Chapter 297
Chapter 297
I plopped down on the edge of the bed, utterly bewildered.
Once I had calmed down, I realized I was more confused than afraid.
I knew the Copper-Coin Figure must have affected Liu Junyan somehow after we returned from Xiaoyingkou.
But no matter what the Copper-Coin Figure truly was, he fundamentally belonged to Chan Master Dahui and was a part of Liu Xingyi.
In other words, he had always belonged to Liu Junyan.
After thinking it through, I even felt that the Copper-Coin Figure gradually merging with Liu Junyan might not necessarily be a bad thing.
It was just that the process would bring many uncertainties.
Some of them would be good, but others would inevitably be bad.
That was why Liu Junyan felt so lost, and why he had decided to return to Mount Song to get to the bottom of everything.
What I hadn’t expected was for the Copper-Coin Figure to start pestering me in the middle of all this. That was giving me a headache.
Li Qingying remained beside the bed, watching me anxiously.
After wiping the blood from the center of my brow, I forced a smile and said, “It’s nothing serious, Sister Qingying. Don’t worry.”
I got to my feet and urged her to come eat. “I’m starving. I haven’t had a single hot meal in days. I’ve missed your cooking so much.”
That was the truth.
Once I’d grown accustomed to Li Qingying’s cooking, I missed it terribly whenever I spent too long away.
Her food tasted like home.
The table was covered with all my favorite dishes.
I ate two huge bowlfuls and ended up stuffed, so I pulled Li Qingying along for a walk by the Riverside.
Night had already fallen completely. The Riverside was quiet, and there was no moon tonight. It looked like rain was on the way.
It was late spring, after all. Thunderstorms would become much more frequent once summer arrived. Jiangcheng had four distinct seasons and always received more rain than most places, so I didn’t pay it much mind.
As we walked, Li Qingying told me about the things that had happened in Wufu Town over the past few days.
“The Bai Family Medical Hall has reopened with great fanfare. It’s packed with visitors again, just like it used to be.”
“The Opera Stage at the Teahouse has also been upgraded. There’s storytelling during the day and opera performances at night. They go on until dawn, and business is even better than before.”
I frowned at that. “Until dawn?”
Li Qingying nodded. “That’s right. I went over to observe it in secret. Even at three in the morning, I could still faintly hear opera singing from inside. Honestly, hearing it in the dead of night gave me the creeps.”
I made a mental note to find time to check it out.
“Even stranger,” Li Qingying continued, “Xiao Jiu, do you remember the Great Hall in town? The one the two of us explored together? I heard they’ve started renovating it.”
I stopped dead in my tracks.
The Town Head was renovating Wufu Town Assembly Hall. There was a huge Opera Stage inside, and Mei Linshuang had once been a star performer in its opera troupe.
At the same time, the Teahouse had also set up an Opera Stage for nightly performances.
With these two things happening together, I couldn’t help feeling it wasn’t a coincidence.
I asked, “Which came first — the renovations to the Great Hall, or the Teahouse opening its Opera Stage at night? Once the Great Hall is renovated, will its Opera Stage still be open to the public?”
“I think the Great Hall renovations started first. The Teahouse’s nighttime Opera Stage only began operating the night before last,” Li Qingying said. “As for whether the Great Hall’s Opera Stage will be open to the public, I don’t know.”
I lowered my head in thought as we continued walking.
So much had happened in Wufu Town in just a few days.
And the incidents Li Qingying had singled out were clearly connected.
A Yellow Immortal was enshrined at the Town Head’s Residence, and the Yellow Immortal followed the White Immortal’s lead.
The Bai Family and the Town Head were making moves at the same time. That couldn’t be a coincidence.
What did they intend to do with the Opera Stage in the Great Hall?
Had the Teahouse’s nighttime Opera Stage been erected specifically to target the Great Hall?
After all, a Red Coffin was still sitting in the Attic of the Town Head’s Residence…
The Red Coffin!
A sheet of human skin lined that Red Coffin, flayed from Mei Linshuang’s body. That was why she had remained imprisoned within it all this time.
Later, when the Town Head tried to seal me inside the Red Coffin, my blood dripped into it, giving Mei Linshuang a brief chance to escape.
During the incident with the Red Banner Child, Mei Linshuang had even given him a bag of Silver Coins!
The thought of Mei Linshuang made my heart ache involuntarily.
She was yet another kindhearted woman cursed with a bitter fate.
If the Town Head truly intended to do something with the Red Coffin, Mei Linshuang was bound to be affected. There was no way I could stand by and do nothing.
As for the Teahouse, I had never believed that its new, somewhat plump Teahouse Proprietress could be an ordinary person.
After all, the Teahouse belonged to Gu Yan.
Gu Yan had returned to Xiangxi. Even if she intended to transfer the Teahouse to someone else, she would never casually hand it over to an ordinary person.
Besides, the Teahouse in Wufu Town was not a business just anyone could keep running.
At that thought, I immediately changed course. Instead of returning to the Pawnshop, I decided to pay the Teahouse Proprietress a visit.
But just then, Li Qingying grabbed my hand and yanked me to a stop.
I looked up at her, but she was staring toward the Pawnshop. “Xiao Jiu, look. Who’s that?”
I followed her gaze and saw someone standing beneath the Hexagonal Palace Lantern on the western side of the Pawnshop’s veranda.
It was a slender woman dressed entirely in white, with a white veil covering her face.
Bai Songlan!
At that moment, she was gazing up at the Hexagonal Palace Lantern.
As soon as I looked at her, she seemed to sense it and abruptly turned toward us.
Although more than a hundred meters separated us, I could clearly feel Bai Songlan’s gaze turn vicious the instant it met mine.
The next moment, that white figure came hurtling toward me. I grabbed Li Qingying and pulled her aside.
I threw my head back as well, and three white needles flew past, nearly brushing the bridge of my nose.
I had barely regained my footing when Bai Songlan reached me. She seized me by the collar, planted an elbow against my chest, and drove me backward until she pinned me to the wall.
Li Qingying rushed over and was about to attack, but I raised a hand to stop her.
Bai Songlan’s face was almost pressed against mine as she snarled through gritted teeth, “Where did you hide him? Give him back to me!”
Her eyes were bloodshot, and she was still completely lost in madness.
She seemed to have caught the Copper-Coin Figure’s scent on me. But because she could not find him, her frenzy only worsened.
I did not answer, nor did I panic. I merely stared calmly back at her.
My reaction enraged Bai Songlan completely. She raised her other hand, four white needles wedged between her five fingers.
Their sharp tips were on the verge of piercing my eyes. Beside us, Li Qingying stamped her foot anxiously. “What good is that worthless fool Bai Jingmo? How did he let this lunatic out again?”
I remained perfectly calm. At the height of Bai Songlan’s frenzy, I reached up and tore the veil from her face.
The instant the veil came off, Bai Songlan covered the lower half of her face and let out a scream of despair.
Although she reacted quickly, we still caught sight of the festering ruin beneath.
That white veil was Bai Songlan’s fig leaf — the final psychological defense behind which she desperately tried to hide her inner demon…