Chapter 54: Swapping the Beam for the Pillar

"Do you know Xi Yao from the Bai Family Gatehouse? Was she on the boat that day?" Yang Xiao continued to ask.

"She wasn't." The old boatman shook his head firmly. "Though I don't watch operas, Xi Yao was the star of the Bai Family Gatehouse and quite famous in the city; I've seen her portrait."

"How many people in the opera troupe came that night?"

"Including the troupe leader Bai, there were 25 people in total," the old boatman answered without hesitation.

The old boatman's prompt reply couldn't help but make Yang Xiao suspicious. "Ten years have passed; how do you remember so clearly? Did you check everyone when they boarded?"

"Everyone who boards must register at the pier's accounting office, and we collect money by the head. After the incident, I looked at that ledger. There were 54 passengers on the boat that night, 25 of whom were from the Bai Family Gatehouse. Then there were us boat hands; counting the captain, there were 12."

Seeing the old boatman's calm expression, which didn't look like he was lying, Yang Xiao asked, "Then how many escaped in the end?"

The old boatman sighed and made a strange gesture in front of his chest. "Only I survived. This was all thanks to the protection of the River Dragon King himself."

After a moment of hesitation, Yang Xiao suddenly asked, "Were there any children among those 25 people from the Bai Family Gatehouse?"

"No, there wasn't a single child on the boat that night." The old boatman couldn't help but frown, staring at Yang Xiao with a strange look. "Why do you ask that?"

This was, of course, because Yang Xiao had thought of the child held in the arms of the troupe leader Bai, but there was no need to explain this to the old boatman.

"It's nothing. Continue. After you escaped from the boat, did you encounter anything else?" Yang Xiao remembered that this old boatman had swum all the way back to shore through the icy river water.

Unexpectedly, at the mention of this, the old boatman's face turned ugly in an instant. His gaunt, thin fists clenched, and it was a long while before he spoke: "Our boat sank very quickly. It was chaotic at the time, and many people were struggling in the water. I jumped into the river and swam desperately toward the shore. Halfway there... halfway there, I heard a strange sound behind me, especially strange..."

Yang Xiao grew alert. "What sound?"

"It was... it was the sound of opera singing!" The old boatman was full of terror, his body trembling uncontrollably, as if he had returned to the icy lake water of that night. "A very bizarre singing style. I had never heard such an opera before. It felt... it felt like I was about to die immediately!"

"It was a Ghost Opera." Yang Xiao understood the old boatman's feeling, for he had experienced it himself.

The old boatman swallowed hard and nodded slowly. "That's right. I later asked an expert in the field, and it was indeed a Ghost Opera, and a very old-fashioned one at that!"

"I didn't dare look back. I held my breath and swam toward the shore. When I was almost there, the singing sound—yi-ya-yi-ya—became more and more strange. I couldn't help it and looked back. Only a little bit of our boat was still visible, and in front of the boat, there was a person in red standing in the water. She was the one singing!"

"Beside that red figure, there was also a long wooden pole standing in the water. I recognized it at a glance; it wasn't an ordinary pole, it was... it was the mast of a ship!"

"There was a ship sunk beneath the water, and it was that ship that rammed and sank ours!"

The old boatman's emotions became increasingly agitated. "I was terrified at the time, but then the singing suddenly stopped. I could feel that thing looking at me; she had discovered me! My limbs turned icy cold and stopped obeying me, and then... then a wave hit, and I didn't know anything else. When I woke up, I was already lying on the shore."

Combining this with the account from the old laborer at the pier, Yang Xiao judged that what the old boatman said was likely true. The sunken ship he saw was the Boxi Boat that lay at the bottom of the Feng Mansion lake.

After asking what needed to be asked and confirming there were no omissions, Yang Xiao paid the old boatman a tael of silver as agreed and turned to leave with Su Tingting. But before they had even walked out of the alley, the old boatman actually chased after them.

"Is there something else?" Yang Xiao couldn't figure out the old boatman's intentions, but he didn't dare lower his guard against this tough man who had spent decades making a living in the wind and waves.

"Nothing important." The old boatman smiled strangely. "I just wanted to ask, who told you I lived here?"

"It was Wang Laotuozi at the pier, or maybe Sun Biandan from West Street, right?" The old boatman narrowed his eyes. "Heh, tell me who it was."

Shaking his head, Yang Xiao said with a solemn face, "Neither. This matter involves a great deal. It was spearheaded by a head manager in our trade. You are a smart man; I advise you not to ask."

Upon hearing this, the murderous intent in the old boatman's eyes slowly dissipated, and he returned to the appearance of the little old man who lived day-to-day on credit for wine. He cupped his hands toward Yang Xiao and his companion, smiling and saying, "Is that so? I believe you. Then I shall wait here for the good news."

On the way back, Su Tingting leaned close to Yang Xiao and said somewhat nervously, "Did you see just now? That old boatman's face looked so fierce. If you had told him it was the old man at the pier who revealed his address, he definitely would have gone to cause trouble."

"Mm, that old laborer helped us, and we cannot betray friends. Living in this world, one must always uphold some sense of righteousness."

A moment later, Su Tingting seemed to suddenly remember something. "By the way, the old boatman just said there were only 25 people from the Bai troupe on the boat and no children, but the Feng Mansion's ledger clearly recorded 27. That means, besides Xi Yao being left behind forever, that child didn't come along either. They must have abandoned the child on the way from the Feng Mansion to the pier."

Turning around, Yang Xiao glanced at Su Tingting. The latter blinked, not understanding what she had said wrong. Yang Xiao took a deep breath. "How do you still not understand? The woman who died in the Feng Mansion was not Xi Yao at all!"

Su Tingting was stunned for a moment, her mind unable to react for a time. "Not Xi Yao? Then who was it? Wait, then where did Xi Yao go?"

"The ghost woman's identity is temporarily unclear, but I suspect the real Xi Yao disguised herself and mixed into the Bai Family opera troupe that boarded the boat. She must have been one of the inconspicuous troupe members. When the old boatman and the others rushed into the cabin, the person the troupe leader Bai was pulling was the real Xi Yao."

"This is also why the old boatman said he heard the troupe leader Bai shouting excitedly about a 'demon person,' to save the 'demon person.' Given the chaotic scene at the time, I think the troupe leader Bai was likely shouting 'Yao'er,' to save 'Yao'er,' since his precious daughter Xi Yao had just been dragged away by the ghost woman to claim her life."

"Impossible, Xi Yao couldn't have been alive then. The Feng family aren't fools; if Xi Yao hadn't entered the mansion, they wouldn't have paid the silver!" Although Su Tingting admired Yang Xiao, she wasn't brainless enough to believe everything the other party said. The Feng family was shrewd; they weren't that easy to fool.

"The Feng family naturally saw the real Xi Yao, but there are rules to performing a Ghost Opera; the area must be cleared. I think it must have been when they were applying makeup backstage that the troupe used a fake Xi Yao to swap in for the real one. Once the makeup is on, looking from far across the lake, how could one tell who is who?"

"After everything was over, the real Xi Yao would transform again, changing her clothes and makeup to look dirtier, and mix into the group to leave the mansion using the fake Xi Yao's previous identity."

Su Tingting was stunned by Yang Xiao's speculation. "But... even if your plan is feasible, was the fake Xi Yao a fool? This was clearly sending her to her death; why would she cooperate?"

At this point, Yang Xiao sighed, his expression becoming complex. "What else could she do if she didn't cooperate? Have you forgotten that the troupe leader Bai still had a child in his hands?"