novelraw Chapter 70 Bringing in a Celestial Being to Set the Stage
Chapter 70 Bringing in a Celestial Being to Set the Stage
Ms. Song placed the teacup on the table.
"I want you to personally serve as Chu Ran's acting coach."
Wang Churan suddenly looked up.
Song Ze paused, his hand holding the teacup still.
He glanced at the system panel.
[Acting Skills: Excellent, 480/1000]
"Master level" sounds impressive, but it just means being slightly better than an ordinary person; it's still far from being a truly formidable character.
Wang Churan won the gold medal at the National Middle School Drama Festival at the age of seventeen, showing a level of talent far superior to his.
Should we let him teach her?
It misleads and corrupts young people.
Song Ze put down the teacup.
"Aunt Song, I'm not capable of doing this."
He was direct.
"My expertise lies in music, and I only have a superficial understanding of acting. The word 'teacher' is too heavy for me to bear."
The private room was silent for three seconds.
Ms. Song's face darkened.
"Mr. Song," she emphasized the word "Mr.," "Are you unwilling, or do you think Chu Ran isn't qualified?"
Wang Churan panicked and reached out to tug at her mother's clothes.
"mom--"
"Sit down properly."
With a sharp glare, Wang Churan withdrew his hand, his lips pressed into a thin line.
The temperature in the private room dropped sharply.
Song Ze weighed the situation.
The trust that I spent half an hour building is collapsing at a visible speed.
Also normal.
You first say, "I've planned a three-part strategy for your daughter to win the Golden Rooster Award," then turn around and say, "I can't teach her." Anyone would have doubts.
But he really can't teach.
This is professional ethics.
"I can't teach her," Song Ze repeated, then added, "but I can find her a better teacher."
Ms. Song did not speak.
Wang Churan remained silent.
Song Ze took out his phone, unlocked it in front of the mother and daughter, scrolled through his WeChat contacts, and stopped at a nickname.
Liu Yifei.
He pressed the video call button.
beep - beep -
Wang Churan's gaze was glued to the screen.
No way.
Could it be Liu Yifei?
After the fourth note, I answered.
A face without makeup appeared on the screen. Her hair was casually tied in a bun, she wore a gray hoodie, and an orange and white Garfield cat was perched on her lap.
Liu Yifei tilted his head and glanced at Song Ze.
"What's up? Want to duo queue with me for PUBG again?"
Before Song Ze could speak, a suppressed gasp came from the side.
Wang Churan's mouth opened and closed, then opened and closed again, her whole body frozen in her seat.
Ms. Song straightened her back by two centimeters.
The face on the screen doesn't need any filters or lighting; it ranks among the top ten most recognizable faces out of 1.4 billion people.
Song Ze flipped his phone over, pointing the camera at the mother and daughter.
"Sis, can you do me a favor?"
He described it as something akin to borrowing soy sauce from a neighbor.
"I signed a new talent, a student from the Shanghai Theatre Academy Affiliated High School, who is very talented. Her mother wants me to be her acting teacher, but I'm not good enough, so I'd like to ask you to take the job."
Liu Yifei pushed the cat away and leaned closer to the screen to examine Wang Churan.
After looking at it for a few seconds, she said half-jokingly.
"This child has good bone structure." She rested her chin on her hand and looked at him a couple more times. "Heavenly spiritual root, a good seedling for cultivating immortality."
Wang Churan's brain went blank. She never expected that the serious celestial being in her memory would also joke, but she understood what she was saying.
Her nose started to sting.
Ms. Song's teacup remained suspended in mid-air, neither picked up nor put down, maintaining this posture for at least five seconds.
She's a businesswoman who's seen it all; she wouldn't be intimidated by a face.
But this isn't a matter of face.
This is a singer who casually made a video call, and the person who answered the phone is someone at the very top of the entertainment industry.
And the tone was, "Sis, can you do me a favor?"
Song Ze chatted with Liu Yifei about the details. Before Wang Churan is admitted to the Shanghai Theatre Academy next year and begins systematic training, Liu Yifei can provide remote guidance on basic skills, and then arrange in-person classes after she returns to China.
Liu Yifei readily agreed.
"Okay, I'll have her add my assistant on WeChat later."
She glanced at Wang Churan again.
"Kid, focus on mastering the basics first, don't rush. When I filmed my first movie, the director yelled at me for three days straight."
Wang Churan nodded frantically, as if he were pounding garlic.
The video call ended, and the screen went dark.
The private room fell silent again.
This time is different.
Just now it was a standoff, now it's a vacuum after being stunned by the bomb.
Ms. Song finally put down her teacup.
She glanced at her phone, then at her daughter, and finally turned her gaze to the young man across from her.
He was in his early twenties, sitting there with an air of "this is no big deal".
He claimed he wasn't good enough to teach, but then brought up Liu Yifei.
Having run a business for over a decade and met countless people, Ms. Song had only one thought in her mind at that moment.
This young man is much more insightful than she thought.
She stood up, picked up the teapot, and personally refilled Song Ze's cup.
"Mr. Song, I was rash before." She lowered her posture and spoke solemnly, "I'm entrusting Chu Ran to you from now on."
Song Ze took the tea and took a sip.
It's warm.
Wang Churan gripped the hem of her school uniform skirt tightly, her eyes reddening. She didn't cry, but she felt that sitting in this private room at this moment might be the luckiest day of her seventeen years of life.
There was no further discussion about the contract.
After leaving the Chinese restaurant, Song Ze helped the mother and daughter into the car.
Wang Churan poked half his head out of the car window.
"Brother Song, thank you."
"Don't thank me, just practice your basics. Teacher Liu's insults are harsher than your mother's."
Wang Churan pulled his head back, and the car drove away.
Song Ze stood by the roadside, took out his phone, and sent a message to Liu Yifei.
"Thanks, sis. I'll treat you to a double-portion hot pot another day."
Reply in three seconds.
"Come on, you still owe me that hotpot you mentioned last time. How many meals has that been?"
"Let's split the bill together, please pack it all up."
"Okay, by the time I get back to China, the cat food will be almost gone."
Song Ze locked the screen and got into the car.
Zhang Juan waited in the driver's seat.
"nailed it?"
"nailed it."
"What happened?"
"I made a video call."
Zhang Juan didn't ask any further questions and started the car.
Just as Song Ze fastened his seatbelt, his phone rang again.
Hongtao.
He answered the call.
"Song Ze, when are you going to submit your arrangement proposal for 'The Lone Warrior'? The band director at the station has been urging us three times already. There are less than three months left in the recording, and you are the only one of the eight initial artists who hasn't submitted the final proposal yet."
"Flying to Changsha tomorrow, meeting in person."
"You—" Hong Tao choked for a moment, then took a deep breath, "Fine, tomorrow at 2 PM, in the music director's office. Don't be late."
It's over.
Zhang Juan glanced at the rearview mirror.
"Flying to Changsha tomorrow?"
"Yes, the earliest one."
The following day, it landed at Changsha Huanghua Airport.
Song Ze sat in the back seat of the taxi, his eyes closed, the demo of "The Lone Warrior" playing on repeat in his headphones, his fingers tapping silently on his knees.
The taxi stopped in front of the Hunan TV building.
He swiped his card through security and headed towards the music director's office.
He stopped at the corner of the third-floor corridor.
Someone was leaning against the wall, humming a melody.
It was very soft, almost drowned out by the sound of the air conditioner, but Song Ze's ears were sharp enough to pick it up instantly.
He recognized the person.
Long, straight black hair; white short dress; black wide-leg pants; gold patent leather high heels.
Yuan Yawei. Soul singer. Known in the industry as "an anomaly who sings with her brain."
According to her memories from her past life, her song choice for the first round was a niche folk song called "A Chu Girl," which placed her seventh and at the bottom of the competition. She wonders if she'll be eliminated in the first round this time...