154: Chapter 154: New inspiration again?

The two of them walked slowly along the path by the lake, occasionally passing by pedestrians, and no one recognized them.

Sitting down in the pavilion, Lu Li leaned against a pillar and watched the tour boats coming and going on the lake surface.

Shen Qingxue sat next to him, her gaze also falling on the lake surface, wondering what she was thinking about.

The two of them sat quietly for quite a while.

But the quieter this environment was, the more enjoyable it made people feel.

The two sat in the pavilion for a while longer, then stood up and continued walking forward along the lakeside.

After walking for about half an hour, Shen Qingxue suddenly stopped in her tracks.

"What's wrong?"

Lu Li turned his head back.

Shen Qingxue's gaze fell under a large willow tree by the lake, where an old grandfather was making sugar paintings.

A few children surrounded the stall, eagerly watching the butterfly taking shape in the old grandfather's hands.

"Want to eat?"

Lu Li looked over following her gaze and asked with a smile.

Shen Qingxue shook her head, but her feet didn't move.

Lu Li glanced at her, didn't speak, and turned to walk towards that stall.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

Shen Qingxue was stunned for a moment and instinctively followed.

Lu Li had already walked up to the stall, pulled out his phone from his pocket, and scanned the code.

"What pattern do you want?"

The old grandfather raised his head and asked with a chuckle.

Lu Li tilted his head to glance at Shen Qingxue who had followed up, then turned back and thought about it.

"Give me... a swan."

"Alright."

The old grandfather acknowledged, and the spoon in his hand began to sketch on the iron plate.

The syrup flowed on the iron plate, quickly outlining an elegant swan.

Lu Li took the sugar painting, turned around, and handed it to Shen Qingxue.

"Here."

Shen Qingxue lowered her head to look at the amber-colored swan, then raised her head to look at Lu Li.

"I didn't say I wanted to eat."

"Then why did you stare at it for so long?"

"I was just... watching that old grandfather draw."

"Doesn't that still mean you want to eat?"

Lu Li shoved the sugar painting into her hands.

"Just take it. Think of it as replenishing sugar before the match, and sweetening your throat by the way, strive to get first place tonight."

Shen Qingxue lowered her head to look at the sugar painting in her hand, the corners of her mouth curving slightly.

"Thank you."

"No need to be polite."

Lu Li waved his hand and turned to continue walking forward.

Shen Qingxue followed behind him, gently taking a bite of the sugar painting.

Mmm... very sweet.

Lu Li's peripheral vision was constantly paying attention to her, watching her lightly bite the amber-colored sugar painting, and a melodious melody suddenly popped into his mind.

Thinking and thinking, he couldn't help humming the melody of that song.

"The amber twilight is like sugar in a very beautiful distance."

"Your face has no makeup yet I crazily fall in love."

"Missing and the shadow are elongated together at dusk..."

Shen Qingxue was captivated by this melody and instinctively glanced at Lu Li.

"What are you singing?"

She asked curiously.

Lu Li glanced at her, thought about it for a moment, and then spoke.

"Mmm... inspired by new feelings. I've already thought of the song name, how about calling it 'garden party'?"

Shen Qingxue stopped in her tracks, looking surprised.

Got inspiration again? Is this inspiration really so endless that it can never be used up?

Just now, listening to that melody, she fell in love with it almost instantly. If this were released, it would definitely be another blockbuster hit song.

"Alright, don't think so much, let's go."

Lu Li pointed forward with a smile and strode away.

Seeing this, Shen Qingxue could only suppress her curiosity and subsequently followed along.

...

At two o'clock in the afternoon, the two of them arrived at the backstage of the competition venue on time.

There were already several contestants doing their makeup in the dressing room. Seeing Shen Qingxue walk in, their gazes varied.

But with yesterday's incident, no one dared to gossip about anything anymore.

Shen Qingxue walked to her seat and sat down, and the makeup artist quickly came over to start doing her makeup.

Lu Li leaned against the wall nearby, crossing his arms, watching listlessly.

"Why don't you go to the lounge and wait for me first? It will still be a while after the makeup is done."

Shen Qingxue glanced at him through the mirror.

"Alright."

Lu Li nodded, turned around and walked out of the dressing room, and sat down in the lounge at the end of the corridor.

He took out his phone and opened Douyin.

On the trending searches list, the topic of this Top 16 to Top 8 elimination round had already surged to first place.

[Original Song Creator Competition Finals Start Tonight! Can Shen Qingxue Defend Her Title?]

The comment section was extremely lively.

[come on Goddess! Use strength to slap those haters in the face!]

[Regardless of whether the dirt is true or false, as long as the song sounds good, that's all that matters.]

[Looking forward to Shen Qingxue's new song! Lu Li has never disappointed anyone with his song-writing.]

[I heard this time is a national style theme, I wonder what kind of divine song it will be.]

Lu Li flipped through the comments one by one, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly.

Looking forward to it all, huh? I'll throw a king bomb later and blow you guys away.

Afterward, he exited the trending searches, opened the account backend of Rock Sugar Pear, and checked the recent data.

The number of followers had already broken 1.5 million and was continuing to grow.

Favorable comments were in the majority in the comment section, but malicious reviews were not to be outdone either; clearly, this public opinion storm had not yet passed.

After simply looking at the data, Lu Li put away his phone, leaned against the back of the chair, and closed his eyes.

Not knowing how much time had passed, a burst of footsteps woke him up.

He opened his eyes, and Shen Qingxue had already finished her makeup and was standing in front of him.

She was wearing an ink-wash painting style long dress, the hem dyed with varying shades of cyan-gray, like distant mountains and clouds and mist.

Her hair was also coiled up, revealing her slender neck, with a few stray strands of hair hanging beside her ears, pinned with a simple jade hairpin.

The whole person looked like she had walked out of a painting.

Lu Li was stunned for a moment, then stood up from the chair and looked her up and down.

"How is it?"

Shen Qingxue asked, although her tone was still calm, her eyes carried a trace of anticipation.

"Whoa~"

Lu Li stared at her for two seconds, then gave a thumbs up.

"Dressing up so pretty."

Shen Qingxue gave him an exasperated roll of the eyes, but the corners of her mouth instinctively curved slightly, then she turned and walked back.

"Smooth-tongued... Shall we go? Go practice songs together for a bit?"

Lu Li smiled, followed behind her, and the two of them walked into the backstage area one after the other.

...

The evening competition started at seven o'clock.

At the Hangzhou Grand Theatre, the main hall capable of accommodating twelve hundred people was packed to capacity.

The lights on the stage were brilliant, and the big screen was looping the promotional video for this competition.

In the related livestream room, the number of online viewers had already broken three million and was continuing to climb.

The bullet comments scrolled past extremely fast, densely covering the entire screen.

[Family members, I've finally waited for the competition to start!]

[Looking forward to the goddess's new song! Looking forward to Lu Li's new song!]

[I heard this time is a national style theme, sigh, I hope the contestants this time give it some effort and don't pull those fancy and flashy tricks.]

[Indeed, some people casually pick a few ancient poems, pile them together to sing, and call it national style. Speechless.]

[That's at least still original, buddy, you haven't seen stitched monsters...]