Watching Lu Xiucai's retreating back as he never once looked behind, the woman's voice began to tremble and choke with sobs.
"Fine, I'll find someone! You said it! Do you think no one wants me? I'll use the grain grown from your fields to feed another man! When you come back, I'll make you regret it until your guts turn green!"
Her cries faded away alongside her footsteps. Lu Xiucai let out a deep sigh, then pulled the cart onward.
Looking at the lush green woods all around him, Lu Xiucai thought for a moment before raising his voice and singing an opera his father had taught him long ago. "All the way I've traveled~~ to seize the autumn light! This time I pay my respects~~ in Zhuanzhu Lane!"
Just a few lines into his song, an old male operatic voice rose behind him. "A true man~ must forge a world-shaking, heaven-stirring endeavor~!"
Hearing that familiar voice, tears glimmered in Lu Xiucai's eyes. He turned around and discovered that Lu Zhuangyuan was singing.
He was still mad and had not regained his senses. He had merely reacted instinctively upon hearing familiar opera lyrics.
Lu Xiucai watched him, his lips trembling slightly before he continued to sing. "Learn from the earth, to twist heaven and earth around~! Reverse the Milky Way and wash the sun!"
The old man's and young man's voices began to overlap, inseparable from one another as they echoed endlessly down the road.
"Heroes and gallant men~ gather in the hall, stars filling the sky in exchange for words!"
"Dragons and serpents rise~ from the great marsh in every direction~! High-spirited, they travel the road!"
As the opera continued, the night gradually deepened. Before the second watch, Lu Xiucai drove the cart into a small town.
It was