Dreaming With My Dragon Lover - Chapter 150

The two men lock eyes for a minute, in the end Arthur Guan backs down first and says towards the people in the room, “Gentlemen, there is one thing you may not know about our leading man. Yuan Ge had a great future in Hollywood, and he didn’t need to come back to China at all. Internationally acclaimed director Spiel Cameron’s hit TV series ‘Brazen Housewives’ was going to cast him as the boyfriend of the lead actress Susan, to play an Asian male prostitute. The set of photos you have just seen are from the set photos taken by the show’s cast agency…”

He even dug out this part of his past!

Yuan Ge is astonished. Before he has time to fully comprehend just how resourceful Arthur Guan is, he hears him continue telling the story.

“… But he did not want to play such a stereotypical and negatively portrayed character against the Chinese and flatly turned down this opportunity. Well, as you all know, this show has made Susan one of the top female stars in the world, but our Yuan Ge has passed up the chance to become rich and famous and instead returned to China determinedly.”

Arthur Guan raises his glass to Yuan Ge and says to the room, “Come on, gentlemen, let’s all drink to our patriotic and feisty Yuan Ge!”

Hearing this fascinating personal experience of Yuan Ge directly from Arthur Guan has been a great surprise to everyone. They all raise their glasses to toast Yuan Ge, to pay their respect. However, Yuan Ge remains unmoved and is unwilling to accept the glass handed to him personally by Arthur Guan.

“You refuse a toast only to drink a forfeit, is that right?” Seeing Yuan Ge’s stubbornness, Arthur Guan’s face grows more and more gloomy.

“Yuan Ge, you and I have both spent time overseas. I can understand your choice then, and I don’t blame you. If I were you I wouldn’t accept this role either. But now that you have chosen to return home to continue your career in the entertainment circle, you have to start learning to put your feet on the ground and abide by the rules of industry. Daisy is willing to compromise to dance on the table today, then in the future she and her group will have a chance to appear in my film. You dance a ballet in front of my investors today, then your own career, the future of Dragon Dreams, and everyone associated with you will be all set. But if you do not know what is good for you, brushing me off, making me and my entire company lose face, even if I do not take any actions, social pressure will leave you bruised all over. If you do not yield to the unspoken rules of the game, you could not make it in the United States, nor could you make it in China!”

“I can’t believe you think it’s justified to expose my privacy! You talk about rules and circles, but no matter which business circle you’re in, you have to have professional standards and ethics. Since you want to revitalise your family business Guan’s Pictures to make it the industry leader, you have to throw away those old conventions and bad customs, and set a new example in the industry!”

Yuan Ge paid no heed at all to Arthur Guan’s advice and instead engaged a tit for tat battle with him. Worse still, he hit directly at the issue that has been troubling Arthur Guan the most – his business reforms.

Liu Sang’s palms are sweating. He wants to rush over to shut up Yuan Ge but doesn’t know what to say.

Arthur Guan’s face is grim, and his patience clearly stretched to the limit. Slowly and with a slightly threatening tone he says, “Yuan Ge, you’re a dedicated actor. You’re not even afraid to do nude scenes, so why are you so stubborn today in refusing to dance for these business VIPs? Do you want me to put your bed scenes with other men on the big screen right now?”

Yuan Ge’s face instantly turns white. Arthur Guan once again points to the table in the middle of the room, “Right here, take off your shoes. Yuan Ge, like it or not, today you WILL dance!”

***

“Allow me please! I’ll dance for you!”

The door of the private room is suddenly pushed open and in comes a handsome young man dressed in a long robe.

With a classical style and a handsome face, he walked in with a breeze in his sleeves and spoke with grace and dignity, as if he were a gentleman stepping out of a painting on the wall, and like an immortal descending to earth, bowing gracefully to all present.

The person is none other than Rong Qiuchen.

“My name is Rong Qiuchen. Please allow me the honour of dancing on behalf of Childe Yuan.”

He walks up to Arthur Guan, takes the glass of whisky from him, finishes it in one gulp, ignores the surprise and murmurs of the room, and leaps gracefully onto the large table in his old Beijing-style cloth shoes, spins around and strikes a clean, beautiful pose. He then starts to sing an opera piece from Mulan Joins the Army[1].

“I’ve just bought a saddle from the market.

I have been chasing the wind and the lightning with a long whip.

The sound of night watchmen is heard in the bitter wind from the north.

The cold moonlight reflects on the armour of the warriors …”

Rong Qiuchen does an inverted fish pose on the table, his body looking flexible and his expression determined, then continues singing.

“The moon hangs high in the sky, I’m in a hurry not to delay …”

He stands up, leaps forward and turns to reach for the imagined horsewhip on his back.

“The frosty moon presses the long river.

The conscripts stay awake at night.

The letter is as urgent as fire.

When will we reach the frontier?”

… …

This impromptu singing and dancing performance without any props, which almost no one in the audience has seen before, is greeted with astonishment and praise.

——————–

[1] Mulan Joins the Army is one of the classics of Beijing Opera, and Mulan is one of the best known roles played by Beijing Opera legend Mei Lanfang, who starred in the 1917 play, one of the earliest plays and films based on the story of Hua Mulan.