Chapter 151 - A Man Should Strengthen Himself
The woman inChinese dress was in her twenties, but she was wearing a white embroidered buttonedChinese jacket with Beizi, and a white satin embroidered lily skirt. Two blacksilk hanging down her waist, and her hair was tied in double bun. (TN: Think ofancient Chinese dress. I think something like these: here.)
This was avery popular retro dress. A well-made women’s Chinese dress is expensive.Moreover, it was not easy to put on a real ancient charm. Appearance and bodytemperament are indispensable. (TN: Retro - return to ancient.)
But for thiswoman, it was not a problem at all.
She seemedto be someone who has walked out from an ancient painting of a beautiful woman.Her skin is as white as snow, her eyes are as elegant as stars, her temperamentis elegant and cold, which makes people think that they can only see her fromafar and dare not have any obscene idea.
When shestepped into the elegant room, the whole room seemed to become more brighterand colorful.
“Oh!”
Seeing the womanin Chinese dress, Gao Yue asked in surprise, “Qin Qing, why are youhere?”
The woman inChinese dress bowed politely and said, “Hello, Professor Gao, ProfessorChen, Director Zhang, Uncle Chen.”
She greetedthe four guests in one breath, and her eyes finally fell on Lu Chen.
With alittle bit of curiosity and scrutiny.
Chen Pu andZhang Wentian both nodded with a smile. Chen Jianhao exclaimed, “Qin Qingis becoming more and more beautiful, and if you continue to be beautiful, I’mafraid no one will be worthy of you in the future!”
Qin Qing poutedand said with a light smile, “Uncle Chen is making fun of me. There is nosuch exaggeration.”
Her voice issweet and beautiful, like a jade bead rolling on a golden plate, which waspleasant to hear, giving people a very comfortable feeling.
And hersmile was fleeting, and she immediately regained her original elegance.
Chen Jianhaosaid to Lu Chen, “Little Lu, this is Qin Qing, who is studying folk musicin Beijing Conservatory of Music. You will go to Beijing Conservatory of Musicto attend a lecture later. If you encounter anything, you can ask her forhelp.”
Lu Chen stoodup and said, “Hello, I am Lu Chen, Lu of "mainland", Chen as in "morning".”(TN: Mainland in Chinese is Dàlù and Morning is Chén.)
Qin Qing nodded:“Hello.”
Herexpression was light and she has an indescribable temperament.
After thegreeting. Qin Qing said to Gao Yue, “Professor Gao, I heard that you wanta big drum here. We only have a knotted Taiko in our tea garden. I don’t knowif it meets the requirements.” (TN: Knotted Taiko: here.Human for scale.)
Gao Yue saidwith a kind smile, “It’s all right. We have a song that needsaccompaniment, and a knotted Taiko is fine.”
A knotted Taikois a kind of Taiko. The Taiko originated in China and was developed after beingintroduced to Japan, and then spread back to China in modern times. It ismainly divided into big Taiko, knotted Taiko and snare Taiko, which is usuallycalled big drum, tenor drum and small drum.
What the twowaiters brought in was a knotted Taiko drum, which had holes around it, redropes around it, and a wooden stick perpendicular to the drum surface, which ismost suitable for men to beat and play.
Qin Qing’seyes lit up and asked, “Can I listen in here?”
ZhangWentian said with a smile: “You can, you're always welcome to join us. Youcan also give some advice after listening.”
Qin Qingreplied very earnestly, “Okay.”
She sat downin the corner of the room, where she had placed a zither.
ZhangWentian couldn’t wait to say to Lu Chen, “Little Lu, do it again!”
Lu Chennodded and picked up the drumstick.
He had neverplayed this kind of drum before, but he had seen others play it and knew how todo it.
Fortunately,he was only playing the drum for accompaniment, and didn’t need much skills. Heimmediately grasped a mallet in each of his hand and played the prelude.
Even if it wasn'twith a Chinese big drum, the sound of the real leather drum couldn't becompared with the chopsticks just now. Just a short prelude already made thepeople feel hot-blooded.
Singingagain, Lu Chen no longer deliberately lowered his voice.
“Vigorouswhen facing the beatings of ten thousands heavy waves,
Ardent justlike the rays of the red sun!
Having couragelike forge iron and bones as hard as refined steel,
Having loftyaspirations,
Andexcellent foresight.
I workedextremely hard, aspiring to be a strong and courageous hero!
In order tobecome a hero,
One shouldstrive to become stronger everyday,
An ardentman shines brighter than the sun!
……”
In Lu Chen’sdream world, this classic theme song is inseparable from a series of martialarts movies, which can be called the pinnacle. The lyrics are full of theheroic spirit of men.
It has beenadapted from a Chinese folk song called "The General's Mandate". Both themelody and the lyrics are very imposing, showing a kind of “The king hasdescended to the world” majesty. The surging passion can suddenly shockevery audience!
The melodyin the song is full of spirit, and this “spirit” is not only themomentum of the song, but more importantly, it shows the national courage ofthe Chinese descendants, the noble spirit between heaven and earth. And thefusion of these “spirits” gave birth to the most exciting andmajestic soundtrack in Chinese films at that time.
Recallingthe plot of the film in the dream, Lu Chen’s momentum suddenly rose up, and hisemotion was fully integrated into it.
He sang morepowerfully!
“……
Allowing thesky and sea to amass energy for me,
To splitheaven and part the earth to fight for my aspirations,
Watching thestature and grandeur of jade colored waves,
at the sametime watching the vastness jade colored sky, let our noble spirit soar,
I am a manand I must strive to strengthen myself!
Walking infirm steps and standing upright let us all aspire to be a pillar of thesociety, and to be a hero,
Using ourhundredfold warmth, to bring forth a thousandfold of brilliance!
Be a hero,
Being ardentand with strong courage,
Shinebrighter than the sun!
……”
The originalelegant atmosphere in the teahouse was instantly destroyed by Lu Chen’s drumsand singing. However, all the people present didn't feel that he was cookingcranes and burning a string instrument. Instead, they listened attentively.(TN: cooking cranes and burning a string - destroy something valuable. In thiscase, they didn't feel he destroyed the elegant atmosphere.)
ZhangWentian, in particular, was simply beaming with joy. He wanted to pound thetable and shout praises several times, but he forcefully refrained himself
Qin Qing’sdelicate hands gently pressed the strings, and her eyes were flashing with astrange look.
She camebecause she was curious. When she first saw Lu Chen, the latter gave her theimpression of being handsome and polite.
It’s justthat there were really too many excellent boys who have appeared in front ofQin Qing. Lu Chen has nothing special, and naturally there was no specialfeeling to speak of. He was just an ordinary passers-by.
Until LuChen beat the drums and sang!
At the beginning,she saw at a glance that Lu Chen didn't know how to play the knotted Taiko. Hecompletely played the knotted Taiko like an ordinary leather drum, and hismovement seemed clumsy and awkward.
But the song“A Man Should Strengthen Himself” instantly changed her impression!
The rhythmof Lu Chen's drum beating was extremely powerful, and his singing voice was fullof heroic spirit that doesn't match his age and appearance. It was so sonorousand loud that even a girl like her became somewhat hot-blooded when shelistened to it.
He was sofocused, as if everything around him didn’t exist, and his whole mind wasimmersed in the song.
It was this kindof serious and incomparable attitude that inadvertently touched Qin Qing’sheartstrings.
She haslittle more favorable impression.
“……Beingardent and with strong courage, shine brighter than the sun! “
The drumbeatsuddenly stopped and his singing stopped abruptly, but his voice was stilllingering.
“Good!”
Zhang Wentianwas the first to applaud. He was overjoyed: “That's it!”
Of all thepeople present, he was the most chivalrous. Otherwise, he wouldn't have chosen sucha script as his first blockbuster to make a comeback, so he was also theeasiest one to be moved by this song “A Man Should Strengthen Himself". (TN:Blockbuster - big budget movie with big star casts.)
In fact,when Lu Chen began to sing again, the great director had already decided to usethis as the theme song.
On thisbasis, the tone of the soundtrack of the whole film can be determined.
He no longerhas anything troubling his mind. He can now stop thinking about it.
Therefore,Zhang Wentian was very grateful to Lu Chen for bringing him a wonderful work.
Gao Yue andChen Pu also applauded, and the latter said with a smile, “Old Zhang, youfinally got what you wanted.”
“Goodsong, good tune…”
Gao Yuesighed, “We are really old.”
No matterthe melody or the lyrics, this song was perfect for Zhang Wentian’s upcomingfilm. Basically, there was nothing to be picky about, and the most importantthing was to put more efforts on the arrangement and accompaniment.
And findsomeone else to sing it?
Lu Chen wasstill too young. Even if it was his own work, it didn't mean that he can singit the best.
Of course,this didn't affect Gao Yue’s appreciation of Lu Chen. It was purely from aprofessional point of view.
Chen Jianhaodirectly gave a thumbs up to Lu Chen.
He thoughthe knew Lu Chen well. Now he found out that his previous understanding was toosuperficial.
Lu Chen islike an endless treasure trove, always bringing people a steady stream ofsurprises.
The style ofthis song “A Man Should Strengthen Himself” is completely differentfrom his previous works. It has the atmosphere of a master, and its strengthcan only be described as unfathomable.
Qin Qing wassurprised. Listening to what they said, it seems that this song was an originalwork of Lu Chen?
That'samazing!
Lu Chen,holding a drumstick in hand, bowed with a smile and said, “Thankyou.”
In the faceof praise and honor, Lu Chen was never complacent and proud because he knowsthe source of his glory.
And it wasprecisely this modesty that made the two professors and Zhang Wentian speciallyhave a good impression.
ZhangWentian said, “Lu Chen. I’ll take this song. Which company did you sign upwith?”
There are rulesin the industry. if he wants to buy a song from Lu Chen, he must firstnegotiate with the company that Lu Chen signed a contract with.
Becauseaccording to the artist contract, the works created by Lu Chen, the signingcompany has full possession or priority to the copyright.
Unless he isa top artist, there can be no exception.
Lu Chen’sanswer came as a surprise to Zhang Wentian: “Director Zhang, I have openedmy own studio. If you like this song, I can license it to the investors of thefilm for free.”
The themesong of a multimillion-dollar blockbuster. The influence is very great, not tomention free authorization, Lu Chen is even willing to pour out money. It wouldbe best to make Zhang Wentian owe a favor.
If one wantsto make more money, one must have a long-term vision. it is not wise to begreedy for small profits.
ZhangWentian was dumbfounded at first. He didn't expect that Lu Chen actually openedhis own studio and didn't rely on other companies.
However, hereacted quickly and laughed and said, “No, I won't get it for free. Thefee should be given…”
After apause, he asked, “All the main actors in my film have been decided, butthere are still a few supporting actors with few scenes. I wonder if you areinterested in giving it a try?”
Lu Chen wasimmediately overjoyed: “Thank you, Director Zhang. I’m veryinterested!”
If such an opportunity is missed, he will be struck by thunder and lightning.