"Hey, isn't this Boss Zhang? What made you find the time to call your brother?"
Su Chen asked teasingly.
The caller was his best friend, Zhang Da.
The two had always been close, but Zhang Da had seemed extremely busy lately and had not gotten around to contacting him.
Zhang Da sounded rather pleased with himself over the phone.
"Hasn't your business been doing poorly? I'm planning to start a company. Why don't you close your shop and come be my general manager?"
"From the sound of it, you've made a fortune?"
Su Chen was somewhat surprised. This guy was no rich second-generation heir—if anything, he was practically negative second-generation.
How had he suddenly started a company?
"More or less. Not long ago, I worked at a delivery company for a month and happened to meet the other half of my life. We're deeply in love. She bought me a seaside house and a BMW."
"Damn, you've really got it good!"
"Haha, don't worry, bro, I haven't fallen! I swore I wouldn't live off a woman, so I decided to start my own business. That's why I opened a company—I'm planning to build something from scratch on my own!"
"Wait, that doesn't add up. Your company sounds like a big operation. Where did you get the startup capital?"
"She gave it to me. We're family now. It's only right for her to support me while I start a business, isn't it?"
"Mm, ambitious!"
After exchanging a few simple, half-hearted pleasantries, Su Chen hung up with a complicated expression.
He had not expected that in just two short months, this guy had already reached the pinnacle of life.
His wedding was set for next week. This call had mainly been to invite Su Chen to the wedding. As it happened, Su Chen also wanted to use the wedding to bring himself some good luck.
Jinshi City
Jinyang Street
Commercial district.
Night shrouded the entire city. In the dead of night, time quietly wore away the Neon Phoenix Lantern lights of the modern city. Everything seemed settled like dust. The lights of the shopping malls shut off one after another, and the cold, deserted streets had long since lost the daytime crowds.
At that moment, a single bright light persisted stubbornly in the darkness within an old-fashioned, duplex teahouse from the last century.
The teahouse faced south and north. The audience seating and stage encircled one another, forming an enclosed storytelling venue.
On the stage, a wooden clapper rested on the table!
A figure sat behind the table, picked up the clapper, and slammed it down with a sharp smack!
The crisp sound instantly rang through the entire teahouse!
The mottled, aged paint overhead did not diminish the teahouse's unique acoustics. The sound spiraled upward around the rafters, gathering without dispersing~
After the clapper's echo gradually faded.
The figure spoke in a weathered voice.
"If you wish to know what happens next, then listen again next time!"
"Give us another round! I was just getting into it, so why did it suddenly end?"
"Yeah, we were completely absorbed! Old man, tell us some more!"
Below the stage, two or three listeners had been enthralled. Judging by their appearances, they seemed to be workers who had just gotten off work.
In the past, listening to storytelling and opera at a teahouse had been something only wealthy families could afford. Now, with the influx of all kinds of culture, there were fewer and fewer storytellers and teahouses like this, and business naturally could not compare with more popular entertainment. These people had seen the teahouse open after work and decided to take a look. To their surprise, there was not even anyone collecting tickets.
The cinema next door was packed every day, and even late at night, people booked overnight screenings.
Yet this teahouse was no longer what it had once been. Even with its doors wide open, hardly anyone was willing to enter.
So these people had freeloaded here for half the night, and when they saw the storyteller above finish.
They still did not forget to shout for another round!
It was not that they could not afford to listen. They simply felt they were supporting the storyteller, making it seem perfectly natural to freeload.
Just as they had reached the part where Lu Bu shot his halberd at the gate, the halberd had only flown halfway before the story stopped.
It was rather frustrating.
Seeing that the storyteller onstage remained motionless, they shouted.
"Tell us more! You haven't even finished this part! At least finish this story, will you?"
On the stage,
Qiao Xiang gripped the table with a pale face. It was not that he did not want to continue, but that he no longer had the strength to do so.
Once hailed as a master, he had told countless tales of rivers, mountains, storms, and passing years.
Eloquent and dust-stained from the road, he had once brought so many legends of the martial world to life.
But his body could no longer endure. Just like storytelling and opera itself, he seemed to be approaching his twilight years alongside them!
He had spent his entire life mastering the national art of Peking Opera, and he was also a storyteller. Performing opera and telling stories were his profession. He was regarded as a great figure in the circle, yet he still could not reverse its decline or the bleak reality that no one would inherit it!
Especially in recent years, as the masters and grandmasters of Dragon Country's Peking Opera and storytelling circles passed away one after another, the national art had grown all the more desolate!
His own days were numbered, just as the people devoted to these arts were growing old batch by batch.
When the workers saw the old man was no longer speaking, they lost interest and promptly left one after another.
They planned to come back tomorrow and continue freeloading.
After everyone had left, Qiao Xiang rose to his feet and gazed sorrowfully around the teahouse.
It had completely lost its former glory and liveliness.
At that moment, a figure entered. Upon seeing Qiao Xiang, he seemed somewhat angry.
He hurried over.
A deep middle-aged man's voice rang out, filled with urgency.
"Dad, why did you come here again in the middle of the night?"
As he spoke, he draped his own coat over Qiao Xiang's shoulders.
The man had thick brows and large eyes. He was Qiao Xiang's son, as well as his disciple—Qiao Sheng.
Qiao Xiang gave a bitter smile.
"Who knows how many more times I'll be able to come? It's always good to look at it one more time."
"You can't keep exhausting yourself like this with your health. If your fellow disciples hadn't contacted me last night, I wouldn't even have known where you went! You promised me then that you wouldn't come anymore, so why did you change your mind again today?"
Qiao Sheng looked at him with anger and heartache as he asked.
Though his words carried a hint of complaint, the respect between every line came from the bottom of his heart. There was not the slightest disrespect.
"The teahouse used to stay open until the third watch of the night. But today, when I saw its lights dimmed, my hands began to itch. I wanted to go onstage and tell a couple of pieces. I never expected this body of mine to fail me. I got halfway through and could not continue! Those few listeners even gave this old man a bad review. Sigh!"
Qiao Xiang explained, though the sorrow in his heart was difficult to put into words.
All these years, he had watched the trade worsen and worsen. The national art had no successors, and his heart ached deeply.
He had dedicated his entire life to carrying on the aspirations of those who came before, hoping to pass their legacy down through the ages. Who could have imagined that it would come to such a situation and hardship?
The disciples who came to perform opera now had to take other jobs to make a living.
The courtyard behind the teahouse, once filled with disciples practicing their fundamentals, had long since fallen empty.
"They're just freeloaders. You don't need to take it to heart! I'll take you home right now!"
Upon hearing this, Qiao Sheng could only comfort him.
Times had changed!
As he spoke, he moved to take the old man home.
Unexpectedly, the moment the old man nodded, his vision went dark and he fainted on the spot!
Qiao Sheng's expression changed drastically.
"Dad!"
The second update is here. There'll be another one later.
It might be late!
But it will come.
Before you continue