Infinite Puzzle City

Chapter 104 This Doesn’t Look Like Acting (Part )
Although I can't see the person, I can hear his voice.

Although there are no sounds of gongs and drums, the sound of the wind outside the house brings cheers.

After the dragon sound, the people outside the house were stunned for a long time, until an old man stood up and said, "Okay!!"

"Well, good singing!!"

Suddenly there was applause. Although there was no light, the bonfire under the mountain stove was reflected on the faces of the villagers. The rusticity, simplicity and authenticity made everyone feel warm.

"Om..."

The door opened and Lu Cheng walked out from behind it. Looking at the eyes of the villagers in front of him, Lu Cheng put his hands behind his back awkwardly, as uneasy as a young actor on stage for the first time.

until……

"Bang! Ding! Ding!"

A coin fell at his feet, followed by more and more coins thrown over, and also a ball of paper money was thrown at his feet.

The denominations of the money are not high, there are one dollar, fifty cents, and ten cents coins.

No one even knew who had thrown a faded gold bracelet along with it.

Lu Cheng's eyes suddenly became moist. He raised his head, and the corners of his lips trembled uncontrollably. He raised his hands high towards the villagers in front of him and bowed deeply.

Until the moment he raised his head, the only sound in the yard was Lu Cheng's loud crying...

……

"Tell me, are we going to succeed or not?"

Xiao Ran and Wu Man were standing at the back, watching this scene with mixed feelings in their hearts.

This was different from what they had planned. The two of them had not yet used any tricks, at least they failed to let Lu Cheng see his mother.

It’s hard to say that it will succeed, but now seeing Lu Cheng crying, you can tell that this guy’s knot has probably been untied.

What can be said?

Man proposes, God disposes, and fate always likes to play tricks on us.

Sometimes, no matter how well you plan, in the end, you won't be as successful as others who just let things take their course.

"It's a good thing anyway."

Xiao Ran smiled as she watched Lu Cheng being supported to the table by the village aunties and grandmas, who picked up food for him one by one. She couldn't help but smile as well.

"Ouch!"

Suddenly, Wu Man slapped his head and said, "It's bad, it's bad!"

"what happened?"

Xiao Ran was startled, not knowing what had happened. Then Wu Man hurriedly said, "The spell on Fatty Sister hasn't been lifted yet. If she continues to work, she will probably be exhausted to death. I won't say any more. I'll go find her."

As he spoke, Wu Man trotted all the way towards Fatty's house.

Xiao Ran looked at the guy's back, with a complicated look in his eyes.

There is a saying that goes, all good things must come to an end. After the excitement, the villagers slowly dispersed.

Wu Man was eating a bowl of stew with gusto, but when he looked at the table full of pots and pans, he couldn't help shaking his head.

"Thank you."

Lu Cheng sat at the table and sincerely thanked Xiao Ran. If it weren't for what he did today, Lu Cheng would not have been able to take this step.

Does he know that he is wasting his time and youth?
know.

I know it very well. People are not fools. They know what they are doing.

What is this about drunken sex, what is this about me being ignorant of the law? Is the person on the other side really not a liar?
They all knew what was happening to them.

I just don’t have the courage to admit it. Even the police can tell people who are blackmailed by telecommunications companies clearly not to transfer money because they are scammers!
Do not listen.

It's not that he hasn't doubted it, but he couldn't believe it and didn't have the courage to accept the cruel reality. He would rather take a blind gamble even though he knew he would lose.

Lu Cheng was the same. He knew that his decadent life was not the life he wanted, but he did not have the courage to take that step.

In the end, he forced himself into a dead end and was willing to be lost in the crowd.

After the dragon's voice was heard today, the villagers threw money at him one after another. That strong sense of recognition was like countless hands that pulled him out of the quagmire.

After taking this step, the fear in my heart disappeared.

Knowing that Xiao Ran and Wu Man, two strangers, had helped him today, and knowing that there was no such thing as a free lunch, he first said thank you and then said, "What do you want me to do? You can't really just want me to sing an opera, right?"

Xiao Ran nodded and glanced at Wu Man.

At this time, Wu Man had already tactfully walked out with his bowl and chopsticks.

Seeing this, Xiao Ran said, "I want to invite you to sing a play, but this play is quite special, I'm afraid you need to play the role of the real Guan Gong."

After that, Xiao Ran briefly explained his situation, of course not in detail, just saying that he was under a spell and wanted to ask Lord Guan to save his life. The so-called real Guan Gong refers to the person who is playing Guan Gong, with a clean face and no marks.

It turns out that there is a rule in the opera troupe that the person who plays Guan Gong cannot speak after putting on the mask. In addition, in order to show respect, the more they worry that real ghosts and night spirits will be scared and offend the gods, so when painting the mask, they have to add an extra stroke in an inconspicuous place to show that they are a fake Guan Gong.

Xiao Ran's job is considered to be in conflict with other members of the opera troupe. Most opera troupes would never easily agree to his request.

Opera actors would never do that, as it would disturb the gods and ghosts and might cause a big chaos.

But now Lu Cheng owed Xiao Ran a big favor, and seeing that he was sincere, Lu Cheng thought for a moment and nodded: "Okay, I'll help you, but you have to take me to change into clean clothes and take a shower first, otherwise I'm too shabby to meet Master Guan."

"It should, it should."

Xiao Ran was overjoyed when he heard this. Now the most difficult problem was solved.

The three of them then cleaned up the yard and waited until the next morning. Before dawn, Lu Cheng changed into relatively clean clothes, walked out the door, and looked back at the door.

He knelt on the ground with a thud and kowtowed three times towards the door.

"Mom, Xiaocheng is gone. Don't worry about me. I will take good care of myself and won't worry you anymore. When I come back after the Chinese New Year, I will bring you a daughter-in-law."

After saying that, Lu Cheng stood up and glanced at the door again, then turned to Xiao Ran and Wu Man and said, "Let's go."

Xiao Ran followed behind and looked back again as if she sensed something, but she did not see Lu Cheng's mother. She just felt that there seemed to be a pair of eyes in the house watching the three of them leave.

The way back was smooth. Xiao Ran felt that his previous anxious and irritable condition had improved a lot when he was with Lu Cheng and Wu Man.

After returning to Los Angeles by car, Wu Man first said goodbye to Xiao Ran and gave Xiao Ran a phone number before leaving: "If you need help, call me."

"Okay, thank you for your help this time."

Xiao Ran did not refuse this time. In case anything happened, it would be nice to be able to pull Wu Man in to protect him.

"No trouble, I got a good harvest this time."

Wu Man nodded and said.

The simple feelings on the villagers' faces and their cheerful laughter last night gave Wu Man a new understanding of food. He planned to try it after he returned.

After seeing Wu Man off, Xiao Ran took Lu Cheng directly to the bathhouse to take a bath.

The big bathhouse was ready for bathing, so they found two bath scrubbers. Xiao Ran directly asked for two sets of mud scrubbing, salt scrubbing and milk scrubbing. The two bath scrubbers were so happy.

However, Lu Cheng really hadn't had a good bath for a long time. The two bath masters used all their strength and rubbed off three layers of dust on Lu Cheng's body.

She took a shower, changed clothes, and took Lu Cheng to get his hair trimmed.

This time, Lu Cheng made a request that the beard could not be trimmed, all the hair had to be shaved off, and the face had to be shaved clean.

While Lu Cheng was still getting his hair cut, Xiao Ran stopped by Zhou's house and took back the big red paper horse.

It was not until Xiao Ran brought Lu Cheng to Guanlin Temple again to look for the bald old man that the bald old man almost popped his eyes out when he opened the door.

He walked out and circled around Lu Cheng twice. Wow, Lu Cheng himself was tall and strong, and the bald old man standing next to him made him look like a little ghost.

"Good good!"

The bald-headed old man said "good" three times in a row. The more he looked, the more satisfied he became. Then he asked, "Have you ever played Guan Gong?"

"I am a famous actor in the opera troupe." Lu Cheng bent slightly and said to the bald old man in front of him.

In Qinqiang, Jinju and Peking opera, Hongsheng refers specifically to the role of playing red-faced characters such as Guan Yu and Zhao Kuangyin.

But later on, there were so many plays starring Guan Yu that, apart from the other four roles of sheng, dan, jing, mo and chou, he became a separate category. To put it bluntly, he was a special actor.

Lu Cheng didn't know the identity of the bald old man. He might live in Guanlin Temple and was not an ordinary person. Even though he had played Guan Gong before, he was probably not as familiar with him as the old man in front of him, so he was very humble and respectful when he spoke.

"Ha ha ha ha."

The bald man grinned and nodded at Xiao Ran: "After all, your life is the most important. If you can invite such a great man, your life is half saved."

After saying that, he asked the two to follow him.

Go around the front hall and go straight to the side room next to the back hall of Guan Gong Temple. This is not a place where tourists can enter, and there are many boxes of groceries inside.

The bald-headed old man opened one of the boxes, revealing a complete set of Guan Yu's costumes.

It's a full set from head to toe.

"This set of things was used as a substitute when worshipping Guandi's birthday in previous years and was used in parades outside. It is a set of things that have been worshipped on behalf of Guandi. It fits you perfectly!"

As he said this, he put the Guandi's hair crown on Lu Cheng's head.

Lu Cheng raised his head and turned around, and all of a sudden, his aura changed drastically.

With thick eyebrows, long hair, a golden crown on his head, and Lu Cheng's long beard, even Xiao Ran was shocked and thought to himself, "My goodness, this doesn't look like an act?"

　I'll be a little late today, mainly because there are some details to be worked on in these two chapters. I'm afraid I'll make some mistakes, so I need to check the information.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)