Chapter 132: No Traitors Inside, Let's Get Some Bassists

Under Zhou Yi's solemn introduction, Chen Hao, who had a bass strapped to her back, wore a slightly embarrassed smile.

But when she saw that familiar mischievous grin return to Zhou Yi's face, Chen Hao, fearing he would pull another prank on her, instantly lunged forward, shoved Zhou Yi out of the lead singer's spot, and shouted to the audience below: "To prevent Zhou Yi from setting me up for a fall, let me state this in advance: I'm playing the bass purely because I was forced into it—against my will, just putting on a show."

Below the stage, Chen Kun, Lu Yi, and others, still dressed in their character costumes, stood together watching Zhou Yi on stage, whose laughter made him look nothing like the character "Li Bai." Their bad mood from being forced into extra scenes recently had been largely dispelled.

Lu Yi even whistled with a smile and teased from below: "Don't be afraid, Wan Ling. Believe in yourself. You are Wan Ren Mi; even if you play the bass badly, no one will blame you."

Wan Ling is the real name of the character Wan Ren Mi, played by Chen Hao.

As a current top young star on the mainland, his relationship with Chen Hao during the filming of the series was quite good.

Zhou Yi, who had been shoved aside by Chen Hao, laughed even more wildly. The cameras of the production crew, Warner Bros., and the admitted journalists, all already rolling, clearly captured every reaction on the scene.

"OK, so this song, theoretically speaking, is inspired by the name of the character Li Bai. As everyone knows—"

Zhou Yi, who had returned to the lead singer's spot with a guitar on his back, paused slightly in his tone here, shrugged with feigned helplessness: "I might just prefer using this idiom; please forgive my limited culture."

A burst of laughter immediately erupted below the stage.

Others were fine, but Lu Yi was so amused he dropped all his idol baggage, propped his elbow on Chen Kun's shoulder, and laughed with his mouth wide open.

Someone who got into Peking University via the college entrance exam saying his culture is limited was somewhat of a dark humor.

"So, as everyone knows, I've recently gotten into some trouble, accused by some unscrupulous media people of being young and reckless, lacking humility, and not understanding the rules, and so on."

With his right hand resting on the guitar and his left holding the microphone, Zhou Yi tilted his head slightly when mentioning this, his tone slightly frivolous: "Some even accuse me of breaking established social conventions, simply because I sued so many media outlets."

The words spoken by Zhou Yi, who had never held a proper press conference to explain himself amidst the storm since joining Warner Bros., caused everyone below to be mentally shaken.

Everyone in the entertainment circle knew that while Zhou Yi's unprecedented move had elements of marketing, it was also genuinely purifying the increasingly exaggerated public opinion climate of the entertainment industry.

This was also why most artists, including their companies, either remained silent or supported Zhou Yi during this storm.

"Plus, today is also the first time in my life I've made a guest appearance in a TV drama, which I feel is very commemorative—so, the name of this new song is 'Li Bai'!"

As Zhou Yi finished speaking, the accompaniment recorded two days prior immediately played under the control of Warner Bros. staff, and extremely simple lyric subtitles instantly appeared on the connected screen.

It was still a highly rhythmic, ear-catching intro, and Liu Ruoying, who had been a singer for many years below the stage, immediately brightened up—

"Most people want me to learn to look at the world's eyes

"I seriously studied the world's eyes, worldly until dawn~"

Combined with Zhou Yi's opening remarks, the moment these first two lines of lyrics were sung, everyone understood what Zhou Yi meant by singing this song.

He was using music to counter those who attacked him for being impolite, disregarding rules, and being young and reckless.

The casual singing style filled with self-mockery carried a hint of faint laziness; the feeling of not being bound by external evaluations and acting freely and naturally filled every movement of Zhou Yi playing the guitar and every articulation of his words.

The absurd lyrics paired with the storm Zhou Yi himself encountered added a touch of magical realism to it.

The concise and brisk rhythm, the soothing yet powerful melody, plus the casual and free-spirited singing style, under the guidance of the on-site atmosphere, made it hard for listeners not to shake their bodies along with the rhythm.

Chen Hao playing the bass on stage had even started tapping her leg while playing—

Standing close beside Zhou Yi, her eyes lifted to see only his profile; the bright smile stacked in her eyebrows and eyes added a truly beautiful scenic line to this unique "fan meeting."

"If only it mattered, I would choose Li Bai

"What was done right or wrong hundreds of years ago, not so many people guess

"If only it mattered, I would choose Li Bai

"At least I can still write poems to stir up passion, to tease girls~"

When singing to this point, Zhou Yi immediately turned his head and raised an eyebrow at Chen Hao beside him; the latter very cooperatively rolled her pretty eyes, doubling the show's effect.

Immediately following was a Funk Solo that raised the upper limit of the song "Li Bai."

It was easy to get hooked on.

This was an interlude that could be called the standard for domestic Funk Solos, extremely spirited. Placed in the current era, under Zhou Yi's live performance, it added even more stunning brilliance—

One person, one electric guitar, murdering countless rolls of film.

Liu Ruoying, who knew the trade, tapped her index fingers to the rhythm of the music, let alone everyone else.

Lu Yi was even pulling Chen Kun along to sway their bodies to the rhythm; their faces, comparable to flower boys, also won many camera shots.

So much so that when Zhou Yi finished singing and took a bow with Chen Hao, applause and whistles flew together, and cheers continued without end.

Because the production crew had also opened interview permissions to some media journalists on the whitelist today, after this excellent lively scene ended, except for a few people, almost all the journalists swarmed in a rush to Zhou Yi's front—

"Zhou Yi, may I ask why you came to make a guest appearance in 'Love in the City'? Was it because of an invitation from Miss Chen Hao?"

"Zhou Yi, may I ask what your relationship is with Fan Bingbin and Zhou Xun? Some say you are interfering in Zhou Xun's romance, is that true? Did a romance really exist between the three of you? What about Elva Hsiao? What about Sun Yanzi?"

"Zhou Yi, the new singer from the Taiwan region, Jay Chou, is about to release an adapted new song, 'Roof,' sung as a duet with Wen Lan. May I ask if you think their collaboration will pose a threat to your songs' rankings on various charts?"

"Chen Hao plays the bass; may I ask if you plan to write songs for her too to help her enter the music scene?"

"..."

Messy questions poured at Zhou Yi all at once, forcing the latter to take control of the situation: "Don't rush, one by one; I'm not running away today.

"I came to the 'Love in the City' production crew because of the director's invitation; as for Zhou Xun, forget it, she has a boyfriend, so stop attaching rumors to me.

"As for rumors about Fan Bingbin, Elva Hsiao, Sun Yanzi, and even others, I think there are too few; you should add more for me, preferably enough to keep me too busy to release an album;

"I haven't heard the new song by Chou and Wen Lan yet; because of well-known reasons, I haven't been to the Taiwan region for a while, but Chou's talent is unquestionable.

"As for Chen Hao entering the music scene, actually, her bass playing is terrible."

When mentioning Chen Hao, Zhou Yi, whose face was beaming with a brilliant smile, couldn't forget to tease: "I believe you should have seen the MV for the song 'Love Is You' in my last album.

"If Chen Hao wants to enter the music scene based on this level of bass playing, then I'm afraid she can only join our temporary band, which fans joke will never successfully reunite."

(End of Chapter)