Tang Dynasty Little Godfather

Chapter 158 The suona horns sound, let's get hyped!
loss!

Big loss!

Wang Xi felt increasingly cheated the more he thought about it.

This truly shows that even the wisest can make a mistake.

It is worth noting that in ancient times, the Lantern Festival was also known as Valentine's Day. In an era when marriages were arranged by parents and matchmakers, the Lantern Festival was particularly special.

Because generally speaking, the parents make the decisions, and the man and woman don't even meet for the first time until the day of their wedding.

However, during the Lantern Festival, noblewomen could openly go out and enjoy themselves. If they took a fancy to someone, they could go home and tell their parents. This could be categorized as free love.

It has indeed brought together many perfect couples.

This is why so many women come here to watch the poetry competition. They all know that the contestants are all young talents who may even rise to prominence, and the emperor will be there too.

So their parents all support them; if they fancy someone, they'll just snatch them up and take them home.

This is why there are so many applicants, including many from impoverished families. Of course, "impoverished" here is relative to "high-class" families, and has nothing to do with ordinary people. After all, since ancient times, not wanting to work hard has been the prevailing ideology.

It's not about personal ability or ambition, but rather that once you climb up to a powerful family, many things become very simple, and if you're even more capable, you can soar to great heights.

Wang Xi really hadn't thought of this; otherwise, he would definitely have added a solo performance.

Although he really liked Hongxiu, and could even say it was love at first sight, he never thought of only dating one person.

Wu Chongwen seized the initiative, relying on his handsome appearance and graceful sword dance. Although his poetry might be considered average, he still won applause from the audience.

Some young girls, in particular, were overjoyed.

It's clear this fellow had prepared meticulously. He knew there were many who were better than him at poetry, so he used his sword to aid his poetry—a truly brilliant move.

The contestants who came on stage next were all dressed extremely handsomely, and they performed various acts, including playing the zither, dancing, and reciting poetry.

It's truly a case of the Eight Immortals crossing the sea, each displaying their unique abilities.

Each one is better than the last.

Only the students from the nameless academy seemed a bit sleepy, because they genuinely didn't understand that this kind of occasion wasn't their domain before.

"what!"

Linghu Baodi yawned, "When will it be our turn? I'm almost asleep."

Wang Xi frowned, puzzled, and said, "Yes, we haven't even been told when we'll be on stage yet."

Huangfu Sengnian said, "They might arrange for us to play on the eve of halftime, when there are relatively fewer people around."

Wang Xi sighed, "There's nothing we can do. It's their home turf, so we have to suffer some losses. We'll just have to wait and see."

After watching more than thirty contestants in a row, Li Longji suddenly felt an urgent need to urinate and asked, "When will the Nameless Academy start?"

Wu Xin quickly replied, "It should be going up soon."

Li Longji suddenly waved.

Wu Xin hurriedly stepped forward.

Li Longji said, "I need to use the restroom. We can't let Wuming Academy play before I return."

Wu Xin paused for a moment, then nodded and said, "Yes."

After giving his instructions, Li Longji got up and left.

Many ministers also stood up.

Wu Xin was very annoyed. He had carefully planned when to have Wuming Academy perform, intending to let them play when everyone was feeling tired and needed to use the restroom.

However, Li Longji specifically requested that he wait for Li Longji's return before allowing the Nameless Academy to take the stage.

All we can do is wait.

People have to relieve themselves, and the contestants from earlier weren't particularly outstanding. The more famous ones were all scheduled for the second half. As a result, many people left to use the restroom or to buy something to eat.

Fortunately, Li Longji arrived early and returned in time, so Wu Xin quickly gave him a look, signaling for the Nameless Academy to take the stage.

After Wang Xi and his team took the stage, the sidelines were much emptier. Moreover, many spectators seemed tired and not very interested.

But the boos didn't lessen at all.

The players on the sidelines had been waiting for this moment for far too long.

As soon as Wang Xi and his group stepped onto the stage, they started booing like crazy.

You should know that those standing on the side of the stage are all noble children who are interested in poetry and literature. They don't get along well with Wang Xi and his fellow underachievers.

The audience began to boo.

The boos were deafening!

Han Xiu deliberately teased, "It's really strange. I didn't expect the Nameless Academy to be so unpopular."

Jiang Yanbo said, "Minister Han, you may not know this, but most people who enjoy storytelling don't understand poetry."

Han Xiu nodded and said, "I see."

The two men were exchanging barbs, and Li Longji said unhappily, "I really like Dream of the Red Chamber. Do you think I don't like poetry? They're just jealous."

Jiang Yanbo retorted directly, "Your Majesty is mistaken. At present, it's not really a matter of jealousy, because Wuming Academy has not yet won people's hearts and is unworthy of its reputation. If they can win the crown today, or even just make it into the top three, then perhaps it will arouse jealousy!"

Li Longji snorted, "We'll see."

Jiang Yanbo smiled but remained silent.

Li Jieman didn't care about the boos from the crowd. What bothered him was the absence of many innocent young women. He said, "They did this on purpose. They waited until everyone else was gone before letting us go on stage."

Wang Xi said, "He has his own clever plan, but we have our own countermeasures. We can just prepare for a little longer, since there's no set time limit for preparation."

After saying that, he turned to everyone and said, "Everyone, please don't rush, take your time, and make sure you are well prepared."

Linghu Baodi and the others understood perfectly and, like a group of old men, slowly began their preparations.

After a long while, they were still lining up and fiddling with their instruments, which was really exhausting to wait for.

The officials hosting the competition couldn't help but come up on stage and ask, "How long are you going to prepare?"

Wang Xi immediately retorted, "It's none of your business. If something goes wrong, can you take responsibility?"

The official, enraged, retorted, "This is a competition held at the Imperial Academy, not a charity performance at a restaurant. We cannot tolerate your insolence."

Wang Xi said, "There should be rules for the competition, and you can't just decide for yourself. Show us the rules."

"you."

The official couldn't actually come up with any regulations. After all, this was a feudal era, and their words were the rules. But the problem was, Wang Xi and his men wouldn't listen to that. They were so angry that they laughed instead, "Fine, fine, young men, take your time preparing. If you're so capable, you can prepare until tomorrow morning."

Wang Xi laughed and said, "Don't provoke me, I might actually dare."

The official was genuinely afraid that the young man would act recklessly, so he flung his sleeves and stormed off the stage.

Zhang Shuo, Yuan Qianyao, and the others on the stage were getting impatient and asked, "What are they doing? Why haven't they started yet?"

Li Longji laughed and said, "With so many of them, it's no big deal to prepare a little more. It shows that they've put a lot of thought into this singing competition."

Sitting there, he had already seen through Wang Xi's little scheme. Instead of being impatient, he thought his nephew was quite clever.

It's just a matter of beauty being in the eye of the beholder. Zhang said they were also very unhappy, saying that Zhang's cover-up was going too far.

Boos started coming from the sidelines again.

Moreover, the boos were louder than before; you've been preparing for too long, and anyone would get impatient.

As more and more people returned, the boos grew louder and louder.

Wang Xi and the others are really holding on; they're not in a hurry. They'll just wait it out, and you can boo them all you want.

Wu Xin regretted his decision, thinking he shouldn't have made that arrangement.

This is so agonizing!

He really didn't expect that Wang Xi and his group would be so shameless, just dragging their feet and waiting until almost everyone had returned.

Wang Xicai stood on the small, temporary round platform in the middle.

There were about fifty musicians sitting in front of them, consisting of more than twenty junior female students and professional musicians. Each of them held a different instrument. Behind them stood more than fifty male students, while more than thirty female students stood on both sides.

Tang Dynasty officials were familiar with such large-scale choral singing and were not surprised, but foreign envoys had never seen it before. Moreover, most of the foreign envoys were very knowledgeable about music and were asking each other what it was all about.

With so many people and so many instruments, how can they possibly sing together?
Amidst the boos from the crowd, Wang Xi suddenly waved his hand, his demeanor incredibly dashing.

A sound with extremely strong penetrating power seemed to pierce through the sky.

Everyone was taken aback, and the boos stopped abruptly.

Li Longji couldn't help but ask curiously, "What kind of musical instrument is this?"

After examining it closely, Jiang Jiao said, "It should be a modified flute."

Li Longji chuckled and said, "I knew the kid would have a surprise."

Then Wang Xi waved his hand, and the drums sounded.

Boos?

Can it be as loud as a drum?
Wang Xi waved his hands again, and more than fifty musicians began to play.

The audience was stunned. Could this really be done?

Dunshan exclaimed in surprise, "I never imagined that so many people could play music together so harmoniously. It's truly amazing."

The Turkic prince asked, "Didn't Uncle Dunshan notice that the gull-headed vulture was directing them to play music?"

Dun Shan's eyes widened. "Yes! He's in command. That's really impressive."

These foreign envoys were all skilled at composing music, so they were excited and watching very intently.

Li Longji had also studied conducting under Wang Xi, and subconsciously picked up a chopstick in each hand, mimicking the movements slightly. But as he listened, he suddenly remarked, "This piece sounds somewhat like 'General's Command'?"

Jiang Jiao shook her head and said, "The tune is somewhat similar, but it's not the General's Order."

Then fifty male students began to sing: "Proudly facing countless waves, with blood as hot as the red sun, courage like iron, bones as strong as steel, a heart of steel a hundred thousand feet high, and vision ten thousand miles long."

After hearing this, Wu Xin breathed a sigh of relief.

That's it?

Oh my! You guys really scared me to death!

Upon hearing this, Zhang Shuo couldn't help but chuckle and said, "Your Majesty, is this what you call a surprise?"

It has to be said that these lyrics are far too ordinary for this context; even the worst performance we just saw was better written.

What the hell?

Some people even worried that it might give the impression that they got into the competition through connections.

However, Li Longji did not respond to him, but stared intently at the audience below, his head swaying to the rhythm.

Although he had seen large choral performances before, they were all rudimentary versions, not as complete as today's, especially the combination of instruments.

"Let the sea and sky gather energy for me to create new horizons and forge ahead towards my ideals."

Wang Xi suddenly waved his hand, and the girls sang in unison: "Look, the blue waves are tall and strong."

The boy continued singing: "Looking at the vast blue sky, I feel a surge of heroic spirit. I am a man, and I should be strong. I stride forward and stand tall, becoming pillars of society. My passionate heart shines brighter than the sun."

"Wonderful!"

Li Longji and Jiang Jiao immediately applauded.

Zhang said they were all dumbfounded, staring in disbelief at Li Longji and Jiang Jiao, this pair of clowns.

Brother, you've been hanging out with Wang Xi for too long, and your cultural literacy has plummeted!

The contestants in the audience were also somewhat dumbfounded.

And you still say we're here to compete for second place?

How dare you!

Once they were sure they hadn't misheard and that there was no hidden meaning in the words, laughter and boos rose and fell incessantly.

They were unaware that the emperor was applauding.

This interrupted Li Longji's interest. He turned his head to look and frowned.

However, Wang Xi and his group remained unaffected, fully immersed in their performance, continuing to sing and have fun.

But when they sang the second chorus, a sudden shout of "Hey!" broke the laughter and boos from the sidelines.

The audience in the distance couldn't help but sing along, "Go and create a new world, go and fight for my ideals!"

It instantly drowned out the boos and jeers.

Yang Zhan, who was desperately shushing, was also startled. What was going on?
Did they arrange for so many shills?

Obviously not. When the song reached its final chorus, almost everyone sang along.

Ultimately, those with high cultural literacy are only a minority.

People like Wang Xi and Linghu Baodi have absolutely no ability to appreciate art; they all sound pretty much the same to them.

But this singing competition is open to the public, and most people are just there for the fun of it. It's a holiday, and all they want is the atmosphere.

The key is that the nameless academy has a large number of people with loud voices, so their voices can travel far and wide. The audience behind them can hear them very clearly. The lyrics are also very simple, and you can remember them after listening to them once. The melody is both exciting and rousing.

Unlike before, where I could only watch and couldn't participate at all.

It was like giving the already exhausted audience a shot of adrenaline.

Everyone couldn't help but start singing along, getting more and more excited and hyped up as they sang.

To be honest, the more people sing it, the more infectious the lyrics become, and it doesn't seem so bad after all.

Even Li Longji started humming along.

As the song ended, the lingering melody still resonated in the air, when a young girl, with a broken voice, shouted, "One more song!"

(End of this chapter)