Chapter 10: Shadows of the Opera (Ten) "Kill her with my own hands."...

Li Zhixing transformed into a small shadow figure, sandwiched between the diary entries written by Xie Zhiyan, strolling between the lines with his arms folded, reading what he had written.

Just now, he had gone to the kitchen to ask Hua Niang for information, under the pretext that his apprentice hadn't eaten enough. Coincidentally, Hua Niang and Mr. Ye's wife, Jiang, were drinking together. He listened to them drinking under the moonlight, offering words of comfort from time to time, and learned a lot.

Hua Sanniang's name was Hua Zhiyi. She and Jiang Xuejun, the Jiang family, had been neighbors since childhood and had known each other very well. Later, Hua Niang's family suffered a change of heart, and she traveled south to seek refuge with her cousins. However, like Zhao Jinfan, she encountered bandits blocking the road and was rescued by Xie Zhiyan. He learned that they were opera performers. Thinking about her mother's death and her father's murder by bandits, she went to her cousins' house alone, feeling that she was just living under someone else's roof and facing the coldness of life. She obtained Zhao Jinfan's consent and stayed in the troupe, working as a maid to sweep the floor and provide food and clothing for the children in the troupe. The younger generations liked her and called her "Hua Niang".

In this way, she settled down in Suiheban and corresponded with Jiang on a daily basis.

Unexpectedly, someone in the Jiang family suddenly fell ill, and both Jiang Xuejun's parents were infected. The doctor's treatment was ineffective, and both died suddenly. The Jiang family was not big to begin with, and after a month, only Jiang Xuejun was left. She was driven out by the people in the town and naturally lost contact with Hua Niang.

They said that she was the plague god of the Jiang family and that the whole family was killed by her. After driving people out, the people in the town said that so many people had died in the Jiang family, and the Jiang Mansion had become a haunted house, and people avoided it.

But it was clear that before this, the people in the town had been very kind to their family.

The illness came on suddenly, and Jiang Xuejun felt a sense of uncertainty. Unable to find the answer, she found herself homeless and alone. She met Ye Shaolin, a penniless but ever-present smile. He cared for her during her illness, entertained her with storytelling in their thatched cottage, and sought medical advice for her in the coldest days of winter.

Naturally, she was moved.

Having both lost their parents, they decided to marry in a precarious thatched cottage. Ye Shaolin, a wandering storyteller with a laid-back nature, met Jiang, and began telling stories during the day to earn money and studying by lamplight at night, hoping to achieve a degree.

He took the exam three times, but failed each time.

Unexpectedly, while he failed, he found wealth and became one of the most powerful families in Sui'an County.

Jiang didn't elaborate on how Ye Shaolin made his fortune, but this intrigued Li Zhixing, eager to learn for himself—how did a scholar become wealthy? But he ultimately held back.

Later, Sui and his troupe traveled north to Sui'an County. Mr. Ye, a lover of opera, generously helped them in their time of need, and the two families became acquainted. Hua Niang naturally reunited with Jiang, but their previous meeting had been too hasty, leaving them unable to exchange personal details before they parted ways. This time, thanks to Miss Ye's birthday, the troupe arrived early, allowing them to reunite. After

recounting their ups and downs over the years and lamenting for a long time, the two sisters turned to conversation about their younger generations. The stories of the Xie and Zhao families, long kept secret from outsiders, were no secret within the troupe. As Hua Niang drank to her heart's content, she naturally brought up the subject.

She recounted Zhao Jinfan's difficult years, having trained under a nickname as a child. Since few knew his name, she ventured to use his real name, building the troupe to its current size.

She also thanked Zhiyan for his acting skills, learning from Zhao Jinfan, and teaching the younger members of the group to read and write.

Suddenly, Hua Niang sighed, saying that this boy was a romantic, but unfortunately, he was born into the ruthless Xie family in the border area of Chiyao.

The head of the Xie family had many concubines and a bunch of sons, all of whom were strong and sturdy, but this young master Xie was handsome, like a scholar, but with the noble air of a young master.

Jiang Xuejun asked him how he knew about the Xie family's situation. Didn't she meet Zhao and Xie in the Central Plains?

Hua Zhiyi said, "Well, the boy looks like a scholar, so he behaves like a scholar. He likes to write some sad poems and recites a few lines to us every day after the performance."

"The group is not very interested in his poems, but they like his diary notes very much."

Jiang Xuejun asked what was written in the diary notes. Isn't it just a casual note or a record of book excerpts?

Hua Niang shook her head and said no, it recorded his past and the moments he spent with Boss Zhao, and there was another book that she would not let them read.

With these words, Li Zhixing finally achieved the purpose of his trip. Jiang Xuejun on the other side of the stone table was still laughing and asking Hua Niang how she knew. She said that Mr. Xie’s writings were not kept properly, and were accidentally picked up by the younger generation who could read...

Li Zhixing did not continue to listen to the rest of the words, and found an excuse to leave. When it was late at night and everyone was asleep, he went to the desk to read.

The room was quiet, the moonlight poured in, and the evening breeze blew in from the window lattice. The turning of the pages woke up the person on the bed.

Xie Zhiyan got up, half asleep and half awake, got out of bed and closed the window, glanced at the letter blown by the wind, found a book to press on it, glanced at the medicine bottle on the desk, and got into the quilt.

Li Zhixing's head, crushed to the size of a sesame seed, was reduced to a paper-thin fragment. He muttered silently to the person on the bed, then praised himself mentally: "Luckily, this immortal has a quick mind and read all of it."

He also knew how Xie Zhiyan survived.

Coming out of the book, Li Zhixing slipped through the crack of the door and disappeared into the night.

***

Wen Gu stood at the head of Ayang's bed, lowering his eyes to look at the sleeping boy.

The sleeping man looked deeply frowned, uneasy.

He was completely unconcerned and was about to inject his spiritual consciousness into his brain when he heard a sound at the door and someone pushed it open. The process of injecting spiritual consciousness into the brain could not be interrupted, so he could only hold his breath and hide in the darkness.

"Wen Gu, what are you doing?"

Someone whispered to him. He felt a sigh of relief at the familiar voice.

Ye Qingzhan walked over to him and saw that the Yin Sha in his body was wrapped in a red "stream" that flowed continuously towards Ayang.

"Exploring spirits."

"Entering dreams,"

Wen Gu explained in a low voice, then asked, "What are you doing here?"

Unable to understand what he was saying, Ye Qingzhan suddenly remembered the King of Hell. "Oh," she said, "This is what the King of Hell taught you. The Immortal Tianqi also gave me a manual of exercises."

She whispered, "I'm here for Hua Niang. She's still helping out in the kitchen. I wanted to see if Ah Yang has a fever."

"The doctor Hua Niang said that the medicine Ah Yang took today has a side effect. I wanted to see if he has a fever."

After she finished her whisper, no one answered. Ye Qingzhan asked again, "Are you still here?"

A moment later, someone beside him said, "Yes."

"The King of Hell taught me."

The King of Hell had taken 90% of his power, so how could he teach him a technique? If it weren't for him, he wouldn't have to go through all the trouble of exploring spirits and could just enter someone's dream directly.

—But how could he let Xiao Baihua's words go unanswered?

After answering Ye Qingzhan's question, Wen Gu continued, "He didn't have a fever; he was trapped in a nightmare."

"The King of Hell and the immortals are all good immortals—Ayang, he..."

Suddenly, footsteps were heard outside the house. Ye Qingzhan fell silent. Wen Gu, without a word, took her wrist and, through the spiritual bridge built by spiritual power and Yin Sha, entered Ayang's dream.

The moment the two disappeared, someone pushed open the door and entered.

Xie Zhiyan, wearing an outer coat, walked to the bedside of the person on the couch like a ghost.

Neither sad nor happy.

***

Ye Qingzhan was confusedly brought into Ayang's dream by Wen Gu, and the place where they settled was a thatched hut that was vulnerable to wind and rain, surrounded by desolate wilderness. A young man walked out of the house, he was not tall, probably about ten years old, but his face was very similar to Ayang.

In the dream, they were all shadow figures .

Afraid of being seen, Ye Qingzhan pulled Wen Gu to hide in the haystack next to him. Wen Gu did not move, and said calmly: "Why hide, he can't see us."

Ye Qingzhan smiled awkwardly, and suddenly heard a sharp curse from the house: "Beast, all beasts!" Then a woman dressed in plain clothes who looked like a village woman walked out, her face full of illness, holding her waist, her voice urgent and sharp.

"You want to leave too!"

"Okay, let's go, it's better to leave."

"Just like your father, he was bewitched by that actor and lost his way. He didn't want his home and didn't care about his children."

The woman's cheeks were sunken on her sickly face. She pointed at herself and said with tears in her eyes, "You despise me for being old, saying I'm ugly, saying I don't understand romance and can't compare to that actor."

"He doesn't even take a piss to look in the mirror. What kind of person is he!"

The woman's face became more and more ferocious. The young man wanted to step forward to support her, but she stepped back with a sneer on her face: "Romance, what kind of romance do I have?" Then her face suddenly turned sad, "I, Xu Jingyi, was once a treasure in my parents' hands, but I happened to meet him. I thought that Mr. Qianqian was unparalleled in the world, but in the end it was just a big dream I had. It's ridiculous, really ridiculous!"

She suddenly laughed a few times, followed by a cough. The boy's eyes were filled with tears, and he whispered, "Mom, don't say anymore."

"Why don't you let me say it?" The woman coughed up blood, but she didn't care at all, and continued,

"My parents said that I didn't marry a good man, but I didn't listen. I married him at the age of sixteen, not asking him to gain fame or become famous, but only hoping that he would treat me well and sincerely." "

But later, he took all the dowry I brought with him to watch operas and support actors, and squandered it all. I became pregnant and became a joke in the eyes of others. My parents couldn't raise their heads because of the gossip of the neighbors. My father died of a heart disease, and my mother committed suicide for love."

She had tears in her eyes, but a smile on her lips, as if she was talking to the boy, and as if she was talking to her former self.

"Before they passed away, they never said a word against me. They just thought they were soft-hearted and let the beast take their daughter."

Xu Jingyi's eyes sparkled with tears. "My parents died because of me, but he has become unrecognizable."

"Or maybe he hasn't changed, it's just that I never saw him clearly." Xu Jingyi smiled as he approached the boy, his hand touching his brow bone. "You and he were born with the same eyes. I really want to—"

"Dig them out."

"Look at these eyes. What curse did you cast on me back then? Why did you kill me the first time you saw them?" Xu Jingyi's bony hand slashed across his son's face. Blood flowed from the corners of his mouth, but his eyes suddenly became vicious. He said word by word, "Son, remember, mother wants you—"

"Kill them."

"Kill your father."

"Kill that actor…"

As he finished speaking, Xu Jingyi's pupils suddenly dilated, and he spat out a mouthful of black blood. He then fell into his son's arms, his head drooping on his shoulder, his body stiff as a corpse.

"Mother!"

The boy's cry pierced the sky, terrifying everyone. Ye Qingzhan quietly wiped away tears.

"Mother! Mother, mother, mother, wake up, please wake up, wake up, wake up," the young man burst into tears, "I beg you, don't leave me, don't leave me!"

"Please, open your eyes and look at me, look at me!"

"Don't leave me."

"Mother..."

The person in his arms didn't move, her body was getting colder and colder, her skinny body like a fallen leaf.

The young man's eyes were sad and cold, he raised his hand to wipe the tears from his face, woodenly picked up the person and returned to the house, then hurried out the door.

Wen Gu followed him, and Ye Qingzhan ran into the thatched cottage. She put her hand on Xu Jingyi's nose and probed it, then sighed helplessly and stayed at the head of the bed.

Half an incense stick later, the young man ran into the house again, dragging a man dressed as a doctor, followed by Wen Gu.

"Sir, please save my mother."

The young man said, then knelt on the ground and kowtowed, making a loud sound.

The doctor felt the breath of the person on the couch, then felt her pulse and shook his head.

"My condolences." He said.

Hearing this, the young man collapsed on the ground, his eyes completely devoid of light.

The doctor sighed, took out a hundred coins from his sleeve, and said: "You should pay back what you owed me in the past with these kowtows. Take this money and buy a good coffin for Xu."

The doctor left, and the young man was still sitting on the ground.

Tears streamed

down his face. Ye Qingzhan and Wen Gu looked at each other, at a loss.

After a moment, the young man stood up, went out to find a village woman, and cleaned his mother's body and changed her into a set of clean clothes. He gave her a penny. Wen Gu followed him and invisibly helped him buy a coffin, while Ye Qingzhan stayed with Xu.

The coffin was delivered, and the young man put Xu in the coffin. Before closing the coffin, he looked at the sickly-looking woman again.

He had never seen Xu Jingyi when she was young. As long as he could remember, she had a sallow face and became the shrew and resentful woman that person talked about.

Today he learned about the grievances and entanglements between the two.

The coffin lid slowly closed. The young man silently pushed the soil on both sides, his face expressionless as he said, "Mother, I went out today just to seek medical treatment. Your illness can't be delayed."

"As for that man," the young man said in an unchanged tone, "he died a long time ago."

As calmly as if he were talking about an unrelated person, Ye Qingzhan, who was squatting on the ground helping the young man dig the soil to bury his mother, stopped when he heard this. He looked at Wen Gu behind him, his expression also fluctuating.

"That man was a playboy and provoked the actress kept by the gentry. He was beaten to death." The young man said indifferently, "I threw him in the wild grave valley. He must have been eaten by vultures."

"I don't want to tell you."

"As for the actress you mentioned, I haven't seen her, but I heard that she was taken away by a general who came from the north. She has been gone for many years. It is said that she went to the border, but I don't know where exactly." "

You asked me to kill him, but you didn't want to live a few more years. I didn't even have the chance to tell you that he was dead."

"That actress—"

The young man's tears fell, but his eyes were as dark as the abyss.

"I will find you the ends of the earth."

"Kill her with my own hands."