allonlinenovel Chapter 266 Mother
Chapter 266 Mother
As the performance ended and the theater closed, guests in the front rows gradually stood up to leave.
At this moment, a middle-aged man in the first row suddenly shouted, "What kind of crap is this? You want me to spend five contribution points for this little bit of stuff? Are you guys rip-offs? I want a refund!"
The actors on stage froze on the spot upon hearing this, looking somewhat at a loss. The guests who had already left also stayed behind, looking up to see what had happened.
The male lead, who played the pharmacist, asked, "Esteemed guest, what is it that you are dissatisfied with?"
The man sneered, "I'm not satisfied with anything. The acting was terrible, the music was a mess, I don't know what I even watched. It was a complete waste of my time. Where's the boss? Call your boss out here, I want a refund!"
The actors' expressions changed immediately. They looked at each other, their faces filled with helplessness, as if this wasn't the first time they'd encountered something like this.
Soon, Tang Shi came out from behind the curtain, with a suona (a traditional Chinese wind instrument) hanging from her waist. It seems that she was the one who played the suona in the play just now.
"I'm the boss, what happened?"
The man scanned her from head to toe, then sneered, "So you're just a little girl. No wonder you've managed this place so poorly. I'm not going to waste my breath on you. Your acting is so bad it's unbearable to watch. Just refund my contribution points and we'll call it even. Otherwise, I'll smash this place up."
Miao Yin was about to leave when she saw the commotion ahead, so she put her hand on the back of the seat in front of her and quietly watched the farce unfold.
With his signature polite smile, Tang Shi said gently, "Sir, our plays are all rigorously selected. The actors are all veteran actors with several years of experience, and the original script has won the highest honor in China for screenwriting. You see, this performance is definitely worth it."
"You think you can just say it's not a loss and then it's not? Do you think you have eyes on my head? If you don't refund my contribution points today, I'll go outside and spread rumors that you're an unscrupulous business that cheats people out of their contribution points with shoddy performances." The man cursed loudly at the stage.
"Don't rush, how about this? You've enjoyed the performance at our theater, so how about I give you some free souvenirs to take home?" Tang Shi said, changing his tone.
"A souvenir?" The man thought for a moment. "Let me see it."
Tang Shi gave a signal to the backstage, and an actor immediately ran backstage. A short while later, a middle-aged woman came out from backstage carrying a large box.
The middle-aged woman had her hair up in a bun, wore a thick long dress, and even carefully applied lipstick. Upon closer inspection, her eyebrows and eyes bore a resemblance to Tang Shi's.
Miao Yin turned and walked past Tu Hao, exiting the stands and heading towards the stage below, stopping a few steps away.
The theater actors thought it was just some spectator who had come to watch the spectacle, and after a glance, they looked away.
The middle-aged woman opened the box in her hand and showed the other person the items inside.
Inside were small gifts that the theater had specially made for its customers before the apocalypse, but after the apocalypse, these became useless decorations, and they no longer had the budget to make these gifts, so only this box remained.
There are many kinds of small gifts, all of which are related to the story of the moon goddess, such as a lacquered fan, a small sword, or a mini version of a Kongming lantern.
After picking and choosing for a long time without finding anything useful, the man said with disdain, "You have the nerve to bring out these things? Alright, stop messing around. It's a fact that your drama is terrible. Hurry up and return my contribution points."
Upon hearing this, before Tang Shi could even come up with a solution, the middle-aged woman lost her temper and said, "I think you're just deliberately trying to cause trouble!"
The man's face fell immediately upon hearing this: "What kind of attitude is this? What do you mean I'm causing trouble? What's wrong with me asking for a refund because your acting is bad? Don't think that just because it's the apocalypse, you don't have to follow the rules."
Seeing that the two sides were about to start arguing, Tang Shi first pulled the middle-aged woman away, and then said to the man with a smile, "Alright, alright, let's not hurt each other's feelings. Come with me to the backstage, and we'll discuss the matter of returning the contribution points."
"Hmph, that's more like it." The man stopped arguing once he heard there was hope for the future.
Tang Shichao waved to the side: "Everyone, disperse. It's nothing serious. Auntie, please distribute the souvenirs to everyone as an apology for your unpleasant experience today. Welcome to our Rose Theater again next time. Liu Hui, Xi Xi, you two keep an eye on things."
After saying that, the two main characters stepped off the stage to greet the crowd, while Tang Shi led the man backstage.
The farce ended with the two leaving, and the aunt reluctantly joined Liu Huixi in distributing flowers and souvenirs.
Soon, all the other customers had finished collecting their items and left, leaving only Miao Yin and her group.
Seeing that Miao Yin was wearing sunglasses, the aunt muttered something to herself, but still stepped forward and pushed the box outwards: "Which one would you like to take, sir?"
The woman waited for a long time without seeing Miao Yin make a move. Frustrated, she looked up at her and saw that the other woman seemed to be looking at her as well, but she couldn't see clearly through the sunglasses.
She suddenly felt a little uneasy: "Should I take it or not?"
Miao Yin suddenly laughed out loud, shook her head, and called out the other person's name: "So you're still alive, Tang Huilan."
Tang Huilan looked at the other person with suspicion, her eyes filled with shock and confusion. She really had no recollection of this person. Even his carefully drawn eyebrows were furrowed, and the upturned corners of his eyes made him look somewhat mean.
"Who are you?"
Miao Yin abruptly removed the covering from her face, revealing her piercing eyes, which she stared intently at the other person.
Tang Huilan froze for a moment, then her pupils contracted sharply, and she dropped the box she was holding, scattering souvenirs all over the ground.
This commotion naturally didn't escape the notice of others, and everyone's attention turned to them. Tu Hao stood behind Miao Yin, squinting as he looked at them.
Tang Huilan pointed at the other person with trembling fingers, and after a long while, she finally managed to utter a few words.
"Is it... Yinyin?"
"Oh?" Miao Yin was somewhat surprised. "You actually recognized me? Could this be the legendary... mother-daughter connection?"
Upon hearing the other party's admission, Tang Huilan almost couldn't catch her breath, as if some nightmare had truly descended upon her: "You've come...you've finally come...you really do look exactly like the one in my dream!"
"Dream? So you dream about me? That's really touching. All told, I've only been by your side for a few months, right?" Miao Yin counted on her fingers.
"After all these years, how did you find me? Haven't I run far enough away?!" Tang Huilan suddenly shouted at the top of her lungs, her emotional outburst causing everyone to exchange bewildered glances.
"You're on the run?" Miao Yin raised an eyebrow, recalling a scene from a few years ago.
She had forgotten when it was, but it was a very cold winter. The Leng family and everyone in the household hung red lanterns to celebrate the New Year, which was very festive.
The seemingly generous but actually petty wife inexplicably came to her lonely little courtyard and compared a photo to her face.
"Like mother, like daughter. She's starting to look more and more like that vixen. I hope she won't follow in her footsteps."
"Fine, you grew up at home after all. To prevent you from becoming as disgraceful as your mother, I'll personally choose a place for you to marry. That way, I won't have raised you for nothing."
After talking to herself for a while, she casually tossed the photo aside and left, never to return.
Miao Yin picked up the photo and, after many years, saw what her birth mother looked like for the first time.
She was a very pure-looking woman, wearing a white dress and swaying on a swing. Her eyes were gentle and obedient. Who would have thought that such a well-behaved girl would become someone's mistress in order to gain power and wealth, and that she would carry a child for ten months just to make money off the child?
Looking at the woman with the gentle smile, Miao Yin thought to herself, "So she looks like my mother."
Therefore, when she first saw Tang Shi, his familiar face reminded her of her maternal family.
She killed the entire Leng family, but not her maternal family.
After all these years of twists and turns, it turns out that the source of the other half of her blood flowing through her veins was in Moon City.
Now, it's standing right in front of me, alive and well.