Chapter 1161

Chapter 1161: ‘Beijing Welcomes You’ makes its debut!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Not long after.

A call from the Organizing Committee arrived.

Vice President Qi Yihai immediately said: “Teacher Zhang, pick someone else.”

Zhang Ye said: “Lillian is the most suitable person.”

“This person you picked is too difficult to get.” Qi Yihai kept shaking his head. “We don’t have the budget for that. It’s really difficult to invite an international superstar like her.”

Zhang Ye said: “Can’t you play the emotional card?”

Qi Yihai said: “She might not buy it.”

Zhang Ye blinked. “What about the sentimental card?”

Qi Yihai thought about it. “You’re suggesting that we use her grandmother as a reason?”

Zhang Ye said: “I’m not suggesting that. This is the job of the Organizing Committee. I am only offering some advice, that’s all. I don’t care about the other things, nor do I have power to do so.”

Qi Yihai couldn’t come up with a reply.

Lillian was British and around the age of thirty. She was a famous singer and actress, as well as one of the top two international stars. Almost no one would not know who she was at the mention of her name. Even Zhang Ye, who was not from this world originally, had heard of her name on multiple occasions over the years, so it was obvious just how famous she was. Compared to someone like Zhang Ye who couldn’t even make it out of Asia, her popularity was way, way higher than his. She was definitely a legend in the industry!

Worth mentioning was the fact that Lillian’s paternal grandmother was Han Chinese. Although Lillian had the standard British look, she had a quarter Chinese blood flowing in her. This was the reason why Zhang Ye chose to invite her. Although Lillian didn’t seem like she came to China often, nor had she held any concerts here before, according to reliable sources, she knew how to speak Mandarin. It was rumored that she could speak up to eight languages, so it was even rarer to have someone like her. Of course, no one really knew whether this rumor was true. It could just be the media cooking up news. The media these days said whatever they wanted. If you could say “yes,” or “baka,” they would immediately claim that you were proficient in many different languages.

They spoke a little more.

Finally, Qi Yihai was left with no choice. “Alright, we’ll try. But I can’t guarantee anything. We can only try our best to invite her!”

Zhang Ye said: “Thanks.”

Qi Yihai laughed. “But I have a small favor to ask.”

“What is it?” Zhang Ye asked.

Qi Yihai said, “Can you write us another song to be used for the promotion of the Olympic Games?”

Zhang Ye was taken aback. “Isn’t there already one? The one that was performed together by the six celebrities?”

Qi Yihai said, “Yes, the promotional song was released some time ago, but it didn’t have that great an effect. Its propagation was so-so and not many people have heard it. We studied why it was like that and believe that it was down to the content of the song, so we hope that you can write us another one. This time, we want it to be better and more effective. We’ve contracted close to a hundred influential celebrities in the country to perform this song together in a music video.”

Zhang Ye asked: “When do you need it by?”

Qi Yihai said: “The sooner the better.”

Zhang Ye nodded. “Alright, I will get it to you by the afternoon.”

Qi Yihai was stunned. “But it’s already afternoon.”

“I know,” Zhang Ye said.

Qi Yihai was very happy. “Alright, that’s what we admire about Teacher Zhang the most. You’re always so efficient. You’ve given us a great deal of help this time, so let me thank you on behalf of the Organizing Committee!”

Zhang Ye smiled and said: “I’ll be waiting for your good news too then.”

“Alright!” Qi Yihai said.

After hanging up, Zhang Ye got to work.

A promotional song?

Which song should he use?

It looked like there was only that one?

…

An hour later.

The Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games received the musical score from Zhang Ye via fax.

After the professional music team and officials of the Organizing Committee saw it, they all applauded and praised it. Almost immediately, it was decided that they would use this song!

“How awesome!”

“Yeah, does he not need any inspiration to create a piece of music?”

“He really can write any kind of song!”

Very soon, the organizing committee got started with the production work for the promotional song’s music video. It was obvious that they couldn’t get close to a hundred celebrities into the recording studio to film the music video. That would be too chaotic, and also impossible to schedule. After all, they were all big name celebrities in the country and were very busy with work. Therefore, the music video was filmed in batches. Every person or group would record a short segment before it got edited together in post-production. This was a diplomatic mission, so it was specially handled and arranged. The celebrities were also very accommodating and got down to work without objections. Everyone was giving their best for the Olympic promotional work!

And so, a music video that included scores of celebrities only took a day and a half to complete. All of it was done before the opening ceremony rehearsal!

On TV.

Online.

On the radio.

They were all playing a song called ” Beijing Welcomes You 1 “!

Lyrics: Zhang Ye.

Composer: Zhang Ye.

Xiaodong: “Greet another rising sun, the air a brand new, fun one.”

Li Xiaoxian: “Changing air but constant interest, tea’s full for everyone.”

Amy: “Our doors are always open; we’re waiting to embrace you.”

Shu Han: “A hug and we’ll be close as glue, this place you’ll come to love.”

Zhang Ye: “Beijing welcomes you, we’ve got everything ready for you.”

Chen Guang: “The flowing charm is full of spirit and energy.”

Fan Wenli: “Beijing welcomes you, so let’s share a breath under the sun.”

Zhang Xia: “And write a new beginning on this land.”

There were the new generation singers.

There were the Heavenly Kings and Queens.

There were the veteran singers.

Gathering so many big names together to sing the same song was something that had never happened before. It was the Beijing Olympics that brought them together!

The people who heard it all shouted in satisfaction!

“Great song!”

“This is so good that I’m gonna die!”

“This song is such a classic!”

“Yeah, compared to that promotional song called ‘Be Victorious,’ this is so much better. The feeling of the song is also good as it portrays our intent to welcome guests from all over the world!”

“The lyrics and melody are by Zhang Ye!”

“Awesome!”

“I’m looking more and more forward to watching Zhang Ye’s performance during the opening ceremony!”

“I wonder what song he’ll sing?”

“I don’t know, they’re keeping it a secret!”

“Yeah, the lockdown on the news this time is really strong. What’s more, we don’t even know if the song will be sung by Zhang Ye alone or as a duet with someone else. In any case, I’m anticipating it!”

On this day, “Beijing Welcomes You” spread all across the country!

Whether it was the lyrics, melody, or the array of stars singing, this song had reached an unprecedented high. Riding the wave of hype surrounding the Olympics, it immediately took the number one spot across all the major music charts. It was simply unstoppable. In a short period of time, the music video had been watched 600-700 million times!

Then, almost without any warning!

A piece of news that would excite anyone was released!

An announcement was made concurrently on News Simulcast, Xinhua News, and the official website of the Olympic Games Organizing Committee: “The international superstar, Lillian, has accepted the invitation of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Olympic Games. She will be arriving in Beijing a day before the opening ceremony and will be performing the theme song with Zhang Ye during the Olympic opening ceremony!”

Screams!

Astonishment!

Craze!

The people were all getting excited!

“Ahhh!”

“My God!”

“Lillian? That Lillian?”

“I’m a braindead fan of Lillian! Holy shit! Holy shit! Holy shit! Lillian will be coming to Beijing? She’ll be performing with Zhang Ye?”

“How’s that possible!”

“The Organizing Committee is so awesome!”

“Yeah, they’re so great!”

“Even Lillian has been invited?”

“Lillian, my goddess!”

“Hey, hey, hey! They’re really upping the stakes this time!”

No one did not know Lillian!

This news was too shocking and exciting to everyone. Lillian would be attending the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony. She was being so respectful!

Compared to the people’s enthusiasm, the local show business was kind of stunned. They were all aware of how famous Lillian was but had never worked with her before. In the past, there were Chinese entertainment companies who had wanted to invite her to the Mainland to hold a concert, but those invitations did not even get a response! Li Ke, one of the country’s most famous directors, even invited Lillian to guest star in one of his movies. It was only a guest role that would take at most a day of filming and paid 40 million RMB, but Lillian still rejected it.

This was an international superstar!

A person whose presence was revered by all!

And now that she was coming to China, the first person she’d be working with turned out to be Zhang Ye? This made many of Zhang Ye’s foes in the industry burn with hate!

However, Zhang Ye, who was at the center of it all, remained quite calm. After all, he couldn’t truly be said to be from this world. He had never heard Lillian’s songs when he was young, nor watched her movies. He only caught up on those when he got here, so it was very difficult to grasp the admiration that people from the industry had gradually developed for her. That was why his feelings for her weren’t that strong. But if he was going to work with Angelina Jolie from his previous world, he would probably be excited to no end. That was because he grew up watching her movies, and his admiration for her had gradually developed over a decade or two!

Thus, Zhang Ye was very calm when Qi Yihai called.

“It’s settled!” Qi Yihai said.

Zhang Ye smiled and said: “Alright, thank you for your hard work, President Qi!”

Qi Yihai gave a bitter laugh. “We spent a lot of effort this time and specially flew a team over to Britain to speak to Lillian and her talent agency. The process was extremely difficult, so I won’t talk too much about that. But the good thing is that we managed to invite her, although she can’t take part in the opening ceremony rehearsal tomorrow due to a scheduling conflict. She can only arrive one day before the actual opening ceremony, so I hope there’s enough time for you two to get things sorted out before then.”

Zhang Ye said: “There’ll be enough time. We’re both used to performing live, so that won’t be a problem for us. But of course, she’ll have to learn the song first.”

Qi Yihai said: “That’s for sure. We’ve already sent the song to them. Or rather, if it weren’t for this song of yours, Lillian’s team would probably not have agreed to it so readily. They were also very happy with it. Since she can’t make it tomorrow, it won’t be necessary for you to join in the rehearsal either. We’ll just head straight into the opening ceremony performance. The stage has been set up. We’re just going to wait for the performance now. I’m really starting to look forward to the opening theme song performance on the day of, so don’t disappoint us!”

1. Beijing Welcomes You – https://youtu.be/kYuYWOOtPt0