"Originally, brilliant purples and reds bloomed everywhere, yet like this, they are all given to broken walls and crumbling ruins. On such a fine day and beautiful scene, what can be done about the heavens? In whose courtyard can one find joy and delight!"
Gu Xiang Kai froze for a moment. His first reaction wasn't that there was something unclean inside, but rather... he couldn't understand what this thing was saying.
He noted down the two lines of the song and pushed open the door to the side room.
Inside, a girl sat with her back to him. She was dressed in white, her hair pulled up high, with rhinestone head ornaments arranged like a fan on her bun.
She was facing a brass mirror, applying her makeup.
"Unrestrained spring passions are hard to dispel, suddenly a deep resentment for a loved one arises..."
Gu Xiang Kai watched the woman quietly. He knew there shouldn't be any living people in here; in other words, this was a ghost.
"I can still sing..."
The woman put down the brush in her hand and looked mournfully at herself in the brass mirror. "I can still sing!"
Her voice became shrill, and her head suddenly rotated one hundred and eighty degrees until it was facing backward. She looked at Gu Xiang Kai, the thick greasepaint on her face unable to hide the aura of death beneath it.
"Why won't you let me sing anymore! I'm still young!"
The woman in the opera costume suddenly stood up, appearing in front of Gu Xiang Kai in the blink of an eye.
The whites of her eyes rolled up, filled with a terrifying network of red capillaries.
"I only want to sing... Why! Why!"
The deathly aura around them grew thicker. Gu Xiang Kai's earring flickered slightly as he spoke calmly. "I don't understand opera, but I think you sing beautifully."
The female ghost fell silent instantly. She stood face-to-face with Gu Xiang Kai, tears of blood rolling down from eyes that were nothing but white.
"Everyone in Liping Garden has their own role. If I can't sing anymore..."
Gu Xiang Kai said, "I don't think being older means you can't sing. You sing very well."
"What is the name of this piece?"
The woman remained silent for a long time. "《The Peony Pavilion》."
"It is a very precious script."
"I can't sing anymore. This script must be passed on to those who come after... We all share the same fate."
Gu Xiang Kai wanted to say more, but his vision blurred. The female ghost and the opera costume vanished, leaving only a side room covered in dust.
In front of a mirror that could no longer reflect an image lay a book covered in a thick layer of dust.
《The Peony Pavilion》
Gu Xiang Kai gently brushed the dust off the book. He scanned the surroundings and then looked at the bullet comments.
His tips had reached 200.
【The young man is so calm.】
【Yeah, that scared me to death just now when her head turned around.】
【She must be Feng Niang, the famous performer who played Du Liniang back then.】
【It's her. She was so prominent for those two or three years, then she was taken into Liping Garden by the Zhou family, seemingly to play Du Liniang as well.】
Gu Xiang Kai raised an eyebrow. "Wasn't Feng Niang originally from Liping Garden?"
【Liping Garden was originally an opera troupe from Xuan City. It wasn't very large. After it was taken over by the Zhou family, they scouted famous performers from all over to join, which is how it became a wonder of Pingzhou.】
So that was it...
"Then why did she just say she couldn't sing anymore?"
No one in the bullet comments answered his question, but one message caught his attention.
【Streamer, please help me put that book into that storage chest.】
Gu Xiang Kai opened the storage chest. He immediately recognized the opera costume and head ornaments neatly arranged inside; they were exactly what the female ghost had been wearing.
Since she had time to pack away her clothes, it seemed the woman hadn't met with a sudden accident.
From the looks of it, she had even been very clear about what she was about to face.
Unfortunately, the audience in the livestream didn't know the reasons from a hundred years ago either, so he would have to uncover them himself.
He placed the thread-bound copy of 《The Peony Pavilion》 into the storage chest, and the 200-yuan tip was credited to his account.
After Gu Xiang Kai's streaming time ended, he hurried to find Nan Yue.
At that moment, Wen Xiang Yuan and Nan Yue were looking at a small three-story building. The building felt more lived-in than the separate courtyard.
There were wooden basins and wardrobes, four beds to a room, and some personal items belonging to young girls. Although much time had passed, they could still be vaguely identified.
"This should be where the performers of Liping Garden lived."
Zhu Xi Ning clicked her tongue. "This building could probably house nearly a hundred people."
The building was indeed quite large, though the layout of the bedrooms was somewhat cramped. Standing inside felt a bit stifling; they were likely only for sleeping, with no space for the residents to move around freely.
"Does an opera troupe need that many people?"
When Wen Xiang Yuan heard Nan Yue ask this, she thought for a moment. "My knowledge of opera is average, but it seems even large troupes wouldn't have that many people."
"Opera troupes do business all over the place and often have to travel to other regions for work. Having too many people would be inconvenient. Besides, their work is inconsistent, so supporting that many people would be too much pressure."
Nan Yue pondered. "Then wouldn't they have to perform many different pieces?"
Wen Xiang Yuan nodded. "Aside from the orchestra and the dance troupe, there are only a few main roles..."
At that point, Gu Xiang Kai entered and briefly explained what he had just seen to the others.
Wen Xiang Yuan fell into thought for a moment. "Du Liniang is a virtuous young lady role. This kind of role falls between a vivacious female role and a dignified female role. For example, it means this Feng Niang could play Du Liniang, as well as other similar characters."
"But what Gu just heard was that Feng Niang could only play Du Liniang, and losing that role left her filled with resentment."
Gu Xiang Kai added, "The bullet comments said she was quite famous, specifically for the role of Du Liniang."
Wen Xiang Yuan said, "It's certainly possible for a performer to have a role they are particularly fond of. Situations where people fight over roles happen often too."
Nan Yue thought of something and asked, "The pink gown and rhinestone head ornaments, do you know what kind of look that is?"
Wen Xiang Yuan shook her head. "Rhinestone head ornaments are generally used for female roles, but the bun hairstyle Gu just saw is also used for female roles. As for which specific character it is, that's hard to judge."
Nan Yue mused, "Then the one I saw in the tunnel was also a female role..."
She suddenly realized something and looked at Gu Xiang Kai. "You mentioned the white clothes and the bun hairstyle ornaments. Did you notice if she had a greenish-blue pouch on her person?"
Gu Xiang Kai thought back carefully and looked at Nan Yue with surprise. "She really did. I thought it was just part of her costume."
Nan Yue's expression darkened. "I saw a corpse dressed like that in the mass grave. Though I'm not certain if it's the same one you saw."
If what Nan Yue saw and what Gu Xiang Kai saw were the same person, then perhaps the woman's resentment didn't stem from having her favorite role stolen.
Instead, it was because once she could no longer play that role, she would be cast into the mass grave to await death.
"That's just too brutal. Even if supporting so many people is an expense, the Zhou residence isn't short on money. Even if they couldn't keep them, they could have just let them go. Why kill them?"
Wen Xiang Yuan was utterly perplexed, and Nan Yue couldn't provide an answer either.
"That man said, 'You've lived like young ladies for a few years,' but this place can hardly be called good, can it?"
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