Returning to the county opera troupe in 77

As soon as the gongs and drums sounded, the entire audience fell silent.

As the curtain rose and several arias were performed, Guo Jianguang appeared on stage, dressed in a New Fourth Army uniform, his voice ringing out spiritedly: "The morning glow reflects on Yangcheng Lake..."

"Bravo!" A cheer immediately erupted from the audience, followed by applause.

Next, Sister Aqing appeared on stage. Lu Meiyin was in exceptional form today, perfectly capturing the shrewd and capable demeanor from the moment she stepped onto the stage. As soon as she appeared, veteran opera fans in the audience shouted, "Great! That's the real Sister Aqing!"

"Set up an eight-immortal table to entertain guests from all directions..." Lu Meiyin's voice was clear and bright, her pronunciation crisp, and her eyes darted around, as if she could draw people into the scene.

"Good! Good!" Cheers rose and fell, and even in the last row corner, someone was slapping their thigh.

Standing behind the side curtain, Chen Xiangdong listened with his skin crawling, and couldn't help but sigh: This is the charm of an excellent actor; every melody and every word can resonate with the audience.

If you can do that, then you're a true star.

In the first row of the audience, the leaders of the cotton mill cheered and clapped loudly. Jia Dafang and Han Wenxue, sitting next to them, naturally felt proud and joined in the applause.

Jia Dafang turned to the side, leaned close to Han Wenxue's ear, and whispered with a smile, "You put on a great show today. Lu Meiyin didn't let our troupe down."

Han Wenxue nodded repeatedly, his eyes still fixed on the stage: "That's right, the pillar of the troupe. Our troupe's reputation is built on this great voice."

As soon as she finished speaking, Sister Aqing on the stage sang another beautiful high-pitched song, which was met with another thunderous cheer from the audience.

A play requires several scene changes during its run, and the production crew is the busiest during this time.

As soon as the teahouse performance ended and the drumming stopped, Chen Xiangdong and the production crew crouched down and rushed onto the stage.

Tables, chairs, benches, teapots, and teacups were all removed or moved. In less than two minutes, the reed marshland scene was set up, with a few clumps of reeds placed in front of the stage and artificial rocks moved around.

Niu Laohei lowered his voice and urged, "Hurry up!" Chen Xiangdong, the last to leave the stage, picked up the scattered props left on the table.

He had just retreated to the side of the stage when the drum troupe started playing again, and the next scene was already smoothly transitioning into the next one.

The performance of "Shajiabang" lasted for more than two hours, and the leaders of the cotton mill enjoyed it very much.

After the actors took their bows, they held Jia Dafang's hand and said they had thoroughly enjoyed the performance that day, promising to send six bolts of cotton silk the next day to provide the entire troupe with new practice clothes.

Jia Dafang was grinning from ear to ear, shaking hands and thanking him repeatedly.

At dinner time, Jia Dafang announced in the cafeteria:

"Quiet down, everyone, I have something to say! Today's performance of 'Shajiabang' was a great success, and the leaders of the cotton mill have agreed to donate six bolts of cotton silk to our troupe to make new practice uniforms! This is all thanks to everyone; everyone deserves a share!"

"Wow, this time we've upgraded from a slingshot to a cannon!"

"That's right, this training uniform was given to us when we first joined the group, and it's been patched and mended for two or three years now."

Before the cheers in the cafeteria had even subsided, some quick-thinking individuals had already begun calculating the costs.

The county cotton mill had a large bolt of cloth, 1.5 meters wide and 100 meters long. Three bolts of cloth were more than enough to give each of the 70 people in the entire regiment a new set of training clothes.

Six horses? That's more than double!

Some people's minds suddenly come alive.

"Six bolts of cloth? How can we possibly use all of that?" Sun Minghai, who was in charge of costumes, put down his chopsticks, his eyes darting around behind his reading glasses. "Commander, could you leave two bolts of extra cloth for our costume team? Look at all those old costumes, patched and mended again. They should have been replaced a long time ago."

"Your costume department wants the fabric, so we can't practice?" He Jianshe immediately objected. "We agreed it was for practice clothes, you can't steal it."

Liu Dezhu chimed in, "That's right, that's right! Our training clothes are practically tattered rags. Now that we've finally gotten a new batch of cloth, everyone should get some."

Sun Minghai persisted: "How much fabric does a practice uniform need? Three bolts are enough. Besides, if the costumes are too tattered, it's a disgrace to our troupe on stage. Isn't that more important than practicing?"

The two sides argued back and forth, neither willing to give in, and it seemed they were about to get into a heated argument.

Jia Dafang coughed loudly and raised his hand to press down: "What's all the noise about! The cloth hasn't even arrived yet, what are you arguing about? When the cloth arrives tomorrow, the troupe will discuss how to distribute it, and no one should try to take more than their share."

Han Wenxue chimed in, "That's right. This fabric is a reward from the cotton mill leaders to the entire group. We need to listen to the opinions of the masses and work together to improve production."

Seeing that the commotion had gradually subsided, Jia Dafang cleared his throat and continued, "There are two more things I'd like to tell you all."

The cafeteria quieted down a bit, and everyone perked up their ears.

"First, in a few days, county leaders will be holding a commendation meeting at our troupe's compound to specifically commend Comrade Chen Xiangdong for his heroic act of saving people from the fire. When the county leaders come, everyone should be on their best, pay attention to organizational discipline, and not dare to act recklessly."

As soon as he finished speaking, many people turned their attention to Chen Xiangdong.

Chen Xiangdong grinned broadly, while Fatty Qin, leaning over the food window, teased, "Commander Jia, since the county leaders are here to commend him, shouldn't they give Dongwa a reward? How much will they give him?"

Jia Dafang turned around and glared at Fatty Qin: "What money?! This commendation ceremony is an honor, it's about the ideological awareness of our working class! Stop spouting nonsense!"

Fatty Qin shrank back, chuckled, and dared not say another word.

Jia Dafang turned around, glanced at everyone in the canteen, and said earnestly, "Our troupe relies on our art for a living, but we must rely even more on our moral character. Dongwa rushed into the fire to save people; he risked his life. If any of you had that kind of courage, I'd report you!"

No one in the cafeteria made a sound; the fire at that time still haunts many of those present.

Chen Xiangdong scratched his head, stood up and said, "Commander, I just did what I was supposed to do, there's nothing to praise me for."

Jia Dafang waved his hand: "You should be praised when you deserve it, so don't be modest."

As he spoke, a slight smile appeared on his lips, and he coughed lightly: "Well... I heard there really is a cash reward, but as for how much, I'm not sure."

These words caused another uproar in the cafeteria.

"Are they really giving money? Dongwazi got the prize, he should buy candy for everyone to sweeten their mouths!" Fatty Qin was the first to chime in.

"That's right, that's right, we have to buy candy for such a joyous occasion!" someone chimed in.

Lu Meiyin put her hands on her hips: "Alright, alright, we don't even know how much of a reward we'll get. Do you think it's easy for those kids to earn money? There are over seventy people in the whole group, those few dollars probably won't even be enough to buy you candy."

"I'm just joking with Dongwazi, we can't really let him buy it."

"Haha, just kidding."

The crowd burst into laughter again.

The commotion about buying candy was just for fun; nobody took it seriously. After chatting and laughing through dinner, everyone went back to their rooms.

The next day, before dawn, Chen Xiangdong was still half asleep when he heard the door to the woodshed being gently pushed open.

"Dongwazi! Dongwazi!" Fatty Qin shouted in a low voice, like a thief.

Chen Xiangdong rolled over, turned on the light, and rubbed his eyes: "What's wrong?"

Fatty Qin squeezed through the door and leaned in mysteriously: "I've made some contact with a few friends and gotten some cheap pork, several cents cheaper than the market price. Come on, come with me to pull the cart."

Cheap meat?

Chen Xiangdong suddenly jolted awake and subconsciously asked, "Rice dumplings?"

Fatty Qin chuckled: "What else did you think?"

"Migeda meat" is a name used in northern Shaanxi, and it has other names in other places. In essence, it is pork infected with cysticercosis, commonly known as "bean meat".

If you eat it without cleaning it properly, the "white rice grains" inside the meat are actually live insect eggs.

These tapeworm eggs live in the intestines and can grow into tapeworms several feet long; just thinking about it sends chills down your spine.

Seeing Chen Xiangdong's unfocused eyes, as if he hadn't fully woken up, Fatty Qin couldn't help but urge, "Are you going or not?"

Chen Xiangdong then came to his senses: "Go, why wouldn't we go?"