Chapter 59: The Yin Hall Gathering (Part 4)

The next evening, Ren Dong accelerated the schedule and completed the day’s filming plan before midnight. Chen Jiu changed into her costume, looked at herself in the mirror for a long while, and nothing unusual occurred.

Most people had left, but Yu Wan insisted on staying to watch the spectacle. She went into the makeup room to find Chen Jiu, just about to reach out and pat Chen Jiu’s shoulder to startle her, when someone behind her grabbed her wrist.

“Ahh!” she screamed in fright. Seeing it was Chen Xingye, she immediately became furious and punched him hard: “Are you trying to die?”

“…I saw you sneaking around and thought you were up to no good.” Chen Ba spoke with ill temper, withdrawing his hand and looking her up and down.

Chen Jiu turned to look at the two of them and asked, “What are you two doing? Didn’t Ren Dong say to clear the set?”

“Little Sister Jiu, I’m just curious…” Yu Wan inexplicably switched to a coquettish tone when facing Chen Jiu, going up to link arms with her and swaying back and forth: “Please, let me watch, okay?”

Toward a financial backer, Chen Jiu maintained her professional demeanor, patiently persuading: “It’s not that I won’t let you watch, but I’m not sure what exactly will happen to my face. If something happens to you, I would die ten thousand deaths and still couldn’t atone for it.”

Chen Ba snorted: “You’re making it sound so serious. She’s an adult, she can take responsibility for herself.”

Yu Wan snapped: “Is this any of your business? I’m talking to Little Jiu, why are you interrupting?”

Chen Ba shrugged and turned to leave.

Yu Wan switched back to a gentle smile, affectionately saying: “Little Jiu, didn’t you bring some talismans? Sell me one more, it should have some protective effect, right? I promise I won’t cause trouble, okay?”

Chen Jiu thought to herself, if you don’t seek death, you won’t die. Beautiful lady, you should think thrice.

“…Alright. If something really happens, don’t make a sound, don’t run around. Apart from me, don’t respond to anyone who calls you, and run toward me.” She pulled out a talisman paper, pinched it between two fingers, handed it to Yu Wan, and instructed: “Keep it close to your body.”

Yu Wan was delighted. She took the talisman paper and tucked it into her inner clothing pocket: “Today I also met an especially cute little sister. She gave me a talisman paper for free, but I figured it was just a child doodling for fun, probably useless.”

Chen Jiu was startled and asked: “Was she walking a dog?”

“Yes.” Yu Wan reacted: “You know each other?”

“That’s my junior sister.” After saying this, Chen Jiu thought with some pain, Su Xiaoyu, Su Xiaoyu, you’re doing your daily good deed. But the talismans you draw now already have some effect, how could you give them away for free without charging money?

Yu Wan gasped inwardly with cold air, thankful she hadn’t publicly embarrassed a child.

Past midnight, Chen Jiu put on her headdress and walked onto the stage. Night wind gently stirred the curtains hanging along the corridor. Candlelight flickered. Leaves rustled. In the audience sat only three people: Chen Ba, Yu Wan, and Ren Dong.

Time was tight, so they couldn’t do the full performance. Long passages of singing were handled by the radio. Chen Jiu hummed a few lines in a convincing manner. After the script’s lyrics finished, the radio indeed continued singing.

He casts his eyes upon me,
I cast my eyes upon him,
He and I, I and he,
Both of us filled with longing.
My nemesis! How can we fulfill this marriage,
Even if I die before the King of Hell’s hall,
Let him pound me with a pestle, saw me apart,
Grind me in a mill, throw me in a cauldron of oil.
Oh, let him! When the fire is singeing your eyebrows, you must take care of the present first.

Chen Jiu listened intently for a moment. This passage was definitely a huadan (female lead) role, filled with grief and resentment. Based on stories she had heard over the years, this huadan ghost was probably a resentful spirit who had been thoroughly hurt by a scoundrel. She just didn’t know its purpose: was it to prevent this opera from ever being performed again, or something else?

Chen Jiu flicked her sleeves, turned, wiped her tears. Soon she heard the singing from the radio stop, replaced by a faint, mournful weeping.

Ren Dong and Yu Wan in the audience were both shocked. This passage was something neither had ever heard before. The huadan ghost had appeared!

Yin wind blew in gusts. Behind the curtains, besides Chen Jiu’s reflected shadow, another figure faintly appeared, as if born from the original shadow. Its posture was graceful, its demeanor proper, movements that Chen Jiu could not possibly make.

Finally, I’ve waited for you.

Chen Jiu pretended not to notice, taking small steps toward that figure, then abruptly flung out a yellow talisman. A scream was heard, and golden light swelled into a sealing formation, firmly locking that ghost onto the curtains.

“I won’t harm you, but you must answer my questions truthfully.” Chen Jiu concentrated and entered a meditative state, using spiritual sight to examine the huadan ghost.

She saw a young woman wearing opera costume and headdress, her facial makeup mottled, seemingly dissolved by years of constant tears.

“Yu Lang… Yu Lang…” she mournfully looked toward the audience: “Yu Lang… how cruel your heart is, yet I still think of you… I think of you, come keep me company…”

Only Chen Ba in the audience could hear the ghost’s murmuring whispers. He slowly raised one eyebrow.

Yu Lang? Wasn’t that the male lead?

To be precise, it was the male lead in the script, not the actor playing the male lead role.

That meant the huadan ghost came for no other reason than the plot in the script. It wasn’t looking for any particular actor’s trouble, but rather whoever played these roles, it would make trouble for that character.

No wonder Chen Jiu had to go to such lengths to put herself in the situation, finally luring it out.

“Yu Lang doesn’t want you. You should leave on your own, why cling so obsessively?” Chen Jiu asked softly.

When the huadan ghost heard this, blood tears actually began to flow slowly from her eyes. She fixed Chen Jiu with a venomous gaze and let out a shrill, bone-chilling cold laugh.

“He buried me beneath the stage, wasn’t it precisely so I would never be reincarnated for all eternity? I can’t go anywhere. I can only cling to him, cling until he’s afraid, cling until he resents, cling until he cries out in misery and begs for mercy, then come down to be a pair of underworld husband and wife with me. Wouldn’t that be delightful…”

Yu Wan and Ren Dong only heard Chen Jiu talking to herself. Then the surrounding temperature suddenly dropped, cold wind whistling, making them shiver uncontrollably and hug themselves.

Ren Dong’s teeth chattered, his scalp tingling as he asked Chen Ba: “Is Little Boss Chen doing talk therapy with that thing?”

Chen Ba nodded, sighed, and closed his eyes: “Director Ren, things might be a bit more difficult than we imagined.”

Ren Dong said with a mournful face: “We still have to do it!”

“So cold, I shouldn’t have come…” Yu Wan complained softly, already beginning to regret.

Chen Ba extended his coat toward her, though without turning his face, just stretching out his arm.

Those who know the times are wise. Yu Wan snatched the coat and draped it over herself.

“The script’s ending is different from what it said. Director Ren, does this story have a real-life prototype?” Chen Ba asked.

Ren Dong recalled while shivering: “Yes, yes, but as for who the specific prototype is, you’ll have to ask the screenwriter. Should we, maybe, catch him tomorrow to ask?”

Chen Ba nodded.

“Yu Lang has already been reincarnated, he is not here.” Chen Jiu said to the huadan ghost.

The huadan ghost refused to listen, shaking her head constantly: “I don’t believe… I don’t believe… I haven’t waited for him yet, I don’t believe…”

At that moment, Chen Jiu suddenly felt a yin wind attack from behind her head. She turned and struck out with a palm, the palm wind actually shattering the porcelain vase flying toward her. The vase cracked right down the middle, shattering to the ground with a crash.

Seeing a second ghost had voluntarily appeared, Chen Jiu could no longer speak gently. Without hesitation, she drew her peach wood sword and held it horizontally before her, saying with feeling: “It seems there’s another person who harbors hidden feelings for you. It’s just that you were blinded by that despicable man and couldn’t see that others also had feelings for you.”

Chen Ba in the audience secretly broke into a cold sweat. He had also wanted to act, but his junior sister’s skills were far too quick for him to help.

The huadan ghost’s eyes cleared for an instant, but only for an instant, before quickly returning to their dazed, mournful state.

“Ha!”

A gong sounded. Chen Jiu looked up to see a figure in wusheng (military male) costume walking quickly out from behind the stage, but no matter what, his face could not be seen clearly.

Fighting on the stage naturally meant using stage fighting techniques. But to Chen Jiu, such moves were quite laughable. In a few moves, she had the wusheng ghost retreating step by step, fleeing out of its costume, and scurrying into the curtains in a flash.

It wanted to reclaim the stage, but unfortunately its strength was insufficient.

Without suspense, the next instant, the wusheng ghost was pressed into the golden light net that Chen Jiu had already laid down, sealed in the formation, side by side with the huadan ghost, neat and tidy.

Chen Jiu looked at them and couldn’t help but jest: “Tsk tsk, what a pair of tragic ghostly mandarin ducks.”

The two ghosts had not seen daylight for years, their minds chaotic, acting only on obsessive instinct, repeating the same few sentences over and over like NPCs with fixed programming.

Chen Jiu couldn’t get anything more out of them, so she had to seal them in place for now and question the screenwriter tomorrow.

This was undoubtedly wonderful news for Ren Dong. If not for the difference between men and women, he would have rushed up to hug Chen Jiu and spin her around.

After hearing Chen Ba’s account, Yu Wan learned that this huadan ghost had actually been killed by the real-life prototype of the male lead and buried beneath the new house. She immediately felt a chill, murmuring: “This man is far more terrifying than a ghost.”

“Yu Lang” was probably the real name of the prototype.

Chen Jiu removed her costume and headdress, put them in the old costume room, and returned to find Yu Wan still in a daze. She asked: “What? Scared?”

She touched the other person’s hand, indeed ice-cold.

Yu Wan said resentfully: “This girl’s fate was so bitter.”

“Yes, her resentment reaches the heavens.” Chen Jiu smiled: “Unless we catch that heartless man and bring him before her to be sliced into a thousand pieces, she won’t be willing to leave.”

Yu Wan nodded in agreement. She sighed, returned the coat to Chen Ba, and rarely said a word of thanks.

On the way back, Chen Jiu said faintly: “As for this Yellow Springs Gathering, it’s probably this girl inviting everyone to accompany her to the Yellow Springs together.”

Cold sweat poured down Ren Dong’s forehead, flowing all the way into his collar. He really wanted to beg her to stop talking.