A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

Chapter 29 Recording Records

According to the habits of old Beijing, the lower class is not allowed to live in the north city (that is, the inner city, within the nine gates), they can only live in the south city, or the outer city, which is south of Qianmen Street.

Li Yu and Carlos took two rickshaws out of the inner city from Chongwenmen, and rushed all the way to Jingzhong Temple.

The Jingzhong Temple is dedicated to Yue Fei, and outside the temple there are kneeling iron statues of the Qin couple.Every year in the first lunar month, the people nearby will make clay sculptures of Qin and his wife, and then burn them with fire, which always attracts a lot of spectators and keeps applauding.

Not far from the Jingzhong Temple is the Temple of Xi, which is the deity enshrined in the Liyuan Walk, and the Liyuan Pedestrians established the Liyuan Guild in these four weeks.

When Li Yu and Carlos arrived in a rickshaw, they saw Jia Honglin and Yang Xiaolou leading the theater troupe to practice.

Li Yu jumped out of the car and said to Jia Honglin, "Boss Jia."

Seeing that it was Li Yu, Jia Honglin immediately pulled Yang Xiaolou to meet him: "Why did you come in person, little brother? Just tell me, our theater troupe will be there at any time."

Li Yu said: "With so many of you, it would not be too troublesome if you travel all the way. I am alone, so it is much more convenient."

"Brother Lao, are you here this time to let us sing for foreigners?"

"Do not……"

Li Yu was about to speak when Yang Xiaolou interrupted:
"Brother, you have to go by yourself, I will never go!"

After he was about to leave, Jia Honglin hurriedly stopped him: "Xiaolou! Why did your master forget what he told you yesterday?"

Yang Xiaolou's master is Yu Jusheng, who is now the head of the Jingzhong Temple and the president of the Liyuan Association.The Ministry of Internal Affairs rewarded him with a fourth-rank Dingdai, equivalent to half an official.

Yang Xiaolou still snorted coldly: "I won't sing even if I go!"

Jia Honglin said angrily, "I said why are you so stubborn!"

Li Yu coughed quickly: "I'm talking about you two, I haven't finished talking. I don't want you to sing operas for foreigners. I didn't say it before. I just let foreigners help record records and then listen to the Queen Mother."

"Record what?" Yang Xiaolou asked.

Li Yu took a vinyl record from Carlos: "It is to record your singing voice on this record, and then play it on the phonograph."

Jia Honglin and Yang Xiaolou looked at Li Yu like they were fools, "What are you talking about?"

Li Yu smiled awkwardly, gestured with his hands and said, "The phonograph is about this big, it can be placed in a bedroom, and if you want to listen to an opera, you just need to put the record on it, and you can play the recorded opera. "

Can it still be like this?Jia Honglin and Yang Xiaolou still had question marks on their faces, and the air seemed to fall into silence. Jia Honglin pretended to laugh twice to break the embarrassment: "Haha, I understand, it's like juggling!"

"No, No, No!" Carlos behind couldn't listen anymore, "This is a technology, a technology for sound storage and playback, not a juggling act."

Yang Xiaolou dissatisfied: "You foreign ghost..."

Jia Honglin immediately covered his mouth, and said with a smile: "Xiaolou met Yang... Mr. Yang is somewhat uncomfortable, forgive me, forgive me!"

Li Yu quickly said: "I forgot to introduce you. This is Mr. Carlos, not a soldier. He is just a record company manager. He specializes in recording Beijing opera for you, and then listens to the queen mother." Said: "Think about it, the Queen Mother is so busy! But she also likes to listen to operas, so what should I do?"

"My adoptive father said, they have a stage!" Yang Xiaolou said.

"Eh..." Li Yu supported his forehead, but he didn't expect that he would really disrupt the stage, so he had to say, "What if the queen mother is tired in the bedroom at night, she can't listen to the opera anymore, and the gramophone will start at this time." It worked."

Jia Honglin and Yang Xiaolou were finally persuaded: "So that's what happened, you didn't say it earlier! Well, since Brother Li Yu is the guarantor, we should act for the Queen Mother, and we will cooperate with you."

"Boss Gao Yi!"

Li Yu thought to himself: It would have been better if it hadn't been like this earlier...

Then he explained the recording location to them: "You take the theater troupe and go to Mr. Carlos's company together. It's not too far away, it's just four miles away in Dongjiaomin Lane in the inner city."

Jia Honglin immediately said: "Okay, I'll let the theater troupe take care of things right now."

"It doesn't need to be so troublesome. We only record the sound, and we don't need to put on costumes and makeup." Li Yu said.

"That's it, it's really much easier!" Jia Honglin pushed Yang Xiaolou, "Don't look reluctant, hurry up and get the troupe ready to go!"

While they were packing up, Li Yu gave Carlos another big bragging about the celebration class: "Today, Mr. Pu Lande said that I am a new star in the scientific world, which is completely absurd. The few people in front of me are indeed Liyuan Dana, look at that guy named Yang Xiaolou, he will definitely be a master of martial arts in the future, and now he has recorded a few more records, there is a lot of room for appreciation in the future."

"Nice!" Carlos nodded in praise, "Top singer, with our top equipment, your empress dowager will definitely like it."

In his mind, he completely compared Peking opera to Broadway opera. Li Yu didn't bother to explain to him. He went to find Yang Xiaolou in the house, looked at the spears all over the wall, and said, "Boss Yang has the common people in his heart, so I'll admire him."

Yang Xiaolou sighed softly, "I'm just an actor, so what can I do."

"I have a few words that I would like to present to Boss Yang."

Yang Xiaolou asked doubtfully, "What word?"

Li Yu didn't know how to play, so he read some of the lyrics of "Red Ling" to him, and felt that it was quite suitable for Yang Xiaolou.

The general story of Chi Ling is that Japanese soldiers invaded a mountain village in Jiangxi and forced Pei Yanzhi to perform "Peach Blossom Fan" for them.Pei Yanzhi agreed that as soon as the performance started on the stage, the villagers blocked the courtyard, poured oil on it, and then set a fire, and died with them in the lyrics.

Yang Xiaolou murmured: "I am humble and dare not forget to worry about the country, even if no one knows me... She needs blood to reconcile..."

"Good word! I accept it, thank you Brother Li!"

Feeling refreshed, Yang Xiaolou raised his spear and said to Li Yu, "Let's go."

Li Yusheng was afraid that he would do something stupid again: "We don't need to perform, we just need to record the sound."

Yang Xiaolou laughed loudly: "If you have no body skills, how can you sing?"

Dongjiaomin Lane.

The equipment in Carlos's company is very complete, and there are several flat disc gramophones. He configured the record recording equipment and said to the celebration class in front: "Let's start."

Jia Honglin and Yang Xiaolou played very hard, and raised their voices to ensure clear recording.

After recording seven or eight tracks in a row, Carlos said to everyone who was still interested: "It's ready."

"This is the end?"

Jia Honglin and the others usually perform in one day, and a few hours are considered short. They did not expect to finish the recording so quickly, and there is a feeling that it is over at the beginning.

Li Yu had no choice but to explain to them again: "A record can only be recorded for about three to four minutes, which is close to the time of a stick of incense."

Yang Xiaolou murmured, "This is too short, it's not good for foreigners!"

(End of this chapter)