Chapter 179 Looking for Trouble
Xu Ziwen glanced at Lin Yilan and continued, "So, I wonder if you're interested in learning opera from me? I think if you study hard, you'll definitely achieve great things in opera."
Lin Yilan had never thought that Xu Ziwen would actually want to take her in as his apprentice. She was so happy that she was speechless. Becoming the apprentice of the inheritor of opera, she would have to learn so much that no one else could!
She was really lucky to come here to listen to the opera today. She must thank Huo Juncheng when she goes back. If he hadn't given her the ticket, how could she have encountered such a good thing!
"That's fantastic. Hmm...are there any formalities involved in becoming a disciple? Like, kowtow or something? Where should I hold the ceremony? Do I need to prepare anything?"
Xu Ziwen didn't expect Lin Yilan to agree so readily. He had thought of many reasons to persuade Lin Yilan to study opera with him, but he didn't expect Lin Yilan to be so excited when he heard him say that he wanted to accept her as his apprentice.
"No, no, if you have time, just come and study with me. I don't like all that red tape. It's too troublesome."
“Does that require tuition?”
"No, but if you feel bad about it, you could sing in a few plays for the theater occasionally. Is that okay with you?"
Hearing Xu Ziwen say this, Lin Yilan nodded readily, "No problem, Master!"
"Now that we've settled on this, come and study when you have time. I'm usually in the theater, but I have something else to do right now so I won't chat with you."
"Okay, goodbye, Master." Lin Yilan bowed to Xu Ziwen and waved to him. Lin Yilan looked at Xu Ziwen's receding back and wondered how lucky she was to be noticed by the inheritor of opera.
Grandma Huo sat aside and looked at Lin Yilan and Xu Ziwen, the smile on her face never disappearing for a moment, "Looking at how excited you are, do you have something else to do in the future?"
"Hehe," Lin Yilan scratched her head shyly, "I will sing it to grandma as soon as I learn it well."
"Okay, then grandma will wait to listen to your performance. Is that okay?" Grandma Huo scratched Lin Yilan's nose, her words full of pampering.
After the opera, the two of them had a simple meal and then went back. Lin Yilan was really looking forward to going to Xu Ziwen to learn opera tomorrow. She felt happy just thinking about it.
The next day, Lin Yilan got up early, changed into casual clothes, and asked the driver to take her to the theater. Xu Ziwen must have made arrangements in advance, so as soon as she arrived at the theater, someone led her to the backstage.
She looked at the gorgeous costumes and flower crowns backstage and thought that these things were much more beautiful than the diamond necklaces and expensive dresses that the ladies talked about at the tea party.
"Why are you here so early? I'm sorry, something happened just now and I couldn't get here in time. Are you afraid that I will regret it?" Lin Yilan waited for a while and Xu Ziwen walked in.
Lin Yilan knew Xu Ziwen was joking with her, but she still blushed with embarrassment. She touched her lips and whispered, "It's mainly because I was too excited."
"Okay, I'm not kidding you anymore. Honestly, your performance yesterday really shocked me. I didn't expect you to be so good even though you've never received any professional training."
"Thank you for the compliment. I was just singing casually."
"Although you haven't received professional training, I can see that your foundation is pretty good. It's just that a few of your vibrato sounds seem a little weird to me. I'll help you practice those vibratos today."
When Lin Yilan heard Xu Ziwen say this, it really touched her heart. In fact, she had always felt that her inflection was weird, but she couldn't tell what was wrong, so naturally she didn't know how to deal with it.
The two of them discussed their respective views on opera, drank some morning tea, and then Xu Ziwen began to instruct Lin Yilan. Facing Xu Ziwen's guidance, Lin Yilan also studied attentively without being distracted at all.
After a morning, Lin Yilan felt that although her vocal transitions were not as smooth as Xu Ziwen's, they were much better than her previous singing style.
"Practice the methods I teach you these days. You're very smart, and you should be able to use them with ease in a few days. So, is that all for today?"
Lin Yilan nodded when she heard Xu Ziwen say this, "Thank you for your guidance, Master. If you are free someday, I will treat you to a meal."
"Okay." Xu Ziwen smiled and agreed without hesitation. Lin Yilan watched Xu Ziwen leave, knowing that he was going to take care of his own business. She decided not to stay any longer and decided to go to Chu Siran's newly expanded store to see if there was anything she could do to help.
However, when you encounter something good, there will always be people who will be jealous. Just as Lin Yilan was about to leave, she heard a very sharp female voice:
"Who is that woman who sang with Master Xu for so long? She looks so smug. Does she really think she's a good singer?"
"Oh, who knows? I heard that this woman is the troupe owner's new apprentice, but our troupe owner doesn't just accept apprentices casually, and doesn't opera singing always advocate starting from a young age? Who knows what tricks this woman used to convince the troupe owner to accept her as an apprentice."
"Who says it's not? I think her apprenticeship is fake, and her real intention is to pursue Master Xu. She doesn't even realize what she is. The two noises she made just now were even uglier than a crow."
…
Lin Yilan listened to the two people talking bad about her one after another, and really wanted to punch them one by one, but this was Xu Ziwen's team, and she had to give face to her master.
Thinking of this, she quickly stopped her thoughts of beating them up and tried to pretend she hadn't heard anything and leave. Unexpectedly, the two women became even more aggressive, with one of them even grabbing another person who was passing by them.
"Hey, Ah Zhu, did you see that woman across the street? I'm telling you, I don't know what tricks she used to convince Master Xu to accept her as his disciple. You've been begging Master Xu for so long, but he refused to accept you, yet he actually accepted a woman like this as his disciple. Why don't you go ask her how she did it?"
The girl named Ah Zhu couldn't help but frowned in confusion when she heard her say this, and looked at Lin Yilan, "Are you saying that this woman is the master's new apprentice?"
Azhu simply couldn't believe that Xu Ziwen would accept a stranger as his apprentice for no reason. After being surprised, he shifted his gaze to Lin Yilan, and his eyes never left Lin Yilan again.
Originally, Lin Yilan was thinking that it was better to have less trouble than more, and since she was a newcomer, it was more important to get along well with the people in the troupe. However, facing Azhu's gaze staring at her, Lin Yilan could no longer bear it.
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