Returning to the Mushroom House, the cheers from catching the big fish still echoed in the yard.
Huang Yulei looked at the grass carp feebly flopping in the bucket, but the smile on his face gradually faded.
He was in a dilemma.
Even if it was a big fish, just one of them, trying to feed seven or eight hungry mouths in the yard, seed woefully inadequate no matter how you looked at it.
This was truly a case of even the cleverest housewife can't cook a al without rice.
He Jiongjiong also saw the predicant. He walked over, patted Huang Yulei on the shoulder, and joked.
"Teacher Huang, how about tonight we focus on reminiscing about past hardships and appreciating present sweetness?"
At that mont, Jiang Ci stepped out from behind the crowd.
He wiped his hands, walked over to the bucket containing the fish, lowered his head, and studied it for a mont.
"Teacher Huang, leave it to ."
Huang Yulei was taken aback.
Everyone's gaze focused on Jiang Ci, the newly appointed "second-in-command" chef.
Jiang Ci pointed at the fish and began to lay out the plan with clear thinking.
"The fish head, tail, and bones, don't throw them away. Pair them with the sour long beans my mom made, stew a pot of soup, appetizing."
His finger then traced to the plumpest part of the fish body.
"This part of the at is the most tender. Slice it thinly, tonight we'll cook a big pot of fresh fish congee."
This "one fish, two dishes" thod instantly resolved the imminent food crisis.
Huang Yulei looked at Jiang Ci, his appreciation now completely unconcealed.
"Not bad, kid! Your mind works fast!"
He Jiongjiong also nodded with a smile. "This is good, this is good! Fish congee, just thinking about it makes my mouth water!"
Lunch wasn't exactly lavish, but everyone ate the steaming sour long bean fish soup and the delicious fish congee with great satisfaction.
The afternoon sun filtered through the gaps in the leaves, casting dappled light and shadow on the ground. The incessant chirping of cicadas carried a sense of laziness.
Leaning back in his chair, Huang Yulei looked at the contentnt and languor on the faces of the young people in the yard and suddenly chuckled.
"This feeling, it's really comfortable," he mused, his gaze falling on the wooden guitar in the corner. "Just being full is boring. Young people, how about so music to liven things up?"
He Jiongjiong imdiately caught on, smiling as he picked up the thread. "Teacher Huang's suggestion is great! How about we have a mountain-side concert?"
As he spoke, the staff tily brought out a well-maintained wooden guitar and a small portable karaoke device.
The suggestion was t with imdiate approval.
Peng Yanchang and Zhang Zilan took the lead, picking up the microphones and boldly singing a few of the hottest pop songs of the mont.
The cheerful lodies and the energetic singing of the young people filled the small yard with a lively atmosphere.
The mood was successfully ward up.
Subsequently, everyone's gaze fell, as if by tacit agreent, on Su Qingying, who was quietly drinking water in the corner.
"Qingying, give us one!" Huang Yulei led the teasing.
Su Qingying's hand holding the water cup paused.
Just when everyone thought she would refuse with silence as usual, she instead looked at the wooden guitar placed on the table.
A mont later, she gave a slight nod.
A chorus of surprised cheers erupted in the yard.
She chose a very ethereal folk song with a sowhat chilly lody.
The mont she opened her mouth, all the noise in the yard vanished.
Her voice was like a clear mountain spring. Every vocal inflection, every beat, was as precise as a textbook example.
When the song ended, thunderous applause erupted, and praises filled the air.
"So beautiful!"
"As expected of Best Actress Su, even her singing is so professional!"
Amidst the chorus of praise, Luo Yu pushed up his glasses, saying nothing.
He heard that perfection, but he could also hear the sense of distance hidden beneath that perfection.
Then, Huang Yulei handed the guitar to Jiang Ci.
"Xiao Jiang, your turn. Don't hold back!"
Jiang Ci took the guitar, casually adjusted his posture as he held it.
He didn't choose a song. He just casually strumd the strings a few tis, testing the tone.
And then he began to sing.
He sang an old song, lazy and sowhat down-and-out.
His voice was the complete opposite of Su Qingying's.
Not clear or bright, even carrying a morning-hoarse raspiness. His technique was far from refined, and the delivery was sowhat rough.
Yet, it was precisely this unpolished roughness that was filled with the flavor of a story.
He was telling a mundane story about waiting and helplessness.
The yard gradually quieted down.
When the song ended, no one imdiately applauded.
Looking at Jiang Ci, Huang Yulei suddenly suggested, "You two, one ethereal, one earthly, such contrasting styles."
A glint of mischief flashed in his eyes.
"How about collaborating on a song?"
Without waiting for their answers, he directly nad the song.
"Just sing the the song from 'Waterloo Bridge,' 'Auld Lang Syne.'"
As his words fell, Su Qingying's body stiffened almost imperceptibly.
There was no ti for any rehearsal.
That lody tinged with a faint lancholy had already begun to flow from the speakers.
Su Qingying took the lead.
Her voice was still pure and lodious.
As her first verse drew to a close.
Jiang Ci's male vocal part joined in without any warning.
It was a voice full of warmth and a grainy texture.
Luo Yu sat not far away.
In his "vision."
Su Qingying's singing was a perfect palace carved from ice crystals.
Exquisitely structured, yet utterly devoid of life.
And Jiang Ci's singing,
was a vine growing wildly out of a crack in a stone.
It was chaotic, emotional, brimming with unrefined vitality.
Then, Luo Yu clearly "saw" that the wild vine began to climb onto the icy palace.
Su Qingying's singing in the latter half of the song underwent an extrely subtle change.
That absolute precision loosened.
A certain note that should have transitioned smoothly was tinged with a hint of hesitant warmth.
The song ended.
The final chord of the guitar slowly dissipated in the air.
The entire yard was plunged into silence.
Even the caran carrying the equipnt forgot to zoom or pan, just standing there dumbfounded, frozen in place.
Su Qingying still maintained her singing posture, staring blankly at Jiang Ci in front of her.
In those eyes that always seed veiled by a layer of mist, unmistakable confusion and shock now surfaced.
In the corner, Huang Yulei watched this scene and suddenly let out a long sigh.
He turned his head to He Jiongjiong, who had also fallen silent beside him. His tone, however, was full of unconcealed amazent and emotion.
"Look at the two of them."
He gestured towards them with his chin. "One desperately pulling upwards towards the sky, trying to sing it into a hymn; the other forcefully dragging it down to the earth, wanting to sing it into the human world."
"Just this push and pull, they actually managed to sing out that elusive 'soul' of longing..."
"Zhang Mouyi, his eye for actors is truly sharp."
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