Chapter 1164: Because I’m his mother!
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
The next day.
On the day of the Olympic opening ceremony.
There was wave after wave of excitement online!
“Cheering y’all athletes on!”
“Go for first place in the gold medal tally!”
“Eagerly awaiting the opening ceremony!”
“Lillian, my goddess!”
“This is going to be Lillian’s debut performance in China!”
“There are only two more hours to go! I can’t wait!”
“Lillian! I love her so much!”
“Hey, didn’t we forget about Teacher Zhang?”
“Why should we care about Teacher Zhang! Even if you don’t follow that guy, he’ll still stir up something big every now and then, and you can see him on the news every other day. But it’s different for Lillian. This is her first time coming to China to perform. It’s going to be a historic moment!”
“Pfft, that’s true.”
“I’m still looking forward to hearing Zhang Ye’s new song.”
“They kept it under wraps really well. No one knows what kind of song they’ll be singing.”
“Lillian seems to have just arrived in Beijing yesterday. I wonder if they can pair well together? I’m very worried about them.”
“I’m also very worried. But what I’m worried about is that bad temper of Zhang Ye’s. Hopefully, he won’t end up fighting with Lillian’s team. We all know that when Zhang Ye flies into a rage, he doesn’t give a damn about anyone!”
“Dammit, previous poster, don’t jinx it!”
“Now that you brought it up, I am starting to get a little worried!”
…
At the venue of the Olympics.
Little did they know, Zhang Ye and Lillian were getting along splendidly.
The two of them were in a lounge with a window that had access to the open air. As this place was in a very remote area of the Olympic venue and everyone was busy with the ongoing events at the main arena, hardly anyone came over here. The lounge’s window was open at the moment, and smoke was constantly dispersing out from inside.
Zhang Ye had a cigarette in his mouth as he pointed at the music score and said, “Let’s do it according to how we did it in yesterday’s rehearsal.”
Lillian held a cigarette between her fingers and said, “Alright, maybe I’ll go an octave higher over here.”
“You’re still going higher?” Zhang Ye said, “I guess that’s fine, but I’m not going an octave higher. My next register up doesn’t sound good, although I can still reach it if I want to.”
Lillian nodded and said, “Then it’s settled. After our smoke, let’s run through it once more.”
Zhang Ye said, “OK.”
On the day of the opening ceremony, in all the years of the Olympics, probably the only ones who dared to smuggle in matches and secretly smoke at the stadium were Zhang Ye and Lillian!
…
In the Olympic Village.
As there was still plenty of time left for the athletes to proceed to the stadium where the opening ceremony was to be held, the athletes from the various countries stayed in their respective apartments to chat, train, or rest.
At the Chinese table tennis team apartment.
“They’re definitely ruining the theme song by letting Zhang Ye sing it.”
“His singing is so terrible to listen to!”
“I wonder why they let him sing a duet with Lillian!”
“Just watch! If he ruins the song, it’ll reflect so poorly on our Chinese people!”
At the Chinese gymnastics team apartment.
“Why is everyone on the Internet talking about the theme song that Zhang Ye and Lillian will be singing?”
“Because Lillian is an international superstar!”
“Actually, Zhang Ye isn’t bad either.”
“What do you mean he’s not bad? He’s totally a hooligan!”
Many of the athletes and coaches who were involved in the scolding battle with Zhang Ye were grumbling and complaining. The skit on Beijing Television’s Spring Festival Gala, “Playing it Up,” had caused many of those in the Chinese sports world to become Zhang Ye’s “enemies for life.” They would not be satisfied if they did not criticize him some!
…
The Central TV live coverage had already begun!
There were a total of three people in the live coverage studio and one of them was Yu Yingyi. If Yu Yingyi’s popularity had not soared because of the Go war between humans and machines some days ago, she would not have had the opportunity to take part in this Olympic live coverage event. At most, she would have been assigned to conduct interviews on the ground rather than being placed within the live coverage studio as one of the hosts.
The famous commentator, Zhao Zhi, said, “We can see that every country’s leader has entered the venue.”
Yu Yingyi smiled and said, “According to the information we received, the Beijing Olympics has the highest participation of world leaders in all the years that the Olympics have been held. It is also going to have the highest number of countries around the world who are broadcasting the Olympics on television and giving the most coverage of events in the history of the games. That is the beauty of sports and the charm of the Olympics!”
It was getting closer and closer to the opening ceremony!
The stadium was filled with several tens of thousands of people, and nearly all seats were occupied. This was astonishing and pumped everyone up! It was the first time that China was hosting the Olympics. As a first time host, they warmly welcomed every country’s delegation to the country. With so much attention from the whole world focused on them for the first time, this was not something that they had experienced before. The Chinese were all hoping that this Olympics would go down in the annals of history!
Zhao Zhi said, “Today is a historic moment!”
Another commentator said, “Yeah, I’m already getting excited.”
Yu Yingyi said, “Let’s switch to a view of the grounds, where we will be interviewing the live audience.”
They switched over to the cameras on the ground.
A Central TV reporter appeared on camera.
He smiled and said, “Thank you to our hosts in the studio. I’m currently at the National Stadium, which is the main venue of the Olympics. Everyone can see that the seats are full. Over here, the majority of the audience are locals. But we also have some foreign friends who specially came from overseas to support their countries’ athletes. I will now interview some of them to understand what their expectations for this opening ceremony are.” He turned around and walked into the audience.
The cameraman followed.
The live broadcast was being televised across the country.
The Central TV reporter pointed his microphone at a foreign woman and said, “Hello.”
She was part of a group that consisted of other foreigners. When they saw the camera, they immediately waved and screamed madly at it.
The reporter asked in English, “What do you look forward to most during the opening ceremony?”
That foreign woman immediately yelled, “Lillian! Lillian, of course! She’s my idol for life! I love her!”
The Central TV reporter found a Chinese young adult next. “Hello.”
The young adult faced the camera nervously. “Hello.”
The Central TV reporter asked, “The opening ceremony is about to begin. What do you wish to see most?”
The young adult answered without any hesitation, “I only wish to see Lillian!”
The reporter asked, “Why?”
The young adult gave a shy smile and said, “Because she is my goddess! I’ve listened to all of her songs and watched all the movies she acted in!”
The reporter laughed and said, “It looks like you are a diehard fan of hers. Alright, thank you.”
After that, the Central TV reporter interviewed a few more people.
“Lillian!”
“Lillian, of course!”
“I’m only here to see Lillian!”
As expected, everyone talked only about Lillian!
…
The people watching the live broadcast on TV were amused.
“I only want to see Lillian, no one else!”
“Did you expect that I would want to see Zhang Ye? We’re already bored of him! Haha!”
“How can Teacher Zhang compare to our Lillian!”
“You can ask a hundred people and they’d all tell you that they’re here to see Lillian as well.”
…
At the stadium.
The Central TV reporter smiled into the camera and said, “It looks like this most beautiful woman from Britain is far too popular. I’ll keep asking around to see if there’s anyone with a different answer.”
He found an auntie to interview.
The auntie was on her cell phone, her head down.
The Central TV reporter walked up to her and said, “Hello, auntie.”
She was taken aback. “Hmm?”
The reporter asked, “Who do you most look forward to seeing during the opening ceremony?”
The auntie answered, “Zhang Ye.”
That Central TV reporter was jarred by her answer. “Great, we finally have someone saying something different. So why are you looking forward to seeing Zhang Ye? Is it because you’re looking forward to hearing his new song?”
The auntie said, “Nope.”
The reporter probed, “Then is it because his duet partner is Lillian?”
The auntie said, “Nope.”
The reporter asked dumbfounded, “Then why are you looking forward to seeing him?”
The auntie looked at him as though he were a fool of some sort. “Because I’m his mother!”
The reporter stumbled and nearly fainted!
The audience watching the live coverage laughed hysterically!
“Aiyo, I can’t take this anymore!”
“Hahahahahahaha!”
“How funny is that!”
“Can it be any funnier than this! Pfft!”
“This freaking answer is going to be such a classic line!”
“I nearly pissed myself laughing!”
“Hahahaha! I’m in stitches!”
In the live coverage studio.
Zhao Zhi said in a stunned manner, “Is she really Professor Zhang’s mother?”
Yu Yingyi stopped holding back her laughter. “Yes, I saw Auntie when I was attending university. After this many years, she still looks as young as ever.”
When the audience heard that, they laughed even harder!
Just how coincidental could it get!
In a stadium with several tens of thousands of people, the reporter had actually interviewed Zhang Ye’s mother and even asked such a silly question!
