Courtyard House: A Great Musician! Red Songs Resound Worldwide

"It's a pleasure to finally meet you today!"

Old Qiao looked Li Chaoyang up and down very carefully, then extended his right hand and said with a smile, "Hello, Comrade Li Chaoyang."

"My name is Qiao Shuhua, a retired veteran of the Yanjing Military Region's Zhan You Art Troupe." He paused, glanced down at the sheet music in his hand, and then said apologetically, "My wife has been mentioning you a lot lately, but..."

After a slight hesitation, he said somewhat embarrassedly, "I thought you were just lucky to write those two songs before, but now it seems I was wrong, and very wrong at that, so please forgive me, Comrade Li Chaoyang."

"I shouldn't have said that about you without knowing you at all."

"Now, I sincerely apologize to you!" Qiao Shuhua said in a serious tone.

This made Li Chaoyang a little embarrassed; he scratched his head and muttered to himself...

You're absolutely right, I really hit the jackpot when I wrote these songs.

However, he still smiled modestly and said, "Look at what you're saying, Teacher Qiao!"

"Didn't Sister Li just say that we're all on the same side? Please don't apologize to me anymore!"

"Besides, I'm a beginner in the field of art."

"So it's normal that you thought that way before, Professor Qiao."

Seeing that Qiao Shuhua's personality was somewhat rigid, Li Chaoyang stopped calling him "brother-in-law" as before and started calling him "Teacher Qiao" instead, after all, Qiao was a senior in this field.

Seeing his response, Qiao Shuhua smiled with some relief, but he didn't refute the title of "teacher." He nodded thoughtfully and then picked up the manuscript again, asking, "By the way, Comrade Chaoyang, this young comrade just said that this song is a new song. Did you compose it recently?"

After a pause, without waiting for Li Chaoyang's reply, he continued, "I've heard your song 'We Are Walking on the Road' before."

“I also looked at the sheet music for the song ‘We Workers Have Strength’ that Li Xia gave me.”

"Compared to those two songs, this song 'Let Us Row Our Boats on May 5.8th' has a completely different musical style."

"To be honest, in all my decades in the industry, I've never seen anyone who can handle two different musical styles at the same time!"

"From a purely artistic point of view, your new song is far more artistically valuable than your previous two!"

"You have to understand that after decades of war in our country, the field of art has suffered a severe shortage of talent!"

"This has even led to the fact that many of the songs that our Zhan You Art Troupe is currently rehearsing are old songs that existed during the War of Resistance Against Japan."

"I'm really excited to see that you have three new songs in a row that are all such masterpieces!"

"Comrade Chaoyang, could you tell me in detail about the inspiration behind this new song?"

Ugh, here we go again!

Chapter 72, "We Workers Have Power" (Full Version) [Please Subscribe]

As Li Chaoyang watched Qiao Shuhua speak, he became more and more excited, and the corners of his mouth twitched slightly.

He realized that these artists all communicated in the same way.

They start by showering you with praise, and then, without waiting for your reaction, immediately launch into their thoughts.

He had gone through this routine many times before, when he wrote his first song.

Now he feels nauseous at the mere mention of creative inspiration...

He was getting sick of those clichéd phrases about being great, glorious, and righteous, after saying them so many times.

So Li Chaoyang simply smiled and said, "Teacher Qiao, this poem, 'Let Us Row Our Boats,' was actually something I wrote casually when I was in school. I didn't have many thoughts about it, and I've just kept it ever since."

"I just happened to learn today that Xiao Song is going to form a children's choir."

"I thought this song would be suitable, so I just gave it to her to use."

Qiao Shuhua nodded slightly, just about to speak.

At this moment, Li Xia suddenly spoke up and asked, "By the way, Chaoyang, about the children's choir you just mentioned..."

Li Chaoyang's lips curled slightly as he smiled and looked to the side, "Sister Li, you'll have to ask Xiao Song about that..."

"Xiao Song?" Li Xia finally remembered the girl and turned to ask, "What happened?"

"Director Li..." Having just calmed down, Xiao Song had no choice but to lower his head and honestly confess to Li Xia when his director asked.

However, the girl was smart enough not to tell Li Xia about the "minor details" of lying to the factory director.

However, she also explained why Li Chaoyang had criticized her earlier.

Li Chaoyang, however, discovered that Sister Li was not at all surprised that Xiao Song could easily persuade the factory director...

Before Li Xia could speak after hearing Xiao Song's answer, Qiao Shuhua asked, "Comrade Xiao Song, right?"

"You just said you want to form a children's choir but you don't know any music theory, right?"

"So, do you need my help?" Qiao Shuhua's eyes sparkled as she spoke, clearly showing her interest in the children's choir.

Seeing this, Li Chaoyang could easily understand what Qiao Shuhua was thinking.

He was immediately somewhat amused and exasperated, saying, "Teacher Qiao, the main reason I invited you here is to ask you to help train the workers' choir. As for the children's choir..."

Li Chaoyang hadn't finished speaking yet.

Teacher Qiao waved her hand confidently and said, "It's alright, Comrade Chaoyang."

"Whether you're herding one sheep or two, you're still herding them, so I might as well teach them both."

"Anyway, as long as Comrade Chaoyang's songs are good enough!"

"I'm confident I can get both of your factory's choirs selected for the National Day cultural performance!"

"Based on my experience, I'm pretty sure 'Let Us Row Our Boats' will be selected!"

Li Chaoyang's eyes narrowed slightly; Teacher Qiao's tone was quite forceful...

If I hadn't witnessed his singing skills earlier, I would have seriously doubted that he was exaggerating...

After a moment's thought, Li Chaoyang said frankly, "Teacher Qiao, our expectations this time are not just as simple as being selected."

"The minimum goal is to achieve a ranking and receive a reward."

"To get a ranking?" Qiao Shuhua paused for a moment, frowned slightly, and thought for a while before saying, "Then it seems we still need to assess the team's overall quality first..."

"Of course, as long as the foundation isn't too bad, it's generally not a big problem."

Li Chaoyang was even more surprised to hear this, and his eyes narrowed again.

What Qiao Shuhua said really sounds like he's bragging...

Seeing that he seemed somewhat skeptical, Qiao Shuhua explained, "Comrade Chaoyang, I have my reasons for saying this."

"The judging of large-scale events like the National Day cultural performance is actually conducted in groups."

“Each military region and local professional performing arts troupe will be divided into one group, and the selected programs from each government agency will be divided into another group.”

"There is also a children's group, like Xiao Song's children's choir."

"So your chances of getting a ranking are still quite high."

"Moreover, it's very likely that we can get both!"

"So there's a group system for judging awards?" Li Chaoyang's eyes lit up!

He genuinely didn't know this beforehand; he thought all the participating programs were judged together!

At this moment, Li Xia asked from the side, "By the way, Chaoyang, you haven't shown us the lyrics to 'We Workers Have Strength' yet." "Well, now that I've brought you here, shouldn't you show us the lyrics?"

"Just a moment, I'll be right away." Without wasting any words, Li Chaoyang returned to his desk and resumed writing furiously!

After Qiao Shuhua and Li Xia watched the full version of "We Workers Have Power".

He showered Li Chaoyang with praise once again...

Joshua even bluntly stated that as long as the members of the choir are not tone-deaf, they are fine.

That basically guarantees a place, and being selected is a given!

With the business settled, Li Chaoyang realized it was lunchtime, so he treated Qiao Shuhua and her husband, along with Xiao Song, to another meal at the government canteen... but this time, the money wasn't his own; it was paid directly from the propaganda department's public account...

After all, he had previously applied for funding from the factory manager to invite this expert, 797.

Sha Zhu was still in charge of cooking, and the table was full of dishes, all of which looked, smelled, and tasted delicious.

These days, treating someone to a nice meal is the highest form of hospitality!

Comrade Old Joe was naturally extremely satisfied...

They even guaranteed to do their utmost to help Li Chaoyang run the two choirs well, without discussing payment...

Yes, the children's choir that Xiao Song wanted to form at the factory-run primary school was also taken over by the propaganda department.

The decision was made by Director Li; the little girl didn't even have a chance to resist...

Of course, the girl was happy with this arrangement, and even thought it was quite good...

Now she has even more reason to pester Section Chief Li every day!

Of course, Li Chaoyang had no idea what was going on in this girl's mind...

After the meal, Li Chaoyang personally escorted Teacher Qiao to the factory gate and arranged to come back the day after tomorrow to officially start working.

Teacher Qiao was a respectable person; he didn't mention his compensation until he left.

Li Chaoyang only remembered this after the person had gone far away.

However, he was a straightforward person, so he simply handed over all the expert funding he had applied for to Sister Li...