Chapter 234 – Researching Mu Li’ang
At noon, Wu Yue’s cooking skills were actually very good. The little ones enjoyed their meal happily, picking up rice and getting rice grains all over their faces. Then they looked at each other and giggled at each other’s messy appearance.
After finishing their meal, the little ones left their bowls and chopsticks and ran to the living room to play, while the adults continued to eat slowly, watching the playful little ones and chatting.
After learning some cooking tips from Yang Yi, Wu Yue couldn’t help but become curious and said, “Yang Yi, where are you from? How come you can cook dishes from everywhere? And from your accent, I can’t tell where you’re from.”
“Um…” Yang Yi was in a daze for a moment before he smiled and said, “I’m from Anqing, but I went to the Southwest to serve as a soldier very early, and after retiring, I’ve been traveling around. My accent got mixed up long ago, so it’s hard to tell where I’m from. As for being able to cook so many dishes, of course, I learned it from eating and drinking all over the place over the years.”
In that moment when he was in a daze, he remembered his hometown. The hometown of this body was a poor mountain village in Peiguo County, Peijun City, Anqing Province. His predecessor didn’t go home for two or three years because he didn’t do well after retiring and didn’t have the face to see his hometown elders. He would only make phone calls to greet them during holidays and send the little money he saved back home through frugal living…
Yang Yi was now rich and promising, but he has no intention of going home. After all, he wasn’t really Yang Yi, and he didn’t know how to face the parents, brothers and sisters of this body!
Out of a sense of compensation, Yang Yi had been sending money to his family, thousands or tens of thousands, but he wouldn’t give too much at once. It wasn’t that he was stingy, but mainly because his predecessor didn’t give much either. If he suddenly sent hundreds of thousands, the parents and fellow villagers in that poor small mountain village would probably be scared and worry about him more, right?
A small stream flows long1The idiom “细水长流” (xì shuǐ cháng liú) literally translates to “a small stream flows long.” It is an idiomatic expression in Chinese that means something should be approached patiently and gradually., Yang Yi felt that this matter should be approached patiently and gradually.
“By the way, speaking of accents, Yang Guo, you’re from Guangdong Province, right? And Wu Yue, I can tell you’re also from Guangdong Province. How did both of you end up working in Jiangnan?” Yang Yi asked them to change the topic.
“Yeah, we’re from Guangdong Province, but because I was recruited by a university in Jiangcheng, Wu Yue had to make some sacrifices and resigned from her job to come to Jiangcheng with me. It’s like starting anew.” Yang Guo said affectionately, patting Wu Yue’s hand beside him and said.
Wu Yue smiled generously and said, “Yang Guo has a Ph.D. degree and has become a university professor. Since I haven’t attended college, it’s only natural for me to follow the teacher.”
“Not having attended college, so what?” Yang Yi smiled. “I haven’t attended college either. I didn’t even finish high school before joining the army.”
“Right, I also said it doesn’t matter. Education doesn’t represent everything, but she still cares a little bit in her heart.” Yang Guo gave Wu Yue a doting look and explained to Yang Yi, “Moreover, Wu Yue had the opportunity to go to college. It’s just that she’s an orphan and had to give up the acceptance letter to start working early in order to make a living.”
Upon hearing this, Yang Yi couldn’t help but tremble.
Although this body has parents, in his previous life, he was indeed an orphan. After learning about Wu Yue’s background, Yang Yi inexplicably felt a sense of closeness to her.
Of course, he didn’t mean anything else and concealed this emotion.
Wu Yue didn’t want to continue on this topic and scolded, “Alright, enough about me. Yang Yi, last time Yang Guo mentioned that you write novels…”
……
After rescheduling, Mo Fei finally met Jin Yingming. Due to spending too much time dealing with conflicts at the company earlier, Mo Fei didn’t plan to rest this weekend and continued recording songs.
“Sorry, Teacher Jin, for delaying your weekend reunion with your daughter,” Mo Fei knew that the company had only made new plans before and did not tell Jin Yingming, so she didn’t intend to tell him about the twists and turns behind it.
However, although Mo Fei didn’t say anything, Jin Yingming could still vaguely sense it. After all, he was much older than Mo Fei and had experienced the real storms in the entertainment industry.
But smart people don’t voice their suspicions. As long as the outcome is good, he continued to sit dignifiedly as usual and smiled, “It doesn’t matter. During this time, I carefully studied all the works of Mr. Mu Li’ang and gained some insights.”
“Oh? Teacher Jin, please share,” Mo Fei became interested.
“I have found that there are two completely different styles of arrangement in Mu Li’ang’s current works. One is extremely minimalist, like ‘Long Time No See’. For that song, Mr. Mu Li’ang only used piano and violin for the arrangement. The other style, like ‘The First Dream,’ incorporates more complex instruments. In addition to the rich electronic sounds of the synthesizer, there are also instruments such as drums added.” Jin Yingming said.
Mo Fei nodded lightly. She had listened carefully to all these songs and could naturally distinguish them.
“Then I had a bold imagination. Could it be that in Mr. Mu Li’ang’s songs, the female vocals tend to be more colorful, while the male vocals prefer to be interpreted with simple instruments?” Jin Yingming excitedly arranged tea cups on the table as if deploying troops.
Mo Fei raised an objection to this: “Teacher Jin, what about ‘Across the Ocean to See You’? The accompaniment for this song is mainly done with the guitar, and also ‘You Exist in My Song,’ the accompaniment for this song is also simple, with piano arrangement.”
“Yes, the question you brought up is very interesting!” Jin Yingming excitedly took out two cups and moved one from the side with more cups to the side with fewer cups. Then he continued, “I made a bold assumption: Could it be that Mr. Mu Li’ang originally wrote ‘Across the Ocean to See You’ and ‘You Exist in My Song’ for male singers?”
“Purely analyzing from the lyrics, these two songs do not have obvious gender indicators. Then I tried them in my own recording studio and found that these songs also have their charm when sung by male vocalists,” Jin Yingming smiled widely as if he had discovered a new world. “Of course, my singing is average, and I need to lower the key.”
“So, I’m thinking that when Mr. Mu Li’ang wrote these two songs, he might have done so from a male perspective. But unexpectedly, he found that these two songs were more suitable for you, Mo Fei, to sing, so he made changes to the arrangement behind the scenes,” Jin Yingming said with some regret. “Unfortunately, this is just my personal speculation. If I could have a face-to-face conversation with Mr. Mu Li’ang, I would really want to discuss it with him.”
Although this research didn’t have any particularly significant meaning, for someone like Jin Yingming who was passionate about music, it was no less than playing a puzzle-solving game in an escape room.
“There will be opportunities in the future. Although Mr. Mu Li’ang hides his identity, he is still in Jiangcheng. Who knows, Teacher Jin, you might have a chance to meet him someday!” Mo Fei could only comfort Jin Yingming.
“It’s nothing. I just hope that Mr. Mu Li’ang will produce more works so that I can have more material for research,” Jin Yingming laughed heartily. “Sorry for blabbering so much. Let’s start working quickly!”
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