Chapter 161 Guests flock in
"What is that? What's that guy wearing on his head? It looks so nice."
"It sounds like a play, but it's not a southern opera, and the costumes don't look like it."
Some people are eager to try it out. "If you want to know what it is, just go in and take a look. Come on, come on."
When everyone heard this, they realized that this was exactly what was happening. Just as they were about to go into the Hongyan Teahouse together, they heard another bang. The experienced people hurriedly looked up and saw that the window on the third floor of the teahouse was open, but this time no one showed up.
The clear sounds of birdsong come and go, as if soaring into the sky and plunging into the valley, making people's hearts go up and down, high and low. In a blink of an eye, there is the gurgling of water and the buzzing of bees. When you close your eyes, the vitality of all things is like a picture scroll slowly unfolding before everyone's eyes.
At this moment, an inopportune chorus sounded: "Hongyan Teahouse is opening with great success. Please come in for tea, opera and music."
Konjac nervously tugged at Cui Qingyi's sleeve. After all, this was her family's first serious business, and a unique one at that. She couldn't help but feel a little nervous, fearing that all the hard work and money they had put in for so long would be wasted. "Miss, will anyone come?"
Cui Qingyi stood still like a mountain. If she had been worried before, she would have been worried now, but now she was really relieved.
So far, all their choreography has been perfectly executed and has captured the hearts of the onlookers just as she expected.
But Cui Qingyi never expected that the first person to walk into Hongyan Teahouse would be Zhou Yanxiu in casual clothes, followed by Ji Yunzhi, Zhou Wen, Zhou Wu and others.
Although someone was reporting the movements of foreigners in the market every moment when the market opened yesterday, Zhou Yanxiu still wanted to come out and take a look in person today. The trade with foreigners was very extensive. Although he was related to the royal family, there were many people eyeing such a big piece of fat meat here, so he couldn't help but feel uneasy and had to come out to take a look in person.
But he didn't expect to see the hustle and bustle of Hongyan Teahouse as soon as he got to the street. He came from a powerful family and had seen a lot of the world, but the so-called drama in Hongyan Teahouse still made him shine.
Fortunately, Hongyan Teahouse has a good location, and you can get a general view of the market from the second floor, so Zhou Yanxiu turned and walked into the teahouse.
Originally, he thought that the owner of Hongyan Teahouse was quite clever, but when he saw that the person standing behind the counter was Cui Qingyi, Zhou Yanxiu actually felt that it was as he expected.
After all, he was the chief official of the county, and Cui Qingyi was praised by the empress dowager without being summoned to the palace to be an embroiderer specializing in sewing clothes for others. Zhou Yanxiu made an indelible contribution to this.
Cui Qingyi personally entertained them: "Mr. Zhou, do you want to go to the second floor to listen to the opera or to the third floor? I'll take you upstairs." Zhou Yanxiu and his entourage were all wearing casual clothes, and Cui Qingyi did not call him Mr. Zhou.
Zhou Yanxiu: "On the second floor."
There was a ventriloquist performance on the third floor. Zhou Yanxiu had watched it many times since he was a child because an old relative in the capital liked it. So, although it was a novelty to the people of Dongping County, it had little appeal to him.
Cui Qingyi responded, took down a sign with the number one on it from the wall, and personally led people to the second floor.
Cui Qingyi originally bought about one acre of land. Except for a part of the acre that was used as a backyard to build staff dormitories, the rest was used to build a teahouse.
Coupled with Cui Qingyi's own ingenuity and the experience of Uncle Fan, an old craftsman, the entire interior space of the teahouse was utilized to the fullest extent.
The stage is surrounded by slightly higher railings that separate the viewing area from the performance area, ensuring that guests have the most comfortable viewing experience.
The farthest location from the stage is one of the spaces with better privacy, which can be considered as private rooms. When the windows are opened, you can see the street view, the stage clearly, and hear the music clearly without being too noisy. It is the best location.
Cui Qingyi took Zhou Yanxiu and others to private room No. 1.
"Master Zhou, Master Ji, this is the tea menu of Hongyan Teahouse. What kind of tea would you like?"
The teahouse's tea menu is placed on a wooden round tray. It is a detachable card carefully designed by Cui Qingyi herself, which ensures that it is easy to flip through when customers place an order, and also convenient to regularly replace the tea list with a new one.
Ji Yunzhi took a look and laughed, "This is quite interesting, a clever idea of the shopkeeper. But shopkeeper, we are not here to drink tea. What kind of plays do you have? Do you have a playbill?"
Cui Qingyi was not surprised at all that others didn't seem to like her tea. After all, he was a nobleman from Fuwowo in Beijing. He had seen all kinds of good teas, so it was normal for him to look down on things from a small county town.
Seeing that Zhou Yanxiu didn't express any opinions, Cui Qingyi smiled and said, "Then I'll see about the tea. There's really no playlist. Our Hongyan Teahouse has a fixed repertoire every day. It all depends on what the customers like."
If we let customers place orders, it would be difficult to satisfy everyone.
Ji Yunzhi didn't say anything after hearing this. He was a person who couldn't sit still, so naturally he didn't like to listen to any opera. It was just that he had never seen an opera in Hongyan Teahouse before and was just a little curious.
Seeing that they had no other instructions, Cui Qingyi tactfully withdrew. During this short while, she decided to look for a manager for the teahouse. She was more suitable to be the boss behind the scenes.
Many people in the county town had seen Zhou Yanxiu. When they saw the county magistrate go up to the second floor, no matter what they were thinking, they all chose the second floor.
One second ago, Konjac was still worried about what would happen if no one came in, but the next second, he didn't care about anything else. In less than a quarter of an hour, the second floor was full.
Jing Wei had been staying at the post station outside the city with his escort company for the past few days, so he'd naturally noticed Cui Qingyi frequenting the teahouse. He'd been watching the teahouse open early this morning, wanting to check it out as soon as it opened, but Zhou Yanxiu and the others got there first.
Not wanting to meet Zhou Yanxiu and the others, Jing Wei could only wait before going in. Fortunately, there were still one or two private rooms with the minimum consumption requirement, so he happily chose one of them.
He thought that if the shopkeeper took the order himself, he could even greet Shopkeeper Cui. Unfortunately, the upstairs area was managed by a fixed waiter, and as soon as he entered the door, a waiter ran in to greet him.
The guests who were attracted by the hustle and bustle, including Zhou Yanxiu, Ji Yunzhi and Jing Wei, all planned to sit for a while and then leave. After all, whether they were doing business or working as officials, everyone had their own things to do.
No one expected that they would almost waste half a day sitting in the Hongyan Teahouse.
Jiang Bailing listened to more and more voices in the backstage. Perhaps because he had returned to a familiar position, his heart, which had been beating wildly, miraculously calmed down.
Today is the first time that Qinqiang has been performed in a teahouse. The repertoire chosen is the one adapted by Cui Qingyi based on the story of the Yang Family Generals, whose prototype is a general from the founding period of the Jin Dynasty.
The characters have changed but the basic purpose remains the same. They all sing stories about generals who are fearless and willing to sacrifice their lives to protect their country.
Some of the scenes involving the incompetence of those in power were deleted by Cui Qingyi, and the main focus was on making the film exciting but not involving any dangerous factors.
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