Chapter 39: Weighing Two Evils, Choose the Lesser

Liu Guanjia left after saying what he had to say, but upon returning to the room, Su Tingting was still in a daze. Judging by Liu Guanjia's meaning, she would need to put on Xi Yao's Costume from before her death at night, wear the headpiece, apply the makeup, and after dressing up, stand on the stage to mimic Xi Yao singing.

He said this would summon Xi Yao's soul and let her possess her body, but... but if it came to that, would she even have a way to survive?

"Brother Kuang, Mr. Chu, you must think of a way!" Su Tingting was on the verge of tears; now, only these two could save her.

Yang Xiao signaled for Su Tingting to sit down first, then earnestly advised, "Miss Su, I know you are anxious, but don't be anxious yet. Try looking at this from another angle; this matter might not necessarily be a bad thing."

Su Tingting stared at him with suspicion. She had already experienced how good Yang Xiao's acting was just a moment ago, and now she didn't believe a single punctuation mark of what Yang Xiao said.

Seeing that Yang Xiao alone couldn't bluff her, Kuang Hongyi joined the fray, "Miss Su, Brother Chu's words are true. Think about it: if you don't go to sing, what will you be sent to do?"

Yang Xiao shrugged and made a motion of diving to retrieve something. The next second, Su Tingting shuddered violently in fear.

"They... they will make me go retrieve the corpse!"

"Not retrieve," Yang Xiao corrected, "it's to help Xi Yao close those eyes that refuse to shut in death. Oh my, let me tell you, that corpse has been soaking underwater for 10 years, tsk tsk... I reckon it's long since rotted away; it's hard to say if you could even find the eyes."

Terrifying memories surged uncontrollably into her mind. Su Tingting remembered the ghost she had seen in the reflection on the lake, its whole body swollen and rotting. The moment the ghost's face turned to look at her, Su Tingting's heart stopped.

Of two evils, choose the lesser. If she absolutely had to choose between singing and going into the water, then singing it was.

Seeing that Su Tingting had resigned herself to her fate, Yang Xiao and Kuang Hongyi finally set their minds at ease. After all, they were acting as a team unit; if Su Tingting refused to sing, the three of them would have no choice but to go into the water together to retrieve the corpse—ah, no, to help Xi Yao close her eyes.

However, it was impossible for Su Tingting not to agree. Yang Xiao had at least five ways to persuade her; if soft tactics didn't work, there were hard ones, and if hard ones didn't work, there was Kuang Hongyi holding a candlestick.

Having settled Su Tingting, Kuang Hongyi and Yang Xiao huddled together to study the clues obtained from Master Feng, "Brother Chu, did you notice? When we mentioned the Second Young Mistress's unborn child, Master Feng's attitude was very strange."

"It was indeed not quite right." Recalling the scene at the time, doubt appeared on Yang Xiao's face, "Master Feng seemed very certain it would be a boy, and he was worried we would keep asking, so he used his health as an excuse to end the conversation in a hurry."

Kuang Hongyi poured a cup of tea for Yang Xiao and one for himself, slowly gripping the teacup, "It seems the waters of the Feng family are very deep. Master Feng is still keeping things from us."

At this point, to think there were still things being hidden from them, Yang Xiao found it hard to imagine just how many wicked deeds this Feng family had committed.

As for what Liu Guanjia and Master Feng said about everything being Feng Laotaiye's arrangement, and that they couldn't persuade him even if they wanted to—these were all bullshit. When the old master died, this matter hadn't even started yet, and Xi Yao was still alive and well. If there had been any intention to stop it, none of this would have happened at all.

As for the "accidentally obtained ancient scroll," Yang Xiao suspected that this evil art was something Master Feng had gone to great lengths to seek out. Feng Laotaiye might not have known about this at all; his corpse was merely a tool for Master Feng to "plant the joy."

Of the three ancient sayings passed down, the latter two now had sources, leaving only the first, "Tou Nu Bu Wai Jia," still without a clue.

Yang Xiao and Kuang Hongyi proposed many hypotheses, but none of them fit perfectly. The two simply stopped guessing wildly and, taking advantage of the fact that it wasn't night yet, took turns resting.

The original plan for today was to go out of the manor to scout for clues. Yang Xiao still had the address of that "Yi Xu Ye" in his hand, and the opera house where the Bai family troupe used to perform also needed to be visited. But the Third Young Master's corpse was still floating on the lake, and this ghostly weather was so chilling that Liu Guanjia naturally wouldn't let them leave.

The sky outside had grown even gloomier, still drizzling, with dark clouds pressing even lower—a scene like the arrival of the apocalypse, as if something very terrible was about to happen before long.

The evil art used by the Feng family was completely wrong. The so-called "Year of Obtaining Joy" had actually resulted in the loss of people one after another. Judging by Liu Guanjia's meaning, business had also plummeted. As for where the problem lay, Yang Xiao didn't know either.

In another room, Shi Guanming gently closed the window and turned around, a trace of panic on his face, "Brother Shi, the sky outside is getting more and more frightening."

Shi Dali sat by the table, his brows slightly furrowed, "That thing in the lake is about to become a malevolent spirit. The resentment is so heavy that it has actually summoned the walking corpses in the water."

"Then... what do we do tonight?" Shi Guanming was truly terrified; his legs turned to jelly at the mere thought of that scene, "Are we really going to have to go into the water to close the female ghost's eyes?"

Shi Dali glanced at him with some annoyance, "Otherwise? Do you think Kuang Hongyi and the others will do it for us? Would they be that kind-hearted?"

"No, I mean, doesn't it still depend on what that Su Tingting thinks? Making her dress up as a ghost to sing—she's such a coward, she definitely won't dare to go."

"If she doesn't dare to sing the Ghost Opera, then she dares to go into the water to find a corpse?" Shi Dali couldn't understand Shi Guanming's train of thought at all. If he didn't still have a use for him, he would have thrown him out long ago. A moment later, Shi Dali calmed his irritable mood, and his attitude softened quite a bit.

"Brother Shi, think about it. Given the personalities of those two, Kuang Hongyi and Chu Xi, even if Su Tingting doesn't go, they have plenty of ways to force her to. By the way, you need to be careful of that Chu Xi. He is definitely not a newcomer; he must be an old player in disguise, all to make the others lower their guard."

After a pause, Shi Dali lowered his voice, his tone carrying a warning: "I suspect Kuang Hongyi and Chu Xi are in cahoots. They knew each other before coming in. The two are one open and one hidden; that Xu Su was the one who fell victim to their hands."

"They are the same kind of trash as Ke Long. I'm afraid... I'm afraid they will make a move on us before long."

Hearing this, Shi Guanming became even more nervous, "Then what should we do? Also, Brother Shi, how did you figure that out?"

Shi Dali sneered in his heart; this Shi Guanming wasn't completely stupid, but he had already prepared his rhetoric. Pure lies naturally couldn't fool anyone; nine truths and one lie were the hardest to guard against, "Brother Shi, think back carefully: did Kuang Hongyi ask Master Feng if he had any daughters?"

"Yes, that's right." Shi Guanming was confused.

"And then, what did that Chu Xi say next? He joked that Master Feng was a romantic wanderer and perhaps had children outside that Liu Guanjia didn't know about." Shi Dali smiled with a mysterious expression, "Don't you find it strange that he dared to risk offending Liu Guanjia to make such an inappropriate joke?"