Tang Dynasty Little Godfather

Chapter 91 Once the Dream of the Red Chamber is unveiled, who can rival it?
This surprise has turned into a shock!
Who would have thought that a vulture would come up here!

What happened to the performance?

Or is today's performance a harassment of respectable women?
Well, that's not impossible.

At this moment, everyone present felt that they had been tricked and deceived; this was a trap set at Hongmen!
He cursed Bai Siyong to death in his heart.

Is this how you treat your old customers, you old bastard?
This is absolutely outrageous!

Let's see if we come again next time.

Today we must sever all ties.

The person who shouted "dog-headed vulture" immediately realized he had misspoke and, without saying a word, crawled under the table.

No exaggeration at all.

If the vultures see us, how can we possibly survive?

Instantly, the building fell completely silent.

Everyone was trembling as they stared at Wang Xi in the middle.

Wang Xi glanced around, quite satisfied with his own intimidating presence, and suddenly cupped his hands and said, "Greetings, everyone. I am Wang Xi, nicknamed Wang Xiaoque, and my nickname is Dog-Headed Vulture. Today, I am here to perform a charity show on the orders of Mr. Nameless."

It was eerily quiet.

But everyone was somewhat relieved, since he himself recognized the bandit's name, so it was acceptable to use it. However, a hint of confusion flashed in their eyes. Could it be that they were letting the dog-headed vulture play the role?

This looks so unreliable!

Wang Xi glanced around and said, "It seems that you all have many doubts. Actually, the matter is like this: thanks to the Emperor's grace and favor, our Wuming Academy has gained its current reputation."

My husband, in order to repay the Emperor's favor and knowing that His Majesty is troubled by the matter of returning hidden households to their registered residence, has therefore reached a cooperation agreement with Yixianjue.

We will be touring Yixianjue for half a month, mainly focusing on storytelling, and the stories in the book are written by our husband himself.

All profits will be donated to those reclusive households who wish to return to their ancestral homes but are facing difficulties.

After hearing the whole story, the guests in the building felt a little relieved. When they heard that the people there were going to help those who had returned to their hometowns, their goodwill towards them increased even more.

The West Market is mainly populated by ordinary people, who are well aware of the difficulties of living in seclusion. Who would want to be a nameless, unregistered resident? It's all because you nobles annex land, don't distribute it to the people, and still demand taxes from them. This isn't just about money; it's about taking lives!

The current persuasion to return to one's registered residence sounds nice, but it is still a form of migration. Even though Li Longji issued regulations allowing people to choose their place of residence, the implementation was not thorough, and no matter where one went, it would cost money.

The imperial court only granted tax exemptions without covering the expenses, but ordinary unregistered households had no money.

This shows that the purpose of allowing people to return to their original registered residence is to expand the national treasury and increase tax revenue, rather than to genuinely benefit the people.

Immediately, words of praise arose within the building.

"I've heard that Mr. Wuming hates evil and loves good, and his reputation is truly well-deserved."

"Mr. Anonymous is truly kind-hearted."

Several enthusiastic young people praised it.

Of course, all this goodwill was directed at the nameless gentleman, not at the hawk.

While some praised it, many others found it rather strange. Why would a group of noble children come here to perform a charity show, especially for the sake of that hidden household? Wasn't that ironic?

The emergence of so many hidden households is all your doing, nobles! You've annexed all the land, and you don't have to pay taxes. How are the common people supposed to survive?

Some even speculated that this might be Mr. Wuming deliberately making them pay off their debts.

Thinking about this, I felt a sense of vengeful pleasure.

Wang Xi was also self-aware and did not intend to say more. He smiled and said, "Next, my classmates will perform for you. The performance will be based on 'Dream of the Red Chamber,' which was written by our teacher himself."

Dream of the Red Chamber?
What is that?

I've never heard of that before!

Although few of the people sitting here are cultured, even in the East Market, no one knows what "Dream of the Red Chamber" is.

But Wang Xi didn't care whether they understood or not. He bowed and then stepped down from the stage.

Immediately, the musicians took their places, and the first to go on stage were Cui Gu'er and Qin'er.

Seeing that there were girls and musicians, and that it seemed like the right thing to do, my heart, which had been hanging in suspense, finally settled down. It turned out that the gull had only come up to introduce the place, and that the gull hadn't actually performed.

That's alright!
Cui Gu'er and Qin'er came up to sing the theme song.

The reason for arranging for the two of them to sing a song is mainly because they are the lead actors in the opera adaptation of Dream of the Red Chamber. This will help them become familiar to the public and create the image of a perfect couple.

This will lay a solid foundation for future opera adaptations of Dream of the Red Chamber.

These are all very common tactics, which Wang Xi can easily master.

The two of them were not at all stage-frightened on stage. Qin'er had always been by Hongxiu's side and had experienced this kind of occasion far too many times. As for Cui Gu'er, a playboy, how could he be stage-frightened? Besides, he had already performed in front of the emperor and was extremely excited.

After exchanging greetings and introducing themselves, the two began to play music and sing a heartfelt duet.

"A beautiful girl like Lin Daiyu fell from the sky!"

At first listen, the guests were a little confused. What kind of lyrics and music is this? It's quite unique.

It must be said that the lyrics and music of the early Tang Dynasty were quite grand and magnificent, which is closely related to the imperial culture.

The Tang Empire? One word to describe it—enormous.

Suddenly, a song about the delicate and refined Lin Daiyu comes on.

Everyone was a little taken aback.

But as they listened, they found it quite enjoyable, and everyone couldn't help but nod and hum along softly.

Grand and magnificent styles belong to the upper class, but in the lower classes, people are more likely to accept this kind of popular and easy-to-understand style, which is about love and affection. Moreover, this kind of duet between men and women is very rare nowadays.

More importantly, they had just learned that a group of spoiled brats were playing the roles, so their expectations were definitely low. Now, they were filled with pleasant surprise. It sounds pretty good, doesn't it?

Hongxiu, who was hiding behind the back door, had been looking very uneasy.

Although the lyrics and music were improved by her, she didn't really admire them that much. Although she was a woman, she was also a scholar. The music was alright, but the lyrics, if they were from Pingkangfang, would be considered very low-class.

But if I heard it was written by Wang Xi, then it deserves praise.

This was a huge step forward, and with Tao Mo constantly nagging her, she also felt that her husband was right.

But when it came to actually performing it, she was still a little flustered.

Now that I see everyone seems to accept it, I feel much more relaxed. At the same time, I understand why: those who watched her performances before were a different kind of people from the people here.

Therefore, this cannot be generalized.

The song ended.

Applause immediately erupted.

This greatly encouraged Cui the Orphan, who immediately revealed his true colors, waving his hands and saying, "Thank you, thank you. Haha!"

Seeing his dazed look, Qin'er whispered, "Let's go down quickly."

The two of them were just there to warm up the crowd. After all, this kind of performance is quite common, and they were just there for the novelty. The main event was yet to come.

After Cui Gu'er and Qin'er went down, Xue Jun and Linghu Baodi, the pair, came up on stage.

The two first bowed to the surroundings, and Xue Jun said, "Everyone, today my junior brother Baodi and I will be performing 'Dream of the Red Chamber'."

Linghu Baodi chimed in, "It seems like none of you know about Dream of the Red Chamber. Why don't you explain it to everyone, Brother Xue?"

"Okay!"

Xue Jun said, "The story of Dream of the Red Chamber is actually very simple. It can be summarized in one sentence: it is about a man and a group of women."

Linghu Baodi exclaimed excitedly, "Oh! I love hearing this!"

One customer said, "We love it too!"

"Hahaha!"

The two sang and danced on stage, their performance seamless and entertaining, making everyone laugh even before the story was told.

In later generations, storytelling was usually done by one person.

However, Wang Xi believed that the audience at present was very familiar with military dramas, which were also performed by two people. So he combined storytelling and crosstalk.

Xue Jun tells the story, while Linghu Baodi is responsible for being the straight man, which means asking questions.

Because this is a completely new story, this will also help everyone understand it.

After the introductions, the two began to formally discuss Dream of the Red Chamber.

The guests inside the building, including the Bai family father and daughter, had no hope whatsoever. The Bai family father and daughter were even more concerned that they wouldn't scare away the customers.

But as they listened, everyone gradually became engrossed.

Inside the noisy building, only the stories told by Xue Jun and Linghu Baodi could be heard.

At present, the main cultural content is still poetry and prose. Novels are just the beginning of the process, while Dream of the Red Chamber is definitely the culmination of this. Perhaps only Ximen Qing can be compared with it. In the end, Dream of the Red Chamber still uses beautiful words to cover up the truth, while that book directly and vividly depicts the ugliness of human nature, whether it is men or women.

In today's world, this would be an absolute game-changer.

A story can be written like this.

Bai Ningsu was afraid that these playboys would mess things up, so she secretly came to Hongxiu's side to eavesdrop.

But as she listened, she forgot to cook.

"Hey!"

"ah!"

Bai Ningsu was startled and turned around to see Wang Xi. She patted her chest and complained, "You're really awful. You just like to scare people on purpose."

Wang Xi said, amused and annoyed, "What are you doing here instead of staying in the kitchen? And you have the nerve to criticize me."

Bai Ningsu blinked.

Right!

What am I doing here?

At this moment, Hongxiu laughed and said, "These days, those guests don't have time to order food."

"Yes."

Bai Ningsu immediately echoed.

Wang Xi asked, "Teacher, are you very familiar with her?"

Hongxiu glanced at Bai Ningsu and saw that she had delicate features and a pure and lovely appearance. She liked her from the bottom of her heart and said with a smile, "I just recognized her as my younger sister."

Bai Ningsu was overjoyed and glanced at Wang Xi with a hint of smugness.

Wang Xi chuckled and said, "As the saying goes, everyone who sees this gets a share. Why don't you recognize me as your younger brother?"

Bai Ningsu quietly tugged at Hongxiu's sleeve, hinting to her, "Let's not let the wolf into the house."

Hongxiu laughed and said, "I don't have the guts to acknowledge the young master of the Wang family as my younger brother."

Just then, a rapid drumbeat was heard, followed by Xue Jun's loud voice: "To find out what happens next, please listen to the next chapter."

(End of this chapter)