Chapter 454: Life Is Like a Play

Song Lin lowered his head, dejectedly saying: "Actually, Master and the village chief signed a contract; if the play can't be performed, we must pay fivefold compensation—five or six ten thousand yuan per play. If we really follow the contract, I'm afraid Master will have to put the whole troupe at risk."

Under our relentless pursuit, Song Lin finally revealed the truth.

Pangzi stared for a moment, then immediately asked Song Lin: "Did Uncle-in-law and the village chief sign a contract?"

Song Lin nodded dejectedly: "Yes, we only found out after signing the contract..."

"After signing the contract, then we found out—found out what?" I asked doubtfully.

Song Lin sighed, then told us: "Actually, this village invites people to perform plays every year, but no troupe can ever finish a performance. Almost every time a troupe performs, they encounter strange and eerie things. Eventually, no one dares to perform in this village."

Pangzi grew more displeased the more he listened, finally rolled up his sleeves and snapped: "Everyone knows no one dares to come here, yet they still invited my uncle-in-law to perform this damned play, and even pretended it's proper by signing a contract—aren't they clearly trying to screw over my uncle-in-law?"

Saying that, he rolled up his sleeves and prepared to settle accounts with that so-called village chief.

"Actually, you can't blame the village chief!" Song Lin said helplessly: "When we were discussing, the village chief told Master about this, but Master didn't think much of it, didn't take it seriously, and just agreed carelessly. The contract, the village chief followed procedure, so you can't blame him either."

"Sigh..." Pangzi sighed, loosening his clenched fists, and helplessly said: "This uncle-in-law, really..."

Pangzi's mood at this moment could be described as both worried and stifled: worried about the safety of the Liu Family Troupe, and stifled that this uncle-in-law dotes on him to such an extent that he'd rather see the Liu Family Troupe collapse than let him take a risk.

"Rather than sighing here, we should think of other solutions!" I patted Pangzi's shoulder, comforting: "It's not early; let's hurry back, think as we walk, or else your uncle-in-law will worry again."

Pangzi nodded glumly: "We have no choice but to do that."

Along the dark, winding path, I, Pangzi, and Song Lin grabbed flashlights and rushed back to Liu Guozhong's residence.

When we returned, we found several uninvited guests in the house.

An old man leaning on a cane sat opposite Liu Guozhong, and behind this old man stood two young people.

Just as we entered the door, we roughly heard this old man seemingly discussing Peking Opera with Liu Guozhong; from the few words we caught, we realized this old man was the village chief of Hu Family Village.

"What are you guys doing, being so overbearing? The day to hand over the play hasn't even arrived, and you're already impatient to take away my uncle-in-law's troupe?" Having heard only a few words, Pangzi flew into a rage, rushed to the village chief's face, slammed the table hard, and glared at the three of them.

The Village Chief Hu was startled by Pangzi's shout, and the two young men quickly stepped forward, shielding the old village chief behind them.

"Hey hey, Xiaoqiang, don't be impulsive, you've misunderstood the old village chief's meaning?" At that moment, Liu Guozhong reached out and pulled Pangzi behind him, repeatedly apologizing to the old village chief.

"Village Chief Hu, I'm truly sorry; my nephew has just arrived and doesn't know what's going on. This may have caused a misunderstanding—please, being magnanimous, don't take it to heart." Liu Guozhong bowed his hands in apology to the old village chief.

"What misunderstanding, uncle-in-law? The date for handing over the troupe hasn't even arrived, yet this old man rushes in to take the troupe—who would believe there's no foul play?" Pangzi said relentlessly.

Liu Guozhong wasn't angry; he just waited for Pangzi to finish, then patiently explained: "Village Chief Hu isn't here to collect the troupe; he's here to discuss with the uncle-in-law."

At this point, Pangzi was surprised, looking at the two of them bewildered: "Discuss, discuss what?"

"Hehe..." At that moment, the village chief opposite smiled warmly and said slowly: "Little one, you've misunderstood; I, old man, am not here to collect the troupe from Troupe Leader Liu. I came to discuss with Troupe Leader Liu whether the play can still go on. If it really can't, Troupe Leader Liu should refund us one-third of the money, after all we signed a contract and spent so much manpower and material resources to help build the stage; if we don't collect some penalty, the old guy on the village committee won't let me off."

After Village Chief Hu finished speaking, Pangzi's face instantly flushed red like a monkey's butt. By now it's clear that Village Chief Hu isn't here to cause trouble. The difference between paying fivefold penalty and one-third penalty must be huge; it's obvious Village Chief Hu just wants to go through the motions to deal with village gossip.

After a moment of blushing, Pangzi immediately came to his senses, patting his chest with a bang-bang sound: "Village Chief, rest assured—I guarantee that as long as the date arrives, this play will surely be performed on the village's prepared stage for the elders and villagers."

"Really" Village Chief Hu froze at that moment, falling into a daze.

"Shut up" At the instant Village Chief Hu froze, Liu Guozhong grabbed Pangzi and pulled him over, glaring fiercely: "You little brat, what do you know? Don't go around puffing up your face to look fat."

... Actually, Liu Guozhong's remark was wrong—Pangzi doesn't need to puff his face; he's essentially just a fat guy.

However, this nervous uncle-in-law didn't even notice his logical mistake; he was about to bow and apologize to Village Chief Hu, but before he could even say the "Hu" part, Pangzi grabbed him and pulled him back.

"Uncle-in-law, I'm not lying; I've already figured out the cause of the haunting and grasped the nature of that thing. Dealing with it is simple for us—just rest easy, old man."

Saying that, not only Liu Guozhong but even I was baffled—when did Pangzi figure out the nature of that thing? How come I don't know?

Liu Guozhong eyed Pangzi suspiciously and asked: "Xiaoqiang, have you really figured out the other side's nature, really confident? You're not deceiving the uncle-in-law, are you?"

"Really... When I examined those brothers' injuries today, I already analyzed from the aura what kind of demon is causing trouble. Uncle-in-law, rest assured—we won't need to pay compensation; the play can go on." Pangzi assured Liu Guozhong, then told Village Chief Hu: "Village Chief Hu, rest assured—as long as the date arrives, the play will surely appear intact on the stage."

Village Chief Hu's breathing grew more rapid, even shedding tears of excitement: "Little one, are you really telling the truth, not just comforting this old man?" He tightly gripped Pangzi's hand, overcome with emotion.

"Really, so you can't collect the penalty; you also need to have the money ready!" Pangzi said, still holding Village Chief Hu's hand, eyes shining.

Village Chief Hu waved his hands excitedly: "No problem, as long as you can put on the play, our village not only won't ask for a refund, but is willing to add an extra thirty percent for you? As long as you can perform the play, any amount is fine." Village Chief Hu was so excited he almost tangled his tongue.

I gently pushed Song Lin, feeling a bit puzzled as to why the village chief is so nervous. It's serious, but it's just a play after all. How I see him jumping up and down, his emotions fluctuate as much as someone who won the lottery and then lost his father.

Song Lin lowered his voice and whispered to me: "This village used to be a famous Anti-Japanese Village, and there are many retired Eighth Route Army soldiers living here. First, the resistance against Japan is these elders' memories; second, they don't want their descendants to forget their roots, hoping they know how this peaceful life came about. They hope descendants generation after generation will inherit the elders' will and inherit their glory."

"So they want to express it through stage plays!" I instantly understood. I said, "No wonder the village chief values this play so highly; it turns out there's this hidden layer of meaning." Indeed, they've always wanted to give villagers a glimpse of the Anti-Japanese era, but no troupe could pull it off. Now Pangzi patting his chest and assuring Village Chief Hu, one can imagine how delighted the village chief is.

At the end of the talk, Village Chief Hu again expressed his gratitude to Pangzi at length; then, escorted by the two young men, his face flushed and spirits refreshed, he strode out of the house.

When only we four remained in the house, Liu Guozhong's face darkened, he glared fiercely at Song Lin and said: "Who let you talk so much?"

Song Lin lowered his head, not daring to look at Liu Guozhong.

"Uncle-in-law, this is originally just a small matter, totally unrelated to Brother Lin; even if he doesn't say anything, I could easily settle this." Pangzi hurriedly stepped out to smooth things over.

"Sigh... Forget it!" Liu Guozhong waved his hand, sighed, and although he said nothing more, from his expression I knew he had finally decided not to pursue it further.

"I also know Brother Lin's painstaking efforts; I can't bear to see the troupe collapse!" Liu Guozhong sighed again, then said to Pangzi: "Tonight stay over, let's have a couple of drinks, and by the way tell the uncle-in-law about the nature of that thing. Otherwise my heart will remain unsettled."

"Ah... No way, uncle-in-law!" Pangzi rubbed his eyes, yawned, half-asleep: "Today I spent a good half day treating those brothers; now my mind and body are exhausted, I really can't muster the energy. I want to sleep first, and drink with you another day."

Seeing Pangzi's state truly exhausted, Liu Guozhong felt sorry and didn't press further, quickly having Song Lin lead us two to the rooms to rest.

The room Song Lin led us to had only two wooden beds, the straw mats on them worn and torn. However, I and Pangzi don't mind much; having chosen the Daoist path, we must be ready to endure hardship—if you can't endure hardship, you can't practice martial arts, nor become a Daoist.

After seeing Song Lin off and closing the door, I and Pangzi each picked a bed and climbed onto it.

A few minutes later, unable to contain my curiosity, I asked Pangzi on the other bed: "Pangzi, tell me, what exactly is the origin of that thing?"

Who would have thought, Pangzi mumbled dazedly: "What, what origin?"

"That thing causing trouble among the troupe brothers?"

"I don't know what its origin is—I haven't even seen what it looks like!"

I jumped up, eyes wide in disbelief: "You…… you didn't figure out its nature, yet you rashly promised the village chief—this……"

Pangzi rolled his eyes, contemptuously retorting: "You don't know the value of firewood, rice, oil, and salt if you're not managing the household—if we don't perform, we'll have to honestly pay up; one-third of fifty thousand is about twenty thousand. Even a mosquito, tiny as it is, is still meat!" Evidently, the miser calculates accounts down to the finest detail, the abacus clicking away.

"What if the troublemaker is a zombie? What would you do?" I asked, half-laughing, half-crying.

Pangzi first froze, then looked at me and laughed loudly: "I say impossible—you've watched too many movies; there are no zombies in this world."

I was momentarily speechless… unable to utter a sentence for a while. Not long after, the house filled with Pangzi's snoring as he fell asleep; meanwhile, I lay in bed, unable to close my eyes over this issue for a long time.

Perhaps, Pangzi is right. This world fundamentally has no zombies.

But if there are no zombies, why are zombie stories passed down through generations?

Am I overthinking because I've watched too many movies? In ordinary people's eyes, don't they also think ghosts and spirits don't exist, and that drawing talismans to exorcise ghosts is illusory?

And I, am I not currently engaged in an occupation that ordinary people consider illusory, doing things that people think could only happen in movies?

Is it because I have never truly seen or experienced it, so it's unknown! Or is it really just an illusion?

Perhaps, life is actually just a movie. On stage and off stage, all are a play; true and false, we can no longer tell them apart. Thus, many real things have disappeared, wearing the guise of truth, but their essence is false things, yet they have replaced reality.

Isn't that right?