Chapter 45: Head-to-Head
Coincidentally, Zhuang Menghua also made a prudent plan for the upcoming "Newcomer's New Song Medley," which would be considered the newcomer's live debut, and prepared a new ballad for Li Sishi.
"Your single sold very well. Everyone likes your style. Although it's best for a singer not to maintain a fixed image, you're just starting out. The most important thing is to steadily establish yourself in a certain position," Zhuang Menghua said.
Li Sishi nodded obediently: Although she could sing both fast and slow songs, since her powerful backer had her own plans, it was best to follow her arrangements as long as they didn't conflict too much with her own ideas.
After all, planning is never a solo endeavor but rather a closely interconnected process. If one step is suddenly changed, subsequent steps will also need to be modified accordingly.
"By the way, how was your cameo role these past two days?" Zhuang Menghua asked again.
"It felt pretty good. I really enjoy acting," Li Sishi replied with a smile after recalling the experience.
The show "Fashionable Girls on the Catwalk" was originally just a short drama with 10 episodes. It was a "customized product" produced by TBL TV station in collaboration with some clothing brands: all the contestants with some fame participated, using their youthful and beautiful appearance to showcase the brand's clothing and advertise; while the TV station could also obtain sponsorship from the clothing brands through this.
As for the actresses, they were happy to have roles that didn't require high acting skills and allowed them to showcase their talents, especially the lead actresses Huo Chuying, Wan Jiamei, and Zheng Liaoying.
It's worth mentioning that, apart from Li Sishi, who is lucky enough to have Zhuang Menghua as a powerful backer, the two top five finalists from this year's contestants who have developed the best in the film and television industry are Huo Chuying and Zheng Liaoying, as well as Wan Jiamei, who has largely resolved the photo incident.
With the guidance and control of the television station, and the understanding and support of her family, Wan Jiamei followed the plan and proactively revealed the controversial incident in an interview program: when she was young and naive, she was tricked by her scumbag ex-boyfriend into taking some rather revealing "art photos".
With the help and guidance of the show's host, she tearfully revealed that she suddenly received a blackmail call before the finals and discovered that the photos from before had not been deleted as agreed, but had been secretly saved by her scumbag ex-boyfriend, who was waiting for her career to take off so he could extort money from her...
Because of this unexpected extortionate phone call, Wan Jiamei felt that she could not further tarnish the Miss Hong Kong pageant, so she privately contacted the organizers and applied to withdraw from the competition.
Fortunately, after learning the whole story, the organizers were exceptionally lenient and allowed her to continue appearing in the final competition, but her score would not be counted, and she would only be a performer accompanying the stage. Wan Jiamei sincerely expressed her gratitude to the organizers for their understanding and encouragement. Therefore, she decided to stand up and expose this shameless behavior after the final competition, using her tragic experience as a warning to all young girls.
Finally, Wan Jiamei stated that she has received support from the television station and the police, and will soon sue her ex-boyfriend. She also joined forces with the host and a police guest invited to the "Police Training" program to advise viewers: if you unfortunately encounter such an incident, please seek help from the police. The police and reasonable people will help the victims…
Because of the police involvement in this incident, and because Wan Jiamei behaved generously and calmly throughout, coupled with the deliberate guidance from the authorities and the public, most citizens of Hong Kong expressed sympathy and support for Wan Jiamei, the victim who bravely exposed the darkness, even though there were a few dissenting voices.
It wasn't until her ex-boyfriend, a scumbag, was sentenced to prison and Li Sishi returned with an international beauty pageant award that the scandal surrounding her failure to win the Miss Hong Kong title was finally brought to a dramatic close with updated news.
After the storm came to a perfect end, Wan Jiamei could be considered to have turned misfortune into blessing. Amidst a chorus of support for her to emerge from the shadows and start anew, she smoothly announced that she had signed a contract with the television station and would work hard to live a new and wonderful life.
Compared to Wan Jiamei and others who have worked their way up in the film and television industry, this year's runner-up, Luo Heyin, was temporarily sidelined by the TV station due to her previous withdrawal from the competition, but she is now said to have returned to her original job.
As for the third runner-up, Yu Xiaobao, having failed to achieve anything in subsequent international competitions, she decided to capitalize on the momentum of this year's Miss Hong Kong pageant by constantly attending banquets and events of all sizes, seemingly aiming to build a career as a socialite and wealthy wife. This can be considered another path for girls who have come from the Miss Hong Kong pageant, outside of entering the entertainment industry. If they are lucky enough to make a name for themselves on this path, whether it's marrying into a wealthy family or making money through connections, it's a more lucrative outcome than struggling in the entertainment industry.
Thinking of the people who once shared a room and lived together day and night, now going their separate ways, Li Sishi couldn't help but feel a pang of regret, no matter how much friendship or discord they had shared.
“Going out for a short trip is certainly exciting, but when you actually start filming, you’ll know how tough it is.” Zhuang Menghua smiled and added, “However, no pain, no gain.”
Only then can one become a superior person.
"Especially since period dramas are more demanding than modern dramas, a classic period drama character that is loved by the audience will give an artist more opportunities." Zhuang Menghua added meaningfully at the end.
Li Sishi understood Zhuang Menghua's implied meaning and quickly nodded in agreement.
A few days later, when Li Sishi received the sheet music for the new song from Lu Yiting with great anticipation, she felt a mix of disappointment and relief, as well as a sense of eagerness to try it out.
Even Miss Zhuang isn't always so lucky to snag a good song; this time, she had absolutely no recollection of the song given to her.
It's just a decent little love song that expresses a young girl's longing and anxieties about love. It's not particularly outstanding, but it's neither good nor bad.
But this is a song that she can interpret entirely in her own way. Although Li Sishi believes that the previous four songs were no less than the "original singers" in her memory, she would more or less unconsciously imitate them at the beginning and then add innovation and her own style. Therefore, she always felt that there was a slight trace of disharmony.
Of course, those unaware of the complex inner workings would not understand and would only think that Li Sishi was still a newcomer and had not yet fully solidified her unique personal style.
"By the way, what kind of outfit are you planning to wear? It's about time we started preparing," Lu Yiting asked softly.
Li Sishi thought for a moment, then took out a thick scrapbook from the desk next to her, flipped through a few pages and showed them to Lu Yiting: "It's probably a short dress of this style. The mid-length style is versatile, hard to go wrong with, and easy to move around in..."
"Hmm, what color? Gold or blue?" Lu Yiting looked carefully at the style Li Sishi pointed out and asked again.
"Gold, and some sequins sewn on the chest. Stage costumes need to be sparkly to look good," Li Sishi replied after thinking for a moment.
After discussing some details, Lu Yiting looked at Li Sishi with satisfaction: "No wonder you asked your cousin to bring these notebooks over. It turns out they can be used like this."
She originally thought that Li Sishi was just overly concerned about the comments because of her newcomer mentality, so she asked her cousin to collect all the fan letters and squeeze out some rest time to read them. She didn't expect that these notebooks contained Li Sishi's early records and clippings.
For example, you can cut out and categorize clothing styles you see in newspapers and magazines that suit you and that you like, and compile them into a book so that it's convenient to find any references later.
Seeking and communicating.
"Because my cousin loves making clothes, and I used to help people with styling and alterations to earn pocket money, I got used to doing this," Li Sishi explained.
"A bad pen is worse than a good memory, which is a good habit. Just make sure to keep it safe so that no one else can take the credit." Lu Yiting had always liked Li Sishi, whose appearance matched her aesthetic standards, and since this hobby wasn't a problem, Lu Yiting was undoubtedly supportive.
"Yes, I will definitely be on guard." Li Sishi certainly understood that one should always be wary of others.
But what these two cautious individuals didn't expect was that even a thousand days of guarding against thieves might not be enough. Those who wanted to play dirty tricks in private could always find a way to make amazing progress on paths they never imagined.
Who could have imagined that a well-planned and rehearsed variety show concert could have its next song stolen by someone taking advantage of their performance order?!
Recalling Guo Luyun's smug look during rehearsals, she thought Guo Luyun believed that fast songs were easier to please the audience and create a lively atmosphere at concerts, which was why she felt superior for preparing a slow song...
Who would have thought that this was actually the sinister look in Guo Luyun's eyes, born from her sinister intention to steal the song at the last minute and cut off her escape route, having already bribed the backup dancers beside her.
"That's too much!" Li Sishi was assigned two male and two female backup dancers who would dance hand in hand with her to accompany the love song performance. Unexpectedly, one of the male backup dancers was taken advantage of without anyone noticing, which made the others who remained feel annoyed that their reputations had been affected.
"Now is not the time to dwell on this. First, we need to find a new song to replace it as soon as possible. I've already contacted someone..." Lu Yiting was anxious but tried her best to calm herself down. "At most, the outside world can buy us fifteen minutes. Adding the remaining time of your song, it's less than twenty minutes at most..."
No matter what happens later when we clash with the people who orchestrated their scheme, we must deal with the current situation first!
On the surface, Lu Yiting pretended to be a pillar of strength to comfort everyone, but in reality, she herself was not confident: in such a short time, even if a new song could be found to replace it, even if the backup dancers could freely improvise and coordinate according to some universal moves in the dance group's courses, even if the band simply sang the new song without rehearsing... Li Sishi, as the absolute protagonist, simply did not have time to familiarize herself with a new song!
Even though she went on stage with cheat sheets and didn't practice or familiarize herself with the song beforehand...
It would be very difficult to sing a song smoothly under such circumstances.
Even if Li Sishi performs exceptionally well and finishes her song smoothly, the stage effect will inevitably be greatly diminished.
Standing on the edge of the curtain backstage, Li Sishi looked at her opponent on stage who was singing her new song that she had been preparing for a long time, and at the singing voice that was obviously imitating her singing style during rehearsals. She felt a complex feeling that was hard to describe.
Taking a deep breath, Li Sishi asked her assistant, Zuo Lili, to retrieve her "fan letter" scrapbook from the large backpack in the van.
“I have a song here, a fast-paced dance song…” Facing Lu Yiting’s questioning gaze, Li Sishi added firmly, “There’s no time to explain right now, but it can help us get out of this predicament!”
Thinking it was a song written by a fan for Li Sishi, Lu Yiting gritted her teeth and said, "Fine, I'll go talk to the band. You tell the backup dancers what needs to be changed. When Lily comes back, have her make fifty copies of the sheet music and send them to me."
In this urgent situation, regardless of the song's quality, if Li Sishi dared to bring it up, she would definitely sing it.
Let's get through this first!
Watching Lu Yiting's hurried figure heading towards the band
Li Sishi glanced again at the profile of the person on stage singing a love song with great enthusiasm.
The audience was probably surprised that Huasheng's "new queen," known for her singing and dancing, could sing such a tender love song. The audience found it refreshing and supported the slow song, and even the light sticks danced energetically to the melody.
Faced with this situation, Li Sishi merely sneered inwardly: If nothing unexpected happened, she wouldn't want to resort to this level of dimensional reduction attack...
After all, she has already secured the backing of the TV station's second-in-command, ensuring she has access to top-tier resources. Therefore, she no longer needs to rack her brains trying to copy future hit songs; she can simply choose from the allocated resources or work hard to compete for them.
However, unexpected events are always hard to predict, so Li Sishi made two preparations to use only when necessary.
Good songs are always hard to come by, but twenty years as a wandering soul was enough for her to accumulate a considerable number of classic songs.
"A bad pen is worse than a good memory" is an overly apt saying.
If she hadn't encrypted and recorded everything she could remember over the years for various reasons, she probably wouldn't have had time to write songs and scores on the spot tonight, and arrange impromptu collaborations.
Fine, you want to use what I'm "best at" to defeat me? Then I can only... give you a taste of your own medicine!
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