Chapter 274

The matter of ghosts in the old garden in the West Market has been rumored in Jinmen for twenty or thirty years. Every night, people passing by the old garden can hear the movement coming from inside.

But there are always people who don't believe in evil and enter the opera garden. Those who are strong and have a prosperous yang fire can come out intact during the day, but those who are weak will get a serious illness even if they enter in broad daylight, and some will even go crazy, singing vague opera lyrics all day long.

Over time, the opera garden added the sounds of zithers, Zhong Kui shouting to catch ghosts, and occasionally the sound of young ladies crying and bhikshunis knocking on wooden fish.

This opera garden is like a "sound-swallowing beast." As long as it is something or someone related to sound, it seems that it cannot escape its bloody basin.

In the largest teahouse in Jinmen, Guo Dongyang is storytelling.

"The story I'm telling today is not a story made up in a book, nor is it a lie made up out of thin air, but a real thing that happened in our Jinmen area!"

Jinmen itself is lively, and Guo Dongyang is the number one storyteller. Now, as long as he appears, the tea guests in the teahouse can sit outside the door.

Xu Qing sat in a private room on the second floor. In front of him, Boss Liu Su'e was eating snacks in small bites.

Looking at her, she was starved in the opera garden before, but she learned opera since she was a child, and that etiquette and upbringing had already been soaked into her bones.

She didn't show her teeth when she spoke and laughed, and she chewed slowly when eating. Even if she was extremely hungry, she didn't make any unseemly gestures.

Xu Qing watched Liu Su'e eating. The elegant way of eating in small bites was somewhat similar to Xuanyu.

Elegant and quiet.

At this time, in the teahouse hall, Guo Dongyang had already begun to comment on the past of the West Market haunted house according to Xu Qing's instructions.

"There is an old opera garden in the West Market of Jinmen, which has been evil for twenty years! Every time it reaches the third watch, the singing sound in the garden comes out by itself, like the wind blowing willow catkins or ghost crying and wolf howling, scaring the nearby people so much that they dare not go out at night..."

Guo Dongyang told everything in detail, from the origin of the opera garden to Old Master Shan booking the opera garden, buying Little Four for the night, and inviting guests to listen to the opera.

"It turns out that this is a group of unjust ghosts making trouble! At the birthday banquet that year, a whole opera troupe was poisoned and died. These people had soaring resentment and unfulfilled obsessions, so they stayed in the opera garden and didn't leave. For decades, the monks and Daoist priests invited by the government and gentry were not few, but who knew that the opera garden had too much yin energy and ghost energy, and no one could drive them away!"

Speaking of this, Guo Dongyang suddenly changed the subject:

"But just the day before yesterday, a strange thing happened! A Flower Shirt came to Linjiang County."

"What is a Flower Shirt? One who is proficient in singing, reciting, acting, and fighting, and can sing green clothes, flower female roles, and sword-horse female roles can be called a Flower Shirt. In the industry, it is said that the hardest bones in the female opera are the fierceness of Yu Ji and the dignity of Xue Xiangling, and these two plays can only be played by a Flower Shirt."

In the private room, Liu Su'e stopped eating. Why does the storyteller's story sound so familiar?

Below, Guo Dongyang was still outputting.

"The one who came to the West Market opera garden today is not just a Flower Shirt? She is a big name in the Flower Shirt industry! An immortal role among famous roles! A god role!"

Guo Dongyang took a sip of tea, scanned the circle, and used the time to moisten his throat to create an atmosphere.

When the teahouse was silent, Guo Dongyang opened his voice: "In the middle of the night, when even ghosts shiver, the Flower Shirt went alone, carrying a costume box, and stepped into the gloomy old opera garden."

"She didn't perform Dharma, nor did she recite spells. She first respectfully lit three sticks of clear incense in front of the abandoned opera stage. The smoke curled, and her words fell—

Seniors, dust returns to dust, earth returns to earth. No matter how well you sang when you were alive, people are gone. These gongs, drums, and infatuated spectators in this world have nothing to do with you anymore! You few, those who should go on the road, please go on the road."

"As soon as the Flower Shirt's words fell, I heard the sound of the Overlord returning to the camp from the stage!"

"When the black mist on the stage dissipated, a person appeared. It was the troupe leader of the opera troupe who died unjustly in the opera garden twenty years ago—the big name of Lixiang Garden in Jinmen! This person was best at playing the Western Chu Overlord when he was alive!"

Guo Dongyang cleared his throat and continued to tell:

"The Overlord said: Junior, you say let us go, so we have to go? Who do you think you are? Don't think that just because you sang for a few years, you are amazing!"

"The Flower Shirt was not angry. She took out the steady style of the big green clothes and said—

Seniors, calm down! I know you can't let go of this opera stage, can't let go of the people in the world who love to listen to opera. I think it's better to do this: let's follow the rules of the Pear Garden and see the truth on the stage. Let's compare and see who is better!

If my singing skills can suppress you seniors, I will trouble you to be reborn peacefully and return a clean opera garden! If my learning is not refined and I can't compare to you..."

Guo Dongyang drew a line on the table with his fan and said: "This garden is my destination. I will be killed or scraped, whatever you want!"

In the teahouse private room, Boss Liu finally stopped doubting. She originally thought the storyteller was talking about her embarrassment of being hungry in the opera garden, but now it seems it's not her.

In the hall, Guo Dongyang continued to tell according to the script:

Once the Flower Shirt threw these words down, there was no room for maneuver.

The troupe leader playing the Overlord just wanted to laugh at the junior for not knowing the height of the sky and the depth of the earth, but the next moment he saw the Flower Shirt concentrate, exhale, and open his throat:

"Yi—ya—!"

"Good! This expert opened his mouth and hung his throat, and the old troupe leader couldn't laugh anymore."

"I saw the Flower Shirt standing on the pile and brightening his throat. It was the steady style of the big green clothes. The recitation was word by word, and the rhyme was full. It made people feel comfortable! In a flash, she learned the flower female role again. The gestures were vivid, and the corners of her eyes and eyebrows were full of opera, as if the opera actor was possessed!"

Suddenly, she lifted her small feet and kicked away the costume box she brought. Inside were the horse whip of the martial female role, the swords and guns of the general, and a curved bow for shooting swallows!"

"At this moment, it seemed that there were thousands of troops and horses on the stage. The Flower Shirt played with swords, guns, bows, and horses, as if she were using her arms, showing the heroic style of the martial female role!"

"In the end, she stooped her body, walked staggeringly, and sang the desolate singing skill of the old female role that penetrated yin and yang, including the sorrow and grief of several generations!"

"The troupe leader playing the Overlord hadn't finished listening to the opera, and he was already 'deng deng deng' scared and retreated three steps. Looking at the ghost shadows and ghost singing sounds around him, they were all dumb."

Looking at the whole opera troupe, who was the opponent of the Flower Shirt in front of him?

The resentment and obsession accumulated by these opera ghosts for decades were hard-pressed by this woman's singing skills that reached the sky and the earth!"

"The stranger thing is still behind." Guo Dongyang said nervously: "Since that night, no one has heard ghosts singing in the broken garden in the West Market at midnight!"

"Why do you ask? Willing to bet and lose! These opera ghosts, although fierce, were all Pear Garden disciples when they were alive, and they valued promises and skills more than their lives! Since their skills were not as good as others, they were all willing to disperse their resentment, enter reincarnation, and run to the next life!"

Some tea guests under the stage listened with fascination and couldn't help asking what kind of sacred person the Flower Shirt was.

"You mean that Flower Shirt big name? I really know, because this matter was seen by me with my own eyes!"

"Who is it? You only say half of it. Be careful that your son has no butt!"

Guo Dongyang curled his lips and sold a pass: "Have you heard of the Pear Garden troupe in Linjiang County?"

Old Man Guo chuckled and said: "That Flower Shirt is the pillar of the new opera garden in Linjiang County, Boss Liu Su'e!"