Ding Ding followed several girls walking up the stairs, and soon came to the second floor. She walked forward with her head lowered, but was grabbed by the manager and pointed to one side.
It was then that she saw a band beneath a curtain, with an empty seat next to them.
As soon as Ding Ding sat down, she nearly stepped on a foot on the floor. Looking down, there was a headless corpse behind the seat, likely the previous pipa player whose head had been plucked off.
Her heart pounded wildly. At that moment, a gust of chilly wind blew, lifting the curtain to reveal several corpses lying sprawling behind it.
A girl next to her whispered softly, "Tune your strings quickly! The last pipa girl had her head taken off because her pitch was off, and she's right over there watching us!"
Ding Ding looked in the direction of the girl's finger and saw that the audience below was a blur of shadowy figures in the dimness, where she could only see a mass of jujube-like human heads that loved watching plays, completely unable to tell who was who.
She suppressed the panic in her heart, adjusted the strings, and set the proper pitch.
She did this sort of thing often.
The pipa was not hers, but Madam Huali's. It had a name: Urgent Rain, taken from the line, The large strings rumble like urgent rain.
Madam Huali was famous throughout the world for her pipa playing. Ding Ding was merely a maid who served Madam Huali, often helping the mistress adjust her strings, check the pitch, and learning some fingering techniques along the way.
As soon as she finished tuning, she heard whispers rising from below, as many heads put together their own to discuss what