Entertainment: A whirlwind marriage with a fairy-like mother at the start!

"Mr. Yu, I apologize for disturbing you!"

Lang Kun's voice came through the receiver, carrying an undisguised warmth.

"Coach Lang, what's up?"

Yu Le leaned back in the spacious back seat of the Hongqi L5, holding his phone in one hand.

"What else could it be but the Spring Festival Gala!" Lang Kun grinned from ear to ear. "Preparations for this year's Spring Festival Gala have already begun, and the production team unanimously recommends that Qianqian perform again."

"After we finished singing 'As You Wish' last year, our production team's inbox was flooded with messages from the audience. Even now, people are still commenting on our official Weibo account asking, 'Will we see Liu Yifei again this year?'"

Yu Le glanced down at Dongdong, who was leaning against the car window counting the streetlights.

Liu Qianqian is indeed currently free.

Filming for "Mulan" has wrapped, so the post-production team doesn't need her. The promotional period for "Inception" is also over; its popularity on Facebook is growing on its own, so no extra promotion is needed.

This girl's daily routine lately consists of sleeping until she naturally wakes up, eating, scrolling through her phone, and then sleeping again.

A typical salted fish lifestyle.

If I lie like this any longer, I'm afraid mushrooms will grow on my back.

"Okay, I'll talk to her about it later," Yu Le agreed.

"That's wonderful!" Lang Kun exclaimed excitedly, his voice cracking. "Mr. Yu, what about the songs... what do you think?"

That's the key point.

With last year's hit song "As You Wish" as a precedent, this year's song must be even better, otherwise the audience won't accept it, and the production team won't be able to deliver a satisfactory result.

Yu Le's mind raced.

He had a complete music library in his mind of songs that were suitable for the Spring Festival Gala in his previous life.

However, the selection of songs for occasions like the Spring Festival Gala is very particular.

It should be grand, but not empty.

It should evoke emotion, but not be pretentious.

The goal is to make 1.4 billion people feel warm inside after hearing this.

A name surfaced from the depths of my memory.

China in the Lights.

The song "Past Life" was performed on the Spring Festival Gala stage in 2021.

The melody is expansive and grand, and the lyrics fully express the warmth of countless homes lit up with lights and the confidence of a prosperous and peaceful nation.

What's most ingenious is that the song's emotional focus isn't on grand narratives, but rather on the lives of ordinary people, starting with a lamp, a window, or a street.

The more ordinary something is, the more moving it is.

"Don't worry about the song, I'll take care of it," Yu Le said.

"With President Yu taking the initiative, I have complete peace of mind!" Lang Kun thanked him repeatedly.

I hung up the phone with Lang Kun.

Yu Le went into the study that very night.

He painstakingly unearthed the melody of "China in the Lights" from the depths of his memory.

Humming a tune, his fingers tapped repeatedly on the piano keys.

The arrangement of this song in the previous life was extremely rich in layers.

With strings as the foundation and piano as an embellishment, the symphonic orchestration in the chorus builds up layer by layer, culminating in a full-blown climax.

The song's momentum builds gradually, unhurriedly, but the more you listen, the more addictive it becomes.

Yu Le spent two nights organizing the lyrics, music, and general arrangement framework into a complete demo.

Then I got through to Chang Shilei on the phone.

"Mr. Yu?" Chang Shilei's voice betrayed surprise. "You wanted to see me?"

"Stone, do you have any work to do?"

"I just submitted one. What, do you have something to do?"

Are you interested in any of the songs performed at the Spring Festival Gala?

There was a two-second silence on the other end of the phone.

"The Spring Festival Gala?!"

"Yes. I'd like to entrust you with the arrangement of the song that Sisi will sing on the Spring Festival Gala this year. I've already finished the demo, come and listen to it."

"I'm coming right now!"

Chang Shilei is extremely efficient.

The next morning, I arrived at Salty Fish Entertainment's recording studio.

Yu Le played the demo from beginning to end.

Chang Shilei listened without moving, wearing monitoring headphones.

When he took off his headphones, his eyes were slightly red.

"Mr. Yu," Chang Shilei took a deep breath, "this song... is so beautiful."

He pointed to the waveform on the computer screen.

"The way the melody in the chorus climbs from the low register to the high register is particularly restrained. It's not the kind of singing that forces you to reach the high notes, but rather it's a natural progression that follows your emotions."

"Yes, that's the feeling we want." Yu Le leaned back in his swivel chair. "Don't overdo it. The Spring Festival Gala stage is big, with a wide soundstage; too dense an arrangement will just make it sound muddy."

"Leave blank spaces. Leave the empty spaces empty so that the vocals can fill the space."

Chang Shilei nodded emphatically.

"Understood. I'll use a 40-piece string section, with the brass only appearing in the final chorus. The middle section will be supported by the piano and cello."

"Okay, you get on with it. Give me the finished product by the end of the month."

Chang Shilei left with the demo.

He walked to the door, then turned back and hesitated for a moment.

"Mr. Yu, what's the name of this song?"

"China in the Lights"

Chang Shilei read the name aloud, and a slow smile spread across his face.

"A good name."

……

January has arrived.

Winters in Beijing are bitterly cold, and the air is so dry it could spark.

The CCTV Spring Festival Gala rehearsal officially kicked off at the Media Center.

Nine o'clock in the morning.

Yu Le drove Liu Qianqian to the rehearsal venue.

Today, Liu Qianqian wore a white down jacket and a camel-colored scarf. Her face was bare except for a thin layer of lip balm.

The two went through security at the entrance and followed the staff inside.

The corridor was bustling with people, and there were stagehands everywhere moving props and carrying equipment.

The air was filled with a tense yet excited atmosphere.

This is the unique aura of the Spring Festival Gala.

Liu Qianqian has performed on the Spring Festival Gala twice, so she has gained some experience.

But walking down this corridor leading to the stage, my heart still involuntarily skipped a few beats.

"Nervous?" Yu Le glanced at her.

"It's okay." Liu Qianqian clenched her fist. "I just want to finish the song as soon as possible so I can feel at ease."

Have you memorized the lyrics?

"I can recite it backwards."

"Where's the sheet music?"

"I can hum it even with my eyes closed."

"That's good." Yu Le patted her head. "Don't think too much when you go on stage later, just think of it as singing while taking a shower at home."

Liu Qianqian rolled her eyes at him.

The two chatted as they walked, turned a corner, and passed through the passageway on the side of the main stage.

The passageway leads to another rehearsal hall.

The door was half open, and from inside came dense drumbeats and deep bass lines.

Yu Le paused for a moment.

This rhythm.

too ripe.

He listened for two seconds.

"If Hua Tuo were alive today, even the worship of foreign things would be cured—"