After Liang Liang greeted Xu Hebin and Sui Fulu, he saw Xu Mei and the other two dressed up and walking across Huanghai Street toward the Oriental Dance Hall.

Liang Liang was relieved that the people hadn't been abducted, so he didn't wait for them at the entrance of the dance hall. Instead, he turned around and went back into the dance hall.

These three gossipy women spent half a day shopping but didn't buy a single bird feather, and came back empty-handed.

Liang Liang knew this would be the outcome, which is why she didn't go shopping with them.

During the Spring Festival in the 1990s, people did not spend a lot of money at entertainment venues.

At home, relatives and friends can get together to play mahjong, dominoes, and cards; there are plenty of games to play. Moreover, there are many entertainment programs on TV, including singing and dancing shows.

Therefore, spending money in nightclubs during the Chinese New Year is simply a waste of time.

However, the Oriental Song and Dance Hall, which started construction on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year, was packed with people.

After digesting the news over the Lunar New Year, many people in Yahe finally realized that Yahe had produced a singer, and a rather famous one at that.

He is the lead singer of a band called Blue Shark, whose members are composed of Yahe people and Lianwan people.

Their album reportedly sold over 1.3 million copies in China alone in just over two months, and sales in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia have exceeded 2 million copies.

Tonight, the lead singer of the band Liang Liang will be performing at the Oriental Dance Hall. Many young men and women from Yahe have come to watch the excitement, taking advantage of having some money in their pockets during the Spring Festival.

Qin Wenju is quite remarkable. She gritted her teeth and moved all the seats in the studio out, and then sold a thousand tickets that night.

The Oriental Song and Dance Troupe has more than 600 seats. Moving all these chairs out would create almost double the space.

"I spent two thousand yuan to hire you to perform, how can I not look for it here!" Qin Wenju said emphatically.

That's what she thought and that's what she did, and she did achieve her goal!

The more than 1,000 tickets generated an extra 3,000 yuan in revenue, not only recouping the initial 2,000 yuan but also adding over 1,000 yuan to the revenue.

Tonight, the audience at the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe was mostly young people, and the entire dance hall was noisy. Some people even spontaneously sang songs from the Blue Shark band's album.

At 6:30, without any warning, the music suddenly started playing.

The music playing was the prelude to the New Year's greeting song "Gong Xi Fa Cai" performed by the farmers' band earlier today.

Liang Liang stood in front of the stage, holding a bass guitar and a microphone, and sang the song with expressive body language!

"Today is the eighth day of the first lunar month. Although the New Year celebrations are over, the festive atmosphere still surrounds us like red clouds. This song, 'Wishing You Prosperity,' is dedicated to all the elders, brothers, and sisters of Yahe who are here tonight. On behalf of the Hongya Band, the Gaobao Gushan Farmers Band, and all the staff of the Oriental Dance Hall, I would like to extend my greetings to all the elders and folks present and wish you all a prosperous and successful New Year!"

The applause in the dance hall was deafening.

"I am a native of Yahe. My achievements today are all thanks to the nurturing of Yahe's mountains and rivers. Therefore, given the opportunity and conditions, I am willing to do my best to help talented and ambitious people in Yahe to reach a bigger stage."

applause!

"Next, I'd like to introduce a folk music band. They are a band composed of five farmers from Gaobao Township and Gushan Township. Their name is the Gaobao-Gushan Farmers' Band. This band might just become famous all over the country someday. You've already seen their performance during the day and just now, but that's not all; you've only seen a part of it. Tonight, you will see the complete Gaobao-Gushan Farmers' Band. Now, let's have this band perform a brand new instrumental piece, 'The Fake Monk.' Please welcome them!"

Liang Liang held the bass and accompanied it with chords. The main instruments of this piece were the guzheng and suona, while the other instruments were just supporting parts.

Gao Xing took the suona and xiao and stood in the center of the stage.

The original opening of "The Fake Monk" features a saxophone solo. Since they didn't have a saxophone, Liang Liang came up with a mischievous idea: he used a xiao (a type of vertical flute) instead of a saxophone.

Anyway, no one knows what the original accompaniment was, so they'll assume it was originally played on the xiao (a type of vertical flute).

When the guzheng began its bouncing, bouncy performance, the audience started to stir.

This guzheng solo was so powerful that it made you lose your footing.

Even the Red Cliff Band and Wang Fan were a little stunned this time.

Has this guy come up with a new song again?

When they entered the verse, they realized that it was a suona (a traditional Chinese wind instrument) being played, not a human singer.

Although the performance was a great success, the audience at the Oriental Ballroom was clearly not impressed, as evidenced by their snickering.

It's clear that the suona isn't very popular among young people.

"Why aren't you clapping?" Liang Liang asked the audience with a grin.

“We want to hear you sing, not just listen to this kind of instrumental performance.”

Some people in the audience also chimed in with laughter.

"But this song has no lyrics, it's not sung, it's just music. Not only this song, but there are two other instrumental pieces like this. So you mean you're not going to listen to them?"

"If you sing that song again, we'll listen and even give you a tip, right folks?" a young man shouted, raising his arm.

Holy crap! This guy is actually a manipulator, and he even has leadership skills.

"This song really doesn't have lyrics; it was originally an instrumental piece. But if you guys keep your word and really give me lots of tips, I'll definitely come up with some lyrics on the spot and sing them for you."

The audience immediately became interested.

This guy is going to improvise lyrics on the spot; that's interesting.

These people, as if stunned, readily opened their wallets and gave generous tips.

The dozen or so waiters in the Oriental Song and Dance Troupe were kept extremely busy, unable to keep up with the money collection.

Liang Liang realized that these guys were really giving tips. Although each person's tip wasn't much, there were so many of them. Five yuan each would amount to five or six thousand yuan.

Liang Liang looked at the people below the stage as if they were idiots.

People these days are so naive, they're so easy to fool!

"Big star! We've used up all our tips, have you come up with any lyrics yet?"

"That's enough, can you let me hold it in a little longer?"

"If you hold it in any longer, you'll pee your pants!" Someone in the audience blurted out, eliciting laughter from the entire room.

"How about this? You guys listen to the next song first, and I'll go write the lyrics. I promise I'll have the lyrics for this song by the time this song is played, okay?"

"Alright! You'll keep your word and get the time for one song."

The manipulator took the lead in agreeing to Liang Liang's request.

"Now, please enjoy the guzheng solo 'Swords and Dreams,' I'm going to go and work on my lyrics."

After leaving the stage, Liang Liang didn't go far. Instead, he took a piece of paper and a pen and pretended to write on the side of the stage, deliberately putting on a smug look of deep thought.

It's really just for show; the words are all ready-made.

While Liang Liang was showing off, the song "Swords and Dreams" began to be played on stage.