Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Even though they didn’t understand it, it was not an excessive request for the exchange delegation to go to Nancheng to watch outdoor opera in their free time.
After Jiang Lan reported Long Yue’s proposal to his superiors, it was approved immediately. In addition to arranging bus pick-up and hotel accommodation, they also sent tickets for the open-air opera.
Theater tickets were calculated based on twelve people, no more, no less.
After receiving the notice, Bi’an announced the itinerary for the next day in Nancheng at the end of dinner and asked if anyone else wanted to go to Nancheng together – if they wanted to go, they would arrange the itinerary together, and if they didn’t want to go, they would stay at Jiangcheng Hotel and would be entertained by someone.
In addition to Long Bing and Long Yue who took the initiative to ask to go to Nancheng, Hai An and Ed also actively expressed their desire to go to Nancheng to experience the traditional Chinese opera culture. The four leaders all expressed their willingness to go, so the three Yin Yang Masters immediately said they were also willing to go.
Only five humans who were traveling with them took the initiative to express that they wanted to rest in the hotel, and in the end they did not go.
So the itinerary for the next day was set.
Hai An had recovered from the blow of rejection. He fluttered through the hall like an elegant butterfly and finally flew to Jiang Lan’s side.
The previous rejection seemed to have had no effect on him. He gave Jiang Lan an elegant greeting and then asked affectionately, “Jiang, can I go with you tomorrow?”
“…”
Jiang Lan got goose bumps from his gaze. He rubbed his arms calmly and declined, “We are leaving for Nancheng together tomorrow, and Mr. Long Yue has already invited me to be their guide.”
“Those two annoying dragons still need a guide?” Hai An sneered and said in a neither-too-loud-nor-soft voice, “I’ve never heard that they like opera.”
He turned his head and smiled at Long Bing who was walking over. He then raised his eyebrows and asked, “I heard that you came to China this time to find something? Why did you want to go to the opera again? Is what you are looking for in Nancheng?”
As soon as these words were spoken, everyone was shocked.
The eyes of Jiang Lan and everyone else in the Monster Management Bureau were instantly focused on Long Bing.
Bi’an smiled and said, “Mr. Long Bing, you can tell us what you want to find. We have many people and can definitely help you find it.”
Hai An looked like he was gloating over someone else’s misfortune, and he was also adding fuel to the fire: “Yes, our friends in China are very enthusiastic. You can just tell them what you want to find openly.”
“It’s nothing important.” Long Bing’s cheeks twitched, and his eyes became more sinister. “When I was traveling in China, I fell in love with a woman who sang opera in the countryside. But I never met her again. Now I only vaguely remember that the woman’s hometown is in Nancheng, so I want to go and see it.”
“So you want to go see your old lover…” Hai An said with a look of understanding and a little melancholy, “But we are not ordinary people after all. Sometimes in the blink of an eye, those young men and women have already grown old.”
“Human life is too short.” He sighed deeply, and said with his index finger touching his lips: “I don’t know whether the woman you love is now a pile of bones or an old woman with white hair and chicken skin…”
He said this, but there was a malicious smile in his green eyes.
Long Bing looked at him gloomily: “Don’t worry about that.”
“Of course I don’t worry about it.” Hai An shrugged innocently: “I’m just afraid that you will cry, so I’m just reminding you kindly.”
Then he turned to Jiang Lan and said, “Jiang, Long Bing probably won’t need you tomorrow. Why don’t you be my guide?” He blinked and whispered, “I know a lot of their little secrets…”
Jiang Lan’s eyes flashed, he hesitated for a moment, then smiled and responded: “It’s my honor.”
Regardless of whether Hai An was an enemy or a friend, the fact that he was able to directly expose the purpose of Long Bing and others showed that he and Long Bing and his group did not get along.
Hai An and Long Bing were both from the United States, so they must have dealt with each other a lot and he must know more information than them.
There was a saying: The enemy of my enemy is my friend.
“See you tomorrow. I’ll go home and get some beauty sleep.” Hai An waved at him, turned gracefully and walked towards the elevator.
Seeing this, the two humans led by him hurriedly followed.
It was Long Bing and the others who waited for him to enter the elevator before turning around and leaving one after another. They were obviously trying to avoid Hai An and didn’t want to conflict with him again.
….
After the dinner was over, everyone from the Monster Management Bureau returned to the bureau and held a temporary meeting to arrange tomorrow’s work schedule before going home to rest.
Because of Long Bing and others’ sudden schedule, Jiang Lan would definitely not be able to go to Nancheng with Xue Meng and others tomorrow. After returning home, he packed up the daily necessities of the three kids, called Zhang Tianxing, and then drove with Bi’an to send Jiang Chi to Zhang Tianxing’s house.
In fact, Jiang Lan wanted to leave his brothers to Ying Qiao’s care, but with his fourth brother around, that was definitely impossible. So he could only trouble Ku Ge.
He stuffed the ticket given by Director Cheng into Zhang Tianxing’s hands.
Tomorrow’s trip to Nancheng was for work, so family members definitely could not be brought along. However, Jiang Lan had already said during the day that he would take them to Nancheng to watch an outdoor opera, and he didn’t want to break his promise, so he simply let Ku Ge bring the kids along.
He would have found out about the hotel by then, and maybe he could visit them during his break.
….
The next day, after lunch, the Monster Management Bureau’s convoy headed towards Nancheng.
It took about two hours to drive from Jiangcheng to Nancheng by highway and it was already afternoon when the group arrived at Nancheng Hotel.
The opera festival had already begun in the morning, and hotel guests were coming and going, most of whom were tourists who came here to see the opera.
The hotel front desk also thoughtfully provided route maps and brochures to the venue.
Jiang Lan took a brochure and found out that the official name of this event was “Nancheng Folk Opera Art Exhibition”. The venue was Wenling Terrace.
It was said that Wenling Terrace was originally an altar built in the middle reaches of Ling River.
Ling River was a tributary of the Yangtze River, with its main trunk running through the entire Nancheng. Its tributaries were scattered throughout the entire Nancheng. In ancient times when people relied on God for food, the water of Ling River was the foundation for the survival of the people in the city.
If Ling River was safe, the people would be safe.
Therefore, in order to pray for good weather and good harvests, the people of Nancheng gradually developed the custom of worshiping the river god of Ling River. Wenling Terrace was the altar built by the people of Nancheng to worship the river god and pray for good weather and good harvests.
Every year, the river god worship was as lively as the Spring Festival. At that time, transportation was inconvenient, and the only way to travel was by water. People from all over the country rowed boats, dragged their families with chickens, ducks, cattle, sheep and other offerings to the Wenling Terrace, waiting to participate in the river god worship ceremony.
On the day of the festival, the river near the Wenling Terrace was filled with boats. When the festival began, everyone watched from the boats. After the festival was over, people would place the handicrafts and food they brought from home on the bows of the boats for trading or bartering.
When the sun went down, lights were hung on the boats to make it livelier and attract more people. The boatmen also sing operas and songs on the bows… Later, as more and more people participated in this spontaneous behavior, many unwritten rules gradually emerged. It became a classic segment that must be performed every year and was called “wild stage opera” or “wild stage.”
With the popularity of opera culture, the outdoor performances after the annual festival were becoming more and more lively. Even many actors who wanted to gain fame will row boats to perform outdoor performances on the day of the festival.
However, people like this generally did not show up in person. Most of them would wear a mask to cover their faces. If the applause was loud, they would reluctantly take off the mask after the performance and become famous. If no one was interested, they would hide in the cabin and leave in disgrace, waiting to come back next year.
Of course, these were all old-time scenes described in the brochures.
Today was the modern society, and feudal superstition was not encouraged. Therefore, the official propaganda only briefly mentioned the background of worshiping the river god and then focused on the “wild stage”.
Today’s open-air operas were naturally different from those of the past. In order to liven up the atmosphere, the organizers had specially invited many famous folk opera masters to come and perform, and had set up high bonuses to encourage folk masters to challenge the masters and create a situation of healthy competition.
But since it had been named “Wild Stage”, it naturally had to have some of the flavor of the past.
Therefore, the time and location of this exhibition was set on Ling River at night.
The boats were arranged in advance by the organizers. In addition to the small boats of Dayetai, there were also several larger sightseeing cruise ships parked at the pier not far away. After buying tickets, tourists could board the boat to enjoy the magnificent scenery of Dayetai on the river.
It was evening when Jiang Lan and his companions arrived at Wenling Terrace.
The afterglow of the setting sun shone down, and the river was full of ripples. Several black-sailed boats of different sizes were parked not far from the river bank. From a distance, one could see a figure swaying on the bow of the boat, and occasionally one or two high or low babbling sounds could be heard, probably from the people on the boat warming up their voices.
The group first went to a river fish restaurant near Wenling Terrace to eat some special river fish. After it got slightly dark, they headed to the river.
Jiang Lan followed behind Bi’an, lowering his head and sending a message to Jiang Chi, telling him that he had arrived at the Wenling Terrace and that he would come to find them if he had time in the evening.
At this moment, Hai An pushed aside the others, came to Jiang Lan and asked, “Do you want to be in the same boat with me?”
Jiang Lan had no choice but to put away his phone and looked at the cruise ship at the dock, wondering, “Didn’t we charter a cruise ship?”
“What’s so fun about a cruise ship?”
Hai An shook his finger, pointed at Long Bing and others in front of him and said, “They said they want to take that kind of black-sailed boat, I think it’s good too.”
He said with a longing look: “I’ve seen it in a TV series, with a pot of wine, a boat, a few close friends, boating on the lake, tasting wine and enjoying the scenery… Isn’t that a great thing in life?”
Jiang Lan’s mouth twitched, and he didn’t know where he saw these things. He couldn’t help but remind him: “Boarding at night and drinking alcohol is prone to accidents and is not safe.”
Hai An stared at him in disbelief, and after a while he muttered quietly: “It turns out that it’s not that my charm has decreased.”
It was clear that Jiang Lan was missing something.
There was really no fun at all.
Couldn’t tease.
Jiang Lan looked innocent. Seeing that Long Bing and the others had already started to select boats, he could not help but walk up to them and ask, “Do we really want them to disperse? If something unexpected happens, it may be difficult to coordinate.”
Bi’an certainly understood this truth, and he whispered: “You can’t catch a wolf without sacrificing a lamb. With the people under our noses, they have behaved themselves, but they won’t take the next step. Only by dispersing them will they have a chance…”
Since they already knew that they were coming to Nancheng to look for something, in order to lure them out, they had to create opportunities for them even if there were no opportunities.
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