Novel Bin Chapter 21: Chinese Customs
“Welcome everyone, and thank you for choosing ShiGuang music-themed restaurant. This month, our musical theme is national customs music. That’s why I changed into a Hanfu, to correspond with our theme. Starting from today, there will be a singer every evening at seven PM to sing an ancient customed song for our customers. There will also be some fun activities during this process. Stay tuned!”
In order to attract more customers, this restaurant chose a topic every month and had a singer sing something related to its theme. They would also host a lot of activities. Last month’s theme was Peppa Pig and Christmas. Every customer who came would be able to receive a Peppa Pig wearing a Santa Claus costume when they paid for the bill.
Yu Zhan looked at Liu Man, who was trying hard not to laugh. He couldn’t resist but ask, “What’s so funny about the host?”
“I’m laughing at his clothing.”
Yu Zhan glanced at the Hanfu the host was wearing. It was dark blue and looked about the same as those shown on TV. The clothing looked elegant and vintage, he couldn’t see any problem with it, “Is there anything wrong with his clothing?”
“In our Han dynasty, our clothing was always designed with the left flap placed on top of the right flap, and the flaps shouldn’t be facing in the left direction. Look closely at his Hanfu.”
After hearing Liu Man’s lecture, Yu Zhan saw that the Hanfu the host was wearing did indeed have flaps that were facing left. He asked curiously, “What’s the story behind it?”
“Well, if the left flap covers the right flap, then it’s called the right lapel. If the right flap covers the left flap, then it’d be called the left lapel. The right lapel is how we wear Hanfu, and if you see someone wearing the left lapel, then they would probably be from somewhere boorish. If the host wore his Hanfu like this and walked on the streets of our Han dynasty, then he would probably get himself arrested.”
TL’s Note: by somewhere boorish she meant like any place outside ancient china where it wasn’t that civilized yet… it’s confusing right
Yu Zhan laughed with his hand covering his mouth, “Look at what era it is, it’s just a costume he’s wearing for the theme. Excluding you, perhaps nobody else would’ve noticed this mistake. Also, where do you think would be somewhere considered boorish? I was in the USA, and during the Han dynasty, the Indians of North America would’ve probably been the same as boors. So then, should the USA also be called somewhere boorish?”
“I didn’t really mean it like that. I just laughed because it looks wrong. This kind of Hanfu doesn’t really count as orthodox. You’re right, it’s only just a costume.”
Liu Man had already accepted her new identity, and she had also bonded completely with the memories of the old Liu Man. She could now look back at Ancient Han and her old self with the perspective of a modern person.
“I find your hobbies retro. You like calligraphy and Hanfu,” Yu Zhan grew up in the western part of the world and didn’t know a lot about Ancient Chinese culture.
“I only learned about them from the internet out of pure boredom,” Liu Man said, trying to make herself seem less suspicious.
As the duo chatted, they didn’t notice the singer who had just gone onstage. The customers all started yelling, and the vibe became very hyped up. The host shouted: “Does everyone know who she is?”
“Yes!”
“She’s Coco, Coco!”
…
“They actually invited Coco to come and perform tonight! It’s fortunate that we chose this restaurant tonight, we’re so lucky,” The two female customers on Liu Man’s right exclaimed excitedly.
Who’s Coco?
Liu Man and Yu Zhan looked at each other, both perplexed.
Liu Man turned on her phone to search it up on Baidu.
She learned from Baidu that Coco was a cyber singer who’d recently became very popular, and she usually sang songs inclined to the style of Ancient China. She started off by uploading some videos of her singing to Tik Tok. However, she had suddenly become popular when people had discovered her unusually bright voice and unique songs.
The old Liu Man was someone who studied western classical music and never listened to this type of cyber music because she thought they were ‘low.’ Yu Zhan had never even heard of Tik Tok, so he definitely wouldn’t know anything about these cyber stars.
Coco was a short and skinny girl. She was wearing a light pink Hanfu and looked naughtily cute. Liu Man took a few glances at her costume and found no big issues with its design.
“Hello everyone. I’m Coco, and I’m happy to be invited to sing here at ShiGuang music-themed restaurant.” It was clear why Coco’s voice was so sweet-sounding; she was a singer.
“Now, I will be performing a song named ‘The Untrammeled Traveler.’”
After she announced the song, loud screams filled the restaurant. Many of the customers took out their phones to film Coco.
Liu Man turned around to face the stage. She also wanted to hear her sing.
“In the northern part of the sea, there’s a fish. Its name is Kun. They all say Kun’s huge, but we don’t know how many kilometers of the ocean it can fill…” The lyrics from the song were cut off from The Untrammeled Traveler’s lines, originally written by Zhuang Zhou. Coco was good at writing songs and putting in lines from poems. This song was the one that made her famous. On Tik Tok, her original piece had received over three million likes.
The two girls sitting next to Liu Man started singing along too.
“It’s interesting that they turned Zhuang Zhou’s work into a song. I think it’s pretty good.”
Liu Man held her chin in her hands and said in a soft voice. She had her whole attention on Coco, admiring her performance, but Yu Zhan had been admiring Liu Man instead.
To make the stage prominent, the lightbulbs above the tables were all turned off. The girl’s face, however, could be seen clearly to Yu Zhan. Her eyes, under her long eyelashes, were shining as they were filled with the stage’s glowing lights; Her nose was upright and delicate, and it moved whenever she became irritated (as Yu Zhan remembered); Yu Zhan really liked how the corners of her lips went up when she smiled. It was as if she could be happy over the smallest things.
Coco’s performance finally ended, and everyone started to applaud. The host came up to say, “Now, here comes the interacting activity that everyone’s been waiting for. Today, we’ll be randomly picking a female customer to perform with Coco on the stage.”
“Ahhhhhh, I want to get picked, I want to get picked!”
“Hopefully I’ll get lucky.”
“I’ll pass. I don’t know how to sing, and neither do I know how to dance. I only want Coco’s signature on her selfie.”
…
There was a large screen in the middle of the stage, and on the screen appeared many numbers. Each number represented a table, and Liu Man’s table was number 14. The numbers started to roll.
TL’s Note: According to Syd, apparently this part didn’t really make sense in the original context. They didn’t specify where the screen actually was, So, we added the location on our own. and being me with OCD, we changed it.
Everyone gazed closely at the screen, holding their breaths. They all hoped that they would get chosen.
Everyone except for Liu Man, of course. She didn’t really care about going onstage and was starting to eat her rice. Before, she had spent all her time chatting and watching the performance, and now she was feeling hungry. Yu Zhan picked up his chopsticks and started to eat too.
“Number 14, number 14, the lucky number 14!”
Suddenly, the spotlight hit them harshly. The light was too bright, and Liu Man couldn’t even open her eyes. She was still trying to figure out what was happening when a beautiful waitress dressed in Hanfu walked towards them.
“Miss, congratulations for being chosen. You get to see Coco in a tangible distance!”
In response to her statement, was an extremely perplexed face.
Excluding the confused expression, the waitress felt that this couple was definitely the most good-looking customers that she’d ever seen. They probably looked better than some of the guests they had invited to perform at the restaurant!
“Do I have to go? Can’t I give up my privilege?” Liu Man said hesitantly.
The waitress was astonished. The restaurant she worked at had many similar activities, and she had never seen any customer unwilling to participate in one of them, “Miss, you have no idea how lucky you are tonight. All the other customers are very jealous of you.”
Liu Man did feel gazes coming from directions all around her. She turned to look at Yu Zhan, and Yu Zhan assured her by saying, “If you really don’t want to go, then don’t. It’s alright.”
Yu Zhan’s tone made her feel better. His eyes were warm, as if trying to tell her: ‘As long as I’m here, you’ll be alright. Don’t be afraid.’