Combing Hair at Midnight

"Can you refuse?"

Zhou Yang turned Ding Ling's question back on her.

After all, from his brief observations alone, he could not tell what Ding Ling's relationship with the other troupe members was like.

He could only make a simple guess at their personalities based on his first impressions.

Under the circumstances, anything he asserted now was highly likely to be overturned the next moment.

With that being the case, he could only turn the question back on her.

He would let Ding Ling think it over herself.

In a classroom, when a teacher did this, it was called "being good at encouraging students to think for themselves."

His response was perfectly ordinary.

But accompanied by the laugh he had deliberately let out, it gave Ding Ling the impression that the "person" inhabiting her body seemed to understand the situation and was sitting firmly in control.

Although Zhou Yang was inside her body, like two souls sharing a single body,

their positions were not equal.

Ding Ling knew nothing about Zhou Yang.

Zhou Yang, however, knew a little of what Ding Ling had recently experienced, and with the help of the Knife Credit Ledger, he knew even more about her specific circumstances:

Karmic Retribution Body: Ding Ling

Mindfulness: 7 (2 of her own + 5 from the Blade-Credit Merchant)

Identity: cook and odd-job worker for the Lampstand Opera Troupe

Abilities: experienced butcher, skilled cook, self-taught performer of folk opera

Given the difference in their positions brought about by this imbalance of information, Ding Ling's probing of Zhou Yang was bound to accomplish little.

After all, while she was still frightened by the consciousness that had suddenly entered her body, wondering whether he was an evil spirit or a divine being, Zhou Yang already had a grasp of her general circumstances.

Hearing the man's voice that had unmistakably appeared in her head, Ding Ling was bewildered.

During the time she had lain unconscious after catching a chill, she had repeatedly had the same dream.

In the dream, she was pursued by a one-eyed demon with a human body and an ox's head. The demon was the legendary "Fei," a spirit that spread pestilence.

Whenever she was about to give out and Fei was about to catch her, a man's voice would gently urge her to keep going.

Along with the man's voice, there were always sounds like the striking of iron or the sharpening of a blade.

Finally, one time, she truly could run no farther. She stopped by the roadside and let Fei catch up to her, and just as he was about to eat her, the man emerged from an alley and handed her a small blade.

That crude little knife disposed of the seemingly terrifying Fei.

She then woke from the dream.

She had dreamed that long dream over and over, she did not know how many times.

By the end, she could no longer tell where the dream ended and reality began.

Even the dream itself had come to feel neither quite like a dream nor quite unlike one.

Then, just as she had been on the verge of waking earlier, she had heard that man's whisper again.

She had thought she was hallucinating.

But now, as she probed, the man's voice had truly sounded in her head. Ding Ling curled up, pressing her palm against her chest, where she felt a warm, swelling sensation.

A feeling of gratitude welled up in her.

Ding Ling felt that what she had experienced in the dream might not have been false.

I can't refuse anyway... Could I, could I take this chance to ask the troupe leader for something in return?

Do you, do you think that would be all right?

Zhou Yang heard Ding Ling's inner voice once more.

The thoughts she conveyed carried obvious excitement and a certain subtle emotion.

Zhou Yang felt that if he had suddenly found himself sharing a body with someone else, he might not have kept his emotions in check as well as Ding Ling had.

To him, Ding Ling's reaction was only natural.

He smiled gently and said, "I was thinking the same thing.

"If you didn't take this chance to ask for something in return, you'd be doing yourself a disservice after paying such a heavy price.

"What are you planning to ask for?"

Ding Ling lowered her head, the corners of her lips turning up slightly.

The people around her could not see her expression and assumed she was still hesitating.

There was still a long time until midnight. They could wait.

They could wait for Ding Ling to make up her own mind.

I don't know what I can get... What do you think would be best to ask for? Ding Ling asked the man's voice in her heart reverently. She actually had some ideas of her own, but she wanted to hear what the man thought.

The man answered at once,

and his answer matched what she had in mind: "Troupe leader Chang said they could scare the 'puppet' away by performing opera.

"But merely putting on a few performances wouldn't scare a puppet away.

"There's a certain technique in their performances that lets them have 'the opera possess the body and Opera Communion with Spirits.'"

"At this stage, wealth is only a worldly possession. The most important thing is whether you can protect yourself from a ghost's attack.

"So...

"You could try asking troupe leader Chang for the secret technique of 'Opera Communion with Spirits.'"

"That method is the key to whether you can stay alive from now on.

"Besides, before asking for the technique, you should first firmly refuse troupe leader Chang's request that you 'comb your hair at midnight to see a ghost'...

"How firmly? Think it over yourself. Be as firm as you possibly can..."

If there really was such a technique called "Opera Communion with Spirits," Zhou Yang might be able to use it himself.

He was actually a little worried that the so-called technique of "the opera possessing the body and Opera Communion with Spirits" was really just years of hard practice in singing and movement. If so, Ding Ling would probably have a hard time mastering it at the last minute.

But either way, it was worth a shot.

Thank you!

Ding Ling felt that the person in her heart was truly very wise.

She had only thought of asking the troupe leader for the technique of "Opera Communion with Spirits."

She had not realized that asking for such an important technique also required some technique.

The technique this person had taught her was very practical.

She learned it quickly-

Clatter!

Everyone had assumed that Ding Ling would eventually give in after her silence.

But to their surprise, just then, Ding Ling suddenly reached across the pile of headdresses, ornaments, forehead pieces and rouge used for costumes on the wooden chest before her, seized a hairpin and pressed it against her own neck!

The sharp hairpin scraped her pale, slender neck, leaving a bright red line of blood at once!

"Don't!"

"What are you doing?!"

"Stop, quickly-"

Seeing that Ding Ling plainly meant to kill herself on the spot, everyone was so frightened that a chill shot from the base of their spines to the tops of their heads!

They shouted and tried to stop Ding Ling, yet dared not provoke her too much. They could only gather around her and force smiles, terrified that she would really take her own life.

If Ding Ling really did kill herself now, never mind the important matter of "combing her hair at midnight to see a ghost" for the moment.

With a ghost already present and someone dying with a grievance on top of that... they did not even dare imagine what might happen!

Besides, they had not given up on having Ding Ling comb her hair at midnight to see a ghost.

Such was human nature: people would not shed a tear until they saw the coffin.

Ding Ling's gaze was resolute. She swept her eyes over the crowd, silencing the chattering little-footed men.

Only Chang Dafeng remained seated at the back, watching Ding Ling with a somewhat complicated look in his eyes.

"Comb my hair at midnight... Ha!

"If the slightest thing goes wrong, I'm afraid there won't even be a whole body left of me!

"Either way I'm going to die, so I might as well finish myself off. At least my body will remain intact, and I might get the chance to become a ghost. Then we can all play together again!" Ding Ling said with a cold laugh. She looked as delicate as a little white flower, but her tone and bearing were bold and defiant.

"What kind of talk is that? What kind of talk is that?" The effeminate Li Yichun was both angry and frightened, stamping his little feet. He repeated himself several times, then abruptly turned to Chang Dafeng. "Oh! Troupe leader, say something-"

Chang Dafeng sighed.

He patted his knee again, seemingly both helpless and reflective, and stared down at his toes for a long while before raising his head.

His eyes were frighteningly bright as they fixed on Ding Ling, their gaze seeming capable of seeing into her heart.

Meeting his gaze, Ding Ling, who had still had a little courage, suddenly felt somewhat uneasy.

She was just about to lower her eyes to avoid Chang Dafeng's gaze when her body abruptly stiffened-

Zhou Yang took control of Ding Ling's body.

Chang Dafeng was someone who could let opera possess his body, so he ought to have some special skills up his sleeve.

His methods were beyond Ding Ling's ability to handle.

But Zhou Yang thought they were manageable.

The troupe leader's eyes were still very bright to Zhou Yang.

But he did not find them frightening.

Perhaps he had seen too many things that were even more frightening in Guan Village, and much of his fear had long since been worn away.

So he stared straight back at the man, wanting to see what trick he was going to play.

After staring at Ding Ling for a long time, Chang Dafeng grinned, looked away and shook his head. "People who kill themselves are the most cowardly. Most of them can't become ghosts.

"But maybe you really can...

"According to our ancestors' rules, women aren't allowed to learn opera.

"In an opera troupe, the men bind their feet and practice their movements, bending backward with incense held up and doing the splits with oil in their mouths... They always have to do those exercises bare-chested, and when they're beaten, their backsides are bare.

"Under those circumstances, what kind of propriety would there be in letting women into the troupe?

"So in our troupe, you can only work as an odd-job hand. You can't perform opera.

"But you're a woman, good-looking and young, surrounded by a bunch of men, and yet you've managed to make it this far in one piece and even steal a few lessons in opera when you had the time-

"I have to say, you're really good material. You've got the ruthlessness to keep these women in men's bodies under control!

"In the opera, they call that refusing to bow to force. You might actually pull it off...

"So you're the only one who can handle 'combing your hair at midnight to see a ghost.'

"I wouldn't trust those good-for-nothings with it.

"Go on, tell me what you want.

"What would it take for you to do this thing I've asked of you?"