Ying Xiaonong took a few sips of tea. He was tired from all the arguing just now. Although he claimed it was an attack of lookism, he was not without the thought of taking the opportunity to rest for a while, and what's more, to humiliate the little cheapskate.

Ji Shuangyu had been used as a tool, but he didn't care.

He had witnessed the commotion at the Changle Theater several times and had long since figured things out. That was why he couldn't help but speak up—not for justice, not to show off, but simply because he was holding out for a chance to get some meat to eat...

In any other theater with good business, he really might not have had a chance to speak his mind.

Seeing the scene quiet down as everyone was left speechless, Ji Shuangyu quickly said, "It's said that during the previous dynasty, night performances were not allowed. Later, they were, but you could only use candles, which were barely enough to light up people's faces.

"That's why we call it 'listening to opera' instead of 'watching opera'—the main focus was on listening. It wasn't until much later, when electric lights were hung in the theaters, making it as bright as day, that lighting effects and stage mechanisms gradually appeared, even imitating the scenery of Western theater with painted backdrops."

This was something Ji Shuangyu had heard from his elders when they told old stories. For the experts present, it was also a well-understood history of the stage, but they didn't know why he was bringing it up.

Jiang Sanjin also watched Ji Shuangyu nervously. After all, he was the one who had brought him here, so he was responsible for him. But he didn't know what Ji Shuangyu was going to say, or whether he should stop him.

However, Jiang Sanjin saw that Ji Shuangyu's eyes were as bright as gleaming snow, a look very similar to his own when he was directing the extras on their stage positions.

Although he was just the head of the extras and never opened his mouth on stage, he knew the conventions of staging by heart. He was confident when managing people, and not even the troupe leader could find fault with him.

So, could it be that Ji Shuangyu actually had a plan?

Ji Shuangyu spoke with eloquence, "Think about it, performing at night without light was something that happened only twenty years ago. Back then, even if you had stage mechanisms and tricks, the audience couldn't see them clearly, so what was the use? But can you say that stage mechanisms are useless and can't attract an audience? It's just that they weren't suitable!"

At this moment, the stagecraft of traditional opera was being influenced by the new trends of the era and was just beginning to undergo competitive reform. The most popular thing in the country was gimmick-filled opera, which meant adding stage mechanisms and scenery to all kinds of opera.

It was nothing like the blandness modern people might imagine. It was more like a chaotic free-for-all, with planners crazily adding gimmicks.

People used knowledge of optics, electricity, and other fields to add mechanisms, lighting, and magic to the plays. Things like flying rigs, trapdoors, real pythons on stage, and even stripteases... whatever was stimulating, they did it.

They also learned from Western theatrical scenery styles, hiring painters to create realistic landscapes as backdrops, which were extremely popular.

The citizens, whose entertainment lives were not as rich as in later generations, watched with mesmerized fascination.

The trend started in Hushang, and major cities and opera genres rushed to stage their own versions, making it an essential element for a time.

But no matter how exquisite the scenery was, if you put it a few decades earlier, in an era of less advanced technology, it definitely wouldn't have had such a good effect. You couldn't see a thing.

"So the word 'suitable' is very important. The play the boss has staged has many mechanisms, and although they aren't particularly stimulating, that's not the key to its failure. The coordination between the musicians and the lead actor isn't perfect, but their skills are profound, and they managed to smooth it over on stage, so the problem can't be said to lie with them.

"In my opinion, the problem is actually that you were only thinking about having a lively play with lots of novelty, and you even invited Boss Ying, who has first-class martial skills, but you didn't think about widening the stage. To make an analogy, if Guan Gong, at his nine-foot height, were to wield his saber in a utility room, could he put on a brilliant performance?"

It's not that it would look bad, but it would be completely unable to achieve its intended effect, and might even be greatly diminished. Just like performing a gimmick-filled opera on a dark night in the past.

This was a very simple principle, yet no one at the Changle Theater had been able to articulate it before.

In modern times, you could pull any random person over, and after watching enough, they could summarize a few points for you based on experience: it's best to watch blockbusters in a theater with an IMAX screen; intense action movies are most thrilling in 3D; be careful not to get dizzy in a 4D theater...

At this time, perhaps experienced people could sense it—for example, actors would gradually figure out how much force to use in large venues versus small ones—but this knowledge had not been summarized or promoted.

After all, at this point, opera stagecraft had not yet formed a theory; there was no set of practical rules.

This industry currently had a general lack of technical personnel. Opera troupes and theaters were mostly separate and mobile. Theater owners were all about making money and wouldn't normally ponder whether they should change the size of their stage, how big it should be, or what would make the audience most comfortable.

In Hushang, there were more of these talents, who experimented with different proscenium stages, arena stages, realistic stages, or fan-shaped, circular, and horseshoe-shaped stages...

At the Changle Theater, no one truly had this knowledge.

Ji Shuangyu was more than familiar with work like stage direction. He could tell at a glance that it wasn't suitable, exactly where it wasn't suitable, and to what extent it needed to be changed.

When he said it out loud, an actor with as much stage experience as Ying Xiaonong felt a sense of sudden enlightenment as he connected it with his own experiences.

Xu Xinyue was still skeptical at first. "Aren't all theater stages about this size, more or less? Our stage is considered large, and we've been performing like this for so many years."

What made it even harder for him to believe was, you're saying the new play failed simply because of the stage's size?

Ji Shuangyu said lightly, "But your scenes are too grand. For example, the lighting design you learned from Hushang, wasn't it arranged on a much larger stage? It's not quite suitable to just copy it over."

The premises he had laid out earlier were all to emphasize this principle. Suitability was really important for the effect.

The Changle Theater could seat several hundred people, and the stage wasn't small, but compared to the scenes Xu Xinyue had designed, it was still somewhat out of proportion. He was, after all, an amateur. If it had been one of those experienced set designers from Hushang, they might have seen it.

Xu Xinyue was utterly astonished. He had gone to Hushang to study alone, and the stage where he learned the techniques was indeed modeled after the Western style—a large proscenium stage.

He didn't know anything about lighting, so when he came back, he just blindly copied the setup. The lighting was so different from the backstage makeup area that the first time the actors went on stage, their makeup looked ghastly white...

But he didn't know, and neither did anyone else. For all these days, from his peers to the audience, not a single person had pointed out that anything was wrong.

Yet this extra, just by looking at the stage here, knew that he must have copied it from a large stage. It was truly miraculous!

Previously, Xu Xinyue had been half-convinced and half-doubtful about the stage size, but now he was completely certain.

At this moment, someone from the Hanxi Troupe blurted out thoughtlessly, "So it's still Boss Xu's fault."

Xu Xinyue: "..."

Xu Xinyue immediately cursed back, and the three parties once again descended into chaos, arguing even more fiercely. The focus of the argument was whether Ji Shuangyu was right, and from there, whose fault it was.

Jiang Sanjin was dumbfounded, both surprised that Ji Shuangyu actually had this ability to calmly point out the flaws, and troubled by the sight of them about to come to blows. "This... Shuangyu, you should try to persuade them."

Ji Shuangyu was hungry. Where would he get the strength to mediate a fight? Cupping his hands around his mouth, he deeply missed the small megaphone he used on set, and said weakly, "Stop arguing, stop arguing, I beg you, don't fight over me anymore."

Jiang Sanjin: "..."

Everyone: "..."

...Something about that sounded strange.

After all, with a disaster looming, the argument temporarily stopped.

Jiang Sanjin was still scratching his head, expressing that he had no idea Ji Shuangyu knew about these things. He had clearly never been involved in the opera world before, let alone been to Hushang. The most popular stage mechanisms in opera today all originated from Hushang, where most of the top-tier set design talent was concentrated.

Ji Shuangyu hadn't thought about how to make his story seamless before speaking up. Lies that are too detailed are easier to expose. He just said vaguely, "You don't need to have worked backstage. You can figure it out with scientific knowledge."

Jiang Sanjin had a realization. Ji Shuangyu had been educated by his parents, and his family seemed to have a lot of books, some even with foreign writing. Although he had struggled to make a living after his parents passed away, it seemed he hadn't given up on his knowledge. Being cultured was truly impressive.

Even his speaking seemed to have gotten sharper. The speech he just gave was logical and clear, without a trace of stage fright. Many of the people under him would stammer when speaking to the boss.

"Right, right, science! Tell me more about the science of that lighting, and what's not so stimulating about my mechanisms?" Xu Xinyue asked anxiously.

Ji Shuangyu gave a shy smile, and a faint blush added a bit of charm to his face.

Xu Xinyue: "Hurry up and tell me!"

Ji Shuangyu said bashfully, "Boss, that will cost extra."

Xu Xinyue: "..."

Xu Xinyue fell into a long period of thought, his head bowed, his features drooping, silent for a long time.

Ji Shuangyu: "............"

'Seriously, boss? I can't even get money out of you for this?'

The leader of the opera troupe couldn't help but curse, "This little chick, your stinginess will be the death of you!"

Only he, who had cooperated with the Xu family for many years and had practically watched Xu Xinyue grow up, could curse him directly. What time was this to be so cheap! Still so cheap!

What's the harm in agreeing first? Just see what this young man is capable of!

At this juncture, there was no room for penny-pinching. Xu Xinyue said dejectedly, "If you give me a good idea and solve my urgent problem, I'll pay you separately. Based on... based on the prices charged by Hushang set designers... I'll give you twenty... thirty percent."

In their minds, Ji Shuangyu had revealed some knowledge, but how could he compare to a set designer from Hushang? So giving him twenty or thirty percent seemed like an extremely appropriate price to Xu Xinyue.

If it weren't for his special circumstances, Xu Xinyue would never have spent money on changing the stage at all.

Although Ji Shuangyu didn't know how much that was, he observed the expressions of the others and guessed that it wasn't too bad a deal, so he agreed, "Alright, then I shall give you the details in private!"

......

Ji Shuangyu and Xu Xinyue found a place to talk privately, agreeing that he would help redesign the scenes.

"You said to expand the stage, but does that mean the scenery flats I bought can't be used?" Xu Xinyue had paid to have the scenery custom-made in Hushang.

There was no matching talent here at the moment. Usually, one had to find a painter, and one who specialized in realistic Western-style painting at that.

The dimensions were all customized according to the original stage. If it were expanded, the scenery flats would no longer be big enough. Moreover, the price might be higher here, since the cost of canvas was relatively cheaper in Hushang, where there were many such factories.

Ji Shuangyu said casually, "Then don't use them."

This Western painting style was popular at the time, with a single play using as many as forty to fifty backdrops, or at least a dozen. But he found it a bit awkward and didn't want to continue using it anyway.

Xu Xinyue looked as if he had been struck by lightning. "Don't use them? That's money!"

Ji Shuangyu had seen stingy investors before; not all rich people were generous. "Then sell them. Recoup some of your costs and we'll do a new set design. Let's try something with a Huaxia style."

Xu Xinyue looked at Ji Shuangyu with contempt. "Huaxia style? You mean hanging a monotonous, old-fashioned backdrop behind? That's how our stage used to be set up. Who would watch that? People nowadays come to see the Western-style scenery!"

The "old-fashioned backdrop" was a door curtain that covered the back wall of the stage, also called a stage curtain. It used to be very plain, but later became more ornate with added embroidery.

Ji Shuangyu: "...That's not what I mean."

He found it both amusing and absurd. What a chaotic era this was.

The original opera stage was indeed very plain, which was why it was now developing so rapidly after being impacted by new influences, although it felt a bit like it was overcompensating... A grand traditional Huaxia opera had to rely on Western-style scenery to attract people?

If he could accept suitable stage mechanisms, this oil painting style scenery, mixed with a Peking Opera stage, was something he absolutely could not tolerate.

It was just that his job wasn't secure yet, so he held his tongue for the time being.

"Besides, how can we have enough time to paint new scenery? This is urgent." Business was getting worse by the day and couldn't be delayed any longer. Xu Xinyue said worriedly, "And these mechanisms, I always feel like there's something missing... But when I was in Hushang, there were some mechanisms you couldn't learn even if you had money! Do you know any other mechanisms?"

Ji Shuangyu agreed in one breath. Although he didn't know what other mechanisms were popular at the time, given the current level of science and technology, they couldn't be too difficult to understand.

Besides, in front of an investor, the most important thing was to put on a confident face that said, 'I can definitely make you money!'

So Ji Shuangyu said loudly, "I do!"

Xu Xinyue: "What do you know?"

Ji Shuangyu: "What do you want?"

Xu Xinyue: "Tell me what you know, and I'll see what I want."

Ji Shuangyu: "Tell me what you want, and I'll see if I know it."

Xu Xinyue: "..."

...What the hell is this conversation?