National Tide 1980

Teresa Teng's three songs, plus the friendly contributions of other actors, until Liu Xiaolingtong left the stage, a total of fifteen small programs were performed, which took almost an hour.

It would not be an exaggeration to say that these programs were equivalent to a small party held in the theater of Yunyuan.

As for the excitement of these programs, they were not much inferior to regular performances.

In particular, the fun and harmony created by the friendly interaction between the guests on and off the stage were very similar to the taste of the first Spring Festival Gala in 1983.

It's just a pity that although it is better to share happiness with others than to enjoy it alone, due to various taboos, such good programs and on-site atmosphere have no chance to let the public see them.

Whether from the perspective of the current domestic social ideology or personal interests, Ning Weimin can only keep everything that happens here confined to this theater and not spread outside.

This cannot but be said to be a very regrettable thing.

Of course, if you look at it the other way around, it is just enough to show how lucky the guests who have the opportunity to come here to attend this wedding today are.

For most people, they can sit here today and eat delicious food, drink fine wine, and watch such wonderful performances by many Chinese and foreign stars. It is a rare grand occasion in their lives, and it is an enjoyment that they can't even dream of.

Many people really wish that this meal can last longer.

They sincerely hope that there will be a banquet that will never end in this world.

But don't say that although this idea seems to be too much and unrealistic.

But who makes Ning Weimin the richest man in Beijing? How can his wedding be viewed according to the routine?

Especially all the content arrangements and pomp are arranged by the lady Jiang Nianyun, which is something that ordinary small families can never imagine.

So at least within a certain range, this seemingly whimsical and vain expectation has been satisfied to a certain extent.

Although according to normal standards, a meal will only take more than an hour.

The duration of these fifteen programs was just right. After the performance and the meal, most of the guests should wipe their mouths and leave, and say goodbye and go home.

But Ning Weimin's wedding was not planned in this way. It was arranged to have a whole day of eating, drinking and having fun.

In fact, even if the meal was finished in the daytime, there was still a night banquet in the Xilou in the west garden at night.

The Xilou was not only a pavilion several feet high, with colorful decorations on it, but also installed with colored lights and palace lanterns.

At night, the lights were turned on for the banquet, and some programs of fast books, single strings, and big drums were arranged to perform on the small stage in the building.

Guests inside and outside the building can enjoy the performance while eating and drinking, which is naturally another kind of fun.

That's not all. Before the banquet in the evening, they have to set off a series of firecrackers.

They set off outside the theater and in front of the gate of Yunyuan, with a total of ten firecrackers and thousands of firecrackers.

And then they have to set off five-color fireworks and box flowers sent by the Temple of Heaven, which is a rare and beautiful scene.

(Real scene of the box flower "Good Weather")

Especially the box flower, which is a large-scale firework with layers of content stacked up and can be set off layer by layer, and the mechanism information is linked.

It is tangible, audible, colorful, gorgeous, and infinitely changeable, rich in content, and very magical.

Even Kang Shude and Jiang Nianyun thought that this thing had disappeared, but the Temple of Heaven Park discovered this thing from the craftsmen in Tianjin who participated in the lantern festival last year because of the lantern festival.

And when he learned from Japan that Ning Weimin was coming back to hold a wedding, the old director of the Temple of Heaven was thinking about sending such a special gift to add color to Ning Weimin's wedding.

As a result, he started to arrange this matter as soon as he came back. It is said that it cost a lot of money to have someone make a set of "Legend of the White Snake", which brought Ning Weimin a huge surprise.

According to the old director, when this set of box flowers is set off, from beginning to end, you should be able to see six programs.

They are "Xu Xian Touring the Lake", "Broken Bridge", "Worship in the Hall", "Xu Xian Opens a Medicine Shop", "Stealing Immortal Grass" and "Flooding Jinshan", which are almost the complete process of the entire "Legend of the White Snake".

So, this is the highlight of the evening. Not to mention ordinary guests, even Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko are looking forward to it, looking forward to it very much, and they are eager to feast their eyes.

And they have already greeted the director Osawa Yutaka, and they must film the process of setting off the box flowers in the evening.

Cultural output, of course, what is filmed for people to see must be this kind of unique skill that only China has.

Of course, the higher the expectations, the greater the disappointment. It may be a little early to say such big words at this time.

But then again, even if we focus on the banquet in front of us, we can't say that it's over.

Because don't forget that these previous programs can only be regarded as a kind of acrobatics in the past, and they are not up to standard at all.

The serious drama still needs to be watched by Peking Opera.

Today, the actors from Fenglei Peking Opera Troupe that Jiang Nianyun invited with money have not yet appeared on stage.

Even Zun Long's scenes have to wait until the Peking Opera begins.

Speaking of which, this international superstar has made great sacrifices for filming. He is playing the role of a rich man, but his treatment today is far worse than that of the poor girl played by Teresa Teng.

Teresa Teng can eat at the table as soon as she gets off the stage, but now she can finish two bowls of rice.

But he can only drink drinks with a straw after putting on makeup, and he has been waiting backstage until now.

Just say how dedicated he is.

So even though the banquet has already reached this point, the dishes are almost served, but there will be a program to surprise the guests soon.

In fact, just after the last dish was served, the guests at several tables had almost stopped using their chopsticks, and some even started to say goodbye.

Jiang Nianyun quickly signaled to Ning Weimin and Matsumoto Keiko to stay as guests. She hoped that these important guests, whose time was precious, would stay a little longer to at least listen to the first opening scene.

Following her instructions, the stage change started from the guest of honor seat at the front.

There are four people per table, two people are responsible for removing the table, and two people are responsible for rearranging the table.

In a short time, the ten tables at the front where guests were seated, the leftovers, cups, plates, bowls and chopsticks were all removed one by one.

Instead, each person received a cup of hot tea and a warm wet hand towel.

After waiting for these guests to cleanse their faces and hands one by one, wipe off the oil and sweat from their foreheads and fingers, and then drink fragrant tea to clear their mouths.

Soon, a four-inch cloth plate with wedding candies and wedding cigarettes, four dried fruits, four fresh fruits, four pastries, and four teas were placed in front of each seat for the guests.

In this way, the official seat that was used for eating just now can be converted back into a tea seat.

Not only that, each table is neatly tidied, and a red playbill is attached for guests to pass around and read.

In this way, today's real church meeting officially started with the beating of gongs and drums.

Good guy, just this splendid scene was another "shock" for most of the guests at the scene.

But to be honest, it’s better to keep everything simple.

Because everyone who was born into a wealthy family in the past knows that in the capital, there is a so-called "three offerings of tea" to the guests during performances.

To put it bluntly, every time a play reaches a stage, similar to the intermission in theaters and cinemas, service staff will serve porridge and tea in turn, and replace or add dried and fresh fruits.

One presents jujube tea, the second presents chrysanthemum tea, and the third presents lotus seed tea. This is a fixed order, and it is also a common pomp at the gates of the capital or residences.

Today, Jiang Nianyun didn't put much effort into this aspect. She thought that it wouldn't be obvious in the movie anyway, and what kind of tea to drink was completely trivial.

As long as the performance is good, it is better than anything else.

To save trouble, it would be a good idea to just serve jasmine tea, green tea, or black tea to the guests.

People who have experienced it like Fu Jie and Saga Hao will naturally know how much difference there is between the present and the past.

But if it were other people, how could they know?

In fact, as Jiang Nianyun expected, almost all the guests focused on the show.

As usual, when there was a hall party in the old days, the Kunqu Opera Troupe, the Peking Opera Troupe, and the Bangzi Opera Troupe would sing several auspicious plays that fit the occasion after the opening ceremony. These plays were all Kun Opera repertoires, and even the Peking Opera Troupe and the Bangzi Opera Troupe would also sing authentic Kunqu opera. .

Today is no different, because it is a wedding ceremony to congratulate the newlyweds.

Moreover, there were other performances arranged ahead of time, and there was no need to dance to the God of Wealth. Jiang Nianyun and Feng Lei Peking Opera Troupe decided to perform "The Blessing of the Heavenly Official".

This is a Kunqu and Northern Opera opera, with old students dressing up as heavenly officials.

The foreigners, Xiaosheng, Tiedan, Zuodan, Jing, Za, etc. were respectively made into characters such as longevity star, Cowherd, Weaver Girl, Zhang Xian who gave birth to children, the God of Fortune and Wealth, eight fairies, and eight red dragons holding cloud pieces.

To put it bluntly, all the blessings one hopes for in life are present in this play.

After this, according to the rules, there will be a few more auspicious excerpts, called "back-up plays", the next play is called "central play", and the last play is called "big play". This is considered a whole hall. meeting.

These dramas are also determined based on the different natures of the hall, so today's excerpts are "The Phoenix Returns to the Nest" and "Little Cowherd".

The plot of "The Phoenix Returns to the Nest" is a good start, while "Little Cowherd" is a joke show with clowns in the show. The plot is to use gags to make everyone laugh and create a happy and festive atmosphere.

The artistic ones that are truly worth appreciating are the main plays. For example, there is Wudan's "small-scale children's play" "Hongqiao Presents Pearls", the "central children's play" that favors literary opera is "The Number One Scholar", and finally there is the literary and martial arts "Big One". The most interesting thing is "Lotus Lantern".

With such a set, it covers everything from birth to purity to ugliness, whether you want gods or gods, you want mandarin ducks or mandarin ducks, you want entertainment or entertainment, you want elegance or elegance.

It can be said to be all-encompassing and suitable for both refined and popular people. How appropriate is this.

Everyone has to nod, today's drama is really good.

What is particularly worth mentioning is that Zunlong is not just a mere decoration in today's Peking Opera performances.

He first played the role of the Weaver Girl in the opening film "The Blessing of Heavenly Official", and then played the role of Fairy Lingbo in "The Gift of Pearls from Hongqiao".

When he was young, he studied Peking Opera with Fen Juhua in Hong Kong City for eight years without fail, and today he put all his skills to use here.

Not only does she have good looks, but she also has good kung fu. A grown man plays the role of a charming lady.

It really makes people think of Mei Lanfang back then and applaud him.

Even if Ning Weimin doesn't know much about opera, he can still feel that Zun Long has learned Peking Opera well.

At least in his eyes, it was unlikely that Zun Long would be at a disadvantage when working with professional actors like Fenglei Peking Opera Troupe.

This even made him suddenly understand Zunlong's pride and persistence.

Now that I understand why I missed the opportunity of "Farewell My Concubine" in my previous life, Zun Long Hui cares so much.

Why do you always paranoid that Cheng Dieyi in "Farewell My Concubine" should belong to him.

Then he had to perform "Madame Butterfly" to prove himself.

Just because his Peking Opera level was only this low, he was unwilling to let his eight years of hard work go unnoticed.

(Zun Long's Peking Opera appearance)

In addition, there was an unexpected performance segment that caused a sensation among all the guests, and even Ning Weimin was greatly surprised.

Dare, the theater in Ma's Garden actually has special effects.

There are five large vats of water under the stage, which are used to prevent fire and perform stunts when playing water monsters.

Well, just as Lingbo Fairy, played by Zun Long, drove the water creatures and fought against the heavenly soldiers and generals.

A water monster suddenly emerged from under the stage and sprayed water at his command.

What was even more amazing was that the actor who played Nezha responded with the fire of the Three Flavors Fire.

The shocking power of the stunt of water and fire fighting is even better than Hollywood's real-life special effects.

This scene alone was enough to make Ning Weimin, like other guests, stunned and shocked, and then cheered!

For a moment, he had an illusion that he had visited the special effects house of Universal Studios in his previous life.

(The Lingbo Fairy and the aquatic creatures she drove in the Peking Opera "The Gift of Pearls at the Rainbow Bridge")

To be honest, today's show was arranged very well.

Just for this scene, he felt that no matter how much money he spent, it was worth it.

There is no doubt that the cultural output of "Crazy Rich Asians" is of higher quality.

And as long as this movie becomes popular, Yunyuan will definitely be a pilgrimage for fans in Beijing in the future.

There are surprises everywhere in the world.

Even he didn't expect that the old man had hidden such a trick for him.

He finally understood that it was no wonder that before filming, the old man had to personally lead people to familiarize themselves with the venue.

It's amazing!

If it were two hundred years ago, Westerners would never have dreamed that there would be such a form of performance on the stage of drama.

It's just a pity that since the country suffered a disaster, it has been less than a hundred years, but too many wonderful things have been lost. How much wisdom can we today understand from our ancestors even if we try our best?

………………

On this vast world stage, different stories are played out every day, interweaving into a colorful picture full of joys and sorrows.

As the saying goes, some people are happy and some are sad, some leave and some stay. Some people play with broken hearts, while others always think of growing old together. Some people meet people who are not good, while others can only meet but not seek. Some people can't relieve their hatred with thousands of words, while others can kill with one sword. Some people always stay in the same place, while others go to the next level.

Just when Ning Weimin was sitting in the theater of Yunyuan, drinking and talking happily with Huo Yanping accompanied by his wife.

Just when Kang Shude and Jiang Nianyun looked at this young couple in their prime and smiled at each other.

How could they know that even in other places in this city, there were many people who were related to their lives, who might be heartbroken and troubled because of their happiness?

At the Lan family, the retired Professor Lan was teaching his son a lesson.

"Asshole! How many times have I told you not to let your sister know about him? Why did you bring something like this back?"

"Dad, I really didn't bring this magazine back."

Lan Zheng seemed very wronged. He looked at the latest issue of "Popular Movies" on the table, and the photo of Matsumoto Keiko and Ning Weimin "loving each other" on it. He swallowed hard.

"If it's not you, who else could it be? Could it be Yueyue? Anyway, she can't escape from you two..."

"Dad, Lan Lan is already working, and she studied printing. Do you think we can block all her news channels like we did when she was taking the college entrance examination? Impossible. Besides, that person is no longer the same as before. Even the evening and daily newspapers have endless news about him. You don't want Lan Lan to see it, but you can't throw away the newspapers at home..."

"Ah..." Professor Lan sighed sadly, looking at his daughter's closed door and muttering to himself, "If I had known this would happen, why did I do it in the first place. Could it be... Could it be that I..."

He didn't say the rest of the words after all.

Almost at the same time, at the entrance of Weijia Hutong, there was a skinny old lady with almost completely white hair sitting on a stone by the roadside, staring at the distant theater in a daze.

Without talking to her, just from her eyes, you can tell that this is a person with a bit of mental abnormality.

So although there were passers-by, they didn't dare to ask casually.

Sure enough, ten minutes later, a man who was about sixty years old and looked like his wife hurried here.

When he saw the old lady, he breathed a sigh of relief and finally felt relieved.

And just from the way he was sweating and panting, it was enough to see his anxiety and urgency.

"Oh, you... why did you run here? I finally found you. What if something went wrong?"

After panting for a while, the old man began to persuade the old lady to leave.

"... Go back... Go back to the hospital... I finally made an appointment for a check-up today..."

However, the old lady's eyes were blurred, and she seemed to refute unconsciously.

"Why should I go to the hospital? I'm not sick, let's go home. Listen, there are people singing in our theater. Whose good day is this? Why did the show start before we started?..."

The old man could only coax her in a good temper, "Yes, you have to get up first. Hey, I'll help you up. Let's go to the hospital first, and then talk about other things when we get to the hospital."

"I want to listen to the opera, not to the hospital. You listen, it's "Giving Pearls at Hongqiao". I want to watch..."

"Yes, it's "Giving Pearls at Hongqiao". You're right, but how could you forget? We sold the house a long time ago. It's not our home anymore, and it's none of our business. If you want to listen, let's go back and listen to the chatterbox..."

"Sold... sold? Sold to whom? How come I don't know?"

"You know, wasn't it my father who decided to sell it? It's been decades, think about it again."

"I... think about it... think about it..."

"It's good to sell it, it's good to sell it. A good man doesn't eat the family's food, and a good woman doesn't wear the dowry clothes. How good are we now? We don't have to worry about those burdens anymore. The garden is too big, and it's easier without it..."

The old man finally helped the old lady up, followed her step by step, and walked away.

No one knows who they are.

No one knows that the ups and downs, honors and disgraces they have experienced are things that ordinary people will never experience in their lifetimes.

This is exactly, life is like a play, and a play is like life.