Tang Dynasty Little Godfather

Chapter 137 The Prodigal Sons of the Tang Dynasty VS The Prodigal Sons of Tibet
"Why?"

"Didn't the master demand fairness in everything? Why was it decided that Brother Que was chosen to play the male lead?"

"That's right, we don't accept it."

"Didn't Brother Que go to the makeup and costume department? How come he's come to our opera department again?"

"Yes, yes, he's from the makeup and costume department."

When Tao Mo announced that the Nameless Academy would be performing at the New Year's Day assembly, and that Wang Xi and Hong Xiu would be playing the male and female leads respectively.

The students immediately protested.

They were very unhappy that Wang Xi was playing the male lead, especially since the teacher was playing the female lead.

If we don't fight tooth and nail, how can we live up to our playboy style?

Although they now treat Hongxiu with more respect and genuinely regard her as their teacher, after all they've been through together, it doesn't mean they allow Wang Xiaoque to act as her lover.

We absolutely cannot agree to this.

Li Jieman, who was good at flattery, looked at Wang Xi with an innocent expression.

I didn't cause any trouble; it was my brothers who wouldn't have it.

This was all within Wang Xi's expectations.

Tao Mo nodded and said, "What you all say makes a lot of sense. I didn't want to do this either, but it was His Majesty's decision. Otherwise, he wouldn't have chosen Hong Niangzi to play the female lead."

".!"

These纨绔 (sons of wealthy and powerful families) dared not speak out, for they were all furious at the fact that His Majesty had appointed them.

Tao Mo said, "So, stop complaining and just focus on performing this play well."

"What about us?" Linghu Baodi asked excitedly, "Sir, could it be that we also have a chance to act?"

Tao Mo nodded. "This play will feature a large cast."

Upon hearing this, Xue Jun had an idea and asked, "Sir, are there any villains who oppose the protagonist?"

Tao Mo nodded and smiled, "Yes, yes."

Xue Jun immediately said, "Then the student will play the villain."

"We also want to play villains."

Everyone said in unison.

Hongxiu, standing to the side, couldn't help but see through their little scheme, and felt slightly embarrassed.

Wang Xi said irritably, "What are you doing?"

Xue Jun snorted, "None of your business."

Tao Mo smiled and said, "The remaining roles will be decided fairly through examinations, just like before. But before that, let's prepare for the charity performance the day after tomorrow. This will be our last charity performance this year, and then we'll focus on rehearsing the play."

"Yes."

Everyone said in unison.

Although everyone was very unhappy that Wang Xi was playing lovers with his teacher, they were actually quite excited. The New Year's Day assembly could be considered the first state banquet.

Whether it's foreign guests or officials of the court, those who are not of a high enough rank cannot participate.

At this moment, as if suddenly remembering something, Cui Gu'er asked cautiously, "Sir, what about the singing competition?"

The classroom fell silent instantly, everyone watching Tao Mo with tension.

Compared to the New Year's Day assembly, they actually value the singing competition more.

Tao Mo pondered for a moment, then asked, "Do you want to participate?"

The students nodded vigorously.

Tao Mo said, "Then you can go and participate. I have never liked to restrict you."

Linghu Baodi said nervously, "But without your guidance, sir, this student..."

Tao Mo said, "You want to participate in the singing competition because you want to prove yourselves. If I arrange everything, it will seem like I'm competing with the other side, which I'm not interested in. So, I hope you can prove yourselves on your own. I've already taught you a lot. As long as you can apply what you've learned, I believe you can achieve even better results. You must have confidence in yourselves."

They looked at each other, none of them having any confidence if the gentleman didn't take action.

It's a poetry competition, not a fight.

Wang Xi suddenly said, "Please rest assured, sir, we will certainly not disappoint you."

Huangfu Sengnian also said, "How could a mere singing competition possibly stump us?"

Seeing their senior's confidence, everyone seemed encouraged and expressed their determination to bring honor to the academy.

Tao Mo nodded with satisfaction.

After discussing the matter, Tao Mo and Hong Xiu left.

Instead of frolicking, the students looked very serious and spontaneously went to practice. They were eager to prepare for the next charity performance and then put all their effort into preparing for the charity banquet and singing competition.

Wang Xi and his team were not idle either; they worked hard to adapt the script and devise a performance for the singing competition.

Today is the day of the performance of Dream of the Red Chamber, and all the restaurants are packed to capacity.

Compared to the Hundred Flowers Pavilion, the Hundred Flowers Pavilion is actually more popular, because many playboys are starting to flock there.

The reason is simple: the elders also like this story. The East Market is full of elders, which makes the playboys feel very uncomfortable. Some of them go to Yi Xian Jue because they are familiar with it, but Yi Xian Jue has limited seating, so most of the playboys go to Bai Hua Lou instead.

This delighted Chen Haihong, the owner of Baihualou. He had some doubts at first, since inviting them to perform would cost a lot of money, but in the end, he made a fortune.

When the students from the nameless academy appeared inside the building, they immediately became the focus of everyone's attention.

Especially the stockings on their legs.

"Erlang!"

A pale-faced boy called out to Li Tong.

"Brother Bin!"

Li Tong rushed over, "What are you all doing here?"

"Didn't we come to support you?" That pale-faced young man knew how to talk.

Li Tong chuckled and said, "But thank you all for your support, brothers."

Suddenly, an older man next to him asked, "Erlang, what are you wearing on your legs?"

Li Tong boasted, "Stockings! They're the special costumes from our Nameless Academy. They're comfortable to wear, not cold at all, and easy to move around in."

"Really? Can I touch it?"

"of course can!"

Li Tongyu stretched out her legs, and several large hands immediately reached out and began to grope her.

Wang Xi, who was standing on the second floor and saw this scene, felt as if something dirty had gotten into his eyes and he almost vomited. He quickly shook his head, but he couldn't help but take another look. The more he looked, the more disgusted he felt.

If there's one thing he regretted most about coming to the Tang Dynasty, it would definitely be these stockings.

They really messed it up.

He wondered if they would wear breast-shaped hairpieces on their heads if he created them.

Suddenly, someone on the left said, "Young Master Wang, your presence is an honor! I, Chen, have failed to greet you properly. Please forgive me!"

Chen Haihong clasped his hands in greeting as he strode over, saying, "I really didn't expect that you would grace our humble shop with your presence, young master."

This was Wang Xi's first time visiting Baihualou. Before, he either went to Yixianjue or Zhang Baishou's shop.

Wang Xi chuckled and said, "Manager Chen, please don't be so polite. Nowadays, your Baihualou is considered a major client of our Wuming Academy, so you should at least come and take a look."

"Young master, you flatter me too much."

Chen Haihong feigned trepidation, then rolled his eyes and said with a smile, "To be honest, young master, I really want to become a major client of your esteemed institution."

Wang Xi asked, "What do you mean?"

Chen Haihong smiled awkwardly: "It's like this, I heard that your institute has reached a theatrical cooperation agreement with Zhang Baishou."

Wang Xi said in surprise, "Manager Chen, you're quite well-informed."

Chen Haihong said, "With such a large investment as Zhang Baishou's shop, how could it be kept secret!"

Wang Xi simply smiled.

Chen Haihong said, "Young Master Wang, customers from the East Market can come to our West Market, but customers from the West Market almost never go to the East Market. If we only perform in the East Market, customers from the West Market won't be able to see it!"

After saying that, he added, "I also know that Shao Lang and Yi Xian Jue have a very good relationship, but Yi Xian Jue doesn't have the financial resources to support the play. I guarantee that as long as Shao Lang agrees to cooperate with me, I can get Hero Wine to be sold in my shop."

Businessmen are very shrewd. Yi Xianjue's cooperation with Wuming Academy is mainly for the profit from wine. He said that you will definitely get a share of the profits.

Moreover, they can take this opportunity to sell Hero Wine in their own store.

Kill two birds with one stone!

Wang Xi simply said casually, "I will seriously consider it."

Because his purpose in coming here today was not for this matter.

"Thank you, young master, thank you, young master," Chen Haihong said, clasping his hands in thanks.

Wang Xi suddenly glanced around and said, "You have quite a few foreign guests here!"

The guests present were dressed in all sorts of strange and unusual clothes, and it seemed that the ratio of Han Chinese to foreign guests was almost 6:4.

"The foreign merchants mainly trade around the Sifangguan area, but they also generally enjoy visiting the West Market," Chen Haihong added. "However, there aren't as many as today. There's a reason for that; mainly because many envoy delegations have arrived this year, and there are especially many foreign merchants." Wang Xi nodded and asked, "Do they also like *Dream of the Red Chamber*?"

Chen Haihong paused for a moment, then hesitated.

Wang Xi said, "Just tell the truth. There are plenty of people who don't like it."

Chen Haihong said, "It depends on the person. Guests from Japan, Silla, and Balhae are very interested in Dream of the Red Chamber, but those from the Western Regions, including Tibet, prefer song and dance because they don't quite understand it."

Wang Xi nodded slightly.

He came here today to find out the preferences of these foreign guests so that he can make some adjustments when writing the script.

Just then, someone downstairs shouted in broken Chinese, "What kind of bullshit are you talking about? It's awful, awful! I want to see a song and dance performance, otherwise this wine won't taste good!"

At this moment, everyone was immersed in the story, so this sound seemed extremely abrupt.

Wang Xi looked in the direction of the sound and saw several men dressed in strange clothes standing around a table. A young man in a brocade robe was sitting at the table. He couldn't help but ask, "Who are they?"

Chen Haihong glanced at them and said, "I don't recognize these people either. Judging from their attire, they should be Tibetan merchants, but ordinary merchants wouldn't dare to be so arrogant. Perhaps they are members of the Tibetan envoy group. I'll go and explain to them."

But as soon as he took a step, Li Tong on the stage cursed, "What kind of bugs did you crawl out of? How dare you ruin my show? Are you tired of living?"

The young Tibetan was immediately stunned by the insults. After a moment, he suddenly slammed his hand on the table, stood up, pointed at Li Tong on the platform, and cursed, "You wretch, how dare you be disrespectful to this prince!"

In traditional understanding, the performers on the stage of this restaurant must be lowly people, and Tibet was a regime with an even more rigid class system.

Li Tong mocked, "With your looks, you dare to call yourself a prince? You're shameless."

The young Tibetan man immediately became enraged and ordered the man beside him, "Bring that scoundrel to me, Your Highness."

Before they could make a move, the eldest brother, Li Xun, grabbed a small stool from the platform and threw it at them. Both brothers had fiery tempers and rarely talked back when they could resort to violence.

One of the men on the other side jumped up and kicked away the stool that had been thrown at him.

There was a bang.

The poor little stool flew onto a table not far away, instantly creating a mess.

"what!"

The screams then rang out.

Because it happened so fast, the guests didn't have time to react. It wasn't until they started fighting that they snapped out of their daze. Many citizens screamed in fright and hid to the side, but no one left. They all leaned against the wall and watched them.

This is a show you can't miss.

The Tibetan youth who had been shouting earlier was stunned. He seemed not to have expected the actor to be so irritable and to dare to make the first move. He immediately flew into a rage and started yelling, all in Tibetan.

Seeing this, Chen Haihong knew that the Tibetans must have misunderstood that the person on the stage was a lowly person, so he said to Wang Xi, "Young Master Wang, this is just a misunderstanding. Why don't you help persuade them?"

"Okay!"

Wang Xi smirked, picked up a wine glass, and threw it down.

Unfortunately, the other party reacted very quickly. A man to the young man's left slapped the wine glass away and looked up.

Are there any experts?

Chen Haihong immediately came to his senses, filled with deep regret. How could he have asked the eagle for help with something like this? Had he gone mad?

"What are you looking at?"

Wang Xi gave the middle finger and cursed, "You Tibetan bastards don't even know where you are, yet you dare to act so presumptuously here."

This is the Tang Dynasty, not the Song Dynasty. As a playboy of the empire, Wang Xi will not tolerate these foreign guests, especially since they provoked him first.

Upon hearing Wang Xi call them Tibetan scum, the Tibetan prince flew into a rage. Pointing at Wang Xi, he cursed in broken Chinese, "You Han people only know how to launch sneak attacks! If you've got the guts, come down here and have a go with this prince!"

Without saying a word, Wang Xi grabbed the railing with one hand and jumped down.

With a thud, it landed steadily on the ground; it was incredibly handsome.

"Erlang, Quege'er, we've come to help you teach these ignorant Tibetan dogs a lesson."

Then, more than a dozen young people jumped down from the second floor.

Seeing that the other side had suddenly become more numerous and the situation had taken a sharp turn for the worse, the men immediately drew their curved knives and protected the young man.

The young man seemed a bit dumbfounded. Now even the lowly people of the Tang Dynasty can't be bullied?
Seeing that the other party had a knife, the Li brothers did not dare to charge head-on. Instead, they winked at the servants beside them and whispered, "Go to the kitchen and get the weapon."

Then, along with a dozen or so other spoiled brats, they cautiously surrounded them, armed with sticks and stools.

They look experienced. Let's not let these guys get away. Once the real tough guys arrive, we'll start fighting.

Wang Xi caught a stick that Li Xun threw to him and laughed at the young Tibetan man, "Kneel down and beg for mercy now, and I might spare your lives."

Although the young Tibetan was surrounded, he seemed unafraid. He pointed at Wang Xi and began to speak rapidly to his men.

One of the men raised his knife and charged at Wang Xi.

Suddenly, a small stool flew over from the third floor.

The man swung his knife back, instantly splitting the small stool in two. One half flew towards a private seat to Wang Xi's left.

But then a man in front of the private room reached out and grabbed the half of the stool that had been thrown at him, then put it aside and continued watching the show.

Wang Xi turned his head and saw a handsome young man with a high nose, deep-set eyes, a fair face and blue eyes sitting at the table, leisurely drinking wine. However, the people around him were all dressed in strange clothes.

Just then, a young face popped out from the third floor. "Big Brother, Second Brother, Sparrow Brother, the third floor is too high. I dare not jump. I'll just stay up here and help you."

Li Tong said nonchalantly, "No need, I can handle these few Tibetan mutts by myself."

Enough, then the dozen or so people began to press forward again.

Seeing this, the Tibetan men dared not attack rashly and quickly protected the young man.

The young Tibetan was starting to panic. Could it be that everyone in the building was working for the other side?
"stop!"

A shout was heard, and four or five people, all dressed in uniforms, entered.

Seeing this scene, the group was also frightened. A middle-aged man in the middle stepped forward, looked around, and asked, "What's going on?"

Wang Xi said nonchalantly, "These few idiots from Tibet are trying to cause trouble because they're drunk. We were just about to teach them a lesson and sober them up."

The middle-aged man turned his head and saw a dog-headed vulture? He was utterly bewildered.

The young Tibetan man exclaimed excitedly, "Liu Dianke, you've come at the perfect time! I only said one thing: I wanted to see a song and dance performance, not this bullshit story, and these servants attacked me!"

The visitor was none other than Liu Jing, the Director of the Court of State Ceremonial.

Wang Xi immediately cursed, "You're the servant! Your whole family are servants! I'll fuck your mother!"

After all, he's a man from the internet, so naturally, he wouldn't say anything nice.

Upon hearing this, Liu Jing guessed most of the story and first said to Wang Xi, "You shut up, kid."

He then spoke a few more words to the young Tibetan man.

The young Tibetan man was startled. He glanced at Wang Xi, nodded defiantly, and left with his men. Before leaving, he glared fiercely at Wang Xi and the Li brothers.

A burst of laughter immediately followed.

Liu Jing had no choice; these were all spoiled brats. He could only say loudly, "Alright! Alright! This is just a misunderstanding. You can continue your storytelling."

After saying that, he left.

Upstairs, Chen Haihong's legs immediately gave way, and he collapsed onto the railing, his breathing becoming intermittent, "Ah—ah—!"

Wang Xi cupped his hands and said, "Thank you, brothers. Let's continue playing music and dancing."

Those spoiled brats all chuckled.

Wang Xi then turned back and went upstairs. As he passed the private booth, he suddenly looked at the blue-eyed young man and asked curiously, "A Arab?"

The blue-eyed youth smiled and said, "Turkic."

"Oh."

Wang Xi nodded and said, "I have disturbed you all just now. It is truly a breach of the etiquette of our Great Tang Dynasty."

As he spoke, he clenched his fist and tapped the table lightly, "This table is on me."

The young man with blue eyes didn't stand on ceremony and smiled, saying, "Thank you."

Could it be a woman? Wang Xi glanced at her suspiciously, but didn't think much of it. There were too many women dressed as men in the Tang Dynasty, so he was used to it and went upstairs.

Reaching the top, he saw Chen Haihong still slumped by the railing, so he walked over and said, "Old Chen, with this kind of attitude, how are you going to cooperate with us in the future?"

Chen Haihong exclaimed, "Young master, this is a small shop. If you start fighting, you'll tear the shop down. If it were another shop, I wouldn't be afraid!"

"Don't worry, Tibet has that much money."

Wang Xi chuckled.

Just then, a bartender came up to Chen Haihong and whispered a few words to him.

Chen Haihong glanced at the bartender with suspicion, then nervously looked at Wang Xi.

Wang Xi asked, "What is it?"

Chen Haihong said, "Young master, there are several Japanese envoys who want to meet you."

"Japanese country?"

Wang Xi asked, puzzled, "Why do you need to know me?"

Chen Haihong said blankly, "I don't know either."

Wang Xi was very curious. "Let them come over."

(End of this chapter)