xymnovel Chapter 60 Thoughts Taken About Brothels and Theaters
Chapter 60 Thoughts Taken About Brothels and Theaters
Two flowers bloom, one branch each.
Early in the morning, Gao Huaide, with Yang Chonggui, Lu Qian, and Fu An following behind, wandered around the streets and alleys of the city.
The Yang family sent an old servant to serve the young master, but Gao Huaide looked at him and thought he was eighty or ninety years old. Who was serving whom? Was he just coming to my house to freeload and live out his retirement?
Over the past few months, he has explored all the good places to eat and have fun in the city, and he knows exactly which restaurants serve the best food.
Gao Huaide led a few people past several brightly decorated restaurants and headed straight for an inconspicuous little shop.
The tattered signboard hung limply, and a reed mat shed was erected at the entrance, with a few rough wooden tables and benches haphazardly placed underneath. A large pot was set up next to it, inside which milky white mutton soup was bubbling and boiling, simmering slowly over a clay stove, the aroma of which wafted straight into people's noses.
"Oh, young master, you've arrived."
Upon seeing Gao Huaide, the shop owner put down his other customers and hurriedly greeted him with a beaming smile: "Please come in and have a seat, please come in."
Fu An stood guard at the door like a loyal dog, while Lu Qian and the old servant of the Yang family accompanied the two young masters as they lifted the curtain and went inside.
The mud-brick house was dimly lit, but its advantage was that unlike outside, a gust of wind wouldn't blow away the dust that would settle on the food.
The last empty table was wiped even cleaner than the others. The owner personally escorted me to the table: "We've always reserved this spot for you. Same as usual today?"
Gao Huaide laughed and said, "You only have a few things that you can really offer in your shop."
Lu Qian added, "Bring two freshly baked steamed buns, four bowls of mutton soup, and one for the person standing outside. Also, cut a plate of lamb, with a good mix of lean and fat."
"Okay."
The shop owner confirmed again: "The yokan served outside doesn't have coriander, right?"
Lu Qian smiled and nodded. Fu An couldn't eat coriander; the smell would make him nauseous.
Soon after, steamed flatbread, mutton soup, and mutton were served, filling the entire table.
Gao Huaide took a sip of mutton soup and praised, "After eating around, this fly-by-the-wall shop actually tastes the best."
Yang Chonggui also tried it. The soup was delicious and rich, and the mutton was tender and smooth. He had to admit that Gao Yanei's taste was indeed good.
His old servant originally refused to dine at the same table as the young master, but Gao Huaide insisted on inviting him to sit on half a long bench, keeping him company.
"The steamed buns smell so good!"
Lu Qian picked up a steamed bun, patted it open, blew on it to cool it down, and told a story.
"Legend has it that during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian, a certain official reached the fourth rank, which was then increased by one grade to the third rank. Because he was hungry after court, he saw that a steamed bun was freshly made, so he bought one and ate it on horseback. Young master, guess what happened?"
"What's wrong?"
"As a result, the man was impeached by the censor, who said that eating cakes by the roadside was a breach of conduct, and issued an edict exiling him to a lower rank and prohibiting him from entering the third grade."
Gao Huaide picked up a piece of mutton, marbled with fat and lean meat, resembling frozen cake, and took a bite. His mouth was filled with a fragrant, hot, and sweet taste. He mumbled, "Just for a piece of bread, you lost your third-rank official position?"
"That's right, there are many rules and regulations for officials in the court, it's not easy."
Lu Qian chuckled and said, "I heard there's a very famous pastry shop in Binzhou."
"Oh, is it because your pancakes are particularly delicious?"
"You can't get it now. Young master, you don't know, but the girl from that shop became the Empress Dowager of this dynasty, and last year she even helped her father get the position of military governor of a region." (Note 1)
"Really? What a pity."
Gao Huaide expressed his regret, little did he know that his father had not only tasted the cake, but also the person who tasted it. Fu An, the guard who had been responsible for guarding the gate back then, kept this matter a secret and had not told anyone about it.
Suddenly the curtain was lifted, and Fu'an poked his head in, shouting urgently, "Young Master, the Marshal has returned to his residence!"
"Oh? So early."
Gao Huaide glanced at Yang Chonggui and felt that his month of carefree days had passed so quickly. How could his father have returned so soon?
……
Let's turn back the clock to a month ago.
"I'm going to the capital. You stay home quietly and don't cause any trouble. Don't corrupt that Yang family child."
Gao Huaide recalled his father's parting words and said indignantly, "How did I lead Gui'er astray?"
He began to secretly plan: since his younger brother was not around, he had to teach Yang Chonggui how to play cards so that he could play cards with his sister; if his skills in Cuju and Chuiwan were too poor, it would be boring to bully a novice; he also had to take him to visit brothels so that this country bumpkin could broaden his horizons.
Thinking about it this way, there really is a lot to do; it's exhausting.
As for the serious matter of practicing martial arts, it was completely outside of Gao Yanei's plans.
Gao Huaide acted decisively, and the next day he coaxed and tricked Yang Chonggui into going to the Wazi.
Wazi, also known as Washe, is a place where folk commerce and entertainment gather. It is named after the fact that people come together like tiles and leave like tiles, easily gathering and easily dispersing.
Inside the theater, there is one or more brothels, which are enclosed by wooden railings and surrounded by wooden walls, with a door on one side for people to enter and exit.
The brothel doors were decorated with colorful signs called "flower signs," which announced various entertainment activities. The later expression "playing flower signs" originated from this.
Storytelling, shadow puppetry, acrobatics, folk arts, and dance—each region has its own unique traditions, all of which are performed in the entertainment districts.
Yanzhou was far less prosperous than the capital, Luoyang, Yecheng, and other secondary capitals, but it still had a theater, where two or three entertainment venues were set up daily, attracting dozens or even hundreds of idlers. When the performances were particularly exciting, cheers would erupt.
Today, the two entertainment venues are hosting two shows: one on the east side is performing "Dai Mian" (a type of noodle dish), and the other on the west side is performing "Bo Tou" (another type of noodle dish).
The actors in "Dai Mian" wear purple robes, gold belts, and hold whips. They sing about Gao Changgong, the Prince of Lanling of the Northern Qi Dynasty, who was brave enough to defeat the enemy army at Mangshan. The play is also known as "The Song of Prince Lanling Entering the Battle".
"Bo Tou" tells the story of a man who was injured by a tiger. His son went up the mountain to find his father's body and asked the beast to kill him. It is commonly known as "Going Up the Mountain to Fight the Tiger".
"How about it, interesting, isn't it?"
Yang Chonggui intended to practice martial arts, but was dragged to watch the opera, which he was initially reluctant to do.
After listening for a while, he, being a young man, sang about how Lanling Wang put on his bronze mask and led five hundred elite cavalry into battle, and how he performed the scene of the big fist killing a tiger with three punches. The climax was accompanied by the resounding drumbeats, which made people's blood boil.
Yang Chonggui was overwhelmed by the sights and didn't know which one to look at.
"Well sung, here's a tip."
With a wave of his hand, Gao Huaide sent Lu Qian and Fu An to each of the two stages with a handful of coins. The coins jingled and tinkled as they landed on the stage, a beautiful sight and a pleasant sound.
"Thank you for the generous gift, young master."
The brothel owner bowed and thanked him.
A distinguished guest like Gao Yanei would naturally not sit among ordinary people. A seat was set up in the shrine where the god of opera is enshrined between the two stages, offering a superior view of the performance.
The statue of the God of the Pear Garden is enshrined in the shrine. It is no more than a foot tall and is a fair-skinned, handsome young man dressed in a yellow robe.
Yang Chonggui was watching opera for the first time, and everything he saw seemed new and exciting. He looked around curiously and was about to reach out and touch it.
"This is none other than the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty."
Upon hearing this, Yang Chonggui quickly withdrew his hand as if he had been burned: disrespect is an unforgivable crime punishable by death.
"Two hundred years have passed, who still cares about these things?"
Gao Huaide suppressed a laugh: "Emperor Xuanzong of Tang was knowledgeable in music and had a great love for court music. He selected three hundred young musicians from the Imperial Music Academy to teach at the Pear Garden. Whenever there was a mistake in their singing, he would notice and correct it. The disciples of the Pear Garden passed down their skills from generation to generation, and this emperor became the ancestral master of the immortals."
Yang Chonggui said "Oh," and then, drawing inferences from this, came up with a new question: "I see that butcher shops enshrine Zhang Fei because he was a butcher. But why do barbershops enshrine statues of Guan Yu?" (Note 2)
Gao Huaide had little formal knowledge but a great deal of unorthodox learning, so this kind of question was no challenge for him: "Although Lord Guan never shaved anyone's head, he killed Hua Xiong while the wine was still warm, slew Yan Liang and Wen Chou, passed five passes and killed six generals, and chopped off quite a few heads."
"Both emphasize a swift and decisive cut, so it's not surprising that comb makers regard Guan Yu as their patron saint."
Speaking of the knife, Yang Chonggui has carried it with him wherever he goes since the day he arrived, with the blade covered by a cloth bag.
"What kind of knife is this? It's so precious."
Yang Chonggui said proudly, "This is my family's heirloom sword!"
Gao Huaide teased him deliberately, "I can buy one for thirty coins, and it can cut meat and tofu. What's so special about your knife that it's called a precious knife?"
Yang Chonggui, unable to withstand the provocation, blushed deeply: "My blade is not the kind of tin knife sold in shops. First, it can chop copper and iron without the blade curling; second, it can cut through a hair with a single blow; third, it leaves no blood on the blade when killing someone."
Gao Huaide continued to tease, gesturing for Fu'an to take twenty coins and place a stack of them on the railing.
"Do you dare chop up a copper coin?"
Young and impetuous, Yang Chonggui ripped off the cloth bag, revealing a blade as sharp as autumn water: "What's the point of this? I'll chop it up for you to see."
He rolled up his sleeves, took the knife in his hand, aimed carefully, and with one stroke, chopped the copper coin in two, to the cheers of the crowd.
"Wow, that's really impressive. Tell me, what's the second thing again?"
"It can cut a hair with a single breath; if you were to take a few strands of hair and blow on the blade, they would all be cut off at once."
Gao Huaide scratched his head, grimaced, and plucked out a few strands of hair: "I don't believe you, show me."
Yang Chonggui took the hair with his left hand, blew hard on the blade, and the hair split in two, falling to the ground. The crowd cheered again.
"Thirdly, you've never killed anyone, so how do you know if there's blood on your hands?"
Yang Chonggui was speechless. He had never killed anyone before, but he was unwilling to admit defeat. He gritted his teeth and said, "Go find a dog, and I'll kill it for you."
Gao Yanei felt he had amused him enough, so he chuckled and said, "Forget it, the dog is so pitiful. I can't expect you to actually chop someone up."
Yang Chonggui snorted, then put the knife away again and held it tightly in his arms.
Gao Huaide thought to himself that Yang Hongxin must have instructed him to keep his knife with him at all times.
Unable to bear Yang Chonggui's appearance, he quipped, "What's the point of treasuring it so much? If unworthy descendants pawn or sell this knife, it'll all be for nothing."
"You're talking nonsense, I won't sell it."
"Really? I don't believe it."
Gao Huaide, being mischievous by nature, was arguing with Yang Chonggui. Seeing how much Yang Chonggui valued the precious sword, he immediately came up with a plan to tease him.