Water Margin farming to become powerful

Chapter 125 Everyone Looks at the Monk

Today, the host's table is filled with well-known people from all over the world.

The one sitting at the top is a big local tyrant in his 50s, not because he is the richest, but because he has the status of a Jinshi and is a well-known village sage outside Dengzhou City.

Sitting beside him and laughing was a handsome man, a well-known scholar in Dengzhou, and behind him were a few big landlords who were leisurely eating and laughing.

The average age of this group of characters is above fifty, compared to Sun Xin's age is simply frighteningly young.

Sun Xin took a look and felt that it was not appropriate for his age to sit on the table, so he asked Zhao Xiaoguan to help him arrange another place to eat.

But he didn't expect that just as he was approaching the table, a big landlord saw Sun Xin coming and quickly stood up, wanting to give Sun Xin the starting position he had done.

How could Sun Xin agree, and humbly refused each other, so he had to ask Zhao Xiaoguan for help to talk.

Over there, Xiaoguan Zhao said with a smile: "These are all prominent people in these ten miles and eight villages. I'm too young and too thin to talk about, so I can arrange it myself."

Well, everyone laughed and pushed Sun Xin to the top, sitting next to the old Jinshi and the old gentleman.

It was really hard to sit in this first seat, and the old lady came out after a while, and Sun Xin was stared at by a group of elders who could be his grandparents. He was still young, so he had to give food and drink to everyone the whole time.

Everyone saw that he was so extravagant in the past two years, so the people at the tables who got started all came to toast Sun Xin.

The alcohol content of rice wine is not high, and it is not a problem for Sun Xin's body to metabolize this little alcohol, but there are too many people who can't stand it.

After a meal, Sun Xin didn't get a chance to eat a few bites of vegetables, but instead filled his stomach with wine, he became hot from drinking, and took off two pieces of clothes in the end.

After lunch, Xiaoguan Zhao invited Sun Xin to rest in the village, saying that there was still a meal tonight, and Sun Xin had the intention of leaving at that time.

He hurriedly asked everyone around him if they wanted to leave together, but he didn't want everyone to say that they would not leave today.

The old Jinshi said with a smile: "Today, the Zhao family invited a team of storytellers from across the curtain, why doesn't Master Sun Xiaozhuang also stay and watch the fun?"

Troupe?Sun Xin was also a little curious, and couldn't help but nodded and agreed to stay.

In winter in the north, it gets dark very early, and there is no snow on this day. In the evening, everyone gathered in the courtyard of the Zhao family.

A white cloth was stretched high above the two trees, and behind the white cloth was a stage that was airtight on all sides, and the stage was covered with linoleum to prevent mosquitoes and flies from entering.

A seven-star lamp was lit inside, and after the three monks got into the cloth stage, figures appeared on the white cloth soon.

Sun Xin couldn't help laughing, and then he figured out that this storytelling behind the curtain is a shadow puppet show.

At this time, the Zhao family's courtyard had already gathered the dealers who brought their own benches.

Everyone was full of anticipation, their faces were full of eagerness, and the urge to watch a play was irresistible even in the coldest weather.

These monks sang "Mulian Saves Mother" today, which is very in line with the idea of ​​celebrating the old lady's birthday today.

Accompanied by several children, the old lady walked out slowly, smiling happily with her mouth open, revealing her mouth with only gums left.

Sun Xin secretly asked the old Jinshi around him and learned that the sons and daughters of the Zhao family are filial, and the old lady loves to watch plays, so this play "Mulian Saves Mother" has been performed in Zhaojiazhuang for several years, but whether it is the village The farmer, or the nearby landlords, even if they have watched the play for several years, they are still excited to watch it again. Even the old Jinshi next to Sun Xin specially asked people to pick up their children and grandchildren in the afternoon to watch the shadow puppet together.

Under the swaying lights, the pristine shadow puppet singing came slowly, and soon everyone was dazzled. Even the loudest child forgot to cry at this time, and stared curiously at the shadow puppet behind the light shadow. shake.

Sun Xin has no research on drama, and he can vaguely understand the libretto of this play. The lyrics are very literary, and it is difficult to understand.

But being in this time and space is really lacking in artistic enjoyment. He found that although everyone listened to the half-literate libretto, they all found it very interesting.

The old Jinshi around him introduced to Sun Xin that the shadow puppetry was originally used by monks and Taoists to tell stories about Buddhism and Taoism to attract believers to donate incense money, but with the development of civil society, it has gradually become an entertainment. Activity.

In the Daxiangguo Temple in Tokyo, there was even a Shaozhu courtyard dedicated to selling roasted pigs, and many walkers on the rivers and lakes blatantly ate meat, drank and married even though they had a monk's certificate. My wife, so following everyone's entertainment needs, gradually the monks near Dengzhou City began to turn into full-time entertainers performing shadow puppetry for everyone.

The co-author is a monk halfway...

Sun Xin nodded. Although the people around him were watching intently, he secretly commented in his heart, feeling that the performance of "Mulian Saves His Mother" was actually very rough. Those monks just told a Buddhist story in detail. That's it, there are hardly any dramatic cuts.

The story is straightforward, and the performance is Gujing without waves.

Different from the shadow puppet art of later generations, which still needs some singing, those monks are really storytellers behind the curtain.

The three of them used very calm voices to tell stories and make conversations there, and after talking here for a long time, the shadow puppet twisted slightly, which was completely incomparable with the Tangshan shadow puppetry that Sun Xin had seen in later generations, which could bring characters to life. Compare.

But although in Sun Xin's opinion, this performance is really not attractive, but people of this age are really lacking in art, and the response to the performance is exceptionally good.

The mood of the story reached a small climax when Mulian’s mother was suffering. The children stared at the curtain and drooled with sesame sugar, completely forgetting to eat, and the men and women who followed were all staring blankly at what happened on the stage. things.

What era is it that ordinary people love to watch operas?

Sun Xin was in a trance when suddenly the farmer next to him asked him: "The owner of the house, the Zhao family is doing such a good show, should we go and fetch the wife? Ask her to come and see."

Sun Xin thought about it but felt that it was unnecessary. He originally thought that storytelling through the curtain was something, but after seeing this shadow puppet show, it was nothing more than that. Sun Xin wanted to leave a little bit.

Hearing that Sun Xin wanted to leave the farmer he had brought with him, but his butt was stuck to the chair and his face was full of reluctance, so Sun Xin told the official Zhao that if he was late, he would leave the farmer to rest in his farm, and then Sun Xin himself Before it was completely dark, he rode his horse and rushed back to Shili Pai.

When they got home, Hu Sanniang was a little anxious to wait, and asked Sun Xin why he didn't come back until now after lunch, and Sun Xin mentioned that Zhao's family hired a theater troupe.

This said, but I didn't expect that Hu Sanniang's eyes instantly showed longing.

"You want to watch it too? If I had known you liked it earlier, I would have called you back just now."

Seeing Sun Xin's remorseful expression, Hu Sanniang hurriedly said against her will: "It's troublesome to go and see, it's dark, the road is far away, and you have to live in someone else's village, forget it."

Seeing his daughter-in-law like this, Sun Xin thought for a while and said, "Well, I'll go out tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)