187: Chapter 187 National Day Gala 3: "The Red-Haired Girl"

After the netizens finished venting their emotions, they returned their attention to the gala.

However, they found that aside from a few songs that were listenable and a couple of acts with some novelty, it was still just as boring.

Idols and trending stars were clustered together.

The young male actors all looked practically the same, even down to their hairstyles and clothing.

The women were the same way.

There was absolutely no individuality, let alone a sense of diversity.

It was as if Goddess Nüwa had invented a mold to save effort when she was sculpting humans.

They all came out of this single mold.

Furthermore, some stars were crossing over into different fields so aggressively that they were overextending themselves.

They actually let a film star and variety show regular sing three songs in a row on stage.

The songs were mediocre, the voice was mediocre, and the person was mediocre.

Combined together, it was even more mediocre.

Aside from acting cool and playing the fool, there was nothing worth watching.

Chen Shaoping also shook his head as he watched; at the same time, his expectations for Zhang Quanzhi, the chief director, instantly plummeted to rock bottom.

Despite saying he wanted to be unique and add new things, the result was still the same old garbage.

If it weren't for his own songs, Chen Shaoping would have definitely dragged Zhang Ying back to the hotel.

The hotel was much more comfortable than the gala venue.

He recalled how Zhang Quanzhi had been full of excuses when he first asked him to let Zhou Bule participate in the gala.

Chen Shaoping felt a surge of irritation.

If it weren't for his songs, he wouldn't know what there was to see in this gala.

In his mind, Chen Shaoping even had the thought that he had saved Zhang Quanzhi once.

If not for his songs, Zhang Quanzhi would surely have been cursed out by netizens back eighteen generations.

Suddenly, Zhang Ying broke free from his embrace, wearing a smile and staring intently at the stage.

A person in a peculiar costume was preparing to perform on stage.

When the left side of her face faced the audience, she was dressed like a modern youth.

But when her right side turned toward the audience, she presented an exquisite Peking Opera makeup and costume.

Chen Shaoping knew who she was—it was Cheng Yiyi.

No wonder Zhang Ying was so interested.

She was going to perform that song, "actress," on the National Day Gala stage.

The stage lighting turned a dark red, and the background was a silhouette of an ink-wash style opera stage.

Cheng Yiyi faced the audience with the right side of her face, her water sleeves fluttering lightly as she stood quietly in the center.

"Love knows not where it starts, but it grows ever deeper."

A sharp operatic voice rang out, and with a turn of her body, she faced the audience with the left side of her face.

The desolate prelude began, and she started singing in a folk-pop style, her voice clear and slightly detached.

"A play, a scene, water sleeves rise and fall. Singing of joy and sorrow, of parting and reunion, it has nothing to do with me."

"Accustomed to blending all emotions into the greasepaint. What if the old lines are sung through? White bones and gray ash are all me. Like duckweed in a chaotic world, I endure seeing the flames of war burn through the mountains and rivers. Though my status is low, I dare not forget my concern for the country, even if no one knows me."

"The people below the stage pass by, the old faces gone. The person on stage sings a heartbreaking song of farewell. The word 'love' is hard to ink; she must sing it with blood. The curtain rises, the curtain falls, who is the guest?"

Cheng Yiyi's performance was practically perfect, both in the operatic and modern song sections.

Thunderous applause erupted from the audience, lasting for a long time.

"Hubby, this song is so beautiful. Cheng Yiyi sang it so well; I've become her die-hard fan."

Zhang Ying praised her without hesitation, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

Chen Shaoping said proudly, "That's because I wrote the song well; otherwise, she wouldn't have had the chance to show off."

"Yes, yes, yes, you're the best!" Zhang Ying gave him a playful roll of her eyes.

Manager Hu, who was also present, now had tears welling up in his eyes.

It wasn't just that with the popularity of this song, more and more people would surely pay attention to and fall in love with opera.

More importantly, this song had vindicated them.

It was often said that harlots are heartless and actors are faithless.

But this song shattered that saying.

It removed their psychological burden, allowing them to better devote themselves to the inheritance and promotion of the national treasure.

"Is the background on the big screen real? Is it something from the Republic of China era? History buffs, come out and clarify!"

"I never knew opera singing could be this beautiful. I love it, I love it."

"My mom asked me why I'm listening to this on my knees?"

"'Though my status is low, I dare not forget my concern for the country'—this is the most touching patriotic declaration I've ever heard. It tells everyone that even the lowly can harbor heroic resolve."

"'The people below the stage pass by, the old faces gone'—just this short line is both a pity and a desolation for the constant loss of traditional culture, and even more, it says that the people on stage stepped forward when the country was in trouble and never came back."

Young Master Ping put his heart into this. Without careful scrutiny, one simply cannot understand the deep meaning within the lyrics.

"'Like duckweed in a chaotic world, I endure seeing the flames of war burn through the mountains and rivers'—it's not that they don't look, it's that they have to look. it's a heart-wrenching pain of watching one's home fall, the helplessness and heartache of a weak individual facing the tectonic shifts of an era."

"Either erupt in the midst of grief, or perish within it."

"When a single tear fell from her eye, my heart broke."

Discussions online about 'wartime actors' grew increasingly heated, with people constantly stepping forward to tell those long-buried but truly tear-jerking stories.

At the same time, they also understood why this song was titled "actress."

Among the thousands of moved families, the atmosphere in the Zhang family of Yang County, Qin Province, was particularly different.

This was an ordinary family.

Zhang Jianqiang was accompanying his ninety-two-year-old grandfather to watch the National Day Gala.

After listening to the song "actress," the grandfather kept wiping away tears, a look of self-reproach on his face.

Zhang Jianqiang panicked instantly. This was the family's precious treasure; if anything happened to him...

It would surely be a double-whammy beating from his parents.

Even though he was a father himself, his status at home was truly not high.

He ranked after the family's dog and cat.

But his grandfather was a T-level figure in the family.

"Grandpa, what's wrong? Where do you feel unwell? I'll give you a massage or take you to the hospital."

He anxiously walked to his grandfather's chair, crouched down, and gently held his grandfather's hand.

"Xiao Qiang, I miss my company commander. If it weren't for him, I wouldn't have made it back."

Grandfather's tears flowed uncontrollably, his tone filled with guilt.

Zhang Jianqiang's heart skipped a beat.

He had known since he was a child that his grandfather was an old revolutionary soldier.

But as for exactly which unit he was in or what he did, he had no idea at all.

Let alone him, even his grandmother, father, uncles, and aunts didn't know the details.

The whole family only knew that Grandpa had been a soldier.

Even if they asked, Grandpa wouldn't say much.

Now hearing Grandpa mention his company commander of his own accord, Zhang Jianqiang was a bit excited; he could finally learn about his grandfather's past.

He gently wiped away the tears for his grandfather, patting his back with one hand and smoothing his chest with the other.

"Grandpa, let's take it slow, don't get worked up."

"Tell your grandson about your company commander, so I can remember him too."

Grandfather's emotions gradually calmed down a bit, and he glanced out the window as if seeing that era of constant artillery fire.

"My company commander was named Zhang Shanfeng, a native of Deyang, Chuan Province. He was three years older than me and had enlisted five years before I did."

"When I was a raw recruit, he was my company commander."

"He was different from us. I was a peasant, completely illiterate."

"But he came from a scholarly family; more precisely, his family was a Peking Opera dynasty."

"..."