Chapter 39: The Lead Actor

Tong Qinglin, a contemporary master of Opera, is already over eighty years old.

Luo Mo is his Closing Disciple, and some of Luo Mo's fellow disciples are older than his own father.

For these past years, Old Master Tong has been focusing on only one thing.

That is, promoting Opera culture.

He has witnessed the brilliance of Opera, and he has also witnessed its decline.

The reason Luo Mo agreed to the production team's invitation to become a staff member in the first place was because there might be an opportunity to promote Opera.

At this moment, Ning Dan looked at Luo Mo and said, "I contacted Old Master Tong because I was thinking you could have a video call with him tonight."

Upon hearing this, Luo Mo understood Ning Dan's intention.

This is to add prestige to *Creating Idols*.

Artists of the older generation hold an extraordinary status.

In this world, there is a very high reverence for artists of the older generation.

If Tong Qinglin is willing to appear on the show, the tone of this video call segment will immediately become different!

At the same time, Luo Mo's identity as a disciple of a renowned master will also be exposed.

For an old artist of this caliber, even someone at Ning Dan's level would not dare to be careless.

Therefore, she had to contact Tong Qinglin first to ask for his opinion; if he did not want to appear, the production team would not even dare to request that Luo Mo just make a video call to test the waters.

In reality, if Luo Mo were to make a spontaneous video call during the recording, the old master would likely have answered it anyway.

"What did Master say?" Luo Mo asked.

"Old Master Tong agreed," Ning Dan said.

"Agreed?" Luo Mo was very surprised.

Ning Dan pursed her full lips and said, "My original plan was that if Old Master Tong refused, I would show him your Opera Singing at the end of *Big Fish*; perhaps he would change his mind."

"But I didn't expect him to agree so readily," Ning Dan said.

She looked at the somewhat dazed Luo Mo and said, "It's clear that Old Master Tong has high expectations for you."

Luo Mo listened, silent for a long time.

His memories began to churn, returning to that rainy night from the past.

Luo Mo's father was named Luo Shan, and he had run a small opera troupe in his earlier years. He sang in villages and towns to earn money.

Many young people might still have an impression of this; there used to be quite a lot of such opera troupe performances when they were children, but now they are quite hard to see.

Back then, it was still possible to earn some money, but it became increasingly difficult to sustain later on, so Luo Shan changed professions and opened a small restaurant; the business was actually quite good.

When Luo Mo was a child, he learned to sing Opera from his father.

He had good talent, at least much better than his father.

When he was little, he often heard his father mention a name—Tong Qinglin.

It seemed that the thing his father was most proud of in his life was being accepted as a nominal disciple by this famous Opera master.

During the summer vacation of the year Luo Mo was seven, he was dragged by his father to work as a temporary hand and sing on stage.

Halfway through the performance, a heavy rain began to fall.

The torrential rain poured down from the sky, and the audience, young and old, all dispersed.

Only a thin old man and a middle-aged man stood under the building opposite the stage, looking at the stage from afar through the wind and rain.

Tong Qinglin had come on his own and had not greeted Luo Shan.

With no one left in the audience, seven-year-old Luo Mo kept singing on stage with his childish Opera Singing, kept singing.

Without the slightest slackening, and without a hint of just going through the motions.

When he stepped off the stage, he encountered the thin old man.

His own father stood behind the old man, respectful and submissive, with endless nervousness on his face.

The thin old man looked at Luo Mo and asked, "Just now, with such heavy rain, there wasn't a single audience member left. The partners in the opera troupe were all slacking off; as a child, why did you insist on finishing the performance seriously?"

Seven-year-old Luo Mo didn't actually understand much, but he just replied, "Because I like it."

Just like Jiang Ningxi's understanding of Luo Mo, this person seems to be born for the stage; he is deeply in love with that feeling on the stage.

After saying this, the old man nodded slightly, but did not say much more.

The little brat Luo Mo looked at the old man and added a few sentences.

It was these few sentences that earned him the old master's favor.

"And... and I know the rules! I understand the rules!" Luo Mo raised his head, looking high-spirited.

"Oh? What rules?" Tong Qinglin asked, knowing the answer.

Luo Mo looked up at him, his tone childish yet resonant:

"The ancestors have a rule: once an Opera singer starts, they must finish, regardless of whether anyone is listening!"

Once the Opera begins, it is heard in all eight directions. One direction for the living, three for the ghosts, and four for the gods.

Once you start singing, you must finish, regardless of whether there is anyone in the audience, because if the living don't listen, it doesn't mean the departed don't listen.

If the audience doesn't listen, it doesn't mean the gods don't listen.

This is the rule.

The rule left behind by the ancestors.

………

………

The saying about singing to the eight directions does indeed contain a portion of superstition.

But the core of it is actually about professional integrity and professional ethics.

This was what his father taught him, and he kept it in his heart.

Because his dad said that Grandma loved watching Opera, Xiao Luo Mo thought that if he got on stage, Grandma in heaven would surely watch and listen.

After a few days of contact, Tong Qinglin, who had long since stopped planning to take on apprentices, made an exception and accepted Luo Mo as his disciple.

According to Old Master Tong, society nowadays is much more restless than it used to be.

Never mind adults, even little children find it very hard to calm their minds to do things.

TV dramas, Animation, games...

Which of these isn't more interesting than Singing Opera?

What's more, Opera has long since declined.

If it were in the past, a famous Opera master making an exception to take on a disciple would have been such an exciting event.

However, just before Tong Qinglin was about to accept Luo Mo as his disciple, he didn't care whether the little child could understand or not, and earnestly told him, and also told Luo Mo's dad Luo Shan, to think it over carefully.

In this day and age, even his own disciples might not necessarily make a name for themselves.

"If you take me as your master, I will certainly teach you well and have strict Requirement."

"You will expend a lot of heart's blood and spend a lot of energy and time on Opera."

"However, you might not necessarily get ahead."

For a dignified master to say such things, it carried a bit of bitterness.

Old Master Tong was relatively open-minded; in this day and age, even if one studies diligently and pursues learning hard, one might not necessarily succeed in the end and live a good life, let alone starting to learn Opera, which has already declined.

He understood why no one learns to Sing Opera now, and he could also understand why things were this way.

The older generation of artists, or rather the older generation of craftsmen, all knew that the times had changed.

But they were also somewhat helpless.

Tong Qinglin was at least a person of status, but what was the situation for many ordinary old people?

It used to be that others would beg to become apprentices, but now they are Afraid of delaying others.

The final result was that Luo Mo became an apprentice and became the Closing Disciple of Tong Qinglin.

At this very moment, after Luo Mo chatted a few more words with Director Ning Dan, he left the conference room.

On the way back, he was still a bit distracted.

You must know, he is the fusion of two souls, not the soul-snatching that often appears in Xianxia fantasy novels.

His respect for his master is beyond measure.

Even the Luo Mo on Earth held these old artists in high regard.

As he walked, Luo Mo walked to a window and looked out.

He remembered very clearly that two years ago was the Old Master's eightieth birthday.

Luo Mo and his senior fellow apprentices went together to celebrate the Old Master's birthday.

The Old Master, who almost never touched alcohol on ordinary days, drank a little wine, which was very rare.

After the alcohol hit him, Luo Mo still remembers a few things the Old Master said to this day.

He looked around at Luo Mo's senior fellow apprentices, who were no longer young, and said: "You all, you all caught the last train of the prosperous era of Opera, you all have been 'stars', and you all have at least once been glorious because of Opera."

"Years of heart's blood have all received a return."

"That era, how glorious it was."

"How glorious it was."

"Only Xiao Luo, only Xiao Luo, sigh." The Old Master let out a long sigh.

The so-called "star" means a big name in that industry, a big celebrity in that industry.

Old Master Tong, taking advantage of the alcohol, looked at Luo Mo's senior fellow apprentices and said: "If there are any opportunities in the future, I will prioritize Xiao Luo; you senior fellow apprentices must not be jealous or angry."

Everyone laughed, the atmosphere was harmonious, and they all expressed that Master was looking down on everyone.

When Luo Mo first started, he was still a seven-year-old child; everyone watched him grow up, and they loved him too much to even have time for jealousy.

Tong Qinglin called Luo Mo to his side, gently patted his shoulder, and said with blurry, drunken eyes:

"Master wants you to stand on a big stage to Sing Opera."

"Master wants to see you be a star for once."

(End of this chapter)