Chapter 1703: Beiping Old Dreams: The Gorgeous Performer Overpowers the Magnate 18

The arena competition requires seven consecutive days of performance, and everyone from the troupes of Weiyang Xiyuan and Cai Fa Xiyuan is on high alert, fearing they'll lose their place before even warming up.

On the first day, thanks to the free admission to Weiyang Xiyuan, many people who had never seen opera before flocked there, making the house nearly full.

Yet avid opera fans were still drawn by Mr. Hua's script, eager to see what brilliance the star performer Xu Nanchun could bring to it.

Thus, although the numbers were comparable, Weiyang Xiyuan already showed a faint sign of decline on the first day.

The troupe head was also worried sick, but Jin Chen reassured him, "What if the audience doesn't like opera? This piece isn't traditional drama anyway."

Moreover, it's precisely this sort of person who spreads news fastest—chatting among themselves already amounts to free promotion.

Things indeed turned out as Jin Chen had predicted.

After the second day ended, the audience that came to watch the play was completely drawn into the story, eagerly anticipating the protagonist's counterattack and revenge—and even more so, the scene where an ordinary person unjustly killed goes to the Netherworld Manor to drub the underworld officers.

When the show was enjoyable, cheers rang out nonstop; when it was exciting, faces flushed, an eyebrow arched high, for fear of missing a single drumbeat.

The number of opera fans heading to Weiyang Xiyuan also gradually increased, turning the tide.

The third day.

Pei Yinnian, as usual, declined other matters to come to the theater to watch the show; this segment, "Drunken Beating of the Yin Officers," is the climax of the entire script. Jin Chen had coaxed him for a long time the previous night before he agreed to sit in the front row and watch the whole performance, saying that seeing him would make him less nervous.

Although Pei Yinnian also felt no tension from Jin Chen.

This play is the turning point from oppression to revenge; Jin Chen changed into a flamboyant red costume, and his striking visage, impossible to conceal with makeup and headgear, complemented each other, making him look ever sharper and colder, like a rose growing in a frigid winter mountain—forcefully aloof yet gorgeous.

Pei Yinnian's gaze never shifted for a moment.

They had clearly shared a bed before, and he thought he'd long grown accustomed to that exceedingly beautiful face. Yet, compared to the initial awe of their first meeting, after days of constant companionship he still felt his face flush and his heart race.

Probably because Pei Yinnian's gaze was too obvious, the smile that leaked from the corners of Jin Chen's eyes when he glanced at him was especially tender.

Amid the applause filling the hall, a brief meeting of gazes made Pei Yinnian inexplicably feel his ears grow warm; he drank a mouthful of now‑cold tea, as if trying to conceal his embarrassment.

【Villain Heartthrob Value +3, total 38!】

When it ended, the audience that had come to listen to the opera realized that, besides free admission, anyone who had watched the "Drunken Beating of the Yin Officers" segment could also receive a complimentary jade pendant identical to the protagonist's, as if it possessed some magical charm that made it impossible to put down.

Jin Chen called this merchandise; the troupe chief didn't understand the term, but it was ultimately sponsored by the wealthy Mr. Pei, and the jade trade belonged to the Pei family—what could he say?

He merely lamented that, to promote Jin Chen, any means would be employed.

By the fourth day, perhaps Cai Fa Xiyuan, finally sensing its disadvantage, began to feel a sense of crisis.

Not only did Young Master Xiao take charge, but even Third Master Chu of the warlord clan stationed in Beiping went to watch the opera; consequently, many bosses seeking connections also sprang into action, and attendance finally began to rise.

Yet even so, in the end the die‑hard fans who kept scratching their heads and cheeks over the later developments all flocked en masse to Weiyang.

Who wouldn't go, when you can enjoy the opera for free and snag a jade pendant these two days? Only a fool would stay away.

The fifth day.

Things began to change, or rather, due to the intervention of various factions, the arena competition also took on a different flavor.

As soon as they entered the theater and sat down waiting for the curtain to rise, various rumors and gossip began to spread.

The troupe chief sent the tea‑pouring boy to inquire, and only then did they learn the situation.

"Grandfather, grandfather, I've found out."

Backstage, the little boy hurried back, clinging to the troupe chief's leg with a fresh, innocent grip, and gave a slightly bewildered, complex look at Jin Chen, who was made up and ready to go on stage.

"Someone saw… saw Mr. Pei today going to Cai Fa Xiyuan to cheer on Xu Nanchun—what a grand spectacle!"

"What!"

Two voices overlapped.

The troupe chief was greatly startled, and even more surprising was that Pei Yiqing, who had brought back candied haws to share with Jin Chen,

"Young Master Qing…" the troupe chief peered doubtfully at Pei Yiqing, "You don't know about this either?"

"I don't know," he said, "this morning my older brother told me to come over first; I thought he had something to settle."

Pei Yiqing felt something odd, and cautiously glanced at Jin Chen's complexion.

"All right, the makeup's too thick to tell anything."

"Sister‑in‑law, why don't I go to Cai Fa Xiyuan to have a look?" Pei Yiqing proposed, and he didn't even eat the candied haws.

Jin Chen slightly raised his arched eyebrows, took hold of Pei Yiqing to keep him from leaving, "No need, come back."

"Don't even think about using this as a chance to meet Xiao Pofeng."

Pei Yiqing: "……I'm being wronged!"

"I really didn't think that!"

"It's just going to see a play, no big deal."

Jin Chen rose to head toward the stage, his expression unchanged.

Seeing that it didn't affect his condition, the troupe chief finally relaxed.

As he walked toward the stage, Jin Chen's expression gradually darkened.

Busy with this, he had actually lost track of time.

According to the original plot's timeline, Pei Yinnian's visit to Cai Fa Xiyuan might have been for the pharmaceutical factory's affairs; if he failed to sign the cooperation with the Western Medicine Factory, he would be interfered with by the British Military Embassy, which collaborates with warlord Chu San ye.

At that point, the British Embassy would monopolize Beiping's pharmaceutical development, making medicine ever harder for ordinary folk to buy, and all that silver would flow into the hands of the Xiao family, the Chu family, and the British Embassy behind them.

In the original storyline, this cooperation was snatched away by Xiao Pofeng, leading Pei Yinnian to mistakenly believe that Pei Yiqing had been kidnapped, disturbing his mind; the Xiao family thus became a lackey of the British Embassy, ushering in a period of great prosperity.

【However, thanks to your intervention, Pei Yiqing is no longer being deceived by Xiao Pofeng, and the Xiao family seems to have changed its method.】

Ling Gun Gun said solemnly.

And what is that method? Jin Chen will be able to glimpse it as soon as he steps onto the stage.

In the audience, Pei Yinnian's figure had vanished, but the main seat was now taken by someone else.

The British Embassy's Weir, and the old eunuch Wan Canghong who has survived from the palace to the present.

The common folk might not recognize that foreign devil, nor know he is a high official of the British Military Embassy, but they do know Wan Canghong.

Upon hearing that name, families with young sons and daughters would curse, "Damn pervert!" saying that, besides hoarding many treasures from his palace service, he also has powerful bosses he can't afford to offend; in Beiping he is practically lawless.

A eunuch loves nothing more than taking young boys and girls from poor families and tormenting them; the prettier they are, the more he likes it. Moreover, the constables dare not intervene, because behind him there is the British garrison backing him up.

Moreover, Mr. Pei is not present either, and already the spectators in the audience have sympathy in their eyes toward Jin Chen.

Wan Canghong seemed immersed in the play, humming a gloomy tune, laughing to reveal his blackened teeth from smoking opium, his wrinkled face full of excited laughter, as if he had found new prey.

Jin Chen seemed unaware of anything, continuing to sing his play as before.

In the play, one act after another, the common folk gradually forgot those things.

Moreover, they did not notice that a transaction was underway in the seemingly lively and harmonious theater.