Li Yu rarely listens to opera except for watching an opera program at the Spring Festival Gala every year. I have heard a lot of ancient songs, but they are incomparable to hard-core art like Peking Opera.
The troupe arrived at the palace at noon, and the housekeeper of the palace 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 before Li Yu, Zai Zhen and others came to the theater together. After Yikuang skillfully sat down in the middle position, he said to the troupe owner: "Let's begin."
Li Yu, Zai Zhen, and Si Gege were sitting in the second row, which was also a prime position. Behind them were many other royal family members and Eight Banners enthusiasts. Anyway, these people usually had 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 prepared to close it, because there were no outsiders when Yikuang was listening to the play. Just as the door was about to close, it was blocked by a hand.
"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 let him know."
The housekeeper sneered and said: "I thought it was Li Zhongtang who came. Li Zhongtang has passed away a long time 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 didn't dare to let him in at this juncture, so he had to say: "You, it's not the time to worship 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 softly: "It's a pity, it's a pity."
After saying that, he left directly.
In the embroidery building of the Royal Palace, Jia Honglin, Jia Gouer's son, had already begun to sing "Lianyingzhai" with perfect accuracy on the stage. The audience below were all attentive and shaking their heads, enjoying the song.
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, one drama after another was replayed, and the facial makeup kept 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 as night fell. Jia Honglin said goodbye 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, it was Yang Xiaolou.
Jia Honglin, who was next to him, quickly grabbed him for some reason and shouted in a low voice: "Xiaolou, stop!"
Yang Xiaolou shook him off, stood in the middle of the stage, and said coldly: "Let's have another one."
He picked up the flower gun and danced a beautiful gun flower dance, which made the audience applaud for a while. In terms of physical skills, the audience liked Wu Sheng's scene the most.
After Yang Xiaolou danced with guns and roses, he made a dashing appearance, and then 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 country? The whole city is arguing that we are called 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 Dynasty to 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 dare you! An actor dares to 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 it's surprising 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, there was no use in telling Yikuan and his son. Isn't it just the behavior of a purely angry young man, a meat bun smashing a dog!
Fortunately, although Yi Kuang's face was very ugly, he had not said a word. Li Yu knew something about the current situation: in the court, Yi Kuang was being impeached by the censor, and Cixi did not make it clear whose side she 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!"
Sure enough, the foreigners were in charge after they moved out. At that time, everyone in the Qing Dynasty was very afraid of foreigners. Zai Zhen calmed down a little and said, "Foreigners also listen to the show?"
Li Yu quickly made nonsense: "Yes, Mr. Ding told me that foreigners are trying to invite them to go these 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 fuel to the fire: "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 your husband's advice. But if you dare to make mistakes next time, I will let you go to the prison of the Ministry of Punishment to taste '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 pulled Yang Xiaolou to the backstage. Fortunately, he was in the palace after all, and the clan 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 breaking the rules!"
Yang Xiaolou said angrily: "What rules are there now? If this continues, the world will be in chaos. There is not even the 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 Follow you to jail, but what about the other people in the team?"
"I..." Yang Xiaolou didn't know what to say for a moment.
