116: Chapter 116 The King of Pretending Retreats Exits, Yet the Audience Still Buys It

"'exploring qingshui river' is impossible to sing again today. No other reason, I am too lazy to sing the same song twice; it lowers the value. So, I will change to a new piece for everyone as the final one, called 'Sheng Sheng Man'. It is also tonight's closing song."

Lin Chen's tone remained that flat, almost arrogant style.

He did not pause, nor did he wait for the audience's applause, his fingers directly plucking the strings.

A melody with a strong flavor of the Jiangnan water towns, soft and winding, flowed from his fingertips.

Immediately after, that clear and clean voice sounded again.

"Green bricks accompany the tile lacquer"

"White horse treads on new mud"

"Mountain flowers and banana leaves dye the twilight with red scarves"

"Raindrops sprinkle on the eaves"

"Smoke from cooking fires rises in wisps"

"Where are you, wandering and tossing in uncertainty"

"Searching and seeking"

"Cold and desolate"

"Moon sets, crows cry, the crescent moon falls into the lonely well"

...

The song 'Sheng Sheng Man', in terms of music classification, belongs to ancient-style folk songs, a completely different style from the folk ditties just now.

The melody is soft and lingering, and the lyrics are superb.

These lyrics were filled in by drawing inspiration from the Song Dynasty Ci-poetry tune name 'Sheng Sheng Man'.

Looking at the long river of Huaxia's five-thousand-year history, Tang poetry and Song Ci are absolutely the pinnacle of Chinese character culture.

If we talk solely about the exquisiteness of word choice and the beauty of phonology, Song Ci is even above Tang poetry.

One must know that in the Song Dynasty, those immortal Ci-poems were originally popular songs written for courtesans to sing on pleasure boats in brothels.

If 'exploring qingshui river' sang of the smoky atmosphere of the marketplace, then 'Sheng Sheng Man' directly pulled the thousands of audience members into an ink wash painting of a misty Jiangnan, to feel the poetic atmosphere that belongs uniquely to Huaxia civilization.

This beauty of atmosphere deeply rooted in the bone marrow is something only the descendants of Yan and Huang can understand and resonate with from the depths of their souls.

This is the top-tier romance that belongs uniquely to our nation.

The song ended.

The zither sound dissipated, the lingering echoes remained.

Lin Chen put the sanxian on the chair and stood straight.

He did not bow, nor did he say any polite words to please the audience.

He just nodded slightly to the audience below, revealing a light and breezy smile.

Then, he turned around and strode towards backstage.

The white hem of his robe drew a dashing arc in the air.

Untainted by dust, coming and going like the wind, finishing his act and leaving without taking away a single cloud.

If it were any other Crosstalk performer who dared to leave the stage so arrogantly, they would have been roasted like dogs by the audience below.

The audience spends money to find amusement, not to watch you act like a big shot.

But when Lin Chen did this, surprisingly, few people felt disgusted.

"Ahhh! This exit pose by Teacher Lin is so freaking cool! He is simply the King of Pretension!"

"Teacher Lin is as willful as ever! But he really has the capital to be willful!"

"It sounded so good! I can't hear enough! It feels like my soul has been washed!"

"Get used to it. Teacher Lin's routine is always like this: first, he hangs your appetite with his unique skills, teasing you until your heart itches, and then he pulls up his pants and walks away without recognizing anyone. Don't believe me? Go listen to him tell 'ghost blows out the light'; the cliffhangers make people want to draw their swords. What? You haven't listened to 'ghost blows out the light'? Go catch up quickly!"

"Apologies to all the old fathers, my rebellious son is just this rebellious. I apologize to everyone on his behalf, hahahaha!"

The audience showed incredible tolerance for Lin Chen.

This might be because of his talent that amazed the whole audience, or perhaps because of the natural, unpretentious sense of reality in him.

He is indeed arrogant, indeed haughty.

But he doesn't act like a sycophant, doesn't manufacture a persona, and says whatever is on his mind.

In this entertainment industry where everyone wears a mask, his true nature appears all the more precious.

These days, who doesn't like dealing with real people?

Therefore, everyone not only doesn't hate him, but finds his "I am the best in the world" attitude damn charming.

...

Backstage.

Guo Degang personally jogged all the way to send Lin Chen back to the most luxurious exclusive lounge, cupped his hands, and thanked him with a full face of smiles: "Teacher Lin, you've really worked hard tonight! Thank you so much!"

Lin Chen waved his hand casually and threw his gown on the sofa: "Stop with these empty pleasantries. I've been putting in effort for half a day, my stomach is already empty. Is the promised dinner ready?"

Guo Degang laughed loudly, patted his chest, and guaranteed: "That's a must! The seats are already booked, all solid dishes, we can go anytime!"

The performance on the front stage wasn't completely over yet.

However, it was nearing the end, the big stars had all finished performing, and the remaining ones coming up to kill time were all new students just recruited by the Deyun Society, purely to get familiar and earn some stage experience.

The audience below were also sharp, knowing that the good show was over, and began to leave one by one.

Guo Qilin very tactfully ran to the front and invited Yang Mi, Tong Liya, and Reba back to the backstage.

Subsequently, Lin Chen's family followed Guo Degang and several other senior executives of the Deyun Society, left the theater through the back door, and headed straight to the booked high-end restaurant.

By the time everyone sat down, the time had already pointed to eleven-thirty at night.

This nominal dinner was eaten as a midnight snack.

However, although it was late, under the catalysis of a few bottles of aged Moutai, the atmosphere at the wine table soon became lively.

"I have truly opened my eyes! Teacher Lin is not only highly accomplished in pop music, but actually has such a thorough understanding of traditional folk ditties!"

"I heard the older generation mention this piece 'exploring qingshui river' in my early years. They said it was a popular folk song around Beijing in the late Qing and early Republic era. Unfortunately, it has been too long, and only a few broken lyrics remained, and the musical score had long been extinct. I really didn't expect that Teacher Lin could actually restore this lost sound, and sing it so grippingly."

After a few glasses of strong liquor, Guo Degang's round face was glowing red, and while smacking his lips, he gave a thumbs up to Lin Chen and sighed.

"Extinct? Why? Is it because people were scattered by the war at that time?" Reba sat close to Lin Chen.

She was wearing disposable gloves, and her two fair, tender little hands were quickly peeling spicy crayfish.

Before long, a small mountain of tempting shrimp meat piled up on the plate in front of her.

She very protectively moved half of the shrimp meat into Lin Chen's bowl and kept the other half for herself. As for Yang Mi and Tong Liya? Sorry, help yourselves.

Lin Chen pulled out a tissue, naturally wiped the red oil from the corner of Reba's mouth, and explained lightly: "War is one reason. But the most fundamental reason is that the soil that nurtured this kind of ditty, that is, that special trade, completely disappeared in this country."

"The whole industry disappeared?" Tong Liya opened her eyes wide, full of curiosity.

Except for old hands like Guo Degang and Yu Qian who smiled without saying a word, the others at the table also showed inquisitive expressions.

Lin Chen nodded and said bluntly: "Yes. After the founding of New China, the law explicitly banned prostitution. Brothels and pleasure houses were gone, so these songs naturally lost their inheritance."

Everyone looked at each other, their expressions somewhat awkward.

Guo Degang hurriedly smiled to smooth things over: "Don't think crookedly, everyone. Teacher Lin means that these kinds of marketplace ditties were basically songs used by the courtesans and prostitutes in the Eight Great Hutongs to attract customers back then."

"The original lyrics must have contained a lot of lewd and vulgar stuff. The version Teacher Lin sang on stage just now was clearly drastically adapted and purified. Removing the dross and keeping the essence, the adaptation is simply amazing!"

After Guo Degang finished speaking, he took a sip of his wine and sighed heavily:

"The ancestors actually left us many good treasures, but it's a pity that people nowadays don't know how to appreciate them. They always feel that the moon abroad is rounder than the one at home. Every day they are humming and hawing on TV doing some rap and hip-hop, and even shamelessly saying they want to inherit black street culture."

"Pah! You are a Chinese person with black hair and yellow skin; whose turn is it for you to inherit black people's culture? I get angry when I see these spineless people who worship foreign things, it's simply forgetting one's roots, even forgetting what one's ancestors' surname is!"

The Crosstalk circle is currently the industry in the entertainment circle that pays the most attention to tradition.

Although the history of forming schools is only a hundred years, it still retains strong feudal industry rules and a Jianghu atmosphere.

It still emphasizes apprenticeship and ranking.

This is completely different from film academies teaching acting or music conservatories teaching Singing.

Those teachers are just teaching and educating, doing their jobs for money.

But in the Crosstalk circle, as long as you kowtow and offer tea to worship a master, that master is equivalent to your second parents.

The so-called "a teacher for a day is a father for life" is absolutely not an empty phrase.

The master not only teaches you the craft but also takes care of your food, drink, and daily life, and even helps you get married and start a career.

Relatively speaking, the apprentice must also be absolutely obedient, and the rules of apprenticeship are terrifyingly strict.

"Isn't it just that foreign monks are better at chanting scriptures." Yu Qian held a cigarette and added a comment slowly on the side.

Guo Degang became more excited as he spoke, and slammed the table: "If you talk about opening your eyes to see the world, learning advanced technology and excellent culture from abroad, I absolutely raise both hands in favor!"

"Closing the country can only lead to being beaten, but there must be a bottom line to this, right? Treating all foreign garbage as treasures and bringing them into the country? Is foreign sh*t fragrant? Throwing away your own national essence as garbage? How is this different from being a traitor!"

Old Guo slammed the table so hard it shook.