Clothes, colorful costumes crowded into the narrow and dark room, emitting an untimely smell of unknown age - the cold fragrance of old fat powder mixed with the overlapping smell of dust, is an inexplicable entanglement.

Although it is just a piece of clothing, it is different when it is attached to the human body, stained with blood, and through stories. Most of them don't have the opportunity to appear in the sun, but the scenery on and off the stage in the theater garden is a moment, the scenery is really beautiful, and the resentment is really resentful, everything is a shell of affection, fake and real, on and off the stage, looking back after the years, there is always a little ambiguous lingering.

This is a story about costumes.?

It happened in a theatre troupe — oh no, it should be called — in Beijing today.

The theater is an old-style courtyard, with high walls, traffic outside the walls, high-rise buildings, the subway has been built to the doorstep, McDonald's and KFC stand against each other, and it is full of prosperity and vitality at the beginning of the century.

But ...... inside the walls?

Time in the wall is static, more than 100 years of stories and characters are gathered in one furnace, the true and the false have been confused, where can you still distinguish the ancient and the modern??

I only know that it is the 14th of July, the lunar calendar, and there is rain in the air, but it has not rained; People crowded in the hall of the garment room with a brocade screen, asking for old clothes from half a century ago, curious and impatiently waiting.

Waiting is a ritual, just like unpacking is a ritual, a rule handed down by the old generation of opera people - anyone who uses the costume of the deceased famous singer must sacrifice incense and salute before he can open the box and take the clothes, not to take it, but to please.?

The costumes of the dragon set are called Sui Yi, and the costumes of the famous actors are called the head, which are all dedicated to the special person, and there is a special person waiting to take care of them. They disdain to share a set of heads with unknown actors, and their own dresses are boasting of capital, net worth, and worth, who has the most costumes and the most complete, who will be the biggest brand, gold hairpin and silver chuan, jade phoenix and cui carp, and ordinary ladies are also out of reach. That's called a pie. If a drama has no style, it will have no aura, no value, no momentum, and life is better than death.

The old owner of the suitcase invited today is called Ruo Meiying, who is a famous actor in the old Beijing opera in the 40s, the head of the Shayue Building, nicknamed "Xiao Zhouhou", and the same cover called Tianmei Lanfang has performed on the same stage. After liberation, he was depressed for a while, and later died in the "Cultural Revolution", saying that he committed suicide by falling from a building, and no one knows the details.

The matter of the play is not clear in and out of the play, let alone in that era when it is not dark and unknown? ?

Who will be held accountable? However, after the meal, the tea is said to relieve the boredom as an anecdote, and it is derived at will, and over time, there is no true form.

The incense was lit, the suitcase was placed on the countertop, and the accountant grandmother walked around three times with the incense, chanting words in her mouth, and several old artists also echoed in unison: "Go, go, there is nothing for you here." Let's go, let's go, this is not your place. ”?

The blind pianist sitting in the corner pulled the erhu intermittently, and there was always a thread in the person's throat and eyes, unable to pull it out or swallow.

The door was open, and the hot and humid wind blew in, but it didn't relieve the air, and the room was crowded with people, so it was even more stuffy.

Xiao Wan was a little impatient and complained in a low voice: "There are many ugly people, this can also be regarded as music?" ”?

The accountant sighed: "This is a requiem, to comfort the yin spirit, don't talk nonsense in the children's house, today is Halloween, be careful of causing trouble." He looked out of the door with annoyance and muttered: "It's strange, in previous years, it rarely rained on July 14, and it made people panic." ”?

In fact, Xiao Wan is nineteen years old this year, and she is not a child, but because three generations of grandparents and grandchildren have worked in the troupe, almost all the aunts and uncles have watched her grow up, and they are used to being her nephew, and the tone of talking to her has always been like teaching a child, with a mixture of love and intimidation.

Xiao Wan is very helpless to this kind of "disrespectful" intimidation, which is simply an insult to her age and mind. However, there seems to be no other way to resist than silence. After all, those are the uncles and aunts who have often been knocked on the back of the head and laughed at the "tomboy" since she played the child and drilled the backstage, how can she seriously vomit? Sometimes they are in the mood, and they will even turn out the mess when she wears open crotch pants and make fun of her, so that is really shameless.?

It's not that I haven't thought about changing my workplace, but I majored in fashion design in college, and unless I became famous overnight and opened my own design company, what better place to go than the costume department of the troupe? It's also a literary unit.?

Besides, her penchant for colorful clothes is a knot in her child's heart, and it is really a romantic and challenging job to design costumes for many historical figures living in real life, which is simply not work, but a game, enjoyment, and entertainment - in this way, she can only endure the old jokes that her aunts and uncles often use "fairy tigers and dogs" to scare her.

The clouds are densely pressing, and the mountain rain is about to come and the wind is full of buildings, like a kind of silent urging.

Everyone was silent.?

The room full of pythons, drapery, leaning, and pleats is also silent.?

Only the muffled prayer voice of the accountant mother was intermittently accompanied by the weak and unending huqin: "Don't come, don't come, it's none of your business here, go away, go away......"?

Mama is in her fifties this year, and her hair is already half-bald, but she is still meticulously stuffed with a last in the strip behind her head, and she looks at the big braid that is still fat outside. Every time she turned around, her braids followed the probe like a probe.

I don't know how long it took, the braid suddenly jumped, and the grandmother turned around and motioned to Xiao Wan: "Let's go." ”?

Xiao Wan stepped forward with a smile, not without nervousness. Mei Ying's story she has heard a little bit since she was a child, saying that she is the most abundant collection of famous singers in Beijing, saying that she has to be three scented and three dry before each set of costumes, and every time before putting on the body, she must wrap it in petals overnight to remove mildew, saying that the gold and silver threads on all her clothes are woven with real gold and silver, and a dress is six taels of gold, which is beautiful and expensive...... However, according to the rules of the play, the suitcases of the servants who died unexpectedly are usually no longer used, and are only used for the collection of cultural relics, and they will never be opened unless there is a compelling reason. As a result, some of the staff have been working in the theater for half their lives and have never seen the famous Mei Ying suitcase.

Until the recent reform of the theater repertoire, the once lost ancient drama "A Chinese Girl's Soul" was re-put on the stage, and the screenwriter was written by Xiao Wan's father and deputy head Shui Rong himself - because the old book is a southern opera, and Beijing opera is rarely involved, so the lyrics of the singing song must be changed again. It's just that no one can describe the outfit of Danjiao in the play, only an old drama fan swore that he remembered that Mei Ying had acted in this play and had a full set of outfits, so Xiao Wan checked the theater costume records - this is the premise of today's unboxing.

Under the eyes of everyone, Xiao Wan gently dusted off the dust on the surface of the leather suitcase, and the ashes scattered, revealing the delicate pattern of the brand, which is a highly suggestive picture of the Spring Palace - the man turns his back to the audience, revealing the dragon and tiger tattoo with teeth and claws on his back, lifelike, although he can't see the front of the person, the masculine domineering of the man has broken out early; The woman's fragrant shoulders **, the red dress has faded, and she is bowing her head to make a shy ribbon. It's more tempting not to take off than to take off.?

Xiao Wan looked at it with interest for a moment, and then used pliers to break the chain lock—the key had long been lost—and lifted the lid with both hands——?

A strange fragrance hit her face, Xiao Wan only felt a chill on her body, and the lid of the box "fluttered" and closed automatically. Everyone couldn't help but let out a slight cry of brushing.

Xiao Wan glanced at the accountant mother in confusion, and said with a smile: "I'm sorry, I didn't hold it up." ”?

Settle down, reopen the box, dazzling flowers, overlapping brocade embroidered shirts lying quietly at the bottom of the box, not because of the age and tarnished.

Xiao Wan immediately burst into tears, always like this, every time she saw too delicate and gorgeous costumes, she would be heartily moved, as if she had just watched a tear-jerking sensational movie.

Her life credo is that nothing is more dizzying than a costume. It's not just the color, it's the needlework, it's the satin, it's the cut, it's the style, it's the charm, it's the music, it's the story.

Drunk in the shadow of Shaxiang Luo, she will unconsciously lose herself and become sensitive and sad, just like two people usually. It's not so much an artist's talent as a girl's sentimentality.

The crowd couldn't help but rush forward to see better. Xiao Wan picked up the top middle sleeve, unfolded it casually, and suddenly a gust of wind passed, only to hear a "boom", the blind pianist's strings were broken.

Xiao Wan turned around in amazement, met the blind man's cloudy eyes, "stared" at her directly, and asked with a puzzled face, "What did you see?" ”?

"I didn't see anything." Xiao Wan replied.?

The blind man tilted his ears in disbelief and asked, "You really don't see?" ”?

Xiao Wan smiled: "I didn't see it, didn't you see something?" ”?

Unexpectedly, the blind man didn't say a word, suddenly kicked over the stool and stood up, turned around and walked away with the erhu, like that, as if he had seen something terrible.

Xiao Wan was shocked and suspicious, and asked around: "Have you seen it?" Do you see anything? ”?

Before the words fell, a huge thunder exploded on the roof, and the rain that had been accumulated all morning suddenly poured down, as if thousands of troops were pressing on the ground, sweeping the sky and the earth, and the momentum was amazing.

The room was suddenly cool, and everyone looked at each other, feeling that their hearts were falling and their bodies were cold.

After a while, the accountant mother said in a hurry: "Could it be Mei ......" Before the words came out, she was already choked by the horror in everyone's eyes, and looked around vigilantly, as if she was looking for someone in the corner. If you say that you see anything, you see nothing. If you don't see it, you clearly feel that something is happening. It is said that blind people know best in their hearts that the erhu master is a serious old man and will not coax people for no reason. He said that what he saw, he must have seen.

Xiao Wan still asked herself: "Mei? Isn't it Mei Ying? What the hell are you guys? See Ruo Meiying? ”?

As if in response to her question, there was a sudden burst of thunder rolling across the eaves, and the accountant couldn't help it anymore, and with an "ah" sound, she chased after the blind man's hind feet and turned around and ran, and the big braid drew a strange arc in the air, and disappeared outside the gate in an instant. The rest of the people also dispersed in a hurry, leaving Xiao Wan, standing in front of the open suitcase, drunk in the greasy dust of a box, only to feel strange.

It is a set of a combination of "women's clothes" and "ancient costumes" characteristics of a new style of "Yuntai clothes", crepe satin, placket, light green jacket on the top, goose yellow waist skirt on the bottom, draped in a straight collar cloud shoulder silk wind belt, trimmed wide sleeves with water sleeves, and the body is pierced with flat gold to cover the moon pattern - also different from the ordinary "branch flower" pattern, the pattern on both sides of the placket is not symmetrical, but integrated, synthesized into one, the exquisite workmanship of the mind of the smart can be called ingenious.

Next to it, there is a small box with a head and face, which is full of flowers, face flowers, dotted emeralds, rhinestones, silver bubbles, earrings, beads, hairpins...... Everything but the kitchen sink.?

Xiao Wan nodded in admiration, it is obvious that this set of outfits comes from an exclusive design, rather than inheriting the ancient book, and it is the same as Mei Lanfang's "Dream Clothes" and "Drama Clothes" of "Luoshen", "Dance Plate Clothes" and "Ligong Clothes" of "Taizhen Gaiden", "Chang'e Running to the Moon" "Flower Picking Clothes", and "Mulan Jia" of "Mulan in the Army". This is also the earliest clothing design. It's a pity that I don't know what the original name of this "soul leaving clothes" should be called? And why didn't anyone imitate it later, as for the loss??

While watching, I have unconsciously draped the whole suit in three layers and three layers outside, slightly straightened the silk tape, lightly dusted off the brocade robe, and suddenly couldn't help myself, the water sleeves were raised, and I made a figure, "babbling" and singing: ?

"He is a little boy with a light hat, and I am an embroidered and fragrant car, and I just look the same. On the way to the balcony, a wall of rain clouds was built. ”?

It is the story of "A Chinese Girl Leaving the Soul": The official eunuch Miss Zhang Qiannu and the scholar Wang Wenju have been engaged since childhood, and the two are happy, but they were forcibly separated by the powerful mother, and the Chinese girl was seriously ill because of this, and her soul left the body, and chased Wang Sheng away on a moonlit night.

"From now on, I will only hate to write plantains, and I will not ask for yarrow in my dreams, and I will be surrounded by pearls and greenery. My true feelings are ethereal, and after he goes, he will not leave the surroundings before and after. With Sima Tiqiao, he didn't expect the horses and chariots to show glory. did not fight to abandon Qiongji, and came higher than Panzi, and had already failed Bihua Peach Blossom Fengluan. ”?

Gradually singing and dancing, gradually entering the play, Xiao Wan only felt involuntarily, her feet became more and more swaying, and her body became more and more erratic, singing the words of the Chinese girl chasing her husband under the soul moon as if she was low and reverberating. The sound of the wind and rain has been her chorus accompaniment, and she doesn't feel noisy, just to help the fun——?

"Step on the sand bank, and the sedge is slippery. Wet Hunan skirt jade yarn, how much moss dew cold Lingbo socks. Look at the river in the evening, playing with the kettle up and down the sky, like a piece of jasper flawless. You look at this lonely sunset in Yuanpu, and the dead vines and old trees are faint. Wherever the flute sounds, the song is loud, and the oars are hoarse. ”?