Chapter 47: Taking the Lead
"Wow, so Meili can dance? I heard you went to her concert last night, was it great?" Early in the morning, neighbors who came to have breakfast from the surrounding area waved their newspapers at the Zhou family while eating.
“It must be really good-looking, you can see it’s written in the newspaper…” Before they could answer, an old man next to them had already raised the newspaper in his hand.
Under the headline "A Glamorous Debut, Igniting the Audience! Li Sishi's Newcomer Debuts with Energetic Singing and Dancing," Li Sishi's figure on stage is pictured.
Because of the time crunch, the entrance lighting couldn't be redesigned, so Li Sishi used the previously set entrance lighting. The staff then adjusted it to a flashing, color-changing disco rhythm, resulting in a gaudy and colorful photo that actually suits the aesthetic tastes of middle-aged and elderly people of this era...
As for the word "骚" (sāo), it is not used here in its original slightly derogatory sense, but rather as a transliteration of the English word "show." Newspapers and magazines in Hong Kong often use this transliteration to turn "首秀" (shǒuxiù, debut) into "首骚" (shǒu sāo), "开show" (kāi shào, open show) into "开骚" (kāi sāo), etc. In short, whichever word is easier to grab attention is used, and eventually it has even gradually become a word used in daily life.
"You shouldn't have brought this up, because it makes me so angry!" Among the Zhou family members, Liang Shao'e was the most talkative, so she immediately started shouting, "Originally, our Sishi was planning to sing a slow song in the same style as the one sung by Xidie, but someone else sang it, so we had to change to another song at the last minute..."
Upon hearing this, the two young people sitting in the corner booth immediately brightened up.
They also attended a new song medley concert at the Great Hall of the People yesterday. Guo Luyun, who is known for her singing and dancing, unexpectedly switched to singing a slow song, and Li Sishi, who "debuted" with love songs, suddenly switched to energetic singing and dancing – this in itself was a rather strange thing.
Therefore, according to their paparazzi mindset, the first thing they guessed was the "truth" that the song had been switched.
Especially since Guo Luyun had previously been exposed for deliberately stealing other people's good songs to suppress newcomers—so this time, is she once again using her senior status and status as the top newcomer to bully Li Sishi, a newer newcomer?
This is far more sensational than the news of two promising newcomers suddenly switching careers...
The two young men exchanged a sly smile at the thought: many of their colleagues, eager to grab today's headlines, had hastily assumed these two phenomena represented a business transformation and rushed back to put together a report.
Unlike them, they are meticulous and patient, and know how to dig deeper and more explosive information.
After rambling on and on, Liang Shao'e casually took the iced lemon tea that Zhou Jiaxian brought her and drank it heartily, her gaze fixed on the straw in front of her.
I looked toward that corner booth.
Last night, when Guo Luyun sang Li Sishi's song, the whole family was completely dumbfounded. Unlike outsiders, Li Sishi had mentioned the general content of the song she would be performing at this concert to them, and they had even heard Li Sishi sing a few lines on the phone. So when Guo Luyun went on stage and started singing, their blank and confused feeling almost made them rush backstage to ask what was going on if they didn't know they couldn't go backstage right now.
Guo Luyun sang their Sishi's song, so what will Sishi sing on stage next?!
Moreover, Guo Luyun was clearly imitating the way Sishi sang this song!
The anxious and worried family watched Guo Luyun finish her song with furious eyes, then watched her leave the stage with encouraging applause, and then waited for another song and dance performance and the staff to come up and set up the stage before Li Sishi finally arrived and began her performance.
Watching Li Sishi sing and dance on the dazzling stage, the Zhou family felt both relaxed and puzzled.
They were relieved because they knew Li Sishi had a new song she could sing, but puzzled because they wondered why Li Sishi had changed the song without saying a word—even though this song, "Glamorous Debut," was clearly more suitable for livening up the concert than the previous slow love song, their Sishi had never told them about it or sung it before…
It wasn't until after the concert ended, when the Zhou family, braving the fervent enthusiasm of the audience, followed the staff's directions to find Li Sishi in a backstage dressing room, that they learned the truth about the song being changed at the last minute.
"This is outrageous! Guo Luyun was like an empty coffin being carried out for her funeral—she had no eyes on anyone!" Upon hearing this truth, Zhou Jiayun, who was usually taciturn, was the first to explode.
Although he had been running a tea restaurant in Liaojie, he had heard about and seen the dark side of this mixed community, so he immediately thought about what kind of situation his daughter Sishi might face if she couldn't resolve the accident this time.
“Most paparazzi haven’t thought that far ahead yet, but soon someone will probably realize the problem, so I need you to speak up for Ah May…” Lu Yiting had already thought of the next course of action while Li Sishi was on stage.
now
Li Sishi managed to "fool" the audience at the concert that night, but neither the audience nor the paparazzi were fools. Once the excitement subsided and reason returned, they would want to investigate the many doubts surrounding the concert.
At this time, it was inconvenient for them to come forward, so they needed the Zhou family's help to spread the word—especially since the Zhou family's Good Luck Tea Restaurant was located in Liaojie, a place where gossips gather and paparazzi often roam around. It was quite normal for a celebrity to reveal a few juicy details about a scandal or a family member's indignation about it.
Thus, Liang Shao'e, taking advantage of others asking about the concert, launched into a lengthy account of how Li Sishi panicked after discovering her song had been stolen the previous night, how she calmly changed the song at the last minute, and how she gritted her teeth and persevered to finish the performance. Coupled with Zhou Jiaxian, the seemingly delicate mother, silently wiping away tears, and Zhou Jiayun, the kind boss who had never argued with anyone in years, maintaining a stern face throughout, along with the indignant expressions of the Zhou twins, the scene of their children suffering a great injustice was vividly displayed in front of everyone...
Seeing this, the two paparazzi in the corner booths clapped their hands under the table: It's good, the prize money is in sight!
While these two self-proclaimed clever paparazzi went back to work overtime to write new articles, many people who had read the newspaper and magazine reports but had not attended last night's new song medley concert were extremely curious: if the newspapers and magazines praised it so much, could yesterday's new song medley concert really be worth watching?
As we all know, Huasheng has been declining quite rapidly in recent years!
If it were a compilation of new songs by new artists from Bao Yi Yin, the concert would probably have been a huge hit; but when it turned out to be a compilation of new songs by new artists from Hua Sheng... well, how should I put it, the concert tickets were still available until the very last minute, and the scalpers were nowhere to be seen.
In the current social climate where scalpers camp out at ticket offices day and night to inflate ticket prices, it's understandable how unpopular a concert ticket must be if even scalpers aren't willing to get their hands on it...
On the other side, in the senior activity center, many people were holding newspapers in one hand and pulling on Mr. Wu, who had gone to the concert the night before, asking him about the details of the concert.
"I can't speak for others, but Li Sishi's singing is really good. It's a pity that she didn't sing her best slow song last night, but instead sang a fast song. It felt a bit rushed, and the lighting and dancing were not quite right..." So the eyes of the older generation are always better than those of the younger generation. Old Wu pointed out the flaws in Li Sishi's performance in just a few words.
Is it because this young woman hasn't adapted to the new...?
Style? Oh dear, the younger generation is just too ambitious. They want to do something else before they've even mastered it..." Li Sishi's album "Love in the Rain" and "Hate for a Good Marriage" are quite popular among middle-aged and elderly people, so her "fame" is not small. That's when another old friend started talking along with what Old Wu said.
"It's not that she sings very skillfully, it's just that the backup dancers and the lighting seem to be a little out of sync with her rhythm..." Before Old Wu could finish speaking, an elderly man holding a new issue of the newspaper walked in.
"Oh, you don't need to argue anymore. This newspaper says that her song was taken by someone else who took advantage of the order of performance, so she had to switch to a new backup song at the last minute. Without rehearsals, it's no wonder that the backup dancers and lighting couldn't coordinate well." The old man waved the new newspaper in his hand, looking smug about his latest and most exciting news.
"Seriously? They're so arrogant?" That's why idle old folks are a mysterious group that loves gossip the most. Even if something has nothing to do with them, they can talk about it for days on end, let alone what stories happen to people they "know".
Furthermore, these older folks dislike watching popular singers and dancers, so this top-down, family-style development became the perfect channel for news to spread. Many working-class people and students returned home...
I was taught by my elders that the principles of being a good person are that you should "be wary of others" but also "not have the intention to harm others".
Of course, many families who usually have difficulty communicating with each other across generations have temporarily broken through the communication barrier of many years by relying on this topic. Three generations of the family can watch the gossip and eat the juicy tidbits together. Let's see how these two new singers and the people behind them will handle this matter.
Although everyone is aware of the dark side of the entertainment industry, once it's exposed by the media, it can no longer be resolved privately.
"So this is why you instructed my family to 'leak' the information first?" Li Sishi sat on the sofa, her gaze slowly sweeping over the large pile of newspapers and magazines on the coffee table.
It has to be said that Hong Kong media's skill in word choice and sentence structure remains consistently bold and sharp. After writing a sentence about Guo Luyun, "Her new album hasn't even become popular yet, and she's already confused," the article under the headline listed a bunch of Guo Luyun's dark history, stating that this kind of song-stealing behavior is not the first or second time. It's just that this time she ran into a brick wall and was countered by someone else who handled the situation on the spot. Then, they beat her to the punch and revealed the truth. This is really giving the "Chen couple a headache"...
"Their actions against you are tantamount to their actions against me and Miss Zhuang. Naturally, I will make them pay the price." Lu Yiting said with a cold smile, then added, "Now you don't need to worry about those people, I will handle them... Also, Miss Zhuang wants to see you."
At the same time, Lu Yiting placed all the collected sheet music for "A Grand Entrance" on the coffee table and gently tapped it with her finger.
Li Sishi's expression hardened: So this was indeed the real test for her after this incident.
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