Every time you sing a big drama, you should first set up a stage in front of the manor gate, and you also need to set up a temporary team to tidy up the kitchen and receive guests and actors. When singing opera, relatives, friends, members of the Chamber of Commerce, and county officials kept coming in an endless stream, and "barnyard grass" and mules and horses lined up on both sides of the gate, making a sea of people.
According to legend, on the Mid-Autumn Festival in 1925, the owner of Nanzhonglai moved to Jiangnan to perform in front of the door, and specially invited the county magistrate at that time to come to the manor to watch the play. Mou Zongxi, wearing a robe and jacket and a melon seed hat, greeted him at the gate with great energy. When he saw the county magistrate and his party coming on horseback with a civilized stick and black-rimmed glasses, he quickly bowed to say hello. Then, he led the county magistrate and others into the corridor downstairs of the gate and invited the guests to sit in the plush chair. While drinking tea, he watched the play, and he was as equal as the county grandfather.
One year, Mou was happy to harvest 65,438+0 stones (600 Jin) of wheat from his farm, so he set up a "double-class" Peking Opera to celebrate. The stage was built in front of the gate of Nanzhonglai. A dozen people, old and young, sat on the steps of the gate and watched it for more than 30 days. On rainy days, the screen door replaces the stage, and the actors sing with silk and bamboo in the screen door field of four or five square meters. After a long time, his family got tired of watching it, so he set the stage in the hall and sat in front of him alone to enjoy it. Sometimes I hum a few words, and I go crazy.
Mou, the boss of Tang Baoshan, has served as a third-class official in the Qing Dynasty and the president of Qixia Chamber of Commerce in the Republic of China, so he always wants to take the lead in inviting operas. Every year during the Dragon Boat Festival, he invites Beijing Opera Troupe from Yantai and other places to perform in front of the door, often for a month, attracting people from urban and rural areas to visit Moujia in droves. It is said that in 1929, in order to celebrate his 60th birthday, Mou specially invited a famous opera in Jiaodong to sing Peking Opera such as Celebrating Zhao Yan's Birthday, God Bless the People and Jumping Officials. He played for more than a month, sang more than 60 tables and spent more than 300 yuan.
Several members of the Mou family have a big fight for jealousy, and often set up a stage at the same time. You invited "Double Class" and I invited "White Chrysanthemum" to sing Taiwan Province. The contradiction between their brothers is often manifested in attacking each other with actions. It is said that one autumn, someone took Mou and Mou Bi as acting skills. Mou specially booked a play for the troupe, "Guo Yao Marry" (Mou is Guo Yao). After the opening ceremony, the people in the play put a cauldron on their backs and made all kinds of antics, which made the audience laugh. Mou Zongxi was so angry that he swore that Er Blind Man (Mou's nickname) was not human. As a result, an eye for an eye came, and the troupe rushed to "the blind see the lights" overnight. Originally, there was only one blind character in this play. In order to allude to Mou, a blind man was added, and the title of the play was changed to "Two Blind People Watching Lights". People from the same clan of Mou family separated physically, attacked each other, and staged a story of "play in play", which was passed down as a joke in the local area.