This autumn in 1935 was the season when the pear orchards in Peking were full of flowers. Zeng Hongyu, Xue Lian, Wang Xiaoping, Li Tianyao and other famous actors and actresses gathered in Beiping to visit friends. Naturally, when they came, geese lingered. At that time, there were good shows in Tianqiao one after another, and all sectors of society were excited up. The literati were busy writing reviews and biographies, the dignitaries were busy entertaining the famous actors, and the common people were very happy to hold the opera actors. Throughout Beiping City, gongs and drums resounded day and night, and the city towers and streets were dyed in rich pink and ink colors. Even Hou Yukui and Yuan Xiaodi, who had retired for many years, were affected by this craze, and they were invited to vote for several special performances, and the fans were as happy as if they were celebrating the New Year.
Shang Xirui can be regarded as the busiest person in all of Beiping at this time of year, when it comes to fame, he is the only one in charge. He has a soft temper and no airs, and he is a good friend with many famous actors. During successive banquets in the Liyuan Guild Hall, the guests all pointed to Boss Shang as company. Although Shang Xirui was impatient in his heart, his friends came from afar and tried their best to invite them, and they would lose face if they didn't show up. As soon as he sat down at the table, he immediately forgot his impatience when he saw those delicious dishes. Anyway, he only cared about eating, not socializing. Every friend who comes to Beijing asks him to play in a play, but he is really unassuming, and he is also happy to play a supporting role. Put on makeup tirelessly, correct words, and leave your troupe aside. But when an actor who doesn't deserve his name asks him to play, he will find all kinds of unreliable reasons to shirk it, which makes others very embarrassed. He still thinks it's appropriate and creates countless excuses. During that time, Shang Xirui was constantly eating banquets, making new friends, partnering with famous artists, the city was busy. Everyone gradually discovered a strange thing, famous actors from all over the world took turns to appear on the stage, but the headlines in the local newspapers always focused on Shang Xirui first, and wrote a lot about it, who is Boss Shang and who is a perfect match, Boss Shang With whom does it complement each other, and with whom does Boss Shang have a perfect song through the ages. What I don't know is that famous actors have come all the way to support Shang Xirui!
During this period of time, Cheng Fengtai and Shang Xirui also met very rarely. 10:30 in the morning - that can't be called morning anymore, Cheng Fengtai rushed from Nanluoguxiang to Beiluoguxiang to say hello on time, before finishing a thousand games, Shang Xirui walked out vigorously in a black velvet cloak, with a proud face He raised his hand to Cheng Fengtai with a big face: "Aiqing, get flat quickly!" As he said that, he was about to cross Cheng Fengtai. Cheng Fengtai scooped up his arm, and hugged him head-on: "Why are you going so early in the morning?"
Shang Xirui struggled a bit: "Yu Qing is coming to Peiping today! There's something going on in the Liyuan Guild Hall! Oh, don't delay my business!"
"Yu Qing? That actress who refuses to fill in General Zhao's house?"
"yes!"
Cheng Fengtai has heard about Yu Qingjiu, so he doesn't know about the drama, only that she is single in a young and scholarly family, and she swears to the death that she will not marry the majestic General Zhao as a sequel, and she became very famous in Henan two years ago. Cheng Fengtai has always been more interested in strange women than beauties, today it was also fate, he was more anxious than him in pulling Shang Xirui's arm: "Let's go, Second Master will go meet you with me."
"Second Master, where's your car?"
"It's too late to call Lao Ge again. Let's go by rickshaw."
Cheng Fengtai hastily stopped a rickshaw, sat side by side with Shang Xirui, and left Xiao Lai who followed behind to go out. Xiao Lai was holding a big bag of Shang Xirui's personal facial gouache in his hand, watching them leave in the dust, gritted his teeth, and closed the door with his backhand to stop following them. For the first time since she was eight years old, she had a temper with Shang Xirui, because of the person sitting next to Shang Xirui.
Today, many familiar faces on the mahjong table came to the Liyuan Clubhouse, even Cheng Fengtai's brother-in-law Fan Erye was there to make friends. Cheng Fengtai stepped into their actor's lair for the first time, looked around, and saw that everything was fresh. The statue of the patriarch enshrined in the Liyuan Guild Hall is larger and more delicate than the ones in the backstage of Shang Xirui's theater. The handsome man with long beard and jade face is Tang Minghuang. Cheng Fengtai is in the freight business, and he worships Guan Gong. A white face and a red face, they look alike. Fan Lian saw Cheng Fengtai in a blink of an eye, stepped forward to put his shoulders on his shoulders, and beat him on the back twice, laughing loudly: "Brother-in-law! If you have any invitations, you are here! There will be no seat for you later Son!"
Cheng Fengtai pointed to the side: "No, I'm here as Boss Shang's attendant—" Shang Xirui next to him is long gone, he has already gone to the theater to talk about the show. Fan Lian laughed twice. On the one hand, a respected and respected actor in the theater world was afraid that Second Master Cheng would be embarrassing, so he hurriedly smoothed things over and said, "Brother Lian, if this is the case, Second Master Cheng is willing to come to show his face, so why not have his seat? Even if I am an old bone Come out, and his seat is indispensable!"
So Cheng Fengtai began to be polite with the old man, flattering each other and talking countless scenes. After a while, the porter announced that the leader of Yunxi's class had come. The faces of all the people present were frozen, unable to tell whether it was an expression of boredom or disappointment. Shang Xirui glanced at the door, before seeing Si Xier's shadow, he turned his head away and continued chatting. But the others still wanted to greet Si Xier and deal with it, they all stopped talking and looked outside the door, and he just said his own, which didn't hinder his joy at all. If he doesn't want to perfuse a person, he can really treat a living person as air.
Today, Si Xi'er was wearing a bright purple brocade dress that neither suited his age nor his identity, with a woman's tassel gemstone collar button pinned to the neckline. The hair was slicked with oil. Three rings on one hand. It seems to have put on makeup. At a young age, she has a certain status in the theater world, and she even grooms herself like a singing singer, who will gasp when she sees her. The attendant next to him was actually Xiao Zhouzi. Xiao Zhouzi came out to meet guests today, and changed into a clean blue cloth gown. His face and hands were also cleaned up, looking very delicate. He timidly followed behind his master with his head tilted, walked past Shang Xirui, looked at Shang Xirui again and again. But their relationship is similar to an affair outside of marriage, and Si Xier has such a temper, Shang Xirui pretends that he doesn't know him. Little Zhouzi looked a little hurt, and looked at Cheng Fengtai pitifully, Cheng Fengtai smiled at him.
Before Si Xier could stand still, she began to laugh sharply: "Oh! There are so many people in this room! Tsk tsk tsk, the hottest characters are here, why is the protagonist not here yet! This is not good! No The gift of being a guest!"
He was even more annoying when he opened his mouth, and no one picked up on him. Everyone was silent for a while, and finally someone smiled patiently: "Boss Yu's train is a little late, and his clothes are dirty again. He is washing up in the back! You sit and drink tea for a while, and the food will be served soon."
Si Xier curled her lips, her eyes drifted into the crowd and she saw Shang Xirui, his eyes immediately burst into a light of belligerence and hatred, people who knew him knew that he was going to make trouble. As expected, Si Xi'er stepped forward with a twisted gait and said with a frivolous smile: "Isn't this our famous boss Shang! Hehehe! I didn't pay any attention to you when you jumped into this group of beauties, damn it! "
This means that Shang Xirui doesn't stand out among the beautiful actors. Cheng Fengtai cursed silently: "Damn it..." Fan Lian patted him on the shoulder, telling him not to intervene in the quarrel between actors. Everyone heard what Si Xier said, the atmosphere was suddenly silent, waiting to see how Shang Xirui would react. Of course Shang Xirui didn't hear it, or maybe he suddenly got the hang of it. He looked at Sixi'er with blank eyes, a little empty, then turned his head resolutely, and said to his friends: "That accent is still not good, you can't use the 'sound of selling flowers'. When Du Qi comes back, I will Discuss one with him. Don't worry about it."
The friends around him quickly interfaced tacitly: "Okay, we are not in a hurry. We are always at ease when we leave it to Boss Shang and Young Master Du Qi."
Everyone around them pursed their lips and smiled, Cheng Fengtai shook his head, smiling the most heartfeltly. In fact, as close as he is, he can't tell whether Shang Xirui is really stupid or pretending to be stupid, anyway, Shang Xirui has such an unfathomable ability to be stupid, enough to embarrass Si Xier.
Si Xier's expression changed, she grabbed Xiao Zhouzi's arm and slipped it to Shang Xirui. Xiao Zhouzi couldn't even stand on his feet, and his head almost hit him. Si Xi'er sneered and said, "Boss Shang! Don't ignore me! If you want to say that I'm really nice to you, Shuiyun Tower is full of good people, and even sent Yuan Lan to ask for someone from me! But I agreed without saying a word! Look! The conditioning is so big, I haven’t used it for my own troupe, so I’ll use it for you first!”
Shang Xirui looked at Xiao Zhouzi, and said in a cold tone: "Who is this kid? I don't know him. You can't tell me who Yuan Lan wants from you."
Several old people present regretted it incessantly, and secretly complained to each other that they didn't know who invited Si Xier here, this speech was a stick, if Shang Xirui's stubborn temper was aroused, one would be mad and the other would be crazy, it would be a big fuss no. The winky girl rushed to the backyard early in the morning to invite someone. At this time, Yu Qing came out wearing a long-sleeved blue and white cheongsam with a white background, like an antique blue and white porcelain vase, stepping on high heels. She cut a child's haircut which is in fashion now, short black hair that reaches the ears, and the hair feet are cut evenly, fresh and playful like a schoolgirl. As soon as she came, Cheng Fengtai felt that she had a different demeanor from other opera singers, she was very calm and cultivated, she was really a young lady from a scholarly family.
The appearance of Yu Qing immediately resolved the embarrassment between Si Xier and Shang Xirui. She bowed to everyone and said many kind words, and the host and guest met one by one. They have long known each other's friendship, for example, Shang Xirui received two records from Yu Qing, and Yu Qing sang a new play adapted by Shang Xirui. Before sitting down, Shang Xirui naturally wanted to sit next to Cheng Fengtai, but Yu Qing pulled away the chair beside her and said with a smile: "Boss Shang sit here, how about we talk about new plays?" So Shang Xirui regretted After taking a look at Cheng Fengtai, he ran away resolutely and happily. The seat next to Cheng Fengtai was not vacant after he left, Si Xier sat down with her thick waist twisted, glanced at Cheng Fengtai winkingly, and put her hand on his knee: "Second Master Cheng! We two But it’s been a long time. The anecdote you mentioned at the poker table last time about the shipment of goods outside the customs is not finished, please tell me more.”
Shang Xirui tilted his head to look at Cheng Fengtai and smiled, Fan Lian patted his other knee on the other side of Cheng Fengtai, smiling gloatingly too. Cheng Fengtai sighed, thinking what else should I say, I really regret coming back from outside the pass when I met you.