Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 139 Spring Festival Gala Selection
Wang Luyao returned to Beijing for a check-up and confirmed that she was fine. She originally wanted to visit Zhang Yan, but Chen Hong told her that he was in seclusion writing a book and that even people from CCTV and the Beijing TV crew were turned away.

Wang Luyao was somewhat disappointed, and even more so, somewhat skeptical.

So, taking advantage of the company's holiday, I simply went back to my hometown in Northeast China.

She was quite happy to see her parents after running around for more than half a year.

Who knew that less than 24 hours after arriving in Harbin, my family arranged a blind date for me, and it wasn't the kind of blind date where you cast a wide net, but rather I was set on meeting the son of a certain leader.

The other party's conditions are indeed quite good. If he doesn't become a big star and is still hovering on the fringes of the entertainment industry, Wang Luyao might just give in.

But now she's a nationally renowned singer, having experienced the feeling of being adored by millions. If she were to marry a son of a high-ranking official and live the life of a devoted wife and mother...

She instinctively felt resistant.

"So what if they're famous nationwide?!"

Wang Luyao's mother rebuked her without any politeness: "Did you become famous through your own abilities? In a couple of years, when it sags, who will want to look at your thing?!"

Wang Luyao was furious: "So what if I'm only popular for two years? At least I can earn more money than most people can earn in a lifetime!"

"That's right, everything you earn will be considered your dowry, so you won't be looked down upon by your husband's family for the rest of your life."

"You...you...I'm not talking to you anymore!"

"Okay, I won't say anymore. Let's go on a blind date."

"I'm not going, I'm not going!"

After arguing with her mother, Wang Luyao's voice became hoarse again the next day. The doctor said that the inflammation hadn't subsided before she got a sore throat, and she should be careful, otherwise it would be troublesome if she really damaged her voice.

Upon hearing this, Wang Luyao went back and started packing her luggage. She rushed back to Beijing overnight, ignoring more than a dozen phone calls from her parents along the way.

Back at her residence in the capital, she followed the doctor's orders and drank water like crazy, but she couldn't suppress the restlessness in her heart.

Originally, by performing commercial shows with the company's talented singers, she had already fully realized her shortcomings and reaffirmed a fact: she was far less important to the company than the company was to her.

When I returned home this time, my mother's comment about "sagging" completely broke my defenses.

This brought her anxiety about the future to its peak, and also made the inflammation in her throat linger and worsen.

This made her think back to the time when she and Chen Hong had a late-night conversation in bed, and Chen Hong's words that were full of innuendo.

However, although Chen Hong has visited frequently these past few days, bringing a bunch of health supplements to clear heat and reduce internal fire each time, she has never mentioned those words from before.

Perhaps because of my own importance, it's not as significant as it was at the beginning.

Having figured this out, Wang Luyao became even more anxious, and her anger was even harder to control.

By the time Wang Jinghua rushed over from Tianjin to visit her, she could no longer even speak clearly.

Seeing Wang Luyao bursting into tears, Wang Jinghua felt guilty. If she had insisted on reporting the incident and requesting the commercial performance be stopped early, Wang Luyao wouldn't have lost her voice from singing.

After thinking for a moment, she took Wang Luyao's hand and comforted her, "Don't worry, medical technology is so advanced now, it can definitely cure you. Even if it really affects your singing in the future, you can always become a manager and manage several singers. Wouldn't that be much more prestigious than it is now?"

Wang Luyao didn't say anything, but she disagreed a thousand times over in her heart.

No matter how glamorous an agent is, that's only in front of the singer. But a superstar singer has a large following wherever they go.

Thinking about the scene of tens of thousands of audience members calling her name together when she performs at commercial events, how could Wang Luyao bear to go from the front of the stage to behind the scenes?
"By the way, Mr. Zhang finally came out of seclusion yesterday. Besides visiting you, I also came to Beijing to hold a company meeting to discuss the follow-up matters."

I heard that Mr. Zhang has already completed his seclusion.

Wang Luyao's heart skipped a beat, and she quickly stood up and gestured, asking to go see President Zhang with Wang Jinghua.

"This……"

Wang Jinghua hesitated for a moment, but still agreed.

Originally, we weren't planning to have a singer participate today, but Wang Luyao's situation is special right now, and I believe Mr. Zhang will understand. The meeting place this time is a courtyard house near the China World Trade Center.

While Zhang Yan was in seclusion writing his book, Chen Hong not only took care of his three meals a day, but also tidied up the place and replaced all the furniture and appliances with new ones.

That's why it's said that having a shrewd and capable woman can save a man a lot of worry.

When Wang Jinghua and Wang Luyao arrived, Zhang Yan was talking to Zhang Weining under the newly built grape trellis about the newcomer Zhang Yadong.

Zhang Weining spoke highly of Zhang Yadong and even felt a certain amount of pressure.

Because of Tian Zhen, his popularity in the company has plummeted, and now with the rise of Zhang Yadong, his irreplaceable status has diminished considerably.

This made Zhang Weining somewhat uneasy, so he made a special apology to Zhang Yan for what happened during the semi-finals and finals, and promised to be fair and impartial in the future and not to let personal matters interfere with official duties.

Zhang Yan simply listened to those words without really taking them to heart.

After the competition, Zhang Weining and Tian Zhen officially confirmed their relationship. Under these circumstances, how could he not side with Tian Zhen?
Fortunately, we now have Zhang Yadong, so the situation like that in the finals won't happen again.

At this moment, Wang Jinghua led Wang Luyao in from outside, and the two people present quickly stood up to greet them.

"Is Luyao feeling better? I was saying that after the meeting this afternoon, Chen Hong and I would go see you."

When Wang Luyao saw Zhang Yan, her eyes reddened, and she pointed to her throat and made two "ah ah" sounds to indicate that she couldn't speak for the time being.

"Luyao is just too preoccupied."

Wang Jinghua said, "President Zhang, please say a few words of comfort to her later—other people's words may not work, but she will definitely listen to what you say!"

Wang Jinghua is a shrewd person, and she had long seen that Wang Luyao was uneasy about the future, and the sore throat further aggravated this unease.

To put her mind at ease, nothing anyone else said worked; only a promise from her boss, Zhang Yan, would be effective.

At this moment, Chen Hong also came out from inside to greet them, pulled Wang Luyao to sit at the table, and made her a cup of loquat tea.

Zhang Weining also expressed his concern for a few words, but when he saw that Wang Luyao was unable to speak and there was no way to have a normal conversation, the group brought the topic back to business.

The main reason for this meeting was that the Spring Festival Gala program team extended an invitation to Yuanmeng, intending to have one of Yuanmeng's singers perform at the 93 Spring Festival Gala.

This was originally a simple matter; we could have just let the overall champion, Tian Zhen, perform it. Her Peking Opera mask rendition would have been perfect for the Spring Festival Gala stage.

The problem is that Han Lei has always been bothered by the finals, and his song "Many Hands Make Light Work" was originally obtained from the Spring Festival Gala program team.

From this perspective, it is quite convincing for him to represent Yuanmeng at the Spring Festival Gala.

When the group was discussing this topic, Wang Luyao suddenly realized that someone seemed to be missing—Liu Weidong was not present.

When they were leading the tour, although Wang Jinghua was the main person in charge, Liu Weidong also had considerable influence due to his age and experience.

Otherwise, Wang Jinghua wouldn't have compromised because of his leading opposition.

But now it seems that after this performance, Liu Weidong has completely fallen behind, and at least he is no longer qualified to be on par with Wang Jinghua.

Actually, Lao Liu is quite capable, but he's a bit too eager for quick success.

After listening to Zhang Weining and Wang Jinghua each state their attitudes toward Tian Zhen and Han Lei, Zhang Yan pondered for a moment and then said, "On the Spring Festival Gala stage, ethnicity is a very important factor, so I think it would be best to choose one of Han Lei or Han Hong this time."

He did this partly to keep Tian Zhen in check, and besides, that woman is acting all tough now, so she's likely to offend people if she goes to the production team.

"This……"

Zhang Weining looked conflicted. Tian Zhen wouldn't be too satisfied with this reason, but he couldn't find any major fault with it.

After all, the Spring Festival Gala is all about the grand celebration of ethnic groups, and Han Hong and Han Lei do have an advantage in this regard.

Wang Luyao's heart was also stirred. If she composed a song that highlighted national characteristics, would she also have a chance to appear on the Spring Festival Gala?

(End of this chapter)