After rebirth, I still experienced a mess

16 Recruiting actors

It is called a town, but in fact there are only twenty or thirty shops concentrated in an area of ​​one mile square, with only two hundred people, who rely entirely on handicrafts and commerce for their livelihood. The outskirts are half business and half agriculture, with some vegetable plots and grain fields.

Xiao Wei's main requirement for a house is freedom, being able to come and go freely without being disturbed, and being easily hidden from people. In other words, the room should be located in a commercial area, at the back, away from the main road, in a corner, and have a back door.

After a thorough investigation, the only room that met the requirements was the back of the old herbal medicine shop, which had four rooms in total and was where the servants originally lived.

The drug store was clearly the property of Carpenter Datou's ancestors. After their family was wiped out, the store changed hands several times. Now the store has been incorporated into a cooperative and is collectively owned. Only the four rooms at the back have been given to the old owner's family to live in.

The owner is a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner and has always lived next to the shop. These four rooms are only occupied by his newly married son and daughter-in-law, so at least one room can be rented out.

The good thing is that the room is on the westernmost side, right next to the back door of the courtyard wall. There is a narrow path outside, a long bamboo garden on the side of the path, and a small river to the north of the bamboo garden. It is difficult to be seen when entering and leaving during the day.

Xiao Wei was very satisfied, but she did not confirm it immediately. Because Datou lived at the edge of the town, he might come to see his ancestral property one day, and she would meet him sooner or later, and he might even become her husband.

If Xiao Wei were to live his life over again, he would never allow himself to repeat the same mistakes.

It was around eight o'clock when I returned to the dormitory. I was surprised to see Jiang Yingying was also there, with a little girl of seven or eight years old, who she said was her daughter.

"When I was young, this title was a great achievement."

Xiao Wei almost said "She doesn't come back when she should", seeing the girl was so thin that it made people feel distressed. She hid behind her mother and dared not look outsiders in the face. There was no doubt that she was bullied at home.

Jiang Yingying pulled her out and said, "This child is shy. Call me auntie."

Shi You timidly called out in a low voice, and Xiao Wei said vaguely, "It's pretty good. By the way, isn't Sister Jiang going to rehearse?"

"I'll go right away. You can come and take a look too."

"I won't join in the fun. I haven't found a house yet."

"You need to move out of town. Actually, the whole town is just a small place. You can't escape it."

"Let's hide for a while."

Aunt Miao called out from outside with a loud voice: "Xiao Ji, come along. They are all nominated by the villages. I heard that they can sing and dance. They are fun to watch."

The rehearsal ground was set up in the open space in front of the government gate. The sounds of gongs, drums, erhu and flutes were chaotic. Several responsible persons were checking each person's specialties one by one. Some were rapping and telling jokes, some were singing folk songs, some were chanting and reciting clapper talk, some were performing like shamans, and some were reading scripts. It was as lively as a temple fair.

On the way here, Jiang Yingying and her daughter deliberately kept a distance from Xiao Wei. At this moment, it was difficult to see that Aunt Miao had blended in with the singing and dancing women. Xiao Wei didn't care at all. She stood on a small mound at the side of the field and watched the crowd with interest.

The performances were all very crude, and I lost my patience after watching them for a quarter of an hour. Just as I was about to leave, I suddenly saw Gu Zehua trying to play the erhu, the local folk tune "Meng Jiangnu Sending Winter Clothes". His technique was not very proficient, but he played it very seriously, so he should be able to pass the review.

For some reason, Xiao Wei didn't want him to see her. As soon as she jumped off the mound, Wang Youfu suddenly flashed in front of her and asked, "Do you want to join us too?"

"will not."

"I composed a quick beat, but I don't know if it will work."

"It has nothing to do with me."

Seeing Xiao Wei was about to leave, Wang Youfu stopped her again: "Can't we just talk it out?"

"Sure. Go ahead."

Wang Youfu shut up. Xiao Wei took another step. Wang Youfu said angrily from behind: "Don't think your job is secure. I can report you for being dishonest, disobedient, and immoral."

"Then what are you waiting for? Go and sue now."

Xiao Wei didn't even turn her head, but was stopped by her sister-in-law, who handed her two summer clothes and said, "Let's part ways amicably, don't be angry."

"I'm not angry, and it's not worth it for me to be angry."

Xiao Wei was telling the truth. Everyone around him seemed to be good people, but they were just ignorant, and ignorance itself was bad.

"We did go too far, but this happens everywhere. Everyone makes mistakes. Just correct them. You are still young and can start over."

Wang Youfu quickly agreed: "I promise to change my past and live a good life. If I break my promise, I will be struck by lightning."

"There's no need to swear. No one is wrong. I don't blame anyone. It's just that our personalities don't match. A forced melon won't be sweet."

The sister-in-law wanted to say something, but finally held back.

Xiao Wei was of course aware of the severity of the situation, but the danger she faced was not in her relatives’ marriages. She just didn’t want to see the demons running rampant and couldn’t bear to see the people starving to death everywhere.

A loud singing voice reached my ears. It was Aunt Miao's. She was singing a piece from Tongzhou opera. The dialect was difficult to understand, but it was very charming.

Immediately afterwards, Jiang Yingying was speaking on the other side. She usually spoke in a soft voice, but she could actually sing quite high notes, which was quite impressive.

The experts are indeed among the people.

After listening for a while, Xiao Wei turned around, and the eldest sister-in-law followed him to a place where there were no people, and asked in a low voice: "Are you still going?"

"It's not certain yet."

"Your father gave us two ingots and five silver dollars. We were ready to exchange them, but we were afraid that others would get suspicious if we turned the house upside down."

"Don't move for five years."

"Okay. I'll listen to you. By the way, the old Taoist priest is very ill. I'm afraid he won't live for a few more days."

"Just leave it to fate."

"Wang Youfu's family might come to town to cause trouble."

"Don't worry about me, I can handle it."

"Your second sister's fiancé broke his leg and became a cripple. He is now asking to cancel the engagement."

"Don't worry about them. Go back early."

It is called a dormitory area, but there are only a dozen rooms in total. Most of the people live within two or three miles nearby. There are only eight or nine people living in the dormitory from cooperatives, and the rest are from government departments.

Not all of the houses are new. At least the last three-room one and the four-room one are not new. They are old-style blue bricks and black tiles with obvious repairs. They must have been requisitioned or confiscated by the government. Two families live in them and cook their own meals. They are most likely town mayor-level figures.

Xiao Wei looked at the dormitory that was being expanded, and then lay down on her bed to read. After a while, she heard Aunt Miao and Jiang Yingying coming back, saying that the person in charge was not fair, and some of the bad ones were retained.

"Xiao Ji, why don't you write a program and give it a try? Those people's skills may not be as good as yours."

"I can't do that."

This suggestion touched Xiao Wei's heart. Perhaps because he was still young, his previous dislike for Jiang Yingying was swept away, and he considered whether he should help her.

But Aunt Miao and the little girl are here, so I can’t tell you.

Aunt Miao and Jiang Yingying chattered for a while before inviting Xiaowei to go to the cafeteria together.

Jiang Yingying ordered a rare portion of braised pork and fish fillets, which made Xiao Wei like her even more.

Shi You ate first and ran out to play. Xiao Wei took the opportunity to ask in a low voice: "Sister Jiang, do you really want to go on stage and act?"

Jiang Yingying was stunned, and her expression dimmed a lot: "To be honest, Xiao Ji, I'm really not good enough to be an accountant. It's very tiring to do the accounts, and I always make mistakes. It would be best if I could act."

"I can help you put together a show. I can't say it will win a provincial art performance award, but it's almost certain to be in the top three in the county."

Jiang Yingying's eyes lit up immediately: "Really?"

Xiao Wei nodded: "But I have a condition. You can't say that I wrote it. You can only say that you figured it out yourself."