Returning to the county opera troupe in 77

Zaohuaigou is located in the northernmost mountain valley of Dongping County, dozens of miles away from the county seat.

These days, mountain roads are difficult to travel, full of potholes and twists and turns, truly living up to the saying: "Covered in dust on sunny days, covered in mud on rainy days."

The county theater troupe members had to set off early, gathering before dawn.

The vehicles were arranged by Deputy Commander Han Wenxue: three hand tractors, each towing a large trailer. Two were for people, and one was for props and scenery.

Early in the morning, the courtyard was bustling with activity. Actors, band members, stagehands, and cooks, all wrapped in cotton-padded coats and carrying bundles, climbed onto the tractor in twos and threes.

Han Wenxue stood in the courtyard, shouting orders, "Hurry up! Don't dawdle! We still need to set up the stage when we get there!"

As the stage manager, Chen Xiangdong naturally had to help move props, carry the stage props, and neatly arrange and tie up the swords, spears, and other weapons.

That wasn't all. The kitchen's cooking pots, medium-sized iron pots, tin stoves, buckets, vegetable basins, cutting boards, and all sorts of other odds and ends had to be loaded onto the truck. It was no easy task.

He carried things back and forth, sweating profusely. Qin Gang stood by the truck bed, passing things over, muttering, "Be careful with the tin stove, don't break it! Put the vegetable basin on top, it won't break!"

Chen Xiangdong responded, his hands moving deftly, showing none of the inexperience of someone who had only been there a few days ago. Deputy Regiment Commander Han stood watching, even having a fleeting thought: this kid seemed like a veteran in the troupe, knowing everything perfectly, needing no instructions, and even more familiar with the tasks than the seasoned stagehands.

As dawn broke, the lights in the courtyard were still on, and shadowy figures moved about, busy as bees.

They worked from before dawn until almost eight o'clock, and finally got everything ready. Three tractors, carrying people, sputtered and sputtered, belching black smoke, and drove out of the county town.

It wasn't until noon that the fully loaded tractor finally bumped its way out of the potholed mountain road and swayed into the grain drying ground in front of Zaohuaigou Village.

The person in charge of receiving us in the village was Song Yuanpeng, the head of the Zaohuaigou Production Brigade, an old man with a pipe in his mouth and his hands behind his back.

He called over a few teenagers to help unload the truck, while he and Han Wenxue sat down on the large millstone and started chatting idly.

The threshing ground was quite spacious, so the stage was set up there.

Because the opera will be performed for three consecutive days, food and lodging must be provided on-site, so a simple shed must be erected.

Chen Xiangdong jumped off the vehicle, his legs still trembling. He cursed, "This damn tractor almost bounced my ass into eight pieces!"

He stretched his legs and looked around.

Zaohuaigou is considered one of the wealthier villages in Dongping County, with about a hundred households scattered along the mountainside.

Apart from a few old houses with mud walls and thatched roofs on the mountaintop, most of the rest are large houses with blue and red bricks and tiles, which look even more grand than the theater troupe's compound.

"Hey, hurry up and don't knock the box over!" Han Wenxue shouted, a filtered cigarette dangling from his lips.

Old Song waved his hand with a smile: "No rush, take your time unloading. We've all been waiting for you for days, we're so glad you've finally arrived!"

The old man pointed to a spacious courtyard in the ravine:

"Gou Shengzi's family is lucky; they have two kids. The eldest is a high-ranking officer in the army, and the younger one has a good job in the provincial capital. It's just that the eldest son arranged for your theater troupe to come and celebrate Gou Shengzi's 70th birthday."

Upon hearing this, Han Wenxue couldn't help but exclaim, "Wow, this family is really crooked!"

While these two leaders were chatting idly, their subordinates couldn't stay idle. The village boys, all of them young and middle-aged, put in a lot of effort, busily unloading things from the truck.

Chen Xiangdong wasn't idle either; this was his livelihood. As he unloaded the boxes, he neatly arranged them in one place.

Qin Gang climbed off the car, groaning in pain as he clutched his back. He turned and called out, "Dongwa, let's unload our kitchen utensils and find a sheltered spot so we can start a fire and cook!"

Chen Xiangdong responded and quickly unloaded the tin stove and various pots and pans, setting up a temporary stove in the woods near the east side of the threshing ground.

The actors and musicians also got off the bus. Some rubbed their buttocks, some stretched, and Lu Meiyin and Pan Lanxiang stood at the far east end and squatted at the far west end, ignoring each other from a distance.

Before Chen Xiangdong could even catch his breath, he was called by the production crew to set up the tent and stage.

Moving logs, pulling canvas, nailing platform boards—after all that work, thankfully Chen Xiangdong was young and quick, while the older crew members were so exhausted they could barely stand up straight.

After a busy afternoon, around 1 p.m., the basic framework was finally set up. The kitchen had already prepared the meal, and the remaining details could be worked on slowly, so as not to delay the evening's performance.

The kitchen was making stewed pork with large radishes for lunch. The aroma wafted out, and everyone in the threshing ground couldn't help but sniff. Chen Xiangdong approached Qin Gang, who was serving the food with a ladle:

"Chef Qin, is the lunch really that heavy?"

Qin Gang laughed so hard his shoulders shook: "It's all thanks to the people of Zaohuaigou! The host slaughtered three big fat pigs and two sheep at once, and gave our troupe a whole pig. They're so generous!"

"ah!"

The moment these words were spoken, all the actors in line were stunned.

Liu Dezhu, holding a bowl, approached the large pot and gestured with his chin toward the enormous wooden basin covered by a burlap sack behind the stove: "That whole basin is full of pork? One pig every three days, our troupe is doing well!"

Qin Gang slammed his large ladle against the edge of the pot and waved his hand generously, "That's right! This whole pig weighs almost two hundred jin! The host is so generous, let's eat as much as we want; there's enough meat for three days!"

The food had been improved, and they were now serving meat to their hearts' content, which drew loud cheers from the entire troupe. Liu Dezhu jokingly scolded, "Our troupe hardly ever eats meat throughout the year, but this performance has left us with our mouths full of grease."

Chen Xiangdong just smiled, but a sense of unease crept into his heart. He clearly remembered that something big was about to happen today, and it almost resulted in a death, back in his previous life.

The scene was chaotic. Something happened in the audience, and the crowd was in an uproar. The play that night never actually started.

Before he could even think about what happened back then, Han Wenxue started yelling, "Dongwa, eat faster! Come with me to the host's house. They've prepared a lot of tea and snacks for the evening's performance, and they've also prepared a portion for our troupe. Go and bring it over."

Everyone was even more delighted to hear this. There were even refreshments? The troupe hadn't put on such a lavish performance in years.

"Okay!"

Chen Xiangdong responded and quickly ate the large bowl of vegetables and four steamed buns, finishing them all in no time.

Following Han Wenxue, we arrived at the host's house. The courtyard was bustling with activity, with many idle men and women squatting on the ground eating sunflower seeds, spitting out the shells all over the ground.

Chen Xiangdong looked up at the main hall and saw an old man with a goatee wearing a long robe chatting and laughing with a man in a green military uniform who looked imposing.

"Deputy Regiment Commander Han, is that the host family?" Chen Xiangdong asked in a low voice.

Han Wenxue nodded: "That old man is the birthday celebrant today. The one in the green military uniform is his eldest son; I heard he's a high-ranking official in Xi'an."

"Hey, what are you standing there for? The tea and snacks are in this room." Village Chief Song waved to them from the side room.

Chen Xiangdong hurried over and, as instructed, carried a large, full food basket in each hand towards the grain drying ground at the village entrance.

After a busy afternoon, the tent and stage were finally set up.

The production crew connected the power lines from the village, and after adjusting the seven lights—front light, side light, and cyclorama—it was already dark, and the area in front of the stage was filled with villagers from Zaohuaigou waiting to watch the play.

The family sat on the long bench in the front row, with the old man being helped by his son to sit properly in the middle.

Director Liu Qiaosheng stood to the side of the stage, squinted at the lights, glanced around the audience, and nodded to Han Wenxue. Han Wenxue waved his hand, and the actors entered the stage one by one, preparing behind the curtain.

"Bang da—luo cai—da da da—cang!"

As the band's strings began to play, the lively entrance to the threshing ground exploded in the air, and the previously laughing and joking audience all fell silent.

Several women, carrying baskets, cheerfully distributed tea and snacks to the villagers one by one. The children's eyes lit up at the sight of the golden-brown fried cakes, and they grabbed several in their hands and stuffed them into their mouths.

The fried cakes were fried early in the morning, and were already cold, hard, and sticky to their throats, but the kids didn't care. They choked and hiccuped but kept eating them.

As the drumbeats grew louder, Pan Lanxiang, who played Liu Qiao'er, stood close to the curtain, preparing to enter the stage.

Suddenly, a commotion erupted from below the stage, and the entire threshing ground descended into chaos.

"Oh no! This kid's face has turned purple; he's choked to death!"