The opera ran from the start of the wei hour all the way to the end of the shen hour. It concluded with Shen Ying using her peach-blossom baleful qi to conjure two pink butterflies that flew freely through the illusory heaven and earth she had created.
At the side, Bai Ting’er played the “Butterfly Transformation” section of Butterfly Lovers on the dongxiao.
The combination of sight and sound was nothing short of live CG!
Bloody hell, thought Lu Zheng, speechless. Who says the ancients had no high technology?
“How was it?”
Liu Qingyan, still flushed from the performance, came smiling to his side.
“Amazing!”
Lu Zheng gave her a big thumbs-up. “Far better than anything the Silver Phoenix Troupe ever put on!”
“Heehee! Not at all. They are the real professionals. We were only playing.”
She said it modestly, but Liu Qingyan was clearly delighted.
Bi Xinyu and Hu Caini, now satisfied after indulging their acting cravings, also drifted over. “It’s still the script you wrote, Master Lu. It was such fun to perform.”
“Yes, yes!” The surrounding crowd of female spirits and ghosts all chimed in. “What a wonderful script.”
Lu Zheng, “Heh heh…”
“Your Chinese Ghost Story is also very moving,” Liu Qingyan said, still not quite satisfied. “Why does that one have no arias, though?”
“Some stories are suited to the stage, while others are better simply told,” Lu Zheng could only explain. “Of course, if you are interested, feel free to adapt it yourselves.”
Liu Qingyan and several of the others nodded.
They all loved opera. Liang Zhu was such a classic that it had awakened their desire to perform it themselves.
Now that they had staged it once and scratched that itch, they had no wish to rehearse another full production anytime soon.
A Chinese Ghost Story was excellent, but it could wait.
Liu Qingyan covered her mouth and laughed softly. “We’ll wait until Hongxia returns and have her play Yan Chixia.”
Lu Zheng, “…”
They really had to bring up the one thing he wished they wouldn’t. It truly was an old story that already existed!
Lu Zheng looked around, sighed, gave up, and decided he was done. Let the world burn.
…
After the performance, night had already fallen.
The ladies from Five Beauties Manor and Bi Xinyu’s group dispersed. Lu Zheng summoned Old Huang, and together with Liu Qingyan and the others, they took the carriage back to Tonglin County.
Over the next few days, Liu Qingyan copied several more editions of A Chinese Ghost Story from Shen Ying and pored over them at home.
“Darling writes so beautifully. The story is wonderful, the poems are wonderful. Even a simple tale of a ghost manor forcing marriage becomes so soul-stirring.”
One night, Liu Qingyan lay atop Lu Zheng, one finger tracing circles on his chest while his hand gently stroked her back. They chatted in low voices.
Lu Zheng, “…”
“Darling, do you have any more stories?”
“None left. Not a single drop.”
Liu Qingyan blushed and swiftly changed the subject. “The day before yesterday at Peach Blossom Manor, I saw you and the Peach Blossom Ladies playing Butterfly Lovers together. You started with a lively bamboo dizi part, but later Tao Qing handed you a dongxiao. Why did you refuse it?”
Great topic change!
So Lu Zheng gave Liu Qingyan a thorough lesson on exactly how one is supposed to blow a dongxiao.
“Wuu—”
…
“Jade Seal, level up!”
“Buzz!”
Feeling his physique, true qi, and blood all strengthen at once, Lu Zheng slightly eased the guilt he felt for not cultivating properly lately.
He finished the camellia oleifera in front of him, saw Liu Qingyan off to Benevolent Heart Hall, then ambled leisurely towards the Happy Peace Restaurant.
But he had barely stepped out of Tongyi Lane when Chu Jin dropped from the sky and blocked his path.
“Master Lu!”
“Lord Chu!”
Lu Zheng’s eyes lit up. He hurried forward with a smile and bowed. “Another… case that requires my humble assistance?”
Chu Jin shook his head with a smile. “Great talent should not be wasted on small matters. Ordinary cases do not require Master Lu’s personal attention.”
Lu Zheng blinked. One had to remain reserved in such things. He could not very well say, “Please don’t stand on ceremony, I really want to help.” That would arouse suspicion.
Take it slowly. The occasional job was enough to cover daily expenses.
But if it was not a case…
“Then why has Lord Chu come looking for me?” Lu Zheng could not help asking.
“It concerns Mount Duyushan in the North Domain.”
“Mount Duyushan?” Lu Zheng’s eyes flickered. “The northern wolf demons?”
“Exactly.” Chu Jin nodded. “We captured that old bì demon and I sent it to the Anomaly Suppression Department in Huoshan Circuit up north.”
Lu Zheng nodded. Chu Jin had mentioned this before.
“We pried a great deal of information about Mount Duyushan from the old bì. Afterwards we laid an ambush, killed the remaining two of the Four Great Guardians, and took down one black wolf.”
“Well done!” Lu Zheng praised.
“Then news spread that Mount Duyushan’s power had been greatly weakened. We did not even need to lift a finger. The other three factions that opposed them joined forces, besieged the mountain, and wiped Mount Duyushan out in a single battle.”
“That’s excellent news!” Lu Zheng clapped and laughed. “Has Lord Chu come specially to bring me glad tidings?”
“No.” Chu Jin shook his head. “Quite the opposite. I’ve come to warn you to be careful.”
“Eh?” Lu Zheng looked baffled, then his expression changed. “No way?”
Mount Duyushan had been destroyed, yet Chu Jin came to warn him. There could only be one reason.
“Leng Li did not die,” Chu Jin said. “He escaped by blood flight during the siege and is believed to have fled into Great Jing territory.”
Lu Zheng was speechless. “Why is it that every time a big shot gets injured they flee into Great Jing? Isn’t Great Jing the strongest? Aren’t they afraid of being killed the moment they enter?”
Chu Jin looked a little embarrassed but still explained, “Great Jing is vast. The Anomaly Suppression Department can monitor areas and track targets, but we cannot seal tens of thousands of li of border. Whether deep in the mountains or inside a prefectural city, if someone is determined to hide, they are very hard to find.”
Lu Zheng, “…”
“Don’t look at me like that. Sometimes our own evil cultivators and demon mages who survive also flee to the North Domain or the Southern Border to hide. Everyone does it.”
“Fine, fine. Go on.”
Chu Jin continued, “In that battle on Mount Duyushan, both of Leng Li’s remaining sons died. Having slipped into Great Jing, we judge that he currently lacks the strength to return north for revenge. Instead, he is very likely to come to Yaozhou to investigate what happened to Leng Jian.”
Lu Zheng slapped his forehead helplessly. “He still doesn’t know Leng Jian is dead?”
“He probably isn’t certain. After all, neither the tiger demon last time nor the wolf-and-bì pair this time ever returned to Mount Duyushan.”
“Right…” Lu Zheng nodded, then suddenly asked, “Is that old bì dead?”
Chu Jin gave him an approving glance and nodded. “Dead.”
Lu Zheng let out a sigh of relief.
“But Leng Li is ruthless, vicious, cunning, and treacherous, far beyond that old bì.”
Chu Jin warned, “He may not be fooled by the Huangfu family, especially now that the tiger demon, wolf demon, and bì demon have all vanished. He is very likely to suspect something is wrong with the Huangfu clan.”
“You’re right! Absolutely!”
Lu Zheng frowned. Leng Li would certainly not reveal himself prematurely. If he investigated quietly, many things were not actually secrets.
