Reborn in the Millennium: Building a Fortune from Fishing

Chapter 391 The Opera Troupe is Here (asking for monthly tickets)
Another Spring Festival has passed, and it is the eighth day of the first lunar month.

There is a light breeze, dark clouds, and the weather is a little cold. I guess it's a late spring cold snap.

Six or seven people were busy in the yard behind Hanwaer's house, and all kinds of wood and planks had been almost built.

"Work harder. Finish the work by noon and everyone will get a bag of black pine." Qin Dahe wiped the sweat from his forehead and said with a smile.

Even though the temperature was around 4 or 5 degrees Celsius, it was still hot after working all morning.

"Okay, haha, we can watch the show the day after tomorrow."

That day, Erhu and others came to help, and Qin Dahe also called his father-in-law to build the wooden platform together.

The deputy leader has already arrived by car. It takes two hours to drive from Tongling to here. The boat is slow, and the other large forces are still on the river.

The performance is on the tenth day of the first lunar month, so their troupe has to come early to adapt to the venue, debug the equipment, and do some publicity.

If they perform well in the first show, people will naturally come to them later. Otherwise, they can only go to various villages to promote their show and rely on their luck.

There were many people watching the fun on the side. The farmers were not busy on the eighth day of the first lunar month, so they all became excited when they heard the opera.

There are many ways to entertain yourself in rural areas now, including playing mahjong and watching TV, but opera performances are still something people look forward to.

No matter which village, when opera is performed, there will be crowds of people and vendors will gather there.

"What kind of happy event is this? They've even invited people to perform opera."

"The Qin family's fourth branch is holding a hundred-day banquet for the twins, and since the village doesn't allow buffets, we're inviting a troupe of actors."

"Tsk tsk, that's a lot of money."

"Nonsense, how much does Qin Dahe earn when he goes home? He can earn several thousand just by catching fish."

"People should earn money, otherwise we would have nowhere to sell the fish we found."

"Yes, he even took out money to treat us to a play. How kind of him."

Everyone was buzzing around the venue, and some children were happily shouting "Let's sing a play" on the stage.

The deputy class leader was very happy to hear everyone's welcome and played a piece of erhu on the spot.

As the melodious sound of the erhu rang out, the standard Huangmei Opera tune poured out, and many people hummed along.

"Birds in the trees, in pairs"

"Green water and green mountains, with a smile"

"Pick a flower at random"

"My wife and I wear hair"

“No more suffering from slavery”

"Husband and wife return home together"

"You plow the fields and I weave the cloth"

"I'll fetch water for you to water the garden"

"Although the cold cave is broken, it can shelter from wind and rain."

"it is good."

"Well done!"

After the song was finished, everyone applauded.

It was a free opera, and everyone praised it generously, and the singer’s singing skills were indeed great.

Older people all understand opera, and they dare not make a fool of themselves in advance if they cannot sing well, otherwise it would ruin their reputation.

The deputy team leader clasped his hands in thanks, then came over to continue working with Qin Dahe and the others.

The stage is built with great care, with front and back stages, and there is also a place for people to rest.

The performance lasted for three days, but not all items were taken back to the boat. Except for the more expensive musical instruments, all other items were placed inside the stage. Someone would be left to watch over it at night and sleep, and the performance would continue the next day.

Everyone worked together, and with enough planks and two carpenters, Grandpa and Hanwaer, they finished building it in half a day.

There is no need to calculate the cost, as these woods will eventually be dismantled and put back.

"Master Liu, let's have lunch at noon. Your ship will arrive this afternoon, right?"

"Well, we're already at the creek mouth. It'll take more than two hours to get over there."

"Okay, let's go back and eat." Qin Dahe shouted, and everyone picked up their tools and followed.

The Qin family has already made preparations and cooked a large table of dishes for lunch.

The cured meats are steamed together, with bean curd skin at the bottom, and salted duck, bacon and sausage evenly spread on top.

Braised pork ribs and braised chicken are available, but you can’t buy any braised dishes. The stalls selling braised dishes haven’t opened yet on the eighth day of the Lunar New Year.

But I went to Wu Ye's house and took out a big silver carp and cooked it with chopped peppers. It tasted very good.

There was nothing to do in the afternoon, so everyone ate and drank to their heart's content at noon.

More than a dozen people sat in the yard and shared a table to eat. Although it was a little cold, the atmosphere was very lively.

Even Master Liu doesn't drink. Opera singers are forbidden to smoke or drink because it will damage their voices.

Everyone kept asking about the troupe, how many people were there, where they had been, and what songs they sang.

"We have a small troupe of nine people, and we mainly perform in rural areas," said Master Liu with a smile.

The price is not the same for a large team. In a small team of nine people, many people have multiple roles.

The previous show was still going on, and the next show had him going backstage to change clothes and then go on stage.

Through conversation, I learned that their opera troupe has almost traveled to several surrounding provinces.

"There used to be so many bandits on the road that we didn't dare to go too far. It's only gotten better in recent years with the advent of boats." At least there are no more pirates on the water.

"In 1997, one of our colleagues had his belongings robbed on the national highway." Master Liu sighed.

The public security situation is not much better nowadays. It is really dangerous to travel by land. Sometimes when you arrive at a place, you have to pay a protection fee before you even start earning money.

"In the future, public security will get better and better." Qin's father said with a smile and toasted with a glass of wine.

Qin Dahe looked constipated. The bandit is talking about you.

However, all those present were young people, and few knew about that past, so everyone continued to eat and drink enthusiastically.

After dinner, Master Liu took out the program.

Let the host take a look first, and then the boss will come over to ask for the deposit directly. The Qin family father and son took a look and saw that it was three hours in the morning and three hours in the afternoon.

They are all traditional Huangmei Operas, without any innovation at all.

For example, "The Legend of the White Snake", "The Female Prime Minister", "The Peach Blossom Fan", "Meng Jiangnu", "Butterfly Lovers", "Cutting Grass for Pigs", etc. are all familiar to them.

Qin Dahe was quite disappointed after watching it. These operas were sung over and over again in southern Anhui, and those born in the 80s had heard them many times when they were young.

Those who are older don’t care, as long as there is something to listen to. The young people are destined to be disappointed.

The opera-style adaptation of the story later became popular.

But there’s nothing much to say, everyone sings the same things, and at this price you can only hire these traditional bands.

It was not until two o'clock that the troupe's boat arrived and stopped directly at the water jump area of Qin Dahe's house.

The Qin family father and son went to meet them and saw that they had started to move some stage equipment. They wanted to lend a hand, but were rejected.

Many things are very expensive. If they are broken, do you need to ask someone to compensate you?

The owner of the troupe was also surnamed Liu. He was an old man in his sixties who dressed very elegantly.

He wore a top hat, a black gown, and walked with a steady pace.

But it's a late spring cold now, and I'm freezing in this outfit. I guess he'll wear it only after paying a deposit.

The other party had to put their things away first, so we had to wait. In the evening, we had to set up a table and treat the troupe to dinner.

Of course, this is limited to this table. They will have to take care of their own food and accommodation in the future and just buy some food from nearby villagers.

After moving everything in the afternoon and letting the troupe members settle down on their own, the troupe owner came over and started discussing the deposit with the Qin father and son.

When I asked someone to go and call them, I had someone pay one thousand yuan on my behalf. If they really can't sing, it will be considered as travel expenses.

"I've looked at the repertoire. I wonder if the boss is satisfied?" asked the troupe owner.

The tone of his voice is a little shrill, but it's quite pleasant to listen to. I guess it's because of his voice that has been trained since childhood.

"It's OK, all popular songs."

"Haha, that's good."

Qin Dahe didn't say that they were old-fashioned or anything, they just sing the same songs wherever they go now.

"Regarding the deposit, let's pay half first. You can see the results after the first day's singing, and then settle the balance. What do you think?" said the troupe owner nervously.

If you want to pay after the performance, sometimes you will encounter rude people in the countryside and you will only have the deposit. If you don’t pay the balance to the troupe, there is nothing you can do.

"Master Liu, please pay me five thousand yuan first. I've already paid one thousand yuan. The remaining three thousand yuan will be paid after each performance."

This is what Qin's father suggested. If we really pay it off in one lump sum, what will we do if we are fooled later?
Having spent so much money, of course we have to make sure the folks are satisfied with the music.

"Okay, let's do it this way." The boss nodded, this was a good idea.

With six thousand in my pocket and three thousand left after singing every day, I don’t have to worry about losing out.

Qin Dahe immediately took out five thousand yuan, and the boss counted it twice before accepting it.

Although fifteen thousand is a lot, there is also equipment loss, diesel, and food and drink, so there is not much left for the remaining nine people.

They also sell some "peripherals" such as masks and children's musical instruments to supplement their income.

If you can perform five or six shows in one place, you can make a lot of money.

If they only perform this one show and then go to other places, they won’t make much money and the team may even suffer losses.

Therefore, they must show their real skills and win the applause of the people. Maybe a boss will invite them to continue singing in the next show.

After the deposit was paid, the owner immediately went back to supervise the venue layout.

I'll set up the venue today, debug the equipment tomorrow, and practice my voice at the same time.

When it comes to the performance the day after tomorrow, nothing can go wrong, so time is very tight.

The Qin family was also preparing dinner for the evening. They had come all the way here by boat to celebrate the twins' hundredth day, so they naturally couldn't treat them badly.

Not drinking alcohol saves money, so I can treat people to meat dishes.

Hanwaer brought some big crucian carps this morning, which were from Yuxi River. He roasted seven or eight of them right away.

There are also bacon, sausages and various cured goods.

At dinner time, seeing the two apprentices from the opera troupe eating with relish, Mother Qin was extremely happy.

"Eat more, there's more in the kitchen." She asked distressedly, "You're so young and you're already an apprentice?"

The two apprentices together are no more than 30 years old. Their parents are so cruel.

"They came here on their own to learn opera singing." Squad Leader Liu shook his head. "These two kids' families are so poor that they can't even get enough to eat."

He recounted the origins of the two apprentices in detail.

It turned out that one of the apprentices was from Wuwei Xixiang and the other was from Tongling.

They all have a father who is addicted to gambling and doesn't care about the family's food, drink and expenses. Their experiences are exactly the same.

The experiences of the poor seem to be the same: a gambling father, a sick mother. How could a normal family not have enough food to eat? This is not twenty years ago.

When the opera troupe was on tour, they kept pestering and trying to learn to sing with them. No one wanted to hire such a small-time person as them, so there was really no other choice.

After obtaining the consent of his parents, Mr. Liu accepted the person.

He felt sorry for the little guy and wanted him to come and do odd jobs first. If he was really not suitable for this job, he would raise him until he grew up and give him some money to find a job.

"I don't think about making money from them, let's just wait and see."

"Master, we will work hard to learn how to sing opera." The two children nodded vigorously, fearing that they would be kicked out.

After hearing this, Qin's mother sighed and quickly picked up some braised pork for the two little ones.

Her daughter-in-law is eating so much that she is on a diet, and this twelve or thirteen-year-old child can't even get enough to eat at home, which really touches her heart.

This situation does not exist in their local area. Even if a gambler does not take care of his family, a woman can always support the whole family.

In Dongxiang, as long as you are willing to work hard, you can still make money. Even if you work in a duck farm to collect down, you can earn a few hundred yuan a month. However, there is always a shortage of people for this smelly and tiring job.

Before leaving, I gave people some boiled eggs to carry, showing my thoughtfulness.

When you are away from home, it is inconvenient to eat and drink, so please help if you can.

(End of this chapter)