My mother cried for a long time by the bedside that night, and Jiang Sheng kept his back to me, like a stiff puppet.

We waited for our father to leave before getting up as usual, and my mother cooked and did the housework as usual, but Jiang Sheng was more silent than before, he always liked to argue with others, angry or sad, never expressed.

At that time, there were still three days before the Nine Emperor Society, and early the next morning, a housekeeper from Liyuan came to the school to pick up Jiang Sheng.

The Nine Emperor Society needs a lot of actors, and almost everyone in the Liyuan Opera Troupe has a look.

Jiang Sheng was particularly pleasing after arriving in the pear orchard, but he lacked the naughtiness that ordinary children of the same age should have, and looked like a little adult.

The Nine Emperor Gods played by the Nine Emperor Club do not need any lines, they have been sitting on a sedan chair carried by a group of eunuchs dressed as eunuchs, with a serious expression, swaggering through the city in the mountains and seas, and accepting the worship of some believers who believe in the Nine Emperor Gods.

If it was in the past, Xiao Huadan in the opera garden would say at the end of the sentence "Eternal peace, forever stay healthy", Jiang Sheng was untrained, and Master Long was afraid that he would have temporary stage fright, so he simply saved this sentence, but at the end of the day, Jiang Sheng didn't say a word in the opera garden, and he didn't make a fuss, from beginning to end it was an expression, like sitting and falling asleep.

In the evening, Jiang Sheng had already gone home, and Master Long gathered everyone from the troupe and asked, "The Nine Emperor Gods who came here today, you have also passed your eyes, have you seen any doorways?" ”

A naughty child exclaimed, "Good born Peugeot, no worse than Xi'er, like a character in a painting." ”

"I'm a girl, I'm too shy." Another child said.

All the children were babbling, they were all new disciples just recruited by Master Long, either orphans without father and mother, or children from poor families, who could not afford to sell to Master Long, and signed a contract for ten years.

On the other side, a bunch of old students and old Dan Qingyi ugly faces also discussed, Master Long said: "After you finish singing, you should leave my pear orchard, it is better to say a few words." ”

An old student asked, "Is the class master planning to mention that child as a new little flower?" ”

Master Long said: "It also means that I am also old now, and I am afraid that I will miss my eyes, so I let you all pass by." ”

The old student said: "The face is no problem, I also saw it when I changed my costume today, and my whole body is flawless, but this child doesn't look like an ordinary country family, and I don't know if I can afford to look down on our pear orchard, the most important thing is that it is too boring, and it lacks the liveliness and naughtiness that ordinary children should have." ”

Tsing Yi stepped forward and said: "I think it's okay, it's okay to be less childish, and only when you put in the playful heart can you work hard to become successful, I'm afraid that he will not be able to complete the five tones, or he will kill each other for a few years, and his efforts will be in vain." ”

Master Long nodded, looked at a taller boy in the appearance of a child among the newborn children, and said, "You are the eldest brother of this group of monkey cubs, but you have a few comments." ”

The young man smiled and said, "I like it very much, it is better for Jiang Sheng to stay, and it is better to be our junior brother, but I don't know if people are willing to do it." ”

Everyone was shocked at this, yes, after talking for a long time, they only wanted to leave Jiang Sheng as a role to cultivate, thinking that they would give him the possibility of glory and wealth, but they forgot to ask other people's opinions, in the final analysis, it was just an extra invited, in case it was a child of a rich and noble family, who only recognized the career of a businessman, and they said 10,000 sentences, and people couldn't listen to it.

Master Long dismissed everyone, and he also looked worried, he went back to the house and lay on the board bed and said to himself, the world has changed, the old is gone, and the new is coming.

Jiang Sheng told his mother about the Nine Emperor Society the next day, because the Nine Emperor Society would march around Beiping City before six o'clock in the morning, and if Jiang Sheng went from Sanlitun to Liyuan Town, it would be at least nine o'clock, so Jiang Sheng lived in Liyuan at night.

The pear orchard in the troubled times has not been repaired, and the disciples all live in the disciples' rooms, with a long kang with a wall in the middle, on which there are twenty beds, and the children are all mixed together, and the smell of chaos in the house is all there.

Jiang Sheng couldn't help frowning when he arrived in the disciple's room, some children were giggling and jumping on the kang, all of them were not wearing clothes, seeing Jiang Sheng's great show, and some looked at Jiang Sheng unhappy, and said: "They all say that you are a child of a rich family, but I don't know what you are doing in my pear orchard, there is no place for you to live here." ”

The children coaxed, and a person came outside the house, it was the eldest brother of these children, a teenager who pretended to be a child the day before, and the young man said: "I can't stand the smell in the house, I have cleaned up the place for you, and I have also set up a mosquito net, you go to sleep outside, it happens to be cool." ”

Jiang Sheng turned around and went out with the boy, and when he arrived in the courtyard, there was a stone platform in the middle, and the mosquito net was really set up on the stone platform, and there was a mat on the platform, and it was still hot in September, and the children would often run to the yard with their bare bellies to take a shower.

The young man said: "This stone platform is very stable, you don't have to worry about falling down, if you are a little solution at night, just sprinkle it in the flower bed, drink water to the kitchen next door, the teapot is cold and white, these two days are cloudy in Beiping, if it rains, go to the second room on the roof to find me, the first bed is mine." ”

"Hmm." Jiang Sheng answered, didn't thank you, just lay down on the stone platform, squinted and fell asleep.

The young man didn't mind, turned around and walked up the stairs, Jiang Sheng said, "My name is Jiang Sheng." ”

The young man was overjoyed, scratched his head and said: "My name is Hu Xiaomeng, I look darker, the master gave me the nickname Jarzi, the master said that the name is cheap to feed, and the name is too high is not good." ”

"I don't have a nickname, just Jiang Sheng."

After Jiang Sheng finished speaking, he turned his back, Hu Xiaomeng scratched his head, feeling bored, so he went upstairs.

That night, a lean child in the disciple's room went to the flower bed to relieve his hands, and when he saw Jiang Sheng lying in the mosquito net, it happened that a very short child was dousing himself with cold water in the courtyard, so he whispered: "Why did he sleep under the mosquito net when he first came, sprinkle it on him." ”

The boy who was taking a shower said: "This is not good, the master invited them, and they will leave after tomorrow's work, you make him cry, and they will run away because they are not happy to pull their legs, and the master will not find anyone and will not pick our skin." ”

"I don't want him to play the Nine Emperor Gods, I'll kick him to death." The lean boy said, scratching his chin. "If it weren't for Xi'er's illness, which round would get him, a few of us would want to pretend to be the Nine Emperor Gods to accept the worship of those ten thousand people, but the master still can't look down on it, the more I think about it, the more angry I become."

As he spoke, the lean child snatched the ladle from the little child's hand and splashed it on the stone platform.

Jiang Sheng opened his eyes, he got up and looked at the two people in the courtyard, his eyes were terrifying, the thin child was weak-hearted, and he walked to the disciple's room with a small child, and said in his mouth: "Let's go, let's go." ”

Jiang Sheng took off his wet clothes and hung them on the mosquito net, sighed and said, "Birdman." ”

The next day, Hu Xiaomeng woke Jiang Sheng up, Jiang Sheng washed his face and rinsed his mouth with Hu Xiaomeng, and then went to the backstage of the theater to change costumes.

Hu Xiaomeng is the elder brother of everyone, he stepped forward to burn incense, inserted it in front of the statue of the ancestor god, and led all the disciples to salute.

After a while, Master Long came in from outside, and the disciples said hello, Master Long answered, and beckoned a lean child to come forward, and the child immediately rushed to Master Long like a monkey, with a hippie smile, this child was the person who splashed Jiang Sheng with water last night.

Master Long picked up an eyebrow pencil from the dressing table, nodded on the child's eyebrows, and said, "Okay, let's all put on our own makeup, don't forget what you are taught, you can paint the face of the Nine Emperor Gods, just light the pen and dye and color." ”

"Got it, master." Hu Xiaomeng responded.

Master Long snorted, lowered his head and said to Jiang Sheng: "Jiang Sheng, I have worked hard for you today, you are not allowed to eat from morning to night, and you come back from Beiping City to eat and drink well, don't let people see jokes." ”

"Got it." Jiang Sheng responded.

Master Long nodded, walked out of the dressing room, the child immediately put on the costume noisily and painted his face, Jiang Sheng also took off his clothes and changed into a costume, and sat in front of the mirror on the dressing table according to the arrangement of the senior brother Hu Xiaomeng, Hu Xiaomeng painted the face of the Nine Emperor Gods to him one by one.

After finishing the makeup, Hu Xiaomeng was called out by Master Long, Jiang Sheng sat alone in front of the dressing table and did not move, looking at the different faces in the mirror, his eyebrows were painted white, hooked up, and a golden robe, it looked really heroic.

"When you're done, open it." A voice came from behind him.

Jiang Sheng turned around and found that it was the lean child again, so he got up and stood aside, and the lean child took the pen that hooked his face and traced it on his face again, without any intention of getting up.

There are a lot of props and costume boxes in the dressing room, and all the children have already finished painting their faces and sat on the boxes, Jiang Sheng looked back and saw so many people sitting separately, so he found a box to sit down, and the thin child hurriedly pointed at Jiang Sheng and said angrily: "What's the matter with you, the coat box that Hua Dan is sitting in is also something you can afford to sit in?" ”

Jiang Sheng couldn't help but be a little annoyed, so he had to get up and stand beside him, and the thin child said again: "Longkou can't stand either!" ”

Jiang Sheng got up, kicked the thin child sitting on the bench to the ground, and said, "You have to provoke me." ”

The skinny child got up and rushed to Jiang Sheng, he was half a head shorter than Jiang Sheng, and was pushed aside by Jiang Sheng's head, and all the children on the side coaxed, shouting on one side: "Come on, monkey!" Beat! ”

Hu Xiaomeng heard the movement and came in from outside, and when he saw Jiang Sheng and the thin child fighting, he hurriedly stepped forward and pulled away the thin child and scolded loudly: "Monkey, what are you bullying Jiang Sheng for?" ”

The child who was called the leather monkey said: "How can I bully him, he took advantage of Xi'er's absence to sit in his coat box, I asked him to get up and he stood at the dragon's mouth and blocked." ”

Hu Xiaomeng couldn't help frowning after hearing this, he scolded: "Jiang Sheng is a guest invited by the master, and he is not from Liyuan, he doesn't know the rules, you won't tell him well?" ”

The leather monkey snorted, unconvinced, Hu Xiaomeng said: "Redraw your flower face, and set off immediately, as much as I can cause trouble and clean up." ”

After Hu Xiaomeng finished speaking, he led Jiang Sheng to the dressing table, and helped him retrace some of the colorful places on his face, Hu Xiaomeng said: "Jiang Sheng, there are many rules in this opera garden, you don't know and don't blame you, I'll tell you now, for example, the coat box you made just now is Hua Dan sitting, and others can't sit, the dragon's mouth is between the theater boxes, we sing and eat with our voices, and the dragon's mouth is the throat, where do you go to stop it's stuck in your throat?" ”

Hu Xiaomeng told Jiang Sheng about the rules for sitting in each Shengjiaoer, Danjiaoer, Jingjiaoer, Mojiaoer, Harlequin and play box, Jiang Sheng hummed and said: "No wonder it's so horizontal, it turns out that this leather monkey is a harlequin." ”

Hu Xiaomeng said: "That's not, the status of the harlequin is the highest, not only the box sits casually, but when I don't see the master asking everyone to make up, I have to spend a sum on his face before others can move, we are not mainly performing and singing today, otherwise we have to stand honestly after putting on this dress, how can there be a box to sit on, wait for me to help you teach you a lesson, so that he will not provoke you with long eyes, fortunately, he has a sense of proportion and did not catch your face, otherwise he will be chopped off by the master." ”

Jiang Sheng said: "Senior brother, don't worry, I didn't take it to heart, anyway, I will go back to school today after the performance, I don't like too many rules and constraints." ”