Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

The competition venue was a three-story logistics and office building, which was vacated out specifically for this competition.

Mu Wanqing's class had a total of 35 students, plus the outside help they invited. Most of them were senior students from the same college, making a total of 57 students, who were divided into 12 teams.

As for Mu Wanqing's group, apart from Zhang Dabiao, no other classmates were willing to join. In the end, the department couldn't stand it anymore and added two more people for them, senior students majoring in music performance, mainly to accompany them.

One is Han Xiaomeng, a third-year student who plays the accordion, harmonica, and flute; the other is Tang Min, a fourth-year student who plays some traditional Chinese instruments like the erhu and suona. They'll make do, I suppose.

Those skilled in piano, guitar, and even violin, cello, flute, and clarinet had already been snapped up by other students.

(In 1961, the Piano Teaching and Research Group of the Music Department of the Beijing Art Academy compiled "Introduction to Piano for Children and Adolescents". Piano was a major subject in music performance, while accordion was a subject for teacher training and an elective.)

Because Zhang Dabiao is an "outsider"—he can't play any musical instruments!

I really can't!

The first day's creative task was to write lyrics. First, the department leaders briefly explained the competition rules and emphasized discipline in front of everyone, which served as a simple opening ceremony.

Then came the scene of drawing lots, which everyone had been waiting for.

The subject teachers, leaders from the Municipal Education Bureau, and the department head drafted a total of 10 topics, which were then publicly announced before being folded into small pieces and thrown into the ballot box.

They are: Commune, Hero, Worker, Opera, Friendship, Harvest, Ethnic Group, Ancient Poetry, Battle, and Graduation.

Zhang Dabiao quickly searched his memory for similar music he had heard before.

These past two nights in his "little nest," he's been listening to all sorts of revolutionary songs whenever he has a spare moment!

I'm so tired of hearing about it.

Actually, he wasn't very interested in this, but his parents in later generations liked these things, so he helped organize some. There weren't many, just compilations of one or two hours' worth, and he had quite a few cached in his bookmarks.

Then there are various music variety shows like "Everlasting Classics," which feature quite a few adapted songs from different eras.

So while I wouldn't say I know 100% of these types of music by heart, I can easily come up with two or three songs of each type.

Moreover, the department head stated from the beginning that this was a purely internal academic exchange and teaching reform experiment, and the creative content did not involve politics or religion, so as long as it was not taken too far, it was all safe.

With the department's endorsement, it's unlikely that they'll scrutinize your words and accuse you of having ideological problems (unless you spout nonsense and have a death wish). If they were to pursue the matter in that case, it would mean you broke your promise and contradicted yourself.

It seems that the art academy is quite fair.

However, the teachers from my own arts and crafts school were not selected as judges because the competition expanded and it was no longer just a competition between Zhang Dabiao and Zhao Weiguo, so the teachers from the arts and crafts school were not qualified.

Then, in full view of everyone, the department head pulled out a small piece of paper, took it out in front of everyone, and then displayed it publicly—

Classical Chinese Poetry!

Zhang Dabiao's eyes lit up!

Steady!

Zhao Weiguo and his men turned green with rage!

Their previous works were all related to imperial orders, battles, heroic hymns, workers, and industrial construction, which was the mainstream creative direction of that era.

It's fair to say that everyone has one or two songs in their repertoire.

So they took the initiative to take on the challenge, and music creation in this era is all related to these things.

But I didn't expect the department head to have such bad luck, drawing a "classical poetry" question?

They don't usually look at these things; they read "Song of Youth," "Red Flag," and "Red Sun"!

Zhang Dabiao – [I even read the Spring and Autumn Annals!]

There's plenty of music that re-sets ancient poems to music, or adapts, excerpts, or related music, with less emphasis on romance and avoiding themes of medicine and religion!

And even if classical poems involve romantic love between men and women—that's in the original poems, not something I made up. The topic was drawn by the department head, so it has nothing to do with me!

So we adapted it!

Whatever!

If the sky falls, someone has to take responsibility!

If you're so capable, why don't you drag out some ancient people and criticize them for me?

As Zhang Dabiao thought about it, his hair stood on end, and he chuckled to himself.

Won!

Cool!

"Farewell" lyrics by Li Shutong (Master Hongyi), an interlude from "Old Tales of South City", "Outside the long pavilion, along the ancient road, the fragrant grass stretches to the horizon", which is the one with the line - "You're here to take a dump too, aren't you?";

"Bodhisattva's Charm" Lyrics: Wen Tingyun, Music: Liu Huan, Singer: Yao Beina, Interlude from "Empresses in the Palace";

"Do You Know?" Lyrics: Li Qingzhao, composer forgotten, sung by Hu Xia and Yu Kewei, theme song for the TV series "Do You Know?"

"Qingping Tune", "Dingfengbo", "Jiangjinjiu", "When Will the Moon Be Bright", "Shenglü Qimeng", "Gangun Changjiang Dongshishui", "Shao Nian Zhongguo Shuo", "Chile Ge", "Shuidiao Getou", "Yijianmei"...

I'm just asking you, how do you plan to lose?!

This isn't about winning or losing; it's about how I could possibly lose even if I wanted to throw the game!

How could we lose!

At this moment, Zhang Dabiao was not fighting alone; he was not alone!

"Da Biao, Da Biao, hey, what's wrong with you?!"

Seeing that something was wrong with him, Mu Wanqing quickly tugged at him.

At this moment, his reaction was one of utter shock in everyone's eyes.

Since everyone else took the college entrance exam after graduating from high school, they studied for at least three more years than Zhang Dabiao! Three years of Chinese language classes naturally gave them a better understanding of classical poetry.

Mu Wanqing hesitated. She bit her lip and said, "Da Biao, if this theme doesn't work, how about we just find an ancient poem, compose some music, and that's it..."

Zhang Dabiao glared at her.

"What are you saying? What's wrong with that?"

"How can a man say he can't?"

"It's just classical Chinese poetry, what's the big deal? Anyone can do it!"

When the foreign aids Han Xiaomeng and Tang Min heard this, they both scoffed. What do you mean by "anyone with hands can do it"?

Wouldn't that mean everyone could come and learn art?

That's impossible.

Zhao Weiguo was already secretly laughing. College students have a natural advantage over vocational school students when it comes to reciting classical poetry.

There was a flurry of whispers and all sorts of rumors circulating below.

"Classical poetry? This question is going to be tough."

"What's so difficult about it? Just find a famous one, compose a simple melody, and you're done!"

"What do you know? Setting ancient poems to music looks simple, but it's really hard to make it stand out! The melody has to be right, and the artistic conception has to match. Otherwise, it will become a hodgepodge."

"That's still better than the creative assignment we prepared before—my previous theme was 'harvest,' which worried me to death; my mind is still full of wheat and sorghum. And now it's suddenly changed to classical poetry, what am I supposed to do?"

"Be content. The main theme of our assignment was 'workers.' What else could we write besides 'We workers have strength'?"

In an instant, some were happy while others were sad.

Department Head Zhou, Comrade Zhou Jianfang, stood on the stage, showed the slip of paper in his hand to everyone again, and only after confirming that everyone had seen it clearly did he clear his throat.

"Quiet, everyone be quiet."

"Let me say a few more words."