Chapters 110 and 109: A New Play is Coming
It was nearly 3 a.m. when tonight's "Joyful Celebration in Guanghua" finally came to an end.
As Qi Qi watched the screen change continuously until it finally settled on the number 62,888,888, Li Sishi couldn't help but smile.
The charity work she did when she was the Miss Hong Kong winner allowed her to witness firsthand the hardships and misery hidden behind the glitz and glamour of Hong Kong.
The reason and motivation for her and many other artists in the entertainment industry to participate in charity fundraising performances as much as possible is that those eyes, which are still bright despite being in dire straits.
They all hoped to take root and sprout from the suffering, persevere until they blossomed into the most beautiful flowers.
"You seem to be very happy?" Shang Hanyou usually likes to whisper to the people next to him when he doesn't have a task, and now that his mind is always on Li Sishi, he said with a smile.
“Doing good is the greatest joy!” Li Sishi replied without hesitation.
“That’s true. With such a donation, more elderly people and children should be able to receive treatment next year.” Shang Hanyou nodded.
As the oldest charitable organization in Hong Kong, Kwong Wah Group of Hospitals provides a number of free medical care slots and treatment fee reduction slots to the public every year, serving as a beacon of hope for many elderly people living alone and orphanages in the city.
After waiting for lyricist Huang Yang to announce that this year's donation of over 60 million yuan had broken the record for the "Happy in Guanghua" program, Li Sishi clapped for a while with a big smile, and finally bowed to the audience with all the staff in front of and behind the scenes to express their gratitude. Then she could finally go backstage to remove her makeup and change clothes.
Pei Yansang, who had just finished singing with Ye Shanyun a little over 1 a.m., was still in high spirits. However, considering that many of her friends had to work the next day, she decided not to organize another gathering and instead head to a bar for another round. Instead, she took advantage of the fact that most of her friends were still backstage to visit other places and catch up with them.
"You sang well! You've improved a lot since then!" When she came over to Li Sishi, she patted Li Sishi on the shoulder with a cheerful smile. "If you have the chance, I'll try singing with you next time!"
"It would be a great honor, and I look forward to it very much." Seeing that she was obviously drunk again, Li Sishi immediately replied with a smile and in a refined manner.
"There's a chance, there's a chance..." Pei Yansang murmured as she walked away, then ran over to Shang Hanyou.
"So, how was it? Tonight you performed both 'The Emperor and the Phoenix' and 'Sparks of Love,' didn't you?"
"What's that 'slapping'?" Pei Yansang asked casually, taking advantage of the fact that there were no outsiders around except for Shang Hanyou's assistants, and that the assistants were all busy packing things up a little further away.
In common parlance, "snap" or "snap" is used to describe how a man and a woman ignite a spark of love for each other for some reason. Pei Yansang felt that she had worked so hard to play matchmaker for the two of them, and if Shang Hanyou were even a little sensible, he should have reaped some rewards...
However, Shang Hanyou was at a loss for words when faced with such a direct and hurtful question: "Are you kidding me? How old is Ah May? And you're already doing this?"
"Those who once partnered with others to arrange blind dates for Lanyu have no right to criticize me." Pei Yansang was never someone Shang Hanyou could handle alone, and she immediately replied with a "come back."
After making that sarcastic remark, Pei Yansang stroked her chin and looked him up and down, clicking her tongue so loudly it almost made Shang Hanyou uncomfortable: "What kind of expression is that?"
"I was just thinking that opportunities are something you always have to fight for yourself," Pei Yansang said meaningfully, then patted his shoulder with a mix of comfort and encouragement, "Keep trying, my friend."
"I'm a grown man, of course I know what to do, don't overthink it." Shang Hanyou sighed, and gave Pei Yansang a fist bump with gratitude. "It's a pity, good things are always in high demand, I can only say I'll do my best."
After all, he still has a career to develop, parents to support, and his own relationship issues... It would be best if his efforts could be rewarded, but if not, it's not a big deal.
Because in this world, not every effort will be rewarded, but the experience of learning how to love someone along the way is also invaluable.
This is especially true for a singer like him who places particular emphasis on love songs.
“In this industry, the more you make connections, the more opportunities you have, so you should cherish the opportunities that come your way.” Knowing that Shang Hanyou and Li Sishi had recently accepted offers for the same comedy New Year’s film, Pei Yansang winked at him.
Li Sishi was unaware of the heart-to-heart talk between the two old friends. While removing her makeup, she made a phone call, only to find that her agent, Lei Jun, answered the phone in the early hours of the morning. She quickly gave him a few perfunctory words and hung up.
That's the downside of this era; communication technology is still too backward, making it difficult to accurately locate someone.
Fearing she might alert him, Li Sishi dared not call Ling Chen again, and could only hope that a collaboration or a chance encounter would allow her to offer him some advice on his agent.
The problem is people.
However, given Ling Chen's sentimental nature, even if he knew in advance that his manager Lei Jun had ulterior motives and wanted to leave, the two, whose values were becoming increasingly incompatible, would only torment each other... But could he really let go of the years-long relationship they had built from the bottom up, a bond that was both mentor and friend?
No matter how I calculate it, I feel that sooner or later, I will have to suffer an unavoidable injury in the early morning...
Thinking of this, Li Sishi shook her head, intending to clear her mind of those chaotic thoughts and bring her attention back to the present.
Seeing Pei Yansang and Shang Hanyou chatting and laughing in the corner next to the wall, Li Sishi couldn't help but feel a little dazed again: This was probably yet another instance of "looking at you from behind, but expecting to see his face instead..."
Sometimes people are just so contradictory: when they have good friends around, they always find them noisy, annoying, and low-class; but once they can't see them, they miss them terribly.
On her way back, after saying hello to Shang Hanyou and Cheng Erjian, whom she was to meet the next day, Li Sishi, with the motivation of getting home before four o'clock so she could get about five hours of sleep, quickly embarked on her journey home.
Even on the way back in the van, she managed to snatch a few moments of sleep, only opening her eyes when she was woken up and told they had arrived at the apartment building's parking lot—there was no other way; anyone who's ever filmed knows what it means to work day and night from the very beginning. Since she wouldn't be joining the crew until tomorrow, she wanted to get as much sleep as possible tonight…
However, in the blink of an eye, it seemed like it was already broad daylight and a clear sky. When Li Sishi arrived at the villa rented by the film crew twenty minutes early as agreed, there were already quite a few people there.
"So early?"
Li Sishi waved to Cheng Erjian.
“I’m a little nervous…” Cheng Erjian explained to her in a low voice.
Although he has already played the male lead in low-budget films and anniversary dramas, this time, playing a third of the male lead role made him so nervous that he couldn't sleep.
The reason is quite simple—besides him and Li Sishi, who are both newcomers, the rest of the stars in this star-studded film are all veterans who have achieved certain successes or even accomplishments in their respective careers.
In comparison, even though his role in this drama is so short that it's jokingly called "one-third of the male lead's screen time," it's still more beneficial to his career than playing the main male lead in other less popular films and television series.
As they were talking, more people and cars arrived one after another, so Li Sishi greeted Chen Zhiyong, who played her twin brother in the movie.
Seeing this, Chan Chi-wing also laughed.
He waved to Li Sishi with great joy in response: "I had high hopes for you when you performed on stage last year, and I was right! Haha!"
Last year, when Lee Sze-sze participated in the Miss Hong Kong pageant and reached the semi-finals of 16 to 12, the guest performer for the last round was Chan Chi-wing, who was known as the "Space Whirlwind".
At that time, she used her greater experience than others to integrate acting skills into her catwalk, giving this brief dance a soul... which he especially remembered vividly.
"Thank you." Considering that Chen Zhiyong was from Taiwan, Li Sishi answered him in Mandarin, which once again amazed him at Li Sishi's still excellent Mandarin.
That's right, when Chan Chi-wing was a guest judge at the Miss Hong Kong pageant, very few of the contestants besides Lee Sze-sze could speak Mandarin. And the level of those few who could speak Mandarin was... well, it can only be described as "cooking winter melon" (a Chinese idiom meaning something like "cooking winter melon").
"Wow, it's so lively here!" Soon, Xia Yingyun, who was also from Taiwan, arrived.
Li Sishi stared at the stunning beauty without blinking: Over the years, Xia Yingyun had gradually transformed from the gentle and melancholic "Ning Girl" in Taiwanese dramas to the androgynous leader of a martial arts film crew, but a true beauty is never limited by appearance or style—
Her everyday attire, when not in the drama, further accentuates Xia Yingyun's radiant and stunning beauty.
Seeing a stunningly beautiful woman in the morning is refreshing enough, but what's even more refreshing is Zheng Shuqiu, who stands behind Xia Yingyun and is equally gorgeous yet has a completely different style.
Exquisitely curvaceous, charming, and radiant with every glance... these are words that should be used to describe Zheng Shuqiu.
Li Sishi watched the two beauties intently, admiring their looks while also capturing their unique beauty like a camera, trying to integrate it into her own body and experience the different displays and interpretations of beauty.
The last person to arrive in the main group was undoubtedly the very busy Shang Hanyou.
Upon arriving, Shang Hanyou saw Li Sishi chatting with young and handsome men like Cheng Erjian and Chen Zhiyong. After thinking for a moment, he took the initiative to come over and pull her along: "Didn't you say you wanted to get to know the other main actors? — I happen to know them all, I'll take you there."
This is not just something he made up. In his early years, in order to earn money to support his family and out of interest, he acted in many movies in addition to recording songs, and collaborated with Xia Yingyun, Zheng Shuqiu and Yang Jiayao, among others.
He swaggered around and took charge, leading Li Sishi past Xia Yingyun and Zheng Shuqiu, finally arriving at Yang Jiayao, whom he knew best. After introducing Li Sishi, he readily agreed with Shang Hanyou's introduction and showered this versatile actor with heartfelt praise.
An actor like Yang Jiayao, who is talented, hardworking, and lucky, is her ultimate dream.
The only strange thing is that even though Yang Jiayao had honestly believed the lies of the famous director in the industry for several years, he subconsciously showed a rather strange expression when facing the two of them today.
"What do you mean by looking like that?" Shang Hanyou asked, puzzled by Yang Jiayao's seemingly failed attempt to control his facial expressions.
"It's nothing, it's just that I noticed the way you were doing..." Yang Jiayao glanced at his hand that was dragging Li Sishi around and his manner of taking a family member on a visit.
Then, slowly, he continued, "I'm a little worried that while you're introducing yourself, you'll start pulling out a handful of wedding candy and handing it to me..."
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