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"A-NING!!" As soon as they're backstage, Wei Wuxian pounces on Wen Ning and wraps him in a huge hug. "Look at you! Winning your first episode! Your sister will have no reason whatsoever to kick my ass!"
Wen Ning laughs, returning the hug. "That was my main motivation. I told Mianmian, I have to do well so my sister will be nice to Wei-laoshi."
"Well." Wei Wuxian let him go. "Nice might be a bit much to hope for. But hey, maybe if you guys win the whole show she'll finally go on a date with Jiang Cheng."
Wen Ning looks a little worried at that (a little worried is often his default, but Wei Wuxian knows him well enough to know that he actually does look a little worried). "I can't believe I'll have to compete against A-jie if we both make it to the finale."
"Wait, what?" A-Qing suddenly spins around from where she was walking to Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan. "Is Wen Qing one of the Group B seniors?"
"Oh." Wen Ning blushes. "I forgot I wasn't supposed to say! Pretend I didn't say that!"
"Ah, it's fine," Wei Wuxian says, slapping him on the back. "Nobody here is gonna tell—right, A-Qing?"
A-Qing raises her hands defensively. "I don't wanna get on your sister's bad side just so I can look cool on Weibo for knowing about his sister."
Mianmian, who had gotten pulled aside by one of the crew on her way offstage for a discussion about a problem she'd had with her monitor earlier, joins them.
"Take notes, y'all," she says, grinning. "Because we're not slowing down! I don't care if his sister is one of the other seniors, we'll kick her ass as much as we kick any of yours!"
"Big talk from a tiny lady," Song Lan says, grinning. "We're just getting started, you'd better watch your back."
The others join in on the good-natured shit-talking until Yanli comes over and starts herding pairs toward the confessional camera or to another room to discuss preparations for the next episode.
Soon Wei Wuxian is alone with Lan Zhan, who's been very quiet.
"I did not realize that the other singers were taking the competitive aspect of the show so seriously," he says softly. "I was told that the competition was secondary to the mentorship opportunity."
"Oh, it totally is!" Wei Wuxian assures him. "Don't mind us—I know Mianmian and Wen Ning almost as well as I know Xiao Xingchen and Song Lan, we're all just saying that shit. Nobody's really all that worried about winning or losing. I'd say nobody wants to get cut before the finale, but other than that, it's not a big deal."
"Mm." Lan Zhan shifts uncomfortably. "I... apologize if you are concerned that we will be cut early."
Wei Wuxian sighs. "Don't worry about it," he says. "The voting is as much about what the audience is in the mood for as how good the performance is. You sounded great. And actually, I'm glad we bombed our first time out." Lan Zhan looks at him skeptically. "Seriously! Nobody's getting cut for a couple more episodes, so it's better to get that out of the way now, nowhere to go but up. And I think I have an idea now of what we should work on for our next few performances. I'll have a better idea after it airs, when I can get feedback from people who've seen the actual broadcast version, but I think this could be useful. And hey, if we don't make it all the way, we don't. We'll have fun while we're here, right?"
Lan Zhan nods, but doesn't look convinced. Wei Wuxian isn't sure if he's not convinced about a bad performance being useful to improve future performances, or about having fun while they're there, and quite frankly he's not going to ask.
"You didn't do as well in the audience vote as you'd probably hoped for tonight. What do you think you should improve on for the next performance?"
"I think we're just getting warmed up," Wei Wuxian says easily. "We're still getting to know each other, y'know? It's no secret that we've got very different backgrounds, very different performing styles. It might take a try or two to get those coordinated, find things that work for both of us, but I think we'll manage it."
"I have little experience singing this style of music in front of a live audience," Lan Zhan adds. Wei Wuxian kind of wishes Lan Zhan would just let him handle these interviews, but he also knows the producers would rather they both talk. "I will need to watch others' performances to learn more about the style of movement that is expected."
As soon as the camera is off, he leans over to his partner. "Okay. Notice that when I answered, I gave them something that doesn't make it either of our faults, and I didn't point out any of our actual specific flaws. First, especially on a show like this where we're a team, don't take individual blame. We win together, we lose together. Second, don't tell the audience what problems to look for, because even if they didn't notice it this time it might make them notice next time. That's all stuff we can hash out between us, the audience doesn't need to hear any of it. They just need to see us as a team, doing our best and supporting each other."
"But he asked what we should improve on," Lan Zhan says with a frown. "Your points were valid ones, but they weren't the only things we need to improve on."
"Yeah, but you don't owe the audience complete honesty," Wei Wuxian says. "You don't have to lie, but they don't need to know every detail of your own personal opinion on our performance. Look, you must know that sometimes you're probably your own harshest critic, right?" Lan Zhan at least does nod at that. "We're professionals. We're gonna notice problems the audience isn't even aware of. No reason to make them aware. And since we don't know for sure which problems those are, best to stick to the vaguest possible answers that don't point out anything specific for them to latch onto."
"Why would they ask us if they don't want a real answer?" Lan Zhan asks, clearly annoyed.
"Oh, the producers are fine with your answer," Wei Wuxian says. "But they also don't care who wins or loses, as long as the audience is rooting for somebody. Somebody has to get kicked off early; if one pair makes themselves unlikable early on then it's just that much easier to let them go. But if we don't want to be that pair, we have to think about how the audience will respond to our answers."
Lan Zhan still doesn't look happy, but an intern appears to shoo them away so that Wen Ning and Mianmian can take their turn in front of the interview camera, so Wei Wuxian lets it go.
"So, fair warning," Wei Wuxian says as they climb into the car to go back to their apartment. "I know it's your turn to choose our songs, but most opera I am not going to be able to do justice to."
"I had assumed as much," Lan Zhan says. Wei Wuxian decides not to take it as a deliberate insult; it's just the truth, and Lan Zhan isn't the type to sugarcoat the truth.
"Since you're not into pop music, if you need ideas or anything, let me know," Wei Wuxian says. "I can send you some artists to look into."
But Lan Zhan surprises him. "My brother actually had a suggestion," he says. "I listened to it last night, but... I wasn't sure what you would think."
"Oh yeah?" Wei Wuxian sincerely hopes that Lan Xichen, who he hasn't met yet, knows more about pop music than Lan Zhan. "What'd he suggest?"
Lan Zhan frowns down at his phone for a moment, then holds up a music video for Wei Wuxian to see.
"Ohhhh." Wei Wuxian watches the first few seconds of 你不是一个人(You Are Not Alone) by Joker Xue and Jeff Chang. "Oh, that is a really interesting suggestion. So how much do you know about the song besides just listening to it last night?" Lan Zhan shakes his head. "So, the lyrics are obviously a love song, right? And if you read between the lines, there's definitely queer stuff going on in the lyrics, colors after the rain and hidden love and all, but even today it'd be odd for two middle-aged seemingly-straight guys to release a straight-up love song, like the kind where they clearly mean each other, out of nowhere, let alone a few years ago when this came out. So of course they framed it in all the promotion as not being a 'love song' at all, or at least, not a romantic love song to each other. Like, there was all this stuff about how these two are totally known for love songs, but now they're doing something different! So obviously, it must not be a love song, if it's something different, right? You can see in the music video, there's all this stuff that, again, could be interpreted as gay, but it can also just be about friendship, or even family love. And the two of them are never once onscreen together. So it's just two guys talking about love, it doesn't have to do anything with each other. I mean if you ask me, it's just barely enough to claim plausible deniability, but audiences hear what they want to hear, and nobody wants to think Joker Xue is gay. Because obviously you'd have to be gay to sing a gay love song." He rolls his eyes.
"I see," Lan Zhan says slowly. "That makes more sense. I had wondered why he had suggested a love song."
"Don't get me wrong, we'll probably wind up doing a regular love song at some point," Wei Wuxian adds, "like the one we were gonna use as a second song tonight. That's just unavoidable. But this one, we can just do like the original—they're totally disconnected from each other, right? We don't interact at all—in fact, we maybe set up the stage so we're nowhere near each other. The video kind of highlights that feeling of isolation that the lyrics are trying to fight against, right? We set it up so we're both, like, on our own islands onstage, totally isolated, and when we're singing, we're both yearning for some kind of connection, just not necessarily with each other. We're just two guys who are both going through the same thing. I think this could work great, actually!"
He can see it clearly in his mind's eye—and, he's not going to point this out just yet, but if they both stay put then Lan Zhan can focus on putting more emotion into his performance and not worry about the movement side of things.
Having two weeks to prepare instead of the 48 hours they'd had for their first performance feels positively luxurious. Wei Wuxian has a commercial shoot three days in, and he doesn't even have to feel bad for the lost time.
He makes sure to keep Lan Zhan in the loop on all decision-making; he doesn't always have strong opinions, but he clearly appreciates it. They talk to the set designer about getting something much more involved than their first stage: two platforms at different heights, one down right and one up left so they couldn't look at each other if they wanted to. Wei Wuxian's side of the stage decorated in a forest motif, with trees projected behind him and on some screens scattered around, Lan Zhan's platform made to look like a stone outcropping, with the sea projected behind him. The crew come up with some cool tricks with the lights to make the stage look sort of like rippling water around his platform. Nothing more isolated than standing on a rock out in the middle of the ocean. By day five, their first song is coming together very nicely indeed.
"Any thoughts on song number two?" Wei Wuxian asks after a meeting with the costumer. "Or does your brother have thoughts?"
"He's had a few suggestions, but I didn't like most of them," Lan Zhan says. "He gave me another one this morning but I haven't had a chance to look it up yet. 男孩(Boy) by Liang Bo?"
Wei Wuxian gasps. "Yes! I love that song! Oh, that would be so good—it's super depressing, but it's a guy telling the story of how he lost this girl's love so like, duet is easy. Wait... I know you play guqin, but do you play piano?"
"Yes," Lan Zhan says, and Wei Wuxian crows and grabs him by the shoulders.
"AH! Lan Zhan, Lan Zhan!" Lan Zhan at least doesn't look offended by being grabbed, only mystified. "That's perfect! Everyone loves a hot guy at a piano. Here, here, listen to the song, you'll get it." Lan Zhan's ears go a little pink at being called a hot guy but Wei Wuxian isn't taking it back. It's just an objective fact.
After listening, Lan Zhan nods. "I could certainly play that. It seems like a good choice."
"Oh man, Lan Zhan, we gotta make it to the second half this week, okay? I think we're gonna kick ass on both songs, but I super wanna do this one so we gotta."
"We could change the order," Lan Zhan says, but Wei Wuxian waves it away.
"Nope! None of that defeatist thinking! We will make it to the second half! Besides, I kinda really wanna do both, so either way. We're going all the way this week, right?"
Lan Zhan looks at him doubtfully, but nods. "Mn."
The next day, there's a knock at the door bright and early.
"Who the fuck," Wei Wuxian mumbles into his pillow, not moving from his bed.
Lan Zhan, whose sleep schedule Wei Wuxian has long since written off as entirely too reasonable, lets whoever it is in, and Wei Wuxian can hear hushed conversation from the living room.
Curiosity finally gets the better of him, and he wanders out, not bothering to change out of his comic book-themed pajamas or pull his hair back neatly from where it's hanging half-out of its ponytail.
Lan Zhan is on the couch in the living room with a guqin in his lap that he appears to be tuning, a man sitting across from him who looks quite a bit like him but with short hair and a serene, pleasant expression that Wei Wuxian has trouble even imagining on Lan Zhan's face.
"Mr. Wei!" The man springs up from his seat and comes over to shake Wei Wuxian's hand, seeming completely unaffected by his state of disarray. "I'm so sorry, I hope we didn't wake you. I'm Lan Xichen, Wangji's older brother. I was so pleased to hear that he'd been partnered with you for this, I'm a huge fan of your music and I think you really have just the type of energy that would benefit him onstage."
Wei Wuxian blinks blearily, allowing his hand to be shook. "You like my music? You don't have to say that, y'know, I'm not offended that Lan Zhan's never heard any of it. I don't listen to much opera."
Lan Xichen laughs heartily, although Wei Wuxian caught his surprised blink when Wei Wuxian said Lan Zhan. "I'm not just saying that, I assure you. My brother and I..."
"Are not alike," Lan Zhan finishes for him.
"I was going to say we have quite different tastes on a number of topics, but yes."
"Yeah, I, ah. I'm starting to get that." He looks between the two brothers. "I think Lan Zhan's version might be more accurate. Anyhow, you brought his guqin? Sweet!" He crawls over the arm of the couch and sits facing Lan Zhan, his knees pulled up in front of him. "We should totally have you play that in a song sometime, Lan Zhan!"
"Mn."
"By the way," Wei Wuxian says to Lan Xichen, and though he tuns his head partway, his eyes never leave Lan Zhan, "thanks for helping him out with those song picks. Those were absolutely perfect, I think our performance is going to be on a whole other level this week."
"I'm glad you're so enthusiastic!" Lan Xichen says. "I think Wangji has been a bit worried that it would be difficult for the two of you to find songs you found equally appealing."
Lan Zhan's eyes only flick to his brother for an instant, but that tiny flicker is enough to tell Wei Wuxian that this statement is pure Older Brother Harassment. Lan Zhan, apparently, does not want Wei Wuxian to know he's been worried about this, which is hilarious because of course they've both been concerned about it, but also very sweet because Wei Wuxian is pretty sure that it would come from a place of not wanting to offend the guy who is trying his best to be a good mentor.
Normally, Wei Wuxian would be all in for some Older Brother Harassment, especially such a gentle form as this, but luckily he is a middle sibling and is allowed to side with the baby when he wants to.
"Ah, I think we were both a little worried about that at first," he says. He finally pulls his eyes away from Lan Zhan long enough to glance at Lan Xichen. "Like I said, I don't listen to much opera, and I doubt I could sing any of it, so I'm sure I was just as worried that Lan Zhan would insist we stick with his style of music. But I think we're both pretty committed to finding a middle ground that we can make work for both of us onstage, right?"
He pokes Lan Zhan with one toe, which earns him a brief glance that looks completely neutral but feels... warm, somehow. "Mn."
The problem here is that Wei Wuxian has done a truly admirable job up to this point of ignoring how incredibly hot his singing partner is. They're here to do their jobs, not ogle the other contestants, he's used to being surrounded by beautiful people, and he certainly doesn't want to make Lan Zhan uncomfortable.
But Wei Wuxian isn't quite 100% awake yet this morning. And Lan Zhan's hair, which is usually pulled back to one extent or another (sometimes all the way into a tight topknot as if he's straight out of the Ming dynasty), is loose around his shoulders, smooth and shiny and soft. And the morning light is filtering in through the living room blinds to hit him and his instrument just right.
Wei Wuxian can't keep his eyes off him. It's a bit of a problem, especially if his brother notices.
"I do have a few harsh words for you, Lan Xichen," he says, and forces himself to look at the person he's addressing. Lan Xichen raises his eyebrows in surprise, though Wei Wuxian's tone is light enough that he doesn't actually look worried. Lan Zhan's tuning, however, stops. "You're his manager, right?" Lan Xichen nods. "How does he not have a publicist yet?"
Lan Xichen makes a bit of a chagrined face. "I'm sure you know that our family runs a performing and martial arts school in Suzhou. It's quite well-known in the region as one of the top training grounds for up and coming opera stars. Thus far we've been using the school's public relations department to handle A-Zhan's career."
Wei Wuxian notices the switch to a more familiar name, but isn't sure what prompted it. "How much of a public relations department does a secondary school have, anyhow?"
"Three people," Lan Zhan answers. He's gone back to tuning his instrument. "One of whom is a graphic designer."
"Okay, you gotta get him a real publicist," Wei Wuxian tells Lan Xichen. "A PR department like that is mostly gonna be focused on promotion, but for even a minor celebrity that's only half a publicist's job. Obviously you know better than me what a private person Lan Zhan is. And he didn't even know his real name is on Baidu Baike! He needs someone who is on top of that kind of thing, who can help him keep private stuff private and decide what he wants his public face to be. You know there are people who've, like, been married and had kids and shit and the public didn't find out until years later, right? A good publicist can do that. Honestly, I'd say even if he decides to stay in opera after this, it would be a good investment, if only because now that he's had one big hit and gone on one variety show, he is out in the public eye to some extent, there's no putting that genie back in the bottle. All it takes is a handful of obsessed fans to dig up all your personal secrets—or one rival who can afford to pay water armies to spread rumors."
By the time he's done, Lan Zhan's playing has faded away again.
"I... hadn't considered most of that." Lan Xichen looks thoughtful and slightly ashamed. "Obviously I'd assumed that once he reached some stage of celebrity, if he ever did, that a publicist would be necessary. But I hadn't really thought about the fact that it can be useful for privacy reasons as well as publicity reasons."
Wei Wuxian grins. "But the good news is that you did have the foresight to get him on this show, so he could meet a mentor who's more experienced in this part of the business! This is literally what I'm here for. Honestly, I'm excited that I actually got a chance to be useful!" He pokes Lan Zhan with a toe again, which Lan Zhan serenely grabs. "Don't get used to it."
It's a good thing that sentence was already waiting in his mouth to come out, because otherwise there's no way he could have said something coherent while processing the feel of Lan Zhan's enormous hand on his skin. Luckily, Lan Zhan just carefully places the foot back where it belongs, next to Wei Wuxian's other foot, before letting go.
"Wei Ying has been very helpful," he says softly to his guqin. "While there may still be concerns about our musical styles meshing, I am lucky to have been assigned to a mentor who values my input and takes an interest in my career."
And Wei Wuxian is not gonna have any feelings about that, nope. Just in case any feelings were going to try and barge in, he hops up off the sofa.
"Haha, y'know, I try, at least," he says, first leaning on the arm of the sofa and then pushing off to wander over to a very interesting fake plant, smacking his hip against a side table along the way. "Mostly someone just needs to be keeping an eye on you, Lan Zhan—if you don't know what's on your Baidu Baike page, who knows what else is out there that you don't know about!"
Before he can babble too much, Lan Xichen stands as well. "I'm sure the two of you have a lot of preparation to do for your next performance," he says, ignoring Wei Wuxian's behavior quite graciously.
Once he's gone, Wei Wuxian suddenly feels very awkward, standing there in the living room with Lan Zhan still serene and stupidly beautiful on the couch with the tuned guqin on his lap. Lan Zhan plays a few elegant notes, then lets the string go quiet, seemingly deep in thought.
"Well, I'm, ah, gonna go shower. I guess since I'm up, I'm up." Lan Zhan nods. "Uh, what are you playing? Just warming up?"
"A new composition," Lan Zhan says, plucking out another couple of notes. "This is why I had my brother bring the instrument."
"Oh cool!" Any awkwardness melts in the face of Wei Wuxian's earnest enthusiasm. "What's it called? Do you think you'll finish it by the end of the show? I can't wait to hear it."
"We will see," Lan Zhan murmurs, not addressing the question about the title, and Wei Wuxian leaves him to his music.
Eventually, he does have to do the rest of his mentor job and talk to Lan Zhan about his actual performance. Luckily, Lan Zhan actually approaches him first.
"I am told that my last performance was too wooden," he says. "I am not sure my acting skills for opera are translating to this stage."
That's an understatement, Wei Wuxian doesn't say. "Here's the thing: I've watched a few of your performances." Lan Zhan looks surprised, which frankly is a little silly and nearly insulting; Wei Wuxian does his homework! "You're good. You're not wooden in those. I don't think you were applying your opera acting skills at all last week."
"They do not seem appropriate for this context," Lan Zhan says. "It is a very stylized form."
"Sure, I get that, but it feels a little like you dropped that but then didn't really put anything in its place. You know what I mean? Do you agree?"
Lan Zhan nods thoughtfully. "Yes. I suppose I thought that my technical singing skills could carry my performance, and assumed that the rest would... sort itself out."
"Ah, no, that never works," Wei Wuxian says. "Always so tempting, never a good idea. So, I think you actually had two main issues: First, your delivery of the lyrics—technically perfect, but not a lot of emotion behind them. And second, movement. That one we'll worry about later, I've set up this week's songs so that you're moving around the stage as little as possible specifically so that we can work on the first one."
"I had noticed that," Lan Zhan says. "So... that is only a tactic for this week? I thought you might have decided that it's hopeless and I simply shouldn't ever move again." There's a faint light of amusement in his eyes that makes Wei Wuxian smile.
"Nah, we'll get there. I just thought it's best to isolate the problem areas for now."
Part of the problem, Lan Zhan admits, is that he is not a very expressive person naturally, so the stylization of opera performance gives him a framework for performing emotionality he would never usually show in his voice or face, even when he's feeling it.
"You're not unexpressive," Wei Wuxian says, tilting his head thoughtfully. "You're just subtle. We just have to amplify it. And sometimes you're plenty expressive—the look you gave me the first time I called you Lan Zhan!"
They spend all afternoon on it, breaking down the emotional beats of the songs, doing some acting exercises Wei Wuxian has picked up over the years. He records Lan Zhan a few times so they can analyze it, and he convinces Lan Zhan that it always feels like you're being more emotive than it looks or sounds to the audience, so you have to push it up a notch even if it starts to feel artificial or over the top. They talk a bit about what he can use as a "framework" to build emotional expression within, the way he does in opera.
By the time they call it quits, he wouldn't say that Lan Zhan is the most expressive singer he's ever heard, but there's noticeable improvement, and still several days to work on it. Wei Wuxian is starting to feel better about their next performances than ever.
Chapter 5 End Notes:
Music in this chapter:
你不是一个人 (Nǐ bùshì yīgè rén, You Are Not Alone) by Joker Xue and Jeff Chang. Also the (pretty gay) official music video, since they discuss it.
男孩 (Nánhái, Boy) by Liang Bo (translated by avawtsn)