Chapter 16 Pear Garden Shadow (Sixteen) Who is beneath this smiling fox?

The person who comes is still a paper shadow figure, of medium height, with a slender figure, wearing a plain white Taoist robe, with his hands tucked into wide sleeves.

Judging from the clothing, it is no different from the Taoist priest played by Li Zhixing in the illusion, but looking up along the clothes, the face of the shadow figure is no longer a human face, but a smiling fox.

White face, red cheeks, lips curved into an arc. The fox's smile looks mysterious and gentle from a distance, but it is impossible to look closely.

Ye Qingzhan stared at his curved smiling eyes, and felt that she was about to be sucked into those two crescent-like black pupils. She quickly turned her head away and hid behind the person next to her.

Wen Gu also looked at him, his eyes moved slightly.

- He is really easy to find.

He entered the gates of hell, firstly to retrieve his memory, and secondly to find out about the fox doctor who gave him nightmares every day.

Who is beneath this smiling fox? Is he a human or a ghost?

The King of Hell said that if he could help the visitor through the gates of hell pass safely, he could offset some of his sins and restore some of his memories. He also said that there was one person who could resolve his inner conflict, and another who trapped him in his nightmares.

It was this seemingly immortal-looking Doctor Fox.

Wen Gu clenched his fists in his sleeves, his eyes slightly closed.

"What are you standing there for? Move

aside," Li Zhixing whispered, pulling the two people standing there in awe behind a column. He then covered his face with his sleeves and quietly watched Doctor Fox's movements.

He saw him being carried into an inner room separated by a beaded curtain.

Li Zhixing was about to cast a spell to place something on him, but Wen Gu stopped him.

"I'll do it,"

Wen Gu said, waving his fingertips, and a wisp of light black mist followed the man a few steps away. Silently, without a trace.

"Compared to immortal arts, Yin Sha is less easily detected."

Removing his hand from his sleeve, Li Zhixing nodded in agreement, "Indeed, Yin Sha is born from human emotions, a complex mix of all sorts. It blends well with this illusion. Its pure immortal energy is even more eye-catching."

Ye Qingzhan said softly, "I see."

"Do you have any ginkgo leaves?" Wen Gu asked.

"Yes," Li Zhixing said, about to step forward. Standing alone in the gambling house would arouse suspicion, so he decided to show off his skills and win some money to return to Ghost Gate, just in case. Hearing Wen Gu's question, he turned and pulled two ginkgo leaves from his sleeve, handing them to the two.

Taking the leaves, Wen Gu drew a few more strands of Yin Sha from them, handing them to Li Zhixing and Ye Qingzhan, explaining, "Put the ginkgo leaves to your ears, and you'll be able to hear the sounds coming from within."

Li Zhixing glanced at the leaves in his hand, glanced around, and with a flick of his sleeve, transformed them into a bouquet of flowers and a red jade earring. He put on the hairpin and handed the earrings to Ye Qingzhan. When he was about to help her put them on, a hand reached out.

"Let me do it." Wen Gu took the earrings and helped Ye Qingzhan put them on.

Li Zhixing rolled his eyes and said, "It's too strange to put ginkgo leaves on your ears. It's better to do it this way."

When he entered the gambling house, he had observed that some of the people who came here were with beautiful women. So he disguised them as a young man and a concubine. The people who came here were all dressed up, so the hairpin and ruby earrings didn't seem so inconspicuous.

Ye Qingzhan stood quietly, waiting for Wen Gu to help her put on the earrings. She didn't feel any pain, but she felt a chill where his fingertips touched. When he came closer, her breath was filled with the plum fragrance of his body.

She looked up at him.

Wen Gu helped her put on the earrings, and his eyes stayed on her face for a long time - the exiled immortal made a slight change to her original appearance, and put a cinnabar mole on the center of her eyebrows. The red jade earrings made her look even more beautiful.

For some reason, he hated anyone getting close to her.

Li Zhixing glanced around again, glanced at the two of them, coughed lightly, and said helplessly: "Don't look anymore, it's more important to get down to business."

The two of them then turned their eyes away.

"We'll stand by the gambling table later, pretending to watch people place bets while listening to the news from Ginkgo."

"I understand." Ye Qingzhan said. Wen

Gu nodded slightly.

The exiled immortal led the two of them out of the wooden pillar and walked towards a bustling gambling table. He quickly mixed in, took out silver from his sleeve, and placed his bets.

Wen Gu and Ye Qingzhan stood not far from him, quietly listening to the voice coming from their ears -

"What did you say!"

"Zhao Jinfan's sister is that opera singer?"

Ah Yang shouted at the top of his lungs, his voice full of despair.

Ye Qingzhan and Wen Gu looked at each other, and Li Zhixing's waving hand paused in the air for a moment, then quickly took it down.

The three of them remembered that Hua Niang had said that Zhao Jinfan had a sister. But they had never seen her, and didn't know what happened to her later.

"How could it be? I haven't seen her sister, no, no..."

"Of course you haven't seen her," a strange voice sounded, "Her sister is as beautiful as a fairy, graceful, and has an enviable voice, which makes all men in the world fascinated by her."

Ye Qingzhan's eyebrows were twisted together, and he listened to Dr. Fox continue:

"He spent all his family wealth, abandoned his wife and children, just to win a smile from a beautiful woman."

"Your father was naturally crawling at her feet, becoming her servant and a ghost among flowers. She hurt so many men, how could she dare to show up in public again? She was either hiding somewhere or being hidden by someone. Poor wives and children who were abandoned..." Dr. Fox seemed to have regrets in his words, and said slowly, "You should not forget the reed flute your mother gave you, right?"

His ears were quiet, and Ye Qingzhan thought that the earrings made of leaves were broken. When he looked at Wen Gu, he heard again: "How could I forget?"

"That's what my mother left for me."

Dr. Fox smiled and said, "That's right." He slowly walked up to the kneeling boy, patted his shoulder, took out an exquisite reed flute from his sleeve, and handed it to him: "Look, is this it?"

Ah Yang took it with both hands, lowered his eyes and looked at it carefully.

A tear fell on it.

"Yes."

"That person took it away from me."

"He wanted to--"

"Give it to that actor."

It was self-evident who that person was. Ye Qingzhan's eyebrows jumped. The exiled immortal at the gambling table didn't look much better. His hand that was rolling the dice didn't move for a long time. Only Wen Gu looked relatively calm.

"Do you know that the Zhao sisters love to sing opera, compose music, and play stringed instruments and flutes?"

Ah Yang raised his head suddenly, remembering that Zhao Jinfan once said to him with a smile:

"I like the sound of the flute. Can you teach me?"

As if all the strength was drained out of his body, the boy's back bent.

Upon hearing this, Li Zhixing, clutching his winnings, withdrew from the crowd, saying, "Thank you, gentlemen!" The gambling den owner glanced at him disapprovingly, continuing to place bets.

Exiled Immortal Qian smiled, retreating to the two men's side, and lowered his voice, saying, "It's over." It wasn't clear whether he was saying he was done gambling or—they were finished.

The voices continued in his ears.

"I stumbled upon this reed flute among a bunch of old things. It's been discarded like a worn-out shoe."

Ah Yang clenched the flute in his hands.

How dare she?

This was the only memory his mother had left him.

Dr. Fox observed his expression and added, "Perhaps Zhao thought it was useless and a nuisance, so she threw it away."

Upon hearing this, Ah Yang's eyes crimson, and the veins in his hand holding the reed flute bulged.

"Zhao can't hide alone. Someone must be helping her." Dr. Fox looked down at the young man, his smile unwavering. "You know what to do, don't you?"

Ah Yang nodded, stood up, and spoke in a voice as cold as a blade. "I know."

"I'll find her."

"Kill her."

"Kill them all."

As he finished speaking, the exiled immortal's hand holding the purse trembled. Wen Gu quickly caught it for him, whispering, "Let's go! They're coming out."

Li Zhixing remained frozen in place. Ye Qingzhan and Wen Gu exchanged a glance, then carried him out of the gambling house.

After coming out of the gambling house, Li Zhixing broke free from the two men's grip and glanced back. Ah Yang indeed strode out of the gambling house.

Seeing this, the three of them hurriedly climbed over the wall, but found that Qing Huai was no longer there.

"Damn it, the owner of the illusion is missing, what's the point of passing this?" The exiled immortal squatted on the wall blocked by trees and grabbed a handful of hair in annoyance.

"Did Ah Yang throw something away?" Ye Qingzhan hid her face between the leaves, looking at the alley a hundred feet away through the gap. Her eyesight was not affected at night, and she clearly saw Ah Yang take out something from his arms and throw it into the bushes beside him.

Dang-dang-

the sound of the night watchman's gong suddenly came, it was the fifth watch.

Before they could find out what Ah Yang had thrown away, several people hurriedly climbed down from the wall. Ye Qingzhan was helped by Wen Gu to stand slowly, and when he looked up, he found Qing Huai coming from a distance.

"Sorry, I, I'm going... to the bathroom."

Wen Gu glanced at him.

"Got it," Li Zhixing said, now wanting only to return home and stop the murderous young man. "Hurry, hurry!"

***

"Dad, when will the shadow puppet masters arrive?" Miss Ye shook her father's arm. "Can they come before lunch?"

"Yes, yes, yes," Mr. Ye replied with a smile. As he spoke, a servant suddenly ran over and said, "Master, someone's here."

Before she finished speaking, Miss Ye had scurried out the door, welcoming the shadow puppet artists into the house.

Ye Qingzhan tilted her head and yawned, feeling that her fifteen-year-old self was truly capable of a whirlwind.

Early in the morning, she had summoned the troupe members to taste an authentic Sui'an County breakfast, and had gathered around troupe leader Zhao and the exiled immortal to tell her stories from the Jianghu. Now, she was inviting the shadow puppet masters to dinner.

Shadow puppet artists are also shadow figures.

The big shadow figures fiddling with the small ones—how interesting—at this thought, Ye Qingzhan suddenly felt less sleepy. She straightened her head and saw Ah Yang standing under the eaves, his eyes fixed on someone.

Zhao Jinfan.

Last night they hurried back to the Ye Mansion before dawn, wary of Ah Yang's murder, but they didn't expect the young man to go into his own room as soon as he returned to the Ye Mansion. The exiled

immortal was worried and kept watch for half the morning. The man came out of the room and, like the previous few days, began to help the servants of the Ye Mansion.

She couldn't guess what he was thinking.

"Miss Ye," the shadow puppet troupe's owner said with a smile after dinner, "shadow shows can only be seen in the evening. This afternoon, we will teach you how to be shadow puppets."

Shadow puppets become shadow puppets - Ye Qingzhan at the dinner table turned to look at the old shadow puppet, and heard Miss Ye say with a smile: "Really? Qingzhan really wants to try it!"

The shadow puppets in Suihe's troupe also looked expectant.

The exiled immortal and Wen Gu looked at each other, the former shook his head, and the latter looked at the young man at the other table.

Ah Yang tightly gripped the chopsticks, as if he was suppressing something, but put them down after a moment.

After lunch, the shadow puppeteers brought over several pre-cut animal hides and began teaching the younger students how to carve and create figures.

"How difficult!" Miss Ye sighed after her hand had been sliced three or four times by the knife. "This shadow puppet is truly difficult to carve."

The veteran artist smiled and said, "It's certainly not easy for a beginner."

"Who said that? This young boy is carving really well," someone replied.

Ye Qingzhan paused his work and looked over. They were talking about Ah Yang.

The praised boy remained calm, while Xie Zhiyan, standing beside him, spoke first, "I think I carved well too."

Zhao Jinfan, standing between the two, glanced left and right and said earnestly, "I still think Ah Yang is the better one. His carving is so lifelike."

Even before he finished speaking, Ah Yang's ears were already flushed red.

"You're amazing, Ah Yang. You do everything so well!" Zhao Jinfan praised earnestly, his eyes twinkling.

The bright afternoon sun shone brightly, illuminating the beautiful face of the person beside him. Ah Yang met her clear eyes, his hand suddenly trembled, and the knife cut his fingertips.

A little blood fell on the white-stubbled figure.

"Ouch!" Zhao Jinfan hurriedly took out a handkerchief, wrapped his hand in the embroidered handkerchief, and scolded, "You are so careless with a knife in your hand?"

His hand was gently wrapped, and he touched the softness he had never felt before. Ah Yang's heart beat violently, and he hurriedly pulled his hand out. After putting down the knife, he turned around and said in a calm voice: "I'll go wash it."

Xie Zhiyan said with a dark face: "Hurry up, the bleeding will stop soon."

Zhao Jinfan glared at him.

The old artists were of course clear-eyed and bright-hearted, and they all smiled at each other.

Li Zhixing, who was too lazy to do anything, watched from the side with his arms folded in order to maintain his image as a Taoist who was not tainted by dust. Seeing this scene, he also chuckled.

Wen Gu was not interested in these, put down the thin knife in his hand and followed quietly.