Chapter 23
Chapter 23
The more I thought about it, the more alarmed I became.
By the time I returned to the Pawnshop, I was slumped over the counter, feeling completely drained.
Li Qingying poured me a cup of tea and asked, “Still thinking about that woman?”
“Sister Qingying,” I said dejectedly, “I’m just scared.”
Li Qingying patted my hand, comforting me. “Don’t be afraid. I’ll protect you. What happened that night won’t happen again.”
“That’s not what I meant,” I replied. “My survival is a massive threat to certain people. Even if I wanted to dismantle the dark forces of Wufu Town on my own, I couldn’t do it.
“I’m too ordinary. I don’t know how to cultivate, and I even have to rely on Liu Junyan’s Merit just to keep this life of mine going. There is so little I can actually do.”
So-called senses of justice and mission require real capability to back them up, and what I lacked most was capability.
Moreover, this wasn’t the kind of ability one could obtain through hard work. That was the most powerless part of it all.
Li Qingying thought for a moment and asked, “Then will you compromise?”
“No,” I answered decisively. “If I’m destined to fall because of these messy affairs in Wufu Town, then the least I can do is push myself to the limit to tear this rift open as wide as possible, so those trapped beneath can see a glimmer of hope.”
Li Qingying asked again, “Xiao Jiu, do you believe in fate?”
I considered it seriously and nodded. “I think I do.”
Looking back at my eighteen years-at my birth, the midwife’s words, ‘The solitary Yan bird brings mourning,’ meant I had a home I could never return to. Even being pawned into this shop as a Dead Pawn was because of my so-called All-Yin Fate.
Everything seemed predestined.
To my surprise, Li Qingying said, “I believe in it, too.”
I gave her a strange look. Given her personality, that didn’t seem right.
Li Qingying continued, “Fate… it always plays tricks on people. Sometimes, just when you think you’re nearing the peak, it deals you a crushing blow. Other times, when you think you’re at a dead end, it gives you a second chance at life.
“Didn’t that Old Daoist say you were destined to be accompanied by a benefactor? I don’t think your life is meant to end like this. There will definitely be a turning point.”
Li Qingying’s words strangely settled my restless heart. I smiled and reached out to hug her. “Sister Qingying, I hope you’re right.”
That night, I still didn’t close the Pawnshop doors.
Just after eleven o’clock, the woman appeared again.
She walked in on her small, bound feet, clutching that knife in her hand. She stammered, “Pawn… Pawn Knife.”
I was already prepared. I immediately took out a Pawn Ticket and asked, “Is this a Live Pawn or a Dead Pawn?”
The woman replied, “Dead Pawn.”
Her consciousness seemed a bit clearer tonight than it had been the previous two days.
I asked further, “How much do you want for it?”
The woman fell silent, her hollow eye sockets staring fixedly at me.
I didn’t know if she couldn’t speak or if she hadn’t decided yet.
Time ticked by, second by second. Seeing her figure starting to become unstable again, she raised a finger and pointed toward the Funeral Supplies Shop. Her voice was raspy as she said, “Incense.”
I understood immediately. I rushed to the Funeral Supplies Shop to grab a bundle of Yellow Incense and offered it to her right then and there.
The woman inhaled greedily. The Yellow Incense burned down to the bottom almost as soon as it was lit.
Once the bundle was finished, I had also filled out the Pawn Ticket.
Pawned Items: One Lingchi Blade.
Payment: One bundle of Yellow Incense.
The Pawn Ticket was made in duplicate. I handed the brush to the woman. She leaned over and wrote the three characters ‘Mei Linshuang’ in elegant, small regular script, then pressed her bloody thumbprint onto it.
I gave one copy of the Pawn Ticket to the woman and put the other one into storage along with the Lingchi Blade.
Once this was done, the woman’s figure began to shake violently. Before being pulled away, she left behind two final words: “Opera Stage…”
An Opera Stage?
What Opera Stage?
What was she trying to tell me?
Li Qingying and I stared at each other in silence.
The woman had appeared at the Pawnshop to pawn that Lingchi Blade, but her ultimate goal was to use the transaction to get me to find the cause of her death and lay her soul to rest.
Could this Opera Stage be related to how she died?
I was certain the Town Head’s Residence didn’t have an Opera Stage.
Was there one in Wufu Town?
Memories that had been buried for a long time suddenly flooded my mind.
I must have been only seven or eight years old back then. While Granny was managing the Funeral Supplies Shop, I would stay by her side and do my homework.
I remembered one afternoon when a white-haired old lady came in to buy a burial shroud and chatted with Granny for a long time.
That old lady had loved listening to operas and singing them her whole life. she wanted to be buried in her favorite set of opera costumes from her collection, but her children wouldn’t allow it. She had no choice but to come to Granny first to order a standard shroud.
That day, she seemed to mention an Opera Stage. She said that the Wufu Town Grand Theater had been infested with Dirty Things and had been closed for a long time. She mentioned that she had even watched operas there with her grandmother when she was a child.
So, Wufu Town did have an Opera Stage; it had just been closed for so long that my generation knew nothing about it.
I tried hard to recall the conversation between Granny and the old lady, searching the corners of my memory for the information I needed.
The Wufu Town Grand Theater the old lady spoke of was in the northwest corner of town, not far from my family’s Pawnshop.
I stood up abruptly. Startled, Li Qingying asked, “Xiao Jiu, where are you going?”
“To see the Opera Stage.”
With that, I turned and left.
Li Qingying quickly closed the shop and hurried after me.
It was late at night, and the streetlights were dim.
The two of us kept our footsteps as light as possible, sticking to the shadows as we walked.
In the northwest corner of town, there was a large landfill that gave off a pungent stench. The cluster of houses behind the landfill had long been abandoned, with the character for ‘demolish’ painted in large strokes on the walls.
Ironically, while many places in Wufu Town were marked for demolition, none had ever actually been torn down.
I used to think Wufu Town was simply too remote and too poor to be worth the effort, but now it seemed the reasons… were likely not as simple as I had imagined.
I had never been to this area before. To my surprise, Li Qingying and I easily found a building among the abandoned houses with a sign hanging over the entrance that read ‘Wufu Town Assembly Hall.’
The building occupied a large area. Its doors and windows were tightly shut, covered not only in dust and cobwebs but also plastered with Yellow Talismans.
Some of the Yellow Talismans were new while others were old; it was clear they were being replaced regularly.
Li Qingying picked the lock on the main door with ease, and we slipped inside.
Guided by our flashlights, we were greeted by the sight of a high Opera Stage standing right in the center of the Great Hall.
The area around the stage was filled with seats, offering a glimpse of how grand this place must have been in its prime.
Li Qingying and I didn’t dare waste time. We used our flashlights to search the area around the stage thoroughly.
But the Opera Stage had been abandoned for too long. It was empty; there was nothing there.
Li Qingying whispered to me, “It’s too dark to see anything clearly. How about we sneak back in tomorrow during the day to search again?”
That was our only option.
Just as we were cautiously preparing to withdraw, a dull thud suddenly echoed from the stage.
My scalp went numb. Li Qingying and I turned back at the same time.
A faint, mysterious light slanted down from somewhere onto the stage.
In that shifting play of light and shadow, a length of blood-stained Water Sleeves drifted slowly down from above, swaying as it fell…