Beijing, Nanqiaoer, here used to be a gathering place for folk artists and stage troupes - from storytelling acrobatics to cross talk, the audience sang day and night, so lively.

But now, the bridge is gone, replaced by high-rise buildings; The man has also changed, his appearance is in a hurry, and there is no longer a leisurely and bustling scene.

But there are always some people who live against the wind and rain, and let the wind and rain beat the changes of the world, and I am me.

In the capital, this kind of person is called Ye.

On the side of Nanqiao'er Road, between the high-rise buildings and the wide sky, an old small building with more than two floors is standing along the street, like a group of gentlemen in suits and leather shoes inserted in the middle of a gentleman carrying a cage bird, which is incompatible with the surrounding scenery, but full of taste. There is a big red gate in the small building that can't tell the age, and the plaque on it is engraved with a neat and thick Dali - Xiaokun Society.

This may be the last gathering place for the "masters" in the capital.

The hall of Xiaokun Society is not big, but it is bright enough, the lights are bright, thirty rosewood square tables are scattered and spread out, about one person sits at every three tables, and a total of ten people listen to the guests, which is undoubtedly extravagant in this city where every inch of land is valuable.

Although there were few listeners to this cross talk, in front of the small table illuminated by the red cloth on the stage, an old man and a young man standing on the stage spoke vigorously. A stage, a table, a folding fan, a handkerchief, two actors and two mouths, do not need gorgeous sets, expensive lighting and sound, enough for them to show off their talents.

The little one, named Yu Le, stood on the left, and sang a joke, the Lord said. He is less than twenty years old, with a jade face and a handsome face, looking like a young master, his spirit is much more vigorous than that of an ordinary young master, and his voice is crisp and neat.

The old one is his master Lu Wannian, standing on the right, the old gentleman has a few hairs left, but his eyebrows are too prosperous, and the two silver silks are hanging in the air, looking like an immortal. It's a pity that he is too old after all, his voice is confused, he can't sing, he can't speak, he has to sing and praise his apprentices who are almost three generations younger than him here.

This song is about "Customs", and the old audience has listened to it dozens of times, but every time, Yu Le can add a new stalk, accompanied by current affairs topics and meat jokes of "three customs", which makes the audience laugh.

Yu Le flicked his sleeves: "Old Lu, do you know where the custom of setting off firecrackers comes from?" ”

Lu Wannian looked at the audience and confidently explained in an old voice: "Chinese New Year's Eve, I have been putting firecrackers for almost 100 years. ”

Yu Le smiled angrily, and then asked, "Then Lao Lu, do you know why Chinese New Year's Eve is called Chinese New Year's Eve?" Do you know why guns are fired on Chinese New Year's Eve?

Lu Wannian was puzzled, scratched his head and thought hard: "This ...... I really don't know, so I'll let it go in a daze. ”

Yu Le sneered: "If you don't say that you have lived in vain at this age, in the end, you will say that the two of you are fooling people, and you haven't even married a daughter-in-law!" ”

Lu Wannian immediately rolled up his sleeves, blew his beard and glared: "Stinky boy!" If it's not a show, watch me pump you! ”

The audience laughed lightly, cross talk is amusing, the old ones on the stage don't know how to pretend to understand because they don't respect the old, and no one in the eyes of the little ones always makes fun of the master, this scene can be regarded as a big laugh in the cross talk of the Xiaokun Club.

Yu Le, who was on the stage, laughed and avoided the master's slap, but his mouth was unforgiving: "Old Lu, you are a lot old, don't beat yourself to death!" ”

Lu Wannian didn't fight twice, wiped his sweat and pointed at Yu Le: "Tell me, why did you fire the cannon on Chinese New Year's Eve?" ”

Yu Le threw down his sleeves again, and said loudly to the audience: "Legend has it that in ancient times, at the end of the month, a vicious beast named 'Xi' came to harm the villagers, and only firecrackers and firecrackers could drive him away, so in order to drive away 'Xi', we had to set off firecrackers every year. Of course, later everyone knew that this thing did not exist at all, and even if it did, it would have died of old age, so the New Year's cannon became a beautiful thing to drive away ghosts and evil spirits, and drive away fear and bad luck. ”

Lu Wannian nodded frequently, and then looked unconvinced: "I know, isn't it bad luck to fire guns during the holidays." ”

Yu Le smiled lightly: "Then Lao Lu, do you know why you have to fire guns when you get married?" ”

Lu Wannian immediately frowned and pondered: "Is it also obscure?" But on a day of great joy, how can there be any bad luck? ”

Yu Le shook his head and said heavily: "Like 'Xi', we have to use firecrackers to drive away something terrible, but that's useless, girls now are not afraid of firecrackers, and their faces will be exposed after marriage." ”

"Hahaha!!" The man in the audience immediately laughed, "Le'er! You haven't been married, and you know that your mother-in-law is hypocritical! ”

The rest of the crowd burst into laughter and applause.

One old and one young bowed to the audience, and the song was finished.

Lu Wannian patted Yu Le lightly, and rushed to the backstage, Yu Le immediately understood, took out the pair of walnuts that the master played with from the table and handed them to the master, respectfully holding the master towards the backstage, and said to the few audiences: "The old guy has a dry throat, and I will sing a stand-up for everyone later, everyone wait, the magpie serves tea." ”

The listeners nodded one after another, and they didn't care, the current Lu Wannian was too old, and it was one less time for the listeners. At the same time as the master and apprentice finished speaking, a little girl in a red cheongsam limped into the arena with a warm pot, the girl was not tall, but about fifteen or sixteen years old, and she had a baby face with a curtain, which made people feel so pitiful.

The inch-headed man hurriedly got up and said, "The magpie can rest for a while, I'll add water myself." ”

The girl smiled: "Brother Tiger thinks I'm ugly to walk?" ”

"Why! The world is yours to look good! ”

"Then sit down." The magpie spoke, walked to the table in the middle of the hall, and first served tea to an old man.

"Yes!" The man patted his head and smiled, and no longer entangled, only took a sip of tea by himself, and chatted with the surroundings: "If you want to say that this is fun, it's really good, looking at arguing with Lao Lu Chengtian, it's actually very filial." ”

The gentleman next to him chimed in: "Is it? Lao Lu accepted this apprentice, and he didn't lose anything for the rest of his life, and he was more filial than many sons. ”

In the meantime, only the old man sitting at the middle table did not say a word, his hair was black and white, although he was an old man, he was much younger than Lu Wannian, and he was dressed in an earthy gray old tunic attached to his body, without half a wrinkle, but it could also be called spirit. The old man only held the teacup, staring blankly at the walnut in Lu Wannian's hand, and when he left, he shook his head and sighed gently.

Seeing this, the inch-headed man laughed and said: "Master Bird, you have been staring at walnuts for so many years, and Lu Wannian is still holding the price?" ”

"Bandage?" The old man raised his head and took a sip of tea, and sighed helplessly, "It's okay if you want to talk, he won't sell it!" ”

"Hey, if you want me to say you're worried too! This Lu Wannian is also a real player, how can he give up the baby. The big man stepped forward to persuade, "Master Bird, I have a friend in Pinggu, and he recently poured a batch of 'four-building lion heads', if you have kung fu, ...... you."

"Gotcha." The old man rubbed the red sandalwood beads on his wrist, waved his hand and said disdainfully, "The old four buildings are long gone, and the lion heads that come out now are all grafted, which is boring, and the baby is still old." ”

The inch-headed man had to persuade again, but at this time Yu Le had already returned to the stage, and out of respect, he had to return to his position and applaud.

"Huh." After Yu Le came to the stage, he looked at the listeners shyly, "Just a few people, big guys, let me say "Old Hexagram Master" or "Pretty **"?" ”

"Pretty ** !!!" The audience shouted in unison.

"Gotcha! You laity! I just like the colored! Yu Le turned to laugh and said, "But I like it!" ”

In the midst of laughter, Yu Le instructed the magpie to go to the back hall to make tea for the master, and he slapped the eye-catching on the table and cleared his throat.

"Qiao**" is a meat joke that can't be put on the stage, now there are few people, and there is no photography, it doesn't hurt Yu Le to talk about it, after all, these audiences are one of the few parents of Xiaokun Club.

Yu Le was full of energy, changed his tone, and started singing.

"In other words, there is a pretty ** living in this Drum Tower Hutong, twenty years old, round and jade, not so convex on the top, but absolutely ...... below"

One day, she couldn't find a night pot at home, so she had to go out to relieve herself, stay on the street, and look around, there should be no one, so she found a place to find a place, and timidly took off her pants. Scold! That big white ass makes the moon shine! It's hard to ......."

"The junior next door, I just happened to go out to relieve myself, when I saw this, I quickly hid behind the room, staring at the beads of my eyes......"

Everyone in the audience listened with relish, and the eyes of the big men were straight, and Harazi was about to drip down.

"Brother!! At this time, a little girl shouted from the background, "Brother, come quickly!" ”

Yu Le was startled for a moment, and then just pretended not to hear it, and the sky fell during the performance, and he continued to concentrate on saying: "So, the junior also took off his pants......"

"Brother! Come on!! The girl screamed louder.

"Le'er, let's go take a look." Although the inch-headed man was excited, he still held back, "The magpie told you that you have something to do, and you will tell us when you finish it." ”

"But ......" Yu Le stood on the stage, quite embarrassed.

"Go, go, go." The other listeners waved their hands in understanding.

After all, they are all old friends for so many years, and this matter can be understood.

"Thank you very much, let the magpie bring up two more plates of melon seeds in a moment." Yu Le immediately retreated, hurried to the back hall, and as soon as he turned the corner, he bumped into the rushing magpie.

"Brother! Oh no, no, no! The magpie grabbed Yu Le and pulled it in playfully.

"Tell me something." Yu Le frowned.

"I just served my father ......tea," said the little girl, panting, "but he didn't move...... I won't say yes or ......"

"I'm afraid, the old guy often sits and sits and sleeps." Yu Le shook his head helplessly and was pulled into the back hall.

The back hall is actually the main hall of the Xiaokun Society, with ancient wooden furniture, calligraphy and painting plaques, which is equivalent to the living room in the modern home. Lu Wannian sat under the plaque in the middle of the hall, his head slightly bowed, his expression could not be seen clearly, and he was motionless, only the bright brown pipe in his mouth was still emitting white smoke.

Yu Le's heart "chuckled" suddenly, and his brain was instantly empty.

Lu Wannian snored very loudly, if he really sleek, he could hear it, but now his body did not rise and fall at all, like a wax statue.

The magpie next to him had tears seeping out, and he pinched Yu Le and said, "Brother...... Daddy isn't ......?"

"No...... He is old and immortal, and this is the virtue that I remember. Yu Le waved his hand, said a word of comfort in a trembling voice, beat a drum in his heart, paced forward step by step, and muttered, "He is old and immortal, and he can't die if I die." ”

Yu Le led the magpie, walking slower and slower, slower and slower, until he stopped in front of Lu Wannian.

"Master?" Yu Le shouted.

Didn't respond.

Yu Le trembled into Lu Wannian's ear and called again: "Master? ”

Still no response.

Yu Lexin is already half cold, and the six gods have no owner.

He is eighteen this year, Magpie is sixteen, if Lu Wannian leaves them behind, where will he go in the future?

Yu Le held his breath and put his right hand in front of Lu Wannian's nose.

Soon, he himself froze, stiffened for a long time.

After a while, Yu Le's hand sank, he gasped, squatted down, and gently hugged the dumb-eyed magpie: "Don't be afraid, brother is here." ”

"Wow......" The magpie is a child after all, and when he heard this, he cried out with a nose regardless of it.

Everyone in the lobby heard the cry of the magpie from afar, and they all felt that it was wrong, and after looking at each other, they rushed to the back hall. When they arrived in the hall, they saw Lu Wannian sitting on the chair and not moving, the brothers and sisters hugged each other and cried, and everyone's hearts sank.

After the inch-headed man was stunned for a long time, he wiped his sweat and asked with a trembling mouth, "Master Lu?" ”

"Master Lu?"

"Uncle Lu?"

"Grandpa Lu?"

"You're done!" A gentleman stepped forward and grabbed the big man, and said with a slight choked voice, "Let them be quiet for a while." ”

"This ...... This....... The inch-headed man was anxious and sad, full of energy and didn't know where to go, so he slapped his head with a palm, "I...... I don't believe it! When I beat my grandfather, I listened to Lao Lu's cross talk, how can I ...... Why did you just leave......"

At this time, the old man in the tunic neatly pushed away the big man, stepped forward on his own, squinted and looked at it for a moment, and sighed abruptly: "It's time to go, it's time to go, Lu Ye is tired, it's time to rest." ”

After that, he looked at Yu Le and Magpie, who were the six gods and no masters, and sighed and shook his head: "Everyone, don't bother them today, how much money you have on your body, leave it for Le'er and them, for funerals, and when we catch up with Ming'er's white business, let's pack a single gift money." ”

The old man said, neatly took out a few hundred yuan from his pocket, took out the change steel hammer, and slapped it on the table.

The bird master has a very high reputation here, and everyone also obeyed his wishes, and they all donated money to help each other and patted all the money on his body here. If outsiders were present, they would be surprised by this generosity, but these listeners have all been mixed here since their grandfathers, and it is no longer the relationship between ordinary actors and audiences.

Yu Le put down the magpie for the time being, let go of his grief, got up and bowed to everyone, "Thank you...... Let's talk about cross talk, we shouldn't take so much money......"

"Le'er." Bird Master looked at him and sighed, "You and Lu Ye, the fun you bring us is not something that money can buy." ”

When the magpie heard this, he sat down on the ground and began to cry again.

In this cry, everyone felt that there was nothing to lose, and there seemed to be something missing in their hearts.

The listeners stepped forward one by one, shook hands with Yu Le, and sent condolences.

"Le'er, if you have something to do, brother, you can help you, and if you can't help, you can think of a way to help." The inch-headed man had tears in his eyes, only staring at Lu Wannian, still not believing that this guy could die.

"Thank you, Brother Tiger."

The inch-headed man responded to the call of the bird master, did not stay for a long time, and turned away.

In a few minutes, the audience was almost gone, and only the bird master was left.

The old man stared at the plaque in the hall for a moment, and then said: "Le'er, magpie, you two send Lu Ye tonight, but the rules are indispensable, Ming'er, I will find someone to help you with the funeral, don't worry about it." ”

"Thank you, Bird." Yu Le choked his head and saluted, he is an eighteen-year-old child, he is really incapable of handling this, fortunately, there is a bird master to help, otherwise I am afraid that he will be put on the hat of "unfilial piety".

"Bell!" At this moment, the walnut in Lu Wannian's hand fell to the ground.

The bird looked at the walnuts rolling on the ground, the low pile has a big belly, the flat bottom is thick, the color is thick and even, the most important thing is the color of the walnuts, after years of play, the surface of the walnuts is clear and bright red oily, not half black. This made the bird master can't help but show a hint of pity in his eyes, but then he quickly reined in.

Players with backbone are proud, and they can't do such a thing as taking advantage of people's danger, let alone pry the treasure of the dead!

As soon as the bird master waved his hand, he turned around and retreated.

After everyone left, Yu Le took the money on the table, counted it, two thousand, he stuffed a few tickets to the magpie, and asked her to go out quickly to buy some paper money candles, and send it to the master tonight. The magpie cried and nodded in response, although the tears did not stop, but no longer made trouble, and walked out of the hall quite sensibly.

Then, Yu Le suddenly turned around, picked up the walnuts on the ground, stuffed them back into the master's hand, straightened the master's body, and let his head lean upright on the back of the chair, leaving a graceful aftertaste.

He tilted his head to look at Master's white and dark face, and finally cried out in a low voice.

Most people who engage in comedy have a melancholy heart.

There's a famous black joke about a man who goes to the doctor and says he's depressed, that life seems unforgiving and cruel, that he feels lonely in this threatening world.

The doctor said the treatment was simple, "A great clown came to the city and went to see him perform." He'll cheer you up. ”

The man burst into tears.

"But the doctor," he said, "I'm the clown."

The masters of comedy give joy to others and keep the sadness to themselves.

However, Lu Wannian is definitely not such a person, he doesn't seem to have the word "melancholy" in his mind, he is amusing others and enjoying himself, he still loves to play at his age, running in the sky and running on the ground, hanging on the tree buried in the soil, through his hands, he can become a thing and a baby. Even died, Lu Wannian died so heartlessly, and he didn't even have a sad goodbye.

Yu Le was crying and crying, and he was also bored, and he looked up.

In this hall, every table and chair, every stitch and thread, every gourd and painting are all exquisite, to put it mildly, it is all money. Take the walnuts in Lu Wannian's hand as an example, Master Bird once offered 40,000 yuan to collect them, which is definitely a big number in walnut play, but the master ignored it, and only laughed-

Wait until I'm dead to talk!

Now, it's really dead.

Yu Le grew up with his master since he was a child, and he was not contaminated by the world, if he was an ordinary person, at this time, I am afraid that he had already begun to think about how much money he could get if he sold these things, but Yu Le was only thinking about how to take care of these things at this time.

Things can't be put for a long time, you must take them out from time to time to play and maintain, otherwise you will lose your aura, in the past, the master sorted out the energy consumption for a whole day, but Yu Le didn't know how to dot it, he was now only afraid of ruining the master's life's hard work.

While pondering, the black-haired earth dog raised in the courtyard slipped in from the entrance of the hall.

Yu Le saw the living creature, his mood eased slightly, and he exclaimed: "Erhei! Come here. ”

The dog didn't move, standing at the door of the hall staring blankly at Yu Le, sticking out his tongue, as if smiling.

Yu Le frowned slightly, this black dog has always been obedient, is it taking advantage of the old man's departure to rebel today?

"Erhei!" Yu Le shouted again.

Suddenly, an old voice answered him.

"Call Master."

Yu Le was startled and jumped up from his chair at once.

He raised his eyes and looked around, except for the black dog in the hall, there was only Lu Wannian's corpse.

Yu Le shuddered and shook his head: "It turns out that there are really auditory hallucinations." ”

At this moment, the voice came again.

"Bunny can't hear Master call you?"

This time, Yu Le really panicked.

His face turned pale and he looked at Lu Wannian's corpse.

"It's not over there, it's over there."

Yu Le's face tensed, followed the voice, and looked at the door.

I saw that the black dog was staring at Yu Le quite happily, his mouth didn't move, but the voice came-

"It's quite filial, you know to accompany me."

Yu Le touched his head, got up and walked quickly to the black dog, and muttered: "Hit the ghost......"

"Hehe, reluctantly, only half a ghost for the teacher." The black dog squatted there smugly.

Unexpectedly, Yu Le raised his big foot and kicked it directly.

"Dog thing! Scare me while I'm uncomfortable! ”

The black dog was kicked far away, and scolded in a panic: "Something that deceives the teacher and destroys the ancestors!" Look for a beating! ”

"Bluffing?" Yu Le rolled up his sleeves and rushed forward, and kicked it again.

The black dog rolled on the ground and was in pain, so he quickly crawled to the side: "Don't fight...... I'm really your master......"

"You dare to call my master a dog?" Yu Le chased after him and had to fight.

"That's it!" The black dog hurriedly crawled on the ground and made a gesture of begging for mercy, "I was also forced to have no choice, and the obedient disciples were merciful." ”

When Yu Le saw him begging for mercy, he stopped beating and thought about it instead.

Once or twice, it can be said to be an auditory hallucination, and after such a long conversation, people have to believe it.

"Are you really Master?" Yu Le was relieved and stared at the black dog, not to mention, this dog's eyes were really bright.

"Nonsense." When the black dog saw Yu Le's appearance, he became angry again, "Give tea to the teacher, my mouth is dry." ”

Yu Le raised his hand: "Looking for a beating again?" ”

"Rabbit cub, aren't you afraid of thunder?" The black dog hurriedly fled.

"You explain what is going on first." Yu Le also beat the drum in his heart, such an evil sect, he must hear a reasonable explanation to prove that he is mentally normal.

"Tea, really dry mouth." There was pleading in the black dog's eyes.

Yu Le glared at him again, turned around and said, "Come and drink it yourself." ”

"......" The black dog was helpless, so he had to follow Yu Le into the hall, squatted in front of the seat, and waited for Yu Le to put the teacup on the ground, then he rushed over, stretched out his tongue and began to lick, "This dog body is too unpleasant." ”

Yu Le saw that the dog drank tea and drank it well, and knew that he would stop and taste it, but he believed it a little.