86: Chapter 5 Competition

After discussions between the director and Wang Ning, the lead for "destined lover" was ultimately chosen to be Zhou Fang.

In the afternoon, after all the casting was finalized, Wang Ning had someone send out email notifications one by one.

Zhou Fang had been monitoring his inbox all day; he had cleared his emails so that when the email from "destined lover" arrived, he would see it instantly.

After a morning of anxious waiting, Zhou Fang had never felt time pass so slowly.

At noon, Zhou Fang lay on his bed and accidentally fell asleep; by the time he woke up, it was already three in the afternoon.

Upon waking, Zhou Fang immediately picked up his phone and saw the red dot on his inbox; his breathing instantly tightened.

Opening it, he saw it was sent by the "destined lover" production team.

"Congratulations, Mr. Zhou Fang. You have been selected for the role of Male Lead One in 'destined lover'. Please come to the third-floor conference room of Qingcheng Entertainment at 9:00 AM on the 12th of this month to sign the contract."

The words "Male Lead One" made Zhou Fang's heart feel like it was suspended over a hot pot. Male Lead One? Wasn't it the male third lead?

He suspected he had misread it, thinking his eyes must be playing tricks on him, so he read the email again, word for word.

He hadn't misread it; it really was Male Lead One.

Zhou Fang sprang up from the bed, the pleasant surprise rushing straight to his head.

Ahhhh, Male Lead One, it's Male Lead One!

This was simply a windfall from the heavens!

Even in his dreams, he never imagined he would get the role of Male Lead One. Zhou Fang immediately called his parents. After working for so many years without a management company or an Agent, he had actually landed a Male Lead One role one day.

He had been in this industry for so many years; for two of them, he hadn't even made enough to cover his expenses and had to rely on his family's relief every month. Any typical parents would have long ago urged their son to change careers, get married, and have children, but Zhou Fang's parents not only never pressured him, they even told him:

"Son, feel free to do what you love. You're still young, so you must chase your dreams. Your father and I both have pensions; while we can't give you a life of luxury, we will definitely never let you go hungry."

Zhou Fang's call to his mother went through, and his mother's gentle voice came from the other end as usual.

Zhou Fang's mother never asked about his work. Their child was grown, and parents asking too much would put pressure on him; if he wanted to talk, he would.

Zhou Fang's mother: "Son, what are you doing? Do you still have money to spend? Should Mom transfer a thousand to you?"

Zhou Fang's eyes grew hot and his nose felt sore. He choked out a call to his mother. His mother thought something had happened and asked worriedly:

"Son, what's wrong? Did something happen? Tell Mom."

Hearing his mother's concerned voice, the tears hanging in Zhou Fang's eyes finally couldn't be held back.

"Mom, I've been chosen as Male Lead One."

As soon as Zhou Fang finished speaking, his mother's excited voice immediately came from the other end.

"What? Really, son? That's wonderful! I knew you were the best; you'll definitely succeed."

"Old Zhou, Old Zhou, our son has been chosen as Male Lead One!"

Zhou Fang's mother shouted excitedly to his father, who was downstairs playing chess with a group of elderly men. Upon hearing this, Zhou Fang's father was equally excited, dancing with joy. He abandoned the chess game and rushed upstairs.

"My son has been chosen as Male Lead One! That's great, hahaha, that's great!"

After Zhou Fang's father got upstairs, the family of three chatted on the phone for over half an hour.

The recording for the fifth episode of Music Partner arrived. In the evening, Chen Ting and Lu Qingyu set off together for the program site.

Previously, Music Partner was recorded in the station's Hall 3, which could accommodate 500 audience members. They had originally planned to use this hall throughout, but who would have thought the show would explode in popularity because of Lu Qingyu's buzz? It was now incredibly popular online.

To capture this wave of traffic, the Program Production Team decided to upgrade the stage and improve the equipment quality to help the show go viral.

This time, Lu Qingyu and the others went to Hall 6. The stage was three times larger than before, the equipment was state-of-the-art, and it could accommodate as many as 2,000 audience members.

This hall had been prepared by the station for today's Lantern Festival Gala, but now it was being brought out early for the Music Partner recording.

When the guests arrived and saw the stage, they couldn't help but gasp in admiration. The Program Production Team was truly generous; they had installed over twenty retractable cylindrical display screens above the stage, and the backstage could achieve a naked-eye 3D effect through these screens.

Even Lu Qingyu felt that the Program Production Team had spared no expense.

At eight o'clock, everyone had arrived, and the show began.

The eight guests, including Lu Qingyu, Song Ke, Lou Qingran, Zhang Xiaoxiao, and Chen Ting, took their seats. After a brief greeting, the Host began to announce the rules for this episode on stage.

"In the latest episode of the program, we have unlocked a new way of performing."

"As you can see, I have a mailbox in my hand. Inside, there are four animal plushies in total. The performance rule for this episode is that the senior singers will come on stage to draw lots for the theme that the young singers will perform."

"Both original compositions and adaptations are acceptable."

The mailbox was opaque, so not being able to see inside made everyone even more curious about what animals were there.

However, speaking of animals, there didn't seem to be many songs known to them that featured animals. So, if they really couldn't find one, they would have to create an original piece.

Both Zhang Xiaoxiao and Lou Qingran had looks of difficulty on their faces; they had also thought of this problem.

Not many animals came to Song Ke's mind either. He stole a glance at Lu Qingyu next to him and found that his younger brother didn't seem to care at all; he didn't know if it was real or an act.

The viewership for today's livestream was rising very rapidly. The director was monitoring the equipment below and could see that when the competition rules were announced, netizens began a massive discussion.

"This rule is good, it's like opening a blind box. I'm curious what animals are in there."

"I like cats, can we have one?"

"I bet there's a dog, but there don't seem to be any songs with dogs."

"Bless my little brother to draw a good one."

After the Host finished speaking, Chen Ting and the others stood up and walked onto the stage, then took turns putting their hands into the box to take out a plushie.

The plushie was encased in a plastic ball. The first to show theirs was Zhang Xiaoxiao's partner; he cracked open the plastic ball, and to his surprise, it was a bird.

Within two or three seconds, he thought of a song related to birds, and Zhang Xiaoxiao felt lucky seeing it.

The second was Lou Qingran's mentor. After his plastic ball was opened, it was a wolf.

Lou Qingran thought for a moment; she had heard a song about wolves before and thought it was quite good, so she could try singing it.

The third was Song Ke's partner, Jiang Yu. Seeing that the first two had drawn well and the animals weren't obscure, Jiang Yu was somewhat expectant. He curiously opened the plastic ball, and a gray animal came out—it was an elephant.