"Ah, well, well! Important guests from the county, are you?"
A shrill voice picked up where the narration left off, calling out from a low house to the players' right.
With a creak, the wooden door pasted with red paper cutouts swung open from within, revealing a pitch-black main room. A tiny old woman, about five feet tall, came out on tiptoe and pointed up and down at Qi Si, who stood at the front.
"You've come at just the right time! Xi'er is getting married, and the town's about to throw her a grand wedding. I guarantee you, no wedding for miles around is as good as ours!"
The little old woman's wrinkled face was ghastly pale, yet she had painted two bright circles of rouge on her cheeks. She wore festive red from head to toe—even her cloth shoes were red. Yellowish-white bindings wrapped her tapered legs, making her look so unsteady that anyone might think she'd topple over at the slightest touch.
She smiled and said, "My surname's Xu. Just call me Sister Xu, like the children in town do!"
Qi Si stepped back to avoid her spittle and instinctively raised a hand to rub his cheek, only to feel rough skin.
He raised his brows and ran his hand down to his chin. The fine stubble there was prickly, as if he hadn't shaved in a long time.
So this instance had changed the players' appearances? Then why could Du Xiaoyu still recognize him?
Qi Si fell into thought.
Sister Xu seemed not to notice. She said warmly, "I'll arrange a place for you to stay! A wedding on this scale only comes around once every forty-nine years! Compared to ours, weddings elsewhere are just children playing house..."
It seemed the Folklore Investigators had come to