Chapter 200: The Imperial Palace

In the following days, Ah Xing understood. What's going on with the so-called busy and dark.

There are only ten days left before Chinese New Year's Eve, and it is definitely too late to rearrange new plays, so you can only use the rehearsed plays. Tingsong's repertoire is mostly martial arts dramas, and the queen doesn't like fight scenes, so she can't choose these scenes. Ah Xing thought about it, and finally decided to choose a play she arranged for the Spring Festival during the Chinese New Year last year, which tells the story of the ordinary people's family and Hele for the New Year, which is very warm and joyful, and the story of the common people will definitely interest the emperor who lives in the deep palace. As long as he is happy to watch, they will be able to return safely in the theater.

Ah Xing flipped out the script and spent a whole day sleepless reviewing all the lines until she was sure that there were no words that violated the royal taboo. Then she called the actors to rehearse the play day and night, but fortunately, although the play has been put on hold for a year, the actors still have an impression, and the rehearsal is also very smooth.

Li Runfu saw that his daughter's eyes had turned red recently, and his heart ached. One day before going to bed, he quietly said to his wife: "At first, I was still excited because my daughter wanted to see the emperor, and ordinary people like us had the opportunity to see the emperor, what a great honor, but now that I see my daughter so hard, I suddenly feel that it is better not to see the emperor." ”

While coaxing the child to sleep, Liu Guihua whispered to her husband: "It's up to us to decide whether we see the emperor or not." The emperor has made a decree, what else can we do but go all out. Don't worry, I'll boil more nourishing soup for Ah Xing these days, so that she won't hurt herself. ”

Li Runfu was happy to see his wife virtuous, he hugged his wife into his arms, and said softly: "You have to take care of the children, and now you have to worry about this, it's really hard for you." ”

Liu Guihua glanced at Li Runfu with disgust, "Isn't A-Xing also my daughter?" Look at what you say......"

Li Runfu hurriedly said: "I don't mean anything else, I'm just worried about you!" ”

Liu Guihua was sweet in her heart and said with a smile: "I understand in my heart." Okay, it's night, go to sleep. ”

The two fell asleep, and before falling asleep, Li Runfu whispered in his wife's ear: "My eyelids have been jumping so hard during this time, Ah Xing won't have anything to do in the palace!" ”

Liu Guihua was stunned by what he said: "Don't scare yourself by saying these words, it's just going to the palace to perform, what can happen?" Besides, there is also Lord Zhang taking care of it, so don't think about it! ”

Li Runfu covered the quilt tightly, "It's me who is blind!" Sleep, sleep! With that, he turned around and closed his eyes, but he couldn't calm down.

December 28th

The Ministry of Internal Affairs sent a few people to pick up the people from the Song Theater into the palace. said that he wanted to familiarize himself with the rules of the palace two days in advance, so as not to upset the emperor and the nobles. This arrangement is in line with A-Xing's mind, the actors also need to be familiar with the environment, and the stage master also has to arrange the stage.

The palace sent several carriages to pick them up. Before getting into the car, Ah Xing remembered Zhang Zhao's words, stuffed a silver ingot into the hand of the father-in-law who took the lead, and said modestly: "The people's daughter doesn't understand many things, and she has to ask her father-in-law to take care of her." ”

The eunuch didn't expect Ah Xing to be so generous and so knowledgeable about current affairs, and there was a hint of a smile on his originally expressionless face. "Boss Li, please rest assured, we will enter the palace from Donghua Gate later, and we will be able to reach our destination in one hour."

What Ah Xing didn't know was that if she hadn't given the ingot, the eunuchs would have followed the usual steps and routes, and they would not arrive at their destination at least two hours late. But because of this ingot, the eunuchs would take them to take a shortcut, and now that they arrived two hours earlier, they would have two more hours to familiarize themselves with the environment, which would not be without benefit to them!

Ah Xing took the Chen sisters, a cadre of actors, stage masters and stylists and other staff members, a total of 30 people, into the palace in a carriage.

The imperial palace of the Tang Dynasty is located in the inner city of Tiandu, the palace wall is ten meters high, there are nine city gates, and A Xing they enter the palace through the side gate Donghua Gate.

The road at the city gate is ten meters long, and after leaving the city gate, Ah Xing gently lifted the curtain of the car to look out. As far as the eye can see, the snow on the road is shoveled to both sides, and the thick snow is piled up on the top of the wall, and the sunlight reflects the colorful light on the snow. There was silence outside the car, only the sound of horses' hooves and the rolling of wheels was heard, which smashed into people's hearts one by one, and there was a feeling of oppression.

Ah Xing turned around and found that the expressions on the faces of the other people in the car were all excited and nervous, and no one dared to say a word.

When Ah Xing designed this play last year, she thought that the Chinese New Year dramas in her previous life were all played with an all-star lineup, so the actors of this play also brought together almost all the stars in the theater, Rong Zheng, Lin Hai, Mei Xianghua, Xiao Shan, Qiao Ying, Jingxian, Yumei, Lishan, etc., even if there are only a few lines, they are all very famous actors, so that everyone can watch it happily, enjoy it, and have a happy picture. This year, except for a few actors who went out on tour and didn't have time to come back, the other actors have not changed. Fortunately, those who didn't have time to come back were just small roles, and there weren't many lines, so Ah Xing found a few more people to make up for it.

Speaking of these few spare places. At that time, it also caused a storm in the theater. Everyone wants to go to the imperial front to perform, but the repertoire has been decided, the actors have been decided, and everyone has nothing to say, but then Ah Xing wants to find a few backups, and everyone fights for these few backup places, everyone thinks that as long as they show their faces in front of the emperor, they will be worth a hundred times in the future, and everyone does their best to show themselves in front of A Xing, and then because they fought too hard, they almost fought. Ah Xing was angry, and said the hidden danger of entering the palace. Only then did everyone realize that entering the palace was a matter of opportunity and danger, and then they stopped fighting. Ah Xing later picked a few people with a stable temperament to make up for it.

Before coming, Ah Xing gave everyone a preventive vaccination, telling everyone that the palace is no better than the Jin Palace, and no more than every noble family that has performed before, and must be more cautious, more careful, and more polite in order to keep safe. Fortunately, everyone is not a person who has never seen the world, although a little nervous, but not so frightened.

The carriage turned around the corridor, and the view suddenly brightened. I saw that everywhere are the palaces and pavilions that are high and low, carved beams and painted buildings, resplendent and brilliant, magnificent and majestic, and the momentum is extraordinary. From time to time, I saw rows and pairs of maids and eunuchs walking by, expressionless and solemn.

The people in the carriage secretly looked out of the window, and when they saw the imposing building outside, they couldn't help but shrink their heads, obviously everyone was shocked by the momentum of the palace.

Horse-drawn carriages passed by the abutments of these temples. I walked up a long corridor again, turned a corner, and came to a small courtyard.

The eunuchs beckoned everyone to get out of the car, and then the chief eunuch said to Ah Xing: "Boss Li, this is the small courtyard where you are temporarily resting, and the steward eunuch of Tianyin Pavilion will come to teach you the rules after lunch." ”

Ah Xing saluted and thanked the leading eunuch: "My father-in-law has worked hard. ”

The leading eunuch smiled and said, "Boss Li doesn't have to be polite. ”

Then the eunuch who led them into the palace drove away in a carriage, and several young eunuchs came out of the courtyard and led them into the courtyard. Ah Xing looked at it, this is a small courtyard with two entrances, some unknown trees are planted in the courtyard, the branches are full of snow, the cold wind blows, the snow falls like cotton wool, and the scenery is very beautiful.

Ah Xing knew that she had to let these little eunuchs take care of her for the past two days, and in order to make them more dedicated, Ah Xing secretly stuffed each of them with a silver ingot. The little eunuchs were overjoyed, and their expressions were much more attentive, and they brought some charcoal fires to burn the fire in the house even more vigorously.

After the little eunuchs went out, Chen Ying said to Ah Xing with a smile: "Ah Xing, I see that you will not only make no money in this performance, but I am afraid that you will lose money." ”

Ah Xing smiled lightly: "I don't expect to make money, I just want everyone to get out of the palace safely." ”

Yumei smiled at this time: "Ah Xing, you don't have to be too nervous, I think it's you who is the most nervous!" ”

A-Xing smiled bitterly, isn't it? They were all harmed by those crossings, and almost every book would describe the palace as an extremely terrifying place, how could she not be nervous?

Rong Zheng walked up to her and comforted: "A-Xing, don't worry, it's not the first time we've performed in the mansion, we are all measured, and we won't cause trouble!" ”

The rest of the people echoed in unison: "Don't worry, we will all be very well-behaved." ”

Ah Xing was a little embarrassed when she saw that everyone came to comfort her in unison, she smiled, and the string in her heart was indeed loosened a lot.

At this point, none of them knew it. "Trouble" is a thing, sometimes even if you don't provoke it, it will come to the door on its own.

Qiao Ying has been silent since she entered the palace, and Jing Xian beside her saw her dull expression, so she asked her: "Qiao Ying, your face is not good, is it uncomfortable?" ”

A gentle question, but it attracted everyone's attention, now is not the uncomfortable time. Qiao Ying is the protagonist, she is uncomfortable, but no one can replace her.

Ah Xing hurriedly walked to her side and reached out to touch her forehead, "It doesn't seem to have a fever." ”

Qiao Ying turned her head away from her hand and said coldly, "I'm fine!" Seeing Ah Xing's nervous look, his heart suddenly moved, if he really couldn't get on stage, Ah Xing would definitely die in a hurry! To make her miserable and make her not have a good life is what she wants to see the most. But after thinking about it, this is the palace, if she can't come to power, all the people here, including herself, will be punished, forget it, she just can't get along with Ah Xing, there is no need to involve so many people.

Thinking of this, she said again, "I'm just a little nervous, I'm not sick, and it won't affect going on stage." "She remembered the past, once, she attended a banquet in the palace with her father, at that time, she was a high-ranking official lady, a guest, sitting under the stage and enjoying the performance of the play, and now, she has been reduced to a play performed for nobles on the stage.

Qiao Ying's heart was sad for a while, and she lowered her head deeply.

Because they arrived two hours early, Ah Xing and they had two more hours to make some outfit props. By the time the eunuchs arrived in the afternoon, they had already prepared everything and saved a lot of time.

The steward eunuch checked their outfits and props, and found nothing suspicious, and then Ah Xing handed over the filial piety silver, and the steward eunuch took the silver in his hand, smiled lightly, and said, "When you are ready, you will go to Tianyin Pavilion with my father-in-law." ”

Tianyin Pavilion triple eaves, the base is 1.2 meters high, the height is 20.71m, the total area is about 700 square meters, the top of the roll shed rests on the mountain, covered with green glazed tiles and yellow glazed tiles cut edges, and the first and second layers of eaves are covered with yellow glazed tiles. The pavilion is three rooms wide, three rooms deep, and the five bays in the south are connected with the theater building, and the plane is convex shaped. The upper eaves hang the "Tianyin Pavilion" plaque, the middle eaves hang the "Daohe Yitai" plaque, and the lower eaves hang the "Hutian Xuanyu" plaque. There are three layers of stage in the upper, middle and lower floors, the upper floor is called "Futai", the middle layer is called "Lutai", and the lower floor is called "Shoutai".

The reading building opposite the stage is divided into two floors, which is the place where the emperor and the concubine watch the play. The east, west, and north sides are surrounded by two-story circle buildings, and the palace maids and ministers can watch the play under the corridors on both sides.

Because the performance is an ordinary family drama, there are no scenes of gods and monsters and fights, so only the middle "Lu Tai" will be used in the three-story stage.

The steward eunuch's surname is Li, he takes everyone to see the surrounding environment while talking about all kinds of rules, such as not looking directly at the emperor and all the mothers, there can be no indecent actions in the play, such as yawning, sneezing, tears, etc., the voice should be loud when acting, and finally he has to kowtow to send the emperor and the mothers, and they can't get up until they leave Tianyin Pavilion, etc., a series of ......down, Gonggong Li didn't take a breath, it can be seen that he is already familiar with these rules.

Ah Xing and the actors listened to it with their hair swollen, but fortunately, she had already instructed the steward in charge of the Shangfu performance to write them down with a pen one by one. Otherwise, she really didn't remember so much.

After Gonggong Li finished speaking, he rested for a while, and immediately the little eunuch next to him brought tea, he took a sip of tea, then raised his head, squinted at A Xing with a pair of slender eyes and said: "The harvest of the past two years has made the emperor very happy, if there is such content in your play, the emperor will definitely be happy!" He smiled slightly: "This sentence was given to you by my father-in-law, you will be a man, and my father-in-law will not treat you badly!" ”

Ah Xing was overjoyed, and hurriedly saluted and thanked Gonggong Li, and presented two silver ingots. The smile in Gonggong Li's eyes deepened.

In the following time, the stage master began to arrange the stage, and Grandpa Li specially called a few little fathers-in-law to help, the people here are experts in arranging the stage, with their help, not only can speed up, but also be more solid. For these little fathers-in-law who helped, Ah Xing had a dot on them one by one.

The stage was set up in one afternoon, and everyone had a rich dinner that night, and slept comfortably in a warm room. These are all the credit of Axing Yinzi. There was once a troupe that performed in the palace, only knew how to honor the eldest father-in-law, but did not pay attention to these little fathers-in-law, and as a result, the charcoal fire at night was insufficient, and he caught a slight cold, and when he came on stage, he sneezed and had a runny nose, which naturally disgusted the emperor, although he did not lose his life, but a board was indispensable, and he lost his reputation from then on. The troupe said that it was a cold at night, and the little father-in-law shouted that he was wronged, and asked everyone to see the charcoal ash in the stove. Charcoal ash is naturally sufficient, and these little fathers-in-law will not let people catch the handle.

Zhang Zhao's suggestion can be said to have helped Ah Xing a lot.

That night, according to Gonggong Li's words, Ah Xing temporarily added a few lines of praise for merit. The emperor didn't like to hear words praising his merits, and it happened that the last two years had a bumper harvest, and the people had plenty of food and clothing, so this kind of sycophant could just shoot the idea, and it would not seem hypocritical at all.

Ah Xing couldn't help but think, the true value of this Gonggong Li's filial piety silver!

Early the next morning, Ah Xing asked everyone to review all the rules, and then came to Tianyin Pavilion to start rehearsals. It took a day to familiarize myself with the stage of Tianyin Pavilion. Everyone is full of confidence in tomorrow's performance.

Soon it was December 30th, Chinese New Year's Eve

On this day, everyone got up early, everyone had a solemn look on their faces, and the relaxed freehand of the previous two days was gone. Ah Xing knows that this is a manifestation of everyone's stage fright, although everyone has a lot of experience in performing in the palace, but this time the mansion is not an ordinary "mansion", this is the palace! It's the Emperor's home! Can you not be nervous?

But the blind nervousness will only affect the mood of everyone's performance, Ah Xing said jokingly: "I'm not nervous now, but I didn't expect you to be nervous!" ”

Everyone smiled reluctantly. But it is clear that this sentence did not reduce everyone's tension.

Ah Xing restrained her smile and said, "There have been countless opera troupes here, and countless outstanding actors have performed here, and only outstanding actors are qualified to stand here." Now standing here, each of them is the best actor in the Tang Kingdom, and each of them is deeply loved by the audience, compared to the people who have always performed here, only good will not be bad, since others can successfully perform here, we will definitely do better! Her clear gaze swept everyone in front of her one by one, and the strong confidence revealed in her eyes infected everyone, "After today, everyone's name will remain in this moment of history, you know, you are the first actor to perform a drama in the palace!" So, let's cheer up and make our name even louder! ”

Everyone's eyes gradually bloomed with brilliance, Rong Zheng raised his head and looked at A Xing and said seriously: "Ah Xing, rest assured, we will never let you down!" "Others have also regained their confidence and courage.

A Xing nodded: "Let's work together!" ”

In the afternoon, the actors began to put on makeup. Behind the stage, there is a place for the actors to put on makeup and rest. After putting on makeup, everyone spoke to each other again. Very attentive.

The sky was getting darker a little bit, and the little fathers-in-law of Tianyin Pavilion began to light up. The weather is getting colder and colder.

Lin Hai looked at the thick snow on the eaves outside and said, "Why does the emperor want to watch a play at night, how cold it is!" ”

A little eunuch who was lighting a lamp next to him heard this and replied, "Your Majesty has a few stoves waiting for you, so it won't be cold." "In the past two days, everyone has had some friendship with these little eunuchs.

Another actor said: "It's so cold, will your voice tremble when you play on stage outside?" ”

A-Xing frowned, this is a problem.

The little eunuch smiled again and said, "Don't worry, Gonggong Li has already explained to us, and when the time comes, there will be fires around the stage, and you won't be cold!" ”

Everyone was overjoyed, and Ah Xing smiled at the little eunuch and said, "Ah Xing, thank you Gonggong Li and all the fathers-in-law for your care!" ”

There are a lot of things to do on the weekend, and there is only one shift today, sorry~~