my wife is queen

Chapter 109
Singing music in restaurants flourished during the Song and Yuan Dynasties. Most of the places where prostitutes came and went were Goulan, and restaurants were only places for a cappella.

In the current dynasty, tea gardens prospered, and snacks were prepared in the gardens, and there was less noise from restaurants. Compared with restaurants, it was more suitable for listening to operas for entertainment.

The well-known opera troupe in the capital city is located outside Zhengyangmen. Su Xiaoxiaoban, Kefan Troupe, Wuling Troupe and other well-known opera troupes in the capital sing in the Chalou all the year round.

A dignitary like Li Mian doesn't have to worry about a seat. The blue trousers worn by Yunniang next to her are more useful than theater tickets, and she can directly walk into the Chalou to listen to the play, and sit in the official seat reserved by the owner of the Chalou.

The stage of Chalou is built against the wall, and the actors on the stage can be watched on three sides.

There are carved low corridors around the west platform, four corner columns support the ceiling, and a large urn is buried under the wooden planks.

The smallpox and the big urn provide the actors with the resonance of the opera, which can make the opera sound louder.

The best place to check the building is the official seat near the stage. The middle of each official seat is separated by a lacquered screen. According to the corresponding seats of the official seat and the upper and lower gates, it is divided into the upper and lower gates and the lower gates. The gate official seat is the most honorable.

In the corridors on both sides of the downstairs of the official seat, there are relatively inferior scattered seats, and there are high seats behind.

In the open space in front of the stage and between the corridors, there are many tables for ordinary wealthy people to watch operas, and it is also the most common pool seat in the theater building.

The servant of Chalou was a very discerning servant, and he led Li Mian directly to the official seat.

The boy waited for the maidservant to bring a new pot of tea and some tea and food, but he did not leave, saying nice words: "Master, today is a coincidence, because it is the day when Su Xiaoban sings The Story of the West Chamber. The young dignitaries left the office early, and went to our theater to listen to the opera. Only the official seat of the young master is left, and if it is later, there may be no seats left."

Li Mian looked at the little boy talking beautifully with a smile on his face, he didn't have the slightest intention of leaving, knowing that he was waiting for a reward.

Li Mian glanced back at Yunniang, motioned her to casually take out some loose silver, and sent the servant away.

Yun Niang showed a pitiful expression, and reluctantly stretched out her palm, ready to open the Duanmuliang brocade box, and took out a few copper coins from it to give to the boy.

Before Yunniang opened the Duanmuliang brocade box, the pheasant slave standing on Li Mian's left took out a piece of scattered silver from Suxiu's purse and gave it to the servant as a reward.

The boy took it in his hand, weighed it lightly, and estimated the weight of the silver, at least three or four cents.

The smile on the boy's face grew stronger. After nodding and bowing his hands, he hurriedly left the official seat and stopped disturbing the nobleman's listening to the opera.

Li Mian sat near the corridor on the second floor and looked around. Although he couldn't see the situation of other officials clearly, the maidservants who kept walking in and out could also tell that the boy was right. Check it out. This is the only official seat left in the building.

Since it is an official seat for the rich and powerful to listen to operas, it is much more spacious than the almost crowded tables downstairs.

Li Mian was sitting on the rosewood official hat chair, and on the mahogany flat-topped table in front of him, there was a pot of new tea and several tea dishes.

Pheasant Nu and Yun Niang stood behind him, and they still didn't feel crowded, and it would be no problem to seat another three or five people.

Li Mian was quite satisfied with his official position, and thought that when he left, he would leave more tea money on the mahogany flat-head case according to the rules.

The distinguished guests sitting in the official seat can come in directly to listen to the opera without buying theater tickets, but they have to leave some tea money on the mahogany flat-headed table when they leave.

Li Mian took a sip of the new tea poured by the pheasant slave, savored the taste of the tea carefully, and waited for Su Xiaoban to start singing The Story of the West Chamber. There were some noises coming from the entrance of the Chalou, as if someone was arguing at the entrance of the Chalou.

He didn't care, Zha Lou was a well-known theater in the capital, and there were many quarrels between guests.

The boy just took the bounty, the smile on his face didn't last long, he hurried out of the check building again, stood at the door, carefully apologizing to the two distinguished guests.

In the process of making amends, the boy still looked at the two distinguished guests frequently no matter how many warnings he received from his boss on weekdays.

It's not that the servant doesn't understand the rules, it's just that the two distinguished guests are too good-looking.

He met all kinds of young masters in the chat room, but he had never seen them look as good-looking as these two young masters. Even the beauties that the noble young master brought with him were not as good-looking as the two of them.

As soon as Da Yuer arrived at the gate of Chalou, she heard that the servants standing at the gate stopped selling tickets, and once again prevaricated them with the excuse of not having a seat.

Da Yu'er was a little disappointed, she lost all intention of listening to the show, and was about to get up and leave Chalou.

Xiao Yu'er next to her was not happy, and almost took out the whip and gave the servant a whip.

Fortunately, Xiao Yuer remembered that this was not a grassland, so she resisted the urge to whip someone, and took the whip back.

However, being prevaricated twice by people running out of seats, Xiao Yuer felt dissatisfied and had to talk to the person in charge: "Go and find your boss, how could such a big theater suddenly be empty?" Before coming here, I had already inquired clearly, Mr. Chalou’s family will leave some official seats for distinguished guests every day, what do you mean, look down on my son, she is the son of a prairie prince."

As soon as the boy came to the door, he heard Xiao Yu'er say "Prince of the Grassland", and his face became serious.

He quickly asked the servant to retire, and immediately apologized: "It's the villain's fault, he almost bumped into the honored guest, today is really unlucky, it's not intentional to make things difficult for the two honored guests, there is only the last official seat left just now, it's a pity that the two came here One step too late, someone has already sat in."

Xiao Yuer glared at him, still taking the boy's words as an excuse: "You people from the Central Plains are really unreasonable. Just now in the theater in Shichahai, you used the lack of seats as an excuse, and now you are doing it again. I don't believe that there are no seats in the theater. It must be that you guys saw that my son is from the Horqin Grassland, and didn't pay attention to my son, and refused to take out the official seat reserved in advance. Hmph, don't let us see it. Don’t watch it, please don’t come.”

When the boy heard the phrase Horqin Grassland, he immediately had a problem. Although he was a servant of the theater, the guests he usually came into contact with were dignitaries and officials in the capital, and he knew the importance of Horqin Grassland to the imperial court.

Both the imperial court and the Jurchens are wooing the Horqin Grassland, and the people in Huangchenggen are more concerned about the court's political affairs. The servant dare not let these two distinguished guests from the Horqin Grassland leave easily.

Listening to the opera is a trivial matter, and it should not delay the important affairs of the family and the country.

The servant gritted his teeth, and made an embarrassing decision: "The two distinguished guests wait here for a while, and the villain will go upstairs and ask the distinguished guest who just sat in if he can sit with the two distinguished guests."

(End of this chapter)