The Hall Three of Suzhou Gale Cinema is buzzing with people who are gradually finding their seats according to the number on their movie tickets.
In the center of row eight, the coveted âprime locationâ,
Dai Rui, who has already settled down, glances around and mumbles: âWhat a publicity hound.â
Dai Rui is a native of the Great Chu.
Since Great Chu had merged, Dai Rui came to work in Qin Province.
The film he chose to watch is the hotly debated recent movie âThe Tunerâ.
He was not originally planning on watching this film.
But his friend Zhang Bin, sitting on his left, insisted they watch it together, so he reluctantly entered the cinema.
At this point.
Hearing Dai Ruiâs grumble, Zhang Bin on his left responds,
âThis is not riding on the coattails of popularity, but Xian Yuâs confidence. You, as a Chu person, do not understand how amazing our small maestro from Qin Province is. You will understand once you finish the movie.â
Zhang Bin is a Qin person.
Recently, Zhang Bin and Dai Rui often discussed privately whose hometown music was better.
Today, Zhang Bin brought Dai Rui to see the film in order to show him Xian Yuâs composing talent.
âOur group master Winter Plum Blossom says that the song in this film is a classic, there must be some inside information.â
Zhang Bin thought to himself.
He is a member of the Xian Yu fan group âMusic of Fishâ and a hardcore fan of Xian Yu. He would surely support the premiere of Xian Yuâs new film.
Dai Rui snorted, saying, âBin, if your bravado bites you in the end, itâll be embarrassing.â
Zhang Bin replied casually, âJust listen and see.â
In fact, more than 70 percent of those who chose to watch âThe Tunerâ premiere came for the music.
After all, Xian Yu announced that the music in this film was his response to Great Chu.
While Dai Rui and Bin are chatting, the film has already begunâ¦n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om
In the black screen, an off-screen voice can be heard.
Itâs a manâs voice: âThis is a long story ⦠what kind of tea do you want?â
âCoffee.â
The voice of a woman responds.
Then, the screen light up.
Itâs a field, a rabbit is stealing vegetables, a dark-skinned man holds a hunting gun in the distance, carefully approaching.
The rabbit senses danger and begins to run.
The hunter follows, suddenly firing a shot.
The screen darkens again, the off-screen sound comes again, it sounds like a car toppling, followed by a womanâs scream.
When the screen lights up for the third time, the shot has switched to a house.
Inside the room, a young man is playing the piano.
A rhythmic melody flows out little by little with the youthâs performance.
Although the opening plot was not understood, the audience in the cinema were instantly captivated by the piano sound as soon as it began.
This is a very distinctive song!
Some audience began discussing in a low voice. Zhang Binâs eyes lit up. He turned to Dai Rui with a hint of triumph, âHow about that?â
ââ¦â
Hearing the sound of the piano, Dai Rui had to admit in his heart that the song was excellent, but it was still wanting if taken as a response to the music battle with Qin Qi.
So Dai Rui said,
âFirst of all, Iâm not a troll or being obstinate. The quality of this song is indeed good, but itâs not persuasive enough for me.â
Zhang Bin furrowed his brows.
He thought the song was already very excellent, but if Dai Rui insisted on saying that, he seemed to have no way to refute, because this song could indeed not clinch the argument!
Is this Teacher Admire Fishâs response?
Indeed very potent, but it seems inadequate to quell all doubts.
As expectedâ¦
When the anticipation is raised too high, it will create a negative effect.
If it werenât for this wave of hype ratcheting up the external anticipation too much, this song would actually have been very impressive indeed.
Zhang Bin started to feel somewhat depressed.
The situation for Teacher Admire Fish doesnât look too goodâ¦
What follows is the story setup.
Although the vast majority of people came for the music, since theyâre here, theyâre going to see what the movie is about.
Resultingly, many peopleâs eyes widened in astonishment!
Because the story that followed left many people stunned!
The protagonist, Ye Shen, is a young pianist.
The film uses jump cuts to show Ye Shenâs work situation.
He is hired by different families, frequently playing music at different peopleâs homes.
Given his blindness, the homeowners are extremely bold.
For instance, when Ye Shen is playing the piano in a villa, the mistress, home alone, strips herself bare and dances freely to the musicâ¦
In another instance, while Ye Shen plays in a living room, a man and a woman secretly commit an adulterous act in front of him, behind someone in the kitchenâ¦
Or when Ye Shen plays in a room, an unconventional homeowner, captivated by Ye Shenâs handsome features, does unspeakable things with his dollsâ¦
âDamn!â
Though the explicit scenes were obscured, Dai Rui and Zhang Bin couldnât resist shouting in surprise upon seeing these sequences.
It wasnât just Dai Rui and Zhang Bin.
The other audience members in the cinema also emitted ambiguous sounds.
In front of the blind Ye Shen, these wealthy individuals exposed their disgusting personalities.
Ye Shen, as a blind man, seems oblivious to everything happening around him, solely committed to playing his piano.
âWhoosh!â
The scene jumps for the second time, apparently a sequel to the previous scenes.
The woman who had danced naked lightly kissed his cheek as Ye Shen finished playing; the adulterous couple abruptly separated at the end of the piano piece, with a household member unknowingly leaving the kitchen.
The unconventional male host looked listless, following a parabolic white streak through the air.
ââ¦â¦â
By now, everyone had forgotten about anything related to music and was utterly bewildered by those images.
âThank you for your performance, you will undoubtedly become a great pianist!â
A male host handed over his payment to Ye Shen, full of praise.
Ye Shen thanked the man for his payment, then exited through the door, the man turned around and the camera light fell on his naked behind.
Ye Shen, wearing dark glasses, left the mansion of the rich.
The outside world was beautiful and normal.
The men smartly dressed in suits, looking sophisticated while carrying their briefcases on the streets.
The women were dressed up formally, quiet, ladylike, and would instinctively cover their skirts when a gust of wind blew.
Dai Rui couldnât resist commenting, âItâs so ironic, this film really has something.â
Zhang Bin nodded.
Like many others in the cinema, who came specifically for the music, he was now captivated by the plot of the movie, even forgetting to argue with Dai Rui about the Qin Chu Music Battle.
Feeling done for the day.
When Ye Shen was preparing to go home, he ran into a woman named Sofi.
Essentially, Sofi accidentally bumped into Ye Shen while riding her bike, and thatâs how they met.
Sofi learned that Ye Shen could play the piano and played it very well, so she became fond of him.
She didnât mind Ye Shenâs blindness, in fact, she took extra care of him.
âHow nice.â
Sympathising with the weaker ones is a human instinct.
Regarding Ye Shenâs blindness, the audience was very sympathetic. Seeing a girl not shunning Ye Shenâs blindness, the audience found it very beautiful.
One day.
As usual, Sofi was dropping Ye Shen home.
After stepping through the door, Ye Shen suddenly took off his glasses and casually shut the door. His movements were natural, completely devoid of earlier hesitancy and groping.
And then, the audience momentarily paused.
Then, something that made people scream happened!
Ye Shen looked in the mirror, extracted something like a contact lens from his eyes, and swiftly moved to the window to watch Sofi leavingâ
As it turns out, Ye Shen was faking it!!
He was not blind at all!!!