Chapter 1160: International Superstar Lillian!
On the same day.
The news was leaked.
"Olympic Opening Ceremony Song Confirmed!"
"Zhang Ye to open the Games with a rendition of the theme song!"
"The Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games unanimously agrees to use Zhang Ye\'s song!"
"Zhang Ye joins the opening ceremony to replace Jiang Hanwei and Shu Han!"
"The Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games has verified the authenticity of this news!"
When the netizens saw these headlines, all of them expressed their disbelief!
"Teacher Zhang?"
"Damn, surely not, right!"
"How can it possibly be him!"
"I don\'t believe this!"
"I don\'t believe it either, it can\'t be him!"
"I have a friend working with the Organizing Committee. I heard that this matter has been confirmed, and their management already held a meeting to approve Teacher Zhang\'s song. He\'ll be the one performing it as well!"
"Pfft, but don\'t they know about his relationship with the sports world?"
"Yeah, Zhang Ye is going to open the games with his performance? Can it get any more ironic than that? Would those people from the sports world agree to this? I was thinking earlier how this slice of pie could land in anyone\'s plate but Zhang Ye\'s. After that fearsome war of words with the sports world during the new year, there hasn\'t been much of such large-scale scolding battles in showbiz! Goddammit, what kind of song could Teacher Zhang have come up with to make the Organizing Committee decide this?"
"Who knows!"
"This is going to be really interesting!"
"Yeah, we\'ll have a good show to watch again, hahahaha!"
"I feel that Zhang Ye is quite a suitable candidate for this!"
"Why?"
"Because Go can also be generally considered as a form of sports? Teacher Zhang is the greatest Go player in the world right now, and he can also sing well, so it\'s very normal for him to get chosen!"
"Uh, there\'s a point to that."
"Did Professor Zhang turn on the \'hogging the headlines\' mode again?"
Immediately, some of those athletes who were involved in the scolding battle against Zhang Ye awhile back started protesting!
The head coach of the table tennis team angrily expressed on Weibo: "How can they use someone who is so disrespectful to sports as the singer of the opening theme song? I simply cannot understand this!"
A table tennis player: "Unacceptable!"
A badminton player: "Zhang Ye is representing the country and singing? This must be a mistake!"
But afterwards, the table tennis team\'s head coach deleted that Weibo post, perhaps because the Organizing Committee had talked to him?
Actually, they couldn\'t be blamed for feeling so shocked!
Even Zhang Ye\'s friends and relatives were finding it hard to believe!
A phone call from his mother came chasing after him for answers!
"Little Ye!"
"Mom."
"Did you get asked to perform the Olympics opening theme song?"
"Hur hur, yes."
"Has it been confirmed?"
"Of course."
"Aiyo, that\'s great! You\'re my good son!"
"So I\'ll be quite busy during this time and probably won\'t be home for a while."
"That\'s fine! No problem! Just do what you need to and quickly finish the song. You\'ll need to practice too, so please don\'t come home until everything is done! You must sing well at the opening ceremony! It\'s on the world stage!"
"I understand."
Ning Lan also called him in shock!
"Sister Ning."
"Zhang\'er, are you serious?"
"The Olympics theme song you mean? It\'s true."
"How did you do it?"
"They didn\'t have a song, so they came to look for me to write one."
"Will you be performing it as well?"
"Yes, probably because they were moved by my charm, haha."
"What charm do you have! By the way, my new movie will be screening soon. Do help me to advertise it a little on your Weibo when the time comes."
"No problem."
Chen Guang\'s call:
"Just what song do you have?"
"Haha, it\'s a secret."
"You\'re really too fearsome, I suppose Jiang Hanwei must hate you to the bone now!"
"You say it like he didn\'t hate me before this."
"I am just in shock. How could it be you!"
The calls kept coming in from his friends. While everyone was in disbelief at the news, they were also very happy for him. That was because everyone knew it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be able to perform a song for the Olympic opening ceremony in their own nation. There likely wouldn\'t be another such chance in several decades. Even the Heavenly Kings and Queens did not get selected; even a veteran like Jiang Hanwei whose social network spanned far and wide in the industry was not chosen. All of that showed just how fierce the competition was to perform the theme song. This was not something that could be achieved with just popularity and social ties. Sometimes, it also needed some luck, and Zhang Ye happened to get the role!
The Go battle!
The mathematical conjecture!
King of Masked Singers!
There was no doubt that those three battles had led Zhang Ye to where he was right now!
If Zhang Ye did not know how to compose songs, if he did not use his astonishing singing skills to become the champion of King of Masked Singers, if he didn\'t make an appearance during the war between humans and machines, if there wasn\'t an announcement that Dale\'s Conjecture had been proven by Zhang Ye and spread his name across the world a little, then it could probably be said that this chance to sing the theme song at the opening ceremony would not have come his way. None of those factors could be missing from the equation. It was all down to Zhang Ye slowly building up his popularity and fame that helped the Organizing Committee to decide to use him in the end!
This was perhaps what luck was about!
This was also the result of Zhang Ye\'s hard work all this time!
The Olympic opening ceremony. There was without a doubt the largest platform that Zhang Ye would ever perform on so far. Although it was only one song, it was enough. This was the best chance to show himself to the entire world!
…
Later that afternoon.
In the studio.
Zhang Ye was alone in his office browsing through some information. He was currently trying to choose a partner to sing with, someone who would be sharing the Olympic stage and performing the song alongside him. Back in his previous world, that version of " You and Me 1 " performed by Liu Huan and Sarah Brightman was simply too amazing. Zhang Ye\'s singing style was quite different from Teacher Liu Huan\'s style, but he was also quite inclined to finding a foreign female singer to perform with. Only then would the charm of this song be brought out. But the problem was that Zhang Ye did not know anyone. He did not know who he could look for!
Joss?
Molly?
These were the more well-known female singers of this world!
But thinking about them, Zhang Ye could only shake his head and strike them off his list of choices. These two people did not have a clear attitude towards the Chinese. One of them was less mainstream and was rumored to be hard to get along with, so he would surely have to avoid getting such international celebrities. Zhang Ye would not dare to invite them no matter how popular they were. He had to play it safe first and foremost. His ideal choice would be someone who liked the Chinese, followed by their popularity and singing skills. But it wasn\'t easy to find international celebrities who were friendly towards the Chinese these days.
Who should he look for?
Who would be the most suitable?
After browsing for a long time, a name finally appeared in front of Zhang Ye\'s eyes.
The office door opened.
Ha Qiqi said anxiously, "Director Zhang, the Organizing Committee is rushing us again."
Zhang Zuo stood up and said, "They called three times and were asking if you had anyone in mind. The day of the rehearsal is almost here, and it\'s a race against time!"
Zhang Ye smiled. "I\'ve picked someone."
Ha Qiqi blinked. "Who?"
Everyone looked over!
Zhang Ye calmly answered, "Lillian."
Everyone was shocked!
"Huh?"
"What?"
"Who did you say?"
Zhang Ye repeated, "I said, Lillian."
Ha Qiqi gave a dry laugh and said, "Director Zhang, are you joking with us?"
Zhang Ye said slightly irked, "I\'m not joking."
Zhang Zuo was dumbfounded. "Which Lillian?"
"The most famous Lillian in the world of course." Zhang Ye said.
Everyone was speechless.
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "What\'s the matter? Is there a problem?"
Little Wang wiped her sweat away. "W-Would we even be able to invite her?"
Wu Yi said, "This woman you\'re talking about is too much of a big shot!"
Zhang Zuo said with a forced smile, "She\'s not only too much of a big shot. She\'s simply too…This woman you\'re talking about ranks in the top twenty of the international superstars!"
Everyone thought that Director Zhang was being too bold!
But what Zhang Ye said next left them unable to rebuke him. "It\'s not like we\'re the ones who will need to spend money to invite her, right? We have the Organizing Committee for that. Let them invite her, let them spend the money, what do we have to worry about!"
Everyone was floored!
Zhang Ye smiled and said, "It\'s settled then. Make the call!"
Ha Qiqi had to acknowledge him. She turned around to make a call to the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games.
As expected, when the person over at the Organizing Committee heard it, they reacted in exactly the same way as them!
The person from the Organizing Committee said: "Who did you say?"
Ha Qiqi replied: "Director Zhang says he would like to invite Lillian."
The person from the Organizing Committee nearly vomited blood!
Lillian?
What the heck!
Are you trying to bankrupt us!
1. https://youtu.be/03FiOS4WMmk
Some might like it, some might think it\'s pretty normal, some might not like it...but this is it
I prefer the next one :)