Chapter 121 The Female Prince Consort

But everyone present had their own little thoughts, and no one missed the topic raised by Li Chuyue.

"Yes, Master Wu and Li Meng will be performing in the afternoon, one in the east and one in the west. This show is really exciting! Old Liu, you have made a big splash without making any noise!"

Director Chen of the Yunsheng Troupe looked at Wu Murong, then at Ren Limeng, and finally turned to Director Liu of the Fanhua Troupe with a smile, his words full of jokes.

"Stop teasing me, you old foxes! I almost got tricked by you this time. You agreed to let us from Fanhua to make up the numbers, and I thought you guys would come to Fan County every year to do us a favor. But instead, we, a small troupe, had to compete with your three major troupes! If anyone gets to know this, they'll definitely think we, Fanhua, are clueless!"

Director Liu of the Fanhua Troupe finally had an outlet for his resentment, which even overwhelmed his surprise at suddenly learning that Ren Limeng was Wu Murong's daughter. He looked at the other people at the table and waved his hands.

Finally remembering that the leading actor in the afternoon was Ren Limeng, Captain Liu couldn't help showing some satisfaction when he glanced at Ren Limeng.

Since she is the daughter of Wu Murong, the Huangmei master of Mei City, he might have done a good thing by accident this time!

"When we heard that Master Wu's daughter had changed careers, everyone felt sorry for her. Master Wu, you hid it so well! Seeing you and your wife keep silent about your family matters all these years, we've all been fooled by you!"

Shen Shuqin, a first-class actress of the Chuanhua Troupe, is five years younger than Wu Murong. Her eyes wandered between Wu Murong and Ren Limeng. After speaking softly, she glanced at Xu Kai silently, and the two smiled at each other.

"Thank you all for your kindness, Brother Xingzhi. I salute you. I appreciate the captain's care during this period!"

In the harmonious atmosphere of laughter and joy among the people at the table, Ren Limeng and Wu Murong's similar eyebrows revealed the same silence, but Ren Limeng was smiling silently, while Wu Murong was pursing her lips silently.

Across the wide dining table, their eyes met quietly in the air, as if thousands of words were colliding silently.

The corners of Ren Limeng's mouth were raised with a rare hint of bitterness. It seemed that she was forcing herself to suppress all the complicated emotions in front of everyone, but people who knew her could still feel at a glance that her smile was not in her eyes.

As everyone at the table discussed, Ren Limeng noticed that Wu Murong's brows were gradually furrowed, and she looked like she wanted to say something but hesitated. She immediately spoke up and took the lead in taking over everyone's words with a smile. Then she suddenly changed the subject and picked up the teacup with both hands and raised it towards Shen Xingzhi.

Using him as a tool again?

Chen Xingzhi raised his handsome eyebrows slightly, his slender knuckles casually clasped his teacup, and his pair of deep black eyes seemed to show no ripples at all, but the moment they looked at each other, Ren Limeng immediately noticed the doubt in Chen Xingzhi's eyes.

"Mom, Brother Xingzhi is my senior in college, and he happens to be assigned to your group. Please do your part as a good host for me this afternoon!"

Ren Limeng's smiling gaze naturally turned from Chen Xingzhi back to Wu Murong. Her deliberately elongated tone carried the intimacy and unconscious coquettishness that were unique to mother and daughter. The dining table suddenly became quiet. No one expected that Ren Limeng would take the initiative to call her mother.

Not to mention the obvious coldness between the mother and daughter when they entered the room, most of the guests at the table were actors from the Huangmei Opera in Mei City. As a master of Huangmei Opera, Wu Murong had a smooth career and was successful. She and her husband were childhood sweethearts and had a very deep relationship. The only gossip about her that could be considered a shortcoming was her daughter.

Both husband and wife are engaged in Huangmei Opera. It would be fine if their daughter had no interest in Huangmei Opera. They trained her hard since she was a child, and she won awards in competitions everywhere. But in the last minute of the college entrance examination, she suddenly gave up Huangmei Opera. The story behind this seemingly rebellious daughter is worth talking about.

Some people were intrigued by the show. During the moment when the air was inexplicably stagnant, some people at the table could no longer contain their interest. Even Chen Xi and Guan He, the two confused guests, exchanged glances at this moment. They couldn't help but look at Ren Limeng, who looked calm.

Everyone at the table knew what was going on, and everyone could see that something was amiss between mother and daughter. So how could Ren Limeng suddenly dare to call her "Mom" affectionately?

Wasn't Ren Limeng afraid that her mother would continue to speak coldly in public? She had just noticed that Ren Limeng's mother didn't even give the director of Meixiang Theater any face.

Chen Xi stared at Wu Murong, who had her back straight, without blinking, with a hint of interest in his eyes. He casually put down his chopsticks and lightly picked up the manicure on his fingertips.

Time seemed to freeze. Wu Murong raised her eyes and looked at Ren Limeng with a smiling face with a deep and gloomy look. Everyone present couldn't help but hold their breath, unconsciously looking forward to and feeling a little nervous about what was about to happen.

It must be a good show.

But the next moment, everyone at the table couldn't help but look at Wu Murong at the same time, with similar surprise in their eyes.

"Of course. After the performance tonight, at the celebration banquet, you must toast your captain with Huangmei wine. Toasting others with teacups is really rude!"

Li Chuyue suddenly looked up, and the smile on her lips almost disappeared. She looked at Wu Murong who was frowning not far away, and couldn't believe that these words of intimacy mixed with disgust came from the mouth of Ren Limeng's mother Wu Murong!

When did the relationship between Ren Limeng and Wu Murong ease?

This is impossible!

She clearly remembered that not long ago, when someone in the theater mentioned Ren Limeng's matter, Wu Murong responded with a cold brow and sneered, cursing at him indirectly; what's more, at Minister Xu Kai's repeated requests, she had asked Yan Fangshu indirectly about the relationship between Ren Limeng and her mother yesterday. Even Yan Fangshu, who was most familiar with the mother and daughter, sighed repeatedly with a worried look on her face.

Which link went wrong?

She directly and indirectly witnessed the entire process of the breakup between Ren Limeng and her mother, and she had even solemnly promised Xu Kai and the "Shan Hai" program crew that if Ren Limeng and her mother Wu Murong had a bad relationship, they could make a big fuss about it!

Even though she deliberately didn't look at the table, Li Chuyue could still feel Xu Kai's fiery gaze glaring at her. Her smile froze at the corners of her mouth, and she didn't dare to look up at all.

The ace actress of Meixiang Theater sounds very prestigious, but compared with the theater management, she is just a small actor with no backstage. She can be promoted to a mainstay today, and not have any play scheduled tomorrow.

Even for the so-called various awards, she was never the theater's only choice.

The smile on Li Chuyue's lips was filled with an uncontrollable bitterness, and a trace of melancholy flashed through her eyes. After so many years of living in a shabby environment, she still stumbled because of Ren Limeng's mother. How could she not blame Ren Limeng! How could she not envy Ren Limeng!

She always gets everything she wants easily.

Without the liveliness of Ren Limeng and Wu Murong, the lunch suddenly became a bit dull. After the hosts and guests quickly finished their meal with apparent happiness, everyone continued with the proceedings as arranged by the program staff.

At 11:45, everyone stood up, and Ren Limeng and four other guests prepared to go to the training room not far away to start the live broadcast.

Looking at the staff members hurrying around on the scene, Ren Limeng sighed for the Nth time in her heart that this lunch was definitely a temporary measure of the program crew. Which program crew would broadcast live at 12 o'clock and arrange such a grand "gathering" at 11 o'clock.

"Which opera are you going to sing this afternoon?"

Wu Murong's voice suddenly appeared beside Ren Limeng. Ren Limeng withdrew her gaze from the camera and subconsciously turned her head to look over, just in time to meet her mother's calm eyes.

At some point, Wu Murong had followed the crowd out of the restaurant and came to Ren Limeng's side.

"...The Female Prime Minister."

Ren Limeng opened her red lips slightly, and her voice was as gentle as a whisper in the morning light, but the mother and daughter could hear it very clearly. The noisy sounds of the production crew moving around surrounded their ears. When the two looked at each other, it seemed as if a special barrier was formed, and they couldn't help but reveal similar complex emotions in their eyes.

"...I left my home to save Li Lang, but unexpectedly I became the top scorer in the imperial examination..."

Looking at her graceful and beautiful daughter, Wu Murong couldn't help but recall the familiar lyrics of "The Female Prince Consort," which she had sung a million times before, and her thoughts drifted back to fifteen years ago...

"Stop! Try again! How come your singing this time isn't even as good as your last? I've told you so many times that Feng Suzhen may be a woman dressed as a man and has a certain heroic air, but she's the heroine. Where's your gentleness? And the high notes are bold and passionate, while the low notes are delicate and restrained. These are the fundamentals of Huangmei Opera. How can you sing the transition between the two so awkwardly?"

In the training room of the drama school, mother Wu Murong walked towards Ren Limeng with some excitement. Ren Limeng looked at her mother's frowning face through the mirror, and then looked at her seventeen-year-old self in the mirror. Her eyes seemed firm and brave, but deep in them there was emptiness and lifelessness.

The singing style just now was also very melodious and moving, all of which were skills that were mastered by heart, but there was not much real emotion in it.

She was very aware that her condition had been getting worse and worse recently. Not only did she frequently lose focus, but the depression and suspicion in her heart were also deepening.

"The art exam for the drama academy is in a week. How could you be so ignorant? I'm as anxious as an ant on a hot pot every day, but you can act like nothing happened. Now the more you practice, the worse you get! Do you know that time waits for no one? Hey, Ren Limeng, can you please give me some peace of mind?"

Wu Murong's anxious expression was fully revealed on her face. She was really anxious, so she did not hesitate to go to the drama school under the name of a specially appointed teacher and risk her reputation to teach her daughter in person, and she was working hard for her daughter's art exam.

She prepared a unique play "The Female Prime Minister" for Ren Limeng. While retaining the original flavor of the classic plot, she changed the female prime minister into a military prime minister and added many difficult performance moves.

Huangmei Opera singing is based on the seven-tone scale. The coloratura singing style that Wu Murong taught Ren Limeng since childhood has a melodious and graceful melody.

But Wu Murong's ambition has never been limited to cultivating an excellent Huangmei Opera actor. She has always hoped to achieve breakthrough innovations in Huangmei Opera through Ren Limeng, and to make up for some of her past regrets.