主 角 133（上部51）‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍The Protagonist ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ 陈 彦 ‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍‍ Chen Yan

躍龍

　　易青娥本来是最应该留下来观摩学习的，可她死都要跟朱团长一道，送苟老师回宁州安葬。朱团长就同意了。在回宁州的路上，易青娥一直在流泪。苟老师的好多事，她过去都是不知道的。只有在返回的路上，古存孝、周存仁、裘存义三个老师一点点说，一点点回忆，她才知道了苟老师可怜的身世。

Yi Qing'e was originally the one who should have stayed to observe and learn, but she insisted on accompanying Commander Zhu to escort Teacher Gou back to Ningzhou for burial, even at the cost of her life. Commander Zhu agreed. On the way back to Ningzhou, Yi Qing'e wept constantly. There were many things about Teacher Gou that she didn't know before. Only on the return journey, through the stories told and recalled little by little by the three teachers, Gu Cunxiao, Zhou Cunren, and Qiu Cunyi, did she learn about Teacher Gou's pitiful background.

　　苟老师八九岁就出门要饭。后来跟着一个戏班子，人家演到哪儿，他讨要到哪儿。箱主见娃长得心疼，人也乖巧，就收下学戏了。十八九岁的时候，他也讨下过一房老婆的，后来跟人跑了。上世纪50年代，他又红火过几年，也结过一次婚。“文革”开始，他被关了牛棚，老婆又跟人跑了。再后来，他就回到宁州剧团看大门了。曾在远房亲戚中，认过一个干儿子，说是老了好经管他。谁知干儿子长大后，听说干爸是唱男旦的，就再没跟他来往过。苟老师一辈子最后身边连一个亲人都没有。算是孤老而终了。

Teacher Gou started begging when he was eight or nine years old. Later, he joined a theatrical troupe, begging wherever they performed. The owner of the troupe took pity on the boy, finding him cute and well-behaved, and took him in to learn opera. When he was eighteen or nineteen, he married, but she ran off with someone else. In the 1950s, he had a few years of success and married again. When the Cultural Revolution began, he was imprisoned in a cowshed, and his wife ran off with someone else again. Later, he returned to Ningzhou Opera Troupe as a gatekeeper. He had once adopted a godson from a distant relative, saying he would take care of him in his old age. However, after the godson grew up and heard that his godfather was a male dan (female impersonator) singer, he never contacted him again. Teacher Gou ended his life without any relatives by his side, dying alone.

　　古老师还深深叹息了一声说：“唉，这就是唱戏人的命哪！”

Teacher Gu sighed deeply and said, "Alas, this is the fate of opera singers!"

回到宁州，古老师他们就去找棺材铺的那个老汉。易青娥也去了。看库老汉听说苟存忠死了，竟然丝毫没有觉得不正常地说：

Back in Ningzhou, Teacher Gu and the others went to find the old man at the coffin shop. Yi Qing'e went too. When the old man heard that Gou Cunzhong had died, he showed no sign of surprise, saying,

“我早预料到了。”

"I knew it."

大家一惊，古存孝问：“为啥？”

Everyone was shocked. Gu Cunxiao asked, "Why?"

看库老汉说：“这老家伙，把唱戏看得太重了。老了老了，是玩上命了。”

The old man said, "That old fellow took opera too seriously. In his old age, he risked his life."

　　“你咋不劝劝呢？”周存仁说。

“Why didn’t you try to persuade him?” Zhou Cunren said.

“唉，狗只要改不了吃屎的禀性，他苟存忠就改不了爱戏的毛病。你知道不，老戏没出来，整天唱样板戏那阵儿，老苟就常到我这里，偷偷扮上了。我给大门上了铁杠，给窗户靠了棺材板。他化了妆，扮了戏，就给我一人唱《上绣楼》《滚绣球》《背娃进府》呢。”

“Sigh, a dog can’t change its nature of eating excrement, and Gou Cunzhong can’t change his love for opera. You know, back when the old operas weren’t out yet, and model operas were being sung all the time, Old Gou would often come here and secretly dress up. I put iron bars on the gate and put coffin boards against the windows. He would put on makeup, dress up, and sing ‘Going Up to the Embroidered Tower,’ ‘Rolling the Embroidered Ball,’ and ‘Carrying the Baby into the Mansion’ all by himself for me.”

　　大家就都不说话了。

Everyone fell silent.

看库老汉又说：

Old Man continued,

“这死鬼，前天晚上就来了，要我给他准备棺材板呢。说尺寸不够不要；女棺不要；毛栗树的不要，嫌干了炸裂子呢。还有八块板的不要，嫌不浑全。一个孤老头子，讲究还大得很。看，我早都给他准备好了。就这口，尺寸够一米九的个子睡。他老苟才一米六六，脚头还够塞一个炖猪蹄的砂罐子。也不是毛栗树的。

"That damned fellow came the night before last, wanting me to prepare a coffin for him. He said it wasn't big enough; he didn't want a female coffin; he didn't want a chestnut coffin, saying it would dry out and crack. He also didn't want an eight-piece coffin, saying it wasn't complete enough. A lonely old man, so particular. Look, I've already prepared everything for him. This one's big enough for someone 1.9 meters tall. That old man is only 1.66 meters, there's still room for a clay pot for stewing pig's trotters to fit under his feet. And it's not chestnut wood either."

　　这是最好的柏木棺。浑浑全全的六块板。底子是浑板。盖面是浑板。两边墙子也是浑浑的两块板。再加上头、脚两块浑档子，算是最好的六块板寿枋了。县物资局长他爹，财政局长他爷，县长他亲家公，都来看过几回了，我说是有下家的。这不，就是给老苟这个挨炮的备下的。他给我一个人唱了几十年戏，我也没啥送，就送这口寿枋，也算是把他给我唱戏的情分填了。”

This is the finest cypress coffin. Six solid planks. The base is a solid plank. The lid is a solid plank. The two side walls are also two solid planks each. Add to that the two solid planks for the head and feet, and it's the best six-plank coffin ever made. The county supply bureau chief's father, the finance bureau chief's grandfather, and the county magistrate's father-in-law have all come to see it several times. I told them there was a buyer. This is for Old Gou, the one who got shot. He sang for me for decades, and I didn't have much to give him, so I'm giving him this coffin as a way of repaying the kindness he showed me.”

　　说着，看库老汉还滚下了几滴老泪。他一边滚着泪，一边还在骂：

As he spoke, a few tears rolled down Old Man Ku's cheeks. Between sobs, he continued to curse:

“老苟，你这老祸害一走，我就再没戏听了。你个老祸害，把我戏瘾逗起来，你给死×了，真是个老祸害瘟哪！”

"Old Gou, you old scoundrel, now that you're gone, I'll have no more opera to listen to! You old scoundrel, you stirred up my opera cravings, and then you killed it all! You're a real old scoundrel!"

埋苟老师那天，天上下着小雨。

On the day Teacher Gou was buried, it was drizzling.

因为苟老师在宁州影响不大。老戏迷的年岁，也都有些恓惶。所以，在一个特别喜欢赶红白喜事的小县城，那天送葬，反倒是冷冷凄凄的。

Because Teacher Gou wasn't very influential in Ningzhou, and the old opera fans were all getting on in years, the funeral in this small county town, which particularly loved attending weddings and funerals, was rather somber and desolate.

　　苟老师没有儿女，没有亲戚。唯一一个披麻戴孝的，就是易青娥。

Teacher Gou had no children, no relatives. The only person wearing mourning clothes was Yi Qing'e.

易青娥手捧着苟老师的遗像，是一步一步走在棺材前边的。

Yi Qing'e held Teacher Gou's portrait, walking step by step in front of the coffin.

棺材铺的老汉，一边撒着纸钱，一边还要喊叫那些抬棺材的人，要他们别毛手毛脚的。说他们抬的，可是宁州城几十年少见的一口上等棺木。

The old man at the coffin shop, while scattering paper money, kept shouting at the coffin bearers, telling them not to be careless. He said they were carrying a top-quality coffin, one of the finest in Ningzhou City in decades.

他说这世上，再不会有这好寿枋了。

He said there would never be such a fine coffin again in this world.

　　埋完苟老师的这天晚上，喝得烂醉如泥的郝大锤，又抓住一只老鼠，在院子里再次点起了“天灯”。这只老鼠比较大，点着烧了好长时间。老鼠一会儿跑上电杆，一会儿又跑进垃圾桶，一会儿又跌进檐沟里，最后实在跑不动了，才趴在一块破砖上，任由煤油火朝死里烧。那种可怜的喊叫，甚至像一个婴孩在啼哭。

易青娥觉得，老鼠简直就跟钻进了自己心里一样，不知该怎样去搭救。

古存孝老师就嘟哝说：“这小子，一定不得好死，你信不信？”

　　The night after burying Teacher Gou, Hao Dachui, completely drunk, caught another rat and lit it again in the yard as a "sky lantern." This rat was quite large, and it burned for a long time. It scurried up a utility pole, then into a trash can, then tumbled into the eaves gutter, finally collapsing onto a broken brick, letting the kerosene flames burn it to death. Its pitiful cries sounded almost like a baby's wails.

Yi Qing'e felt as if the rat had crawled into her heart; she didn't know how to save it.

Teacher Gu Cunxiao muttered, "That kid, he's definitely going to die a horrible death, you believe it or not?"

　　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*.