War Photographer's Notebook

Chapter 1786 Knock on the door

"Look at me!"

Under the stage, Wei Ran stood on a chair next to an octagonal table and greeted everyone. After everyone on the stage had taken their seats, he held the flash connected to the camera in one hand and picked up the adjusted camera with the other.

"Get ready, smile and don't blink." Wei Ran said and counted down to 321, then pressed the shutter.

"Snapped!"

In the blinding flash, the disposable light bulb died on the spot, and everyone on the stage was also recorded on the film.

"Okay, everyone, hurry up and pack up."

The old man Zhang, who was sitting in the middle, shouted immediately after the filming was over, "Go home and have a good rest today, there will be a party tomorrow."

As he said this, the old man called out to Wei Ran anxiously, "Xiao Wei, hurry up and bring the camera over."

"immediately"

Wei Ran responded enthusiastically, carefully put the camera and flash into the small suitcase, and then returned it to the old man squatting beside the stage.

"Is it not broken?" Old Zhang asked worriedly while checking the camera in the box.

"How could that be possible?" Wei Ran responded. He could naturally see that this camera was very precious to this old gentleman.

"After I finish shooting this roll of film, my youngest son will probably be back." Old man Zhang sighed.

"When Taichuan comes back from studying abroad, the old boss will be able to go home and eat delicious food and drink spicy drinks." said a sturdy man.

"Me? Hey! I don't have that intention!"

After hearing this, although Old Man Zhang's face was already red with joy, he still said, "I still want to train Zhengqi to be a pillar of the company, how can I go home to retire so early."

"When will that be?"

The young man who was packing up with Wei Ran just now said a little shyly.

"There are too many big names in today's show, otherwise would your grandfather not let you go on stage?"

The man who had slapped Wei Ran on the back of his head before said with a smile, "But you can attend the party tomorrow. If you perform well, maybe the master can give you some gifts."

"Tayuan, let's talk about this when we get back." The old man Zhang said and winked.

"Uncle, I spoke out of turn." The man called Taiyuan quickly admitted his mistake.

"Go pack your things," the old boss said, turning around and walking out with his camera in his arms, "I'll go find a car."

Taeyeon, Taecheon, Junggi. These names are all pretty nice.

Wei Ran, who was busy working with them, sighed secretly. These nice names meant that even if this "actor's" family was not a scholarly family, they were at least literate and cultured.

The camera, which was definitely a valuable item in China at that time, and the words "wait until Taichuan comes back from studying abroad" also hinted that the old owner had some wealth.

just

Wei Ran couldn't help but be curious: in this era, how could the owner of a drama troupe afford to support an international student?

With such curiosity, Wei Ran and Zheng Qi worked together to lift a locked box and walked out of the theater, loading it onto a horse-drawn sleigh - it was a winter night with heavy snow.

It was also during these casual conversations during the loading trips that Wei Ran learned from Zhengqi about the situation of the opera troupe named "Ming Xiang".

Simply put, the Mingxiang Opera Troupe is not very popular outside the Great Wall, at least far less popular than the Yue Opera Troupe of Pingju Opera. The only reason for its unpopularity is simply that people cannot understand it.

The above sentence is basically Zhengqi's original words. The reason why they came all the way to Liao Province was due to various coincidences and helplessness. Fortunately, they are about to leave here and return to the interior.

Regarding this Yue Opera troupe, Zhengqi's grandfather, Lao Zhang, was the previous owner of the Mingxiang Opera Troupe, and Zhengqi's father, Zhang Taiyuan, is the current owner. He is the fourth generation owner.

Of course, Zhengqi was not as old as Wei Ran thought. He was only 17 years old, but he was already a long-armed martial artist who could go on stage.

At this moment, it is the seventh day of the twelfth lunar month of the 26th year of the Republic of China, and there are only a few days left until the Chinese New Year.

In addition, Zhang Taiyuan's biological father and Old Zhang were brothers, but they died many years ago, so Old Zhang adopted him and raised him as his own son.

On the other hand, he finally learned some information about Zhang Taichuan.

According to Zhengqi, he also has an aunt who is Zhang Taichuan's biological sister and the eldest daughter of Old Zhang.

This aunt married a wealthy businessman as a concubine a few years ago. It was with her help that Zhang Taichuan had the opportunity to study abroad with the Japanese, and Old Zhang also had the opportunity to rebuild the Mingxiang troupe that was on the verge of disbanding.

As for whether the aunt was doing well, Zhengqi had no idea. He hadn't seen her for a long time and didn't even know where the aunt had gone with the rich businessman.

Without further asking questions, the troupe loaded the few boxes they had onto a sled and left the Daguan Tea Garden.

The place where they lived was not far away. In about a cigarette's time, three horse-drawn sleighs stopped at the gate of a shabby courtyard.

Groups of two carried the luggage from the car into the yard, but everyone had no time to rest. They were either busy making a fire or lighting the coal stove. Some were even busy placing the wine and food they had bought in advance on the table.

Wei Ran, Zheng Qi and two other young men of about the same age lived in the east wing, which had only one kang. Fortunately, because the space was small, the room warmed up quickly.

By the time the fire in the stove was lit, a square low table had been placed on the kang, and Zhengqi and the other three had already taken out food and drinks such as roast chicken from their arms and placed them on the table.

One of the guys even took out a small wine jar from his bosom and said in a low voice, "I saw a table of people holding cymbals under the stage. After they gave me the tip and left, I took all the wine away. Hey! There's almost half a jar of wine left, and there's even a plate of pig's head left!"

As he spoke, the boy took off his dog-skin hat, took out an oil-paper bag from it and opened it. Sure enough, there was a bag full of pig head meat inside.

“I didn’t find anything interesting here.”

As the other boy spoke, he took out two wrinkled apples from his pocket.

However, this was obviously not the end. The boy rummaged through his pocket again and took out a bag of roasted nuts.

Seeing the three people looking at him, Wei Ran belatedly rummaged through his arms, then with difficulty reached his hand from his arms to his back, and finally took out two packs of cigarettes, which had only a few cigarettes smoked, and a pack of matches.

"None of us three smoke, so let's forget about this."

As Zhang Zhengqi spoke, he also rummaged through his pockets. What he took out were actually two rolled-up pancakes with four green onions wrapped inside.

"I brought it from the kitchen. Come on! Eat it!"

Zhang Zhengqi tore the pancake into four pieces, said hello, picked up the small wine jar, poured a bowl of wine for each of the three people, picked up the cup and said, "Both smoking and drinking hurt your throat. I'll just have this one bowl, and the rest are yours."

"Come on, it's not the first time." The man sitting on the edge of the kang picked up the small wine bowl and clinked it with the three of them.

They all drank the white wine in their bowls. The four people, including Wei Ran, didn't even use chopsticks. They each picked up a piece of pig's head and put it into their mouths.

As they drank the wine and ate the meat, everyone started chatting in their own dialect.

Judging from their accents, Zhang Zhengqi was obviously from Suzhou and Hangzhou. The two people sitting at the end and edge of the kang, one spoke Cantonese and the other spoke Henan dialect.

Add in Wei Ran, a northerner with a Cangzhou accent, and there are people from all over the world gathered at the table.

Perhaps because he was too young, or perhaps because he was very hungry, this midnight snack took less than ten minutes to finish, with only a few side dishes and two wrinkled apples in his stomach.

Unfortunately, until the four of them lay down on the kang, Wei Ran had no problem finding any valuable clues. He only knew that the one who spoke Cantonese was called "Li Xiaowu" and the one who spoke Henan dialect was called "Lin Liuzi".

Soon, the other three people began to sleep soundly due to being drunk to varying degrees. Wei Ran also curled up in the torn quilt, took out the fur-colored bayonet and food knife he had obtained this time, and examined them.

This guy doesn't even have a gun. Is this safe or dangerous? Wei Ran pondered secretly, but he couldn't help but suffer from insomnia.

In addition to being curious about the situation of the troupe, he was also wary of the requirement to "escape from the troupe" in the return mission. Or rather, he was wondering where the danger came from.

"Da-da, da-da, da-da, da."

It was midnight, and just when Wei Ran was about to fall asleep, the courtyard door diagonally opposite the east wing was knocked gently from outside with a certain rhythm.

After looking at the other three people on the kang, Wei Ran got up quietly, went to the door and looked out through the gap through which the wind was blowing.

Under the moon, the courtyard gate was opened by the person who came out of the west wing. A man wearing a cotton robe, a fur hat and a scarf on his head, with a bag on his back, also walked in with his hands in his pockets. Behind him, the person who came out of the west wing immediately bolted the door and went back to the west wing.

Who is this person?

Wei Ran muttered something secretly, and with the light of the embers in the stove, he urinated into the urine bucket in the corner, and then crawled back into the warm bed.

When he was woken up again, it was just dawn outside, but members of the opera troupe had already started to warm up their voices in the yard - just like in the original Love Letter House.

"Brother Wei, the three of you go buy breakfast. Buy more."

Zheng Qi, who had gotten up who knows how long in advance, said this and had already taken out two sheep tickets and handed them to Wei Ran.

"Row"

Wei Ran readily agreed, and he and the little kids next to him quickly put on their clothes and shoes. They each put on their tattered hats, and each carried two wicker baskets and two large enamel pots, and then walked out.

The Fengtian City had just awakened at this time. Although the streets were so cold that it seemed as if the air was full of knives, perhaps because it was too early, there were no signs of the Japs on the streets. Everywhere you looked, there were basically poor people.

With the two tickets in their hands, they bought some hot rice and then turned around and headed back.

"Brother Wei"

Lin Liuzi whispered, "I heard from the class owner that the party tonight is..."

"Sixth Son" Li Xiaowu patted the other person's shoulder and then pointed left and right.

Lin Liuzi quickly closed his mouth, but soon couldn't help but whispered, "I'm just curious."

"If you talk too much, I'll stuff all the food into your mouth!" Li Xiaowu reminded.

After hearing this, Lin Liuzi finally calmed down.

"How many years have you two been in this business?" Wei Ran asked in a pretentious manner.

"It's been three years for me," Li Xiaowu said first. "I started learning the art when I was fourteen."

"I've also been here for three years," Lin Liuzi replied, "but I can't compare to Brother Wei."

"Can't compete with Brother Wei? So I'm still the eldest senior brother?" Wei Ran couldn't help but laugh, pretending to be serious and said, "Then you should know the rules."

"I know." Li Xiaowu and Lin Liuzi quickly corrected their attitude.

"Just know it"

Wei Ran, who actually had no idea what the rules were, successfully acted like a big shot. He quickened his pace while carrying two large baskets full of hot food.

When they returned to the small, run-down house, the three of them delivered the meal to the three rooms in the main house, and the troupe members who had just finished warming up their singing also sat together and started eating.

While serving porridge to everyone, Wei Ran was also looking at the men, young and old, in the room.

Unfortunately, although he remembered everyone clearly enough, the person who knocked on the door in the middle of the night yesterday seemed to have left.

It was not a disappointment. Wei Ran, Xiaowu, Xiaoliu and Zhang Zhengqi took their breakfast back to the east wing.

"Tell me about the evening."

Zhang Zhengqi slurped a mouthful of sticky rice porridge and whispered, "The party will last for two days, and we want to make it lively during the Laba Festival. We will set out at noon. The host will provide food but not accommodation. When we get there, we should be careful not to embarrass the troupe."

"Okay." Wei Ran and the other two readily agreed.

After a steaming hot breakfast, Zhang Zhengqi continued to practice his voice, while Wei Ran, Xiao Wu and Liu Zi were ordered by various people to boil water for tea or pack their luggage.

From time to time, the troupe members would teach Xiaowu and Liuzi a few moves, or ask them to sing a few lines. They had no time to spare at all.

As for Wei Ran, they seemed to have given up and had no intention of teaching him. Instead, Zhang Taiyuan would occasionally pull him and his son Zhang Zhengqi aside to give them some advice on how the troupe operated on a daily basis.

Near noon, several sleds stopped at the gate of the courtyard. A middle-aged man dressed as an accountant politely asked everyone to get on the sleds with their belongings. They slowly moved towards the host's house, crushing the frozen snow.

Along the way, Wei Ran also vaguely learned from listening that it was probably a local wealthy man who was seeing the New Year coming and organizing an "annual team-building meeting" for the guys he hired for business, and at the same time, he also wanted to help his boss' wife relieve her homesickness.

Also during the casual conversation between the accountant and Mr. Zhang, Wei Ran learned that the wife of this wealthy businessman was married from Shencheng.

Since coming here, this person has been listening to Pingju Opera. After listening to the performance at Daguan Tea Garden yesterday, he begged the master to add such a performance at the last minute.

In the midst of this casual and polite chat, three sleds stopped in front of a building that looked like a restaurant.

What is quite strange is that the plaque at the entrance of the restaurant is actually covered with red cloth.

"The owner plans to reopen the business after the New Year, so we'll build it first."

The accountant gave a brief explanation, then jumped off the sled and enthusiastically invited everyone to go inside.

Perhaps it was because of the favor of the boss's wife that as soon as they stopped the car, the waiters came over enthusiastically and helped carry the large boxes inside.

When you walk into the restaurant, the stage is already there, and there is also a large private room next to the stage with tables, chairs and food.

Before everyone had finished looking at the surrounding environment, the accountant said, "The boss said there is no rush to start the meeting. Let's eat first and take a nap after dinner. They won't come until the afternoon."

"Master Dong is kind and righteous. Please thank him for us."

Old Zhang and troupe leader Zhang bowed politely to express their gratitude, and the other members of the troupe followed suit. Then they were led by the accountant into a private room filled with the aroma of food, and sat down around several tables filled with food.

"Don't drink any more. Keep your stomach full."

Zhang, the troupe leader, said, "Don't let yourself get diarrhea in the middle of singing and be laughed at. Okay, eat now."

After getting the signal, everyone started eating.

The meals prepared by the housekeeper were definitely considered lavish in that era. There were steamed buns made of two kinds of flour sticking out of the basin, a big bowl of pork, cabbage and vermicelli stew for each person, and a big basin of eight-treasure porridge in the middle. In addition, there was a big jar of wine in the corner.

It was clear from the way they were eating that this troupe was extremely disciplined. Not to mention the smacking of lips while talking, even the knocking of bowls and chopsticks was almost inaudible. Everyone was eating their food quietly.

From time to time, the older ones would add a large piece of meat from their own bowls and put it in the bowls of the younger ones.

In this quiet atmosphere, it took everyone about half an hour to fill their stomachs. When the waiter who had been waiting outside saw that they were full, he immediately cleared the dishes and carefully wiped the table before bringing them pots of hot tea.

"We can't hide the kindness of our boss. When we have rested enough, let's sing and sing."

Boss Zhang said this while pouring tea for the people at the same table, and everyone around him immediately responded in unison.

At the same time, Old Zhang took the play script handed back by the man dressed as an accountant, and after checking it, he gathered a table of people and started rehearsing the play.

After all, Wei Ran had performed in a drama troupe that came out of Xuqing Bookstore before. Although he couldn't help much, he was not at a loss as to know nothing.

After resting for about half an hour, the troupe members including Zhang Zhengqi began to put on makeup and prepare, while Wei Ran and other apprentices once again busied themselves working as logistics staff.

Around three o'clock in the afternoon, several men and women wearing cotton robes or mink coats walked into the restaurant one after another. The trumpeter who had been prepared began to play at the suggestion of the accountant.

Soon, when the seats upstairs and downstairs were full, the people on the stage who had already prepared began to sing. Wei Ran, however, heard from the accountant next to him that "there are fewer and fewer male Yue Opera troupes these days."

"Years ago, I went to Shanghai with my boss, and there were only women there."

"Shh-"

The accountant was startled and quickly covered the mouth of the man of the same age beside him, "Did you have to make the young mistress and the boss quarrel and smash plates and bowls during such a big festival?"

"Ouch! Blame me for being too talkative!"

The person who just touched me gently on the face quickly, and then hurriedly started talking about other topics.

Hearing this, Wei Ran smiled and quietly avoided these servants of the master's family. While pretending to be busy, he secretly looked for potential sources of danger.

Unfortunately, as one play after another was performed and as the host in the box watched and appreciated them again and again, he did not notice anything unusual.

When night fell and the temperature dropped, two bright gas lamps were hung everywhere, and the party reached its most exciting moment.

"Little Wei"

At this time, Old Zhang also approached Wei Ran, patted the suitcase in his hand and said, "Today is the main event. There should be a film in it. Go and take a photo of it. I have already informed the boss."

"Just take a picture of himself?" Wei Ran asked as he took the suitcase.

"That's not the case!"

Old Zhang said, "We made a lot of money this time. When we get back and the New Year is over, we'll go to Shanghai to perform. Then we'll find a newspaper and spend money to print some posters for Zhengqi!"

"Okay, then I'll take a good picture!" Wei Ran agreed readily.

"Don't drop this camera," Old Zhang warned worriedly.

"Don't worry"

Wei Ran smiled, held up his camera and crouched to the edge of the stage. After Old Zhang greeted him, he immediately pressed the shutter button towards Zhang Zhengqi who just paused in an action.

After taking the last picture with the film in the camera, Wei Ran immediately returned it to Old Zhang who was watching closely nearby. The latter put the small leather suitcase into a cloth bag and carried it on his shoulder as if it were a treasure.

Obviously, this camera may be the most precious thing to him.

After this little episode, the party continued. The host in the box invited many family members and servants to sit around the table, eating and drinking in front of several large coal stoves. Only the people on the stage were left, still singing in a stately manner.

The singing went on so lively that the hosts were satisfied with their meals and drinks, left some tips and left. The troupe members, who had been busy for most of the day, finally took a break.

"The master has given us a lot of rewards today."

Zhang Taiyuan whispered happily, "We made as much money this time as we did yesterday. If we sing one more day tomorrow, we can go back and have a good year!"

Inspired by these words, although everyone was exhausted, they were also extremely excited. The accountant had already prepared wine and food for them, and after everyone had eaten their fill, he even arranged a sled to take them back.

It was still the same shabby little courtyard, and they still had to go back to light a fire to keep warm. The only difference was that this time, neither Xiaowu, Liuzi, nor Zhang Zhengqi secretly packed some food and drinks.

After a busy day, the four of them simply packed up, blew out the lights, and lay down on the heated earthen kang early, each thinking about their plans for after returning home.

"I heard from the boss that after the New Year, we should try going to Shanghai?" Xiao Wu asked cautiously.

“My father.”

Zhang Zhengqi changed his words right after he started, "The troupe owner has this plan, but I think it's difficult, as there are fewer and fewer male troupes performing Yue Opera now.

Look at today, if that young lady hadn't thought of our hometown friendship, would we have received so many rewards? I heard that the boss had been to Shencheng, but he didn't even look at us. "

After saying this, Xiaowu and Liuzi sighed. After a moment of silence, Liuzi also spoke in a low voice, "I heard from the old man a few days ago that we are planning to open a women's class in the spring."

“There’s no point thinking about this.”

Zhang Zhengqi said, "Let's talk about things after the New Year. Go to bed quickly because you have to get up early tomorrow."

Hearing this, the warm east wing became quiet, and soon only the sound of even breathing remained.

I don't know if that person will come tonight.

Wei Ran was secretly curious about the identity of the person who knocked on the door last night. He closed his eyes and emptied his mind.

"boom!"

Before he fell asleep, a gunshot suddenly rang out in the cold night outside the door, followed by a shrill whistle.

The gunshot naturally woke up the four people in the wing room, but before Wei Ran, who had the fastest reaction, could put on his clothes, a light knocking sound was heard at the door of the courtyard diagonally opposite the east wing room.

"Da-da, da-da, da-da, da."

The unhurried knock on the door amid the frequent gunshots gave Wei goosebumps.

I'm afraid this troupe's big show has just begun.