Chapter 3 Romance

Hongbin Building is not far from Jinyang Red Opera Garden, and Li Cunqiao asked the servant to book a large elegant room first and prepare the wine and food. Li Cunmiao waited for the people of the troupe to remove their makeup, put away the props, and invited the shopkeeper Hu to come to Hongbin Building.

Coming to the largest private room on the second floor, Xue Ziang met the disciples and Li Cunqiao one by one. Xue Ziang pointed to a white-faced, square-faced, medium-sized descendant and said, "Shizi, this is Guo Congqian who played Zhao Yun and Zhao Zilong in "Changban Slope". Li Cunqiao hugged his fists: "The Zhao Zilong played by the elder brother is vivid, and the instrument is magnificent, I admire my brother!" Guo Congqian bowed his hand and replied: "The prince is a person who really understands drama, and your applause is stuck on the spot." Everyone laughed. Xue Ziang pulled another yellow-faced descendant and said: "This is Wu Huairen who played Zhuge Liang in "Empty City Strategy". Li Cunqiao boasted: "You have brought Zhuge Liang's boldness, carefulness, and resourcefulness to life." Xue Ziang then pointed to the three people next to him: "This is Chen Jun who plays Zhang He in "Changban Slope", Chu Deyuan who plays Cao Hong, Zhou Za who plays Zhang Liao, and Yang Po'er who plays Cao Cao. Li Cunqiao praised: "You are all heroic and majestic on the stage, and you are very good!" Xue Ziang continued to introduce: "This is Jing Jin who played Liu Bei in "Changban Slope", and this is Jing Xinmo who played Sima Yi in "Empty City Strategy" Li Cunqiao said: "Liu Bei and Sima Yi have been played alive by you, it is indeed a good show!" Xue Ziang finally pointed to several women and said: "This is Lan'er who plays Mrs. Gan in "Changban Slope", and Hongxia who plays Mrs. Mi. Lan'er melon seeds' face is slightly white, Hongxia's goose egg face is slightly red, the two are graceful, pretty and lovely, Li Cunqiao repeatedly praised the two for their good looks and high acting skills. Li Cunmiao smiled at Xue Yumei again: "Miss Yumei's appearance, figure, singing voice, and dancing skills are all excellent, and Yu Ji of the Overlord of Western Chu is probably not as good as you!" Xue Yumei blushed shamefully: "The prince has won the award." Li Cunqiao said to Xue Ziang: "The disciples of the Xue class master are all outstanding in acting, and it can be seen that you are even more amazing as a master." Shopkeeper Hu answered: "That's natural, Shopkeeper Xue studied under the royal opera master Gongsun Auntie, singing, reading, doing, fighting, and being born and purifying, all of which are fine." Xue Ziang humbly: "I have won awards and awards, and I can't act anymore at a young age, but fortunately, these disciples are still competitive." ”

Everyone sat down one by one, Li Cunmiao was in the middle position, on the left and right were Hu Shopkeeper, Xue Ziang, Xue Yumei sat down next to her father, and the rest sat down in turn. Everyone drank and talked happily, Li Cunmiao did not have the shelf of the prince of the palace, and was loved by the people in the troupe, and Xue Yumei's previous vigilance was gradually lowered.

Towards the end of the feast, the servant led in a young officer in military uniform. Li Cunmiao looked at it and beckoned him over, Li Cunmiao introduced: "This is my right-hand man Guo Chongtao, known as Xiao Zhuge and scheming. Guo Chongtao greeted everyone present, and then whispered a few words in Li Cunqiao's ear. Li Cunmiao stood up and bowed his hand to the troupe: "I'm sorry everyone, there is an urgent matter in the army that needs to be dealt with, so I will leave first." Ask the shopkeeper to entertain you on your behalf, and you will eat and drink openly, and my servant will settle the account. Less accompaniment. After that, he walked out of the private room with Guo Chongtao, and went out of the restaurant to the palace.

Li Keyong was waiting for Li Cunqiao in the study in the house, and Li Siyuan, the eldest Taibao of the thirteen Taibao, and Li Sizhao, the second Taibao, were also there. When Li Keyong saw his son coming back, he asked: "Liu Rengong, the king of Yan, was attacked by the Liang State and wanted to borrow troops from me, what do you think?" Li Cunqiao asked, "Father, what do you think?" Li Ke said with hatred: "Back then, Li Cunxiao rebelled against me and asked the enemy Wang Rong for help. I sent troops to attack Wang Rong and stormed Pingshan. Wang Rong was afraid of breaking the city, so he begged me for peace, promised to sacrifice 500,000 horses, and sent troops to help attack Li Cunxiao in Xingzhou, who was later captured and executed. I sent troops to attack Youzhou, Li Kuangyu abandoned the city and fled, I chased to Jingcheng, killed Li Kuangyu, and appointed Liu Rengong as the envoy to stay behind and serve as the envoy. But within a few years, this Liu Rengong betrayed the Jin State, I led 50,000 troops to attack Liu Rengong, and the two armies fought in Ansai, resulting in a great defeat for our army. Now, Liu Rengong has been attacked by Zhu Wen's Liang army, such a capricious person, I don't think it's okay to save it. ”

Li Cunqiao admonished: "This is an opportunity for us to reinvigorate our military strength. Father, if the general trend is today, there is a chance that Zhu Wen of the Liang State will not dare to disobey the Liang State, even if the relatively strong separatist forces such as Zhao, Wei, and Zhongshan do not dare to disobey the Liang State. North of the Yellow River, there is almost no force that Liang is afraid of, and the only thing that Liang is afraid of is us and Liu Rengong, the king of Yan. Ruyan and Jin Hemeng, that is not a good thing for Liang Guo Zhu Wen. Although Liu Rengong has also besieged us, but we helped him solve the difficulty at his critical moment, he will remember our kindness, this is an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone, and not to be missed!"

Li Keyong thought for a while and said, "What you say is reasonable. The second Taibao Li Sizhao listened to the order. "The last will be." "Order you to lead your troops to attack Luzhou to relieve the siege of Yan Kingdom."

After the second Taibao Li Sizhao broke through Luzhou, Li Ke ordered the second Taibao Li Sizhao to stay behind for Luzhou. Zhu Wenfa Liang sent an army of 100,000 people to attack Luzhou and built a city to surround Luzhou. Li Ke sent Zhou Dewei to rescue Luzhou.

The first performance of He Chunban caused a sensation in Jinyang (now Taiyuan, Shanxi), and the people who came to admire it in the past few days filled the Jinyang Red Opera Garden, and Li Cunmiao chartered three large tables in front of him every day to entertain the generals of the Jin army. In addition to the second Taibao Li Sizhao stationed in other places and the deceased 13th Taibao Li Cunxiao, the rest of the 4th Taibao Li Cunxin, the 5th Taibao Li Cunjin, the 6th Taibao Li Siben, the 7th Taibao Li Sien, the 8th Taibao Li Cunzhang, the 9th Taibao Li Cunxian, the 10th Taibao Li Cunxian, the 11th Taibao Shi Jingsi, and the 12th Taibao Kang Junli have all come one after another. Because of his busy affairs, the eldest Taibao Li Siyuan was already suspicious of the second Taibao Li Cunxuan, because he was accustomed to fighting and was the boss, he wanted to inherit Li Keyong's throne, so he was always a little hostile to Li Keyong's own son. On this day, Li Cunqiao was so good at talking and dragging hard that Li Siyuan came to Jinyang Red Theater to watch the play. Li Cunqiao said to Li Siyuan: "Big brother, I guarantee that you will not come in vain today, this He Chunban drama is the best in the world." Li Siyuan contemptuously: "It's the best in the world, it's a bit big." "Don't believe it yet, you'll see later."

As he was talking, bangs, gongs and drums sounded on the stage, and the big play began. Li Siyuan is not good at show, but today it was because of Li Cunmiao's several invitations that he reluctantly came. In the first few plays, he just watched the excitement, and when Xue Yumei played Yu Ji in the last "Farewell My Concubine", he was attracted by the graceful Yu Ji, and couldn't help but open his mouth. Li Cunqiao caught a glimpse of his gaffe next to him, smiled dumbly, and continued to concentrate on watching the play.

After the finale, Xue Ziang came over to thank Li Cunmiao. Xue Ziang said: "Hello Shizi, thank you for coming to the scene every day these days, and you have rewarded a lot of silver taels, thank you for the disciples!" Li Cunmiao waved his hand: "Master Xue has seen the outside, I really like the drama of your class." No, today I also invited Li Siyuan, the great Taibao of our Thirteenth Taibao. Xue Ziang hurriedly saluted Li Siyuan: "Good eldest son!" Thank you very much for coming. Li Siyuan took out two large ingots of silver and handed them to Xue Ziang: "This is a reward for the girl who plays Yu Ji in the right place, can you invite this girl to come and see it?" Xue Ziang hesitated a little, and Li Cunqiao said: "My eldest brother is not a bad person, there is a class master of Lao Xue who invited Miss Yumei to come and meet my eldest brother." "In that case, please wait." After a while, Xue Yumei followed her father out, only to see Xue Yumei's plain white voice, slim and elegant, and her face was even more beautiful after washing off the lead. Li Siyuan was stunned, and blurted out: "The girl is as beautiful as a fairy, but can she be matched?" Xue Yumei didn't know how to answer such an abrupt question, Xue Ziang saw this and hurriedly said: "This is a little girl, she is still young, and she has never been married." Li Siyuan then said: "Then how about being a concubine for me?" I promise to treat you like a room. Xue's father and daughter didn't know how to answer, if they didn't agree, it would be equivalent to offending the big Taibao on the spot, agree, how could they easily allow someone to meet each other, or be a concubine. Li Cunmiao was unhappy in his heart, and said forcibly: "Big brother doesn't know, Miss Yumei has already made a promise, don't embarrass her." Li Siyuan's face couldn't hold back: "Which family's son is it?" There is such a blessing. Li Cunmiao had no choice but to say: "Don't hide it from my eldest brother, I have a heart-to-heart relationship with Miss Yumei, eldest brother, you are late." Li Siyuan suddenly woke up, and said with a forced smile: "Then congratulations to the third brother, Shicai is just joking, don't be surprised." Farewell. After Li Siyuan finished speaking, he got up and left.

Li Cunqiao saw Li Siyuan go downstairs and leave, so he said to Xue Ziang and Xue Yumei: "I'm sorry for the two of you, just now I saw that the eldest brother was struggling with each other, so I made this decision to disturb the girl, I hope don't mind." Xue Ziang said: "Thank you Shizi for helping us break the siege, otherwise I really don't know how to end it." Yumei said resentfully: "Thank you, son, just to relieve me." Xue Ziang heard his daughter's voice, these days he has seen that Li Cunmiao is a decent man and gentleman, and he has a good impression of him, and at the same time, he also found that his daughter seems to be moved by Li Cunmiao. He also wanted to find a reliable family for his daughter, Li Cunmiao's family background is prominent, he is dignified, and his character is also good, so he has the heart to match the two, so he said: "Yumei will talk to the prince, and I will go backstage to have a look." Li Cunmiao wished that he would have such an opportunity, so he asked Yumei to sit down next to him. Li Cunmiao said softly: "Girl, don't mind my eldest brother, he is like this, he is used to going straight between our brothers." Yumei lowered her head and whispered, "I don't mind, this kind of thing has happened before." Li Cunmiao knew that she was favored by Prime Minister Zhang Jun in Chang'an, so he was relieved and said: "Girl, don't worry, with me, no one in Jinyang (now Taiyuan, Shanxi) dares to bully you." Yumei has gradually become familiar with Li Cunmiao these days, Li Cunmiao shush her and ask for warmth, and anyone can see that Li Cunmiao loves Yumei very much. Yumei also has a heart for Li Cunqing, and she just needs to pierce a layer of window paper. Yumei raised her eyes and looked at Li Cunmiao, and said, "I said that you bullied me." Li Cunqiao was surprised: "How do you say this?" Yumei resented: "You only broke the siege today, what will Yumei's reputation be like in the future?" Li Cunmiao finally realized it and said boldly: "Why don't you be my lady, so that you can keep your reputation." Yumei was a little annoyed: "The prince is only willing to do this to save my reputation, Yumei would rather not." Li Cunmiao patted his head and said: "The girl misunderstood, I really can't speak, I'm afraid that the girl will be light, and I'm afraid that the girl will reject me, and it will be difficult to see the girl again in the future, so I didn't dare to confess my heart to the girl, in fact, I really like the girl." When Yumei heard this, her heart was overjoyed, but she still said reservedly: "Who doesn't know that a powerful family like Shizi has never lacked beautiful concubines, how could he fall in love with Yumei singing like this." Li Cunqiao raised his head: "What's wrong with singing, I just like to sing, and any powerful and wealthy family is dung in my eyes." Li Cunmiao lowered his head and said softly to Yumei: "Yumei, since I saw you on the first day, I fell in love at first sight, these days I can't wait to guard you all the time, and if I can't see you, it's like losing my soul." Yumei finally smiled: "What you said is true?" Li Cunmiao grabbed Yumei's hand: "It's true, Yumei, are you willing to let me marry you?" Yumei nodded shyly.

All this was seen by Guo Congqian, who was not far away, and he turned around and went backstage with a slight loss.

In the next few days, Li Cunmiao soaked in the opera garden every day, and every time it was time to eat, he asked the servants to go to Hongbin Building to order food and send it to the opera garden, and called Xue Ziang and Xue Yumei to eat together, especially to choose some Xue Yumei likes to eat, every meal is not the same, and he loves it very much. The two of them are like glue, and Xue Ziang is also overjoyed when he sees that his daughter has a wishful person.

On this day, Li Cunmiao sat in the opera garden early in the morning, and there was still a whole thing before the opening of the big play. He was going to wait for Yumei to put on her makeup and go backstage to talk to her. Suddenly, I saw Shopkeeper Hu wandering around the front desk listlessly. So, Li Cunmiao beckoned to stop Shopkeeper Hu and asked, "What's wrong with Shopkeeper Hu?" Business is so good, I see that you are not in good spirits, why is that? The shopkeeper Hu sighed: "The prince doesn't know, a few years ago, because the business of the opera garden was not good, the turnover was not good, so I mortgaged the opera garden and borrowed some silver taels to turnover, and now the business is good, but the pawnshop is going to collect the garden, saying that there are buyers who like it." Li Cunqiao said: "Then you will pay back the money you owe them, and redeem the pawn ticket." The shopkeeper Hu sighed: "How can it be so easy, the famine pulled down a few years ago, these days only part of it has been filled, and the pawnshop's even the principal with interest is still more than 4,000 taels, and the daily expenses of my garden are not small, how can I still pay it." Li Cunmiao thought for a while and said, "I have a way for you to return it, you call Master Xue, and we will go to your house." Shopkeeper Hu agreed to call Xue Ziang, and the three of them came to Shopkeeper Hu's house together.

After taking a seat, Shopkeeper Hu asked, "Is there any way for the prince to let Xiyuanzi pass this hurdle?" Xue Ziang didn't know why, so Li Cunqiao said: "Now the shopkeeper Hu owes money to the pawnshop, and the pawnshop says that someone wants to take over the theater garden and is willing to pay for it." Xue Ziang said: "I just opened up the situation here, and I am also very harmonious with the shopkeeper Hu, if I change the owner again, I really don't know what will happen." Li Cunqiao said: "I have a way to not only let the shopkeeper Hu continue to be the shopkeeper in the opera garden, but also let the Xue class master sing in this opera garden with peace of mind." Hu Xue and the others asked at the same time: "What is the way?" Li Cunmiao smiled slightly, and said slowly: "First, I will hand over the four thousand taels of silver from the pawnshop and redeem the pawn ticket of the garden." Second, in the redeemed drama garden, the shopkeeper Hu accounts for 50% of the shares, and the shopkeeper Hu continues to be your shopkeeper. The other fifty percent of the shares belong to the Xue class master, and the Xue class owner still only cares about playing his role well. The people in the drama troupe still get paid for acting, and you two share the profits of the opera garden fifty-fifty, how about it? The shopkeeper Hu rolled his eyes a few times, and said: "In this way, Hu does not have to pay back four thousand taels, and he also gets half of the shares. Xue Ziang said uneasily: "This is not appropriate, I, Xue, didn't come out with anything, so I got fifty percent of the shares of Xiyuanzi for nothing, how can I let the prince pay for nothing." Li Cunmiao said sincerely: "Master Xue, you are not in vain, once you have your opera troupe here, the business of the opera garden will definitely get better and better; Second, you are my future father-in-law, I want your troupe to have their own theater, so that they can concentrate on acting in the future and no longer suffer from displacement. Shopkeeper Hu grinned: "Congratulations to Master Xue and the son." Xue Ziang was moved: "Yumei really didn't misunderstand you, your heart is very good, with your heart, I am already content, you still have the shares." Li Cunmiao smiled and said: "The words have been said about this, you don't want to postpone it, it's a big deal when Yumei gets married, you give her more dowry." Xue Ziang was amused by Li Cunmiao.

Li Cunmiao continued: "Also, I watched these plays in the troupe very well, but they haven't been fully arranged, and the missing ones must be discharged." Otherwise, after a while, everyone will get tired of watching the current drama, and there will not be so many people in the theater garden to watch. Shopkeeper Hu stroked his palms and said: "The prince is really an expert, when it comes to the point, I am afraid that the theater will not attract people with new plays." Xue Ziang said: "I arranged these plays in Chang before, thinking that I wanted to rehearse all the plays, but I offended the powerful and was forced to leave Chang'an, and I couldn't settle down along the way, so I never finished the missing plays." Now it's okay, I can finally settle down. From now on, I'll start rehearsing the rest of the scenes. ”