Day and night tour

Chapter 20 Liu Jiaotian

"Liu Jiaotian is here!"

When the underworld play came to an end, the overall atmosphere was a bit cold, mainly because there were few real fans of the play in Huilang River, the play was not lively, and they were not happy to listen to it.

But Liu Jiaotian, just by taking a few steps, covering his brows with his sleeves and showing off his figure, was like a fire burning into the ice cave, igniting hundreds of depressed audiences.

"She is worthy of being the top actress of the Zhou family."

Zhou Xuan felt at close range the shock of the famous actors' appearances, and realized that the anecdotes about "appreciating actors" told by the old gentlemen on the radio were not fabricated.

It is said that in the past, people were generous when watching actors. Some wealthy and prominent families would be so happy that they would throw money directly onto the stage. However, such behavior was too illiterate and seemed like a show of wealth, so it was looked down upon by those who knew more.

A well-off family with a good family background would secretly wrap bracelets and small yellow croakers in a silk scarf and handkerchief, and send a servant to crouch under the stage and gently throw them to the corner of the stage.

He neither disturbed the performance of the leading actor nor let the audience see how generous he was, so as to avoid being targeted by someone with ulterior motives and bringing unnecessary trouble to the leading actor.

The existence of this kind of culture of appreciating actors is inseparable from the people's deep-seated love for the actors.

Love is equal.

If you don’t have the ability to call out to the sky, how can you deserve the love and care that is given to you?

Liu Jiaotian has the ability to call the sky.

She has three unique qualities.

The beauty, the steps and the voice are unique.

As for the beauty, Liu Jiaotian is a girl, which is a rare thing in traditional theaters.

Because there are very few girls in traditional opera troupes, and the female roles are almost always played by men.

The reason why most of them are male dan is mainly because the training period for acting roles is too long and they all start from childhood.

He joined the troupe at the age of three or four to learn the art. Not only did he practice singing, reciting, acting and fighting every day, but the master also gave him special lessons every now and then, teaching him in great detail on everything from singing to body movements.

Correct errors word by word, and carefully examine each movement.

The time, resources and effort spent on cultivating famous actors are immeasurable.

A theatre troupe is not a charity. They spend so much effort on it naturally to make money, but the female actors trained with so much resources often do not make enough money.

Once a female dan becomes famous, she will easily be noticed by wealthy and powerful people who come to watch the show. With a ticket, they will be invited to drink and chat.

After just a few drinking parties, the female dan would most likely be promoted to a concubine.

If a female dan became a concubine, she had to pay a redemption fee to the opera troupe. This amount seemed high, but it was far less than the profit that a famous actor could bring to the troupe if he became popular for ten years.

Moreover, if an actor really becomes famous, he can remain popular for much longer than ten years if he is more diligent and attentive.

After similar incidents happened so frequently, the troupe stopped recruiting female dan actors. Even if they came across a female talent, they would just swallow their saliva and turn away.

but,

The Hades Opera Troupe is not too afraid of causing trouble.

It’s nothing, it’s just unlucky.

Who would marry a famous actress from a troupe who specializes in performing for the dead as a concubine? Wouldn't it be unlucky?
Moreover, even if there were those who were unsophisticated and coveted the beauty of famous actresses in underworld opera troupes, they would not marry them as concubines. At most, they would arrange a short-lived affair with them and just do the show.

Unable to get promoted, the female actors in the underworld opera troupe can't leave the theater. They have only a few good years to live with, and the man who protects her won't last long, so she'd better earn more money to avoid a miserable and desolate old age.

It was for this reason that the Zhou family dared to cultivate a beauty like Liu Jiaotian.

Her appearance was so alluring that no other theater in Pingshui Prefecture could match her.

At this moment, there was a man in front of the stage. When he saw Liu Jiaotian, his eyes were so fixed that they could be seen through.

His wife couldn't stand it anymore and slapped him in the face. He covered his swollen face with his hands, but couldn't take his eyes off Liu Jiaotian's face.

In addition to the absolute color,

The steps are also unique.

On the stage, there is a kind of step called "ghost step".

The actor dressed up as a "ghost", wearing a long skirt, his body did not sway, and he walked forward with very fast steps.

When the audience looked at it, they felt that the actors did not seem to be walking, but rather like ghosts floating forward.

This kind of step requires a lot of strength. In the whole Pingshui Prefecture, the person who is the best at ghost step is Liu Jiaotian.

Li Shuangyi, the third brother of the opera troupe, was born as a martial artist and was full of strength. However, when he talked about Liu Jiaotian's leg strength, he became so greedy that he couldn't speak smoothly. He stammered and mumbled. After listening carefully for a whole night, I could make out two words from the gaps in his unclear voice - awesome!
But then again, being extremely beautiful and having extremely good steps are just the accompaniment of the famous actors' plays.

Operas have to be sung with the mouth. What made Liu Jiaotian famous in Pingshui Prefecture was her singing style, which is also the origin of her stage name.

Call to the sky, call to the sky,
Liu Jiaotian swung her high-pitched voice, and a bright sound rushed up to the sky from her forehead to the top of her head.

This was performed outdoors, in a covered theater, and the high notes were enough to make the green tiles on the ceiling bounce.

Three unique things to do with you,

Liu Jiaotian then became the Liu Jiaotian of today.

Before the singing, the audience cheered and whistled, which showed their excitement.

But when Liu Jiaotian starts to sing,

The audience stopped shouting and listened attentively.

It sounds really nice.

Zhou Xuan was also listening with great interest. The piece sung by Liu Jiaotian was called "A Dream in the Garden", which was from the famous Kunshan opera "The Peony Pavilion".

Zhou Xuan had loved listening to this opera before. Not only the story of "Liu Mengmei and Du Liniang meeting in a dream" in the excerpt, he even remembered the lyrics of some famous passages clearly.

There are not many high-pitched songs in this play, and Yingying's whispers take up many sections. Also, because there are elements such as "resurrection" and "awakening from a dream", the opera needs to sing out a feeling of depression and gloom, which is a greater test for the female actors.

But Liu Jiaotian performed extremely well. When she whispered, it seemed as if the sound did not come from her mouth, but was generated behind every audience member, climbing up to the back of the head along the back, and finally sticking to the scalp and drilling into the ears.

just one word,

Stimulate!

Her singing made the audience forget that this was Huilang River and they actually thought they were sitting in the back garden where Du Liniang had her dream.

The song was sung with great emotion, and the audience listened with great enthusiasm.

But the more Zhou Xuan listened, the more strange it seemed. It was not that Liu Jiaotian sang badly, but that the lyrics seemed to be wrong.

He just thought it sounded a little strange at first, but since he was not even an amateur, he naturally would not doubt the industry bigwigs at the first time.

But as the passage became more familiar, he heard more and more wrong words and began to wonder, "Could she really have sung it wrong?"

Sing until "I don't know where fate comes from, it goes on and on. The living can die, and the dead can be reborn. Those who are alive but cannot die, and those who are dead and cannot be reborn, are not destined to be together."

The two characters “缘” at the beginning and end of the sentence both mean “情” in the original paragraph.

"A Dream in the Garden" originally tells the story of the love between Liu Mengmei and Du Liniang. The word "love" is of course correct, but the word "fate" comes out of nowhere.

Apart from the mistakes, every time Liu Jiaotian sang the word "缘", it was no longer a whisper, but a "ghost" language. The sound was like a woman crying in the mountains at night, which made people feel creepy.

This also changes the singing style.

If you sing the wrong words and the wrong tune at the same time... then it's not just singing wrong.

"Liu Jiaotian took the initiative to change it?!"

It is a big taboo to change the words and intonation when singing the name part. Although the ghost opera troupe is not as particular as the traditional opera troupe, it should not be changed randomly.

"Ah, didn't the audience hear it?"

In Pingshui Prefecture, listening to opera is a mainstream entertainment. You may not be an opera fan, but it is impossible for you not to know the lyrics and singing styles of famous opera excerpts.

Zhou Xuan looked at the audience listening to the opera in the venue. It would have been better if he hadn't looked. Once he looked, he found that... more than half of the audience had their eyes wide open and their gazes were numb, as if they were possessed by evil spirits.

A small portion of the audience, those who had originally lowered their heads and stood on tiptoe with no shadow, now raised their heads very high...

Only then did Zhou Xuan see clearly that these people all had only one eye.

The left eyeball was red and ferocious, while the right eye socket was empty.

They stared at Liu Jiaotian with their only remaining eye.

Zhou Xuan suddenly had an idea.
Liu Jiaotian changed the play, could it be that he sang it for these one-eyed "people"...

(End of this chapter)