Winter Begonia, Chapter 10: The Quarreling Girls and the Messy Laborers

Winter Begonia 《鬓边不是海棠红》Bin Bian Bu Shi Hai Tang Hong
Winter Begonia, Chapter 10: The Quarreling Girls and the Messy Laborers

As the New Year passed, the streets were open for business, and the theatres were opened also. At the end of the year the Fan Family Fort handed over the accounts, the rule was that the head of the family had to do the sums himself and transcribed it once, Fa Lian put it off until he couldn't, and now he lives with an abacus under his pillow, it’s a busy time. Only Cheng Fengtai is still idle as if it were a holiday, and he's idle as if it were a holiday, and no one else is thinking about bothering him. But since Fa Lian is busy and has no one to do anything with Cheng Fengtai, he... He was bored and wandered around all day, and saw a play at a friend's house. Although he didn't understand the play, it reminded him of Shang Xirui. The little opera singer on the stage, by the sound of his voice it is not as Shang Xirui's voice. Xirui is bright, and her costume is not as good as Shang Xirui's. After tearing Shang Xirui's sleeve last time, they haven't seen each other for weeks, could it be that the little opera singer holds a grudge? So he thought he'd take him out to play, and make amends. He's silly, he's funny, and he's really cute.


Shang Xirui is now mostly in residence at the Qinfeng Grand Theater, because he likes to change the play, and the theatre is more modern, so he's more acceptable. Even if he messed up, there were no weapons like teapots or boiling water, and the stage was far away and high, so he had to throw something else. It's hard to throw things up there, but it's safer for Shang Xirui.

Qinfeng Grand Theater is a clock tower in a western-style building, with a small dark alley leading backstage. The dressing room. When Cheng Fengtai was having an affair with a stage actress, he knew the layout. He's well acquainted with Shang Xirui, so no need for formalities. Call the driver. Lao Ge parked his car at the front door, went around the dark alley, and went in directly to him. Before he knocked on the door, he heard a woman's voice shouting, "Whoever's a whore knows! Don't act like nothing happened! You've slept all over the place and you've never gotten a part! How can you play Cui Yingying with that slutty face? I'll be damned!"

[1] Cui Yingying is a character ina an opera play the Romance of the Western Chamber (link)

Another female voice clapped, "Cui Yingying can't hook up with Zhang Sheng! With a c.ock in your mouth, are you worthy of singing about Cui Yingying?"

"F.uck you, you fart! Did you see me s.uck it?"

"You want one! Who's going to give you one for being so ugly?!”

They quarreled one after another, and their curses grew worse and worse as if the sisters in a brothel were quarreling. There were many voices of dissuasion, of tearing clothes, of smashing dishes, of overturning tables, of crying and shouting, all in one voice. I don't hear Troupe Master Shang Xirui in there.

Cheng Fengtai thought it's a coincidence that Shang Xirui didn't meet him, but listened to the whole story. The sticks in his ears, the rods in his ears, were getting hard in his pants. Just as He was about to leave, someone cried out under his breath: "Boss Shang, say something!"

Shang Xirui's weak voice said, "I told you, I told them to stop, but... They don't listen to me!"

"You are the Troupe Master of Shuiyun House!"

"What's the Troupe Master got to do with it?" Shang Xirui said calmly, "The sisters can discuss this matter among themselves. I'll be back later to listen to the news. Xiao Lai! Xiao Lai! Xiao Lai, remember who broke something, and deduct it from your monthly salary."

Once the words were spoken, the cursing didn't stop, but the sound of destroying things went away.

"Fighting all the time, that's bad! The awful thing is none of them are like Cui Yingying." The quarrelsome person ignored his unpleasant words, while Shang Xirui cooed and cooed. He pushed open the door and was startled to see Cheng Fengtai, thinking that his group had been caught in the act. He was embarrassed.

"Second Master, what brings you here... "

Cheng Fengtai smiled and said, "Boss Shang, do you have time for a meal?"

Shang Xirui is choking on his empty stomach air, with nowhere to go he said: "There! Let's get out of here!"

Xiao Lai chased after him from inside, took one look at Cheng Fengtai, and closed the door behind him, whispering, Shang Xirui said, "What if they don't end up arguing?"

Shang Xirui said: "Then let them fight in an open field, and whoever wins will do as they please. I'm leaving!"

Cheng Fengtai couldn't hold it in any longer, laughed out loud, grabbed Shang Xirui's shoulder, and led him to the door "Mr. Shang, you're so funny."

Shang Xirui probably also thought she was quite funny, nodded, and smiled: “How come you have time to see me today?"

"Didn't I rip your clothes last time? I'll buy you a meal to make up for it."

Shang Xirui sighed unconcernedly, smiling "I had forgotten about that!"

Getting into the car, Cheng Fengtai asked, "Boss Shang, what do you want to eat? How about I take you to Six Nations Restaurant for western food?"

Shang Xirui wilted when he heard it was western food, but nodded anyway. He's like this guy who with people he knows well he can joke around, with people he knows very well he can express his ideas. Now with Cheng Fengtai, we're only at the level of joking and banter, not at the level of expressing ideas, So Cheng Fengtai made all the arrangements, and when he got to the hotel, he went with Cheng. What will Fengtai order is what he will eat




Cheng Fengtai saw him skillfully handling the cutlery in front of him, and asked, "Boss Shang, come and eat here often!?”

Shang Xirui: "Used to live at Cao Siling's place, ate this kind of food there once." He's smart, he can remember what he's used for once. Back then Cheng Meixin tried to make a fool out of him with this, but he could tell by a glance. These little pieces, they are not as hard to learn as his on-stage body, which he didn't even try hard after three times.

Cheng Fengtai also knows that Cao Siling's family must be Cheng when they eat Western food. Meixin said, "You used to stay at Cao Siling's house, my sister gave you a hard time. Never?"

Shang Xirui lost his smile and said, "That's for sure!" He looked up at Cheng Fengtai and thought that no matter how well he played with himself, it was still Cheng. Meixin's own brother, and as they say, you can't tell him the rest.

Cheng Fengtai laughed: "Please bear with her! When I was a kid, I suffered much from her bullying and teasing, let alone you."

"Really? How is she?"

"All the funny toys are hers, and the good food is hers. When I grew up, I had a girlfriend at school, and she complained to my father and made him punish me."

Shang Xirui had a moment of equilibrium.

"But I'm no pushover, either. When I found out, I grabbed a live mouse and stuffed it in her dresser, and when she pulled the drawer out, the little mouse jumped right in her face, Scared her into a fever ..."

Shang Xirui laughed with pleasure, and imagine, with great relief.

"That happened when I was a kid, not when I grew up." In Cheng Fengtai's mind, when he grew up Cheng Meixin was always trying to hurt people, It's all so superficial, no one can get a hold of it. "Mr. Shang, when she bullied you, what did you do?"

If it were two other people, a brother from his mother's side, a man who left home, they wouldn't be able to talk about these things. But Cheng Fengtai asked straightforward questions, and Shang Xirui is a bit short-sighted when two straight forward people meet, it's all unforbidden.

Shang Xirui said: "I stayed by Siling's side all the time, not leaving one step. When Siling wasn't around, I would run upstairs and hide in my room, so your sister wouldn't find me."

No wonder Cheng Meixin is so angry about Shang Xirui. If... Why gnash your teeth when you have the chance to kill her? No matter how powerful she is, she can't give Shang Xirui poison right under Siling's nose, usually, it's just his face and words that give him a hard time. Shang Xirui has no desire to be idle and is very clever with words, so he can be spoiled and complain. Cheng Meixin squeezed it out.

"Then why did you leave Siling House?"

"Because I want to go out and sing."

"Cao Siling let you go?"

"He refused at first." Shang Xirui put down his knife and fork, gestured with one hand like a gun: "He put the gun to my head and asked me... To stay or to sing, I still said I wanted to sing, and he let me go."

Cheng Fengtai deeply admires Shang Xirui's guts to play with his life.

From plate to plate, the food was served on white porcelain plates, so delicate that the aroma of the vegetables was strangely absent. The surrounding area was silent, and the waiters stood with their hands hanging down. Cheng Fengtai is accustomed to such an environment, the food is so smooth, and Shang Xirui didn't eat much, and didn't move much. Cheng Fengtai thought it might be because opera singers have to stay slim, so he didn't eat much.

For the main course, Shang Xirui took a knife and cuts the steak into small chunks, a medium-rare black pepper steak, but he wouldn't eat, shook his head, and said, "This blood can nourish a man's face... "

Cheng Fengtai swallowed a mouthful of wine to keep it from spilling out, looked at the steak on his plate, and saw that it wasn't cooked properly. "That's what this dish tastes like. As long as the beef is well-selected, it's not fishy in the mouth. You don't like it?"




Shang Xirui managed to take a small bite, chewed, but it didn't taste good: "Poor foreigners, eating this lettuce every meal, no wonder they came to invade our country."

Cheng Fengtai laughed: "You say that as if the Eight-Nation Alliance is here to rob us of cooked beef."

Shang Xirui laughed at herself: "It's because our stuff is better than theirs that they want to take it."

"That's true." Cheng Fengtai nodded seriously: "In the Gengzi period, foreigners wanted to see a rock bonsai. For them staring half a day at a thin vase is a great thing to see. But you know what they want most?"

"What?"

""They're most interested in our little Chinese opera actors, especially the ones like Mr. Shang, who look like men dressed as women."

"Second Master, you're teasing me."

"How can I be teasing you? In fact, they had a singer like that, who was castrated before his voice changed, and for the rest of his life he had a fine voice and a higher pitch than a woman's."

Shang Xirui wondered: "Just like the eunuchs in the Nanfu opera troupe."

"But the voice is good, and the make-up is not good enough for a Danjue! They've never seen a man playing a woman, playing a woman more than a woman. The foreign ambassador came to China to see, hey! Opened his eyes! The little opera singer with the willow waist, with the sweet voice, they're soft, they're bright, and they're good looking enough to make real men with real dicks perk up! He didn't care! Went home at once, and report to their Emperor."

Shang Xirui stopped eating when he heard this, and asked: "Really! Then what happened?"

"And then, then they brought in the Eight-Nation Alliance."

"Huh?!"

"The Allied Forces of the Eight Nations are here to rob the Opera singers, and also some gold and treasure for them. The Emperor has built a... “Cheng Fengtai came close, saying, ". A big golden cage like the one like in the Qinfeng Grand Theater, where the opera singers were kept and dressed up, they sang to them day and night. And when the princes and nobles are pleased, they feed the opera singers with food."

Cheng Fengtai's story is so bizarre, Shang Xirui has never heard anyone talk about it. "This can't be true... "And thought that in the year of Gengzi, Ning Jiulang was in the palace. But he never talked about this part history, even to the point of turning pale after hearing that discussion, so it's hard to tell if it's true!

"I told you some secret history, and you still don't believe me. If you don't believe me, come on, eat."

Shang Xirui hadn't eaten well at all, and he felt as if he had heard a story from Liao Zhai, he was glad that he was born ten years too late to avoid a disaster. He was also glad that Prince Qi saved Ning Jiulang from being trafficked by the foreigners, and that the emperor is really right. Let's go. The last coconut pudding was so good, it woke up his spirit and asked Cheng Fengtai: "What's this?”

On second thought, Cheng Fengtai said, "This is the foreigner's almond tofu."

Shang Xirui praised: "This is well made! There's no fishy bean smell at all."

Cheng Fengtai has become addicted to changing Opera singers.

Since he was not full yet, Cheng Fengtai gave him another meal, this time on his own. . Shang Xirui looked at his watch, and apologetically said: "Let's go to Hu Ji Noodle House."

Cheng Fengtai felt that the name sounded unfamiliar, Lao Ge is familiar with Hu Ji Noodle House, where the fried noodles are the best in the city and Lao Ge himself wanted to have a bowl so he drove there in a jiffy, stop the car and follow Master Cheng and Master Shang, and prepare a hot bowl of food.

As a regular customer, Xiaoér knows Shang Xirui and was happy to follow him when he met him. And he greeted him in something like, "Yo! Boss Shang! Yo! And you old man! Mr. Shang, you haven't been here for a while! What are you so busy preparing for? What would you like?"

Shang Xirui looked back at Cheng Fengtai, Cheng Fengtai without waiting for him to ask, he said: "I'm not eating here." Shang Xirui fishes out a few dimes: "Same old, same old. A bowl of noodles, a bowl of hot and sour soup. You take the rest, but don't you dare... "

It was too late to stop Xiaoér, who, as is customary, shouted: "Hey! Come on! A bowl of fried noodles and a bowl of hot and sour soup for 20 cents for the boss!"

Shang Xirui drew a breath of cold air and took a seat by himself. Cheng Fengtai touched the table, twiddled his fingers, and found that the chairs and tables here were all covered with a layer of grease. It's so hot in the shop, the onion-sauce smell is so strong that there's nowhere to sit, nowhere to stand. But Cheng Fengtai has crossed many hills and rivers in the past few years, and it's no worse than the old days. When he was a young master, he sat down without frowning, and poured a bowl of bitter brick tea and took a sip.

Lao Ge was watching, and he said, "Our Second Master, and we are so cool when we sit over there. It's like eating Western food.”

Some mangy-eyed porters heard Xiaoér yell and came over with their noodle bowls. When Cheng Fengtai saw them, he was very surprised. But they seemed to be old friends of Shang Xirui, so they didn't come from out of nowhere to sit at the same table. Cheng Fengtai saw it in his eyes and squeezed and squeezed jokes. He couldn't take them seriously, so we moved and moved and moved. There was also a man pulling a cart, wearing a single shirt in the winter weather, with his sleeves pulled up, showing off his strong tendons. He stepped on Shang Xirui's bench, sucked on his noodles, and watched Shang Xirui nodded at him with a smiling face, a smile unlike any he usually saw at parties. I am even more cheerful than when I met Director Zhou. Cheng Fengtai really feels sorry for Director Zhou.

"Boss Shang! Hello!"

"Hello. You too."

"What new play is being lined up lately?"

"Not new. Slightly altered. “Hu Zhenji Play."

"What?"

"It's Hongniang."

"Hello, Hongniang! Hello Hongniang! Haha! How do you sing it again? 'Miss Scarlet! MissScarlet, you're such a beauty! '" He screamed at the top of his voice, which was obviously very unlike him, causing people to burst out laughing, "How do you sing it? Boss Shang, you give us a bit of a play!"




"Yeah! A little bit of tune!"

"Shang Lang, don't be shy! Enjoy the show!"

After they made such a fuss, those customers who don't know Shang Xirui also gathered around. Cheng Fengtai thought it's bad, these old guys, how can they be so disrespectful, the little opera singer is so thin-skinned, he'll be furious.

Shang Xirui's face grew red, up to the roots of her ears, but not with annoyance. Xiaoér came to the rescue with noodles: "Save your breath! If you think our boss is young and honest, you'll embarrass him and he won't come back to eat here again! We're counting on you to make our noodle shop a success!"

Still, the people would not budge, and they would all go at it wanting to hear him sing and act the opera play.

"I can't sing for you, I'm hungry, I want to eat." Shang Xirui, while mixing the noodles, said: "Go to the theater and sit down and listen, or pretend to be... With make-up and a huqin, and it'll earn me some money on the way."

People are still laughing and stalking Shang, some say they can't afford the tickets, some say they can't wait, and some try to tease him. Shang Xirui, having suffered hunger and heartache in his early years, he is a man who has always been a hero. When he eats, he eats with such vigor that he doesn't care of table manners, no matter how much others tease him, he just holds the bowl of noodles and eats hard, when he finished eating, he wiped his mouth and smiled goofily at Cheng Fengtai. Cheng Fengtai smiled at him too, and they were about to stand up and leave. But everyone hadn't had enough of him, so they held him by the shoulders and said, "Boss Shang! Don't go! It's been a long time, let's talk some more!"

Shang Xirui hiccupped softly: "I have friends here!"

Cheng Fengtai, light a cigarette. "Mr. Shang, help yourself." Dumplings are better than good food, opera singers are better than fun, and their heart is something Cheng Fengtai understands.

The laborers started rubbing Shang Xirui casually. Their jokes were different from the old men's and women's jokes, they were vulgar and unforgiving, they didn't care about the occasion. From whether the plum blossoms in Shang Xirui's garden were turned into fairies or not, to when he planned to get a wife, was Xiao Lai his mistress.

"What else does Mr. Shang need a wife for? Someone saw with their own eyes that the red plum tree in his yard takes human form on full moon nights to listen to Boss Shang sing."

"Male or female fairy?"

"A female demon is fine, but if it's a male demon, it'll be the end of Boss Shang!"

This kind of vulgarity popped up from time to time, and Cheng Fengtai thought a few times that Shang Xirui is going to be angry, didn't get to see the little opera singer to do more than blush. He is very patient in answering all questions, playing with the hard laborers, and occasionally being a little tender and silly, in keeping with the style of the day in the rich places. Cheng Fengtai looked at me differently. Shang Xirui is really clean-minded, but he doesn't care about money and power, so he doesn't treat people any better.

In fact, in Shang Xirui's view, although people are not divided into rich and poor, they can be divided into four categories: those who know how to act. Those who know how to act and those who don't know how to act, those who adore him and those who don't. The one who understands opera and adores him are the best of friends; the one who understands opera but doesn't adore him are respectable and unpopular; the one who doesn't understand opera but adores him are joking buddies; the one who doesn't understand opera and doesn't adore him is nobody and a stranger to everyone.

These mud-legged porters don't know much about opera, they just listen to the voices and watch the fun, so in Shang Xirui's eyes... He liked the fact that he was among the first-class people at the mahjong table, and was not afraid to offend them.

After chatting for half a day, Shang Xirui stood up and said: "I really have to go, I have to get ready for the night show!" Shang Xirui said in his heart, I don't know if there is any result of the fight backstage, "Don't talk nonsense about me and Xiao Lai! If the gossip gets faxed, what will she do with her family reputation?"

They all agreed, but they couldn't let him go home. Shang Xirui's status is that he is the parrot of Emperor Jin – he is the plaything of the nobles. He was so rare that he often flew into ordinary people's homes to be close to them and laugh with them and made them feel as if they had a taste of what the Emperor enjoys.

Easy to get out, get in the car, Shang Xirui was still laughing.

Cheng Fengtai looked at him: "That's not enough!"

"Second Master, I'll whisper to you, that red plum tree in my yard... Haha!"

"What? What exactly are male and female fairies?"

"That's all for me! One day I tried on a red costume with a big face, and someone bumped into me. I don't know why\, but it was rumored to be a fairy at my garden."

Cheng Fengtai nodded: "Okay, I'll go back and dispel the rumors."

"Why dispel the rumors, it's so much fun! Let them keep it!"

"Boss Shang is so naughty."



Lao Ge listened and enjoyed himself as he drove.

~ Winter Begonia ~




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