Chapter 23 (Painting Opera)

My name is Shen Qi, and I am the youngest captain in the Danzhou City Guard Battalion.

I love my name, but my grandfather doesn't.

Oh, I forgot to mention, my original surname was Xia. My grandfather was a servant of the Shen family in Shengjing. Later, he rose step by step to the position of head steward thanks to his outstanding abilities. When he retired in his old age, my father inherited my grandfather's position and is now the head steward of the Shen family in Danzhou.

And I, with the blessing of these halos, was successfully given the family name, which should have been an honorable thing, and my father was also very happy. However, my proud grandfather always rolled his eyes at it.

"Being angry is not as good as playing chess."

As a little child, I looked at my grandfather's white beard, licked my fingers, and thought dreamily, "I'll get angry, but I don't know how to play chess."

Why can't I play chess? Oh, it's because my good friend, Shen Dongsheng, the young master of the Danzhou Prefectural Governor's Mansion, forgot to teach me.

Let me think back, it was an extremely cold winter.

Shen Dongsheng told me that his birthday was coming up and his father was going to go to the mountains to make him a beautiful red fox fur. I was so envious that I squealed and cried. Shen Dongsheng said that I was tall and big, but I looked like a bear.

I was angry, and the young master noticed. Then he jumped up and patted me on the shoulder with a flourish.

"Okay, okay, don't be angry. Your name is Xia Qi. I'll teach you how to play chess in a couple of days, okay?"

“My mother taught me a couple of days ago. My mother’s chess skills are even better than my father’s.”

"I'll teach you in a couple of days, and we'll play chess together, so Xia Qi, you can't be angry anymore, okay?"

I nodded blankly, "Okay, okay, you can teach me to play chess, Xia Qi won't be angry."

I kept thinking about that sentence, waiting and waiting, until the snow piled up to my knees, but Dongsheng still didn't come to teach me how to play chess.

I was angry and wanted to go find him, but my grandfather stopped me.

I looked at my grandfather's white beard and white hair, and it felt so white, so very white. Then suddenly, the world was so white, so very white, the governor's mansion was so white, everything was white.

Since then, I have rarely seen my young master.

They said the governor was blaming the young master for being disobedient, for insisting on a red fox fur for his birthday. That year, heavy snow blocked the mountain pass, and the governor was unable to see his late wife one last time because of this.

I was slow-witted back then, but I felt that Dongsheng was not wrong. We were just kids, and my grandfather said that children shouldn't be held responsible for the things adults did.

However, many people don't think that way.

Dong Sheng didn't think so either.

When I saw the young master again, he was like a completely different person.

I went up to him, wanting to hug him, but he pushed me away.

I saw his eyes redden, and I held back my tears, my eyes swollen and red.

Dongsheng looked at me and shouted at me not to cry. His eyes were red and ugly. He hated red the most, and he hated the red of the red fox.

Looking at him, I felt an overwhelming sense of pain for the first time.

Young Master Mingming's favorite color is red...

At that time, I was too young. Although I was silly, I still went up to him again to pat him and tell him not to cry. However, in no time, the governor sent people to pull me away.

...

In the tenth year of Tianchen, I first entered the Danzhou City Guard Camp.

Some people mocked the eldest son of the governor's mansion behind his back, saying he was a good-for-nothing, obsessed with studying the ways of the unorthodox, spending his days drinking and watching plays in strange ways, and neglecting his duties.

I heard them, so I fought with them.

I beat them black and blue, and then the coach sent me home.

That night, Shen Dongsheng came to see me.

We drank a lot of wine, and I sat on the steps, not wanting to talk, but Shen Dongsheng unusually talked to me for a long time.

He kept muttering to himself, saying that he had asked the governor for help, and that he would work hard and live a good life after returning to the camp. He also said that he would not care about him anymore, because he was going to do something, something that had been on his mind for a very long time.

I didn't understand what he was saying, and I didn't want to stop him.

Much later, I realized that I should have listened to Dongsheng's words with the most focused mind I've ever had, and then punched him hard in the face to stop him.

That night, as I watched his tall, thin back, I called out to him loudly.

"Dongsheng, so why did you insist that the governor personally hunt down that red fox pelt back then?"

Shen Dongsheng, who was already a tall young man at that time, looked at me with a sorrowful smile on his face, dressed in white.

His eyes also reddened.

"They were arguing. Father said it was just a fox, and Mother didn't say anything."

“I was really, really scared of them back then… so I told my father that I wanted a red fox pelt as my birthday gift.”

“Mother also spoke up. She rarely gave Father a smile. She wanted Father to go into the mountains to hunt herself.”

"As soon as Father left, Mother fell ill."

“I was right next to my mother when she closed her eyes.”

Everything has changed.

“I used to think that my father was right, and that I was too naughty and immature, which is why my mother couldn’t see my father one last time.”

"But today, I know."

"I understand now. I understand why Mother didn't like the red fox. I understand now. Mother's life was so hard. I understand now. My father... he's a madman, a madman..."

Shen Dongsheng read aloud, but he didn't finish his sentences. He cried, and I cried too.

She cried herself to sleep.

In a daze, I seemed to hear Dongsheng say, “Shenqi, my path lies in ghosts. You must believe me. The things in this world are nothing but reincarnation.”

“I know it is impossible, but no one can stop me, nor can I.”

"Shen Qi... I have already met a difficult end, if in the end..."

"Come and see me off..."

When I woke up again, Dongsheng was gone.

...

In the fourteenth year of Tianchen, my grandfather fell seriously ill.

As the eldest grandson, I took a special leave to stay by his bedside.

That usually lucid, wise, cheerful, and quick-tempered old man was now lying on his deathbed, barely clinging to life.

I almost cried again, but my grandfather saw me and laughed at me, saying I was too useless.

I wiped away my tears and, being a dutiful child, didn't argue back.

On his deathbed, my grandfather had some strength left. He held my hand and said many things to me.

It was then that I realized that in my grandfather's heart, the most important person was not my father, nor me, but the governor, the upright and honest Shen Mushan, who had always been by his side as a child, from Shengjing to Danzhou.

Grandfather said that the Shen family members were a bit crazy at heart, but Shen Mushan was always gentle and polite, and knew how to advance and retreat with propriety.

He came from a prestigious family, served as a tutor to the crown prince, and was betrothed to a woman from the Mu family since childhood—it was all such a wonderful thing.

But fate played a cruel trick on him. Shen Mushan was entangled with a female demon, a fox spirit, who ruined the marriage between the Mu and Shen families.

Grandfather sighed softly. He said that back then, as a servant, he thought simply: if the young master's marriage was called off, so be it; he couldn't force it.

Who would have thought that after being refused a meeting with the Mu family's wife multiple times, Shen Mushan would set up a scheme in the court to ruin the Mu family's career, and then arrange for someone to threaten the Mu family. He would then enter the scheme as her fiancé to save them and bring about his marriage with the Mu family's wife.

After Zhang Xingwen, the son of the Zhang family, realized the truth, he targeted Shen Mushan in the court. At that time, the new emperor ascended the throne, and there were many troubles in Shengjing. The emperor was deeply concerned about the future. Not long after, Shen Mushan requested to go to Danzhou City to serve as an official, and he served there for almost twenty years.

That's a true story, one that nobody knows anymore.

I looked at my grandfather in disbelief, thinking he was talking nonsense. But then he suddenly burst into laughter. The old man's beard twitched as he laughed, but then tears streamed down his face.

My grandfather said that Madam Mu was an extremely good young lady, and she and Governor Shen were a loving couple for a long time after she married into the family.

But who would have thought that the fox spirit would come after the governor again that year, and before he could explain, the lady's father and mother died one after the other.

It was all too late.

The lady was an extremely gentle person, and also an extremely resilient woman.

Such a person would never forgive Shen Mushan or himself after these things happened.

For the next few years, they were an ill-fated couple, and Shen Dongsheng was the shackle between them.

Sometimes, they themselves are marked with red welts from the shackles, and the shackles themselves become very careful.

A breeze swept by, blinding people's eyes.

My grandfather got tired as he talked, and I thought, the past is gone, the person is gone, wouldn't it be better to just let it all pass?

My grandfather looked at me and smiled, saying that I had a kind heart.

The old man lay in bed and said a few words to me before he passed away.

“I’ve seen it all these years, young master. I know he’s bound to do something wrong… just like his father… who won’t let anyone off the hook…”

Gently, Grandfather closed his eyes.

Tears still welled up in my eyes. Looking at my grandfather's aged and serene face, I found myself lost in thought, a rare occurrence for me.

Did the fox spirit entangle herself with the governor, or were the two of them already entangled?

Did Madam Mu know that the events of the Mu family back then were related to the governor?

Was it Dong Sheng's request or Madam Mu's idea that the governor went hunting in the mountains in the snow that year?

When the governor returned with the red fox fur and heard the news of Madam Mu's death, who was to blame—Dongsheng or himself?

Dongsheng, on the other hand, has recently made many arrangements at the Mingxi Pavilion in the city, and even secretly staged several plays, all for a strange actress who resembles Madam Mu—

What is he trying to do?

Is all of this a cruel twist of fate, a machination of destiny, or simply a matter of the main characters' inherent nature, which, no matter how many times it happens, will never change the ending?

I've been thinking about it for days, for days.

I finally let go when my grandfather was buried.

I've come to realize that I need to live my life well.

...

On the fifteenth day of the seventh month of the sixteenth year of Tianchen, at the Four Seasons Courtyard of the Governor's Office.

Shen Dongsheng died on that rainy day. He held his painting, curled up on the ground like a child, and died peacefully.

I am his body collector.

Every year thereafter, on the fifteenth of the seventh month, we would go to Dongsheng's grave.

I will come and keep him company.

I rarely spoke, just quietly kept him company, and it seemed I had grasped another truth—

People should learn to give other people's lives back to them.

Of course, I don't really know what those words mean. It's just a sentence that suddenly popped into my head. I even wondered if Dong Sheng, who was underground, had figured it out and deliberately put it into my head.

I laughed at myself.

Gradually, I couldn't remember those principles anymore.

The only thing I'm sure of is that every time I come to see the young master, I have to remember to bring a chess set and a pot of wine, so I can play chess and drink with him.

However, I've been playing randomly because no one has ever taught me how to play chess.

It's alright, I just wanted to tell the young master.

Although you made a mistake, many people in Danzhou City hate you, and your father doesn't care about you.

But I'm not angry with you.

Oh well, you probably don't remember any of that anyway.

fine.

I will diligently protect Danzhou, strive to save lives and quell rebellions, and accumulate merit.

Shen Dongsheng, I believe in you, I believe in your principles.

so,

When we arrive in the underground world,

I will kneel and beg the King of Hell to recount my merits.

May the good deeds you have done in this life erase your evil.

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A note from the author: