Liu Quan Hai invited Qi Shejiang out, and Li Jing went along too. At first, Li Jing was quite shocked that Xia Yiwei was supporting Qi Shejiang to perform cross talk, but later he understood that this way, it could wash away Jesse’s vase reputation. Liu Quan Hai’s disciple, Zeng Wen, had a theater-style cross talk venue, selling tickets with performances every night. Although Meng Jingyuan had been famous for a long time and occasionally performed, their popularity ensured a balance between income and expenses, allowing them to pay their performers. Qi Shejiang and Li Jing arrived in the afternoon, not yet close to performance time. Zeng Wen and Meng Jingyuan were explaining routines to the disciples, and Liu Quan Hai arrived shortly after. The old men went to a corner to talk to Qi Shejiang, while Zeng Wen and Meng Jingyuan were very curious about this young man.
According to Liu Quan Hai, his solo performance skills were completely like that of a seasoned artist. Could it also have been honed overseas?
Liu Quan Hai’s grandson, Xiao Liu, also came along. He didn’t join but was surrounded by other performers in the theater, mostly young actors around his age, who were already familiar with each other.
Not everyone keeps up with the news online, so they were confused. Xiao Liu was the only one who knew the inside story; he had previously laughed with others at Qi Shejiang’s singing style, but now his face was red, “Okay, okay, stop talking. You don’t know, he’s really impressive.”
The crowd paused for a moment before bursting into laughter, thinking Xiao Liu was joking.
“Quiet down, you little rascals!” Zeng Wen shouted from the other end, “Bring me a sanxian!”
Immediately someone brought over a sanxian. They intended to hand it to Zeng Wen but saw Qi Shejiang take it instead, as he wanted to play. Those who had never heard Qi Shejiang play were inevitably a bit surprised.
Qi Shejiang had just introduced the singing styles of Zi Di Shu to Zeng Wen and the others, such as Que Wei, Feng Huang San Diao, Hai Di Lao Yue, etc. The lyrics primarily used seven-character verse, accompanied by the sanxian, hence it was also called Qing Yin Zi Di Shu.
“This is a complete short piece called ‘Ling Guan Miao’,” Qi Shejiang explained briefly.
