Winter Begonia, Chapter 16: Drunk on the Opera play

Winter Begonia 《鬓边不是海棠红》Bin Bian Bu Shi Hai Tang Hong
Winter Begonia, Chapter 16: Drunk on the Opera play

The following year, it was also the beginning of winter. Cheng Fengtai was kidnapped one sleepy afternoon by the young and old men of the Chamber of Commerce and taken to dinner. Cheng Fengtai monopolized the clearing and forwarding business in the north, and Fan Family plantation North and South were self-sufficient enough businesses for him, with the help of Cao Siling, Manchuria dared not to do difficult things. If he finds some important cargo, he'll take a shortcut through the mountains to avoid the tax, since the local gangs are already taken care of by him. Yes. This way, all the buying and selling is profitable, and the profits are considerable. Cheng Fengtai walked both the bright and the dark paths of commerce without any obstruction, and the people of the Chamber of Commerce were impressed by his unrestrained style. This time, they decided to attack from all sides with half deterrence and half coaxing to take him down.


Cheng Fengtai played mahjong all night yesterday, overslept in the middle of the night today, missed a snack, and was starving to death when he woke up in the afternoon. Yes. he woke up just in time for the Chamber of Commerce's fundraiser, and the restaurant was a fine place, so he decided to eat first. Sitting on the round table, tearing chicken breasts and drinking wine, listening patiently to their good-natured singing and mud-slinging, and their clear division of labor. When the food is hot, he eats from side to side, and when he's done, he tells the second kid to add a bowl of rice, without a word. The people at the Chamber of Commerce got confused, they talked about him in a positive and negative way, but he just ate and ate and ignored them. What's the point of gobbling up the food without any sense of decency?

Cheng Fengtai put his chopsticks down when he was full, took a hand towel and slowly wiped his mouth and hands. Everyone stared at him blankly.

Cheng Fengtai said, "You're all done talking?”

Everyone nodded: "It's over.”

Cheng Fengtai said, "Then it's my turn, right?"“

Everyone nodded again: "Second master, speak.”

Cheng Fengtai looked at the nearest old man with a twinkle in his eye and said, "Shopkeeper Li, you're just like the others. How dare you talk business with me? What was the price of the silk you brought in from Hangzhou last year? What price did you tell me? Do you take me for a fool? You're too old to come to me with those upped prices, I'm ashamed to turn you down, I've made a bad deal for you, and you're still interested in bad mouthing me! You've got the nerve!"

Shopkeeper Li didn't expect him to speak so clearly, his face turned red, his tongue hardened, and he couldn't speak back. When Cheng Fengtai had enough of him, he took them one by one in order of seating, and everyone was embarrassed by him. This is the usual style among businessmen, the one who can outwit and out-deceive the other wins. They've never seen such a straightforward and uncritical prick as Cheng Fengtai. There was silence in the room, everyone was stunned.

Cheng Fengtai stood up, one hand in his pants pocket, the other holding a roll of handkerchiefs and points at them. "After September 18th, the north and the Japanese are making trouble, you dare not go, and I'm the one who's going to kill them all! The barrier costs money to maintain! I paved that road with my own silver! Now that it's a smooth sailing trade route, you've come out of nowhere to get a piece of it? Where in heaven's name would such a good thing come from for free? How can such good things come to pass for free?"

The people, who had been staring at him, were speechless when he spoke, and no one answered for a long time. The chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, a respected old man, stood up slowly, raised his eyebrows, took a handkerchief and covered his mouth with a cough, he said, "Master Cheng, that's not what I said. The Beiping Chamber of Commerce has always followed the same rules, so it's not like you're the only one who can use it! It's not a good rule for you to monopolize a trade route!"

Cheng Fengtai sneered: "Why don't you ask around, and just try to put the rules on me? When did I say I wanted to become a member of your Beiping Chamber of Commerce? Besides, even if I opened a good trade route, it wouldn't stop you from getting rich. Each one can do things according to his own ability, let's go our own way! To each his own!"

"But Second Master, the path of the tigers and wolves to the north is very difficult and difficult to follow. You're ruining our lives...”

"Then you're all useless.” Cheng Fengtai tsked his tongue, and said: "I wonder, now that I got through and established a good trade route and all of you say you will not survive. And before I got through and this trade route was not established, how did you all survive?”

The chairman was very generous, thinking it was the same group that had just sung in red, nodded, and smiled. “I know our business is tough. Didn't I come here to discuss it with you, sir?”

Cheng Fengtai said, "Oh? You came to talk to me? I thought you were bullying the few, coercing me. I thought you were bullying me with more enthusiasm."

I don't know who's bullying whom. The chairman thought, this Cheng Fengtai is really a ruthless and stinky guy, he is not easy to deal with. Now that he's a one-man gang, he has no connection with anyone else in the business, so there's no way to blackmail him. So the chairman could only retreat to the last step and offer a favorable condition: "Where is the second master's word, where is his daring?, you just need to give us a ride, the big boys will always remember you well, so we won't let you down. We'll agree on the price.”

Cheng Fengtai waved his hand: "I don't know. I traded my life for these secret routes, I can't have them bought with money, I only give them to friends. I'll just let my friends use these trade routes."




Cheng Fengtai's family is wealthy and he is a gentleman, everyone here believes that he only lets his friends go, so they immediately came to their senses and replaced the enemy tag they had on him. And they all looked like they wanted to be his friend. But Cheng Fengtai said: "But all of you here today, one by one, are all fucking a.ssholes and not my friends!”

At the last word, he threw his towel into the soup pot, and immediately the soup splattered like a bomb, the table was splattered all over the place. A few drops of soup landed on the glasses of the chairman of the Chamber of Commerce, and the old man was shocked. Cheng Fengtai, having won the battle of words, felt relieved with every hair on his body, and pushed the door open with aplomb.

Cheng Fengtai has wanted to scold the Chamber of Commerce for a long time, because he doesn't get the benefits from it, and they always give him a hard time whenever he has the chance. They have no morals, they are horrible. Today they came to his door to scold him, and even treated him to a good meal before scolding him. Thinking back on the encounter, he felt a rush of pleasure.

Cheng Fengtai got drunk when he's excited, like he's on morphine, his body is agitated and uncontrollable. He sat in the car and laughed uproariously for a while, but Lao Ge, the driver, was not surprised, and his heart was very hardened, so he waited until he had finished laughing to catch his breath, Then ask: "Second master, where to? Where to?"

Cheng Fengtai, with blood in his veins, said, "Go! Little mansion!”

The mansion is the residence of a dancer whom Cheng Fengtai and Fan Lin have kept. Last year, they both fell in love with the dancer and almost fell out of friendship with each other. But the dancer, who was so knowledgeable and righteous, said that she was touched by the brother's deep affection and that she would not then fight over her, what if they were to fall out of love for her. She can't stand it. So the girl asked for a threesome and had them go at it together. Cheng Fengtai smiled with lust, but Fan Lian doesn't understand. He asked, "How can we be three partners? The dancer put her index finger on his head and said, "Idiot! There are seven days in a week. You have Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and he has Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday. Why don't we change the days? Fan Lin blushed as he stammered. He thinks it's a good idea, so he generously buys a house and hides a side chick he shares with his brother-in-law.

Arriving at the mansion, Auntie was shocked at the sight of Cheng Fengtai and laughed: "What brings you here, Master Cheng? Master Fan is here.”

Cheng Fengtai waves his hand, "Where are all these noblemen!” He heads upstairs, walks to the bedroom, kicks open the door, Fan Lian was in bed with a dancer, hears the door, and peeks out from under the covers. One unruly head, looking at someone with glasses on, frowned: "Brother-in-law, it's not your day.”

Cheng Fengtai picked up his scattered clothes, uncovered the blanket and threw them on him. I'll take Monday, Wednesday, Friday, you take Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday... so you go, I want his today. Today I want her."

Fan Lian blushed, threw his clothes back on the floor, covered his crotch with the corner of the blanket: "I'm like this! You want me to go out and get changed? Why don't you change!!"

Cheng Fengtai's eyes lustfully turned around on his tender body, smiling, "Who should I change? Why don't you? "He reached out his hand to touch him, but Fan Lian slapped it away.

The dancer giggles, lies down in the bed and whispers: "Now that we're here, let's do it together! It's so cold, nobody's going anywhere.”

Cheng Fengtai touched the dancer's face as he undresses, smiling lasciviously, "You're the sensible one.” Turning back to Fan Lian, he said: "Are you leaving or not? You're free to go but I am staying."

Fan Lian knew that Cheng Fengtai was drunk and mad outside, but his stubbornness is getting the better of him and he raged, "I'm not leaving!"

Fan Lin won't leave, but he wants nothing to do with it. If he wants a dancer to relieve him in some other way, what if Cheng Fengtai touches him and nibbles on him, the way he does with women. Fan Lin was so sick that his scalp exploded. In the end, he could only crouch to one side, frustrated by the vibrations and moans around him, enduring his desires with no way out.

Ever since he met Cheng Fengtai, he's opened his eyes to what it means to be unrestrained and shameless. Cheng Fengtai is always capable of doing nasty things that he can't imagine, and he's attracted to it, so it's clear that deep down he's not... A decent man.

Fan Lian glanced at the naked couple beside him, and said, "Shame on you!

After screwing the woman for a while, Cheng Fengtai let out a long breath, got up from the dancer and dressed slowly and methodically. In his manner, there was the gracefulness of a man who has lost his impatience and is satisfied with his feet. But the damsel was already dying and broken. When Cheng Fengtai gets excited, he has no control over his hands, which is why he is looking for someone outside to calm his inner thirst. If he did that to the Second Lady, he'd be beaten to death. Putting on his clothes, he said to Fan Lian, "I'm done. Help yourself. Help yourself."

Fan Lian said, "Why are you leaving so late?”

Cheng Fengtai raised his eyebrows and smiled: "I'm not used to intruding on other people's togetherness.”




Fan Lian realizes he's been tricked. What do you mean "together"? Cheng Fengtai didn't even want to be "together"! Angrily, he said, "You're not used to it, so I'm used to it? I'm not used to it! "I'm leaving too." He has no appetite for a dancer who was already ravaged like this, dripping wet and slimy all over with someone else c.um

They leave the mansion together, Fengtai in sturdy form and Fan Lin in a slumped state. When they reached the car, Fengtai took Fan Lian's wrist and said, "I'll give you a ride. I'll walk you out."

Fan Lian is irritated, stalking away from him, "I have my own car!”

I don't know if Cheng Fengtai is feeling guilty, or if he's trying to trick him again, but he was holding his arm and refusing to let go, "Come, come, don't be shy! We're all sharing the same bed now. Let me give you a ride.” Fan Lian was furious. He shook him off and cursed, "Get out! You rascal!" Then he got out of his car and slammed the door.

Ge, seeing this, especially hearing the phrase "sharing a bed", misunderstood what had happened between their brother-in-law and brother-in-law, he sighed inwardly at the absurdities of the rich. Cheng Fengtai was so happy that he got into the car, and his energy was not exhausted.

Lao Ge asked: "This is going home?"

Cheng Fengtai said, "No. Let's go to the ballroom again.”

The ballroom is on the same street as the Qingfeng Grand Theater, and the car passing by the theater has a big "Shang Xirui" written on the blue sign out front. ”The Palace of Eternal Youth". As soon as Cheng Fengtai's thoughts changed, he abandoned the ballroom, and went to the dressing room from the dark alley to play with the opera actors.

Shang Xirui has finished his make-up, his face is red and white, and he has a head full of gold and jewellery. He jumped up to him, grabbed Cheng Fengtai's arm and laughed, "Second Master! What are you doing here, Second Master?" Turned around and asked Xiao Lai to bring him some tea. Xiao Lai said yes but didn't move. Cheng Fengtai, not caring, slowly slid his finger over the tassels on Shang Xirui's chest and smiled, "Is it Noble Consort Yang again?”

Shang Xirui nodded.” Yeah. What a coincidence you're here, tonight is the Palace of Eternal Youth.”

"Oh. Noble Consort Yang by Tang Minghuang.”

"Why don't you sit down, sir? I owe you a play.”

Cheng Fengtai said: "I don't watch it, I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm too old to watch love scenes. I just came to say hello, haha.” Then he touched Shang Xirui's face: "Is this made of glass? It's shiny."

Shang Xirui smiled obediently and let him touch him, feeling as if Cheng Fengtai was drunk, but the look in his eyes was clear, not drunk, jokingly, he said, "My 'Palace of Eternal Youth' is quite different from the ordinary ones, you will understand it with patience. This is the most concise piece of music written by Du Qi. He and I have been rehearsing it for a year, and we've put in a lot of effort to make sure it's not a waste of time.”

Before Cheng Fengtai said anything, Sheng Ziyun rushed in through the front door and was stunned to see Cheng Fengtai. He stepped back a bit, showing some fear. He didn't expect to be caught by him again, I was afraid he would report to the Shanghai family....”

Cheng Fengtai has behaved badly herself, but she likes to pretend to lecture other people's children, staring at Sheng Ziyun's face and smiling but not laughing. Mocking him: "Oh? Our college student again? Are you here to study?”

Sheng Ziyun was standing by the door, sweating profusely. Shang Xirui looked at him and said, "The play is about to begin, so take your seat.”

Sheng Ziyun wanted to say something to Shang Xirui, but Cheng Fengtai looked at him, and he had to silently follow him out.

The Qingfeng Theater is twice the size of other theaters, but whenever Shang Xirui appears, the attendance is always ten percent more. The seats downstairs were full, but there were people who couldn't get a seat, so they bought standing tickets and stood in a row against the wall at the back. Cheng Fengtai and Sheng Ziyun went to a box on the second floor to the left, which happened to be the same place where they had watched Shang Xirui's first performance at the Huixian Theatre.

As the play opens, the Emperor laments his loneliness as someone interrupts. Shang Xirui, as Noble Consort Yang, comes on stage and raises his eyes. Cheng Fengtai finds this seat marvelous, a good opera singer, not only his body and voice, but also the charm in his eyes. Drama. He doesn't know how Shang Xirui, normally such a naive and confused child, can behave like a different person after putting on make-up. It has a profound look, as if it has lived for a long time and experienced a lot of things.

Shang Xirui sang for a while, Cheng Fengtai justifiably unable to understand, a bit bored, staring at the people on stage with a slight smile, casually asks to the side, "What's this singing about?”




Sheng Ziyun had already lost his mind. As soon as Shang Xirui began to sing, he went crazy, and perfunctorily translated two lines of the song to Cheng Fengtai. As he listened, Cheng Fengtai suddenly said, "Why is this part? I remember the last time I saw it, but it didn't seem to be there.

Sheng Ziyun said, "This is Xirui... Mr. Shang and Du Qi changed it together.”

Cheng Fengtai said faintly: "The addition is quite interesting.”

Sheng Ziyun was energized: "I also think it's very well done. Out of the wretchedness of Mawei...”

Cheng Fengtai, long past his literary and romantic years, smiled at these literary analyses, saying: "Plumpness? Noble Consort Yang is plump enough."

The rest of Sheng Ziyun's insight was immediately nullified. He thinks he can't get along with such mercenary merchants as Cheng Fengtai, which leads to a sense of loneliness. And so Shang Xirui became a celestial being. A man who fell from the sky. The world doesn't know him, only he does.

Shang Xirui sang slowly and acted slowly on stage, very devoted, trying to show Cheng Fengtai the best side of him, to return his I-am-grateful. Tonight's production of "The Palace of Eternal Youth" is different from the previous ones. Shang Xirui and Du Qi have revised the playbook and summarized the three days of the Palace of Eternal Youth original play. The result is a four-hour show that is the best of what Shang Xirui has to offer. Most satisfying work to date...

Under Sheng Ziyun's guidance, Cheng Fengtai seemed to understand a little bit, and was able to understand some of the words without having to explain them. Every word was heard and felt in his heart. Then he gradually put away his careless smile, frowned, and deepened his eyes, he was into the drama, into Shang Xirui of the play.

"I've never experienced anything like this in my life. One dream, one life, one dream. Like a time-traveling demon from a thousand years ago, Shang Xirui carried the soul of Noble Consort Yang, singing and dancing, and walked alone, walking life alone. The world is changing slowly, the years are in his sleeve. A sigh of relief at the tossing of the sleeve, the opera actor is crazy, the watcher is drunk, the opera actor doesn't know he is in the play, the watcher doesn't know he is in the play. In a dream. Cheng Fengtai is transformed into an old and colorful world, chasing Shang Xirui's back and walking all the way past the Palace of Eternal Youth, on the rocky slopes of Mawei, past the walls of Beiping and Nanluoguxiang Street, there are golden horses, paper horses, and paper horses, surrounded by ghosts! The same people, he passes them by, and walks into a white or a black, swallowed up by time, a feather. No stay.

This is not something that can be put into words...

Cheng Fengtai sat in silence, his spirit out of his body, wandering for a thousand years, his heart changing in an instant. He felt numb, so numb that he couldn't even feel his own existence. He couldn't tell what was so good about it, but he knew that Shang Xirui had made his soul fly away. Years ago, when he was a student, he could have written tens of thousands of words like Sheng Ziyun, from an artistic and humanistic point of view pondering the play. But now he can't say, his life experience has made him silent and clumsy and motionless in the face of shock.

After Shang Xirui got excited, the stage lighted up, and he looked over at Cheng Fengtai.

Sheng Ziyun stood up and applauded warmly for Shang Xirui, saying excitedly, "Second brother, I'm going backstage to see Xirui. You can go home first... Second Brother? "As if he had seen something terrible, the applause stopped, and the man froze.

Cheng Fengtai said: "Oh. You go ahead.”




Sheng Ziyun only looked at his face in amazement: "Second brother...”

Cheng Fengtai touched his hand, his face covered with tears. He took out a handkerchief and wiped his face, saying: "It's all right. The light is blinding... I'm a little drunk. You can go. You go."

He was drunk, this time, very drunk.



~ Winter Begonia ~



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