Chapter 1162: Before the opening ceremony!

Chapter 1162: Before the opening ceremony!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

Ten days later.

There was only a day left until the Olympic Games began!

On the streets and alleys of Beijing, more and more foreigners could be seen walking around. They were all touring the Forbidden City, Summer Palace, and other tourist attractions. The foreign contingents had started arriving some time ago and checked into the Olympic Village. Under the constant bombardment by the media, the atmosphere surrounding the Olympics had reached its peak. There was practically no other news being reported other than the Olympics, like the latest updates on the athletes and the opening ceremony.

It was likewise in the foreign media.

The South Korean media: "Ahn Yoonhee suffers an injury in training and could miss the Beijing Olympics!"

The Japanese media: "Famous swimmer Obata chosen as the contingent's flag bearer!"

The North Korean media: "The motherland's contingent vows to surpass China and America in the gold medal tally for first place!"

The English media:

Lillian to attend the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony!"

The Canadian media: "The most beautiful woman in Britain, Lillian, will be performing the Olympic theme song!"

This was a day that belonged solely to the Olympics!

The entire world had their eyes on Beijing!

…

In the Olympic Village.

At the main stadium of the Olympics.

After many workers finished remodeling the performing stage, they added some final decorations and confirmed that everything was in place. On the enormous big screen, some unrelated visuals were displayed to test the camera angles and equipment. Judging from the tense atmosphere, they were in full preparation mode for the main event.

But Zhang Ye was totally at ease. He sat in the audience and took a call.

"Son, get hold of a few more tickets!"

"Didn't I already get them for you and dad?"

"It's not enough. Big Sis Zhou from the neighborhood came to me and asked if she could have one too."

"Heh, do you think I'm selling cabbages in the market? Even I can't get so many tickets for myself."

"Try to ask for a few more. Everyone would like to attend the opening ceremony. And there's your Auntie Chen and Auntie Li too. All the neighbors came to ask me, so how can I not get the tickets for them?"

"Oh, alright. I will try to ask for more."

"Oh, and get Lillian's autograph as well!"

"I haven't even met her in person yet, and I'm not sure what time her flight will arrive either."

"Just ask for it!"

"OK, I understand."

A little while later, he received a few more calls.

Liao Yiqi called.

"Teacher Zhang."

"Ai, Classmate Spinach."

"Can I ask you for a favor?"

"Don't put it that way. Just tell me what you need."

"Can you can me an autograph from Teacher Lillian?"

"Oh damn, you want one too?"

"Yeah, I've liked her for many years!"

"Sure, I'll ask for you when I get the chance."

"Thank you so much! Haha, let me buy you a meal someday. Just choose the place!"

Then Grandma Zhang Xia called, asking for the same thing.

"Grandma Zhang."

"Little Zhang, has Lillian arrived in Beijing yet?"

"I don't think she's here yet."

"Can you get me an autograph?"

"Whoa, you want one too?"

"My granddaughter likes her very much, almost to the point of being fanatical. She asks me every day, so I really have no choice but to ask on her behalf. You're the one who can get closest to Lillian, so of course I have to ask you."

"Sure. I'll get one for you."

"Thank you, hur hur."

This was not the first time he was receiving these calls. Over the past ten days, he had been taking countless calls from his friends on his cell phone or on the office line at his studio. Most of them were regarding the international superstar, Lillian. This led Zhang Ye to discover in shock that he had so many friends and their families who were Lillian's diehard fans. For example, Yao Jiancai's wife, Chen Guang's eldest niece, Amy, as well as his own three sisters. It could be seen just how charming Britain's most beautiful woman was. This made Zhang Ye look even more forward to working with her. He wanted to see just what kind of a person this legendary international superstar was.

Executive Director Li Ke led a group of the staff past him.

Zhang Ye greeted him and asked, "Director Li, has she arrived yet?"

Li Ke looked at his watch. "She should be here soon. Her flight arrived two hours ago, so she's probably already on the way."

Zhang Ye nodded. "Alright, I'll go for a smoke then."

Li Ke said in a speechless manner, "This place doesn't allow smoking. I need to go handle some work, so I'll tell you when she's here. The duet that you two will be performing is the most important segment of the opening ceremony, so it must be perfected by today. We've readied a place for you two to rehearse. I'll be off now."

Zhang Ye waved goodbye and got up to head out of the stadium.

Outside, there were people working everywhere, as well as security personnel deployed. Together with a large number of volunteers, it wouldn't be nice if he lit a cigarette here. So he walked on. Some of the volunteers secretly came looking for Zhang Ye to get his autograph. There were also some workers who quietly came over to take pictures with him. Other than times when Zhang Ye had urgent matters to attend to, he would rarely reject such requests. Once he satisfied everyone, he put on his sunglasses and found an empty corridor.

He looked to the left, then to the right.

There was no one around. Great, this place would do!

Zhang Ye took a cigarette and a box of matches out. He struck a match and lit the cigarette before starting to smoke in satisfaction. This fellow had been constantly talking about how he wanted to quit smoking and drinking, but that was just pure talk. He had never, ever taken any action to do so. He had smuggled in the matches with much effort. The security checks when coming into the Olympic Village and Stadium did not allow any lighters to be brought in. They were very strict with the checks, even on those who were working here. Zhang Ye already knew all this as he had been here several times, so he just stuffed the matches inside the cigarette pack. After all, the security personnel would not really check him so thoroughly since he had status. That was the only reason why he managed to smuggle it in.

Suddenly, he heard footsteps from behind!

Zhang Ye quickly flicked the cigarette away and extinguished it under his feet. This was not something to be proud of at all in the first place. If Zhang Ye was exposed to have been smoking in the Olympic Stadium even though he knew it was against the rules, it would surely be sensationalized in the news. He was just about to leave when he realized that the click-clack of the high heels was beside him.

"Hey."

A woman's voice sounded.

Was she calling out to him?

Zhang Ye turned his head as a reflex and was surprised. It was a very tall Caucasian woman whose auburn hair was very conspicuous. She didn't look very old but was not young either. She had a pair of sunglasses on that were even more oversized than Zhang Ye's, so he couldn't really make out her exact age.

A foreigner?

Which country's athlete was she?

Or could she be a foreign coach?

Zhang Ye looked at her and stammered in his broken English, "Y-Y-You are c-c-calling me?" He pointed to himself.

The ginger woman smiled and said, "Yes."

Zhang Ye blinked and said, "How…helping…you?" Even his grammar was a mess!

The redhead was taken aback. "What?"

Zhang Ye was still throwing out what he was trying to express word by word. If a foreign athlete needed help, he couldn't just ignore it. But this fellow's English could only be described as atrocious. It was so broken that not even a Chinese citizen would be able understand him, let alone a foreigner!

While Zhang Ye was figuring out which words to use, the redheaded foreigner said something very surprising!

She smiled and said in the Beijing dialect 1 , "I say, bro, your English isn't all that put together. I think it's better that you stick to using Mandarin. You must be a Chinese friend, right?"

Zhang Ye was dumbfounded!

The redheaded woman elegantly took out a cigarette and waved it at Zhang Ye. "It's nothing, actually. I just wanted to see if I could borrow a light since I saw you smoking. My lighter was nipped during the security checks."

Dumbfounded, Zhang Ye threw his matches to her.

The ginger woman caught it in midair. "Haha, thank you."

After she lit her cigarette, she leaned back against the wall and started smoking. Then she threw the matchbox back to him.

Zhang Ye caught it, but he was still in a state of shock. It was like he had seen a ghost. Can you imagine a Caucasian woman speaking the Beijing dialect fluently? Damn, your Pekingese is even better than mine! Nipped? You even know how to use that word?

Was this woman some kind of god?!

Zhang Ye was shocked beyond belief!

1. The Beijing dialect (Pekingese) is very similar to Mandarin. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beijing_dialect