Water Margin farming to become powerful

Chapter 126 Sun Xin Instructs Shadow Puppetry

The next morning, Sun Xin went straight to Dengzhou City after a hasty breakfast.

Lehe was busy working in the prison, and when he saw Sun Xin coming, he thought he was going to tell him about Zhang Wenyuan, so he gestured to Sun Xin to ask him to wait.

Turning around and waiting for Lehe to have time, Sun Xin actually asked about buying a shadow puppet box.

"Shadow puppet box, it's a bit expensive. The ordinary plays cost a few taels of silver for each performance. If a set of engraved ones is well carved, it won't cost more than a dozen taels. Add in the money for raising actors, and it's even less expensive." tall."

It was only after Le He finished speaking that he realized that this year, he had heard that Sun Xin's Sun Family Village was very powerful. Now, what do these ten taels of silver mean to Sun Xin?
Sun Xin decided to set up a shadow puppet troupe in his village just because his wife wanted to see shadow puppetry, which is really too rich.

"A few days ago you asked me about buying horses, and now you want to buy an opera troupe. In my opinion, it's better to save the money first, and then buy the horses and see how much is left to see if you want to raise an opera troupe."

Talking about Lehe, he felt that something was wrong. Thinking about it carefully, for Sun Xin today, it seems that buying that horse and then buying another theater troupe is not too nervous, so what is the order?

Sure enough, Sun Xin looked indifferent, and didn't think there was any problem with money at all.

Sun Xin wanted to run a shadow puppet troupe, which was also the idea last night. In addition to performing shadow puppets for Hu Sanniang to make his wife happy, more importantly, he found that people like to go to the theater these days. While providing entertainment, they subtly promote their own ideas and win the hearts of the people in the village. If they want to occupy the cultural front, they wait for the enemy to occupy it, not to mention that the cost of the theater troupe is not low.

Knowing that Sun Xin wanted to support several shadow puppet artists in his own village, and also wanted to carve opera boxes, Ma Ziba first explained that it would take a day or two to carve shadow puppets, and that he would carve a set of plays for the family to perform in seven or eight plays. Box Duo said it would take more than half a year, and asked Sun Xin if I could go to my village to sing.

Yesterday I watched the shadow puppets performed by these monks and found that the shadow puppets we use are very old-fashioned, basically not cutting out a small shape, and then painting the details with paint, which is much worse than the finely crafted shadow puppets in previous lives.

Artists like Ma Ziba were the wealthiest people in those days, their status was in the upper class, their job was to have a fixed place to live, and they watched the sky and ate their meals. Originally, they dreamed of being able to get a stable income outside their family. Sun Xin's income was lower than the wages for entertainers in the market. Naturally, the guests and hosts enjoyed themselves very slowly, and the family of eight went to Sun Xinzhuang two days before their appointment.

Before Sun Xin found out the addresses of the eight people, he went straight to the door.

"Every character is carved with a shadow puppet, but it is made into a splicing style. According to Sheng Dan Jing Mo Chou, the bodies of the same type of characters are carved, and then only one head of the same character is carved, according to the needs of the required repertoire. What kind of character puts the head of the character under the body, so can we carve more shadow figures?"

Ma Ziba immediately said that he didn't have any broken shadow puppets under his command. If he wanted to change it to a spliced ​​one, the family had to cut off his head and add a few ropes. He couldn't make a play box for Miao Zhuang within a few days.

Sun Xin frowned when he heard this, recalling the shadow puppet performances he had seen in later generations. These troupes took out a long list of playlists and ordered plays with the master, and there were not just one or two play boxes brought to the scene. so little?
Le He nodded, I am also an expert in playing, playing and singing, and I know quite a few of the eight religions and four schools, so I gave Sun Xin the address of a shadow puppet artist.

Sun Xin was slightly surprised: "If he is willing to come, you will naturally welcome him, but how long does it take to engrave an opera box?"

"Brother Lehe, he is an artist who knows how to make shadow puppets."

The eighth lady-in-law on the side added: "Back to the small officials, it is only the size of a large theater troupe. If it is a small troupe, it will have to carve about ten theater boxes alone. That family of actors, but the theater box carving is really serious." It requires capital, and that’s why the two of you can only work with other people, so you can’t go out to act by yourself. These small theater boxes are held by monks and rich people who have no money. If you want to play with others, you can rent boxes It’s paid by the day.”

Ma Ziba said: "It's really possible to make a shadow puppet for a long time. It's just that there are not more than a dozen characters in one play, and it takes more than a dozen shadow puppets to be engraved. Sun Zhuangzhu plays a troupe, and there are always not more than a dozen plays." , then we have to carve out hundreds of shadow figures. But will it take half a year?"

Sun Xin offered a silver package of one tael per month, and asked the couple to bring their children to our village to sing an opera.

And watching "Mulian Save Mother" performed by these few monks yesterday can frighten the people of that era for a moment. It must be said that it is this kind of shadow puppetry that requires singing, reciting and beating. Sun Xin is still here. But sitting in front of the curtain and telling the story like this, Miao Zhuang might really be weaker than us by himself.After all, Sun Xin didn't have so many past life stories in his mind, so he took out a few carefully, and they were all less dull than the stories told by these monks yesterday.

A large shadow puppet club is completely stressful for Sun Xin.

Seeing Miao Zhuang's arrival, both of them greeted him coldly.

This shadow puppet artist is a couple. The husband is nicknamed "Huojiatian", and his real name is Ma Ziba. He can carve shadow puppets and act in plays. I don't have a child named Daba'er, so I know how to play a few plays.

Ma Ziba was stunned for a while, then slapped his calf and said, "How could someone have thought of such a bad method? In this way, only a few bodies and heads can be carved, and all the characters that are not in the world can be performed. The theater box can play all the plays! Mr. Sun Xiaoguan, your method...that method is too bad!"

I sloppily recalled the memories of shadow puppetry in later generations, and then I couldn't help but said:

Sun Xin knew that it was mostly because the scalp shadow puppetry was only in the early stage of development. I thought it would be very slow to make such a smooth shadow puppet. How to make a puppet box actually takes half a year?
The family of shadow puppets that Miao Zhuang had seen in his previous life consisted of a movable body and an irreplaceable head, which broke after the performance.

The place where the couple lived was the poorest place in Dengzhou City. As soon as they left the house, they saw a dilapidated family, but there was Sun Xin's longevity tablet in the middle of the messy table.

After Sun Xin asked, he found out that the two mothers-in-law and eighth mother-in-law often walk around the streets to act. Last year, when there was smallpox in the distance of Dengzhou, we were also afraid of getting infected, so we all went to Shiwai Brand to get vaccinated. Sun Xin is a stranger to us, but we are very grateful to Sun Xin.

The two couples looked at Sun Xin excitedly while they were shocked. The method Sun Xin mentioned to save the cost of making props in a small way almost changed the future of our shadow puppetry business.

In those days, shadow puppetry became more popular in places with more aristocratic families. Two or eight people in a shadow puppet troupe can perform a story of a family, which is very labor-saving, and even the poor can afford it.In poorer places, puppet shows are popular. Although a puppet can only be manipulated by one person, it is more artificial than shadow puppets, but the same puppeteer can not perform fewer roles with the same puppet. A small puppet show is not eight. Seven people can complete the performance.And only without this kind of small wharf would it be popular for small theater troupes with real people in full costume to perform on stage. This kind of theater troupe requires more than a dozen people to support the princes and nobles.

(End of this chapter)