Chapter 1166: Soaring in the Asian popularity rankings!

Chapter 1166: Soaring in the Asian popularity rankings!

Translator: Legge Editor: Legge

The opening theme song ended!

The applause in the stadium was deafening!

As there were still many performances lined up behind them for the opening ceremony, Zhang Ye and Lillian hurried off the stage. When they reached backstage, staff from the Organizing Committee and program team were already waiting there for them.

Bba bba bba bba!

Someone led the applause for them!

"You sang wonderfully!"

"Nothing else comes close to this song!"

"It sounded much better than during rehearsal!"

"Teacher Zhang, you're great!"

"Teacher Lillian, thanks for coming here from so far!"

"On behalf of the Organizing Committee, I thank you for being here!"

"You've both contributed a near perfect opening theme song for the Beijing Olympics!"

"Professor Zhang, Teacher Lillian, you did a great job!"

Actually, most of the Organizing Committee's staff were here for Lillian. They had already received news that she would be flying away from Beijing tomorrow. As an international superstar, Lillian's schedule was packed to the brim, and she was already practically booked well into the next year. This was why they were very grateful to her for pushing back her work to specially fly to Beijing to sing in the Olympics.

Lillian and the supervisor shook hands. "It's my pleasure."

The supervisor from the Organizing Committee said, "I hope we can work together again in the future."

Lillian smiled and said, "Sure."

As there were still many events lined up and work left to be done, the staff members departed very quickly. The opening theme song, "You and Me," was the most important segment and had kicked off the opening ceremony to a good start. Many of the Organizing Committee's people heaved a sigh of relief knowing that the work left was just going to get easier from here. They knew that the Beijing Olympic opening ceremony would surely finish without a hiccup. They should be able to hold a satisfactory performance for the entire world to see!

They could hear the music coming on in the stadium from backstage.

There were still going to be performances by troupes, an all-star combined singing segment, speeches to be given, the Parade of Nations 1 , and so on and so forth.

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "Shall we go to the front to watch the ceremony?"

Lillian shrugged. "I'll be leaving on a flight tomorrow. This is my first time visiting China, so I would like to go visit some places."

Zhang Ye was taken aback. "Whoa, you're leaving this soon?"

She said, "Yeah, there's still a lot of work waiting for me."

Zhang Ye said, "But I haven't even managed to play host to you."

Lillian said, "Why don't you recommend a few places that look pretty at night?"

"What's the point of recommending?" Zhang Ye said, "I'll bring you around instead! It's not like you know anyone here."

Lillian laughed. "Sure, then I'll follow you around?"

Zhang Ye snapped his fingers and said, "Leave it to me. I'm really familiar with the place."

Lillian said with some anticipation in her voice, "Alright. Let me get changed first."

"I'll get changed as well, so I'll see you in a bit. I'm going to take you all over the ' Four-Nine City 2 ' for your enjoyment." Zhang Ye didn't intend on going around in this stage costume of his either.

An hour later.

The opening ceremony was still ongoing, and there were still fireworks being launched.

Meanwhile, Zhang Ye and Lillian had already gone to Gulou, Wangfujing and Tiananmen Square 3 during this time.

Zhang Ye had changed into a casual outfit of a T-shirt and shorts. In the dark of the night and with his sunglasses on, there was almost no one who could recognize him. Lillian had also changed into her casual wear. She was in a long, white dress and wearing black, eight-centimeter stilettos. But even though it was just an ordinary long dress, it still looked absolutely stunning on her. With her figure that was even better than a model's, and matched with her flaming auburn hair and Caucasian appearance, everyone would definitely do a double-take when they saw her.

"What a beautiful foreigner!"

"Damn, it's a goddess!"

"Ah, is that Lillian?"

"What? Lillian?"

"Heavens! What is she doing here?"

"Is that Zhang Ye beside her?"

"Teacher Zhang! My prince!"

There really were some people who managed to recognize them!

Five bodyguards and staffers on Lillian's team immediately came over to stop anyone from getting too close. Zhang Ye and Lillian had no choice but to hurry elsewhere. With such a famous international superstar beside him, there would be no way to move around after being spotted.

Zhang Ye smiled and said, "You're too famous in this country."

Lillian gave him a look and said, "I think you're the one who's more famous."

"Compared to you, what am I?" Zhang Ye shrugged.

Lillian chuckled. "Is that so? Well, at the least, I've heard of you overseas."

At this, Zhang Ye was stunned. "Hah? You've heard of me?"

Lillian lit a cigarette and started smoking in the car. She laughed and said, "Yes."

Curious, Zhang Ye asked, "Where'd you hear about me?"

Lillian replied, "My grandmother mentioned you once. She's from Beijing, and I learned my Mandarin from her. She has been paying attention to you all this time."

Zhang Ye was flattered. "Thank your grandma for me."

"Sure, I'll pass the message along when I get back." Lillian smiled. "If you ever come to Britain, remember to phone me. I'll definitely take care of you. You're the first friend I made in China."

Zhang Ye responded in kind, "OK. If you come to China again, I'll arrange everything for you. It was a little too rushed this time, so I couldn't really bring you anywhere fun."

Lillian said, "You must."

"That's right, please help me sign a few autographs."

"Huh?"

"I've been asked to request for some."

"So you're doing all this with a motive?"

"Of course. I can't just take you around without getting something in return, can I?"

"Hahaha, OK."

It was getting very late.

After getting the autographs and exchanging their numbers, the two fellow smokers cemented their friendship and parted ways. Neither of them knew when they would meet again.

It could be soon?

Or it could be a long time from now.

But they would definitely meet again. Zhang Ye was very confident of that. That was because he knew that he would definitely get to her level someday. He would surely step out from Asia and onto the international stage to stand at the top of the entertainment industry—this was what his goal and beliefs had always been.

…

On the same night.

The opening ceremony ended.

The news gradually reported on it.

"A Perfect Opening Ceremony!"

"An opening theme song that earned the praise of the world!"

"Lillian and Zhang Ye dazzle and appear hand in hand!"

"Host's slip of tongue while commentating!"

"The different styles of each nation's delegation!"

"Lillian and Zhang Ye spotted smoking at Gulou!"

"Eyewitnesses say that Zhang Ye and Britain's most beautiful woman were seen at Wangfujing!"

"The start of a friendship between Lillian and Zhang Ye?"

The netizens were commenting on things as always.

"Lillian's a smoker too?"

"You didn't know? Lillian has always been a smoker."

"The photos are proof. Pfft, these two standing by the roadside and smoking make for the perfect picture!"

"So Teacher Zhang brought Britain's most beautiful woman out sightseeing? I'm so jealous!"

"I guess Zhang Ye's popularity is going to grow again this time?"

"It sure will. He has sung for the entire world!"

"It looks like Zhang Ye has reaped the greatest benefit this time at the opening ceremony! He's really too lucky. If it weren't for the Olympic opening ceremony requiring a song change with only a few days to go, the theme song would never have become Zhang Ye's to sing. Then, all the more he wouldn't have had the chance to team up with Lillian for it!"

Midnight passed.

The Chinese Celebrity Rankings Index was updated.

The majority of the rankings did not change much. Yu Yingyi, who was one of the hosts for the opening ceremony, moved up several places in the rankings, while a few celebrities who were part of the all-star singing segment experienced a big boost to their popularity scores. Other than them, Zhang Ye was the one most worth mentioning. He was still in first place on the A-list rankings, but his surge in the popularity score had left the person in second place far in his wake. He was getting closer and closer to becoming a Heavenly King of the S-list rankings!

However, Zhang Ye's greatest popularity change was on the Asian Celebrity Rankings Index!

The moment the Asian Celebrity Rankings Index was updated, a lot of people were completely dumbfounded!

Zhang Ye, who had only been in the middle of the Asian C-list rankings, had gone on to be a forerunner on it within one night. He was not far from the Asian B-list rankings! What did this mean? It meant that with just one song at the Olympic opening ceremony, in just those four minutes required for the song to be performed, Zhang Ye's popularity score in the Asian region greatly soared!

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic_Games_ceremony#Parade_of_Nations

2. Beijing is also known as the Four-Nine City. The imperial city had four gates: Tiananmen, Dianmen, Xianmen and Donganmen. Meanwhile, the inner city of Beijing had nine gates. They were Zhengyangmen, Chongwenmen, Xuanwumen, Chaoyangmen, Fuchengmen, Dongzhimen, Xizhimen, Andingmen and Deshengmen.

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulou_and_Zhonglou_(Beijing) | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wangfujing | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square