The Book of All Things: Born for Joy

176. Youth Culture and Tourism -

For the next three days, Li Zichun cancelled all his activities, claiming to be ill and resting at home.

Zhao Qianfan and Du Zihua also stayed by his side, reading books, listening to music, playing games, swimming, exercising, doing Pilates, and wildly consuming their youth, doing what they wanted to do.

But things took an unexpectedly bizarre turn. Li Zichun actually fell ill while pretending, with a stuffy nose and runny nose. The diagnosis was that he caught a cold at night.

His illness alarmed half of the entertainment industry. The tonics sent by Lin Xuehua alone filled half the room, and Dai Rong and Xu Chengfeng also sent rare and precious medicines. The program's production team also invited traditional Chinese medicine doctors and Western medicine doctors to ensure his speedy recovery.

The room was filled with celebrities he had worked with before, and even those who couldn't come were given fruit baskets and personally called to greet him.

As a result of the constant stream of visits from celebrities, the media also picked up on the news, and now anyone who follows the internet and reads the news knows that he is ill.

The disease has escalated from a simple flu to all sorts of bizarre symptoms. Vampire syndrome and lupus are relatively easy to diagnose, but there are even rumors that those infected with AIDS or other incurable diseases will die on the spot.

Later on, some people even said that he would not live much longer.

Li Zichun initially dismissed these rumors, but as the situation escalated, he had no choice but to come forward to clarify. However, it wasn't a complete clarification; instead, he issued a statement announcing his retirement from the entertainment industry. He declared that "Youth Culture and Tourism" would gradually reduce its participation in various variety shows, continuously reduce its performance activities within six months, and all activities would end after six months. He also put his planned farewell concert on the agenda.

This sudden farewell ceremony completely stunned the entire entertainment industry, sparking heated discussions online with all sorts of opinions.

Zhao Qianfan and Du Zihua were also stunned, because Li Zichun had not consulted them at all when making this decision.

Although they were angry, they didn't say much. Besides, given Li Zichun's current reputation, there was no hope for him to rise any higher.

To reach this level of success without any resources, solely through one's own efforts, is already the limit for an ordinary person. The next step up would likely be a position like president of a music association, which requires more than just talent; it demands seniority, family background, academic achievements, connections, and recognition for significant contributions to one's work.

Li Zichun has done the best that an ordinary person can do without submitting to capital. He himself feels that there is no need to go any further, because he is afraid that one day he will become a bloodsucker of capital again.

Having built a large company with thousands of employees in his previous life was enough. Even if he only has a few short years in this sub-world, he just wants to live a more relaxed life.

As for the contract already signed with the official organization, he will naturally fulfill it to the end. However, since he is not fully recovered and does not want to pass on his cold to others, he applied to the production team to see if he could be included in the program as a work.

Upon receiving the news, Gu Qianyi immediately discussed it with the director. Although the contract stipulated that there should be no unexcused absences and clear provisions for illness, Li Zichun's situation of being able to appear on the show while clearly ill was an exception.

Considering Li Zichun's influence, the production team discussed it and decided it was feasible.

The director told him directly that the theme of the next episode was "tea ceremony" and asked him to make up for it with a poem or a song, and also recommended a replacement to participate in the show.

Li Zichun thought for a moment, then scrolled through his contacts, searching high and low.

Artists' schedules are inherently different from ordinary people's. Their activities are usually scheduled in advance, making it difficult to book them, let alone these popular stars who have sung their songs.

Moreover, finding someone to replace him is easier said than done.

Given his current status, no ordinary person could replace him.

After much deliberation, he finally decided to have Lin Fengmian come to replace him, asking him to cancel his original activities. He also found Yuan Chengzhi, a new generation of national singing king who loves tea, to fill in the gaps. He thought that having a rising star and a veteran singer in his place would be enough to keep the show in check.

As for the losses from those activities, they are more than capable of compensating with their current bank account balance.

However, Lin Fengmian and Yuan Chengzhi were quite perceptive. How could they let him bear the losses? Besides, this was an official program. After talking to the event organizers and local TV stations, who would dare to refuse to release him?

After finalizing the two choices, Li Zichun sent two more songs as a reward for the current period.

Even though it was only for one episode, he still agreed to help with the promotion.

As a result, this episode saw a surge in viewership despite Li Zichun's absence, largely due to his special recommendation.

As soon as the program team released the preview of the next episode's theme, Li Zichun directly reposted the Weibo post and wrote a poem by Bai Juyi, "Brewing Tea with Mountain Spring Water: A Poem of Reflection":

I sit and sip the cool water, watching the dust settle and swirl.

I have no way to send a bowl of tea to a tea lover.

At the same time, he took a week off and added a note that although he was absent due to illness, he had prepared a surprise for him.

The surprise was to give three songs to the best performer in that episode.

Upon hearing this good news, everyone was eager to compete. Although Zhao Qianfan and Du Zihua were not very interested, they didn't want to easily give up Li Zichun's song to others. In their eyes, everything he had should belong to them.

However, the more you want something or do something, the harder it is to succeed. After a series of competitions, the final winners were Yuan Chengzhi, Lin Fengmian, and Xue Qingrou, while Zhao Qianfan and Du Zihua missed out on all of them, feeling inexplicably frustrated.

Because the theme is tea ceremony, Li Zichun's past songs were also related to tea.

The song Yuan Chengzhi received was Li Guyi's "Qianmen Sentiments and Big Bowl Tea":

My grandfather used to play here when he was little.

The tall front gate seemed to be right next to my house.

A clump of withered grass and the chirping of crickets accompanied him through those gray years.

Eating a skewer of candied hawthorn is enough to celebrate the festival.

His three meals a day

Cornbread and pickled vegetables with a big bowl of tea

La la la~ La la la~

There are thousands of beverages in the world.

Perhaps it's the cheapest

but who knows

who knows

Who knows its rich aroma?

Tears welling up

It was filled with tears.

Now that I have returned from overseas, I see red walls and green tiles once again.

The towering front gate, I've dreamt of it countless times.

Time and storms may relentlessly batter it, but they only make it stand out with its majestic and upright form.

Call it Almond Tofu, and you'll experience the true beauty of Beijing cuisine.

With that childlike heart and with longing in my heart, I'll have another sip of tea from a big bowl.

Hey~~~ There are hundreds of drinks in the world, maybe this is the cheapest

But why, why, why does its rich aroma travel all the way to the ends of the earth?

It spread all the way to the ends of the earth.

The melody of the entire song uses a large number of ornaments, highlighting the song's characteristic of following the words in the melody. Moreover, each phrase basically begins with an anacrusis, making the song full of the charm of "Beijing Qinshu" (a type of storytelling with musical accompaniment). The use of electronic synthesizers in the accompaniment to imitate the timbres of instruments such as the sanxian (a three-stringed plucked instrument) and pipa (a four-stringed plucked instrument) further emphasizes this characteristic.

Yuan Chengzhi sang the entire song with his deep and story-telling voice, earning unanimous praise from the public.

The song Lin Fengmian received was Jay Chou's "Grandpa's Tea":

Grandpa's tea has a taste called home. Lu Yu's tea, it's said, he wouldn't accept fame or fortune.

Grandpa's tea has a taste that's called home. Grandpa's tea tastes so good!

Lu Yu's brewed tea is like a splashed-ink landscape painting.

A mountain spring meanders across the earth. From a long, long time ago, I had an innocent face. The spring water seeped into the mineral rock layer, where my grandfather planted camphor saplings.

I still remember that rainy day that year, when I was seven years old, I hid under the eaves, but I kept wanting to go swing on the swing.

Grandpa, smoking a cigarette, said that Lu Yu of the Tang Dynasty wrote the three-volume Classic of Tea, which has been passed down for a thousand years. That day, I flipped through the dictionary, looking up certain words.

Describing something as very distant: Is the horizon on the other side of the sea? I didn't realize I was wasting time until I was nine.

The cross-section of this camphor wood tea table shows twenty-three growth rings. The camera then cuts to my mature face on the other side.

Over the years, the calluses on Grandpa's hands have turned a tea-colored hue when soaked in water.

Grandpa's tea has a taste that's called home; you can't find fault with it, and the taste is quite good.

Lu Yu brews tea; it's said he neither seeks fame nor fortune. He leads a lean horse, wandering the world.

Grandpa's tea has a flavor that's called home. He has a full head of white hair, and you're not allowed to talk while drinking his tea.

The tea brewed by Lu Yu is like a splashed-ink landscape painting; the winds and sands of the Tang Dynasty, which have raged for a thousand years, are still blowing today.

A thousand years ago, that day I flipped through the dictionary, looking up a word to describe something very distant.

......

La la la la la~~ la la......”

"Grandpa's Tea" is a song about family affection. Through the perspective of a nine-year-old child, it describes the traditional Chinese tea culture and the Zen-like wisdom of grandpa's life. When the tea leaves are swirling and dancing, the communication between the two generations is both intimate and unique. The song is as if grandpa is telling his grandson that when the color of the tea spreads and the pure and happy melody rises, fame and fortune will naturally be thrown to the winds.

In this song, Vincent Fang expresses an indelible homesickness, using lyrics to pass on China's unique classical culture.

As for the lyrics mentioning Lu Yu, the Tang Dynasty, and the Three Volumes of the Tea Classic, which the production team considered "nonsense and fictitious," since they didn't exist in this era and their origins were unknown, Li Zichun directly interpreted them as some kind of imagery or spiritual symbolism, not a direct reference, but rather a general term.

No one dared to press him for details, and in the end, he simply brushed it off with a few words.

The third place winner, Xue Qingrou, received Yang Yuying's "Tea Mountain Love Song":

The pretty girls from the tea mountain... Ah... Ah... Ah... Ah... Pretty faces

Ten nimble fingers busy picking tea leaves. Ah-ye...ye...ye...ye...busy picking tea leaves.

It attracts butterflies to flutter and bees to hum.

Ah...ah...ah...ah...yay...yay...

This attracted the woodcutter from the opposite slope, oh woodcutter, oh woodcutter!

Hey! That little girl from the tea mountain

Ah yeah... yeah... yeah... yeah... Pretty face

This attracted the young man who was chopping wood on the opposite slope.

The woodcutter's voice was loud and clear: Ah-ye...ye...ye...ye...loud

A love song sung by two people, Ah yeah…yeah…yeah…yeah… sung by two people.

Singing makes butterflies fly in pairs

Ah, the camellias bloom in pairs, their fragrance lingering.

Ah...ah...ah...ah...yay...yay...

A pair of golden phoenixes flew out of the tea plantation! Oh, golden phoenixes, oh, golden phoenixes!

… …”

Xue Qingrou's voice is inherently gentle and refreshing. When she sings sweet love songs, it makes people feel as if a refreshing breeze is blowing through the tea forest in the mountains, and the air is full of pink bubbles.

The entire program simply follows the development of tea culture, showcasing how brewing, appreciating, smelling, and drinking tea can enhance friendship, cultivate virtue, teach etiquette, and help people understand traditional virtues. It is a very beneficial and harmonious ritual.

Its core theory is nothing more than respecting people, valuing life, sitting in oblivion, selflessness, and following the natural way.

What was particularly interesting was the introduction of some tea snacks at the end, such as tea cakes, Hu food, pastries, steamed bamboo shoots, and Xiaotiansu, which made Li Zichun's mouth water.

Zhao Qianfan knew that he loved food, so she specially asked the chefs on the show to pack up some extra food and bring it back for him to eat. He was very happy and couldn't stop smiling.

Du Zihua watched silently from the side, realizing he had been careless.

Damn it, that green tea b*tch, she even dares to compare this to something, that damn provocative look! Humph, I'm her true love, get the hell out of here...

Li Zichun looked at Du Zihua, who was grimacing and silent, and found it amusing. Did these two even have to argue about this? It was truly speechless.

As the saying goes, illness comes like a landslide, but recovery is like pulling silk from a cocoon.

Li Zichun recovered almost completely in just a few days. Zhao Qianfan and Du Zihua took turns looking after him, ensuring he ate according to a healthy diet, exercised regularly, and got plenty of sleep and rest, which is why he recovered so quickly.

The two of them didn't bother him that night, they just held him quietly.

Li Zichun felt the warmth of their bodies against his skin, as comfortable as a large heater. This feeling of being cared for was wonderful, and he couldn't help but feel a surge of desire to stay.

To avoid lingering here, I had to suppress these turbulent emotions, maintain an optimistic and ambitious attitude, and remain indifferent and detached, so that I could be free from attachment and achieve true freedom.

While Li Zichun was struggling with the question of whether to stay or leave, he was unaware that a commotion had already broken out outside.

Because of Li Zichun's unparalleled influence, and the airing of this episode, people discovered that the show's guests could be added or removed, and that there was even a chance to get the right to sing Li Zichun's songs. As a result, singers, both new and old, acquaintances and strangers, sent collaboration requests to the show through their connections.

Because they know that even just getting one song could be enough to support them for a lifetime.

PS: Data is from the internet.

"Qianmen Sentiments and a Big Bowl of Tea" is a song performed by Chinese mainland female singer Li Guyi, with lyrics by Yan Su and music by Yao Ming. It was first performed at the 1990 CCTV Spring Festival Gala and later included in the album "100 Collections of Famous Chinese Singers in the 20th Century" on September 28, 1996. In May 2001, the song won the first China Music Golden Bell Award. On October 24, 2008, the song received the Medal for Popular Songs Commemorating the 30th Anniversary of Reform and Opening Up, awarded by the Chinese Musicians Association and the Publicity Department of the Shenzhen Municipal Committee of the Communist Party of China.

"Grandpa's Tea" is a song performed by Jay Chou, with lyrics by Vincent Fang, music by Jay Chou, and arrangement by Michael Lin. It was included in Jay Chou's album "Octave Space" released on July 18, 2002.

"Tea Mountain Love Song" is a song with lyrics by Wu Songjin, music by Han Chengguang, and sung by Yang Yuying. It was included in Yang Yuying's 1992 album "The Wind Carries Love and the Water Carries Smiles".