Chapter 2: The First Acquaintance of the Pear Garden

Li Keyong is obsessed with opera for his son, which is very nerve-wracking. On this day, Li Keyong got up early and didn't see Li Cunqing, so he asked the servant: "Why doesn't Cunqiao get up yet?" The servant replied, "Son, I did not return last night." "What did he do last night?" "Shizi listened to the play in the pear orchard until late at night last night, and then slept in the pear orchard." Li Keyong said angrily: "Get him back for me immediately!" The servant agreed and ran out of the house.

The servant came to the pear orchard, found Li Cunmiao who was asleep on the bed, shook him awake and said, "Shizi, hurry back to the house, the king of Jin is angry." Li Cunqiao rubbed his eyes and asked, "Is my father in a hurry?" "The prince didn't return overnight, and the king of Jin was in a hurry." Li Cunmiao hurriedly got up and got dressed: "I'll go back with you." ”

Li Cunmiao hurriedly returned to the mansion and saw Li Ke standing in the center of the hall with a puff. Li Cunqiao stepped forward to salute: "Greetings to my father." Li Ke snorted through his nose: "Did you watch a play in Liyuan last night?" "Yes, Father. I watched the play too late last night, so I fell asleep in the pear orchard. Li Keyong said dissatisfiedly: "The plaything is demoralized, indulging in opera all day long, how to be in charge of the Great Jin Dynasty in the future, do you want to learn from Emperor Tang Ming?" ”

Li Cunxuan said: "My father is worried because he was besieged by Zhu Wen's Liang army twice in Jinyang (now Taiyuan, Shanxi). Li Keyong said: "You still know the worries of your father, if you don't share the worries for me, you know that you are soaked in the theater all day long." "My father didn't know that I watched the play in the theater, firstly, because I really liked it, and secondly, because I could be inspired and think quietly while watching the play." Li Keyong said with annoyance: "It's a bunch of nonsense, and you still find a bunch of crooked reasons when watching the play." "Father is worried about the fact that Jinyang (present-day Taiyuan, Shanxi) has been besieged by the Liang army twice, and my Jin State is unable to resist Zhu Wen of Liang. The child has a solution. Li Cunqiao comforted: "The extremes of things must be opposed, and the extremes of evil must perish." Zhu Wen coerced the Son of Heaven, coveted the throne, framed the good, and could be described as self-defeating. Three generations of my family have been loyal to the royal family, and now although they are unable to serve the country for the time being, they are not ashamed. Father, you should be patient and quiet, lie down and taste the courage, accumulate strength, and wait for Zhu Wen to weaken and then try to revive, how can you be easily discouraged. Li Keyong was relieved: "The extremes of things must be opposed, and the extremes of evil must die. ”

Li Keyong named his own son Li Cunqiao and 12 other godsons as "Thirteen Taibao": Li Siyuan, the 3rd Taibao, Li Sizhao, the 2nd Taibao, Li Cunxin, the 5th Taibao, Li Siben, the 6th Taibao, the 7th Taibao, the 8th Taibao, Li Cunzhang, the 9th Taibao, the 10th Taibao, Li Cunxian, the 11th Taibao, Shi Jingsi, the 12th Taibao, Kang Junli, and the 13th Taibao. Li Keyong also has many sons, and the reason why he only ranked Li Cunqiao into the Thirteenth Taibao was to retrain Li Cunmiao, and secondly, to let Li Cunmiao have a good relationship with other Taibao and cultivate his own power. Li Keyong listened to the advice of his son Li Cunqiao and began to work hard to accumulate power.

Li Cunmiao still often haunts the pear orchard, and occasionally when he is interested, he will make a cameo appearance in the role of King Lanling. On this day, he came to Jinyang Red Pear Garden as usual, and the shopkeeper Hu warmly entertained this bold Jin prince. The shopkeeper Hu said diligently: "Shizi, last night from Chang'an came a troupe, the head of the class was in the royal pear orchard, under the tutelage of Aunt Gongsun, this troupe is not only fresh repertoire, but also a group of disciples of the class owner have their own unique skills. Li Cunqiao came to the spirit: "Really? Then I'll have to take a good look and see if it's as good as you say. "Well, you sit down first, and I'll go and arrange with the class master."

After a while, Shopkeeper Hu came to Li Cunqiao's seat with a man who looked like a forty-year, with a white face, a straight body, and a calm walk. Shopkeeper Hu said: "Shizi, this is the head of He Chun's class. "Contemptible Xue Ziang, meet the son." Li Cunmiao sat down and arched his hand, and said, "Don't be formal, Master Xue, please take a seat." Li Cunmiao waited for Xue Ziang to sit down, and asked, "Shopkeeper Hu said that you are from Chang'an, why did you come here?" Xue Ziang replied: "Because I offended the powerful people of the dynasty in Chang'an, I had to leave Chang'an as a last resort and beg for food outside." Li Cunmiao asked again: "Who have you offended in Chang'an, maybe I can help you make peace." "If we can really make peace, I can't thank you enough. Does the prince of Jin know Zhang Jun. Li Cunqiao was surprised: "Is it Zhang Jun, who used to be the prime minister?" "That's him." "How did you offend him?" "Zhang Jun once came to see my He Chunban's play, but he fell in love with my daughter, and he had to accept her as a concubine, but my daughter didn't obey, for fear that Zhang Jun would embarrass us, so he left Chang'an."

Li Cunmiao said: "This Zhang Jun is also an enemy of our family, so you can stay in Jinyang (now Taiyuan, Shanxi) City with confidence, and look for me if you have anything." "Thank you, Shizi. I heard the shopkeeper Hu say, you especially like to watch plays, wait a while, I will let the disciples put on a few good plays. "Then there's the head of the Lao Xue class."

After a while, I could only hear a few sticks on the stage, gongs and drums rang out in unison, and the curtain slowly opened. The class leader Xue Ziang walked to the front of the stage and clasped his fists with both hands and saluted: "Ladies and gentlemen, the younger brother is new here, and He Chunban will first perform an excerpt from "Changban Slope" of Zhao Zilong of the Three Kingdoms riding the savior alone. Li Cunqiao likes this kind of heroic opera, and can't help but shout: "Okay!" The audience also shouted, and the atmosphere in the theater suddenly became warm.

In the first scene of "Changban Slope", Cao generals Zhang He and Cao Hong appeared on the stage and sang: murderous sky; Then Xu Huang and Zhang Liao came out to sing: jackals, tigers and leopards; Xu Chu and Cao Xiu sang: Flag fluttering; Li Dian,

Le Jin sings: trembling and shaking; Zhang He, Xu Huang, Xu Chu, Li Dian, Cao Hong, Zhang Liao, Cao Xiu,

Le Jin sang in unison: Sweep away the wolf smoke.

This appearance won full applause, and the audience was excited, it was the first time they had seen such a fresh opera.

After some excitement, Zhao Yun and Zhao Zilong appeared, when Zhao Zilong sang: "Since ancient times, heroes have blood, how can they be afraid of death and greed for life?" This is to find no trace, and to walk in vain in the world! After several Cao Ying battles back and forth, Zhao Yunnian said: "Shake the spirit to show majesty, and make great contributions with long spears and short swords." Today, he saved the young master on the spot, who is not famous Zhao Zilong. Li Cunqiao stood up and applauded. Let the servants who followed him take two taels of silver and reward the play.

After the performance of "Changban Slope", followed by "Empty City Strategy", it is about the story of Zhuge Liang of the Three Kingdoms who mistakenly used Ma Tan to lose the street pavilion, Sima Yi led heavy troops to the city, Zhuge Liang had no soldiers and no generals, and opened the city gate to plan to retreat Sima Yi's story. Among them, Zhuge Liang sang:

I was watching the mountain scenery from the castle tower, and I heard the chaos outside the city.

The banner waved the flip, but it turned out to be a soldier sent by Sima.

I also sent an inquiry, and inquired that Sima was leading his troops westward.

One is that Ma Tan is unscrupulous and less educated, and the other is that the generals are not in harmony and lose my street pavilion.

I was lucky in three cities, and I was insatiable and took my west city.

Zhuge Liang is waiting in the city tower, waiting for you Sima to come here, let's talk, talk, talk about our hearts.

There is no other respect when I enter the city, but I have only lamb and wine, and good wine and lamb, and reward your three armies.

There are two piano boys on the left and right, and there is no ambush and no soldiers.

You don't want to be cranky and uncertain, you come, come, come, please go up to the city tower, Sima, you listen to me play the qin.

sang so that Li Cunmiao's heart was full of joy and joy, it was really vividly sung on stage, and the audience listened heartily. Li Cunmiao happily ordered the servant to take the silver as a reward.

The last finale is an excerpt from "Farewell My Concubine", which is about Xiang Yu, the overlord of Western Chu, who was besieged by Liu Bang and Han Xin, and the Han army was embattled, causing the Chu army to collapse. If you don't die, you can't help it, and you can't help it! Yu Ji killed herself after dancing the sword for Xiang Yu. Yu Ji sang: "Persuade the king to drink and listen to Yu songs,

Xie Jun was depressed and dancing.

Ying Qin has no way to break the country,

Heroes fight in all directions.

As the saying goes, don't deceive me,

Success or failure rise and fall in a moment,

Sit in a safe drinking tent! ”

Then there is a double sword dance. Yu Ji's pretty appearance, soft figure, appearance, looking back, frowning, broken steps, and a smile made Li Cunmiao as drunk and infatuated, Li Cunmiao looked at Yu Ji blankly, shocked. After Yu Ji left the scene, there was silence in the theater for a long time before someone woke up and applauded warmly, and the applause lasted for a long time. Li Cunmiao couldn't hold back any longer, got up and walked to the backstage.

Xue Ziang stood at the door of the backstage, saw Li Cunqiao coming, and hurriedly said, "Shizi, how is today's play?" Li Cunmiao didn't care about his identity, he couldn't help but take Xue Ziang's hand and said: "Master Xue, today is the best play I have ever seen, and I have watched your team's drama to live in vain!" Xue Ziang said modestly: "The prince has loved, these plays are newly discharged, there are still many things that need to be improved, and I hope that the prince will not hesitate to teach." "Master Xue is polite, let's talk slowly about this matter in the future. I'm here backstage to get to know your disciples, especially the woman who plays Yu Ji. Xue Ziang hesitated slightly, and saw that Li Cunmiao had no evil intentions, so he said: "It is the little girl Xue Yumei who plays Yu Ji." Li Cunmiao suddenly said: "No wonder Zhang Jun fell in love with her." Raising his eyes, he saw that Xue Ziang's face was wrong, and hurriedly changed his words: "Miss Xue's appearance, figure, dancing posture, and singing voice are very exquisite, I really admire her, can you please introduce Xue Ban Master." Xue Ziang heard that Shopkeeper Hu had said a lot about Li Cunmiao, and knew that Li Cunmiao was a fan of drama, not like a disciple of a powerful family. So he led Li Cunqiao to the backstage dressing room.

Xue Ziang walked into the dressing room and said to his daughter, "Yumei, this is His Royal Highness the Prince of Jin." Xue Yumei was blessed, and Li Cunqiao returned the courtesy: "Miss Yumei's Yu Ji is simply divine, and she is really obsessed with it." There is no decent meeting gift for the first time today, please accept these, not respectful. As he spoke, he took out a few ingots of gold, but felt that it was not enough, so he took off the hairpin on his head and handed it to Xue Yumei. Xue Ziang was terrified: "Second Highness, no, you have already rewarded a lot, and this gold and hairpin can no longer be collected." Li Cunqiao said shyly: "This is nothing, there is no preparation today, don't worry about the little things, don't shirk the little things if you give the little brother a little face." "Okay, since His Royal Highness said so, Yumei will accept it, and thank His Royal Highness Soon." Xue Yumei bowed down: "Thank you, Second Highness." "The class master, Miss Xue is too polite, don't call me Second Highness in the future, just call me the son of the world or save the song." "Yes, Shizi." Li Cunmiao looked at Xue Yumei, who had just finished removing her makeup, her white cheeks became more and more moving, and her big watery eyes seemed to be able to speak. Li Cunmiao's eyes did not leave Xue Yumei and said: "Master Xue, today I am the east, please invite your opera troupe to drink in Hongbin Building, the best restaurant in Jinyang (now Taiyuan, Shanxi), to pick up the wind and wash the dust, and congratulate you on the success of today's premiere." Xue Ziang was moved by Li Cunmiao's enthusiasm, so he no longer shied.