CH 12.2

Chapter 12.2 – Stage in the Wheat Field

Shi Yuan went backstage to find Tracy. Tracy was squatting among the clutter on the floor, counting clothes, putting them on the hanging trolley after each one was sorted out, her white tail waving on the floor.

Shi Yuan asked, “Hello, Mr. Cheng asked me to come to you.”

Tracy pricked up her cat’s ears and turned her head: “You’re here! I heard Luoluo say that you passed the audition!”

“Well, I signed the contract yesterday,” Shi Yuan said, looking at the clothes on the ground. “Do you want me to help you?” ”

“Yeah!”

He helped Tracy pack up the costumes and props.

Tracy said: “There was a show last night, and I haven’t had time to clean up, that’s why it’s so messy.”

“Do you work here?” Shi Yuan asked.

“Not really.” Tracy folded the two sleeves and stuffed them into a small box. “I used to be in the orphanage. Wolfgang took me away and I have been here ever since. I want to go to school, but I am not in good health and my tuition is very expensive. I have been helping to pack things backstage in the past few years. What about you? Have you ever been to school?”

Shi Yuan: “No, I am from far away.”

“Really.” Tracy widened her eyes. “There are all monsters outside, it’s so dangerous, only people like General Lu dare to go out.”

Shi Yuan asked, “Do you also know Lu Tinghan?”

Tracy seemed to hear something funny, and giggled: “Shi Yuan, you are so funny, who doesn’t know him?”

The backstage stuff was a mess, and no one else came to help. Shi Yuan and Tracy tidied up until noon, and they were only almost done.

Shi Yuan ate at the small shop next to the theater. It was said to be a “small shop”, but it was actually a simple food distribution office. Large buckets of food were placed outside, and someone would collect the money at the front. The dispenser of the insulated bucket was working in an assembly line, and everyone in line was able to receive one.

Shi Yuan stood for a while, realizing that he had no money. His first salary has not yet arrived. In the past two days, Broken Copper and Broken Iron have prepared meals for him – it must have been Lu Tinghan’s instructions.

He tentatively sent Lu Tinghan a text message: [Can I borrow 15 yuan for lunch? I’ll pay you back.]

He didn’t expect Lu Tinghan to reply. The one he sent last night [When will you be back?], Lu Tinghan has yet to respond.

Shi Yuan waited for five minutes and was about to go back to the theater when his cell phone rang.

Lu Tinghan still didn’t reply to him, but there were 200 more alliance coins in his account.

Shi Yuan bought a “basic set meal” for 15 yuan and ate white rice, fried lettuce, and tomato soup. After he finished eating and went back, he waited in the lounge until two o’clock in the afternoon, and then it was time for work again.

Qin Luoluo, who had been absent all morning, finally appeared in a hurry.

She was wearing a red dress and makeup, and her already charming facial features were even more charming. When she saw Shi Yuan, her eyes lit up, and she smiled like a fox again: “Aiya, you’re here—come here, come here—”

She took Shi Yuan to the room near the door. There was a yellow-haired boy leaning against the door, chewing gum, and looked at Shi Yuan a few times: “Is he the new one?”

“Yes.” Qin Luoluo pulled Shi Yuan. “Let me introduce to you, his name is Xia Fang, he is a resident actor of the troupe, and he is usually in charge of publicity. You can follow him this afternoon.” She blinked. “Xiao Xia ah, take good care of people, and take more care of Shi Yuan.”

She smiled and walked away.

Xia Fang raised his chin to the room and said, “There are four rolls of posters inside, I have bundled them up, Shi Yuan you take them out.”

Shi Yuan picked up the bundle of heavy posters, and followed Xia Fang, who was carrying a bucket of glue, to the gate of the theater.

The posters of the aphrodisiac divine oil and the vegetarian restaurant were still hanging there, bright and colorful, which abruptly lowered the Grand Theater by countless grades.

Xia Fang said: “Remove all the advertisements of the vegetarian restaurant.”

Shi Yuan asked, “Why not take down the divine oil?”

“Because the divine oil renewed.” Xia Fang already started tearing up the advertisement. “Of course, those who have not renewed have to be removed. We are not doing charity. Get out of here if you don’t have any money.”

They tore down the advertisements together. After the poster was torn off, there were still a lot of broken pieces stuck to the wall, patchy, so they could only use a rag and a small flat shovel to slowly remove them.

Xia Fang complained while cleaning up: “How many times have I said to buy a second-hand cleaning robot, they just don’t listen.”

“Why not buy it?” Shi Yuan concentrated on dealing with a white piece of a fragment.

“Poor.” Xia Fang stretched out his hand. “Look at so many advertisements hanging at the door, can’t you see it? A good theater has become a third-rate place, all for money ah.”

Shi Yuan said: “I thought there were a lot of audiences here.”

The performance hall was huge and gorgeous, with hundreds of seats under the stage, even he could see the liveliness.

“How can anyone with a normal mind run to see a stage play now?” Xia Fang also picked up a small flat shovel and scraped off the patches irritably. “It’s not easy to live, maybe you will be eaten by monsters tomorrow. Besides, there are many old-fashioned stage dramas, and everyone stays at home and watches TV on their mobile phones when they have time. The performance yesterday was pretty good. Sixty tickets were sold. It was already good to have 30 or 40 people.”

Shi Yuan shoveled off a broken piece, threw it into a garbage bag, and went to the place of the next poster. He asked again: “Then why do Wolfgang and the others still perform?”

“To power something with love, to power with love, do you understand,” Xia Fang said. “You’re from another city, right?”

Shi Yuan hesitated for a moment, Xia Fang thought he had acquiesced, and then said: “Don’t you know, Gleaning City has a title called ‘stage in the wheat field’, and the characteristics of the city are farmland and drama. The soil here is fertile, the terrain is flat, the air is good and the climate is good. It has always been the main source of food in the southern part of the Alliance. Stage plays and musicals are also very famous. Before the Abyss appeared, there could be two or three theaters on a street.”

“So that’s it.” Shi Yuan said, “Where are the other theaters? I don’t seem to have seen it.”

“They were either destroyed because of the war or were torn down and rebuilt into a residential area,” Xia Fang replied. “This is the last theater, and the last theater company. Anyway, if it can’t make money, buckle up and search, otherwise, they won’t post ads here – Shi Yuan, you can bring those new posters.”

Shi Yuan brought a poster. The new advertisement was [Papaw brand compressed canned meat], with a few open canned meat painted that looked delicious.

He and Xia Fang put up the posters and walked the streets to hang posters of the Wild Rose Theatre Company’s performances on the surrounding streets, which featured a flamboyant Qin Luoluo and an expressionless Wolfgang.

Shi Yuan asked, “Do you like stage plays?”

“Not really,” Xia Fang said. “The leader and the others are doing it because they enjoy it, I’m just here to make money. If you give me money, I will perform. If you don’t give me money, I will pack up and leave. The salary here is not high, maybe I will quit one day. After working hard here for 6 hours, it’s better for me to drink two bottles of wine with someone at night.”

“Can you make money by drinking with others?” Shi Yuan asked.

“Of course, you can.” Xia Fang smiled a little narrowly. “It depends on how you drink it. If you are short of money, I can also take you to see it, anyway, it’s almost time to get off work.”

“I don’t know how to drink,” Shi Yuan said. “I’m not good with wine.”

Xia Fang: “You can drink if you want, no one can force you if you don’t.”

“Is that place a bar?”

“Hmm.”

“Everyone there can drink?”

“Of course, one can drink stronger than the other. As the saying goes, drink alcohol to relieve worries.”

Shi Yuan recalled that when he was wandering in the wasteland, he occasionally saw abandoned human settlements with some canned food and bottled water. He once got a bottle of wine – he didn’t know it was wine at the time, so he opened the lid and took a sip, and his tail scales exploded.

He was curious about what the legendary bar was like, so he made a plan: he would take a look at it himself, and once the anthropophobia attacked, he would run away immediately.

Shi Yuan said, “Those people are so powerful, they can drink wine.”

As soon as Xia Fang wanted to answer the phone, he heard Shi Yuan conclude: “They are all 1.”

“…” Xia Fang was shocked, “Shi Yuan, I didn’t expect you to be such a person!”

“What kind of person am I?” Shi Yuan asked.

“It’s okay, it’s okay.“ Xia Fang patted him on the shoulder and gave him a thumbs up. “Little brother is awesome and has a bright future.”

Shi Yuan: “Thank you, but I need to talk to my friend and tell him I’m going to be home late.”

“Then you tell him.” Xia Fang said, “If you don’t go to someone else’s house for the night, you won’t be late for the curfew.”

Shi Yuan typed a message to Lu Tinghan: [Today I]

He hadn’t finished typing a sentence and accidentally sent it out.

Lu Tinghan did not respond and did not reply as before.

Shi Yuan didn’t want him to reply either. He heard Wang Yu say that Lu Tinghan was a busy person. Even when he borrowed money at noon, Lu Tinghan transferred the money straightforwardly, without saying a word of nonsense. He typed again [Can I come back later today?]

Lu Tinghan did not respond.

[I will be back before curfew.]

Lu Tinghan did not respond.

Shi Yuan thought he acquiesced, and after thinking about it, he explained: [Let me tell you, I met a new friend in the troupe and I want to go to a bar with him. He said that there are a lot of 1 there, and they are all very good at drinking.]

A beep sounded.

Lu Tinghan: [No.]

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**TN

To power something with love / to generate electricity with love – The term was originally an unrealistic slogan put forward by environmentalists in Taiwan, in order to oppose nuclear power and demand the closure of nuclear power plants .

Later, it was compared by mainland netizens to a certain team or individual who insisted on doing something even though the income was low or no income.