Chapter 35: A Lifetime of Love (2)

Why was she said to be crazy? The insider who sent her back from the opera troupe revealed something to a few people in the village, and slowly the news spread to all the villages in the area.

It was because Li Fengxian had become obsessed with the opera that she fell in love with the male lead, Sima Xiangru, in the opera “Feng Qiu Huang”.

But that Sima Xiangru was a girl!

Although that girl was quite heroic in private, and her eyes and eyebrows were full of heroic vigor, and she had a unique beauty that only a man could have, she was still a girl.

But this did not stop Li Fengxian’s infatuation. She was infatuated with the girl named Yu Xiaohong. In the end, it is not clear whether it was Li Fengxian’s infatuation that moved Yu Xiaohong, or whether Yu Xiaohong was also infatuated with the opera, but in any case, she accepted Li Fengxian’s infatuation and the two fell in love.

It was a period of lingering affection. The two lived and ate together, and performed on the same stage. Li Fengxian was the most virtuous wife, and Yu Xiaohong was the husband who loved his wife.

The two of them could not distinguish between reality and acting, and life and drama.

Li Fengxian thought that she would end up with Yu Xiaohong like this for the rest of her life, living together and growing old together.

But what was the era like? The opera troupe was not a utopia, and it could not offer you a lifetime of protection. Not to mention that the two of them were the talk of the town, and the troupe owner suppressed it. The city where the troupe was located was also the talk of the town. After all, the two of them were already famous actors at the time.

If the rumors from the outside world were tolerable, what Li Fengxian couldn’t tolerate was that Yu Xiaohong’s family barged into the troupe, began to talk about the two of them, and forced Yu Xiaohong to marry.

In fact, the gossip was superficial, but the point was that a “nobleman” had taken a fancy to Yu Xiaohong and wanted her to be his concubine.

And the man’s favorite was the kind of woman with a heroic bearing.

The Yu family of course could not refuse such a generous offer.

At first, Yu Xiaohong was resolute. She wanted to stay with Li Fengxian, but how could this miserable, cold, and rainy world protect a love that was not blessed by the world?

Even the theater troupe owner, who sympathized with the two of them, and some of the actors, were powerless. There was nothing they could do. The man who had his eye on Yu Xiaohong was a big bureaucrat. How could a small theater troupe compete with others? Besides, they could neither marry in a proper ceremony nor have a marriage of life and death. Was there any reason to stand their ground?

The pressure was getting bigger and bigger, and finally Yu Xiaohong’s second brother came to the door and begged, and everything changed.

Yu Xiaohong grew up almost on her brother’s back. With so many siblings, her parents couldn’t take care of them all, so it was her brother who carried her on his back when he went to the mountains to cut firewood and to the fields to plow.

The pressure exerted by the big bureaucrat was certain. Whether Yu Xiaohong married or not would determine whether the Yu family would be in heaven or hell.

Is there a way to do both?

Who knows if there is a way to do both? But there was no way for Yu Xiaohong and Li Fengxian.

Yu Xiaohong decided to get married, and Li Fengxian hanged herself on that day. She was saved by the theater troupe owner and Yu Xiaohong.

The two of them could not help but cry bitterly again, and they could not repeat their oaths of love. This really only made people more heartbroken. Under the good advice of Yu Xiaohong, Li Fengxian seemed to be better, at least with a smile on her pale face. The two of them were more affectionate, more cherished, and more sad as they lived the remaining days of their lives together.

This is truly a story of unending love, a heart like a double-layered net, with a thousand knots.

How could Li Fengxian untie this love, these years, and these thousand knots?

Yu Xiaohong finally got married and the two of them parted ways.

On this day, Li Fengxian was very calm, drawing the red-inked pictures and coloring them, wearing the most beautiful clothes. Even though she was already a young woman in her twenties, her beauty was still breathtaking.

“How can I not make her look beautiful on her big day?” It seems that she has come to terms with it.

The wedding that day was extremely lively. People on the street crowded to watch the rich family receive the bride. After the big bureaucrat got what he wanted, he was extremely generous and even had people throw candy along the street, creating an extraordinary celebration.

Li Fengxian appeared at the front of the bridal procession. The person sitting in the red sedan must be the person she loved most in her life.

“Alas, I am alone in this world. How can we live and die together? Yu Xiaohong, I, Li Fengxian, am willing to live and die with you. Take this life of yours. I do not want to disappoint you in this life, but I do not want you to disappoint me.” As she spoke, Li Fengxian took out a pair of scissors and was about to stab herself in the heart, but was stopped by the soldiers on either side.

The wedding procession continued, and the sound of the suona, which was full of joy, drowned out Li Fengxian’s sadness. There was no movement in the sedan chair, and no one knew what Yu Xiaohong was thinking at that moment.

Li Fengxian was locked up for two days and sent back to the opera troupe. In the troupe, she became quiet, too quiet. She didn’t eat, drink or even sleep. Where was the elegance of a famous actress?

There are always foolish men and women in this world, and there are also people who are obsessed with love in the world of mortals. They have gotten into a dead end and are stuck in a corner. Li Fengxian is like this!

The troupe leader dared not keep her. Even if he had a thousand sympathies in his heart, there was nothing he could do. He thought it might be better to send her home to her family, so Li Fengxian was sent back to her hometown.

Before she left, she only said one word in a low voice: “After parting in desolation, the two should be together.

Everything in the troupe was obliterated, and all that remained was the lingering and poignant poetry that she, as a female lead, inevitably came into contact with, like the sad songs of her and Yu Xiaohong!

Li Fengxian, who was sent back, was not much better. She gradually grew more and more emaciated. In his middle years, the drunken bastard Li became concerned about his daughter in his later years. The reason why Li Fengxian was able to live until now was that he knelt down and begged his daughter to eat.

But at this time, the rumors in the village spread, and many people who had been rejected by Li Fengxian when she was younger still held a grudge. For a time, there were all kinds of rumors, and all kinds of unpleasant things came from all directions.

Li Fengxian’s stepmother couldn’t stand it anymore and started throwing tables and bowls around the house. Then her two younger brothers, who worked in the town, heard the rumors and had various complaints. Finally, one day, after being unable to withstand the pressure, Li Fengxian’s stepmother smashed the vicious rumors all over Li Fengxian.

People’s words can be terrifying, and they can often kill people invisibly. It’s just that the world can’t see through them, and they can’t let go. How many people can talk and laugh freely in the face of people’s words, treating them as if they were nothing?

Li Fengxian couldn’t. She was too fragile, living in the unreal world of the opera troupe, and her tolerance was even worse than that of ordinary people.

On that day, it was raining heavily, and she ran barefoot out of the house and onto the largest grain drying platform in the village!

Li Fengxian ran there and died there. On that day, she was crazy, crying and laughing in the rain, and even singing opera. The sad and pathetic gesture made the villagers in the village feel guilty.

In fact, the rumors were not spread by malicious people. These ordinary villagers did not know how much harm an unintentional remark could cause to others. Perhaps they were not malicious, but they just said it for the moment. But who knows, will your pleasure today become a knife that pierces into someone else’s heart tomorrow?

There is a great virtue in the world, and that is self-control. Not only do you have to control your body and your nature, but you also have to control your words. Cultivation is difficult, and the difficulty lies in self-control, in the naturalness of your state of mind, and in the restraint of your behavior.

Therefore, the right result is hard to find, and one only seeks to live a life without guilt.

As the rain fell, more and more people gathered to watch. They didn’t know why, but they didn’t dare to stop the mad Li Fengxian. Although she was mad, she had a dignified and unassailable air.

“Fengxian, Fengxian…” Drunkard Li ran over from afar.

Li Fengxian looked back at the drunken Li running in the rain, and a tear rolled down her cheek.

“What’s wrong with me? I ask you, what’s wrong with me? I don’t steal, I don’t rob, I don’t commit adultery, I don’t be greedy, I’m filial, I remember my gratitude, I ask you, what’s wrong with me falling in love with a woman? Is it worth everyone’s bad words?” Li Fengxian pointed at the onlookers and asked one by one, but no one answered. Everyone’s face was full of guilt.

“Why? Why did you separate us? What was wrong with me?” Li Fengxian cried to the sky and shouted a question.

At this point, someone in the crowd cried out, “No!” and rushed over. It was too late. Li Fengxian stabbed herself in the heart with a pair of shiny scissors and then collapsed.

“Fengxian, Fengxian…” Drunkard Li pushed his way through the crowd, holding his daughter’s body and crying out to the sky. The rain was not going to stop for a while.

“I was only in my teens at the time, and I saw it with my own eyes. Li Fengxian bled a lot, a lot! It stained a large area of the dam red. The villagers all said that she must have deliberately sought death, otherwise how could the scissors have been so sharp? And how hard would you have to push, how much heart would you have to have, to stab yourself in the chest with a pair of scissors.” The old woman said with a sigh, looking very sad.

I was so absorbed in what she was saying that I was moved to sigh, and I felt a little sad. I turned to look at my cheap master, and I couldn’t help but laugh. He was actually in tears.