Chapter 626: The Gardenia Blooms and Blooms

"I don't even know Japanese; what do you want me to slaughter? I could try to slaughter the actresses in those short films that two people can finish on a single sofa and a single bed, but I only know a few Japanese words."

"What was that Japanese actress's name before, the one called Masami Nagasawa, the Toho Princess? Can't she teach you Japanese? If she can't, there's another one of your little fans."

"How the hell do you know that? Are you eavesdropping on me?"

"No, I just know you."

"Get lost."

Zhou Yi laughed, cursed, and kicked, but was deftly dodged by the laughing Qian Jiang: "Alright, I won't disturb you. Hurry up and practice that impromptu music mode He Jiong suggested; I still have a bunch of things to do."

Many fixed segments of variety shows featuring impromptu music performances are actually mostly rehearsed during rehearsals.

Because the impromptu segment carries too much risk, especially for musicians. If it's truly improvised, the unpredictable upper and lower limits are a bit like Schrödinger's cat; even the person themselves doesn't know what they'll be able to play in the next second.

Therefore, for safety's sake, these variety show impromptu segments requiring various instruments often have a fixed routine and advance rehearsal.

Of course, there are those who play truly impromptu, but they are all based on their own talent.

If you lack self-awareness and are overly confident, the result is "Look at this noodle, it's long and wide, just like this bowl, it's big and round," and you'll be mocked to death by the crowd.

By all rights, given Zhou Yi's current market performance, playing truly impromptu on a recorded show like Happy Camp shouldn't be a problem. But the trouble is, he has just now achieved the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time and other accomplishments that are, for the domestic music scene, like Gaoshan—something to look up to.

His status is set here; if his condition isn't good and the impromptu performance doesn't go well, it will undoubtedly affect his personal reputation.

You have to know that Zhou Yi has been running on a continuous loop during this period; Qian Jiang dares not guarantee that he, without sufficient rest, will be able to create a good impromptu scene. He Jiong holds the same view; in fact, he was the first to suggest this kind of rehearsal, precisely to look after Zhou Yi's condition.

Although Zhou Yi thought it was unnecessary, for safety's sake, Qian Jiang still agreed to this safety-net "impromptu."

"It's so late; what the hell business do you have to be busy with?"

Zhou Yi turned his head to look at the clock hanging on the living room wall, filled with contempt.

It's almost midnight; are you busy ordering takeout?

"You wouldn't know that."

Facing Zhou Yi's contempt, Qian Jiang did not refute; he just couldn't control the upward curve of his lips, glancing subtly at the man who still knew nothing: "Alright, I'll go get busy first. You don't delay too late either; rest well. After all, you still have to hold a concert in front of your hometown folks later."

As a local returning in honor, the actual number of tickets released to the public for Zhou Yi's Shangrao show was not 5,000.

Those with good past relationships—classmates, teachers, family, and relatives—were each given a ticket and invited.

Zhou Yi, noncommittal, watched him leave, then rotated the cup in his hand; shortly after, he tapped out a crisp and pleasant melody—

Very fresh, very pleasant to hear.

………………………………

The 18th, Thursday.

After two rounds of rehearsal, Happy Camp officially began recording this afternoon.

As a program that switched from live broadcast to recorded broadcast, Happy Camp now has more production time; correspondingly, the recording time has also been extended—

Mistakes that are not allowed during live broadcasts don't matter if they happen several times during recording; at worst, you just start over, since the post-production team can cut out the mistake parts anyway.

But for the audience participating in the recording, this is absolutely killing.

If it weren't for the love of their idol, ordinary people would find it hard to persist sitting in the venue for several hours.

Anyway, Zhou Yi couldn't sit still.

Right now, just waiting backstage for his turn to go on, his butt is already starting to hurt from sitting.

"Alright, alright, no more joking. As for the guest we are about to invite next, I think just saying his name, probably no one in all of China, or even the whole world, hasn't heard of him."

On stage, after the opening dance, He Jiong held the microphone, looking joyfully at the fan club members in the audience holding up Zhou Yi's posters, slogans, and even albums, and said with a smile: "He has been in the industry for four years, creating history every single year, stepping by step to reach this position now—"

"Ahhh!!!"

"Zhou Yi!!!"

"Zhou Yi! Zhou Yi!"

"Zhou Yi!!!"

Before He Jiong could finish speaking, the fans below were already screaming continuously, repeatedly interrupting him, making him unable to connect several times; finally, he could only helplessly wave his hand and smile, letting the fans vent their excitement.

"I told you, Teacher He, today's guest doesn't need much introduction; his name is already known to everyone, known to all."

Li Xiang, standing nearby, calmly controlled the scene and smoothly took over the topic: "Then, let us now invite today's special guest—the singer who broke the sales record for Chinese music albums, the man who created a new history in Asian music: Zhou Yi!!!"

Accompanied by the melodious opening music of "Blue and White Porcelain," Zhou Yi, wearing a wine-red long trench coat, walked out from behind the large stage doors while singing. His current popular side-swept undercut, set off by the trench coat, looked even more capable and handsome, causing continuous screams and cheers from the scene.

"The green outline sketches the blue and white, the brushstroke turns from thick to light

"The peony painted on the bottle body is just like your initial makeup~

"The rising sandalwood scent passes through the window; I understand your thoughts

"On the Xuan paper, the brush stops halfway here~"

A song that has been popular among all social strata since its release, heard by basically everyone from eighty-year-old grandmas down to eight-year-old children, directly caused the whole venue to erupt in a chorus—

That line, "The sky-blue waits for the misty rain, and I wait for you," made people fall for it.

When the song ended, Li Weijia, playing the clown, immediately rushed over and praised in the most exaggerated way possible: "Welcome, welcome! Welcome Zhou Yi. Wow, it was really sung so wonderfully; when I was listening from below just now, I truly felt like hearing celestial music, my ears suddenly clear."

Li Xiang, back on stage, also timely turned the microphone toward the audience: "Is Zhou Yi's singing good or not!"

"Good!!!"

He Jiong promoted his new album: "Then, have you all listened to Zhou Yi's new album, 'Gui Cang'?"

"Listened!"

"Is it great?"

"Yes!!"

To be honest, those cheers really made one's heart feel floaty.

Cooperating with the show's effect, Zhou Yi acted very cocky, raising his hand and pressing down into the void.

"Then let us welcome Zhou Yi to the Happy Camp scene with applause again, okay!"

The response to He Jiong was the sudden, intense applause from the audience below—lasting for a long time without ceasing.

"Thank you, everyone. I am Zhou Yi."

"Zhou Yi, I like you!"

"Thank you, but I like women."

Facing the passionate confession from a male fan, Zhou Yi smiled and waved his hands repeatedly, even joking about himself: "Look at all these scandals I've had over the past four years; which one involved a man?"

This act of making fun of his own "scandals" actually made him more likable; the screams of the female fans were endless, with only the shout of "Pick me, pick me!" missing.

After the simple greeting process, the game segment of "Happy Camp" officially began.

To be honest, compared to when he last came to participate in Camp, the game segments of Camp hadn't changed much; at most, there were minor tweaks, and some segments could even be called very stupid.

But this did not prevent the audience on site from watching with great interest.

Compared to other stars appearing on the show, Zhou Yi was quite unique—because he simply didn't care about winning or losing, lacking the concept that "since I am a guest, I must win."

A stage without the pressure of a replay actually appeared more fluid; even after losing several rounds, Zhou Yi still accepted the punishment with a cheerful face, without sulking, and there was no need to repeat the recording of the game segment.

And when they reached the talent showcase segment, when the production team members came up with a pile of pots, pans, and cups, the fans on site thought Zhou Yi was about to recreate his once-legendary on-site fried noodles, but unexpectedly, He Jiong opened his mouth with a "challenge"—

"Well, we all know your achievements on the musical path. Normally, we definitely can't compare to you, but what if we take a different path?"

Holding chopsticks and tapping a stainless steel basin twice, He Jiong smiled brightly: "Let's compete to see who can create the desired music using these most common things in life, and see who taps out a better sound, how about that?"

Li Weijia on the side was already eager to try.

As the backup clown, he was the one who would just bang things randomly, giving the worst impression; he chose a pot lid and improvised, playing "Two Tigers" and "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star," a chaotic fusion of four different things that made the whole audience burst into laughter.

"That's enough, that's enough, Weijia, you'd better stop torturing our ears."

While Li Weijia was still reluctant to let go, He Jiong hurriedly held him back and then, quite naturally, pulled out Zhou Yi: "You'd better just watch Zhou Yi's performance properly."

Sometimes, there is only harm when there is comparison.

Only by forming a sharp contrast with Li Weijia's "ugliness" would Zhou Yi's performance be more deeply ingrained and have better show effects.

"Yes, Zhou Yi, come on, you give him a proper lesson." Li Xiang on the side's eyes lit up; she pushed the man's shoulder and urged him as if she couldn't wait.

Zhou Yi, as if playing a drum kit, spun the chopsticks in his palm several times; after thinking for a moment, he first tapped the few cups closest to him—tapping each note twice, appearing to be testing the sound.

The audience below the stage, not understanding what was happening, were still waiting eagerly, but the eyes of the three hosts on stage, who had already rehearsed, simultaneously flashed a hint of surprise.

This is... truly improvised?

Not recording the backup first?

"Okay, that's about enough."

Under everyone's gaze, Zhou Yi, having finished adjusting, spun the chopsticks between his fingers and smiled: "Although I can't think of the lyrics for a moment, it doesn't matter."

Accompanied by the crisp sound of "ding ding ding ding," the glass cups filled with water were lined up one by one; Zhou Yi held the chopsticks in both hands and slowly tapped their rims—the unique sounds gathered into notes, like the warm sun in winter, sounding exceptionally cozy.

"La la la la la la, la la la la la la~"

"La la la la, la la la la~"

The a cappella melody made people's eyes light up; Li Xiang, who was at the closest distance the whole time, had alternating colors in her eyes, and He Jiong, after a moment of stunned silence, had his mouth wide open in surprise—

Although there was an element of exaggeration, the surprise in his heart was real.

Did Zhou Yi really improvise a melody?

This wasn't something he had tapped during the rehearsal.

It's just that this melody... why does it sound a bit like a folk song?

"Gardenia blooms and blooms, gardenia blooms and blooms~"

"Gardenia blooms, gardenia blooms~"

"Gardenia blooms and blooms, gardenia blooms and blooms~"

"Crystal waves bloom in my heart~"

First repeating a section of the gardenia lyrics, as if thinking about what lyrics to sing, then singing out a section of lyrics made it quite natural.

This is... a folk song?!

In the audience seats, a woman who claimed to be a ten-year-old fan of Zhou Yi suddenly widened her eyes, looking at the idol on stage who was tapping and improvising lyrics with disbelief; after coming to her senses, she was excited, emotionally excited.

Heaven be merciful, Zhou Yi actually tapped out a—oh no, a few lines of a folk song?!

Indeed, he is not a traitor to folk songs, wuwuwu!

His heart still holds folk songs!

Long live folk songs!

Unfortunately, after this section was tapped out, Zhou Yi stopped abruptly.

He Jiong, who couldn't help but hum along softly with "la la la," immediately came to his senses and, first of all, led the applause with a bright smile: "Wow~ good, good~"

Having said that, he didn't forget to interact with the audience below the stage: "How about it, do you think it sounds good?"

"It sounds good!"

"Finish tapping, Zhou Yi!"

"Is this a new song, Zhou Yi!"

"Zhou Yi..."

Even though there were staff members acting as stooges, the excited fans below still shut the stooges up with their chatter, one saying this and another saying that; the level of excitement from all sides made the on-site atmosphere become fiery.

"Is this an unreleased new song of yours, Zhou Yi?"

Coming to her senses, Li Xiang couldn't hold back and asked immediately.

Did their show's live venue become the venue for the first reveal of a new song?

Then Zhou Yi's sincerity in participating in the show was truly sufficient.

"It probably doesn't count."

Zhou Yi smiled and shook his head: "This isn't even a half-finished product; it was just tapped out, and it's still far from being a finished product."

"Then why did you sing 'Gardenia Blooms'?"

"Can't just go la-la-la forever, right? I'm not Uncle Jam like that, capable of la-la-ing an entire verse."

Speaking of this, Zhou Yi couldn't help but mention Huang Zhan, who had sung a duet with him at the Hong Kong concert, and burst out laughing: "After la-la-ing a few lines just now, I felt I should sing something. Coincidentally, gardenias are something I've seen since childhood; they're everywhere in Shangrao, so my impression is quite deep."

"If I recall correctly, Mr. Huang Zhan said he was willing to accept the bet's consequence and gifted you a Ferrari, didn't he? Did you accept it?"

"Accept it? How could I not? It's free money."

Zhou Yi made a joke: "It's just that as soon as I returned to the mainland, I rushed straight to Changsha for the Big Camp without stopping, so I had to let Sun Yanzi sign for the Ferrari on my behalf. She was so envious, constantly saying I'd hit the jackpot."

"Zhou Yi, finish singing!" From the audience, a ten-year veteran fan couldn't hold back and immediately shouted, "I just want to hear you sing folk songs!"

"Okay, okay, there will be opportunities in the future."

Having his words interrupted, Zhou Yi smiled and painted a pie in the air.

By the end of the program recording, Zhou Yi's fans were incredibly excited—

Damn, Zhou Yi just improvised a future new song!

And it's a folk song!

Isn't this going to take off?

Eager to share this good news, Gao Yingchun returned home, turned on his computer, and shared his excitement with the friends in his QQ group—

Zhou Yi is returning to folk music!

He said he will sing folk songs in the future!

Folk music has hope again!

After one round of reposts, the meaning of this statement changed slightly: Zhou Yi created a folk song live at Happy Big Camp and stated he would sing it on his next album.

After a second round of reposts, the meaning changed again—Zhou Yi is coming back to reorganize the folk music scene!

After a third round...

"Zhou Yi said the current folk music scene is all trash, he can't stand it anymore, and is going to step up himself to teach these people what folk music is."

"Really, my seventh aunt's second uncle's neighbor's daughter was at the Big Camp live event; she said it with her own mouth."