Chapter 708: Village Temple Fair

After dinner in the evening.

I brought Qian Niang, Ru Meng, and Xiao Shitou to the village's big stage to watch the performance.

I haven't seen such an open-air performance in a long time.

I remember when I used to live with my aunt in South City Town,

Every year after the New Year, the town would hold a temple fair event.

It included activities like dragon dancing, stilt walking, and singing Liuqin opera.

It would run until the fifteenth day of the first lunar month.

These performers weren't professionals; they were just locals who enjoyed having fun.

They were basically just entertaining themselves.

From the mid-to-late 1990s, this kind of village temple fair activity disappeared.

Mainly because televisions became widespread.

People had new forms of entertainment and no longer celebrated the temple fair as before.

Later, I went to North Mountain Village, where they still held temple fair activities during the New Year.

The organizer was Da Leizi,

she was a person with strong organizational skills, and she had a fiery temper,

she loved drinking alcohol and liked to use chili peppers as a side dish.

In the temple fair, her favorite thing to sing was an excerpt from 'Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy',

In my mind, Da Leizi's thunderous voice rang out again: 'Today we drink heartily to celebrate our victory; our lofty ambitions unfulfilled, we will not rest; the future is long, we will extend our hands; we will willingly shed our hot blood to write the spring and autumn...'

There was also Wang Changguang, who liked to play the matchmaker in the temple fair.

Holding a big pipe, he twisted into the yangge dance; that too was quite full of charm.

Nowadays, people have grown tired of watching TV, and the internet is no longer fresh either.

They have once again returned to the old temple fair way of life.

I never expected that the big stage at Niushiling would have so many people.

Most of these people were elderly.

Young people were rarely seen.

Ru Meng complained all the way, unwilling to come,

but I insisted she come,

so she wouldn't stay glued to games all day; I needed to give her a change of scenery.

Xiao Shitou felt it was fresh and novel, constantly taking photos with his phone,

and then posting them to his social media feed.

Qian Niang sat beside me,

"Er Hai, I haven't seen such a performance in a long time.

"Ah, back then, thinking about New Year, everyone would gather together to sing and dance—how happy we were.

"Nowadays, when people gather for New Year, aside from drinking and eating, it's just gambling.

"Actually, the main reason is that nobody wants to organize events.

"Once people get organized, they'll bring others along to be lively."

"Mother, you're absolutely right. I think the current village leadership of Niushiling is pretty good; they're willing to organize such events."

Qian Niang said,

"What,

"this is a task imposed from above; if they don't complete it, they won't get the bonus.

"They don't want to organize it because it's troublesome and laborious, and they'll get blamed.

"Qiao Jie said that each event receives a subsidy.

"So they're certainly willing—there's money to be made.

"Qiao Jie will say anything, but this is good—during New Year, people don't have to spend all day drinking and playing cards; it enriches village life." I laughed.

"Er Hai, whether or not there's money from above, give it a try if there isn't. These days life is good, and everyone's pockets are well lined.

"You know, how high are the incomes of these village leaders?

"Pretty much every family is worth over a million." Qian Niang whispered.

I laughed and nodded,

"Society is changing; back when people were leaders, many truly served the public wholeheartedly.

"Like Da Leizi, all it took was to buy her a drink and a cigarette.

"But she genuinely helped you get things done—for example, when my sister gave birth to Xixi, it was thanks to Da Leizi's greeting.

"When I brought the North Mountain brothers out to work, I still had to rely on Da Leizi to organize.

"Now things are different; I've heard Qiao Jie say that whenever you need help from the village leaders, you have to pay cash.

"For whatever matter, everyone knows the standard fee.

Just then the music started up,

the Niushiling temple fair began.

First, the county's performers came to give a consolation performance; they were all modern song and dance.

Let alone saying the singing was good—

the opening used modern song and dance to appeal to the young, and quite a few young people sang along.

I looked at Ru Meng,

At first, Ru Meng listened with pursed lips,

After a while, a male singer sang a piece, a song she knew well,

This song was quite to her liking.

Ru Meng also quietly listened as the man drank until he finished.

Finally, Ru Meng clapped excitedly.

After the modern program ended, it was the traditional program's turn.

There were kuaiban and crosstalk.

But the level was just average.

Nobody really cared; it was all just for fun.

I smoked while watching their performance,

and sighed in my heart,

The vitality of the countryside needs to be uncovered.

Some of the countryside's culture should be promoted.

We have forgotten some things.

Qiao Jie's mentioned Liuqin opera began,

This type of opera is a typical local minor genre,

It is the local opera most characteristic of southern Shandong.

Its singing is not as hard to understand as Peking opera's, and the wording is not ornate.

It's just the sort of thing ordinary old folks used to love watching.

As for art, how to put it? It's both refined and vulgar.

Some works of local opera are vulgar, but ordinary people can understand them.

You say Peking opera and ballet are refined, but the problem is how many people can actually understand and appreciate them.

When I hear those singing and poetry in Peking opera, I get a headache; there are too many allusions—I can't sit there with a book looking them up.

On stage they performed the Liuqin opera "Wang Hua Buys His Father".

Just from the title you can tell it's rather vulgar.

But the older folks in the audience all love listening to it. Qian Niang even hummed along.

These things are familiar to them from their era.

Every era has its own unique culture and art,

For example, today's pop songs will be outdated in a few years, enjoyable only to this generation of young people.

New young people will like other things.

As the times change, culture and art must keep up.

On stage I saw Qiao Jie; she was just a bit-part actor, but she performed very earnestly.

I never imagined that Qiao Jie, returning to Niushiling, would find her own livelihood there.

Qiao Jie's appearance is no longer what it used to be, showing her mindset has improved.

As long as one's mindset is good, one stays young.

After Qiao Jie finished assisting with the Liuqin performance, she then joined the other village women in starting a square dance.

Everyone was happily dancing, then the host came out and invited the audience below to join in.

Anyway, this dance has no particular requirements; as long as you're happy, that's enough.

Xiao Shitou and Ru Meng were bouncing along to the rhythm down below.

I didn't dance; I can't dance anymore.

Seeing everyone happy made me happy.

Actually, the countryside isn't as bad as I imagined.

The countryside is seeking a way that suits it,

to welcome a change in life.

The songs are finished, the dances are done.

The village leaders went on stage again and said a few words, namely urging everyone to work hard, that life will keep getting better.

We stayed until the very end before leaving,

Qian Niang was in good spirits,

On the way back, she was still humming the Liuqin opera,

"Grandma, you love listening to this so much; I'll look it up online later and play it for you every day," Ru Meng said, taking Qian Niang's hand.

"That wouldn't sound good; live singing is best, and I can't understand the TV versions either.

"Jianqiang, when I turn eighty and celebrate my birthday, you must arrange a performance for me so I can really enjoy myself," Qian Niang said with a laugh.

"All right, Qian Niang, I will definitely make this wish come true."

"Then I'll have them sing for a whole week so you can sit at home and listen," I continued.

"This year gets more and more boring; sometimes I think back to when we were poor, and I just think about eating those white-flour meat-filled dumplings at New Year,

now we eat meat-filled dumplings every day,

every day feels like New Year—what's the point?

People, oddly, end up longing for the past—wanting to eat those steamed corn buns and corn grit soup from when we were poor,

and to listen to the old operas.

Sometimes I think even the Bodhisattva has it hard,

She also didn't know whether it would be better for us to be poor or better for us to be rich." Qian Niang sighed.