DCFRP Extra 6

TL: Hua

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Even when Qi Xiaoyu was 23 years old, he couldn’t resist Xun Qian’s flirting, not to mention that he was only 18 years old now.

He took a big step back in shock and tripped over his heels. Fortunately, there was a door frame behind him so he didn’t fall.

He was good-looking, with big eyes and a small mouth and nose, which made him cute and handsome on a palm-sized face. When he performs on stage and changes into his costume, he adds a touch of beauty and allure, which is even more mesmerizing. Therefore, there was no shortage of people who liked and pursued him.

But those people’s intentions were clear, and their eyes looking at him were undisguised. No one had ever said something like Xun Qian.

Qi Xiaoyu’s cheeks almost blushed all the way to his ears. He leaned his back against the door frame, turning his head away and not daring to look at Xun Qian. He wanted to say, “I have never been in your dream”, but he felt that this sentence was too ambiguous and too indecent, so he simply pursed his lips and said nothing but the sound of his pounding heart beating in his eardrum.

Xun Qian smiled without pushing him further. He just handed over two strings of candied haws, “Take it.”

His voice was very pleasant, low, like coaxing, “The coating syrup will melt soon.”

Qi Xiaoyu turned his head and glanced at him with a daze, then took it over.

Xun Qian asked again, “Can I go in and sit for a while?”

Qi Xiaoyu shook his head immediately. He wanted to organize some normal words, or just act like usual, but he was confused by Xun Qian. He couldn’t remember any of the ways he usually dealt with guests and officials, especially Xun Qian’s eyes, which enveloped him like a pool of water, making it doubly difficult for him to breathe.

Xun Qian looked at the young man in front of him, with a little baby fat on his cheeks, half in the sun and half in the shadow of the door frame. He was a little timid, a little confused, but pretending to be calm and mature with a heart full of tenderness. When he met Qi Xiaoyu, who was 23, he had never seen him in such an embarrassing moment. He never expected that the eighteen-year-old him would be so innocent.

Yes, 18-year-old Qi Xiaoyu had not experienced so many ups and downs and difficult years.

He deliberately said, “You just told others that you would entertain guests.”

Qi Xiaoyu lowered his eyes and didn’t speak because he didn’t know what to say. He felt that he was no match for this young commander. People in the troupe usually said that he was smart, but he was obviously defeated in front of Xun Qian’s shamelessness.

Xun Qian looked at Qi Xiaoyu for a while before putting down the food box. “It’s fine then; I won’t go in, but you have to accept the food box. There are glutinous rice balls and sweet-scented osmanthus red date cakes in it, which are all your favorites. There is also a bowl of white fungus and snow pear soup. You sing opera every day, so you should drink more of this.”

Qi Xiaoyu still didn’t speak.

Seeing that Qi Xiaoyu was determined not to speak, Xun Qian said again, “Don’t tell Miss Qi about the student who came just now. He is not a good companion for Miss Qi.”

Xun Qian remembered that in Qi Xiaoyu’s story, Qi Wanrou entrusted her true heart to this rich young master and secretly agreed to spend her life with him.

As a result, this weak-willed young master could not resist the coercion and inducement of his family and eventually abandoned Qi Wanrou, causing Qi Wanrou to be heartbroken and die of dystocia.

When Qi Wanrou was mentioned, Qi Xiaoyu finally recovered a little from his trance.

He was a little hesitant about whether to tell his senior sister about what Zhou Sinian had done. On the one hand, he wanted his senior sister to completely break off the relationship with Zhou Sinian, but on the other hand, he felt that he should still tell her.

When Xun Qian, as a young commander who had seen all kinds of people, said this, Qi Xiaoyu felt that this Zhou Sinian probably isn’t a good person, so he made a decision in his heart, “Yes, I won’t tell her.”

Xun Qian showed a shallow, gentle smile. “Then I’m leaving. I’ll come to see you next time.”

Qi Xiaoyu was about to say that there would be no next time, don’t come next time, and take the food box away, but Xun Qian took out a black pen from his pocket and said, “Put your hand over here.”

Qi Xiaoyu looked at him without moving.

Xun Qian smiled helplessly, stretched out his hand, and grabbed Qi Xiaoyu’s empty right hand. He first lifted his sleeve and looked at it, muttering to himself, “It’s much better now.”

Then he put down his sleeves, spread out his palms, and gently wrote several numbers on it.

“This is my phone number. If the troupe has any problems, just call me or come over yourself. Everyone in my place knows you.”

The black ink spread along the lines of the palm. Qi Xiaoyu looked at Xun Qian’s hunched body, wanting to ask why everyone in your place knew about me, but the tingling sensation on his palm distracted him.

Xun Qian finished writing the seven numbers, then raised his head, straightened his waist, and covered the pen with a click. He reminded again, “Remember, next time you encounter something like Hu Haibing or any problem in the troupe, come to me. I don’t mind the trouble.”

Qi Xiaoyu thought of Hu Haibing’s dangerous situation that time and nodded very tactfully, “Thank you, Young commander.”

Xun Qian smiled with satisfaction after hearing this and turned to the entrance of the alley.

Looking at his slender and upright back, Qi Xiaoyu was distracted for a while. It took him a long time to realize that he was led astray by Xun Qian and forgot to return the food box.

He had been outside for a long time, and Qi Wanrou was already done preparing the meal. She came out and curiously asked when she saw him standing at the door, “Xiaoyu, are there any guests?”

Qi Xiaoyu had no choice but to go in with the candied haws and the food box and answered truthfully, “Commander Xun was here, and he brought food.”

Qi Wanrou was setting up bowls and chopsticks for two people around a small square table that could only seat four people. Upon hearing this, she came over and took the candied haws dissolved in syrup from Qi Xiaoyu’s hand, put it in the cup, and took a rag to wipe his hands, wondering, “He came here specially just to bring you these two things?”

Qi Xiaoyu was also a little confused when he heard Qi Wanrou ask this, but Xun Qian really seemed to come here for this simple purpose, “Yes.”

Qi Wanrou pursed her lips and moved her eyes to the food box.

It was a black lacquer and gold-painted food box, with a golden phoenix pattern painted on the outside, a total of three layers from top to bottom, and the handle was wrapped in cotton cloth.

She opened the lid of the food box, and immediately, a burst of hot steam came out. “This young commander is really thoughtful; it’s still hot.”

While talking, she opened the upper and lower layers, “All good stuff, and finely made. There is even snow pear soup that’s not easy to buy in this season.”

The more Qi Wanrou said this, the more embarrassed Qi Xiaoyu became, as if he and Xun Qian had a secret affair. “He left after dropping this off. I don’t want it.”

“Yeah. I know.”

Qi Wanrou took out the food one by one, looked at the steaming food, worried for a while, and suggested, “Since it’s already been delivered to the door, why don’t we eat it?”

“Ah?”

Qi Wanrou smiled, “It would be a waste not to eat it, and these are all your favorites, but you can’t let my dad know.”

Qi Xiaoyu looked at the snow-white glutinous rice balls and nodded, “Yes, I’ll return the food box to him in two days, as well as the clothes from last time. I’ll make it clear to him and ask him not to come next time.”

“Good, then let’s eat quickly, clean up after eating, and hide the food box.”

That evening, at about 12:00, after Qi Xiaoyu and Qi Wanrou finished their meal and cleaned up everything, the rest of the troupe had just returned.

Qi Xiaoyu put the food box into his own box and was about to go downstairs when he saw people from the theater troupe appear at the entrance of the alley through the window. He immediately ran to open the door.

On the other side, Qi Wanrou brought out a basket of steaming buns from the kitchen, ready to serve as a midnight snack for everyone. In the past, when everyone saw Qi Wanrou making steamed buns, they would definitely put down their things and rush over to grab the buns.

But today, everyone hung their heads and walked in listlessly with dragging feet.

When they saw the enthusiastic Qi Xiaoyu and Qi Wanrou, they just said hello and went back to their rooms or showers.

Qi Wanrou was confused holding the buns, and so was Qi Xiaoyu, especially when they saw Qi Fengjian at the end of the crowd, holding a long cigarette pipe and not talking.

Everyone was full of energy when they went out in the afternoon; why did they turn out like this in the evening?

Qi Wanrou tactfully took the buns back to the kitchen silently.

Qi Xiaoyu, on the other hand, hurriedly followed up and pulled Xi Yun to ask, “What’s wrong with master? Did something happen to the troupe?”

The two were standing on the stairs. Xi Yun sighed, “The owner of Huanxi Garden wants to increase the commission.”

Now the commission between their Red Moon Troupe and Huanxi Garden is 4:6, which is very unreasonable in Beiping. In Beiping, the theater relies on the troupe to survive and relies on famous actors to attract business. Generally, the 4:6 ratio is reversed, and sometimes even 3:7 is possible.

But they just arrived in Shanghai and have not established a firm foothold. Even if it’s unreasonable, they can only endure it. But the other party still wanted to increase the commission.

Qi Xiaoyu, “How much will it be increased to?”

“2:8.”

Qi Xiaoyu’s eyes widened. “If they want to take 80%, what are we surviving on?”

Huanxi Garden took 60%, and the money they got was much less. The income from singing opera every day was not enough to buy new clothes in addition to rent and daily expenses. If they took 80%, they would all be starving.

Xi Yun cursed, “Yes, have you heard of such a ridiculous proposal? They’re really shameless.”

Gu Zizhen, who was passing by and heard their conversation, snorted sarcastically, “But what can we do? Shanghai is peaceful now. The new commander is not bad. Kunqu Opera, Qinqiang Opera, and Huangmei Opera singers have all crowded in Shanghai. There are too many monks and too little gruel. How can they not raise the price and use our blood to feed themselves?”

Qi Xiaoyu and Xi Yun frowned when they heard this.

Xi Yun also cursed, “The boss of Huanxi Garden is really a piece of shit. It’s fine that he treats us badly on a daily basis, but now he even plans to suck our blood dry. Speaking of which, wasn’t Hu Haibing invited by him last time?”

Several people cursed and vented for a while.

Qi Xiaoyu thought and said, “I won’t sing opera these days. I’ll go find other theaters to see what the price is.”

Gu Zizhen stopped him, “Don’t go. You’re so young, and the water is deep outside; others will only bully you.”

He added, “Master will do it.”

Gu Zizhen was the eldest brother of the troupe. After he said that, Qi Xiaoyu stopped talking.

But he always kept this matter in his mind. He tossed and turned several times at night but still couldn’t sleep.

He and Gu Zizhen lived in the same room, so he could also hear the rustling sound from the bed next to him.

But no one said anything. They all knew in their hearts that it was useless to say anything. In this chaotic time, they could only take one step at a time.

At the same time, they were planning for the worst in their hearts. If possible, they would tighten their belts and endure until the day when the theater begged them. Although they were famous in Beiping and lived in mansions, they also used to live in huts and slept on the floor. They could endure hardships.

For several days afterwards, Qi Fengjian came back later and later, but his face was not better than the day before, but more and more serious.

No one dared to speak or ask, knowing that the situation was not good. Since Huanxi Garden dared to raise the price, other places would probably be the same.

So every night the troupe was quiet.

Qi Wanrou did not dare to prepare supper, fearing to waste money.

For a while, Qi Xiaoyu even forgot about returning the lunch box and clothes to Xun Qian and was full of thoughts about whether there was any way to help the troupe.

Another day at noon, Qi Xiaoyu went out to buy newspapers, and when he came back, he saw a black Pontiac car parked at the entrance of the alley of Aitong Road.

Qi Xiaoyu recognized that it was the car Zhang Han had driven before.

Sure enough, as soon as he saw the car, the door opened, and Zhang Han, who was wearing casual clothes, jumped down from it and waved to him from a distance, “Mr. Qi, you are back.”

Qi Xiaoyu put away the newspaper, walked over, and greeted him, “Hello, General Zhang.”

Zhang Han smiled and said, “Don’t call me that, just call me Adjutant Zhang.”

“Good, Adjutant Zhang, do you want to talk to me about something?”

Zhang Han nodded. “Our young commander would like to invite you over to discuss something.”

“What is it?”

“He said it’s related to your troupe.”

Qi Xiaoyu immediately thought of their recent search for a new theater.

He has thought of many ways in the past few days, and he also wanted to go to Xun Qian to ask if there’s a suitable place.

But after thinking about it, he realized that for serious trouble like Hu Haibing’s, it would be fine to ask Xun Qian for help. However, if he were to trouble him with such a trivial matter about the troupe, it would be a bit too inappropriate.

After all, there are too many situations where the troupe encounters price increases today, tickets cannot be sold tomorrow, and people gather to make trouble the day after tomorrow.

But in recent days, apart from this incident, nothing else happened in the troupe.

Qi Xiaoyu asked, “Did the young commander say what it was specifically?”

Zhang Han, “He said you’ll know when you go.”

Qi Xiaoyu pondered for a moment.

Zhang Han advised him, “If you don’t go today, the young commander will come to you again next time.”

Qi Xiaoyu thought: Let’s go and listen to what Xun Qian had to say. If it’s not a serious matter, he could take this chance to tell the other party not to come looking for him so casually next time. With this in mind, he hopped into Zhang Han’s car. “Please lead the way, Adjutant Zhang.”

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