Chapter 210 – Walking On The Red Carpet
The platter concert that Lu Chen was participating in was the opening ceremony of Hangzhou Xihu1 Cultural Festival and completion ceremony of Xihu Plaza.
Xihu Culture Plaza was one of the key projects completed by the municipal government this year, and has introduced a large number of private capital cooperation construction, so the celebration was particularly grand. This concert alone has invited more than 20 star artists, which could be said to be star studded.
Among them, the biggest star was the film, television, and music triphibian2 superstar Li Xing. This 30-year-old actress has won a number of best actress awards, released two solo albums, and the TV series she stared in were a guarantee of high ratings.
In terms of status in the circle, Li Xing was a bit higher than Chen Fei’er and was definitely one of the top big names in China.
Li Xing was invited to the opening concert of Xihu Cultural Festival because she was a native of Hangzhou.
In addition, Liu Zonghan, who was also very famous and has a high position, was also invited. He was from Xiangjiang, and has been developing in China. He was good at singing love songs and R&B. He also wrote and produced several best-selling albums.
Apart from Li Xing and Liu Zonghan, all the others, including Lu Chen, were second and third-tier singers and artists in China.
To put it bluntly, they were there to make up the numbers, so it was called a platter concert.
With Li Xing and Liu Zonghan present, this platter was undoubtedly quite eye-catching. It was said that all the tickets were sold out half a month ago, and has made a lot of money from selling advertisement.
Moreover, Zhedong Satellite TV would broadcast it live.
Generally speaking, in such concerts, many artists were willing to go on stage to brush their faces3 even without making money. Lu Chen was able to gain a place, mainly because of his provincial status.
So, after Lu Xi received the invitation, she quickly decided to sign the performance contract.
At 6 p.m., under the arrangement of the concert organizing committee, Lu Chen took the welcome car to the stadium.
The party was held in the Xihu Stadium. The Xihu Culture Square was located to the south of the stadium, only a few hundred meters away from the world-famous Xihu. (TN: Xihu – West Lake)
It was just getting dark, and there was already a lot of noise outside the Xihu Stadium, and the surrounding roads were clogged with traffic.
Of course, the welcome cars could still go through without hindrance.
As part of the ceremony, the organizing committee arranged for star artists to walk on the red carpet.
In the earliest days, walking on the red carpet was a very grand occasion4, and usually only appeared at large-scale film festivals.
But later, with the vigorous development of the domestic entertainment industry, the appeal of walking on the red carpet dropped greatly.
As long as multiple stars or celebrities were invited, even in a brand promotion kind of activities, it was common to roll out the red carpet, and invite media reporters to take photos as a publicity stunt.
Everyone has already been used to seeing such sights.
Of course, the Xihu Cultural Festival concert was no exception, and nearly 30 stars could also support a red carpet show.
Although it was true that the appeal of red carpet has dropped, the basic custom has not changed.
That was to sort according to their position5. The one with the highest position would go first.
Lu Chen was ranked in the 12th car, and another female star, Bai Wei, would be walking with him on the red carpet.
Bai Wei was an actress. She has been in the industry for more than five or six years and has appeared in many TV series.
Lu Chen’s impression of her was that she was a supporting actress in an urban TV series. She was very beautiful and has good acting skills.
In fact, she wasn’t very famous, but her temperament was very cold. After sitting in the car, she nodded to Lu Chen as a greeting, but didn’t respond to the latter’s friendly and polite greetings.
She just browsed her phone.
Since the other party’s attitude was cold, Lu Chen certainly would not ask to bring contempt upon himself and put his hot face on the other party’s cold buttocks.6
It was just that the atmosphere in the car was a bit awkward.
Fortunately, the hotel where he stayed in was very close to the stadium. It didn’t take too long before the welcome car that Lu Chen was riding in stopped steadily at the starting point of the red carpet.
The staff at the scene, dressed in black suits, helped open the door, and Lu Chen immediately got out of the car.
Kacha! Kacha! Kacha!
The flash from the surrounding went off in a flash, making him more or less startled.
There were simply too many people!
The red carpet laid in front of Lu Chen to the main entrance of the stadium was almost 50 meters long and had a high specifications.
On either side of the red carpet was a safety barrier. Behind the barrier were a densely packed crowd of people holding up high light up poster7 with the names of various stars and artists.
There were naturally reporters and photographers in the crowd. Long guns and short cannons8 were everywhere, and the number of camera phones were uncountable. Walking on the red carpet really makes people feel excited!
As if a myriad of honor covered his whole body. There was a great sense of accomplishment
Bai Wei’s attitude was cold in the car, but when she started walking on the red carpet, she seemed to be a completely different person. She was smiling like a spring breeze, and from time to time, she would stop to put on a pose and show off her Hermes dress.
Lu Chen was dressed very formally tonight. An Armani suit complemented his figure perfectly, coupled with his confident and calm demeanor, he has attracted a lot of camera attention.
Lu Xi picked out this suit for him last night.
My elder sister has good taste.
Although they walked the red carpet together, Lu Chen and Bai Wei actually went their separate ways. The well water of both sides does not intrude the river water.9
There was at least a meter between the two, safe enough that there would never be a scandal.
“Lu Chen!” “Lu Chen!”
Just as Lu Chen had walked more than half the distance, he suddenly heard someone yelling his name.
He couldn’t help but turn his head to look, and saw several female fans trying to squeeze to the front of the barrier. In spite of the security guards’ scolding, they shouted excitedly to themselves: “Lu Chen, I love you!”
Lu Chen was stupefied at first, and then he was a little moved.
These fans were all young girls and should still be going to school. They squeezed their heads in the crowd and their clothes were messy. They looked like they were in a difficult situation, but they still held the light up poster with Lu Chen’s name in their hands.
And wave at him as hard as they could!
Without hesitation, Lu Chen went straight to them, smiled and said, “Hello!”
“Ah!”
The girls immediately screamed with surprise, their faces flushed with excitement.
One of the girls stammered and asked, “Lu… Lu Chen, can I have your autograph?”
Lu Chen said with a smile, “Of course. Do you have a pen? Where do I sign?”
The girls didn’t expect that they not only got Lu Chen to come over, but also that Lu Chen’s attitude was so kind.
They were also prepared. Not only did they immediately take out their pens, they also lifted up their t-shirts.
“Sign here, sign here!”
Lu Chen didn’t know whether to laugh or cry, but he still met their requirements and signed his name on their t-shirt.
After signing, the girls became bolder and asked for a group photo.
“Mr. Lu Chen…”
Unfortunately, the security guard who kept order at the scene has a problem with it, because a lot of people were crowding their way.
Lu Chen quickly made a sorry gesture, and then quickly returned to the red carpet.
He could only disappoint these girls.
On such an occasion, he could have a close interaction with his fans, but he must not stay for too long.
Otherwise, things could easily go wrong.
It was also because his position wasn’t high enough that he could do autograph signing on the spot. If it was Li Xing, it would be fatal to do so.
So sometimes it wasn’t the stars deliberately putting on air, but out of security concerns.
After walking down smoothly on the red carpet, Lu Chen walked up to the reception desk and left his name on the autograph wall.
Then there was a reporter’s photoshoot and a simple interview with Zhedong Satellite TV.
In charge of interviewing the stars was a program host of Zhedong Satellite TV. Her name was Tian Tian.
The host graduated from the Communication University of China and joined the Satellite TV for only one year. Because of her beautiful voice, she has become a famous female host. The music and food programs she hosted have high ratings and were very popular on the Internet. She was known as the number 1 beautiful host of Zhedong Satellite TV.
Tian Tian was very young. Her appearance and temperament were better than those of several second and third-tier actresses at the scene. Especially when she laughs, two shallow dimples are revealed on her cheeks.
When it was Lu Chen’s turn, she first shook hands with Lu Chen very naturally, and then asked, “Lu Chen, everyone knows that you are from the Binhai, and you went to college in Hangzhou. How do you feel about singing on stage in your hometown this time?”
Lu Chen said with a smile, “I am very happy to sing for the folks here in Hangzhou. Tonight, I will try to sing my best and ensure not to disappoint everyone!”
Walking on the red carpet and taking photos and interviews were all arranged by the organizing committee, including the questions raised by the female host.
Lu Chen just said the answers that was prepared in advance.
Tian Tian said with a smile, “Then I wish you a successful performance tonight, and hope to hear your singing here in the future!”
Lu Chen nodded: “Thank you!”
After the interview, the star group photo was also done, and the staff at the scene began to guide everyone to the staff passageway.
The staff passageway leads to the backstage dressing room in the stadium, and the time for the official performance was about to begin.
The host, Tian Tian, followed the staff in front, and she was followed by the cameraman, and then Lu Chen and two other artists. They walked down the welcome stage together.
Just at this time, among the crowd of onlookers more than ten meters away, a man took advantage of the fact that the security was unprepared and suddenly climbed over the safety barrier and jumped into the “restricted area”.
The man was wearing a dark-brown coat and a mask on his face. He had a light up poster in his hand, but when he climbed over the barrier, he threw it away and rushed straight over.
While running, the man took out a glass bottle from his pocket and skillfully unscrewed the lid.
His eyes were fixed on Tian Tian, his eyes glowing with crazy flames!
Because things happened too quickly, it wasn’t until the man in coat rushed within four or five meters of Tian Tian that the star artists who had just walked off the welcome stage reacted, and the exclamations and screams sounded at the same time.
The staff member at the front of the line was shocked and instinctively backed away.
And happened to hit the cameraman.
The scene was in chaos!