Chapter 9: Successful Apprenticeship! This infuriates Lu Lian'er!
Xia Mian smiled and shook her head, "I was just a little curious. It's the first time I've seen this kind of skill, and it seems very exquisite."
Just as Madam Fu was about to say something, a deafening sound of gongs and drums rang out, and Master Yang Bilian made a grand entrance!
A magnificent opera performance brought the audience a superb audio-visual feast.
Xia Mian watched with utmost concentration. Master Yang Bilian truly lived up to her reputation; every movement and every note she sang was captivating.
Madam Fu hadn't expected that this little girl would actually like opera.
Don't young people all like pop music and the like?
Not only do they have no interest in traditional opera, but more importantly, they don't understand it.
Nowadays, there are very few inheritors of traditional Chinese opera, especially those who are interested and talented in it.
A play lasts about two hours, and even after it ends, the audience is still reluctant to leave.
It wasn't until Master Yang returned to the stage to thank the audience and threw a lot of souvenirs and figurines into the audience that everyone gradually left.
Madam Fu led Xia Mian directly backstage.
Xia Mian presented the flowers she had prepared in advance to Master Yang Bilian. "Grandma Yang, hello. The performance was a great success!"
Yang Bilian had heard Madam Fu mention Xia Mian yesterday, and immediately smiled and said, "Oh my, what a beautiful young lady!"
She lowered her head and sniffed the flowers again. "They smell so good, I really like them."
Xia Mian imitated the movements that Master Yang Bilian had just made in the dance.
She took a large step forward, grabbed the red-tasseled spear that was standing quietly to the side, and twirled it. Then she turned around and wielded it with ease. Finally, her beautiful eyes looked at Madam Fu and Yang Bilian, staring intently at them. Her eyes were bright and sparkling.
Master Yang Bilian looked at Xia Mian in surprise.
"You little girl, you're quite clever. Have you ever learned how to move like that?"
"No, I just like to listen to operas in my spare time, and my elders at home also like them. In order to please my elders, I secretly practiced the singing style and movements."
Madam Xia loved listening to opera, especially excerpts by the master Yang Bilian, which she listened to at home all the time.
In her previous life, Xia Mian listened to Master Yang Bilian's operas repeatedly and practiced them repeatedly in order to please Madam Xia. Although her skill level was not as good as that of a professional, it was quite good among amateurs.
“Not bad, it looks quite convincing.” Yang Bilian then asked Xia Mian, “Do you know any other basic skills?”
Xia Mian remained neither humble nor arrogant, saying, "I also practiced waist and leg strength for a while."
"Oh? Little girl, don't brag. Waist and leg skills are one of the most important basic skills in martial arts roles." Yang Bilian became interested in Xia Mian. "Come, let me see."
The most important thing in Peking Opera is the coordination of the waist and legs. If the coordination is not good, not only will there be no beauty, but there will also be no flexibility and explosive power!
It is the foundation for whether the beauty of the entire performance can be fully expressed.
All the fancy spear-wielding and tumbling skills that follow require coordination of waist and leg strength.
Xia Mian was not intimidated and grabbed the red tassel spear with her slender hands!
With a clean 360-degree roll, followed by a series of rapid upper body flips, she did this dozens of times before immediately rolling to the left and right.
These movements not only require grace and speed, but also smooth and continuous execution, without any pauses or stumbles!
At this moment, she seemed to be a majestic female general in a traditional opera!
Finally, she paused and looked at Yang Bilian.
Yang Bilian nodded repeatedly with satisfaction, "This girl is good. Really good. It's quite remarkable that a young girl can reach this level of skill as an amateur."
Madam Fu knew that Yang Bilian had always had very high standards, and it was not easy to get a compliment from her.
She could tell that Xia Mian also intended to get closer to Yang Bilian.
"Ah Lian, aren't you still short of a closed-door disciple? Have you found anyone suitable recently?"
Yang Bilian is a master of opera; how could she not understand what Madam Fu meant?
She did indeed like Xia Mian quite a bit; the girl was pretty and seemed clever.
Who doesn't like a clever apprentice?
So she hesitated for a moment and then asked Xia Mian, "Girl, do you like opera? Can you endure hardship?"
Xia Mian had originally intended to find an opportunity to become an apprentice, and upon hearing Yang Bilian's question, she immediately knelt down on both knees and performed a grand apprenticeship ceremony.
"Grandma Yang, I've loved opera since I was a child, I truly love it. I've gotten injured a lot while practicing the basics, but I've never had a teacher. I, Xia Mian, hope to become Grandma Yang's apprentice!"
"If Grandma Yang accepts me as her apprentice, I will definitely study hard! I will absolutely carry on the tradition of opera and make it flourish!"
"Oh dear! I haven't even said I'd take you in yet! Why are you kneeling down like this?" Yang Bilian couldn't help but laugh at Xia Mian's behavior.
"Alright, I'll take you as my apprentice. I genuinely like you, and besides, Ah Lan and I are good friends. Even just for Ah Lan's sake, I'll still give you some pointers."
She helped Xia Mian up from the ground. "Today was a bit rushed. After some time, A-Lan and I will discuss it and choose an auspicious day to officially hold this apprenticeship banquet."
Xia Mian never expected there would be a master-apprentice banquet!
This is enough to prove how much Yang Bilian valued her.
"Thank you, Master!" Xia Mian hugged Yang Bilian's arm, her chest swelling with joy.
She then looked at Madam Fu and took Madam Fu's arm with her other hand, "Grandma, I'll sing opera for you every day from now on!"
She hugged her two grandmothers on either side, overwhelmed with emotion!
In her past life, Madam Xia always found fault with her, complaining that her singing wasn't beautiful enough and that her spear-twirling wasn't precise enough...
Now she never expected that Madam Fu would personally introduce her to Master Yang Bilian, whom she could never have met in her previous life!
She was also fortunate enough to become the master's apprentice!
It felt like I'd been hit by a pie!
"Alright, let's let A-Lian rest for a bit and go back." Seeing how happy Xia Mian was, Madam Fu was also in a very good mood.
After saying goodbye to Master Yang, Xia Mian left the backstage with Madam Fu. However, to her surprise, she ran into Lu Lian'er, Madam Xia, and Xia Linqing at the backstage entrance.
"Xia Mian? What are you doing here?" Lu Lian'er's heart skipped a beat when she saw Xia Mian. She looked Xia Mian up and down and found that Xia Mian, who was usually drab, was actually wearing light makeup.
With light makeup, Xia Mian was radiant and beautiful, attracting a lot of attention.
A hint of jealousy flashed in Lu Lian'er's eyes.
"If you can be here, why can't I?" Xia Mian glanced at the three of them with a mocking look.
Old Madam Xia frowned, her eyes full of disdain. "What are you doing out there instead of going home? You're a disgrace! Don't you even respect me as your grandmother?"
"How could I not care about Grandma? But whether Grandma cares about me, I don't know." Xia Mian didn't want to waste any more time talking to her and was about to walk past the three of them to leave.
But before she could react, Xia Qinglin grabbed her arm. "Xia Mian, you haven't been home for three days. Is this how you treat your grandmother and brother? If you beg me now, I'll wait until Lian'er has paid her respects to Master Yang, and then I'll kindly give you a ride home!"
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