The box keeper, growing impatient, asked gruffly:
What are you acting in?
"Huarong Road!"
"Of course I know that. What role is it?"
"It's important."
"Hahaha..." He laughed, looking up. "You little rascal, I thought you were either Cao Cao or Guan Yu! You're nothing but Guan Yu! Go away! Go stand over there and cool off. You'll have your clothes to wear later." Then he went back to his work.
The careless words of the master of the box pierced Huaiyu's heart. He gritted his teeth, feeling humiliated and helpless, and could only stand aside.
Look at Master Li, the pom-pom on his dragon crown is like a flame, the crescent-shaped dagger on his hilt gleams with a bluish-green light, the golden shaft gleams, and his aura is chilling...
Once on stage, the actors performed a play amidst applause. But Guan Yu, no matter how handsome he looked, simply held the seal box and stood motionless behind Guan Gong until the curtain fell.
The relationships and partings on stage seemed to him to be inexplicable external matters.
In the Three Kingdoms drama, Guan Ping, a mere supporting character among the various heroes, exists only for visual appeal. Clad in silver-blue, accented by a yellow-threaded seal box, he holds it with an air of authority, quietly observing the performance from a corner of the stage. For a moment, he too feels like a mere spectator.
Because of this free time, he was a little nervous when he first went on stage, but he gradually realized that he was not important and no one would pay special attention to his performance. Although he did not cheat the audience, he had time to look at the crowd below the stage.
Rows of long tables were arranged along the stage, with two long benches beside each table. Spectators sat facing each other, turning their heads to the left or right to watch the performance. After a while, they inevitably had to turn in the opposite direction to avoid straining their necks. They drank tea and ate melon seeds, while candy vendors weaved through the crowd, tossing handkerchiefs over their heads and swirling them around the stage… Zhigao, his sworn brother, was in a corner by the wall, his hands clasped together, watching him intently.
"Sigh, once he got on the field, he stood there obediently for a full half day. I felt awkward watching him."
When they left the stage, Zhigao didn't hold back and gave Huaiyu another dressing down: "If you're performing on a street stall, at least you should be standing in the middle of the stage, presenting a proper scene."
Huaiyu didn't answer him. Her heart was in turmoil, but she couldn't bring herself to say anything. So she persisted.
"This is my first time, so let me show myself first."
"I'd rather be the head of a chicken than the tail of an ox," Zhigao said indignantly.
Master Li came over and asked:
"How does it feel to you?"
Huaiyu immediately stood up: "I'm still going to keep acting!"
“Okay!” Li Shengtian nodded: “We have to play all kinds of roles. The audience will always know what’s going on. Don’t think you can get ahead overnight.”
As soon as Li Shengtian left, Zhigao smiled knowingly at Huaiyu:
"You just want to get to the top in one step, don't think everyone doesn't know that."
Huaiyu only instructed, "Don't tell Dandan about today's carpet incident."
"Oh?" Zhigao laughed: "Afraid of losing face?"
Huaiyu wiped away the oil paint, and he returned to his natural state. He asked himself honestly, and realized it was all thanks to his master's guidance. He approached Li Shengtian and said:
"Master, whatever role you ask me to play, I'll do it. I will always remember where my blessings come from."
"Okay! It's good that you have the intention."
Huaiyu glanced at the open copy of *Romance of the Three Kingdoms* next to the colorful box, with many red lines between the pages. His master followed his gaze and asked:
Are you still reading?
"I look at them when I have time, but I don't know many characters. I guess as I look, and I'm usually pretty accurate."
“That’s it, Huaiyu,” Li Shengtian said. “People look down on opera singers because they lack a solid foundation in literature. Our students, who come from formal opera schools, are less literate. If you seek more knowledge, write more words, and learn to understand emotions and reason, you will be better than others.”
Every elderly person who has lost the opportunity to read longs for their children to turn a few more pages, hoping to make up for what they lost. Father said this, Master said this, and Huaiyu carried the hopes of the previous generation—Huaiyu wasn't unaware of this. However, for Zhigao, reading was a luxury; filling his stomach was the only reality. He asked, "Hey, you have a big head, right?"
"nothing."
"Nothing?" Zhi Gao exclaimed, "The clouds have been gathering for ages, but hardly any rain has fallen. You're actually willing to do this lousy job?"
Huaiyu returned home without uttering a word. —Little did she know, Boss Tang had secretly been there and already knew what was going on:
"He was quite disciplined on the field, without any fuss."
Upon hearing this, Huaiyu knew that her father wasn't so stubborn after all. Then Zhou's eyes lit up, and he said:
"Father, next time, it will definitely be better next time!"
Despite winning her father's understanding, Huaiyu was still not at ease because Dandan was angry.
For the past three days, whether at Tianqiao, Taoranting, or Hufangqiao, even at a small stall drinking oil tea, the person had just brewed a bowl of tea with white flour and beef bone marrow oil using a tall, red copper kettle, and added sesame seeds, pine nuts, walnuts, etc., a big bowl of hot tea. When he picked it up, he saw Dandan walking by, called her, and handed it to her. Dandan didn't even glance at it, turned around and walked away.
Huaiyu held the tea and drank it, then stood there for a long while, not knowing what to do.
Huaiyu thought she hadn't done anything wrong, hadn't offended her, so why was she angry? Being ignored like this was really unpleasant. If she just said a few less words, who knew she'd find out everything? She could only let Dandan be.
—But three days passed like this, and during those three days I did not see her or hear her voice. I felt a sense of loss and anticipation.
Huaiyu's heart was in turmoil, as if disturbed.
Fortunately, during tonight's performance, my master had me play Ma Chong, which required some skill and distracted my restless thoughts.
Li Shengtian's Xiang Yu, hearing the trumpet sound from behind the curtain, felt the horse neigh. The Overlord, already at his end, saw even his horse whimpering sadly. He hurriedly led the horse onto the stage, whipping it. Huaiyu arrived at the "Grand Advance" stage, quickly pulling and tugging to steady the horse. Xiang Yu, beside Yu Ji, suppressed his grief and sang a free-rhythm song:
"The horse seemed to know that something terrible was about to happen, so it roared and neighed at the base of the horse—..." Then the rider stroked the horse, reluctant to part with it. In the end, the rider had no choice but to let Ma Chong lead the horse away.
Huaiyu exited the stage; his performance was over. He carefully put away his riding whip and then let out a muffled sigh.