Chapter Three Hundred and Sixty-Four: The Puppet Show and Ideological Work (Part 2)

Lu Cheng ignored her, her attention fully captivated by the performance.

The exquisitely crafted puppets made their entrance. Unlike the puppet shows she had seen before, this one had no singing, only spoken dialogue. The dialogue was in “Newspeak,” which Lu Cheng could roughly understand after several weeks of intensive Mandarin training.

The play began in a picturesque village where people lived in peace and stability. Farmers tilled the land, blacksmiths forged tools, and shops sold goods, creating a harmonious atmosphere.

The following scene featured casual conversations between several puppet characters about farming and daily life, which made the trainees feel a sense of familiarity. Then, a young teacher character appeared. He clearly had a romantic interest in the shopkeeper’s daughter, and the two puppets sang a long duet expressing their mutual affection. Then, rather abruptly, the scholar began to discuss government affairs with the peasants: the court’s defeat in Liaodong, the rebellion in Shaanxi, the Tartars’ invasion, their plundering and pillaging in the Northern Zhili region, their evil deeds, and how their forces reached the walls of the capital, while the court, fearing the enemy like a tiger, dared not fight back…

All this was new to the trainees. They had only vaguely heard about these matters at home—only those who were literate and willing to subscribe to the “Lingao Times” knew the details. Now, with such a detailed explanation, everyone listened attentively. Hearing about the miserable plight of the people suffering from war and natural disasters, many sighed with sympathy.

Wu Mu carefully observed the audience’s expressions, thinking to himself that if any play in another time and space had such a lengthy recitation of newspaper reports, the audience would have long been shouting for a refund. It was indeed easier to paint on a blank canvas. Zhao Manxiongski, however, frowned. The propaganda effect was good, but the fact that such current events news could arouse so much interest from the audience fully demonstrated that the propaganda department was not doing its job properly.

After more than ten minutes of news broadcasting, the first act ended. A few minutes later, the second act began. Accompanied by eerie and sinister music, the curtain opened to a scene of the county yamen. The county magistrate, his advisor, and the yamen runners were discussing how to collect this year’s additional Liaodong tax and how to profit from it.

Not only were the puppets’ faces carved to look either vicious or ugly, but the lines were also written with extreme malice, such as “even a poor ghost can be squeezed for three taels of oil,” “how can we eat meat if we don’t slaughter the poor ghosts,” and “the common people are worthless, they only obey when they are beaten severely.” The trainees’ expressions were silent, with looks of indignation. Wu Mu knew that they were getting into the play.

Even someone like Wu Mu, who was not concerned with historical details, knew that this scene deviated from reality, but it didn’t matter. To arouse the masses’ hatred, a little exaggeration and concentration were necessary.

Next came the discussion of various vicious schemes to exploit the people. The transmigrator members had plenty of material, from any time and space, all condensed and gathered together, which made the trainees below grit their teeth.

The third act entered the climax. The yamen runners entered the village to collect grain and taxes, smashing, looting, and bullying men and women along the way. They even snatched the widow’s last chicken and didn’t let it go. When the widow cried that she had nothing left, they began to tear down her house to sell the straw from the roof.

“They even want the rotten straw! If they tear down the house, where will people live? They have no conscience at all,” someone muttered, while others sobbed softly.

Apparently, the playwright did not want the people to direct their hatred solely at the county magistrate and yamen runners, the grassroots officials, lest it encourage their mindset of “the emperor is wise, it’s the crooked-mouthed monks below who have chanted the scriptures wrong.” So, a eunuch on horseback appeared. As soon as the eunuch arrived, he read out an imperial edict, saying that he was to select beauties for the emperor.

Then came the scene of snatching women everywhere. After they were caught, there was a scene where the eunuch, local officials, and gentry privately divided the women. There was even a scene where the eunuch took a concubine. It was well known that eunuchs had no function in that respect. Hearing that the eunuch was not only getting married but also taking a concubine, the trainees present were very angry, especially the male trainees.

In the following scene, the village changed from a picturesque landscape to a lifeless one. Houses were destroyed everywhere. A puppet was even hanging from a large tree in the scenery. The music became gloomy and miserable. The puppets from the first act were now dressed in rags, showing their poverty and destitution. The owner of the only shop was in a state of panic when yamen runners came again to make him a “government-appointed merchant,” and another tragedy unfolded.

Just as the plot reached the point where the shopkeeper committed suicide due to bankruptcy, his son was arrested and his whereabouts were unknown, and his daughter was forcibly taken by human traffickers and sold to a brothel, Yao Yulan suddenly heard Lu Cheng sobbing softly beside her. Looking back, Lu Cheng had stuffed her handkerchief into her mouth, trying to suppress her sobs, her face already covered in tears.

Yao Yulan knew that the plot had triggered her sad memories and comforted her, “Don’t cry, it’s just a play.”

Lu Cheng shook her head, suppressing her sobs in her throat—Yao Yulan could not understand. She did not know what it was like to wander on the road, hungry and cold; she did not know the feeling of a loved one dying without even a mouthful of porridge to drink; nor did she know the fear and despair of losing everything and embarking on an unknown journey.

She had gradually forgotten these feelings in the past, and sometimes she deliberately tried not to think about them, but now they were all brought back by the play.

“Oh, you are really—” Yao Yulan was about to say that she was too sentimental, but she saw that there were several other people crying around her. Some who were not crying had tears in their eyes.

“Don’t cry, just watch the play,” Yao Yulan comforted her. She sympathized with the plight of the characters in the play and also with the plight of her classmates, but this sympathy was general and different from the feeling of empathy that most people had.

Next, the scholar went to the prefectural city to file a complaint and was driven out. Then he was framed. Finally, the scholar, leading the village blacksmith, rose up in rebellion, drove away the yamen runners, killed the clerk, and rescued his lover from the brothel. When the first half ended, the village, although dilapidated, began to regain its vitality. The displaced people returned to rebuild their homes, and the scholar and his lover were finally reunited… The lighting, symbolizing the sun, illuminated the stage brightly.

Wu Mu’s mouth was agape with surprise. The quality of this puppet show was truly high! The plot had some traces of being pieced together, but the puppets’ movements, the dialogue, and the special effects used were all beyond his expectations—in Wu Mu’s concept, puppet shows were for children. He had never expected that they could perform such a complex plot!

Taking advantage of the restored light in the room, he observed the trainees and found that many of them had just been crying—the effect was quite good. The girls’ squad was mostly crying their eyes out. The only two who were not crying were Yao Yulan, who looked quite awkward because she could not show sadness and was out of place with the others; and Yang Cao, who was completely expressionless.

Such a powerful tearjerker was ineffective. Could there really be something wrong with this Yang Cao? Wu Mu couldn’t help but have a big question mark in his mind.

At the beginning of the second half, the village, which had returned to peace and harmony, appeared prosperous and serene. The village had its own armed forces—five puppet villagers, led by the blacksmith, brandished their swords and spears on the stage with great enthusiasm. At this moment, a warning was issued: the government troops were coming! Everyone sounded the alarm and resisted the enemy together. They quickly defeated the government troops, and there was a scene of triumphant celebration.

The following scene was about the government, seeing that they could not win by fighting, secretly plotting to offer amnesty. Then, there was a fierce debate in the village about whether to accept the amnesty. The blacksmith and the scholar firmly demanded to “fight to the end,” but the villagers, who had regained their strength, believed that they “could not violate the law and live in fear for the rest of their lives.”

The debate was very fierce, and even Wu Mu was a little engrossed. At this critical moment, the government spies who had infiltrated the village went around persuading the villagers, promising “no punishment for past offenses” and guaranteeing “no taxes for three years.” The villagers were all tempted. Finally, at the instigation of the spies, the villagers arrested the scholar and the blacksmith, who had led the uprising, and tied them up and sent them to the government.

The scene where the main leaders were captured by the villagers and sent to the government caused a commotion among the audience below: “What is this!”, “Ungrateful!”, “They’re surrendering now, aren’t they afraid of the government settling scores later?” The trainees all expressed their grief and indignation at the masses’ betrayal of the revolution.

Next was a courtroom scene with a fierce exchange of words between the two sides. Wu Mu felt that this scene, from the lines to the plot, was similar to the revolutionary films he had watched as a child, where the reactionaries interrogated the communists. There was even a line like “We cannot be killed off.”

The next scene was the scholar and the blacksmith and others being pushed to the execution ground to be beheaded. In the middle, the scholar, like the communist party member in the movie, said righteously, “Your end is coming! The fire of heavenly retribution is at the ends of the earth!”

After the leaders were executed, the yamen runners and government troops returned to the village. The villagers who had betrayed the leaders of the uprising did not have a good end either and suffered even more severe retaliation. The village returned to a desolate and gloomy scene. The scenery pieces had many more desolate graves, corpses, and more people hanging from trees.

In the final scene, the blacksmith’s son and the scholar’s wife fled to the south, sent off by a few people. He was going there to find “heroes who save the country and the people.” The curtain then fell to the song “Seeing you off on the main road…”

When the lights came on again, the audience was still in a daze—such a gloomy ending was different from the plays they had seen. Traditional dramas always had a bright ending, either “studying hard and becoming the top scholar” or “husband and wife returning home together.” The current ending, although it gave some hope, was too tragic. Many people were dissatisfied, and some even said loudly, “Good people shouldn’t have such a miserable end!”