Food Fairy Lord

Chapter 582 Listening to the Opera
When Pei Ye was a child, he would follow the adults to the side of the temple fair during every festival, watch the dancing of the colorful clothes and listen to the humming voices. That was his limited perception of "drama".

Fenghuai is a small town. There are no grand theaters or theatres, and no famous actors. They just set up a stage in an open space with a curtain hanging as the backdrop, and sing all day long.

Pei Ye, who was not even as tall as people's chests, had no interest in this rare activity. Although the elders he knew were all cheerfully calling out "Let's go listen to the opera!", Pei Ye stood on tiptoe to watch from the gaps in the crowd. He could neither see all the ostentatious movements nor distinguish the elongated voices. He just felt puzzled looking at those strange-looking clowns.

During this period, he would often turn around and run back home, his steps were very relaxed, because the adults would gather here to listen to the opera, often until after sunset. Then many places would become a paradise for children, and he could implement his happy plans.

Later, after he pawned his house and his life became difficult, he went to the stage less often. On festivals like Mid-Autumn Festival, Double Ninth Festival, and New Year's Eve, he often sat with Grandpa Yue in a dim little house with an oil lamp, looking through the window at the clear stars in the sky, listening to the firecrackers or laughter in the city, talking and listening, spending a quiet and boring night.

So the first time he actually listened to an opera was when he sat with Li Piaoqing in the theater in Qijiu City, Xiangzhou.

She listened very seriously that time. The girl loved this activity at that time, and the puzzle of the Immortal King was still unsolved. Pei Ye was not distracted at all. Even the appearance and lyrics are still clearly remembered in his mind.

And now, sitting in the theater in this capital city, the experience has reached a new level - there is more than just a roof above the head, there are actually carved beams and painted buildings; the stage is not just big, it is big enough for horses to run.

There was no need for two people to sit on a cramped bench anymore, but instead each of them had a chair, with four chairs surrounding a table. Pei Ye and Jiang Yin'er sat down, and soon hot tea and snacks were served. It was worthy of being a business in Tianzi City, even though it was old and deserted, every detail was still well thought out.

"What's the next piece? Will it be the story of Zhao Zilong saving his master alone?" Pei Ye looked around as the stage was set up. "I've often heard people say this is a good show."

Jiang Yiner shook her head.

"What about Gaozu killing the snake?"

"It seems not."

"The three heroes fighting Lu Bu, the empty city plan, Zhang Fei repelling Cao's army at Dangyang Bridge..."

"None of them. Brother Shi, why is your mind full of books about fighting and killing?" Jiang Yin'er said with a smile, pointing, "Today's music is usually hung high on the side of the theater. Take a look for yourself."

Pei Ye took a quick look and her mood immediately turned cold. The whole day was full of things like "Silver Well Fate" and "The Kite Mistake". Jiang Yin'er was not picky. It was her first time to listen to an opera in a big city like Shenjing. The girl's expectations were beyond words. Her eyes were sparkling and her hands were placed neatly on her knees.

Pei Ye leaned over to the guest at the next table and said, "Old sir, this is the first time my sister and I have come here. How is the singing in this courtyard?"

The old opera guest was nearly seventy years old, with gray hair and wrapped in a warm coat. He came out to listen to the opera on such a snowy day. Obviously, he was a long-time opera fan. At this moment, he squinted his eyes as if he was slightly drunk and said, "Hey!" "Lucky! It couldn't be better!"

"The best?"

"It's the best!" said the old opera guest. "Let me tell you, ever since the Crane and Duck script came out, the popular plays are all about fighting and killing. I've listened to them a few times - oh, what a cliché."

Pei Ye frowned.

The old operagoer waved his hands and said, "We still have to listen to the opera and savor the lyrics. The Hundred Operas Garden has looked deserted in recent years, all because there are fewer martial artists and they don't like to perform those Jianghu operas. But all the actors are famous actors and all the scripts are old. Decades ago, you had to spend three or five taels of silver to buy this seat from someone else!"

Pei Ye understood that it was an old theater that almost no one listened to. He took a quick look and saw that there were only a small half of the people sitting in the theater. As expected, most of them were in their forties or fifties. He felt a little regretful at this time, thinking that he had originally intended to bring Yin'er here to listen to some new plays, but he didn't want to spend these three cents of silver on only to watch some outdated plays.

The curtain opened on time. The lights below the stage were dim, but the stage was brightly lit. There was a sound of drums and piano, and Pei Ye's eyes widened slightly.

In the cold and dim light, extremely sophisticated and clean tunes rang out in the hall. They must be the old zithers and flutes that have been washed away by the years. Their owners played them as naturally as eating and drinking. Only in such an environment surrounded by them can every delicate transition be clearly captured... Pei Ye had to admit that this play really had to be listened to.

He tilted his head to glance at Jiang Yin'er. The girl was staring at the stage. Seeing that she was satisfied, Pei Ye also smiled with satisfaction. He leaned back in his chair and calmed down. The sound of firecrackers could be faintly heard outside, but this was a rare peaceful place during the New Year.

Scene after scene of the drama passed by, most of which were melodious and graceful songs. Pei Ye half listened and half rested, squinting his eyes as if he was asleep. Jiang Yin'er, on the other hand, was always concentrating, occasionally letting out a chuckle or slightly frowning her pretty eyebrows.

Time passed little by little until it was probably the last track, and the prelude sounded faintly. At this time, footsteps were heard behind him. Pei Ye opened his eyes and looked back. It was a new guest who came and sat at the empty table next to him.

A man in his thirties, wearing a cloak with a few light plum blossoms crocheted on the dark silk with silver thread, sat down and poured a cup of hot tea. An old opera guest on the other side poked his head out and greeted him, "Brother Li, I haven't seen you for a few days."

The man said, "Hmm," "Today, there is a play by Chen Su called Lin Er. I'll take some time to come and listen to it."

Pei Ye looked at him. The most prominent impression this man gave Pei Ye was that he was clean. Clean clothes, clean face, clean expression, clean voice... He was wearing a single garment and a cloak, without any accessories or ribbons, and his hair was only tied up with a small ring.

His second impression was one of calmness and tranquility. If Yan Feiqing was like the white plum blossoms in the snow, then this man was more like the falling snow itself. He did not have any otherworldly aura, and covered the world equally, no matter if it was jade trees and branches or dirty and muddy.

He slowly rubbed a round piece of light blue jade with his left hand as if to warm himself, but it was not warm jade. Pei Ye keenly sensed the coldness emanating from it - it was clearly a piece of cold jade.

Pei Ye was looking at him when he suddenly felt a chill all over his body, as if all his bones were trembling. A deep and clear voice rose from the drum and piano. The man's "Lin'er Xi" uttered for the first time and unexpectedly entered the boy's ears.

"Outside the Spring and Autumn Pavilion, the wind and rain are raging..."

Pei Ye turned her head and looked at the stage in a daze. A woman in a slim red costume was standing on it, and the familiar tune was flowing from her throat.

Many times people are not aware of a song they have heard before. Even if the name is placed in front of them, it will only seem unfamiliar at first sight - unless you hear it clearly again.

In an instant, Pei Ye was pulled back to those dimly lit nights, the old courtyard and the old trees. Most of the time, he was busy with things, and the old man beside him would talk to himself and squeeze out some unpleasant tunes from his throat... He had never listened carefully, but his memory had imprinted it.

"Where is the sad voice breaking the loneliness..."

"Ah, it's this song." Jiang Yin'er shook her calves and patted her palms lightly.

"Yin'er, have you heard of it too?"

"I've heard it, and I can sing it." Jiang Yin'er smiled, "But Master always says that I don't sing well, and she can't sing well when I want her to."

"What is this piece of music?" Pei Ye asked. "It's 'The Unicorn's Pouch', also known as 'The Unicorn's Play'."

The old operagoer next to him smiled drunkenly, "You are really a youngster. Forty or fifty years ago, this opera was very popular in the capital. It was hard to get a seat in the Baixi Garden. Alas, not many people have heard it now... At that time, the east was still the general's mansion, and the opera troupe often performed in the mansion... Brother Li, although you are also young, you should remember more than them?"

"There is only a sedan chair visible across the curtain. It must be the newlyweds crossing the Magpie Bridge..."

The man next to him nodded and said calmly, "At that time, out of every 100 plays performed in Shenjing, 70 were of this play. I remember it."

The old man laughed and said, "You look only thirty-five or thirty-six years old. You probably heard about 'that time' from your elders."

The man had no expression on his face. He was looking at the stage quietly, but his eyes seemed to be fixed on nothing. Pei Ye looked at him, inexplicably stunned for a moment.

The man seemed to sense something, turned his head and looked at him, and said calmly: "Didn't Yue Muzhou teach you this play?"

Pei Ye was startled, and subconsciously put his hand on the hilt of the sword at his waist, with a look of surprise on his face: "...No."

Jiang Yin'er also looked at him with a little surprise. After all, he was from a famous and upright sect. She clasped her hands together and said, "Are you an old friend of Senior Yue? May I ask your name?"

"Shenjing City is such a small place, who is not an old friend?" The man did not answer, but turned his head to look at her, "You are Ying Suyu's disciple. Although she herself is not a good singer, she has indeed heard some good ones."

"...Is it Grandpa Yue who sang it?" Pei Ye was slightly stunned.

The man smiled faintly upon hearing this: "You are indeed a fan of Yue Muzhou."

"..."

He gently rubbed the blue jade and recalled, "Ying Suyu heard this play from Yue Muzhou in Shenjing about twenty-five or twenty-six years ago. She might think Yue Muzhou sang it very well, but this is a Dan version after all, and she had heard this play many times in the twenty years since she grew up in the southwest."

"This play was most popular in Shenjing fifty years ago. The whole General's Mansion loved it, and I often listened to it. The first person who brought it to the southwest was Zhu Lianwo. Yue Muzhou was only five or six years old at that time." The man said in a calm voice, "Later, Ying Suyu heard it, Lin Yang heard it, Yue Muzhou heard it, and later, it was heard by the two of you."

"On an auspicious day, we should be laughing, why did the mermaid pearl turn into tears and throw it away? Now I understand..."

Pei Ye was stunned when he heard this. He didn't understand a lot of what the man said, but the man didn't seem to care whether he understood or not. After he finished speaking, he continued to look at the stage quietly.

As a quick beat flowed by, the familiar tune was fully activated in Pei Ye's mind. It was the first time he heard the lyrics of the song in their true form, and it was as cold and gentle as mountain rain in the deep blue.

"I heard the sad voice and my heart was pounding. Why are the people I met crying so loudly?"

……

The play was very long, but it always had to end. The audience dispersed, and the man walked out of the theater wearing a cloak. Pei Ye and the other man all walked eastward.

It was very strange that when they walked next to this man, as long as he was silent, Pei Ye and the others felt it was inconvenient for them to talk.

"On the first day of the new year, you two came out to listen to a play. Didn't Xu Chuo treat you well?" After walking half a street in silence, the man tilted his head and said.

Jiang Yin'er said, "No, I wanted to listen to the opera, so I asked Brother Shi to come with me."

The man looked at the two of them quietly, not knowing what he was thinking. He just nodded and said after a moment, "Yue Muzhou and Ying Suyu have already left Shenjing, but you two have come back... Generation after generation, it really seems like a fate."

Pei Ye was stunned again and didn't know how to answer, but the man didn't wait for any answer. When they reached the end of the long street, he turned north and parted ways with them.

Jiang Yin'er's emotions were not as chaotic as Pei Ye's. She just curiously watched the man's back for a while, and when she turned around, she smiled and said, "Thank you, Brother Shi, today's show is really good!"

Pei Ye then came back to his senses and smiled: "I'll take you there next time when I'm free."

Jiang Yin'er nodded with satisfaction, humming the tunes softly, and walked back on the snow step by step. When the two returned to the old house, more than ten people were eating dinner around a round table, even Xu Chuo was there.

"I'll be gone for the whole day, you two can just celebrate the New Year on your own." Xu Chuo said with a smile on his hand.

"What's wrong with that? I'd like to spend the New Year with Yin'er." Pei Ye squeezed Zhang Piaoxu and sat down at the table.

Jiang Yin'er's cheeks were slightly red: "Sorry, Mr. Xu, the show was so good that I forgot the time."

Xu Chuo did not blame her. The snow that had lasted for a whole year finally stopped at nightfall. As promised, Pei Ye took Jiang Yin'er to the yard to make a snowman. The new snow was very clean and soft. The ten fingers of the girl from the southwest were all baked red by the snow, but her face was still full of a happy smile.

Pei Ye sat cross-legged in the snow, watching the girl in front of him put the two black stones into her eye sockets with satisfaction, completing her first work independently. He held his chin up and smiled, "Yin'er."

"Ok?"

"Actually, the most fun thing to do in the snow is not to make a snowman." Pei Ye said, "There is a more exciting way to play, and you haven't tried it yet."

Jiang Yin'er was curious: "What is it?"

"Come here." Pei Ye's hands were not in the snow, and he smiled and said, "Come and squat here."

The girl was not on guard at all, her eyes were full of joy, she came to the boy with a smile and squatted down obediently: "What are you doing, brother Shi?"

Pei Ye grabbed a handful of snow and pressed it on the back of her neck. He turned around, got up and ran away amid the girl's screams.

(End of this chapter)