Chapter 67: The Auditions Begin

"Night Shanghai~ Night Shanghai~~"

"You ask me how deep my love is for you~ How much do I love you~~"

"Rose, Rose~ I love you~"

With the official commencement of the preliminary auditions for "Miss Rose," major dance halls and cabarets had dispatched their finest talents to showcase their vocal prowess before the throngs of onlookers. Naturally, they were competing not merely in voice and artistic talent, but also in appearance, poise, and personal popularity.

As a time-traveler, Zhou Hongyi was naturally well-versed in the arts of hype and public momentum.

Earlier, he had crafted a persona for Xiao Bei as a fallen princess, while also stipulating that she must wear a mask day and night, maintaining a frigid demeanor and acting aloof toward everyone.

Over these past few days, Xiao Bei had consistently executed Zhou Hongyi's instructions, growing increasingly comfortable and adept in her new identity. With Qingxia by her side offering guidance and strategies, the moment this silver-masked princess—who had already built up quite a reputation—made her appearance, it immediately sparked a wave of enthusiastic discussion.

"Miss Elizabeth! It's Miss Elizabeth~~!"

"She's here! She's come to participate in the Miss Rose election! Long live Miss Elizabeth~!"

"Miss Elizabeth, I love you! Please marry me~~~!"

"Will you guys shut your traps? Is 'Elizabeth' a name you are fit to speak? Address her as Her Royal Highness the Princess!"

"Your Royal Highness, please look this way. I am your most devout knight, your most humble servant. Please grant me the privilege of listening to your song; I shall be grateful for all eternity!"

When Elizabeth stepped onto the stage—clad in a long gown, wearing a mask, with her chin slightly raised to reveal a porcelain-white neck—the crowd below, particularly the men, quickly surged into a frenzy.

Of course, a large portion of these people were plants hired by Zhou Hongyi to warm up the crowd. Not that he doubted Xiao Bei's charm, but a debut performance required thorough preparation. Moreover, she was a newcomer; despite the days of prior groundwork, popularity remained her greatest disadvantage when compared to long-established singers and dancers.

Today, for Princess Elizabeth's maiden stage performance, Zhou Hongyi had not only ordered Chen Gong's Military Statistics Bureau assassins and his own police department officers to change into civilian clothes to show support, but the Axe Gang's blade unit had also dispatched a considerable number of men.

When these men arrived at the scene, they discovered to their surprise that the front was already packed tightly with people. After elbowing their way in and engaging in some "friendly exchanges," they found out that this group had all been summoned by Boss Gu Tianbo.

Well then, it turned out these two factions had collided.

"Hey, hey, hey, who is this woman? Why is she even wearing a mask? The most crucial part of competing for Miss Rose is looks. Is she wearing a mask because she's too ugly to be seen, or too gorgeous to bear showing her face?"

An uninformed gentleman had just posed this question when he abruptly found a group of strangers pressing in around him. Chanting Princess Elizabeth's name, they hoisted the man aloft and swept him toward the periphery.

"Hey, hey, hey, who are you people? What are you doing? Let me go, sob..."

This self-righteous "smart aleck" was carried out, and before long, he reappeared at the street corner, inexplicably covered in bruises and wailing pitifully.

Under the targeted "care" of the Military Statistics Bureau and the Axe Gang, the sparse few male customers in the crowd who had dared to question Elizabeth vanished from the venue in an instant. Gradually, the seething audience became a chorus of unanimous praise; not a single person dared to voice a dissenting opinion.

"Heh哈哈哈~ Elizabeth truly lives up to her title as a princess. That aura—simply by standing there, she rises a cut above all the other women. That innate aristocratic air is something others can never hope to imitate."

On the second floor of the Great World Dance Hall, Gu Tianbo stood smoking a cigarette while admiring his goddess.

Zhou Hongyi sat beside him with a smile. "Big Brother Gu, Princess Elizabeth hasn't even begun her performance yet. Wait until you hear her new song; you can shower her with praise then."

"Oh? I heard that the new song Princess Elizabeth is performing was penned by you, Zhongliang. The two songs you previously wrote for Miss Manyu have already set the entire cosmopolitan district ablaze. Today, my anticipation is exceptionally high."

Before long, thanks to the hoarse and desperate efforts of the emcee, the crazed male audience finally calmed down somewhat. With a cold, detached gaze, Elizabeth swept across the crowd, turned, and stepped up to the microphone standing beneath the stage spotlight.

Zhou Hongyi had instructed her to sing that miraculous masterpiece, "How long has the bright moon been? Holding a cup of wine, I ask the blue sky," right on the very first day of the preliminaries.

The essence of this song lay in its ethereal and otherworldly quality. Ethereal yet detached, when paired with her frigid and noble demeanor, it was guaranteed to make an explosive debut.

Elizabeth's voice naturally possessed a crisp and ethereal quality. Under the dual tutelage of Zhou Hongyi and Qingxia, her vocals struck a balance between icy coldness and a hint of provocation, between reserve and subtle seductiveness. Blended with the lyrics and melody, it left the male spectators in the audience completely intoxicated—resembling a winter soak in a hot spring pool perched atop a snowy mountain peak, simultaneously freezing and burning, supremely comfortable, and indescribably luxurious.

As for the female audience members, their initial reaction of skepticism gave way to disdain, which ultimately culminated in shock. It seemed that regardless of whether this masked Elizabeth's identity was genuine or false, her noble aura was undeniably present. Furthermore, the song itself was an absolute masterpiece, gaining even greater resonance when combined with her persona as a fallen princess.

When the song concluded, the crowd below fell into a brief silence before erupting into thunderous applause. At this point, the plants mobilized by Zhou Hongyi and Gu Tianbo required no cue; they had been completely conquered by Princess Elizabeth's grace. Their applause was entirely spontaneous—palms turned red and swollen, voices turned hoarse from shouting—and before they knew it, genuine emotion had taken hold.

Having finished her song, Elizabeth gave a slight bow and walked off the stage without uttering a single word, leaving the host stranded. She didn't even deign to participate in the segment meant for soliciting votes, as if her mere presence to sing here was already the greatest bestowal upon the listeners.

"Let us give our applause once more to Miss Elizabeth~~~ Next, may our judges score Miss Elizabeth's performance."

Since today was merely the preliminary audition, the judges seated below were mostly managers of various cabarets, fashion figures, and connoisseurs of the music world. As for the true behind-the-scenes bosses like Zhou Hongyi and Gu Tianbo, they sat near the second-floor VIP galleries. Directly opposite them on the far side, another group of VIP guests was seated, and Zhou Hongyi spotted his mentor, Colonel Shimazu, from afar.

"Hmph, since this little Japanese fellow is here, that means our dear Mr. Su has arrived as well. Such a fine opportunity—let me go offer a toast."

Zhou Hongyi exchanged a glance with Chen Gong standing behind him, picked up a glass of wine, skirted the corridor, and entered another private VIP box. He gently tapped on the wooden door a few times, and upon hearing Shimazu's voice, pushed the door open and stepped inside.

"Teacher, Director Hasegawa, you're here too? Why didn't you give me a heads-up? Gu Tianbo is a good friend of mine; I could have had him arrange for us to share a private room."

Hasegawa and Shimazu were both dressed in casual wear today—specifically, those very wide, skirt-like traditional men's kimono trousers. Furthermore, a third man sat facing them.

At a single glance, Zhou Hongyi recognized this man as the exact target he had vowed to eliminate: the traitor within the Red Party ranks, code-named "Firework," Mr. Su.

At first glance, the man appeared refined, steady, and seasoned. His sideburns were lightly frosted with white at the temples, and a faint, ambiguous smile played at the corners of his mouth, instantly evoking the image of a university professor—the quintessential intellectual.