Daomu Biji: The Mystic Nine

Er Yuehong was walking in the opera house, which had been built by a patron from the northwest and given to him. He didn’t know when this patron had heard him perform, but they had given the stage without any prior notice. Unfortunately, they didn’t seem to know the rules and had built the stage facing west, which was called a White Tiger Stage. The show must not be performed until "open stage" (1) had been done properly, but at the same time, it had been a gift from someone. Moreover, the signed deed had been delivered three days ago and it would be inauspicious not to open tonight.

He was a little worried. After checking out a few dirty spots with one of the assistants, he decided to go backstage. The manager also looked concerned as he moved the costume box for that evening’s performance. After setting up the weapon’s rack on the wall, he eagerly went to light some incense and saw Er Yuehong approaching.

"Master, it's too late for open stage. Do you think Ba Ye could help us?" The manager asked as he wiped his sweat.

Er Yuehong took the incense, walked up to the shrine, inserted it respectfully into the burner, and then bowed three times before saying quietly, "He deals in yin and yang, do you think he can take care of a stage?"

"Everyone else said there was nothing they could do about it."

"Give more money, and everyone has a way." Er Yuehong sighed and looked out of the window. There was a courtyard behind the stage, behind which was the back door that led to the Xiangjiang riverbank. At this time, the moon had just risen and the pale light fell onto the river’s surface, illuminating the fishing boats resting on the shore.

There was another wharf across the river that was still brightly lit and crowded. It belonged to the common people who had left their homes to go southwest

The area used to be bustling before. Everyone had thought that the Japanese couldn’t reach this far, but in the blink of an eye, even the sound of gunfire was heard. Er Yuehong was one who thrived on stability, so any kind of change was torture for him.

He sat down in a chair by the window, lost in thought as he listened to the sound of the river. When he came to his senses, the gong set up on the stage had already sounded, indicating that guests had started to arrive. As a Changsha performer, he was familiar with many of the patrons, and they were also familiar with each other, so he cleared his mind and stopped thinking about the matter.

The manager at the front of the stage was surprised by the gong. Although his master’s shows were famous, the gong had sounded so early and the White Tiger Stage hadn’t been opened yet, which made him jumpy. When he pulled aside the curtain and went out, he saw four or five tables full of guests. There were regular customers at the other tables, but there was a line of people in the back row wearing northwest leather jackets, tartar hats with ethnic minority patterns, and horsetail whips at their waists. The one that had to be the leader was wearing a golden leopard vest with various big chains hanging from it. He didn't sit down, but stood there with his hands behind his back and an interested expression on his face as he gave the stage a cursory once-over. He said to his men, "Although things in the south are good, they still look trashy. It's as if they turned the opera house I sent into a place that performs shadow puppetry. No wonder this Er Yuehong refused it several times when I first sent it. But once he did accept it, he didn't even come out to greet me personally when I came."

His men burst into laughter, causing the other tables to cast them annoyed looks.

When he heard this, the manager knew this was the patron who had sent the opera house. His master had refused several times when the patron had first sent it, for fear that this kind of person would be troublesome.

He immediately ordered a young man to take melons and other fruits to the patron. He wouldn’t panic. If it was an ordinary opera house, he would always be afraid of encountering this kind of rich guest, but this was Er Yuehong’s territory in Changsha. There were plenty of ways for him to deal with this.

He saw the boy go up with the fruit bowl and bow to the group of people. He didn’t know what was said, but the rich guests quieted down once they were full. When he came back, the manager asked him how he had dealt with it. "Sir," the young man said, "I told them that Er Ye was making his preparations. After the performance, he invited them for a drink, and then he would sing a Flower Drum Opera song for them."

The manager frowned. "You stupid child, how could Er Ye do that? They’ll cause trouble again after the performance is finished."

The young boy said, "Sir, please take Er Ye away after the show. I’ll take them east along the moonlit river and handle them."

The manager sighed, "Don't hurt them this time. Er Ye doesn't like this kind of thing."

The young man glanced at the rich guests and said coldly, "Yes, I’ll come back as soon as it’s done. Just now, they said that this stage was facing west because they came from the west. It was to let Er Ye pay tribute to them. It was this sentence that really made me angry."

The manager’s face sank. He didn't make the boy promise anything, but simply said: "This doesn’t need to be reported to Er Ye." With that said, he went backstage

Er Yuehong had started putting on makeup and asked quietly, "What were you and Chen Pi whispering about outside?" The manager said it was nothing, but was secretly thinking that Er Ye was going to be hard-pressed performing on this White Tiger Stage. He had always felt that something was off about it, and now he had a clue. He was afraid that things would be tough later, so he hurriedly lit more incense.

When Er Yuehong went up to the stage to sing, even the corridor was full. Zhang Qishan arrived and found that there weren’t any empty seats left, so he was stuck standing far in the back row. He could smell alcohol from a distance and saw a few other patrons in the back row cheering and getting rowdy. Once the performance was over, he listened as the guests said goodbye to each other and then watched the manager send them off one by one. Zhang Qishan approached the front of the stage and said to the manager, "Tell Er Ye I’m here."

When the manager saw Zhang Qishan, he was surprised and couldn’t help but think that something really was going to happen. Before he could respond, however, a whip suddenly came up from behind Zhang Qishan, heading straight towards his face. Zhang Qishan stepped to the side a little, but the whip still managed to leave a painful mark.

"Idiot, don’t you understand who was here first?" The golden leopard was standing there with a long whip in his hand. "Get out of my way—" With that said, he raised the whip again. Zhang Qishan turned around and looked at him coldly. The golden leopard became even more riled up and swung his whip as his men surrounded Zhang Qishan.

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TN Notes:

(1) Tiffany says: "open stage" refers to old customs of theatrical troupes. At the end of the Qing Dynasty, they would perform some sort of ritual whenever the new theater was completed or there was a new leader of the theater troupe. The ritual included lighting incense in front of idols, placing banners and curtains, dancing, beheading a chicken on stage and spreading its blood all over the stage, lighting firecrackers on the stage and so on. Basically, there were lots of things that needed to be done. They thought it was unlucky if those things weren’t done first.

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Tiffany's extra:

• Wu Xie’s Private Notes: Chapter 33 Notes and List of Xisha Archaeological Members