Chapter 1065: Mysterious partners!
Translator: Legge Editor: Legge
On the other end.
After hanging up, Fang Weihong called Zhang Yuanqi.
Zhang Yuanqi was running in her home gym. When she saw her phone ringing, she stopped the treadmill and used a towel to wipe away her sweat before tossing it aside. Then she picked up the phone. She was clearly very curious about The Clown's identity and why he had thought of inviting her to be his guest partner.
"Sister Zhang."
"Did you find out who he is?"
"I didn't manage to find out anything as he didn't want to tell."
"Oh."
"But he knows you."
"How well does he know me?"
"He should be a friend of yours and seems pretty close to you."
"Oh? Did he claim so himself?"
"When I tested him by asking what drinks you liked, he said that you liked to drink wine. But when I tried to fool him by claiming that you don't drink, he didn't fall for it."
"…Pretty close to me?"
"That's for sure. How many people know that you like to drink daily?"
"Not many."
"Is there anyone who matches up with The Clown?"
"No one who can sing as well as him."
"Are you sure?"
"I'm sure."
"Then who could he be!"
"I've got no idea."
"Then what about the King of Masked Singers' grand finals? Will you go?"
"Give me The Clown's contact number."
"Are you really planning on going?"
"Hur hur, I should do him this favor since he's an old friend of mine. I wanna see him when he shows his face at the venue. I want to see just which friend of mine can sing so well yet keep this secret so well hidden."
They hung up.
Zhang Yuanqi kept quiet for a long while before she turned to look for pen and paper. She flipped her planner open to a blank page and scribbled some names on it. Then she shook her head and crossed them out. She wrote down another two names but shook her head and crossed them out as well.
...
The next day.
Beijing Television.
The set for the rehearsal had already been arranged for. Han Qi and some of the program team staff were currently waiting there, with the band also standing by. They were just waiting for the leads to arrive now.
This was not the original recording studio but a bigger set that was arranged for separately and could accommodate more than a thousand audience members. The stage had been redesigned, and it looked much more magnificent than the previous one. It incorporated a lot more advanced equipment that had been designed to the highest standards as specified by the program team. The live broadcast set was specially designed for the show. Beijing Television had started planning for it ever since they'd known the King of Masked Singers premiere episode's viewership rating. To ensure that the show would be produced to perfection, they invested a lot into it regardless of the cost. They had been very "lowkey" in the variety show industry for far too long. As it was not easy for them to get this chance to change things, the station definitely didn't want to miss this opportunity!
Hu Fei walked over. "Are they here yet?"
Han Qi checked her watch. "They should be here soon!"
"Who could The Clown have invited as his guest partner?" Dafei asked curiously.
Han Qi smiled wryly. "I don't know. Teacher Clown didn't say."
Xiao Lu said, "We'll find out in a while when they arrive."
The Clown was the first to arrive. As usual, he was already in his costume with his mask on.
Then, just a few minutes later, The Clown's celebrity guest partner arrived. She walked up to them with her high heels click-clacking. When they heard that and looked to her, all they could see was a person in a red mask!
Hu Fei was taken aback.
The program team staff blinked in surprise.
Zhang Ye disguised his voice and said, "You're here?"
A woman's voice came from beneath the mask. "Yes."
Zhang Ye noticed that Old Zhang had also deliberately lowered the tone of her vocal register. If he didn't know who she was, he probably wouldn't have been able to figure out her identity.
Hu Fei greeted, "Hello, I'm the executive director of King of Masked Singers, Hu Fei."
The masked woman shook hands with him. "Hello."
Hu Fei said, "Can I ask? Who might you be?"
The masked woman said, "I'm not anyone famous, so I won't be giving my name."
Zhang Ye rolled his eyes.
You're not famous?
Even if we don't mention this stage, are there any celebrities who are more famous than you in the entire country?
Dafei said, "Then how should we address you?"
The masked woman thought for a moment before answering with a laugh, "Just call me Wild Rose."
Wild Rose?
The title of that song sung by The Clown?
Hu Fei asked, "Then when can we begin rehearsing?"
Wild Rose said, "Anytime."
Hu Fei looked to the person standing next to her. "Teacher Clown?"
The Clown said, "Anytime."
Hu Fei said, "Alright, let's get started then."
Han Qi immediately led them inside. "Teachers, this way please." She was studying Wild Rose so intensely that she kept looking at her every now and then. But even after looking for a long time, she still could not guess who she was. Not famous? Unwilling to give her name? Afraid that no one would recognize her? Could Teacher Clown really be what the netizens claimed him to be? That he was just lying about himself being a B-list celebrity? So he didn't actually know any famous celebrities? And so got a rando to be his guest partner?
The Miracle Wheels band was already waiting for them.
As well as Music Director Bai Yuanfei, several professional musicians, and piano teachers.
The Clown handed the music score to the band and then gave them some instructions. Following, Wild Rose also went over to communicate with the band for a bit. She listed one by one the things she needed for some parts of the song regarding the rhythm and pauses. At this point, everyone still did not know how Wild Rose would sing.
Then the rehearsal began.
When she opened her mouth to sing, everyone in the studio was stunned!
The Clown was the first to begin.
Wild Rose followed after him.
Everyone already knew that The Clown's singing was very good. As a result, they expected that even if The Clown's invited guest partner was not famous or might even be a newcomer, her singing would surely not be too bad either. But nobody expected that Wild Rose would give such an earth-shattering performance. When she sang, her voice stunned everyone!
They only needed to rehearse it once!
It was flawless!
It was so professional!
After they exited the stage, Xiao Lu rushed up to The Clown and asked, "Teacher, who is she?"
The Clown smiled and said, "If she doesn't want to say, I must keep it a secret as well."
Xiao Lu asked with wide eyes, "Is she really an unknown female singer?"
The Clown did not say anything.
Next to them, Dafei added, "Many newcomers have really good singing nowadays. It's just that there's either no opportunity for them or they only have average looks, so they can't get famous. In reality, there's plenty of people who can sing very well in our country."
Xiao Lu said, "Oh, so that's why."
But Xiao Lu still felt that this woman did not look like a newcomer from any angle!
I'm not well-educated, so please don't try to fool me!
The Clown asked, "Is the melody alright?"
Bai Yuanfei said, "Yes!"
Hu Fei nodded. "It's quite good."
The Clown said, "Then we're good?"
"Yes!" Hu Fei approved of it and said, "I'm looking forward to your two's performance on the night of the finale. Oh right, there's still the second song. Would you like to rehearse it later as well?"
"Sure," The Clown said.
When Wild Rose heard, she said, "I have something to do. If it's alright, I'd like to leave."
Hu Fei was stunned. Why was she in such a hurry? What was so important? Didn't she just arrive a bit ago?
But Zhang Ye knew that she was indeed a busy person. It was quite flattering that she took an hour out of her day to rehearse with him. He said, "Thank you very much."
Wild Rose laughed. "You owe me a favor."
Zhang Ye said, "OK, I'll be sure to return the favor."
"I'm leaving now." Wild Rose turned around and left without saying anything more.
The program team staff looked at Wild Rose's receding figure, then at The Clown. They felt that these two people were a little strange. They were at this stage, so surely there wasn't a need to hide who they were, was there? Weren't they trying too hard to maintain their mysteriousness? They kept themselves so secretive that not even the program team staff knew who they were. How could they go about the promotions now? Hai, they were still hoping to analyze and deduce The Clown's identity based on his invited celebrity guest partner. If they knew who his friend was and which circle they belonged to, his identity should get more obvious as the possibilities would be reduced even further. But it looked like they had overthought things. Since it was like this, they could only respect the contestants not wanting to reveal their identities. There wasn't much they could say about it. The competition's grand finals would be in another few days anyway, so they could still find out when the time came for them to take off their masks. They were also very curious about the identities of this pair of mysterious partners!