Chapter 158: I'll Play Your Father

"Director, you absolutely cannot listen to him! With less than half a month left before Elder Rock's ninetieth birthday, if we rashly change the repertoire, we will have even less chance of winning against the Peking Opera and Yue Opera troupes," the young man said.

Shen Xian finally understood the situation. It seemed that Zhou Yanshi was about to celebrate his birthday, and every year he invited opera troupes to perform in the capital.

Not only had the Huangmei Opera troupe been invited, but Peking Opera and Yue Opera troupes were also on the guest list.

The director fell into deep thought, as both sides made valid points.

Huangmei Opera had developed and been performed for so many years, relying on the same old repertoire over and over again. Not only were audiences growing tired of hearing it, but the performers themselves were weary of it. Many audience members could even anticipate the subsequent plot the moment a character walked onto the stage.

If Shen Xian could genuinely write an exceptional new repertoire to perform at Elder Zhou Yanshi's birthday banquet, it would be immensely beneficial for the promotion and popularization of Huangmei Opera.

However, Huang Qinian's argument also carried weight. If they made a rash change and the performers failed to mesh well together, how could they possibly hope to beat Peking Opera and Yue Opera?

One had to keep in mind that at every annual birthday performance, Peking Opera and Yue Opera utterly crushed Huangmei Opera by a massive margin.

Compared to Huangmei Opera, the high-ranking patrons in the capital much preferred Peking Opera, Yue Opera, and even Kunqu Opera.

Besides, Huang Qinian's family was wealthy and made annual donations to the troupe, making him someone they could not afford to offend.

Thinking of this, the director felt a headache coming on.

"Director... I think... we should at least give it a try," Taozi Bao said while the director was still torn.

She had a blind kind of confidence in Shen Xian. In her eyes, Shen Xian was someone capable of creating miracles, someone who could do anything.

"Director, it's settled then! If you agree to this, I'm quitting!" Huang Qinian said angrily. "It's simply laughable!"

The director cast a displeased glance at Huang Qinian and said, "Do as you please."

He was always using this to threaten her.

Depending on his family's wealth, he walked around with his nose in the air all day, looking down on this person and that.

He never bothered to look at himself—his acting was as terrible as feces, and his vocal delivery was absolute garbage.

Huang Qinian let out a cold hum and sneered, "With only half another month left, let's see where you're going to find another young male lead. I'm done!"

With that, he glared coldly at Shen Xian, flicked his wide sleeves, and stalked out of the troupe.

Taozi Bao wanted to run after him, but the director stopped her. "What are you doing? Get back here!"

"Oh," Taozi Bao muttered, walking back obediently with her head lowered.

The director turned to Taozi Bao and said, "Taozi, go to the back first and see if there's anything you can help with. I want to have a word with Shen Xian."

Taozi Bao obediently headed toward the back courtyard.

Only the director and Shen Xian remained in the main room.

"Let me introduce myself. My name is Mo Wei," the director said. "You can call me Auntie Mo."

"Hello, Auntie Mo. My name is Shen Xian," Shen Xian replied, acting very well-behaved in front of an elder.

Auntie Mo's impression of Shen Xian was exceptionally favorable. Her first impression of him was that he was exquisitely refined, almost like porcelain.

He was delicate in appearance, yet entirely devoid of any effeminate demeanor.

"I'm not worried about you and Taozi Bao being close; in fact, I'm quite happy about it," Auntie Mo said.

Shen Xian was momentarily taken aback, failing to grasp her meaning.

"She is too innocent, and Huang Qinian's advances are too aggressive. I'm afraid she'll get hurt," Mo Wei said. "I've watched this child grow up."

Shen Xian knew nothing about Taozi Bao's specific background.

As their conversation continued, he finally learned the detailed circumstances of Taozi Bao's life.

Taozi Bao's biological family background was extremely poor. She was born in a remote mountain village in southwestern Guizhou. Her father was a former convict who went to prison when she was seven or eight years old, only being released in recent years.

Her mother had remarried around that same time, leaving Taozi Bao to depend entirely on her grandmother for survival.

When Auntie Mo went to southwestern Guizhou to support education as a volunteer teacher, she brought Taozi Bao out of the mountains and raised and educated her ever since.

In a sense, Auntie Mo was practically half a mother to Taozi Bao.

"This girl is also terribly stubborn. A long time ago, she created a music review account that now has close to a hundred million followers. That account could easily cash in or take on a single advertisement worth millions, but she refuses," Auntie Mo said.

To this day, Taozi Bao's account only focused on music reviews and never accepted any song promotion or traffic monetization from entertainment companies.

Because she insisted that a professional account should do professional work, and once it became monetized, it would deviate from its original intention.

"Has Auntie Mo ever considered that it's precisely because she refuses to monetize, dares to speak her mind, and dares to resist that she has won the love of her fans? If she took money to promote poorly trending songs and let low-quality tracks climb the charts, wouldn't she lose her authority instead?" Shen Xian remarked.

Auntie Mo nodded. "I've always respected her wishes and never interfered with her online activities. However, her romantic life is something I must manage."

With that, Auntie Mo's gaze grew sharp again as she stared at Shen Xian. "Remember, don't hurt her!"

Shen Xian smiled. "Auntie is overthinking this. Taozi and I are just very, very ordinary friends."

Auntie Mo did not speak; she simply stared at Shen Xian.

Taozi Bao had partnered with Huang Qinian for so many years—when had she ever held an umbrella for him?

"Let's get down to business. Our troupe really needs a change. When can your script be ready?" Auntie Mo asked.

With that, she officially and completely agreed to use Shen Xian's script.

"It can be ready by tomorrow. But your young male lead, Huang Qinian, is walking out. Do you have a replacement in mind?" Shen Xian asked.

Auntie Mo asked, "You said you could give me the script tomorrow. What is the story about, and how many characters are there?"

"The script tells the story of Feng Suyue, who was betrothed to Li Zhaoting since childhood. Later, the Li family fell on hard times, and Li Zhaoting sought shelter at the Feng estate, only for his prospective father-in-law and mother-in-law to despise the impoverished and covet the wealthy, forcing him to break the engagement."

"Feng Suyue is a legendary woman, unwavering and loyal in love, deeply devoted to Li Zhaoting. She met him in the back garden and gifted him one hundred taels of silver to help him through his desperate plight."

"By misfortune, Feng's father stumbled upon this, framed Li as a thief, threw him in prison, and forced Suyue to marry the son of Prime Minister Liu Wenju. With her heart filled only with Li Zhaoting, Feng Suyue disguised herself as a man and fled. In the capital, she used Li Zhaoting's name to take the imperial examination, and to everyone's surprise, she placed first on the roster, becoming the top scholar, and was forcibly betrothed by the imperial household as the imperial son-in-law."

"On their wedding night, Feng Suyue risked her life to plead her case and moved the princess. With the princess's wholehearted assistance, the emperor adopted Feng Suyue as an adopted daughter. In the end, Feng Suyue and Li Zhaoting were united in marriage, and Feng Suyue's elder brother Feng Shaoying was also chosen as an imperial son-in-law, uniting both pairs of newlyweds in a harmonious bond."

"The folk song goes like this... To save my Lord Li I left my home, who would have thought I'd top the imperial roll as the scholar..."

"We can name the script *The Female Imperial Son-in-law* or *Who Would Have Thought I'd Top the Imperial Roll as the Scholar*!"

As soon as Shen Xian finished speaking, a light sprang up in Auntie Mo's eyes.

What a novel premise! The sense of dramatic irony was completely there.

The young male lead Li Zhaoting could originally have been played by Huang Qinian, but he had run off.

Auntie Mo immediately called Taozi Bao inside, and Shen Xian recounted the story.

Taozi Bao also thought the repertoire was wonderful, and the imagery was already forming in her mind.

"This script sounds fascinating," Auntie Mo said, looking Shen Xian up and down. "Have you ever considered that you could act in it too?"

Shen Xian nodded. "I can do that." I've never played a major villain before; I'd like to try it.

If I play the *huadan*, I'll definitely be playing Feng Suyue. In that case, would Brother Shen Xian be playing my husband Li Zhaoting?

At this thought, Taozi Bao became a bit excited and shy as she spoke up, "I'll play Suyue."

"I'll play your dad," Shen Xian said.