Cheng Fengtai opened his eyes the next day and saw that it was past ten o'clock. Hearing the two eldest sons playing football in the yard, the second grandmother was chasing them away: "Go out and play, your father is sleeping!"
The second young master was aggrieved and said, "Why is Dad always sleeping, or else he wouldn't be at home."
Second Mistress couldn't ruin the image of the head of Cheng Fengtai's family in front of her children, so she had to lie to her son and say: "Your father is going out to do business! Do business! Children don't talk too much. Go!"
Cheng Fengtai was not ashamed, he yawned upside down on the kang, the second mistress heard it through the window, and asked the servant girl to prepare water for him to wash. As soon as she walked in, Cheng Fengtai saw that she was still holding the Third Young Master in her arms. The third young master is more than one year old now, with a pair of big and clear eyes, brown hair and brown eyebrows, he is still so young, he can already be seen to be very beautiful. He lay in Second Grandma's arms, picking at Second Grandma's rhinestone collar button with his fingers. Children like shiny things.
Cheng Feng got off the kang to fiddle with the third young master's hair, and said to the second mistress: "Why is this child's hair this color? It's the same as Chacha'er."
Second Mistress gave him a white look: "The child's hair is originally yellow. It will be fine when he grows up."
Cheng Fengtai said: "Really? I'm afraid he is lacking some vitamins, so I'll call a western doctor to take a look tomorrow. The two older children have never had yellow hair!"
Second Mistress couldn't help complaining: "The two older children have grown so big, you haven't even touched them with your fingers, how can you still remember what color their hair is?"
Cheng Fengtai stroked his hair twice, and sat down a little irritably: "Am I busy?"
"Are you busy? Busy eating, drinking, whoring and gambling!"
At this time, the servant girl came in to take care of brushing her teeth and washing her face, Second Mistress said nothing more.
Cheng Fengtai twisted the towel, wiped his face and said, "Second Grandma's words are wrong! Which business was not negotiated through eating, drinking, whoring and gambling? I didn't just play around, did I? Let's just talk about the two things that Fan Lian did in Shanghai. It’s a spinning mill, so to speak, as long as I pay the dividends, what’s the result? I have to come forward to make friends with the Shanghai side. Fan Lian is in Peking to find a cook who can cook Shanghai dishes and make drunken shrimp. It hurts. Hey! Tired!"
When the second grandma heard that her younger brother was up to no good, when the maids left, she frowned and said, "Look at the way you two brothers are doing nothing and doing nothing all day long! The business of our ancestors is not easy to do, and we are thinking about what to do." factory… "
Cheng Fengtai had said this about Fan Lian earlier, but now that he heard Second Mistress complaining about him, he immediately changed his mind to defend his brother-in-law. Smiling, she squatted on the ground and pinched the second grandma's knee, while shaking: "Oh! My second grandma! Your brother is from Beiping who left his hometown to avoid the war, let alone my family's ruined family! What business can our ancestors give us?" What did we do? How can we support a room full of young masters, ladies and concubines without setting up a few more properties?"
Second Mistress paused for a moment, her two emerald-colored willow-leaf eyebrows slightly raised upwards, almost frosty and snowy, and said with a sneer, "Okay, I'll just wait for some time to marry your concubine."
Cheng Fengtai smiled disapprovingly and said: "Where are you thinking again, I mean my father's concubine." He pinched his youngest son's face: "Come on! I'm leaving!" He put on his hat and went out the door.
Second Mistress chased after her and shouted, "You don't want to eat, where are you going!"
Cheng Fengtai said: "I'm going to discuss business!"
Cheng Fengtai thought it was impossible to discuss business, he drove south and stepped on the gas pedal, he arrived at Shang Xirui's house. The theater troupe usually has nothing to do in the morning, the actors practice silently by themselves, Shang Xirui doesn't have to watch, just stay at home. His life is under Xiao Lai's care, everything is done on time, for a long time. If he was doing something else during the meal, and Xiao Lai yelled three times that he didn't come to eat, Xiao Lai would grab the food from his hand and complain to him. At this time, of course Xiao Lai served the meal on time. Shang Xirui pursed his lips, sat at the dining table frowning and read a book, when he saw Cheng Fengtai coming, he jumped up happily and threw his head into his arms.
Cheng Fengtai grabbed Shang Xirui by the shoulders and pushed him on the chair, said with a smile: "Boss Shang, sit down and don't move."
Shang Xirui swayed from side to side and sat down. Cheng Fengtai took two steps back, bent one knee and tapped his right hand, slapped Shang Xirui in a very authentic way: "Greetings to Boss Shang. Boss Shang is blessed and safe!"
Shang Xirui looked at him smiling happily and nodded frequently.
Cheng Fengtai said: "Is it decent? I just learned it from Fan Lian yesterday."
Shang Xirui said something vaguely, but still laughed.
Cheng Fengtai patted the back of his head: "Boss Shang said something, swallow what's in his mouth, and talk well."
Shang Xirui took the teapot to the yard to wash his mouth, Cheng Fengtai saw the wooden box on the table, it was the box of pearl powder that Prince Qi gave him yesterday, he couldn't help laughing: "You eat this? It's really beautiful."
Shang Xirui spat out twice on the ground, and said: "This is a prescription that Jiulang brought out from the palace. Put a little under the tongue every day, it is very good for the skin and bones, after forty years old, you will look beautiful can not tell."
Cheng Fengtai said: "In the palace, it's exquisite. What did you just say?"
"Let me tell you, please An's habit is very good, the second master must keep it!"
"Okay! From now on, come here every morning to greet Boss Shang."
Shang Xirui raised his wrist to look at his watch: "Is this still called early morning? It's already half past eleven! It can't be called morning after nine o'clock." A serious person like him especially observes time. This Swiss watch with a cowhide leather strap is extremely accurate, and he never takes it off when he sleeps, and uses it as a basis for assessing the young and old in the troupe every day. He would often look down at his watch and reprimand: Look! What time is it? You're so late! Ten minutes late! You stop singing! snort! —The actors in Shuiyunlou wanted to crush his watch.
Cheng Fengtai was not a member of his troupe, he sat on the teacher's chair nonchalantly, picked up the book on the table and flipped through two pages: "As long as the sky is still bright, when the second master gets up is morning."
Shang Xirui hummed dissatisfied and did not argue with him. Xiao Lai put a bowl of hot rice in front of Shang Xirui, picked a few chopsticks to cover the rice bowl and took it to the kitchen to eat, completely ignoring Cheng Fengtai. But her cold treatment never hit Cheng Fengtai, and Cheng Fengtai also ignored her, and stretched out his head with a shy face: "Boss Shang, give me a piece of meat."
Shang Xirui quickly stuffed the meat into his mouth first, then quickly took a piece and gave it to Cheng Fengtai to silence his complaints. Cheng Fengtai flipped through the book, chewed the meat, and said: "Xiao Lai's cooking is not bad. Have another bite." If Xiao Lai knew that he was so numb, he would definitely throw away all the vegetables and drive him out.
Because there are no extra chopsticks, two people take turns to eat one mouthful and the other. I think the taste of home-cooked food is also very good. Halfway through the meal, Cheng Fengtai had finished reading the trick book, and said in surprise: "This story is interesting, two girls are in love!"
Shang Xirui said: "'Lianxiang Companion'. It's an old show." He said and fed Cheng Fengtai a piece of potato.
Cheng Fengtai asked in surprise: "Boss Shang knows the characters here?"
"I know a few. I can't see all of them."
Cheng Fengtai flipped through the pages again, and said: "I know about Li Liweng, but I've never heard that he wrote this play. This story is too amazing. Have you acted it?"
When Cheng Fengtai personally led the team to take the goods in his early years, he had seen a lot of anecdotes from all over the world, so he thought that there was nothing novel to him. After seeing Shang Xirui's playbook today, I realized that I didn't see enough of the world. In an ancient play hundreds of years ago, the women in the boudoir were already extraordinarily daring to this extent, completely overturning Cheng Fengtai's understanding of ancient women. And because it's a romance between the same gender, Cheng Fengtai now pays special attention to it.
Shang Xirui smiled and said: "There are still many plays you don't know about! Jiulang and I rehearsed this one in private, but for some reason, we didn't show it."
Cheng Fengtai said: "It's very interesting, very interesting. When you should play one, you come to Cui Jianyun."
Shang Xirui shook his head and sighed: "I came to Cui Jianyun, no one came to Cao Yuhua!"
"With so many actors under your command, can't you find a Xiaodan who can sing Kunqu opera?"
Shang Xirui raised his head and said arrogantly: "Shuiyun Tower can't find a Cao Yuhua who is worthy of me, Cui Jianyun!"
Seeing his proud expression, Cheng Fengtai wanted to tease him, pinched his waist, Shang Xirui immediately squirmed with laughter, shrank in his chair, knocked over the bowl.
"Boss Shang, this is really crazy! Then tell me, besides your Ning Jiulang and Shuiyun Tower, who else is worthy of your Cui Jianyun?"
"That can only be Yuan Xiaodi, the original boss!" Shang Xirui picked the big wrist and said, he believed that the name Yuan Xiaodi would be heard even by people who don't listen to dramas, because it is really popular character. This Yuan Xiaodi, Cheng Fengtai has really heard of it, and not only heard of it: "Yuan Xiaodi, is that the actor who opened the silk and satin village?"
Shang Xirui yelled in surprise, his eyes sparkled, he jumped in front of Cheng Fengtai and called Second Master a lot.
Cheng Fengtai proudly said: "Hi! I know him too well! We just got together last month. I bought all the high-quality silk from him. Without your second master, he wouldn't be able to open a shop and do business! He Didn't you say you won't sing?"
Shang Xirui sighed loudly: "It's a pity not to sing!"
When Shang Xirui came to Beijing, the two most regrettable things were that the two famous actors Hou Yukui and Yuan Xiaodi both retired, every time I think about it, I regret why I didn't come to Beijing earlier. Hou Yukui is really old. Yuan Xiaodi is not old, he is a few years younger than Ning Jiulang, I don't know why Ji Liu retreated bravely, leaving infinite regrets to all fans. Yuan Xiaodi backed away and only played an excerpt at the banquets of his customers—that is, the wealthy people. Or occasionally sing along with friends when meeting friends in Liyuan Guild Hall. Shang Xirui heard him play twice, once at a rich family's party, and once at the Liyuan Guild Hall, singing "The Jade Hairpin" and "Nie Hai Ji". Yuan Xiaodi's status is like Hou Yukui's, quite prudent, and now that he has made a fortune by switching to business, it means that he is out of his family and is no longer an actor, and no one will make him have such disrespect for a while. Those two ten-minute scenes had already made Shang Xirui secretly surrender. In Kunqu Opera, Shang Xirui is no better than him.
Shang Xirui clung to Cheng Fengtai's side tiredly, Cheng Fengtai looked at him sideways: "Boss Shang, what do you mean? Want to ask the original boss to come out and sing "Lianxiang Companion" with you? That won't work, people won't sing if they don't, If I have to force others to do something, it will be too bad, the second master can't do it."
Shang Xirui was restless for a moment like burning his butt, squatting down, standing up and jumping twice: "I didn't mean that! I was just... I was just excited! I've only seen him twice! I haven't seen him for a long time! I want to hear him talk about drama!"
"Then go find him!"
"How can I find it? I don't know him."
"You have met him twice and still don't know him?"
"I don't know! I always hide in the corner and listen to him sing. I'm shy!" Shang Xirui is the most shy in front of capable seniors, he doesn't even dare to be introduced to him by others, he has to avoid it, afraid that the seniors will laugh at him and he won't like it He is really not a character.
Cheng Fengtai probably understood what he was thinking: "Oh... What's the matter, Boss Shang, the second master will build a bridge for you? Let the two of you meet?"
Shang Xirui took a few steps on the spot, a little anxiously: "No. I'll be ashamed."
"What about that?"
"You can't say it's me! Just say I'm your friend...or I'll pretend you're your little buddy."
Cheng Fengtai smiled and said: "All right, you're still a boy, how can there be such a beautiful boy. I promise you about this. Think about how to thank me later."
Shang Xirui said: "Ah? Every time I ask you to do something, I have to thank you! It's really no business and no evil!"
Cheng Fengtai walked up to him with a smile, lowered his head and whispered in his ear: "It's just that there is no business and no 'rape'."
Shang Xirui was stunned for a while before he understood the meaning of the word, his face flushed red.
The author has something to say: Brief introduction to the story of Companion to the Fragrance: Cui Jianyun, the wife of the superintendent Fan Jiefu (a student studying in the Imperial College), went to the temple to burn incense on the full moon of her marriage, and ran into Cao Yuhua, a country gentleman who was two years younger than her. Cui Jianyun admired Cao Yuhua's body fragrance, and Cao Yuhua pitied Cui Jianyun's poetic talent, and the two decided each other's life in front of the gods and Buddhas. Cui Jianyun set up a scheme to marry Cao Yuhua to her husband as a concubine, so that he and Cao Yuhua could "same dreams at night, same makeup at dawn, beautiful faces in the mirror, and singing along with each other in the boudoir". —Excerpt from Baidu Encyclopedia.