"San-ge, how about this," Chu Zhi said, grabbing a pen and tweaking a few keywords on his own speech in front of Gu Peng."You'll use my speech instead." He handed the paper over.
Gu Peng was stunned but quickly shook his head. "That would be way too awkward for you. No way."
"Awkward? San-ge, do you even know what I'm best at? Off-the-cuff speeches, of course. Don't worry, I've got this. Just get familiar with it quickly," Chu Zhi replied. "This script was limiting me anyway."
Without giving him a chance to refuse, Chu Zhi shoved the speech into Gu Peng's hands.
Gu Peng had always thought Chu Zhi was a good person—genuinely nice, without being overbearing. And a master of poetry too. But now?
He was a solid, five-star kind of good guy.
Looking at Gu Peng's moved expression, Chu Zhi quietly smiled. Silly kid, you're way too easy to win over. He was definitely going to get swindled by some wicked woman in the future.
In any industry, if you want to boost your standing, seniority takes time. Since Chu Zhi wasn't willing to wait, his strategy was simple: offer favors. Get the capable people around him on his side. He wanted everyone in the scene to think of him as a good guy.
The motto of Acting Emperor Beast was, "As long as I'm here, the world is full of love." But Chu Zhi's dream was more like Uchiha Obito's: "Let the world be consumed by the illusion I created." Time to cast Infinite Tsukuyomi.
Ahem... that got a bit dramatic.
"This is gonna take some effort," Chu Zhi thought. Back when he ran his own company on Earth, he hated giving speeches, so now he quickly drafted one in his head.
The speech order would definitely go: first the ambassador with a rousing intro, then the jury president with history and context, and finally Chu Zhi as the special guest to lighten the mood.
Gu Peng was up first, and Chu Zhi's curiosity was answered. How did someone with social anxiety perform?
Turns out, by singing his speech. One single chord progression from start to finish. He sang the entire thing.
"Damn, this is more surprising than Mr. Krabs getting his hands on the Krabby Patty formula," Chu Zhi whispered backstage.
Folk music doesn't need much arrangement. A guitar and a few chords go a long way. But lyrics? They matter. And the gap between a written speech and a singable one is huge. Yet Gu Peng pulled it off smoothly. He really had some skill.
Next up was Jury Chair Yue. He didn't look like much, and Chu Zhi didn't know him, but he was the president of the National Music Creative Industry Base and a professor at the Shanghai Conservatory. His speech was classic official style.
Three sections: praise the festival's legacy, encourage university students with big dreams, and finally, reiterate the rules and fairness of the competition.
After his speech, Gu Peng took his place at the judges' table. Today's event was the regional knockout round for twelve universities in the capital.
Once someone gets famous, they end up attending a lot of events for free. Case in point: the University Student Music Festival. Chu Zhi planned to leave right after his speech. No way was he staying to be a judge.
The venue was the sports arena at the Capital University of Physical Education. It was massive, filled with sixty contestants from twelve schools and thousands of audience members. The atmosphere was electric.
"For the opening of the fifth University Student Music Festival, we've invited a special guest," Chair Yue said, keeping the suspense. "A very famous singer. I bet most of you here have heard his songs. Maybe some of you are even fans."
His suspense-building skills were top-notch. The audience leaned in.
"Let's welcome our special guest—Chu Zhi!"
The moment his name was announced, the venue exploded like water hitting hot oil. Instant chaos.
"Holy crap, I'm seeing Chu Zhi in the flesh, walking on two legs!"
"This festival didn't even advertise a livestream, and yet they got Chu Zhi? This just raised the whole event's level."
"Wow, ditching my cheating boyfriend and backstabbing bestie today was the best decision I've ever made!"
"Ahhhh Jiu-ye! I can't believe I'm seeing you live!"
The scene was wild—crowds as far as the eye could see, waving red flags like a national parade.
Chu Zhi stepped onto the stage and made a gentle "quiet" gesture. Within seconds, the crowd of thousands fell silent.
Why do celebrities seem more attractive after they become famous? Partly better makeup artists. Mostly, it's because their presence commands attention. They carry themselves with confidence.
"I'm really happy to be here today," Chu Zhi began. "One of my biggest regrets in life is that I never went to university. I missed out on a lot."
He opened by exposing a vulnerability. Things like education history couldn't be hidden, so he decided to lean into it.
"I'll just say a few words for the opening," he continued. "Here's a question—can we live without music?"
Murmurs from the crowd. Some said yes, others said no. The "no"s were louder.
"Let's think about it. If we had no music, would it matter that much? Probably not. Our daily lives—eating, sleeping, working—wouldn't change. We'd just be missing an art form. No big deal, right? A few thousand years of history would lose one element. Maybe entertainment would suffer a bit. No KTVs, no concert halls, no opera houses. Still sounds manageable."
"But what if I told you that without music, movies—ever since The Jazz Singer—would lose their soundtracks? They'd instantly become less compelling. Opera and traditional theater might not even exist. Dance would become the most awkward art form ever."
Since he was here, might as well go all in.
Chu Zhi leaned into rhetorical devices. Repetition for emphasis. Even hand gestures. He hadn't trained in public speaking, so it looked a bit clumsy, but he had the rhythm.
For impact, with each sentence, he took a small step to the front-left—just enough to show confidence without risking a tumble off the stage.
"If we had no music, maybe childhood would be easier. No more school choir competitions."
"If we had no music, our culture would fade. No more 'Three Hundred Poems of the Book of Songs' with their pure-hearted verses. No more Mulan weaving at the loom. The entire Yuefu poetry tradition would vanish. Among the Four Arts, there'd only be chess, calligraphy, and painting—no more qin."
"If we had no music, there'd be no 'high mountains and flowing streams' to describe a deep friendship. We wouldn't even have the word 'kindred spirit.' No idioms like 'playing to an empty room' or 'casting pearls before swine.' We'd never have seen the brilliance of the Baroque era. No Bach, no Vivaldi."
"That's why I believe this—I can't live without music. And I don't think humanity can either. Because music is the purest form of emotional expression we've ever had," Chu Zhi concluded. "So I look forward to hearing all your great music."
Applause burst forth. Thunderous, rolling.
Words have a special kind of power in the right setting. Sure, not everyone in the audience was a die-hard music lover, but they were students who listened to music regularly.
Chu Zhi's well-crafted repetition hit them hard. And he realized, it had been a while since he gave a real rousing speech. But his emotional appeal still worked.
As the cheers roared on, a new chant slowly rose from the crowd—"Sing one!"It spread like wildfire. More and more people joined in.
"Sing something!"
"Chu Zhi, give us a song!"
The voices formed a unified roar.
Hmm. Singing would be a separate appearance fee. And the organizers hadn't paid for that. Chu Zhi's first instinct was: not happening.
But then another idea came to mind. Maybe it was time to test his "torment the male fans" strategy. There were plenty of college guys here. Time to see if it worked.
===
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