I am Emperor Wanli

Chapter 915 Dear Opera Workers

Yu Qiaolian stopped and looked carefully, and found that it was Zhu Xuanni.

She was wearing a sky blue male student uniform, similar to an army uniform, and was looking at herself with delight.

There were five people standing behind him, the eldest prince Zhu Changhao and the second prince Zhu Changhan. Both of them were wearing the same style of student uniform, but in slightly different colors.

Yang Jinshui, wearing a Feiyu suit and a Zhongjing crown, stood behind him with a smile on his face. No one within a radius of five meters dared to pass by.

Behind them were two army officers.

In the East Hall, people walking around were wearing all kinds of clothes.

There are red, blue and green official uniforms, army and navy uniforms, formal and simple service uniforms, Shanghai uniforms, work uniforms, casual uniforms, jackets and skirts, all kinds of them, truly a hundred flowers blooming.

No one felt awkward, they just found it novel.

Damingmen Hall is often seen in various newspapers.

"On a certain day of a certain month in a certain year of the Wanli reign, the cabinet and the Rong government held a meeting there to commend the advanced representatives and outstanding talents from all walks of life in the Ming Dynasty."

What you hear and see accumulates over time.

Everyone has agreed that the Great Hall is a place for all kinds of people to hold meetings, and it is normal to wear all kinds of clothes.

"long"

Zhu Xuanni quickly hushed and interrupted Yu Qiaolian's words.

Yu Qiaolian also realized her mistake and quickly covered her mouth and looked around.

No one paid any attention to them.

He smiled at Zhu Xuanni apologetically and changed the topic: "Miss, why are you here?"

"My father praised my social survey report on the current situation of literary and artistic workers, which used opera actors as a model. He also agreed that I could set up an investigation team to follow up and conduct in-depth investigations.

I am the leader of the investigation team, and those two are my team members." Zhu Xuanni pointed at Zhu Changhao and Zhu Changhan.

The two of them smiled politely yet awkwardly.

"Mr. Yang is our sponsor."

Yang Jinshui nodded with a smile.

"Today is the enlarged meeting of the Chinese Opera Association held by the Spiritual Civilization Construction Committee. It is very important and meaningful. My father asked the school for a day off for us to attend the meeting and experience it in person."

Yu Qiaolian couldn't help but sigh, "Your father is so good to you."

"My father taught us that we should not only study the knowledge in books carefully, but also put it into practice and combine theory with practice. It is more important to learn the knowledge in the big classroom of society."

Zhu Xuanni answered happily and then asked, "Master Yu, can't you find the place?"

"Yes. The invitation letter said it was in the Hengshan Hall of the East Hall, but we..." Yu Qiaolian looked around and smiled bitterly.

"I know the way and will take you there. Mr. Yang, investigation team, follow up!" Zhu Xuanni waved her hand.

"The mountain is on the left and the sea is on the right. Hengshan Hall is on the left."

"Mountains on the left and sea on the right?"

"Yes. The door in front is Hall 1, which is also the Grand Hall and can accommodate 3,000 people. On the left are Halls 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10, which are even numbers. They are named Hengshan, Taishan, Hengshan, Huashan, and Songshan. They are named after the Five Sacred Mountains.

On the right are the three, five, seven, and nine halls, which are named East Sea, West Sea, South Sea, and North Sea respectively. They are named after the four seas.

Zhu Xuanni led the way in front, explaining as she walked.

Pushing open the door on the left, there is a four-meter-wide corridor, which is wide and long and covered with a brown patterned carpet.

People were coming and going up there, disappearing through the gates on either side.

There were also errand boys in white uniforms, well, now called waiters, pushing a stainless steel two-layer cart with several thermoses on the bottom and white porcelain teacups neatly arranged on top. There were bright flowers on the outside of the cups, such as peonies, lotus flowers, and plum blossoms.
There are also two celadon teapots next to it.

"Hall No. 2, here!".

Only five meters into the corridor, there is a big door open. It consists of three double doors and is fully open.

There is a screen wall at the entrance, six meters long and three meters high, with a painting on it.

The mountains are continuous, the terrain is dangerous and the mountains are majestic, with peaks rising one after another and magnificent.

There is a mountain covered with green grass, and the mountain looks like a gate in the sky split by a knife, and it is as beautiful as a green screen.

There is a row of buildings on the mountainside, with a dangerous cliff above and a deep valley below. They are backed by rocks and lean against niches. The mountain gate faces south, and the west is the main direction.

The layout is compact and intertwined. Thrilling,
Strange and spectacular.

This is the world-famous Hanging Courtyard on Mount Hengshan, the Northern Mountain.

Walking in from both sides of the screen wall, it is very spacious inside, about seven or eight hundred square meters.

There are rows of seats in the middle, and in front of them are long tables covered with plain tablecloths.

There are white porcelain teacups on the table.

In front of the seats where someone was sitting were paper signs with different names written on them.

There are about twenty rows, with ten seats in each row, sparsely spaced from front to back and from left to right.

At the innermost part is a row of chairs and tables facing each other, which is often called the rostrum.

The table of the rostrum was also covered with a plain tablecloth. In addition to tea cups and name tags, there were pots of flowers placed at intervals in front of the table, and behind it was a huge red flag with yellow characters on it.

A banner was hung overhead: "Enlarged meeting of the Ming Opera Association in the tenth year of Wanli."

There is a double door on each side of the rostrum.

There was still no one on the rostrum, but more than half of the seats below were already occupied, and at a glance, they were all from the same industry.

In front are the owners, managers and several famous actors of the four major Kunqu opera troupes.

On the left are the owners, managers and famous actors of the three major Anhui opera troupes.

On the right are people from the Xiqinqiang troupe, in the middle are people from the Henan Gaodiao and Yue opera troupes, and behind them are people from the Puzhou Bangzi opera, Shu opera, Yiyang opera, Qingyang opera, Haiyan opera, Nanyin, Han opera and other troupes.

They are all colleagues who have worked hard to gain a foothold in the capital.

Seeing Yu Qiaolian and Dong Li come in, familiar people came forward to greet them.

"Boss Yu is here!"

"Manager Dong is here."

"How can such a grand theatrical event be without Huangmei Opera?"

Most of the people who said hello were from the small opera troupe sitting in the back.

The people from the Kunqu and Hui opera troupes sitting in the front either pretended not to see them or didn't even bother to turn their heads. They were from the Kunqu opera troupe, and they were too lazy to pay attention to anyone.

Or they would look at me from a distance with a sidelong glance and nod with a forced smile.

That's from the Hui Opera troupe.

Peers are enemies.

Hui Opera and Huangmei Opera both originated in Anhui Province. Both are local operas, while the other gradually got rid of its muddy roots and, with the praise of a group of literati and scholars, embarked on the path of "high art".

One is still soaking in the mud, still vulgar.

They are simply enemies of enemies.

However, due to the respect of their fellow townsmen, they could not be as aloof as the Kunqu opera troupe and could only say hello reluctantly.

A clerk stepped forward and asked politely, "Who are you two?"

Yu Qiaolian and Dong Li quickly handed over the invitation. The clerk lowered his head to check the invitation, and Yu Qiaolian looked back and saw Zhu Xuanni, Zhu Changhao and Zhu Changhan quietly sitting on the seats against the wall.

That's usually where secretaries or meeting recorders sit.

The three of them sat down, and Zhu Xuanni waved and greeted Yu Qiaolian with a smile.

Yang Jinshui also sat down leisurely. The flying fish suit he was wearing was particularly eye-catching. In addition, there were two uniformed officers beside him. People passing by couldn't help but glance at him, but no one dared to ask.

Occasionally, there would be people who knew Yang Jinshui, but when they saw this situation, they would not dare to step forward and say hello. Instead, they would keep their thoughts to themselves and guess quietly.

"It turns out to be Mr. Yu and Manager Dong of the Huangmei Opera Troupe. Your seats are over here. Please follow me."

The clerk led Yu Qiaolian and Dong Li forward, pointed to two seats and said, "Here, please take a seat."

Yu Qiaolian and Dong Li sat down in a daze. Another clerk came up and placed two nameplates on the table in front of them.

"Yu Qiaolian".

"Dong Li".

The two were extremely excited to see their names appear in such a solemn place.

The East and West Halls of Daming Gate, the people who hold meetings here are either high-ranking officials or local leaders.

Ordinary people can also come to attend meetings, but they are all outstanding representatives of industry, agriculture, commerce, and education, and advanced elements.

According to the nobles living in the imperial city of the capital, those who sit in the East and West Halls for meetings are all prominent and promising people.

Even if you are not an official now, you will definitely make a big splash and rise to prominence in the future.

The two never imagined that their names would appear in this legendary place.

When I left Anqing, took a boat downstream to Nanjing Pukou, and then took a train north to Beijing, my heart was full of longing, but I never imagined that there would be a scene like today.

Yu Qiaolian accidentally looked around and was startled. She quickly pulled Dong Li next to her.

"uncle!"

Manager Dong was just imagining how he would brag about it to his colleagues and neighbors after the meeting, and how he could write a few words in a reserved manner in the letter he sent home.

Damingmen East Hall, that's it.
He was brought back to reality by Yu Qiaolian.

"What's wrong, Alian?"

"Uncle, look at our position."

Dong Li looked around and was so scared that he almost jumped up.

He and Yu Qiaolian sat in the front row, the two seats in the middle.

The Kunqu opera performers are on the left and right, the Hui opera performers are at the back, and for the rest only the heads can be seen.

This place is less than three meters away from the rostrum, facing the center of the rostrum seats.

The person there must be the highest-ranking official, and he was right face to face with me.

Looking at the colleagues sitting around him, every one of them had confusion and jealousy in their eyes. Hundreds of eyes, like hundreds of torches, were focused on him and A-Lian.

"Alian, did we sit in the wrong seats?" Dong Li was panicked and hesitated to stand up.

Yu Qiaolian, on the other hand, remained calm and held Dong Li down.

"Uncle, it's okay, we'll just sit here."

"Could it be that the official just now made a mistake?" Dong thought of this and lowered his voice in fear and said, "Could it be that he accepted benefits from others and deliberately cheated us?"

Yu Qiaolian glanced at him and said, "Uncle, what is this place? All the officials working here have to be extremely alert and careful, right?
Besides, in public, a high-ranking official will come and frame us. What good will it do him if we make a scene?"

Yes.

Dong Liqiang suppressed his uneasy heart and continued to sit there, ignoring the strange looks from his colleagues around him.

Ten minutes later, ten minutes before nine, nearly two-thirds of the seats in the venue were occupied.

Dong Li took a quick look and found that all the opera troupes from various places that had gained some fame in the capital were there, including troupe owners, managers and actors, numbering about 160 to 170 people.

There were also sixty or seventy scholars and literati sitting in a separate area.

They are all screenwriters and members of the Opera Association. They may also be members of the Literature Association, another branch of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

Dong Li saw several familiar faces, among them the famous drama genius, Qingyuan Taoist Tang Xianzu.

It is said that he used to be very close to the Wang Shizhen brothers, two famous scholars in Jiangnan and the founder of Suzhou Opera Research Institute, and that he became famous thanks to the recommendations of the Wang brothers.

But later on, he disagreed with the Wang brothers' ideas and instead became very close to Zhuo Wugong (Li Zhi) who was in charge of Nanjing University.

That's the mortal enemy of the Wang brothers.

Then I heard that Mr. Tang had a falling out with the Wang brothers.

He left Suzhou and traveled around, writing scripts for other local operas. He helped revise the script of the Huangmei Opera "The Legend of the White Snake", which was completely renewed.

Suzhou Opera Research Institute, "Ci Lin" and "Opera Review" frequently published articles criticizing Tang Xianzu's plays, saying that they were full of obscene words and writings and were extremely filthy.

Many colleagues in the opera world were puzzled.

What's going on here?
Many big names in Kunqu opera also feel very sorry about this. In the past, the scripts that Qingyuan Taoist wrote for Kunqu opera, such as "The West Chamber" and "The Peony Pavilion", were so good. How come they have become so alienated?

But although they feel sorry for it, they are powerless to change it.

Kunqu Opera is firmly in the hands of the Wang brothers and the Suzhou Opera Research Institute. Taoist Qingyuan has already fallen out with them, so it is completely impossible for him to write scripts for Kunqu Opera.

If "Romance of the West Chamber" and "Peony Pavilion" were not so famous and sung all over the world, the Chinese Opera Research Institute would have wanted to remove these two plays from the Kunqu opera repertoire.

The imperial court has promulgated the "Copyright Law" for tampering with the author's name. Anyone who dares to do it will be sued successfully.

So these people changed the author's name of the Kunqu and Hui opera scripts written by Tang Xianzu to Qingyuan Taoist.

These bird people use all their intelligence in this regard.

Wow!

Suddenly, applause broke out and the people who were sitting stood up and applauded. Yu Qiaolian and Dong Li stood up and clapped vigorously.

It was the first time for them to attend such a meeting, so they didn’t know anything and just followed along.

A group of people came in from the door on the left, all wearing formal uniforms, either black or navy blue.

Leading the way was Zhang Siwei, smiling and looking energetic.

Following closely were the Minister of Rites Pan Sheng, the Minister of Taichang Temple Yang Lingde, the Right Vice Minister of Rites who was also in charge of the Education Department Wang Qi, the Right Vice Minister of Rites who was also in charge of the Culture Department Shen Shixing, the Chief Secretary of the Committee for Spiritual Civilization Construction Shen Yikuan, and the Doctor of the Art Bureau of the Culture Department Tu Long, among other officials.

Seeing this scene, the owners and managers of Kunqu and Hui opera troupes, who had close ties with the government, were secretly shocked.

This is going to God!

They tried hard to find Wang Shizhen's brothers among the crowd, as they had also recently arrived in Beijing.

But I couldn't find it no matter what, and I couldn't help but sigh.

Even though the two brothers of Fengzhou were well-known throughout the country for their literary talents, they were not officials after all. Once the meeting standards were raised, they were not even qualified to sit on the podium.

Yu Qiaolian, Dong Li and most of the opera practitioners below could only applaud foolishly.

A row of officials sat down, and Zhang Siwei sat in the middle, the C position.

On the left is Pan Sheng, on the right is Yang Lingde
Shen Yiquan did not sit down. He was the one presiding over today's meeting.

“Dear opera workers.”

(End of this chapter)