Chapter 300: Warmth for the World - May this heavenly decree fall...
The joke just happened to hit the person directly in the face. If it were someone else, they would probably be embarrassed for a while.
But Rong Juezhang was no ordinary person—he was the kind of mischievous monkey who never missed a good show. He could vaguely tell from the phone call that the person who shouted that was after midnight, and he immediately laughed: "Hey, don't be so nervous, I was just joking with Ah May."
“You can’t joke like that…” Ling Chen muttered softly, then explained over Li Sishi’s cell phone, “We still have two or three days of filming to do here. You know, going out is never as convenient as staying at home…”
"That's true. When I was filming 'Men in Black,' wow, I almost died in a foreign country. If it weren't for Tony Leung taking care of me, you probably wouldn't be seeing me now..." Ling Chen's words probably stirred up Rong Juezhang's memories of love and hate with director Tang Mojing. Rong Juezhang couldn't help but pour out his grievances to Ling Chen, who had been tormented by the same director.
“His acting is indeed a little bit imaginative…” Ling Chen subconsciously followed up on his words.
Li Sishi listened attentively from the side: I guess the director in sunglasses is really someone you both love and hate. Even though working with him has a high probability of winning an award, most artists feel that it is an unbearable burden.
Even Yang Jiayao, a universally acknowledged good-tempered and versatile actor, went from full of anticipation to "feeling it was a waste of his life" after working with him. This shows just how skillful Rong Juezhang was at changing the subject and how well he chose his target…
Even so, Rong Juezhang, who had successfully changed the subject, didn't seem to be giving up. He changed the subject again, still trying to use his status as the older brother to put pressure on him: "Although I can't be there to watch over you, you need to know your limits and boundaries—understand? Huh?!"
"Hey, I'm 20 years old this year, not 2. Why are you talking like I could be kidnapped at any moment?!" Hearing Rong Juezhang's words, Li Sishi was very dissatisfied and immediately took back her mobile phone and retorted angrily.
"If you hadn't attracted so many birds and beasts around you, I wouldn't have to worry so much!" Rong Juezhang shouted back at Li Sishi without backing down, then added with a grumble, "You have the nerve to say that about me!"
"Alright, alright, I know what I'm doing, so don't worry about me so much... umm, I really do know, ugh, you're so annoying, that's enough, phone calls are expensive, I'm hanging up!" Seizing the opportunity to hang up the increasingly rambling phone call, Li Sishi breathed a sigh of relief.
He sometimes
"He's quite persistent..." Ling Chen's eyes curved slightly as he recalled how Rong Juezhang would call him frequently to talk to him after he had gone through a crisis, fearing that he might do something rash.
"Sigh, although I know he means well, sometimes I really can't stand him..." Li Sishi covered her face with her hands, looking distressed.
The saying "familiarity breeds contempt" holds true in this world. Even a fleeting encounter with this legendary superstar is deeply memorable.
But once you get to know him better—goodness, the extreme contrast between his stunningly handsome, elder-like appearance and his eccentric behavior is always so baffling…
After finishing their lunch, which was neither very appealing nor tasty due to limited resources, and drinking bottled water brought in the early morning, the two continued their charitable activities ostensibly for filming.
Qianqiu is a typical African country that only recently ended its war and stabilized. Ling Chen, who was once a UN charity envoy, and Li Sishi, who had a goodwill obligation as a beauty pageant contestant, had both visited the country before to donate charitable supplies.
Seeing that the children in front of them were much better than the skinny children in his memory, the genuine satisfaction and happiness on their faces after doing good deeds not only allowed Director Zhang to shoot a lot of very satisfying shots, but he even filmed several behind-the-scenes clips.
After a busy day, Li Sishi finally managed to finish her work before sunset. She returned to her simply furnished hotel, washed up, and was thinking about what to do after dinner and memorizing her script.
That will leave some time for practicing singing.
Unexpectedly, around 10 p.m., the lights in the room flickered twice and then went out completely.
Assistant Zuo Lili went out to take a look and then came back to shake her head at Li Sishi: "It must be a power outage."
Li Sishi nodded: "The infrastructure these days isn't very good, let alone a small African country like Qianqiu Kingdom that has only recently ended its war and epidemic."
Moreover, since they were filming in a small town with more natural scenery, rather than one of the major cities, it was perfectly normal for them to experience a power outage.
Thankfully, the power outage didn't happen during daytime filming, otherwise it would have delayed the schedule.
Li Sishi, carrying her script and lyric book, walked out of her room and peeked into the corridor. She could immediately spot a man carrying a small lamp walking out downstairs in the early morning.
"Hey Leo, where are you going?" Li Sishi called out to him in the corridor.
"It's too hot in the room, I'm going to sit under the tree over there to cool off, do you want to come?" He looked up in response and then shook his head quite casually.
He waved the lamp in his hand, "I have a lamp here!"
"Wait for me," Li Sishi told Zuo Lili, then quickly walked downstairs with the two notebooks in her hands.
After finding a spot under a big tree to set up the lamp, Li Sishi looked at the small lamp placed on the ground and couldn't help but praise him: "Is this the experience you gained when you came here before?"
When he arrived here with the UN envoy in the early hours of the morning, the war was not yet over. Many people gave up after arriving, but he insisted on completing the 12-day journey with the envoy and staff in an environment of mountains of corpses, seas of blood, and rampant plague.
When Li Sishi first came here, the environment had improved considerably, and she only had a short half-day goodwill activity and didn't have much contact with the outside world—but the devastation she witnessed still shocked her, making it hard to imagine that Ling Chen had personally experienced the most miserable time back then.
“So I later wanted to spend more time doing charity work…” he replied softly, “because I saw it with my own eyes, so I can’t forget it.”
This led to a disagreement with his former manager, Lei Jun, and they eventually parted ways, causing a scandal that shocked the Hong Kong entertainment industry.
“As long as what you’re doing is right, there’s no need to be afraid of any external influence.” Li Sishi smiled. “Besides, you’re not walking this path alone.”
Upon hearing this, Ling Chen smiled and looked down at the lyrics and sheet music that had just been faxed over. For a moment, neither of them spoke again.
She didn't know how much time had passed, but the surrounding sounds seemed to quiet down as the night breeze grew cooler. Li Sishi stretched after finishing memorizing the script, and by chance, she glanced to the side and saw the contents of the script in Ling Chen's hand.
"Warmth of the World? Isn't that an old song?" Li Sishi glanced at it and asked with some doubt.
Speaking of which, this song was actually a charity fundraising song he specially created after he came to Qianqiu Kingdom, and the lyrics of the song were also for "charity".
Written on this theme, the music video directly uses footage of his experiences during his time in the Kingdom of Thousand Hills.
"Yes, but I ran into a little girl I had given medicine to before this evening. She has recovered now and was very happy to see me..." After explaining this part in the early morning, he added, "That little girl said she missed the song I sang to her back then, so I asked CY to send me the sheet music and lyrics. I will sing it to her after filming tomorrow."
"May this heavenly realm descend to earth, building a warm paradise—this song was actually written by CY?" Li Sishi peeked over to take a look, and found that it really was, and immediately...
I was a little surprised. "I thought he was better at those melancholic and fantastical ballads..."
Even the song "Love Story" that she picked up by chance, while initially light and gentle, reveals a rich and magnificent style upon closer listening, permeated with its unique rhythm.
“No, CY’s greatest strength is actually using his arrangements to express the restless emotions beneath a singer’s calm inner world…” Ling Chen’s voice lowered slightly as he said this, “For example, the song he composed for me, ‘Angel in Disguise’…”
Do you remember the first time I sang this song for you?
"What..." Just as she was looking down at the lyrics of "Warm the World" to compare with her own "Emotional Story", she suddenly heard a question that seemed to be probing her from above. Li Sishi subconsciously looked up and immediately felt a warm and soft touch on her forehead.
"I promised you I would wait patiently..." The person above sighed softly, "but I really seem to be—getting a little impatient..."
Perhaps the timing was too perfect.
Even though I thought I should continue to wait patiently and gracefully, I was still reminded of that night when things went by too quickly because of these intricate connections.
The sweltering heat of the summer night seemed to return at this inexplicably suffocating moment. Li Sishi closed her eyes and reached out to hug his waist.
Partly to stop his next move, and partly to indulge in the hot and restless night.
"Please wait for me a little longer..." Li Sishi lowered her eyes. "I want to truly understand what I need most next..."
Noticing the person above her sigh softly again, Li Sishi suddenly raised her head, her eyes slightly closed, as his gaze dimmed.
The instant of separation was shorter than the shortest time in the world, yet this long-awaited intimacy left those who thought they would have to wait in vain wide-eyed in surprise and bewilderment.
The surrounding sounds seemed to have faded away with the night breeze, and her voice, in its extreme gentleness, also carried an extreme allure: "Believe me, this time it really won't be long."
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