Chapter 100 - 97 The Minor Hexagram

Chapter 100: Chapter 97 The Minor HexagramLi Shuangyi was filled with regret but did not shy away from the mistakes she made. Zhou Lingyi exhaled heavily and said, "Third Brother, two years ago, after I took over Zhou Family’s Troupe again, we lacked manpower and money. Most importantly, the spirit was broken, and you, Second Brother, and Fourth Brother all left the troupe. I needed to revive Zhou Family’s Troupe by bringing you all back. For Second Brother, I used a friend’s connections to get Song Jie into a film company, For Fourth Brother, I helped him make connections with Mr. Bai Yun. For you, I didn’t know how to bring you back... What the younger brother did was too inhumane, Until that day when Tong Douzi’s parents sent him to Zhou Family’s Troupe to learn opera..." "I remember you came to me, saying that the children learning opera at Zhou Family’s Troupe needed me. At that moment, I was moved. My voice was ruined, but I could still help those children continue to sing opera, big operas! Then you stepped aside, revealing Tong Douzi to me. From the first glance, I liked that child. His lively eyes, his clear voice—he was the best candidate for learning opera. It even felt like I saw myself in him; he was my rebirth..." As Li Shuangyi mentioned Tong Douzi, she couldn’t hide the smile on her face. "Third Brother, you should have told me you joined the actors. No matter what kind of leash Li Lisheng put on you, I could help you break it! No matter how many people you killed for the actors or how stained your hands became with blood, you are always the Third Brother in my heart." "There’s no chance now. When I made up my mind to take Zhou Xuan’s soul, I lost the chance." Li Shuangyi said in despair. "Third Brother, after Zhou Xuan’s soul was taken, the Ancestor Tree awakened Grandpa. He cast two divinations, one big and one small. The big divination determined the future fate of our Zhou Family, and the small one was cast for you." Zhou Lingyi said. "The old class leader... cast a divination... for me?" Li Shuangyi could not believe her ears. "The Ancestor Tree asked Grandpa to summon back the present Zhou Xuan’s soul. At first, Grandpa was unwilling. He wanted his grandson’s soul but had to listen to the Ancestor Tree. Though torn, he decided to go to Soul Shepherd City, follow the Ancestor Tree’s wish, and also to save Zhou Family’s Troupe. The night before the ceremony began, he saw you from the window. After returning to Zhou Family’s Troupe, he had been unconscious for two whole years. He didn’t know you had returned to Zhou Family’s Troupe, seeing you, he then said to me, ’Lingyi, Grandpa is leaving. I wish to hear one last play. Please invite Little Three-child to sing for me. I always loved his singing.’ I could not fulfill his wish. I knew your voice... so I found an excuse to muddle through. Grandpa sensed there was something hidden and cast a divination for you. Only then did he learn of your voice’s condition." "The old class leader... what did he see in the divination?" "He didn’t say the symbols, only ’destroying Little Three-child’s voice, such a vicious and ruthless grandson, it’s not worth keeping.’" At these words, Li Shuangyi finally dropped her strong facade, her body weakening as she sat powerlessly on the ground, murmuring, "The old class leader... was very good to me, really good. Leader, did the old class leader see in my divination that I killed Zhou Xuan’s soul?" "Maybe he saw, maybe he didn’t..." Zhou Lingyi pulled out a letter given by Xia Jin, handed it to Li Shuangyi, and said, "Third Brother, take a look, see what the people from the actors have been doing around Zhou Family’s Troupe all these years... Also, take a good look... at whose remains were left uneaten by the Human Turtle in the bamboo grove!" After speaking, Zhou Lingyi turned and walked down the mountain. Li Shuangyi opened the letter and quickly read through it. The more he read, the more terrified he became, the more he regretted how he sold his life to the dog bastards of the actors. "What the hell did I do? I harmed those children! It was me who harmed them!" Li Shuangyi howled. In the past two years, Zhou Family’s Troupe had grown famous, and many children enrolled to learn opera. However, not every child who signed the learning document succeeded in learning. Some couldn’t endure hardship, while others truly couldn’t learn anything. For such children, Zhou Family’s Troupe could only help transfer them to percussion or water workers as apprentices. Some children were unwilling, but the troupe wouldn’t force them to stay, just prepare another document for their parents to take them away. These children had more spiritual energy than ordinary kids. Many of them, even with their accompanying parents, were intercepted halfway by the actors’ people and sent to the bamboo grove, given to the Human Turtle... These children were eaten, and the actors would still cover it up, threatening or enticing their families not to speak out. For those who refused to cooperate, they would silence them. Xia Jin found some still-unrotted manuals in the remains and used his hidden lines in the Tangkou to uncover the truth of these years. Li Shuangyi knew every child who the Human Turtle ate. "Leader!" Li Shuangyi, overwhelmed with rage and having realized the truth, stood atop the mountain, shouting to Zhou Lingyi, who was already at the base, "I, Li Shuangyi, am the sinner of Zhou Family’s Troupe, but Tong Douzi is a good child. I beg you to take good care of him." Bang! A muffled sound echoed, Li Shuangyi’s right hand pierced into his own neck, tilting his head before collapsing. Though Zhou Lingyi did not turn back, she knew what happened, closed her eyes momentarily, her face twitching, before continuing to walk outside the mountain. At the entrance of the Back Mountain Lane, she encountered Liu Jiaotian, who was waiting. From Liu Jiaotian’s angle, she could see Li Shuangyi’s process of self-inflicted death. She stopped Zhou Lingyi, "Leader, if Brother Li hadn’t ended his life, would you have done it?" Zhou Lingyi shook her head and said, "I don’t know!" Just as she didn’t know—whether in Grandpa’s small divination for Li Shuangyi, he had foreseen Li Shuangyi killing Zhou Xuan’s soul! "Go, see the Third Brother on his last journey." After Zhou Lingyi spoke, she returned to Zhou Family’s Troupe. Liu Jiaotian acknowledged, climbed the mountain, kneeling by Li Shuangyi’s corpse, gently stroking his cheeks. "Brother Li, we could have been together. I didn’t believe in fate before, but now I do. Everything is destined; not a bit is up to people!" Liu Jiaotian carried Li Shuangyi’s body on her back, walking towards the direction of the funeral troupe, intending to hold a funeral for him by herself and then send him up the mountain. Yet halfway, she stopped, and then headed towards home. She had a wild idea. "Brother Li, I still don’t believe in fate. We must be together and never be apart again." "I will take you home now..." ... At Zhou Xuan’s funeral, more and more guests arrived for the mourning, Having been in Jing Country for a short time, Zhou Xuan had little social contact outside Zhou Family’s Troupe and wasn’t well-known. The guests came because of Lady Lianhua’s connection. Lady Lianhua prayed for Zhou Xuan in the temple, and those yellow-skinned fans of storytelling all appeared, sitting in silence in front of Zhou Xuan’s coffin, silently mourning. Yuan Buyu had been in an abnormal mental state all day, when lucid, he sat beside Zhou Xuan muttering storytelling lines, and when delusional, he shouted "Kill, kill, kill" incessantly. At night, Yu Zhengyuan and Xu Li helped keep watch and finally persuaded Yuan Buyu to go back to sleep. Yuan Buyu returned to his room but did not sleep; he stared dazedly at a photograph on the wall. The photo taken when Zhou Xuan apprenticed under Yuan Buyu was printed in two sets, one for master and one for disciple. Standing by the wall, Yuan Buyu looked at the picture where Zhou Xuan posed with him as "Wu Song Killing the Tiger." "Master, smile, if you don’t smile, the photo will look dull. Yes, this is the right vibe." "Gotta admit, Master, you have quite a presence in photos, relax your brows a bit and it’ll turn out cheerful." "Old Yuan, I need to advise you not to be so serious. You’ve finished your rage ranting in the kitchen; why so bitter and revengeful still?" Zhou Xuan’s words during the photoshoot echoed in Yuan Buyu’s mind. Yuan Buyu began to smile but couldn’t help remembering Zhou Xuan’s murderous expression after he killed his first kidnapper. "Kill, kill, kill!" Yuan Buyu’s mental state became abnormal again, but in his unrest, a clarity shone in his murky eyes. He saw it, He saw a Great Buddha descending with majestic presence, dispersing a golden energy that shattered the Alien Ghosts hungrily gnawing on living beings in the bamboo forest. He saw the Four Heavenly Kings statues, originally with strings without frets, swords without edges, umbrellas without bones, dragons without scales, representing restraint, but now, with strings, edges, scales, and bones, they embodied the thunderous means of Buddhism. "Indeed, mere compassion can’t save people. Without thunderous methods, where comes the Bodhisattva’s heart!" "Swoosh!" A renewed incense lit in Yuan Buyu’s heart. The fleeting opportunity between six incense and seven incense had finally been understood by him. Yet Yuan Buyu felt no joy at gaining this profound insight; he felt uneasy and couldn’t sit or stand properly, feeling as if an uncontrollable sorrow brewed in his chest. He circled the room repeatedly, growing more and more frantic, until he stopped, picked up a folded fan, and mournfully, as if crying, chanted towards Zhou Xuan’s photograph, "Yesterday master-apprentice were on the same path, today disciple has perished leaving heartache, Bitterly crying to the heavens, how could it be so cruel, The cherished warmth still remains, where lies the vague presence, Heart filled with boundless sadness and pain..." Finishing the chant, Yuan Buyu ground some ink, venting as he painted several "Sorrow" characters on the wall before finally slumping into a chair, wailing tearlessly, "The most important incense opportunity in my later years came from my disciple’s life!" ... Yuan Buyu was immersed in sorrow, "Knock, knock" The door was knocked, Yuan Buyu wanted to do nothing, not even moving. But the door was opened. Zhou Lingyi walked in. "Elder Yuan." "The Human Turtle who killed my brother is dead, but... the Human Turtle’s dogs are not." "Where are they?" Yuan Buyu sat up abruptly. The dogs’ lives could not replace his disciple’s, but he would gladly do something for his disciple. "They’re in Pingjiang Prefecture, actors’ sub-branches, working for the Human Turtle. My brother’s death is also tied to them. I’ll seek them later. Once I get the roster, I’ll hand it to you." Zhou Lingyi, as the Night Patrol God, had limited actions each year. "Alright!" Yuan Buyu agreed straightforwardly. After Zhou Lingyi left, Yuan Buyu shaved his beard, took a bath, then put on his treasured tunic and mumbled. "Xuan, you said that for any outing, one must dress sharply. Master will heed your words!" PS: Nearly ten thousand words in three updates. Smooches.