yournovel Chapter 23, advance to level 3, "Creating" songs.
Chapter 23, advance to level 3, "Creating" songs.
Two days later, Hu Jing came again.
This time she didn't come alone; she brought a classmate, also from the dance department of the High School Affiliated to Minzu University.
The girl was wearing a denim jacket and had permed hair; she clearly came from a well-off family. The two stood in front of the poster wall for a while, and without hesitation, the girl pointed directly to the handwritten autographed poster of Andy Lau.
"Boss, how much is this?"
"Two hundred and ninety-eight."
The girl took out three hundred-yuan bills and slapped them on the counter, then hesitated for a moment and poked the poster with her finger.
"Are you sure this is real? Don't tell me you printed it yourself."
Li Si'an was delighted. She pulled the poster out from under the counter and unfolded it on the counter.
"Look at the paper quality, it's the original Hong Kong edition, completely different from the printing on the mainland." He turned it over to show her. "And this was sent from Hong Kong by my mother. She's a dance teacher at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. You know the Academy for Performing Arts, right? They teach stars."
The girl blinked at him, looking on with a hint of disbelief.
Li Si'an raised her chin and said in a nonchalant tone, "You know Athena Chu, right? The one who played Zixia Fairy in 'A Chinese Odyssey,' my mom's student."
The girl's eyes lit up immediately.
"Really?"
"If you don't believe me, go back and look at the end credits of 'A Chinese Odyssey.' My mom's name is on the list of students who graduated from the performing arts academy."
He made this up on the spot, but Li Si'an didn't even blink when he said it. The girl stared at him for two seconds, smiled, rolled up the poster, and tucked it under her arm.
"Okay, I believe you. If it's fake next time, I'll come back to you for a refund."
He turned and left.
Hu Jing didn't leave. She stood by the counter, elbows on the counter, chin resting on the back of her hand, smiling at Li Si'an.
"You also know Athena Chu?"
"My mom's student. I don't know her."
"That's pretty impressive." Hu Jing tilted her head. "By the way, next time I come to buy something, you have to give me a discount."
"Okay. I'll give you a 10% discount."
"A 10% discount? You have the nerve to say that?"
"Then 20% off."
"50% off".
"30% off".
Hu Jing stared at him for two seconds, then smiled: "Okay, 30% off. It's a deal."
"It's a deal."
Tang Yun came downstairs, carrying a stack of newly arrived cassette tapes. Hu Jing's eyes lit up when she saw her, and she turned around to greet her.
"Tang Yun! Let me tell you, I just brought Li Si'an a big client—"
The two women started chatting away. Li Si'an leaned against the counter, watched them, shook her head, and continued organizing the account books.
For the next two weeks, Hu Jing came to the store every few days.
Sometimes he comes alone, sometimes with classmates. When he arrives, he sits down at the counter, chats with Tang Yun, and occasionally banters with Li Si'an.
One time when she came, Li Si'an was standing behind the counter organizing newly arrived videotapes. Hu Jing leaned against the counter and watched for a while.
"You even have video recordings in your store?"
"We'll release them at night. There's a shed in the back." Li Si'an gestured with his chin towards the back. "Chen Dong will be watching them from there."
Who is Chen Dong?
"He's my childhood friend. He's in charge of showing the videos and collecting the money."
Hu Jing glanced back and vaguely saw a tall, thin boy sitting at the entrance of the video arcade, with a cardboard box in front of him collecting money. Chen Dong also saw her, nodded in greeting, and then lowered his head to count the money.
"What are we putting on tonight?" Hu Jing asked.
"God of Gamblers 2"
Hu Jing thought for a moment: "Can I watch it?"
"You can watch it by buying a ticket."
"How much?"
"Eight pieces."
"Tang Yun and I are sisters, why are you still charging me money?"
"Sisters are sisters, business is business."
Tang Yun came downstairs and overheard this. She rolled her eyes at Li Si'an and said, "Ignore him." Then she pulled Hu Jing inside, saying, "Come on, I'll take you in."
Li Si'an called out from behind, "Eight yuan!"
Hu Jing didn't even turn her head, just waved her hand: "Put it in the tab!"
Chen Dong sat at the entrance of the video arcade, watching Hu Jing being pulled inside by Tang Yun, and then glanced up at Li Si'an.
"A new friend?"
"Yes. The High School Affiliated to Minzu University."
Chen Dong said "Oh," and didn't ask any more questions, continuing to count the money with his head down.
Once, Zhang Ziyi came to the store and happened to run into Hu Jing.
Li Si'an introduced the two to each other: "This is Zhang Ziyi, a student of folk dance at the Affiliated High School of Beijing Dance Academy. This is Hu Jing, a student of dance at the Affiliated High School of Minzu University of China."
Zhang Ziyi glanced at Hu Jing: "Minzu University Affiliated High School? I saw your school's performance last year."
"I know you, you danced that..." Hu Jing thought for a moment, "The group dance, the lead dancer."
"You've seen it?" Zhang Ziyi's eyes lit up.
"Of course I've seen it. Our teacher used you as examples."
The two started chatting. They talked about which teacher was strict, which cafeteria had bad food, and which competition was rife with corruption, getting more and more animated as they talked.
When Zhang Ziyi left, she patted Li Si'an on the shoulder.
"Your friend is quite interesting."
Standing by the counter, Hu Jing watched Zhang Ziyi's retreating figure and asked Li Si'an, "Is she really that good at dancing?"
"They've won awards in the Taoli Cup. What do you think?"
Hu Jing said "Oh" and didn't ask any more questions.
One evening in mid-November, there weren't many people in the shop.
Li Si'an sat behind the counter, a notebook open in front of him. He wrote a line of melody, then crossed it out. He wrote another line, then crossed it out again.
Hu Jing and Tang Yun sat on the chairs next to each other, each with a bottle of Beibingyang soda.
Chen Dong came over from behind and placed the account book for tonight's video arcade on the counter.
"Fifty-three people tonight, and twenty-six bottles of soda were sold."
Li Si'an flipped through the account book and nodded.
"Alright. You should go home and get some rest."
Chen Dong grunted in agreement, picked up his coat, nodded to Tang Yun and Hu Jing, and left through the door.
"Your childhood friend is quite reliable when it comes to work," Hu Jing said.
"Of course. We grew up together, we know each other inside and out."
Hu Jing leaned closer and glanced at Li Si'an's notebook: "What are you writing?"
"Song."
"What song?"
"Puppet Show".
"Never heard of it."
"Of course you haven't heard of it." Li Si'an put down her pen and leaned back in her chair. "I haven't written it down yet."
Hu Jing tilted her head and looked at him: "This name is quite strange. What does it say?"
"Write about a puppet show." Li Si paused for a moment, "Never mind, you wouldn't understand anyway."
He said that, but the melody of that song was already playing in his head.
I need to go to Caibai right away.
He closed the notebook, put it in the drawer, and glanced at the people coming and going outside the counter.
The store's business was booming; the tapes, video arcade, and posters were all profitable. But these were all small-scale operations.
He needs that money to upgrade his skills so he can write a complete song, and only after that can he enter the entertainment industry.
Li Si'an opened the drawer and glanced at the bankbook again. Forty thousand. That's enough.
It's time to go to Caibai.
On a Saturday in early December, Li Si'an went to Caibai.
The price of gold was 135 yuan per gram, so he asked the clerk to weigh 110 grams of gold jewelry—he chose the simplest style, without any patterns or inlays, and with the lowest labor cost.
Fourteen thousand eight hundred. He counted out fourteen thousand eight from his bag and put it on the counter.
The teller was a woman in her thirties. She glanced at him but didn't say anything.
Li Si'an put the gold jewelry in his pocket, left Caibai Department Store, and turned into a nearby alley. No one was there. He gripped the jewelry tightly and silently said something to himself.
"top up."
A panel appeared. The gold jewelry in his hand disappeared.
My level has increased to level three, and my mental strength has increased from seventeen to nineteen.
The moment I finished adding it, my mind felt like it had been doused with a bucket of warm water—not icy, but completely clear from head to toe.
He closed his eyes. The melody began to play automatically in his mind, a precise and complete presentation of each instrument's part. There were the tremolos of the pipa, the vibrato of the erhu, and the varying tempos of the drumbeats.
He opened his eyes. A cold wind rushed into his collar, and he shrank his neck, but the corners of his mouth were turned up.
Fourteen thousand eight thousand was well spent.
Around 7 p.m., Li Si'an sat at her desk on the second floor and spread out a sheet of white paper.
The melody of "Puppet Show" swirled in his mind all day. He wrote the verse first, marking it as Am on the score—a minor key with a dark undertone, but the melody line was gentle and lingering. Moving down, Em followed by Dm, like a silk thread winding around his fingertips.
The chorus shifts to C, G, F, moving from the minor key of the verse to the major key, instantly brightening the tone.
When he got to the part about opera singing, he put down his pen and marked the breathing points on the score.
A breeze picked up outside the window, and the radiators hummed.
Tang Yun's footsteps echoed downstairs as she hurried up the stairs. She pushed open the door to his room and peeked halfway in.
"Aren't you asleep yet?"
"You go to sleep first."
Tang Yun glanced at him, closed the door, and left. After a while, footsteps sounded again, and she pushed open the door with a cup of hot tea, placing it beside him.
Li Si'an reached out and hugged her waist, burying his face in her chest and taking a deep breath. The girl had a faint, sweet fragrance, mixed with the warmth emanating from her body, soft and gentle, like a freshly peeled lychee.
Tang Yun struggled briefly but couldn't break free. Li Si'an simply held her, making no other move. She paused for a few seconds, then slowly lowered her hands, letting him be.
Li Si'an pressed against her chest and mumbled, "I really want next May to come soon."
Next May 10th will be Tang Yun's 18th birthday, which is also the day Li Si'an decided to mark her coming of age.
Tang Yun looked down at him, her lips twitched, and she reached out to gently pat his head, as if coaxing a child.
Li Si'an raised his face and angrily pressed his chest against hers twice, feeling its amazing elasticity.
Tang Yun's body went limp, and she quickly pushed him away, her face already flushed.
"rogue."
Li Si'an leaned back in her chair and laughed. "If I were really a rogue, you'd have to warm my bed for me tonight."
Tang Yun ignored him and turned to leave. She paused at the door but didn't look back.
"Don't stay up too late, go to bed early."
The door closed. Footsteps echoed into the next room. Li Si'an picked up the cup of tea and took a sip.
By the time he finished writing the last line of notes, more than an hour had passed. He looked at the completed score and silently sang it from beginning to end.
The verses are melodious and tender, while the chorus is melodious and desolate, just like I remember.
He leaned back in his chair and stared at the few pages of music for a while.
Alright. The framework is complete.
He placed the manuscript paper under his textbook and turned off the light.