Heaven Dou City, Cloud Sound Workshop.
"Manager Lu, you're looking for people who can sing and dance?"
Hearing why Lu Ye had come, Shen Qilan was taken aback at first, then smiled.
"That's easy enough. Is the Seven Treasure Chamber of Commerce holding a banquet, or is some honored guest coming to the sect?"
Shen Qilan was twenty-eight and had run the music workshop for several years. She usually brought musicians to perform at banquets in the city and had done business with the Seven Treasure Chamber of Commerce a few times, so she knew Lu Ye.
She had only two impressions of the excessively young chamber manager.
He was strong, and he paid readily.
Since such a person had come to her door, she naturally had no reason to turn him away.
But as soon as she finished speaking, Lu Ye shook his head.
"Neither. I'd like to ask them to film a few videos."
"Videos?"
"It means capturing their singing and dancing so other people can watch them."
After hearing that, Shen Qilan looked even more puzzled.
She was about to ask another question when Lu Ye took out his phone and opened Chen Xin's video.
A flash of sword light fell, and the cliff split apart.
Shen Qilan, who had been smiling just a moment ago, instantly lost her smile.
Although she was only an ordinary Soul Master, she knew what this meant.
"Is that... His Eminence Sword Douluo?"
Lu Ye nodded.
Then he swiped across the phone.
A massive Bone Dragon slowly rose from the cliff.
Shen Qilan opened her mouth, but for a moment she couldn't find anything to say.
Two Titled Douluo had appeared just like that inside this palm-sized object?
Unable to resist, she reached out and took the phone, turned it over to inspect the back, then turned it faceup again.
The picture was still there, and so was the sound.
"Can they see me?"
"No. This was filmed beforehand. It can be played as many times as I want to show it to you."
Shen Qilan nodded, only half understanding.
Seeing that, Lu Ye didn't explain further. Instead, he took out another phone, opened the camera, and filmed a short clip of her.
When he played it back, the lingering confusion on Shen Qilan's face was immediately replaced by surprise.
On the screen, she was holding the phone, looking down at it, then looking up to ask a question.
"Can they see me?"
Shen Qilan looked up at Lu Ye, then down at the screen again.
At last, she understood what Lu Ye had meant by capturing people.
"If we film ourselves playing music, can we do the same thing?"
"Of course."
"Then in the future, could guests hear us without us having to go to their banquets?"
"They could. But for anyone to listen today, they'd first need a phone."
At that, Shen Qilan's eyes immediately lit up.
She had done business in Heaven Dou City for several years and knew exactly what was hardest about running a music workshop.
If guests had never heard you play or seen you dance, they could only rely on other people's recommendations. Those with big reputations were hired even at high prices; those without a name could have the same skills and still wait at the workshop for a month without a single customer coming through the door.
If other people could see them beforehand, things would be completely different.
"Manager Lu, please wait a moment. I'll call them over right away."
Before long, seven or eight adult performers came into the room.
Some played instruments, some sang, and some usually specialized in accompanying dances. They had been practicing and wore different clothes, but they all had one thing in common: a touch of curiosity in their eyes as they looked at Lu Ye.
"This is Manager Lu of the Seven Treasure Chamber of Commerce. I called you here today because there's something new to show you."
When Shen Qilan finished, she held up the phone in her hand.
Lu Ye took out the other phones from his Storage Soul Tool and placed them on the table.
He had already recorded the thirty trial phones with the chamber. Besides the people before him, some were to be given to people who could do other things.
First, he had to make the content lively; only then would people be willing to spend money.
"This is called a phone. There's a button on the side. Press it, and it turns on."
With Lu Ye's guidance, everyone quickly learned the simplest operations.
Then he had them open the camera.
The next second, several cries of surprise rang out in succession.
"Sister Qilan, how are you in my phone?"
"I can see you in mine too, even the instrument behind you!"
"Don't move, let me have another look."
A woman wearing a pale purple dance dress went so far as to take her phone over to the mirror.
There was one of her in the mirror and another on the screen.
She tilted her head to the left, and the person in the phone tilted her head too. Then she raised a hand to fix her hair, and the person inside copied the movement without the slightest difference.
As she watched, she began to laugh.
Shen Qilan saw what was on her mind and smiled. "Liu Ruyan, if you keep looking, are you going to practice your dance today or not?"
"Just one look."
Twenty-four-year-old Liu Ruyan didn't even raise her head. Despite what she said, her hand showed no sign of putting the phone down.
Seeing this, Lu Ye couldn't help the corners of his mouth from turning up.
He knew that reaction all too well.
In his previous life, plenty of people had looked just like that when they first got phones that could take selfies, wishing they could photograph themselves dozens of times a day.
But the pictures these people took now were much better-looking than his own.
"Don't rush. There are other things in there."
Lu Ye opened the beauty filters and special effects and gave them a quick demonstration.
If everyone had merely found it novel before, then the room grew even livelier when they saw with their own eyes that they could look different on the screen.
Someone changed her makeup, and someone else added flowers to her hair. After trying a few options, Liu Ruyan adjusted the overly heavy makeup back down.
"This one's too red. It doesn't look like me."
"Try the one next to it."
"Let me finish looking first!"
Shen Qilan had originally intended to keep things in order, but after trying it herself a couple of times, she forgot all about what she had meant to say.
Holding the phone, she tried two angles, then suddenly turned to Lu Ye.
"Manager Lu, when I smile normally, is there really a line at the corner of my eye?"
Lu Ye took a look.
"If you don't like it, you can make it less noticeable."
"That's not what I'm asking."
"Then what did you want to ask?"
Shen Qilan stared at him for a moment. In the end, she lowered her head and adjusted it herself.
The others nearby all burst out laughing.
Lu Ye silently counted himself lucky.
Was that something I could answer casually? If I did, she probably wouldn't have the heart to mind the others today.
Once everyone had played around enough, he clapped his hands and got them to look at him again.
"See the plus sign at the bottom? Press it, and you can record. Once you're done, if you want other people to see it, select 'publish.'"
As he spoke, he first filmed a clip of Shen Qilan, added a piece of lively music, cut out the part at the beginning where she was waiting, and posted it.
"Now, go back out and have a look."
Several of them did as he said, and sure enough, they soon saw the same clip.
Shen Qilan sat beside the instrument, lowered her head to straighten her sleeves, then looked up at the camera.
It was just a casually filmed clip, with no deliberately arranged movements, yet paired with the music, it was pleasing to the eye in a way that was hard to describe.
Lu Ye looked at the screen, increasingly satisfied.
If those Soul Masters who usually buried themselves in cultivation saw this, wouldn't they clutch their phones in their hands, unwilling to put them down?
"Sister Qilan, this looks good!"
"Film another one. I wasn't ready just now," Shen Qilan said immediately.
But Lu Ye smiled and shook his head.
"Now you can film yourselves. If there's something you don't know how to do, come ask me."
In no time, the sound of fingers tapping screens filled the room.
Some filmed themselves, some filmed the instruments, and others filmed a companion, then huddled together to watch it over and over.
Liu Ruyan had even found music on her own and was trying to time the movement of her raised hand to it.
Seeing this, Lu Ye felt reassured at once.
He had only taught them the beginning, and they were already figuring things out.
Sure enough, people who liked being seen didn't need him to crack a whip to spur them on.
"There's one thing you need to remember."
Only after several videos had been posted one after another did Lu Ye offer another reminder.
"Anyone who buys a phone in the future will be able to see what's on here. Film what you want people to see; don't casually put in what you don't. Don't send out other people's private affairs along with your own dances."
Shen Qilan nodded at once.
When performing for guests, she knew better than anyone what could and couldn't be said.
"I'll tell them."
Seeing that she understood, Lu Ye said no more and turned his gaze to the familiar dance costumes everyone wore.
Knowing how to film was one thing; what to film was another.
If all they did was smile at the camera, it might be novel for the first few days, but it wouldn't be enough afterward.
Thinking of this, he suddenly asked, "Proprietress Shen, do you know a tailor?"
"Yes. We have our performance clothes made for us."
"Perfect."
Lu Ye immediately asked for paper and a brush and sat down at the table.
Seeing this, several women gathered around him.
Before long, a dress they had never seen before appeared on the paper.
Liu Ruyan looked at the drawing, her eyes puzzled at first, then filled with intense curiosity.
"Manager Lu, what is this called?"
Lu Ye raised his head and smiled.
"A qipao."