Chapter 81: Singing Opera
This time, An Zhiyan only sent Jiang Pingqiu and Lily, while An Zhiyan himself went to meet the director and producers first.
Su Jinli was taken by Lily to a separate makeup room, where he was immediately asked to undress: “We’ve prepared your costume, you can take off what you’re wearing now.”
“Oh, okay.” Su Jinli nodded, taking the clothes they gave him to change into.
The clothes they prepared for Su Jinli were a Chinese-style top made of white linen, with a button design at the collar, mid-sleeves, and no decorative patterns, looking very plain.
The pants were black, also loose, making him look quite classical.
After he came out, Lily looked at Su Jinli’s newly dyed hair and worried: “Why did you suddenly dye your hair?”
“An Zhihan insisted on dyeing my hair with him.”
Lily sighed: “I’ll first use a disposable hair dye to make your hair black. You put this on your shoulders, don’t get your clothes dirty.”
Su Jinli obediently complied, sitting down and letting Lily fuss over him.
This time, even though he had makeup on, he still looked very plain, and his image also had a bit more composure.
After getting ready, they left the training camp together. Su Jinli sat in the car and started to get nervous, asking Jiang Pingqiu: “Brother Jiang, do I need to greet them later? What should I say? Do I need to perform? Should I sing the song I wrote, or the one they like?”
After listening, Jiang Pingqiu couldn’t help but laugh, replying to him: “As long as Young Master An is there, you just listen to him.”
“What if he’s not convenient to speak?”
“If you’re in trouble, he will definitely help you out, just trust him boldly. Young Master An is very reliable.”
“Oh, okay then.” Su Jinli stopped talking, but he was still nervous, just like the first time he went to Muzitao for an interview.
The place they arrived at was not a company, nor a restaurant, but a tea house.
In the lobby on the first floor, there was a stage, and there was a performance early in the morning.
Jiang Pingqiu took Su Jinli to the second floor private room, knocked on the door, and someone opened the door, Su Jinli was about to walk in by himself.
As he lifted the bamboo curtain and walked in, he saw three people sitting by the window.
A chubby man with a mustache on his mouth was sitting by the window, watching the performance downstairs while eating Beijing-style fried sauce noodles.
Next to him sat a man, slender and tall, looking in his forties. As soon as Su Jinli entered, he stood up with a smile: “Popular idol, nice to meet you.”
An Zhiyan also stood up, introducing the tall man to Su Jinli: “This is the producer, Feng Qiang. This is the director, Jiang Ting.”
“Producer Feng, Director Jiang, nice to meet you.” Su Jinli greeted politely.
Jiang Ting looked up at Su Jinli, his gaze circled around him, then said: “Come, sit down and talk, let’s watch this play together.”
Su Jinli immediately sat in the position they arranged, looking down at the Pear Garden disciples performing downstairs.
“Can you tell who they are? These are all from the Liyuan family, with a solid foundation, and they sing well. It’s rare to see them perform. We didn’t even eat before coming over. I had to order a bowl of noodles to eat, I’m fat, and I get anxious if I don’t eat.” Jiang Ting seemed to have a good personality, his speech was clear and his voice was loud. When he laughed, it was extremely loud, like a bell ringing.
Su Jinli listened for a while, then sighed: “In the end, it still lost some of the original flavor.”
An Zhiyan poured a pot of tea for Su Jinli, listening all the while. If Su Jinli said something wrong, he would immediately smooth things over.
“How so?” Jiang Ting asked.
Naturally, Su Jinli couldn’t say that he had seen Gongsun Da Niang’s sword dance.
“I can’t say for sure, I just heard it a long time ago, I don’t understand the intricacies, but it's different from a traditional piece.” Su Jinli said earnestly.
“Oh, you can sing opera?” Jiang Ting’s eyes lit up.
Even An Zhiyan was surprised and couldn’t help asking, “You can do this too?”
“When Xiao An came to introduce you to me, he might have mentioned this. Isn’t that a bonus?” Jiang Ting continued with a big laugh.
“I can only say that I know a little bit. I sing in the style of the ancients. You should know that the way the ancients spoke, the pronunciation of words, is different from ours. It’s not standard Mandarin, nor is it a dialect.”
“I’ve heard a bit about that. I’ve filmed a movie set in the Tang Dynasty. But when we’re filming, we still have to speak Mandarin. If it’s too literary, I’m afraid the audience won’t understand.”
“I’ll just sing you an original version. You can see it for yourself and then see what it’s like now, okay?” Su Jinli asked.
Jiang Ting was very interested and immediately nodded, “Okay.”
“Let them finish their performance first. They’re actually very good, and their skills are top-notch.” After Su Jinli finished speaking, he continued to watch the opera.
After he arrived, apart from greeting and answering Jiang Ting’s questions, he didn’t intentionally try to please anyone, nor did he show any excitement at seeing the big director. At this moment, he was actually listening to the opera seriously.
Jiang Ting and Feng Qiang looked at each other, Jiang Ting laughed, and continued to eat his noodles.
Feng Qiang, on the other hand, was holding a teacup, making polite conversation with An Zhiyan.
Before long, another person came into the private room. After entering, he first greeted the others. When he saw Su Jinli, he was surprised, “Isn’t this Little Su? How come you’re here too?”
This was the chess friend who was preparing to play chess with Old Shi in the tea house last time.
An Zhiyan asked in surprise again, “Mr. Wang, do you know our Sejia Legend artist?”
Mr. Wang looked at An Zhiyan, had to raise his head sharply, and took a step back to answer smoothly, “Sit down and talk, sit down and talk.”
Talking to An Zhiyan while standing was tiring for the neck.
The matter of saving Old Shi couldn’t be casually talked about.
After Mr. Wang arrived, he deliberately sat between Su Jinli and An Zhiyan. An Zhiyan didn’t insist and made room.
After Mr. Wang sat down, he whispered to Su Jinli, “We need to keep Old Shi's matter a secret.”
Although Su Jinli didn’t understand so many rules, he knew how to keep secrets for others, so he nodded.
“What, do you two have any secrets?” Jiang Ting was straightforward and asked directly.
Mr. Wang laughed and said, “No, it’s just that we used to play chess together. One of my chess friends has never played against him and even lost his temper. This is not a good thing to say, so let Little Su help keep it a secret.”
An Zhiyan’s surprise was wave after wave, “You can also play chess?”
Is he going to tell him next that Su Jinli can fly? Can he hold a bomb like Iron Man and fly to outer space?
“I’m a retro-style boy!” Su Jinli answered confidently.
“Now I believe more and more.” An Zhiyan squinted his eyes and replied. When he looked at Su Jinli, there was still a sense of indulgence.
After the seniors of the Liyuan Family finished singing, Jiang Ting started to focus on Su Jinli again.
“Su Xiaoyou, you should also show off your voice.”
Su Jinli nodded and wasn’t shy, “I’ll just hum a few lines, so you can feel what the early days were like.”
After Su Jinli finished speaking, he really started to sing.
At first, Jiang Ting thought Su Jinli was just dabbling, but after listening for a while, he couldn’t help but restrain his smile.
He had some understanding of these things. As for Su Jinli’s pronunciation, he indeed didn’t understand very well, but there was absolutely no problem with his singing tone. At a glance, he knew it was genuine, and he himself also sang well.
As soon as Su Jinli started to sing, it caused a sensation in the lobby.
A few old men who were listening to the opera and drinking tea in the lobby all changed their seats, looking up to see which expert had come with an addiction to opera and wanted to show off their voice.
Unexpectedly, they saw a young man, handsome and elegant, who was even more brilliant when singing opera.
Mr. Wang had listened to the opera a few times and naturally thought Su Jinli sang well.
Feng Qiang didn’t understand these things, but just looking at Jiang Ting’s expression and Mr. Wang’s entranced, unconsciously nodding and shaking his head, he felt that this young man was good.
Then he looked down at the few people who were seriously listening to the opera with their necks craned, Feng Qiang couldn’t help it, took out his phone, recorded this scene, and posted it on his circle of friends.
The video was only 10 seconds long, and it was from Jiang Ting to downstairs, and finally to Su Jinli and Mr. Wang sitting side by side. Only one leg of An Zhiyan appeared.
After posting the circle of friends, Feng Qiang didn’t care, put down his phone and continued to listen.
Su Jinli stopped singing after a section. He said, “I’ve made a fool of myself.” Then he reached out and picked up the tea that An Zhiyan had poured for him.
As soon as he lowered his head, he found that this tea was so full. Was An Zhiyan used to pouring wine? He doesn’t understand tea at all, how does he do business usually?
Is this because of his yang energy?
“Little Su is really a god… he can do ventriloquism, play the pipa, sing opera, and play chess, and he’s also a handsome talent.” Jiang Ting obviously had understood Su Jinli’s information, so he knew these things.
“I know a little bit.”
“You’re being modest, you’re already very good, very good, very good.” Jiang Ting rarely praised people so much, and when he spoke, he couldn’t help but be happy. An Zhiyan only needed to take one look to know that Su Jinli’s role was more than half stable.
Mr. Wang had a chess addiction and asked someone to bring a chessboard, saying that he had to play a game with Su Jinli: “Last time I only watched you guys play, I haven’t had a chance to play with you yet.”
Su Jinli didn’t refuse and agreed directly.
When playing chess, a few people changed positions so that Su Jinli and Mr. Wang could sit in opposite positions.
When Mr. Wang was playing chess, like Old Shi, he liked to study and took a long time to drop a piece.
Su Jinli was still the same as before, almost without hesitation, he dropped a piece, causing Mr. Wang to fall into a stalemate.
“Ruthless! Really ruthless!” Jiang Ting looked at the chessboard and couldn’t help but exclaim.
“You big voice, don’t always talk, it disturbs my thinking.” Mr. Wang couldn’t help but scold Jiang Ting.
“Even if I don’t speak, you’re going to lose.” Jiang Ting pointed at the chessboard.
“I can still try.” Mr. Wang stubbornly replied.
But in the end, Mr. Wang still lost.
Su Jinli took his own piece and pointed at the chessboard and said, “You see, if I put this piece here, you lose one way. If I put it in this position, you lose another way.”
An Zhiyan reached out and tugged at Su Jinli’s clothes, wanting to remind Su Jinli that this Mr. Wang is a film investor, don’t offend him.
As a result, he heard Su Jinli say, “You’re not as good as… the old man before.”
Damn… well done?
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Author's Note:
The little koi wanted to become a human to experience it, not for his brother. Little Jinli has only been a human for eighteen years.
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