1928: The Rise of Giants

Ye Luo really wanted to go to the theater this afternoon, and it was not a lie.

After he said that, Chu Minyi had no choice but to swallow his anger and pretended to be magnanimous and said to them: "Then I won't disturb the second young master from going to the opera."

After dinner, Ye Luo took the Yang sisters to the World Grand Theater, where Bai Xiuzhu, Meng Xiaodong and others had been waiting for a long time.

"Dad!" Ye Zhuohua threw himself into Ye Luo's arms, staring at Yang Xiuqiong with his eyes wide open, and said in surprise, "This is the mermaid sister!"

Bai Xiuzhu deliberately glanced at the Yang sisters a few more times, then extended her hand and said with a smile, "Hello, both of you. My name is Bai Xiuzhu."

Sisters Yang Xiuzhen and Yang Xiuqiong hurriedly said, "Hello, Second Young Madam!"

Ye Luo was afraid that Bai Xiuzhu would be jealous, so he quickly recounted the whole story and said, “They were entangled by Chu Minyi, so I had to bring them here.”

Bai Xiuzhu was quite angry after hearing this: "It is outrageous that a dignified Secretary General of the Executive Yuan could do such a thing."

Ye Luo smiled and said, "Okay, everyone sit down and wait to watch the show."

In Jinling, the World Theater was second only to the Capital Theater in size. As for the even more magnificent Dahua Theater and Xindu Theater, they had not yet been completed and opened.

These theaters were different from those in later times in that they were multifunctional, able to show movies, traditional plays, and even Western dramas.

Although Peking Opera originated in the north, it became popular in the south during the Republic of China period.

Shanghai even surpassed Beijing and Tianjin to become the largest consumer market for Peking Opera in the Republic of China, and was often crowded with Peking Opera masters from all over the country.

Jinling is relatively close to Shanghai and has also been greatly influenced by it. The citizens of Jinling are no less fond of Peking Opera than those in Tianjin.

As soon as the news came out that Meng Xiaodong and her husband Ye Luo were coming to Nanjing to watch the sports meeting, she immediately received countless performance invitations. The owner of the World Theater even paid a huge sum of money to invite her to sing in a special show.

Ye Luo and his friends waited for about 20 minutes, and the 900-plus seats in the venue were basically full.

With the sound of gongs and drums, the performance officially began.

The first play was the famous Yu-style opera "Fishing and Killing the Family". The actors who played Li Jun and Ni Rong were both famous actors from Jinling. Their few lines of dialogue were greeted with cheers from the audience.

Soon the first game ended, Li Jun and Ni Rong left the stage at the same time, and Xiao Guiying and Xiao En prepared to go on stage.

The sound of the Xipi board sounded, and Xiao Guiying's female voice sang from the backstage: "Rowing the oars urges the boat to go like an arrow!"

"what?"

"This Xiao Guiying is not good enough."

“Who played it?”

"what the hell?"

"."

When veteran opera fans heard Xiao Guiying's singing style, they all felt that something was wrong because her basic skills were not good enough.

At this moment, Xiao En and Xiao Guiying chanted "Hold the rudder steady" at the same time, and then the "father and daughter" rowed the "boat" together to appear.

The whole place suddenly became dead silent, no one made a sound. Some of the audience members who were eating sunflower seeds were so stunned that they didn't even notice the seeds falling from their hands.

It turned out that the Huadan actress who played Xiao Guiying had no paint on her face, and she could be seen at first glance as a foreign beauty. This made the audience feel incredible - foreigners could sing Peking opera?

The foreign beauty on the stage continued to sing: "The rolling river water is rolling waves!"

"it is good!"

"Well done!"

"Watch and enjoy!"

"." The audience responded with a roar, and countless audiences cheered loudly, as if a famous actor had really been performing a play just now.

This foreign woman has only studied Peking Opera for half a year, so of course her singing is not very good. Any opera fan with a little appreciation can hear the flaws.

But we can't help but feel that she is a foreigner. The fact that a foreigner came to sing our national quintessence of Peking Opera instantly satisfied the audience's vanity.

The foreign woman sang two more lines, and the whole audience became excited, with cheers and applause that lasted for a long time.

"Son!"

Xiao En, played by Meng Xiaodong, recited a line and then sang: "Father and daughter are fishing in the river. We are poor even if people laugh at us! Gui Ying'er steers the rudder steadily while the father casts the net."

"it is good!"

Experts will know if there is one as soon as they take action.

If the foreign woman's performance just now could score 60 points, then Meng Xiaodong's performance could score 120 points, and the on-site infectiousness was simply overwhelming.

Many veteran opera fans were so excited after hearing Meng Xiaodong's singing that they stood up and clapped their hands. This caused the audience behind them, who could not see the performance, to stand up as well, and more than half of the 900-plus audience members stood up.

Many audience members simply stood and watched the entire play, their voices became hoarse from shouting, and their hands were sore from clapping.

When Meng Xiaodong left the stage, the audience spontaneously shouted, "Winter Queen! Winter Queen! Winter Queen!"

The second play was performed soon, but Meng Xiaodong did not appear. She was backstage gathering her energy to prepare for the third play.

Basically, every time she appears, she can cause the audience to boil. After all, since Meng Xiaodong became Ye Luo's concubine, she has basically not performed on stage again.

As evening approached, the finale ended and only the last big show remained.

At this time, the theater manager suddenly ran out and personally acted as the MC and said, "Today's main attraction is a new play, written independently by the famous veteran actor Meng Xiaodong. Please enjoy the new play "Lady Huarui"!"

When everyone heard that it was a new play, and a new play written by Meng Xiaodong herself, they immediately became excited.

The new play "Lady Huarui" currently being performed actually has the general plot provided by Ye Luo, and Meng Xiaodong is responsible for writing the lines and singing.

The plot of this play is as follows: The emperor of the Later Shu Kingdom worked hard to establish the kingdom of Shu, but died suddenly a few months after becoming emperor, and the throne was passed to the later emperor Meng Chang. Meng Chang enjoyed music and wine every day, and favored singing girls and poets in the imperial music academy. The Shu Kingdom did not fight for ten years, giving the illusion of peace and happiness. Suddenly one day, Zhao Kuangyin led his troops to attack, and the people of Shu Kingdom were terrified. More than 100,000 Shu troops surrendered without a fight, and Meng Xu and the imperial concubine Lady Huarui were both imprisoned. Zhao Kuangyin was attracted by Lady Huarui, so he quickly poisoned Meng Chang to death. Meng Chang's mother (the Queen Mother of Shu Kingdom) starved herself to death, and Lady Huarui also committed suicide by drinking poison.

The plot is basically taken from real history, but many personal stories are added, alluding to the current Nationalist government and its bureaucrats. Lady Huarui, the heroine, has had her ending greatly changed. In history, Lady Huarui died because she was involved in a dispute over the throne, but Ye Luo changed it to follow her late husband.

In this play, Meng Xiaodong personally plays the role of Meng Chang, the last emperor of Shu.

At the beginning, the fans cheered, but as the performance went on, many people began to curse. This was because the plot of the Shu Kingdom indulging in pleasure and not striving for progress was too similar to the situation during the Republic of China, and it was easy for the audience to associate it with reality.

Especially in the face of Zhao Kuangyin's attack, more than 100,000 Shu troops surrendered without a fight, which was clearly an allusion to the loss of the north and the policy of non-resistance.

"The king has lowered the flag on the city wall, how could I know from deep in the palace? One hundred and fourteen thousand people have taken off their armor, and not one of them is a man." When Lady Huarui sang the suicide poem in her voice, the indignant patriots stood up one after another and shouted a variety of slogans.

"Down with the traitors!"

"Resist the Japanese invasion and save our country, and return our land to us!"

"140,000 people took off their armor, and not one of them is a man. The Northern Army is a bunch of cowards without balls. Go out and kill the enemy!"

"Long live China!"

"Kill all the Japanese dogs!"

"."

The whole theater was in chaos and the audience's patriotic sentiment was fully aroused.

Ye Luo couldn't help but think: If this play becomes popular, I hope it will boost the anti-Japanese sentiment across the country, and people will no longer be afraid to face it. (End of this chapter)