Ming Hongling returned quickly, looking somewhat regretful: "It seems the troupe leader doesn't want anyone. But we're not leaving tomorrow, so you can come back and ask again tomorrow morning. It would be best if you asked the troupe leader's wife; he listens to his wife."
Ming Hongling said the last sentence in a low voice.
So the troupe leader is also henpecked.
"Alright then! I'll come again tomorrow morning. Goodbye!"
Liang Liang returned home to rest.
The next morning, around six o'clock, Liang Liang got up and ran to the brigade's courtyard without even having breakfast.
The greenhouse is still there, and some members of the song and dance troupe are exercising, some are brushing their teeth and washing their faces, and some are practicing their singing.
The troupe leader, Bi Sheng, and his wife, Mu Shuihua, had just taken a walk around the village and were washing their faces when they returned.
His wife was more than six months pregnant, and it was said that proper exercise was good for the baby, so he and Mu Shuihua would go for a walk every morning.
Bi Sheng coldly rejected Liang Liang's request without even considering it. Although two of their group's mainstays had left, they didn't lack miscellaneous people.
Ming Hongling told him that the troupe leader was henpecked, and if his wife agreed, the troupe leader's opinion would be meaningless.
While Bi Sheng was washing his face, Liang Liang ran up to Mu Shuihua, who was applying paint to her face.
"Hello, boss lady!"
With her face covered in makeup, Mu Shuihua blinked her beautiful big eyes a few times as she looked at Liang Liang.
"It's you! You little rascal who sneaks into rat holes, come and pay the fare!"
Oh no! We've been recognized.
"I can't get the tickets! I don't have the money! Boss lady! Does your dance troupe need any people? If I come to work for your troupe, you'll have a chance to get the money to make up the tickets."
"You want to come to our song and dance troupe?"
"I think your song and dance troupe is quite interesting, and I'd like to hang out with you guys."
"Join our band? What do you think our dance troupe is? What can you even do?"
"It seems like they know quite a lot; at least singing and dancing are no problem."
Mu Shuihua curled her lip: "Singing is nothing special, it's not a special skill."
Special skill? I do have one thing that's exceptionally good, but I can't show it to you!
"Can you play a musical instrument? Like the erhu, flute, or suona?"
"No! I can play bass."
"Bass? We don't have that in our dance troupe, so you should just go home and play."
"Boss lady! I'm really amazing. I know a lot of things that you definitely don't. If your dance troupe had me, they would definitely reach the pinnacle of their lives." Liang Liang was still determined.
Mu Shuihua chuckled and continued sculpting her exquisite face.
Every year, a considerable number of rural arts and culture enthusiasts want to join their group. She's seen this so many times that she doesn't take it seriously at all.
Has all hope been shattered?
The landlady said no, and Liang Liang felt there was little hope of finding the owner again.
He was a little disheartened. Everyone says that gold shines wherever it is, so why is it that no one has the discerning eye to recognize its worth?
But instead of going home, he went to watch Ming Hongling practice the piano, hoping to find a way to turn things around.
The dance troupe has a Casio electronic keyboard that is probably from the 1980s, and much of the paint on the keyboard has been worn away.
Although I've been playing the piano for quite some time, the sound is still very good.
Ming Hongling sings, dances, and plays the electronic keyboard; she plays a tune about the vastness of the world and the fleeting passage of travelers.
Her piano playing is clearly not from a formal training background; she probably just learned it on her own. Anyway, you can tell what she's playing, but that's about it.
Liang Liang didn't know much about this thing, so he just played a supporting role.
"Did you tell the landlady?" Ming Hongling asked after the song ended.
"I said so."
"How about it?"
"She told me to go home and play."
Ming Hongling smiled and asked, "What did she ask you?"
"She asked me if I could play the flute, erhu, or liuqin, and I said no, I could only play the bass. She said there were no bass players in the song and dance troupe, so she told me to go home and play."
What exactly is a bass?
"Have you ever seen a guitar? It looks similar to a guitar, but it only has four strings, two fewer than a guitar. There are also basses with five strings."
"Wait a minute!"
Ming Hongling stood up and ran to a truck, and soon returned with a wooden guitar.
Liang Liang was overjoyed: "You guys have guitars here! Why isn't anyone playing them?"
"This guitar used to be played by someone else, but that person died half a month ago. Since no one else in the dance troupe could play it well, it's been sitting idle. Can you play this one?"
For some reason, when Ming Hongling said that person was dead, there was a clear element of viciousness in her voice.
"It's alright!"
Liang Liang took the guitar, asked for a clean cloth, and spent about five minutes wiping it until it was as smooth as a mirror.
This is a Red Cotton guitar, the kind that costs no more than 200 yuan, which is definitely the level for beginners to practice with.
But it's better than nothing.
After wiping the guitar clean, Liang Liang strummed it a few times, but the pitch was off.
After tuning each string one by one for several minutes, I finally got the guitar, which had a mediocre tone, to a decent level.
In his previous life, he started to come into contact with musical instruments when he was in his twenties and working as a temporary worker in a factory in Lianwan City.
He started by learning the guitar. There was a Red Cotton Wooden Guitar in his dormitory, which belonged to a guy named Wang Fan.
Wang Fan came from a well-off family, and he started playing electric guitar around 1995.
Electric guitars are good for showing off, so this acoustic guitar fell out of favor and was left in a corner of Wang Fan's dormitory.
Liang Liang picked it up as if she had discovered a new continent, and would play it whenever she had free time.
Seeing that Liang Liang played the guitar quite well, Wang Fan often taught him some techniques, and gradually Liang Liang learned to play the guitar.
He learned guitar first and then bass, and playing bass was purely coincidental.
Around 1996, Wang Fan and his friends formed a small band, but they couldn't find a bassist.
Back then, there were tons of people learning guitar, but very few learning bass.
At that time, Liang Liang's guitar skills were already quite good.
Wang Fan lied to Liang Liang, saying that a bass and a guitar are the same thing, just with two fewer strings, and then made Liang Liang play the bass.
He also told him that playing bass could attract many girls.
That's how Liang Liang got on that pirate ship, turning from a guitarist into a bassist.
Their small band is quite well-known in southern Liaoning, and they often perform at colleges and universities in the coastal area and in nearby county-level cities.
At first, a game could net you 30 or 20 points, then it rose to 30 or 50, then 100 or 200...
Of course, it's unrealistic to rely on it for a living. It was just a hobby, and it lasted for many years until rock music fell out of fashion after 2000, at which point it disbanded.
Ming Hongling's eyes lit up as she watched Liang Liang's somewhat skillful movements: "He seems quite capable. Let's hear his performance."
What do you want to hear?
What are your skills?
There are many. Although Liang Liang plays bass, he initially learned guitar. He has reached the stage where he can sing many songs without needing sheet music. He can sing almost any song he knows.
Let's just say it's a mixed bag.
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