Chapter 23

Before Du Le could reply, there was a sudden commotion backstage. Several men in armor forcibly took a woman away from backstage.

The woman cried so pitifully that it made people feel pity for her.

"Make way, Jinwu Guards are doing routine business."

Jian Xinyi and the other person immediately stepped aside to make way, tacitly avoiding the question.

"Isn't that Sister Lingyan?" Du Le said in a low voice.

"She was taken away by the Jinwu Guards at this time. I guess the case is about to be closed."

Jian Xinyi's tone was slightly cold. Seeing Du Le's fearful look, she patted her head and said, "Don't worry too much. The Jinwu Guards will find a way."

"Yeah." Dule lowered his head slightly, not knowing what he was thinking.

More and more people gathered backstage, some even bumped into Dule, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

Jian Xinyi had no choice but to personally send her to the dormitory door and say goodbye to her.

"I'll come see you again in a few days."

For several days, Jian Xinyi hardly went out. She stayed at home looking at her previous drawings, preparing to draw the fourth chapter.

Good, she's a little unsure how to write.

This situation is generally called inspiration block or writer's block.

Jian Xinyi's mind was currently full of things about the opera troupe, and she stared blankly at the previous drawings.

Is this really a painting by her?

I've read the previous chapters over and over again, but I still can't figure out how to draw this last chapter.

I feel it would be better to start with the sunny boy's side story first, and then make it perfect!

The story of Sunshine Man mainly revolves around the two protagonists, Sunshine Man's cousin and the heroine's father. The tone of the story should be cheerful.

Jian Xinyi looked at the last drawing in front of her. A young man with a burning gaze sat on the wall, looking at the girl standing alone in the corner, and gently stretched out a hand.

Inside the wall is a garden full of spring peonies, and outside the wall is the fragrance of roses.

The girl gently held those hands and climbed over the wall.

This was the boldest decision the girl had ever made.

But when it came to the ending, Jian Xinyi was in trouble.

In ancient times, it was a taboo for a lady of noble family to climb over a wall. In a broad sense, it was considered breaking the feudal ethics, and in a narrow sense, it was considered as a girl being disobedient.

If she wrote too much fantasy, she would definitely be criticized. If she wrote too realistically, it would lack the dreamlike feeling of otome games.

During a brainstorming session, she spun the pen frantically, and found that she was spinning a brush.

There were ink splatters all over the clothes.

Jian Xinyi almost screamed out loud and immediately went to check the draft she had just drawn.

Fortunately, there was no inkling of trouble, so I felt relieved.

Forget it, why think so much? Maybe no one will read it.

The heroine escapes the relationship and successfully reunites with the sunny man, leading to a happy ending. Despite his family's objections, the sunny man marries the heroine, and the two live happily together in their home. The heroine's father, enraged, repeatedly tries to suppress the sunny man in an attempt to get her to return home. The sunny man counters these attempts, but is still banished to Huzhou. Despite the hardships, the heroine helps the sunny man suppress the local uprising in Huzhou. His outstanding achievements lead to his promotion back to Beijing, and the heroine's father finally accepts him.

The heroine chooses not to cheat on him, promising the sunny man that she will explain things to her family, leading to the BE ending. The sunny man, heartbroken, drinks the wine offered by his cousin at home. While drunk, he is framed by her, but remains steadfast. The heroine prepares to confront her family, but is unexpectedly locked up by her father. Soon, news breaks of the heroine's wedding date with the gentle man. The sunny man, mistakenly believing he has been betrayed, searches for her in vain, heartbroken, and ultimately obeys his family to marry his cousin. Both are married, but unexpectedly, they meet again at a lantern festival.

The sunny guy couldn't resist his cousin's temper, so they went to the lantern festival together. His cousin couldn't let go of the lanterns when she saw them, but the sunny guy's eyes stayed on one spot until the girl felt something was wrong and slowly turned her head away.

It seemed as if at this moment, the hustle and bustle of the lantern festival had nothing to do with them.

"Lin Zhuiyu, why didn't you respond after I called you several times?"

Jian Xinyi was so frightened that she trembled. She paused with her paintbrush and turned around to see her father leisurely walking in. "Someone is looking for you, that little girl from before."

"Dule?" Jian Xinyi tidied up the drawings on the table and followed her father to the door of the bookstore. Sure enough, she saw Dule standing there alone.

Before Jian Xinyi could ask, Du Le spoke first, "Sister Lin, I promised you the money for the book last time."

Jian Xinyi happily took the money, and including the portion she gave to Dule, she had not a penny less in her hand.

Jian Xinyi took the money but didn't forget her nature as a bootlicker. She quickly asked Du Le to sit down and pretended to pour him a glass of water. "Oh, it's hard for you to make another trip. You should have told me and let me go directly."

"Actually, I was kicked out this time," Dule said, tears streaming down his face. "The boss said I was not doing my job properly by buying these things and that my thoughts were not right."

"Ah?" Jian Xinyi hadn't expected this to happen, and hurried over to comfort him. "You mean, the boss saw you selling these things and kicked you out?"

Du Le tearfully recounted the events of the past few days, "Well, the girls in the troupe all liked to watch it, and somehow the troupe owner found out. He said he was going to kick me out and replace me with Yu Luo as the female role."

"Changing roles again?" Jian Xinyi was actually cautious. The last time the role was changed, Manru died. Who knows who will die this time? Maybe the troupe owner used this strategy to protect her.

That seems like the bully's style.

Jian Xinyi comforted her based on her own considerations. "Don't worry, stay here with me for now. Maybe the class owner feels that the courtyard is unsafe and has sent you out."

After all, no one can tell what exactly happened.

Jian Xinyi arranged Du Le in the bedroom and wanted to go to the opera troupe to find Qian Yuan and others to ask them clearly, but as soon as she went out, a dark shadow flashed past the door.

"who?"

Jian Xinyi ran towards the black shadow quickly, but saw nothing.

Did he follow Dule all the way here? Or was he the nephew of that wealthy man?

Jian Xinyi became cautious and quietly took a detour around here. After all, she was familiar with these streets.

The sounds of hawking came one after another around her, but she had no time to pay attention to them. She just tried to listen to her own footsteps and recall the nearest alley.

There is a dead end on the left.

Jian Xinyi quickly turned left and turned into the alley, and sure enough, she saw a man appear behind her.

She suddenly turned around and looked at the man in front of her with great surprise.

"Are you the steward of that theatre?"

Jian Xinyi was very puzzled. Seeing that the man didn't have anything suspicious in his hand, she slowly walked towards him and asked, "Are you here to see Du Le?"

The old housekeeper smiled and said to her, "The boss told me to follow slowly, so I followed him. I didn't expect her to find you."

"The boss asked you to come, why are you hiding?"

Jian Xinyi still didn't trust him.

The hawking sounds around did not stop, but the alley was extremely dark. Jian Xinyi could not see the expression of the person opposite her, and her heart gradually became uneasy.

After an unknown amount of time, the housekeeper asked quietly, "Is that the thing you asked her to sell?"

In an instant, a cold light came over, and Jian Xinyi quickly dodged to the side. Fortunately, she escaped the disaster.

With the faint light coming through the gap, she realized that it was actually a dagger.

"You, what are you doing?"

Jian Xinyi was unable to dodge. She never expected things to turn out like this.

The dazzling silver light stuck to her face and slid straight down to her shoulder. She screamed in pain, turned around and ran out of the alley.

The person behind her was still running very fast, and Jian Xinyi could only rush forward frantically, without even having the chance to analyze the strange situation in front of her.

At the critical moment, a petite figure appeared and interrupted this rather strange situation.

"Daddy, stop hitting her. Even if you kill her, it won't change anything."

The girl's cold voice startled Jian Xinyi. She looked back mechanically and saw Du Le standing in front of her, taking the knife with an expressionless face.

"We did so much, and it was all her fault. She was the one who got you kicked out by the boss."

The butler changed his gentle expression and became hysterical.

"You...you guys?"

Jian Xinyi finally had a chance to catch her breath. She tried hard to distinguish the two people in front of her who were so close to each other. She wanted to see clearly but felt a little dizzy, so she could only sit on the ground and wait.

The old housekeeper looked at the little girl in front of him almost pleadingly, "Dule, you are Daddy's only hope. Let's go to the troupe owner and plead for mercy. We can continue to sing the show in the future, ah."

The sound in the distance seemed to be getting farther and farther away. Jian Xinyi tried to stand up, but saw that her palms were covered in blood. The feeling of fear came over her like a tide again.

Du Le angrily shook off the old butler's hand, "Stop pretending. You want to make me a star, but is it because of me or yourself? You know it clearly. When have you not taken my monthly salary to gamble?"

Jian Xinyi felt dizzy when she saw the father and daughter arguing in front of her. Why couldn't they choose a good place to quarrel? Why did they have to quarrel here?

The heartbeat in her body became heavier and heavier. Jian Xinyi took deep breaths desperately, trying to eliminate the tension from her body.

The old housekeeper obviously didn't care about Jian Xinyi. He just explained to Du Le, "It's all...Xiaoying, it's all Daddy's fault. Daddy shouldn't have done that, but Daddy is sincere to Xiaoying. As long as Xiaoying can become the star of the Wanhua Pavilion, Daddy will never ask anything of you again."

Jian Xinyi quietly passed by the wall and gradually got closer and closer to the alley. She watched from afar that the two people were still entangled and ran hard to get out.

"Oh no, she ran away!"

The old butler pushed Du Le to the ground and followed Jian Xinyi's back closely.

Jian Xinyi was so miserable that she had to take a shortcut to the theater. Since all the trouble had happened there, she let the troupe owner solve it himself.

She stumbled toward the street, but her frail body was unable to support her forward. Jane Xinyi had no choice but to find an empty corner and tear off a piece of cloth to bandage herself.

There are people coming and going on the street, so I guess the housekeeper won't take action here.

Jian Xinyi paused for a long time, and seeing that there was no one around, she quietly stood up and continued walking towards the theater.

But at this moment, a young female voice suddenly sounded behind him.

"Sister, do you want to go back to the theater?"