Chapter 18 Women Playing Men
Cang Ming fled back to Xiyuan Sanfang, tumbling and crawling. When she rushed through the gate, a table of food had been set up behind the screen, and everyone was sitting around it, with Xisheng waving at her.
Cang Ming sighed and walked over, then sat down with a thud. Wu Lu poured her a bowl of rice, and she nodded in thanks, her mind still replaying the last scene in the ancient building.
At the end of this scene, Wei Ci stretched out a hand absentmindedly, as if to wipe the tears from her face.
Cang Ming shot out in terror, running out of the ancient building. As she ran onto the road and glanced back, she saw the expression on Wei Ci's face. It was an expression so vivid, profound, and heartbreaking that she would never forget it.
"Oh, Cang Ming." Wu Lu waved his hand in front of her face, "Are you listening?"
Cang Ming refocused his gaze and asked, "What did you say?"
Wu Lu snorted, "I've already found out what you asked me to investigate."
Cang Ming immediately regained some of his spirits: "Old Ghost Lotus? Where is he? What is his relationship with Tian Xinshu?"
Wu Lu said, "Please swallow your food. I'm afraid if I tell you, you'll all vomit."
Everyone swallowed it cooperatively, put down their chopsticks and stared at Wu Lu.
Despite the arrival of winter, Wu Lu still flicked his folding fan and said, "Old Gui Lian loves to play with young men. These young men must be handsome, with fair skin and a thin body, just like Brother Wei..."
Wei Qiang coughed violently, "Music Fairy, there's no need to talk about this."
Cang Ming checked whether the soundproof screen was intact, so that Hua Yi upstairs would not be sad if she heard it.
"Right, right, let's get to the point." Wu Lu continued, "This old ghost lotus calls himself a lotus, and his totem and magic tools are also lotus. His whereabouts are uncertain, and his lair in the human world, Seventeen Smoke, is guarded by flower demons. For all these years, no one has been able to do anything to him."
Cang Ming sneered: "Since he ran into me, I have to do something to him."
Wu Lu nodded and added, "He and Tian Xinshu have never had a direct confrontation, nor have they ever appeared together. It's hard to say whether they are accomplices, enemies, or strangers."
Xisheng narrowed his eyes and said, "You are absolutely right."
Wu Lu shouted indignantly, "Do you think it's so easy to find out about someone in the underworld?"
Cang Ming asked: "Then he and Wei Yang Guan..."
Wu Lu interjected, "When the Weiyang Crown first came out a few years ago, he certainly joined in the fight for it. But now, no one knows about it, and no one has ever seen the Weiyang Crown."
Xi Sheng said calmly: "So, who cast the curse is unknown. Who will get the Weiyang Crown is unknown. Whether it is to lure Cang Ming into the game is unknown."
Cang Ming asked in confusion, "He doesn't seem to be very capable, so why has no one ever dealt with this old fellow?"
"Who cares about this kind of thing? It won't bring fame, and it doesn't count as an achievement." Wu Lu said leisurely, "There are laws in the court that stipulate that raping a woman will only result in three months in prison, not to mention that there are no regulations on the consequences of raping a man."
Xisheng sneered, "Last time, a woman refused to endure the bullying and oppression of her husband's family, and was punished severely."
Wei Qiang said indignantly: "The old ghost is just taking advantage of the situation and doing whatever he wants."
"Okay, okay." Cang Ming nodded and said, "This is interesting, isn't it?"
"That's right, what's the point of something so simple." Wu Lu covered the lower half of his face with a fan, tilted his head and cast a seductive glance at Cang Ming, "Sister Cang, I got some information for you, and it cost me a jar of fig and pear soup."
"What is it?" several people asked in unison.
Wu Lu put down his fan and solemnly announced, "Three days from now, a group of students from the opera theater will pass through Fengyan City on their way to the capital to perform."
Xisheng said, "Maybe the old ghost will come."
"That's right." Wu Lu said affirmatively, "The old ghost is obsessed with sex and loves watching plays. Feng Yancheng is not far from Shiqi Yan. I believe he will come here to rape and rob people, and then bring them back to his lair."
Cang Ming raised his head and said, "Even if he has nothing to do with the Weiyang Crown, I will still take care of it."
Xunyan and Mixia both cheered loudly.
Xisheng said, "Then, we should select someone from the Pear Garden who knows some martial arts to serve as bait?"
Wei Qiang pondered and said, "That old fellow is an evil demon after all. Even I can't beat him..."
Cang Ming clenched his fists: "No ordinary person can do it, we need a capable Taoist priest to act as bait!"
The others all looked at her with appreciative eyes.
Cang Ming was stunned: "Well, it's not impossible..."
Xisheng stared at her thoughtfully and said, "Cang Ming is quite tall, so it wouldn't be out of place to say he's a boy of fourteen or fifteen."
Wu Lu crossed his arms and said, "Cang Ming's martial arts and magic power are so strong that even a big and strong man can't compare to him."
Wei Qiang offered, "Ghost Buster, I can lend you my new clothes."
Cang Ming was so generous that he slammed the table and said, "It's settled."
Several people put their heads together, whispering and muttering about this and that.
Rumor has it that a long procession of carriages and horses from the opera theater will arrive in Fengyan City tonight and settle in the three blocks of Xiyuan.
It was surprising to see that for the first time ever, guests were staying in the dilapidated old building in Xiyuan Sanfang.
From dusk on, the gates of the three courtyards of Xiyuan were filled with people watching the excitement. Those men and women who had survived the plague, along with their children, waited in front of the gates, awaiting the arrival of the group known as the most talented students from the Central Plains.
Wei Qiang held up his scratcher and kept calling out, "Please don't gather in large groups. The plague hasn't passed yet and there's a tendency for it to spread in small areas!"
The old and young masters turned a deaf ear and talked about the opera performers with relish in the freezing cold weather.
Someone said, "You know, they say these handsome young men, with their looks and figures, wow, wow, wow, they're absolutely amazing."
Someone else immediately said, "The voices are all clear and pleasant."
"That look, that stage, that singing voice... there's nothing like it today!"
In a guest room on the second floor, Cang Ming hid behind a bamboo curtain, peering out the window through the cracks. He whispered to Xi Sheng, "If mortals gather here and a fight breaks out, it would be bad if someone gets hurt by mistake."
Xisheng said, "Okay, let's go and lead them away. Can you do it yourself?"
Cang Ming nodded and said, "Leave this to me."
Xisheng came downstairs, sat in the lobby, took out his trumpet and started playing as if nothing had happened.
As the music started playing, the people at the door covered their ears and fled. Those who ran a little way out started cursing, "Feng Yan City didn't die from the plague, but this crappy music killed everyone off."
People did not dare to approach the three blocks of Xiyuan anymore and instead wandered around the city gate.
Soon, a gray convoy slowly pulled into Fengyan City. Whether it was the people, the vehicles, or the old horses, they were all a pale gray, and under the light, they looked like a group of shadows, almost blending into the night.
The motorcade drove through the long street and stopped in front of the Sanfang Gate of Xiyuan. A group of onlookers followed behind, whispering to each other:
"Why can't I see her face clearly? It's like she's covered from head to toe with a gray veil."
"But this grey yarn is obviously made of good material, really good material..."
"Let's go, let's go. They'll be dressing up tomorrow morning, maybe they can put on a show for us!"
"You're dreaming, kid. Who's going to pay for a poor ghost town like this?"
Wu Lu, Xun Yan and Mi Xia were extremely busy, running around, but it was hard to tell what they were busy with.
Wu Lu ran up to the children of the opera garden and bowed deeply: "Welcome!"
After a while, he ran to the back door and shouted, "Hurry up and pour tea for the distinguished guests from the opera garden!"
After a while, he stood at the gate again and said in full force, "Ten guest rooms have been prepared upstairs. Please go back to your rooms and take a shower!"
The leader stroked his gray veil and bowed, saying, "Thank you, boss. We'll go into the room and rest now."
After that, the group walked up the stairs with light and elegant steps, each of them went into their room and closed the door. Some were three to a room, and some were two to a room.
Wu Lu smiled at Xun Yan and Mi Xia and said, "See? The most popular young actor has a room all to himself!"
Xun Yan repeated, "See, the most popular young actor has a room all to himself."
That night, the lights in the three wards of Xiyuan were turned off early, and it was as silent as a tomb.
Cang Ming stayed in the guest room on the second floor the whole time, mobilizing his five senses to take in all the movements outside.
After midnight, wisps of evil spirit seeped in through the crack in the door, growing thicker and thicker. Wu Lu, Xi Sheng, and Wei Qiang slept peacefully in their rooms, their snores and teeth grinding echoing out.
Cang Ming waved his hand and lit the candle. A black silhouette appeared on the paper-covered wooden door. The figure was tall, with a high ponytail, and looked heroic and neat.
The night was long, and Cang Ming performed every move in the play to the sound of the night watchman's bamboo clappers and the chanting from somewhere unknown.
The cloud hands appear, the waist is pinched and steps are taken, the wind-fire wheels turn, and the flag flies with the wind.
But the silhouettes on the door are as gorgeous as flowers, with graceful singing and dancing, and the rising and falling of the curtain, which intoxicates the audience.
There were two ding-dong sounds, and someone stood outside the house and knocked on the door politely. However, there was no shadow of this person, and only Cang Ming's figure was still on the wooden door.
Cang Ming held his breath and walked towards the door step by step.
She didn't dare to speak, so she reached out and knocked on the door twice.
The person outside the door seemed overjoyed, as if he understood the two sounds as a flirtatious response.
An old, dull voice sounded through the door: "Excuse me, may I come in?"
That polite tone gave Cang Ming a chill.
The person outside the door said slowly, "My name is Lian. I am a scholar. I am gentle and like to be clean. This often makes me feel out of tune with the world. I hope you don't mind."
With a gentle sway, Cang Ming walked to the tub in the middle of the room. He raised his hand to comb his ponytail, then casually tugged at his collar, as if about to take off his robe and bathe. His every move was filled with the fresh and handsome youthful masculinity.
To those outside the door, this reflection is a naked seduction and temptation.
The man said softly, "Sir, I'll come in."
With a creak, the door opened.
Cang Ming gripped the Ice Blade Sword tightly in one hand, looked at the white figure standing at the door, and screamed almost jumped out of his throat.
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