主 角 132（上部51）‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍The Protagonist ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ ‍陈 彦 ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ Chen Yan

躍龍

　　易青娥泪眼模糊地看着关上了大幕。

Through tear-blurred vision, Yi Qing'e watched the curtain close.

她拼命呼唤着：“苟老师！苟老师！”

She desperately called out, "Teacher Gou! Teacher Gou!"

苟老师已毫无反应。

Teacher Gou remained unresponsive.

易青娥终于忍不住，放声号叫起来：“师父——！”

Finally, Yi Qing'e couldn't hold back any longer and cried out, "Master—!"

站在太师椅旁边的古存孝、周存仁、裘存义老师，也都一齐俯下身子喊：“存忠！存忠！”

Standing beside the grand master's chair, Teachers Gu Cunxiao, Zhou Cunren, and Qiu Cunyi all bent down and shouted in unison, "Cunzhong! Cunzhong!"

　　苟存忠再也没有任何反应了。

Gou Cunzhong became completely unresponsive.

这时，朱团长也跑上台来喊叫：“存忠！存忠！快，快送医院！”

At this moment, Commander Zhu ran onto the stage shouting, "Cunzhong! Cunzhong! Quick, get him to the hospital!"

直到这时，大家才反应过来，急忙把苟存忠朝医院送去。

Only then did everyone react and hurriedly rushed Gou Cunzhong to the hospital.

苟老师是放在剧场跑电影片子的三轮车上，拉到医院去的。一边拉，大家一边喊。

Teacher Gou was put on a tricycle used for transporting film sets at the theater and taken to the hospital. Everyone shouted as they pulled him.

易青娥拿了菜油，乘车子爬坡的时候，还在给苟老师卸妆。

Yi Qing'e, carrying cooking oil (rape seeds oil) was still removing Teacher Gou's makeup as the tricycle climbed the hill.

　　到了医院，急救室的大夫用听诊器听了几下，又翻开苟老师眼皮看了看说：“病人已经没有生命体征了。”

Upon arriving at the hospital, the emergency room doctor listened with a stethoscope for a few moments, then examined Teacher Gou's eyes and said, "The patient has no vital signs."

古存孝没听清，还大声问了一下：“啥？”

Gu Cunxiao didn't hear clearly and asked loudly, "What?"

医生说：“已经没有抢救的必要了。”

The doctor said, "There's no point in trying to resuscitate him."

但朱团长还是要求抢救。

But Commander Zhu insisted on resuscitation.

急救室就开始抢救。

The emergency room began resuscitation efforts.

　　二十几分钟后，那医生还是说：“病人是心脏猝死，已经无法唤醒了。”

Twenty minutes later, the doctor still said, "The patient suffered sudden cardiac death and is beyond reviving."

在医生彻底宣布师父死亡的那一刻，易青娥一下软瘫在了急诊室门口的长条椅上。

The moment the doctor definitively pronounced her master dead, Yi Qing'e slumped onto the long bench outside the emergency room.

她听医生问朱团长：“这老人是演员？”

She heard the doctor ask Commander Zhu, "Is this old man an actor?"

朱团长说：“是的，是很有名的演员。”

Commander Zhu said, "Yes, a very famous actor."

“唱啥的？”

"What kind of role?"

“旦角。男旦，你懂不？”

"Dan (female role in Peking Opera). Male Dan, you know?"

　　医生笑着摇了摇头说：“老头儿演女的？”

The doctor smiled and shook his head, saying, "The old man is playing a woman?"

朱团长说：“对，男扮女装的角儿。”

Commander Zhu said, "Yes, a man dressed as a woman."

医生又好奇地问：“演女的，咋累成这样？”

The doctor asked curiously, "Playing a woman, how come you're so tired?"

“吹火。秦腔吹火，你知道不？”

"Blowing on a fire. You know Qinqiang opera's 'blowing on a fire'?"

医生还是摇了摇头。

The doctor shook his head again.

　　朱团长就说：“演员是很苦很累的职业，过去常有累死在舞台上的。”

"Acting is a very tough and tiring profession," said Director Zhu. "In the past, many actors died from exhaustion on stage."

医生说：“不光是累，这病人鼻子、喉咙里还有好多异物。大概是这些异物，先导致病人窒息，然后才发生心脏猝死的。”

The doctor said, "It wasn't just exhaustion; this patient also had many foreign objects in his nose and throat. These objects probably caused him to suffocate first, and then he suffered sudden cardiac death."

朱团长说：“是吹火，用松香和锯末灰吹的。”

Director Zhu said, "He blew on it with rosin and sawdust."

医生才点了点头说：“难怪！”

The doctor nodded and said, "No wonder!"

　　宁州剧团首演的折子戏专场，在北山地区引起了很大轰动。尤其是主演李慧娘的男旦，猝死在舞台上后，面对那一身绝技，观众更是发出了一片悲悼、惋惜之声。第二天，不仅大街小巷在谈论这事，而且还有好多观众，自发到演出剧场前，献上了花圈、挽幛。一些过去看过《李慧娘》的老观众，几乎是在含泪回忆着昔日看戏的情景。都说，几十年后，再看苟存忠的《鬼怨》《杀生》，依然是“宝刀不老”，“风采不减当年”。

The Ningzhou Opera Troupe's premiere of excerpts from traditional operas caused a great sensation in the Beishan area. Especially after the male lead, who played Li Huiniang, suddenly died on stage, the audience, witnessing his extraordinary skills, expressed deep sorrow and regret. The next day, the news was the talk of the town, and many audience members spontaneously went to the theater to lay wreaths and mourning banners. Some longtime viewers who had seen "Li Huiniang" in the past recalled their experiences with tears in their eyes. It is said that decades later, watching Gou Cunzhong perform "Ghost's Lament" and "Killing Life" again, one still finds him "still as sharp as ever," his "charm undiminished."

　　易青娥做梦都没想到，师父会死在这个地方。并且是死于吹火。直到师父死后，她才回忆起，这些天，其实师父所有的话，都是与死亡有关的。有些已完全是一种后事交代。难道他是感觉到，他的大限要到了？也许是最近连着排练，他已感到自己的气力是支撑不下这场要见多年前的老观众的演出了。他也许是明明知道，弓要折，弦要断，还偏要把这场演出进行到底的。

Yi Qing'e never dreamed that her master would die in this place. And to die from blowing on a fire, no less. Only after his death did she recall that everything her master had said these past few days had been related to death. Some of it was practically a series of instructions for his final days. Did he sense that his time was coming to an end? Perhaps the recent rehearsals had worn him down, and he felt he couldn't sustain the performance for this long-awaited audience. Perhaps he knew perfectly well that the bow would break, the string would snap, yet he still insisted on seeing the performance through to the end.

　　朱团长也是做梦都没想到，第一场演出就死了人。虽然观众给了那么高的评价，还给剧场前送了上百个花圈、几十个挽幛。可存忠毕竟是死了。死得太早，死得太可惜了。团上还有人骂郝大锤，说都是这个瘟神，在大家出发时，故意“点天灯”，烧死了七八只老鼠，才弄得如此不吉利的。

Troupe Leader Zhu never dreamed that someone would die on the very first performance. Although the audience gave it such high praise and sent hundreds of wreaths and dozens of funeral banners in front of the theater, Cunzhong was still dead. He died too young, and it was such a pity. Some people in the troupe were even cursing Hao Dachui, saying that it was all because of this jinx that he deliberately "lit up a sky lantern" when everyone set off, burning seven or eight rats to death, which brought such bad luck.

　　朱团长征得会演领导小组同意，把《白蛇传》的演出向后调了位置。他一边带人回宁州办丧事，一边安排其余人原地休息，观摩学习其他团的演出。本来演出完，也是要留下来看戏的。地区搞这次会演，目的就是让大家相互学习促进来了。说十几年耽误得太厉害，好多演员上台连路都不会走了。

With the approval of the performance organizing committee, Director Zhu rescheduled the performance of "The Legend of the White Snake." While leading his troupe back to Ningzhou to handle the funeral arrangements, he arranged for the rest of the group to rest and observe other troupes' performances. Originally, they were supposed to stay and watch the play after their own performance. The purpose of this regional performance was to facilitate mutual learning and improvement. They said that the delay of over a decade had been too severe; many actors couldn't even walk properly on stage.

　　陈彦，1963年生于陕西镇安。一级编剧。中国作家协会会员。曾创作《迟开的玫瑰》《大树西迁》《西京故事》等戏剧作品数十部，三次获“曹禺戏剧文学奖”“文华编剧奖”，作品三度入选国家舞台艺术精品工程“十大精品剧目”。曾创作32集电视剧《大树小树》，获“飞天奖”。著有长篇小说《西京故事》《装台》，其中《装台》被中国小说学会评为“2015小说排行榜”长篇小说榜首，“2015中国好书”，2017年获首届“吴承恩长篇小说奖”。出版有《陈彦剧作选》《陈彦词作选》《陈彦西京三部曲》，散文集《必须抵达》《边走边看》《坚挺的表达》《说秦腔》等著作。

Chen Yan was born in Zhen'an, Shaanxi Province in 1963. He is a first-class screenwriter and a member of the China Writers Association. He has created dozens of theatrical works, including *The Late-Blooming Rose*, *The Great Tree Moves West*, and *The Story of Xi'an*, winning the Cao Yu Drama Literature Award and the Wenhua Screenwriting Award three times. His works have been selected three times as one of the "Top Ten Excellent Plays" in the National Stage Art Masterpiece Project. He also wrote the 32-episode TV series *The Great Tree and the Little Tree*, which won the Feitian Award. He is the author of the novels *The Story of Xi'an* and *Zhuangtai*, with *Zhuangtai* being ranked first on the "2015 Novel Ranking" by the China Novel Society and named one of the "2015 China's Best Books." In 2017, he won the inaugural Wu Cheng'en Novel Award. He has published *Selected Plays by Chen Yan*, *Selected Lyrics by Chen Yan*, *Chen Yan's Xi'an Trilogy*, and essay collections such as *Must Arrive*, *Walking and Observing*, *A Resilient Expression*, and *Talking about Qinqiang Opera*.