Chapter 10: The First Performance
I saw that person, his face covered with a light veil, his eyes were wonderful, he applied a little powder, a jade peach blossom, a hairpin and a bun, long hair like a waterfall, an apricot long skirt, plain sultry, although he couldn't see all his appearance, but it was more reverie.
"The ink has entered the water, cross a pool of blue and white flowers, pick five red glows, and pick bamboo to go home." The song sounded, and it came from the mouth of this fairy-like person who was still holding the pipa 'half-covering his face', and the audience was in an uproar, but he didn't dare to applaud loudly, for fear of disturbing this peerless voice.
That's right, the person who plays the pipa is Sha Xuan, who has shed all her lead, lightly dyed and dizzy, she is simply reborn, and the pompous and worldly suicide woman before, it can't be said to be exactly the same, it can only be said that it has nothing to do with it.
The dancers in cyan gauze skirts also stepped on the rhythm at this time, slowly moved onto the stage, surrounded Sha Xuan, long sleeves flying, eyes flowing, gathering or scattering, wonderful, Chang Lai admired his masterpiece in a corner where no one was, intoxicated, spinning and jumping He closed his eyes.
More than half of the singing and dancing, finally ushered in the highlight moment, the stage was suddenly bright, it was the gaffers who began to work, they placed the candlestick on the long support, stretched out to the front of the copper mirror, one hand to control the copper mirror and the other hand to control the candlestick, has already practiced familiarly, the light phantom will be more dazzling on the stage of the people, but also real and illusory.
Suddenly, the audience was silent, and the light was extinguished, but only two seconds later, I saw Sassoon, arm slightly raised, one turned around, the apricot dress retreated, and a red dress appeared.
It was quiet, all the sound was gone, one second, two seconds, until the air condensed for ten seconds, a few crisp high-fives came from the VIP seat opposite, and then, there was thunderous applause, cheers, whistles, many girls sobbed and wiped their tears, and some men had red eyes.
Copper plates, broken silver, rained down on the corners of the stage, and after Sha Xuan had returned to the curtain, the lampstand in the curtain was extinguished, and she and the musician quietly retreated from the corner to Jade Alley.
The lights came on again, and the one standing in the middle of the stage had been replaced by the old bustard, and everyone shouted for her to go down, and to watch the performance of the girl Beiyin, who was Chang Lai's new stage name for Sassoon, so as to save her from unnecessary trouble before.
"Ladies and gentlemen, today, our performance on the street is here, if you still want to continue to watch the performance, please move to Jade Lane, but tonight, the Beiyin girl will no longer have a performance, but which uncle still wants to talk to the Beiyin girl, you can make an appointment now, but there is a word first, the Beiyin girl only drinks tea and chats with you, you must know the true face of the Beiyin girl, my wife has never seen it."
The audience suddenly exploded, "I'll make an appointment." "My hand raised first." I'm coming, I'm coming. "I'll give ten taels of silver and talk to the girl of Beiyin."
Finally, there was a beginning of understanding the current affairs, the old bustard did not mention money in his words, but if he wanted to see it, he had to take the money, and the old bustard did not say that Sha Xuan only sold her art and did not sell herself, but taking off her veil and drinking tea and chatting was enough to show her attitude.
"I'll give twenty taels." "I'm fifty taels!" "I'm a hundred taels."
The shouts came and went.
"One thousand taels." The VIP seats quoted an astonishing price, which frightened the bustard and many bidders, and the crowd eventually had to disperse.
Although Sha Xuan will no longer perform tonight, the Jade Alley is still overcrowded, and it is the first time that it has been so lively since it opened many years ago.
At this time, in the innermost and most luxurious elegant room on the second floor of Yuren Lane, Sha Xuan sat on a chair and held a pu fan hula hula fan, and Chang Lai was sitting next to her.
"Dao Chief, do you think it's okay today?" Sha Xuan had already taken off her veil, her expression was twisted, and the fairy temperament just now was gone.
"It should be okay, I will be looking for you to drink tea and chat for a while, and I am the bulk of today's income, I don't know how much I have been called outside, there should still be three or four hundred taels." Chang Lai looked at the sky outside as he spoke.
"So much, so let's go ahead tomorrow?" Sha Xuan scratched her head and sniffed.
"I'll come over tomorrow to see the income coming in, and then decide whether to perform tomorrow night, if it's enough... As expected, we'll stop for two days and let the bullets fly for a while. Chang Lai almost said that he had leaked his mouth and quickly changed his words.
"Bullets? What is that and how does it fly? Sha Xuan was puzzled.
"It's the meaning of slowing down, letting the eggs hatch for a while, well." Chang Lai is talking nonsense.
"Oh, that's it, it's just, Dao Chief, if this continues, when will you get revenge?" Sha Xuan asked, he didn't know what this had to do with revenge.
"You are so stupid, think about it, that negative man is from this town, in a day or two, he will get the news, according to his temperament, he must come to look for flowers and ask willows, and then we have a way to deal with him." Chang Lai is confident, he likes to abuse scumbags the most.
"Huh? Then he came to me, how can I hide my identity? Sha Xuan was a little flustered.
"What are you covering, you don't need to, your outfit, makeup, and temperament have changed now, to be honest, I can't tell that you are the same person before and after, if you remember the mantra I taught you, it must be no problem." Chang Lai knocked his hand on the table and admonished.
"Try not to look at each other, the tone must be flat, the expression is melancholy, don't be cheap, talk less, smile occasionally, walk a little lazy, parting with an electricity, ah you said that the discharge is a slight hook at the corner of the lips. I'm right on my back. Sha Xuan nodded while reciting the mantra that Chang Lai had taught her.
"Qi Huo, I have to withdraw, it's dark this day, my house is still there, there are still some things in the Taoist temple, I'll settle the account again tomorrow morning." Chang Lai was worried about the book chess and the girl, and hurriedly went downstairs after a few words.
walked to the corner of the stairs, but collided with the old bustard who rushed upstairs with joy, and the silver copper plate fell to the ground with a bang.
"Master, let's send it today, one thousand taels, one thousand taels, and the guests who drank tea with the Beiyin girl gave one thousand taels, which is not counting the silver rewarded by individual guests." The bustard's face was uncontrollable with joy, and he almost slapped his face.
"I'll leave first today, and I'll come back to you tomorrow morning to settle accounts." Chang Lai threw down a sentence and jumped away, thinking of his identity, and quickly reined in, reminiscing about his words seems to be a bit of a war, but no matter what, the debt repayment is basically done!
Although he had only known Shuqi for a few days, Chang Lai had already regarded her as an ally he could trust, but he didn't realize that trust actually started from the moment she stretched out her hand and handed him a nest head.
Back home, yes, Chang Lai can now call Shuqi's home home unashamedly, after all, he has shouldered the burden of helping her pay off her debts, although his room is still a cowshed.
"I'm back!" Chang Lai looked at the light coming out of the window, and a sense of comfort and warmth rose in his heart.
"How's it going, have you eaten?" Shuqi looked at Chang Lai's empty hands, and her eyes couldn't help but show a hint of disappointment, but she soon cheered up again.
"Don't you say that I forgot to eat, I ate a baked cake this day, I'm going to cook now, and I'll talk while eating for a while." Chang Lai glanced at the maid on the kang and hurried into the kitchen.
Shuqi promised Chang Lai that he would not cook anymore, not that Chang Lai was so painful, but that the food cooked by Shuqi was difficult to swallow and a waste of ingredients.
After a while, two bowls of steaming green vegetable noodles were served on the table, Chang Lai was inhaled by the hot mouth of the noodle bowl, and as soon as he put down the bowl, he quickly pinched his ears and jumped on the spot.
This funny appearance amused the girl, and she still screamed "ahhhh
"It's so fragrant, you can actually cook?" Shuqi sniffed against the bowl, and his eyes shone brightly.
"Taste it, maybe you'll be able to meet each other when you're done?" Chang Lai picked up the small bowl on the table, picked out a few noodles from his big hand and put them in to dry.
Shuqi blushed suddenly, but she didn't refute it, this reaction made Chang Lai a little embarrassed, she thought that Shuqi would hit him or scold him a few words, but who knew that she was actually this reaction.
Yaya saw that there was food in her small bowl, slowly turned over and climbed up, groped her way to sit down at the table, and said 'ahhhh
"The money is settled, don't worry about it anymore." Chang Lai said casually while blowing noodles.
"What? It's true? Tell me how to do it. Shuqi put down his chopsticks and clapped his hands vigorously, his eyes full of surprise.
"Tomorrow you can go with me to get the money, and then the three of us will have a big meal in town." Chang Lai took a mouthful of noodles and said vaguely, but Shuqi still heard it clearly, especially the words 'three mouths', and the flush on his face that had just receded suddenly surged up again, and he didn't speak, only nodded.
Chang Lai saw that Shuqi agreed, and continued: "But ha, I have to tell you a few things, first, I am a Taoist priest, you can't tell my identity, and second, you have to tie up your hair and wear men's clothes, just pretend to be my Taoist boy." ”
"That... What about Yaya? What does Yaya say? Shuqi swallowed a big mouthful and asked.
"Tell the truth, just pick it up."
Chang Lai told the general story to Shuqi, but he changed the matter of learning songs in the god surface space slightly, and said that it was a song from his own country and moved here to use it.
"Then, the money you gave to those two scoundrels a few days ago was a deception, Miss Sha Xuan?" Shuqi's eyes rolled, tracing the before and after of the matter.
"It can't be said to be a lie, you see, in general, I still did a good deed, saved her, right, and made so much money." Chang Lai said it as a matter of course, and Shuqi didn't think there was anything wrong with it, but the three views of these two people were quite similar.
"Tomorrow Yaya and I will not go, so as not to cause complications." Shuqi thought for a moment.
"Well, it's okay, when I get the money back and pay off the debt, we'll eat and drink again." Chang Lai laughed.
"Well, the show you said was so wonderful, if only I could see it." Shuqi looked fascinated and fantasized about the scene at that time.
"Hey, hey, hurry up and eat, the noodles are going to be lumped, I'll take you to see them in two days." Chang Lai stretched out his hand and shook it in front of Shuqi's eyes.
Outside, the early autumn cold was already shining, but inside the house was full of laughter and warmth.
"Ah yes, I've cleaned up the utility room, you can go live." When I said this, Shuqi was a little unnatural, but I tried to make myself look natural.
"Really? With such kindness, the cowshed has become a house, and I am very picky with or without rent. Chang Lai joked that he wanted the air to be more natural.
After eating, Shuqi took Chang Lai to the utility room, there were a lot of farm tools piled up in the corner, and some firewood, a lot of messy sundries before, obviously Shuqi had been thrown away, inside the room, a few wooden planks were padded with stones and wooden blocks, and the wooden boards were covered with thick straw, the size was about the same as the current single bed, compared to the cowshed, this is simply a presidential set, Chang Lai smiled sincerely: "Miss Shu Qi, you are so good to me, I will massage and warm the bed, if you need me to serve you at any time." ”
"You save it, I don't need it, ah, the mattress is still drying in the yard and forgetting to collect it." Shuqi turned around and went out to get the quilt, Chang Lai looked at his new residence a few more times, there was a wooden cabinet next to the 'bed', there was an oil lamp on it, Shuqi had already lit the lamp, and the corner of his inadvertent eyes swept under the bed, and in the stone of the wooden plank, there was a piece of snow white with edges and corners, and some of the protrusions were still reflecting the light.
Chang Lai walked over and squatted down, reached out and touched the stone, knocked again, and picked, "This is a quartz stone, how can a scholar have a quartz stone?" He looked closer again and affirmed his thoughts.
Immediately, a bold idea bubbled in his head, but only a bubble.