"The peacock flies southeast, it can't fly to the end of the world, all kinds of love and acacia become ashes..." The gentle singing rang softly on the streets where people came and went, with some ancient poems rhyme lyrics, which made many Chinese feel Their heads turned to the street over there. Although most of them spoke Cantonese or Hokkien, it did not prevent them from listening to the song adapted from this ancient poem.
But when they saw the singer, they were all stunned. The one who played the guitar and sang in Chinese was actually an American girl dressed as a cowboy! However, he sings in a melodious manner, which makes people feel fresh, but also a bit weird.
"I would like to have a lover to drink a river of water together..." At this time, the song has reached its climax. The light singing voice has a unique flavor, and the lyrics combine pop and ancient poetry very well, which makes people forget her appearance. Continuing to listen to her singing, even many white people were attracted by this singing.
After the song was over, the surrounding Chinese people all applauded. Angela bowed slightly. This time she let go of her singing completely. "Peacock Flying Southeast" is also very suitable for guitar accompaniment a cappella, so the effect is amazing. Well, of course, as for what brother Tu will do in the future, that's not what she has to consider.
At this time, several young Chinese people around shouted a few words, all in Cantonese. Angela took a guess before she realized that she might be complimenting herself for her great singing, and immediately smiled and said in Mandarin: "Sorry, I don't I can speak Cantonese, so all I can say is thank you for your compliments."
The people around looked surprised. As an American girl, some can speak Cantonese, some can speak Mandarin, but they can speak Mandarin so eloquently and sing so beautifully. There are Mandarin songs with ancient rhythms, but there is a very magical existence, so the surrounding people immediately opened their mouths and swarmed Cantonese. But this time, it was all in a hurry, and Angela couldn't understand it at all, so she smiled apologetically. Shrugged, then plucked the guitar strings again.
"From that far seaside, you slowly disappeared..." The girl sang again, but the song "The Sea" showed the exact same taste as Zhang Yusheng, making it more romantic and innocent. So after the end, there was another round of warm applause, and the girl smiled and spread her arms outstretched, making a standard clasping fist. I had no idea how funny this action would be with my outfit.
However, the surrounding Chinese just laughed kindly, and then threw coins in the guitar case on the ground one by one, and then Angela clenched her fists again, put away the guitar case, and pinched Natalie and Natalie, who had been staring blankly. Scarlett: "Okay, don't stand still, we should go!"
After waving to the crowd, they continued to go deep into Chinatown amid their applause, and after they disappeared, someone suddenly slapped the back of the head: I don't understand Cantonese, but I can communicate in English!
Angela, who had gone far, did not realize this at this time. She also had to face Scarlett's cross-examination.
"You spoke Chinese just now and sang Chinese songs, right?" Scarlet looked at Angela with her hands on her hips. "I'm the last one to know, right?"
"Well. Nat doesn't know either..." Angela wanted to find a shield. But Natalie immediately distanced herself: "Hey. I know you can speak Chinese. But you've never sung a Chinese song in front of me."
"Look at you. I'm right!" Scarlett said immediately.
Angela wanted to say that Avril didn't know either, but at this moment she was suddenly a little angry: "Manny, even the best friends will have things they don't know about each other. You can't because of me because of certain circumstances. It's not fair to accuse me of not telling you anything!"
Scarlett opened her mouth, but said nothing, then turned her head away. Angela looked at her like this and sighed softly in her stomach. She could vaguely guess why this was, and she seemed a little excited just now.
Fortunately, Natalie came out again to smooth things out: "Okay, it's noon, let's go have something to eat. We earned at least $4 just now, which is enough for our little luxury."
"Okay, so what do we eat?" Angela followed the topic.
"How about Chinese food?" Scarlett called out at this time. "I had it once with my dad at a Chinese restaurant in Brooklyn, and it was delicious. I liked that chicken with lemon juice!"
"Chicken with lemon juice? Manny, are you going to a real Chinese restaurant?" Angela rolled her eyes.
"Of course, at least that's what it says on their sign." Scarlett shrugged. "What's wrong?"
"Listen to me, my dear, there are very few so-called real Chinese food, even in Chinatown, because no matter what food comes from one place to another, it will be localized, and it is almost impossible to eat authentic Chinese food. It's possible." Angela said while shaking her finger, and added in her heart: This is the result I came to after visiting Chinese restaurants around the world.
"Then what are we going to eat?" Looking at the two in front of her, Natalie smiled secretly, then interjected and asked.
"Don't worry, look at the nearby Chinese restaurant for takeout, maybe there are one or two delicious snacks." Angela clapped her hands and said.
"Put the fate of lunch in your hands? I don't have any hope." Scarlett said exaggeratedly, covering her forehead.
"You wait and see." Angela raised her eyebrows, the two smiled at each other, and the small unhappiness before disappeared now.
In the end, the three girls used shumai, xiaolongbao and mung bean cake to solve their lunch. Angela was very lucky to find a Chinese restaurant with more authentic snacks, only because it was more authentic because, at least in her previous life, she never Have eaten siu mai with cream.
After choosing a few plain stuffings for Natalie, everyone sat on the bench in the Confucius Square and discussed issues while eating, such as why the old man's bronze statue had such a long beard and whether the beards of Chinese people are so long. Long, Angela had to do literacy work for the two of them, but the most discussed was the Chinese song they sang before.
"What song are you singing? Do you have a name? Although I don't understand it, it still sounds good."
"Well, the name is Peacock Flying to the Southeast. It is a famous poem in ancient China. I just adapted it."
"That means you wrote this song?"
"Um… yes. You can think so, Nat."
"I can't believe that you can write Chinese songs."
"What is unexpected. I also wrote French songs!"
"But I heard that Chinese is the hardest foreign language in the world to learn."
"Just one, let me tell you, Manny, I not only speak Chinese, but also learn Chinese musical instruments!"
Angela didn't expect that she was just talking casually, but when Scarlett passed by a Chinese musical instrument store next, she insisted on taking her in to see and introduce her, and even play it to her.
It was an unassuming little shop on a street corner. Originally, Angela planned to stop being a street performer, and go back to Long Island after walking around the other two blocks, but at the corner of the street, Scarlet happened to see Angela in the cupboard who had drawn her what it was called. is it? Oh, "Gu Sheng"'s musical instrument, so he pulled the other party and had to go in to see it. Angela couldn't beat her, so they had to go in and have a look together.
The store is not big, with a flat sign on it with only one Chinese character: rhyme! Appears to be free and easy. Angela, who is half a bucket of water in Chinese studies, can already recognize it. It is impossible to see what font.
It's well organized inside. The decoration is completely Chinese style, antique, and there are all kinds of Chinese classical musical instruments, Guqin, Guzheng, Erhu Pipa, except for the too old things like chimes. It can be said that it has everything.
"Is there anything I need to help you?" The owner of the shop was a middle-aged Chinese in his forties. He was stunned when he saw Angela and the others, and still said in English with a smile.
"Let's just see, my two friends are more interested in Chinese classical instruments." Angela also responded with a smile.
"Then please take your time." The owner nodded and made a gesture of invitation.
Natalie and Scarlet had been aroused by Angela just now, and they also drew a lot of musical instruments for them to see. When they were improvised to verify, Angela stood in the middle and looked around. These She has used most of the musical instruments, so she is not proficient, but it is not difficult to play a piece or two. She turned her head around, and she was suddenly attracted by the words on the wall, and unknowingly read it out: "The west wind blows the waves of the old Dongting, and one night Xiangjun has more gray hair. After being drunk, I don't know that the sky is in the water, and the boats are full of dreams and overwhelm the galaxy."
After reading it for a while, she nodded her head as if thinking about it. If it was someone else's poem, even Li Bai and Du Fu's, she would not have reacted. She was so impressed, not only because she liked the artistic conception of this poem, but also because the author Tang Wenru did not even have a biography in history, and only left this poem.
"You speak Chinese well." An old and powerful voice rang at the door. Angela hurriedly looked over. An old man in a white Tang suit appeared at the door, full of Chinese hair, but he looked very energetic and sharp eyes. It was falling on him, and behind him was a Chinese youth in his twenties. He was dressed in ordinary clothes, but he looked at his nose and his heart, as if he didn't care about everything. He was very sturdy.
"You've won the prize, I'm just an ordinary girl who likes Chinese culture." Angela said with a polite smile. It was only when she saw that the two girls looked blank, she realized that these two sentences were in Mandarin. correct.
"Hello, Mr. Li." The owner came over to greet him at this time, showing great respect.
The old man gave him a slight nod, then looked at the girl: "Did you just say that you won the prize? Well, I didn't expect it. Not only is it good, but it is also very authentic, and it is even more standard than most of the Chinese."
Angela stuck out her tongue in secret, and she didn't say much, and she didn't think the old man's words were too much. On the contrary, there was a kind of intimacy, just like granddaughter and grandfather.
The old man glanced at the poem on the wall at this time: "Do you understand?"
"Yes." The girl nodded, trying to recall the analysis of the poem she had seen.
Unexpectedly, the old man did not continue to ask, but pointed around: "Do you know how to use these musical instruments?"
Angela didn't know why, so she nodded.
"Will the erhu know?"
Continue to nod.
The old man smiled lightly and looked at the shopkeeper.
"It doesn't matter, you can pick it up and use it." The owner smiled.
"Thank you, Lao Xu." The old man nodded, then looked at the young man beside him: "Guanshui, choose a good one for this young lady to try."
"Yes, Master." The young man replied respectfully, and on the shelf where the erhu was placed, he chose the old mahogany erhu and handed it to Angela.
The girl was baffled for a while, and didn't understand why the old man asked her to try to pull the erhu, but when she thought about it, it didn't seem to matter. Natalie and Scarlett were watching the show on the side, so the pull was fine. She shrugged and took it over. After sitting down and trying a few notes, she thought about what to pull. Because the sound of erhu is usually sad, she didn't put much effort into it, and she didn't know how to pull it for a while what is good
Suddenly a thought popped into my head, my eyes lit up, I forcibly held back my smile, and started to pull it up. When the music started, everyone was stunned. Natalie and Scarlett were nothing but nothing. The three Chinese people on the side are really surprised. When can Erhu play such playful music? The young man even blurted out: "Super Mario?!"
That's right, this is a piece that Angela had heard in her previous life. It was adapted from the game music of "Super Mario". The erhu was used to pull out the song. Because it was very fun, it was quite impressive. I immediately used the erhu in my hand. played.
The tune was not long, and it took about 3 minutes to play. After playing the last note, Angela jumped up and bowed to the old man: "Thank you for your erhu."
Followed to pull Natalie and Scarlet out and ran out, and if they didn't leave, God knows that this slightly weird old man will continue to ask him to do something, although he feels very kind.
The old man did not stop them, but watched them leave. Then the young man beside him suddenly found that his teacher, who had always been unsmiling, was smiling very happily, which surprised him, but soon the old man frowned and muttered. "No, her eyes..."
Then he turned his head to look at the youth: "Guan Shui, I want you to follow them back and take them back, and tell me where they live, especially the girl in the cowboy hat."
The young man opened his mouth, but in the end he didn't ask anything, just nodded and replied, "Yes!"