Chapter 284: Human Face, Beast Heart; Zombies Have Feelings

Deep in the night, inside the mortuary.

Xu Qing was dressed in a Hegemon costume, his legs spread wide, sitting on a coffin like a great general.

In front of him, Boss Liu held a brush, ink, and oil paint, focusing intently on painting a facial mask for him.

The Hegemon's face was black and white, with no other colors.

Liu Su'e came from an opera troupe and had been singing opera since she was a child; any facial mask was easy for her to handle!

Before long, a majestic and solemn Hegemon image with a mournful face appeared out of thin air.

Xu Qing picked up a bronze mirror to look; it had both the Hegemon's power to lift mountains and the endless desolation of his stubbornness when trapped in a desperate situation.

Xuanyu leaned in to look curiously, only to see Xu Qing suddenly open his eyes wide, as if to scare it.

"..."

The mysterious cat opened its eyes wide, unblinking, completely indifferent.

Cats only recognize scent. As long as Immortal Xu's scent was still there, no matter what Xu Qing did, Xuanyu didn't feel it was harmful to it.

If it weren't for this unconditional trust, it wouldn't have lost a life.

Xu Qing looked at the bronze mirror and savored it for a while.

With this mournful face of his, if he ran out at night and glared, let alone children, even adults who were a bit timid would be scared to tears.

"Is Brother Xu going to sing a funeral opera for someone?"

Seeing Xu Qing nod, Liu Su'e asked suspiciously, "But the rules of our funeral trade don't allow big-faced characters to sing for people..."

Funeral trade rules: for funeral operas, only *sheng* (male) and *dan* (female) roles can sing; big-faced characters are not allowed on stage, and big gongs and drums are not allowed to disturb the "guests."

Before Liu Su'e joined the hall, the Liyuan Opera Troupe had cooperated with Xu Qing and promised a funeral opera.

At that time, Xu Qing clearly instructed that big-faced characters were not allowed on stage, only *sheng* and *dan* roles could sing.

However, that day, Second Master Feng happened to be negotiating business with a wealthy merchant from Jinmen and had booked the entire Liyuan Opera House.

That wealthy merchant didn't like other operas; he only liked *sheng* and *dan* operas. Troupe Leader Chen remembered Xu Qing's reminder and said to Second Master Feng, "Yesterday the troupe just promised an outside performance, and we don't have enough *dan* roles. How about we add a few big-faced roles to make up the numbers?"

Second Master Feng didn't even think about it at the time and refused directly, "Boss Bai doesn't like big-faced roles at all, nor does he like watching those fighting or clown operas. He only likes to hear *sheng* and *dan* roles sing."

"Troupe Leader Chen, let's not talk about future matters. For today's matter, you must arrange it properly for me. In any case, you can't let the business I have in my mouth slip away, right?"

As he spoke, Second Master Feng reached into his sleeve, took out a banknote, and stuffed it into the hands of Troupe Leader Chen, who had been politely refusing.

Both sides were old customers of the opera troupe, and Troupe Leader Chen wanted to earn both sets of silver and didn't want to offend anyone.

But the opera actors couldn't be split in two...

Why say that business people are shrewd? Troupe Leader Chen's eyelids twitched, he clapped his hands, and he immediately had an idea.

Second Master Feng's side was living people, hard to fool; the mortuary side was for dead people, singing funeral operas, and dead people couldn't tell the difference between good and bad...

Alright! Then adjust the opera roles, send one *dan* role to make a gesture, and let the big-faced and martial roles fill in the rest. That way, both sides would definitely have no bad reviews.

Isn't this fooling ghosts!

It just so happened that this job was arranged by the coffin-carrying house, and Xu Qing didn't know about it. How could he have imagined that Troupe Leader Chen was so bold as to secretly violate their long-standing agreement and pull such a stunt!

That night, the opera troupe's carriage arrived fifteen miles south of the city gate, in front of a mulberry forest with a very secluded environment.

In front of the mulberry forest, there was a four-courtyard mansion with a "Bai Mansion" plaque hanging on the door.

The troupe leader in charge was still puzzled. He had some impression of the big families near Linjiang County, but he had never heard of this Bai Mansion.

Before the leader could think too much, the Bai Mansion gate suddenly opened, and a maid with colorful makeup, bright red cheeks, and very white skin opened her mouth and said, "The Young Lady ordered that only *sheng* and *dan* operas are allowed, no martial or big-faced roles, and no drums or singing are allowed. Also, it must not stop before dawn..."

The leader promised well, but only used *dan* roles for the first two or three operas.

After the opening opera ended, only an hour had passed. At this time, the only *dan* role the troupe brought had already sung until her throat was sore and hoarse, and she refused to go on stage to sing again.

If her throat was ruined, her rice bowl would be completely gone!

The leader looked at the sky. At this time, there were only faint green lights in the Bai Mansion, and no human voices were heard, as if the people inside were all fast asleep.

"What opera isn't singing? As long as you don't slack off and sing until dawn, won't that be it?"

The leader waved his hand. Seeing this, the big-faced role on stage immediately held a horse whip, dragged a big sword with one hand, and rushed onto the stage.

"Wa ya ya—" With one opening shout, it was like a thunderbolt, and even the candles on the stage dimmed suddenly.

Immediately followed by the sound of war drums and gongs.

The leader didn't take it seriously at first, but the next moment, the silent Bai Mansion suddenly rang with screams and shouts, and the lights inside the Bai Mansion also flickered and went out.

At this time, dark clouds covered the moon, and there were no lights. The entire Bai Mansion, including the stage, was swallowed by darkness. The leader and the troupe members were suspicious and hurriedly took out fire starters to light candles.

When the lights came on, where was there any trace of the Bai Mansion? It was clearly a desolate grave.

In front of the grave, the tombstone was written with the name of the deceased. Under the tombstone, there were ashes of paper houses and buildings that had just been burned, as well as various offerings.

It seemed that someone had come to pay respects in the last few days.

The troupe members looked at each other, not daring to stay, and hurried back to the city that night.

The next day, Xu Qing heard the news and found Troupe Leader Chen to hold him accountable.

Only then did the troupe members who had experienced this last night know that the grave was the grave of Miss Bai from the Squire's family.

And yesterday was the third anniversary of Miss Bai's death. Squire Bai specifically found Xu Qing, saying that Miss Bai loved *sheng* and *dan* operas most when she was alive, so he wanted to arrange a funeral opera to sing for his daughter.

Troupe Leader Chen heard this and said in astonishment, "The person who came to listen to the opera with Second Master Feng yesterday was Squire Bai..."

You say this matter is a mess. Squire Bai arranged a funeral opera for his daughter, but he himself was sad and ran to the opera house to listen to the opera.

In the end, Miss Bai didn't listen to the opera well, but was instead scared by the big-faced general character with strong evil energy.

At that time, this matter was known to everyone in the opera troupe. Since then, Troupe Leader Chen never dared to break the rules easily.

It was also from that time that Xu Qing had the idea of starting his own stove and forming his own funeral opera troupe.

Now hearing Liu Su'e ask about this, Xu Qing showed his white teeth and smiled, "Rules are for good ghosts. As for evil ghosts, who talks about rules with them?"

"Evil ghosts? Isn't that very dangerous? If Brother Xu wants to go, you must take me with you. I can also sing big-faced roles..."

Don't look at Liu Su'e as weak on the surface; her character is actually fiercer than anyone else's. In the Jinmen West Market Opera House, when threatened by an opera ghost, she never compromised to sing that big-faced role.

But now, such a stubborn woman wanted to go against her own wishes and sing the big-faced role that hurts the throat.

Xu Qing looked at Liu Su'e sideways. The determined look in her eyes was just like Yu Ji, who was willing to commit suicide for the Hegemon.

"..."

Xu Qing was silent for a moment, then picked up his hand and gave Liu Su'e a hit on the head.

"With your current cultivation, you can't even beat your apprentice Xiuniang, and you still want to help me? It's good enough if you don't hold me back!"

Seeing Boss Liu in pain but not red-eyed, but instead red-eyed when hearing that she was useless, Xu Qing had to add, "Cultivate well, don't think too much. You have already helped me a lot by being able to sing funeral operas in the funeral hall."

Liu Su'e nodded and agreed, and a smile appeared on her face instantly. ===== CHAPTER 285 =====