Tang Dynasty Little Godfather

Chapter 110 You Have Too Many Talents

Everything must be done step by step, and one should not be too hasty. Wang Shouyi has been idle for many years. Even if he were given the position of prime minister, he would not be able to do it. This position can be said to have been carefully tailored for Wang Shouyi by Wang Xi.

Although the On Yip Department doesn't have much power at present, if it is used well, it can be a good stepping stone.

Once the matter was settled, Wang Xi and his group immediately shifted their focus to the academy.

They were all just naive students.

However, Wang Xi still does not intend to restore the frequency of charity performances and wants to maintain the status quo, which is once every half month, because he wants to professionalize Wuming Academy and make it sustainable.

This is his trump card!
If this hadn't been exactly what Li Longji wanted, how could it have succeeded?

To become specialized, one must divide into disciplines. As the saying goes, every skill has its own expertise, but nowadays everyone is mixed together.

Today, Tao Mo convened a student assembly at Wang Xi's behest.

At this moment, the Nameless Academy is already well-equipped and strong, with a near-perfect male-to-female ratio of 1:1.5.

But today's meeting is attended entirely by men, because the women's side is handled by Hongxiu. After all, those junior sisters are all palace prostitutes, and they have a mission here as well.

"The main reason I'm holding this meeting today is to arrange the division of departments."

Tao Mo said, "As you all know, this vivid teaching method was created by me recently. After these days of exploration, I plan to further improve this method."

Therefore, I have divided this vivid teaching method into six subjects: storytelling, opera, scriptwriting, dance, music, and makeup and costume. Dance and music are the foundational subjects, which everyone must learn. As for the other four subjects, each person can only choose one, and can choose the others after mastering it.

Without saying much, he immediately said, "Raise your hand if you want to learn storytelling."

Swish swish!
Immediately, more than ten people raised their hands.

Tao Mo nodded and said, "Those who want to learn opera, please raise your hands."

Most people raised their hands.

In terms of entertainment, traditional opera is obviously more interesting, since it allows for great interaction with the junior female disciple.

Let's not forget our original aspirations!
Tao Mo then said, "Screenwriter."

No one raised their hand.

Makeup and clothing.

No one raised their hand.

In their eyes, this was work for servants.

"Very well, very well, whatever you say."

Tao Mo chuckled a few times and said, "Wang Xiaoque, Seng Nian, Xiao Shuang, Xiao Man."

"The students are here."

"No one likes the script, makeup, and costumes yet, but they have to be done, so I'll leave it to you four senior brothers. Seng Nian and Xiao Man will be in charge of the script, while Xiao Que and Xiao Shuang will be in charge of the makeup and costumes."

"The student will follow the teacher's instructions."

The four men bowed and greeted each other.

Tao Mo then said, "The matter of classifying and registering students is also entrusted to you. Let's call it a day."

To maintain his image as a superior person, he usually keeps things simple and straightforward, and disappears after speaking.

After Tao Mo left, Wang Xi and the other four senior brothers took over the place. They each had a form to fill out, and Cui Gu'er and the others kept apologizing as they filled it out.

"Senior brother, I'm so sorry."

"Senior brother, we actually want to help, but we really don't know anything about makeup and costumes!"

"Indeed. I hope you won't blame us, senior brother."

They all wore hypocritical faces.

Wang Xi said impatiently, "Alright, alright, I know what kind of people you are. Stop pretending. We four have received the master's favor and will follow his arrangements. You can have the benefits, and we'll do the dirty work."

After registering, Wang Xi said to Wang Shuang, "Brother Shuang, let's go to the dressing room to check in first."

"Ah."

“I’ll lend a hand too,” Li Jieman suddenly said.

"Then let's go together."

The three of them then headed towards the dressing room.

Xue Jun watched their retreating figures, and said thoughtfully, "Something's not right!"

Han Xiaohu asked, "Something's not right?"

Xue Jun said, "Isn't that Qin'er and the others' rest room?"

Cui Gu'er nodded and said, "It's their rest room, so they usually do their makeup there. If you want to learn makeup, you should go there to learn."

Upon hearing this, Xue Jun suddenly raised his hand and exclaimed, "Senior brother, I'm here to lend you a hand!"

"roll!"

A mixed sound came through.

After walking a distance, Li Jieman finally couldn't help but chuckle, "Brother Que, you really have a way with things, setting up a makeup and costume subject."

"This is a special privilege for us senior brothers. That way, apart from the women, only the four of us can enter. Hehehe!"

The three men were laughing in an extremely lewd manner.

But as soon as he arrived at the door, he met Hongxiu.

"What brings the three of you here?" Hongxiu asked cautiously.

Men are generally not allowed to enter this area.

"Replying to the teacher," Wang Xi replied obediently, "I am here to learn about makeup and clothing on your orders."

Hongxiu asked in surprise, "You've come here to learn about makeup and clothing?"

Wang Xi nodded and said, "The opera is about to start, and everyone needs to be made up. Only after the students have learned how to do it can they do the makeup for the orphans and Baodi. After all, men and women should not be too close, so we can't always let our junior sisters do our makeup."

Hongxiu was speechless and politely refused, saying, "But...but you are all from noble families, how can you do this kind of work?"

Wang Xi immediately replied, "To be honest, teacher, I am quite interested in makeup, and you have also said that I have a great talent for it."

"Another talent?" Hongxiu was depressed.

Talent is mentioned all the time; when did talent become so cheap?

Wang Xi chuckled and said, "Having a lot of talent is never a bad thing."

Hongxiu asked suspiciously, "Did the master also teach you makeup?"

"The teacher was just designing the play and thought about what the makeup would look like, so he drew it on paper. But the student found it very interesting and practiced it at home. He even showed the results to the teacher, who felt that the student had a very high talent in this area."

After saying that, Wang Xi turned to Hongxiu and said, "If you don't believe me, teacher, I can draw it for you once."

"I believe you! Of course, your teacher believes you."

Hongxiu quickly changed her tune and said to Wang Shuang and Li Jieman, "Then Xiao Shuang and Xiaoman, are you also exceptionally talented?"

Wang Xi said "Oh," and then added, "Shuang-ge is in charge of wigs and beards, while Xiaoman is in charge of purchasing." "Right, right, the student is in charge of purchasing," Li Jieman nodded honestly.

After hesitating for a moment, Hongxiu said, "Please wait here for a moment, and I will go and tell them."

"Yes."

As soon as Hongxiu left, Li Jieman whispered, "Brother Que, you're really cunning. You're even thinking of helping the teacher draw. Do you think I don't know what you're thinking?"

Wang Xi snorted, "You fatso, I don't even want to talk about you. We made an agreement back then, but you've been sabotaging it all along. Next time you fancy someone, I'll sabotage them too."

Li Jie hurriedly said, "No, no, no, now there are only the three of us, why should we kill each other?"

"Wow, it's rare to find someone who can understand this principle," Wang Xi said sarcastically.

Knowing he was in the wrong, Li Jieman remained silent.

After a while, Hongxiu came out of the door again, "You three come in."

"Yes."

The three followed Hongxiu to the dressing room, where they saw four or five palace maids—no, they should now be called junior sisters.

"How come there's only one bronze mirror?" Wang Xi clicked his tongue. "That's too shabby."

Hongxiu said irritably, "Do you know how expensive this bronze mirror is? It's already very rare to have even one."

Wang Xi frowned and said, "But this bronze mirror is small and blurry. How can you see anything clearly? It's such a waste of our junior sisters' beautiful faces."

The junior female students were both shy and delighted to hear this.

Hongxiu shook her head inwardly. This was like letting a mouse into a granary. Suddenly, her eyes sparkled, and she said, "Didn't you just say you have a talent for makeup? Then help Linglong with her makeup now."

She really didn't believe Wang Xi had any talent in this area; if he didn't, they had to be kicked out of here.

"Oh."

Wang Xi then moved closer to the pretty girl and said, "Junior Sister Linglong, don't worry, your senior brother will definitely paint you as beautiful as an angel."

Linglong shrank back and nodded shyly.

"Sit down, sit down! Junior Sister Linglong, please sit down quickly. Your senior brother will help you get dressed up properly."

"Thank you, senior brother."

Linglong sat down shyly, her little face flushed.

Wang Xi took a pouch from his waist, unfolded it on the table, and found it contained some eyebrow pencils and rouge.

Upon seeing this, Hongxiu thought to herself, "He really came prepared."

Soon, Wang Xi began to draw for Linglong.

But this made Li Jieman and Wang Shuang extremely envious.

Li Jieman, in particular, secretly vowed that he would practice this makeup diligently when he got back, so that the kid wouldn't get all the benefits.

They didn't notice that Hongxiu's eyes were full of shock. Although the makeup wasn't finished, judging from the technique, this guy was really very skilled.

Could he really be a genius?

Little did people know that Wang Xi had a nickname, "Tony on set," because he often did makeup for extras, while the actresses were naturally not his turn.

A moment later, Wang Xi put down the eyebrow pencil. "All done."

The other three junior sisters immediately turned their heads to look, their eyes filled with surprise.

Linglong asked shyly, "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

A junior sister named Aokiji exclaimed, "It's really beautiful."

"Really?" Linglong was both surprised and delighted.

Tao Tao leaned closer and whispered, "Didn't you see those two senior brothers staring wide-eyed?"

Linglong glanced out of the corner of her eye and saw that Li Jieman and Wang Shuang were indeed staring at her blankly, their mouths practically watering. She immediately felt shy and secretly looked at herself in the mirror. She found that she was not much different from before she put on makeup, but she looked more refined, which she found quite novel.

Wang Xi smiled smugly and then said to Hongxiu, "Teacher, please give your comments."

Hongxiu was taken aback, then recovered from her shock. "Wang Xiaoque, I never imagined you actually had such a talent."

Wang Xi feigned excitement and asked, "Does the teacher also think it's beautiful?"

Hongxiu nodded slightly and said, "Although your makeup is different from the current style, it has a unique charm. Is this really your creation?"

Wang Xi wore light makeup, which is very rare nowadays.

"Do not."

Wang Xi shook his head and said, "It was the teacher's idea; I just drew it based on the teacher's idea."

Of course, he had planned this all along. The reason was simple: Li Longji loved beauty, and as a favored minister, he naturally wouldn't let this makeup go to waste.

The current makeup style is actually not very attractive; it's too heavy. This is mainly because rouge and other cosmetics are very expensive, and most women can't afford them. So how can they prove that they are different from others? They have to wear heavy makeup, resulting in everyone wearing heavy makeup, with one small sun on each cheek.

But as it turns out, this didn't actually fit the aesthetics of the Tang people. It was purely the pride of the aristocracy at play. In fact, it's always been the same throughout history. The upper class doesn't care about good or bad, beauty or ugliness; they only care about how to show their difference.

However, according to records, it was Yang Yuhuan who first abandoned this heavy makeup and emphasized light makeup to show the natural beauty of the human body, thus setting a trend.

Hongxiu nodded and said, "That's quite impressive."

Faced with the facts, she had to admit it, and more importantly, she really liked the makeup.

Wang Xi said, "I have a few more ways to draw. How about I draw some for Junior Sister Qingzhi and the others as well?"

The junior female students were secretly excited.

Heart of beauty in everyone.

Li Jie said sourly, "Brother Que, aren't you tired?"

One is enough; if we make them all melt, we'll just be sitting here staring blankly.

Wang Xi said, "What's so tiring about helping my junior sister with her makeup?"

Just then, Qin'er suddenly walked in. "Brother Que, the master wants to see you."

Wang Xi asked in confusion, "What is it?"

At this point, how could Lao Tao dare to disturb him? Did he want homework?

Qin'er said, "It seems that the Duke of Qi has arrived."

Li Jie's face lit up with joy, and he said, "Brother Que, you should go over there quickly."

Wang Xi glared at the fat man, then said to Hongxiu, "Teacher, I'll go over there first and come back to help my junior sister with her drawing later."

Hongxiu nodded and said, "You go first."

Before he even left the house, Li Jie plopped down on him. "Junior Sister Qingzhi, can you teach me how to do makeup?"

Wang Xi suddenly turned around and said, "Xiaoman, don't worry, I'll teach you in a bit."

Li Jieman almost spat out a mouthful of blood.

(End of this chapter)