Returning to the county opera troupe in 77

Chapter 111 Double Holiday

More and more educated youth returned to the city, and the number of idle people on the streets increased day by day.

The quarrels and fights in the street are just minor squabbles.

What's truly troublesome are those who have no money, no job, no household registration, and not even a place to stay. They are like a bunch of grass seeds blown away by the wind, drifting wherever they end up, but wherever they land, trouble is likely to arise.

It's common knowledge that the quality of educated youth varied greatly.

Some people are law-abiding and dutiful, but others are different. After returning to the city, they find that they have nothing left. The factory is unwanted, the neighborhood doesn't care, and they can't even find a place to live.

It's fine for a day or two, but after ten days or half a month, people start to get restless. And all sorts of messy things start happening.

Of course, these are all things that happened in the county town, and for the time being, they have nothing to do with the theater troupe compound. However, it won't be long before those educated youths who are blinded by greed will probably reach into the theater troupe's finance office.

In his previous life, the troupe had been robbed by thieves several times. Chen Xiangdong couldn't remember the exact dates, but he vaguely remembered that the first theft had happened just a few days ago.

He secretly thought that perhaps he should tell Zhu Zhengwei about this beforehand, so that it wouldn't be too late to regret it if something really happened.

Just as Chen Xiangdong returned to the compound from Xiguan and passed the kitchen, Fatty Qin leaned halfway out of the window, beckoning him mysteriously from a distance and calling out in a low voice, "Dongwa, hey, come here! Come over here!"

Chen Xiangdong paused for a moment, looking at Qin Pangzi's winking and gesturing, and then he turned a corner and walked over.

Qin Pangzi wiped his greasy hands on his apron and then leaned close to his ear: "You don't know yet, do you? Two new employees just arrived. They said they're educated youth who just returned to the city, a man and a woman. Han Wenxue arranged for them to stay next to you."

Chen Xiangdong frowned. The educated youth—

Two figures flashed through my mind instantly; those two connections were no pushovers.

Seeing that Chen Xiangdong didn't react, Fatty Qin clicked his tongue and continued, "The man's name is Xu Wei, and the woman's name is Liu Maoming. They look decent enough, unlike those street thugs who cause trouble. But—"

He glanced at Chen Xiangdong, seemingly wanting to say something but then stopping himself: "You'd better be careful since you're living next door to them. There are all sorts of people among the educated youth; you can know a person's face but not their heart."

Chen Xiangdong raised an eyebrow, glanced back at him, and smiled, "What are you talking about? Are they some kind of monster? It can't be that bad."

"Hey, you coward, I kindly reminded you, and you're going to argue with me, huh?" Fatty Qin glared at him, grabbed a rag from the windowsill, and flicked it at him. "Don't call me to stand up for you if you get hurt later!"

"I know, I know." Chen Xiangdong waved his hand, turned his back to him without looking back, and walked towards the row of dormitories on the east side of the backyard.

Fatty Qin leaned on the windowsill, watching his departing figure, and muttered under his breath, "That kid, how can he be so carefree?"

After saying that, he shook his head and turned back to his work on the stove.

As Chen Xiangdong turned into the backyard, before he even reached the dormitory entrance, he saw from afar the two rooms next to his own, their doors wide open, one on the left and one on the right, sandwiching his room in the middle.

The sound of brooms sweeping the floor came from inside, and a smell of dust drifted in on the wind, making people's noses itch.

As I approached, a woman with shoulder-length hair emerged from the dormitory on the left, brushing the dust off her clothes as she walked out.

Although her skin was slightly tanned, clearly from working in the fields, her features were well-proportioned, with a high nose and big eyes; she was quite pretty.

She coughed a few times, choked by the dust, and when she looked up, she saw Chen Xiangdong. She smiled at him generously, walked over in a few steps, and extended her hand: "You must be Chen Xiangdong. Hello, my name is Liu Maoming. From now on, we'll be neighbors."

The woman was very casual and simply extended her hand, which startled Chen Xiangdong. He subconsciously rubbed his palm on his trouser leg before shaking her hand: "Uh, hello, Chen Xiangdong."

The two shook hands with a smile and then let go. Chen Xiangdong glanced to his right and asked, "Is this room occupied too?"

After several years in the countryside, he is still so fair-skinned, with no signs of sun damage on his face, which shows that Xu Wei probably didn't work in the fields much during his time there.

"Hello." Chen Xiangdong nodded in response.

He was relatively kind to Liu Maoming, but that woman was a female version of Xia De—straightforward, outspoken, and a hothead.

Since she joined the troupe, she has caused quite a bit of trouble, but she is not a bad person at heart. She speaks her mind and doesn't hide anything, so it's actually not tiring to get along with her.

But Xu Wei was different. Just as his name suggested, he was hypocritical and selfish, a sophisticated egoist who only considered whether things would benefit him and never cared about the lives of others. It is said that he had many crooked ideas to return to the city from the countryside. Those things were later dug up, and calling him a "wolf in sheep's clothing" was considered too lenient.

Of course, these are all for later.

In his previous life, Chen Xiangdong didn't have much interaction with these two people. They were each busy with their own things and kept to themselves.

As long as Xu Wei doesn't provoke him, he won't bother with him.

The two houses next door were being cleaned, and dust was flying everywhere, making people cough. Chen Xiangdong decided not to go back to his house, to avoid the dust getting into his room, and turned around to go to the theater.

As I approached the gate of the compound, I saw two middle-aged women dressed in coarse cloth coats and carrying large and small bags, standing outside the gate and looking into the compound.

Both men looked travel-worn, their trousers and shoes splattered with mud from their journey. The older one had some gray in his temples, while the younger one appeared to be close to forty.

Chen Xiangdong stopped, about to ask them what they wanted, when the younger woman spoke first: "Young man, does Feng Zhengxiao live here?"

Chen Xiangdong was taken aback. Looking for Master Feng?

It was two women again. Could it be—they've arrived?

"Ah, yes, yes." He raised an eyebrow, sizing up the other person: "You are—"

The two women exchanged a smile upon hearing this. The older woman seemed to have been relieved of a heavy burden, letting out a long sigh of relief: "Oh, that's great, we've finally found the place."

She turned to Chen Xiangdong and smiled, "My name is Xue Rong, and this is Mo Qingyan. We were introduced by Feng Zhengxiao."

Chen Xiangdong's eyes lit up immediately: "Old female role Xue Rong, young female role Mo Qingyan! It really is them!"