No.18 Years of Waking of Insects

In the 29rd year of the Republic of China.

Rongcheng, Qingyishe.

The bustling lobby was full of spectators, and even the private rooms on the second floor were booked by famous sons and daughters from various families in Rongcheng. The beaded curtains were rolled up, and they couldn't help but glance at the stage downstairs.

It is ten o'clock at night, and the street is a bit deserted, the dim light of the street lamps is faint in the autumn night, there are not many pedestrians on the street, only a few cars run by occasionally.

After all, Beihua Street can't be called a bustling street.Compared with Dong Ning Street, which has always been prosperous, this place is actually a bit colder, but at this time the theater is bustling with spectators.

Although Rongcheng is not as good as Ye Shanghai, which is full of luxury and luxury, in this war-torn era, it is indeed a paradise that everyone can look forward to.

And the few operas in the opera garden are deeply loved by the people.Whether it is the opera singer or the opera sung by the opera singer, to them, it is one of the few comforts in this era of war.

There were still more than ten minutes before the opening of the play, and the people sitting in the room began to get restless.

A middle-aged man with the appearance of a butcher stood up from his seat. He was still wearing a brown coat stained with oil, and shouted impatiently towards the backstage: "Why the hell is he still dawdling? I have been waiting for half an hour How many hours!"

As soon as he opened his mouth, the people who couldn't wait began to echo noisily.

For a moment, the entire lobby was in chaos.

"Heh, a village butcher came here to join in the fun, and it's not too much of a joke to scold the street."

A clear and sarcastic voice reached the butcher's ears. He looked over with a livid face, and saw a young man in a linen gown and a dark top hat sitting on the chair on the left two tables away.

The butcher saw this person clearly and smiled immediately: "Hey, isn't this Boss Lu? Why doesn't he paint in his own shop or accept that business, instead he came here with me to join in the fun."

Lu Jinghong raised his eyes and saw that he was laughing all over his face together, thinking that his bewildered smile and the alluring tricks were probably learned from his wife.

Selling paintings is his front business, and the so-called "that kind of business" is nothing more than collecting profits and doing things for people.

The noisy and laughing people around all took a look here, knowing what virtue Wang Tuhu is and what role Lu Jinghong is, so they didn't participate much.

But Lu Jinghong had no interest in talking to him again.

Then there was a burst of gongs and drums, and the heavy red curtain on the stage was finally slowly pulled back, and the play began.

This is a fold of Qingjiang opera, called "Fu Hua Farewell".It tells the poignant love story between a prince in ancient times and his personal eunuch.It has been more than [-] years since the script of this play came out, but in the north and south of the country where most people love to watch plays, few fans knew about this play ten years ago.

But now, anyone in Rongcheng who loves to listen to operas has seen Tsing Yi She's "Fu Hua Farewell" and knows what it is about.

Huadan who played the role of the little eunuch Gu Xiang on the stage was a well-known pillar of the stage in this Tsing Yi House, named Liu Meisheng.She has been as weak as a little girl since she was a child, but she is more agile and seductive than that girl when she sings.Born with a good skin and a good voice, she is destined to be an actor who can sing her best in this troubled world.

He sang "Fu Hua Farewell" since he was a child, but at that time, no matter how hard he practiced and sang seriously, it was difficult to give the audience the true spirit and soul of the characters in the play.Now that she has grown up to be a peerless and famous actress, her role of Gu Xiang has become popular throughout Rongcheng, and Tsing Yishe has become the top troupe in Rongcheng.

Wang Tuhu at the side saw Liu Meisheng stepping onto the stage in a dark red and dark flowered coarse cloth robe, and stared straight at him, completely forgetting that he was still talking to Lu Jinghong who was at the side just a few seconds ago.

"The weather is cold and the years are bitter, and my life is like a human being; I am willing to exchange half of my body for my whole life from Langcun to the capital."

This is the opening statement of Gu Xiang coming to the capital alone with his destiny on his shoulders, willing to enter the imperial city from the palace for the sake of livelihood and filial piety.

These two short sentences finally reveal the ill-fated fate of his life.

As soon as Liu Meisheng's light voice spoke, the guests immediately fell silent.Even though they have heard this opera many times in this Tsing Yi House, they can still deeply feel the sadness expressed by Liu Meisheng in the libretto from under his vermilion lips.

Wearing a costume, Liu Meisheng walked gracefully on the stage, perfectly performing the melancholy and sorrowful feelings of the protagonist.

Immediately afterwards, actors, big and small, appeared from behind the scenes one by one. Xiaosheng who played the role of the prince Fang Zuyuan was the fourth master of the troupe.Fourth Master Yan has never been sloppy in singing, but it is in line with the prince's heroic and decisive character.

Lu Jinghong took a sip of his tea and glanced at the stage, only to see a drop of liquid falling from between the wooden beams on the stage, passing in front of Liu Meisheng, and landing on the red carpet in front of his embroidered shoes.

Liu Meisheng obviously also noticed that something was dripping at his feet, and by turning around, he sang a line that Gu Xiang had when he met Fang Zuyuan for the first time—"My family is more than seventeen today, and it coincides with the time when Your Highness, the famous god Xu ", and then glanced over the beam without any trace, and paused at the end.Then he regained the mood in the play, and at the same time gently wiped the liquid on the ground twice with his feet.

Lu Jinghong was some distance away from the stage, so he couldn't see exactly what was dripping, but he probably guessed something.Then he looked above Liu Meisheng, the wooden beam was completely covered by the curtain in front of the stage, and the situation above was completely unclear.

And the guests who are watching the play attentively may or may not have seen this scene.But to them, it doesn't matter much, what they care about is the scene with Liu Meisheng tonight.

This Tsing Yi House only starts a play on the 21st of every month, and tonight is Liu Meisheng's specialty.Naturally, they have no time to take care of those messy things that have nothing to do with them.

Just when Gu Xiang was being accepted by Fang Zuyuan as his personal eunuch in the play, the sound of quick and orderly footsteps came from outside the gate of Tsing Yi She.

Then I saw Song Jue in military uniform rushing in with a large number of soldiers, and started searching without saying a word.

"Song Duli, what... what does this mean?" The old head teacher of Tsing Yi House stepped forward and asked in confusion.

Song Jue's sharp eyes swept over everyone in the hall one by one, including the actors on the stage who had stopped singing duets long ago and their faces turned pale with fright.

He opened his mouth slowly: "The superior received an order that a rebellious party sneaked into Rongcheng from Chongqing overnight, and someone reported that he was seen entering your Tsingyi House."

Once the old man heard that it was a major national event, he didn't dare to say anything more, and let them investigate.If the rebels really sneaked in at the beginning of the show, taking advantage of the crowd's attention, I hope to catch him earlier, so as not to cause trouble for the theater troupe.

Adjutant Gao said: "The rebel fled from Chongqing wearing a mask. A passer-by found the mask outside Rongcheng. Now, no one in the city knows what the man looks like, so all of you can't leave easily."

The guests present did not dare to move even after hearing this, for they were afraid that they would be arrested as suspects inexplicably because of one of their behaviors.

About half an hour later, the soldiers rushed back to the lobby from the backyard to report one after another, but nothing was gained.

Song Jue's face became more and more serious. Seeing the adjutant rushing over from the courtyard on the left behind the lobby, he asked, "Any clues?"

The adjutant shook his head and panted, "I guess he never entered the back hall at all, but my subordinate...the subordinate saw it in the backyard..."

"What do you see, tell me!"

"...Seeing the Second Young Master hugging and hugging the two actors, they are very affectionate."

Song Jue's face darkened immediately when he heard this, and he dragged Song Yang out of the corridor in the back courtyard.

"Ah, big brother, big brother, don't be like this, you have something to say..." Song Yang jumped into the lobby from the back yard by Song Jue's ear. I jumped, and smiled dryly, "Haha, everyone is here."

Song Jue felt ashamed, so he casually threw him on the adjutant, and said coldly, "Take him back to the Song residence and confine him for half a month."

When Song Yang heard this, he stomped his foot, no matter how painful it was to the adjutant's left foot, he howled, "Farewell, brother, my dear brother!" Then he was taken away by the adjutant.

Song Jue inspected again with a cold face, and after confirming that there were no suspects, he quickly left to search elsewhere.

After such a toss, it was 11:30 in the evening, and the old man had no choice but to apologize to everyone.The guests who couldn't enjoy the show complained loudly, but they could only leave while complaining.

The actors on the stage also retreated one after another. Before leaving, Liu Meisheng glanced at the top, then walked off the stage hesitantly, and went back to remove her make-up and change her clothes.

Lu Jinghong saw that he was gradually the only one left in the whole hall, so he slowly walked up to the stage. He wanted to see if there was some so-called rebel hiding there.

He walked to the carpet soaked in liquid, touched and smelled it with his lower hand, and it was indeed blood.Then slowly raised his eyes, and saw those deep but clear eyes.

"You..." He murmured, but the next second he saw the man who was curled up and hiding on the wooden beam fell down unexpectedly, and fell straight at his feet like that.

The man at his feet was wearing black cloth and short brown, his face was stern, and his thin lips were starting to look pale and chapped.

"Hey..." Lu Jinghong lowered his body and patted his face, seeing that his eyes were tightly closed, he must have passed out due to injuries and exhaustion.

"I have medicine and clothes in my room." A clear voice suddenly sounded behind Lu Jinghong.

He was startled, at some point Liu Mei came back and changed into a dark green gown and stood behind him.

Then the two of them quietly brought the injured and unconscious man into the attic in the backyard.

Liu Meisheng carefully sat on the edge of the bed and applied medicine to the man. The wound on his right chest was a gunshot wound that was neither big nor small, nor deep nor shallow.But the blood loss was too much, and the person was also in a coma.

Lu Jinghong walked back and forth a few steps, and suddenly took the medicine bottle in Liu Meisheng's hand, closed the bottle cap, and put it back into the medicine box.

Liu Mei was puzzled, but did not ask, and waited for him to continue speaking.

"I just took a look. Now there are soldiers patrolling and inspecting all the streets in Chengdu. He can't get out like this."

Liu Meisheng also felt troubled: "But my place is really not safe, during the daytime, there are always guests coming and going."

Lu Jinghong groaned, looked around the room, and finally picked up the white wine on the square table and poured it into the mouth of the unconscious man at the moment.

Liu Mei was taken aback, and was about to step forward to stop his inexplicable and crazy behavior, but was stopped by his words.

"This is the only good way. They would never have thought that he would pretend to be a hangover guest and make the wound aggravated to cover up his identity." Said he put down the empty flagon, and helped up the man who was subconsciously frowning on the bed , walked to the door, turned around and said, "Boss Liu, that box of medicine is a good thing, don't waste it so casually in the future."

Then he staggered the drunken man downstairs and left the Tsing Yi House.