Splendid peasant girl busy farming

The birthday banquet at night was very lively. Although there were only two tables of relatives and friends, the guests were of very high quality.

The so-called value here does not mean that all the guests present are very rich, but that all the guests present are relatives and friends who have a good relationship with the Zuo family, old relatives of several decades, neighbors who usually visit each other, and old ladies who have been dealing with Mrs. Zuo since she was young and have common topics.

Junlan is her niece who treats this place as her mother's home, and the Luo family is a friend of Zuo Junmo. Even Yang Ruoqing and Old Madam Zuo have reached some kind of tacit understanding on the marriage of their children. Deep down in their hearts, the Zuo family has basically treated Luo Fengtang and Yang Ruoqing as their future father-in-law and mother-in-law.

There were two banquet tables at night, one for the women including Madam Zuo, several old ladies, Yang Ruoqing and her daughter, Junlan and her daughter, Tuantuan Yuanyuan, Linglan and other women and children.

Separated by a screen next to it, there is another table for men, including Zuo Junmo, Luo Fengtang and others.

Because Zuo Jinling was only fourteen years old and had not yet reached the age of twenty, although he was arranged at the men's table, he could freely walk through the screen with fruit wine and come to the table of women to toast.

Not far in front of the two tables, there was a small artificial moon-shaped pond, and on the other side of the pond there was a stage.

The stage is decorated with lights and colorful decorations, which complement the glowing longevity characters that can be seen everywhere in the courtyard.

The air was filled with the aroma of wine and food, the guests were chatting and laughing, and the sound of stringed instruments from the stage could be heard across the water.

It will not affect or interfere with the conversation here, and it will allow guests who want to listen to opera to enjoy the food while appreciating the charm of opera.

Yang Ruoqing suddenly felt that many things could not be compared. Although it was the same opera, the atmosphere and feeling of listening to the opera here tonight were completely different from listening to the opera in front of the stage at the entrance of Changping Village in the first month of the lunar year.

The Luo family is very high-end and elegant, and the taste shaped by the smell of money is revealed everywhere.

This kind of taste makes people intoxicated! Although money is full of vulgar copper smell, sorry, I have a strong taste and I like this kind of stinky smell!

Singing opera in Changping Village is another experience.

First of all, compared to the stage at Zuo’s house, the one at the entrance of the village is really a makeshift one.

The wooden boards of the stage were pieced together by the troupe owner. They were of different lengths, widths and sizes. The actors had to stand on them and sing in fear.

The configuration of opera performances, string and bamboo instruments, costumes, props, standards and other aspects are far from comparable to those of the Zuo family.

Even because they heard that there was going to be a big show in Changping Village, most of the families in the village would go ahead and invite all their relatives to their homes to watch the show. And the small vendors in the nearby towns, selling candy figurines, candied haws, fried dough sticks and twisted dough sticks, also heard the news and rushed to Changping Village with their stalls, setting up stalls next to the stage and doing small business on the spot.

The hosts in Changping Village are often willing to spend twenty cents to buy ten freshly fried dough sticks, tie them up with straw, and hold them in their hands. It is a full bundle, which they use to entertain relatives and friends who come to watch the show. It is really economical and beautiful.

Old people, children, men and women, all like to eat it.

That is to say, health experts in later generations said that pregnant women should not eat fried dough sticks, otherwise they will give birth to a fool.

In this era, fried dough sticks are a delicacy. Yang Ruoqing saw many pregnant women with big bellies waiting by the frying pan, just to have a taste of the freshly fried fried dough sticks!

Okay, I've strayed off topic. Tonight, there was a really festive atmosphere with constant laughter and joy. The children soon ate and drank their fill and ran to the other side of the pond, playing hide-and-seek under the stage.

After all, they can neither read nor understand opera. The men can understand it, but they don’t listen, because they prefer drinking and chatting to opera.

The stringed instruments and orchestras over there were just background music for them to drink.

So in the end, the audience who listened to the opera was naturally the table of female relatives headed by Old Madam Zuo.

At the beginning, two old ladies sat next to Madam Zuo, watching the show and chatting with her.

Yang Ruoqing and Jun Lan are of similar age and were arranged to sit together.

The theme of the play performed on the stage today is about birthday celebrations. The beginning and the end are both about birthday celebrations, but what runs through it is about the snobbery and comparisons between parents and siblings, and in this process, the struggles and rise of the male and female protagonists, and after rising, they do not forget their original intentions and repay grievances with virtue.

The wealthy man has five daughters, five golden flowers, and the fifth one is the most beautiful.

The first four sisters married rich and powerful men and became young ladies. When they returned to their parents' home to celebrate birthdays, they wore gold and silver and brought maids and servants with them, looking very majestic.

The birthday gift I gave to my father is also priceless.

When the fifth daughter brought her husband and son back to her parents' home to celebrate the birthday, because her husband was a poor scholar, he could not give any decent and expensive gifts, only a set of clothes and a pair of shoes and socks.

Even so, these things were made by the fifth daughter herself for her father, who saved money and spent several nights sewing needle after needle.

But when she returned to her parents' home, her gift was much more shabby than that of her other four sisters. Naturally, she was despised by everyone, including her parents, husband, and children.

Even when the birthday banquet started, the other sisters, brothers-in-law and children all took their seats, while the five daughters and their spouses were arranged to eat at the same table with the servants.

Because the child was craving for meat, the cook teased him in the kitchen and gave him a bowl of leftover rice and meat for feeding the dog.

"This is too much. They are their own daughters and grandchildren. This couple is so snobbish that they will get their retribution!" Jun Lan felt very involved in the situation, especially when she saw the child who played the fifth grandson on the stage chewing on a bone that even dogs wouldn't chew with relish. Jun Lan felt angry and distressed, her eyes red, and her fingers, which were covered with gold and silver jewelry, tightly grasped the silk handkerchief, and her angry eyes were fixed in the direction of the stage.

Yang Ruoqing looked at the stage from above and below. She had no choice, because among the children who went to the stage, there were two from her family.

Fortunately, this stage is not like the makeshift stage of the Changping Village troupe. The base of this stage is not built temporarily, but is a stage that the Zuo family has been building for a long time and is only used during festivals and major happy events.

Designed by Zuo Junmo himself and built under the supervision of Zuo Jinling, it is very sturdy and there is no need to worry about it collapsing and crushing children.

Despite the history of science and technology, Yang Ruoqing still only spent some time watching the show.

However, after hearing Jun Lan's indignant condemnation, especially seeing Jun Lan staring at the wife of the wealthy man with gritted teeth, Yang Ruoqing was slightly surprised.

Come on, girl, we're just watching a play for fun, why are you so into it? (End of this chapter)