Chapter 8

“I want to see Granny Chen.”

Chen Si didn’t speak, just looked at her quietly, her eyes filled with a storm of emotions that were so complex in that moment that Jiang Liu couldn’t understand them.

So she repeated herself, her tone soft but with an unnoticeable stubbornness.

Chen Si knew her personality well. Even if she didn’t agree, Jiang Liu would definitely do it, even if it meant getting hurt.

And that was the one thing she was most unwilling to face.

Chen Si met her gaze for a long time, then suddenly chuckled. “Sister is always like this. The whole theater isn’t even cleaned up, and you’re already eager to invite Mother to watch the play.”

This tone, combined with that helpless expression, was clearly how one would handle an unreasonable junior.

A single sentence, like a gentle spring breeze and fine rain, instantly swept away the confrontational atmosphere in the room. The others present finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Only Jiang Liu was taken aback, looking at Chen Si with a strange expression, a sense of powerlessness rising in her heart.

In all her life, who had ever spoken to her in such a tone?

Chen Si herself was still a young girl. Where did she get such an aura?

Before she could think too deeply, Chen Si had already taken two steps forward and pulled her to a seat. The earlier strangeness was completely gone, her expression completely calm, leaving only her usual playful and gentle demeanor.

“I understand sister’s intentions, but there’s no rush. We should get things ready first.”

As she spoke, her gaze swept over the corner of the staircase, seemingly unintentionally. Jiang Liu’s heart tightened, and in that instant, she sensed something.

Chen Si gently tapped her finger and continued, “Mother has entrusted the rehearsal matters entirely to you, so she naturally trusts your ability. Sister has already done very well. If you continue to rehearse, I believe Mother will be even more pleased.”

For some reason, the last two words, “more pleased,” were heavily emphasized. To Jiang Liu’s ears, they were like a clap of thunder, and she looked up at Chen Si in disbelief.

Their gazes met for a brief moment, so fleeting that no one else noticed, before they parted.

Jiang Liu was filled with doubt, but she still went along with her wishes. “Then I won’t make things difficult.”

Chen Si smiled and shook her head, setting out the food for them before leaving on the chime of the clock.

Only then did the stunned crowd slowly come back to their senses. Zhang Xiaochen plopped down opposite Jiang Liu, his mind filled with doubts.

“If she says you can’t go, you really won’t go? That’s not your style.”

Jiang Liu slapped his hand away as he reached for a pastry, shrugging helplessly. “Since it’s a game, of course we have to follow the rules.”

Zhang Xiaochen curled his lip in disdain, still not believing that Jiang Liu would be so docile.

***

In the middle of the night, Jiang Liu let out a cry of surprise from her sleep and suddenly opened her eyes. From the next room, she could hear a soft rustling sound, as if someone was getting dressed.

And she hadn’t heard the clock at all. If it weren’t for…

She quickly looked down at her finger. The wound had already scabbed over, and it was usually hidden in her wide sleeve, so no one noticed except for Xu Shu.

Just now, a sharp pain had shot through her, as if something had bitten it off. Although it was only for a moment, it was enough to wake her up.

She pursed her lips, glanced at the sleeping Chen Si who had climbed into her bed at some point, and gracefully slipped out of the room, running right into Xu Meng who was coming out of the next room.

“Sister Jiang is awake too?”

The moment she saw Jiang Liu, she relaxed, and a smile appeared on her pale little face.

Shh—

Jiang Liu put a finger to her lips in a shushing gesture and, like a cat in the night, tiptoed into her room to take a look. Ren Linlin was sleeping soundly in her bed.

Xu Meng noticed that her footsteps were very light. If she hadn’t been concentrating so hard, she wouldn’t have noticed at all. Her heart began to pound, and she held her breath as she watched her movements.

“What’s going on? Am I having a nightmare about ghosts again?”

A complaint came from somewhere. The two of them exchanged a glance, and Jiang Liu was the first to move, opening the door in a few quick steps.

“Eek!”

The moment she saw the scene in the room, even Xu Meng couldn’t help but cry out in disgust.

The scene was bizarrely comical.

Xu Shu was dressed as Du Liniang, holding his hand in a delicate orchid-finger gesture and combing his hair in front of a mirror. Since he had no long hair, it looked like he was combing the air, yet he himself was unaware, a hint of shyness in his eyes, like a bride about to be married.

No wonder Xu Meng and Yellow Hair had reacted so strongly.

Looking at Zhang Xiaochen, his mouth was open wide enough to fit a lightbulb, and he was clutching a pillow, not knowing what to do.

Seeing the two of them appear, he finally came to his senses, his heart filled with joy.

“It’s not a dream? Is he possessed?”

Jiang Liu held her forehead to stifle a laugh. “Haven’t you heard of a Male Dan Actor?”

Zhang Xiaochen looked at Xu Shu, especially at his coquettish gaze, and was at a loss for words.

Before he could say anything, he heard a thud.

Jiang Liu had somehow knocked the person out, pounced on him, and started to pull off Xu Shu’s opera costume, not forgetting to gesture for the two of them to help. “What are you waiting for, come and help!”

Zhang Xiaochen stumbled, looking at her and stammering, “Wh-what are you doing?”

Who strips someone’s clothes off and asks for help?

The opera costumes were complicated and difficult to wear, and Jiang Liu’s fingers were not convenient for such tasks. Hearing him, she shot him an annoyed look. “If you go up there to play Du Liniang, what’s the difference between that and sending yourselves to your deaths?”

If she hadn’t woken up today, Xu Shu would have died on stage without anyone being able to handle it. Waking someone up from an illusion was easier said than done, and no one could be sure of success. One careless move, and it would be game over for real.

Only then did Zhang Xiaochen and Xu Meng follow her train of thought. As they helped, they frowned. “Will you be fine if you go? How many lives do you have to be so reckless?”

Downstairs, the sound of opera lyrics was already drifting up. The other character must have already made their entrance. Jiang Liu couldn’t be bothered to explain and was about to run out with the costume on, but a hand suddenly grabbed her.

Zhang Xiaochen scratched his head frantically, with a “if I don’t go to hell, who will” kind of determination. “I’ll do it. You’re responsible for waking me up. I’m tough, I’m not afraid of pain.”

To watch a girl rely on self-harm to advance the plot, would he still be considered a man?

He thought that line was incredibly cool, but there was no movement in front of him. He looked up—Jiang Liu was busy tying her clothes, completely ignoring him.

Zhang Xiaochen was speechless.

Once she was dressed, Jiang Liu turned back and patted his shoulder. “I’ll be fine. Don’t worry.”

She had a reason she had to go on stage—to see that great fire with her own eyes.

Before her voice had faded, she had already run off, leaving only her reassuring words echoing in the stairwell.

“Damn it!”

Zhang Xiaochen was about to go crazy with anger. He had been bold for once, so why couldn’t he even get a chance to show it?

“Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go see.”

He didn’t care about anything else and dragged the dazed Xu Meng downstairs. If they were late, who knew what that crazy woman would do!

***

The feeling of falling into a sea of fire while fully conscious was not pleasant.

Jiang Liu endured the suffocating dizziness while trying her best to widen her eyes and look into the depths of the fire, concentrating her thoughts on the very bottom of the flames.

In an instant, the smell of burning flesh, the choking smoke in front of her, and the rampant flames almost ceased to exist, leaving only a single figure in the deepest part.

The moment she saw that face, Jiang Liu felt a chill run through her entire body.

“Hiss!”

A sharp pain came from the wound on her fingertip. As the saying goes, the ten fingers are connected to the heart. It forcibly pulled Jiang Liu’s consciousness back from the brink of collapse. The sea of fire in front of her vanished in an instant, leaving only the empty wooden floor, which seemed to still hold the outline of the figure from just now.

The pain disappeared again. The swaying Jiang Liu was caught by someone, and the faces of Zhang Xiaochen and the others appeared in front of her. Their mouths were opening and closing, but Jiang Liu couldn’t hear a single word.

Only one sentence kept echoing in her ears—

“Leave quickly.”

***

She was dazed for a full hour, sitting quietly without speaking, as if numb, which scared everyone half to death.

Zhang Xiaochen was pacing anxiously, and Xu Shu, who had woken up to find his part in the rehearsal finished, was also full of regret. Jiang Liu blinked slowly and finally managed to say one word, “Staircase.”

“What?”

Xu Meng was the first to hear the whisper. Only then did Jiang Liu realize how hoarse her voice was.

“Drink some water first.”

Xu Shu quickly poured a cup of tea, his eyes fixed on her nervously.

Jiang Liu downed it in one gulp and felt much better. She repeated, “Staircase.”

“What staircase? Are you scared silly?”

Zhang Xiaochen leaned over nervously, his words merciless, but the concern in his tone was undeniable.

Jiang Liu glared at him, stood up, and stretched her weak limbs. “Follow me.”

During the big clean-up on the first day, everyone had gotten a general idea of the theater’s layout. Besides the regular first and second floors, there was also a small warehouse in the courtyard for storing props.

They had thought that was all the rooms there were, but to their surprise, Jiang Liu took out a flashlight and fumbled around the staircase, actually discovering a hidden keyhole.

“There’s a door here!”

Xu Meng exclaimed in surprise, but the excitement on her face quickly froze. “But where’s the key?”

This sudden discovery surprised everyone who had been worried about Jiang Liu’s condition. They immediately forgot everything else and looked at Jiang Liu anxiously, hoping she would have a solution.

Jiang Liu didn’t say anything, her gaze lingering on Xu Meng’s head for a long time before she pulled out a silver hairpin.

This was a piece of jewelry that Chen Si had given them, and now it had become the most suitable tool for picking the lock.

Recalling Chen Si’s gaze from the afternoon, her hands didn’t falter at all. With a soft click, a secret door that had been hidden for who knows how many years opened silently.

“Cough, cough, cough.”

Before they could see what was inside, a cloud of choking dust filled the air. Jiang Liu pulled up her collar to cover her face and waved her hand. In the beam of the flashlight, they finally saw the layout of the place.

It was a small room, probably built as a storage room at the time. It was so small that even a slightly larger bed might not fit, but it had been decorated very elegantly.

On one side of the wall was a bookshelf packed with books. She blew off the dust on top and saw the title on the cover—it was The Peony Pavilion, the play they were rehearsing.

“It looks like someone lived here.”

Xu Shu frowned and covered his mouth, looking around and coming to a conclusion.

The bookshelf was filled with opera-related content. In the back, there was a desk with some messy papers on it. Who knows how many years they had been there; they were already old and tattered, turning to pieces before they could even be picked up.

The smell of burnt wood here was very strong. It was clear that it hadn’t been repaired like the outside of the theater. Of course, it was also possible that no one had ever discovered this hidden place.

“Hurry up and look for clues!”

Zhang Xiaochen was the most impulsive. He waved his flashlight around, and the small room was instantly crowded with people.

Only Jiang Liu didn’t move. After sweeping the flashlight around, her gaze fell on a photo frame on the desk.

In the photo, two girls were smiling beautifully, their posture intimate.

One of them she remembered very well, and she believed the others present did too.

“Sister Jiang, there’s an album here!”

Xu Meng’s scream came from behind her. She excitedly brought it to Jiang Liu. Unlike the messy papers on the desk, the album had been carefully stored in a box, clearly something that had been especially cherished.

As the dust was shaken off, a special story was presented to everyone.