Apart from watching an opera program at the Spring Festival Gala every year, Li Yu has rarely listened to opera. He has heard a lot of ancient songs, but they are incomparable to hard-core art like Peking Opera.
The theater troupe arrived at the palace at noon, and the palace steward immediately arranged lunch for them in a hurry and then set up the stage.
Yi Kuang 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 theater owner: "Let's begin."
Li Yu and Zai Zhen were sitting in the second row, which was also a prime position. Behind them were many other royal family members, as well as fans of the Eight Banners. Anyway, these people usually have a lot of leisure, so it was definitely a great pleasure to come to the palace to listen to the opera.
The palace steward pushed the door and was about to close it, because Yikuang was listening to the play and there were no outsiders. When the door was about to close, a hand blocked it.
"There are no guests in the house now," the housekeeper 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 would like to see the prince, and I would like to inform you."
The housekeeper sneered and said: "I thought it was Li Zhongtang who came. Li Zhongtang has passed away long ago. Why are you, a master, here?"
Yang Shiqi was ridiculed by him, but he was not angry. He said with a smile: "Now that the prince has risen rapidly, I hope that I can do my best for the prince."
After saying that, he took out a banknote from his sleeve and handed it over.
The housekeeper was very moved when he saw the amount of 100 taels on the banknote, but he did not dare to let him in at this juncture, so he had to say: "You, it is not the time to pray to Buddha. You can keep the incense money for yourself."
After saying that, he endured huge heartache and closed the door.
Yang Shiqi was rejected, but still looked calm. He just shook his head and sighed: "It's a pity, it's a pity."
After saying that, he left directly.
In the embroidery building of the palace, on the stage Jia Honglin, Jia Gouer, had already begun to sing "Lianyingzhai" with perfect accuracy. The audience below were all attentive and shaking their heads, enjoying themselves.
Only Li Yu sat there like a fool, only applauding and cheering when others applauded, and just pretending to be in the middle.
Li Yu concentrated on cracking melon seeds and eating snacks. When the finale of "Cinnabar Mole" came on stage, he was almost the only one who was still feasting.
On the stage, Taiwanese dramas were replayed one after another, and the facial makeup was constantly changing. Li Yu could only roughly know from the character that Wu Sheng should be Yang Xiaolou.
After singing for four hours, the performance came to an end when night fell. Jia Honglin took his last breaths on the stage, but the audience was still unsatisfied. Someone next to him shouted: "One more."
"Okay, one more!" said an actor on the stage.
Dressed as a martial artist, he is none other than Yang Xiaolou.
Jia Honglin, who was next to him, quickly grabbed him for some reason and shouted in a low voice: "Xiaolou, stay away!"
Yang Xiaolou shook him off, stood in the middle of the stage, and said coldly: "Let's have another one."
He held up his spear and danced a beautiful dance, which aroused applause from the audience. In terms of physical skills, Wu Sheng's scene was the favorite of the audience.
After Yang Xiaolou danced with guns and flowers, he made a dashing appearance and stood still. Then he sang loudly in the old Tan style tune that his adoptive father Tan Xinpei was best at:
"Who is in charge of the rise and fall of our family and country? The whole city is clamoring to call him Tian'er!"
Yang Xiaolou's tone doubled at the end, and many Manchu and Qing clan members in the audience didn't know why, and immediately cheered loudly when they heard this voice.
Yikuang's expression suddenly changed.
This is a line sung in the capital. It says that too many people now only care about listening to music and watching operas, regardless of the rise or fall of the country.
Yang Xiaolou then raised his flower gun, stood proudly, and said loudly: "I hope that the prince will report to the Ming court, rectify the national affairs, reduce the land tax, help the people, and give the people a way to live!"
Yang Xiaolou had already given Yikuang face and did not directly say that he was the biggest corrupt official.
Zai Zhen, who was next to Li Yu, couldn't sit still for the first time. He stood up and shouted angrily: "How outrageous! How dare an actor talk about state affairs!"
Yang Xiaolou didn't seem to be afraid at all: "The actors also know that the world is in chaos, but how can it be that the ministers in the court have no one to take care of them."
"Come here, catch him!" Zai Zhen was furious.
Li Yu quickly stopped him: "Little prince! Don't be angry!"
Li Yu was frantically thinking of ways to help him escape. This Yang Xiaolou was really confused. Although he was filled with righteous indignation, telling Yikuang and his son this was of no use. Isn't it just the behavior of a purely angry young man, like a meat bun smashing a dog!
Fortunately, although Yi Kuang's face was very ugly, he had not said a word. Li Yu knew some of the current situation: in the court, Yi Kuang was being impeached by the censor, and Cixi did not make it clear whose side he stood on.
Li Yu had an idea and said: "Master Bei, recently foreigners have also wanted to invite the Tongqing Troupe to sing in operas. We can't touch him now!"
After moving out, foreigners were indeed in charge. At that time, everyone in the Qing Dynasty was very afraid of foreigners. Zai Zhen calmed down a little and said, "Do foreigners also listen to the show?"
Li Yu quickly made nonsense: "Yes, Mr. Ding told me that foreigners are trying to invite them these days."
Li Yu's voice was very loud, and his words were also heard by Yi Kuang in front of him.
Li Yu continued to add insult to injury: "Foreigners like artists very much, and in a few days they want to use a gramophone to record their music to present to the Queen Mother. If we punish them for this, I'm afraid it will leave a lasting impression on the foreigners."
Li Yu also moved the Queen Mother out, and the two-pronged approach worked.
Yikuang went to Xiyuan in the afternoon because there was a censor impeaching him. Although Li Lianying had sent him a message early and asked him to rush there immediately, Cixi did not see him after waiting for a long time, and did not even leak a word.
Yikuang stood up, just snorted and walked away.
Seeing this, Zai Zhen threatened the troupe on the stage: "Okay! This time I listened to my husband's advice. But if you dare to make a mistake next time, I will let you go to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment to taste the 'food'!"
After Zai Zhen left, many of the Manchu and Qing clan members behind him were still aggrieved. They threw all kinds of messy things on the stage and cursed endlessly.
Jia Honglin quickly took Yang Xiaolou to the backstage. Fortunately, he was in the palace after all, and the royal family members in the audience did not dare to do anything. They threw away the things and left in anger.
Li Yu took advantage of the chaos and came to the backstage and saw Jia Honglin scolding Yang Xiaolou: "Xiaolou, Xiaolou! How do you teach your master? You have to behave as you do on stage. Isn't this a violation of the rules?"
Yang Xiaolou said angrily: "What rules are there now? If this continues, the world will be in chaos. There is not even king's law, so what rules do we need!"
Jia Honglin said angrily: "Shut up! You have played a loyal and courageous hero several times on stage. Do you think you can also be Zhao Yun and Huang Zhong? Remember, a play is a play and people are people. The master has long said that you
Don’t get too deep into the drama!”
"Is it so difficult that the people in the play are not doing the right thing?" Yang Xiaolou said unconvinced.
"Yes, of course!" Jia Honglin still loves his profession very much. He sighed and said seriously, "If the prince blames you like this, our entire celebrating class will also suffer. I can
I will go to jail with you, but what about the other people in the team?"
"I..." Yang Xiaolou didn't know what to say for a moment.