Back to 17, My Brother is the Cult Leader

Zeng Li's voice came from behind the curtain.

"In the first act, the water sleeves rise and fall"

Singing of joys and sorrows, of partings and reunions, is none of my business.

The fan opens and closes, the gongs and drums sound and then fall silent.

Who can judge the love story between the characters in the play and the audience outside the play?

He is used to expressing all his emotions in his performance.

What does it matter if the lyrics are sung through? White bones and green ashes are all me.

In this chaotic world, we drift like duckweed, watching the flames of war engulf the land.

Though my position is humble, I dare not forget my duty to the nation, even if no one knows me.

The audience members walked by, and the old colors were gone.

The person on stage was singing a heartbreaking farewell song.

The word "love" is hard to write, she sings it must be answered with blood.

The curtain rises and falls, who is the guest?

(Kunqu recitation: Deep affection regrets being taken too seriously, looking back, all is an illusion, who is there opposite me...)

In the play, the water sleeves rise and fall.

Singing of joys and sorrows, of partings and reunions, is none of my business.

The fan opens and closes, the gongs and drums sound and then fall silent.

Who can judge the love story between the characters in the play and the audience outside the play?

He is used to expressing all his emotions in his performance.

What does it matter if the lyrics are sung through? White bones and green ashes are all me.

In this chaotic world, we drift like duckweed, watching the flames of war engulf the land.

Though my position is humble, I dare not forget my duty to the nation, even if no one knows me.

The audience members walked by, and the old colors were gone.

The person on stage was singing a heartbreaking farewell song.

The word "love" is hard to write, she sings it must be answered with blood.

The curtain rises and falls, and we are all guests in the end.

你方唱罢我登场

Don't mock romantic plays, don't laugh at people's absurdity.

I have asked about the changing times and also sung the praises of rise and fall.

The Way is without emotion, yet how can one fathom its feelings?

The Tao is ruthless; the Tao is compassionate—it requires careful consideration.

She paused for two seconds after singing the last line.

The lights went out at that instant.

The entire room fell silent.

The curtain began to close. The entire audience applauded; no one spoke, they just kept clapping.

A department head in the front row took off his glasses, lowered his head, looked at his knees, and didn't lift them for a long time.

Teacher Chang sat on the side of the aisle, neither clapping nor standing up.

Backstage.

Fang Yuan didn't have many complicated thoughts; he was just doing a job.

The work is a good work, but for him it's just a copy, released a few years ahead of schedule.

I hope I won't be let down.

Over the next three days, Fang Yuan carefully inquired about the opinions of those who watched the performance, mainly to understand their acceptance of traditional Chinese style songs like "Red-Clad Ladies".

It was pretty good; the response was quite unexpected, and several senior professors from the school greatly appreciated it.

Fang Yuan gained confidence and began preparing songs for Zeng Li's album.

On the 20th day of the twelfth lunar month, the Central Academy of Drama will have three more days of winter vacation.

When Fang Yuan arrived, Professor Chang and Professor Li were already there.

Professor Chang, holding a teacup, leaned back in his chair and yawned, clearly having just finished the end-of-semester summary meeting.

Professor Li, on the other hand, was in high spirits. His gold-rimmed glasses were polished to a shine, and a well-worn harmony textbook lay open in front of him as he wrote something in his lesson preparation notebook.

"Teacher Li." Fang Yuan placed a stack of sheet music on the table before greeting him.

"Don't be idle during the holidays, I'll make a list of your winter break homework."

Professor Chang laughed from the side, "Professor Li, you're too attentive to Xiao Fang. He's a drama major, auditing music classes, and you treat him like your own student."

"Even those who audit classes are still students," Professor Li said calmly.

"I told him that if he's going to study, he should be on the same standard as the regular students. He has indeed made great progress in the past year or so. He has even solved some of the exercises in the later chapters of harmony that the undergraduate students in the composition department can't do. Since he has this foundation, we shouldn't waste it."

Fang Yuan did not offer any explanation.

He studied composition and arrangement with Professor Li, starting with the most basic music theory and progressing to harmony, counterpoint, and orchestration. He had classes twice a week, and didn't stop during winter and summer vacations.

As they were talking, Director Shen pushed the door open and came in, followed by Zeng Li and Wang Jinghua.

Several people took their seats.

Director Shen glanced at Fang Yuan. "Xiao Fang, you said you had a proposal to discuss. There's a lot going on at the end of the semester, and I have a meeting in twenty minutes. You go first."

Fang Yuan stood up and distributed a copy of the materials to each person.

The material was thin, just a few pages, with the words "Zeng Li Solo Album Proposal - Discussion Draft" printed on the cover.

Wang Jinghua turned to the first page, looked at the playlist, and her eyebrows twitched slightly.

"Ten songs," Fang Yuan said.

"I wrote all the lyrics and music, and I also drafted the arrangement. Teacher Li helped me with the instrumentation details. I plan to make it into a complete album for Senior Sister Zeng."

The meeting room fell silent for a few seconds.

Fang Yuan continued, "A little over a month ago, Senior Sister Zeng sang 'The Red-Clad Lady' at a school party. Director Shen, Professor Chang, and Teacher Li were all present."

"I remember," Director Shen said.

"So I thought, since the single was already showing promise, why not make a full album?"

Fang Yuan turned to the page of the playlist, "I wrote nine more songs after that, with a style that is in line with 'Red-Clad Actress'. I call it Chinese style - the lyrics use allusions and the imagery of ancient poems, and the arrangement combines traditional Chinese instruments with modern rhythms."

The playlist was arranged neatly:

Red-faced Girl

Hair Like Snow

Fireworks Fade Easily

"Green Silk"

Puppet Show

Looking out the window

Memories of Leaving the Nine Gates

Guanshan Wine

Love in the Mountains

Summer Solstice of the Thirtieth Year

"Xiao Fang," Professor Chang said, glancing through the playlist and tapping on it with his finger.

"These song titles do have a certain flavor, but I have to be frank—does the pop music market recognize these now?"

Go to a music store and see what's on the shelves? "Too Softhearted," "Wishing You Peace," "Friends."

What the audience wants is a simple melody and catchy lyrics, not to hear you quote scriptures and allusions.

Who are you going to sell this album, which is full of classical Chinese poetry?

Fang Yuan nodded: "Professor Chang is right."

"And another thing," Professor Chang said, not intending to stop.

"Your positioning—'Chinese style'—to put it bluntly, is to incorporate Peking Opera, ancient poetry, and folk opera into pop songs."

I ask you, what do young people listen to pop songs for? To relax.

Do you have the patience to let them listen to historical allusions in songs?

There was a moment of silence in the conference room.

Professor Li took off his glasses and wiped them, while Director Shen lit a cigarette without saying a word.

Although Professor Chang's words were blunt, every sentence hit the nail on the head, and everyone present understood that.

Fang Yuan put down his pen, looked at Professor Chang, and did not rush to refute.

"Professor Chang, I had thought about all of these things before I even wrote my first song," he said.

"Last year, there was a song called 'Rap Opera Masks' on Beijing TV's Spring Festival Gala. It combined Peking Opera and pop music and became popular for more than a year."

It's playing everywhere, even in the streets and alleys, and young people can hum the line "Dou Erdun, the blue-faced man, steals the imperial horse." What does this show? It shows that the audience doesn't reject opera elements; what they reject is not understanding them.

"The 'Singing and Dancing Facial Makeup' is a traditional opera song," Professor Chang said.

"Yes. But it proves that someone has walked this path before, it's just that no one has done it systematically until now."

Fang Yuan turned to the playlist page, "《Rap of Peking Opera》 is a single, and it leans more towards opera songs."

My idea is ten songs, each with a theme rooted in traditional culture.

"Red-Haired Actress" is about actors and performers; "Hair Like Snow" is a traditional Chinese romance; "Fireworks Fade Easily" is about the Zen spirit of an ancient temple; "Puppet Show" is about puppetry; "Looking Out the Window" is about a woman's lament; "Memories of Leaving the Nine Gates" is a tomb-raiding story written from the perspective of the Nine Gates; "Wine of the Mountain Pass" is about soldiers guarding the border; "Love in the Mountains" is a reinterpretation of the legend of the White Snake and Xu Xian; "Black Hair" is about a woman whose hair has turned white and her lover has not returned; and "Summer Solstice of the Thirtieth Year" is about a woman's thirty years.

He paused for a moment:

"None of these are purely opera songs."

The melody has a pop base, the arrangement uses folk music to create atmosphere, and the lyrics use classical allusions without being overly pedantic.

As long as the listener finds the melody pleasant and the lyrics tell a story, that's enough.

The allusions are for those who are interested to explore in depth; it's fine to listen even if you don't delve into them.

Professor Li pulled out a musical score from the materials; it was the arrangement manuscript for "Puppet Show".

The musical staff indicates the instruments: erhu, guzheng, bamboo flute, and pipa, with different colored pens marking the entry and exit positions for each part.

He looked at it for a while, then looked up and said, "Your orchestration is more mature than your previous work. How did you memorize the pipa tremolo technique?"

"The consecutive thirty-second notes are marked with a tr fermata. In actual performance, the musicians have to interpret them according to their emotions; the score can only provide a rough indication."

"Yes. Folk music is different from Western orchestral music. Folk musicians are used to reading simplified musical scores, leaving room for improvisation."