A Double Blessing

When the roosters crowed, the bustling city of Yinling gradually stirred awake. The quiet streets slowly filled with pedestrians, donkeys, and horse-drawn carts.

Everyone was busy with their own affairs. No one noticed the excited red-robed Daoist sitting on the roof tiles of an inn, and no one could understand what Li Huowang was feeling at this moment.

"Dad?" Sensing his surprise, Li Sui cautiously poked at Li Huowang's racing heart with two of her tentacles.

Even though an hour had passed, Li Huowang still couldn't calm down. He read the letter in his hands over and over again.

No one could understand what this letter meant to him. It meant that he wouldn't have to be in pain and confusion forever. His life wasn't just suffering and despair. There was still hope!

As long as he could find a way to escape the hallucinations from Bei Feng. As long as he could survive the bitter times to reach the sweet, then all the suffering he had endured over the years would be worth it!

He could live like a normal person, peacefully and securely with the one he loved!

At that moment, the ever-present desire for death that had lingered in Li Huowang's heart vanished completely. Right now, he had one, and only one, goal: he couldn't die. He had to live! He had to live and escape the bewilderment of the Heart-Element!

"Huowang, what are you doing on the roof?" Bai Lingmiao's voice snapped Li Huowang back to reality.

He flipped down, grabbed her tightly, and looked at her delicate face with a surge of excitement. "There's a way! There's a way!"

It wasn't just his own goal that was clear now. Bai Lingmiao's problem was also solved. This was a double blessing: two pieces of good news at once!

The Chief Recorder had said in his heart that he had found a connection through the military path, and they had a way to dispel the killing intent!

"What's going on? Are you having another fit?" Bai Lingmiao asked, confused.

Li Huowang gently shook his head, gave her a quick peck on her pink lips, and said excitedly, "Come on! Pack up! We're going to the capital!"

Inside the Bai Family Village, a crowd of people carrying children and leading their families were gathered around the main hall, watching the commotion.

Lü Zhuangyuan had shed his usual slick and roguish demeanor. He sat solemnly in the master’s chair. Before him, five boys of varying heights knelt, each holding a cup of tea in their hands.

The tallest one spoke first. "Disciple Zhan Yuansheng, of my own will, places myself under Master Lü Zhuangyuan to learn the livelihood of the opera troupe. All silver earned during this time shall be given to the master. We each meet our fate in times of disaster, and any who desert out of selfishness, are stubborn and disobedient, or refuse to submit shall be beaten to death without mercy!"

After saying this, he raised his tea and offered it to Lü Zhuangyuan. Lü Zhuangyuan, barely suppressing his pride, took a sip. The boy then knelt and kowtowed three times heavily before Lü Zhuangyuan, solemnly calling him "Master."

Then came the second, the third, and all the way to the fifth disciple. After that, Lü Zhuangyuan put on a solemn air and said in a deep voice, "A top scholar can be produced in three years, but a leading male role takes ten! Don't think that because we are of the lowest nine classes, we can't produce a champion. Every trade can produce its own master!"

After drawing this big picture, Lü Zhuangyuan cleared his throat and said to his eldest son, "Juren, take them and check their physical aptitude first."

Once they had all left, Lü Zhuangyuan jumped down from the master's chair, dropping his disguise. He was as happy as a plucked monkey.

Gouwa, who was nearby clutching a handful of melon seeds, teased him. "Chief Lü, your Lü Family Troupe is getting more prosperous by the day! Soon you'll be buying your own theater in Yinling City!"

Though it was a jest, it hit Lü Zhuangyuan's sweet spot. His face crumpled into a smile. "Heh heh, I'll take your kind words, I'll take your kind words!"

Zhao Wu, leaning on his wooden crutch, asked with some confusion, "Chief Lü, where did you find all these people? Are their parents willing to let them sing opera with you?"

Generally speaking, unless a family had nothing but a scrap of poor land, they wouldn't send their children out to sing opera. It was considered shameful.

"Heh, willing or not, you first have to have something to be willing about." Lü Zhuangyuan puffed out his chest and pulled a tobacco pipe from behind his back, taking a few long, contented drags.

"These are all little beggars I ran into on the road. When they heard it was full room and board, who could say no? Hey, isn't it strange? The Great Liang Kingdom is so rich, and yet there are still beggars."

"What's so strange about that? Every place has its down-and-out folk. But with all those fields, you could be a landlord now. You're still going to keep singing?"

Lü Zhuangyuan thought about the fields around Niuxin Village, and his heart itched. But in the end, he nodded. "Ah, there's no law saying you can't have both fields and an opera troupe."

The truth was, Lü Zhuangyuan still didn't feel completely at ease. After all, those fields weren't really his. Without their patron, Li Huowang, there was nothing to stop people from driving him off one day.

But if he built his own theater, then every brick and every tile would be his own, hard-earned. He would sleep soundly in a place like that.

He had actually wanted to talk to Miss Bai about this, but with everything that had happened to her family, he could never find the right time.

He had planned to wait until Miss Bai was in better spirits, then send his daughter-in-law to test the waters. But who would have thought that Miss Bai, just like the little Daoist master, had vanished without a trace.

"Gouwa, where did Miss Bai go? When is she coming back? Do you have any news?"

Lü Zhuangyuan asked the shifty-eyed man. After all, the entire Bai Family Village was her property. Without her here, there was no one to discuss how many tenant farmers to hire or what grain to plant.

These people were like immortals, living on nothing but dew, untouched by the mortal world. But before they went off to live like that, they could at least leave behind the "mortal fire" for this old man!

Hearing this, Gouwa's face lit up with joy. "Ah, right, right. My wife is pregnant. I'm going to be a dad! The birth is still a ways off, probably around the Qingming Festival next year at the earliest."

Lü Zhuangyuan’s face wrinkled in disgust. He shot Gouwa a contemptuous look and thought to himself, "Did I ask you that? You just had to bring it up, didn't you? Who are you trying to show off to? You're becoming a father? I'm already a grandfather."

"What about Miss Chun? I haven't seen her around lately, either."

Gouwa tossed a salted melon seed into his mouth, cracking it open with his teeth. "How should I know? She's not my wife. Besides, with that temper of hers, who could control her?"

Hearing this, Lü Zhuangyuan seemed to catch the defensiveness in the man's words. He laughed it off and walked away.

Gouwa spat out the shell, turned around with a smug look, and left the main hall. He knew the difference between his own people and outsiders.

The things he had found in the cellar of the Bai Family ancestral hall—it was fine to tell his fellow disciples who had shared his hardships. But telling the Lü Family Troupe was out of the question.

Wandering through the somewhat quiet Bai Family Village, Gouwa walked up to the gate of a walled compound at the eastern end of the village. He grabbed the tiger-head door knocker and banged it. "Fool! Open the door! Why are you locking yourself in during broad daylight?"

"Fool's wife! Open up! Open up! ... No one's in there?"

(End of Chapter)