1990: Starting from Baojia Street

In an alley on the North Third Ring Road, inside the courtyard of Chu Changsong's family.

A group of people gathered around a TV, watching the music observation program on CCTV Channel 3.

These are all members of Zhou Yan’s Fan Club at Yenching Normal University, and they had specially made an appointment to watch the Forbidden City Concert together.

Of course they also want to buy tickets to watch the event in person, but tickets are too difficult to buy and scalper tickets are too expensive, so not everyone can afford them.

Their fan club is pretty good, and because it has connections with Zhou Yan's studio, I got two free tickets.

President Shang Wenya and his colleagues did not keep the two tickets for themselves, but instead used them for a lottery.

The Zhou Yan Fan Club of Yanshi University has a contribution system. Participating in different activities can earn varying amounts of points, and these points can be used to exchange for some supplies from the club, such as Zhou Yan's autographed albums, autographed books, and concert tickets.

In fact, among the relatively large Zhou Yan fan clubs in China, the Yanshi University fan club has the weakest financial strength, while many local fan clubs have large financial support.

For example, the Shanghai Support Group has several big financial sponsors among its members, who often provide benefits to the members.

These fan clubs have full-time staff who do not have other jobs and are specifically responsible for the operation and development of the fan clubs. These people are paid, and their salaries are paid by these financial sponsors.

The economic base determines the superstructure. The fan clubs that are relatively well developed in China have basically spent a lot of money, and the amount of money spent is basically positively correlated with the development of the fan clubs.

The more money you spend, the more members there will be in the fan club, the more activities there will be, and the stronger the cohesion will be.

As for the Yanshi University Fans Association, most of its main members are students. Although there are some small donors willing to spend money, none of them can give the bulk of the money.

However, because they have connections with Zhou Yan, they can often get some relevant supplies, and these supplies can help their fan club attract members.

Some of Zhou Yan's supplies cannot be bought even with money, especially exclusive autographs. Zhou Yan rarely gets them, but the Yanjing Fan Club can get them occasionally.

Of course, if these things were converted into money, the operating costs of the Yanjing Fans Association would not be low.

Take the two tickets this time for example. If Shang Wenya and the others didn't put them up for the lottery, but chose to sell them instead, the two tickets combined would be worth at least a few thousand yuan. If they're lucky, they might be able to sell them for more than ten thousand yuan.

And those exclusive signed albums, if you put the quota up for sale, not to mention too much, one album will definitely sell for over a thousand.

Apart from the two lucky ones, there were not many other people who bought their own tickets. Most people could only watch in front of the TV or go to the entrance of the Temple of Heaven.

Chu Changsong and his friends also wanted to go to the gate of Taimiao, but there were too many people there, and once they got there they could only stay outside, unlike at home where they could see inside by watching TV.

Going to the Taimiao or staying at home, both options have their pros and cons. After weighing the pros and cons, they decided to watch the show quietly at home.

But when we saw the program on CCTV Channel 3, we felt a little regretful.

"I should have gone to the scene earlier. The red carpet is so interesting to watch." Chu Changsong said.

"Yeah, let's go watch the red carpet first, and then come back to watch TV when the time comes. It won't waste time."

"Who knew there would be a red carpet like this? There was no prior notice."

"Yes, I only heard that many celebrities came to watch Teacher Zhou's concert, but I didn't hear that there would be a red carpet."

"Alright, alright, it's no use regretting now, it's too late to rush over now."

"It's really too late. Judging from the sky inside, it should be delayed for quite a long time."

Their current location was not very far from the Temple of Heaven, so the sky should look about the same. However, the sky on the TV was obviously darker than what they saw here, which was obviously due to video delay.

They can understand this delay and it does not affect the TV watching experience.

This is not the Internet age. People have fewer ways to receive information and the speed is slow, so a delay of half an hour is difficult to detect.

Unlike the later Internet era, if the live broadcast of an event is delayed by half an hour, the audience experience will be greatly reduced, because there will definitely be video streaming on the spot, and everyone can watch it by simply swiping their mobile phones.

Just imagine, if Chu Changsong and his friends were still watching the red carpet, and someone on the other side saw Zhou Yan on the stage on their phone, how bad would the experience be.

"Just watch TV." Lin Juan said with a smile, "There are so many people here, we may not be able to get a good seat even if we go."

Xu Yongke beside him said with a smile, "Sister Lin, I thought all the employees in your studio were given tickets, but I didn't expect that they would come to watch TV with us."

Chu Changsong glanced at Xu Yongke and thought that this kid had very low EQ and really didn't know how to talk. It would be so embarrassing for Sister Lin to say such things.

Lin Juan didn't care. She smiled and said, "There are too many people in the studio, and we can't send out tickets. Besides, I prefer to watch it with you guys. It's more interesting."

"Yes, yes, yes. If Sister Lin wants to go, she can definitely get a ticket." Chu Changsong said with a smile.

"Wow, Joey Wong is out." Someone shouted, pointing at the TV.

"It's really Joey Wong."

"Xiaoxian is so beautiful today."

"Sister Lin, have you ever met Joey Wong in person?"

"Isn't this nonsense? Sister Xiaolin has participated in the filming of all of Mr. Zhou's movies. She must have met Joey Wong."

Lin Juan smiled and nodded, "In "Time Traveler", I was mainly responsible for Xiaoxian's makeup."

"Really? Sister Juan'er, you are amazing. Her makeup in "Time Traveler" is very special."

Lin Juan smiled. In fact, most of the makeup of the heroine in "Time Traveler" was relatively plain and looked nothing special. Only the wedding scene looked stunning.

But those makeups that look nothing special actually require more thought.

It takes skill to paint a person beautifully, but it takes even more skill to paint a beautiful woman in a way that is not too stunning but looks very comfortable, as if she is wearing makeup and yet looks like she is not wearing makeup.

Although the script sets the heroine's appearance to be quite ordinary when first seen, the audience would definitely not buy it if Joey Wong was really drawn to be ordinary.

At that time, the makeup for "Time Traveler" was the most troublesome for Joey Wong. Many versions were tried and all were rejected.

Fortunately, everyone thought the final version was good, and the audience response after the movie was screened was also very good. When the audience saw Joey Wong, they felt that she was both ordinary and beautiful.

Of course, the people in the yard didn't understand these things, but that didn't stop them from thinking that Lin Juan was amazing, because they knew that since Zhou Yan could entrust Wang Zuxian's makeup to Lin Juan, it meant that Lin Juan was amazing.

"In fact, I have done makeup for all the actors who appeared just now. Teacher Li Xuejian, Teacher Xie Fang, Naiwen and Xiao Ran, some of them I was mainly responsible for, and some I just assisted. The makeup team is not big, there are not many people, and each of us needs to be responsible for a lot of actors."

Xu Yongke couldn't help but give a thumbs up, "Sister Lin, you are so awesome."

Lin Juan smiled and said, "Stop flattering me and just watch the show."

In fact, there was something Lin Juan didn't tell them. Not only was it she who did Wang Zuxian's makeup in "Time Traveler", but she was also the one who did Wang Zuxian's makeup when she walked on the red carpet today.

She first put makeup on Wang Zuxian and the others in the studio, and then rode her bike to Chu Changsong's house. …

"Ms. Joey Wong appeared on the red carpet."

In the studio of CCTV 3, guest Sun Dong saw Wang Zuxian with a smile on his face. "I would like to take this opportunity to thank Miss Wang Zuxian. Last year, she donated pianos to our school, which solved a big problem for our school."

"It seems that Miss Wang Zuxian is also very concerned about the music teaching in our country." Liu Lu took over the conversation and continued, "When I saw Wang Zuxian, I thought of the commercial that Teacher Zhou shot with her. The music used in it was "Drinking the Yangtze River Water Together". The program list for this Forbidden City concert was not announced in advance, so everyone is very concerned about which songs will be played in the concert. Director Sun, do you think this song "Drinking the Yangtze River Water Together" will appear in the concert?"

"To be precise, the song in the ad should be called 'Streets Where the Wind Lives'. 'Drinking the Yangtze River Water Together' was derived from this song, but there is a big difference between the two. Compared with 'Streets Where the Wind Lives', 'Drinking the Yangtze River Water Together' has more folk music elements. To be honest, there is a real hope that this song will appear today."

"This morning I was chatting with my colleagues in the office, and everyone made some guesses about today's program. Most people think that songs like "Memories of the Forbidden City" will definitely appear. What do you think, Director Sun? Do you agree with this guess?"

Sun Dong nodded, "Of course, I can't imagine any reason not to show "Memories of the Forbidden City" today."

Liu Lu smiled and said, "It sounds like Director Sun is very confident."

“This is a very rational judgment.”

"Then we'll see."

In fact, when Liu Lu and Sun Dong talked about this topic, they were talking entirely to the audience in front of the TV.

The Forbidden City Concert is hosted by CCTV. Zhou Yan must have communicated with CCTV about the program list, and all the programs must be submitted to the relevant departments for review.

Liu Lu had also received the program list a long time ago. After all, they were making the show and needed to know this information in advance so they could prepare.

Joey Wong walked the red carpet, and most of the people who appeared after her were singers, so there were more introductions about music.

As for pop music, Liu Lu knows more.

With the introduction of the two guests, the red carpet stage looks quite interesting.

……

After the red carpet show ended, at 6:15, the audience began to check their tickets and enter the venue.

There were two entrances in total, and the audience entered at a very fast speed, mainly because there were enough staff to maintain order. Otherwise, with so many people crowded together, the audience who actually had tickets might not be able to squeeze in.

In order to allow the audience to check in their tickets smoothly, after walking the red carpet, the isolation belt next to it was not removed, but was left directly as a ticket checking channel. The audience with tickets could walk directly from the red carpet to the door.

At 6:45, ticket checking ended.

There are more than 3,000 seats, and no audience member was late, so the staff closed the door directly.

Hardison and Jessica had already found their seats and sat down. The tickets for this concert in the United States were all in the middle and back, and their tickets were also at the back.

However, there are only so many seats in the yard. Except for the front row which is closer to the stage, there is actually not much difference between the middle and the back.

Because the stage is up there and is divided into three levels, it’s not hard to see what’s happening on the stage.

When they came in just now, they found that the orchestra had already started preparing on the stage, and now the stage was almost ready.

About ten minutes later, at 6:55, all the lights in the yard went out.

Although the lights were off, unlike the darkness in the concert hall, there was still some light inside the courtyard of the Temple of Heaven.

After the lights went out for a short time, when they came on again, they were even more dazzling than before.

At this moment, the stage is covered with mist and lights, making the main hall of the Temple of Heaven feel like a fairyland.

Finally, a beam of light fixed on a position on the second floor of the stage - Zhou Yan was sitting there.

Zhou Yan was half sitting on a tall round stool with a microphone in front of him and a bamboo flute in his hand.

When the lights shone on him, the audience burst into cheers and applause.

Jessica and the others originally wanted to observe the etiquette of the concert hall, but seeing how enthusiastic the other audience members were, they also let go and cheered and applauded to their heart's content.

Although it was a concert, the atmosphere was more like a concert.

They had never attended a concert like this before, nor had they participated in a concert like this.

The stage is in front of the magnificent hall, giving strong visual stimulation to these European and American audiences.

In such an environment, listening to any music will be a pleasure.

Zhou Yan was on the stage, looking at the audience with a smile on his face. He didn't say anything, just quietly enjoying everyone's enthusiasm.

After the applause gradually died down, he adjusted the microphone and said, "Good evening, everyone. Welcome to my concert."

When Zhou Yan opened his mouth, Jessica and Hardison were a little confused. They didn't understand what Zhou Yan was saying and could only roughly guess that Zhou Yan was welcoming everyone.

At this time, the two regretted not bringing George in. If George was there, he could translate Zhou Yan's words for them.

Of course, even if we buy another ticket for George, it is impossible for him to buy a seat right next to them. If he wants to exchange seats with others, they may not be willing.

Jessica and her friends are not the only foreigners present at the event today. There are several hundred people from Europe, America and Japan.

Among these hundreds of people, a small number can speak Chinese.

Most of the rest can only worry.

Zhou Yan also knew that there were many foreign audiences, but he couldn't take care of them.

If he finished speaking in Chinese and then repeated it in other languages, it would be a waste of time. The concert schedule is already quite tight, and conditions do not allow him to spend more time on this.

As for those foreign audiences whose language is different from Chinese, we can only let them down.

"This concert has actually been in preparation for a long time, but it was not until the beginning of this year that it was finally confirmed. As the old saying goes, good food is never too late. Although the preparation time was a bit long, it was finally held."

Looking at the audience below the stage, Zhou Yan was in a good mood.

This concert is probably the one he put the most thought into and the most expensive one since his debut.

Since the most thought has been put into it, naturally the most expectations have been placed on it. Since there are expectations, one certainly does not want to make any mistakes.

But everything is fine, at least so far, nothing has gone wrong. (End of this chapter)