Blissful Days After Widowhood

The matter was a little complicated, and the little guy couldn’t explain it clearly, so Xu Qingchuan explained, “They just sang on the stage that the evil mother-in-law repeatedly forced her daughter-in-law to enter the palace, and the woman would rather die. A civil servant felt injustice after knowing that, but just when the Emperor came, he ordered the scholar who was famous to take off the black gauze cap of a high official (removed him),  and even had his wife tied into the palace. Afterward, the ministers persuaded him, but the Emperor, indulging in beauty, completely refused to listen. Then the old gentleman came out angrily and interrupted, saying that the play was ‘humiliating the royal family’.”

After listening to him say a few words, Gu Yin couldn’t help but wonder, “Even someone like me who doesn’t listen to such a thing knows that the dynasty in this story is fabricated. Why was this old gentleman so angry?”

Xu Qingchuan shook his head and said he didn’t know either.

On the stage, an old man in a leather robe with a stand-up collar was confronting the troupe.

The leader came out from backstage and begged for mercy, saying, “It’s not easy for us to set up a show team once, old man. If you are old-fashioned, go to other places, don’t interrupt our livelihood!”

The old man was thin and small, but his voice was not small, and said, “You are not allowed to sing indiscriminately! You must correct this paragraph for me. After you correct it, I will cover your entire troupe singing for a month for everyone in town to see!”

Both Mrs. Wang and Mrs. Xu came to the front of the stage, and they were going to join forces to drag the troublemaker down. But hearing that, the two of them stood on their feet at the same time. That old man sounded like he was rich. If they could listen to the opera for a month for free, it didn’t seem like a bad thing, right?

Although the leader had a smile on his face at first, he was somewhat angry in his heart. Hearing that, he really smiled and said quickly, “Okay, I will listen to you. After this song is over, I will change it, and I will change it as you want.”

That farce should have ended there.

But the old man was still unwilling and insisted, “No, you have to change it now. Change it to the Emperor who obeyed the advice of the civil servant, and changed himself and became a wise monarch from then on!”

The leader of troupe didn’t dare to respond– after all, that stupid civil servant was an important supporting role in the play. If he wasn’t stupid, how could he seem pitiful to his wife? And according to the meaning of the old man, the protagonist of the play had also changed to the Emperor.

They were just an ordinary troupe, and they didn’t have the ability to say that the play after a temporary big change would still be good.

“Do you understand opera?!” Mrs. Wang couldn’t stand it any longer, “How will they sing after they change it like this?”

The old man said, “Just sing about a peaceful and prosperous world, can’t he do that?”

“Who wants to watch that? I won’t watch it if you ask me!” Mrs. Xu followed.

Afterward, Mrs. Wang gestured to Mrs. Xu, and the two climbed onto the stage, each holding the old man’s arm.

The short old man was immediately suspended, and his two short legs volleyed back and forth.

“Where did you come from? Put me down!”

Mrs. Xu and Mrs. Wang turned a deaf ear, got off the stage, and they kept him out of the crowd.

Seeing that, Gu Yin, Xiao Wu’an and Xu Qingchuan quickly followed.

Fortunately, neither Mrs. Xu nor Mrs. Wang did embarrass the old man, and put him down after they brought him out.

The old man straightened the leather hat that was knocked on his head, “What are you two old ladies doing? I haven’t finished talking to the leader!”

Mrs. Xu said, “Master, I think you are getting old, so don’t toss around. If you have money, you can write a book of your own and let people sing how you like. But we ordinary people work all year round. It is not easy to see the trope for us, at least let us hear one.”

Mrs. Wang just followed, “That is, please ask someone to do it yourself, don’t embarrass others, and don’t embarrass us.”

The old man said angrily, “What’s the matter with you people? This play is insinuating the Emperor, and if passed on, it will be a big deal!”

Both Mrs. Wang and Mrs. Xu were confused. Although the play was made up, it really couldn’t be a crime. There was an angry scholar who wrote a book in the past, saying that the obscure Emperor favored the eunuch and disturbed laws and discipline of the imperial court. When they were discharged, they let someone inform the government, and a bunch of people had their heads down. But that play was about the Emperor marrying a little widow of a good family, and it didn’t talk about any important court events.

“Could it be that that person had really robbed the civilian girl recently?” Mrs. Wang asked Mrs. Xu in a low voice.

Mrs. Xu said that she had not heard of it, and turned to look at Xu Qingchuan.

Xu Qingchuan pondered for a while, and said, “This old gentleman should be talking about the Emperor and Old Master Wen, right?”