Chapter 260: Woman

To depict the intensity of the battle, the red-faced general, surrounded by several foot soldiers, leaped onto a three-legged table and continuously spun on its edge.

"Qiang qiang qiang qiang~" Accompanied by the music, he spun for several minutes, all while balancing on a three-legged table. His skill was truly impressive.

The scene on stage even made Li Huowang open his eyes in surprise. "Are the demands for opera performances in Great Liang so high?"

"Qiang~qiang~tai~" The flag-adorned general on stage performed a backflip, landing steadily.

As the surrounding foot soldiers collaboratively fell to the ground, the general struck a pose and dramatically made his entrance, instantly eliciting a continuous roar of cheers and applause from the audience.

Li Huowang's applause was among them. He realized he had misjudged; he truly hadn't expected such a significant difference between performers.

Even he, someone who didn't know much about opera, could appreciate its brilliance.

As Li Huowang watched, mesmerized, the general on stage suddenly stilled. The two long pheasant tail feathers on his head began to rustle and vibrate rapidly as he shook his head. "Hmm? Who approaches?"

No sooner had the general finished speaking than the stage lanterns extinguished instantly, plunging everything into darkness.

Just as a hint of doubt arose in Li Huowang's mind, the lanterns suddenly relit, but this time, the light within them was no longer red; it had turned an eerie green.

On the stage, where only the general had been moments before, another person abruptly appeared.

It was a woman, her back to the audience. Her long water sleeves cascaded and trembled like a waterfall.

The music had stopped at some point; the only sound on stage was an increasingly heavy breathing.

"Heh heh..." A spine-chilling whisper suddenly sounded in Li Huowang's ear, instantly making the hair on his body stand on end.

"What in the world is this nonsense! Can't this place ever be peaceful!" Li Huowang's expression instantly turned ferocious. Gripping his sword with one hand, he stomped on the tiles beneath his feet, ready to rush onto the stage.

At that moment, Bai Lingmiao gripped him tightly with both hands, anxiously exclaiming, "Senior Brother Li, that's fake! It's just acting!"

"Fake??" Li Huowang looked on with a hesitant expression as the general on stage paced cautiously, circling the woman with her back to the audience.

Suddenly, the woman sharply turned her head. At the same instant, two bronze mirrors were raised on either side of the stage. The bright candlelight reflected from the mirrors instantly illuminated the woman's featureless face.

This terrifying scene instantly startled everyone present, and many children cried out in fear.

Li Huowang, however, breathed a sigh of relief. It was indeed fake; his sharp vision allowed him to see that the head was merely a prop, and her actual head was hidden within her costume.

Li Huowang slowly removed his hand from his sword and sat back down on the roof. "Do you folks in Great Liang perform operas with such flair? They even add horror elements to them?"

"Senior Brother Li, what are 'horror elements'? This opera has always been performed this way. It's been sung for over a hundred years. Legend has it that General Yue encountered such a thing on the battlefield back then."

Gazing at the distant, eerie stage, Li Huowang thought that if this were real, the actual events back then must have been far more tragic and terrifying.

Just then, Li Huowang watched as the general on stage swung his mace, effortlessly striking off the woman's head. The woman fell stiffly onto the stage, as if truly dead.

No sooner had the woman fallen than a man with a black face and two paper copper coins stuck to his cheeks walked onto the stage, swaying with his head tilted back.

"Woo ha ha ha!"

Sharp, pointed teeth spiraled in and out of his mouth. Accompanied by piercing gong sounds, sparks shot out, particularly conspicuous in the dark night.

"Heh heh." Bai Lingmiao heard Li Huowang's laughter and, a little confused, turned to look at him in the darkness. "Senior Brother Li, what are you laughing at? Isn't the opera good?"

"It's excellent," Li Huowang replied. "I'm not laughing at the performers on stage, but at Master Lu. He's made a grave miscalculation this time. With his mediocre skills, I doubt he'll earn a single coin in Great Liang." He watched Master Lu's face grow increasingly sullen in the distance.

"By the way, Great Liang truly is different from other places. Both its material and spiritual pleasures are vastly superior. It truly lives up to its reputation as the most powerful place."

That night, everyone thoroughly enjoyed the performance, including Li Huowang.

The opera troupe also received ample rewards. There was a reason they chose to perform at this time: it was harvest season, so landlords had money in their pockets and were very generous.

Master Lu returned crestfallen, completely lacking his former demeanor. His pride, built over decades of opera performance, was shattered.

Unlike the others who were discussing excitedly, he and his two sons huddled in a corner the moment they entered the room, saying nothing.

"Father, they can even breathe sparks from their mouths! How can we compete with that?" Lu Xiucai broke the silence.

"Why can't we compete? That elderly male actor at the end didn't sing as well as I do!" Master Lu argued defiantly, his neck stiff.

But as soon as he finished speaking, he deflated like a punctured balloon. He could boast, but it couldn't bridge the gap in skill between the opera troupes.

He put his pipe into his mouth, then, hunching his back, walked towards Bai Lingmiao, who was making the bed in the corner. "Heh heh~ Miss Bai, may this old man ask something? You see, can all opera troupes in Great Liang perform plays like the one today?"

"Yes, and not just this kind! They can perform several types. In fact, today's performance wasn't even their most dazzling!"

Master Lu, hunching his back even more profoundly, stumbled towards his two "useless" sons.

That night, Master Lu barely slept, tossing and turning as he pondered. "If the Lu family troupe can't set up its stage, won't I just be a freeloader again?"

However, he wasn't the only one who didn't sleep much that night. When the roosters in the village crowed, the early-rising Lu Xiucai saw Gouwa, with a lewd grin, emerge from a small grove, embracing Hong'er.

The two were affectionately close, chatting and laughing together.

When Gouwa saw Lu Xiucai drawing water at the well, his eyes lit up. After sending Hong'er away, he approached Lu Xiucai, a triumphant look on his face.

"Heh heh heh~ Kid, do you know what I was up to last night? Heh heh heh~"

Lu Xiucai said nothing, carrying the bucket of water towards the house, but Gouwa wouldn't leave him alone, continuously chattering around him.

"Oh~ the feeling, oh~ the feeling~ Heh heh heh~"

His demeanor, combined with Gouwa's shifty eyes and cunning expression, made him appear utterly lewd.