Jiapingguan Chronicle

Chapter 2470 Reconciliation 12.0

Sister Ning Cheng’s stall was set up at the entrance of Mr. Jiang’s Teahouse, where Zhou Erniang’s stall used to be.

When Song Qiyun and Meilin arrived, they could see at a glance that the stall was deserted. Apart from Ning Cheng, Qi Zhifeng and Xiao Fengqi, there was no other customer.

Not only was there no customer in front of their stall, even the teahouse that used to be packed with people was now deserted. Xiao Liuzi was sitting leisurely on the steps of the teahouse, eating melon seeds.

Song Qiyun and Merlin looked at each other, confusion written all over their faces. The current situation was completely abnormal.

The two of them walked side by side to the entrance of the teahouse and greeted a few bored people.

"Hey, you're here!" Qi Zhifeng waved weakly at Song Qiyun, "When did you come back?"

"An hour ago." Song Qiyun patted Qi Zhifeng's shoulder, went up the steps, patted Xiao Liuzi's shoulder as he was about to salute, walked into the teahouse, looked around, turned around and sat next to Xiao Liuzi, "What's going on? There's not a single customer?"

"Not only is there no customer, but the boss has even run away." Xiao Liuzi rolled his eyes and said unhappily, "He left a note early in the morning saying he was going to the theater to support Mr. Ke. It doesn't matter whether the teahouse is open or not, I'll make the decision."

"Yeah!" Qi Zhifeng pulled Xiao Fengqi and Ning Cheng up and sat next to Song Qiyun. "Same thing. Early in the morning, Uncle and the old lady dressed up and took my sister away, saying they wanted to take her to see the world. We asked Brother Xue and found out that it seemed that it was the first time for the Ke family to come to the border. Everyone in the city went crazy and scrambled for tickets to the theater. A seat with a bad view cost ten taels of silver."

"Yes!" Ning Cheng also nodded. "Brother Tang told us earlier that business might not be good in the next two days. I didn't think much of it, but I didn't expect it to be true."

"Ten taels of silver?" Xiao Liuzi waved his hand at Qi Zhifeng, "Young Master Qi, your information is outdated. The latest market is that positions like corners with poor views have been hyped up to fifty taels, and there should be room for further increase."

"What's going on? Fifty taels?" Song Qiyun frowned, "Is this play so important? Fifty taels is enough for an ordinary family of five to live a comfortable life for a whole year. Who would be so stupid as to spend fifty taels to watch a play?" He looked at Xiao Fengqi and Qi Zhifeng with a very serious expression, "Could it be my uncle and the old lady?"

"No, Uncle and the old lady were invited by Second Master this time. Second Master has a permanent box in the theater, so they were not affected."

"Is that so?" Song Qiyun breathed a sigh of relief. "What caused this fifty taels of silver to become so popular?"

"Who else could it be!" Merlin sneered, "The theater and the troupe! The money earned from the high prices is divided equally between the troupe and the theater or according to their agreement. This is their unwritten rule. It's not just here, it's the same in the capital. Once a famous person or troupe occasionally stays in the theater, the tea fee in the theater will go up."

"Don't talk about Daxia, it's the same in our place. In the early years, when Master Ke first became famous, it was probably 20 or 30 years ago. I wasn't even born then, and I heard about it from my elders. Master Ke was still a teenager at that time. It was his first time on stage in Linhuang Prefecture, and he attracted a lot of people who wanted to see him in person."

"So famous?"

"Mr. Ke became famous at a young age. I remember he was only about twelve or thirteen years old when he became famous." Xiao Liuzi looked at Song Qiyun, "When he was at his most famous, he even went to the palace to perform for the late emperor. But the empress didn't like him, so she never summoned him again."

"I haven't heard it." Song Qiyun shook his head gently. "But it's not that my mother doesn't like him. She doesn't like to listen to opera. I don't like it either. It's full of babbling and hesitating. It's simply incomprehensible. I followed other elders to listen to it a few times. They went to the toilet in the middle, and when I came back, the opera hadn't even finished yet. But the others seemed very involved. I don't know why they were so involved."

"Isn't this a coincidence?" Xiao Fengqi and Qi Zhifeng stretched out their hands towards Song Qiyun, and the three of them clapped their hands. "We don't like it either. We don't think it sounds good at all."

"Is that so?" Song Qiyun shook his head slightly. "We certainly can't appreciate it, but we respect those who appreciate it. But if you spend a lot of money to listen to such a thing, I think you must have been kicked in the head by a donkey."

"I don't like it either." Ning Cheng made a bitter face and snorted twice, "Every time I go to the theater with my elders, it's pure torture. If I don't fall asleep, I'll be sorry for the money I paid for the theater troupe."

"The most important thing is that it costs a lot to hire a troupe. It's a huge expense."

"More than that!" Ning Cheng waved his hands. "The elders in my family love to watch this kind of thing. During festivals and when important guests come to our house, we always invite a troupe of actors. In addition to the money given to the troupe, which is their salary, their food, clothing, housing and transportation during this time at home are all taken care of by our family. I remember that the troupes we invited to our house were not very famous at all. They were just a little famous in our local area, but they were very well-known! Not to mention the three meals a day, there are also tea and snacks that must be provided at any time, and the midnight snacks in the evening are all specified by them. If you don't follow their specifications, they will say that their actors have a stomachache and can't go on stage, or that their voices are not good and they can't go on stage. There are too many examples like this."

"Yes!" Qi Zhifeng nodded in agreement. "The ones I invited to my house were all like this. They asked for different water for different teas, different snacks, and the degree of sourness, sweetness, bitterness, spiciness, and saltiness of the dishes. They had a lot of requirements. So, I never had a good impression of them. It really felt like they were taking advantage of me."

"Me too." Ning Cheng spread his hands, "But the elders just like it and think their requests are reasonable."

"This is not the most painful thing. The most painful thing is," Qi Zhifeng also had a gloomy face, "after the party starts, even if you don't want to listen, you can't leave. The elders will ask you how you sang this part, right?"

"Yes, yes, yes!" Song Qiyun and Ning Cheng said in unison, and Xiao Fengqi couldn't help nodding beside them.

"This is the most annoying thing. They can sing however they want. It's none of my business." Song Qiyun rolled his eyes. "They got so much money and jewelry. It's only natural that they sing well."

"Speaking of this, I remembered something even more infuriating." Qi Zhifeng patted Xiao Fengqi, "Do you still remember what happened with the troupe that Brother Nan hired?"

"I remember." Xiao Fengqi nodded, "The Xiao family had hired that team before, and the same thing happened to them, but the things they lost were not very important, so no one cared. I didn't expect them to be so bold as to steal things from the Regent's Palace." "Stealing things?" Seeing the two people nodding at the same time, Song Qiyun clapped his hands and said, "I thought our case was a special case, but I didn't expect that there would be people who had the same experience as us."

"You guys have encountered this before?" Xiao Fengqi and Qi Zhifeng exchanged a glance. "Stealing in the palace? Who is so brave?"

"There are quite a few brave ones, but what they stole was not valuable, just some small things from where they live." Song Qiyun spread his hands, "They secretly put them in the boxes containing costumes, but they have to be searched before leaving the palace, just to prevent someone from stealing things. Besides, those things are all stamped with the royal seal. Even if they succeed in taking them out, they can't find a place to sell them, and no one dares to take them."

"These people are really greedy. They are not satisfied with receiving so many rewards, and they want to steal things from the master." Qi Zhifeng snorted twice, "They are so famous, yet they are still sought after."

"People like this are a minority after all. We can't generalize. Most troupes still abide by the rules." Xiao Fengqi waved his hand. "I've strayed off topic. Let's continue with what happened just now. A long, long time ago, Master Ke came to Linhuang Mansion to perform. People in Linhuang Mansion knew about it more than a month ago, so many people were waiting for the theater to sell tickets! But there were people who wanted to use this to make money. For their own huge profits, some people directly booked the theater for as many days as Master Ke performed."

"This..." Merlin was puzzled. "It's not cheap to rent out the whole place. He spent so much money, why is he making a huge profit?"

"Master Mei, booking the entire theater is the cheapest." Xiao Fengqi sighed. "He's booking the entire theater, not that he wants to watch the show, but that he wants to sell the seats one by one at a higher price. And the price is not clearly marked, but whoever bids the most will get the seat. The most important thing is, the result of who gets the seat will not be known until one hour before the show starts."

"You mean." Merlin frowned slightly, "If I want to buy a seat, it depends on luck. If someone offers a higher price than me before Mr. Ke goes on stage, I won't have a chance, right?"

"Yes, the deadline is one hour before the performance. If your price is the highest by this time, you can enter the garden, but if someone bids higher than you, then you have no chance."

“That’s a huge profit.”

"Indeed." Xiao Fengqi nodded, "The most outrageous thing is that when a position was at its peak, it was sold for a thousand taels of gold."

"A thousand taels of gold?" Song Qiyun couldn't understand. "Just rob the money. Don't you have anyone to watch over you?"

"Of course someone was in charge. Because of this position, a lot of conflicts arose during that period. There were fights on the streets every day. Even people from the Yelu family fought. I heard that people from the Xiao family also had a very unhappy quarrel because of this."

"Is it that serious?"

"Yes, but what really angered everyone was that person who said that those with money could come, but those without money should not come, and those with power should not look for him secretly, it's useless. This immediately angered everyone, no matter they were important officials or ordinary people, they all hated them to the core. That was the only time in the entire Linhuang Prefecture that everyone went to various government offices to sue the theater owner and the person who rented the theater."

"The guy who booked the entire venue is quite arrogant. Who is he?"

"Who else could he be? A member of a theatre troupe." Xiao Fengqi sneered, "Spread the word, pretend to be a foreign merchant, book all the performance days, and then do this."

"What's the result?" Song Qiyun blinked his eyes. "Has the person been arrested?"

"He was arrested. If he wasn't arrested, it would be really hard to appease the public anger." Xiao Fengqi sighed, "Ke Dajia and his troupe were also affected by this. At that time, the Queen Mother was still alive and directly issued an order, not allowing them to perform anywhere in Liao. At that time, Ke Dajia was just a young kid who had just started out and had no say in the troupe, so the incident back then had little to do with him. But this time..." Xiao Fengqi shook his head slightly, "I'm not sure it has nothing to do with him."

"It's definitely related. He's already so old, and there are many new talents in the opera world. Although he is known as a great artist, his career is about to decline. Although he still has fans, most of them are from the same generation as him. Younger people probably haven't heard of him. So, he probably wants to create some momentum to get himself back to the top."

"That's possible." Xiao Fengqi sighed, looked at Merlin, and said, "The Ke family came to the border, and the Duke's Mansion didn't receive the news. Isn't that right?"

"Without the permission of the Duke and the boss, he and his troupe would not have come to the border. How could they not know?"

"I think so." Xiao Fengqi nodded and looked at Song Qiyun, "But when you first heard the news, why did you seem so surprised?"

"It's really unexpected. This should have been arranged a long time ago, probably when my sister returned to Beijing. But..." Song Qiyun touched his chin and poked Xiao Liuzi, "We don't like to listen to opera or music, so we don't know exactly when he will come. Even if we knew, we probably wouldn't care. But there is one thing, we didn't expect him to empty the whole city and leave no one on the streets."

"The Ke family has a great influence." Xiao Liuzi sneered and looked at Song Qiyun, "But, is there something that brought you here, young prince?"

Although Xiao Liuzi was asking Song Qiyun, seeing that his eyes fell on Merlin in the end, he could guess a little bit, but he still couldn't be sure.

"Yeah!" Song Qiyun looked at Xiao Fengqi, then at Qi Zhifeng, "You two should know clearly that he arrived when I came back. He said he wanted to apologize to you two for his ridiculous behavior in Linhuang Prefecture."

"He wants to see us?" Seeing Xiao Fengqi and Meilin nod, Xiao Fengqi and Qi Zhifeng looked at each other and said, "No problem, we should meet. We don't have many customers here, so let's just pack up and go back!"