Chapter 5.1
“Cheng Han!” Mu Nan, furious, dragged Cheng Han out of the crowded lounge, then asked, “How could you, with your thick eyebrows and big eyes, betray me like this?
Cheng Han’s lips curled in a mocking arc, “Isn’t that why you’re being paid almost nine figures? Isn’t that enough to buy your dignity? Is this only your first day of understanding the principle that money talks?”
“But… but…” Mu Nan stuttered, unable to find a coherent response. He had assumed Cheng Han would resist this performance with him from the start. Who would have expected that he would actually just give in like that? Making him feel as if he had been betrayed.
“Alright, enough with the ‘buts’. Let’s go back, otherwise they would think we’re fighting.”
Mu Nan muttered curses under his breath, but didn’t know if they were directed at the program team or Cheng Han.
As they returned to the lounge, the program staff breathed sighs of relief. They had been afraid that these two bigwigs would lose their tempers after being pushed and refuse to continue, so seeing them back eased their worries.
“Both of you have upcoming schedules, so it’s best if we finalize the song selection today, because rearranging music and choreography will take time, and we want to start rehearsals directly at the next recording session.”
Mu Nan grumbled under his breath, but didn’t show any obvious resistance.
“So, what should we choose? Should we really sing, dance, and act combined?”
Cheng Han nodded, “It would be best if it’s a bit challenging.”
“That’s easy for you to say.” Mu Nan said mournfully, “If singing, dancing, and acting were all easy, I’d just go straight into musical theater.”
“Musical theater?” Wilder raised a question.
“What’s wrong?”
“You can choose songs from musicals. They have the difficulty, ready-made dances, and complete plots. Most importantly, musicals have many male duets.”
Mu Nan slapped his thigh hard, “You’re a genius!”
Wilder shouted, “Ancestor, it’s my leg you’re slapping.”
With a direction for song selection, the artistic director gained motivation. He quickly sifted through selections on the computer then finally, the printer spat out two sets of scores.
“This one is a selection from the German musical ‘Elizabeth’, called ‘Haze Attacks Gradually’. It tells the story of Princess Sissi’s son Rudolf, who is deeply trapped in pain and despair. The Grim Reaper takes this opportunity to tempt and torment him.”
Since they both had a basic understanding of music theory, the director printed the sheet music 1Sheet music usually refers to a “single sheet” of music; that is, one song or piece printed separately. From Wikipedia out directly. But Mu Nan, looking at the score, was somewhat shocked, “The chorus part is too high, and it’s quite difficult. Also, this is in German. Do we need to rewrite the lyrics?”
“Let’s see it first.” Cheng Han set the score aside, “Since it’s a musical, there must be a video.”
On the computer, the video had already been queued to the segment that they were going to perform. Pressing play, the Grim Reaper appeared in the center of the screen, holding a large black shroud, sitting in a carriage, while Rudolf knelt beside him, resting his head on his lap.
“Damn! So gay!” Mu Nan muttered under his breath, causing Cheng Han to glance at him coldly, however he didn’t say anything.
The main character then opened his mouth and sang, “We finally break the silence, we finally speak to each other.”
And the more Mu Nan watched, the more his expression became increasingly conflicted. His focus was no longer on the song. Instead, it was fixated on the overtly gay interaction between the two characters.
Tugging and pulling, advancing and retreating, a crazy standoff.
They’re about to kiss! Phew, they didn’t.
About to kiss again?
Damn, they actually really kissed this time!
Mu Nan couldn’t help but shout this last line out loud, causing everyone in the room to look at him quizzically.
“Th-the-they…. why did they kiss?” Mu Nan stammered, pointing shakily at the screen, feeling deeply shaken from head to heart.
The look on Cheng Han’s face plainly read ‘making a mountain out of a molehill’. “Many artistic representations of death in Western culture involve the kiss of death.”
Mu Nan: “Then I’m not doing this. It’s too gay.”
The director had already anticipated this and so waved his hand, “We’ll just cut this part of the plot out and change the dance too.”
“What about the lyrics?” Mu Nan asked again.
“It will be in the original German version. It sounds high-end, and the fans will praise you to the skies in no time. Plus, according to Cheng Han, you both have a foundation in French, so learning German shouldn’t be difficult.”
Mu Nan was speechless for a moment, “So, we have no choice but to perform this?”
The director smiled in embarrassment, “There’s nothing more suitable than this segment.”
Mu Nan gritted his teeth, then, as if making a huge decision, said, “Then, I’ll play the dominant one!”
“What did you say?” Wilder’s voice cracked immediately, “Say that again, what are you going to play?”
It took a moment for everyone present to understand that he was referring to the Grim Reaper.
In the previous scene, the Grim Reaper was full of aggressive attacks, while Rudolf appeared weak and helpless under his domination, which indeed made the ‘dominant-submissive’ dynamic clear.
Mu Nan also realised his mistake and sat down awkwardly, “Since you get it, then that’s that.”
“Pfft.”
Cheng Han however suddenly laughed out loud, causing him to immediately receive an icy glare from Mu Nan, “What are you laughing at!”
Cheng Han crossed his arms, looking at him calmly, “I’m laughing at you. It’s amusing how you say one thing but mean another.”
Mu Nan took two seconds to understand the meaning of this sentence, then realized that Cheng Han was mocking him. “I can see you don’t want to live past today!” And saying this, he was about to confront Cheng Han, but was quickly held back by Wilder and his assistant Xiao Jin.
“Stop making trouble and let’s continue.” Cheng Han knew when to stop. He flipped through the score a couple of times and asked the artistic director, “How should we divide this?”
“Xiao Cheng will play the Grim Reaper. Your appearance is a bit more profound, so it’s suitable for the dark role of the Grim Reaper. Xiao Mu will play Rudolf. Your voice is clear and youthful, so it’s perfect for Rudolf.”
Mu Nan was a little unhappy, but he also knew to respect the advice of professionals on professional matters, so he didn’t stubbornly argue. However, the following style-setting process didn’t go so smoothly.
To fully respect the ideas of the two, the artistic director allowed them to discuss it themselves. However after just a few sentences of discussion, the two quickly started arguing again.
“I think we can find a balance between the madness of the first version and the elegance of the second.” This was Cheng Han’s idea.
“I don’t think so. That would easily appear mediocre. We need to have our own distinctive features.” This was Mu Nan’s idea.
“But we can’t create distinctive features, otherwise we’ll just fall into ordinary imitation.”
“But that’s still better than not standing out at all.”
As the discussion grew louder and louder, Wilder and Cheng Han’s agent exchanged a glance, then both of them sank into a moment of empty and helpless sage mode.
*