The show started, but it couldn't stop anyone from leaving.

Because the setting is rough, the curtains are painted with green mountains and green waters, pavilions and towers, so fake that they cannot be fake anymore. Today's stage plays emphasize keeping pace with the times and various new technologies can be introduced, so they should not be so perfunctory.

Jiang Lian felt that the show had no sincerity and did not respect the audience very much. Neither respected the audience, the audience naturally looked down on the stage.

He also thought about leaving the seat, but when he looked back, he was the only one left in the small theater.

This made him lose the responsibility he should not bear for his sake: the last straw that broke the camel's back, the last snowflake that caused the avalanche, and the last pull of the knot to the end. As soon as he left, the show really collapsed. Besides, how embarrassing the actors should be.

Forget it, it’s okay tonight anyway. Sacrifice some time to be a beauty for adulthood.

So he sat down again, because he knew that he wanted to listen to the opera, so he could calm down. As he listened, he gradually realized some meaning.

If a drama genre can have a heritage and audience, it will inevitably have its own unique charm. If you are impatient and unable to leave the table, it does not mean that others cannot appreciate this taste.

Jiang Lian was so impressed that he suddenly felt someone sitting down gently beside him and asked him again: "Do you like Cantonese opera?"

He is a woman with a soothing and low voice, which is strange to say. She is clearly talking, but she gives people a feeling like a long sigh.

Jiang Lian smiled and said, "No, I can't understand Cantonese, I just watch the fun."

As he said, he turned his head and was stunned without realizing his eyes.

This is a pretty woman, she is beautiful, not beautiful, she can't tell her age, maybe thirty or forty - her sense of age does not come from her appearance, but from her eyes and temperament. Moreover, it can be seen that she does not use makeup and clothes to cover up her age. Everything goes with the flow, and naturally flows around her, and beauty also flows on her body, from the hair hanging on her shoulders to the shallow folds of the clothes on her elbows.

Jiang Lian was simply amazed by her.

He withdrew his gaze and suddenly had an idea in his mind: This night, this scene is not bad.

Beautiful things, whether they are paintings, scenery, or people, will make people feel happy and feel that they will live up to time.

The woman said, "This is even more rare. Sometimes, just listen, you don't have to understand."

He asked him again: "What does it feel like to sit here and listen to the opera?"

Jiang Lian pondered for a moment: "First of all, someone must spend money here to support him, otherwise, he will definitely not be able to support him."

On the stage, the bright lights dyed the rouge and pink surface of the opera corner and the thick ink eye tips; under the stage, in the dim afterglow, the woman's mouth brought a faint smile.

This is Qu Qiao, who is the sixth among the mountain ghosts, who is also the "Liu Mei" whom Lu Sanming called the boss but ignored everything.

Cantonese opera is popular in Vernacular District and has a lot of audiences in Guangdong and Hong Kong, but the situation in Guangxi is relatively complicated: most of the Zhuang people in western Guizhou are dominated by Guizhou, while Eastern Han culture is dominant.

However, Guilin belongs to northern Guangxi, and is influenced by Hunan culture and speaks Mandarin; in the southern Guangxi area, such as Nanning and Wuzhou, vernacular language is popular.

Therefore, Cantonese opera is not very popular in Guilin, and this small theater is simple and old, and cannot be sold at all every day. The reason why the opera can be held every day is purely because she, Lu Sanming, has done a lot of work behind the scenes in order to please this sixth aunt: for example, she basically bought tickets for the show, treated them as the welfare of the guests in her hotel, and attracted customers to support them; for example, she has hired "water troops" for a long time to cheer for Miss Qu. When she heard that Miss Qu didn't sing, she would naturally scatter like a holiday.

Qu Qiao said: "What is the 'first' and 'second'?"

Jiang Lianxiao: "Secondly, I think this play is not for the audience to watch at all."

Qu Qiao was stunned for a moment, and she turned to look at Jiang Lian: Jiang Lian was focusing on the stands, and the light and shadow were on his face, making his facial features look particularly distinct but soft, mostly because of the corner of his mouth that seemed to rise at any time.

Qu Qiao said: "Who did you show it for?"

Jiang Lian said: "Show it for yourself."

He signaled on the stage: "I don't know who this person is, but you can't see the arrangements and furnishings of the 1980s and 1990s. Is it because of no money to improve it? It's definitely not. It's just that it's done deliberately. There's probably an old dream in the heart that can't get out. It's long gone and things have changed, but she is unwilling to let go, or she doesn't let herself go, repeating it over and over again, and revisiting it. She doesn't care whether anyone sees it or whether she makes money or not."

Qu Qiao sat still, but everything on the stage suddenly became blurry: various shadows rubbed the tone of the lyrics, and some people were playing sticks, making the wind blowing, and the stick shadows became round and undulating vortex, as if they were going to spit out the things of the past year, and as if they were going to suck her in now.

She heard Jiang Lian ask her: "Are you okay?"

She knew that a line of tears had fallen on the corner of her eyes, so she didn't wipe it, but just smiled and said, "It's okay."

He pointed to both sides of the stage again: "Look at that, each has its own sect."

Jiang Lian said: "That's right, it's for actors to go up and down the stage."

Qu Qiao shook her head: "The layman said that, that is called 'Hudumen'. In his early years, he studied opera in Guangdong. His master had strict requirements and repeatedly emphasized that when he went to this stage, he must have a sense of awe and respect this drama..."

When Jiang Lian heard her say "I learned opera in my early years", he couldn't help but say "ah": "You are..."

Qu Qiao did not answer, and was still talking about her: "...We must respect the person you played. Once you enter the Hudu Sect, you will no longer be yourself. Even if you just die of your parents, wife and children, and even if you are shooting yourself as soon as you step over this door and go to this stage, you will have to forget the world, forget him and forget yourself, not bring yourself to the stage, nor bring your grudges to the stage, and you can only have this scene in your eyes and heart."

The man she loved the most was because of the drama. On and off the stage, the love changed. Later, the two turned against each other in the background. He slapped her in the face, and she scratched his neck, and his flesh and blood were all in his nails.

But after wearing the costume, she still had to go on stage. She put a knife on the stage and thought to herself, she might as well stab him to death in front of everyone, then wipe her neck and commit suicide, and sing her own elegy drama on the stage.

But when I passed the Hudu Gate, my whole body shook and I felt like a kick on my head: Once I got on this platform, I had to forget the sky and the earth, forget him and forget myself.

That play was the famous Cantonese opera song "The Emperor's Flower".

What a sarcastic thing, two men and women who were just a moment ago who wanted to eat my flesh and I wanted to suck your blood came on the show, and were affectionate. When they thought about it many years later, she felt that the man was a scumbag, but she had to admit that she was indeed a dedicated and good actor.

The two who acted in the play both drank arsenic and frost committed suicide.

She sang: "The earth will last forever, and the love phoenix will always be matched with the phoenix."

He committed suicide by committing suicide under the lyrics tree. He had tears in his eyes and sang with her: "The husband and wife die and the tree is the same."

Sobbing sounds were everywhere from the audience, gradually connecting them. She looked at the dried blood red in the cracks of her fingernails, and thought of the wound covered by powder on her stiff and numb face, and found it ridiculous and funny.

After the show, she began to be unable to distinguish between the human world and the stage, playing around the human world, and scattering the stage, and ignored everything. She copied the small theater that was once almost the same, hired a group of people who also sang Cantonese operas to accompany her to relive this old dream day after day.

She was born in a dream and lived in a play. The play was nothingness. When she woke up, she stopped and then she dispersed. It was true that the earth was eternal for a long time, but that was a matter of heaven and earth. As for people, they just wanted to have a happy life.

In theory, Meng Qianzi should have taken turns to take care of her seven mothers, but she only took it for one round and never brought it again. It is said that Gao Jinghong said, "Lao Liu is getting more and more dissatisfied. Don't let her take our Zibaoer as shameless as her."

If she doesn't take it, she won't take it, but she likes Qianzi. During festivals, she still goes to Shanguizhai to visit her. Until five or six years ago, for some reason, she turned against her sisters and never had any contact. She was even alienated from Guishanzhu in Guangxi. In Guangxi, she faded out of Shanguizhai's sight like an unpopular son.

She introduced herself to Jiang Lian: "My surname is Qu, and my name is Qu Qiao."

He stood up again: "If you are not in a hurry, I will go and put on makeup and sing a show for you."

Without waiting for Jiang Lian to answer, she turned around and walked to the backstage. When she sat in front of the dressing table, she was still thinking about Jiang Lian's words.

——There is probably an old dream in that person’s heart that he can’t get out;

——As things have changed, she is unwilling to let go, or she does not let herself go.

...

She put on makeup in front of the mirror, and as she put on her pen, her hands trembled. She thought she had already felt relieved and had seen it.

But words, spoken from strangers and bystanders, hit the heart the most.

It turns out that for so many years, I just don’t let me go? That’s right, the saddest thing was only those two or three months, but she spent twenty or thirty years to pay tribute to her daily.

The stage of the day, the drama of the day, and this is always a theater without audiences. It reappears every day. What is the point?

...

Jiang Lian sat down and finished watching "The Fragrance of the Emperor's Flowers".

This paragraph tells the story of the country being destroyed in the late Ming Dynasty, and Princess Changping and the princess Zhou Shixian both committed suicide on the night of marriage.

The wedding chamber candles and phoenix crowns and robes performed a tragic story. Jiang Lian understood very few singing sessions, but the other two died in the stands, and felt particularly melancholy. When he finished the curtain call, he stood up and kept applauding. The thin applause kept echoing in the theater.

The actor got off the Hudu Gate and the light in the theater was bright. Jiang Lian saw that one or two actors who had not had time to take off their makeup hurriedly towards him.

He thought he wanted to give him the audience award to persevere to the end.

Then I realized that it was not. The martial artist at the front gave him the flower stick and said with a look of request: "Sorry, Miss Qu is rare to go on stage now. Usually, when she goes on stage, someone will present flowers, but now, the audience has been exposed..."

I understand, Jiang Lian has never watched Cantonese opera, but has watched film and television dramas: those characters will always receive flowers when they return to the backstage, and they will pay attention to the show.

Jiang Lian entered the backstage with a bouquet. Qu Qiao had just taken off her phoenix crown, and a delicately depicted face was reflected by a bright red wedding dress, which was particularly bright.

She took the flower and asked Jiang Lian: "Are you free? Have a midnight snack together?"

Jiang Lian hesitated for a moment, but Qu Qiao's next words failed to speak out.

She said: "Today's birthday, I thought it was just deserted, but I didn't expect that at the end, I would meet someone who could talk to you."

***

Qu Qiao lives in a small western-style building.

Back then, a Guangxi warlord Bai Chongxi, a Guangxi warlord, had become a protected unit, and it was difficult to buy and sell. This foreign house was said to be a senior adjutant of his. After liberation, she was bought by Qu Qiao. She was originally a dream of life and did not like living in the present. After buying it, she kept the old ones as before. She lived in a house in the Republic of China, sang operas from the Ming and Qing Dynasties, hurting her love from more than 20 years ago, and traveled through different time and space every day.

Now, the lights are not on at the top and bottom of the small foreign building, and it seems that the owner has not returned.

Not far from the road in front of the building, a big Suv was parked. In the back seat of the car, Meng Qianzi opened the lid of the gift box and inspected the crown jewelry for the last time.

It is no exaggeration to open the cover and the pearls are bright and precious, and the silk thread is wrapped around it. The crown is held up, and the back is decorated with a white pearl curtain.

She couldn't move it in the car, so she bent down and took her head to get the crown, sighed and said, "I want to go to perform so beautifully."

Xin Ci, who was on the co-pilot, looked back at her: "Is it that exaggerated?"

Meng Jinsong was sitting in the driver's seat. He glanced at Xin Ci: "Do you think that if you give your sixth aunt, you can use imitations? The bead chain behind the Guangbao crown used more than 4,000 small pearls."

Xin Ci swallowed his saliva, paused and asked again: "Why don't you let me go back to Shanzhu to receive it? I even have to rent a car, and I feel wronged that Lao Meng is a driver."

Meng Jinsong replied: "I don't feel wronged. If you complain, don't drag me into the water."

Meng Qianzi was not angry: "It was alarmed that Guishanzhu was a big move. I have to invite friends from all walks of life here to dinner. Are you upset? Besides, isn't you surprised Liuma? If there are so many people who know, can you still be surprised?"

Xin Ci said: "What if my sixth aunt is not home tonight, yes, she doesn't have a night?"

Meng Qianzi glared at him: "Don't talk nonsense."

Xin Ci felt wronged: "It's not impossible, it's just a birthday... This sixth aunt is so ecstatic, I heard that there are so many people chasing her, even those in her twenties..."
To be continued...