Chapter 254: Charity Bus Driver, Hurry Up, Our Beauty...
"Uh... this question is indeed related to my choice of him as the male lead." Although I don't know if the rumors about Rong Juezhang being a "lucky charm for his wife" are true or not, given his past experience of going to Cannes in 1993 with a masterpiece but returning empty-handed, if Rong Juezhang goes there with a decent film, it will probably be some "compensation."
Most importantly, the Best Actor award is definitely harder to win than the Best Actress award at major film festivals. So Li Sishi has been scheming from the very beginning, practically saying that she wants to use Rong Juezhang's influence to enhance her own role.
As for the story's subject matter, it focuses on the recent hot topic of female consciousness awakening. In addition, since she is a beauty pageant contestant, she can use various reasons and methods to perfect the details of her public relations work.
“I’ll arrange for the script to be polished then. Plus, if you’re credited as the writer and actor, it’ll generate a lot of buzz.” Zhuang Menghua also understands the key to marketing and the inseparable principle of the writer-director-actor triangle. “If you have someone in mind for the male lead, do you have a director in mind?”
This time, Li Sishi finally shook her head, which was rare for her: "I don't have that for now."
"Then I'll arrange the script first, and then I'll find you a good director to direct this movie." Zhuang Menghua gave Lu Yiting a look, and Lu Yiting immediately indicated that she understood.
"No problem, I'll help Ah May choose a suitable director." Lu Yiting said confidently, as if her own child was finally going to shine on a big stage.
"Thank you, Miss Zhuang, thank you, Sister Ting." Li Sishi thanked the two of them, and then walked out of the office door with Lu Yiting.
Then, as instructed by Lu Yiting, Li Sishi immediately dialed Rong Juezhang's number: "Hello, have you read today's newspaper?"
“I saw it. When were we supposed to get married? I had no idea!” Rong Juezhang replied on the other end of the phone.
Hearing his voice brimming with laughter, Li Sishi felt a huge weight lifted from her heart and quickly apologized to him again.
"Sigh, what does this have to do with you? Those newspapers and magazines just like to write nonsense!" Actually, he was worried that Li Sishi might have misunderstood something, and he was thinking of calling her to explain properly sometime.
If he hadn't remembered that Li Sishi was going to Zhuang Menghua's place this morning and didn't want her to answer the phone during work hours, he would have definitely called first.
Everyone here is reasonable; once things are out in the open, they understand.
"It's much better," Li Sishi said with a smile after saying goodbye to him. She then returned to Lu Yiting's side and went with her to the recording studio to continue her daily singing practice and recording.
With the Spring Festival approaching, Li Sishi had accumulated a lot of New Year's program recording tasks. She took advantage of the time before the first sequel to "People in the Jianghu" started filming to finish recording the programs that could be recorded in advance.
This year, due to the "keeping a low profile" policy, she had less work on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day than last year. If she squeezed in some time, she could still go back to the Li family mansion for New Year's Eve dinner and keep vigil with Old Madam Li—it was her big day of turning 20, which Old Madam Li had been talking about for a long time. Zhuang Menghua and Lu Yiting also appreciated that Li Sishi had been quite obedient and well-behaved these past two years, so they generously arranged a vacation for her.
Ultimately, people are not machines. Even workaholics like them need to pay attention to balancing work and rest. Li Sishi is an artist for whom appearance is very important, so it's not good to squeeze too much of her rest time.
There are many tough battles ahead. Without a healthy body, how can one cope with the challenges ahead?
As a result, Li Sishi spent a relatively peaceful and leisurely New Year this year, which made Mrs. Li, who was hoping that her granddaughter would come home more often, extremely happy. Li Jinhao and Zhou Jiaxian, the parents who could only see their daughter on TV, were also very gratified by this.
Seeing the elderly and the young staying up late to celebrate the New Year, Zhou Jiaxian smiled slightly, her face full of sweet joy.
Suddenly, she felt a warmth on the back of her hand. Turning her head, she saw her husband smiling at her. The whole world was filled with a peaceful and beautiful New Year's atmosphere.
Until the television broadcasted the full episode of Lo Kee Telecom's latest commercial.
When the segmented episodes aired during the day, Li Jinhao, as a father, would watch with a mix of smiles and displeasure. Now, with Luo Ji Telecom airing the full episode at night, taking advantage of the popularity, Li Jinhao's emotions shifted even more rapidly...
In contrast, Zhou Huichang and her female classmates, who were watching the commercial at the Lucky Tea Restaurant, were overjoyed: last year, the Luo Ji Telecom commercial was a huge hit, but later there were rumors that the female lead would be replaced in the next installment, and they wrote many letters to protest.
After finally waiting for the new season to come out, they discovered that their favorite "Chen Shi" couple had not only not been replaced, but also had a lot more romantic scenes and a little bit of "passionate scenes" that left them wanting more. This excited them so much that they screamed and recorded it on the spot, and it wouldn't be too much to enjoy the handsome guy and beautiful girl again and again in the future!
The only problem is that they don't seem to be showing up much in the early morning lately.
Besides this
Aside from the advertising campaign, rumors circulated that he was busy preparing for his new album, and his most recent public appearance was at the Ren Shi Xing Hui Charity Gala in January...
Holding the newspaper with its absurd headline but beautifully photographed headline, Zhou Huichang fell into deep thought.
This wasn't her overthinking it; rather, because Ling Chen and Rong Juezhang had a good relationship, many non-Little Red Riding Hood fans were somewhat divided on both pairings. After this report came out, some people privately started shipping them based on their looks, wanting to escape the "Chen-Shi" fandom and embrace a new pairing instead...
They even have a couple name, which is a homophone of the idiom "荣谐伉俪" (róng xié kāng lì), meaning "harmonious and happy couple"—a phrase that blesses a harmonious and beautiful marriage!
After tapping on the poster of her idol, who didn't know how to seize opportunities, a few times in the early morning to express her dissatisfaction, Zhou Huichang finally breathed a sigh of relief and plopped down on the bed to rest.
Hmph, although Ling Chen herself didn't know how to seize opportunities, she certainly did – in a few days it would be the fifth day of the Lunar New Year, and she was going to watch her brother's team's first match back in the top division league with her cousin.
It was also because this was Qizhi's first match back in the Jia League, and their opponent was the Southern Football Team, which had defeated the old Qizhi and eliminated them early, and then won the Jia League championship last year, that Li Sishi specially set aside an afternoon and an evening of vacation to drive her uncle, aunt and cousin to Xiaoxitan Stadium to watch this night game.
It's likely that the Football Association considered that this was a match between the champions of the first division league and the champions of the second division league, and given the "old grudge" between Qizhi and Nanfang, they believed that even if it was a night match, there should be a lot of spectators buying tickets. That's why they held the match at the Xiaoxitan Stadium, which is relatively remote but has a relatively spacious field.
What's most "coincidental" is that Nanfang wore the navy blue and white home jersey "designed" by Huang Jiaze, while Qizhi wore the black and gold lightning away jersey designed by Zhou Huichang. Although both were actually designed by Zhou Huichang, the familiar color scheme and the brand-new, stunning color scheme made it seem to the audience that "whoever looks worse is the one who feels awkward"...
After all, there are many veteran players in the South who are "good in small packages", while Qizhi is mostly composed of tall and strong new generation fresh faces and football player level players. Putting aside the color scheme and design, their spirit and appearance alone are a step ahead.
Looking at the group of young men in their black and gold lightning bolt-patterned away kits, Li Sishi glanced at them admiringly for a few moments, then turned to Zhou Huichang sitting in the passenger seat: "If you have time, you should..."
Why don't you try designing the costumes for my new movie?
"I...I...Can I really do it?!" Zhou Huichang's eyes widened.
“Of course, with your qualifications, you can’t be the chief designer yet…” Li Sishi smiled and shook her head. “However, I’ll probably be making a lot of new dresses for this movie, so giving you a few shouldn’t be a problem.”
"Okay, okay!" Zhou Huichang echoed repeatedly, which prompted Lei Shenglin and Zhou Huiguang, who had just changed their clothes, to come over and knock on the window.
"What are you talking about here? Are you having such a good time?" Zhou Huiguang asked curiously.
"We're talking about some girly topics, boys, don't interrupt!" Faced with her beloved design opportunity, Zhou Huichang seemed to have little importance over her crush and younger brother. She waved them away.
"How rude!" Aunt Liang Shao'e lightly patted Zhou Huichang and leaned out of the car window. "Shenglin, you're all alone in Hong Kong, you must be lacking in soup and water. Call me if you want anything to drink, and I'll have your Uncle Zhou make it for you..."
When the mother-in-law saw her future son-in-law, she was naturally delighted. Thus, without Zhou Huiguang's knowledge, his position as the "younger brother" was extended by one more person...
After a brief chat, seeing that it was almost time, Lei Shenglin and Lu Bing, as the team leader and vice-leader, quickly called on the team members to take their luggage and board the shuttle bus that was supposed to pick them up.
"Beautiful, I'm going to sit on the minibus up ahead. Wait for me, I'll definitely score a goal for you today..." As Li Sishi's biggest fan, Zhu Yu looked reluctant to part, until the captain and vice-captain worked together to pull him off Li Sishi's car window and drag him away...
After passing through the tunnel, the surrounding scenery seems to gradually move away from the hustle and bustle of the metropolis and begin to approach the natural wilderness.
The evening glow and night breeze were refreshing. As Li Sishi was driving, chatting with her uncle's family about recent events, a deafening "boom" suddenly came from ahead.
"What happened?" Seeing the minibus ahead tilt to one side and the Qizhi team members getting off, Li Sishi quickly rolled down the window and asked loudly.
"Tires! Two tires punctured by broken glass!" came a jumbled reply from ahead. "We don't have enough spare tires to repair it..."
"Oh no, cousin! There's only half an hour left before the show starts!" Zhou Huichang held up her watch.
Li Sishi called her uncle's family and they got out of the car as well. Looking at the stark contrast between her four-seater car and the dozen or so "muscular men" opposite, she shook her head: "No way, let's split up."
If we approve them in batches, we won't have enough time; if we approve them in batches, there won't be enough seats for them..."
This is definitely a port city and not India, otherwise Li Sishi could have let them try the magical "hanging ticket" challenge...
"What can we do? This is a desolate place, and the streetlights are so far apart. There are definitely no buses running this route at this time!" Zhou Huichang stamped her feet anxiously.
"Can we walk over there?" Uncle Zhou Jiayun asked.
“No, the journey is too far. Even if we arrive a little later than scheduled, we won’t have the energy to continue the match.” Lei Shenglin shook his head and then gestured for Lu Bing to take out his mobile phone. “Let’s see if we can ask a friend for help… if there’s anyone nearby.”
"I'll give it a try!" Although she didn't have much hope for this, and even saw several young people carrying their luggage and trying to run away, Li Sishi also told her uncle and aunt to quickly pick up their mobile phones and try to use their connections.
Especially for uncles and aunts who have been running tea restaurants for decades, they are likely to have the widest network of connections in this rural area. If they happen to run into a few people living nearby, they might be able to get a car to take them to the sports field!
While helping her uncle and aunt open their contacts, Li Sishi was also trying to find an opportunity using her own mobile phone when it rang on its own.
"Hello?" Li Sishi answered the call with a puzzled look.
"Hey, Ah May, where are you now? I just finished dropping off a group of elderly people down the mountain. I was planning to go to Xiaoxitan Sports Field to watch the game after I finished dropping them off..." The voice on the other end of the phone came from the early morning.
“You…” Li Sishi paused for a moment, then her eyes lit up immediately, “Are you still leading the charity convoy to take the elderly up the mountain for vegetarian meals today?”
"Yes, is there something you need?" Ling Chen asked in the early morning.
Li Sishi quickly explained the current emergency to him and soon received a response in the early hours of the morning.
"I spoke with the driver and the remaining elderly folks, and they said I should go around and take you to Xiaoxitan Sports Field first, and then take them..." Ling Chen said cheerfully.
"Hey, wait a minute, how many empty seats do you have in your car? We need at least 12 seats here..." Seeing that it was getting darker, Li Sishi hurriedly asked again.
"Don't worry about that, there are plenty of empty seats!" After confirming the location in the early morning, he said, "Don't worry, I'll be there soon."
Knowing that people wouldn't lie in the early hours of the morning, Li Sishi assumed they had successfully found the car and confidently announced this to those around her.
He said, "Leo is leading a charity car team to take the elderly up the mountain for a vegetarian meal today. He said there should be several cars available, so we can all go together..."
Before he could finish speaking, Zhou Huiguang, with his sharp eyesight, spotted two car headlights in the distance: "They're here—wait, isn't the number and distance of these headlights a bit odd?"
"Why is there only one car..." After seeing what kind of car it was, Zhu Yu quickly shut his mouth.
The double-decker bus, with a capacity of 60 people, slowly pulled up beside the group. As soon as the door opened, a dozen or so elderly people inside waved to them with smiles: "Come on up, our handsome driver will take you all to the stadium in one go—wait, who's the handsome driver's girlfriend?"
"Ah! It must be her!" An old woman stretched out her thin hand and, with a strength that seemed out of place for her frail figure, pulled Li Sishi up in one go.
After thanking the old woman for her "help," Li Sishi looked at Ling Chen, who was sitting in the bus driver's seat, with a serious expression. He was holding the steering wheel, but his face looked completely innocent, and he even had a hint of a cat asking for praise, as if to say, "Am I not amazing?"
So that's why he's been practicing driving lately—it turns out he's not practicing his skills, he's been practicing for his driver's license!
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