A Man of Science and Engineering in Troubled Times Wandering in the Late Qing Dynasty

Chapter 23

Apart from watching an opera show every year during the Spring Festival Gala, Li Yu has basically never heard of opera.I have heard a lot of ancient songs, but they are incomparable with the hard-core art of Peking Opera.

When the theater troupe arrived at the palace at noon, the steward of the palace hurriedly arranged lunch for them and then set up the stage.

Yikuang went to Xiyuan on the way, and waited until he came back, Li Yu, Zai Zhen and others came to the theater together.After Yi Kuang skillfully sat down in the middle seat, he said to the troupe owner, "Let's get started."

Li Yu, Zai Zhen, and Si Gege sat in the second row, which was also a golden seat. Behind them were many other royal family members, as well as fans of the Eight Banners. Anyway, these people were usually free, and it was definitely a great pleasure to come to the palace to listen to the opera.

The butler of the palace pushed the door to close, because Yikuang didn't see any outsiders when he was listening to the play.When the door was about to close, it was blocked by a hand.

"There are no guests in the house now." The butler said dissatisfied.

The person outside the door said: "I, Yang Shiqi, used to be an aide to Li Hongzhang, the governor of Zhili, and Li Zhongtang. I hope to see the prince, and I would like to inform you."

The butler sneered and said, "I thought it was Li Zhongtang who came. Li Zhongtang died a long time ago. Why are you here as a master?"

Yang Shiqi was ridiculed by him, but he was not angry, and said with a smile: "Now the prince is skyrocketing, I hope to do a little bit for the prince."

After speaking, he took out a bank note from his cuff and handed it over.

The housekeeper was very moved when he saw the amount of 100 taels on the bank note, but he didn't dare to let him in at this juncture, so he had to say, "You, it's not the time to pray to Buddha. Keep the incense money for yourself."

After speaking, he endured great heartache and closed the door.

Yang Shiqi ate the closed door, still looked calm, just shook his head and sighed softly: "It's a pity, it's a pity."

After speaking, he left directly.

In the embroidered building of the Wangfu, Jia Gouer Jia Honglin on the stage had already begun to sing "Lianyingzhai" with a straight voice, and the audience below shook their heads intently, listening with great joy.

Only Li Yu sat there like a fool, only applauding when others applauded, just mingling in the middle to make up for it.

Li Yu concentrated on cracking melon seeds for snacks, and when the stage came to the finale of "The Cinnabar Mole", he was almost the only one still eating.

On the stage, a stage play was repeatedly repeated, and the facial makeup was constantly changing. Li Yu could only roughly know from the role that Wu Sheng should be Yang Xiaolou.

After singing for four hours, the performance came to an end when night fell.Jia Honglin thanked the audience on the stage, but the audience in the audience still couldn't get enough of it. Someone next to him yelled: "One more."

"Okay, one more!" said an actor on stage.

Dressed as a martial arts student, it was Yang Xiaolou.

Jia Honglin next to him didn't know why he quickly stopped him, and said in a low voice: "Xiaolou, don't!"

Yang Xiaolou shook off him, stood in the middle of the stage, and said coldly, "One more."

He took up the flower gun and danced a beautiful gun flower, which aroused applause from the audience. In terms of physical skills, Wu Sheng's performance was the audience's favorite.

After Yang Xiaolou danced with guns and dances, he made a chic appearance and stayed where he was, and then sang aloud with the old tune of the Tan school that his foster father Tan Xinpei was best at:
"Who cares about the rise and fall of a family and country, the whole city is arguing to call it Tian'er!"

Yang Xiaolou's voice turned upside down at the end, and many Manchu clansmen in the audience didn't know why, so they immediately applauded loudly when they heard this voice.

Yikuang's face suddenly changed.

This is a sentence that is widely sung in the capital. It is said that too many people now only care about listening to music and watching operas regardless of the rise and fall of the country.

Yang Xiaolou then stood up on the flower gun, stood upright, and said loudly: "I hope the prince will report to the Ming court, rectify the state affairs, reduce land taxes, relieve the common people, and give the common people a way to survive!"

Yang Xiaolou has already given Yikuang a lot of face, and did not directly say that he is the biggest corrupt official.

Zai Zhen next to Li Yu was the first to be unable to sit still, stood up and shouted angrily: "Presumptuous! An actor dares to talk about state affairs!"

Yang Xiaolou didn't seem to be afraid at all: "Actors also know that the world is chaotic, but there are no ministers in the court."

"Come on, catch him!" Zai Zhen was furious.

Li Yu quickly stopped him: "Little prince! Don't get angry!"

Li Yu frantically thought of a way to help him get out. This Yang Xiaolou was really confused. Although he was filled with righteous indignation, it was no use telling Yikuang and his son about it. Isn't it just pure cynic behavior, meat buns smashing dogs!

Fortunately, although Yikuang's face was very ugly, he didn't say a word yet.Li Yu knew some of the current situation: in the court, Yikuang was being impeached by the censor, and Cixi didn't make it clear which side he stood on.

Li Yu had an idea, and said, "Master Bei, recently foreigners also want to ask the Tongqing troupe to sing, so we can't touch him now!"

The foreigner who moved out was really in charge. At that time, the whole Qing Dynasty was very afraid of foreigners. Zai Zhen calmed down a little: "The foreigners also listen to opera?"

Li Yu hurriedly made nonsense: "That's right, Mr. Ding told me that foreigners are going to invite them to go these few days."

Li Yu's voice was very loud, and he also said this to Yi Kuang in front of him.

Li Yu continued to add embellishments: "The foreigners like entertainers very much, and in a few days they want to record their songs on the phonograph and present them to the Queen Mother. If they are punished for this matter, I'm afraid they will leave a bad impression on the foreigners."

Li Yu also moved the Queen Mother out, and the two-pronged approach really worked.

Yikuang went to Xiyuan in the afternoon because he was impeached by the censor. Although Li Lianying had sent him a message early and told him to go immediately, Cixi didn't even see him after waiting for a long time, and didn't even leak a word.

Yikuang stood up, just let out a cold snort and flung his sleeves away.

Seeing this, Zai Zhen threatened the troupe on the stage: "Okay! This time I listened to my master's persuasion. But if you dare to do something wrong next time, I will let you go to the prison of the Ministry of Criminal Justice to taste the 'food'!"

After Zai Zhen left, many of the Manchu clan behind were still aggrieved, throwing all kinds of messy things on the stage, and even swearing obscenely.

Jia Honglin hurriedly dragged Yang Xiaolou to the backstage. Fortunately, he was in the palace after all, and the clan members in the audience didn't dare to do anything, and left angrily after throwing away their things.

Taking advantage of the chaos, Li Yu came to the backstage and saw Jia Honglin scolding Yang Xiaolou: "Xiaolou, Xiaolou! What does the master usually teach you? You have to look like you are on stage. Isn't this breaking the rules!"

Yang Xiaolou said angrily: "What rules are there now? If this continues, the world will be in chaos. There is no kingly law, so what rules are there!"

Jia Honglin said angrily: "Shut up! You have played a hero who is loyal and courageous on stage a few times, do you think you can also be Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong? Remember, drama is drama, and people are people. The master said a long time ago that you Don't get too deep into the drama!"

"It's so difficult that the people in the play are not doing the right thing?" Yang Xiaolou objected.

"Yes, of course!" Jia Honglin still loves his profession very much. He sighed and said earnestly, "If you are like this, if the prince blames you, wouldn't our entire Tongqing class also suffer. I can Follow you to jail, but the rest of the team, what will they do!"

"I..." Yang Xiaolou didn't know what to say for a while.

(End of this chapter)