Blissful Days After Widowhood - Chapter 384

After directing the rehearsal, Gu Yin stood in front of the stage for a while, watching as Brother Xiaofeng and the others performed with sincerity and dedication. Once they had her approval, she took her place in her designated seat.

Wu Qingyi remained seated next to her, and they sat in a somewhat awkward silence. Even though they had always been comfortable in each other’s company, the atmosphere that day was laced with ambiguity, making Gu Yin feel unprepared for their interaction.

It wasn’t that their closeness made her uncomfortable; she just needed to adjust to this unexpected situation. To break the silence, she looked for a topic to discuss.

She began, “Do you think the actress playing the little daughter-in-law looks familiar?”

Wu Qingyi smiled slightly and followed her gaze to the stage. The play had a different style from traditional ones. The performers wore simpler costumes, less makeup, and their appearance was closer to everyday life.

The actress playing the role of the little daughter-in-law in “Kindness” looked stunning in her simple cloth skirt.

Wu Qingyi furrowed his brow, trying to place her. “It seems like I’ve seen her somewhere before.”

“It’s Chu Manrong,” Gu Yin said with a smile. “In traditional opera, men typically play such roles. However, for our play, we didn’t need that, and our main lead was still in jail. So, I invited the ‘noodle master’.”

Wu Qingyi struggled to recall Chu Manrong’s name, but when Gu Yin mentioned the noodle master, it all came back to him.

“You persuaded her to do this?” He asked.

Gu Yin smiled and shook her head, her voice lowered as she explained, “I didn’t need to persuade her. When I mentioned it, she immediately expressed her interest.”

Chu Manrong had become a skilled noodle-pulling master at Food of Heaven and had gained some fame for her skills. Other restaurants in the capital had tried to imitate her, but they couldn’t match her level of skill or appearance. Chu Manrong remained the first choice for diners in the capital when it came to noodle masters.

Although Chu Manrong did not obey the discipline and confronted Gu Yin, and Gu Yin arranged for the noodle pulling, she did not treat her badly. The price of a piece of handmade noodles on the spot was not cheap, it cost 30 coins, because it was not just the price of the noodles themselves, but the skills. 

For each serving, Chu Manrong could get ten coins. 

She had practiced dancing for many years, and her body was stronger than that of ordinary women. She could get dozens of coins a day. 

Just like when the business was good, Chu Manrong could earn a dozen or twenty taels of dividends a month, and she could also get a basic salary of fifty taels of silver. 

She wanted to climb the high branches, that was to say, she wanted to live a good life. Although she was working hard, she could earn so much money and improve her life by herself. 

But because of the lack of simultaneous promotion of operas and the much warmer weather, the hot pot business had dropped by several percent, and the noodle maker was no longer necessary. As the drama lacked a heroine, Gu Yin asked her. 

For someone as confident as Chu Manrong, being an actress on the fifth floor was undoubtedly a great opportunity, far superior to noodle pulling on the first floor. Gu Yin assured her that she wouldn’t earn any less than what she made from noodle pulling. Chu Manrong took one look at Gu Yin’s increasingly defined biceps and readily agreed.

While Wu Qingyi listened to Gu Yin’s whispered explanation, his gaze remained fixed on the stage. Still, he couldn’t help but recall the unforgettable sensation of pinching her soft earlobe.

How could it be so incredibly soft?

Onstage, Chu Manrong had just performed the scene where she and her ex-husband reconciled and started a new life on the streets. Although Wu Qingyi’s eyes were on her, she seemed to pour more intensity into her performance, with pear blossoms in her eyes and gentle tears, evoking sympathy from the audience. But she couldn’t help but sneer inwardly. Men in the world, it seemed, were all the same, for Wu Qingyi was just as intently watching her.

Even though she had stopped relying on men, it didn’t mean she had lost her desire to captivate them.

As the curtain fell, the scene transitioned. The little daughter-in-law, played by Chu Manrong, was taken in by Food of Heaven, and her character began to work there.

Chu Manrong’s attention had already turned to Wu Qingyi. She had changed into a set of clothing similar to those worn by the servers at Food of Heaven. These clothes were much more flattering than the coarse attire she had worn before, emphasizing her figure. It should be more alluring, shouldn’t it?

Just as she was pondering this, Chu Manrong found herself holding a piece of dough in her hand.

Perplexed, she asked, “What’s this for?”

The worker explained, “These props weren’t used in live performances before, and this is the first time on stage. You need to demonstrate your strength, Master Chu.”