On October 10th, Shen Congdao, a famous gentry from Tianliu Town, Shouguang County, could not stand the suffocating atmosphere in Tianliu Town and wandered to the county town to get some fresh air.
In the past few months, Shen Congdao has lost both his wife and his army. The grain he brought in for five taels and five cents was finally sold on the market for one to two and eight cents, and he lost twenty-nine thousand taels in one go. . He has saved more than 30,000 taels in total for more than ten years. What is the concept of losing 29,000 taels? He even lost money on the mansion in the city.
However, the house in Fucheng was gone and he moved to Tianliu Town in the countryside. The matter was not over yet. Shen Congdao hoarded food and attacked Jin Guogong for disaster relief. As a result, he lost all his wealth and became the biggest joke in Tianliu Town. This joke spread throughout the country. Throughout the town, after the people told this joke, they always added a curse: "This thief wants to starve us to death!"
Nowadays, Shen Congdao's reputation in Tianliu Town is completely bad. When he walks in the market in the town, people spit on the ground at him from time to time. How can anyone have any respect for him as a scholar?
Shen Congdao rarely goes out now. Every time he goes out, he gets angry. On weekdays, he asks his servants to go out to do whatever he needs to buy or do.
But it was really uncomfortable to stay in the house for a long time. On this day, Shen Congdao let someone carry a sedan to slip out of the back door and walked quickly to the county town. Shen Congdao secretly said that there were few people in the county town who knew him, so when he arrived, Take a walk around the county town and get some fresh air.
Sure enough, no one in the county recognized Shen Congdao, and no one knew that Shen Congdao was a gentry who was against the Duke of Jin. Shen Congdao finally breathed a sigh of relief and walked around the commercial streets of the county with ease.
Walking to the door of the largest teahouse in this commercial street, Shen Congdao suddenly saw that the spacious teahouse was full of people. Even the aisle next to the tea stalls was full of people. When Shen Congdao saw this posture, he I know that the tea drinkers are waiting to see a big show. I guess this is a very popular show, attracting so many tea drinkers to watch.
Shen Congdao walked to the door of the teahouse and asked the waiter who was hosting the guests: "Waiter, which song are you singing today? Is there still room to sit?"
The waiter looked Shen Congdao up and down and said with a smile: "Master, you must not like this show, so don't ask!"
Shen Congdao raised his eyebrows and asked, "What are you talking about? Waiter, you must have taken advantage of others to reserve a seat for others! You are afraid that I will snatch the seat you left! I must watch it!"
The waiter looked at Shen Congdao, a little embarrassed, and said: "Sir, to tell you the truth, the few gentry who watched this show quarreled with other ordinary tea guests and were beaten by a group of tea guests. Everything is there. If you insist on watching it, just make a promise not to cause trouble and leave after watching it."
Shen Congdao was stunned for a moment, became more and more curious about the play, and asked: "What kind of play is this? Is it so evil?"
The waiter said: "Sir, this is a new play that the opera troupe of the small shop went to Jin Guogong Opera Academy to learn. It's called "Relief in Shandong", and it tells the story of Jin Guogong's disaster relief in Shandong. Standing seats cost two cents, and ordinary seats cost ten cents. They are all sold out. Only the front row seats are left, which cost twenty cents per person. Sir, how many people can you buy?"
After hearing what the waiter said, Shen Congdao was stunned. Shen Congdao, the opera academy of Jin Guogong, knew that this matter was published in the newspaper last month. It was said that because the people's cultural and entertainment activities were too single, there was no opera program for a long time. New operas, even if there are individual opera troupes launching new operas, are limited to the fact that the quality of the opera troupes varies, so the Duke of Tianjin gathered outstanding opera masters from all over the country to set up this opera academy.
The best opera actors in Tianjin and Shandong gather together at the Opera Academy to launch a new play every month. The new play closely follows current events and reflects the things that people are most concerned about, so it is bound to attract people.
Shen Congdao didn't pay much attention to the news when he read it. Most of the things the government did these days failed, and nine out of ten things were left unanswered. So when Jin Guogong wanted to establish an opera academy, Shen Congdao subconsciously I don’t think this matter will stir up much fuss.
I didn’t expect that this would be accomplished, that the track would be released so quickly, and that it would be so popular.
Shen Congdao became more and more curious and waved to the servant next to him. The servant took out forty cents and handed it to the waiter and said, "My master buys two places."
The waiter got forty coins and thought for a long time before taking the two of them in. After passing through the crowded audience, the three of them squeezed to the front row and found the seats at the front.
Before the waiter left, he did not forget to say to Shen Congdao: "Master, please don't cause trouble after the show. Do whatever you have to do!"
Shen Congdao was too lazy to pay attention to the waiter, and started to enter the stage with a tea cup.
After a while, the opera started to be performed.
"Shandong is experiencing a severe drought this year!"
At the beginning of the opera, an opera actor with a white beard came onto the stage holding a hoe. The old man sang in a mellow voice, which immediately attracted thunderous applause from the tea guests.
Shen Congdao also liked going to the theater and cheered with the other tea guests.
But as he looked at it, Shen Congdao realized something was wrong.
This "Relief to Shandong" arranged by Jin Guogong Opera Academy is to beat the gentry who hoarded grain to death. The whole play revolves around the problem of grain relief in Shandong, and the plot is full of ups and downs, which makes Jin Guogong Li Zhi was made into a great hero who did not hesitate to benefit the country and the people, and the gentry who hoarded grain and obstructed Tianjin's disaster relief were made into despicable, shameless, stupid and ignorant villains.
At the climax of the play when the gentry was hoarding food, a silver-haired old woman walked out on crutches, holding a little girl and a broken porcelain bowl, and said tremblingly: "I am going to go there this year." Southern Zhili is fleeing famine! I just don’t know if the prosperity of Jiangnan will allow me and my granddaughter to survive until next year.”
Seeing this, the theatergoers sighed, and many felt the same and even shed tears.
In this era, the means of entertainment are extremely limited, and the people are very involved in watching the drama, let alone this kind of period drama that reflects the lives of the people in Shandong? Seeing this scene, the teagoers watching the theater shouted loudly:
"Damn you damn rich dog! How dare you drive up food prices!"
"Chop these evil gentry and feed them to the dogs!"
"Thieves kill talents, don't let the old man meet these cheap idiots!"
The people were so excited that Shen Congdao turned pale with fear, fearing that others would recognize him as the evil gentry who hoarded grain.
The great drama on the stage took a turn here, and suddenly large ships came out from behind the scenes. It was the Duke of Jin who had transported a large amount of sweet potatoes from Xiaoliuqiu.
At this time, all the gentry who were stocking grain went bankrupt. In the play, a sly and sinister Shandong rich man used his family's house as collateral to borrow money from a pawn shop in order to stock up on grain, and finally lost all his property.
Seeing this, the people in the teahouse were all happy and burst into laughter.
"These arrogant thieves now know what it means to bring it upon themselves!"
Shen Congdao, who was sitting in the front row, shrank his head and did not dare to express his dignity in the crowd of people surrounding him from all directions.
