The Great Wei Music Bureau

Chapter 112 Star-Making Plan (Part )

Last time, we talked about the first game of the semi-finals. The response was very enthusiastic. Li Yi once again became the focus of Shangjing City. Bailing also attracted everyone's attention. Obviously, Li Yi's star-making plan has begun to bear fruit. So will the next Wei folk song concert go smoothly? Let's see together.

For the second game of the rematch, the layout of the venue was changed. The original tent that could accommodate 500 people was changed to 800 people. Except for the front row VIP seats which had comfortable chairs, the seats in the back were all replaced with small benches without backrests. Even so, the ticket prices did not decrease but increased, and it was still hard to get a ticket, so you can imagine how popular it was.

The competition opened with Bailing's "Pointing to the Moon with the Left Hand", which instantly shocked the audience. Bailing's identity as the number one singer in Wei was thus established, and those who had doubts about her role as a judge no longer had any reasons to give.

After the opening, Li Yi continued to serve as both the host and the judge. He was the only one who had enough control over the situation, adjusting the atmosphere and dealing with various emergencies. The second semi-final went smoothly, with the singer Lingyu from Chunshuilou winning first place, and Miaoyin, the singer from the wealthy family of Bai Shirong, getting another place in the top eight.

For the third match of the semi-finals, the Exiled Immortal House expanded the venue overnight. Why? Because their courtesan Su Muchun was about to compete in the third match. After the expansion, the venue could accommodate a thousand people. Li Yi didn't say anything about it. The more tickets he sold, the more expensive they were, and the more benefits he could get.

The opening performance was a solo performance on the guqin by Mr. Xu. The smooth and flowing music of the ancient music fully demonstrated the master's style. As expected, the group of Su Muchun from the Exiled Immortal Tower qualified first, and the second place was the singer Xiangyi from the Ruyi Pavilion.

The fourth match of the rematch was opened by the former Yuefu Ling Sun Le. He was a Confucian official. The reason why he became the Yuefu Ling was because he was good at composing music and had several good songs circulating. For his opening performance, he invited Yuefu musicians to play his famous songs live.

Everything went smoothly. In the end, the singer Qisu from Yunyue Tower won the first place in the group, and the last place in the top eight was won by Youlan from the Exiled Immortal Tower. If you still remember, she was the singer who sang "Xiao Na" with Xunxiang at Li Yi's singing party. So far, the top eight of the first Wei Folk Song Festival have all been decided, three of whom are from the Exiled Immortal Tower, four from other brothels, and only one is a singer kept by a wealthy businessman.

In order to give the contestants more time to prepare, the round of eight to four was deliberately separated by two days. It was during these two days of waiting that gambling for this competition appeared in the gambling houses in Shangjing City. This shows the influence of this season of The Voice of China.

This betting game is also very interesting, because there is no handicap for the first place. The biggest handicap is whether Miaoyin, the only remaining merchant-supported singing girl, can make it to the next round. She has the highest odds of getting the second place. Of course, there are other handicaps, such as the second and third place handicap and the top four handicap.

These are all off-topic. Let's get back to the eight-to-four competition. Li Yi opened with "Ren Xiaoyao" and then explained the rules of the eight-to-four competition. After the first round, the contestants were divided into the upper and lower halves and had to compete in pairs, with the first against the eighth, the second against the seventh, and so on.

Because it was the semi-finals, there were two more days of preparation time. The level of the competition was obviously much higher and the audience was also very excited. After the first round of singing, Li Yi teased the audience and contestants with his usual method. When the results were finally announced, some were happy while others were sad.

Su Muchun from the Exiled Immortal House ranked first without any suspense, but his scores were very close to those of the others, with only a difference of one or two points. Even the last place was only 15 points behind the first-ranked Su Muchun. This situation made the competition full of suspense. The rankings were as follows:

Muchun (Exiled Immortal Tower), Qisu (Yunyue Tower), Fanghui (Tianxiang Tower), Lingyu (Chunshui Tower), Xunxiang (Exiled Immortal Tower), Miaoyin (Bai Mansion), Youlan (Exiled Immortal Tower), Xiangyi (Ruyi Tower)

In between the two rounds, Master Xu and Sun Le played an ancient song together, which drew cheers from the audience. Then the competition continued. From the beginning of the semi-finals, Li Yi deliberately increased the amount of advertising placement and also mentioned Ye's slimming clothes. These were all foreshadowing.

The exciting showdown officially began, with the eight finalists fighting against each other. Success was a matter of life and death. They all showed off their best skills, some sang and danced, some imitated Li Yi to stir up the atmosphere in the venue, and some used high notes to win cheers. In short, the intense competition made the ticket price worthwhile.

In the end, except for one group that was unexpected, all the others were won by the upper half. The dark horse was Miaoyin from Bai Mansion. No one knew where Bai Shirong got the prize from and how much money he spent to invite the master to compose and sing "Short Song", thus defeating Fanghui from Tianxiang Pavilion and entering the semi-finals. The boss of Tianxiang Pavilion was so angry that he lost his temper on the spot and cursed that there was something shady about the competition organized by Li Yi.

In fact, there was indeed a shady deal. The master who composed the music for "Short Song" was none other than Mr. Xu. Bai Shirong offered 10,000 taels to ask Master Xu to compose the music, and promised to keep it a secret. Of course, Li Yi only found out about this later, but to be honest, it was nothing to pay a high price to ask a famous master to compose the music, as long as there was no manipulation in the scoring process.

In fact, Master Xu gave Miaoyin the lowest score among the four judges in that group, because he felt that Miaoyin did not sing out the feeling he wanted and her performance could only be considered mediocre.

However, when facing the doubts from Tianxiang Pavilion, Li Yi handled it very well. After the boss of Tianxiang Pavilion got angry, Li Yi responded: "Boss Sui, the audience watched it with their own eyes. Who else but you thinks this competition is unfair? Although Miaoyin and Fanghui are indeed evenly matched in terms of singing skills, Miaoyin is more than halfway ahead in terms of the live effect. This is obvious to all!"

Boss Sui retorted, "That's because he chose your poem to compose the song, and there's sentimentality involved! You and Bailing gave it too high a score, that's the shady deal!"

Li Yi replied forcefully, "There are no restrictions on the selection of songs for the competition. You, Tianxiang Pavilion, can also choose my poems to compose songs. No one is stopping you. As for what you said about emotional points, that's really nonsense. As a Confucian and Taoist, you should maintain a righteous spirit. How could you do something unfair? Boss Sui, if you insist on making trouble, then from now on, this Voice of China competition has nothing to do with Tianxiang Pavilion."

Boss Sui snorted coldly: "Hmph, it's just a farce, who cares? If you don't want to compete, then don't compete!" After that, Boss Sui took his people and left the scene.

After the shady incident, there was constant criticism in Shangjing City, pushing the popularity of the Wei folk song party to the extreme, of course, there were both good and bad. This boss Sui Jingchun was not a good person either. He hired people to secretly slander and spread rumors. He even publicly accused Li Yi of being unfair, and even said that he was lustful, greedy, and flashy. But as a brothel owner, he actually said that Li Yi's lyrics and music were all obscene, and threatened to fight against vulgarity.

Alas, you are a brothel owner, and you are against vulgarity. Isn't that against yourself? I don't know where his dog-headed military advisor is from. He should be taken out and shot for five minutes! The people of Shangjing laughed at Boss Sui's anti-vulgarity, but in fact, his seemingly stupid move was actually a ulterior motive.

Because at this time Li Yi was revising textbooks, which were not only related to the direction of Confucian and Taoist literature, but would also have a decisive impact on the first imperial examination in Wei. At this time, there were rumors that were unfavorable to Li Yi. What was destroyed was not Li Yi's image among the people, but his image in the court!

There must be other forces behind this Sui boss, because someone in the court actually cooperated and brought up the fact that two of Li Yi's three wives were from brothels, saying that he was unworthy of his position and unsuitable to be a court official, and asked the emperor to dismiss Li Yi. The Wei folk song competition was also postponed again and again because someone impeached Li Yi, the initiator of the competition.

Li Yi did not respond to the abuse and doubts. It was not that he did not want to respond, but he was waiting for the person behind Sui Jingchun to reveal his flaws. When Tuoba Jun saw the memorial impeaching Li Yi, he was in a particularly good mood. The next morning, he specially took out the memorial for the ministers to discuss. As a result, no one in the court spoke up for Li Yi.

Even Tao Zhongwen echoed, "Your Majesty, I think the impeachment of Li Yuefu is true. Li Yi is a dissolute person who does not respect etiquette and laws and has no respect for his elders. He has also called me an old silver coin many times in front of me. Although I don't know what he means, it doesn't sound good. So I think he should be dismissed from his position as Yuefu Ling. This is not enough, he should be exiled to the frontier!"

Tao Zhongwen's words were like throwing a grenade into the court. Everyone knew that Li Yi and Tao Zhongwen had the best relationship. The two of them could be said to be friends regardless of age difference. It was he who recommended Li Yi to be an official in the court. But now, Tao Zhongwen was impeaching Li Yi with a wicked face. Not only did he not speak for Li Yi, but he also wanted to add insult to injury. The ministers immediately realized that there must be something wrong here!

Now is not the time to rush to express one's opinion, because everyone knows that Tao Zhongwen is the leader of the cunning sect and is best at conspiring and scheming. He is definitely going to do something big with this, and no one is willing to wade into this muddy water.

Tuoba Jun asked curiously, "This Li Yi is the person you recommended, teacher. Everyone in the court knows this. Why didn't you protect him this time? Why did you punish him severely?"

Tao Zhongwen said solemnly: "I am an old minister who is blind and was deceived by this gentleman's talent. I never thought he would be such a person. To protect the face of the court and the reputation of the officialdom, I ask Your Majesty to dismiss Li Yi and send him to exile in the northwest!"

Tuoba Jun thought for a moment and asked Kong Xiu, "Minister Kong, this Li Yi is an official from your Ministry of Rites. What do you think of this?"

Kong Xiu came out of the class and replied, "Your Majesty, the evidence is solid. I personally attended Li Yi's wedding and it is not wrong to say that he is lustful. Besides, when Li Yi was the head of the Music Bureau, he often left early and was not at work. He was lazy and unworthy of his position."

Kong Xiu once again set off an uproar in the court, and the ministers were discussing the matter. Tuoba Jun looked embarrassed and said, "Li Yi is indeed talented. The Queen Mother's birthday banquet was indeed beautiful. The Queen Mother praised him very much. I have only rewarded him not long ago. Suddenly, you say that he is unworthy of the position and want to dismiss him. Isn't this a bit of a slap in my face?"

Han Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice came out and said, "Your Majesty, rewards should be rewards, and punishments should be punishments. If rewards and punishments are not clear, where is the law? I think that the matter of Li Yi should be thoroughly investigated. If everything is true, then punish him according to the law. Our Wei Dynasty is full of talents, and there is no shortage of people who rely on their talents to be arrogant!"

Tuoba Jun shook his head and said, "Alright, then let's do as you all said. The Ministry of Rites and Music Bureau will suspend Li Yi from his post and let him reflect on himself at home. The Dali Temple, the Ministry of Rites, and the Xuanjing Division will conduct a thorough investigation to see if they can find anything other than lust and laxity. Once verified, he will be severely punished!"

In this way, Li Yi was suspended from his post and stayed at home, arranging dances and composing music for Bailing and Zhao Hanfeng. On the other hand, Shi Yu had to face the Dali Temple's thorough investigation of his property, the Ministry of Rites' assessment of his work, and the Xuan Jing Division's investigation into factional activities.

At this point, anyone with a discerning eye can probably see that Li Yi has only been in the officialdom for a short time, so how could he find any problems? He is not greedy for money and does not go out to socialize, so this clique has nothing to do with him. The assessment by the Ministry of Rites is just a formality. Are all the officials in the Music Bureau like Li Yi? They are on duty? Don't be ridiculous. If the Ministry of Rites reports the truth, the Music Bureau will be wiped out. Besides, Li Yi's position in the Music Bureau is stable.

After an assessment, the Music Bureau reported Li Yi's workload, including making new musical instruments, composing music and dances, and discussing music theory with officials. He was so dedicated to his duties that even the Wei Folk Song Festival was reported as Li Yi's work achievement.

Three days later, at the morning court, each department reported the situation. After listening to the report, Tuoba Jun asked, "Teacher, you see, now that Li Yi is lustful and married to two prostitutes, does he have any other problems?"

Tao Zhongwen said unhappily, "Your Majesty, according to the laws of the Wei Dynasty, court officials are not allowed to go to places of pleasure, but Li Yi married a prostitute. This is not a small sin!"

Han Shangshu of the Ministry of Justice came out to refute, "Your Excellency is wrong. Li Yi redeemed Shiyu long before he entered the court. She is not a prostitute, and this is not illegal."

Tao Zhongwen said with a smile: "What about Bailing? Bailing was brought back to Shangjing City when Li Yi was the Minister of Music. She worked as a maid in Liu Moxuan in Qing'an City. Isn't she considered a brothel girl?"