Cheng Fengtai didn't dare to tell Second Grandma that he was going to talk to Shang Xirui, because he also felt that it was a bit reckless and a little bit two hundred and five. He and Shang Xirui are just joking and friendship on the scene, far from talking about personal matters. But with his nature of saying that the wind is the rain, since the content of the lecture has been drawn up, it must be published immediately, and there is no waiting.
Cheng Fengtai came to Qingfeng Theater early, knocked on the door and went in to find Shang Xirui. Shang Xirui's make-up is half done, there is only one eyebrow on his face, when he sees Cheng Fengtai, he knows it's the Queen of Autumn who settles accounts and the visitor is not kind.
"Second Master Cheng, what's the matter?"
Cheng Fengtai wanted to laugh when he saw that half of his eyebrows, and thought that you still dare to open the door like this: "I have something to tell you."
"But I still have a play."
Cheng Fengtai went in uninvited, took off his hat and scarf, sat down on a nearby sofa, lit a cigarette, and pointed the cigarette butt at him: "Then go sing. I'll wait any later."
Smoking has always been banned in the backstage, but no one dared to ask Cheng Fengtai to stop smoking. Shang Xirui went back to his seat without saying a word to play, the weather is not right today, both parties are depressed and sullen, they can't laugh and laugh as usual. Looking around from Cheng Fengtai, the troupe's dressing room is always bright, crowded and colorful, Shang Xirui's rule is relaxed, the backstage is especially crowded and chaotic, with rows of clothes hanging in disorder, oil paint dishes arranged like a stove. Things are chaotic and people are even more chaotic. From the moment Cheng Fengtai entered the door just now, the eyes of the actresses flew over, they were as seductive and coquettish as the dancers. Some of them know that this is the playful and lustful Second Master Cheng, who spends a lot of money and is a rich man. If they climb up to him, good times will come. Some of them didn't know Cheng Fengtai, but based on their experience, they could guess the man's background from his clothes and demeanor. An official can't be so disregarding of face and find an actor's dressing room, then he must be a son of an aristocratic family or a merchant, Xiao Kai, who is rare and handsome, but it makes people itch.
An actress in a smooth costume, revealing her white tunic underneath, flaunted her head in front of Cheng Fengtai, wishing she could show her thighs. Cheng Fengtai followed her for a while with a smile in his eyes, wondering whether this is Shuiyunlou or Baihualou, why did he follow her into a kiln.
Shang Xirui knew nothing about the romance under his nose, he raised his eyebrows seriously in the mirror. The little girl with big braids was afraid that the soot would get on the costume in the wind, so she walked over with a sullen face and put down a porcelain dish for mixing gouache to make an ashtray for Cheng Fengtai. Cheng Fengtai smiled at her, but she still had a blank face.
Cheng Fengtai said: "Miss, please pour me another cup of hot tea."
Xiao Lai pretended not to hear, turned around and left.
Shang Xirui's play ended at half past nine. During this period, Cheng Fengtai smoked half a pack of cigarettes, secretly rehearsed the content of the lecture, and felt that every word was thought-provoking, full of worldly morals and human feelings, and this little actor must cry bitterly and regret his mistakes.
Shang Xirui probably didn't change the show tonight, the applause outside lasted for a long time, Shang Xirui thanked his seat for about twenty minutes before he had to leave. He was robbed and returned home by Commander Cao yesterday, but he was in such a bad mood that he lost his temper and refused to sleep with the Commander to the death. Commander Cao didn't want to use too much force, he was afraid of bringing out his madness, so he slapped him twice on the left and right, and kicked him out of the room with a kick on the buttocks. Shang Xirui's face was hot, he curled up with his clothes on the sofa downstairs, his heart was in a mess. Seeing the commander's anger, the servants of the Commander's Mansion did not dare to add firewood to the fireplace for him, nor did they dare to give him a blanket to cover him, and let him fend for himself. In the middle of the night, the fireplace went out, and the living room was colder than the outside. Shang Xirui hugged a sofa cushion and shivered, old events in Pingyang kept coming, so Commander Cao's grievance here was nothing. It was uncomfortable like this all night, and I was a little sleepy in the morning, but Cheng Meixin came back blah, and seeing Shang Xirui curled up there like a puppy or cat, she felt proud and gave a long, sharp smile . Shang Xirui didn't wait for her to sarcasm, got up and left, walked for three hours before returning home. Then I fell asleep for a while, and then I continued to perform day and night dramas until now.
In the night play, Zuoer was promised to play Mu Guiying, but after the performance, she was sweating profusely, and she was too tired to move. Going into the backstage and leaning back in the chair, Xiao Lai brought him a cup of tea and put it on the dressing table, Cheng Fengtai stepped forward to snatch it up and drank it all up, leaned against the mirror after drinking, and looked at Shang Xirui swallowed and knocked all the ashes into the teacup.
This attitude is very bad, very hooligan. Shang Xirui always thought he was an aristocratic rogue, out of tune and immoral. Usually I live in the bustling area, so I have a little extravagance; today I am here to find something unpleasant, so I am a little more ruffian.
Xiao Lai glared at Cheng Fengtai angrily. Shang Xirui was so tired that he was about to cry, took a few breaths, and said: "Pour another cup of tea - for the second master. Then help me remove my makeup, don't keep the second master waiting. Hey..."
Cheng Fengtai watched Shang Xirui wash away the lead color little by little, from a colorful and ink-heavy actor to a simple child with delicate features, his whole person has a kind of cleanliness and realness that came out of the cocoon. It's just that there is a black and blue patch under the eye circles, the cheeks seem to be a little swollen, and the energy is lacking. Cheng Fengtai has seen this expression a lot, it's obviously the appearance after enjoying the nightlife.
Cheng Fengtai thought you were fine, he disturbed my son's full moon wine, frightened the young couple to cry, you should go find a man to comfort you after you fucked up. What a mess!
Shang Xirui wiped off the beads of water on his face, put on his overcoat, and said to Cheng Fengtai: "Okay, Second Master. Let's go."
Xiao Lai took two steps to catch up, his eyes full of worry. Shang Xirui patted her on the shoulder, smiled at her and said: "When you pack up, go home in the car, wait for me at the door, I'll be back later."
Xiao Lai nodded.
After getting into the car and sitting down, Cheng Fengtai said: "Let's go to Xiangshan."
When you go to Xiangshan at this hour, normal people would be taken aback when they hear it. But the driver, Lao Ge, is an old family member brought by Cheng Fengtai from Shanghai, he has long been used to the bizarre personality of his second master, and Xiangshan is fairly close, so he wouldn't be surprised if he was asked to take a turn in Baoding now.
Lao Ge straightened the brim of his peaked cap, and started the car calmly. Shang Xirui's heart skipped a beat, thinking to himself, could it be that because Cheng Mei broke into the house last night, he couldn't bear it, so he sent his younger brother to stop the trouble forever? Thinking about it carefully, it is impossible, what is Cheng Fengtai's identity, she wants to kill someone, why bother to do it herself. But if it was said that it was because of the trouble at the Full Moon Wine, why did he come here in the middle of the night to question him? Or is there something else? No! Between him and Cheng Fengtai, there is nothing else but joking.
In fact, Cheng Fengtai just wanted to find a remote place to lecture, because he was afraid that Shang Xirui would go crazy, if there was a disturbance in the urban area, it would be very ugly to beat and scold in the middle of the night.
The car drove for more than an hour in the cold night, at the foot of Xiangshan Mountain, Cheng Fengtai asked Lao Ge to follow behind with the lights on, he and Shang Xirui stood within the range of the lights and walked slowly to talk. In this dark night, surrounded by weeds and desolate, two beams of snow-white headlights shone on them, and there was an endless road in front of them. The scene was quite strange. Shang Xirui was not afraid, when things came to an end, he was very curious, holding his breath and waiting for Cheng Fengtai to speak.
Cheng Fengtai said: "What I'm going to say next can be said to be superficial. But I hope Boss Shang will listen to it."
Shang Xirui is used to Cheng Fengtai's jokes, now that he is serious, it's quite amusing, he held back his smile and said: "Second Master, please tell me." It's a word in the play.
Cheng Fengtai began to speak.
Cheng Fengtai's long speech can be summed up in the following points, the first is that the past should be let go, never forgetting the past, harming others and oneself is not a man's doing. A man's eyes should look forward, what's the point of always staring at the love of his children? The second is to hope that Boss Shang will remember the old love and kindness. Miss Mengping took good care of him as a younger brother in the past, but now she is a married woman and lives a very happy life, so kindness and righteousness are completely irrelevant. He would step on them again if he had such an opportunity. It is immoral and unethical, it is a villain's act. The third is to persuade him to correct his position. Don't say that Mengping is his senior sister who has no blood relationship. Even if they are direct siblings, many of them will part ways for the one they love after they grow up. Mengping has family affection for him, and love for Changsan, how can the two be compared. As a younger brother, he has no position to make irresponsible remarks on his sister's marriage. He has crossed the line.
Shang Xirui listened silently, the smile on his face gradually faded, his head was half down, his forehead covered his eyes and eyebrows. Cheng Fengtai felt that he probably couldn't bear it, but he had to bear it if he couldn't bear it, this matter has been going on for a long time, so he had to give him a head-on blow and scold him to wake him up. But Shang Xirui didn't respond at all, as if he was about to wake up or be shocked. Once Cheng Fengtai got impatient, what he said was a bit ugly, a bit swearing, while speaking, he also felt that he was going too far, so he waited for Shang Xirui to go crazy when he was agitated as rumored. I thought that even if I can't wake him up by scolding, just wait for him to go crazy, then I will throw this person back to the urban area, and we will not have any contact with him in the future.
Cheng Fengtai added another three quarters of an hour, making himself so dry and tongue-tied that he ran out of words. The night in Xiangshan is very cold, so cold that it freezes before it snows. Cheng Fengtai put his hands in his coat pockets and shrank his neck, very dissatisfied with Shang Xirui's attitude, so he followed up with a few words of criticism. All the while finishing publishing the drafts, finishing improvising, and scolding, Shang Xirui still lowered his head, slowly rubbing his chin against the scarf, as if thinking something.
Cheng Fengtai said angrily: "You! Speak!"
Shang Xirui raised his head and said softly and wearily: "No. Second Master, it's not like that."
"kindness?"
"That woman was originally on good terms with my brother-in-law, but she lost my brother-in-law halfway and followed Changzixuan. Changzixuan had a wife at that time, and that wife was not matched by the family, but he had his own fancy. He If you can abandon your original wife for that woman, you can also abandon that woman for other lovers... The young masters from rich families are the worst, and they are not good people."
Cheng Fengtai thought about it, that woman was Jiang Mengping, and Chang Zhixin had a fishy intestines. This little actor is too childish, he hates a person even if he refuses to call him by name, so he just calls him by nickname. But Cheng Fengtai didn't like to hear the last sentence, what do you call a rich man's wolf-hearted young master, who is he scolding
"They made up their relationship without telling me. I was so angry that I couldn't bear to say a serious word to her. I always spoke softly to her... But she, when she got tired of hearing it, said I was nothing, said It's not my turn for her to take care of it, saying that I deserve my own sadness."
Cheng Fengtai stopped and looked at him, it really didn't seem like the words came from Jiang Mengping's mouth. Shang Xirui is still walking forward.
"How can I be nothing. For her, I am willing to die! Why do I have to fight with intestines? Because that woman promised me. She said that I will always be her most important person, and no one can compare My position in her heart, we are close to each other, and we are always inseparable. But not long after she said this, she went to have fun with her intestines. She said this to coax me! The whole ten years of being dependent on each other, Can't beat her and her intestines for three months! Why did she agree to me when she couldn't do it? She lied to me... I was cheated by her like a fool... "
Cheng Fengtai walked behind him, looked at his back, and was shocked by the sentence "I'm willing to die for her". Cheng Fengtai has three sisters and three children, all of whom are brothers and sisters, but even for the most beloved Chachaer, Cheng Fengtai dare not say that he is willing to die for her. After a long silence, he felt that he had understood Shang Xirui very deeply. Human relations and ethics are always empty in Shang Xirui's place, never agreed, never understood. He only knows to take care of his own heart. Cut open the belly and give the whole heart naked and warm to a person. If the person fails to hold it and breaks it, he will go crazy.
Cheng Fengtai said: "She promised you are good. But this promise itself is unreasonable and contrary to human feelings. How can you force her to keep it?"
"Where is it unreasonable! Why do our feelings have to give way to the crooked love between men and women? She and I are bosom friends! Bosom friends are the most precious!"
Cheng Fengtai really laughed. A naive young man like Shang Xirui, it's okay to treat someone as a younger brother and a son, and to be a confidant to others, there's no way it's inappropriate, it should be the whole thing. Jiang Mengping seems to be a sentimental, romantic, and caring woman, Shang Xirui only knows how to play silly fun, how can he be considerate of her sensitive emotions.
Cheng Fengtai said: "Okay, even if a confidant is higher than love. But now it seems that you regard her as a confidant, and she does not regard you as a confidant. She thinks that Chang Zhixin is more a confidant. That's not her fault, it's because you didn't argue." Come on!"
Shang Xirui said stubbornly: "Then she shouldn't have promised me. Since she promised me, if she didn't do it, she can't! I'm going to make trouble!"
Cheng Fengtai really couldn't break up with him because of this reason: "In that case...you can't find gangsters to bully Jiang Mengping. Sister and brother, you just..."
Shang Xirui lowered his voice, and said awkwardly: "I was just scaring her, but I didn't really do anything to her, and I didn't hit her, and I wouldn't lose a piece of meat by scaring her..."
The tone of his words was so childish, Cheng Fengtai couldn't help laughing, but he still reprimanded: "Is this a way to scare a woman? Also, sending soldiers to smash her theater is also a scare? They cut off the way of life .”
Shang Xirui looked back at Cheng Fengtai, his eyes widened in surprise: "Why send soldiers to smash the stall? Where did I get the soldiers." He paused, and after thinking about it, he understood.
When Jiang Mengping said that he deserved it, he was so heartbroken that he couldn't stay in Pingyang for a moment, left Shuiyun Tower and ran out of the city overnight. Unexpectedly, I didn't run very far on the road, and happened to meet Zhang Dashuai's troops oncoming. Zhang Dashuai used to be Shang Xirui's fancier, he was very obsessed with him at one time, he only hated that he was fighting all the year round and couldn't pursue and get close to him. When we met again, I couldn't help but feel agitated, hugged Shang Xirui onto the horse, laughed and said: I'm about to enter Pingyang, you can follow me at ease, no one will dare to bully you anymore!
Dashuai Zhang is Dashuai Zhang, the best way to prevent others from being bullied is to bully others first. He must have sent troops to deal with Jiang Mengping in order to please Shang Xirui - just forcing them away is not easy! Cheng Fengtai thought, no wonder Chang Zhixin said that at that time all the theaters dared not invite Jiang Mengping, how could Shang Xirui have such a big influence to influence the theater's business, presumably Zhang Dashuai put pressure on it.
"Sending troops deserves it! She said she didn't want Shuiyun Tower anymore and gave it to me. What happened? She even brought a man to hang out backstage!" Shang Xirui said angrily: "And said she would never let me see her again Huh! I pass by the street where she sings, I don’t know how many times a day, and I can see her every time. She always doesn’t mean what she says! She always lies to me!”
Cheng Fengtai thought to himself, if someone is to watch me so strictly to fulfill these unrealistic promises, I have to show him to death.
After talking tonight, Cheng Fengtai fully understood what Shang Xirui meant by being hateful and pitiful. It is unrealistic to hate his paranoia, and at the same time deeply pity his idiot.
In Cheng Fengtai's heart, there is still more pity than hatred.
After Shang Xirui's words just now, his thin figure stood in the cold winter night, so thin and precarious. Cheng Fengtai felt pity for the fragrance and jade, and felt sorry for him, and said to himself, if this is a girl, I will hug him.
But Shang Xirui's appearance and temperament, his gender characteristics are very vague, even if he is not a girl, he is still a boy, very pitiful. So Cheng Fengtai stepped forward and put his arms around his shoulders, Shang Xirui naturally leaned into his arms. Cheng Fengtai noticed that his body was trembling slightly, he didn't know whether it was from cold or excitement. He put his cheek on Cheng Fengtai's shoulder and said, "Second Master, can you stop talking? Just hearing their names makes me... feel uncomfortable..."
Cheng Fengtai said: "Okay. Don't say anything, don't say anything, I'll take you home."
On the way back they didn't speak, Shang Xirui turned his head to look at the night outside the window, clasped his hands on his knees, as if he was restless. Cheng Fengtai couldn't bear it, secretly blamed himself for his recklessness, found something else to strike up a conversation with: "Where does Boss Shang live?" At the moment he was still cautious about Shang Xirui, he didn't dare to gossip.
Shang Xirui turned around and said: "No. 31 Luogu Lane. It's just past the Huangwa God of Wealth Temple to the north."
Cheng Fengtai smiled and said: "That's a coincidence! I live in the south of the street. So we are still neighbors."
Shang Xirui answered him a few words, because he was not in a good mood and couldn't chat with him. When we arrived at Shang Xirui's house, a small courtyard house in Beiluogu Lane, the car stopped, Cheng Fengtai said: "I don't speak well, I was abrupt. I thought you would lose your temper with me."
Shang Xirui shook his head and said with a faint smile: "Second Master is serious. You are kind. I never lose my temper with people who have nothing to do with me."
This implication seems to mean that Cheng Fengtai is soft-spoken and not qualified enough to make him angry. When Cheng Fengtai heard this, he suddenly felt awkward. Fortunately, Shang Xirui made amends and said: "I sang the third son's full moon wine, I owe the second master a play."
Cheng Fengtai said: "It's not a big deal." He really didn't dare to ask Shang Xirui to sing again.
Shang Xirui insisted: "No. It must be paid back."
Cheng Fengtai smiled at him: "Okay. Then I'll wait for you."
Shang Xirui got out of the car, knocked lightly on the courtyard door a few times to call for Xiaolai. Cheng Fengtai deliberately parked the headlights to illuminate him, but Shang Xirui obviously didn't need it, as soon as the door opened a little, he sneaked in quickly. Not once did he look back. For some reason, this also made Cheng Fengtai feel slightly lost. The branches of a few pagoda trees in the next yard were gaunt and pale by the headlights, like a spider web engulfing the night, cold and dense.