The plan had been two songs, yet now three had already been sung. With the thunderous encore echoing across the venue, how would Chu Zhi respond?
Of course, the Emperor Beast, Chu Zhi would choose to sing another.
"I don't have accompaniment prepared for any other songs, so I'll just use a guitar and sing it raw," Chu Zhi said. "It might not sound as polished."
Polished or not, the fans didn't care. The chance to hear him again was already more than enough.
Among the three thousand foreign fans, only a small number understood Chinese, but thankfully almost everyone knew what "Encore" meant: a plea for their idol to come back onstage.
The Yanmian Band, who had already started packing up, sat back down. The lead singer muttered under his breath, "Outdoor a cappella… brother Jiu is bold and skilled."
Why had Chu Zhi prepared an instrumental track for "The Brightest Star in the Night Sky"? Because tomorrow he would appear at the Lychee TV Anniversary Gala, which was being broadcast live. Naturally, accompaniment had to be ready beforehand.
Any singer with some standing prepared their own backing tracks, because whether for medleys or adapting to different set times, relying on oneself always provided the most security.
For Ojima Matsushika, this was the first time he had led an encore call that actually succeeded. The whole crowd followed his lead. That rare sense of achievement swelled in his chest, making him shout even louder.
"Stop yelling already." A Japanese fan tugged him back. "The idol already agreed to sing again. What's the point of more screaming?"
"Oh." Ojima Matsushika quieted down, though he cast a smug glance at Xiao Gang, the first fan who had shouted. Inwardly, Ojima Matsushika declared victory.
"What a coward," he thought. "With such a weak voice, how do you expect to command a battleship?"
After a few minutes of preparation, Chu Zhi began. "This song is called Elopement."
Thanks to the system's encyclopedic lessons, Chu Zhi had come to know many figures of the global rock scene.
There was old Cui, who once sang, "I want the whole world to see me, but not know who I am." There was Dou Wei, who had ascended to near-mythical status, and the cold-blooded rocker Xie Tianxiao. But among them, the one Chu Zhi personally favored most was Zheng Jun, the untamed rebel.
And Elopement was perfect for a music festival.
He strummed the guitar strings.
🎵 "We gave our youth to the dazzling city behind us. For this beautiful dream, we've paid the price…" 🎵
Singing without a backing track meant relying entirely on vocal tone and technique. Fortunately, Chu Zhi possessed both in abundance.
By now the sky was fully dark. The crowd's glow sticks shimmered like a sea of stars.
He wasn't drunk, yet his voice carried a raw intoxication, as if it could press down the galaxy itself.
At first, the audience swayed quietly. But when the song reached its soaring climax, the Little Fruits in the front row nearly leapt three feet into the air.
The chorus of Elopement went:
🎵 "I want to elope with you, to the farthest town. I want to elope with you, to become the happiest people alive." 🎵
For example, South Korean superfan Kim Mina, usually calm and reserved—perhaps because she was in a foreign country—found her composure shattered.
Because when Chu Zhi sang the chorus, he was looking straight at her. The words felt like they were meant only for her.
Oh, Mama. It wasn't that her willpower was weak. It was that this man was too enchanting.
"Professor, I'm willing! I'm willing! Ahhh!" Kim Mina shouted with all her strength.
Her voice wasn't especially loud, drowned out by the shrieks of countless Little Fruits, but among the South Korean fan group, it stood out immediately.
"Mina-unnie, why are you so excited?" another Korean fan asked in confusion.
"Elopement! Professor wants to elope with me!" Kim Mina babbled, barely coherent. "Of course I'm willing, absolutely willing! Nothing can stop me, I'll give up everything if I must."
"Huh?"
The other Korean fans exchanged baffled looks. What on earth was she talking about? Then they noticed that every so often, Kim Mina would scream again, completely overwhelmed.
Damn it, they thought. If only we had learned Chinese instead of English. Clearly the lyrics were some kind of confession.
The five-minute performance was accompanied by nonstop screams.
"The King of Gu live on stage, weaving his spell. What girl could refuse to elope with Chu Zhi?!" cried Da Di from the Sour Grapes Band, staring wide-eyed. He turned to Xi Gao. "Right?"
"Do you even need to ask? My ears are ringing from the shrieks," Xi Gao replied. He was honestly amazed. After screaming all afternoon, hadn't the fans' voices gone hoarse? Where did this new energy come from?
"You two talk like it's only girls who can't resist." Mi Po suddenly chimed in.
Da Di and Xi Gao gave him strange looks. Yet as they thought back, they realized it was true: when Chu Zhi sang "I want to elope with you," several male fans had screamed the loudest, waving their arms like maniacs.
By now Chu Zhi had performed four songs in total. With the chatting in between and the setup before each number, he had been onstage for more than twenty minutes.
"Until next time." With those words from Chu Zhi, the curtain fell on the Strawberry Music Festival.
Tens of thousands began leaving in an orderly fashion. Without good organization, it could have turned into chaos, but the festival had been running for years, and the staff had plenty of experience. The real key was having enough volunteers.
The volunteers weren't paid, but they were given small gifts as thanks. This year it was a yellow messenger bag, better than just a flimsy keychain.
"When will Elopement be released as a single? I love it so much."
"I prefer Orphan of the Beautiful World. It's darker, but that power erupting out of the gloom—that's what I look forward to."
"Don't get your hopes up. Jiu-yé doesn't like releasing singles. My friend told me he sang two originals at WOA, and even though they were amazing, no singles ever came out."
"Yeah, right. Brother Jiu performed Opera in Korea three years ago. Still no single."
"Today's festival was worth every penny. First surprise was Jiu-yé, second was Flying Pig Rider. That was great too."
As with a good movie, after such a powerful music festival, the urge to discuss it was irresistible.
Of course, where there was praise, there was also resentment.
"These cowards! Year after year, so many festivals, yet they never invite Chu-san! They only cater to domestic acts. Pathetic." Ojima Matsushika muttered angrily.
That very thought crossed the minds of nearly every foreign fan present. Why wasn't Chu Zhi invited to their own country's festivals?
Most fans could only complain, but Ojima Matsushika was different. He had actually gotten hold of the phone number of the CEO of a production company. This company happened to be the main organizer of SUMMER SONIC, one of Japan's three largest music festivals. Ojima Matsushika started speaking softly on the phone, but before long his voice had grown loud with passion.
After the festival, Modern Sky's President Fei had arranged a celebratory dinner. But as always, aside from the newly debuted bands from the New Blood program, almost no one attended. This had become tradition.
Chu Zhi had no time for the dinner anyway. Even dinner itself was nothing more than a hot dog scarfed down in the nanny van.
"I couldn't resist. I sang two extra songs. We still have enough time, right?" Chu Zhi asked, embarrassed, while chewing.
"Slow down, Jiu-yé," Xiao Zhuzi said, handing him water.
"No problem," Lao Qian nodded. "We'll just drive a bit faster. But today's Elopement… that was like a Sea King's anthem."
"Please. Our Xiao Jiu doesn't need to sing to be a Sea King," Wang Yuan scoffed.
Too hungry to argue, Chu Zhi kept eating. Singing drained a surprising amount of energy.
"Should we arrange a recording session?" Wang Yuan asked. "Get Elopement and Orphan of the Beautiful World down as singles?"
"No need for now," Chu Zhi replied. His priority was releasing the second album of new Chinese-style songs.
He knew well he had plenty of unreleased material. Eventually, once enough had piled up, he could compile them into a collection.
"It's a pity the festival wasn't broadcast," Wang Yuan remarked.
"What's there to pity? Once Chu Ci: Nine Songs comes out, it'll flood the headlines," Lao Qian said, which was hard to argue with.
The van headed for a suburban warehouse, where Toshiba had built a temporary set to shoot ads for their new product launch.
Three commercials were filmed overnight. By the time it was done, it was already eleven at night when they returned to the Hilton near R&F Center.
The next day, Chu Zhi returned to Shanghai to continue filming music videos. Only one remained. Victory was close at hand.
The album itself was set. Though the MVs weren't finished, the release date had been fixed: Winter Solstice.
Winter solstice, lamb stew, and a new album.
There was also the anti-drug campaign song, which Chu Zhi had pushed to the top of his to-do list.
In this parallel world, International Anti-Drug Day was different from Earth's. On Earth it was in June. He remembered vividly, because back then he had arranged a "Company Anti-Drug Day" just for appearances.
Here, however, it was held on the last Saturday of October. In 2022, that would be October 29, decided at a UN conference in Vienna.
And now it was already the 13th. Barely two weeks remained. Time was short. Chu Zhi began gathering materials immediately.
===
Elopement ("私奔", Sī Bēn) by Zheng Jun (郑钧, Zhèng Jūn).
--
Sea King is someone who juggles multiple romantic or sexual partners at the same time, usually by being smooth, charming, and evasive. The idea is that the ocean is vast and full of "fish," and the Sea King rules them all. A Sea King usually doesn't commit, keeps things vague, and makes each partner feel "special," while in reality having many others.
Usually it have derogatory tone, but sometimes playful, like calling someone a "player" or "Casanova."