Heaven is fearless

Xi Yi was led to sit at the table closest to the stage. It was said to be a stage, but in fact it was just a crude fence scrawled with a few wooden boards. With more than ten feet of white ground, long overhanging eaves to redo the ceiling, several brightly colored lanterns hanging, and a circle of flowers and plants of various heights and heights, it has the artistic conception of deep spring in the courtyard of a wealthy family.

Although the venue is simple, the layout is extremely careful, and in terms of ingenuity, it is not inferior to those big groups who specialize in singing.

The child with his cheek against Xiyi's shoulder has closed his eyes, breathing steadily and delicately, as if he has fallen into a dream. Xiyi put him on his lap, and the big sleeves hanging down to the floor just covered most of his body.

With a creak, the door to welcome guests closed, and the lamps among the trees and flowers in the courtyard were suddenly extinguished. In the dark and gloomy courtyard, only the stage full of flowers on one side was caged in the misty light.

The quiet flute and flute played at the first glance, among the sparse flowers and trees, a beautiful woman in costume came out like a cloud, her long skirt stretched to the ground, her sleeves folded, and the pearls and emeralds shone brightly under the illumination of the lanterns, like flowing stars, in the night. Solidified into a handful of fine and clear flames.

The face with heavy makeup can no longer see the original appearance clearly. The pink makeup powder deliberately pulls out a long blush at the end of the eye, which outlines the beautiful eye shape. Facing the flowing light of the water, every time she raises her eyes, she is full of charm, and she can express endless sorrow and sorrow without saying a word.

This is probably the "Lian Yunxian" that the man said just now, Xi Yi leaned on the high-backed chair, tilted her head to see the graceful figure of the performer amidst the sound of silk and bamboo, and held the handle of the fan, wanting to speak to the audience.

A corner of stone-blue clothes passed by Xi Yi's peripheral vision, and there was a slight commotion behind him, Xi Yi lazily looked sideways, and saw a young man with the appearance of a scholar walking quietly from behind.

There are very few spectators in the courtyard, and there are only five or six tables in total that are not full of people. Even those sitting here are mostly talking with their companions, and few of them are listening to the play seriously.

The scholar obviously abides by etiquette very much, regardless of whether the other party is listening to the opera or not, he smiled apologetically for disturbing others all the way, pressed the corner of his robe with his right hand to avoid touching others, walked sideways around the tables, and looked at them from time to time. Nodding his head to express his apology, he didn't dare to make a sound, his appearance seemed a little restrained and funny.

As he walked forward, Xi Yi raised his eyebrows, and saw him stop at his own table.

The scholar raised his sleeves and wiped the fine sweat from his forehead nervously, bowed his hands to Xi Yi, and said softly: "Brother, I—"

He raised his face, and when he saw Xi Yi's face, his voice faltered halfway, and there was a slight look of surprise in his eyes. It took a while before he regained the ability to organize his words: "...can I communicate with you?" Do you want to fight for a table?"

Xi Yi didn't say yes or no, she stared at the scholar's face and slowly sat up straight.

This shy scholar has a very good face, not as beautiful and bright as Xi Yi's. It is the appearance of a gentleman most admired by the world, elegant and delicate, handsome and gentle, full of the bookish air cultivated in the study, when he smiles A little inarticulate tenderness.

Law Law suddenly hesitated and asked in his ear: "This person... seems to be..."

Xi Yi ignored Fa Shi's vague and inexplicable question, and smiled at the uneasy scholar: "Of course, please."

The scholar breathed a sigh of relief, lifted his robe and sat down, thanked Xi Yi again, and looked eagerly at the stage before Xi Yi could respond.

Slender fingers wiped the fan surface, revealing the pattern of Nongyan peonies painted with gold powder. The actor who hid half of his face behind the fan looked shyly and timidly at the audience, with a pair of bright and graceful eyes with heavy makeup. She poured it out of her mouth, and her eyes were full of strong and deep affection.

Xi Yi looked at the scholar beside him with great interest, and then at the beauty on the stage twirling her fingers, their eyes met in mid-air, the viscous and ambiguous inside almost condensed into a solid body, dripping honey from the void Come.

Scholar and actor.

This drama is interesting.

After Xi Yi discovered the tricks of the two, it was as if he had found some fun. The jade-like libretto rolled past his ears, but he didn't listen to it at all, and he only opened his eyes wide to watch their interaction.

The beauty under the light raised her sleeves and threw them out. As the sleeves were flying, she subconsciously glanced at the scholar under the stage. The joy in her eyes was genuine tenderness; On his knees, he gently rubbed the fabric under his palms, and the corners of his mouth curled into an uncontrollable arc.

Instead, he treats other people like air.

"You know the emerald green skirt and the eight treasures of the gorgeous flower hairpin. You know that my life's hobby is nature, and it's just that no one has seen the benefits of three springs..."

The fans were closed, and the noble lady in the story whose life was bound by etiquette sighed softly and sang slowly along with silk and bamboo.

"Flying in the morning and rolling in the evening, clouds and green pavilions, rain and wind, smoke and waves painting boats..."

The wind blew the lanterns under the eaves, and the dim lights gave off flickering lights and shadows. Between the changes of light and dark, it seemed that there really was a ghost of a grieving lady who had landed here.

When the King of Ghosts was alive, he didn't care much about these entertainments. He only knew a rough idea of ​​this famous and widely sung repertoire. It must not be the euphemistic sentiments of a girl in a boudoir singing mournfully.

The play ended quickly, but what came sooner than the end was the noisy human voice. Xi Yi followed the sound and saw a man leading three burly men rushing towards this direction aggressively. With a sweep, he locked onto a certain person's figure, rushed forward with one stride, and lifted the scholar from his seat with one hand holding the skirt of his shirt.

"The money I borrowed five months ago has not been repaid, and I keep saying that I have no money, and then I am in a hurry to get an actor?!" The man's eyes widened, and the veins on his forehead popped, "Xu! If there is no money, I will chop off your right hand to see what you use to study!"

There was an uproar in the surroundings, everyone came here for fun, who would like to watch this kind of debt collection drama, many people got up and left immediately, leaving only two or three people watching the fun, Xi Yi who was sitting still was regarded as One of the.

— the baby sleeping peacefully in his arms was another.

"Oh... how do you say it..."

The sound of silk and bamboo stopped when the man broke in. The opera singer on the stage put down her fan and stood still. After the romantic and graceful style in the opera faded away, her eyes were full of Qing Lingling's tranquility, a pair of His eyes were fixed on the farce in front of him.

A man hurriedly ran out of the backyard, and brought four or five handsome young men with their heads tied up in white exercise uniforms. Seeing this scene, he hurriedly stepped forward to persuade him: "I have something to say, everyone opens the door to welcome guests, everyone suddenly barged in, we This business can’t go on, there’s something I can’t talk about—”

When his eyes turned to the scholar's face, he paused abruptly, his expression changed two or three times in an instant, and he fixed on an angry emotion: "It's you?!"

The class leader turned his head abruptly, glared at Lian Yunxian on the stage, and scolded the teenagers behind him: "Don't take Lian Yunxian down yet!"

The well-dressed actor stood straight, pouted his neck and said, "Tonight's play hasn't finished yet, so I won't go down."

The class leader's face turned blue: "Take it as if I don't know what you're planning!"

Pushed a young boy behind, pushed him onto the stage, turned his head and frowned at the scholar, and said, "Xu Sheng, Lian Yunxian is the pillar of Yunchun class. When I bought her, I signed a lifetime contract , I'm not the kind of person who waits for unreasonable things, if you can get the money to redeem your body, and pay back all the things you have raised and taught her in the class all these years, it is not impossible to let her go with you, but look!"

He quickly pointed his finger at the debt collector, and then turned back to the scholar's face: "In the past, I didn't care about you when you used money to watch the theater, but today you have caused a disaster in the Yunchun class——"

The scholar's face was pale, like a zombie, being held upright by the man and dangling pitifully in mid-air, his lips were trembling, he couldn't say a word, but his eyes were pleading, and he didn't know who he was asking for help.

"I'm not..." His voice was hoarse and vague, "I'm saving money..."

As he spoke, he struggled twice, pulled his skirt out of the man's hand, tried to smooth out the wrinkles on the clothes with trembling fingers, his face was full of thick and blank sorrow.

Hearing this sentence, before the boss had time to say anything, the debt collector raised his voice and said, "Are you saving money? That's right, just pay back the money owed to the bank. I don't want to do things that ruin my future." , Qianzhuang lends you money to treat your mother and buy her a grave, such a kindness, you scholar don’t want to repay it, don’t you even want to pay back the borrowed money?”

Xu Sheng subconsciously took a step back, his face flushed, and his fingers trembling with anger: "Are you being kind? I have paid off the money I borrowed a long time ago, but you have given such a high interest rate...I paid it back again and again, Why do you still owe more and more?"

The man smiled ferociously: "When you borrowed money, you signed a deed with a five-cent profit, and you paid it back in one breath, and continued to add interest if you didn't finish it... This time, you didn't even recognize the deed?!"

"The bank has forgiven you many times. Today is the deadline. If you don't pay the money, just pay with your hands!"

He had a fierce look in his eyes, and someone behind him handed out a bone-chopping knife with a cold light, and delivered it to the man. The man quickly grabbed Xu Sheng's hand, and pressed the slender palm holding the pen to the man's hand. On the table, there was a cold blade close to it.

Xu Sheng was pressed on the table and couldn't move. Two or three people pressed his back and made him stick to the table. He opened his eyes wide, and his handsome face showed a little panic. He subconsciously cast his gaze on the table. on stage.

Lian Yunxian was still standing with her spine straight, and several teenagers surrounded her to persuade her, but she ignored it and just stared at the scholar in the crowd.

Seeing him looking back at himself, Lian Yunxian didn't know what he saw in his gaze, the strength in his whole body suddenly loosened, and his straight back became a little bent.

"I'll pay it back!" Xu Sheng couldn't help being held down. Seeing that the blade was on his hand, he couldn't care less, and screamed, "I'll pay it back! I'll pay it back!"

A gentle and handsome face was slightly distorted by fear, he tried his best to raise his neck, trying in vain to stay away from the bone-chopping knife, and said hastily: "I saved some money..."

The man asked: "How much?"

Big beads of sweat fell on Xu Sheng's forehead: "One, two or six dollars..."

The man yelled impatiently: "It's useless! You owe 50 taels now! You will have to calculate another [-]% interest next month, why don't you cut off your hand to settle the debt!"

He made a gesture to make a move, Xu Sheng turned his head suddenly, looked at Lian Yunxian, the scorching fire in his eyes was so bright that it was about to burn: "Ayun! Ayun, save me! Ayun!"

Lian Yunxian froze in place, not knowing what he was thinking.

Xu Sheng kept shouting: "Ah Yun! Save me, I want to marry you, I saved this money just to marry you..."

He spoke incoherently, gasping for breath, almost bleeding from his throat.

Lian Yunxian didn't respond, the class leader got angry first: "You thief scholar! You don't want to trick Lian Yunxian, but you still want to coax her money?!"

The class leader probably had some affection for Lian Yunxian, and he talked about selling his body, but when Xu Sheng asked Lian Yunxian for money, he was so angry that he wanted to step forward and punch him.

Lian Yunxian looked blankly at the man who said he was going to marry him, opened his mouth, a line of tears suddenly dripped down his face, and subconsciously replied: "Xu Lang...that's my ransom money..."

Xu Sheng's forehead was covered with sweat, and he tried his best to look at Lian Yunxian: "Ayun...Ayun, I will redeem you, I said I would marry you, but now, you save me..."

Xi Yi seemed to be ignored by everyone, he sat in the middle generously, but no one noticed him, even Xu Sheng, who had greeted him, couldn't see him.

The Ghost King scrutinized the expressions and movements of everyone present, his eyes flicked back and forth from Xu Sheng and Lian Yunxian, and he was slightly dumbfounded.

A timid ordinary man and an infatuated woman?

Lian Yunxian's eyes were still watery, and a smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, as if he was moved by Xu Sheng's promise: "Okay, I will pay you back the money."

The class leader stomped his feet vigorously and raised his voice: "Lian Yunxian?!"

Lian Yunxian pursed her lips, lifted her skirt and ran into the backyard, and came out after a while, holding a money bag in her hand.

Walking up to this group of people, Lian Yunxian's gaze fixed on everyone's face, and slowly stretched out his hand.

The man grabbed the money bag, opened it roughly, and opened it. There were broken silver and bank notes in it. He counted it twice, put the money bag into his arms, pushed the man who was pressing on the table away, and said with a smile : "Okay, go read your book carefully, great talent."

The group left contentedly. The class leader stood aside for a while with his sleeves in his hands, and said coldly: "It's your own money. I don't care if you want to take it out, but if you want to redeem yourself, I don't have 100 taels." I won't let you go, you should weigh it yourself."

After he finished speaking, he glanced at Xu Sheng, wanted to say something, suppressed the anger and disdain in his eyes, turned his head and left.

Everyone was gone, Xu Sheng and Lian Yunxian were standing face to face, only then did they notice Xi Yi at the side, the scholar blushed, suppressed his shame and nodded at Xi Yi, walked to the side, lowered his voice and talked with Lian Yun Xian whispered.