Winter Begonia, Chapter 5: Cheng Fengtai Meets the Opera man

Winter Begonia 《鬓边不是海棠红》Bin Bian Bu Shi Hai Tang Hong
Winter Begonia, Chapter 5: Cheng Fengtai Meets the Opera man

The people who were enthralled by the show have left, well most of them anyway, and there are only some hardcore ticket holders who are enthralled by the show, and the cups and plates of the show are very cold. The fans are like Emperor Tangming, a little bit of a thin-skinned, with three thousand favors in the heat, and the noble consort left alone in the pavilion when it's cold. Shang Xirui, the Noble Consort Yang, was not thinking about it, unaware of everything around him, was still singing vigorously on the stage, and was about to get down to tasting wine, when a short dressed man angrily carried a hot teapot from Cheng Fengtai, approached and threw it towards the stage, even the teapot with boiling water all hit Shang Xirui.


"Sing your grandma's song! Bxtch!!!!"

Sheng Ziyun exclaimed from the second floor, "Xirui!"

Shang Xirui took a step back and gave the man a glance of nirvana, steadied himself and continued to sing. The teacher who played the Houdini immediately followed suit. This is the rule on the stage, as long as the organist is still singing, he will sing, and it is not the organist's business whether he is dead or has seen blood.

The man, who could not be disturbed by the blow, was even more furious, and was about to jump up and hit him with a bar in both hands. Cheng Fengtai understands that Shang Xirui's act of changing the play has caused public anger, the fans did not agree, they have to give him a taste of the public power. Shang Xirui was as delicate as a girl, how could he withstand a slap from a big man in full rage that slap was going to kill someone! With Cheng Fengtai's temperament, he naturally would not sit idly by and take a few steps to break the shoulders of his crazy ticketing buddy and pull him down: "Gentleman, don't get excited and have something to say."

Crazy man’s eyes were red and he pointed at Shang Xirui, who turned back in anger, "This bxtch has ruined Noble Consort Yang!"

Cheng Fengtai used to tell jokes about people worrying about the ancients, but now he really met them. Noble Consort Yang died and her bones were rotten, but after a thousand years, someone still came forward to protect her, and if she had known, she would have been moved to tears. Cheng Fengtai laughed, ''No way! How can a playwright spoil Noble Consort Yang? It's obviously her ash-breaking moron who is ruining Noble Consort Yang!"

Cheng Fengtai thought what's the matter with this paragraph? You're still joking with people, aren't you looking for a beating? The crazy man was furious and snarled and raised his fist. Cheng Fengtai took a heavy blow to the cheek, the corner of his mouth was bruised with teeth and a sinuous trail of blood ran down his chin. He was a businessman who studied and never fought, but he was fierce and wild enough to smash at people without knowing what he had in his hand, so fast and furious that he hit the crazy voter as if he had ruptured an artery and sprayed Cheng Fengtai with nosebleeds.

A few of the opera house staff saw that something bad was going on and ran over to set them apart, taking Cheng Fengtai aside and sitting down, waiting for him with their hands full. They had been holding their hands from just now and watching this half-day. Because the boss had told him to teach Shang Xirui a lesson, and when he was afraid of him, he didn't dare to change the play anymore - this was always a matter of changing the play for Shang Xirui's sake, and the officials would often leave with a curse if they couldn't sit through it, and the building would lose a lot of money on tea and water! The boss himself wanted to beat him up, and now this situation is called killing someone with a neighbor’s knife. But Cao Siling's brother-in-law blocked the way, and the hero saved the actor's life, which made a big deal.

Li Zhanggui escorted the crazed man to the police hall and then personally apologized to Cheng Fengtai. Cheng Fengtai took a cold, wet hand towel to the corner of his mouth and smiled coldly at Zhanggui: ''Out now? Where are you guys? You're just going to leave it behind and watch the action? What's in Anne's mind?"

Li Zhanggui nodded his head and hunched over to make amends. Upstairs Shang Xirui and Sheng Ziyun ran down. Cha Cha’er nuzzled her brother's neck from behind and pressed her cheek against his hair. Cheng Fengtai patted her arm: "Loosen up a bit, you're strangling Second Brother."

Sheng Ziyun looked at Cheng Fengtai, Cheng Fengtai did not look at him. He then went to care for Shang Xirui, and tilted his face to the stage and said, "Xirui, Xirui! Stop singing! Stop singing! Everyone's gone!"

Li Zhanggui's side coped with Cheng Fengtai, and his ears were filled with guqin and opera, and he was so annoyed by this Noble Consort Yang that he turned to the stage and bowed his head: "Boss Shang, stop, the seats are empty!"

Cheng Fengtai glared at him angrily, “Everyone is gone! Aren't I the second master of a person? Why do you say they are all gone! It's over! Otherwise, this punch I got would have been for nothing!" Cheng Fengtai pointed one finger to them, "Sit down and listen to the play!"

Under Cheng Fengtai's lustful authority, Sheng Ziyun and Li Zhanggui's, as well as a group of fellows, listened to a play in this empty, messy and eerie atmosphere. They are all quite ungrateful tonight, some of them are supporting the opera behind the family's back, some of them are standing idly by, watching Cheng Fengtai's face secretly and listening to all the confusion.

The only person who is comfortable with that is Shang Xirui.

Cheng Fengtai watched Shang Xirui from below, still unable to understand the play, just watching him as a person. He was in the mood to sing like a hot kiln just now, and sang so intently, I don't know who he was singing to, so unassuming. Cheng Fengtai seemed to have appreciated the beauty of his singing that year.

Shang Xirui, this is the Shang Xirui of the rumor mill.

He is really resilient.

When the play was over. Shang Xirui curtsied to the stage, a common rite of passage for women in the old days. Cheng Fengtai clapped his hands and learned the rules of the theatre garden, barking him a good one out loud.




Backstage, Shang Xirui took off his head but did not remove his makeup, holding his costume and sighing. He was wearing a lot of clothes when I went to the opera, even if the tea boil didn't burn him, but his clothes were ruined. The color of the tea-dyed on the fabric can't be washed out. Shang Xirui also didn't understand what the ticket guy was getting excited about, all he did was that he added a few lines - and he thought he did a good job of adding them, so why would he be so annoyed? Shang Xirui really felt aggrieved.

Cheng Fengtai took off his blood-stained suit rack in his arms and brought his sister to the backstage, followed by Sheng Ziyun and Li Zhanggui's behind. Seeing him, Shang Xirui set aside his costume and stood up.

Li Zhanggui's hand raised to give way to Cheng Fengtai and said, "Boss Shang, this is Second Master Cheng." Since both of them are famous characters in Peking, introducing their full names would be disrespectful.

Shang Xirui said that it was Cheng Fengtai, the younger brother of Cheng Meixin, who I knew, smiled, and nodded his head and called out to the second master of Cheng. His voice was floating and hoarse, hollow and soft, as if he was a patient with the weak middle breath, and on stage.

Cheng Fengtai was more than familiar with Shang Xirui in the gossip, eyes skimming over his large lapelled mid waistcoat, the illusion of watching an ancient woman changing clothes, very forbidding, very inviting. He has been listening to too much gossip in his life, and he was particularly interested in Shang Xirui today.

"Boss Shang is in shock."

Shang Xirui laughed, "I'm grateful to the Second Master for saving my life, and I'm really sorry that he got hurt."

Cheng Fengtai said, "So the merchant bosses have seen it, huh? You were not moving, you're so sure of yourself."

Shang Xirui in his heart said: I saw you fight, and the man hit you like a watermelon when I saw you, a bruised mouth and panting and panting without stopping. And you asked the little girl to hit me with something - and since you saved me in the end, let’s forget it. Thinking about this, Shang Xirui suddenly froze in his heart and faintly furrowed his brow as his gaze fixed on Cheng Fengtai's body. He has always had the strength to read people, and he was able to stay unheard in the Pingyang City Tower, where the guns were shaking. What's going on today? What's there to see in Cheng Meixin's brother?



Sheng Ziyun couldn't hold back any longer, and despite Cheng Fengtai's "something to ask", he held Shang Xirui's face in front of him, stared at the corner of his brow, and sharply said, "Your face - it's really all green."

Shang Xirui let him end his chin, smiled and said, "The makeup hasn't come off yet, where can you tell with that gone."

Cheng Fengtai said, "It's green. It's....so wrong." As soon as he pushed Cha Cha'er's back, Cha Cha’er went up and said, "Sister, I'm sorry. I hurt you, and I didn't mean it."

Shang Xirui was a bit surprised by this apology and couldn't even explain that he was a brother and not a sister, and said, "Miss is too polite, how dare I. It's time for Xirui to thank you for your bounty, you threw it."

Cha Cha’er looked at him and stopped talking again.

After a few more pleasantries from a few adults, Cheng Fengtai said, "Boss Shang, after you remove your makeup, I'll give you a ride, I have a ready-made car outside."

Shang Xirui said, ''Thank you, Second Master. Don't bother. It's not a good day, I'm going to be busy making room for some good things to pack."

Cheng Fengtai was surprised, ''Leaving? You don't sing anymore?"

Shang Xirui said, "I will sing. But no more singing in this place here."

Li Zhanggui's hearing this and he knew the meaning was not right, so he asked a carefully worded question, "Boss Shang, how can you say that? How should we do? Where did we go wrong?"

Shang Xirui looked at him and said slowly, "You guys are very thoughtful. It's me who wants to go."

Li Zhanggui's knew that Shang Xirui had seen through the borrowed knife murder tonight, and Shang Xirui didn't say anything, which was to save face and friendship. He was persuaded by the people to give him some costume props and said something about righteousness on the stage.

Shang Xirui said, "You don't have to be polite, I will only take my share. . But I would like to ask you to ask someone who I am going to take away with me, the old man who plays the guqin today, I am very fond of it."

Li Zhanggui's instantly said that as long as the old man himself agreed, Huibin House would be fine with it.

Shang Xirui turned to Cheng Fengtai and laughed, "Some backstage trivia, making the Second Master seeing the butt of the joke."

Cheng Fengtai laughed, "Since the business owner is busy, then I will bid you farewell."

Shang Xirui nodded, "Hey, this mess should not be keeping you either." After saying that the voice shouted Xiao Lai, a big braided girl in a blue flower dress ran close to listen to him.

Shang Xirui said, "Pick one of my outer coats, and if it's good, bring it to the Second Master to wear."




Cheng Fengtai excuses that he doesn’t need it, that it's not cold with a car waiting outside. But then the clothes were brought, and Shang Xirui pinched his collar and shook them off, serving him and helping to put them on Cheng Fengtai.

"Second Master, don't be disgusted."

Cheng Fengtai's heart fluttered, and that kind of divine aura of temptation was again revealed in his eyes. Since his childhood, he has been served by countless women, servant lovers, and flirtatious people, and today he is lucky enough to have Noble Consort Yang serve him. After putting on his clothes, he turned back to Shang Xirui, who had done the collar for him again with a low brow, like a little wife in a nightgown tidying her husband's hair in the early morning, gentle and careful, shameless. He didn't even glance at Cheng Fengtai, who instead scowled down at him. Two narrow blushes on his cheeks, a rich pink scent, eyebrows like ink, and a few shiny imitation gemstone glass pieces pasted on his cloud temples. In fact, all the actors with the makeup look the same, but Shang Xirui is a bit more chic. Cheng Fengtai didn't know what he was looking at him for, so he couldn't move his eyes. He even thought that Shang Xirui was seducing him by serving him close to him and putting on his clothes. Although Shang Xirui doesn't seem like it. Shang Xirui's eyebrows were solemn and straightforward, not missing a beat.

Shang Xirui was indeed not. He was just grateful for Cheng Fengtai's chivalrous heart and felt sorry for him, lending him a garment to wear was his way of saying thanks and nothing more.

With his clothes on, Cheng Fengtai pulled his sister to say goodbye, and Sheng Ziyun was still attentive at Shang Xirui's side. Cheng Fengtai walked out the door and turned his head again, "Young Master Yun, let's go together."

Sheng Ziyun showed a bit of panic, took Shang Xirui's hand and commanded a few words, and had to follow.

Sheng Ziyun got into the car and waited with bated breath for Cheng Fengtai to ask. Ever since he met Shang Xirui, he has unknowingly spent a lot of money on sending flower baskets and setting heads and faces. It was as if the only way to get close to Shang Xirui was to pay for it rightfully. But where did a student get the money for these expenses and it not reaching to the Shanghai family, has it been exposed?

Sheng Ziyun clasped his hands and waited for the onslaught of questions all the way, Cheng Fengtai did not speak, his fingers pressed against his lips with a faint smile, not knowing what he was thinking. When he arrived at the Cheng family mansion, Cheng Fengtai pulled his sister out of the car and ordered the driver to send Sheng Ziyun back to the school dormitory. Sheng Ziyun stretched his head and shrank his head, he couldn't bear it anymore, so he stuck his head out the car window and went up to ask, "Second brother, what do you want to ask me?"

Cheng Fengtai paused, ''Ask you what? Errgh.... I forgot too. We'll talk about it later."

Cheng Fengtai returned home and first watched his nanny put Cha Cha’er to bed and then had some snacks outside the hall. Sneaking into the bedroom, the Second Mistress was still awake, puffing on a dry smoke and staring coldly at the bruise at the corner of his mouth. When a girl came up to give Cheng Fengtai his clothes, the Second Mistress looked at the coat and thumped the white copper frying pan on the spittoon with a loud bang. Not a word different from what he had said, and went to fill the cigarette wire again.

Cheng Fengtai touched the corner of his mouth, sent the girl away to take off his shoes and crawled up to the bed and grabbed her cigarette bag, laughing: "The Second Mistress is pregnant with a little girl, no more smoking."

He thought he could tease her for a while, but the Second Mistress coldly glanced at him, didn't reply to him, rolled over and fell asleep.

Cheng Fengtai thought to himself, instantly knowing that it was tonight's episode that had caught her ear, and shyly pounced on her wife, fiddling with her hands and feet. The Second Mistress was finally so disturbed that she lifted the quilt to sit up and said coldly, "The Second Mistress is still in good spirits after a night of heroics.”

Cheng Fengtai laughed, "I've only been a 'one-night' hero with you. Nowhere else!"

The Second Mistress laughed coldly, "Cut the crap! I didn't know the Second Master would fight! What is Shang Xirui's role? You don't think he's ever seen a man who fights for his face? He's seen it all! You have to jump up and down! If it wasn't for your reputation, he wouldn't even look at you if you hadn't shot your brains out! You're the one who took the fall for the ticket man. You're the one who took the fall for him? Mind your own business!"

As soon as Cheng Fengtai was scolded by her, his mind went cold, he also felt that he was nosy. But so what? He's just this heroic, indignant nature, who can say anything! The Second Mistress took one step before him and said, "I am not qualified to control you! What am I! Back then, Baba traveled halfway across China and saw plenty of men, but then I came to you as a wife. You were desperate for me, too. A country girl I don't know if I am worthy of you, Mr. Cheng, in terms of talent and looks."

As soon as he heard this, Cheng Fengtai went soft and laughed and coaxed the Second Mistress into the quilt. The Second Mistress spoke with sadness, eyes a little red at the tip of her nose, temper is gone, and she felt pathetic.

Cheng Fengtai said, "Why bring this up when things go south? Let's not talk about these things. Marrying you is my Cheng Fengtai's decision, and I always remember your good deeds. Tonight - and let's not mention it, it was me who rushed into a fracas. Don't listen to their bullshit, there wasn't really a fight."

That said, there's nothing more to say. The Second Mistress Cheng shed a tear, not knowing whether it was due to Cheng Fengtai's tenderness or the pent-up resentment. The couple lay down for a long time, she moved her body, rested her head on her husband's arm, and said softly, "Cha Cha’er is almost thirteen years old, she's a big girl, don't take her out to show her face out again."




Cheng Fengtai nodded in agreement.








                                        ~ Winter Begonia ~




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