Chapter 220: Chapter 220: Street Red Actor

Fortunately, Yun Xie acted in time, so the diligent little rabbit hadn’t had a chance to begin its calming work.

Therefore, no one discovered that Jiang Qin’s Calming Power was astonishingly strong.

With so few people around, if Jiang Qin were to use her calming ability, the extreme strength of her Calming Power would be exposed almost immediately.

However, her control over her spiritual power was now very stable.

She only needed to divert a bit of her focus while singing to make the Spiritual Body disappear.

’But now,’ Jiang Qin thought, ’even if I retract it, it’ll just have to come out again when I sing later. Then Yun Xie will have to lure it away again. It’s too much trouble.’

’I might as well just leave it out.’

Because her focus was divided, the little rabbit nearly lost its form, turning mostly transparent.

Fortunately, the passersby who had stopped were all clamoring to request songs. Jiang Qin barely had a moment’s rest, so the rabbit remained in Yun Xie’s arms.

Finally, Jiang Qin received her first request for a custom song.

“Miss, you’re the champion from last year’s Interstellar Composer competition, aren’t you? Miss Jiang Qing, right?”

The question was blunt. Although Jiang Qin didn’t particularly want to be recognized by so many people, she didn’t want to lie either.

So she simply nodded.

“That’s amazing! I thought you looked familiar just now, but I wasn’t brave enough to be sure.”

Although Jiang Qin looked the same in person as she did online, all the images and videos of her circulating throughout the Empire were from her performances.

During her performances, she usually wore exquisite makeup and a wide variety of costumes.

But the Jiang Qin sitting alone on the street corner, playing and singing now, was completely bare-faced.

Her long black hair was woven into a single braid, its end adorned with a yellow-and-white flower.

Her clothes were simple, too—a plain, cream-colored long dress.

Unlike the Main Star, Neptune experienced summer twelve months a year.

This was also why, despite it being winter, the planet was still bustling with people.

In fact, winter was Neptune’s peak tourist season.

Some females who disliked the cold would bring their entire families here to live for a few months every year when the weather turned chilly.

As a result, everyone was dressed in light, summer clothing.

Jiang Qin’s attire was pure vacation-wear—simple, modest, and fresh—a stark contrast to her stage presence.

It was natural that people less familiar with her wouldn’t recognize her right away.

After she confirmed her identity, the man grew excited. His excitement then gave way to a touch of bashfulness. “I’d like to request a custom song, if I may?”

“Of course,” Jiang Qin replied. A custom order was just what she’d been waiting for.

’One of these is worth ten regular requests.’

“Heh, don’t worry, I’m a fan. I won’t make things difficult for you. I just want to hear a song with a particularly unique vocal style.

Something similar to that song you performed on the show, New Imperial Concubine Drunk, would be perfect.”

The man finished speaking and promptly paid the Star Coin fee.

In front of Jiang Qin sat a Star Coin savings card—the travel fund card issued by the program’s production team.

For this variety show, contestants could only spend the funds on this card, so customers requesting songs could simply scan the card with their Light Computers to pay the fee.

Before long, Jiang Qin had selected a song.

She set aside her guitar and replaced it with a Zither.

“This song is called Red Actor.”

She lowered her head, her voice a low murmur. “The curtain rises on an act, water sleeves flowing,

Singing of sorrow and joy, of parting and reunion, none of it my own.

The fan opens and shuts, gongs and drums now clash, now fall to silence.

Feelings on stage, the person offstage—who is there to tell the tale…”

The man who made the request was a little confused during the first half. The unique vocal style he was hoping for hadn’t appeared yet, but he had to admit, the song was still beautiful.

Then came the chorus:

“Though my station is low, I dare not forget the sorrows of my nation.

Even if no one knows my name.

The crowd below moves on, the old faces are gone,

While the actor on stage sings a song of heartbreak and farewell~”

Everyone present was already captivated.

They didn’t fully understand the lyrics, but they could grasp the general sentiment.

Then came the final lines, delivered with what sounded like both gritted teeth and resounding strength:

“You finish your part, and I take the stage.

Don’t mock the amorous plays, don’t laugh at a fool’s absurdity…”

It left a heavy feeling in the listeners’ hearts. Even those who understood little could tell that the song carried a profound weight.

After she finished, the man swallowed hard and asked with some difficulty, “Miss Jiang, this song… what does it mean?”

It wasn’t that the song was bad; it was just that he was uncultured, *sob sob*~~

Jiang Qin fell silent for a moment. “Have any of you heard the saying, ’actors are without feeling’?”

Someone in the crowd answered, “I have. A lot of people use it to describe actors these days.

It means their emotions are all just an act. As long as you pay them, they can put on a show of being with you through life and death. But if there’s no money? It’s more like, ’Who the hell do you think you are?’”

“Ahem, crude words… and, uh, crude reasoning,” Jiang Qin said, embarrassed. ’We’re still live!’ she thought frantically.

’That guy is going to get jumped by some angry fans.’

’This guy is way too blunt. He just went straight for an instant-cast, area-of-effect attack on all actors.’

“That’s more or less the idea,” she began. “In ancient times, actors held a low social status and were often despised.

In the eyes of many, they were just people who put on a show for any occasion, incapable of genuine emotion.

But the lyrics of this song say that even in an actor’s heart, there is a place for home and country.

Though my station is low, I dare not forget the sorrows of my nation.

Patriotism knows no profession.

They may be actors, but when faced with a national crisis, they too are willing to sacrifice their lives for their country.”

“*Sob*… I can picture it now.”

“It’s like seeing the enemy army at the city gates. The audience has long since scattered and fled for their lives, but the actor is still on stage, determined to finish their performance.”

“In a book from my great-great-great-grandmother’s collection, I once read a line: ’When the opera begins, all gather to listen.’

It said that once a performance starts, it must be finished, no matter what.

So maybe a scene where the city falls but the actor doesn’t stop singing could actually happen.”

Only Jiang Qin knew that this song was indeed based on a story from the Republican Era of China.

In truth, for someone from Earth, there were far too many historical heroes worthy of praise.

There were countless tales more legendary and more tragic than this one.

But the Interstellar People, having lost their history, had never heard these stories. So now, a simple song and a story summarized in a few sentences were enough to move them to their core.

Jiang Qin felt it stemmed more from their yearning for that bygone era.

Just as she, too, had once longed to witness the scenes from the great river of history.

She often found herself fantasizing about what vivid, dramatic spectacles she might have witnessed if she had been born in that time…

The fans in the livestream chat were also eagerly discussing the song. The Jiang Fans, in particular, were shouting:

[You all know, right? Our Qin Bao is also a part-time screenwriter and director!]

[To all the young masters, young ladies, and CEOs out there, if you have the resources, can you please go negotiate an investment and let Qin Bao film this story?]

[I recommend filming it in the Empire! I’m willing to play the actor’s role!]

[As long as this project gets made, I’m willing to pay my own way just to play a corpse!]

[The money is practically being spoon-fed to them. Surely some investor will see the market potential in this, right?]

…

Ni Jia, who could arguably be considered one of those very investors, stood quietly in the crowd.

At that moment, the phony smile was gone from his face, as was the layer of exaggerated, playful cheer.

He simply stood in the crowd, silently gazing at her graceful figure.

It was as if, in his world of deception and intrigue, a single blade of green grass had suddenly sprouted.

It turned out that not all females were the same.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep