Painter

Chapter 74: Chapter 74: A Night of Fish and Dragon Dance ([-])

In the bright moonlight, beside the East Canal of Yequan, Gu Jiuniang hugged her pipa and sat in the shadow of oars and lights.

Beside the stone archway in Changlefang, the several food stalls selling lei tea, wontons, white sausage and fried lamb have already taken six or seven groups of diners, but Nie Er has not yet returned.She looked at the bustling crowd for a while, then finally put on her pipa, rubbed her cold palms together, and walked to the wonton stand.

The side of the stall was crowded with people. A performer lit incense sticks made of lotus leaves and honey. He used chopsticks to stir up the smoke. cheers.

Gu Jiuniang passed through the crowd, squeezed out a few people who were in the way, apologized, and came to the food stall. A person at the square table glanced at the pipa behind her, moved a seat to the side, Gu Jiuniang pursed her lips and squeezed out a smile , Sit over and ask for a bowl of wonton.

Changlefang's wonton stuffing has a thin skin, and the white dough skin is as thin as a cicada's wing, which sinks and floats in the red soup.Two sips of hot soup can make people sweat.Gu Jiuniang sipped a few sips of boiling soup to drive away the spring cold, watching the tricks next to her from time to time.

A man wearing Wenjia's fingers, leading four or five men in green clothes, came out from the red sleeves.When these people came to the stone archway, the entertainers on the side of the road recognized the man's identity as Cao Huishou's subordinate, and the playwright nicknamed "Full Eyes" performed even harder.

However, without squinting, he found the side of Yequan East Canal, looked around, and asked someone for questioning.Asking and asking, he leaned over to the wonton stall.

Gu Jiuniang drank the soup, not even a shredded green onion was left.She put down the bowl, but the stall owner quickly put it away.The stall owner put away the bowl and motioned her to leave the seat, "Excuse me, look over there..."

A group of people came over from there, Gu Jiuniang straightened the pipa behind her back and got up to avoid it.But all eyes shouted: "Which one is Gu Jiuniang?"

Gu Jiuniang was taken aback for a moment, then thought again, people like her with surnames and no names are everywhere, and it is not uncommon for people with the same name, otherwise... why did Huishou Cao seek her?
In a daze, she walked over with all her eyes and saw the pipa behind her.

As the crowd watched, Gu Jiuniang took another half step away without realizing it, but her heart was pounding.She raised her head and looked into the whole body's eyes, and was about to say "it's me", but swallowed her voice back, and just nodded to him.

Walking up with all eyes on the pipa behind Gu Jiuniang, he asked Gu Jiuniang, "Are you..."

"It's me." Gu Jiuniang tried her best to conceal her hoarse voice.

……

In the lobby on the fifth floor of Hongxiuzhao, behind the screen, Li Chan took the wine glass filled by the singing girl and thanked Cao Sulan and Hongxiuzhao's bustard.The bustard's surname is Chen, and she has white hair on her temples, but she didn't use lotus seed paste to dye it black.It seems that the owner of the red sleeve move is good at dancing and has no worries about not allowing the world to see gray heads. She held up the wine glass with both hands and said with a smile: "What's the hard work to talk about? The pipa has been dusted in the red sleeve move for many years, and now it has a chance to see the sun again. I should thank you two."

As she said that, she saw Gu Jiuniang being brought upstairs through the gap in the screen, and raised her eyebrows, showing a look of reminiscence. After a while, she said in surprise, "It's her?"

Cao Sulan smiled and said, "Why, so they are acquaintances?"

The madam put down the empty wine glass and said softly: "I heard Li Lang mention her name just now, and I thought it was a little familiar, but I recognized her when I saw her appearance. This woman used to be the singer of the Jiaofang Division. Everyone has tuned the strings."

Xu Yingqiu said: "It's a coincidence, but it's no wonder she can play the five-stringed pipa."

Gu Jiuniang was led to the piano stage by her whole body eyes. Over the years, the red sleeve technique has changed a lot, which made her feel right and wrong.She glimpsed some figures in the gaps of the screens, but she didn't see Cao Sulan's figure, so she turned her gaze away.

The more restless she felt in her heart, the more taciturn she became, and she sat behind the piano stage.The two singers with red sleeves carefully carried the Xuanxiang pipa, and Gu Jiuniang was short of breath.

Xuanxiang is different from the commonly seen four-string pipa. It is not a curved neck, but a straight neck. The top and back are made of black material, and the top is inlaid with mother-of-pearl, just like stars.Xuanxiang is also a celestial phenomenon, which is the origin of the name Xuanxiang.

When Gu Jiuniang took the pipa, she couldn't suppress her excitement and her hands trembled.Seeing Xuanxiang, she knew why Cao Sulan invited her over.She does know how to play the five-stringed pipa, and in the morning, she even got a sheet music from Li Chan.

But how did Cao Sulan know?

Xuanxiang is bigger than ordinary pipa, and it needs to be held vertically when playing, and it can be played directly without using a plectrum. In this way, there is more room for display, which is why Xue Jian's music skills are far superior to others one.

Gu Jiuniang pressed her finger on the fret, restrained her thoughts about the sound test, suddenly felt something, looked up, and finally caught a glimpse of a familiar figure in the southeast corner of the lobby.

With a fever in her heart, she carefully pulled out the music book with a rotten cover from her arms, put it on the piano stand and opened it.

Pluck the strings with your fingers, listen with your ears, caress the Phoenix platform on the neck of the piano with your plain hands, hold the pegs and twist them gently.

A few strings rang, and most of the conversation upstairs disappeared.

They are all waiting for the sound of the pipa that is about to sound.Gu Jiuniang hadn't seen such a scene for many years. She took a deep breath, but calmed down, looked at the Gongchifu on the score, and played the first note.

　I've been a little busy recently, and it's not that I can't find the time to code words. It's just that when I'm busy, I lose my status, and I can't code well while sitting at the computer.I will adjust as soon as possible.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)