Chapter 43 Spring Banquet (Part 2)

  Old Lady Tai smiled and scolded Xu Wu Ye: "You love to play tricks, aren't you afraid of frightening the young ladies?" She glanced back at Fifth Wife Dan Yang who was standing behind her, "Dan Yang, you must take good care of him!"

  The fifth lady leaned on Tai Furen's shoulder, her eyes fixed on her husband as she smiled with pursed lips.

  "Third Aunt is also being kind!" Third Madam said with a smile, "Looking at so many seniors and sisters here, we can't let those opera performers come in to present their program, can we?" As she spoke, she personally went over to take the program from Old Man Xu's hand and presented it to Eldest Madam.

  The old lady handed the playbill to Madame Zheng: "Take a look, which act is to your liking!"

  Madam Zheng declined and insisted on letting Madam Tai choose the play: "Guest follows host's convenience!"

  Madam Tai saw her sincerity and handed the playbill to Madame Huang beside her.

  Madam Huang took the playbill with a smile: "You're all pushing and yielding, you've had time to sing half an act already." A maid handed her a tortoiseshell glasses from behind.

  She put on her glasses and carefully looked at the playbill: "The Weaving of Brocade, The Same Window, The Pipa Story, The Golden Sable Story, The Golden Seal Story...... Why not watch a literary play? This martial arts play is just a bunch of noise, jumping around, who knows what they're singing about?" As she spoke, she looked at the people in the room.

  Everyone naturally had no objection and said: "Whatever you say."

  Madam Huang handed over the playbill, smiling at Old Man Xu and saying: "Then let's sing 'The Pipa Tune', I love listening to it!"

  Xu Wuya imitated the apprentices in the theater and took a bow, then took the playbill to the dressing room behind the stage.

  Before long, a door in the wing room opened and several men carrying various musical instruments came out and sat down on the right side of the stage.

  A forty-year-old man came on stage and said a witty remark, then the drums sounded, and the play began.

  The gongs are loud and clear, with a strong metallic sound, mainly played by big and small cymbals and drums. The crisp and powerful beats create an exciting atmosphere even before the singing starts.

  This is still a literary play, if it were a martial arts play, wouldn't the voice be even louder?

  Eleventh Sister is a little nostalgic for Yue Opera. Chime chime ya ya, the long sleeves dance with water, very poetic.

  She had never seen this kind of play before and sat down to watch it carefully.

  The first scene of "Pipa Xing" is separation. It tells the story of a newlywed scholar, Cai Bojie, who has to leave for Beijing to take the imperial examination and bid farewell to his wife, Zhao Wuniang.

  The actors on stage sang with true emotions and their gestures and eye contact were spot on, but unfortunately they used the local dialect to sing and recite, so Eleven had to concentrate hard to barely understand seven or eight parts.

  It would be better if the lines could be printed in a small booklet for the audience to refer to... Shíyīniáng remembered that when she accompanied her grandparents to the theater, they would always receive such a small booklet.

  Suddenly someone pulled her right sleeve.

  Eleventh girl doesn't need to turn her head to know it's Fifth Girl.

  "Eleventh girl, can't let tenth girl steal the show..." She said in a very low voice.

  The eleventh girl turned back, opened her eyes wide: "What did sister say? I couldn't hear!"

  The sound of gongs and drums stopped for a moment, and her voice was clear and loud.

  Everyone's eyes turned over.

  The eleventh girl showed everyone an apologetic smile.

  The fifth daughter smiled and said: "I told you to move over a bit, you're blocking me!"

  "Oh!" Eleventh Sister smiled and shifted her position, leaning closer to Madame Zhang.

  The sound of gongs and drums rose again.

  The second fold is "High School", which writes about Cai Bojie's high school status, preparing for the joyful return of his hometown, but unexpectedly being favored by Niu Chengxiang and wanting to recruit him as a son-in-law.

  Eleventh Sister looked at Gan Qi Miss sitting there, secretly glancing left and right, with a helpless and tolerant expression. However, Gan San Miss listened with relish, even clenched her fists tightly when Niu Chengxiang said he wanted to recruit Cai Boji as his son-in-law.

  Look at several other young ladies again.

  Qiao Lianfang was somewhat absent-minded, Miss Lin's eyebrows were slightly furrowed, and although Miss Kang sat upright with a serious expression, her face changed with the emotions of the opera singer, sometimes smiling and sometimes worried.

  The eleventh girl couldn't help but smile.

  Madam Wu looks at her husband.

  Unexpectedly, she was just like Miss Tang, with a look of being completely absorbed in the plot.

  Eleventh girl thought for a moment, then turned her head and glanced at Fifth Girl and Tenth Girl.

  Wu Niang's face was deathly pale, and even her makeup couldn't conceal how utterly defeated she looked. She had no interest in watching the play. As for Shi Niang, she gazed at the stage with a smile, looking completely content and satisfied.

  The little girl suddenly thought of the allusion "the snipe and the clam grapple, the fisherman benefits".

  After the second fold was sung, there was a brief interlude.

  There is a comic actor who makes his entrance with a witty remark.

  Both old and young are attracted, and everyone is smiling with joy.

  The old lady gave a reward.

  Someone carried five glittering large ingots on a plum blossom tea tray painted with red lacquer and gold.

  Eleven girls stick out their tongues.

  Those ingots are twenty taels each, so this tray is one hundred taels. She did half a year of needlework to barely sell this many, and that was because Master Jian helped her sell them...

  The third act is "Forced Marriage". It describes how Niu Chengxiang persuades the emperor to grant a marriage and how he forces Cai Bogui to stay in the capital.

  When Cai Boji was alone in the study, feeling melancholy, a young servant with an untied head ran in, standing outside the room and looking around, but not daring to enter, with a worried face.

  The third lady quietly walked over and whispered a few words to the young servant, then hastily returned and spoke a few words in the old lady's ear.

  "Xiao Si is back!" Madame Tai was slightly startled, "Why so early today? Let him in! There are no outsiders here!" She also smiled at Zheng Taikun beside her, "The young master has returned, I heard that everyone is here, and he wants to come in to pay his respects!"

  "How dare you!" Zheng Taigong was overjoyed, but his mouth said words of decline.

  Madam Huang smiled and said, "It's been some years since I last saw the Marquis - two years ago he went to war, and last year my body wasn't well so I didn't attend the imperial banquet in the palace... now I'm afraid he's become even more subdued."

  The three madams understood what the lady of the house meant, went out and whispered a few words to the young servant in a low voice, and the young servant nodded repeatedly and ran away quickly.

  The old lady smiled and said: "He was steady since he was a child, now he is just dull!"

  "I've never seen anyone more demanding than you, Madam!" Mrs. Tang said with a smile, "I think the Fifth Master is very good to you, willing to 'entertain his relatives with colorful clothes', but you scold him left and right, calling him 'foolish' and 'mischievous'. It's gotten to the point where the two children don't know how to please you. As for the Marquis, everyone praises him as 'mature and restrained', but in your words, he becomes 'dull'. Alas, I wonder when my two children will be able to be like the Marquis and the Fifth Master, being 'dull' and 'mischievous' at the same time. That would make me content!" This speech was very flattering, praising Xu Lingyi and Xu Wuya, while also complimenting Mrs. Wu, but deliberately not mentioning Third Madam, who had been serving everyone in front of them.

  The eyes of the eleventh daughter wandered.

  The old lady smiled with satisfaction all over her face.

  Others also burst out laughing, but only Madame Bovary's eyes flashed with a hint of loss.

  The eleventh girl couldn't help but let out a soft sigh.

  If Yuanniang were not ill, Daitaitai would also feel honored!

  The little servant shouted loudly: "The young master is here!"

  The originally lively and bustling stage suddenly came to a halt, with complete silence, the musicians and actors standing still in their original positions, not moving at all.

  Xu Wuya suddenly appeared: "What's wrong? What's wrong?" He was still wearing his original clothes, with half of his face painted with a flower pattern.

  The fifth lady looked at him with a smile: "The lord is back! Didn't you hear?"

  "Good heavens!" he exclaimed loudly, rushing hastily into the room, "Whatever you do, don't say I'm here..."

  The whole courtyard was filled with people laughing so hard they were doubled over.

  The three madams smiled and led the young ladies to hide behind a screen on the west side.

  Behind the screen was a resting place, and everyone sat down separately. Only Miss Gan Qi crowded at the gap of the screen to look out.

  Miss Gan hurriedly pulled her sister: "What's so good to look at? In a few days, Grandpa's birthday is coming, and the Marquis will go to celebrate. You can watch as much as you want then. Don't make a scene here!" The last sentence was extremely soft, but no one in the room spoke, everyone heard it clearly.

  Miss Gan Qi shook off her sister's hand: "Hey, I'll take a look. Sixth Brother has been boasting about how powerful he is every day, I'd like to see if he really has three heads and six arms."

  Miss Gan pulled her sister's hand and wouldn't let go: "If you're like this, I'll never take you out again."

  Miss Lin covered her sleeve and smiled, while Miss Tang showed a look of disdain. Only Qiao Lianfang was deep in thought, gazing at the third miss of the Gan family.

  "His Lordship has arrived!"

  A warm and gentle voice pierced through the noise and touched people's hearts: "The son has come to pay his respects to his mother!"

  The two Miss Gans stood stunned in front of the screen, while everyone else held their breath and sat up straight, including Eleventh Sister.

  "Get up, get up!" The lady's voice was filled with joy that she couldn't conceal. "Why did you get up so early today? Wasn't there anything going on in the morning?"

  "These past few days have been quite leisurely." The voice spoke at a moderate pace, giving off an air of calm and collected certainty. "I heard that several madams are here, so my son has come to pay his respects!"

  "How dare you! How dare you!" Several ladies were being polite, but it was also clear that they were all quite pleased with Xu Lingyi's actions.

  Miss Gan's seventh sister turned her eyes and leaned in front of the screen to peek again. Miss Gan's third sister was standing there, pulling it would be afraid that people outside would hear the movement, not pulling it would be extremely rude behavior, really can't move forward or backward, very embarrassing.

  Qiao Lianfang covered her mouth and laughed, even Eleven Niang couldn't help but smile.

  After a simple exchange of pleasantries, Xu Lingyi stood up and bid farewell: "…I won't delay the elegant gathering of you ladies!"

  Everyone said: "Master Hou, slow down!"

  The third Miss Gan took advantage of the commotion outside and pulled her sister hard: "When we get back, I'll tell Mother!"

  Miss Gan Qi didn't show any fear at all, instead she looked at everyone with a triumphant expression: "I've seen the look on Master Hou's face!"

  Qiao Lianfang and several others looked at each other in dismay, not knowing what to say. Shi Niang, however, smiled and said, "Do you have three heads and six arms?" Her tone was very lively.

  Miss Gan's eyes widened slightly, and she saw that Shining's gaze had turned into admiration. She swept her eyes across the other people in the room, raised her face, and smiled: "Only we two want to know what Master Hou looks like." Her expression carried a hint of playfulness, "You come over, I'll only tell you!"

  The young woman smiled lightly and simply walked past him with a gentle swaying motion.

  Fifth Daughter exclaimed: "Tenth Daughter, what are you going to do?"

  Today I attended "Name Interview", (*^__^*) Hehe......