Chapter 23: Instead of visiting brothels, visit restaurants

With the assistance of the dock boatman, the sand ship sailed into the river, and Ou Zanghua and his party headed north.

Cheng Zhirou watched the sand ship disappear from her sight before turning back to the carriage.

When she returned to West Lake Restaurant, she found that many guests had already arrived in the morning.

The shopkeeper and the waiter were so busy that they were dizzy and were scolded by the customers from time to time.

When Cheng Zhirou got off the car, several elders who often took care of her business immediately came over and asked anxiously:
"Miss Cheng, where is Mr. Ou? We have a lot of ideas that we would like to discuss with Mr. Ou."

"Miss Cheng, we at Baicaotang are willing to pay five hundred taels. Please ask Mr. Ou to help us change the name of Bao'an Hall and Baohe Hall to Baicaotang."

"Hiss! Doctor Xu, can I borrow your brain?"

"Wait, your last name is Xu and you own a pharmacy?"

Not to mention the onlookers, even Cheng Zhirou was a little confused by what he said. This guy is quite bold.

However, we can discuss these issues in detail later. The important thing now is to rehearse "The Legend of White Snake" and perform it as soon as possible.

Then, Cheng Zhirou said, "Dear fellow villagers, Mr. Ou has important matters to attend to and has left Hangzhou by boat this morning. Our West Lake Restaurant will perform the tanci "The Legend of White Snake" in the afternoon of two days. You are all welcome to visit the restaurant then."

"Ah? Mr. Ou is leaving now?" The guests were a little disappointed when they heard this.

But after hearing Cheng Zhirou repeatedly say that she had more important things to do and had to leave, they could only say so.

Then he began to urge Cheng Zhirou to rehearse "The Legend of White Snake" well. She didn't hear it clearly on the second floor last night, so she must listen carefully this time.

Cheng Zhirou naturally agreed to all these requests with a smile.

After dealing with this group of people, she returned to the small courtyard at the back, called over two tanci artists, and began to teach the two artists seriously, just like Ou Zanghua taught her.

Fortunately, the two tanci artists have many years of work experience. Although there is a lot of self-narration in "The Legend of White Snake", they have their own special way of memorizing it, and they can remember it almost exactly after two days.

At the same time, those who heard the story that night couldn't help but share it with people around them after returning home.

Thanks to the efforts of dozens of people, "The Legend of White Snake" shows signs of becoming a hit even before its release.

By the afternoon of the performance of "The Legend of White Snake", the West Lake Restaurant was bustling with people.

When Cheng Zhirou saw that there were too many customers and was worried about accidents, she simply moved the performance stage outside the store and placed tables by the West Lake. Customers could sit down and listen to the show by just ordering a pot of wine and two dishes.

When two artists, a man and a woman, came on stage with the pipa and the guqin, cheers immediately broke out from the audience.

After the two artists bowed to the audience, the male artist picked up the gavel and banged it, and the performance officially began!
The sound of the pipa and the guqin matched each other, and the female artist began to sing: "Bai Suzhen, at the foot of Qingcheng Mountain, has been cultivating herself in the cave for a thousand years, ah. ah. ah."

The male artist began his performance with melodious singing.
As the wonderful plots progressed, the gentle, beautiful, and responsive White Snake seemed to come alive and gradually came alive in the hearts of the audience.

Xu Xian, oh Xu Xian, how come you are so lucky? !
When they heard that Xu Xian was instigated by Fahai and tricked Bai Niangzi into drinking realgar wine, everyone was outraged.

After Xu Xian was frightened to death, he wondered why this man was so cowardly?

Then comes the story of White Snake stealing the magical Ganoderma lucidum to save her husband.

When they heard that White Snake was suppressed by He Xiantong, several martial artists stood up, wishing they could personally enter the story to help White Snake.

When the South Pole Immortal and the Deer Fairy Boy came out later, all the audience were shocked.

It is difficult for White Snake to deal with only the Crane Fairy Boy. If the South Pole Fairy and the Deer Fairy Boy are added, then White Snake will be
Fortunately, the plot took a sudden turn. The Immortal of the South Pole was kind and compassionate. After listening to Bai Suzhen's plea, he gave her the Ganoderma lucidum.

"I told you! Nan Ji Xian Weng is a god in heaven, he will definitely not make things difficult for Lady Bai."

"Shh! Don't talk."

For two full hours, from the time when the sun was shining brightly to the time when the sun was setting, the number of guests did not decrease, but increased, and the story was only halfway told. The reason for this was that Ou Zanghua spoke all at once, so naturally he spoke faster.

Tanci emphasizes speaking, gags, playing and singing. A complete performance is extremely exciting and certainly takes more time than Ou Zanghua's most straightforward narration.

When the gavel came down, the male artist sang: "It takes a hundred years to be able to ride the same boat together, and a thousand years to be able to sleep on the same pillow together. To know what happens next, please listen to the next episode."

Then the two artists stood up and bowed to the audience.

"it is good!"

Someone in the audience shouted, and various copper coins with a few silver beans in between were thrown onto the stage.

For a long time afterwards, a strange sight appeared in the city of Hangzhou: no matter it was peddlers, talented scholars from noble families, or even young ladies, they would go out to listen to tanci accompanied by their families.

Brothel?

How can it be as fun as going to a restaurant to listen to tanci?
People can be found singing "Bai Suzhen at the Foot of Qingcheng Mountain", "Bai Suzhen with a Kind Heart", and "Waiting for a Thousand Years" in every street and alley.

Even the famous scholar Tang Yin, after listening to The Legend of White Snake, was so confused that he wrote a poem in a drunken state:

It is like Confucianism, Taoism and Bodhi, and it is wise, mysterious and perfect.

The Broken Bridge cannot cut off worldly affairs, but the past relationship continues by the West Lake.

We are united in heart and bound by destiny, and there will be no regrets in this life.

For a time, the popularity of "The Legend of White Snake" spread even more widely.

Many people began to go up the mountain to look for white snakes. No matter whether the snake was hibernating or not, as long as it was a white snake, they would dare to catch it and release it.

As a result, white snakes became extinct near Hangzhou for a time.

On that day, there were three people in strange costumes among the crowd listening to the tanci. They were Huang Zhonggong, Tu Biweng and Dan Qingsheng, two of the Four Friends of Meizhuang.

After listening to the passage, Dan Qingsheng couldn't help but stroke his beard and praised: "Mr. Ou is indeed a top scholar. He wrote such a heart-wrenching story. Xu Xian is just like that. Although White Snake is a demon, she is better than most people in the world. Xu Shilin is indeed the child of White Snake. He has courage, spirit and filial piety! I admire him very much."

"Yes!" Tu Bi Weng also sighed: "It is a great regret in my life that I have not been able to meet Mr. Ou."

At this time, someone nearby asked, "My friend, from what you just said, Mr. Ou is the top scholar?!"

"Yes!" Dan Qingsheng nodded and asked, "Don't you know?"

"But, but the champion of Nanzhili is not named Ou!"

Dan Qingsheng looked at the man as if he was mentally retarded, "Who said Mr. Ou was the first place winner in Nanzhili? He was the first place winner in Huguang!"

When the people around heard this, the peddlers, hawkers and young ladies all felt that Mr. Ou was indeed a man of great talent, who could write both tanci and articles. This was what a talented and romantic man was.

However, after the scholars learned the news, they felt secretly depressed.

"The Legend of White Snake" is so well written, with beautiful lyrics and music, and the story is full of ups and downs.

After hearing this, who wouldn’t want a White Snake who would grant any wish?

but
There's something wrong with Ou Zanghua!

You, a top scholar, came to Hangzhou secretly, did not have dinner, write poetry or make friends through literature, but wrote "The Story of White Snake" and caught all the black carp in Hangzhou, and then ran away.

How are these Hangzhou talents going to survive in the future?!

This is simply unreasonable!

(End of this chapter)