For a time in Beijing, I used to go to Mei Lanfang's house to play. I remember that he was living in the Immeasurable Adult Alley. When we go to his place, we don't have to inform the host, and the host's family does not come to accompany the guests, so in the Yuxuan, it is often full of guests. I often say: There are two poems of the ancients that can describe it. Which two verses? It is "from the swallow on the beam, close to the water gull." Sometimes Lan Fang was busy for the drama, or he wanted to practice, he was diligent in practicing, and we didn't bother him. Even though he had already gone out, a few of our acquaintances were still there talking and laughing freely, and I dropped two sentences from the "Buried Chamber Ming" and said, "There is a great deal of humor in talking and laughing, and there is no white ding." But Lan Fang always had a lot of days at home at that time, and it was difficult to get out.
At his house, I met many friends, such as Li Shikan, Feng Youwei, Qi Rushan and other gentlemen, all of whom met for the first time. Like Mr. Luo Yangong, he already knew each other, and it was difficult for him to get the Mei family, and he already had Cheng Yanqiu, which was different. There was also Zhang Liaozhi, who had long recognized when he was in Shanghai, and the rest of the people had forgotten it. But Mei Lanfang was a ling in the end, and I thought that there should be friends in the Lingjie world, interacting with each other, but I was there, and I didn't see anyone, only Yao Yufu, who was Lan Fang's apprentice and his supporting role. Although Mei and Yao are masters and apprentices, Lan Fang regards Yufu as brothers. For example, with the play, there are two Dan horns, one is positive and one is paired, Mei is positive and Yao is vice. For example, the plum in "Garden" is Du Liniang, Yao is Chunxiang; such as Bai Suzhen in "Broken Bridge", Yao is Xiaoqing, and so on. Later, Yao Yufu did not act much, but managed everything for the division, and was like a general manager in the family room, and a manager in the business.
Talking about Yao Yufu, there is a small palm in the late Qing Dynasty and the beginning of the People's Republic, it turns out that he was originally a student who learned to sing, and he was a disciple in Yunxiu Hall, and his life was lonely and cold. When the team was disbanded before the Xinhai Revolution, he had to resign from his master and find a way out. He's only fifteen years old, right? No family, no shelter. One day, an old senior of them who was singing opera said to him, "Ah Shun (because his nickname is Ah Shun)! He was the first class red man under Yuan Gongbao. He has a lot of people there, and he doesn't care about you as a person. You have to be well-behaved and flexible, maybe you will encounter any opportunities, better than being unemployed now. If you want to be intentional, I'll tell you to go."
Yao Yufu said, "What am I going to do with him?" Be a servant, be a book boy? I thought that when I came out to study drama, I originally wanted to learn an art and be able to stand on my own, but wouldn't it be too humiliating to go to the homes of those officials and become a small errand boy?"
The old man who sang the opera said, "That's not what it says, but in this chaotic era, we have to seize the opportunity and try our luck." It is said that the big husband can bend and stretch, for example, if you sing Su Sheng, the emperor must also dress up, the old family must also play, be a servant, what does it matter. 'Heroes are not afraid of being born low', isn't that kind of thing often in our plays?"" Yao Yufu thought of being alone, floating everywhere, not taking this road, where to go? After a deep groan, he also agreed to go to the Zhao family.
When he arrived at the Zhao mansion, Zhao Bingjun was lying on the smoke bed smoking a big cigarette, and he was a person with a big addiction to opium. The family brought Yao Yufu in, and he didn't care, smoked enough cigarettes before he glanced at Yao Yufu and asked, "Can you do anything?" Yao replied, "I can sing." Zhao Bingjun snorted in his nose, "People are making a revolution and are very busy, who has spare time to listen to the drama?" Yao Yufu thought, "Okay! It's blown!" It just so happened that on the pipe that Zhao Bingjun had installed himself, a cigarette bubble fell down, and Yao Yufu was quick and quickly picked it up for him in the cigarette tray. Zhao Bingjun had a clever move and asked, "Will you fill up a cigarette?" He replied, "Yes!" It turned out that when he was studying drama, he would burn cigarettes for his master. Zhao Bingjun handed him the cigarette stick in his hand and said, "Good! Then you'll stay here!"
Since Yao Yufu entered the Zhao Mansion, because he was alert and sensitive, he was welcomed from top to bottom. And because he put on cigarettes with his master every day, he was always a person close to his master, and he did not dare to despise him. Zhao Bingjun's family has a flaw, his official wife, neither a son, nor a Shandong wife nor childbearing, only a young master with a borer, but it is not compatible with Zhao Bingjun, and he is angry when he sees him. Therefore, within the family, it is not perfect, busy for a day, back home, only to feel lonely and unhappy. Only with Aphrodite, he smoked heavily, so the addiction became bigger and bigger. Now I have a guy who carries cigarettes, and sometimes talks to him to relieve boredom. Zhao Bingjun has many close friends, talking about public and private affairs, all of which revolve around the smoke bed. His cronies, who returned to business and made reports, were also at the edge of the smoke bed. In the past, people who smoked big cigarettes thought that a light was opposite, and the currents of thought rushed together and gathered together.
At this time, their families, if they do not call, do not come in. Only that Ah Shun, in order to load the master with cigarettes, can not leave, do not have to avoid, because he is still a child, what do you know? Ah Shun is also very obedient, he never opens his mouth, only listens to his heart, but he is very able to identify talents, know which way someone is, what kind of stream someone is, see more, it is difficult to escape his pair of wise eyes. When Zhao Bingjun was happy when the guest went, he also told him who the guest was, who his surname was, what his official position was, and what purpose he had for coming to see me.
When he was not happy, he was silent and dozed off on the smoke bed. But he was the first-class red man under Yuan Shikai, the so-called capable person worked more, so no matter who he was, he had to talk to him, and no matter what happened, he had to pass by, so the cars and horses were noisy, and his door was like a city, not to mention the people who had always run around in the capital, that is, the young people from all over the world who came from the south to join the lobby, as well as the students studying in the east and west, and all those who came to see Yuan Shikai had to see Zhao Bingjun first.
One day, Zhao Bingjun got up from the morning and met a row of guests, all of whom were young students from the south, especially from Guangdong, Fujian, Jiangsu, and Zhejiang. Most of their words were carrying the revolutionary aim, and he perfunctorily put them on a perfunctory time and said many compliments. In the afternoon, another row of guests, also young men from the south, came again, and he perfunctorily took them away. After these two meetings, he hurriedly took a carriage out, went to the gate, worked, and got a report from Yuan Shikai's mansion. In a few places, I already felt that my sour eyes were stuffy, I yawned continuously, and I couldn't resist this opium addiction.
Back at home, a stack of voices shouted, "Ah Shun put on a cigarette." Ah Shun had already installed four or five smoking guns, such as xiang bamboo guns, ivory guns, sugar cane guns, and lemon guns, all of which were decades old guns, and they were all full and high. The silver smoke tray was polished brightly, the Cantonese-style high-glass smoke lamp was lit, and in another cloisonné smoke jar, thirty or forty smoke bubbles like small honey dates were laid, waiting for him. Zhao Bingjun took off his coat, and then he went to the smoke bed, he inhaled while inhaling, loading on the other, and repeating the cycle, - row guns, row of guns handed over, in one breath to suck more than twenty barrels, gradually felt the bone joints psychic, the spirit was vibrant; gradually he felt refreshed, and there was a laugh.
When Yao Yufu saw that he seemed very happy today, she also talked nonsense with him, and he sighed again: "I have to see many guests all day long, you say that you are not tired, they are all young people with lofty ideals, they have come to see me, I can't help but not see." Yao Yufu said, "Most of the people who came to see you today are wearing suits, I guess they are all overseas students?" Zhao Bingjun said, "How can you say it's not?" You can see it too." Yao said, "They're wearing suits, and they're all braided, aren't they?" Zhao Bingjun said, "How can you wear a suit without twisting braids?" Now there are a lot of braids, and in a few days, maybe everyone will have to twist braids." Yao said, "I look at the braids, but I feel convenient, but I always have to wear a suit, otherwise, the robes and shorts, there is no braid on the back, it doesn't seem to look good." Zhao Bingjun said, "In the future, I am used to seeing it, everyone is like this, and I don't feel anything."
Speaking of that, he suddenly said, "And I ask you, do you think that I have met these many volunteers from the south today and entertained them?" Yao Yufu filled a cigarette while just smiling and saying nothing. "What are you laughing at?" Am I wrong?" Zhao Bingjun scolded him, and he shook his head again, and then smiled: "Do you want me to say, don't be angry, you are just perfunctory, many of your words are all false." When Zhao Bingjun heard this, he didn't feel ashamed, so he said, "How can I say that what I said was false?" And you say a reason." Yao Yufu said, "No one can see this, you are just improvisational, and you will say anything to anyone, as long as you deal with the past, why should you be serious?" Zhao Bingjun listened, silent, thinking that this boy had such eyesight, usually I saw him silently, without scruples, who knew that although he did not speak, he understood in his chest. However, I have a lot of visitors here, and there are many confidential events that have not been leaked, and these schemes are all planned on the smoke bed. He is also a person who serves cigarette beds every day, and the children's mouths are not covered, leaking out, but it is not a thing.
Zhao Bingjun (photographed by Tianjin Fusheng Photo Studio, 1910)
After a few days, Zhao Bingjun took advantage of one thing and said that he had done something wrong and did not ask him to burn a cigarette next to the smoke bed. At that time, it was when Yuan Shikai returned to the mountains, summoned him to Beijing, and appointed him as the prime minister of the cabinet, Zhao Bingjun was the minister of civil affairs, and everyone knew that he was the closest person to Yuan Shikai, and before he saw Yuan Shikai, he first wanted to see Zhao Bingjun. Southern heroes, students from the East and the West, with a revolutionary heart, also felt that to overthrow the Qing Dynasty, Yuan Shikai had to be indispensable. However, he could not see Yuan directly, nor could he frankly say what he meant, but Zhao Bingjun saw anyone at will. Therefore, these southern people, who come to Beijing and come straight to its door, can at least explore the situation and listen to the tone. Who knew that Bingjun and them were blindly perfunctory, and they couldn't hear anything.
It turned out that when Zhao Bingjun first arrived in Zhili (present-day Hebei), it was just a small canonical history, and he did not know how to be appreciated by Yuan Shikai, and it was smooth sailing, from a county lieutenant to a Taoist officer, filling the general office of the Tianjin and Baoding patrol police, he was also blessed to the soul, traveled widely, and drew well, until the establishment of the former Qing Patrol Police Department, Yuan had been recommended as the Right Attendant. When Yuan Shikai was absent, he also retired from the original. This time Yuan Shi came out of the mountain, the first thing was to ensure that he was the minister of civil affairs, and grasped the police power in his hands first. Therefore, Zhao Bingjun is not only Yuan Shikai's minions, but also Yuan Shikai's confidant. This time, in the midst of his boring gossip with Yao Yufu, he was caught by the fifteen or sixteen-year-old baby who spied on his deeds, but he was afraid. Yao Yufu also felt that the words of that day should not be said so, this place is also a dangerous place, I still leave as a good thing, go to Luo Gongluo Old Master, his old man is the most willing to carry people.
A native of Shunde County, Guangdong Province, Na Luo Gong was once langzhong of the Ministry of Posts and Communications, teaching in the university hall, and having spare time in his spare time, but he liked to listen to songs and dances the most, and often took on the post of improving Chinese drama, so he was the closest to a group of people in the lingjie, and everyone came to teach him. Yao Yufu came out of the door of the Zhao mansion and came to look for Luo Gonggong, remembering that he lived in the Guangdong Guild Hall of the Grass Factory Toutiao. I went out of the front door, came to the Guangdong Guild Hall, saw a house at the intersection, it was low-lying, in front of the door two stone pantuo, on which a horizontal plaque, is a white black character, written "Guangdong Guild Hall" four big characters, I don't know which famous artist at the time. When I got there, I stepped out of the gatehouse and asked who was I looking for? He said that he was looking for Luo Gongluo. The long class led Yao Yufu in.
This one is a three-room study room, full of walls, all books, calligraphy and paintings. In addition, there are some antiques, stone carvings and the like. Luo Luogong still recognized Yao Yufu, so he asked, "I heard people say that you are not in the Zhao Family Zhao Zhi'an of Xitangzi Hutong?" Yao Yufu said, "Yes! I'm out now." He elaborated on all the circumstances and said, "I came out to study drama before, and I hoped to learn an art and make a living for the future, so why should I go to the gate of power and serve as a lowly servant?" Luo Gong secretly praised him for his ambition, so he said, "Your idea is very correct, as long as a person has a skill, he can stand on his own." Although Zhao Bingjun is hot now, there are many things he does and does many things, and there are many plots and tricks, as you said, it is indeed a danger. However, singing is not this era now, and many teams have stopped and scattered. If you have ambitions and are still young, you might as well go to school and study, what do you think?"
Yao Yufu said, "It's rare that Old Master Luo is so enthusiastic about cultivating, and I am really grateful." It's just that I'm past the age of studying, and I'm afraid I won't be able to go to school." Luo Luogong thought for a moment and said, "There is a Huiwen Academy, but it is a church school run by foreigners, you may wish to go there to specialize in English, but you know that now and in the future, foreign languages are always indispensable, if you are proficient, you will not worry about not having a career in the future." Fortunately, Huiwen Academy can stay, and you don't have to find a place to live outside." So Yao Yufu entered the HuiWen Academy. However, Yao Yufu always felt unaccustomed to entering this church school, and English was not good at learning, in the end, he was old, his mind was not focused, and he was still attached to his old line of singing. So Luo Luogong introduced him to Mei Lanfang again, bai Lanfang as a teacher, and Yao Yufu was at ease attached to the Mei family. Most of what I have written above is from mr. Luo Luogong's remarks.
("Memoirs of The Studio")
