Chapter 457

"If you again take this house as the central palace, look at the northwest Hai direction—there are not only mountain gullies, but the water flow even slants through the house; this exactly matches that line in the classic: after passing Chen-Xun-Si, almond wild peach blossoms… With this Hai water shining upon it, the master's daughter‑in‑law cannot help but be licentious! And, do you know what I've discovered?" Pangzi's eyes lit up and he swallowed his saliva.

"What did you discover?" Pangzi's tone sounded like he'd made a major discovery, making me tense up as well.

"I've discovered…" Pangzi leaned in, whispering mysteriously, then his voice burst uncontrollably with delight: "I've discovered that this household's daughter‑in‑law is actually fooling around with her father‑in‑law, haha, this is outright **naked**!"

Pangzi's wild joy left me somewhat speechless, yet I couldn't help silently admiring the power of the geomantic art. One school of geomancy is no inferior to the art of divination; even a simple layout reveals so many intricacies. The Daoist Sect's mystic arts are indeed profound and vast—none of the five arts of metaphysics is simple.

"By the way, Pangzi, can you tell what position they're using? 'It's as if fate compelled me—I actually went over and asked this.'"

Pangzi imitated QingSongShu's gesture, stroking his beard… but he doesn't have a beard at all!

"I guess it's the old man pushing the cart," Pangzi said with deliberate emphasis.

"Tch, why couldn't it be the hegemon's forceful…"

"Hard… hard your sister, all you're saying is other people's gossip—what does it have to do with spirits and gods!" Halfway through, I suddenly came to my senses. I silently thought, "How close a call!" Damn, my pure little mind almost got led step by step by Pangzi into the depths of depravity.

"There… something related to the spirits and gods is this pond." Pangzi pointed at the small pond before him, solemnly saying: "This pond lies in the Kun direction behind the stage; where there is water in Kun, there must be yin substances. Moreover, according to the stage's orientation, there should have been a small pool beside this pond earlier, but it's now filled with earth; previously that pool's position was to the west. The southwest and west directions both have ruthless harmful waters—saying this house points to someone with no abnormalities, who would believe that?"

"Oh, now that you say it! The reason the performance went awry that night was because the good brothers in this water hall were stirring up trouble, right?" After you said that, I gradually figured out the context.

Who knows…

Pangzi, picking his nose at the side, shook his head and said: "No, that's not it; everything I analyzed earlier assumed the stage must be a building with someone living inside for it to take effect."

Me: "……" Then all that you said before—what's the use of it!

Pangzi spread his hands, pursed his lips, and said: "In theory it's useless; I merely heard that a few years ago the place where this stage was erected was a wealthy family's house, which later fell into decline and was torn down. Being idle, I just analyzed the former geomantic layout."

"In other words… everything you said has nothing to do with any of the incidents that occurred on the stage," I thought, veins bulging on my forehead.

Pangzi shook his head and said: "Whether it's related or not, it's still too early to draw a conclusion; I'm unwilling to overlook any detail. You know, many details we haven't noticed do have causal connections. Often, the truth of an event is hidden in those easily overlooked details."

"So have you uncovered the truth?"

"Not yet… for now!" Pangzi spread his hands, rubbed his forehead, weakly gazing up at the floating white clouds in the sky.

But soon Pangzi revived his spirits, gave my shoulder a hard slap, and said loudly: "Don't worry, I already have a detailed plan in my mind?"

"Oh?" I asked in surprise: "What plan?"

"Hehe, this method is… to draw the snake out of its hole!" Pangzi gave a hehe laugh, bent down, and whispered his plan into my ear.

Pangzi's so‑called "drawing the snake out of its hole" is actually the crime‑scene reenactment commonly used by police. According to his plan, we would have everyone re‑perform the play, while we stand ready with our weapons, closely watching. If any ghost or monster appears to cause trouble, our ambush will rush forward and capture it.

The plan is excellent, the method is superb! This is the conclusion I reached after hearing the plan.

"Since that's the case, I'll go to sleep first; we'll talk about everything after tonight's performance!" I stretched and moved my limbs left and right.

"All right, you go to sleep; I'll go eat, then after my meal I'll stroll around to experience the enthusiasm of those northern girls!" Pangzi rubbed his flattened belly, his face full of anticipation for exotic charm.

I crouched beside him, looking doubtful: "Getting up in the middle of the night to look at geomancy—aren't you tired?" I felt doubtful from the bottom of my heart; Pangzi's nature has always been to love eating and then love sleeping. Even though I'd gotten up that early last night, even after dozing off half‑morning in a daze beneath the stage, I still felt weak all over and sleepy-eyed. If I'm like that, Pangzi surely can't be free of eye fatigue.

"Ha… don't worry, after seeing you out I went back to the dorm and caught an extra nap, only getting up at eight this morning." Pangzi likewise stretched, waved his hand, and said: "That's that—I'm off to eat first."

I just stood there, fists clenched, rooted in the wind, watching Pangzi's receding figure, grinding my teeth, a hostile feeling slowly rising in my gaze.

After a moment, Pangzi turned his head dazedly: "Hey, why aren't you… holy shit, what are you doing!"

Before Pangzi could finish speaking, he was hit by my thunder‑like barrage of punches and kicks.

"Damn you, bastard, you tricked me into getting up in the middle of the night to do hard labor, then you ran back to the dorm to sleep in. You damn well better not think I'll let you off—I'd be failing your father if I didn't beat you!"

"Holy shit… who looks at geomancy in the middle of the night? Even if you can read the compass clearly, you still can't see the situation." Pangzi stared at his swollen head, muttering his dissatisfied protest.

……It seems he's right—you really can't see things clearly in the middle of the night?

Night fell quietly; tonight's stage lights blazed bright, and many elders and villagers from Hu Family Village gathered below. Some nibbled melon seeds in twos and threes, while others gathered to chat about daily life. Some elderly women led children, sitting in groups of three or three to gossip about village affairs.

The elders showed off their old hawking cries, the children's wailing, the mothers' scoldings—these added a thick stroke of rustic flavor to the tranquil night, as if also lending a distinct charm.

Pangzi and I were also among those spectators; we all shared the same goal—to wait for the grand performance to begin.

This afternoon, while I was on the verge of vomiting my heart out, Pangzi acted coquettish toward Liu Guozhong, shaking his shoulder and whispering that he'd grown up in the city, never seen a troupe perform, begging Liu Guozhong to let the troupe give him a performance no matter what, so he could broaden his horizons.

Regarding this nephew's request, as his uncle he naturally wouldn't refuse, especially since he dotes on the nephew. Thus, the affectionate uncle Liu Guozhong waved his hand and simply had Song Lin make preparations. Tonight, the entire troupe dispatched most of its members, just so Pangzi could perform a few of his specialty pieces.

After Liu Guozhong agreed, I instantly sprinted out of the house at a hundred‑meter dash speed, braced against the wall and vomited with all my might.

Damn, are they trying to kill me? A 150‑catty fatso acting all delicate and clingy—this life is simply unbearable. Just thinking about having to live with Pangzi from now on, and the thought that he might put on such a coquettish expression again, makes my whole body shake with cold chills… tears streaming down my face.

Although the process left me, as an onlooker, feeling utterly wretched, no matter what, Pangzi's goal was ultimately achieved.

However, the process encountered some hiccups. According to our expectations, everything should have proceeded as it did that night, and the first play performed ought to have been an anti‑Japanese drama.

Yet Liu Guozhong set the first play as "Lin Chong's Night Flight to Liangshan Marsh" from Water Margin.

Liu Guozhong said, if we're going to perform, we should perform the best—Kunqu, which is the Liu family troupe's forte. Although after Pangzi's earnest, somewhat shameless pleading, Liu Guozhong agreed to stage an anti‑Japanese spoken drama as the second show, we still have to honestly watch the first Kunqu performance in full.

Amid everyone's anxious waiting, a sudden clamor of gongs and drums rang out, and the stage curtain, at this moment, was thoroughly declared open.

Yet at that moment the dark sky grew somewhat overcast, thick black clouds blanketing the entire heavens, the air sultry and oppressive; at the same time, this hazy sky seemed to be brewing a great drama.

Perhaps… this is the calm before the storm, or maybe not.

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