0713: You who shine in the parallel world

Before 11 a.m. the next day, Yu Yu and her teammates boarded the shuttle bus, waved goodbye to the fans who were waiting outside for work, and headed to the studio.

Upon arrival, they went to the dressing room to do their makeup, change clothes, and style their hair, as arranged by the production team.

The makeup and styling for "The Walking Fish" was not complicated. Chen Chusheng and the other two changed their clothes and did their hair, and the makeup was done quickly. However, the makeup and styling for "Under Investigation" was much more complicated.

Although Yu Yu had adapted the original song "Under Investigation" in a way that was completely different from what the production team had expected, there was no need to change the makeup and styling too much; it remained the gothic dark style that the production team had previously designed.

After changing into a black and red European-style robe and dyeing her hair blonde with a one-time hair dye, the makeup artist looked at the face in the mirror that was so perfect that it didn't need any artificial makeup. Without saying a word, she combed all the blonde hair back into a neat slicked-back hairstyle.

Yu Yu looked at the hairpiece on the table in front of him but didn't dare to say anything. The makeup artist behind him seemed quite excited, so much so that the movement of pulling his hair back to expose his forehead was a bit too big, and now he felt his scalp was a little tight.

He vaguely remembered that his makeup and styling were originally planned to be a wolf tail look.

“Cyrus, even if your face is half-covered by your bangs, it’s still a waste!” the makeup artist exclaimed. “Today, your role is that of the serpent who tempted Adam and Eve to fall, the hypocritical priest, and the devil that exists in people’s hearts to tempt them to fall. You should show off your greatest strengths!”

"No, no, no, smoky eye makeup is a mistake, it's completely unacceptable, oh my God, how could you do this? These people have absolutely no design skills. You just need to add some eyeliner and a touch of vermilion at the outer corner of your eye! That way you'll look pure and innocent enough!"

Seeing that the makeup artist was completely absorbed in his own world, Yu Yu vaguely remembered that he would inexplicably smile happily when he did makeup for him before. He hesitated and asked, "Don't you need to consult your boss and the production team?"

"No need, I am the leader. I am the styling director for this year's Piggy. You can call me Alex, because I will also be your makeup artist for the next few episodes. I have too many styling inspirations for you, and I don't trust to hand you over to other assembly line workers."

Perhaps because Yu Yu's physical appearance was too exceptional, Alex, who was supposed to be instructing his makeup artists, chose to personally take charge from the very beginning.

This led to Hu Yanbin gaining the nickname "Lianyu Binbin" after the show aired, and Yu Yu also getting the nickname "Miracle Fish," specifically referring to his overly stunning appearance in every performance.

"So, Cyrus, could you please take your appearance seriously and style your hair more often? Haven't you hired a personal stylist yet? Why don't you have your agent contact me right away? I'll give you a 90% discount on your salary if you can handle your daily styling."

The stylist's words were full of resentment and disappointment that Yu Yu never paid any attention to makeup and always went bare-faced, yet still looked beautiful. He felt that Yu Yu was completely wasting her talent.

Of course, even though Alex wanted to treat Yu Yu like a doll and change her clothes every day, his aesthetic sense was on point; otherwise, he wouldn't have become the stylist for a top variety show like Pi Ge.

Therefore, when others saw Yu Yu's blond slicked-back pseudo-priest look, they couldn't help but say that he should weld his blond hair onto his head.

Her eyes were already incredibly blue, and with blonde hair on top of that, wouldn't she be the quintessential blonde beauty with blue eyes?

"Don't even mention Yuexin falling in love at first sight, anyone would be attracted to that," Boyuan said. He himself is a fan of their year's Super Boy contestants and knows all about their past. Of course, he also knows about the misunderstanding that Yu Yu was Wang Yuexin's "first love".

"Haha, why are you speaking such blunt truths?" Wang Yuexin laughed. This kid seems quite proud?

"Why don't you take another look at Zhang Yuan? He's dressed up as a classical beauty this time." Yu Yu gestured to Zhang Yuan, who was getting his hair done not far away.

Compared to the Western Gothic group, where everyone except Yu Yu wore smoky eye makeup, the three members of "The Performer" were an Eastern classical style group.

Yu Yu gave up on getting hair extensions, while Zhang Yuan gave him long, flowing hair extensions. The white robe he wore made him look even more tall and handsome, standing out even more.

Besides Captain Zhang, the other two captains were also dressed up in rather flamboyant outfits, while Chen Chusheng, dressed in a modern style, looked rather ordinary in comparison.

Perhaps in the future, we can ask that Alex makeup artist to do some makeup and styling for Chen Chusheng? Yu Yu touched his chin. He always felt that if he told the other party that because his captain and older brother was dressed "simplely," he didn't want to do any makeup or styling to overshadow his captain, the other party would definitely grab a makeup brush and rush over without saying a word.

Of course, Yu Yu didn't think his older brother was unattractive; in fact, his music was already captivating enough (as evidenced by the layered armor), a fact that became apparent during the red card showdown later on.

If you add some external factors, it will be even more effective in winning people over.

The audience members entered the venue one after another with their number plates. The staff led them through several warm-up sessions, while the male contestants from backstage also arrived at the recording hall to wait.

The four team captains and host Qi Sijun stood together at the edge of the stage, waiting for the countdown to end so they could go on stage and start the show.

Amidst flashing lights and rousing music, the second performance of the third season of The Pike Place Contest officially kicked off.

After the four team leaders took turns going on stage to announce their tribes' declarations of war, Chen Chusheng and Wang Yaoqing stayed behind, while Su Xiaoding and Ma Boqian also came up to the stage.

The next segment will be the red card showdown.

It was only at this point that Qi Sijun, on behalf of the production team, announced the specific rules for the red card duel.

The winner of the duel will be temporarily safe from the red card status, but if the losing team's red card tribe fails to win MVP in this performance, then the red card members of the team will be directly eliminated if their audience popularity ranking is in the bottom ten.

Previously, the production team only revealed that the loser of the red card duel would face a greater risk of elimination, but they did not elaborate on what that risk was.

It now seems that they were just calculating how to save Ma Boqian.

Although Xiao Ma is unlucky, he has strong financial resources and is unlikely to be eliminated in the second round. His popularity rating will definitely not drop to the bottom, so even if he gets a red card, he will not be eliminated.

But what about his tribe, Wang Yaoqing's? Yu Yu doesn't think they can get first place in this round unless the production team stops acting and chooses to be selectively deaf. It's not because they're too weak, but because their opponents are too strong.

So, is the production team putting on this whole show to give their chosen candidates a tragic, heart-wrenching script? Yu Yu raised an eyebrow. This tactic is quite common. They're clearly planning to first suppress and then elevate, to make things difficult before they're sweet. The more miserable the beginning, the more enjoyable it will be for the audience when they "turn the tables" later.

But which script is more like a "feel-good" story: one that's agonizing at first and then satisfying?

Watching Ma Boqian, who immediately started interacting with the audience and creating a lively atmosphere after singing a quiet song on stage, Yu Yu thought that the kid probably didn't know that he was just a pawn whose fate and selling point had already been decided by the program team.

Whether his singing was steady or not is another matter, but his song, having come from overseas, had picked up some of the bad habits of "rustic" Western music. As Yu Yu listened, he tapped the table with his fingers, and those little flaws always made him want to help him fix them.

However, this is just due to his professional habits. In his picky and demanding eyes, many works actually have better interpretations, but he would never go out of his way to tell people that their music needs to be changed.

For Yu Yu, Xiao Ma's impromptu medley was a bit too much. In fact, his style of American street rap that blends pop, electronic and rock has a small audience in the West. However, he doesn't seem to have fully mastered this style.

Xiao Ma really went all out. Street rap combined with rock and black metal vocals can easily create an atmosphere on stage and make the audience overlook any flaws in his singing skills, provided that it's done well.

Unfortunately, he still has a lot of room for improvement.

As the spotlight on Ma Boqian dimmed and the spotlight on Chen Chusheng brightened, Yu Yu changed her sitting position. Wang Yuexin, who had been dancing along to Ma Boqian's music, also came back and sat quietly next to Yu Yu to enjoy the performance.

"When time, like ocean waves, carries me far, far away..."

The powerful and evocative vocals, accompanied by the clean and simple strumming of the guitar, resonated in the quiet studio. The singer, who sang of the passing years like ocean waves, transformed the song into layers of gentle waves lapping against a golden beach, tenderly stirring the emotions of the audience, who swayed and rose with the rhythm of the tides.

Until the chanting, powerful enough to shake the heavens and the gradual piano music, pushed all the thoughts that had been raised to the peak of the storm, the cheers of the audience below the stage rose and fell like the roar of giant waves crashing on the sea, almost making Su Xiaoding, who was standing by the stage waiting for the result, breathless. The feeling of sourness and excitement made him turn his back, not wanting to cry too miserably in front of the camera.

One person, one guitar, one microphone, one beam of light, simplifying the complex, the four brothers behind the scenes had already stood together and sang along with Chen Chusheng on stage, while Ma Boqian in the darkness on stage was already convinced and waved his arms with the audience below for Chen Chusheng.

The result was obvious: Chen Chusheng won the duel in the simplest and purest way, and it was as if he launched a rebellious charge against the program team in the purest way of music.

Looking at the audience cheering and shouting for Chen Chusheng, and even those who instantly became fans and switched sides, Guoguo felt a vague unease in her heart while happy about the ratings after the broadcast. She felt that something was gradually slipping out of their control.

In particular, when the camera panned to the brothers backstage and saw the 0705 group erupt in even more intense screams from the audience.

(It's been almost 25 years in the blink of an eye, and this is undoubtedly the longest story I've ever written. I can't believe it took me this long, haha. I haven't written any side stories in all this time, and with the New Year approaching, I thought I'd do a little event. If there's any side story you'd like to see, or any pairing/clash/parody you'd like to see, feel free to leave a comment below this paragraph. The comment with the most likes will be written as a side story. The deadline is 23:59 on the 31st. PS, anything that can be uploaded and approved is fine, even if it has zero content. But anything that can't be approved is fine, haha. It's useless if I can write it but you can't see it.)