novellhall Chapter 16 Dreams
Chapter 16 Dreams
Ancixi is serious about making big money by releasing records.
A young girl with a dream is full of energy.
The next day, at the crack of dawn, An Qianqian rolled out of Liu Xiaoli's arms.
After washing up, while Liu Xiaoli was still groggy, An Qianqian said, "Go to the orphanage to find Xiaobai," and ran out.
At this moment, Zhou Xiaobai is having a sweet dream.
In the dream, his intentions were impure: "Sissi, just one line, just one line, you sang it the best!"
"I won't learn it! This isn't a nursery rhyme at all!" She shook her head vigorously, her braids swinging back and forth. "Don't think I don't know, this song is from Peking Opera. We have a cassette tape at home, and my mom listens to it all the time."
Zhou Xiaobai forced out his most sincere, teacher-like smile: "Just learn one sentence: 'I have countless uncles, and they only come to visit when there's something important...' If you learn it well, your uncles will praise you."
Anxi counted on her fingers, looking puzzled. "Where did I get a cousin? I only have an aunt and uncles!"
"Well!"
Zhou Xiaobai hated himself for not being smart enough; even a little girl couldn't fool him.
"Anxi, I'm your uncle!"
He blurted it out, his voice instantly piercing the small space of the dormitory—
An Qianqian, who had just stepped in, was stunned and wondered if she had misheard—Zhou Xiaobai wanted to be her cousin?
She rushed to Zhou Xiaobai in three strides, her anger blazing:
"Zhou Xiaobai!"
The sound was like a thunderclap, waking Zhou Xiaobai up. He saw An Qianqian's little fist coming at him: "What kind of dream are you having? You want to be my uncle? I'll beat you to death, I'll beat you to death!"
After taking a few punches to the forehead, Zhou Xiaobai finally realized what was happening, grabbed the small fist that was swinging at him, and finally understood that he had given himself away in his dream.
He tried hard to recall: there was no reunion with relatives in the dream, only learning songs and thoughts that came out of his mouth!
He desperately tried to encourage himself: Don't panic! There's still hope! There's still hope!
His mind raced, and he made up a line that even he didn't believe: "Sisi, I dreamt that Grandma Wang was teaching you to sing, telling you to sing with emotion. You don't have an uncle, I was just demonstrating, just demonstrating."
"Really?" Anxi didn't believe it and waved her fist in protest.
"Yes, yes!" Zhou Xiaobai nodded frantically; the little tyrant was terrifying at this moment.
"Hmph, if you dare to yell again, I'll beat you to death." Anxi felt that something was wrong, but she didn't have a cousin among her relatives.
Zhou Xiaobai breathed a sigh of relief—the little darling is so easy to fool!
At this point, it was time to act decisively and not let her dwell on this issue any longer. Zhou Xiaobai quickly got up: "Qianqian, let's go have breakfast, then we'll learn the song later."
Half an hour later, Zhou Xiaobai pulled An Qianqian to stand in front of Wang Shuzhen: "Grandma, Qianqian wants to learn to sing from you!"
He felt that teaching was like learning kung fu in his previous life, where each level taught the next, and only after the basic skills were solid could a top master take over.
It's not that top experts can't teach; it's mainly that they lack the patience. Arrogance and scolding are common occurrences for them.
Although Liu Xiaoli was a pillar of the song and dance troupe, she was always a little uneasy asking others for favors unless they were close relatives.
Given An Qianqian's domineering temperament, now that she has this powerful tool of a spatial ability, making her unhappy could lead to serious trouble.
I can keep an eye on Grandma Wang myself, so she's the most suitable person to do so.
The system's main theme is "growing together and living together," which is essentially about accompanying you all the way.
Wang Shuzhen was completely dumbfounded: "Her mother is a singing genius, why is she coming to me to learn?"
"Da Niu can't teach the basics well," Zhou Xiaobai reasoned, then added with praise, "Grandma, this is your specialty. Letting others teach it will mislead the students."
Wang Shuzhen was very pleased and naturally nodded in agreement.
On the first day of learning the song, Wang Shuzhen taught carefully, and An Qianqian also studied diligently.
At first, she stumbled a bit, but with Wang Shuzhen's patient guidance, she gradually found her singing rhythm, and the essence of singing began to emerge.
She used to resist when her mother asked her to learn singing and dancing. She even whispered to Zhou Xiaobai: "There are uncles and aunts who sing in my mother's song and dance troupe. My mother said they sing bel canto and folk songs. They sound nice, but we can't understand them."
My mother did try her hand at bel canto at home, but her voice was truly indescribable.
The song "Peach Blossom Luck" sung by Sister Yang on TV is much better than my mother's musical.
Anxi thought this to herself, but she would never dare to say it to her mother's face, for fear of being beaten.
It seems Zhou Xiaobai was right; professional matters should be handled by professionals. Grandma Wang taught us very well.
An Qianqian was also helpless about Zhou Xiaobai's aversion to school.
Even if there were songs, I couldn't copy them, let alone compose music—I don't know many characters, so there's no way I could copy them.
She scolded Zhou Xiaobai for being useless, using her mother's sarcastic words: "In the future, I'll have to help you boost your popularity and get you a 'one-click learning' feature, otherwise you'll just be a freeloader."
Zhou Xiaobai was furious at her words, wanting to hit her but unable to bring himself to do it, while An Qianqian wasn't afraid of him at all.
However, although he was illiterate, he still had to learn musical instruments.
Grandma Wang was truly multi-talented. For an artistic young woman of that era, singing, dancing, and playing several musical instruments were just the basics.
The orphanage not only has guitars, but also a piano that has been used for decades.
At night, in the space.
Zhou Xiaobai, with his guitar hanging on his arm, said, "Qianqian, I'll play 'Learn to Meow' for you first."
Actually, this song is not suitable for Zhou Xiaobai to sing at all; it's all just cutesy acting by a young girl.
He's been learning guitar these past few days, spending his evenings browsing social media for the past two months. Now his fingers are becoming more and more nimble, and he's eager to show off.
Zhou Xiaobai adjusted his posture. Although he was over 120 cm tall, the guitar was still too big for him. It looked a bit awkward hanging on his shoulder, like a small horse pulling a big cart.
The origin of "Learning to Meow" is also quite interesting.
A couple of days ago, I was learning guitar with Grandma Wang. The big orange cat in the yard tilted its head and listened for a while, then jumped to his feet and rubbed against him, then meowed in rhythm.
To prevent Anxi from saying he was a freeloader, he got this song from the system's audio and video library.
Although he couldn't read, he could still understand the lyrics. The song was simple, so he didn't need to memorize it.
"Learning to Meow" is a piece in the key of C, with a very simple chord progression: C G-Am-F, which repeats continuously.
As the cheerful guitar music began:
"Let's learn to meow together, meow meow meow meow..."
Then, when he got to the chorus, his hand trembled, and the high notes cracked. The cute "meow meow meow" instantly turned into "roar...", sounding like tigers fighting.
An Qianqian found it particularly funny to see Zhou Xiaobai's wide-eyed, cute expression.
She widened her eyes, puffed out her cheeks, and, with a gesture, blew a puff of air to give Zhou Xiaobai a live lesson: "Little brother, this is how you act cute. This is real cuteness."
As a teacher, Zhou Xiaobai was furious that the first lesson of the school year was filled with students finding fault with him: "Whose teaching is it, yours or mine? Respecting teachers is a virtue, and it's unacceptable for such a young child to abandon tradition."
Anxi was furious: "You illiterate person, you want to be a teacher? If you're so capable, copy it down yourself. I don't need you to teach me." Then, she delivered the final blow: "What you're playing isn't meowing like a cat; your expression is more like a tiger."
"You—" Zhou Xiaobai's finger trembled as he pointed at her.
"What do you mean, 'what do you mean, 'sister'? Am I wrong?" An Qianqian stuck out her little fist. If Zhou Xiaobai said another word, it would be a challenge to his sister's authority, and she would have to teach him a lesson.
Zhou Xiaobai felt that he had gone astray, using his weaknesses to challenge An Qianqian's strengths, and that he had only himself to blame.
But it's in his nature to be a teacher, so if we can't teach Meng, we'll teach something else. A good man doesn't fight with a woman, and admitting defeat when he can't win is Zhou Xiaobai's strength.
This time, he changed his strategy, no longer showing off his facial expressions, and added some techniques to the guitar to make the cat's meows more vivid.
Although he was tone-deaf, it actually added a unique flavor to the song.
Anxi couldn't stop humming along to the cute yet catchy tune. She even danced impromptu to the rhythm, so it seemed the song really suited her taste.
That adorable expression of pouting and sticking out her tongue made Zhou Xiaobai burst into laughter.
However, Zhou Xiaobai couldn't bear to watch the way the girl twisted her waist and lifted her legs. He thought to himself, "If this girl can learn to dance well from Liu Xiaoli, then she'll be living a life of singing and dancing forever."
Thinking of this, Zhou Xiaobai smiled and patted An Qianqian's head: "Isn't it nice? This song is perfect for you."
"I like this song, I want to learn it first." Anxi slapped his hand away and smiled, her face turning into a round bun.
"Okay! Okay! I'll listen to you."
Time passed slowly, and learning and happiness coexisted.
Zhou Xiaobai also tried every means to hide his great dream of becoming An Qianqian's elder from An Qianqian.
However, we have to move to the Zhou family tomorrow, and the grand family reunion drama will soon begin.
Thankfully, she had to go to school for the last few days. Otherwise, if An Qianqian had gone to the orphanage and found that Zhou Xiaobai was missing and that she had even been demoted in seniority, she would have caused a huge uproar.