Night Lights

Chapter 220 Crossing the Yin Mountain
The world is great, everything has its origin, yin and yang change, and the five elements are born and restrained; wood is full of gold, wood is made of wood, water is rich in soil, and embankments are built, fire-quenched metallurgy, blades and swords are cast, water is dredged and soil is cultivated into a wall; At the beginning, yin and yang are nurtured together, and if the mutual generation is over, it will deteriorate; this name is: the five elements generate restraint.Excerpted from the eight volumes of Jiangyin in "The Book of Words Without Words".

……

one year later.

From the stage of a theater on Fuzhou Road in Shanghai, the exciting gongs of the Peking Opera "Luo Ma Lake" were heard...

The one who is about to take the stage is Jingjin Kunjiao, the finale of Liufu Opera Troupe - Xiao Baiyu.Little Baiyu was less than eighteen to seventeen, with red lips and slim white teeth, and she had studied the Xu Sheng opera of the Yu school since childhood. "Wen Zhaoguan", "Missing the Sky" and so on, are all her good repertoires.What's more, she is nearly in her late twenties, with delicate features, her face is confessional without powder, her lips are red without a touch of vermilion, her eyes are full of affection, and she has a handsome and sassy air.

"Three-foot carved feather arrows, when you open the bow, people and horses turn over, kill the enemy to be a hero, and a hero will be a boy!"

With the sound of gongs and drums, Xiao Baiyu entered the stage from the "outside" gate, flicked his sleeves a few times, and walked squarely to Taichung to make his debut.Stern walking is upright and sassy. With a "snap", Xiao Baiyu wanted to kick the sling on her waist to her shoulders, but this kick failed...

"Yo yo!"

Seeing this, the audience booed one after another!
All theater fans know that this is the most basic "leg skill", even the third- and fourth-rate Wudan.Not to mention famous characters like Xiao Baiyu.It stands to reason that Xiao Baiyu has sung and practiced this excerpt countless times, so nothing would go wrong at all, but now something went wrong!
In desperation, Xiao Baiyu raised her head and glanced at the audience, making a cute eye for the occasion.It means: 'I'm not feeling well, please bear with me'.Afterwards, he kicked three times in a row with 'Pa Pa Pa Pa'. His posture was correct and his legs were strong enough, but he just didn't kick the sash to his shoulders, which immediately caused the audience to roar with laughter, booing!

"No, let's go!"

The teacher and father of the theatrical troupe glanced at the stage and gasped on the spot.Opera troupes have had three fears since ancient times. The first fear is that the opening day will not be beautiful; the second fear is that the opening will cause trouble; The reputation of the troupe is easier to lose a corner.At that moment, the teacher and father shouted anxiously: "It's unlucky to stop the gong! Wuzi Li, hurry up and replace Xiao Baiyu!"

"Ok!"

Hearing the teacher's father drink it, Li Wuzi, a martial artist in the opera troupe, had no time to remove his makeup, so he hurriedly grabbed two copper hammers, lifted the curtain and went on stage again.Walking on the stage with a copper hammer in hand, he walked on the stage, leading the leather drums, big gongs and small gongs, one beat and one scattered, and he turned on and danced with the hammer.After several tosses, the place was saved!

Xiao Baiyu went backstage after the stage, slumped on the chair, staring blankly...

"It's not the way to go down like this!"

The teacher and father paced back and forth, frowning tightly, and sighed repeatedly: "For three days in a row, Jingui's voice became hoarse during the third half of the song, and Zhang Sanbao broke his leg yesterday, and today Xiao Baiyu came out again. This stuff..."

The clown Zhang Sanbao said beside him: "That's right, we're not afraid of anything else when we go on stage, we're afraid of this. To attract wealth and not cause trouble, right now it seems to be a taboo, haunted by ghosts, how can we continue singing?"

"Breaking taboo?"

The master frowned, and suddenly said in surprise: "By the way, did you all burn incense and worship before opening the box?"

Everyone looked at each other and nodded.Zhang Sanbao also nodded and replied: "Following the rules passed down by the ancestors, who dare not burn incense on stage?"

After hearing this, the teacher's father frowned into a walnut skin, and bowed his head in silence.

"Hurry up... quick look!"

At this moment, Wu Shengfu of the theater troupe stared wide-eyed, pointed at a theater box with trembling hands, and screamed!
Everyone turned their heads to look, and couldn't help but gasped.Even the oldest and most amazing teacher and father were stunned on the spot.At some point, three yellow talismans were pasted on the theater box, with three big blood-red characters written on it - Crossing the Yin Mountain!

"This is……"

The old master slowly moved forward, raised his hand and was about to take it off, when the three yellow talismans turned into three strands of thick smoke and dissipated out of thin air with a 'bang' sound.The teacher was so frightened that his whole body trembled, his expression stiffened, and everyone present was shocked.

""Crossing the Yin Mountain"?"

Zhang Sanbao boldly asked beside him: "What is going on?"

Teacher and father came back to his senses, and said with a sad face: "The name sounds like a 'ghost show'!"

"what!"

After hearing this, everyone felt terrified and chilled.We all know that ghost operas are sung in vain, not something that can be sung by ordinary opera troupes, and ghost operas are extremely popular, such as "Zhong Kui Marries a Sister", "Bao Gong Debates", "Younv Hun" - there is no such thing as "Crossing the Yin Mountain" "This eye!
I heard the teacher and father say slowly: "No wonder there are so many strange things recently. It turns out that our troupe has recruited grieving ghosts!"

Xiao Baiyu was so frightened that her face was as white as paper, her whole body was shivering into a ball, and she cried tremblingly: "This... what can I do?"

"How to do?"

The teacher and father glanced at everyone's faces, frowned and said: "Ten-year opera troupe, people praise the name, century-old opera troupe, reputation praises people; this business depends on reputation, we are new here, and we haven't finished singing three shows here, how can we stop? ...If we stop before the number of performances is over, I'm afraid we won't be able to sing in the future! This business can't tolerate us..."

Xiao Baiyu shouted anxiously: "But this ghost show is not something we can sing!"

The teacher's father clenched his fists and spun around the ground in a hurry.

At this moment, Zhang Sanbao suddenly called out: "Master, I know one person who can sing white opera. Now I can ask him to carry a joint to appease this ghost!"

The teacher was stunned and said, "Who is it?"

Zhang Sanbao replied: "This man's name is Li Qingtian, he specializes in martial arts, he is a 'Wu Zhuangzi', not 'a master of the road', he doesn't gossip, has a small voice, can play cards, he was also a famous actor in the early years. He is best at singing "Iron Cage Mountain" and other excerpts, and became famous for a while. Who knows that Li Qingtian was addicted to smoking, drinking, gambling, whoring, and could not perform on stage until he was full of cigarettes. All the money he earned was spent on this Later, he pawned the costumes and lost the face of the theater and was kicked out by the theater troupe... Now that he is struggling to make a living, he does not accept the 'black pestle' and only sings ghost shows at the Baihui, which makes people look up to him even more!"

The teacher said in a daze, "How did you know this person?"

Zhang Sanbao blushed, and said falteringly: "When I came here the day before yesterday, I couldn't hold back the craving for cigarettes, so I went to the smoking hall to take a couple of puffs. During this time, I got to know him, and became friends after going back and forth..."

After hearing this, the teacher and father couldn't blame him, and shouted anxiously: "Where is he now?"

Zhang Sanbao replied: "At about this time he is still soaking in the smoking hall, I will go to invite him right away!"

"At this point, I have no choice but to be a dead horse as a living horse doctor..." The master gritted his teeth and shouted at Zhang Sanbao: "Okay! Sanbao, go and buy some money and ask him to come to the rescue, no matter what. Persist in singing for the remaining two days, and never make any mistakes!

"to make!"

Zhang Sanbao nodded in agreement, then wrapped the money, leaned on crutches, supported by two young apprentices, pushed the door and left.The master looked at Zhang Sanbao's back, sighed, and thought to himself: "How can you offend the ghost?"

Two hours later, Zhang Sanbao hurried back.As soon as the teacher and father couldn't see Li Qingtian, he immediately asked anxiously: "What's the matter? Could it be that the door hit a wall - didn't you come?"

Zhang Sanbao shook his head and said, "Mr. Li is so warm-hearted and benevolent. Please move, but it won't work today, he won't come until tomorrow night!"

"why?"

"Mr. Li said that there is no room for sloppy singing in ghost shows, and you have to sing outrageous tunes, and you can't sing water songs. Since the word "Guoyinshan" was mentioned in "ghosts", he has to come up with a word to hang his voice... …Also, we need to prepare.”

The teacher asked, "What are you preparing for?"

"Three pillars of fragrant incense should be placed on the left and right sides of the stage. Let it be infrequent plays, the incense cannot be broken, and copper coins should be used to hold the line at the foot of the tea table... People who belong to chickens, cows and dogs on the stage are not allowed to be on the stage!"

"Okay, we're ready!"

……

The next night, Li Qingtian really came!
Teacher and father took a look, Li Qingtian was wearing a gray gown. He was tall, thin, dry and brittle, with yellow skin and wrinkled skin. His eyes were like a pair of glass balls. They were bright and lifeless. demeanor.The teacher and father greeted each other, and then explained the cause and effect.After hearing this, Li Qingtian nodded and said: "Ghosts love to listen to operas, so I changed the opera overnight and added some libretto, to ensure that it will reincarnate as soon as possible after listening to it, and never dare to come to the opera troupe to make trouble!"

"it is good!"

The teacher's father listened and his heart blossomed with a smile on his face.But then he hesitated again, and said: "Today, all the plays have been reported, so I'm afraid it's not appropriate to change the show at the moment!"

Li Qingtian replied: "Misfortune will attract ghosts, don't wait for anyone, it's not right to be late!"

There was no way out, the master gritted his teeth and shouted at the crowd: "Why are you still standing there? Listen to Mr. Li, go and arrange it right away, and go on stage to sing a ghost show next time!"

A group of young disciples hurriedly set up the stage, and lit three pillars of incense sticks on both sides of the stage, the incense candles were as thick as the mouth of a bowl.As a result, the startled audience was stunned, not knowing what they were up to, and some people even joked: "Which one is this? What if there is an extra play? It looks like "Heavenly Companion", right?"

While speaking, Li Qingtian changed into white clothes, with his hair loose, and went out to the stage.After standing still, Li Qingtian moved his lips and opened his mouth to sing: "Life is full of life, and it is difficult to continue. Walking will pass the Yinshan Mountain!"

After listening to the audience, they were all in a daze. They had never heard this song before, and they didn't know the source.Immediately there was a burst of applause, one after another shouted surprise and applause, shouting freshness!There was only one person who stood up from his seat with a 'shua' after hearing this, his face was ashen, his lips were trembling, and he said tremblingly: "Go... go to hell?"

"Sir, what's wrong with you?"

Several fierce and strong men also stood up one after another, with panicked expressions.Seeing this man frowned again, he gritted his teeth and shouted viciously: "Go, tear down the stage for me!"

Several servants looked at each other, took out a pistol from his arms, jumped onto the stage, and shouted loudly: "Surely, hurry up and stop, or I will send you to heaven!"

"The opportunity is here!"

At the same time—in a corner of the theater, there was a young woman with reddish eyes.Holding a piece of talisman tightly in both hands, he stared fiercely at the standing man, then jumped up, rushed forward and shouted: "Wang Jingwei, take your life!"

(End of this chapter)