Chapter 64: Fantasy Come True
According to the competition rules, when one person sings another person's song, the original singer needs to "dance" on the sidelines—but this "dance" doesn't mean to cooperate with the singer, but rather to make small movements to hinder the opponent's performance.
"Then I'll sing your song first, 'My Beloved'?" Ling Chen asked with a smile, seemingly not finding anything wrong with the statement at all.
It wasn't until many people on stage chuckled quietly and the audience below started to cheer that he suddenly realized the "problem" his question had when connected to the song title. He immediately blushed slightly and coughed lightly, seemingly to clear his throat in preparation for singing a female key, but actually trying to cover up his "mistake".
As a result, the already considerable jeers grew even louder.
Knowing that it was better not to explain than to cover it up, Ling Chen smiled helplessly, then listened carefully to the progress of the accompaniment and began to sing: "The sky is a clear blue, the gentle breeze adds to the romance..."
Having come from a singing competition background, Ling Chen's singing skills are currently second only to Shang Hanyou among the four members. Moreover, the song "Beloved" is not a particularly difficult song to sing. When he sings it with his deep and affectionate bass voice, it has a unique, profound, and steady quality that is different from the female version.
Li Sishi lightly lifted her skirt, her slender, white fingers falling into the deep red, making the three-dimensional rose appear as if she had picked up several petals. Many young girls in front of the TV who were already amazed by Li Sishi's look couldn't help but be even more captivated.
And standing next to him was a dashing young man in a white suit. The red and white were like a perfect match, like a cinnabar mole and a white moonlight. Just by looking at their appearances, they were truly a perfect couple.
If you were strolling leisurely in a garden, walking slowly around the young man in the white suit in front of you, at first glance, you would really feel like a spoiled little princess testing her lover in a flirtatious way.
Ever since that Luo Ji Telecom advertisement became popular, they have been required to maintain an ambiguous relationship between young men and women who are attracted to each other but are not quite lovers, and to promote the "perfect couple" feeling to the greatest extent possible. This is because, apart from business people who buy mobile phones for work purposes, another major consumer group is young couples who want to chat on the phone with each other all the time.
While some Hong Kong fans dislike celebrities dating, many also have a strong romantic bias, like couple fans or "mom fans." The TV series "The Legend of Shanghai" created a romantic relationship between its lead actors, Zhou Yuanda and Shao...
The on-screen couple Xia Shi and Shirley were so popular in Hong Kong that almost everyone was obsessed with them, and even after their breakup, many people still couldn't forget them and felt resentful for many years.
Therefore, once a marketing campaign successfully targets a "golden couple," the effect is far greater than the sum of its parts.
Unfortunately, this guy's thinking was very straight and his behavior was very funny. When the two of them went out to do a "show" together, you could tell that he really wanted to cooperate, but he just couldn't control himself. Before long, he had led Li Sishi, who was trying hard to stay on track, as as a result, the two of them burst into laughter, which made the audience below the stage laugh as well.
Fortunately, this type of "show" is essentially about using the popularity of celebrities for promotion and doesn't care about the performance style. Their authenticity is more appealing than conventional intimate performances, so the response to this silly young couple's performance was quite good.
Li Sishi probably thinks that watching handsome men and beautiful women act silly is more enjoyable than watching them flaunt their affection...
Looking at the pile of commercial performance invitations that followed because of the good effect, Lu Yiting praised Li Sishi's performance highly: "That's right, just keep it up."
Don't be too close or too distant; maintain a suitable balance. Otherwise, some extreme fans might have opinions about you.
That's not just something you can say casually. Extreme fans feel that you're seducing their idol and that you're distancing yourself from them, or that you look down on their idol—this phenomenon always occurs when male and female artists collaborate. Therefore, marketing a golden couple is a high-reward but also high-risk endeavor.
As for why Chong Meng-hua and Luk Yi-ting tacitly approved this marketing attempt, it was not only for the sake of Lo Kee Telecom's subsequent advertising resources, but also to pave the way for Lee Sze-sze to be able to collaborate with the early hours of the morning on a TV series as soon as she stepped down as Miss Hong Kong next year.
After all, even though Ling Chen started out in TV dramas, his contract is almost up, and the Four Heavenly Kings all intend to develop their careers on the big screen. Perhaps next year's anniversary drama will be Ling Chen's last TV drama on TVB.
Zhuang Menghua did not intend for Li Sishi to play Qing Rong in the 1994 version, but rather intended for her to play Yun Ya Xian Zi in the 1995 version. Therefore, she needed to find a sufficiently substantial TV series for the latter half of 1994.
Thinking of this, Li Sishi's expression as she "danced" beside him became increasingly amusing.
As he sang "I can't hide this love, it's as deep as the sea" in the early morning, he turned to face Li Sishi, following her movements. Li Sishi reached out and patted his thick, short hair, as if to say, "You sang well, so I'm touching you."
A smug look on his face as a reward for being patted on the head...
"Hey, this isn't how you guys did it during rehearsals!" MC Chen Dan suddenly yelled, even dramatically touching his own face to indicate, "During rehearsals, you two singing love songs were supposed to be touching each other's faces tenderly, but Meili, what you're doing now looks more like touching... Ugh, I won't say anything more, lest after the show I go out and my fans from the early morning gang up on me and try to smother me..."
"Woof woof?" Just as the song ended in the early morning, he casually added the analogy that the emcee dared not say aloud, and with his subconscious slight tilt of his head, it immediately caused a burst of laughter from the audience.
After finishing her role as a backup dancer, Li Sishi pointed at his innocent-looking face and laughed so hard she could barely breathe: "You...you're really hurting yourself as much as you hurt the enemy!"
"Hey Leo, are you doing this on purpose? Everyone in the audience wants to laugh when they see you. How is Ah May going to sing later?" Pei Yansang immediately focused her firepower on him.
"Then I'll ask my fans at the scene to sing along, okay?" Ling Chen probably didn't expect that his casual joke would make everyone laugh like this, and immediately waved to summon his personal choir.
That expectant look in his eyes really did have a bit of a puppy-dog look in it...
Li Sishi barely managed to suppress her laughter, raised the microphone, and waited for the accompaniment to start singing immediately: "Is it you, the one holding flowers? You and I once secretly made a promise in our dreams to meet this summer..."
Speaking of which, she really has a special connection with this song "Summer Promise". From the female lead in the music video to the female lead in the commercial, and then to the cover song in the anniversary celebration, it basically follows her journey from an ordinary person to a star.
"At this moment, the backup dancer, Ling Chen, obediently followed the rehearsal plan and touched her cheek—unfortunately, this condescending and flirtatious gesture, framed by his still-slightly sullen dog-like eyes, immediately turned into a childish game of 'You touched me, so I have to touch you back.'"
A back-and-forth, comical style...
Li Sishi glanced at him with a half-smile, seemingly annoyed, but ignored his little gestures and continued to give her all in front of the camera.
Therefore, this song, which was already full of emotion, was sung even more melodiously and with a lingering aftertaste by her because it was sung in a male key. It was like the fresh and clear plum wine she sang in "My Beloved" before, which has finally settled in late autumn and become the mellow and rich ginkgo wine with a feeling of longing for distant places in the clear sky.
When Li Sishi sang the chorus, "I LOVE"
While Li Sishi was singing "YOU, can you hear me?", Ling Chen, who was making small movements as a backup dancer, suddenly picked up the microphone and sang the same line along with Li Sishi's performance.
The addition of the original singer's voice brought out the warm and mellow autumn tone, which touched the deep and boundless winter tone. However, these two tender tones happened to arrive at the same time and arrived at the same destination. Mixed with the audience singing in unison like a small red clay stove, what should have been a fierce singing battle turned into a duet that "got what it wanted".
And those deep, affectionate gazes directed at the camera made viewers in front of the television feel...twice as moved.
After calmly finishing her song, Li Sishi leaned back slightly and landed smoothly in the outstretched arm of the person next to her, resembling the classic pose of a couple embracing and holding hands after finishing a duet love song.
A round of applause broke out from the audience, and the bigwigs and their wives sitting in the front row had big, proud smiles on their faces, seemingly quite satisfied with their performance.
This step has finally been successfully completed.
As Li Sishi turned back to rejoin the queue, she winked at Ling Chen on the other side, expressing her satisfaction and surprise at his "cooperation" tonight.
In the early hours of the morning, he returned her a big, cheerful smile.
Next up are the remaining kings and queens of pop, all of whom are powerful singers and naturally won't perform badly. The only problem is the double standard audio equipment expert Hanyou, who has a strong possessiveness towards the songs.
When his god-sister Cen Xilian was asked to cover his song, he stammered and said that he also liked the song very much, looking very reluctant; but when it came time for him to cover Ye Shanyun's song, he immediately grabbed the microphone and prepared to sing... Of course, in the end, Shang Hanyou, his god-brother, was no match for his god-sister who solemnly declared, "I will sing your song well," and was "relegated" to singing harmonies for Cen Xilian.
So, in a fit of desperation, he not only sang harmonies but also added a seagull call as an intro—these two melodious "ya~~~" and "ya~~~" sounds instantly elicited even louder laughter from the audience than the "woof woof" earlier that morning.
It's probably because the atmosphere among celebrities during this period was so good that fans, who saw each other all the time, were mostly familiar with each other, no matter how much they argued. That's why they could be so carefree and disregard their image when they were having fun.
Next, Li Sishi was arranged to participate in a game show called "Rebellious Stars Shouting and Blasting": this was also a bit...
For newcomers with limited fame, a group of young men and women take turns going up to a microphone stand with a timer and singing a line of lyrics. If they're unlucky and it's their turn to be counted down, they'll be showered with several sprays of water...
In short, whichever team gets criticized the most loses.
Seeing Li Sishi stride confidently towards them, the white team members instinctively took a step back. The reason was simple: the game was designed so that anyone could sing any line, at least one or more. Therefore, Li Sishi, who was good at mental arithmetic and particularly stubborn, would always hog the microphone during rehearsals and then, when she felt the time was almost up, she would get up and let the unlucky guy below take over...
Among those she cheated the most was Cheng Erjian, an old acquaintance who had once collaborated with her on a lemon tea advertisement.
However, Cheng Erjian, who is shy in public, is quite competitive when it comes to games. He was tricked but didn't get angry. Instead, he declared that he was already practicing his counting and would retaliate sooner or later...
Unfortunately, before he could master mental arithmetic, the tournament organizers discovered the problem and changed the rules, stipulating that each person could only sing one line of lyrics.
The only thing that can be manipulated is the speed of the backing band. There are hardcore players and timid players. Some artists are the opposite of Li Sishi. They are afraid of being sprayed with water, so they sing as if they are going to play several times faster, or they simply lean to the side as if they are about to run away.
So the organizers intentionally arranged for the accompanying band to start playing live. If any artist dared to play at double speed or act awkwardly, the accompaniment would be slowed down, slowed down, and slowed down again...
In this way, Li Sishi has found another "loophole".
As Li Sishi watched the white team performer finish their song and leave, she quickly filled in, glanced at the timer, and then leisurely finished her own line.
She smiled as she watched Cheng come up to replace her... Why the change?!
Seeing Wu Shanluan looking completely bewildered before he even sang a single line of lyrics, Li Sishi immediately quickened her pace to escape: Fortunately, this handsome guy only had a name that sounded like a Japanese person, but in reality, he was a mixed-race person of Ryukyu and Han descent born in Taiwan, not an international friend visiting, but one of her own people who came to Hong Kong to develop their careers, so he wouldn't cause any major problems that would affect international friendship.
Thanks to Li Sishi's clever tricks, the White Team quickly fell into three more traps, putting them in a strong position to win.
Xiao Xie couldn't help but burst into laughter when he saw this segment on TV; as expected of Sister May, who shared his interests, she resolved so many issues in no time.
enemy!
What this little kid didn't know was that as soon as this segment ended, Li Sishi, backstage, quickly went with all the clean and fresh female artists from the Red Team to deliver towels to the male artists from the White Team who were half soaked to the bone: "Thank you all for your gentlemanly manners. It would be too much trouble to fix our girls' outfits if they got wet, so thank you so much tonight... Friendship first, competition second!"
"Sigh, you've already won, and you even came all the way here to bring us towels, what can we say?" Seeing how gentle and sincere their apology was, the male artist from the white team couldn't bring himself to argue any further. "Alright, friendship first, competition second!"
Seeing Cheng Erjian drying Wu Shanluan's hair while he sat with his back to him, and noticing that their hair was indeed the longest among the group of male celebrities, Li Sishi quickly put her hands together apologetically and went over to catch a towel that Cheng Erjian threw to her.
"Hurry up and help me, my hair is still dripping wet!" Cheng Erjian shook his hair.
Upon hearing this, Li Sishi picked up a towel and started fussing over his head. He wasn't annoyed at all, and even pointed and said, "I switched places with someone else at the last minute, but it ended up getting in their way. It's all your fault for being so playful. Go back and I'll ask Master to punish you by making you stay after school!"
Knowing that Cheng Erjian was trying to preemptively provoke him to avoid getting angry with Li Sishi, Wu Shanluan smiled and shook his head: "It's okay, it's just a game, winning and losing is normal."
"Thank you for understanding!" Li Sishi thanked Wu Shanluan, then slapped Cheng Erjian, making him cry out in pain.
“Miss, I finally managed to grow my hair long so I wouldn’t have to wear so many wigs when filming period dramas. Take it easy!” Cheng Erjian shouted.
"Alright, alright, I won't mess with your precious hair anymore. Okay, I need to get ready to go on stage again. Bye-bye!" Li Sishi saw the staff member walking towards her and quickly stuffed the towel back into Cheng Erjian's hand.
Watching that particularly stunning figure disappear into the distance, Wu Shanluan turned back and smiled enviously at Cheng Erjian: "You two have such a good relationship."
"Hey, hey? Don't misunderstand, we're just fellow apprentices, not what you think." Cheng Erjian hurriedly waved his hand to deny it, and then explained how the two of them met, "Anyway, I'm actually more friends with her cousin, but since we both became apprentices of Leji, we occasionally have contact in work and life."
"I never imagined that a top student like him would also play video games..." Wu Shanluan said blankly after hearing Cheng Erjian's explanation.
“
Don't think she's just some bookworm who's gone crazy from studying. Strictly speaking, among girls, her gaming skills are pretty good, but definitely not as good as yours, mine, or Ah Lok's. "Introverted people always seem to want to say everything they don't usually say in front of friends with similar interests. So when they meet Wu Shanluan, a new friend like Cheng Erjian whose personality and hobbies are very similar to their own, they talk non-stop."
Seeing Cheng Erjian's smug look, as if he were showing off how amazing and cute his sister was, Wu Shanluan smiled shyly again.
"Alright, we need to continue making the backdrops now."
"Come on!" Although everyone who can perform tonight has released records, people are always different in fate. These second and third-tier talents who are just starting out can't stand in the same league as the top stars and the future darlings.
Being able to stand in the second row is considered better than some but not as good as others.
When the two of them came out from backstage and went on stage, Li Sishi and her team of female artists had already finished singing this part of the classic hits selection and were waiting for the next segment, "Q Version Classic Hits Take Turns," to begin.
This is a game where singing styles and songs are randomly selected by spinning a wheel. Li Sishi was assigned to the second match of the red team and was given a rock version of "Fantasy".
This is truly "semi-random" – everyone participating has to memorize the lyrics of the eight songs on the spinning wheel, and the singing method is to wait for the live spinning wheel to assign songs; there's no behind-the-scenes manipulation.
Although these eight songs were all once very popular, memorizing the lyrics wasn't difficult, but it still required memorizing many more than others. Therefore, Li Sishi, who was known for her academic achievements, was fortunate enough to be assigned a spot to compete and have another chance to appear.
After recalling the ballad "Fantasy" by Lü Gujie, a pioneer of vocal music, in her mind, Li Sishi secretly adjusted her singing style. Then, she confidently stepped in front of the microphone, moving her body naturally and casually with small, free movements. The bracelets she had temporarily borrowed from her teammates served as accompaniment for her a cappella performance, creating a uniquely moving light rock flavor.
"I hope you can forgive me for my uncontrollable behavior that night..."
The tender and lingering lyrics, paired with the clear sound of gold and silver clashing, are like discovering an extremely beautiful flower unexpectedly in early summer. The joy of suddenly seeing beauty accompanies the delicate rose blooming on the girl's skirt on the stage, becoming a deep impression in the eyes of those who have seen their fantasy come true.
The lyrics, sung softly and gently, already touched the hearts of those who listened.
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