaps seats with the main character, Rong Juezhang, who is particularly talkative when it comes to gossip, immediately began to talk about the source of his inspiration, and he did so with great enthusiasm and vividness.
It is well known that the effect of self-disclosure is usually far less than that of revelations made intentionally or unintentionally by others.
So, following the concert mishap in the early hours of the morning, which was supposedly a way of confessing his feelings by singing the wrong lyrics, this interview revelation, in which he repeatedly asked others to switch seats so he could get closer to his crush, further solidified his most classic title: "Hong Kong's well-known love-struck fool"...
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