Chapter 99: Liang Zhu (Part 3)

After Liu Tao discovered she had been staring straight at Luo Jun, she quickly realized her lack of composure. Startled, she hurriedly lowered her gaze and asked in an even softer voice:

"Mr. Luo, do you enjoy watching plays very much?"

After speaking, Liu Tao sighed with annoyance, seemingly cursing herself inwardly for asking such a stupid question.

"Average."

Luo Jun's answer exceeded Liu Tao's expectations.

"I prefer watching movies. Some plays have lyrics that are too convoluted for me to understand," Luo Jun said.

Liu Tao opened her mouth slightly, clearly surprised that the learned Luo Jun would admit he didn't understand something, but she quickly found a reason for him.

"You studied abroad in the West and grew up among foreigners since you were young, so you never studied the Four Books and Five Classics. It's normal not to understand the lyrics," Liu Tao said. "Did you watch movies often when you were over there?"

Luo Jun didn't speak.

Liu Tao assumed she had asked another stupid question.

"I've never watched a movie." Liu Tao had no choice but to bite the bullet and continue the conversation. "I heard that people in movies move, but they don't speak; there's someone on the side reading the lines. There's everything in them—cars, trains. Is it... like that?"

Luo Jun still didn't speak. Liu Tao's voice grew quieter: "But when I first came here, I saw posters of movie stars. They were so beautiful, wearing pearl necklaces and purple qipaos, just like in paintings..."

"Mr. Luo, am I being particularly boring?" Liu Tao had given up on herself.

"It is quite boring." Luo Jun was so honest it made Qin Huai feel despair.

Liu Tao felt just as much despair as Qin Huai.

Luo Jun still held his cup and asked indifferently, "Then, are you interested in watching a movie?"

"Huh?" Liu Tao was completely bewildered.

"There's a new film showing this Sunday. I'll wait for you at the Richard Hotel." After saying this, Luo Jun set down his teacup. "The staff at the cafe are too inefficient. The cake I ordered this morning still hasn't been delivered, and I have other matters to attend to, so I won't wait."

Luo Jun stood up, and Liu Tao immediately stood up to follow him. Her mouth opened, clearly wanting to say something to make up for it, but not a single word came out.

"Do you like eating chestnut cake?" Luo Jun asked.

"I do," Liu Tao blurted out.

"As long as you like it. I have things to do these next few days and won't be coming to listen to the play. See you at the Richard Hotel at 2:00 PM this Sunday." After saying this, Luo Jun walked quickly toward the exit. The troupe leader hurriedly scurried out from a corner, smiling as he saw the guest off.

Qin Huai looked at Liu Tao, who was standing in the courtyard looking somewhat dejected, then glanced at Luo Jun, who was walking away in a hurry. After thinking for two seconds, he chose to stay where he was.

At worst, he would just get bumped by the air wall.

Before watching the memory, Luo Jun had instructed him to look at Liu Tao more and remember her appearance, so Qin Huai chose to stay here to get a better look.

The troupe leader sent Luo Jun to the theater entrance and quickly returned. Seeing Liu Tao still standing foolishly in the courtyard, he smiled and teased, "What is it? Still thinking about Mr. Luo? He's already gotten into a rickshaw."

Seeing Liu Tao's expression was off and lacked joy, the troupe leader realized the situation didn't seem to have gone as smoothly as he had expected and asked, "Did you make Mr. Luo unhappy?"

"I don't know." Liu Tao lowered her head, her face full of annoyance. "I feel like Mr. Luo and I are people from two different worlds."

"You were always people from two different worlds," the troupe leader said, frustrated by her lack of ambition. "But what does that matter? That doesn't stop Mr. Luo from taking you as a concubine."

"But it seems like my conversation is a bit too uninteresting; Mr. Luo doesn't like listening to it, and he doesn't even talk," Liu Tao said hesitantly.

Once these words were out, the troupe leader was so anxious he almost wanted to stomp his feet. "Who asked you to chat with Mr. Luo? What kind of world hasn't Mr. Luo seen? He returned from the West, has lived at the Richard Hotel for over a year, doesn't have coins smaller than a foreign silver dollar in his pocket, and gives tips in pounds sterling."

"Mr. Luo has his nose in a book every single day. The waiters at the Richard Hotel have almost bought out all the books from every bookstore in the Concession. He doesn't like going to dance halls; he just loves watching movies and listening to tunes. Go out and ask around—among all the theater troupes in Shanghai right now, which lead actress doesn't envy you?"

"Do you think Mr. Luo came to watch our troupe's Liang Zhu? Do you have any idea about the level of your senior brother, your junior sister, and our troupe's accompanist? Mr. Luo has such unique taste; why would he pass up the mechanical plays of the Shi family troupe to watch our grassroots troupe from the countryside?"

Liu Tao nodded. "Mr. Luo said today that Senior Brother's singing of Liang Shanbo wasn't good."

The troupe leader was almost angered to death by Liu Tao. "Who cares if his singing is good or not? Is that the point? The point is you need to make Mr. Luo like you so he takes you back to be his concubine!"

Qin Huai felt like eating melon seeds.

The troupe leader pointed at Liu Tao, his fingertip almost poking her forehead, but he didn't dare to actually touch her. "Who asked you to chat and share your heart? Are you the type of person who can chat? Do you have any ink in your belly? You can't even recognize a few big characters when you open a book; it would be a miracle if Mr. Luo liked chatting with you."

"Then... then what can I do?" Liu Tao buried her head lower and lower, almost trying to bury it into the ground like an ostrich. "You seduce him!" The troupe leader's voice almost pierced the sky. "Didn't Chen Huihong teach you? You sing tunes, you sit close to him, you feed him the soup you stewed!"

"You do this and that, then do this and that again!" The troupe leader wished he could demonstrate it for Liu Tao himself. "It doesn't matter if your soup stewing isn't good; didn't Chen Huihong help you stew it? Just say you stewed it yourself. Would Mr. Luo care about that? Once you're actually married in as a concubine, will you still need to cook and stew soup yourself? It won't be too late to learn then!"

Liu Tao exclaimed, "The soup! Mr. Luo hasn't drunk the soup yet!"

"Is that the point?!" The troupe leader was almost angered into a faint. "How did Mr. Luo ever take a fancy to you? My god, if Mr. Luo had taken a fancy to Chen Huihong, she might have already been married in by now."

"Did Mr. Luo say whether he's coming back tomorrow?" the troupe leader asked.

"Mr. Luo said he has things to do these next few days, so he won't be coming."

The troupe leader closed his eyes in despair.

"But he asked me to meet him at the entrance of the Richard Hotel this Sunday to watch a movie."

The troupe leader opened his eyes again, and they were flashing with light.

"Then do you know what you should do on Sunday?" the troupe leader asked excitedly.

"What should I do?" Liu Tao wasn't very sure. "I... should I find Sister Chen Huihong to learn how to make soup these next few days?"

"What soup making? Learn to seduce!"

Liu Tao was somewhat troubled. "But I feel like Mr. Luo might not like..."

"What do you know about what he likes or doesn't like? Let me tell you, as long as it's a man, he likes it!" the troupe leader said decisively. "Your throat is uncomfortable these two days, so don't sing Liang Zhu for now. I'll have Chen Huihong teach you some more. Don't look at how Chen Huihong was kicked out; she successfully married in as the Thirteenth Concubine back in the day. You must learn her experience!"

"Tao, whether our troupe can gain a firm foothold in Shanghai depends entirely on you," the troupe leader said earnestly. "You have feelings for Mr. Luo, and I see that Mr. Luo is quite interested in you too. I think I haven't treated you poorly all these years, and your senior brothers and sisters have treated you quite well too."

"Look at Chen Huihong; she was kicked out and had her leg broken, but I still took her in. Old Jin, his voice is ruined and he can't get on stage, but doesn't he still have a bite to eat in this troupe?"

"If you can marry Mr. Luo, everyone can live a better life, right? Even if you're old and withered in a dozen years and get kicked out, as long as I'm still alive, at worst you can come back to the troupe and mix a living just like Chen Huihong."

"Everyone is counting on you!"

Liu Tao, the hope of the entire troupe, nodded. "I... I still want to stew the soup myself."

"Taking the soup Sister Chen Huihong boiled for Mr. Luo and saying I boiled it myself, I always feel it's weird."

"Boil it, boil it yourself!" The troupe leader felt Liu Tao had already been persuaded and was no longer dwelling on such trivial details as boiling soup. "Don't worry about the soup. I remember Chen Huihong's herbal tea is quite good. She has some secret recipe for boiling dried tangerine peel tea with brown sugar and salt. Have her teach you how to boil dried tangerine peel tea and bring it to Mr. Luo when you watch the movie."

"I..."

Qin Huai was listening with great interest when he was suddenly bumped by the air wall and staggered. Only then did he realize there was such a thing as an air wall in the memory, and he couldn't be too far from Luo Jun. He hurriedly ran outward.

How could the movement range of this memory be so wide?

Qin Huai had roughly tested the range in Chen Huihong's memory, and it was only twenty or thirty meters. He had been eating melon seeds here for so long that he had almost forgotten about the activity range, and he had only just been bumped by the air wall.

How do you get to the Richard Hotel again?

Is it an accident if I can't find Luo Jun in Luo Jun's memory?

Qin Huai ran out of the theater, and just as he reached the entrance, he realized he had been overthinking.

Luo Jun hadn't left at all; the rickshaw puller had only run two steps.

Qin Huai hurriedly followed and began a marathon.

"Sir, hasn't the cake you were waiting for arrived yet? Leaving now..." the rickshaw puller was asking Luo Jun.

"It's not important anymore." Luo Jun calmly read the novel in the newspaper. "I've already heard what I wanted to hear."

The rickshaw puller didn't dare ask what Luo Jun had heard and could only bury his head and run.

Qin Huai:...

He almost forgot that Luo Jun's hearing was excellent.

Even as an old man of 92 who had lost his divine power, his hearing was still very good, let alone when he was young and could light a cigarette with a single breath.

Heh, Bifang.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 100 =====