SEHE Chapter 63

Theater Opening 

After Wang Gu exchanged greetings with Pei Yanci, he followed a nearby servant who led him to Gu Jiuqing’s study.

Pei Yanci returned to the courtyard and leisurely reclined in a rocking chair under the eaves, waiting for Wuli to return. He asked, “How did it go?”

Wuli shook his head. “They said they couldn’t find any trace of those people you mentioned. The silver was wasted.”

Pei Yanci lay back down, and the rocking chair creaked.

The servants in the mansion were subordinates to their masters. Without Gu Jiuqing’s permission, even if he privately wanted to meet a strange third-rank official from the court, it would be an extremely difficult matter. A few days ago, he had sent Wuli to find the remaining people involved in that old case. Wuli had given business to the underground black market, but unfortunately still hadn’t gotten good results.

This matter couldn’t be rushed, so he temporarily set it aside.

On the contrary, his theater opened very quickly. It was called Mingyou Theater.

The small courtyard Pei Yanci provided for the scholars to stay in was his property, but the theater was registered under Jiang Yi’s name. This was to avoid many unnecessary troubles in the future. Because of this arrangement, he gave Jiang Yi ten percent of the profits.

This rough fellow was quite straightforward—he didn’t haggle at all and agreed on the spot. He even sent over about thirty military households who had retired from the border.

Some of these people were tall and burly, others were stocky, their muscles bulging. Even when sitting idle, their faces showed fierce vigilance. This made Xin Hai, who was skilled with hidden weapons, uneasy and unconsciously emanate a faint killing intent. Pei Yanci then knew these people were very strong, and that Jiang Yi had put his heart into this.

The opening was chosen for April 13th, an auspicious day.

Wuli busied himself back and forth like an old mother hen, making it seem like he was the one opening the theater. He even hired a lion dance troupe.

The chubby fellow’s eyes lit up. “Going back a few years, this was still a rare treasure in the palace. The court even used it to pray for warding off evil and seeking good fortune. We’re also hoping for joyous prosperity, abundant wealth, and thriving business. Twenty taels of silver is definitely worth it.”

“You just want to watch it yourself.” Pei Yanci shook his head. Unreliable in doing business, but smooth in spending his silver.

“Me too.” Wushu said shyly but excitedly.

“This has nothing to do with you.” He pushed the child’s head back down.

Still, after all the lively drumming and clanging, along with the spirited and clumsy lion, the pedestrians along both banks of the Yuexi River immediately had their attention drawn and gathered around.

After the lion dance finished, colorful-clothed puppets were lowered from the second floor of the theater. The puppets were half the height of a person, their faces painted with colored pigments, each joint suspended by fine and resilient sheep gut strings. With the storyteller’s characteristic chanting, the puppets seemed to speak like humans, chatting and making comical movements. The crowd immediately erupted in cheers.

Just as they were getting excited and about to throw money, the puppets loudly sang out. “Mingyou celebrates, grand opening! Distinguished guests, please come inside. For today and tomorrow, all drinks are free. We respectfully welcome our guests to come into the garden and enjoy the festivities.”

Common folk usually only saw puppet shows occasionally when passing through the streets, and those puppets were only knee-high. This one was fully twice as large, finely crafted. People love beautiful things, so they went in two by two or three by three through the main gate to see this novelty and excitement.

In less than an hour, Mingyou Theater was packed to bursting. The road along the river was filled with stopped carriages, and some young masters, young ladies, and servant girls were also attracted over.

Yue Ting was frantically busy inside. On the first floor hall, puppet shows were already being performed. The audience below erupted in cheers, the commotion drawing in people from outside. Even adding half again as many seats wasn’t enough, so the private rooms on the second floor were also opened. The private rooms on the third floor were for individual performances for guests—it looked like they’d all have to be opened now.

“Brother Pei.”

Pei Yanci was discussing matters with Yue Ting when Jiang Yi called out from far away, struggling to get through the crowd.

“Young General Jiang, how rare to see you have time.”

“Hey, I’m a shareholder after all. If I didn’t come today, wouldn’t that look bad.” Jiang Yi said loudly and carelessly.

“You want everyone to hear that you’re just a shareholder?” Pei Yanci glanced at him sideways.

Jiang Yi clapped his hand over his mouth, then quickly grew happy again. “I also brought someone, look.”

As he spoke, Pei Yanci saw a robust figure appear in the crowd.

Gu Wanchong quickly walked up close and nodded at him.

“When the Fifth Prince heard I was opening a theater, he was very skeptical and insisted on coming to see. Look, isn’t this my theater?” Jiang Yi said smugly. “It’s so noisy here. Do you have any private rooms? We’d like to watch the puppet show too.”

“Go to the small garden, it’s quiet there.” Yue Ting said, calling over a waiter to show them the way.

Besides the main hall and private rooms, the spacious building had also been divided by Pei Yanci into several small gardens. There were spacious indoor halls as well as small gardens surrounded by flowers and plants. Unlike the third floor’s private rooms for individual performances, these were secluded spaces that could accommodate nearly twenty people—enough for some officials to meet or merchants to discuss business.

After greeting Jiang Yi, Pei Yanci saw that Great Scholar Fang and the Song family uncle and nephew had also arrived.

“I originally thought it would be quiet here today, so I specially brought my family to support you. I didn’t expect we’d end up taking up space instead.” Fang Hongchun laughed. His impression of Pei Yanci was quite good, especially after visiting him several times, and with his prized student Song Suixi constantly mentioning him. He greatly appreciated this young man with many ideas.

“Please, come right in. Young General Jiang just arrived.” Pei Yanci stepped aside.

“Oh, then I must go meet this theater owner.” The great scholar laughed. As he walked, his left hand always hung powerlessly. After the trip to Elu Bureau, he had ultimately been left with lingering ailments.

“Look, this is the script I wrote.” Si Feng excitedly greeted several people.

When Song Suixi saw what was being performed on the stage—singing girls with graceful, plaintive tones, their forms unseen but their voices heard—the puppets were lifelike in the puppeteer’s hands, as if real people.

“Teacher, Uncle, you go to the small garden first. We’ll join the fun here for a while.” Song Suixi was playful by nature. He called over several of Great Scholar Fang’s grandchildren who had come along, and went with Si Feng to the main hall, nimbly slipping into a few seats.

Seeing things were settled here, Pei Yanci gave Yue Ting a few instructions and personally led Great Scholar Fang to the small garden.

“You invested in Jiang Yi’s theater—does your Crown Prince know about this?” Once the clamor quieted down, Great Scholar Fang asked.

“I only contributed some silver. His Highness isn’t interested in this.” Pei Yanci smiled.

“I heard you bought a small courtyard to provide housing for students from poor families. That’s very good.” Great Scholar Fang said. “I once had this idea too—’If I could have ten thousand mansions, I could shelter all the poor scholars of the world and make them smile.’ Dreams are ultimately just dreams. With a large family to support, relying on teaching can barely maintain household expenses. Now you’ve realized it instead.”

“I’m unburdened and carefree. Previously, the two teachers emptied their coffers of five thousand taels of silver to save people. If this silver is used for practical purposes, allowing more scholars in white to benefit from their studies, it’s also a good deed done by the teachers.”

Great Scholar Fang waved his hand. “Fame and profit are all external to the body. Seeing those people have a temporary place to stay and study diligently, I’m very gratified.”

“Teacher seems to have recovered quite a bit from your injury,” Pei Yanci suggested. “You could come sit at the small courtyard often and give those students some guidance in their studies?”

A flash of delight crossed Fang Hongchun’s face. “That’s not a bad idea.”

With his lingering ailments, he no longer had the stamina to take in disciples and teach as before. Being restless by nature, Pei Yanci’s suggestion was exactly what he wanted. He agreed on the spot.

The three arrived at the small garden behind the main hall. Jiang Yi and Gu Wanchong were watching the performance. Wuli was eating melon seeds on the side, spitting out shells, and asked the Fifth Prince, “Your Highness, you and our Crown Prince are rivals. Don’t you feel awkward seeing us here?”

Pei Yanci had just reached the table when he heard this question. He couldn’t help but smack Wuli’s head. “Although they’re rivals, they’re also good brothers. Whoever sits in that position is a blessing for the people of Great Yu. We servants just need to enjoy the benefits.”

Wuli pushed aside a pile of melon seeds and stood up hurriedly, clutching his head and timidly calling out “Big Brother.”

Having gone in and out with Pei Yanci for so long, sometimes he forgot his own status.

Gu Wanchong also stood up with him. In fact, the instant he saw Pei Yanci’s figure, he sprang to his feet like a sword unsheathed.

Jiang Yi beside him was startled by this action.

Pei Yanci shielded Wuli behind him and gracefully bowed to the prince. “Wuli is used to being casual. Please forgive any offense, Your Highness.”

Gu Wanchong’s sharp gaze fixed on the face of the person before him. After a long moment, he forced out two words from between clenched teeth. “No… matter.”

“Today there are no attendants or princes—we’re all the same. It was just a casual joke.” Jiang Yi quickly stood up to smooth things over. “Yanci, take me to the kitchen. I want to see what good food there is.”

As he spoke about leaving, passing by Gu Wanchong, he said quietly, “We were joking around just fine earlier. What’s wrong now? If you’re uncomfortable, leave first.”

“No matter.” Gu Wanchong’s face was tensed tight. He sat back down abruptly, looking as if he intended to continue watching the performance.

Seeing him like this, Jiang Yi gave him a look that said ‘wait a moment,’ then left the small garden with Pei Yanci.

Having been scolded by his big brother, Wuli didn’t dare stay either and followed pitifully behind Pei Yanci.

“Brother Pei, last time you and the Fifth Prince met at the mansion, I asked His Highness about it afterward. He actually has no intention of competing for the throne at all—he’s just been forced into this position by circumstances. I don’t have such great ambitions either. I just want to practice martial arts peacefully and fight enemies. I don’t understand all the twists and turns of the court. In the future, you and we can interact normally in private. If the Crown Prince doesn’t like us associating, we can stop contact afterward. Just have Mr. Yue deliver the dividends to the mansion each month.” Once things quieted down, Jiang Yi spoke softly.

“How can you be so ungrateful?” Wuli immediately became displeased. “What’s this about? Now that you’ve latched onto the Fifth Prince, you look down on us? You want to make a clean break, but you still have your eye on our money?”

“Don’t interrupt randomly—that’s not what this is about at all.” Jiang Yi said, then looked at Pei Yanci. “The Crown Prince’s reputation is well-known, that’s true. Originally I also thought he was a benevolent and magnanimous person. But after he rescued me, he made all sorts of difficult demands on mere white-robed scholars—clearly taking advantage of the fire to rob them, wanting to squeeze out the last bit of usefulness from the literati. If you hadn’t helped, those people would probably have died in prison long ago. This kind of benevolence that demands repayment—to be honest, it makes me deeply uncomfortable. Call me ungrateful if you want, but I’ll remember this favor the Crown Prince did in rescuing me, and I’ll repay it one day, even with my life if necessary. But I can’t serve him loyally anymore.”

“The Crown Prince hasn’t asked you to do anything for him even now. Why are you acting like you’ve suffered such deep grievances, as if you’ve been so wronged?” Wuli mocked.

Jiang Yi’s temper flared. “I’m talking to Brother Pei—why do you keep interrupting!”

“Because I can’t stand it.”

“Do I need you to stand it? You’re just a servant.”

“Oh, so now I’m just a servant. When you were in front of the Fifth Prince earlier, you didn’t say that. You’re so hypocritical,” Wuli said with his hands on his hips, unconvinced. “Back then, Big Brother and I went deep into the Chief Overseer’s mansion to negotiate with that old eunuch. We killed our way in and out three times without catching our breath, finally forcing the old eunuch to compromise and agree to release you.”

Pei Yanci: “……” This is a bit exaggerated.

“And what did you do? As soon as you got out, you said you wanted to thank the Crown Prince. We don’t get any credit at all in your eyes. I’ll tell you straight—the Crown Prince didn’t lift a finger from start to finish. He’d rather you died in prison. He wanted to trick Big Brother into walking into a trap, to have Elu Bureau torture him into a false confession, so he could establish himself as a clean, oppressed victim. I’d say even a chaste martyr widow isn’t as pure as him. You two are birds of a feather—perfect to make a master-servant pair. Don’t even think about breaking up with him. Just hurry up and cling to his thigh and call him grandpa.”

Wuli chattered on, leaving Jiang Yi stunned.

“I didn’t… You clearly said that rescuing me was the Crown Prince’s plan from behind the scenes.”

“You think carefully now. Back then I said it was Big Brother who saved you, not the Crown Prince. But you turned around and accused us of being disloyal, of betraying our master. Who really has no conscience? Can you see clearly now?” Wuli was so angry his cheeks puffed out even more. “If Big Brother hadn’t said back then that it was the Crown Prince’s plan from behind the scenes, what kind of people would you have taken us for?”

Jiang Yi’s face reddened.

“It’s my fault.” He felt somewhat uncomfortable inside.

He had always believed that the master-servant relationship was like that between ruler and subject—one must be utterly loyal and not serve two masters. At that time, he didn’t know the Crown Prince’s character, and even less did he know that Pei Yanci was just an attendant, yet possessed such capabilities. Things the Crown Prince was unwilling or unable to do, he could accomplish.

Now he believed it, because he had seen those examination candidates released under Pei Yanci’s planning, and he had seen how Pei Yanci managed such a large theater so orderly.

He considered himself sincere, righteous, and upright in character, yet he had still misunderstood Pei Yanci.

For a moment, an indescribable sense of shame and guilt rose in his heart.

At the same time, there was a faint sense of relief in his chest.

It was like picking up a peach that looked fresh and sweet, only to bite into it and find half a worm. After the disgust faded, when he picked up another peach that wasn’t so bright and attractive, even if it had a bit of rot, it was somehow less difficult to accept.

Compared to owing Gu Jiuqing a favor and serving him loyally, he would actually rather follow Pei Yanci.

Even though he was just a servant.

It was strange—when he was with him, he always forgot Pei Yanci’s status and unconsciously wanted to follow him.

It was a full sense of security.

“It’s my fault.” Jiang Yi bowed with cupped fists in shame. “In the future, Brother Pei, if you need anything, just say the word. Jiang will go through fire and water without hesitation.”

“There’s no need to have Young General do such dangerous things.” Pei Yanci raised his hand to gently lower his salute. There would be opportunities in the future. “You and I are now managing the theater together. Making the theater successful is the urgent priority.”

When he had misunderstood, not only had Pei Yanci not given him the cold shoulder, but he had even brought him along to make money together. Jiang Yi was even more grateful to him and increasingly felt that working together with him was a good choice.

At this moment, only two thoughts circulated in his mind: either continue selling his life for the Crown Prince and be forced to bear the label of the Crown Prince’s faction, which he was unwilling to do, or follow Pei Yanci. Once the idea he had long persisted in became increasingly unbearable, disgusting, and repulsive, when a new choice appeared, he would immediately and without hesitation turn to choose the second option. He forgot that there was actually a third, fourth, or even more choices.

This was a logical trap Pei Yanci had set for him.

Particularly effective on stubborn, obstinate, and rigid people—either this or that, either black or white. But once he became the person he recognized, everything became simple.

And how much had Pei Yanci paid? Just a few words in a carriage and today’s conversation. He wasn’t even the one who spoke the most.

He patted Wuli’s shoulder, telling him to calm down.

Wuli was an indispensable part of this.