It was midday and Cuiyan House had not yet opened its doors to welcome customers.
With the collision of cultures, some towns outside of Fengcheng had opened cabarets, which had gradually replaced ancient styled places like Cuiyan, and such places had gradually fallen into decline.
However, there were exceptions in Fengcheng. It is a city of antiques, where the traditions left by the ancestors are rare. Very few were interested in the imported Western culture. People who love antiques pride themselves on their elegance, and Flower Lane with Cuiyan House in Fengcheng is one of the best in the Republic.
The only difference between the Flower Lane here and those outside the city is that the women here are all talented in their own way, such as playing the qin, chess, calligraphy, painting, as well as singing. Not all who come here are pleasure seekers, but some are so impressed by the girls’ style that they just come to have a good conversation with them.
When the knock on the door sounded, the proprietress of Cuiyan had just stretched herself out and was about to eat. When she heard the fierce knocking, she yawned and said impatiently, “Coming, coming, it’s not even open yet, what’s the hurry, master?”
As soon as the door opened, Mama saw Wen Xuyao standing in front of her. He was a frequent visitor of Cuiyan House and often came to cheer the girls before his decline and had a good relationship with Mama. But now, the Wen family was not the same as it was then. All the family businesses fell almost overnight.
Bai Lixin’s plain blue tunic caught Mama’s eye, and her eyes unconsciously showed her dislike. “Aiyo, I wondered who it was, but it’s Young Master Wen. You haven’t come for some time.”
Mama tossed the handkerchief in her hand and laughed delicately, “But it’s not yet time to open the door and welcome the guests. Curly, Water Lotus, Qing Chi, Yun Xian’er, and Hongyu played a little song last night and are not up yet. Why don’t you wait and come back in the evening? ”
Bai Lixin: “…”
Mama planned to close the door, but an arm suddenly came out from the side and pressed against it, preventing it from moving. Mama looked sideways at the door with her coat on, “Who is it? I told you it’s not yet time to open the door to welcome guests. ”
“Then should I wait here until you open the door to welcome guests and come in with officers and soldiers with great fanfare?” Liao Sufan stepped out from the side and barged into Mama’s line of sight.
“Aiya, Aiya, so it’s Governor Liao. Ah, and Administrator Huang, quickly, please come inside, and look at this freezing weather. What wind has blown you here? ”
Liao Sufan glanced at Bai Lixin and entered the building with the corners of his lips slightly hooked. Seeing this, Huang Hongyuan pulled Bai Lixin in as well.
“Old pimp, is this something from your Cuiyan house?” Liao Sufan threw a bag over with his leather-gloved hand. Mama panicked and opened it to carefully identify the bloodstained incense bag, and finally nodded, “Each girl here is equipped with an incense bag with their name written on it. Xian’er was indeed a girl in my Cuiyan House a month ago, but she has left for quite some time now.”
“Left?” Commissioner Huang frowned, “How did she leave?”
“A man paid her a large sum of silver to redeem her. He was good-looking and elegant, and Yue Xian’er left with her face smiling like a flower. It made the other girls in the building envious. ”
“Do you know the identity of that man?” Liao Sufan asked.
“That man is not a local. I only heard that he is from Lincheng, which is not far from here. He usually runs a jade business. Because Fengcheng is the city of antiques, he rents a mansion here as well.”
Mama saw the bloodstained purse and guessed that Yue Xian’er might have met some bad luck, so she asked, “Did something happen to Yue Xian’er….”
Huang Hongyuan looked at Liao Sufan and nodded, “A female corpse floated up in the moat yesterday, but the corpse was so festered that it was unrecognizable. Only after searching the body did we find this one item for identification. ”
Mama covered her mouth and asked in horror, “Dead?”
As soon as Bai Lixin entered the building, he felt a strong aura of evil in a certain part of the building. The building looked clean and bright, but Bai Lixin saw a faint white mist covering it.
He looked around the building and came to the backyard.
In the backyard, the dense aura of evil spirits was even stronger.
Guided by this aura, Bai Lixin stopped in front of a peach tree that had only dry branches left. It was from under this peach tree that the strong aura of evil spirits emanated.
The peach tree was an evil-suppressing object, but even it could not suppress this evil aura, so what was buried underneath?
As soon as Bai Lixin took the initiative to go to the backyard, Liao Sufan and Huang Hongyuan rushed to follow him.
When she saw Bai Lixin standing in front of the peach tree in thought, Mama’s heart shook and her face turned pale.
Noticing her expression out of the corner of his eye, Liao Sufan’s heart moved slightly, so he asked, “Is there something in this backyard?”
Bai Lixin’s expression condensed as he bit his finger and drew a charm on a dry tree, “Wandering soul, why do you stay? The six spirits are visible when the soul is possessed. What evil spirit is under the tree? Show yourself quickly. Show yourself!”
The incantation was obscure and difficult to understand, but Bai Lixin recited it with aplomb. At the end of his sentence, a black mist slowly emerged from the ground and coalesced in front of him at a speed that could be seen by the naked eye. The black mist became thicker and thicker and finally coalesced into a human form, with its features visible.
Bai Lixin saw this soul’s appearance and he frowned. This person was Peony, a girl whom Wen Xuyao often asked for. She was an entertainer who only sang a few songs and did not serve men.
Two years ago, Wen Xuyao came to look for her, as was his custom, only to receive the news that she had been redeemed, for which he had been happy for some time. Unexpectedly, this Peony girl was already dead.
Peony did not die in peace, so Mama used peach wood intending to calm her wronged spirit to prevent revenge.
She only knew that peach wood could ward off ghosts and evil spirits, but she didn’t know that while peach wood is a thing that wards off evil spirits, the peach wood root is a thing that nourishes Yin, a negative energy.
In two years, the hostility of Peony’s soul became heavier, and it was about to become an evil spirit.
When Mama saw Peony’s face, she screamed in terror and fainted with her eyes rolled back.
Liao Sufan and Huang Hongyuan, who had never believed in ghosts and gods, were shocked and staggered at the sight.
Peony was trapped under the peach tree, so she had lost her chance of reincarnation. If Bai Lixin had come a few days later, Peony would have already turned into an evil spirit and would have ended up in ashes.
Without delay, Bai Lixin’s fingers flew, his non-bleeding fingers pinched into a lotus shape and were placed in front of his mouth, while the other hand drew incantations in the air. As his fingers moved, an incantation seal appeared in mid-air with a glowing golden light.
“Heaven and earth is natural, filthy qi is scattered, the cave is mysterious and void. Shake the heavens, the eight mighty gods make me natural. The spirit treasure charm is universal in the nine heavens. The devil king binds his hands and guards my pavilion. The fierce filth dissipates and the Dao energy endures. Urgent as the law, clear! ” Bai Lixin slapped the incantation at the spirit of Peony, which was wrapped in a black mist with a fierce look on its face, and heard an angry female voice roar.
Peony looked pained, and the foul mist attached to her scattered and dissipated.
Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief and say, in a low voice, “Miss Peony, do you still recognise me?”
Peony had already come to her senses as her soul was purified. She raised her eyes to look at the person in front of her, and her translucent eyes suddenly widened: ” It’s young Master Wen!”
Bai Lixin gave a hard laugh and said, “I originally thought that you were redeemed. If I had known you were here, I would not have let you suffer for so long. ”
Peony covered her face and wept bitterly, “I am a hermit by nature and have never served a man. I was waiting for you in my room that day, but a man broke in. His eyes were red and evil. I refused to give in to him, not to mention to commit myself to him, so I took out my hairpin and stabbed him. But this made him worse, and I was no match for him. I called out for help, but no one came. In the end, I bit my tongue and killed myself. ”
“Young Master Wen, I’m sorry! I had promised to sing you a newly composed song…… I shouldn’t have thought so hard. ” Peony’s tears clattered from her eyes, dripping onto the ground without a trace.
Bai Lixin sighed. “Why do you have to apologize? I just wanted to make you happy, so I came to you day after day. If I became a burden to you, it would be my fault instead. ”
The original Wen Xuyao really appreciated Peony. After she left, he found some other girls to keep her company, but there were always a few shades of her in their speech, behaviour, and appearance.
“I didn’t know you were killed, and I was happy that you were free. I could not save you that day, but fortunately, I found you in time today, so the most dangerous consequences did not occur. You’ve been a dead soul for two years and won’t be able to stay in the Yang world much longer. I will help invite the Underworld Commissioner to take you to the Underworld. You will be reincarnated and join a good family in your next life. ”
Peony looked at Wen Xuyao, her teary eyes filled with love and affection. “Thank you for saving me today, but we are not destined for each other in this life, so I have to say goodbye. Before that, can you grant Peony a small wish? ”
Bai Lixin nodded. His voice was endlessly desolate, “Speak.”
“I wrote a little song for the young master that day and filled it according to the tune you composed for me. But I had no chance to sing it to you. I only hope that Young Master Wen will grant me this wish of playing for me and I sing for you. ”
Bai Lixin sighed, “Is it a pipa song?”
Peony nodded, “Exactly.”
“Wait for a moment.” Bai Lixin said and went straight into the inner hall. Within a short time, he came out with a half-moon pipa in his arms. He found a chair and sat down, resting the lute on his lap, and said, “You sing, I’ll play.”
Peony’s face lit up with joy, and she broke into a smile, “Many thanks, Young Master Wen.”
His fingers flicked and twirled as he gently plucked at the strings.
As the elegant pipa sounded, Peony opened her mouth, and a gentle whisper echoed through the silent backyard.
Liao Sufan kept the same posture from the time he entered the backyard, not even moving.
His deep eyes gazed at Bai Lixin, who was playing the lute with his head bowed. He saw the young man’s face look sad, sometimes melancholic, sometimes apologetic. His fingertips moved fluidly on the pipa, which was unspeakably beautiful.
At that moment, Liao Sufan seemed to hear the sound of his heart being pierced.
It was midday and Cuiyan House had not yet opened its doors to welcome customers.
With the collision of cultures, some towns outside of Fengcheng had opened cabarets, which had gradually replaced ancient styled places like Cuiyan, and such places had gradually fallen into decline.
However, there were exceptions in Fengcheng. It is a city of antiques, where the traditions left by the ancestors are rare. Very few were interested in the imported Western culture. People who love antiques pride themselves on their elegance, and Flower Lane with Cuiyan House in Fengcheng is one of the best in the Republic.
The only difference between the Flower Lane here and those outside the city is that the women here are all talented in their own way, such as playing the qin, chess, calligraphy, painting, as well as singing. Not all who come here are pleasure seekers, but some are so impressed by the girls’ style that they just come to have a good conversation with them.
When the knock on the door sounded, the proprietress of Cuiyan had just stretched herself out and was about to eat. When she heard the fierce knocking, she yawned and said impatiently, “Coming, coming, it’s not even open yet, what’s the hurry, master?”
As soon as the door opened, Mama saw Wen Xuyao standing in front of her. He was a frequent visitor of Cuiyan House and often came to cheer the girls before his decline and had a good relationship with Mama. But now, the Wen family was not the same as it was then. All the family businesses fell almost overnight.
Bai Lixin’s plain blue tunic caught Mama’s eye, and her eyes unconsciously showed her dislike. “Aiyo, I wondered who it was, but it’s Young Master Wen. You haven’t come for some time.”
Mama tossed the handkerchief in her hand and laughed delicately, “But it’s not yet time to open the door and welcome the guests. Curly, Water Lotus, Qing Chi, Yun Xian’er, and Hongyu played a little song last night and are not up yet. Why don’t you wait and come back in the evening? ”
Bai Lixin: “…”
Mama planned to close the door, but an arm suddenly came out from the side and pressed against it, preventing it from moving. Mama looked sideways at the door with her coat on, “Who is it? I told you it’s not yet time to open the door to welcome guests. ”
“Then should I wait here until you open the door to welcome guests and come in with officers and soldiers with great fanfare?” Liao Sufan stepped out from the side and barged into Mama’s line of sight.
“Aiya, Aiya, so it’s Governor Liao. Ah, and Administrator Huang, quickly, please come inside, and look at this freezing weather. What wind has blown you here? ”
Liao Sufan glanced at Bai Lixin and entered the building with the corners of his lips slightly hooked. Seeing this, Huang Hongyuan pulled Bai Lixin in as well.
“Old pimp, is this something from your Cuiyan house?” Liao Sufan threw a bag over with his leather-gloved hand. Mama panicked and opened it to carefully identify the bloodstained incense bag, and finally nodded, “Each girl here is equipped with an incense bag with their name written on it. Xian’er was indeed a girl in my Cuiyan House a month ago, but she has left for quite some time now.”
“Left?” Commissioner Huang frowned, “How did she leave?”
“A man paid her a large sum of silver to redeem her. He was good-looking and elegant, and Yue Xian’er left with her face smiling like a flower. It made the other girls in the building envious. ”
“Do you know the identity of that man?” Liao Sufan asked.
“That man is not a local. I only heard that he is from Lincheng, which is not far from here. He usually runs a jade business. Because Fengcheng is the city of antiques, he rents a mansion here as well.”
Mama saw the bloodstained purse and guessed that Yue Xian’er might have met some bad luck, so she asked, “Did something happen to Yue Xian’er….”
Huang Hongyuan looked at Liao Sufan and nodded, “A female corpse floated up in the moat yesterday, but the corpse was so festered that it was unrecognizable. Only after searching the body did we find this one item for identification. ”
Mama covered her mouth and asked in horror, “Dead?”
As soon as Bai Lixin entered the building, he felt a strong aura of evil in a certain part of the building. The building looked clean and bright, but Bai Lixin saw a faint white mist covering it.
He looked around the building and came to the backyard.
In the backyard, the dense aura of evil spirits was even stronger.
Guided by this aura, Bai Lixin stopped in front of a peach tree that had only dry branches left. It was from under this peach tree that the strong aura of evil spirits emanated.
The peach tree was an evil-suppressing object, but even it could not suppress this evil aura, so what was buried underneath?
As soon as Bai Lixin took the initiative to go to the backyard, Liao Sufan and Huang Hongyuan rushed to follow him.
When she saw Bai Lixin standing in front of the peach tree in thought, Mama’s heart shook and her face turned pale.
Noticing her expression out of the corner of his eye, Liao Sufan’s heart moved slightly, so he asked, “Is there something in this backyard?”
Bai Lixin’s expression condensed as he bit his finger and drew a charm on a dry tree, “Wandering soul, why do you stay? The six spirits are visible when the soul is possessed. What evil spirit is under the tree? Show yourself quickly. Show yourself!”
The incantation was obscure and difficult to understand, but Bai Lixin recited it with aplomb. At the end of his sentence, a black mist slowly emerged from the ground and coalesced in front of him at a speed that could be seen by the naked eye. The black mist became thicker and thicker and finally coalesced into a human form, with its features visible.
Bai Lixin saw this soul’s appearance and he frowned. This person was Peony, a girl whom Wen Xuyao often asked for. She was an entertainer who only sang a few songs and did not serve men.
Two years ago, Wen Xuyao came to look for her, as was his custom, only to receive the news that she had been redeemed, for which he had been happy for some time. Unexpectedly, this Peony girl was already dead.
Peony did not die in peace, so Mama used peach wood intending to calm her wronged spirit to prevent revenge.
She only knew that peach wood could ward off ghosts and evil spirits, but she didn’t know that while peach wood is a thing that wards off evil spirits, the peach wood root is a thing that nourishes Yin, a negative energy.
In two years, the hostility of Peony’s soul became heavier, and it was about to become an evil spirit.
When Mama saw Peony’s face, she screamed in terror and fainted with her eyes rolled back.
Liao Sufan and Huang Hongyuan, who had never believed in ghosts and gods, were shocked and staggered at the sight.
Peony was trapped under the peach tree, so she had lost her chance of reincarnation. If Bai Lixin had come a few days later, Peony would have already turned into an evil spirit and would have ended up in ashes.
Without delay, Bai Lixin’s fingers flew, his non-bleeding fingers pinched into a lotus shape and were placed in front of his mouth, while the other hand drew incantations in the air. As his fingers moved, an incantation seal appeared in mid-air with a glowing golden light.
“Heaven and earth is natural, filthy qi is scattered, the cave is mysterious and void. Shake the heavens, the eight mighty gods make me natural. The spirit treasure charm is universal in the nine heavens. The devil king binds his hands and guards my pavilion. The fierce filth dissipates and the Dao energy endures. Urgent as the law, clear! ” Bai Lixin slapped the incantation at the spirit of Peony, which was wrapped in a black mist with a fierce look on its face, and heard an angry female voice roar.
Peony looked pained, and the foul mist attached to her scattered and dissipated.
Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief and say, in a low voice, “Miss Peony, do you still recognise me?”
Peony had already come to her senses as her soul was purified. She raised her eyes to look at the person in front of her, and her translucent eyes suddenly widened: ” It’s young Master Wen!”
Bai Lixin gave a hard laugh and said, “I originally thought that you were redeemed. If I had known you were here, I would not have let you suffer for so long. ”
Peony covered her face and wept bitterly, “I am a hermit by nature and have never served a man. I was waiting for you in my room that day, but a man broke in. His eyes were red and evil. I refused to give in to him, not to mention to commit myself to him, so I took out my hairpin and stabbed him. But this made him worse, and I was no match for him. I called out for help, but no one came. In the end, I bit my tongue and killed myself. ”
“Young Master Wen, I’m sorry! I had promised to sing you a newly composed song…… I shouldn’t have thought so hard. ” Peony’s tears clattered from her eyes, dripping onto the ground without a trace.
Bai Lixin sighed. “Why do you have to apologize? I just wanted to make you happy, so I came to you day after day. If I became a burden to you, it would be my fault instead. ”
The original Wen Xuyao really appreciated Peony. After she left, he found some other girls to keep her company, but there were always a few shades of her in their speech, behaviour, and appearance.
“I didn’t know you were killed, and I was happy that you were free. I could not save you that day, but fortunately, I found you in time today, so the most dangerous consequences did not occur. You’ve been a dead soul for two years and won’t be able to stay in the Yang world much longer. I will help invite the Underworld Commissioner to take you to the Underworld. You will be reincarnated and join a good family in your next life. ”
Peony looked at Wen Xuyao, her teary eyes filled with love and affection. “Thank you for saving me today, but we are not destined for each other in this life, so I have to say goodbye. Before that, can you grant Peony a small wish? ”
Bai Lixin nodded. His voice was endlessly desolate, “Speak.”
“I wrote a little song for the young master that day and filled it according to the tune you composed for me. But I had no chance to sing it to you. I only hope that Young Master Wen will grant me this wish of playing for me and I sing for you. ”
Bai Lixin sighed, “Is it a pipa song?”
Peony nodded, “Exactly.”
“Wait for a moment.” Bai Lixin said and went straight into the inner hall. Within a short time, he came out with a half-moon pipa in his arms. He found a chair and sat down, resting the lute on his lap, and said, “You sing, I’ll play.”
Peony’s face lit up with joy, and she broke into a smile, “Many thanks, Young Master Wen.”
His fingers flicked and twirled as he gently plucked at the strings.
As the elegant pipa sounded, Peony opened her mouth, and a gentle whisper echoed through the silent backyard.
Liao Sufan kept the same posture from the time he entered the backyard, not even moving.
His deep eyes gazed at Bai Lixin, who was playing the lute with his head bowed. He saw the young man’s face look sad, sometimes melancholic, sometimes apologetic. His fingertips moved fluidly on the pipa, which was unspeakably beautiful.
At that moment, Liao Sufan seemed to hear the sound of his heart being pierced.
