TL: Hua
In the box, Rong Qing’s posture was slightly stiff, and a gleam flashed in his eyes behind the black-framed lenses. Then he chuckled in a low voice, “There are still many people in the theater. Commander Xun shouldn’t make such a blatant joke so casually.”
Xun Qian smiled. His eyes fell on the teacup opposite. “Since I came to Shanghai, have I ever told a joke?”
For a moment, both the inside and outside of the box became deathly silent, making the noisy voices in the distance particularly clear.
Even Butler Cheng lowered his head without daring to utter a word.
Rong Qing’s expression changed. His fair and gentle face seemed to be angry, surprised, and mixed with an unspeakable loneliness. After a while, he picked up the teacup, took a sip, and said, “I’m afraid Commander Xun has oversimplified everything.”
Outside, Qi Xiaoyu held the edge of the plate tightly with both hands. Because of the force, his knuckles turned slightly white.
After waiting for a while, he came back to his senses, looked at Qi Fengjian on the right in a daze, and called out, “Master.”
Qi Fengjian also stayed for a moment. When he heard Qi Xiaoyu’s voice, his weathered eyebrows and eyes darkened. He suddenly grabbed Qi Xiaoyu’s arm like a plier with his left hand and turned back without offering tea.
The theater manager was coming in from outside. As soon as he walked up the stairs, he saw Qi Fengjian pulling his apprentice towards himself.
The theater manager was about to ask why the tea was offered so quickly, but before he could ask, he saw the tea that was still in Qi Xiaoyu’s hand and immediately followed them, “Master Qi, didn’t you go to deliver the tea? Why are you back again? Is Commander Xun not there? Or did something happen?”
Qi Fengjian, with a gloomy face, didn’t say anything. He just pulled Qi Xiaoyu down the stairs and returned backstage.
The backstage was originally quite lively. The apprentices were changing clothes and packing up while discussing tonight’s performance. I will learn your singing style; you will learn my posture. The laughter flew out one after another.
But after Qi Fengjian came in, the laughter stopped abruptly.
They were familiar with Qi Fengjian’s every move. Seeing this, everyone shrank their heads and closed their mouths. No one dared to speak or make trouble anymore. The lively backstage suddenly became quiet.
Qi Fengjian pulled Qi Xiaoyu all the way to the backstage. When they arrived at the place, they stopped suddenly.
The apprentices looked at their master with trepidation, none of them knowing what had happened.
Qi Wanrou stepped forward cautiously and pulled Qi Fengjian’s sleeve. “Dad, what’s wrong?”
Qi Fengjian became impatient and waved at her and other apprentices, “Just do your own thing; don’t be curious.”
Qi Xiaoyu and Gu Zizhen followed Qi Fengjian into a separate small dressing room.
Qi Xiaoyu walked in with his head down.
Gu Zizhen, who didn’t know what happened, looked at his junior brother in confusion and whispered, “What’s wrong with Master?”
Qi Xiaoyu hadn’t recovered from the shock just now and just shook his head without saying anything.
On the other side, Qi Fengjian lit a cigarette, took a few deep puffs, then looked at his apprentice and said as if he had made up his mind, “Leave Shanghai for a while.
Tomorrow, go to Suzhou with Wanrou. She has an aunt in the countryside there. I will write a letter and entrust it to Wanrou. You can stay there for a few days.”
Then he pointed the cigarette pipe at Gu Zizhen, “During this period, you and Xi Yun will be the main ones carrying the heavy burden.”
Qi Fengjian lowered his voice and asked, “How is your waist these days?”
“My waist is fine, thank you for asking, Master.”
Gu Zizhen’s face remained unchanged, but surprise could be heard in his tone, “Xiaoyu performed so well tonight; why did you think of sending him to the countryside of Suzhou?”
Qi Xiaoyu listened to Qi Fengjian’s words, then glanced at Gu Zizhen and turned to comfort his master, “Master, I’d better stay in Shanghai to sing opera.
How could you take what he said as the truth? He must be joking, so please don’t take it seriously.”
Gu Zizhen’s surprise and curiosity gradually increased, “Who? Commander Xun? What did he say?”
Qi Xiaoyu bit his lip. “He said—” He couldn’t say it.
It would have been fine if Qi Fengjian hadn’t heard it, but as soon as he heard it and thought of those shocking words just now, his eyes, which were covered with frost and wrinkles, suddenly glared. Then he hit Qi Xiaoyu’s palm with his cigarette pipe.
“I think so. He must be crazy to say such things. Even if a female actor gets married, she can only be a concubine, let alone you, a boy. How can you marry him? Can you get a marriage certificate? Like other couples, going through three matchmakers and five betrothals, pay respects to your parents, and become husband and wife?
He actually said such words in front of Rong-beile; how can that make sense?”
Gu Zizhen also heard such things for the first time and was stunned on the spot.
At this moment, there was a knock on the door outside, and then it was pushed open, revealing the visitor.
Qi Xiaoyu took a look and immediately retreated in fright.
Qi Fengjian and Gu Zizhen had only seen Xun Qian from a distance in the audience, and now that they saw him in person, they were also shocked and stunned.
Xun Qian came alone, without any servants or followers.
After he came in, he bowed to Qi Fengjian. His attitude was very polite and courteous, and his tone was much gentler than when he spoke to Rong Qing just now. “It was my first time meeting Master Qi, and I should have taken this more seriously, but I came in a hurry today, so please forgive me.”
Then he glanced at Qi Xiaoyu and said, “What I just said to Rong-beile in the private room should have been said on a good day when I went to your house in person, but I didn’t expect you to hear it by accident.”
Qi Fengjian stared at Xun Qian. It seems that he hasn’t recovered from that shocking statement, and he didn’t expect Xun Qian to catch up with them and say such words.
Xun Qian smiled slightly, his beautiful lips curved to both sides, his eyebrows and eyes were full of gentleness. “I have considered the issues you just mentioned, and I will prepare them according to the rules—three matchmakers and five betrothals.
On the day of our marriage, I planned to ask Master Qi to be the witness of our marriage together with my father.”
Xun Qian had always dreamed of having such a wedding with Qi Xiaoyu, with both elders present and relatives and friends surrounding the hall. He and Qi Xiaoyu served tea, worshipped heaven and earth, and got married under the witness of their parents.
In the months when he was preparing for the wedding, although he had not told Qi Xiaoyu, he had already imagined this situation many times.
Especially after arriving in this world and realizing that everything was feasible, he had thought about it so many times that it almost became logical for him, and he couldn’t even wait for it to happen.
The other three people present were so shocked that they couldn’t close their mouths.
Qi Fengjian stared at Xun Qian in disbelief. “You, you!”
He had a lot of questions to ask, but now he didn’t know how to respond.
Qi Xiaoyu’s face turned red. He turned away, not daring to look at Xun Qian. Counting until now, he and Xun Qian had known each other for less than a month and had only met three or four times. It’s fine if this person says he liked him because of the novelty, but he even said that he wanted to get married. It was simply—
And yet Xun Qian, unaware of his inner turmoil, walked to his side and asked with a smile, “Did you hear everything I said just now?”
In front of Xun Qian, Qi Xiaoyu’s sharp wit couldn’t be used. As long as he thought of Xun Qian’s words, “I want to marry him,” his heart thumped, like the whole person was flooded with water, so dizzy that he couldn’t distinguish between the east and the west.
Xun Qian said again, “I’m serious. I want to marry you; are you willing?”
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