EFB Chapter 136 One Word Gold
Chapter 136 One Word Gold
On the night the recording of the fifth episode of "The Voice of China" ended, Lin Xiaoya hugged Xia Lizhi backstage and cried for a full ten minutes.
The little girl's eyes were swollen like peaches as she sobbed, "Sister Xia, am I really that bad? I'm always in the loser's bracket, and this time I'm even eliminated..."
Xia Lizhi patted her on the back: "You sang very well, but this episode's theme isn't quite right for you."
"Brother Kebo can sing anything..." Lin Xiaoya was even more heartbroken.
Wang Bo, who happened to be passing by, heard this and came over, taking a mint out of his pocket and handing it to her: "Have a candy."
Lin Xiaoya took the candy, looking at him with teary eyes, "Brother Bo, can I still improve in the future?"
"Yes," Wang Bo said decisively. "Go back and listen more, practice more, and think more. Don't always try to imitate others; find your own voice."
These words were spoken with the demeanor of a teacher, and Lin Xiaoya nodded emphatically, carefully putting the mints into her small bag.
the next day.
Lin Xiaoya sat on the high-speed train bound for Shanxi Province, watching the scenery rushing past the window, her feelings complicated.
After she was eliminated, the company arranged several variety shows and commercial performances for her on local TV stations.
This is Starlight Media's consistent approach: even if an artist isn't currently a big star, they still need to maintain exposure; if one thing doesn't work out, another will.
This time she went to a relatively unknown prefecture-level city in Shanxi Province, where there is a newly developed scenic area that features "Yellow River scenery + ancient tower culture".
It is said that the local government spent a lot of money to build it, hoping to develop the tourism economy, but the promotion has not kept up, and the number of visitors has remained lukewarm.
Lin Xiaoya's task this time was to shoot a set of tourism promotion videos to help the scenic spot promote itself.
She initially thought the job was rather boring; it seemed a bit beneath a newly eliminated talent show contestant to be making travel videos.
But her agent shut her up with one sentence: "This appearance fee is after tax. And if the video is well-made, it might become a minor hit. These days, travel bloggers are more sought after than minor celebrities."
Lin Xiaoya glanced at the contract amount and immediately straightened her posture: "How can we take photos of the ancient building to make it look high-end? Should I wear Hanfu? Should my makeup be light or bright? Do I need to memorize some classical poems?"
Her agent chuckled, "Just be natural, treat it like you're having fun. By the way, Starlight Entertainment wants to collaborate with Xiaoyi Culture and have Wang Bo add some text to your video."
"Teacher Wang Bo?" Lin Xiaoya's eyes lit up. "Really?"
"It's true, they've already contacted Su Xiaoxiao, it just depends on whether Wang Bo is willing."
Lin Xiaoya's heart suddenly skipped a few beats.
Although she knew it was purely a business collaboration, she couldn't help but feel excited at the thought of Wang Bo writing content for her videos.
Lin'an City.
When Su Xiaoxiao pushed open the door to Wang Bo's lounge, he was holding a guitar and trying out new chords.
"What's up?" Wang Bo asked without looking up.
"Starlight Media wants to collaborate with you." Su Xiaoxiao sat down opposite him and pushed her tablet over. "Lin Xiaoya went to Shanxi Province to film a travel video. They hope you can write some text for Lin Xiaoya's video, just like you wrote poems for Zhou Yuji's video, to create a synergy."
Wang Bo stopped strumming the strings, looked up, and asked, "What should I write?"
"Anything is fine, poems, lyrics, or short sentences are all acceptable, as long as they match the scenery of the ancient tower and the Yellow River." Su Xiaoxiao clicked on a video. "Here, this is the material Lin Xiaoya sent back yesterday, take a look."
In the video, Lin Xiaoya is wearing a light green modified Hanfu long dress and stands in front of an ancient wooden pavilion.
The backdrop is the surging Yellow River, with rolling mountains in the distance, and the setting sun dyeing the sky orange-red.
The little girl didn't seem to be fully used to the camera yet; her smile was a bit shy, but it was fresh and natural. Paired with that Hanfu, she really had the charm of a classical beauty.
The scene shifts to her climbing to the top floor of the ancient building, gazing into the distance from the railing. The wind blows her skirt and long hair, creating a beautiful scene.
"Well done," Wang Bo commented honestly.
"So, should we take it or not?" Su Xiaoxiao asked. "Starlight is offering a pretty generous price, 1,000 yuan per word, for a maximum of 20 words. That means at most 20,000 yuan for just a few sentences."
Wang Bo raised an eyebrow: "A word worth a thousand pieces of gold?"
"A modern-day version of 'a word worth a thousand pieces of gold'," Su Xiaoxiao laughed. "And they said if the video gets a lot of views, they'll give an extra red envelope. How about it, tempted?"
Wang Bo stroked his chin and thought for a moment: "Let's take it. After all, Starlight Media is rich and powerful. Why not make a profit?"
"Okay, I'll reply to them then." Su Xiaoxiao put away her tablet. "When will you be able to finish writing?"
"Now is fine." Wang Bo picked up the paper and pen on the table.
Su Xiaoxiao was taken aback: "Now? Don't you need to look at more materials and find some inspiration?"
"No need." Wang Bo had already started writing on the paper. "Ancient tower, Yellow River, sunset... ready-made images, just combine them."
Su Xiaoxiao leaned closer to look and saw that Wang Bo had written two lines on the paper.
"Twenty characters, just right." Wang Bo put down his pen. "Take it."
Su Xiaoxiao stared at the four lines of poetry and remained silent for a full ten seconds.
"Wang Bo," she looked up, her eyes filled with complex emotions, "I'm starting to think about stripping you naked and studying you."
Wang Bo glanced at Su Xiaoxiao's stunningly curvaceous chest: "If we take our clothes off together, I don't mind."
Su Xiaoxiao, as expected of a rich, beautiful, and worldly woman, skillfully changed the subject: "The tones, parallelism, and artistic conception of these four lines of poetry... can only be described as breathtaking."
"Inspiration strikes, and it's unstoppable," Wang Bo said casually. "So, how is it? Can I use it?"
Su Xiaoxiao glanced at it a few more times, and the more she looked, the more she thought it was amazing: "It works! It's incredibly useful!"
She put the paper away, looked at Wang Bo, and suddenly sighed: "I'm becoming more and more curious about you."
Wang Bo smiled but remained silent.
The next day, Lin Xiaoya's travel video was officially released.
Starlight Media went all out this time, not only promoting it on its own platform's homepage, but also buying popular spots on several short video platforms.
The video was well-edited, with classical Chinese instrumental music as background music. The visuals ranged from the Yellow River rushing to the ancient tower standing still, from Lin Xiaoya dancing in Hanfu to gazing into the distance from the railing, finally settling on a scene of the setting sun and the magnificent landscape.
The text tagged Wang Bo and wrote: "We specially invited musical talent Wang Bo to compose a poem for this scene."
The video garnered over a million views within half an hour of its release.
The comments section has exploded.
"Little Ya is so beautiful! Her Hanfu look is amazing!"
"This view is absolutely spectacular! I want to go!"
"Wang Bo wrote a poem? Really? Waiting!"
"The polymath is on his way! My brother Bo is about to showcase his cultured persona again!"
"Just a passerby, this video is indeed well-made, but Wang Bo writing poetry? Hopefully, it won't backfire..."
Just as the discussion reached its peak, Wang Bo's account appeared in the comments section.
He shared the video and wrote the four lines of poetry: "The sun sets beyond the mountains, the Yellow River flows into the sea. To see a thousand miles further, climb one more story."
No extra explanations, no affected sentimentality, just these twenty words.
Then, the entire internet exploded.
The cultural sphere was the first to react.
A professor from the Chinese Department of a university reposted on Weibo: "The sun sets beyond the mountains, the Yellow River flows into the sea—the opening lines are grand and majestic, ten characters outlining the vastness of the landscape. To see a thousand miles further, climb one more story—from the scenery to the underlying meaning, the entire realm is revealed. This poem is perfectly balanced in its parallelism, strict in its tonal patterns, and profound in its imagery; it would be considered a superior work even among Tang poetry. Wang Bo is a man of unfathomable depth."
A famous poet wrote: "I have been writing poetry for thirty years, and I don't think I could write such a natural and seamless work. The five characters 'climb to a higher level' are both a literal description of ascending to a higher place and a metaphorical description of the realm of life. It is a double entendre and is wonderfully ingenious."
A historian chimed in, "After checking the records, I found that the ancient building in the video is a modern reconstruction, but Wang Bo's poem gives it the weight of a thousand-year-old cultural heritage. That's the charm of culture—the building is new, but the poem is alive."
Cultural figures jumped in to comment, praising the poem to the skies.
Next up is the entertainment industry.
Qin Xiao reposted and commented: "Every time I think I've seen the limit of Wang Bo's talent, he always manages to give me a new shock. This song, no, this poem, I've memorized it."
Xia Lizhi was even more direct: "@Wang Bo, have you considered publishing a collection of poems? I'll pre-order ten copies."
Li Xuan's repost was a bit sarcastic, which netizens interpreted as "I'm jealous but I still have to praise him": "Wang Bo is truly all-around talented, he's great at songwriting and poetry, I admire him greatly [clasped hands]".
Other contestants from "The Voice of China" followed suit.