Chapter 78

Act X: Singing In the Rain (3)

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After thinking about it, Xiang Cai decided to have an interview with the music director.

In fact, not only did he want to meet Yao Yin, but Yao Yin also wanted to meet him.

This musical was called Waiting for the Midnight Sun. It is a story of a schizophrenic patient who sought to save himself. The original script came from an unknown autobiography, where the protagonist would often hear a voice speaking in his ear. This voice was not only his friend, but also his enemy. That voice would laugh at him, hurt him, and yet encouraged him.

There was a rumor on the market that this autobiographical novel was picked up by the actor Chang Yiheng. Now that its film remake had been approved, this would be Chang Yiheng's first self-directed and self-acted work.

With such a halo on its head, the musical project Waiting for the Midnight Sun progressed smoothly but with some difficulty.

The smooth part was that investments were easy to pull and directors were easy to find; the difficult part was that no musical actor dared to take it on, as everyone was afraid to be compared with the film emperor.

But when the crew eventually finalized a male lead, the other party actually dropped it! The crew begged grandpa to tell grandma to look around, and finally set their sights on Xiang Cai.

[T/N: beg grandpa to tell grandma = a saying that means to go through another layer of trouble to get something done]

Xiang Cai didn't know how big of a challenge he would face until the day he joined the group.

And the trouble didn’t stop there - unexpectedly, it was a one-man show!!

Yes, that's right. They asked Xiang Cai to play twelve roles by himself, dressing up on the spot. Him, a single person, would sing and dance for two hours while interacting with the audience.

After Xiang Cai got the plot summary: "..."

He blinked and asked, "I haven't signed the contract yet, can I refuse this job?"

The producer smiled and stood up with the director, dragging the dying swan to Yao Yin's recording studio.

Yao Yin was actually the composer of the musical Waiting for the Midnight Sun. But because he was worried about the presentation of his work, he decided to be the music director as well.

Outsiders might think that both the songs and lines of a musical script were created by the one person. In fact, this was a very rare phenomenon. Usually, they’d find a composer to compose and fill in the lyrics after the script was completed.

In many cases, the position of music director was part-time; for example, they could usually be a pianist, a conductor, or even an actor.

Before meeting Yao Yin, Xiang Cai had fantasized the appearance of the crossover composer many times.

But he didn't expect Yao Yin... to have such a personality.

He couldn’t tell how old he was - he might have been in his twenties, or maybe in his thirties. He would purse his mouth and look at Xiang Cai with a critical gaze, adding an unpredictable temperament to his neutral facial features. He tied his long hair into a small bun on the top of his head, and he had a row of earrings on each ear, all of which looked very valuable.

Under the cuffs of his sweater, a blue-black tattoo could be seen, the dense pattern covering Yao Yin’s five fingers. It was not like a musician's hand at all - at least for the musicians Xiang Cai had met, in order to ensure the nerve sensitivity on their hands, they would not add a trace of anything on their fingers.

"Hello, Teacher Yao." Xiang Cai took the initiative to stretch out his hand.

"Don't call me teacher yet." Yao Yin's voice was cold as he interrupted him directly, "Let me hear how you sing."

With that, he handed out a sheet of music.

Yao Yin was the composer and lyricist, and the title of the song was “Midnight Sun”. This showed that the song that Xiang Cai received was likely to be the theme song of this musical.

Yao Yin only gave Xiang Cai five minutes to prepare, and then immediately asked him to sing with the live band.

This time it was piano accompaniment with a double violin configuration. A violinist reminded him hesitantly: "Mr. Yao, we haven't practiced this piece yet..."

Yao Yin raised his eyebrows: "How many years have you played the violin?"

"Twenty-two years."

"And in those twenty-two years, you haven’t learned how to read music while playing?"

"..."

Thus, the leading actor who was reading the score for the first time, accompanied by three artists who were reading the score for the first time, stumbled through their first collaboration.

“Midnight Sun” was a song with a sad tone.

The protagonist named the voice appearing in his hallucinations ‘midnight sun’, because the ‘midnight sun’ represented eternal light and a bright sun that never ended.

The protagonist had been talking to the midnight sun. It was difficult for a patient with schizophrenia to realize that they were sick in the early stages. He mistakenly believed that the midnight sun was a cruel-yet-gentle invisible friend.

Xiang Cai tried singing it for the first time. At this time, he hadn't fully entered the right state, and his vocal cords were a little tight. He could feel his voice floating, and for the higher pitches, his treble voice directly split to a falsetto, like a wand moving in the wrong direction.

Unexpectedly, Yao Yin calmly accepted the flaws in his singing, pointed his mistakes out in a few words, and asked him to try singing a second time.

Then came the third time.

Then the fourth time, and the fifth time...

After five times, Xiang Cai and the band became better and better. No matter whether it was emotion or intonation, no obvious flaws could be heard. After singing this superbly skill-requiring theme song five times in a row without a break, Xiang Cai was so tired and sweaty that he could not wait to just lie on the ground.

The corner of Yao Yin's mouth finally raised 0.1 centimeters (Xiang Cai even wondered if it was his own illusion), clapped his hands, and said, "Okay, we’re done warming up."

Xiang Cai: "...?" Warming up?

Band: "...?" Warming up?

Yao Yin brushed through the script in his hand, and quickly said: "The song “Midnight Sun" appears three times, and the feelings of the protagonist are different each time. There is the ecstasy of meeting a new friend, the pain of discovering that this new friend is the product of his hallucinations, and the peace after watching it calmly. Of these three states, 'ecstasy' is the best performance. Look at this script and try it out in ten minutes."

The director next to him was afraid of scaring away their last hope for a male lead actor, and quickly said: "Xiao Yao, this is the first time Xiang Cai has read the script. Give him a little more time."

Who knew what he was thinking, but Xiang Cai took the initiative to say that it didn’t matter: "Director, director, I want to try it."

He originally had doubts about this job, but the five ‘warm-ups’ just now caused him to begin to develop a strong impulse towards the male protagonist - Xiang Cai wanted to play him! And he wanted to play him well!

He wanted this character to come out of the script and stand in front of the audience, alive! To show his joy, his anger, his sorrow, and all his struggles and difficulties!

Yao Yin raised his eyebrows and looked at him: "Kid, you look very confident."

Xiang Cai didn’t answer, just seizing the time to look down at the script in his hand.

Ten minutes later, Xiang Cai closed his eyes and memorized the scene silently in his heart. When the boy opened his eyes again, they were full of confidence.

He didn't take the song lyrics but just walked to the band empty-handed.

The producer was taken aback: "How can he..."

In the next second, Xiang Cai had already said his first line.

　—"Where are you?...Who are you?...Will you leave me like they did?"

　—"Do you like me? Do you really like me? I...I...I like you too!"

　—"Then from now on, we will be friends!!"

At this moment, the actor ‘brought the character to life’.

The producer and director exchanged glances and nodded at the same time.

After reading the script for only ten minutes, Xiang Cai was able to understand this character to such a degree. With such an inspiring young actor, their future had to be boundless!

Yao Yin originally only planned to let Xiang Cai sing the song, but who expected Xiang Cai to take the initiative and perform the previous lines as well, along with body movements and joyful and tearful expressions... Everyone was in a trance, as if they could see the male lead appearing in front of them!

Yao Yin quickly walked to the pianist and whispered: "Get up."

The pianist gave a blank "Huh?"

Yao Yin said, "You can't keep up with him, let me do it."

The pianist hurriedly gave way. Yao Yin immediately, domineeringly, occupied the piano stool. His ten fingers stretched flexibly in the air a dozen times, then he hung his wrists, sunk his elbows, and gently pressed his hands on the keys.

At the same time, the actor's lines finally ended. Xiang Cai raised his head to look into a distant nothingness, then took a deep breath and sang his first note—

Glamorous sounds like squalls and rain poured out from Yao Yin's fingertips. As soon as Xiang Cai opened his mouth, he directly increased the speed of “Midnight Sun” to three times the original version, and Yao Yin followed without hesitation!!

Xiang Cai sang, sang, he sang loudly!!

The boy's clear and high-pitched singing together with the strum of the black and white keys shocked everyone.

Yao Yin's eyes were locked tightly to Xiang Cai; he hadn't heard such a passionate voice in a long time!

He firmly believed that the male protagonist of Waiting for the Midnight Sun must be Xiang Cai! The songs he wrote were only worthy of Xiang Cai!

...

There is a saying that goes ‘you don’t know each other if you haven’t fought’. Similarly, for Xiang Cai and Yao Yin, it could be said ‘you don't know each other if you haven’t sung’.

After the audition, Yao Yin's gaze towards Xiang Cai changed, and he wished that they could become adoptive brothers on the spot.

Xiang Cai asked: "Teacher Yao, have I passed your test?"

"Don't call me Teacher Yao!" Yao Yin said while smiling, as if he was a different person. "We are so familiar, you can call me Melody!"

Xiang Cai wanted to ask him when they had become so familiar.

After the official signing, Xiang Cai received the complete script along with the 15 solo vocals written by Yao Yin for the play.

The whole drama Waiting for the Midnight Sun spanned less than two hours, and its rhythm was very dense. The script alone contained tens of thousands of words. Xiang Cai had never played in a one-man show, so when he received such a thick stack of scripts from the director, he suddenly had the urge to flee.

However, he could only dream of doing such a thing. He liked this role, liked these songs, and also liked this show, and the most important thing was... he hadn't earned any income in a long time...

There was not much time left before the premiere of this drama. It was expected that they would rehearse for 42 days, twelve hours a day. From now on, Xiang Cai was to enter the correct state and begin to frantically recite his work.

Thinking of his incoming busy life, Xiang Cai was full of enthusiasm. He proudly spread his wings, wishing to sing aloud right now.

The new rehearsal hall was actually located on the second floor of Shanhe Theater—yes, the theater where Xiang Cai’s graduation performance, Kinky Boots, was held.

Yao Yin sat on the stool and crossed his legs, shaking his feet triumphantly: "This is my site, use it as you wish!"

Only then did Xiang Cai learn that Yao Yin was an out-and-out rich second generation. This theater was run by his family, and it was gifted to him when he was eighteen years old, but he didn't want to make money off of it, rather just pursuing his own happiness.

When Yao Yin heard that Xiang Cai’s graduation performance was actually at Shanhe Theater, he suddenly became interested. He held Xiang Cai’s chin, and deliberately narrowed his eyes, saying: "What does this show? This shows that me and Xiang Cai are destined."

After working together for a period of time, Xiang Cai had gradually become accustomed to Yao Yin’s character.

Don't look at how Yao Yin often joked with Xiang Cai in private; as soon as rehearsal began, he immediately became the most demanding teacher, even more terrifying than Hades.

He would scold everyone, from the pianist to the violinist, and then from the violinist to Xiang Cai. If one had a weaker character, they would have cried from being scolded countless times.

Fortunately, work belonged to work and life belonged to life.

Yao Yin was best at using money to win over people - he often heavily scolded them for a ten minute period. Then after that ten minutes, he would smile and invite everyone to eat takeout from a five-star hotel.

When everyone drank milk tea and gnawed on chicken feet, no matter how much resentment they had, they swallowed it back into their stomachs.

...

"How come I feel that you’ve gotten fat?" Tan Yiming said in the car.

"Huh!!! Really!!!" Xiang Cai, who was immersed in his script in the passenger seat, sat up in fright. He raised his head in horror, "Ah, ah, it must be because I’ve been eating too many afternoon snacks recently!"

Seeing him like this, he couldn't bear to tease him again: "...I lied to you. You've obviously lost a lot of weight. Can’t you see it when you look into the mirror in the morning?"

Xiang Cai slightly tilted his head: "Really? I look in the mirror every day, but I don't think I have lost any weight."

He had been rehearsing very hard recently. He spent over ten hours in the rehearsal hall every day, and continued to recite his lines after returning home. Under such high-intensity pressure, even if Xiang Cai ate a lot of food every day, he still couldn't stop the weight loss.

Tan Yiming said, "That's because you haven’t looked carefully enough."

Xiang Cai didn't think much, and casually asked: "Do you look at me very carefully?"

"Yeah." The man admitted lightly, "I look at you very carefully every day."

Xiang Cai: "..."

The boy did not speak, hurriedly bowing his head and busily flipping over his book. In reality, only he himself knew how much he had seen. He could only hope that the sound of him turning the pages of his book was loud enough to cover the thumping of his heartbeat.

Because the rehearsal hall of Shanhe Theater was very close to Tan Yiming's company, Tan Yiming took over the task of picking up Xiang Cai and taking him to work, just to spend more time with him every day.

In the airtight compartment, the breaths of the two people merged together, as if they were born as one.

The winter was cold now, and there had been a heavy snowfall yesterday. The snow was deep, and when the wheels ran over it, they left two ruts in the snow.

Tan Yiming asked: "Next week is New Year’s, do you have any plans?"

Xiang Cai shook his head and said in a low voice, "We will rehearse as usual for the next few days.”

"..." Tan Yiming felt a little distressed for him. He decided to wait for the performance of Waiting for the Midnight Sun, then he’d invite all the employees of his company to watch it. "Right, on the morning of the 31st, I will send you to the rehearsal hall first. Then, I’ll go back to my parents' house for lunch at noon and come to pick you up in the afternoon so that the two of us can celebrate in the evening. If you don't want to go out to eat, how about making hot pot at home?"

In the blink of an eye, they had been living together for over four months. This was their first New Year together, but Tan Yiming hoped that every new year in the future could also be spent together.

Xiang Cai obediently shook his head, feeling distressed: "It's okay, it's fine for me to stay alone. It's been a long time since you’ve seen uncle and aunt, stay home with them for a few more days."

Tan Yiming wanted to say ‘It's more important to accompany you’, but when the words came to his lips, he swallowed them back in fear of frightening him.

"It's not easy to take a taxi from the theater, and there are too few drivers who will come out to work on this special holiday. It gets dark early in the winter, so I’m worried about you going home alone."

"It's okay," Xiang Cai said briskly. "Melody said he also lives in this direction, so I can carpool with him. Plus, he is also alone in Huacheng for the New Year, so I can join him for dinner."

Tan Yiming: "..."

Melody, Melody, Melody, that ghost Melody again!!

Xiang Cai had not been in that new crew long but Tan Yiming had heard Melody's name from his mouth many times.

Tan Yiming pieced together the image of Melody from what Xiang Cai said: a moody music director, a rich second-generation, a talented and proud composer, and a person of unknown sexual orientation who liked to verbally molest the little swan.

Tan Yiming thought: he must find an opportunity, because that Melody director might be here for a while!

—His baby swan had just opened up, he couldn’t be abducted by others.

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The author has something to say: I originally wanted to write about the wild goose protecting his food, but as a result, I wrote about Old Tan pickling cabbage noodles…

[T/N: she’s saying that she was originally going to write about Xiang Cai being possessive of Tan Yiming because of Yao Yin, but it ended up being Tan Yiming being jealous towards Xiang Cai because of Yao Yin.]

PS: First Love Is Now and Waiting for the Midnight Sun are both musicals compiled by me, they’re not real.

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