Entertainment Era: Starting with Teaching Sister Meng to Sing

It was already 10 a.m. the next day when I came out of the bathhouse.

Huang Mao has now become the first generation of sycophants. Yesterday, he hugged Wang Xiaozhou and talked about Cui Fangfang all night. By the end, he was crying his eyes out.

Wang Xiaozhou couldn't offer much advice on matters of the heart, so he could only listen silently. Unexpectedly, the third brother added insult to injury, telling Huang Mao that it was useless for him to talk to the eldest brother about these things. Huang Mao used to have half the girls in the school chasing after him just because of his looks, and now he has three goddesses by his side. The eldest brother can't empathize with him.

Huang Mao became even more upset and insisted on drinking with Wang Xiaozhou in the private room until late at night before finally going to sleep.

When Wang Xiaozhou called Meng Ziyi, it sounded like the activity had just started. They agreed to go downstairs and have porridge together. Wang Xiaozhou went to a roadside shop to order the dishes first, and they started eating as soon as Meng Ziyi arrived.

"You didn't take advantage of me when you drove me home yesterday, did you?"

Wang Xiaozhou looked down on him: "Didn't you realize you'd lost a lot of little clothes this morning?"

"Shameless!"

Meng Ziyi had intended to tease Wang Xiaozhou, but unexpectedly, he was the one being teased instead.

"Hurry up and eat, then go practice your singing. The competition for 'Singer' is much more intense than 'The Voice of China,' so don't be embarrassed if you get eliminated in the first round."

Meng Ziyi licked the porridge stains from the corner of her mouth: "It seems a bit too difficult to succeed in this challenge. The agent that Ganwei Entertainment assigned to me sent me a list of contestants, which is full of top-tier singers. Teacher Yingzi will also be going in the later episodes."

"Yingzi is going too? Isn't she going to record 'The Voice'?"

"The Voice of China only has two more episodes left. What song did you write for me? Are you confident?"

Wang Xiaozhou had considered for a long time what song Meng Ziyi should sing on the show. Songs like "Ru Yuan" were definitely not to be played at the beginning; they were reserved as trump cards.

But Meng Ziyi has already established a strong female lead persona, so she can't be too petty in a show like "Singer".

Therefore, Wang Xiaozhou's choice was Jay Chou's representative work - "Red Dust Inn"!

Having sung about both grand and small loves, wouldn't it be perfect for Sister Meng to play a female knight-errant this time?

Let this world, without Jay Chou, also experience the awe-inspiring power of Chinese style!

"Hurry up and eat. You'll see what songs I've prepared when we get to the karaoke bar. This time, give me some face and sing your heart out. So what if they're top-tier singers? Crush them!"

Meng Ziyi gave a weak "Oh," wondering where Wang Xiaozhou got his confidence from. Who did she think she was, to even compare herself to a top-tier celebrity...

Unlike Meng Ziyi, Mao Xiaotong practiced Wang Xiaozhou's original song all night without sleeping, meticulously copying each note on the paper, much to Song Shihui's annoyance.

"Sis, you're my sister. You've already got the song. Why don't you just go home today? Even a god can't stand staying up all night like this."

Mao Xiaotong didn't even glance at her cousin: "No way, Wang Xiaozhou still hasn't given me the stage design and choreography. He said that it's only impressive when all of these are combined. If I leave now, what will happen when he wants to rehearse with me and can't find me?"

Song Shihui rolled her eyes: "Fine, fine, you can practice at home. I'm going to school to take a nap. You young people have so much energy. This old auntie needs to catch up on her sleep."

Everyone is busy with their own things, so time flies by, and before we know it, it's the end of February.

Tonight is the day the latest episode of The Voice of China will air. Meng Ziyi finished practicing singing two days ago and started seriously preparing for the New Year.

In Northeast China, thrifty families start preparing for the New Year before the twelfth lunar month. They buy pig's trotters and pork hocks in advance and freeze them to save money from price increases during the New Year period.

While Meng Ziyi was shopping at the mall, Wang Xiaozhou bought her a bright red down jacket.

Around New Year's Day, everyone was broke and didn't celebrate much, so this piece of clothing was given as a New Year's gift.

Wang Xiaozhou's family had also bought a house in the county town, which was just one community away from where Meng Ziyi rented. When he came to call Meng Ziyi to come to his house for lunch in the morning, Meng Ziyi was at home wearing that red down jacket.

"It's so warm in here, why are you wearing a down jacket? Aren't you afraid of getting heat rash? Hurry up and warm my hands."

As soon as Wang Xiaozhou entered the room, he shamelessly put his hand into Meng Ziyi's pocket to warm it. Meng Ziyi's favorability rating has reached 79%, and the scoundrel wants to use some intimate actions to hint that he wants to get the 80% milestone reward as soon as possible.

Meng Ziyi slapped his hand away and covered her down jacket pocket: "You can't just touch a girl's waist like that, it's impolite."

"Let's hurry up and go, my mom has been preparing the food for ages."

Meng Ziyi tidied up her personal belongings a bit: "Are Teacher Song and the others going today too?"

Wang Xiaozhou nodded with a hint of helplessness: "Isn't it because The Voice of China is starting today? My relatives, my friends, and you and Teacher Song—my mom told me to invite everyone over for lunch, saying it's because we're moving and we should all come and celebrate. Actually, we're waiting to see your performance tonight."

Meng Ziyi, still not used to being a celebrity, was a little embarrassed: "It's so embarrassing to have so many people around me watching me sing on TV."

"What's there to be ashamed of? When I was little, my mom made me recite vocabulary lists in front of the whole family during Chinese New Year. I was so proud of that."

"What vocabulary list?"

"The last few pages of the Chinese textbook."

"Pfft..."

After realizing what she meant, Meng Ziyi burst out laughing: "Memorizing vocabulary lists, Auntie, how interesting is that?"

After helping Meng Ziyi hold the keys, Wang Xiaozhou said as he went downstairs, "This is nothing. When I was little, my mom used to scare me with starch."

"Starch? What are you trying to scare me with?"

"My mom says it's called a non-Newtonian fluid. If I misbehave, she'll stuff it in my butt so that it won't come out when I pull hard, but it will flow out when I relax a little while walking normally."

"Hahahaha, goose, goose, goose."

Meng Ziyi laughed all the way, and when she arrived at Wang Xiaozhou's house, she was no longer nervous. She greeted the whole family as she entered the house, and then went straight to the kitchen to help Ma Xiaoping.

The house Wang Xiaozhou bought is a three-bedroom, one-living room house with a large south-facing living room. It's on the third floor with stairs and the decoration is quite nice, so it cost them a high price of 320,000 yuan in the county town.

A good house has good sound insulation; you can't hear conversations in the kitchen while chatting in the living room, and vice versa.

So in the living room, Auntie and Third Aunt whispered, "Your Ziyi is really beautiful. She and Xiaozhou look like a perfect match. I just don't know if she and Xiaoping will get along. She's not someone to be trifled with."

Despite her serious illness, Auntie San's gossip instincts remained undiminished: "Xiao Zhou is no pushover either. I think the day when the two of them really get together isn't far off. Maybe I can still hold on then. I'll see if Xiao Zhou can stand by and watch his mother bully his daughter-in-law."

In the kitchen, Ma Xiaoping and Meng Ziyi kept talking.

"We'll be spending a lot of time together as mother and daughter in the future. When you come to our house, you'd better watch out for your aunt. She's a loose cannon and loves to watch the drama unfold. She knows everything and then goes around telling everyone. She's the most annoying person."

Meng Ziyi asked timidly, "Has she bullied you, Auntie? How about I scold her at the table later when we eat?"