#LIN MO'S SINGING VOICE

[coricomile]

One thing that breaks my heart with mosbank is how interesting his music and videos are and then once they are in starhu hands it's boring.. Wish Jeff satur did production management on demand lol someone get a travel show with idk a relationship fighting to keep the love alive and rekindling.. Khun dad should have been vetoed out when the script was read tbh

Rain saying "Pa, dad, daaaaddy" to Phayu because he wanted to get out of doing his homework and accidentally discovering a new kink was adorable and perfectly in line with his character being an airhead running on bravado. Lin calling Sun "Mr/Sir Dad" as their ~cute ~couple name was a hard no.

Bank has a gorgeous voice. And his accent while singing in English adds to the rhythm and flow of his songs in an interesting way that is a signature to his music. He is not a bad actor at all, but his potential definitely shines more when he's singing than when he's acting and a lot of that does come down to the scripts.

Lol, Jeff already has his fingers in so many pies. That man doesn't need more projects. But if Saint is looking for more boys for his BL army, I would gladly nominate Mos and Bank.

[turkey-korvid]

Wow sad that we don't get to hear crackerjack duet with his mo- *discovers that he's voiced by lin manuel miranda* nevermind im glad he doesn't sing

[leonsrightlations]

The Earth is Online Chapter 16.1

The big mole’s fart was truly incomparably strange smelling. It didn’t dispel from the underground cavern for a long time. Everyone was assailed by it nearly to the point of vomiting. The big mole giggled and ran to the corner where it crouched down and proceeded to dig a hole with both its claws.

It didn’t pay any more attention to the five remaining players and the five people didn’t take the initiative to provoke such a monster.

Lin Qiao walked to the little girl’s side and sighed. [1] She took off her windbreaker and covered that pool of blood. Li Bin also walked to the cook’s side, moved him to a corner, and covered the cook’s face with his jacket.

The Black Tower had already announced that everyone had completed the second side mission, but no new side mission had appeared. They only had one main mission, which was just to survive. People can live without water for seven days. Without food, they can continue on for no more than thirty days. If the big mole didn’t interfere anymore, Tang Mo felt that, with his current physique, he could continue on even without water for at least a month. He was just afraid that the Black Tower’s mission of survival would have no end.

Tang Mo tentatively asked, “Uncle Mole, how can we leave this place?”

The Big Mole gave a strange laugh. “You want out? How do you get out? You’re playing idiot mode and the only thing you have to do is survive. You still want to get out?”

Everyone was resentful of the big mole’s words, but no one dared to retort.

In the pitch black cavern, the giant mole made a rustling sound as it dug. The sound was machine-like and ear-piercing.

Li Bin was still holding the flashlight the little girl had made using her ability in his hand.

His expression was strange as he looked at the flashlight. He muttered, “It’s a bit frightening…”

Tang Mo looked at him. “You don’t want it? Can you let me look at it?”

He was extremely interested in this thing that had been created purely by an ability.

Without even thinking about it, Li Bin hastily stuffed the flashlight into Tang Mo’s hand. “Take it away. I don’t want this thing.”

The flashlight was rapidly stuffed into Tang Mo’s hand. He had just opened his mouth, but didn’t speak, his expression suddenly pausing as a bizarre light slid through his eyes.

Luo Fengcheng said, “I also want to take a look.” So saying, he reached out his hand in preparation to accept it.

Tang Mo stared blankly for a moment and unexpectedly didn’t hand the flashlight over. Just as Luo Fengcheng was feeling baffled, suddenly, a peal of clear and cheerful singing sounded. The voice was loud and joyful, the high-pitched childlike voice causing the five people in the cavern, as well as the big mole, to all stop what they were doing.

The big mole’s small eyes widened with disbelief.

“How can this be!?”

When the song was finished, a familiar voice resounded in every person’s ears –

[Ding dong! In the first district of A-Country, the stowaway Fu Wenduo successfully cleared the first floor of the Black Tower.]

The big mole jerked its head up and again said, “How can this be!?”

Tang Mo tightly gripped the flashlight in his hand. When the Black Tower was finished broadcasting this line, he suddenly felt a bit fuzzy. In his line of sight, the big mole was holding its head in its hands in total shock, its figure gradually growing faint. He once more looked to Li Bin, Li Wen, Luo Fengcheng, and Lin Qiao beside him. The figures of the four people were also slowly dissipating.

The second after his line of sight went completely dark, Tang Mo opened both his eyes. Bright and beautiful, brilliant sunshine stung his eyes in a scene of white. Tang Mo was like a person on the verge of drowning, gulping in breaths of fresh air as he struggled to adapt to the strong light. When Tang Mo next looked clearly at the scene in front of him, his expression changed and he abruptly twisted the steering wheel. The car scraped along the curb and his whole person was nearly flung out of the vehicle.

The car sped for more than twenty meters before Tang Mo braked and it stopped at the side of the road.

His heart was still wildly racing. Every single thing that he had experienced in the underground cavern seemed to be happening before his eyes. He quickly calmed down, looked in all directions, and noticed that he was back in that original car. It was the place he’d been before the tower attack game had started. Tang Mo and Li Wen had been in the middle of driving. Now he had returned…

“What about Li Wen?”

Tang Mo had returned to driving, but he couldn’t find Li Wen.

He really couldn’t find the other and there was nothing else he could do. Tang Mo stopped on the side of the road and lowered his head to look at the flashlight in his hand.

It was the flashlight that Li Bin had given to Tang Mo. Because it was the little girl’s flashlight and she had died right before their eyes, Li Bin had felt discomfort in his heart and had eagerly given it to Tang Mo. Tang Mo hadn’t imagined that right at the moment he took the flashlight, he would discover that he’d gained an ability.

Tang Mo raised his hand and pulled a book out of the air, flipping it open to the third page –

[Ability: Draw a circle to curse you. [2]

User: Li Bin (Official Player)

Type: Special Type

Function: Attacks a designated target’s karma [3], causing them to have bad luck.

Level: Level one.

Restriction: Can only curse one target a day and is unable to control what negative effect the target suffers.

Remarks: Tang Mo won’t even pay for a flashlight. This is truly stinky and shameless!] [4]

Tang Mo: “...”

He pinched the book page in his finger until it made a crunching sound, took two deep breaths, and continued reading downward –

[Tang Mo-version usage explanation: Can only be used once a day with a 30% probability of being effective. Choking while eating or drinking water is also considered bad luck. This trash ability and Tang Mo have some compatibility.]

If only this wasn’t his ability. Tang Mo hated that he couldn’t grind its bones and scatter the ashes!

According to Tang Mo’s rough guess, if he wanted to obtain other people’s abilities, the first way was that kind of confrontation he’d had with Qian Sankun in which he had directly killed the other party. This way would certainly allow him to obtain an ability. The second way was to do something that was “eating everything without paying.” For instance, Li Bin had handed over the flashlight to Tang Mo and Tang Mo hadn’t given him money. This was a kind of “eating everything without paying.”

But this method of gaining another person’s ability only needed for him to take a flashlight to count as eating everything without paying…was it so simple?

Tang Mo pondered for a moment, vaguely feeling that this matter wasn’t so simple. There might still be some other restriction. He was about to close the book when, suddenly, a line of light colored words appeared after the remarks. He lowered his head to take a look –

[Remarks: Draw a circle to curse you (User: Li Bin), already successfully used.]

“Already successfully used? When was it used? Who was affected?”

The color of the line of words was extremely light and didn’t have the familiar cheap style of the ability book. Tang Mo looked for a long time but didn’t see any clues. He put his hands in his pockets in bafflement and suddenly touched something smooth and solid. He took it out and looked at it.

“The turkey egg?”

[PREV] [TOC] [NEXT]

Translation Notes:

[1] The original version makes it more clear in the previous chapter that the big mole is a messy eater.

[2] This is a reference to a cartoon from the mid-2000’s called Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf. There’s a character who would crouch down in the corner and “draw a circle to curse you.”

(The text says "draw a circle to curse you [all]")

[3] 因果律 - karmic law; law of cause and effect

[4] It actually says ‘stinky and not wanting face’ but this is a bit clunky as a translation, so I decided to go with ‘shameless’ instead. 

[dhappyorangec]

List of Zheng YeCheng's past, current, and future works.

Zheng YeCheng, born on August 26, 1993 in Jilin City, Jilin Province, is a film and television actor in Mainland China.

Height: 5'11''

At the age of 7, he began to study Peking Opera, and at the age of 10, he was admitted to the Shanghai Theatre Academy's Affiliated Xiqu School to formally study martial arts.

List of Zheng YeCheng's Filmography: (will make a list with links where to watch later)

1. 2013: “The Cosplayer” movie: Zheng YeCheng as Bang Bang Tang/”Lollipop” - support role (dubbed)

2. 2014: “Swords of Legends” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Wang Cai - support role (dubbed)

3. 2014: “He and His Sons” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Gao Mai - main role (original voice)

4. 2014: “A Legend of Chinese Immortal” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Lan Cai He - support role (dubbed)

5. 2014: “The Romance of the Condor Heroes” drama: Zheng YeCheng as General Xiao Wang - support role (dubbed)

5B: 2015: "Half and Half Love is not Full" Xiao Mo

6. 2015: “The Journey of Flower” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Nan Xian Yue/Nan Wu Yue - support role (dubbed)

7. 2015: “Intouchable” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Yu Zao Chuan - main role (dubbed)

8. 2015: “Seventeen Blue” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Wang Zi Qiao - support role (original voice)

9. 2015: “Legend of Mi Yue” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Song Yu - support role (dubbed)

10. 2016: “Revive” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Li Xiao - support role (dubbed)

11. 2016: “Singing All Along” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Deng Yu (Teen) - support role (dubbed)

12. 2016: “Love O2O” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Hao Mei - support role (original voice)

13 A&B: 2016: “Bu Liang Ren I & II” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Li Xing Yun/Emperor Zhaozong of Tang - main role (dubbed)

14. 2016: “Guardians of the Night” movie: Zheng YeCheng as Ye Yan - main role (dubbed)

15. 2017: “The Song” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Du Chun Sheng - support role (dubbed)

16. 2017: “Lost Love in Times” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Ling Long Shi - guest role (dubbed)

17A: 2017: “Let’s Shake It!” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Tang Qing Feng - main role (original voice)

17B: 2018: “Let’s Shake It! 2” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Tang Qing Feng - main role (original voice)

18. 2018: “An Oriental Odyssey” drama: Zheng YeCheng as MuLe/Prince A’Ying - main role (original voice)

19A: 2019: “Royal Nirvana” drama: Zheng YeCheng as General Gu Feng’en - support role (original voice)

19B: 2020: “Royal Nirvana” (Special) drama: Zheng YeCheng as General Gu Feng’en - support role (original voice)

20. 2020: “Love of Thousand Years” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Fu JiuYun - main role (original voice)

21. 2020: “The Sleepless Princess” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Xue Yao/Guan Shan - main role (original voice)

22. 2021: “Crossroad Bistro” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Zhao He Nan - support role (original voice)

23. 2021: “Stealth Walker” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Zhang Xian He - main role (original voice)

24. 2021: “Love Under the Full Moon” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Xu XiaoDong - main role (original voice)

25. 2021: “Medal of the Republic” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Feng Ke Shan - support role (original voice)

26. 2022: “Mirror: A Tale of Twin Cities” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Zhen Lan/Lang Gan/Zhi Zhe - support role (original voice)

27. 2022: “My Sassy Princess” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Shen Yan - main role (dubbed)

28: “Hualong District One” name changed to “Enlighten Your Life” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Lin Qi - main role, original voice.

29. “Desire Catcher” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Lu Feng Ping - main role, original voice.

Anticipating:

“An Eternal Thought” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Bai Xiao Chun - main role

“The Assassin” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Zhu Jing/Jing Zhen - main role

=====

Detailed with links:

1. The Cosplayer aka "Million Love Baby" (2013) (Starring as Lollipop)

This is Zheng Yecheng's first film and television work. He played the role of a player named Lollipop who participated in a large-scale game competition in this movie. He only appeared in a few scenes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5u_Edq4fxM (2:10 mins)

2. 2014: “Swords of Legends” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Wang Cai - support role (dubbed)

This is Zheng Yecheng's first appearance on television screens, playing the role of a naive and cute book boy named Wangcai. He only appeared for a few minutes throughout the entire series, but his handsome appearance captivated the audience and couldn't be ignored. https://youtu.be/5Rs8LUvgHeI (8 mins)

3. 2014: “He and His Sons” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Gao Mai - main role (original voice)

“He and His Sons” aka via direct translation “Father and Son on the Road” (2014) (Starring as Gao Mai)

In this drama, Zheng Yecheng played the role of Gao Mai, a high school student who, together with Luo Jianjun, played by Zhang Guoli, formed a "father and son on the road" duo. This was Zheng Yecheng's first time playing an important role that spanned the entire series. Gao Mai, who eagerly hoped for his parents to reconcile, initially harbored hostility towards Luo Jianjun, who suddenly intruded into their lives. Gao Mai misunderstood Luo Jianjun, thinking he reported his father to the authorities, resulting in his father's imprisonment and his marriage to his mother for the sake of property. Gao Mai deeply resented Luo Jianjun.

However, unexpected events occurred within a short period of six months. Gao Mai experienced his mother's terminal illness and death, his father being sentenced to death, the death of a close friend who fell from a building, and his house being deceived by his uncle, among a series of devastating blows that would be difficult for an ordinary person to bear. It was the persistent care and guardianship of his stepfather, Luo Jianjun, and his attentive care that gradually melted away the pain and hatred in Gao Mai's heart. A profound bond gradually formed between the father and son on the road.

Despite being relatively inexperienced, Zheng Yecheng showcased a pleasantly surprising freshness and natural acting style, seamlessly portraying a young boy who was innocent, kind-hearted, sensitive, and rebellious. His performance was three-dimensional and heartfelt, evoking empathy. In his numerous scenes opposite veteran actors Zhang Guoli and Liu Ruoying, the dramatic tension was palpable, whether in intense confrontations or tender and delicate moments. https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLykbRqPIkH7_3o-dmFKlh4AdUudSwOJ11 (35 episodes)

4. 2014: “A Legend of Chinese Immortal” drama: Zheng YeCheng as Lan Cai He - support role (dubbed)

Zheng Yecheng portrayed Lan Caihe, with only a few scenes. Although his appearance was somewhat stiff, his beauty was still undeniable. https://youtu.be/Yh8ydrNI64I [can watch full episodes on dramacool, cannot post link here] ep 1-4 on youtube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLykbRqPIkH79z7R5pIFI2H_CB_7PvPt0C

...to be continued

《百万爱情宝贝》棒棒糖 《古剑奇谭》旺财 《神雕侠侣》小王将军 《重生之名流巨星》厉逍 《芈月传》宋玉 《花千骨》南弦月 《醉玲珑》玲珑使 《一半一半爱情未满》李未 《会痛的十七岁》王子乔 《半路父子》高迈 《千千阙歌》杜春生 《男神执事团》羽早川 《微微一笑很倾城》莫扎他 《微微一笑很倾城》郝眉 《鹤唳华亭》顾逢恩 《别云间》顾逢恩 《北辙南辕》赵赫男 《功勋》冯克珊 《王牌御史》叶言 《画江湖之不良人》李星云 《画江湖之不良人》李晔 《颤抖吧 阿部》唐青风 《颤抖吧 阿部》唐青春 《颤抖吧 阿部》伊 《颤抖吧 阿部》亚父 《盛唐幻夜》穆乐 《盛唐幻夜》阿婴 《三千鸦杀》公子齐 《三千鸦杀》傅九云 《离人心上》薛曜 《满月之下请相爱》许晓冬 《满月之下请相爱》温特 《玫瑰行者》张冼赫 《镜双城》真岚 《镜双城》鸷者 《镜双城》琅玕 《祝卿好》沈宴 《邪恶催眠师之捕梦人》陆风平 《隐娘》朱镜 《许你万家灯火》林奇 (林奇说：我一定能做出一件惊天动地的大事) 《一念永恒》白小纯

[rqs902]

[ENG SUB] Jia Yi, Lin Mo, Zhou Shiyuan, Fu Hongyi cuts from ChunJuan TV ep. 10

Jia Yi and Lin Mo talk about Jia Yi getting spoiled in Mr. Tyger, Zhou Shiyuan shares funny stories, and they all play a spy game and perform a love song singing challenge together!

translated by @linm0mo, subbed by @zh0ushiyuan ♡

[jiannguo]

Our Song S1 Rewatch : Episode 3

Episode 3 is the first time 'Group B' Team members are introduced.

Seniors include Na Ying, Emil(Wakin) Chau, Tanya Chua and Christopher Wong.

Young Singers are Xiao Zhan, Ayanga, Mimi Lee, Jiang YiQiao.

Hosted by Lin Hai.

Full Episode Eng Sub:

My Ramblings:

SPOILERS AHEAD !!!!!!!

The first few scenes of all seniors together was adorable ❤ Love the interactions of especially Na Ying and Emil Chau, their banter is hilarious 😂 Loved the little nicknames they gave themselves.

The four newcomers together looked so nervous. Xiao Zhan is so cute, I tried the finger twist he did, but naaah I can't either. The four picked up numbers from the cups they drank from, based on which they decided on the sequence of entering the judging panel.

First entering is Ayanga, what a voice! For those who may not know, Ayanga is a trained musical theatre actor from Beijing Dance academy, and majored in musical theater. He sang his song 'Mo Ma' Radar horse; Na Ying recognised his style as 'Bel Canto'.

At the end of the performance, all four judges wanted to partner him. He went with the judge "Production Assistant" aka Emil Chau. The duet song they sang was 'Across the Ocean to see you' which is the OST of the romcom with the same name. At the end of the performance, Ayunga picked Emil, Emil however decides to wait for future newcomers. Points to both for their amazing banter after the performance 😆 Ayanga is a great sport!

Second enter Mimi Lee, a member of Rocket Girls 101 Cpop band, which was formed out from Produce 101. She is a Thai Chinese singer, nicknamed herself as 'Pinyin Girl' because she is from abroad, and has been studying Chinese for the past two years and is comfortable with Pinyin. She sang 'Xing Dong Jia', complete with dance moves and rap. The judge that chose her is Christopher Wong, and they both sang the duet 'Sha Nu'.

Mimi chose Christopher, but similar to Emil, he decides to wait for future candidates. Post duet conversation, I loved how open and respectful Christopher is to her style of performance and singing.

Next enter Xiao Zhan 😍 I was pretty impressed with Xiao Zhan's answers to the seniors. When asked what is his first priority, he was pretty honest about it being acting. But singing has been a huge dream of his, and he wants to get back on the stage. He sang the song 'Manzu' aka Satisfaction, which is his first solo song in XNine. He also mentioned that this song is very special to him and he wanted to share it with everyone (Group hug xfx sisters😭)

Loved the comment from Na Ying and Tanya how honest and warm his voice is, so pure without any ornamentation or frills. They both chose Xiao Zhan (who called himself cold soda 😆), and Xiao Zhan chose Na Ying (It was quite clever, the question he asked if any of the seniors had experience coaching junior singers)

Xiao Zhan and NaYing sang duet "Follow your Feelings". And they created history.

Na Zhan became the first duo to pick each other ❤ Na Ying hit the button for XZ mid way!. It was kind of cute to see how all the judges were fighting for Xiao Zhan 🙂. Adorable interactions between them post duet.

Jiang didn't get a solo performance as she was the last to come out. She and Tanya sang the duet 'Yuan Lai De Wo', and neither picks the other. Jiang is the first singer from the younger group who didn't pick her senior singing partner, it was quite obvious she wanted to pair up with Emil Chau who was her Shifu from a previous reality show. Emil and Jiang agreed to pair up.

Tanya and Ayanga pair up, for Tanya Ayanga was one of her top choices to be picked. The last remaining duo Wong Laoshi and Mimi Lee paired with each other, it will be interesting to see their performances as their singing styles are so different.

Final Thoughts

For the solo performances, my absolute favourite was Ayanga. His voice is rich, classically trained, full of vigor. Second favourite of mine is of course Xiao Zhan. I admired that he chose Satisfaction, the song is simple and beautiful, and his voice warm as honey.

For the duets, I have to admit Xiao Zhan and Na Ying were the most 'matched'. Emil and Ayanga both have very rich baritone voices, they're beautiful individually but didn't come across great together. My second favourite was Tanya and Jiang, their voice melted together beautifully but we can see they both wanted to pair up with others. Wong Laoshi and Mimi gave it a good shot, hoping for many more exciting performances to come.

The banter among the seniors... would love to get more of that in the upcoming episodes. They're just so cool 😎

Xiao Zhan photos from the episode and rehearsals :

[goldrockyroad]

public performances round 3 thoughts!!!

it is in times like these where i wish i didn’t get invested in survival shows because this is SO HARD NOW URGH if i could give every single one of them my votes i would. a lot shorter compared to my other posts because i honestly feel like i’m just repeating myself with saying how good they all are

push no. 5 for cute in input mode (what is this title) : mika, zhang xingte, nine, xue bayi, zeng hanjiang, wu yuheng, guest performer ju jingyi 

was very shocked that this team got the highest votes but when i thought about it again i was like ‘actually, yeah’ 

lemme tell you i was screAMING throughout the whole thing everyone’s lil interactions with ju jingyi were so cute omg 

nana party: santa, fu sichao, xie xingyang, wei ziyue, jing long, zhang teng, guest performer mao xiaotong 

honestly this was super refreshing for every single one of them 

remember when i said ‘i want to see santa do something cute’ in my public performances round 2 post? i think that manifested something

i absolutely love jing long 

xie xingyang and zhang teng really did a 180 after bad guy and i love them for it  

mao xiaotong did so well with all of them !!

satellite xl: caelan, hu yetao, rong yao, ukemi hiroto, yu gengyin, guest performer amber

HU YETAO MVP!!!!! FINALLYYYY!!!!

this one feels like an underrated gem tbh 

i especially love amber’s point on how she made herself a member of that team instead of maintaining the vibe that she’s their senior if that made sense

rong yao and yu gengyin surprised me with this concept and i love them for it

the adventure: liu yu, bo yuan, wu hai, amu, zhang xinyao, guest performer meng meiqi

right so 

my bias is really gonna be showing now

put bo yuan, wu hai, and zhang xinyao together, then add the goddess herself meng meiqi

and i absolutely cease to function

wu hai getting mvp was WELL DESERVED mans has been going OFF and is finally recognised for it

zhang xinyao’s moments w/ meiqi were exceptionally well done omg i flipped 

special mention to amu for handling this concept so well 

jade: rikimaru, patrick, oscar, ak, zhang jiayuan, zhou keyu, guest performer liu xiening 

totally unrelated but the fact that their heights made an upward slope from liu xiening to zhou keyu was hella funny to me 

rikimaruuuuuuu !!! mannn my og facials on point as usual 

ak’s rap albeit short was spectacular 

the whole concept tbh???? i am in love gimme more of it 

it’s raining and i’m thinking about you: lin mo, gan wangxing, he yifan, lelush, ren yinpeng, guest performer nene 

lin mo and nene’s acting??? god-tier 

mannn lin mo just never fails to body every song he gets huh he really is that bitch huh

the rest had such nice voices that delivered the song so well props to them 

extra thoughts: 

see i told yall gong jun was gonna sing wuhu again 

[ya-ya-ak-liu-zhang]

Initial Thoughts on Wonderland Party

Of course, I listened without looking at the lyrics or who sang what. Immediately I was able to identify Lin Mo’s rap. Yes he might be considered a novice when it comes to rap, but his voice is distinctive in both rap and vocal to the extent that one can easily identify when he’s singing. When he sings/rap, it is comfortable, it fits the song--you can rest assured that he will always understand the assignment. 

The voice that surprised me was that of Mr. AK Akira Liu Zhang. His Chinese verse was...dare I say...kinda sexy? He sang in a tone that we haven’t heard in a while. The closest match to his voice is when he sang “R&B All Night.” (Tbh I mistook his voice for Zhou Keyu’s, and then mistook ZKY’s for BY, at first). The enunciation of “how come you look so tired” did me in. That’s it. I’m deceased. I could kind of tell it was him when I first listened because of the slight “crack” in the “y” in “why.”  I’m glad AK got to show how versatile he is--that he isn’t just a strong rapper, but also a shining vocal.

Hands down, Wonderland Party is the best song on the EP. What a wonderful ending to an EP that, in some respects, exceeded my expectations (not by a lot, but by enough so I’m pleased). I mean, AK did say that this song is his favorite on the album.

[tsunflowers]

ok preliminary judgments of chuang2021 guys based on the first episode

chen ruifeng is a 26 year old 192 cm scorpio and a ballet dancer. he cant fucking sing but he did a goofy rap and I was impressed by his ability to go from elegant ballet boy to funny rapper boy

this is the guy who eats bugs. according to the guy he came with anyway. he was like "I'm inspired by bugs and scorpions and stuff when I choreograph my dances" so his dances are really fucking weird. I appreciate that about him

this is santa he's the one who said rikimaru eats bugs. he's really cute and an incredible dancer. he has a good stage presence too. I think he definitely has a chance to win this thing

I think liu yu kind of looks like a cute lesbian. he and santa were the ones who started playing twister during their dance battle. he's a traditional Chinese dancer and he's so charmingly serious about it. he was like "whenever I put on hanfu I do my best to embody the elegant and austere ideals of the traditional man" and the interviewer kept telling him to loosen up and be more casual

this guy gan wangxing got tiktok famous bc someone filmed him while he was working as a ghost at a haunted house (?) and he was so unbelievably handsome that he went viral. he's like very shy and modest and clumsy but everyone on the show was obsessed with him and every time he did something they would all stand up and applaud like "wooo!!!! you can do it!!!!" so he seems like a worthless himbo. I mean that as the biggest possible compliment

amu is a former johnny's apparently?? he was wearing this boldly patterned shirt in the first performance and whenever they cut to him I was like "kiriya?!" aside from being handsome he's a really energetic dancer

I put lin mo on my list after hearing him sing but then when he heard guys do an ultraman song he jumped out of his seat and yelled ultraman!!! and I knew I was right to put him on the list. but actually he jumped out of his seat for pretty much every performance. he's a super excitable guy

I thought this guy zen hanjiang was so fucking annoying at first bc he was in the esports group and his hair is ugly but he did a gamer rap that won me over and said he was in love with another guy he did a rap battle with so I came to see his charms. you cant deny that hes cute

this one's yuu, he looks kinda cool in this image but he seems to be 100% a goofball. he keeps showing off his muscles and his intro was running into the room and slipping on purpose. he makes me laugh so I think they should keep him around. also hes cute

xue bayi, I think he looks like watakei and I like his long hair. the fact that he can do a full split and also kick one of his legs 180 degrees straight up from a standing position is a lot for me to take in. I was prepared to stan him from looks alone but the flexibility was a plus and then I discovered that I love his singing voice

garbage website tumblr won't let me upload more than ten images and the 11th guy I wanted to post is possibly the prettiest so you're missing out but his name is hu yetao

those are all the guys I'm personally interested in but I think the guys to watch out for based on the way the show framed them are liu zhang, oscar, zhou keyu, li jiaxiang, and bo yuan

[reikp]

Chuang 2021

My Final lineup (no particular order)

1. Mika (Mika king *in hanjiang's voice*)

2. Nine (debut Nine+Patrick in my life)

3. Patrick (voice, dance, chinese, thai, english, only 17, the boy is something special)

4. Oscar (he has a modern style of rapping and a star image already)

5. Yu Gengyin (main vocal NOW)

6. Zhou Keyu (he is talented in many areas)

7. Santa (debut Santa+Rikimaru)

8. Rikimaru

9. Wu Yuheng (i root for him, but i don't know if it will be him or Lin Mo in the lineup)

10. Bo Yuan (can sing in chinese, english, japanese and has a great aura)

11. Caelan (i think he will be robbed, *my poor little boy* please let hin debut with Mika, he cried so much during the last elimination)

[potahun]

Some more Qin Shen Shen moment translations (part 7/?)

Link to other translations so far.

Most cuts from Episode 12 (but not all)

I already translated some bits from this ep in other parts, so this ep. doesn’t actually have too much left other than the songs themselves. This said, it’s also because some of the gems didn’t make it into the main broadcast haha

a. Group entrance - all finalists stand on stage. The MC asks Fei Yuqing how he feels first, who replies that he’s honored and hopes people will like the song they chose.

MC: Now we have to ask our Qin Shen Shen... On this stage, only you two have been together from the beginning to the end, singing all the way until now.

LKQ links his arm with ZS and crosses his legs. 

ZS: You’re being too courteous, too courteous.  *laughs and pretends to hit LKQ*

MC: So I have to ask the two of you: Did you set yourself any objectives for tonight’s finale?

LKQ: It’s very obvious. From our outfits today, you can tell we came to study. We look like students. They (the other teams) look like teachers and the headmaster. (...)

b. Flashback: During the charades segment to decide the order of performances, Qin Shen Shen are basically chaining correct answers without a break. 

ZS, halfway through the game: Hold on a minute, *touches his cheeks* is our time going to be this long?

c. In the backstage room, explaining the idea behind their song “Hua”. 

ZS: This song will have a fairly big contrast. We’re hoping it’ll be a bit more relaxed, simpler and livelier (LKQ: Right)

The flashback shows their on-stage rehearsal. ZS bursts out laughing during the song intro, making LKQ laugh too and say “It doesn’t feel like a competition”. ZS then replies that it feels a lot like Tom&Jerry.

(Back to the backstage room) LKQ, explaining: Because until now all we’ve sang are love songs, slow songs, really tragic ...apart from “Ye Lang”. So I think this song can again, in the finale, allow people to have an ‘Aaah? This is pretty good too’ - that kind of feeling.

ZS: Like “Eh? Didn’t expect this.” It’s kind of doing your own thing, I guess. Everyone is going *mimics the sound of swords and arrows flying* and these two people are like *does a hand-clapping game* It’ll just make a very different picture. 

LKQ: Good.

ZS turns to him to initiate a hand-clapping game. LKQ goes too fast for ZS and they mess up. 

ZS (to LKQ): It’s the other way round. *turns away from him* OK. 

LKQ, protesting at being “criticized”: Heeey! Little kids, alright!! 

ZS pacifies him. 

d. After they finish their performance of “Hua”, in which there’s a lot of harmonisation, cute poses, and you guessed it: dry ice. 

MC: Why is it that as soon as you two stand on stage, there’s dry ice? (ZS laughs and LKQ just licks his lips)

ZS: But apart from dry ice, we have nothing else........ *laughs*

MC: My interpretation is this. From the 1st day you paired up, Xiao Qi Ge has been saying you’re a Match Made in Heaven. Your harmonisation today, it really had a divine and floating kind of feeling, so you must have dry ice/theatrical fog all over the stage in order to match that.

ZS, bowing: :OOO Thank you teacher Lin Hai (MC’s name) Thank you.

MC, trying not to laugh: But the song you chose today really does look a lot like a school performance... (ZS and LKQ: :’D and ;;;; at the same time) So do you want to listen to feedback from the teachers? (ZS: Yes LKQ: Yes, of course)

NY: Let’s start with the headmaster (Fei Yuqing), alright?

FYQ: Alright. (...) Truthfully speaking, if I were to be picking at your small problems, it’d be beneficial for both our teams, huh? (i.e. his and Na Ying’s) *laughs* (ZS makes a vaguely terrified face on stage while LKQ is laughing) 

FYQ: But that’d be selfish of me. 

He ends up giving some very nice comments, and NY asks to see his notes. NY ends up teasing that what he wrote has nothing to do with that he said (aka the notes might really have been picking at Qin Shen Shen’s problems). FYQ replies with a very courteous “It’s your turn now.” and NY just goes “Alright” instantly.

NY: Actually, I’ll tell the truth, it’s after coming to “Wo Men De Ge” that I’ve truly started to like Li Keqin. (LKQ, bowing but relaxed: Thank you, thank you Na Jie, thank you~) That care and magnanimity that he has for music and for Zhou Shen, I find it really good. (LKQ turns to smile proudly at ZS) Zhou Shen, I don’t need to say any more, he’s like an elf.

ZS (to LKQ): Elves tend to be relatively small... (LKQ: The expression of an elf *imitates the face ZS made a second ago*)

NY: Zhou Shen, under Li Keqin’s protection, had a big surge in self-confidence. For each sentence in which they harmonised, their silent understanding was incredible. 

FYQ teases NY about how good she is at giving comments. All in all, NY concludes by saying she REALLY likes the Qin Shen Shen collaborations. 

e. Right after Li Keqin and Zhou Shen sit back down after “Hua”, Ayanga leans over to their side:

AYG (to ZS): Let me tell you, for this song... he (LKQ) looked even younger than you! *imitates the way LKQ was doing the cute flower poses earlier on, while LKQ laughs* I even forgot which of you is the elder brother! 

f. After Qin Shen Shen’s second song “Your name, my last name”. 

FYQ, commenting: *takes out his notepad* The headmaster has made notes again. This...Keqin and Zhou Shen... how can their chemistry be this good? As always. And I noticed that you really do suit dry ice very well.... (LKQ and ZS both guffaw) (...)

NY: I think Zhou Shen’s voice put together with Li Keqin’s voice is...feminine  (T/N: tbh im not sure how to translate this: “yin rou”. I looked it up and it gave me “feminine” but honestly I’m not sure...it’s got an element of being elegant and delicate too, I guess)

ZS: ???

NY, explaining: When you are giving Li Keqin strength, you can have strength. When you have parts where you have to be very tender, combined with his voice, it’s a perfect match. (ZS nods) So the two of you, when you have an opportunity in the future, you should once again make some songs that everyone would like. (the crowd cheers) Also, Zhou Shen, I noticed your Cantonese *switches to Cantonese* is really very good.

ZS, happy: Ooooooooooh! (LKQ, agreeing: Very good.) *speaks in Cantonese* Thank you very much.

NY, still in Cantonese: Did you know how to speak it before?

ZS, in apparently terrible Cantonese: I could understand it but not speak it-

NY: Ah, drop it, drop it, now it’s not correct anymore. Let’s drop it. (ZS cracks up: I really don’t know how to speak it!!)

Not doing the rest but yeah after the voting ends etc. etc. the MC explains that since Fei Yuqing and Jay Chou’s “Qian Li Zhi Wai / Beyond a thousand miles” (2006), they were wondering if they’d be able to have once more, on this stage, a song that bridges the generational gap between singers (the Qian Li Zhi Wai collaboration being the inspiration for the concept of the show) and the ones who would be realising this tonight would be Qin Shen Shen, with their original song “Bu Jian Jiu San”*. 

The winner of the finale is announced via the raising of the stage (all 3 groups stand on the stage, and only the part where the winners are standing will raise above the others). 

That’s pretty much it from the main broadcast BUT. Qin Shen Shen has quite a lot of stuff hanging outside the main broadcast in general....

----

* About “Bu Jian Jiu San”..... Idk how to translate this accurately. I read it as “If you won’t meet again, then say goodbye” but that’s taking liberties I guess. I also saw “Leave with no greeting” as a translation. Based on the lyrics which are about moving on, and also the meaning of the usual term “bu jian bu san” (no meeting, no parting i.e. we won’t leave until we see each other), I’d have leaned towards the "if u don’t meet, then say goodbye” sense, like if you’re not together anymore, then stop lingering on it - that kind of feeling. but honestly? I have no clue. 

Anyways an official MV was made for this song, and the MV is basically just Qin Shen Shen being Qin Shen Shen, but with slow-mos. *thumbs up* 

[jokertrap-ran]

(未定事件簿) EVENT! 「消失的黄金」 [Tears of Themis] EVENT: The Lost Gold Translations (Lu Jinghe Chapter 3-01: Ancient Ruins)

“I'm supposed to be the one protecting you, but yet I'm making you fret over every single thing.”

*Tears of Themis Masterlist is under construction. *Spoiler free: Translations will remain under cut *(y/n) is your name when in direct referral; otherwise referred to as MC.

Location: Ancient Ruins

MC: Now, if you'd kindly explain to me why you had purposely let Tian Yu go?

I had fired a shot into the air with an air rifle that I had borrowed from the Gun Room when Tian Yu had tried to attack Lu Jinghe with a knife. Tian Yu had recoiled from the sound and taking advantage of the opportunity that presented itself, Lu Jinghe had seized his knife.

I thought he'd subdue Tian Yu and report to Camp, but I'd never thought that he'd actually let him go scot free.

Lu Jinghe: He lost his composure, which means that he's probably working with either Wang Xian or Dong Hechuan.

Lu Jinghe: He'd definitely notify his accomplices to take immediate action, now that he knows that their deeds have all been exposed. They're also more likely to leave tracks when in that much of a panic.

Lu Jinghe: Do you think we'll get a confession out of him about the whereabouts of the gold if we were to capture him straight off the bat here?

MC: You've got a point.

Lu Jinghe: But the only reason why I was able to safely seize the knife so smoothly was thanks to your impeccable timing with that gunshot. If you found it up, that pretty much means that you've just saved my life, and I—

MC: Enough, there's no need for you to repay me back with your body. Actually, I'd much rather you buy me an ice-cream if you really want to pay me back.

Lu Jinghe: Aw...am I that worthless to you?

Lu Jinghe: Well, forget it. Let's talk about how you managed to sneak a gun out then.

Lu Jinghe: It's very dangerous for someone who's untrained in handling guns to be shooting rashly like that.

That's a great jump from topic; how do you just go from one thing to another in a split second like that?

MC: It's not a real gun. It's an air-gun replica, the kind used in shooting games.

MC: I asked the Staff about it and they told me that the special characteristics of this gun is that it's not lethal, just really loud when shooting which can be used to scare people.

MC: You were bare-handed, but Tian Yu was armed with a knife. I was afraid you'd get hurt.

Lu Jinghe: I'm supposed to be the one protecting you, but yet I'm making you fret over every single thing.

The gentle tone in his voice made my face heat up. I scanned the surroundings in a helpless attempt to disperse the heat, suddenly catching sight of something scattered on the ground.

MC: Lu Jinghe, look. Did Tian Yu drop those things?

A roll of paper and some boxes of medicine were scattered on the ground not too far away. They appeared to be items that had fallen out of Tian Yu's bag during the scuffle earlier, judging from their location.

Lu Jinghe: I nicked the corner of his backpack when I seized the knife from him. Those items must have fallen out then.

He knelt down, checking over the items one-by-one.

Lu Jinghe: This is…

The roll of paper caught our attention. It was a roll of parchment with writing within.

Lu Jinghe: “The Undead rises, singing for the sun.”

Lu Jinghe: “You rise, shine, make the heavens roll aside”

Lu Jinghe: “You are the king of Gods, Lord of all. Before you, Ma’at raises her feather of fate.”

Lu Jinghe: Ma'at…? Isn't that...an Ancient Egyptian God?

An Ancient Egyptian God? I suddenly remembered the messages that Zuo Ran and Mo Yi had both sent to the encrypted channel.  I didn’t think to read it through all that thoroughly since we were busy on the road but I recall that they both mentioned something about Ancient Egypt.

MC: Lawyer Zuo and Dr. Mo also found similar scrolls…

I shook the phone in front of him, prompting him to read the messages himself.

MC: Lawyer Zuo has already gotten Lin Dahai under control and Dr. Mo has done the same to Wang Xian.

MC: Both of them also say that the whereabouts of the gold is related to Ancient Egyptian Mythology.

Lu Jinghe: The “Book of the Dead”...Just hearing it’s name tells you that it’s yet another book dabbling in life and death.

Lu Jinghe: Tian Yu has set his mind on pursuing immortality, and the gold robbery has something to do with that “Book of the Dead”... Tian Yu and Dong Hechuan are also collaborating with each other…

Lu Jinghe: No way...could the missing thing from the Gold Robbery actually be some sort of Cultural Relic related to immortality, and not gold?

MC: I can understand why Xia Yan’s here on that secret mission of his if it’s an important Cultural Relic or an incredibly valuable piece of artwork.

MC: But that doesn’t make sense...If it’s something related to Ancient Egypt, then it wouldn’t be a Cultural Relic or Artwork belonging to our Country.

MC: So there’d be no need for Xia Yan himself to be investigating this.

Lu Jinghe: Forget it, let's not mull over it for now. We've got to continue tailing Tian Yu.

Lu Jinghe: We can collect any items related to Ancient Egypt along the way, if we encounter any Historical Sites. Like...

Lu Jinghe: For example, a statue of Ma'at, or...a feather, mayhaps?

Tian Yu’s goal was the secret treasure of the Underworld. Hence, the place he’d be heading to next would be none other than the Temple of the Underworld at the very top of the Mountain. We took the map we had snapped photos of as reference, comparing it with the geological profile of Nosta Island that PAX had collected, and found a shortcut to the Mountains.

Finally, we arrived at the Temple before dawn, a step ahead of Tian Yu.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

MC: This Temple is by no means small, and we don’t know where that treasure that Tian Yu seeks is being hidden either.

MC: If we can find and get our hands on the treasure first, maybe we can use it as a bargain chip to exchange information with him regarding the Gold Robbery.

Lu Jinghe: ……

Lu Jinghe stood in the middle of the Temple, looking around, unresponsive to what I just said.

MC: What are you looking at?

Lu Jinghe: I suddenly feel like this place is very similar to a Historical Site I’ve visited before...

Lu Jinghe: But I just can’t seem to recall where.

Hearing him say that, I also thought that this Temple was rather special.

It was relatively closed-off, with only a wide and narrow door that could fit a single person, being it’s only connection to the outside world. Although this door reaches the ground and extends to the roof of the Temple, I don’t imagine that it’d help improve the lighting within this place.

I suppose it’s fitting for a Temple of the God of the Underworld; just like how you cannot see the skies down in the Underworld itself.

MC: The words we managed to glean from the notes were “eternal life”, “full moon”, “sunshine” and the like…

MC: Wait a sec, are those actually hints?

MC: If you’re talking about a place of the same kind, then there’ll always be similarities in some of the key Architectural Design, or the Cultural Connotations.

Lu Jinghe: I remember now…

???: You trash! I let you take care of one little thing, only for you to cause more! 

???: I didn't give you a gun just so you could scare off some small fry!

???: If I cannot obtain the secret treasure, then there’s absolutely no meaning to all of this, even if you do manage to find something!

Lu Jinghe’s words were suddenly interrupted by a sudden outburst of anger outside the Temple.

Judging from the sound of the voice, Tian Yu had arrived.

☆⋅⋆…⋅─────────── ⋆⋅✾⋅⋆ ───────────⋅…⋆⋅☆

Previous Part: (Lu Jinghe 2-06: Ancient Ruins) | Next Part: (Lu Jinghe 3-02: Ancient Ruins)

[rqs902]

[ENG SUB] Lin Mo's phone call to a fan 

Lin Mo pretends to sell insurance and is recognized within a second. He urges fans to take care of their health. // 林陌卖保险秒被认出 嘱咐粉丝注意身体

Lin Mo sings Mr. Tyger’s 《To The Future》

Can we please talk about how you can tell how much he honestly cared for her and gently comforted her when she started choking up, just as much as she cared for him as she checked up on his health, encouraged him, and gave him time to show off his singing (which he has said he wanted to do but rarely gets the chance to)? This is so heartwarming, I’m so happy she did this for him. AND LIN MO SANG THE CHORUS OF MR. TYGER’S “TO THE FUTURE” -- THANK YOU FOR SHARING HIS VOICE IN THIS BEAUTIFUL SONG 

[ladylillianrose]

Extraordinarily Star-Crossed a Max Richman/Zoey Clarke Fanfiction

A/N: Thank you all for the love and support for this fic! We’re just about at the end, which is just crazy to think of!

San Francisco, CA 2020 Chapter 5

San Francisco, CA 2020 Chapter 4

San Francisco, CA 2020 Chapter 3

San Francisco, CA 2020 Chapter 2

San Francisco, CA 2020 Chapter 1

The Atlantic Ocean, April 1912 Chapter 6

The Atlantic Ocean, April 1912 Chapter 5

The Atlantic Ocean, April 1912 Chapter 4

The Atlantic Ocean, April 1912 Chapter 3

The Atlantic Ocean, April 1912 Chapter 2

The Atlantic Ocean, April 1912 Chapter 1

Paris, France 1792 Chapter 6

Paris, France 1792 Chapter 5

Paris, France 1792 Chapter 4

Paris, France 1792 Chapter 3

Paris, France 1792 Chapter 2

Paris, France 1792 Chapter 1

Florence, Italy 1485 Chapter 6

Florence, Italy 1485 Chapter 5

Florence, Italy 1485 Chapter 4

Florence, Italy 1485 Chapter 3

Florence, Italy 1485 Chapter 2

Florence, Italy 1485 Chapter 1

Greece 382 B.C.E. Chapter 6

Greece 382 B.C.E. Chapter 5

Greece 382 B.C.E. Chapter 4

Greece 382 B.C.E. Chapter 3

Greece 382 B.C.E. Chapter 2

Greece 382 B.C.E. Chapter 1

"So basically, we have one chance to break Aphrodite's curse, otherwise they will erase all our memories of each other," Zoey finished explaining. "Does that all make sense now?"

Max nodded slowly in understanding. He hadn't uttered a word throughout her entire tale, he just sat there silently listening.

"How's your head?" she asked, worried at how quiet he was.

"It's okay, a little sore still, but whatever Maggie did seemed to help. The memories are much clearer now," he replied, reaching for her hand.

"Zoey, I loved you even before I got all these memories back. I…"

"I know," Zoey interrupted him. "I know that you've been in love with me."

"Wait what? How?" Max looked at her in shock.

"Max there's something you should know...I was going to tell you the other day, but then I got distracted. I have musical powers."

"I'm sorry what?" he asked, disbelief coloring his voice.

"It's true. Right after I told you about the weird dreams I’d been having, you started singing to me," she explained.

"I sang to you?"

"You sang 'I Think I Love You.'"

Max blushed, unsure of how to respond.

"My powers let me hear people's innermost thoughts and feelings through song," she continued. "And at first your song and feelings scared me because I didn't want to jeopardize our friendship."

Max opened his mouth to reply but Zoey put a finger to his lips to stop him.

"Let me get this all out. But once I got my memories back and sorted, the only thing I could think about was you."

Max grinned at her, "So, what exactly are you saying?"

"I'm saying that there's no one, in any life, more important to me than you. You're my other half, my soulmate, my love," her voice cracked with emotion as she looked into Max's eyes.

"I've already lost you too many times,  I won't lose you again. Not this time, I swear it," she said fiercely. "Aphrodite can throw whatever she wants at me, I'm not letting you go!"

Max couldn't contain himself any longer, pulling her into his arms, he captured her lips in a passionate kiss. 

They broke apart breathing heavily, faces flushed with happiness.

Zoey cleared her throat, "We should probably go talk to the others."

Max nodded reluctantly, "I'm surprised that Tobin was patient enough to wait this long."

"He's one of The Fates, I imagine he’s much more mature than we give him credit for."

________________________________________________________________

"Pay up! I told you they wouldn't be able to keep their hands off each other!" Tobin crowed. He collected his winnings from Mo and Leif, slipping half of it to Demeter with a wink.

"You were saying something about maturity?" Max chuckled, raising his eyebrows at Zoey. 

"Soo… how exactly are we going to take down Aphrodite?" Tobin asked as the couple sat down.

"I honestly haven't the faintest idea," Zoey replied. 

"Well, you have just come into your demi-god powers, perhaps those might provide some assistance?" Maggie suggested.

“You mean that weird thing where I hear people singing?” Zoey frowned. “How did y...ahhhh I see, you’re Mo’s ‘mysterious source.’”

Maggie chuckled, “Guilty as charged. But yes, I’ve always suspected that your powers would be linked to music since it was your father’s musical talents that captured my heart,” she smiled. 

"But how is music going to help us defeat a goddess?" Max asked.

Maggie smiled, "You would be surprised at the power of music."

Zoey looked confused, "So what, I get Aphrodite to sing and she suddenly tells me her weakness?"

Mo swallowed a laugh, "Now that I would pay to see."

"Your powers have been slowly growing throughout the years, I believe they first started appearing back in Florence. You said you heard someone playing the lyre, but there was no one around," Maggie explained. "At the time I was uncertain whether it had to do with your abilities,  but now I'm certain it did."

Zoey frowned as she remembered that day.

________________________________________________________________

"What an interesting song,  I've not heard it's like before."

Magdalena looked puzzled, "Song, m' lady?"

"Yes, the one just being played on a lyre from somewhere nearby. The tune was," she hummed the notes, "like that."

"M'lady there was no music playing, and that is the first time I've heard that tune," Magdalena explained, looking concerned.

Elena was confused,  "You mean you didn't hear a lyre playing?"*

________________________________________________________________

She attempted to hum the melody allowed, looking to see if the others recognized the tune.

They looked at her blankly, unsure of what she was humming.

"Wait a minute!" Zoey stopped humming as she realized something. "It sounds an awful lot like the tune Joan was humming in her office earlier!"

"Joan was humming? Leif looked confused.

"Well, no probably not out loud. But when I went in there to ask her about it, a memory of my maid in Paris singing to me popped into my head," she explained excitedly.

"Do you remember any of the words she was singing?" Mo asked, pulling out his phone.

________________________________________________________________

"O I forbid you, maidens a',

That wear gowd on your hair,

To come or gae by Carterhaugh.

For young…"**

________________________________________________________________

Zoey recited the lyrics as Mo typed them into his phone.

"I've got it!" he pulled up the song and began to play it.

"The musicians were playing this song just as we got to the boat deck," Max recalled. "You looked confused when you heard it…"

________________________________________________________________

"Take the Bible in your right hand,

With God for to be your guide,

Take holy water in thy left hand,

And throw it on every side.

Cordelia froze, the melody was familiar, but the lyrics were unknown to her. How did she know this song? Had Mam sung it for her?"***

________________________________________________________________

"That's it, that's the one!" Zoey ran over to look at Mo's phone.

"The name of it is 'Tam Lin.' Wasn't there a woman who sang something about Tam Lin to you?" Mo asked.

"You're right, there was that woman right after the earthquake! She sang something about Tam Lin and Janet?" she frowned trying to remember.

"Okay, well since this song keeps coming up, it’s safe to say it has some connection to us," Max said nodding to Zoey. "The question is what exactly?"

Zoey shrugged, "I've never heard of this song or the name Tam Lin before."

Maggie looked pensive, "I seem to recall that Tam Lin had something to do with the Faerie Queen being thwarted by a mere mortal girl. We rarely interacted with the Faerie Realm, but gossip like that does make its way even to Olympus."

"Here it is," Mo said. "Tam Lin was a young mortal knight captured by the Faerie Queen. On Halloween, he was to be a sacrifice, but Janet, a young mortal woman who loved him, came to his rescue. The Faerie Queen transformed Tam Lin into all manner of beasts, as Janet held him close to her heart, refusing to let him go, no matter how hard he fought her. She wrapped him in her cloak, marking him as her own, and their love proved strong enough to defeat the Faerie Queen."

The group sat in silence staring at Mo. "Don't look at me like that, I'm just reading what it says!"

"I think we should do it," Zoey said. 

"Do what exactly?" Maggie asked.

"Challenge Aphrodite. If I can hold onto Max while she transforms him into whatever she wants, then I will have proven our love is true and she has to get rid of the curse," she explained 

"And what happens if you fail?" Leif chimed in.

"Then we drink of the River Lethe," she bit her lip worriedly. "Either way the curse is at an end. And I for one am not going down without a fight!"

"Do you think Aphrodite would go for it?" Max asked. 

"A direct challenge, one which she's arrogant enough to think she can win? Yeah, she'll definitely agree to it," Tobin chuckled.

"And just where do you plan on having this epic battle of wills?" Mo asked.

Zoey thought for a moment. Where exactly does one have a battle with a Goddess?

"How about by the Lilypond in Golden Gate Park?" Max suggested. "There's enough space and it's tucked away a bit, so no one should bother us."

Zoey smiled at him, "Perfect! We'll meet there tonight."

"Tonight?!" everyone looked at her in shock.

"I want this over and done with as soon as possible! I'm not giving her the chance to try anything else," Zoey said, determinedly. "She's ruined our lives for far too long, it's time for this to end!"

They all nodded in agreement, the sooner Aphrodite's curse was broken, the better.

"I'll contact the Council of Goddesses, we'll need them there to witness," Maggie turned, and disappeared.

"Tobin, you and Leif go inform Aphrodite of the terms," Zoey directed.

"Why us?!" they cried. 

"The last time Max was anywhere near her she tried to seduce him. I nearly clawed her face off at the coffee shop, and Mo had to drag me out of there. Safe to say none of us should be going anywhere near her, which only leaves you two."

"Fair enough," Tobin agreed. Snapping his fingers he and Leif disappeared.

"Wait, coffee shop?" Max looked at Zoey confused.

"Oh yes, Aphrodite has been posing as Autumn to try and get her claws into you again, " Zoey shook her head in disgust.

"Autumn? Barista Autumn? The one who always remembers my drink?" Max cried. 

"Max, your drink is a black coffee, it's really not that hard to remember. But yes, that Autumn," Zoey chuckled.

"Huh….Guess we'll need to find a new coffee place then. "

________________________________________________________________

A/N:

* Chapter 9

** Chapter 17

*** Chapter 22

[ya-ya-ak-liu-zhang]

Initial thoughts on INTO THE FIRE

For me, AK and Mika were the highlights. With Mika, once he starts singing, you know the song has “started.” His tone transports you to a different scene. It’s the necessary acidity that balances the fat in a well balanced dish.

When AK (and ZKY) started rapping I just KNEW it was them. AK’s voice is full of resolve. It’s bursting with energy. Combustion. When ZKY raps he has this deep, confident tone. Of course I could also recognize ZJY’s and Lin Mo’s distinctive voices without looking at the lyrics :)

In Chuang 2021 (Ep 5), AK discuss how boy group rap in the past conveys swag but not necessarily values. I hope future INTO1 songs have longer rap parts, but even in AK’s 5 sec solo I could hear the determination and persistence. 

[hlupdate]

A hand­shake can quell polit­i­cal unrest and sti­fle impend­ing war. It can, with a bit of spit, val­i­date a gentleman’s agree­ment, end a years-long roman­tic rela­tion­ship or send a young heart rac­ing. But it all depends on the two par­ties involved.

Daisy, 21, felt a seis­mic jolt when Har­ry Styles, 25, wear­ing a striped jumper and rings on three of his five fin­gers, clutched her hand two days after this year’s Met Gala in New York, when she served him gela­to at the shop where she worked.

“He decid­ed on a small mint choco­late gela­to and I made his and the one for his friend and I said, ​‘Can I just say I absolute­ly loved your Met Gala look’ and he said ​‘Thank you very much! What’s your name?’ And I said, ​‘Daisy’ AND HE FUCK­ING EXTEND­ED HISHAND AND REACHED TO SHAKE MY HAND AND I ACTU­AL­LY FUCK­INGSHOOK HIS HAND WHAT THE FUCK,” she wrote on Insta­gram after The Shak­en­ing. ​“Like I didn’t even say any­thing to gas him up besides ​‘I loved your met gala look’ and his fine ass went and shook my hand! WHAT A BEAU­TI­FUL FUCK­ING HUMAN BEINGTHAT HE IS GOD BLESS HIM AND I HOPE HW [sic] LIVES FOREVER.”

For Har­ry Styles, a hand­shake can be a roman­tic ges­ture, con­jur­ing a potent rev­er­ence in its recip­i­ent, like the time he met Gucci’s cre­ative direc­tor Alessan­dro Michele. ​“He was as attrac­tive as James Dean and as per­sua­sive as Gre­ta Gar­bo. He was like a Luchi­no Vis­con­ti char­ac­ter, like an Apol­lo: at the same time sexy as a woman, as a kid, as a man,” Michele told me, has­ten­ing to add: ​“Of course, Har­ry is not aware of this.”

No, Styles has no idea the pow­er he wields. In per­son, he’s tow­er­ing, like some­one who is not that much taller but whose rep­u­ta­tion adds four inch­es. Styles has a seda­tive bari­tone, spo­ken in a rum­my north­ern Eng­lish accent, that tum­bles out so slow­ly you for­get the name of your first born, a swag­ger that has been nursed and per­fect­ed in myth­i­cal places with names like Pais­ley Park, or Abbey Road, or Grace­land. Makes com­plete sense that he would be up for the role of Elvis Pres­ley in Baz Luhrmann’s upcom­ing biopic. He was primed, nay, born to shake his hips, all but one but­ton on his shirt cling­ing for dear life around his tor­so. Then the part was award­ed to anoth­er actor, Austin Butler.

“[Elvis] was such an icon for me grow­ing up,” Styles tells me. ​“There was some­thing almost sacred about him, almost like I didn’t want to touch him. Then I end­ed up get­ting into [his life] a bit and I wasn’t dis­ap­point­ed,” he adds of his ini­tial research and prepa­ra­tions to play The King. He seems relaxed about los­ing the part to But­ler. ​“I feel like if I’m not the right per­son for the thing, then it’s best for both of us that I don’t do it, you know?”

Styles released his self-titled debut solo album in May 2017. The boy­band grad was clear­ly unin­ter­est­ed in hol­low­ing out the charts with more for­mu­la­ic meme pop. Instead, to the sur­prise of many, he dug his heels into retro-fetishist West Coast ​’70s rock. Some of the One Direc­tion fan-hordes might have been con­fused, but no mat­ter: Har­ry Styles sold one mil­lion copies.

Despite its com­mer­cial and crit­i­cal suc­cess, he didn’t tour the album right away. He want­ed to act in the Christo­pher Nolan film Dunkirk. To his cred­it, his por­tray­al of a British sol­dier cow­er­ing in a moored boat on the French beach­es as the Nazis advanced wasn’t skew­ered in the press like the movie debuts of, say, Madon­na or Justin Tim­ber­lake. Per­haps he was fol­low­ing advice giv­en by Elton John, who had urged him to diver­si­fy. ​“He was bril­liant in Dunkirk, which took a lot of peo­ple by sur­prise,” John writes in an email. ​“I love how he takes chances and risks.” Act­ing, unlike music, is a release for Styles; it’s the one time he can be not himself.

“Why do I want to act? It’s so dif­fer­ent to music for me,” he says, sud­den­ly ani­mat­ed. ​“They’re almost oppo­site for me. Music, you try and put so much of your­self into it; act­ing, you’re try­ing to total­ly dis­ap­pear in who­ev­er you’re being.”

Fol­low­ing the news that he missed out on Pres­ley, his name was float­ed for the role of Prince Eric in Disney’s live-action remake of The Lit­tle Mer­maid. How­ev­er, fans will have to wait a bit longer to see Styles on the big screen as that idea, too, has sunk. He won’t be The King or the Prince. ​“It was dis­cussed,” he acknow­ledges before swift­ly chang­ing the sub­ject. ​“I want to put music out and focus on that for a while. But every­one involved in it was amaz­ing, so I think it’s going to be great. I’ll enjoy watch­ing it, I’m sure.”

The new album is wrapped and the sin­gle is decid­ed upon. ​“It’s not like his last album,” his friend, rock ​‘n’ roll leg­end Ste­vie Nicks, told me recent­ly over the phone. ​“It’s not like any­thing One Direc­tion ever did. It’s pure Har­ry, as Har­ry would say. He’s made a very dif­fer­ent record and it’s spectacular.”

Beyond that, Styles is keep­ing his cards close to his chest as to his next musi­cal move. How­ev­er, the air is thick with rumours that his main wing­man for HS2 is Kid Har­poon, aka Tom Hull, who co-wrote debut album track Sweet Crea­ture. No less an author­i­ty than Liam Gal­lagher told us that both big band escapees were in the same stu­dio – RAK in north-west Lon­don – at the same time mak­ing their sec­ond solo albums. Styles played him a cou­ple of tracks, ​“and I tell you what, they’re good,” Gal­lagher enthused. ​“A bit like that Bon Iver. Is that his name?”

Har­ry Styles met Nicks at a Fleet­wood Mac con­cert in Los Ange­les in April 2015. Some­thing about him felt authen­tic to the leg­endary front­woman: ground­ed, like she’d known him for­ev­er, blessed with a win­ning moon­shot grin. A month lat­er, they met back­stage at anoth­er Mac gig, this time at the O2 in Lon­don. Styles brought a car­rot cake for Nicks’ birth­day, her name piped in icing on top. By her own admis­sion, Nicks doesn’t even cel­e­brate birth­days, so this was a sur­prise. ​“He was per­son­al­ly respon­si­ble for me actu­al­ly hav­ing to cel­e­brate my birth­day, which was very sweet,” she says.

Styles’ rela­tion­ship with Nicks is hard to define. Induct­ing her into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in New York as a solo artist ear­li­er this year, his speech hymned her as a ​“mag­i­cal gyp­sy god­moth­er who occu­pies the in-between”. She’s called him her ​“lovechild” with Mick Fleet­wood and the ​“son I nev­er had”. Both have moved past the pre­lim­i­nary chat acknowl­edg­ing each other’s unquan­tifi­able tal­ents and smooth­ly accel­er­at­ed towards play­ful cut-and-thrust ban­ter of a witch mom and her naughty child.

They per­form togeth­er – he sings The Chainand Stop Drag­gin’ My Heart Around; she sings the one alleged­ly writ­ten about Tay­lor Swift, Two Ghosts. One of those per­for­mances was at the Guc­ci Cruise after­par­ty in Rome in May, for ​“a lot of mon­ey”, Nicks tells me, in a ​“big kind of cas­tle place”. She has become his de fac­to men­tor – one phone call is all it takes to reach the Queen of Rock’n’Roll for advice on sequenc­ing (“She is real­ly good at track list­ing,” Styles admits) or just to hear each other’s voic­es… because, well, wouldn’t you?

Fol­low­ing anoth­er Fleet­wood Mac con­cert, at London’s Wem­b­ley Sta­di­um, in June, Nicks met Styles for a late (Indi­an) din­ner. He then invit­ed her back to his semi-detached Geor­gian man­sion in north Lon­don for a lis­ten­ing par­ty at mid­night. The album – HS2or what­ev­er it’ll be called – was fin­ished. Nicks, her assis­tant Karen, her make-up artist and her friends Jess and Mary crammed onto Styles’ liv­ing-room couch. They lis­tened to it once through in silence like a ​“bunch of edu­cat­ed monks or some­thing in this dark room”. Then once again, 15 or 16 tracks, this time each of his guests offer­ing live feed­back. It wrapped at 5am, just as the sun was bleed­ing through the curtains.

Even for a pop star of Styles’ stature, press­ing ​“play” on a deeply per­son­al work for your hero to digest, watch­ing her face react in real time to your new music, must be… what?

“It’s a dou­ble-edged thing,” he replies. ​“You’re always ner­vous when you are play­ing peo­ple music for the first time. You’ve heard it so much by this point, you for­get that peo­ple haven’t heard it before. It’s hard to not feel like you’ve done what you’ve set out to do. You are hap­py with some­thing and then some­one who you respect so much and look up to is, like: ​‘I real­ly like this.’ It feels like a large stamp [of approval]. It’s a big step towards feel­ing very com­fort­able with what­ev­er else hap­pens to it.”

Wad­ing through Styles’ back­ground info is exhaust­ing, since he was spanked by fame in the social media era where every god­dam blink of a kohl-rimmed eye has been doc­u­ment­ed from six angles. (And yes, he does some­times wear guyliner.)

Deep breath: born in Red­ditch, Worces­ter­shire, to par­ents Des and Anne, who divorced when he was sev­en. Grew up in Holmes Chapel in Cheshire with his sis­ter Gem­ma, mum and step­dad Robin Twist. Rode hors­es at a near­by sta­ble for free (“I was a bad rid­er, but I was a rid­er”). Stopped rid­ing, ​“got into dif­fer­ent stuff”. Formed a band, White Eski­mo, with school­mates. Aged 16, tried out for the 2010 run of The X Fac­torwith a stir­ring but aver­age ren­di­tion of Ste­vie Wonder’s Isn’t She Love­ly. Cut from the show and put into a boy band with four oth­ers, Louis Tom­lin­son, Liam Payne, Niall Horan and Zayn Malik, and called One Direc­tion. Became inter­na­tion­al­ly famous, toured the globe. Zayn quit to go solo. Toured some more. Dat­ed but maybe didn’t date Car­o­line Flack, Rita Ora and Tay­lor Swift – whom he report­ed­ly dumped in the British Vir­gin Islands. (This rela­tion­ship, if noth­ing else, yield­ed an icon­ic, can­did shot of Swift look­ing deject­ed, being motored back to shore on the back of a boat called the Fly­ing Ray.) One Direc­tion dis­cussed dis­band­ing in 2014, actu­al­ly dis­solved in 2015. They remain friend­ly, and Styles offi­cial­ly went solo in 2016.

It’s been two years since his epony­mous debut and lead sin­gle, Sign of the Times, shocked the world and Elton John with its swag­ger­ing, soft rock sound. ​“It came out of left field and I loved it,” John says.

After 89 are­na-packed shows across five con­ti­nents grossed him, the label, whomev­er, over $61 mil­lion, Styles had all but dis­ap­peared. He has emerged only inter­mit­tent­ly for pub­lic-fac­ing events – a Guc­ci after­par­ty per­for­mance here, a Met Gala co-chair­ing there. He relo­cat­ed from Los Ange­les back to Lon­don, sell­ing his Hol­ly­wood Hills house for $6mil­lion and ship­ping his Jaguar E-type across the Atlantic so he could take joyrides on the M25.

“I’m not over LA,” he insists when I ask about the move. ​“My rela­tion­ship with LAchanged a lot. What I want­ed from LA changed.”

A great escape, he would agree, is some­times nec­es­sary. He was in Tokyo for most of Jan­u­ary, hav­ing near­ly fin­ished his album. ​“I need­ed time to get out of that album frame-of-mind of: ​‘Is it fin­ished? Where am I at? What’s hap­pen­ing?’ I real­ly need­ed that time away from every­one. I was kind of just in Tokyo by myself.” His sab­bat­i­cal most­ly involved read­ing Haru­ki Murakami’s The Wind-Up Bird Chron­i­cle, singing Nir­vana at karaoke, writ­ing alone in his hotel room, lis­ten­ing to music and eaves­drop­ping on strangers in alien con­ver­sa­tion. ​“It was just a pos­i­tive time for my head and I think that impact­ed the album in a big way.”

Dur­ing this break he watched a lot of films, read a lot of books. Some­times he texts these rec­om­men­da­tions to his pal Michele at Guc­ci. He told Michele to watch the Ali Mac­graw film, Love Sto­ry. ​“We text what friends text about. He is the same [as me] in terms of he lives in his own world and he does his own thing. I love dress­ing up and he loves dress­ing up.”

Because he loves dress­ing up, Michele chose Styles to be the face of three Guc­ci Tai­lor­ing cam­paigns and of its new gen­der­less fra­grance, Mémoire d’une Odeur.

“The moment I met him, I imme­di­ate­ly under­stood there was some­thing strong around him,” Michele tells me. ​“I realised he was much more than a young singer. He was a young man, dressed in a thought­ful way, with uncombed hair and a beau­ti­ful voice. I thought he gath­ered with­in him­self the fem­i­nine and the masculine.”

Fash­ion, for Styles, is a play­ground. Some­thing he doesn’t take too seri­ous­ly. A cou­ple of years ago Har­ry Lam­bert, his styl­ist since 2015, acquired for him a pair of pink metal­lic Saint Lau­rent boots that he has nev­er been pho­tographed wear­ing. They are exceed­ing­ly rare – few pairs exist. Styles wears them ​“to get milk”. They are, in his words, ​“super-fun”. He’s not sure, but he has, ball­park, 50 pairs of shoes, as well as full clos­ets in at least three post­codes. He set­tles on an out­fit fair­ly quick­ly, maybe changes his T-shirt once before head­ing out, but most­ly knows what he likes.

What he may not ful­ly com­pre­hend is that sim­ply by being pho­tographed in a gar­ment he can spur the career of a design­er, as he has with Har­ris Reed, Palo­mo Spain, Charles Jef­frey, Alled-Martínez and a new favourite, Bode. Styles wore a SS16 Guc­ci flo­ral suit to the 2015 Amer­i­can Music Awards. When he was asked who made his suit on the red car­pet, Guc­ci began trend­ing world­wide on Twitter.

“It was one of the first times a male wore Alessandro’s run­way designs and, at the time, men were not tak­ing too many red car­pet risks,” says Lam­bert. ​“Who knows if it influ­enced oth­ers, but it was a spe­cial moment. Plus, it was fun see­ing the fans dress up in suits to come see Harry’s shows.”

Yet tra­di­tion­al gen­der codes of dress still have the minds of mid­dle Amer­i­ca in a choke­hold. Men can’t wear women’s clothes, say the online whingers, who have labelled him ​“trag­ic”, ​“a clown” and a Bowie wannabe. Styles doesn’t care. ​“What’s fem­i­nine and what’s mas­cu­line, what men are wear­ing and what women are wear­ing – it’s like there are no lines any more.”

Elton John agrees: ​“It worked for Marc Bolan, Bowie and Mick. Har­ry has the same qualities.”

Then there is the ques­tion of Styles’ sex­u­al­i­ty, some­thing he has admit­ted­ly ​“nev­er real­ly start­ed to label”, which will plague him until he does. Per­haps it’s part of his allure. He’s bran­dished a pride flag that read ​“Make Amer­i­ca Gay Again” on stage, and plant­ed a stake some­where left of cen­tre on sexuality’s rain­bow spectrum.

“In the posi­tion that he’s in, he can’t real­ly say a lot, but he chose a queer girl band to open for him and I think that speaks vol­umes,” Josette Maskin of the queer band MUNA told The Face ear­li­er this year.

“I get a lot of…” Styles trails off, wheels turn­ing on how he can dis­cuss sex­u­al­i­ty with­out real­ly answer­ing. ​“I’m not always super-out­spo­ken. But I think it’s very clear from choic­es that I make that I feel a cer­tain way about lots of things. I don’t know how to describe it. I guess I’m not…” He paus­es again, piv­ots. ​“I want every­one to feel wel­come at shows and online. They want to be loved and equal, you know? I’m nev­er unsup­port­ed, so it feels weird for me to over­think it for some­one else.”

Sex­u­al­i­ty aside, he must acknowl­edge that he has sex appeal. ​“The word ​‘sexy’ sounds so strange com­ing out of my mouth. So I would say that that’s prob­a­bly why I would not con­sid­er myself sexy.”

Har­ry Styles has emerged ful­ly-formed, an anachro­nis­tic rock star, vague in sen­si­bil­i­ty but des­tined to impress with a dis­arm­ing smile and a warm but firm handshake.

I recite to him a quote from Chrissie Hyn­de of The Pre­tenders about her time atop rock’s throne: ​“I nev­er got into this for the mon­ey or because I want­ed to join in the super­star sex around the swim­ming pools. I did it because the offer of a record con­tract came along and it seemed like it might be more fun than being a wait­ress. Now, I’m not so sure.”

Styles – who worked in a bak­ery in a small north­ern town some time before play­ing to 40,000 scream­ing fans in South Amer­i­can are­nas – must have wit­nessed some shit, been invit­ed to a few pool­side sex par­ties, in his time.

“I’ve seen a cou­ple of things,” he nods in agree­ment. ​“But I’m still young. I feel like there’s still stuff to see.”