1 I have seen Chinese theater only twice in the twenty years that I have been counting down to go up, the first ten years is never to see, because there is no meaning and opportunity to see the theater, those two times all in the last ten years, however, are not to see what to go.
2 The first time is the first year of the Republic of China when I first came to Beijing, then a friend said to me, Beijing theater is the best, you do not go to see the world? I thought, watching the theater is flavorful, not to mention in Beijing. So they are excited to run to what the garden, the play has opened, also heard outside the winter and winter sound. We were in the door, a few red and green in my eyes a flash, and then saw the stage is full of many heads, and then look around, but see the center there are also a few empty seats, squeeze over to sit, and then some people to me to discuss, I've been sobbing because of the ears ringing, with the heart, only to hear him say "someone, no!"
3 We retreated to the back, but a person with a very bright braid came to lead us to the side, pointing out a position. This so-called position, the original is a bench, but his sitting board than my upper legs to narrow to three-quarters, his feet than my lower legs longer than two-thirds. I first did not have the courage to climb up, and then it was associated with lynching torture instruments, not the creepy out.
4 After walking for many miles, I suddenly heard my friend's voice say, "What on earth?" I turned back to my face, it turned out that he was also brought out by me. He was very surprised and said, "Why are you always walking, not agreeing?" I said, "Friend, I am sorry, my ears only in the winter sobbing sobbing ringing, and did not hear your words."
5 Then, whenever I thought of it, I thought it very strange, as if the play were too bad, - or else I had lately been unfit to live under the stage.
6 The second time I forget the year, in any case, is to collect Hubei flood donations and Tan Zhaotian is not dead. Donation method is two dollars to buy a theater ticket, you can go to the first stage to see the play, played more than a famous actor, one of which is a small called Tian. I bought a ticket, originally for the fund-raising people to talk about the responsibility, but it seems that some good people took the opportunity to say to me some of the big law that must not be seen called the sky. So I forgot about the winter sobbing and sobbing disaster of the last few years and went to the first stage, but about half of it was because I had to use the tickets I had purchased at a high price to feel comfortable. I found out that the day out is late, and the first stage is a new structure, do not have to fight for seats, then relaxed, delayed until nine o'clock to go, who expected that, as usual, people are full, and even the foothold is also difficult, I had to squeeze in the far end of the crowd to see an old Dan on the stage to sing. That old Dan mouth inserted two fire paper twists, next to a ghost pawn, I thought hard, I suspect that he may be the mother of Meilian, because later came out a monk. However, I didn't know who the corner was, so I asked a fat gentleman who was squeezed to my left. He glanced at me as if in contempt and said, "Gong Yunfu!" Deeply ashamed of my shallowness and rudeness, my face was hot, and at the same time I made up my mind never to ask again, so I watched the little dan sing, the flower dan sing, the old man sing, the unknown character sing, a large group of people fight, and two or three people fight with each other, and from nine o'clock to ten o'clock, from ten o'clock to eleven o'clock, from eleven o'clock to eleven-thirty, from eleven-thirty to twelve o'clock--and yet the call of Heaven did not come yet. -However, calling the sky has not yet come.
7 I had never waited so patiently for anything, and the panting of the fat gentleman beside me, the pounding of the table, the red and green, and the twelve o'clock suddenly made me realize that I was not fit to live here. At the same time, I mechanically twisted my body, pushed out only a squeeze, I feel that the back is already full, about the elastic fat gentleman in my empty space fat open the right half of his body. I have no circuit, naturally squeeze and squeeze, finally out of the gate. The street, in addition to the vehicles waiting for spectators, almost no pedestrians, but there are still a dozen or so people at the gate with their heads up to see the play, there are a bunch of people standing and do not look at anything, I think: they probably look at the women out after the play, and call the sky has not yet come to ......
8 However, the night air is very refreshing, so to speak. "The night air was so fresh and refreshing that it was the first time I had encountered such good air in Beijing.
9 This night, that is, I said goodbye to the Chinese theater one night, and since then did not think of him, even if occasionally passing through the theater, we are also irrelevant, the spirit of a long time in the south of the sky and the north of the earth.
10 But a few days ago, I suddenly inadvertently saw a book in Japanese, but unfortunately I forgot the title and author, but in any case, it is about Chinese theater. One of the articles, as if to say, Chinese opera is a big knocking, shouting, jumping, make the audience dizzy, very unsuitable for the theater, but in the wild and loose place, far away from the look, but also has his own style. I felt that this is exactly what I said in my intention and never thought of the words, because I do remember in the field to see a very good play, to Beijing after the even into the theater to go twice, or perhaps by the influence of that time. Unfortunately, I don't know how to come, but will forget the title of the book.
11 As for me to see the good theater time, but it is really already "far away", I am afraid that I was still only 11 or 12 years old.
12 Our custom in Luzhen was that all married daughters, if they were not yet in charge of their own families, would return to their mothers' homes in the summer to spend the summer. At that time, although my grandmother was still healthy, but my mother had already shared some of the household chores, so I could not spend many days in the summer, but only after the completion of the tomb sweeping, take the time to go and stay for a few days, and at that time I lived with my mother every year in my grandmother's house. The place was called Pingqiao Village, a small, remote village not far from the sea, and near the river; there were less than thirty families, all of whom farmed and fished, and there was only one very small grocery store. But in me is a happy place: because I here not only get preferential treatment, and can not read "order order Sigan Yuyi Nanshan".
13 I was accompanied in my play by many children, who, because of the distant visitors, had received permission from their parents to work less, and accompanied me in my play. In a small village, a guest of a family is almost the same as a public ****. We were all about the same age, but in terms of lineage, we were at least uncles, and a few of us were taikongs, because they all had the same surname in the combined village and were of the same family. However, we are friends, even if the occasional quarrel, hit the eunuch, a village of young and old, and never a will come up with "offense" this two words, and they are 99% illiterate.
14 Our daily business is probably to dig earthworms, digging to wear on a small hook made of copper wire, ambling along the river to go fishing shrimp. Shrimp is the water world of the dull, never afraid to use their two pincers holding the hook tip to the mouth, so not half a day can catch a big bowl. This shrimp as a rule, I eat. Next is to go together to herd cattle, but or because of the higher animals, yellow buffalo buffalo are bully, dare to bully me, so I always dare not go close to the body, only to follow from afar, standing. This time, the children will no longer forgive me to read the "rank rank rank Sigan", but all ridiculed.
15 The first thing I looked forward to while I was there was going to Zhaozhuang to see a movie. Zhaozhuang is a larger village five miles from Pingqiao village; Pingqiao village is too small to afford its own theater, so it always pays Zhaozhuang a certain amount of money every year, which is counted as a joint effort. At that time, I didn't think about why they had to stage a play every year. Now I think, that or the spring race, is the community theater.
16 In the year when I was eleven or twelve years old, this date also look at the wait. It was a pity that I couldn't get a boat in the morning. There is only one boat in Pingqiao village that goes out early and returns late, and it is a big boat, so there is no reason to keep it. The rest of the boats were small and not suitable for use; I asked the neighboring villages to ask, but there were none, and they had all been booked by others. Grandmother was very angry, blaming the family for not booking it earlier, rambling. Mother then relieved Yi, said our Luzhen theater is much better than the village, see a few times a year, today, forget about it. Only I was anxious to cry, but my mother tried her best to instruct me, said ten thousand can not pretend to act, for fear of inviting grandmother angry, and not allowed to go with others, said that is afraid of grandmother to worry.
17 In short, it's over.
17 Anyway, it's over. In the afternoon, my friends were there, and the play had already started, and I seemed to hear the sound of gongs and drums, and I knew that they were buying soybean milk to drink under the stage.
18 On this day I did not fish for shrimps and ate less of everything. Mother was in a difficult position and had no method to think of. By dinner time, grandmother also finally realized, and said I should be upset, they are too slow, is never in the etiquette of hospitality. After dinner, the young men who had seen the play were all gathered together, and came happily to speak of it. I was the only one who did not speak; they all sighed and sympathized. Suddenly, one of the wisest of them suggested something like a great realization, saying, "A big ship? Didn't Uncle Eight's ship come back?" A dozen or so other youngsters were also enlightened, and immediately rallied, saying that they could go with me in this boat. I was happy. However, my grandmother was afraid that they were all children and unreliable; my mother also said that if we asked an adult to go with us, they would all have to work during the day and it would be unreasonable to ask him to stay up all night. In the midst of this hesitation, Shuangxi could see the details again, and said loudly, "I'll write the ticket! The boat is big; Xun's never run around; and we all know how to read the water!"
19 True! These more than a dozen teenagers, there is no one who does not know how to teal water, and two or three are still good at making the tide.
20 Grandmother and mother also believe, so no longer dismissed, they smiled. We immediately went out of the door in a flurry.
21 My very heavy heart suddenly relaxed, the body also seems to stretch to an indescribable large. As soon as I went out, I saw a white-topped boat moored in the flat bridge under the moon, we jumped out of the boat, Shuangxi pulling the front pole, Afa pulling the rear pole, the younger ones are sitting with me in the cabin, the larger ones gathered in the back of the boat. Mother sent out to tell "be careful," when we have been pointing out the boat, in the bridge stone a knock, back a few feet, that is, again forward out of the bridge. So set up two sculls, a two people, a mile for a change, there are jokes, there are yelling, sandwiched between the gurgling sound of the bow of the water, in the left and right are turquoise bean wheat fields in the river, fly general radial to Zhaozhuang forward.
22 The scent of the wheat on both sides of the river and the grass on the bottom of the river is mixed in the water and blowing on the face; the moonlight is hazy in the water. The black undulating mountains, as if they were the ridges of an enthusiastic iron beast, all ran far toward the stern of the boat, but I still thought the boat was slow. They changed hands four times, gradually see the vague Zhaozhuang, and seems to hear the song blew, and a few fires, I think it is the theater, but maybe it is a fishing fire.
23 The sound was probably a flute, and it was so melodious that it calmed my heart, but I lost myself, and felt that I wanted to be with him in the night air, which smelled of beans and wheat and algae.
24 The fire was close, and it was really a fishing fire; I remembered that what I had seen earlier was not Zhaozhuang. It was a clump of pine forest facing the bow, which I had visited last year, and I saw a broken stone horse falling to the ground and a stone sheep squatting in the grass. After the forest, the boat curved into the forked harbor, so Zhaozhuang is really in front of us.
25 The most eye-catching is standing outside the village on the river in the open space of a theater, blurred in the distant moonlit night, and the space is almost indistinguishable from the boundary, I suspect that the painting of the fairyland, appeared in this place. At this time the boat went faster, not long, on the stage to show the characters, red and green movement, near the stage of the river a look at the black is to watch the theater of the family's boat canopy.
26 "Near the stage there is nothing empty, let's watch from afar." Afa said.
27 This time the boat slowed down, soon arrived, really not close to the stage side, we can only get off the Penny, than that directly across the stage of the God shed even further. In fact, our white-topped sailboat, this is not willing to and black-topped boat in a place, and not to mention that there is no open space it ......
28 In the haste of stopping the boat, I saw on the stage there is a black, long bearded back of four flags, pinch the lance, and a group of bare-chested people are fighting. Shuangxi said, that is the famous iron head old man, can even turn eighty-four somersaults, he personally counted in the day.
29 We then all crowded on the bow of the boat to see the fight, but the iron head of the old man is not somersaults, but only a few bare-chested people flip, flipped for a while, all went in, and then out of a small Dan to, babbling and singing. Shuangxi said, "less visitors at night, the iron head of the old man also slack, who is willing to show their skills to the white land to see it?" I believe that this is right, because at that time the stage is not very people, the countryside in order to tomorrow's work, can not stay up all night, early to go to bed, sparse standing but a few dozen of the village and the neighboring villages of the loafers. Crow-top boat in the family members of the landlord is certainly in, however, they do not care to watch the play, most of them are special to the stage to eat cakes, fruit and melon seeds. So simply can be considered white land.
30 However, I don't care to see somersaults. What I would like to see most is a man covered with a white cloth, holding a stick-like snake's head in his hands, followed by a tiger jumping with a yellow cloth coat. But I waited for many hours and did not see, although the little Dan went in, and immediately came out a very old boy. I was a bit tired and asked Guisheng to buy soybean milk. He went there for a moment and came back, saying, "No. The deaf soybean milk seller is also deaf. The deaf man who sells soymilk has also gone back. I even drank two bowls of it during the day. Now go and scoop a ladle of water for you to drink."
31 I don't drink water, support still look, can't say what I saw, only think the face of the playwrights are gradually some rare, that the five senses are gradually not obvious, seems to be melted into a piece of no longer have any high and low. A few of the younger ones yawned more, and the older ones also managed their own conversations. Suddenly a red-shirted clown was tied to a post, to a white-bearded man with a horsewhip up, and only then everyone was revitalized to laugh and watch. On this night, I thought this was really going to be the best twist.
32 However, the old Dan was finally introduced. The old Dan was originally the thing I was most afraid of, especially when he sat down and sang. I'm not sure if you're going to be able to get a good look at this, but I'm sure you're going to be able to get a good look at this. The old man was just pacing around singing at first, but later he even sat down on a chair in the center. I was worried; but Shuangxi and the others broke into muttered curses. I waited patiently, a lot of work, only to see that the old man will raise his hand, I thought he was going to stand up, but unexpectedly he slowly put down in the same place, still singing. A few people in the boat could not stop breathing, the rest also yawned. Shuangxi finally couldn't stand it, said, afraid that he will sing until dawn is not finished, or we go well. Immediately, we all agree, and the boat as enthusiastic, three or four people ran to the stern, pulled out the Penny, point back a few feet, turn back to the bow, driving up the scull, cursing the old Dan, and then to the pine forest forward.
33 The moon has not yet set, as if the theater is not very long, and once away from Zhaozhuang, the moonlight is extraordinarily bright. Looking back at the theater in the light of the lamps, but again, like the first time to not come to the general, and drifting like a fairy mountain pavilion, full of red haze cover. Blow to the ear to come again is the horizontal flute, very melodious; I suspect that the old Dan has gone in, but also embarrassed to say go back to see.
34 Not long ago, the pine forest in the back of the boat, the boat is not slow, but the surrounding darkness is just thick, you can know that it has reached the end of the night. They were talking about the theater on the one hand, or cursing, or laughing, on the other hand, stepped up the rocking of the boat. This time the bow of the water sound more its loud, that sailing boat, like a big white fish carrying a group of children in the waves, even the night fishing a few old fishing father, also stopped the boat to watch and applaud.
35 There is still a mile from Pingqiao village, but the boat is slow, rocking the boat are said to be very tired, because it is too hard, and for a long time there is nothing to eat. The first thing that came to mind was Guisheng, who said that the beans were in full bloom, and that the firewood was readily available, so we could steal some to cook and eat. Everyone was in favor of it, and immediately stopped the boat near the shore; the fields on the shore were oily with sturdy Luo Han beans.
36 "Afa, Afa, this side is your family's, and this side is Old Six's family's, which side shall we steal?" Shuangxi jumped in first and said from the shore.
37 We all jumped ashore too. A hair one side jumped, one side said, "Wait, let me take a look," so he touched back and forth, straightened up and said, "Steal ours, ours is much bigger." With a promise, everyone spread out in the bean field of Ah Fa's house, each picked a large handful, thrown into the cabin. The two Xi thought to steal more, if Ah Fat's mother knows is to cry scolding, so each person went to the six one Gong's field and stole a large handful of each.
38 A few of us, the older ones, were still rocking the boat slowly, a few of us went to the back cabin to make a fire, and the younger ones and I were peeling beans. Soon after the beans were cooked, we let the boat float on the water, and we all gathered around and ate them with our hands. After eating beans, and open the boat, a side of the washing equipment, pods and beanshells are thrown in the river water, there is no trace of anything. Shuangxi's concern is the use of eight Gong Gong boat salt and firewood, this old man is very careful, must know, will scold. However, after we discussed it, we concluded that we were not afraid. If he does, we will ask him to return a branch of dead sapium tree that he picked up on the shore last year, and we will call him "Eight Laizi" to his face.
39 "It's all back! I'm sorry, but I don't know what to say. I said I'd write a promise!" Shuangxi said loudly from the bow of the boat.
40 I glanced over the bow, and there was already the flat bridge ahead. At the foot of the bridge stood a person, but my mother, Shuangxi is talking to Yi. I went out of the front cabin to go, the boat also entered the flat bridge, stopped the boat, we have to go ashore. My mother was a little angry, said it was after three nights, how to come back so late, but also happy, smiling and inviting everyone to eat fried rice.
41 We all said that we have eaten snacks, and thirsty for sleep, it is better to go to bed as early as possible, and each went back.
42 The next day, I only got up toward noon, and did not hear anything related to the eight Gong Gong salt Chai incident of entanglement, and still go fishing shrimp in the afternoon.
43 "Shuangxi, you kids, you stole my beans yesterday? And refused to pick them properly, stepped on a lot of bad." When I looked up, it was Mr. Liuyi who came back from selling beans on his boat, and there were still a bunch of beans left in the belly of the boat.
44 "Yes. It's on us. We didn't want yours in the first place. Look, you scared my shrimp away!" Double Happiness said.
45 When the Sixth Duke saw me, he stopped his oar and laughed, "A treat? --That's the way it should be." Then he said to me, "Brother Xun, was yesterday's play good?"
46 I nodded once and said, "Good."
47 "And the beans can be eaten in the center?"
48 I nodded once more and said, "Very good."
49 Unexpectedly, Mr. Six One was very grateful, thumbs up, said proudly, "This is really a big town out of the book-reading talent to know the goods! My bean seeds are selected, the countryside people do not know what is good and bad, and said that my beans are not as good as others. I'm going to send some to our aunt to taste today too ......" He then went over with an oar.
50 By the time my mother called me back for dinner, there was a big bowl of boiled Luo Han beans on the table, which was given to my mother and me by the Sixth Eunuch. I was told that he even praised my mother, saying, "You've got a lot of knowledge at such a young age, and you're going to be a scholar in the future. You will definitely be a scholar in the future." He said, "You are so lucky that you can write your own ticket. I'm not sure if you're going to be able to get a good deal on the price, but I'm sure you're going to be able to get a good deal on the price.
51 Truly, all this time, I really never ate beans as good as those of that night again, - and I no longer see plays as good as those of that night.
October, 1922.
Note: 12~51 natural paragraph is the human education version of the language book seven under 16 lessons.