Returning to the county opera troupe in 77

Just as breakfast time arrived, the loudspeaker crackled twice, followed by Han Wenxue's voice: "Attention all theater troupe staff! Attention all theater troupe staff! Please be in the backyard at 8:00 AM sharp for an emergency meeting. No one may be absent without a valid reason. I repeat..."

With a fried dough stick in his mouth, Lin Datou mumbled indistinctly, "Emergency meeting? What's so urgent?"

Xu Erdao was also a bit confused. He stood on tiptoe and peered towards the backyard for a moment: "Who knows? It's almost eight o'clock. Let's go take a look and we'll find out."

Lou Jingru looked at Guan Linlin and Song Linfeng, then looked up at the growing crowd in the backyard, somewhat uncertain: "Are our trainees also going to a meeting?"

Song Linfeng was still clutching half a fried dough stick in his hand, muttering, "I don't know, anyway, the loudspeaker didn't say anything about students not being able to skip it..."

Xue Wei, who was at the same table, had already gulped down the bottom of his large bowl, wiped his mouth, and said casually, "Let's go take a look! Didn't Deputy Director Han just say over the loudspeaker that no one is allowed to be absent? We're part of the troupe too, so let's go."

After saying that, he took his bowl to the sink outside the cafeteria to rinse it, then turned to look at Lou Jingru and Song Linfeng: "Are you guys leaving or not? If you dawdle any longer, you'll have to stand in the last row."

Seeing Xue Wei casually walk towards the backyard, a group of trainees washed their dishes and followed him.

The troupe's loudspeaker blared from a great distance. Chen Xiangdong had only exchanged a few words with Fang Zhengsheng and Feng Zhengxiao in the theater when he heard the commotion.

Fang Zhengsheng tilted his head back, listening to the sounds coming from the loudspeaker, and muttered, "This loudspeaker used to go silent for months at a time, but lately it's been blaring non-stop, either for commendation meetings or for the new secretary taking office."

Feng Zhengxiao threw the broom into the corner, dusted off his hands, and glanced at Chen Xiangdong: "It's almost eight o'clock, aren't you going?"

"Aren't you going?" Chen Xiangdong turned to look at his two masters.

Feng Zhengxiao waved his hand and said, "No, no, we're just two idle people. Nobody cares whether we go or not. Don't worry about us, you go ahead."

Chen Xiangdong could only say "Oh," then stepped out of the theater and headed straight for the troupe's backyard.

When he arrived, he found the backyard already packed with people. The trainees stood in neat rows at the front, while the troupe's actors and staff stood lazily behind them.

Just then, Fatty Qin turned his head and saw Chen Xiangdong, and quickly waved to him: "Dongwazi, over here, over here!"

Standing next to Fatty Qin were Yu Baoliang, Liu Dezhu, He Jianshe, and Hu Xiaolian, who were chatting idly with their arms around each other's shoulders.

Chen Xiangdong walked over, just about to ask them if they had received any prior notice, when he saw Zhu Zhengkuo and Jia Dafang walking side by side to the front of the crowd with tense faces.

After Jia Dafang stood still, he cleared his throat and made a gesture to the actors and staff below, raising his hand and pressing down. Soon, the noisy crowd below gradually quieted down.

Seeing that the crowd had quieted down, Jia Dafang took a deep breath before speaking: "Comrades, I have urgently called you all here today to announce something important. Yesterday, I went to a meeting in the county and received an urgent notice. The Hongzhou regional performance, originally scheduled for the end of the year, has been rescheduled."

The moment the words left his mouth, a commotion erupted below.

Jia Dafang raised his hand and pressed it down again, continuing, "The performance time has been moved up and will be officially held in ten days. The provincial judging panel will conduct on-site evaluations of the performances from each county and district."

The courtyard, which had just quieted down, suddenly erupted into chaos.

"What? Ten days later! How can it be changed so suddenly?"

"Is this some kind of suicide mission?! Three months of rehearsal time crammed into ten days! With such a rush, what kind of performance can our troupe possibly put on?!"

"Nonsense! This is utter nonsense!"

A cacophony of voices and shouts instantly filled the backyard. The notice came so suddenly that it completely disrupted the Dongping County Troupe's original rehearsal schedule, leaving Jia Dafang and Zhu Zhengwei utterly unprepared.

In the crowd, memories suddenly surfaced in Chen Xiangdong's mind.

Such an incident did indeed occur in my past life. Due to the temporary adjustment of the performance time in Hongzhou, all the theater troupes were caught off guard.

Most county and district troupes had insufficient rehearsal time, and some even rushed onto the stage before they had a chance to practice their lines. As a result, they made a lot of mistakes and turned the performance into a series of major disasters. The final result was unsatisfactory, and most troupes did not even make it into the top ranks.

He vaguely remembered that the Dongping County Troupe was preparing to rehearse a brand-new adapted play, "The Storm in the Miao Mountains," but due to time constraints and the fact that the actors were not fully familiar with the lines and singing style, they only received a mediocre score during the performance.

After the performance, Jia Dafang returned looking dejected and held a full-day self-criticism meeting, leaving the entire Dongping County Troupe feeling lifeless.

Jia Dafang sighed, "There's nothing we can do. This is a decision made by our superiors, and we can only obey."

He paused, glanced at the troupe members below, and said in a deep voice, "From this moment on, the entire Dongping County Troupe, including actors, stage designers, musicians, and logistics staff, is entering a state of emergency! Rehearsals must begin immediately. The stage design team must have all costumes, props, sets, and lighting in place within five days, without any mistakes. The entire musicians are on standby and will actively cooperate with rehearsals."

Before he could finish speaking, a cacophony of complaints erupted from the crowd.

Art director Guo Jufu was the first to break down, raising his hand high like a schoolchild asking a question: "Commander Jia, 'The Storm of Miao Mountains' is a completely new adapted play. How can those sets and props be put together in just five days? Even if I worked myself to death, I couldn't conjure them up!"

As soon as these words were spoken, others immediately echoed them. Sun Minghai, who was in charge of costumes, was also jumping up and down in a panic: "That's right! This play will require forty or fifty sets of costumes! We have the People's Liberation Army uniforms and the bandit villains' clothes readily available in the warehouse, but where are we going to get those twenty sets of Miao costumes? Headscarves, silver ornaments, and embroidery—none of those can be made in three to five days!"

The old man had a loud voice, and with a defiant, "I'm not afraid of anything" attitude, he huffed and puffed, his neck stiff: "Commander Jia, if you can't handle it, just fire me! Whoever has the ability to get the costumes in five days, let them do it! I certainly can't do magic!"

Not only the art and costume departments, but also the main actors, including Lu Meiyin, Pan Lanxiang, and He Jianshe, complained: "We haven't even memorized the lines for the new play properly yet! How can we possibly rehearse it well in such a short time!"

"Exactly! Memorizing lines and finding the right singing style—doesn't that require a period of practice? It's like forcing a duck onto a shelf!"

Jia Dafang was met with a barrage of rebukes from the crowd below, his face flushing red and then turning pale. He wanted to reprimand them, but he knew that what they said was true, which left him speechless.