You Shulang got off the bus at Xicheng North Hutong and asked an old man who was squatting on the roadside selling candied haws with his sleeves rolled up. Only then did he find out the location of the "Yayinge Opera Society".
The alley was very long and narrow. After walking for three or five minutes, you could hear the singing of opera.
Pushing open the brown-red solid wood doors carved with dragons and phoenixes, and lifting the cotton door curtain, the graceful, melodious and pleasant music will clearly reach your ears.
There were not many people in the theater, only seven or eight individual patrons. You Shulang looked up at the private room on the second floor and saw a man waving at him with his neck stretched out.
Climbing up the stairs, You Shulang lifted the pearl and jade curtain of the private room. The sound of ding-dong-dong was accompanied by a sentence: Here I come, Director You.
A man sat beside the simple four-immortal table. He had bronze skin and ordinary features, but he looked special because of his unruly temperament.
You Shulang pulled up a chair and sat down, saying politely, "Sorry to have kept Second Young Master Fan waiting for a long time."
The person drinking tea and listening to music was Fan Yu, the second son of the Fan family. He leaned back on the official hat chair and replied with a smile, "It wasn't long. Director You arrived ten minutes early." He looked at the candied haws that You Shulang had casually placed on the table, and his interest grew. "Did you bring it for me?"
"I just bought it on the road. If you like it, you can try it."
Fan Yu was not polite and took out a string of candied haws from the plastic bag and stuffed it into his mouth: "I have only seen it in Chinese TV dramas before, and I really don't know what it tastes like."
The sugar wrapper was so sweet that he squinted his eyes, and when he took a bite, the sour taste of hawthorn made him grimace. He swallowed it whole, and Fan Yu praised it repeatedly for being delicious.
"Today I listened to Peking Opera for the first time and ate candied haws. I wonder why Fan Xiao doesn't want to go home? It's so nice here, with vast land, rich resources, splendid culture, and most importantly, beautiful women by my side."
Naked irony was before him, but You Shulang, as if he didn't understand the hidden meaning, lifted the lid of the tea bowl, blew away the floating tea leaves, drank a sip of the emerald green tea soup, and said slowly with a light tea fragrance between his teeth: "The play on the stage is Peach Blossom Fan." He hummed a few lines, "I'm afraid that eight or nine things in the world are vague, and human relationships cover up two or three points of shame."
Then he said, "It's winter now, so it's best to drink black tea. Biluochun is cold in nature and is not suitable for drinking at this time."
The two sentences without a beginning or an end sounded confusing, so You Shulang gave the final explanation. He covered the tea bowl to suppress the mist and said, "China is a vast country with rich resources and profound culture. There is no shortage of people who know the facts but not the reasons to appreciate it."
The knife was neither soft nor hard and thrust back. Fan Yu raised his eyebrows and smacked his lips, then said with a smile, "I've seen Director You's power last time, and now I'm even more impressed by him."
"What do you want to talk to me about, Second Young Master?" You Shulang didn't want to chat with him and got straight to the point.
Fan Yu pushed the teacup away from the table, put his elbows on the edge of the table, and asked curiously, "I heard that you and Fan Xiao broke up? Is it true?"
This made You Shulang startled, not many people knew about his relationship with Fan Xiao. But now it seemed that Fan Yu was aware of it, and You Shulang could not tell whether he knew it from Fan Xiao, or from Shi Lihua, or if the two of them said it as a joke?
Thinking of this, You Shulang's face darkened slightly: "Second Young Master, just speak frankly. If you just beat around the bush, you might as well listen to the show carefully."
Fan Yu pursed his lips, and finally a hint of sinisterness appeared in his idleness: "Okay, then let's talk frankly." He glanced at You Shulang, "Fan Xiao played tricks on you like that, don't you want revenge?"
When he received Fan Yu's call, You Shulang had guessed most of what he was thinking. He just wanted him to be a pawn in the fight between the two brothers. So when he heard Fan Yu's words, You Shulang was not very surprised.
He withdrew his gaze from the graceful Qingyi on the stage and looked at Fan Yu. He paused for a moment before asking, "In Second Young Master's opinion, how should I take revenge?"
The most unruly spectator on the official hat chair laughed and said, "There are thousands of ways to take revenge, but I can find you the simplest and most convenient way, which will not only let you vent your anger, but also benefit you."
"Oh? So good? Second Master, tell us about it."
"Don't you want to ask first what benefits you can get?" Fan Yu knew the routine of winning people's hearts. He crossed his legs and said, "I heard that you are selling your house now to pay back Fan Xiao's money."
He pulled another hawthorn off the bamboo stick, frowned because of the sour taste, chewed it twice, and said in a slurred voice: "There's really no need to go through so much trouble. As long as you do what I say, you can get rid of your anger and get this at the same time."
A check was pushed along the edge of the table. "Enough to pay your brother's debts, with some money left over."
You Shulang glanced at the number on the check, raised his eyebrows, and looked surprised.
"So many." He said with a smile. "What does the Second Young Master want me to do?"
"It's not that difficult." Fan Yu shrugged, "Just secretly install a chip in Fan Xiao's public computer, that's it."
"And then, what will happen to him? How will I vent my anger?"
"Then you just wait." Fan Yu raised a finger and spun it in the air, imitating the sound of a police car siren with a laugh.
You Shulang's eyebrows tightened: "He committed a crime?"
Fan Yu laughed and said nothing.
"If he became a prisoner, would you feel relieved?"
There was still aftershock in You Shulang's eyes. He took a deep breath, calmed down a little, and looked back at the stage. He looked at the long-sleeved Qingyi dancing around the peach blossom fan in her hand.
People are gone, smoke has faded; yellow dust turns, red sun rolls. I am afraid that eight or nine things in the world are ambiguous, and human relationships cover up two or three points of shame...
The lines were long and mournful, expressing a bit of sadness.
Holding the tea bowl with his long fingers, You Shulang took a sip of tea and put the not-so-fine porcelain back on the table. He then said, "I'm sorry, Second Young Master, I can't do this. I have nothing to do with him anymore. Please resolve the grudges between you two yourselves."
Fan Yu licked the sugar residue on the corner of his mouth, still looking confident: "Director You doesn't seem like the kind of person who won't take revenge. It seems that I don't have enough chips."
He took out a mobile phone from his pocket, swiped the screen, and saw multiple audio messages displayed on it.
Fan Yu looked a little proud: "These are all the recordings of the third brother. Director You, don't you want to hear how he usually discusses you with others?"
"You eavesdropped on him?" You Shulang raised his sharp eyelids.
"Our third son is very cautious and smart, so we can't eavesdrop on him. But we can start with the people around him, such as Shi Lihua."
"You are breaking the law!"
"NoNoNo." Fan Yu shook his ten fingers. "The one who was monitoring Shi Lihua was someone from his family. I just heard from them that the third brother had a man and I thought it was interesting, so I bought the recording and listened to it."
"Tsk tsk tsk, you don't know until you hear it. Once you hear it, you will realize that our third child is really going too far. Director You, would you like to listen?"
"No need." You Shulang's expression suddenly turned cold, "I'm not interested."
He stood up and said, "Goodbye, Second Young Master. I hope you enjoy the show."
He walked out, plucking the beaded curtain with his long fingers. Before he leaned out, he heard a familiar male voice behind him.
"Why? I'm just using him to kill time when I'm bored. When I'm done playing with him and getting tired of him, I'll just dump him."
"Since you don't want to be shameless even if I give you face, then I'll coax you back and then ruthlessly dump you!"
Amidst the humming, Fan Xiao's voice also reached You Shulang's ears particularly clearly.
The body suddenly froze! The hand that lifted the door curtain turned over and grabbed the pearl chain fiercely!
The tinkling sound was no longer clear and pleasant, but like the prelude of anger, stirring the chest.
"Director You, can you tolerate this? I can't tolerate it if it were me."
Fan Yu stared at You Shulang's stiff back and confidently lobbied, "As far as I know, Fan Xiao is still interested in you. As long as you pretend to reconcile with him, gain his trust, and find a chance to insert the chip I gave you into his work computer, everything will be fine. The money will be yours, and your anger will be relieved. I can also bring him down. It's a good thing for both you and me, so why not do it?"
His fingers loosened gradually, and after the initial anger, You Shulang was left with only sadness in his heart. No matter how well he knew that Fan Xiao would say bad things about him behind his back, it was still not as shocking and chilling as hearing it with his own ears.
The voice that whispered "I love you" a thousand times in my ear, actually judged me so coldly and contemptuously behind my back.
Those sweet words that people miss most, those lips that have been kissed thousands of times, can turn into sharp swords and slander the person who has just given the ultimate tenderness.
His brows slowly dropped, and even though he was still as strong as You Shulang, there was a hint of bitterness in his expression.
He did not turn around, but said coldly: "If the Second Young Master likes to listen, then stay and listen by yourself. You and Fan Xiao are brothers, so it's not surprising that you have some special hobbies."
As the pearl curtain swayed, You Shulang's back looked desolate.
After leaving the theater, You Shulang randomly found a fork in the alley and walked in. He didn't relax his back and leaned against the wall until there was no one around.
Spring was about to arrive, and the wind was chilly. You Shulang lit a cigarette with his back to the wind, held it between his fingers, and hung it by his side. He didn't even think of taking a puff until the scarlet dot was blown out by the wind.
After an unknown amount of time, the iron door beside me creaked open, and two gray-haired old people walked out of the door. The old couple went to buy groceries, and they had a quarrel over some trivial matter. One complained, the other laughed, and the wind blew them away, leaving only two no longer young figures slowly walking away together.
You Shulang followed them for a long distance, until the two of them turned the corner, then he withdrew his gaze, took out his cell phone and made a call.
The phone rang for a long time before it was connected. A lazy female voice came from the phone: "What's the matter, my dear?"
"Bai Ting, can you do me a favor?"
"What's the matter?"
In a moment of silence, You Shulang thought again of the recording files on Fan Yu's phone. Each audio file showed the recording date. You Shulang glanced at it and saw that the longest audio file was marked with July 14.
July 14!
You Shulang slowly clenched his fist, the veins on his forehead bulging: "Help me get someone drunk."