The main city of Sichuan province, which summarizes all the places on the globe and any time that a person exploits a person, is the place and time of the play.

Prologue. For two millennia the cry has not stopped: it cannot go on like this! No one in this world is able to be kind! And the worried gods decided: the world can remain as it is, if there are enough people who can live a decent human life. And to test this, the three most prominent gods descend to earth. Perhaps the water carrier Wang, the first to meet them and treat them with water (by the way, he is the only one in Sichuan who knows that they are gods) is a worthy person? But his circle, the gods noticed, with a double bottom. Good water carrier - a scammer! The simplest test of the first virtue - hospitality - upsets them: in none of the rich houses: neither Mr. Fo, nor Mr. Chen, nor the widow of Su - Wang can find an overnight stay for them. One thing remains: to turn to the prostitute Shen De, she can’t refuse anyone. And the gods spend the night with the only kind person, and the next morning, having said goodbye, they leave Shen Deh orders to remain just as good, as well as a good fee for the night: after all, how to be kind when everything is so expensive!

I. The gods left Shen De a thousand silver dollars, and she bought herself a small tobacco shop on them. But how many people in need of help appear next to those who were lucky: the former owner of the shop and former owners Shen De - husband and wife, her lame brother and pregnant daughter-in-law, nephew and niece, old grandfather and boy - and everyone needs a roof over their heads and food. “Salvation small boat / Immediately goes to the bottom. / There are too many drowning people / Grabbed eagerly for the sides. "

And here the carpenter demands one hundred silver dollars, which the former mistress did not pay him for the shelves, and the landlady needs recommendations and surety for not too respectable Shen De. “A cousin will vouch for me,” she says. “And he will pay for the shelves.”

II. And the next morning, Shoy Da, a cousin of Shen De, appears in a tobacco shop. Having resolutely driven out the hapless relatives, skillfully forcing the joiner to take only twenty silver dollars, Prudently making friends with the policeman, he settles the affairs of his too kind cousin.

III. And in the evening in the city park, Shen De meets the unemployed pilot Sun. A pilot without an airplane, a postal pilot without mail. What should he do in the world, even if he read all the books about flights at a Beijing school, even if he knows how to land an airplane on the ground, is this precisely his own backside? He is like a crane with a broken wing, and he has nothing to do on earth. The rope is ready, and there are as many trees in the park as possible. But Shen De does not let him hang himself. To live without hope is to do evil. Hopeless Song of a water carrier selling water during rain: “Thunder is thundering and the rain is pouring, / Well, I am selling water, / And water is not for sale / And it is not drunk in any. / I shout: “Buy water!” / But nobody buys. / Into my pocket for this water / Nothing gets in! / Buy water, dogs! ”

And Shen De buys a mug of water for his beloved Yang Song.

IV. Returning after a night spent with his beloved, Shen De first sees the morning city, peppy and giving fun. People are kind today. Old people, carpet dealers from the shop opposite, give dear Shen De a loan of two hundred silver dollars - it will be something to pay off the landlord for six months. To a person who loves and hopes, nothing is difficult. And when Sun's mother, Ms. Yang, says that for a huge sum of five hundred silver dollars they promised her son a place, she gladly gives her the money received from the elderly. But where to get another three hundred? There is only one way out - turn to Shoy Yes. Yes, he is too cruel and cunning. But the pilot must fly!

Sideshow. Shen De comes in, holding a mask and costume Shoy Da, and sings "Song about the helplessness of the gods and good people": "Good in our country / Good can not stay. / To get with a spoon to the cup / Need cruelty. / The good are helpless, and the gods are powerless. / Why do not the gods declare there on air / What time is there to give all the good and the good / The opportunity to live in a good, good world? ”

V. Clever and prudent Shoy Yes, whose eyes are not blinded by love, sees deception. Yang Song is not afraid of cruelty and meanness: let the place promised to him be a stranger, and the pilot, who will be fired from him, have a big family, let Shen De leave the shop, except for which she has nothing, and the elderly will lose their two hundred dollars and lose their homes - just to get what you want. This cannot be trusted, and Shoy Da seeks support in a wealthy barber ready to marry Shen De. But the mind is powerless where love acts, and Shen De leaves with Sun: “I want to leave with the one I love / I don’t want to think about whether it’s good. / I do not want to know if he loves me. / I want to leave with the one I love. "

VI. In a small, cheap restaurant on the outskirts, Yang Song and Shen De are getting ready for the wedding. The bride in a wedding dress, the groom in a tuxedo. But the ceremony will not begin in any way, and Bonza looks at his watch - the groom and his mother are waiting for Shoy Da, who is supposed to bring three hundred silver dollars. Yang Song sings "A Song about Saint Valentine's Day": "On this day they take evil for a throat, / On this day, all the poor were lucky, / Both the master and farm laborer / They march together in a tavern / On St. Valentine's Day / The skinny drinks at a fat one visiting . / We are no longer able to wait. / That's why they should give us, / People of hard work, / Saint Valentine's Day, / Saint Valentine's Day, / Day when we will rest. "

“He will never come again,” says Ms. Yang. Three are sitting, and two of them are looking at the door.

VII. On a cart near a tobacco shop, the meager belongings of Shen De had to be sold to repay the debt to the elderly. Barber Shu Fu is ready to help: he will give his barracks to the poor, whom Shen De helps (he still can’t keep the goods there - it's too damp), and write a check. And Shen De is happy: she felt in herself the future son - the pilot, “the new conqueror / Inaccessible mountains and unknown regions!” But how to protect him from the cruelty of this world? She sees the little son of a joiner, who is looking for food in a garbage can, and swears that she will not calm down until she saves her son, at least him alone. It is time to turn back into a cousin.

Mr. Shoy Da announces to the audience that his cousin will not leave them without help, but from now on the distribution of food without returning services will stop, and the one who agrees to work for Shen De will live in Mr. Shu Fu’s houses.

Viii. At the tobacco factory, which Shoy Da arranged in barracks, men, women and children work. Overseer - and cruel - here is Yang Song: he does not grieve at all because of a change in fate and shows that he is ready for anything for the interests of the company. But where is Shen De? Where is the good man? Where is the one who, many months ago, on a rainy day in a moment of joy, bought a mug of water from a water carrier? Where is she and her unborn child, whom she told the water carrier? And Song would also like to know this: if his ex-bride was pregnant, then he, as the father of the child, can also claim the position of master. And here, by the way, in the knot is her dress. did the cruel cousin kill the unfortunate woman? Police come to the house. Mr. Shoy Yes to be brought to justice.

IX. In the courtroom, friends of Shen De (the water carrier Wang, a couple of old people, grandfather and niece) and partners Shoy Da (Mr. Shu Fu and the landlady) are waiting for the meeting to begin. At the sight of the judges who entered the hall, Shoy Da fainted - these are the gods. The gods are by no means omniscient: under the mask and costume of Shoy, Yes, they do not recognize Shen De. And only when, unable to withstand the accusations of the good and the intercession of the evil, Shoy Da takes off his mask and rips off his clothes, the gods are horrified to see that their mission failed: their kind man and the evil and callous Shoy Yes are one face. It is impossible in this world to be kind to others and at the same time to oneself, it does not come out to save others and not to destroy oneself, one cannot make everyone happy and yourself together with everyone! But the gods have no time to understand such difficulties. Really give up the commandments? No never! Recognize that the world must be changed? How? By whom? No, everything is okay. And they reassure people: “Shen De did not die, she was only hidden. A good man remains among you. ” And to Shen Dae’s desperate cry: “But I need a cousin” - they hastily reply: “Only not too often!” And while Shen De, in desperation, spreads his arms to them, they, smiling and nodding, disappear at the top.

Epilogue. The final monologue of the actor in front of the public: “Oh my respectable public! The end is unimportant. I know that. / In our hands, the most beautiful fairy tale suddenly got a bitter denouement. / The curtain is lowered, and we stand in embarrassment - we did not find permission issues. / So what's the deal? Well, we are not looking for benefits, / And then there must be some kind of right way out? / You can’t imagine for money - what! Another hero? And if the world is different? / Or maybe other gods are needed here? Or without gods at all? I am silent in alarm. / So help us! Correct the trouble - and send your thought and mind here. / Try to find good for good - good ways. / Bad end - dropped in advance. / He must, must, must be good! ”