The curtain rises

Mr. Zhang, the erotic writer, once taught that if you encounter a problem you don't know how to solve, you should put on a play. Who among us, men and women, isn't an actor on the stage? And where isn't a stage?

It's just that you sing and then I take the stage. After seeing it often, you will be able to sing and perform, and maybe even write your own.

"How is it?" Feichun asked in the confinement room with his eyes closed.

"What?" Nie Qing was too lazy to pay attention to her.

"How was the performance?" She looked up at Nie Qing expectantly, blinking her eyes.

Nie Qing snorted coldly: "I don't understand what you are doing."

Feichun closed his eyes and said complacently, "They sent a spy like Wang Wu to capture our people, but they won't allow me to send a loyal spy?"

The speaker may not intend it, but the listener may take it seriously.

Nie Qing's throat tightened, and she swallowed what she wanted to say after much deliberation. She hesitated, and in the end, she didn't say anything. She locked herself in the solitary confinement room, unable to see Ye Feichun's face through the airtight wall, before she finally asked, "How do you know he's so loyal?"

Because he is Liu Qingbai, Liu Er from the North Courtyard, her second son, the one who named her, taught her to read and write, and wanted to take her to see a wider world.

"Just like Miss Yin trusts you unconditionally." I don't know if Nie Qing heard it.

Nie Qing didn't know what Feichun was planning, but whenever she heard Ziyan's name, her heart would always turn sour. She softened her tone and asked, "Ziyan...she's still different..."

"To you, Zi Yan is naturally different. And to me, the Second Young Master is also different."

After Ye Feichun finished speaking, he felt that time had fallen into a long silence, and he didn't know whether Nie Qing had left?

After a long while, a voice came from outside the door: "Are you sure you can rescue Yinghua?"

"have."

This wasn't a random confidence. Feichun had given Qingbai the key, she had arranged for Helanzhu to appear, and she had staged the sword-to-knife quarrel with Nie Qing that was known throughout the mountain. She was betting on Liu Qingbai's conscience, on his deep love for her, and on the weight she held in his heart that outweighed his career.

It was obvious that Feichun thought he had made the right bet, because Yinghua came back soon.

In the mist, Yinghua staggered towards Mingyue Village from the chaos with a wooden box in his hands. The box contained Wang Wu's head.

"Is this Liu Qingbai's token of surrender?" Helan Zhu took a look at the wooden box and took a deep breath. He buried it quickly because he thought it was unlucky. While burying it, he muttered in his heart, "The bird is dead and the bow is hidden. You can blame Liu Qingbai, don't blame me."

Yinghua walked all the way, carrying the head, feeling terrified. She studied medicine, so it wasn't the severed fingers and debris that frightened her. After this experience, she'd seen life and death. She felt the soldiers could easily have tied her up and released her. She was used to walking the entire way from the bottom of the mountain to the top, but this time, it felt incredibly heavy, a sense of sadness in her heart, and all she saw was a desolate scene.

It was autumn, she consoled herself.

As for Wang Wu, he deserved it. That handsome young man was no match for Wang Wu; it was Wang's wife who personally chopped off his head. The blood was warm, splashing on her face, but Wang Wu's wife's tears were cold, falling into her palms, stirring not pity but a surge of blood.

"Are you injured?" Nie Qing checked Yinghua inside and out, and only felt relieved after confirming that there was nothing wrong with her. "Sister Yinghua has suffered."

Yinghua kept her head down, buttoning the corner of her sleeve awkwardly, and twitching the corner of her mouth as if she wanted to say something.

"Anything to say?"

"She's not the Medicine Fairy, she's clearly a clay Buddha!" ​​He Lanzhu sneered, leaning against the door frame. Knowing Yinghua, he was afraid she was going to save Wang Wu's wife again.

"The Wang family's wife is pregnant and has noble character. In the cellar, she helped me time and again. Otherwise... I'm afraid I'll never be able to return to Mingyue Village." Yinghua said with tears in her eyes, clutching Nie Qing's sleeve, "Yinghua has an unwelcome request..."

Nie Qing said nothing, but glanced at Helan Zhu meaningfully. He was right. He was clearly in danger, yet he still had a compassionate heart.

Nie Qing hesitated for a long time, and decided to appease Yinghua first. She replied, "You should rest first. Give me some time to come up with a win-win solution."

Yinghua left with peace of mind after hearing Nie Qing's agreement. She was slow to react, and only when she reached the door did she suddenly realize the current situation of Mingyue Village. Feeling guilty, she slowly turned back, her face filled with shame as she stammered, "Actually, you could have refused me, Boss."

Nie Qing smiled and shook her head, telling her to put her mind at ease. Since she had promised, she would definitely do it. She wasn't trying to establish her own power; she simply wanted to create a comfortable and secure environment for Zi Yan.

"I see that there is more than one clay Buddha. Mingyue Village is full of gods. You don't even need to burn incense to get your wishes fulfilled." Helan Zhu sat aside and teased Nie Qing. Seeing that Nie Qing ignored him, he left tactfully.

He had come from all walks of life and only cared about how to make his life better, not being a clay Buddha. As for how long Mingyue Village could survive, they would just have to live one day at a time.

"You know why Nie Qing built Mingyue Village. Why bother with all this? She's not really the king of the mountain." Fei Chun was taken out of the confinement room by Helan Zhu and listened to his complaints all the way.

No one knows better than them how Mingyue Village came to be.

"But Miss Yin hasn't written to me for a long time. I just think we should move on."

Feichun glanced at Helanzhu and sighed deeply. She knew it had been a long time since Sister Ziyan's letter arrived, and that the world was in dire straits. But no one could understand Nie Qing's situation better than she did.

"Come on! Come with me and catch some pheasants!"

"Pheasant? It's better to catch some free-range chickens, they are fatter." Helan Zhu disliked the pheasant meat in the mountains because there were few meat and many bones, and it was so tough that it got stuck in his teeth.

"You don't understand. Nie Qing loves to eat wild chickens in the mountains. I'm going to apologize."

Speaking of Nie Qing, she was a hunter in the mountains. One day, she was caught in a snowstorm and found herself trapped. She had thought herself dead, but suddenly, a sense of relief washed over her, she quietly nestled in the snow, waiting for the Black and White Impermanence to take her to the underworld. She was an orphan, raised by her brother and sister-in-law, but her hometown had not treated her well.

Just for two mountain products, her brother and sister-in-law were beaten to death by the servants of the Tongyi Marquis's household. She had no one to turn to and was left alone from then on.

What should she do? Revenge? She couldn't even tell which way to go from the Marquis of Tongyi's mansion.

Nie Qing lay in the snow, feeling so cold and heavy that she couldn't breathe. Perhaps this was the retribution she deserved for her cowardice and timidity.

In the distance, in the vast expanse of white snow, a purple figure swayed towards her in the wind and snow.

"Is it the goddess in the mountains?" These were her last words before she lost consciousness.

When she woke up again, there was a fire in the room. The warmth made her dizzy. There was also chicken soup on the stove, which was made from pheasant in the mountains.

"Nie Dong's sister?" The purple-robed fairy asked softly as she warmed herself by the fire with her back to her.

"Yeah. Who are you?"

"I'm from the Tianxian Pavilion. My last name is Yin. You can just call me Ziyan."

Yin Ziyan turned around with the chicken soup in her hand, and Nie Qing saw a stunningly beautiful face amidst the rising steam. Her face was slightly flushed, and it was unclear whether it was from the heat or embarrassment.

"Rest assured, this is the room I use to rest when I go up the mountain to collect herbs. We'll go down the mountain after the snow stops."

"Okay." Nie Qing drank the chicken soup in a daze and nodded. The slightly hot chicken soup mixed with the thin and cold layer on his lips flowed down his throat and into his stomach.

In Nie Qing's eyes, Yin Ziyan was a goddess in the mountains. As she watched her reflection floating on the chicken soup, her heart was also moved.

From then on, the Yin family of Tianxian Pavilion had an extra personal guard, who was picked up from the mountains.

"How about this pheasant?" Feichun personally stewed the soup to apologize. She didn't know anything else, so this was all she could think of.

Nie Qing took a glance and laughed out loud, which was considered a reconciliation.

"Don't eat this pheasant anymore. It's too boney and tough."

"But the pheasant stew is delicious!" Feichun smiled at Nie Qing, blinking and coquettishly asking, "Are you still angry?"

"How dare I get angry with you?" Nie Qing took a few sips of soup and laughed again. "I'm just worried about Yinghua, and I'm also worried that you'll be possessed by evil and make the wrong choice."

Nie Qing paused and said, "After all, no one would refuse a precious person who has been brought back to life."

The precious person who came back to life?

Feichun chewed over these words in silence, his eyes moist.

"A letter from Sister Ziyan...?"

Before she could finish her words, Nie Qing poured her a bowl of soup and said, "Have some yourself."

The world is not a good place. The longer the time interval between letters, the more uneasy Nie Qing feels. Even if the answer is known to everyone, she firmly believes that the letters are just arriving too slowly.

Tongyi Hou's letter arrived faster than Yin Ziyan's, and Shen Ju'an had already received new instructions.

"When did you join Marquis Tongyi?" Liu Qingbai asked in a deep voice while standing outside the door.

"You misunderstood." Shen Ju'an was not panicked by being discovered, but burned the letter on his own. He didn't care whether Liu Qingbai believed it or not, and he was not afraid even if it was reported to the court.

The current imperial court is just an empty shell. It has only a title but no real power. Shen Ju'an wants to be second only to the emperor and above everyone else, so joining the Marquis of Tongyi is the best choice.

"You know that one of my servants was killed by the Marquis of Tongyi, right?"

"He's just a servant. If he dies, we'll replace him with a more useful one." Shen Ju'an patted Liu Qingbai's shoulder and pointed upwards. "If he's not useful, we'll replace him with a more useful one."

Shen Ju'an walked out of the dark room. He thought he was on a bright and prosperous road, but who could tell what the world would be like in today's world?

The opera was being performed in the opera house today: "Peach Blossom Fan." The stage was simple, and the actors were dressed simply. Halfway through the performance, Shen Ju'an led his men to surround the opera house.

The boss was a young man named Yuan. He quickly came out to greet Lord Shen.

Shen Ju'an weighed the change in his purse and put it in his arms, but he didn't leave. He glanced around cunningly and said, "I heard someone report that you are harboring rebels?"

Leader Yuan immediately knelt down and begged Lord Shen for mercy, saying that he was a coward and would never dare to harbor the rebels.

"Then take off your makeup and show it to me." Shen Ju'an sat down under the stage and looked at the colorful scene on the stage. Who knows if it is hidden in the oil paint?

Speaking of which, the letter from Marquis Tongyi mentioned the Wei family, but didn't mention the name of the person who was lingering on. With just this clue, he was able to find this opera house. Marquis Tongyi naturally appreciated him, and I believe that his future rise to prominence is just around the corner.

Captain Wei of Fengcheng and Feng Zheng of Yanxiaguan were former classmates and sworn brothers. The Feng family had been at odds with the Marquis for years, and the unwise Wei family had also gotten involved, so it was no wonder the Marquis was ruthless in his quest to exterminate them.

He scraped off the foam from the lid of the tea bowl, then looked up to see a row of actors with plain faces standing in front of him.

They were all young teenagers, skinny and bony.

"Is everything here?"

Boss Yuan nodded.

Shen Ju'an looked around, but the person he was looking for was not there. But the "Li Xiangjun" on the stage just now was not there either.

"You all sing a few lines."

The young opera singers all followed suit, and just as Shen Ju'an had expected, the "Li Xiangjun" on the stage just now was not among them. He had sharp ears and could not hide it from him.

"Where are the people?"

The officers and soldiers had already rushed into the Pear Garden with knives, and the sharp blades were placed on the neck of the troupe leader Yuan.

"It's all here," explained Master Yuan respectfully. His expression was calm and composed, unlike that of an ordinary citizen.

"Except for Master Yuan, let's kill them all." Shen Ju'an was afraid of dirtying his official uniform, so he shook his robe and strode out of the opera house. Walking further wouldn't dirty his ears.

It is better to kill a thousand people by mistake than to let one go. This was the token of his loyalty he gave to the Marquis of Tongyi.

Liu Qingbai stood in the teahouse across the street, looking down at the entire opera house, watching the various changes but unable to do anything. Watching the raging fire burning the entire street to ashes, Shen Ju'an had long since changed. He was terrified. What would such a person do to Mingyue Village?

He saw Master Yuan running away from the engulfing flames with the girl. He couldn't get far in such a public spotlight, as he was followed by several soldiers. They must be Shen Ju'an's men, and the girl was related to the Wei family.

Liu Qingbai was not in a position to show up, so he hid himself in a place where the candlelight could not illuminate him. He said in a deep voice, "I'll have to trouble you with these matters."

The woman hiding in the darkness, wearing a cloak and covering her face, responded, "You're welcome, Mr. Liu. This is what I should do."