Huayu: Starting by piggybacking on the fame of "Fairy Mom"

Chapter 37 Arrogance Due to Favor

After resting,

Zhou Xiaobai explained to An Qianqian, "Every song has its twists and turns. You have to imagine putting your emotions into it and guide your voice to naturally change direction."

Anxi seemed to understand something and started singing again, her voice gradually revealing a sincere emotion.

When she sang "Push Open the Window," she imagined the joy she felt when she first met Zhou Xiaobai.

When singing "Look at the white birds in the sky," her voice sounded like it was when she moved out of her new home, carrying a hint of sadness and sorrow.

Zhou Xiaobai continued explaining the next line: "The high note 'shout loudly' in the chorus is the threshold for high notes. Although it's only three words, it's easy to crack your voice if you don't sing it well. You have to sing this line with emotion."

"What should I do then?" Anxi asked curiously. "Didn't you say my vocal cords are still developing? Will speaking so loudly result in a northern voice?"

Thinking of this, she shuddered.

Her maternal grandmother moved from the north and had a slightly rough voice.

Grandma said that when Mom was little, she was naughty and often ran around. It was because she shouted loudly for Mom to eat that she got into trouble.

Zhou Xiaobai suppressed a laugh, then pointed to the sheet music and said to An Qianqian, "Imagine you are holding a kite string in your hand, and your breath should be like the wind, blowing upwards continuously, so that the kite can fly steadily into the blue sky."

Anxi stood on tiptoe and stretched out her arms, as if she really wanted to send a kite into the clouds. Her breath rose higher and higher as she shouted, but her voice was deafening.

"Alright, alright, keep your voice down, don't scare the birds." Zhou Xiaobai pointed at the startled birds flying away from the tree, looking helpless.

"If you get dizzy, just grill it and eat it." Anxi smacked her lips and licked her tongue.

"Close your eyes first, imagine yourself as a good child, imagine cooking for your mother..." Zhou Xiaobai stared into An Qianqian's eyes and analyzed word by word.

Anxi closed her eyes thoughtfully, imagining the scene last night when she and Xiaobai were cooking, playfully adding an extra scoop of salt while they were arguing.

A moment later, she began to sing: "We are all good children, the most innocent children..."

This time, the sound made Zhou Xiaobai's eyes instantly fill with light. An Qianqian's words were imbued with the warmth she had personally experienced, and were as sincere as a whisper.

"Skill is the wings, but the mind is the bird that flies."

"You have to let go of all the burdens of good and bad. You don't need a perfect performance, just overwhelming sincerity—that's the most impactful thing, no embellishment needed, that's the essence of being moving."

Zhou Xiaobai slowly explained to An Qianqian, knowing that An Qianqian wouldn't understand anyway.

But isn't that how all teachers teach?

It's only sophisticated if you can't understand it.

……

"Xixi, that's great! You've made a lot of progress this week. Let's start learning the next song tomorrow." Zhou Xiaobai compared the original version in his mind with An Xixi's version and then said.

"It's so slow! How much longer will it take for the remaining ten songs?" An Qianqian looked utterly dejected as she rested her head on Zhou Xiaobai's arm.

"Ha! Do you know how long professional singers practice? It takes them one or two years to release an album. That's because they practice and refine it again and again!"

Zhou Xiaobai was also helpless. He thought everything was so simple, but when he got to this point, he found it was really difficult. Fortunately, he had the space cheat to fight to the death.

"I... I understand." An Qianqian took out two more lollipops, and did the same thing again, tearing off the coating and licking them, picking one she liked, and stuffing the other into Zhou Xiaobai's mouth, saying in a muffled voice.

Zhou Xiaobai affectionately stroked An Qianqian's round face, smiling broadly—An Qianqian was good in this respect; as long as you coaxed her, everything would be easy.

"Little brother, I'm a little tired. Let me sleep for a while." She leaned on Zhou Xiaobai's arm and gradually drifted off to sleep.

Three days later,

"Sisi, if you sing 'Good Morning Jiangcheng' well, it may become a calling card for our Jiangcheng. In the future, whenever anyone thinks of Jiangcheng, they will think of you."

Zhou Xiaobai thought about choosing this song for a long time.

As a native of Jiangcheng, and especially for the sake of popularity, this song is a must—after all, isn't copying songs and changing song titles just a time traveler's routine?

"Chengdu" and "Beijing" are also acceptable, but they are not suitable for An Xixi's current age.

"Sing it a little more fully, like pushing open a door," Zhou Xiaobai's voice carried an undisguised urgency: "You are the most dazzling star in the night sky."

Anxi turned her head away from him; the little girl was throwing a tantrum.

He sang for a month and felt he was doing well, but this week Xiaobai kept finding fault with him. If he weren't tough, he would have been beaten black and blue long ago.

"Where's your breath? Your breath needs to sink! I just said it before, it's like a flat bicycle tire when you get to the chorus!" As he spoke, Zhou Xiaobai burst out laughing.

These words were like a needle piercing Anxi's swollen cheeks, and Anxi's eyes widened like a lit bomb.

She snorted and flung the sheet music away, then charged at Zhou Xiaobai with a series of exaggerated cries, grabbing his left hand and biting it.

"You were born in the Year of the Dog!"

Zhou Xiaobai winced in pain and reached out his right hand to push her forehead—he couldn't scold her or hit her; she was truly a spoiled brat.

It took another round of coaxing and pleading before this little miss calmed down.

"come over."

This time, Zhou Xiaobai didn't comment on her pitch, but instead lured An Qianqian to sit down on the piano bench.

This piano is an old, worn-out piece that Wang Shuzhen has used for decades; it's just sitting there as a waste anyway.

Zhou Xiaobai said he moved it to his dorm to practice singing, and then brought it from the dorm into the space.

To show that Zhou Xiaobai was still a good child at the orphanage, Wang Shuzhen kept his crib.

This dormitory is now used by Zhou Xiaobai and An Qianqian to rest when they come to learn to sing. For safety reasons, An Qianqian used a 20-yuan bill to send the other children to other dormitories.

"Close your eyes and listen to me." Zhou Xiaobai gathered his emotions, his voice now a little low.

Anxi closed her eyes as instructed, and the only sounds in the space were their breathing and the rustling of the wind through the treetops.

"Don't think about anything else now, just focus on singing for me alone. Have you ever seen the moonlight in your heart?"

To prepare for singing this song, Zhou Xiaobai had already mentally set the space to nighttime, with only a bright moon and twinkling stars in the sky.

A crack appeared in Anxi's heart, and the cool moonlight silently seeped into her heart.

"Now, with that light in your heart, try this line again." Zhou Xiaobai pointed to the sheet music in front of the piano keys, "You are the most beautiful star in the night sky..."

As Zhou Xiaobai's playing began, An Qianqian took a deep breath.

When she opened her mouth again, a strange sense of relaxation replaced the struggle: "You are the most beautiful star in the night sky..." The airflow supported the direction of the melody, and after the key "lighting my way forward", the high notes naturally rose.

Although it is not perfect, and although it is somewhat trembling and flimsy, it is like a surge of warmth from the bottom of my heart, breaking through the blockage and reaching the height it should reach.

The sound swirled and rose; it might not be perfectly round, but it was as clear and crisp as a lark's.

As the sound steadily faded into the last syllable, An Qianqian cautiously opened her eyes and was startled to see the glistening tears in Zhou Xiaobai's eyes.

Zhou Xiaobai's Adam's apple bobbed, his voice deep and steady: "Qianqian, remember this moment. You are excellent. At this moment, your singing voice is even more beautiful than you are."

One last time,

Just when Zhou Xiaobai thought it was time to move on to the next song, An Qianqian offered a different perspective:

"Little brother, can you teach me this sentence again?"

"Brother, you give me endless strength, sing for me again."

"Little brother, you accompany me into sweet dreams, and I still want to hear you sing."

"Little brother, you gave me such comforting warmth, I want to hear it again."

"Little brother, I want to hear your breathing."

"Little brother, you are the most beautiful encounter in my life, please give me another chance."

"younger brother……"

"younger brother……"

Anxi is going further and further astray. It's obvious she's not a good student. She does illegal assignments, sneaks in her own ideas, and misuses public resources... her misdeeds are too numerous to list.

"Stop it, An Qianqian, you're being cheeky again." Zhou Xiaobai's authority as a teacher had only been established for a short time, and he didn't want to be defeated so quickly.

"I didn't, you're talking nonsense, you're overthinking it," Anxixi retorted three times.

"Should I sing another line to thank you?" Zhou Xiaobai said, hands on her hips, displaying her authority as a teacher.

"Yes, yes, yes, it would be best to change 'Good morning, my Jiangcheng' to 'Good morning, my Qianqian.'" An Qianqian said arrogantly, taking advantage of her favor.

Zhou Xiaobai immediately broke through the defense.