Chapter 16

Xia Chunhua’s voice was just like her appearance—very sweet and girlish. Its weaknesses were equally obvious: her vocal range was too narrow, and her tone was on the thinner side. But sweet really was sweet.

As it happened, the song they had chosen this time was also a sugary-sweet song about a young girl in love, so when she sang it, her tone, emotions, and everything else suited the song extremely well. It actually worked in her favor.

After they finished, quite a few people applauded enthusiastically. Even Wang Yunshui, mindful of the cameras, clapped along cheerfully.

Sitting on the floor, Xia Chunhua looked up at An Rong with an expectant expression. “Play another one. Something different.”

The afternoon training session was almost over anyway. Everyone was exhausted, and they had all happened to sit down for a short break. Quite a few people had already wanted to suggest the same thing but hadn’t dared, so once Xia Chunhua got things started, everyone joined in.

“One more! One more!”

As though she couldn’t refuse everyone, An Rong hesitated for a few seconds before nodding in agreement.

Since she had already brought the instrument out, if one piece of usable footage wasn’t enough, she could give them another. Buy one, get one free.

Before she began, An Rong explained, “This is an old song. A lot of you might never have heard it. It isn’t a professional erhu piece either, just the theme song from an old TV drama. It’s about family bonds, and it’s very short. Just listen casually.”

She kept her manner modest and briefly introduced what the song was about ​bailiantales.com​before beginning the opening passage.

The moment Xu Xiaoye heard that explanation, she could already guess most of what An Rong was planning.

This had to be a very sad song.

Not bad, little fool. This method could work.

If she could stir up everyone’s emotions and make them relate to it, that would produce the best effect, while also giving An Rong another chance to show off her skill.

But the moment the melody began, Xu Xiaoye lost the amused feeling of watching a show.

Maybe it was because the Shaoqin still carried the sorrowful, plaintive quality of an erhu, or maybe the song itself had been designed with malicious intent. The intro had barely begun before that warm, tender melody, tinged faintly with a sobbing quality, reached straight into everyone’s hearts.

When the music faded away, restrained sobbing came from somewhere in the room.

It seemed contagious.

One became two, two became four, and in an instant, the entire dance studio was enveloped in sadness.

An Rong lowered her instrument without saying anything and turned to glance at Xu Xiaoye.

Xu Xiaoye seemed to have only just come back to herself.

When their eyes met, she pressed her lips together in a smile and gave An Rong a thumbs-up, looking as though she hadn’t been affected at all.

Xia Chunhua sat in front of An Rong, lifting her tear-blurred face. With her mouth pitifully turned down, she said, “I miss my mom. I miss my dad. I miss my grandma…”

An Rong set her instrument down, bent over, and hugged her.

Sniffling, Xia Chunhua choked out, “Can you give me some of your pickles?”

An Rong rubbed her fluffy hair and gave a quiet “Mm.” “Sure. I’ll give them to you.”

Xia Chunhua wrapped her arms around An Rong’s neck and burst into loud sobs, choking between cries, “You’re so nice. The pickles… sob, sob… they’re so good.”

An Rong sighed and comforted her. “They’re all yours. Stop crying. You won’t be cute anymore if you cry.”

It wasn’t until much later in her previous life that An Rong learned Xia Chunhua’s grandmother had been a very interesting old lady. She lived in a villa, made pickles, turned the garden into a vegetable patch, and even raised a goat. Unfortunately, she later became ill and passed away.

Xia Chunhua thumped her little fist stolen contentagainst An Rong’s back and protested through her sobs, “You… shut up. Is that how you talk to your Sister?”

Right.

Even at a time like this, she still didn’t forget.

An Rong let go and wiped the tears from her face, coaxing her, “Fine, fine. Sister. You’re the Sister.”

The atmosphere had originally been fairly sad, but Xia Chunhua completely ruined it.

The girls who had come to participate in this selection were all young. Xu Xiaoye was twenty-four and had already spent three years as a trainee. Xiao Yu was twenty-three. Wang Yunshui was twenty-one. Everyone else was under twenty.

They were young and had little experience with society.

After a full week of closed-door, hellish training here, without phones or computers, it felt almost as though they had been cut off from modern society.

Everyone missed home.

They just didn’t say it.

Today, An Rong’s rendition of bailiantales.com“Family Bonds” had blown all those feelings wide open. After secretly shedding a few tears, everyone’s mood stayed low.

Seeing this, An Rong clapped her hands twice.

“This is all my fault. Stop looking so miserable. Come on, cheer up! I’ll play another one. If you know it, sing along!”

An Rong picked up the instrument from the floor and immediately launched into “Big Bridal Sedan Chair.”

It wasn’t girlish in the slightest.

Not remotely fresh or delicate either.

Even from the melody alone, you could hear the hearty enthusiasm of some rough man happily going off to marry his wife.

But the pretty girls were still too self-conscious to completely let loose. With tears still hanging from their lashes, they smiled awkwardly.

Xu Xiaoye clapped out the rhythm with her hands, caught the beat, and loudly sang, “Back to the mountaintop I walk once more / I see the red azaleas covering the hills / What makes me smile is…”

“Yo-ho, yo-ho, yo!”

Once someone took the lead, everyone else perked up and eagerly joined in.

Xu Xiaoye picked up her guitar and joined them too.

“What makes my heart so happy is…”

“Lang-ge-li-ge-lang!”

Even those who didn’t know the song were familiar with those two phrases, and everyone immediately shouted them out together.

The moment they did, they couldn’t help shoving at one another and bursting into laughter.

An Rong played exceptionally well, and the song itself was lively, simple, and rhythmic. The Shaoqin’s bright upper register carried beautifully, creating an excellent atmosphere.

Xu Xiaoye led everyone through the song once.

On the second round, she stopped leading, afraid she might remember the lyrics wrong.

But An Rong had been keeping part of her attention on Xu Xiaoye the entire time.

Even if Xu Xiaoye sang something wrong, An Rong could smoothly cover for her, so she wasn’t worried at all.

Whenever Xu Xiaoye wasn’t certain about the lyrics, An Rong simply sang the line herself.

“The girl doesn’t say a word, she only looks at me and smiles / I know that she’s waiting for my…”

Everyone joyfully shouted the universally known final three words together:

“Big bridal sedan chair!”

Once they finished, they suddenly realized it was all a little ridiculous.

So without trying to hide it at all, they burst into laughter while applauding.

They were still kids.

Their emotions came quickly and disappeared just as quickly.

After laughing for a while, they had already forgotten how tearful and homesick they had been moments earlier.

By the time the song ended, the afternoon session was basically over.

An Rong and Xu Xiaoye walked out carrying their instruments on their backs, while behind them, someone was still quietly muttering, “Lang-ge-li-ge-lang.”

The song was ridiculously catchy.

After hearing it twice in a row, it had already started looping endlessly in everyone’s head.

Xu Xiaoye gave An Rong a thumbs-up, pressed a hand onto her shoulder, and smiled.

“Like.”

An Rong pressed her lips together and smiled.

Xu Xiaoye looked pleased and a little curious.

“I didn’t know you could play something like that too.”

An Rong replied, “I didn’t know you could sing something like that either.”

Xu Xiaoye lifted her chin, shot her a playful stolen content glance, and bragged proudly, “Of course. There’s nothing your Sister can’t do.”

An Rong had no intention of exposing her.

She even nodded along obediently, displaying the complete lack of principles and boundaries befitting a hopeless simp.

When An Rong returned to the dorm, she gave the jar of pickled chili peppers to Xia Chunhua.

After receiving it, Xia Chunhua couldn’t even bear to eat it and solemnly placed it on her desk.

When An Rong went back, Xu Xiaoye was lying on the bed, seemingly lost in thought.

An Rong had no idea what she was thinking about.

An Rong sat down at the desk, planning to write some lyrics of her own.

She had barely opened her notebook and uncapped her pen when Xu Xiaoye suddenly asked, “Do you miss home?”

An Rong hesitated for a moment, then turned to look at Xu Xiaoye and nodded.

“I do.”

She really did miss home.

She missed her parents, her younger brother, and the little vegetable garden in their yard.

Later in her previous life, they had become so busy they barely had time to breathe. Going home had started to feel like something she hadn’t done in forever.

Mentioning this suddenly reminded An Rong of something.

In her previous life, Xu Xiaoye had almost never talked about her family.

She rarely seemed to call home either.

Could there be some reason she found difficult to talk about?

An Rong hesitated slightly.

Looking at Xu Xiaoye, who was still lying there lost in thought, she asked, “Do you miss home?”

Xu Xiaoye didn’t move.

After a while, she closed her eyes and sighed.

In an extremely soft voice, she said, “Of course. How could I not?”

She didn’t know whether this part would be edited into the show and broadcast.

But she really did miss home.

It had almost been three years.

How could she possibly not?

Seeing that something seemed off about Xu Xiaoye’s expression, An Rong put her pen back down on the table.

Carefully testing the waters, she comforted her. “You’ll definitely debut. In another two months, once we get out of here, you’ll be able to go home.”

Xu Xiaoye turned her head and gave a short scoffing laugh, as though saying, Since when is it your turn to comfort me?

But when she looked over and saw An Rong’s deeply serious expression, she [unauthorized copy]realized this might be the kind of kid who stamped every word someone said straight into her heart.

So Xu Xiaoye changed her response.

She stopped smiling, looked at An Rong seriously as well, and said, “Thank you.”

An Rong shook her head.

“You don’t need to thank me.”

As long as you can be happy and stop carrying so much on your mind, I’ll be happy doing anything for you.