How can someone travel through time and space and become a beggar?

Seeing that there were so many people around, Xia Tian grabbed Wang Qiuyu by the back of his neck and said, "Don't run around."

"I know, I know!" Wang Qiuyu's eyes were not enough. The guy on the left was so powerful that he could crush rocks with his chest, and the guy on the right was swallowing a sword!

Along the way, they watched acrobatics and puppet shows, but did not go to listen to opera. Wang Qiuyu could not sit still.

Fire breathing, plate-holding, bone-shrinking skills... Wang Qiuyu screamed in excitement as they watched. Then they were on a mountain of knives and a sea of fire. It meant walking on knife edges and through red-hot charcoal. Xia Chu covered one eye, not daring to watch.

Wang Qiuyu wanted to crawl under someone's feet and touch them to see if they were human feet.

At noon, Wang Qiuyu didn't want to go back, so they ate shrimp wontons and steamed buns in the restaurant.

After eating, Wang Qiuyu became energetic again and pulled his brothers and sisters to run around.

"No, I can't walk anymore. I want to sit for a while." Xia Chu didn't have as much energy as Wang Qiuyu. He wanted to sit down and rest after eating.

Xia Tian looked up and saw a tea stall where a middle-aged man was sitting and talking, his saliva flying, and the people around him were listening attentively. He suggested: "Qiu Yu, let's go listen to storytelling?"

"No, listening to books takes too much time." Wang Qiuyu was not happy. He preferred watching acrobatics.

"Brother, you take him there. I'll go..." Xia Chu looked around and saw a stage. "I'll go there to listen to the opera."

Xia Tian looked in the direction her finger pointed and nodded, "Then don't wander around. We'll come back to find you later."

Xia Chu found a place to sit down, ordered a pot of tea and a plate of melon seeds, and sat there eating melon seeds while listening to the opera.

She hadn't really liked listening to them before, because they were all so drawn out and humming. But if she calmed down and listened, she'd find the stories were good, and the performances by the actors were very moving. Xia Chu noticed that one young man had a very pleasant voice, especially the voice of a young man.

In modern times, it would probably be called a "gongziyin." It's soft, clear, and slow, making it a pleasure to listen to. I remember there was a joke that said, "No wonder those young ladies from wealthy families ran away with opera singers. Most people can't handle that voice."

Xia Chu was fine, but she couldn't help but think of Zhao Huazhang's voice. His voice should be a baritone, with a bit of magnetism. But she didn't know if it was her own illusion or the characteristics of Zhao Huazhang's voice, but she always felt that it was a bit doting.

She was thinking about Zhao Huazhang when she suddenly heard a familiar voice, "Mr. Zhang."

"Ms. Mo."

Xia Chu looked in the direction of the voice and saw Mo Qingmei, talking to a man. She was wearing a veil, revealing only her eyes, but they were filled with lingering affection as she looked at the man opposite her.

Huh? Xia Chu hesitated and didn't move forward.

Mr. Zhang smiled, his peach blossom eyes, which looked as if they were watching a dog, stared at Mo Qingmei. But he still had his clothes on, and it was clear that he was the young man whose voice Xia Chu had just thought was pleasant.

Mo Qingmei half-lowered his head and whispered something that was hard to hear. The two of them spoke in low voices afterwards, but their attitudes seemed very familiar, obviously they had known each other for quite some time.

But how could Mo Qingmei be familiar with the actors in Wa Si?

Could it be that what she had just complained about was true? The young lady, naive about the ways of the world, had been deceived by the opera singer's sweet talk? Qun'er didn't follow either. Did Mo Qingmei come out alone?

Moreover, they had always gone to see operas with big troupes and sat in private rooms. They had rarely been to such open-air operas.

Worried that her friend was being cheated, she immediately stood up and shouted, "Qing Mei."

Mo Qingmei panicked, and when she saw Xia Chu, she slowly exhaled. She glanced at Zhang Yifan and walked towards Xia Chu, "Xia Chu, you, are you coming to watch the show?"

Xia Chu didn't look at Mr. Zhang. She took Mo Qingmei's arm and walked to the side. "Why are you alone? Where's Qun'er?"

"Qun'er, go get something." Mo Qingmei glanced at Xia Chu, "Did you see it just now?"

"How do you know each other?" Xia Chu thought about the wording and didn't know what to say.

Mo Qingmei didn't need her to finish, she lowered her eyes and said, "He met her at the bookstore, you, don't tell anyone else."

"I won't tell anyone." Xia Chu sighed, feeling more and more that her guess was right. She thought for a moment and said with a smile, "I haven't seen you in a long time. How have you been lately?" She had wanted to ask Aunt Mo if she had found a good family for her, but it was difficult to talk about such private matters in such a crowded place.

"Very good." Mo Qingmei smiled. "Are you here alone too?"

"No, I'm with my brother and younger brother." Xia Chu saw that Mr. Zhang had left, so she pulled Mo Qingmei to sit in her previous seat. She wanted to say something, but she didn't know how to speak, fearing that she had misunderstood.

Seeing that she was hesitant to speak, Mo Qingmei almost guessed what she was thinking. Feeling a little embarrassed and ashamed for a moment, she explained: "Don't think too much, I just came to say thank you."

It turned out that Mo Qingmei often went to the bookstore, and last time she met a rude scholar who said that she was just a woman, and she was pretending to read books every day, and she didn't know how many words she could read.

The shopkeeper immediately explained that she was the owner. The scholar then said that since the bookstore was run by a woman, it was no wonder that all the books were storybooks. It was really disgraceful.

It happened that the opera singer, Mr. Zhang, went to buy a storybook and spoke up for her and helped her out of the predicament.

The two met because of this, and later learned that Master Zhang was the owner of a troupe. He often visited bookstores to collect vernacular novels and adapted them into scripts for plays.

Thank you at that time. To express her gratitude, Mo Qingmei said that she would support Mr. Zhang next time she goes back, so she came here today.

Having said that, Qun'er came back with the things.

"I see." Xia Chu breathed a sigh of relief. "Then you just said not to tell anyone, and I accidentally thought the wrong thing."

Mo Qingmei explained that Qun'er was holding some thank-you gifts. She asked Qun'er to take them to Mr. Zhang in the back, and then said, "You think too much. How could I..."

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I probably read too many storybooks and my mind is not clear." Xia Chu saw that she was a little annoyed. "Don't be angry, don't be angry. It's almost the end of the month. Don't you want to check the latest account book?"

"I heard your Mid-Autumn Festival business was very good," Mo Qingmei hesitated for a moment and said, "Now you are in charge, we should renegotiate our share of the profits."

She had already recovered her investment, and hadn't planned on making much money at first, just enough to avoid losing money. Unexpectedly, Xia Chu had a quick mind and often had new ideas.

Yin Ge Yuan's accounts looked very good, but she felt guilty about accepting the money. Apart from taking some money in the early stages, she had basically not been involved in anything else.

"It's only been a few months. If I get busy in the future, I'll ask you for help."

"I see you're running your business very well, and I haven't done anything to help you, yet I'm still taking so much money. I don't feel comfortable doing that." Mo Qingmei had his own shop to manage, so he didn't come to Yin Ge Garden very often. Besides checking the account books at the end of the month, he'd take his share, and he always felt unworthy of it.