"Yo, Jiang Hua, changed your style today? Going for rap now?"
80s-born Xie Yan looked at Jiang Hua's outfit, feeling quite unaccustomed.
Jiang Hua took off his headphones and put them on her head.
"What do you know? These are noise-canceling headphones. Great for listening to opera."
"Oh, the sound is like being in the theater. I saw NBA players wearing these on TV, thought they were just showing off."
Making a fuss over nothing. Jiang Hua walked over to Chen Lijun and the others.
"Hey Junjun, I heard you're going to participate in a competition show, is that true?"
Chen Lijun was pulled away by Li Yunxiao, ignoring him.
Jiang Hua shrugged and said, "My bad, alright? How about I treat you to hot pot?"
"Had enough, eating hot pot every day. I'm getting internal heat."
At least she was talking, that's a good sign. These girls were really straightforward.
They didn't know how to hide their feelings.
"By the way, aren't you participating in that opera competition? I'll go cheer for you then."
Li Yunxiao gave him a side-eye: "Huh, who needs it."
He rubbed his nose and said, "I wrote a song for you two, want to hear about it?"
Li Yunxiao immediately smiled, her round head leaning in.
"Oh, little brother Jiang Hua, why are you being so polite? But there are two of us, you know."
Was this girl jealous?
What to do? His previous worries had come true. He was too excellent, raising the standards of these little sisters.
"Alright, alright, two songs then. But don't tell the others, especially Qingqing."
Liking both opera and pop music didn't seem to conflict.
Just like him, pop music was his part-time job, opera performance his main job.
"That's more like it. Little brother Jiang Hua, your big sisters are going to compete. Come cheer for us then."
Jiang Hua patted his chest and said, "No problem, I'll definitely be there."
Young girls were easy to fool. Two songs and they were satisfied. Jiang Hua still had countless classics up his sleeve.
Chen Lijun was also happy. She thought pop songs were good too, especially those written by Jiang Hua, very touching.
Opera performers could have diverse development too. Teacher Mao and Director Cai often said they recruited Jiang Hua into the art troupe to increase diversity.
But Jiang Hua was really stirring things up, trending every other day.
She secretly glanced at Jiang Hua, seeing him lying backstage slacking off again.
He was truly unique. When it was time to work, he was extremely serious. But when slacking off, he really slacked.
Jiang Hua felt someone looking at him. Following Chen Lijun's gaze, he smiled at her.
Chen Lijun immediately looked away, not daring to meet his eyes.
This pair was really strange. Chen Lijun was a flirt on stage.
Off stage, she was a shy little sweetie.
Li Yunxiao could be both salty and sweet on stage. Off stage, she was a quiet girl.
Of course, that was how strangers saw her. The real her was stubborn, knew her goals, and was a bit willful.
They were both opera fanatics, not good at taking care of themselves.
...
Days without performances were really boring.
Jiang Hua wandered around the theater with his hands behind his back. He hadn't really explored it since coming here.
"What are you up to, Jiang Hua?"
Wasn't Teacher Mao a top star? How come she rarely went out?
"Oh, Teacher Mao, just looking around. I've been here so long but never really explored."
"Stop exploring. Your transfer order came down. Get ready to follow us to the competition."
Jiang Hua pointed at himself: "Teacher Mao, no mistake? You should let me join 'I Am a Singer', I'd bring back a gold award for you. Joining some opera competition? Isn't that just sending me to be cannon fodder?"
"Young but big-mouthed. We're not asking you to compete, you're going as the atmosphere group."
Jiang Hua was secretly delighted: "Such a good deal? Paid vacation with food and accommodation?"
"Dream on. They want to borrow your traffic. Just be lively when the time comes."
He immediately said: "No problem, atmosphere group, I get it."
Participating in an opera variety show was a path Jiang Hua had never imagined. He had participated in variety shows before, but behind the scenes.
This wasn't his area of expertise.
Playing instruments was fine.
"Alright, get ready. This is to promote opera, don't mess up. No matter what kind of opera, we're all on the same side. Don't use those entertainment circle tactics."
What did he do now? Just trending a bit too much lately, it's not like he wanted to.
....
At Hangzhou East Station, Jiang Hua changed his outfit today, not so h-pop.
After all, he was promoting opera. Looking like a rapper wouldn't be good.
Today he wore a casual suit. The weather cooperated, with a light drizzle in the sky.
But he still wore those huge frog-eye glasses covering half his face, and a mask.
"Teacher Mao, is this outfit okay?"
Teacher Mao looked him up and down: "It's fine. They'll have unified costumes when participating in the show anyway."
Whatever, Jiang Hua didn't care. He had been wearing the troupe uniform for over a month.
After waiting a while, Chen Lijun came over dragging a large suitcase. Was she moving house?
Jiang Hua quickly went to help her. Damn, it was really heavy.
She said softly: "I brought some medicine, belts, and some costumes."
"Injured again? I've told you many times, work and rest in balance. Even NBA players don't train this hard. After this competition, I'll get a professional to make a training plan for you. Young people, not taking care of their bodies at all."
She was really an opera fanatic.
"Mm, okay, won't happen again."
Chen Lijun had fainted in the practice room last time, but didn't learn her lesson.
She suffered from severe insomnia, unable to sleep when nervous or excited.
Jiang Hua took out his noise-canceling headphones from his bag and handed them to her.
"These are for you. When you can't sleep at night, listen to this. There's light music and opera for sleep aid."
"Try them on, see if the music suits you. We can change it if not."
She obediently put them on and tried. Outside noise was very low, it felt quite good. No wonder Jiang Hua had been wearing them often lately.
"Why aren't your songs in here?"
She looked for a while but didn't hear Jiang Hua's songs, confused.
Jiang Hua rubbed his nose: "Well, I was afraid you wouldn't like them. My songs aren't for sleep aid."
"Jiang Hua, thank you. I really like this gift, and I like your songs too, they're very nice."
"Glad you like it."
Teacher Mao and Director Cai stood to the side, whispering: "Cai Fei, is there something going on between these two? When did they get so close?"
"Jiang Hua has good relationships with everyone in the troupe. Junjun was injured recently, it's normal for Jiang Hua to care."
Teacher Mao felt something was off.
"Hey! Sorry I'm late."
Li Yunxiao finally arrived. She immediately noticed the blue headphones on Junjun's head.
Jiang Hua knew her little thoughts. He took out a red pair of headphones from his carry-on bag.
"Come on, everyone gets one. Teacher Cai, Teacher Mao."
So everyone got one. She wasn't special after all.
...