Hire the Suona Players!

Huayi Town School,

Inside the principal's office, Juan'er and her husband kept rifling through the drawers, searching for anything valuable.

Other than the ten thousand yuan in cash, they found nothing!

"Why isn't there even a single bank card? Where did Auntie hide all her money?"

Frowning, Juan'er slipped the ten thousand yuan into her pocket, her gaze roaming constantly around the office.

The man beside her looked around the shabby office with disdain.

"Look at this poor dump. Even the principal's office is this shabby. She probably didn't have much money as principal either! Getting ten thousand is already pretty good!"

"What the hell do you know? Auntie managed so many students. Use that pig brain of yours and think—how could she not have money!? I heard from your third aunt's second daughter that even teachers at some random tutoring class with a few hundred students make quite a decent income. Now think about it—Auntie managed over a thousand students. Couldn't she skim a little something whenever she bought supplies?"

Juan'er poked the man in the head and snapped at him.

She looked like she was furious at his failure to meet expectations.

The man had been about to lose his temper, but after hearing her words, realization dawned on him.

"That's right, she definitely had money! I'll look more carefully!"

"Calling you stupid really doesn't do you justice—you don't use your brain at all. Let's go. The money definitely isn't here. Who would keep money somewhere with so many people coming and going? Let's get Auntie's funeral over with first, then go search her home carefully. Anyway, Auntie doesn't have any other relatives. Her inheritance won't escape my grasp!"

Juan'er sneered.

Her eyes were filled with greed.

If she hadn't heard that Auntie had become a principal here and managed over a thousand students, she wouldn't have bothered coming to help with the funeral arrangements. It was unlucky enough as it was. If not for money, who would come to a poor place like this?

Since she had come, she couldn't leave empty-handed!

By the time Juan'er and the man returned to the hospital, Xiao Ai had already handled everything here.

The most important matter now was arranging the funeral.

"What do we do now? Are we cremating the body?"

With tears in her eyes, Juan'er looked at everyone and asked.

For no reason, she thought of her mother. When her own mother had passed away, she hadn't been nearly this proactive about making arrangements.

Beside her, Xiao Ai approached with red-rimmed eyes and said to her,

"When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Here in Huayi Town, everyone is buried in the ground. The villagers have already gone to help bring the coffin over. We'll also have to trouble you to hire suona players!"

"Hire suona players!?"

Juan'er frowned. Hearing that they had to carry a coffin and hire suona players, she immediately found it all terribly troublesome.

The man behind her immediately stepped forward with a grim expression.

"Hiring suona players costs quite a bit of money, doesn't it?"

"Exactly!"

Juan'er quickly followed his lead.

"I think we should just arrange the funeral as quickly as possible! Why are there so many rules?"

"You!?"

Xiao Ai's expression changed, and she gritted her teeth in anger!

How could people like this exist? They were simply being unreasonable and refusing to handle anything!

And they still had the nerve to keep calling her Auntie?

Seeing how angry Xiao Ai looked, Juan'er hurriedly added,

"My aunt was always very low-key. A burial in the ground is troublesome enough, and now we have to hire suona players too. It'll be noisy and bothersome! Wouldn't that make me look unfilial? She was my only aunt. If you want to mistreat her, then I, Juan'er, will be the first to refuse!"

The words from her red lips and white teeth sent a chill through the heart.

Xiao Ai forcibly suppressed the anger in her heart, helpless.

She glanced at the money clutched in her hand.

"Since you don't want to hire them, I'll return the money the villagers pooled together for the Eight-stage funeral procession suona players right now!"

Only then did the two notice the money in Xiao Ai's hand.

There seemed to be several thousand yuan!

Juan'er's eyes immediately lit up, and she quickly reached out to stop Xiao Ai.

"Ah, forget it, forget it. Since it's the villagers' heartfelt gesture, Auntie would surely be willing to accept it. I'll trouble myself to hire the suona players!"

As she spoke, she swiftly snatched the money from Xiao Ai's hand.

That change of attitude came so quickly it caught people completely off guard.

Before Xiao Ai could react, the money in her hand had already been taken.

Who knew whether her filial devotion had suddenly surged, or whether she had simply seen the money.

Seeing how delighted they looked, Xiao Ai felt something was off and hurriedly warned them,

"This is the price for the town's suona players to perform in an Eight-stage funeral procession. You can't pocket this little advantage, or you'll be punished!"

"Hey! Watch your mouth, little girl!"

Juan'er's husband flew into a rage at once!

He pointed at Xiao Ai and gestured wildly.

Juan'er, who had gotten the money, tugged at her husband and said with a smile,

"Don't worry. Principal Tang was my own aunt! Leave the suona arrangements to us!"

With that, she dragged her husband off to town to hire the suona players.

After leaving the hospital, the two muttered to each other along the road.

"An Eight-stage funeral procession is a huge affair! Even when my mother died, we didn't use eight stages. It's expensive and troublesome! Isn't spending so much money a waste?"

Juan'er held the money, reluctant to part with it.

Getting money into her pocket was hard, but getting it out was easy.

The man beside her nodded as well.

"Why not change it to four stages? We won't waste the rest of the money—we'll keep it!"

"Hmph, you're finally being clever for once!"

Juan'er snorted coldly.

After hesitating for a moment, she eventually tucked the money into her pocket.

She planned to first ask the suona players about their price.

If eight stages truly were too expensive, then she would switch Auntie's funeral to four suonas!

There was a fairly famous Li Family Band in town. They specialized in this kind of work as suona players.

After asking around casually, the two learned where the Li Family Band was located.

They hurried over to hire the Li Family Band's suona players.

Huayi Town had rare customs preserved from earlier times. Whether it was a wedding or a funeral, the host family had to invite suona players to perform a few tunes for the occasion to feel lively.

Without suona players, weddings and funerals would seem far too desolate.

Not only would the hosts lose face, even the guests who came would feel that something was missing.

That was why suona players received extremely high respect in town.

Before a performance, the host family had to personally visit the suona players' home to invite them.

The scale of a suona performance also varied.

The most common arrangement in town was four stages, meaning four suonas.

Families in somewhat better circumstances would hire an Eight-stage funeral procession.

Besides four suonas, there would also be an erhu player, a sheng player, a flute player, and a drummer.

The bigger the event and the harder the music, the higher the price naturally became.

When the suona sounded, gold was worth ten thousand taels—this was what the saying meant!

As for anything beyond eight stages, it was a lost piece of music.

A solo performance!

It was said that sixty or seventy years ago, there had been a blind master in town who knew how to play it.

There were probably only a few people in town who had heard that piece and were still alive.

Across all of Dragon Country, there was likely not a single person who could be found.

And that piece was called—Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix!

PS:

We're climbing the rankings, we're climbing the rankings! You guys are incredible!

I never even dreamed I'd make it onto the new releases ranking!

"You bosses are so generous!"

Thanks to the top-ranking big boss, The End of All Songs, for the donation!

I still haven't repaid the chapter I owe the big BOSS, and today is another day of being chased for debts!

Thanks to ranking-climbing boss Braised Pork Tenderloin for the donation!

Thanks to boss X1525 for the donation!

And thanks to all the other readers for your smaller donations, recommendation votes, and monthly votes!

A ninety-degree bow—thank you all for your support!

Enough talking. I'll keep staying up late and write an extra chapter.

(The next chapter will be out a little later. Those of you who can't wait can get some rest first and read it tomorrow morning! Good night, everyone! Take care of your health, and may all you bosses enjoy overflowing wealth and never have to wait at red lights!!)