Chapter 4

“A frown for a reason, a smile for a reason, neither frowning nor smiling, alas for the young…”

A melodious song rose from the stage. Zhang Xiaochen was so startled he forgot to bandage the wound on his neck, staring blankly at the singer and exclaiming, “Why is she acting all spooky in the middle of the night?”

It was the dead of night. Why wasn’t Ren Linlin sleeping soundly in her bed? Why was she in full costume, singing opera on stage?

During the day, when Jiang Liu was talking about the play The Peony Pavilion, she had looked curious, as if she hadn’t heard much about it. What kind of genius learner could pick it up so quickly?

First, he was shocked, but then he thought, this wasn’t a damn exam. What was the point of secretly cramming?

Having figured this out, he now found Ren Linlin’s pretty face increasingly bizarre. Especially in this desolate theater in the dead of night, her mournful singing sounded like a female ghost’s summons, sending a chill down his spine.

A soft, timid female voice trembled as she explained, “I woke up in the middle of the night, and she was already like this. I couldn’t stop her.”

The speaker was the girl who had fainted from the bloody hand in the afternoon. She now looked terrified, her lips pressed tightly together, clearly petrified.

She had woken up at a very coincidental time, just in time to see Ren Linlin dressed in a full opera costume. In the middle of the night, with no lights on, Ren Linlin was silently combing her hair in front of a mirror. The image of the ‘Du Liniang’ corpse flashed through her mind, and she was almost scared to death.

Fortunately, Ren Linlin wasn’t in full makeup, so she vaguely recognized her as one of her companions. Only then did her heart settle, and she boldly tried to ask what was going on.

To her surprise, Ren Linlin, who was a head shorter than her, had an incredible amount of strength. No matter what Xu Meng asked, she remained silent. After combing her hair, she left with a stiff expression, which terrified Xu Meng so much that she almost fainted again.

“Luckily, Sister Jiang arrived in time.”

She patted her chest with lingering fear, her gaze naturally drifting towards Jiang Liu’s position. But when she looked, she was startled. Where was Jiang Liu?

The three of them hurriedly looked around and finally found Jiang Liu in a corner of the stage. She had somehow put on an opera costume as well. Because she had dressed in a hurry, many parts were not properly arranged, but even with the slight messiness, she was dazzling in the bright robe, making it hard to look away.

But at this moment, the three of them only felt a chill run down their spines.

“Oh crap, don’t tell me she’s gone crazy too!”

Zhang Xiaochen shivered and subconsciously took two steps back, reaching for his knife. But his waist was empty, and his heart sank.

In that instant, Jiang Liu had gracefully leaped onto the stage. Her demeanor and expression changed abruptly, and she looked like the real Du Liniang, her eyes filled with sorrow. Her red lips parted, and she began to sing softly.

“Chun Xiang, my illness is heavy. I know not what day it is.”

Ren Linlin stepped forward and quickly replied, “It is the middle of the eighth month.”

“Ah, it is the Mid-Autumn Festival…”

As the lines of the play flowed from her mouth, Jiang Liu understood what was strange about Ren Linlin.

Since stepping onto the stage, her consciousness had been pulled away, as if some force had possessed her body, controlling her to complete every line, every movement. Even if she tried to resist with all her might, she couldn’t move a muscle. She could only watch herself perform opposite Ren Linlin from a third-person perspective.

Could this be the reason why the theater was abandoned?

Jiang Liu gave up fighting against that force and focused on thinking.

At first, she had been worried that they wouldn’t know how to perform opera and couldn’t complete the performance in seven days. But if it was going to be done this way, wouldn’t the task be too simple?

In the blink of an eye, the scene was almost over.

The feeling of restraint on her body gradually lessened, and the lights above flickered. But Jiang Liu suddenly felt a surge of panic. A sweet, metallic taste filled her throat, and her heart felt as if it was being squeezed, the pain unbearable. She tried to open her mouth, but only broken, unintelligible syllables came out.

Something is wrong!!

But it was too late.

Jiang Liu’s pupils constricted, and a feeling of suffocation filled her brain. A chaotic scene seemed to flash before her eyes, unfamiliar fragments constantly piecing themselves together and reorganizing. She watched as her own body lost its strength and fell—

The original stage had long since disappeared. Beneath her feet was a raging fire. The flames licked at her hair, and the choking smell of smoke made it impossible to open her eyes. Jiang Liu staggered, and her vision began to darken…

“Sister Jiang!”

“Sister!!!”

Two overlapping shouts pulled her consciousness back to reality. By the time she came to her senses, Jiang Liu had already collapsed weakly onto the stage. A mouthful of blood spurted from her throat, and she looked blankly towards the corner of the staircase.

Was that… Chen Si’s voice just now?

In a daze, she seemed to see a figure flash past the corner. Did she wake her up? And why was she hiding?

“Hey, are you okay?” Someone tugged hard on her arm. Jiang Liu looked up blankly and recognized Zhang Xiaochen’s face.

She shook her head silently and turned her eyes eagerly to the other person, her tone tinged with a rare urgency. “Was it you who called me ‘sister’ just now?”

The girl who had fainted in the afternoon, Xu Meng, was frightened by her tone and took two steps back, nodding nervously. “Y-yes, what’s wrong?”

Jiang Liu rubbed her temples, finally breaking free from the forced dissociation. She pursed her lips and replied, “It’s nothing.”

The strength had returned to her body. Her left sleeve was torn, now soaked with blood. The wound wasn’t deep, but it stretched menacingly across her entire forearm.

She turned her head to see Ren Linlin lying motionless on the side.

She stood up straight and shook her head. “What happened to her?”

Yellow Hair snorted sarcastically. “You still have the energy to worry about others? That slash you gave yourself almost cut your arm off, you know?”

He wasn’t a petty person, but being tied up and doused with a basin of cold water by Jiang Liu earlier was a huge loss of face. He couldn’t help but make a few sarcastic remarks now, but his hands honestly handed over a bandage.

“The bookworm found it backstage. Use it quickly.”

Jiang Liu chuckled, not minding his awkward kindness. She whispered a “thank you” but didn’t use it immediately. Instead, she went to check on Ren Linlin’s condition.

They had both been possessed by a ghost and performed a play. But after the performance, the other girl was sound asleep, while she had almost lost her life. Jiang Liu wiped the cold sweat from her forehead, recounted her experience, and finally came to a conclusion.

“Tomorrow, we’ll go out and investigate the cause of the fire.”

***

When she returned to her room, exhausted, Chen Si was still sleeping soundly. She must have been having a sweet dream, as the corners of her lips were slightly curved.

Jiang Liu lay down but didn’t fall asleep immediately. Instead, she stared at Chen Si’s closed eyes, lost in thought.

In the near-death illusion on the stage, she seemed to have seen a pair of eyes like these, as clear and transparent as if they held a pool of spring water. Even the small mole under the eye was identical.

Was this really a coincidence?

The moment before she almost died on stage, Jiang Liu had reflexively drawn her dagger and stabbed herself. This almost unconscious action was so practiced, as if she had done it a thousand times before.

But the wound was wrong.

That level of pain wasn’t enough to wake someone from an illusion. Before she could fully exert her strength, it was that call of “sister” that had woken her up. Was it her?

Beside her, Chen Si hummed softly in her sleep, showing no signs of waking. Jiang Liu watched her silently for a long time before finally covering her with the blanket, turning over, and falling into a deep sleep.

What she didn’t know was—

Almost the second she fell asleep, Chen Si quietly opened her eyes. Her gaze swept over the wound on her forearm, her expression complicated.

She said nothing, only carefully propped herself up and, in the faint moonlight from the window, leaned in—and placed a devout and gentle kiss on the wound.

***

The next morning, the remaining two students heard the story of last night, and their expressions turned strange.

“You’re not kidding, are you? I slept very soundly.”

Last night, after dinner, they had all gone upstairs to rest. The four men and three women, except for Jiang Liu, had all paired up to guard against any accidents.

Who would have thought that such a commotion would only wake up Xu Shu? The two of them had slept like logs and hadn’t noticed a thing.

“Of course not! That feeling was terrifying!”

Ren Linlin was immediately displeased, thinking they didn’t believe her. She looked at the two of them with a pout.

Those two weren’t fools either. The wounds on Zhang Xiaochen and Jiang Liu couldn’t be faked, and their faces immediately turned a shade paler.

“So that so-called rehearsal… isn’t it something like this?”

Someone swallowed hard, their eyes darting to Jiang Liu’s arm, not daring to imagine how they would handle it if it were them.

As they were talking, Chen Si also came out of her room, sleepy-eyed, startling the group. Someone blurted out, “Didn’t you leave last night?”

Chen Si rubbed her eyes, her voice soft and sweet. “I couldn’t sleep in the middle of the night, so I secretly came to find Sister Liu.”

After speaking, she looked at them cautiously. “Brothers, please don’t tell Mother…”

The men coughed a few times, not knowing how to answer awkwardly.

Unlike the others, Jiang Liu’s eyes were deep and thoughtful as she asked, “Did you sleep well last night?”

Chen Si stretched and said cheerfully, “Of course! I even dreamed that your performance was a great success, and Mother was very happy!”

As she spoke, she glanced at the clock, her expression quickly turning to one of annoyance, and she hurried to run downstairs.

“Oh no, oh no, I’m going to be late for school. Sister Liu, I’m leaving now!”

The little girl seemed terrified of being late. Her footsteps were fast as she went downstairs, making the old wooden steps creak loudly. Jiang Liu was afraid they would fall apart.

The moment Chen Si stepped out the main door, the clock downstairs chimed again. Jiang Liu couldn’t tell if it was her imagination, but she felt that the girl seemed to breathe a sigh of relief after leaving.

“What are you looking at?”

Xu Shu noticed Jiang Liu staring at the door and couldn’t help but ask.

Last night, he and Yellow Hair were in the same room. When he realized something was wrong, he immediately went to wake everyone up. He had witnessed Jiang Liu’s swift methods and strong mental fortitude, and now he had great faith in her.

Jiang Liu withdrew her gaze, touched her empty stomach, and lowered her eyes. “Nothing. Let’s go out for a meal first.”

Chen Si had been very thoughtful and had sent over clean clothes for them last night. This morning, the seven of them had transformed, walking down the street in a neat row of cheongsams and long gowns, which was quite an eye-catching sight.

Although Ren Linlin and the others disagreed with Jiang Liu’s idea of starting with the fire, after last night’s lesson, they didn’t dare to stay in the theater alone. So they all went out together, parting ways at a fork in the road, and agreed to meet back at noon to exchange clues.

Xu Shu pushed up the glasses on his nose, looking around with novelty, and couldn’t help but exclaim, “It’s exactly like on TV. It’s incredible. Could this be a parallel world?”

Zhang Xiaochen sneered, “You bookworms are all strange. Instead of looking for clues, you’re just thinking about useless things.”

Xu Shu ignored him and tentatively suggested to the side, “Shouldn’t we go to a teahouse to gather information? That’s how it’s always written in the TV shows.”

After waiting for a long time without a response, he turned his head and his heart skipped a beat.

Jiang Liu had vanished again.