Pear Garden.

This is the largest and most imposing theater in Nanjing.

The fact that they were able to occupy nearly 20 acres of land in the inner city was already a testament to their strength.

You should know that the inner city area in Nanjing today, which is near Zhengyang Square and closest to the imperial palace, is the most expensive place in the world.

Here, perhaps even a toilet space is something that an average person may not be able to afford in their entire lifetime.

Having money is one thing, being able to buy it is another.

No one knows how many dignitaries are involved in the twenty acres of land.

Now in the capital, most people have basically escaped from the poverty class, and it can be said that every household is a wealthy family.

The streets are clean and tidy, and there are no beggars wandering around.

Entering the capital requires relevant documents. After all, the population of the capital is now showing an explosive trend, and the court has no choice but to make such restrictions.

Today, the capital is not only the political center of the Ming Dynasty, but also the business center of the entire Asia.

Here, blond hair and blue eyes are extremely common.

Foreigners speaking broken Chinese can be seen everywhere on the streets.

When material needs are met, one naturally needs more spiritual nourishment.

Novels and storytelling are very popular literature and art nowadays, and ordinary people almost all like to go to teahouses to listen to storytelling when they have nothing to do.

The most elegant thing is opera.

In fact, there is not much difference between the two. It’s just that the storyteller is usually alone, the cost is low, the threshold is slightly lower, and it is easy to learn.

This led to many people sending their children to become storyteller apprentices. They might not become rich, but at least they could have enough food to eat.

Generally, storytellers who reside in teahouses have their food and accommodation provided by the teahouse.

But opera is different.

Firstly, the threshold is very high. It involves literature, music, dance, fine arts, martial arts, acrobatics and performing arts, which total more than 360 categories.

Secondly, costumes and props are relatively expensive nowadays.

Among them are Peking Opera, Yue Opera, Huangmei Opera, Ping Opera, Henan Opera and many other categories.

Personally, there are many roles such as sheng, dan, jing, mo and chou.

Compared to simply listening to a book, opera obviously has more visual impact.

Especially for the noble class and above, as the Ming Dynasty prospered rapidly in recent years, many families in the capital took advantage of the trend of the times and soared.

Suddenly becoming rich and powerful, of course you feel like a nouveau riche.

Therefore, it is very important to be cultured, change your identity and get rid of vulgarity.

After all, in the eyes of many people, if you want to make friends with upper-class people, listening to music and watching plays together is undoubtedly the best way.

And the Liyuan Opera came into being.

All those who could enter the Liyuan were high-ranking officials and dignitaries, and the ticket price of a hundred strings of cash alone was enough to stop most people.

Moreover, there is a daily limit for ordinary tickets. If you are late, you will not have the opportunity to enter even if you pay.

There are too many people and it's too noisy, which will disturb the distinguished people watching the show inside.

The more you can't get it, the more you want it.

In order to get in, many businessmen are willing to buy scalper tickets, even if they are several times more expensive, it is worth it.

Pear garden backyard.

There are countless martial artists, painted faces, and young ladies coming and going here.

In Liyuan, there are three theaters, one large and two small.

Ordinary actors could only go to the small theaters on the left and right, and only big actors could perform in the big theater at the main entrance.

Liyuan is not just one opera troupe, but is composed of dozens of opera troupes of various sizes.

To be precise, Liyuan is more like a high-level platform provided to these drama troupes. The manager of Liyuan does not perform but is only responsible for the management.

Each of these dozens of opera troupes is extremely famous throughout the Ming Dynasty.

Entering the Liyuan Opera House is the highest honor for any opera troupe in the world today.

During festivals, they can go to the palace to perform, and that is for the current emperor to watch.

If the performance is good, the reward is another matter. As long as you can get a word of praise from His Majesty, it means that you will become famous and your value will increase several times in the future.

Many of the managers of the Liyuan Garden were once from the Jiaofangsi, so it can also be considered as part of the palace.

Zhu Ying had previously reformed the Jiaofangsi. The wives of many officials who had committed crimes were not necessarily assigned to the Jiaofangsi. Without a source, the Jiaofangsi could only change.

That’s right, the big boss behind this opera house is actually the imperial treasury.

now.

In the makeup room in the backyard.

"Sister Xiaoyu is getting prettier and prettier. I don't know which young man will marry her in the end."

The maid who was putting makeup on Xiaoyu couldn't help but sigh as she looked at her delicate face in the glass mirror.

Xiaoyu was obviously used to it. She also looked at herself in the glass mirror and said helplessly, "What good fate can we have for people like me who are from the entertainment industry? Even if we marry into a wealthy family, we will only be concubines. Who would marry a person from the entertainment industry as their principal wife?"

"Xiaoyu, you are different. With your makeup skills, it's not difficult for you to find an ordinary family. You can also earn some money for your family. Your husband's family will naturally value and cherish you."

"Beauty is a disaster. Being pretty is also a sin."

Xiao Yu was a little confused and asked, "If that's the case, can't Sister Xiaoyu find someone of equal status to marry? If Sister Xiaoyu is willing to lower her status, the number of people who would come to propose marriage in the capital city would probably line up from Zhengyang Square to Zhengyang Gate."

Xiaoyu didn't answer the question, but just shook her head slightly.

Xiaoyu is still young, she doesn’t want to explain so much, she will know it naturally when she grows up.

At this time, someone knocked on the door.

"Xiaoyu, you must be ready. The steward in front is here to urge you to prepare for the Moon Worship Pavilion show. Someone has called out the names."

Xiaoyu responded with a "OK", and the person outside the door walked away.

She was considered a celebrity in the theater and had her own dressing room and makeup maid.

Hearing this, Xiao Yu complained: "Wasn't it already arranged for Pipa Ji? Why did it change to Moon Worship Pavilion?"

The makeup of the characters in each script is different, which means that if the makeup is whitened, you have to remove it and start over again.

Xiaoyu was more open-minded: "Hurry up, the boss said it himself, it shows that the adults who came this time are in a high position and have great power. It's not that simple to be able to directly order a play. If it's not good, I'm afraid that neither you nor I will be able to get away with it."

Upon hearing this, Xiaoyu quickly began to remove her makeup.

…

Zhu Ying was sitting in the private room in the center of the theater.

This is the best position to watch the show, facing the center stage.

Standing on the left and right behind Zhu Ying were Song Zhong and Guo Zhong.

Zhu Ying actually didn't like watching opera very much. For someone who had been influenced by the prosperous entertainment of later generations, opera was a bit boring.

Therefore, after the opera garden was built, Zhu Ying just gave a few pointers and never came there himself.

How could it be possible to set aside twenty acres of land in the inner city of the capital to build a opera garden without Zhu Ying's approval?

All these tricks in the opera theater were naturally arranged by Zhu Ying, and then further refined by his subordinates.

However, Zhu Ying only took 30% of the shares of the Pear Garden, and the rest were distributed to many nobles, chambers of commerce, etc.

Seventy percent of the shares were divided into hundreds of companies, and Zhu Ying, with 30%, was still the largest shareholder.

The reason why Liyuan is so popular is inseparable from these shareholders. They come here to enjoy special shareholder discounts, and it is also very prestigious to say that they are shareholders of Liyuan.

In addition to the 30% share income, Zhu Ying also collected rent from the opera house.

The land of this Pear Garden is under the name of the imperial treasury.

Only a few senior managers know these secrets, and most shareholders don’t even know who is behind them.

"Song Zhong, go ask how long it will take."

Zhu Ying frowned slightly.

He had almost finished his pot of tea and the show hadn't started yet. He just wanted to try it out for the sake of novelty, as it would be boring to wait any longer.

"Yes, sir."

After receiving the order, Song Zhong turned around and walked downstairs.

There were several Jinyiwei guarding the door, but there was no sign of the manager.

Song Zhong directly ordered the Jinyiwei on guard: "Go and ask the manager here what's going on. He is so bold that he dared to keep Your Highness waiting for a long time. Do you want to die?" Song Zhong's face was gloomy and he scolded directly.

The Jinyiwei guarding the door immediately clasped his fists and bowed, then quickly ran towards the backyard.

There were several guards guarding the backyard gate.

Seeing someone rushing in, he immediately blocked the way and said politely, "Dear guests, this is the entrance to the backyard. Please go to the front yard to listen to the opera."

The leader of the Jinyiwei was Qianhu Shi Di, who had previously accompanied Zhu Ying to Guangzhou.

Upon hearing this, Shi Di stopped and took out his badge.

"Jinyiwei is doing business. You guys should lead me to take care of things here and there immediately. If you dare to slack off, you will lose your head."

The guard was frightened when he heard the name of Jinyiwei and said quickly, "Please come in, sir. I will lead the way."

Shi Di snorted coldly: "Hurry up, if you delay the time, I will have to ask you to go to the Jinyiwei Yamen."

Upon hearing this, several guards immediately started jogging.

There is a separate small house in the backyard where the manager lives.

When he reached the door, Steve kicked it open.

The steward inside was drinking tea. He was so scared that his hand shook, and the scalding tea spilled directly on his hand. He immediately cried out in pain.

"Who is so ignorant of the rules? Do you know where this is? This is the Liyuan."

Swish!

As soon as the manager finished speaking, a bright light rose up. When he came to his senses, a shiny knife was placed on his neck. The manager immediately swallowed the rest of his words.

"What does this strong man want? Does he want money? I have some here, but you can't kill me."

The steward's voice was trembling.

He couldn't understand it. This was the opera house, and even if there were many dignitaries, they had to abide by the rules. How could such a strong man suddenly appear?

Steve put away the knife, took out his badge and put it on the table.

"I am Shi Di, a captain of the Imperial Guards. I am asking you why it has taken so long for my young master to perform the play he ordered."

"How dare you keep my young master waiting for so long? Do you want to go to the prison?"

Shi Dike didn't have time to show off, as His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was still waiting, so he got straight to the point.

The manager then realized that some important person had arrived. He had been waiting for a long time but the show had not started yet, so he came to the backyard to cause trouble.

"Sir, the arrangements for the stage performance are the business of the front yard manager. I have no business in the back yard."

"Your Excellency, please give me some time. I will ask someone to find out right away."

The steward said tremblingly that this was a completely unexpected disaster, and then turned his eyes to the guards behind him.

The guards also groaned in their hearts.

These gentlemen went straight to the backyard to look for the manager, so how could I lead them to the front yard?

Only then did Shi Di realize that he and others had been looking in the wrong direction.

But it doesn’t matter, as long as I can find someone to do the job.

The steward bowed and asked the guards to go to the front yard to find out the situation.

Several guards ran away.

Shi Di and others were waiting here.

Not long after, several guards came back panting.

"My Lord, this is what happened. The young man requested the Moon Worship Pavilion. The play at the Moon Worship Pavilion was originally scheduled to be at the end, so the actors have not put on their makeup yet. It will take some time to put on makeup at the last minute."

The guards realized that the person who came was indeed an important person.

The captain of the Embroidered Uniform Guard is serving as the guard, so he must be someone from the palace. It might be that a prince is visiting.

Ordinary officials would just watch the show that came their turn and would not order any show at the last minute.

Shi Di learned the reason and took his men back to report.

Zhu Ying heard Song Zhong's report in the private room and nodded immediately without caring much.

He had no idea it would be so troublesome.

When the manager came, he didn't say he wanted to change his makeup, but took out a booklet and asked him to choose.

I haven't seen any of these plays, so I just randomly clicked on the Moon Worship Pavilion, purely because I was somewhat interested in the word "moon worship".

After Shi Di made such a fuss, the opera house was in chaos.

The manager of the front yard was originally waiting downstairs. He felt that he had waited too long, so he went to urge them, and just missed Song Zhong coming downstairs.

Then the guards in the backyard came running over to ask, and he hurried back to explain.

Shi Di did not give him a chance to go upstairs: "If the show cannot start in one stick of incense, you will know the consequences yourself."

The front yard manager bowed quickly and said, "I understand, I understand. I'll go and urge them right away."

The steward called the troupe owner and said, "If this play does not please the master today, your troupe will not only be expelled from the opera house, but I'm afraid you will all have to go to jail."

Upon hearing this, Boss Huang turned pale and hurried to organize the people to start the show.

"Boss, Sister Xiaoyu's makeup isn't done yet."

Backstage, someone told Mr. Huang.

Boss Huang hurried to Xiaoyu's room.

But she didn't dare to just barge in. If her hands shook and ruined her makeup, then everything would be over.

He knocked on the door and said, "But is it ready? The distinguished guest is waiting anxiously."

"It will be ready soon." Xiaoyu's voice came from inside.

Boss Huang didn't dare to leave and just waited at the door.

Indeed, not long after, the door opened and Xiaoyu came out with her makeup done.

Boss Huang did not dare to put pressure on them. He knew very well that if he spoke too harshly, the actors would become overly worried and might make mistakes.

Xiaoyu was also a little surprised that the class owner was waiting here.

Knowing that the matter might be important, he quickly followed him to the backstage.

In the theater, with the sound of a gong, the play finally began.

Xiaoyu, as the leading actress, was the first to go on stage.

As soon as I stepped onto the stage and looked inside, my heart skipped a beat.

Because in such a huge theater, there were only three people in the private room on the second floor.

This means that the place is reserved.

This is the first time such a thing has happened since the opera theater opened.

Normally, this place is always full.

Xiaoyu knew that it was definitely not because the business was bad, but because this great man was so powerful that ordinary nobles were not even qualified to watch the show with him.

The actors backstage also noticed this and immediately burst into loud exclamations.

Huang Banzhu thought it was not good when he saw this, and quickly comforted them: "Just act well and don't think too much."

After saying this, his eyes were fixed on Xiaoyu who was coming up on the stage.

Seeing that he was a little dazed, my heart suddenly sank.