I'm wandering in the world

Chapter 63 Learning to Play
With the help of money, the taxi driver quickly sent Chen Qingyuan to a troupe in Tsim Sha Tsui. He said that this troupe sang the best among all the Cantonese opera troupes...

Chen Qingyuan straightened his clothes and went straight to the troupe. This was a large house with a courtyard, a stage, and even staff dormitories in the back. It was impossible to build such a venue without some financial resources. And judging from the newness of the surrounding decoration, it was at least five years old.

At this moment, the play on the stage had just finished and the actors were taking their bows.

Chen Qingyuan came to the backstage and before he could say anything, he saw a man in his fifties walking towards him.

The man looked Chen Qingyuan up and down and asked, "Hello, sir. I am Xiaotian, the owner of the troupe here. You are not allowed to enter the backstage of the troupe casually. If you have nothing to do, please leave..."

Chen Qingyuan got straight to the point and said, "So you're the troupe owner. It's like this. I have an old man at home who likes to listen to opera and sing opera. Now... he's a little old and not in good condition. I'm afraid he won't live for many days.

When she was young, she was also a famous Cantonese opera actress, but she stopped performing and just liked to listen. Now she is dying, and as a junior, I want to learn a solo opera from the troupe owner and sing it for the old lady..."

The troupe owner was somewhat moved, but a little embarrassed: "Singing opera is not as simple as imagined. Everyone calls us actors, but who knows that being an actor is not easy. It all depends on the master, and adults like you are too big. It is difficult to have decent results by learning temporarily..."

Without saying anything, Chen Qingyuan pulled out a wad of banknotes from his pocket and placed them on the table: "Boss, please rest assured, I am not here to take advantage of you, nor am I in the same industry. I just want to learn how to sing a play."

This stack of money is at least four or five thousand yuan.

The class leader was silent for a while, then said, "Let me teach you myself. First, tell me what lyrics your elders like to sing the most?"

Chen Qingyuan recalled the lyrics of the song about the beauty of Chu people, cleared her throat and imitated it: "My lover is in a happy mood, and I answer when my heart is broken. The moon knows my aggrieved mood. It is not easy to meet but easy to part. It is too late for an abandoned woman to regret now. Do you remember the phoenix's joy at that time, and do you remember whether you continued to be unkind and passed away..."

The troupe owner felt his skin go numb and quickly called for a stop: "Stop singing, your singing skills are not good enough, it sounds like a ghost crying and howling."

He said, "This is a story about selling meat to feed orphans. Ma Qiuyun sold herself to a brothel to save her son. The plot is very tragic. The old man in your family keeps singing this song. It seems that he is also a sentimental person who has been hurt by love..."

Chen Qingyuan nodded and said, "The old man...well, when she was young, she had the opportunity to join the 'Ruwojing Theatre Club' and perform a cross-dressing performance of "Zhuangzi Tests His Wife" with Mr. Li. She missed it because of some delays. This is the biggest regret of her life. So can the owner of the troupe teach me the song of "Zhuangzi Tests His Wife" and sing both the male and female roles for me..."

The owner put the money in his pocket, took a look at the sky outside and said, "Since you are so anxious, I won't waste time and will start teaching you right away. I will teach you very quickly, from pronunciation, breathing, gestures, lyrics, intonation, and then I will teach you the song. How much you can learn depends on yourself."

Zhuangzi tested his wife.

This is an ancient story about a man named Zhuangzi who went out to cultivate immortality but returned empty-handed. On the way, he met a widow fanning the dirt on a grave with a fan and asked Zhuangzi to help fan the dirt. Zhuangzi was puzzled, and the widow said that she had an agreement with her late husband that if she wanted to remarry, she had to wait until the grave was dry!

Zhuangzi rejected the widow and went back to tell his wife about it.

The wife laughed at him and said that the widow was just in a hurry to remarry and was so shameless.

Zhuangzi wanted to see if his wife loved him, so he pretended to die of illness, and then used magic to transform himself into a young man to mourn. As expected, he attracted his wife's attention, and the two hit it off. The young man suddenly fell ill and needed a human brain to cure him. His wife had no other choice but to pry open the coffin and try to get Zhuangzi's brain. As a result, Zhuangzi resurrected on the spot and pointed out that his wife was no different from the widow in the tomb. His wife was so ashamed that she hanged herself that night...

The lyrics of the song are equivalent to telling this story again, but from the perspectives of men and women...

After traveling through time, Chen Qingyuan learned languages ​​very quickly, and even sang opera very quickly. The troupe owner was astounded and thought that if Chen Qingyuan had not worked in this industry before, he must be a heaven-chosen opera singer!
The troupe owner felt that Chen Qingyuan was the future of drama, so he strongly invited Chen Qingyuan to join the troupe, but was immediately rejected...

Chen Qingyuan said, "I want to learn another song." The class owner asked hurriedly, "Tell me, I'll teach you if I know how to do it."

Chen Qingyuan said: "Have you ever heard of "The Flower of the Imperial Concubine"? That song is very beautiful. I want to learn it."

Imperial Princess Flower?
The class owner was a little stunned: "I haven't heard of it..."

Chen Qingyuan was also a little confused. He said, "This is the story after the death of Emperor Chongzhen of the Ming Dynasty. Li Zicheng broke through the capital, and Emperor Chongzhen killed the princess and hanged himself on the mountain, but Princess Changping did not die. She was rescued and met her husband Zhou Shixian again. At this time, the Ming Dynasty fell and became the Qing Dynasty. She and her husband discussed going to the Qing Palace to plead with the Qing Emperor to release those royal brothers and properly bury Emperor Chongzhen. On the way to the palace, the couple bowed to each other under the tree of the Qianqing Palace and drank arsenic to commit suicide..."

The class owner said he had never heard of it.

Chen Qingyuan could only sing along with the lyrics and general melody, which surprised the old owner again, and he exclaimed that the song was great.

At night, Chen Qingyuan left.

Outside the gate of the opera troupe, the troupe owner stood outside the gate and looked at the street corner where Chen Qingyuan left. He felt very complicated. He was happy that there was another amazing opera singer, but it was a pity that this singer did not like to sing opera. He only learned two songs to comfort the elderly at home...

The waning moon hangs high in the night sky, obscured by a few clouds.

The pond under Huangshan Village was full of shadows. The moonlight shone through the treetops onto the water, creating a thousand layers of silver waves, revealing a touch of elegance and a touch of weirdness...

It was because there was a person soaking in the pool, wearing a dark blue gown, with waist-length hair covering his face.

Chu Renmei, her upper body was above the water, her lower body was soaked in the water, her sleeves gently swayed, she made a sad and sorrowful voice, and began to sing the lyrics of selling meat to support orphans...

In an instant, the sounds of frogs and insects stopped.

As the singing drifted into the night, the wandering ghosts of the villagers in Huangshan Village seemed to be frightened and crowded towards the ancestral hall.

Chu Renmei sang again and again, and even if there were no audience, she would still sway her body.

at this time.

A slightly sharp opera voice rang out from the barren hills near the pond:

"The sky is full of fallen petals, blocking the moonlight. I lend a cup of wine to offer to the Phoenix Terrace. The princess offers incense with tears in her eyes, and is willing to sacrifice her life to thank her parents. I watch secretly. She is sad with tears in her eyes, and I am half frightened..."

The standard Cantonese opera accent and the lyrics that touch people's hearts and souls.

Chu Renmei stopped her song. Ripples appeared in the pool and her figure had disappeared. It turned out that she had appeared on the hillside of the barren mountain, and then appeared on the top of the mountain in a flash.

She "looked" towards the source of the sound, and saw a young man with a mask painted on his face. The mask was half female and half male. This person had to sing both male and female parts. It seemed that he was going to develop into a male dan...

(End of this chapter)