Eighties Sweetheart Wife-Chapter 42 - This is what speaking up gets you, kneel_1

Chapter 42: Chapter 42 This is what speaking up gets you, kneel_1

Chapter 42 -42 This is what speaking up gets you, kneel_1

Old Man Song didn’t delay; he hurried the horse-drawn carriage to the county town.

By the time they arrived at the entrance of the performing arts group, they realized they had come early, and there were hardly any people there.

Song Yunuan was holding a large tea jar—a white porcelain one with bright red characters printed on it.

Wrapped in a towel, inside was honeysuckle tea.

As people gradually started to arrive, the three from Song Yunuan’s party began to stick out.

Most notably, Little Asheng’s trousers had patches on the knees; even though the stitches were meticulously done, they were still immediately noticeable. freёnovelkiss.com

Song Ting had made an effort to dress up today, but her clothes were not new, nor were her shoes leather, and she wasn’t wearing a scarf.

Compared to the city girls here, she was definitely more than a little behind.

Even Song Yunuan was not wearing leather shoes or a scarf, mainly because she thought scarves were too countrified and leather shoes hurt her feet—not nearly as comfortable as the cloth shoes her mother made.

Besides, they all had adults with them.

These adults, you could tell at a glance, were either officials or workers.

A girl with a bob cut asked directly, “What do you all do?”

Song Yunuan replied, “We’re here for the audition.”

A crowd that was initially in competition suddenly widened their eyes.

“This isn’t a place hiring temporary workers, you must be in the wrong place?”

Song Yunuan glanced at the dozens of girls—yep, they were definitely going to be eliminated by her cousin, so no point in getting angry, right?

Otherwise, arguing would only reflect poorly on her cousin.

Asheng immediately raised his voice, “My cousin is here to audition to be a member of the performing arts group, we’re not in the wrong place.”

The dozens of people suddenly started chattering away.

Some were curious, some scornful, some wary—the emotions were quite complex.

Soon after, more and more people arrived until there were over a hundred.

Just then, the performing arts group’s doors opened, and seeing the crowd outside, someone said hurriedly, “You’re all here to register, right?

Come on in quickly, the audition site is in the rehearsal hall.”

Song Yunuan was just about to follow the crowd in when she saw Zhao Li, not far away, walking briskly towards them.

Zhao Li, with a canvas bag on her back, pulled Song Yunuan and the others off to a less crowded side, unfolded a paper wrapping, and inside were steaming large dumplings.

Song Yunuan didn’t refuse; Song Ting couldn’t eat, so she, holding the large tea jar, thanked Zhao Li rather shyly.

She wondered to herself, was her niece this close with Sister Zhao?

But having eaten noodles in the morning, they each had just one dumpling, stuffing the rest into their shoulder bags.

Zhao Li was still worried Little Nuan would feel wronged and insist on paying or something, but who would have thought the kid would just start eating?

Zhao Li was truly happy, her face all smiles as she praised Song Ting, “Put appearances aside, you definitely rank in the top ten among these people.

Don’t feel burdened, just let loose when you sing.

I hear stage presence is also very important…”

So she followed the crowd and shared with Song Ting all she had found out.

It was said that registration was only open for two hours, closing at ten in the morning.

Even so, there were over a hundred people, and that was after selection.

With so many people, all with connections, who would go first?

So, they decided by drawing lots.

Song Yunuan thought she was a lucky charm, excited she drew the very last number!

She looked at the slip of paper and the staff member, both with suspicion.

The staff member laughed; the little girl’s doubtful appearance was quite adorable.

“Little girl, there’s no trickery here.

How could I know which one you’d pick, right?”

Since she was the last, it looked like her turn wouldn’t come until the afternoon.

Zhao Li urged Song Ting not to be nervous, to not feel pressured no matter how the singing went, just treat it like coming out to have fun, and even to imagine the judges and audience as heads of cabbage…

Song Yunuan told Sister Zhao to go back to work, there was no need to worry here.

If there was any good news later, she promised she would be the first to tell her.

Those auditioning waited in the rehearsal hall, and then one by one, they auditioned in a small conference room.

The first girl was called in.

She suddenly envied the person who was last.

There were chairs in the rehearsal hall, and Song Yunuan, Song Ting, and Asheng sat in the front, attracting quite a few especially attentive glances from people.

An hour quickly passed by, and a staff member came over to tell Song Ting specifically not to leave, even though she was the last one, estimating everything would be finished before one o’clock.

The water in the tea urn had cooled, so Song Yunuan replaced it with hot water, but Song Ting only moistened her throat, not daring to drink.

By the time it was almost their turn, the last few, the judges were very tired.

“The last few I’m looking at are doubtful; can they read musical notation?

I’m afraid their education credentials might be fake,” said Zuo Shanhong, the deputy head and the one on the list from the antagonistic faction.

He had his mission, and besides, he had to create some conflict, or else if his performance wasn’t up to par, he would be scolded by the leader.

He then looked at Ghu Chunlin, the head of the cultural troupe sitting beside him: “Old Ghu, we already have more than a dozen good seeds in front, and the leaders are all hungry and tired, shall we just end it here…”

Old Ghu shook his head, “No, we must ensure fairness.” But then he added, “Those at the back, actually, they already face quite an unfair situation.

Isn’t it too much not to let them in now?”

The others echoed his sentiment.

There wasn’t even half an hour left.

Song Yunuan and the others waited behind, standing together with quite a few current members of the cultural troupe.

Someone said, “Children cannot go in.”

Song Yunuan replied, “We are accompanying our little niece here, we guarantee we won’t disrupt the order.”

The person didn’t say much, because although there were no children in the corridor at that time, there were quite many parents.

There was also an old woman with a head full of white hair; she even glared at a staff member, telling him not to be noisy.

Song Ting finally stood in the conference room.

She was the last one.

The judges and leaders in the conference room visibly relaxed.

First, they asked Song Ting to introduce herself, then gave her a piece of musical notation to hum.

Quite a few actors from the corridor crowded in, standing in the corner with smiles, looking at Song Ting who stood in the center.

Old Ghu originally wanted to chase the troupe members out, but Zuo Shanhong said, “Don’t chase them away; there will be many people under the stage anyway.

If she is afraid of this, then she shouldn’t compete, just go home.”

Song Ting’s voice trembled slightly, “I want to compete; I’m not going home.”

She didn’t want to let down Little Nuan’s efforts.

Someone snickered, “Her voice is trembling like a faulty loudspeaker.”

Song Yunuan stood at the door, watching the long-faced actress who mocked her little niece, not knowing who she was, but her words were too unpleasant.

It was her niece’s first time here; she couldn’t have offended her, could she?

A female comrade in the crowd said, “Shut up!”

“I didn’t say…”

Suddenly, a melodious humming began to sound.

This voice, even with a slight tremble, was also graceful and pleasant, clear and bright.

Old Ghu’s eyes widened slightly, agitated, he hurriedly looked down at the documents.

Song Ting, a member of the Erdao River Village in Sunflower Commune.

Old Ghu’s voice was gentle, “You’ve passed the musical notation test; now you can sing the song you want to perform.”

Song Ting bowed, “Respected leaders, the piece I will perform next is ‘Embroidered Gold Plaque’!”

Old Ghu smiled and encouraged, “Sing boldly, don’t be nervous.”

After a few moments, a proud and melodious voice full of rich emotion slowly rose, “…During the Lantern Festival in the first month, the ‘Embroidered Gold Plaque’ unfolds…”

Upon this sound, the entire room fell silent.

This was the power of her voice!!!