Chapter 297: Nighttime Opera Stage

I sat down on the bed edge with a plop, feeling somewhat lost.

After calming down, my state of mind was more bewildered than fearful.

Because I knew that after returning from Small Camp Mouth, the Copper Coin Person would inevitably have some influence on Liu Junyan.

But no matter what the Copper Coin Person actually is, he essentially belongs to Dahui Chan Master, and is part of Liu Xingyi.

That is to say, he inherently belongs to Liu Junyan.

After figuring this out, I even thought that even if the Copper Coin Person gradually merges with Liu Junyan now, it might not necessarily be a bad thing.

But this merging process will generate many uncertain factors.

These uncertain factors have good aspects, and inevitably also bad ones.

Thus Liu Junyan feels bewildered and decides to return to Lofty Mountain to clarify everything.

What I didn't expect was that, in this process, the Copper Coin Person would come to pester me, which troubles me a bit.

Li Qingying had been standing by the bedside, looking at me worriedly.

After wiping the blood from my brow clean, I forced a smile toward her and said, "It's not a big problem, Sister Qingying, don't worry."

I stood up and called her to eat: "I'm almost starving to death; I haven't had a hot meal in days, I really miss your cooking."

That's the truth.

Having grown accustomed to Li Qingying's cooking, the longer I'm away, the more I crave it.

Li Qingying's dishes have the taste of home.

A full table of dishes are all to my liking.

I ate two big bowls, felt full, and pulled Li Qingying along for a walk by the river.

By now the sky is completely dark, the riverside is quiet, tonight there's no moon, and it looks like it might rain.

After all, it's already late spring; once summer arrives, thunderstorms will be more frequent. In this place, River City, the seasons are distinct and rainfall is generally higher than elsewhere, but I didn't pay much attention to it.

We walked while Li Qingying told me about some things that happened in Wufu Town these past few days.

"Bái Jiā Yīguǎn reopened with great fanfare, and has returned to its former bustling scene."

"The teahouse's opera stage has been upgraded; storytelling by day, opera by night, nonstop, business is even more booming than before."

Hearing this, I frowned: "Nonstop?"

Li Qingying nodded: "Exactly, I secretly observed that even at three in the morning there are faint opera sounds drifting out; honestly, listening in the dead of night gives one a creepy feeling."

I thought I should find some time to go check it out.

"Even stranger," Li Qingying continued, "Xiao Jiu, do you still remember that assembly hall in our town? The one we two explored together? I heard it's currently under renovation."

I stopped dead in my tracks.

The town mayor is renovating Wufu Town's assembly hall, and inside that hall a large opera stage has been erected; Mei Lin Shuang used to be a performer in that opera troupe.

At the same time, the teahouse also set up a nighttime opera stage.

These two things coinciding make me feel it's not accidental.

I asked: "Which came first, the renovation of the assembly hall or the teahouse setting up its nighttime opera stage? After the hall is renovated, will the opera stage still be open to the public?"

"It seems the assembly hall renovation came first, and the teahouse's nighttime opera stage only started the night before last." Li Qingying said, "As for whether the assembly hall's opera stage is still open, I don't know."

I walked while lowering my head in thought.

In just a few days, Wufu Town has actually seen so many things happen.

Moreover, the several things Li Qingying pointed out are clearly connected.

The town mayor's household venerates the Yellow Immortal, and the Yellow Immortal takes the White Immortal as its guide.

The Bai Family and the town mayor's side are simultaneously taking action; this certainly isn't coincidental.

What do they intend to do with the assembly hall's opera stage?

Is the teahouse's nighttime opera stage perhaps set up specifically targeting the assembly hall?

After all, on the town mayor's attic upstairs still rests a Red Coffin…

Red Coffin!

That Red Coffin is lined with a piece of human skin, which was peeled from Mei Lin Shuang's body; therefore Mei Lin Shuang has been continuously imprisoned inside that Red Coffin.

Later, when the town mayor tried to seal me inside that Red Coffin, my blood dripped in, giving Mei Lin Shuang a brief chance to leave the Red Coffin.

During the Red Flag Child incident, Mei Lin Shuang also gave the Red Flag Child a bag of silver dollars.

Thinking of Mei Lin Shuang, I can't help but feel heartache.

She is again a kind and ill-fated woman.

If the town mayor really intends to move that Red Coffin, it will inevitably affect Mei Lin Shuang; I cannot stand by and do nothing about this.

As for the teahouse side, the newly arrived somewhat plump female proprietor—I actually never thought her identity would be simple from the start.

After all, the teahouse belongs to Gu Yan.

Gu Yan has returned to Xiangxi; even if she wanted to transfer the teahouse elsewhere, she wouldn't casually hand it over to an ordinary person.

The Wufu Town teahouse is also not something just anyone can keep running.

Thinking this through, I immediately turned around, deciding not to return to the pawnshop first; I want to go meet the teahouse proprietress.

But just then, Li Qingying grabbed my hand.

I looked up at her, but she was staring toward the pawnshop's direction and said, "Xiao Jiu, look, who is that?"

Following her gaze, I saw a person standing under the hexagonal palace lamp on the west side of the pawnshop's eaves.

A slender woman dressed in all white, with a white veil covering her face.

It's Bái Sōnglán!

At this moment, she is tilting her face upward to look at the hexagonal palace lamp.

When I looked at her, she seemed to sense something and suddenly turned her face to look toward where we were standing.

Even though we were over a hundred meters apart, I could clearly feel that when Bái Sōnglán looked at me, her gaze instantly turned vicious.

The next moment, that white figure came flying at me, and I reached out and pulled Li Qingying aside.

I also threw my head back, and three white spikes flew past, almost brushing my nose bridge.

I had just steadied myself when Bái Sōnglán was already in front of me; she grabbed my collar, jammed her elbow into my chest, and kept shoving me backward until I was pressed against the wall.

Li Qingying rushed forward to strike, but I raised my hand to stop her.

Bái Sōnglán's face was almost touching mine as she gritted her teeth and shouted, 'Where did you hide him! Give him back to me!'

Her eyes were bloodshot, and she remained in a frenzied state.

She seemed to smell the Copper Coin Person on me, but since she couldn't find him, she became even more frenzied.

I didn't answer, nor did I panic; I simply stared at her.

My reaction infuriated Bái Sōnglán completely; she raised her other hand, pinching four white spikes between her fingers.

The sharp tips of the white spikes were almost jabbing into my eyeballs, while Li Qingying stomped her feet in frustration beside me: 'What good is that drunkard Bái Jīngmò? How could he let this lunatic out again!'

I remained calm, and at the moment Bái Sōnglán was most frenzied, I reached up and tore off the veil on her face.

As the veil was ripped away, Bái Sōnglán covered the lower half of her face and let out a desperate scream.

Even though she moved quickly, we still saw her rotting lower face.

The white veil was Bái Sōnglán's fig leaf, the last psychological barrier she tried to use to hide her inner demon……