In my yard, there’s a well, and within one night, it got blown out to the wall side!” Meng Jingyuan looked incredulous; can the wind really blow a well somewhere else? “Don’t believe me? Ask him!” Zeng Wen pointed at Qi Shejiang. Meng Jingyuan grabbed Qi Shejiang and asked, “Is this true? That the wind was so strong it blew the well outside the wall?” Qi Shejiang sized him up, “Meng Laoshi, did you come on stage without waking up? A well can’t be blown outside the wall? I’ve never heard of it!” At that moment, Zeng Wen rushed over and started tugging at Qi Shejiang’s clothes. “My well got blown outside; how can you say you’ve never heard of it?” Zeng Wen said, panic evident in his expression. Qi Shejiang was dumbfounded, stammering, “Yes, it’s your well… Right, right, I remembered, it did happen!” Meng Jingyuan chuckled, “You’ve really heard of it? Then tell me, how did it get blown outside the wall?” Qi Shejiang wiped his cold sweat with his sleeve, looking guilty, “This… It should be like this…” Under Meng Jingyuan’s persistent questioning, Qi Shejiang managed to concoct a muddled explanation, “…The wall was a fence wall, it was old, and after being blown by the wind and sun, it rotted at the bottom. When the wind blew, the fence wall bulged in a circle, and Teacher Zeng, with poor eyesight, looked and said, ‘How did my well get blown outside?'”
At this point, they had already entered the most crucial part of the performance, the storytelling. The lead-up was explosive, and the storytelling was stable; this performance was impressive! “The core of ‘Bama Gua’ is the fabrication of lies. The entire story structure involves the lead performer playing a blabbermouth role, boasting and lying to the utmost exaggeration. The support performer digs deep to break apart the lies. The side performer, borrowing the lead performer’s coat, has to wrack their brains to patch up the lie, thus sealing the gap. Once a lie is patched up, another lie soon follows. Through this back-and-forth, the exaggeration builds, providing endless laughs, showcasing skill as well.
