Day and night tour

Chapter 21: Broken Nuo
Did Liu Jiaotian change his lyrics just for these one-eyed "people"?
Zhou Xuan looked at Liu Jiaotian for a while, then glanced at the one-eyed "people" with red eyes, and finally looked at Mr. Dai who had half of his face sticking out from the waiting corridor of the stage.

Mr. Dai's face was wrinkled and he looked weathered, but in Zhou Xuan's eyes, there seemed to be a sense of excitement mixed with the weathered look.

At this moment,

A series of events, including the death of Qinglian in the Dai Mansion, the Corridor River, the villagers who stood on tiptoe without a shadow, Liu Jiaotian's change of lyrics, and the strange demeanor of Mr. Dai...

All these strange situations, like a bunch of twisted and full-of-holes ghost-faced Bodhi seeds, were strung together by a faint thread and floated in Zhou Xuan's mind.

Zhou Xuan always felt that as long as he exerted a little effort, he would be able to pick up the string of Bodhi seeds and take a closer look.

But the more you try to catch it, the harder it is to catch it, and there is no way to restore the original appearance of the matter.

But he had a hunch...

"There's a 90% chance that something will happen at the theater today!"

Zhou Xuan muttered to himself, but changed his tone and said, "But this matter is not aimed at the Zhou family, it should be aimed at..."

Since the victim is not from the Zhou family, why bother with him and just watch the show.

Pulling his attention back to the stage, Zhou Xuan felt that Liu Jiaotian was too talented and had a natural charm.

It reminded him of the Siren, a sea monster that was good at confusing people.

Fortunately, there are no bad guys at the moment, otherwise the audience who were bewitched by Liu Jiaotian's singing would stab them in the back without making a sound.

……

A beautiful song lingers in the air for three days, and its sound lingers on.

Liu Jiaotian was like this. After the excerpt was sung, the audience had not yet walked out of the dream-awakening garden party. They stared with their eyes wide open and smacked their lips, just like they were tasting a delicious dish.

"Thank you for your support, old and young gentlemen."

Liu Jiaotian bowed slightly, thanked the audience, and hobbled off the stage.

Singing opera is a physically demanding job that requires both body movements and the voice, so fatigue is inevitable.

Zhou Xuan was already in the backstage at this time, helping the masters to collect chairs and move boxes and cabinets.

There is only one last act left and this underworld drama will be over. It’s time to pack up.

Xu Li and Song Jie took the actors' costumes one by one, folded them neatly, and put them into the suitcase.

"Sister-in-law, why didn't I see the senior brother?" Zhou Xuan asked Xu Li when he didn't see Yu Zhengyuan.

"Old Yu, don't you know? He is so focused on his work. He is in the waiting passage, taking care of Mr. Dai."

"Mr. Dai is on stage?"

“Yes.”

"Isn't the last program "The Birth of the Monkey King"? " Zhou Xuan looked at the program list.

"The Monkey King was originally scheduled, but Mr. Dai wanted to give a speech and wrote a script in advance, so he cut the last program."

Xu Li pointed to a group of children gathered nearby, lowering their heads and wiping their tears and said, "Look at those little kids dressed as monkeys. They have been preparing for this scene for days. Even if they mess up, at least they can go on stage. Now they can't even go on stage. They are all unwilling and feel wronged."

To join a theatre troupe as an artist, the most important thing is experience, and experience is gained by performing one play after another. If you don’t perform in today’s play, you will lack important performance experience, and sadness is inevitable.

Zhou Xuan also felt sorry for the young actors, but he didn't have the time to feel sorry for them. He was more worried about his senior brother.

"Xiao Xuan, where are you going? They need someone to carry a water pot over there. Can you help me?"

"Wait until I come back to move it."

Zhou Xuan took two steps at a time and ran to the waiting passage. He saw Yu Zhengyuan leaning at the entrance of the passage, holding the corner of the curtain with one hand and making various encouraging gestures to Mr. Dai who was giving a speech with the other hand.

"Big Brother, please stand back a little."

"If I stand back, Mr. Dai won't be able to see my encouragement." Yu Zhengyuan said, and gave Mr. Dai a thumbs up.

Haha, don’t let anything happen to Mr. Dai and get you covered in blood!

Zhou Xuan's premonition became stronger and stronger.

He guessed that something would happen to the troupe today, and this incident would probably be directed at Mr. Dai.

He was afraid that Yu Zhengyuan would get too close to Mr. Dai and suffer the consequences.

Zhou Xuan nervously looked at the one-eyed "people" with red eyes in the theater. If he found anything wrong, he would immediately take his senior brother away.

Time passed by,

"Don't move, don't move."

Zhou Xuan had a feeling that something was going to happen, but at the same time he hoped that his feeling was wrong. No one liked to get into trouble.

Different from the nervous Zhou Xuan, Mr. Dai, who was giving a speech on the stage, seemed to be enjoying the stage and acted very relaxed.

He held the big iron trumpet and shouted melodiously, immersed in the blueprint he had woven with words.

“My fellow villagers, I am Dai Siming, from Huilang River. I have also worshipped Buddha before. Like everyone else, I have experienced hardship and poverty.

Now, I have money and the policy has come,
Pingshui Prefecture wants to develop industry. This year, I will personally invest to build three factories in Huilang River.

I hereby guarantee that
The monthly salary for workers in our factory will not be less than 400 yuan!"

When the topic of money was mentioned, the villagers in the audience applauded in unison.

Four hundred yuan is something a dock worker can't even earn even if he works his ass off. Working in a factory is not that tiring and is more stable. You can earn money every month throughout the year. It's a great thing.

But Zhou Xuan just felt that Mr. Dai was nagging, and muttered: "Stop nagging, hurry up and get off the stage before anything happens..."

"Of course, these three factories are just my personal goal. The Shan De Association will also provide a large amount of funds. By then, factories, schools, and hospitals will all be built in the small town of Huilang River."

Wow, wow! There was another round of warm applause.

"Thank you for your support, fellow villagers. I am old and not in good health, so I can't say anything more..."

Ouch!

Zhou Xuan finally felt relieved.

The speech has come to this point, and what remains is the formal speech, saying two or three auspicious words, then bowing, waving, and leaving.

At this point, the underworld play ends.

The troupe should pack up and Mr. Dai should pay his tribute.

Once the stage was dismantled, those one-eyed villagers who were tiptoeing around could stand wherever they wanted. As for whether they would go looking for trouble with Mr. Dai in private, Zhou Xuan had no control over it.

Just don’t splash blood on the Zhou Clan’s signboard!

The abacus is clacking loudly.

But things in this world never go according to your plans.
There were clearly only two "auspicious words" left, but Mr. Dai on the stage was unable to say any of them.

He just opened his mouth but no sound came out, as if there was an invisible little man sticking a small stick into his mouth, preventing his upper and lower jaw from closing.

"Speak up, Mr. Dai..." Yu Zhengyuan thought that Mr. Dai was nervous and slapped his thigh anxiously.

What a hairy word.

Zhou Xuan wanted Yu Zhengyuan to carry Mr. Dai off the stage quickly and not think about the speech anymore. The most important thing was to avoid any accidents.

He shouted, "Go and carry Mr. Dai on your back..."

After shouting for a while, he couldn't shout anymore.

The long-awaited white noise is here again.

This time it was not as gentle as "sha, sha, sha", but more like the electric current sound produced when the microphone was blown up was amplified dozens of times.

Harsh, sharp,

In an instant, Zhou Xuan felt that his eardrums were pierced. The intense pain immediately made him break out in a cold sweat.

Fortunately, the sound only lasted for two or three seconds. It came and went quickly. If it had lasted longer, he would have lost his life.

The moment the electric sound disappeared, he heard a crisp sound like glass breaking.

Enduring the pain, Zhou Xuan looked in the direction of the sound and saw a wooden Golden Crow Nuo opera mask hanging on the beam of the stage.

Jinwu is also known as the "Sun Bird". The image widely circulated among the people is a three-legged crow living in the center of the red sun.

However, with the differentiation of beliefs, the image of the Golden Crow varies from place to place. The Golden Crow Nuo mask of the Zhou family generally adheres to the traditional image. The mask is shaped like a bird's head and is painted black. Only on the forehead, there are three vertical bone spurs carved upwards, which makes the divine bird look much more ferocious.

The purpose of this change is to "suppress the evil spirits with fierce gods."

When a ghostly troupe performs for the dead, there's no guarantee that there won't be evil spirits coming to cause trouble.

Objects to ward off ghosts became a necessity for performances. They were hung on the beams of the stage from the beginning of the show until they were respectfully taken down after the show ended and everyone left.

The Golden Crow Nuo Mask is one of the ghost-suppressing objects hung by the Zhou family.

But at this moment, the Golden Crow Nuo Mask was broken...

(End of this chapter)