Weeping for a Lost Love (Part Two)

The river surface rippled.

Suddenly, the crescent moon cast a hazy light across the sky, which shone on the river, casting Ding Ling's silhouette on its surface.

Alone and lonely, all by himself.

Zhou Yang sighed inwardly, "I still can't escape..."

"Now, our only option is to perform the play we prepared for the Opera Ghost. That's our last chance."

"Yes, sir," Ding Ling replied softly.

The audience below the stage clapped their hands violently, their bodies making a rustling sound like pages turning in a book, a sound that rose like a tide.

Zhou Yang and Ding Ling looked around again, and the onlookers all seemed to be paper figures dressed in oiled paper clothes.

Ding Ling responded to Zhou Yang's words. She then tore off the beard pasted to her face, removed the padded jacket under her red official robe, took off her belt, and squeezed out of the crowd to walk towards the river.

When she reached the riverbank, Zhou Yang understood what she wanted to do.

But beneath the surface of the river, pale red and white Opera Ghost began to float.

The faces looked like they'd been soaking in water for too long, and gradually began to swell.

The smile on his face was so distorted and eerie due to the excessive swelling that it sent chills down one's spine.

"Don't go, Ding Ling, don't go!"

Zhou Yang reminded Ding Ling.

But Ding Ling didn't listen to him this time.

She jokingly teased Zhou Yang, "Are you suggesting Ding Ling go to see Xue Pinggui with Zhong Kui's face on his back?"

As she spoke, Ding Ling bent down, scooped up a handful of water from the riverbank, and splashed it on her face, washing away the makeup.

She carefully washed her face.

The swollen, Opera Ghost faces beneath the river's surface merely watched her with sinister smiles, undisturbed by her in the slightest.

Ding Ling, having washed off her paint, still had water droplets on her face.

Her face was slightly pale, with delicate and pretty features. Paired with her red theatrical costume, she looked like a bride about to get married.

Unspoken emotions flowed between Ding Ling and Zhou Yang.

"Sir, can I, in my current state, impersonate Wang Baochuan and be a match for Xue Pinggui?" Ding Ling looked at her reflection in the water, but her mind was on another person's face.

Zhou Yang felt a pang of sadness and said softly, "You are unmarried, in the prime of your youth, and possess such fine character. Who could be unworthy of you?"

"But tonight, I'll have to trouble you to be my wife."

Hearing his words, Ding Ling's heart trembled.

Suppressing the thoughts that were about to explode within her, she awkwardly spoke to Zhou Yang, mimicking the language used in operas:

"I am but a humble willow, yet I am fortunate to have won your favor, sir. Only now do I realize that I am not alone and destitute."

"If I could marry you, sir, my life would not have been in vain..."

From the moment she uttered her first words, she was completely immersed in the play.

At this point, it doesn't matter whether the play is divine or not.

Ding Ling is already the embodiment of "Wang Baochuan" in the play.

Zhou Yang's mind focused on the Ghost Mouth covering Ding Ling's body, gathering the ripples into bright points that concealed themselves around Ding Ling. With the combined Mindfulness of the two, he forced the Ghost Mouth on Ding Ling's body to utter his voice:

"Ah~ Ah~ Ah, my wife, Wang Baochuan."

"I pity you, guarding this cold cave, I pity you, all alone, waiting for me, Xue Nanpinggui, for a full eighteen years..."

"Ah~ Ah~ Ah, my wife, Wang Baochuan."

"I shouldn't have harbored doubts, I shouldn't have spoken lightly, and I've ended up being accused of ingratitude, as if I've deceived Heaven."

"Let me recount these past eighteen years from the beginning, and you will know that I, Xue Pingnan, have rushed home day and night, all for the sake of reuniting my husband and me."

Ding Ling joined in the singing, her voice melodious and graceful, full of twists and turns:

"Recalling those days, tears never dry; the embroidered ball in the decorated pavilion symbolized a perfect match..."

This play tells the story of a loving couple who are interfered with by various factors, each harboring resentment towards the other. After being separated, they reunite, pour out their hearts to each other, and finally reconcile, mending their broken relationship.

At this moment, "Wang Baochuan" finished singing about the cause and effect of her separation from "Xue Pinggui".

Then Xue Pinggui recounted the hardships he had endured since his separation from his wife.

Although he later rose to a high position, upon hearing of his wife's plight, he still resolutely gave up wealth and glory, braving numerous dangers on horseback to reunite with his wife.

"Ah~ Ah~ Ah, my husband, Xue Lang--"

Ding Ling's cry of "Xue Lang" was a cry that stirred a heart full of tender emotions.

By this time, Wang Baochuan had completely forgiven her husband for the eighteen years they had been separated.

But...

After Ding Ling and Mr. Zhou parted ways, would they ever meet again?

Ding Ling felt a pang of sadness in her heart.

This parting may mean we'll never meet again.

All around, the audience members were already shedding tears without realizing it.

They murmured to themselves, trying to relive the play sung by Zhou Yang and Ding Ling, but each time the audience tried to sing, they could only get to the beginning before they could no longer continue:

"Ah~ Ah~ Ah..."

Sighs rose from all around.

With each sigh, the onlookers fell into complete silence.

They remained where they were, their fair and rosy faces fading quietly from the faces of the onlookers.

The onlookers stood frozen in place, turning into paper figures.

A gust of wind and they would fall over anywhere, either scattering on the riverbank or floating on the river surface.

Among the pile of fallen paper figures, only one slender figure stood quietly.

It kept repeating the beginning of the opera, but could no longer perfectly replicate the entire performance.

Even the sounds coming from his mouth turned into breathy whispers.

Ding Ling and Zhou Yang, singing and performing, walked through the pile of paper figures, heading towards the slender figure standing in the very center of the pile, muttering but unable to utter a sound— the Opera Ghost!

"On the fifteenth of August, the moon is full."

"I remembered the miserable lives those couples endured in their cold cave dwellings."

"The land of Western Liang has been abandoned, and no one cares for it."

"Riding a fiery red steed, he passed through three passes..."

The Opera Ghost's shoulders trembled incessantly, his face was filled with sorrow, but his eyes were cold and devoid of tears.

It sang along. "The fifteenth of August, the fifteenth of August..."

After repeating the opening line more than ten times, the Opera Ghost suddenly froze, standing still and no longer moving!

The Ghost Rhyme that swept over everything, like funeral insects that had caught the scent of death, swarmed in from all directions, rolling back into the figure of the Opera Ghost!

The Opera Ghost's skin grew increasingly white, like paper, and two patches of blush quietly appeared on his cheeks.

The theatrical costume has gradually turned into paper clothes!

The darkness was like a stage set, but now it had been torn apart, and a soft light seeped in through the cracks, gradually illuminating the entire world!

Amidst the dazzling light and shadow, Ding Ling urgently asked Zhou Yang:

"Sir, sir!"

"As long as we uphold our promises, and as long as Wang Baochuan is willing to wait—"

Will Xue Lang, Zhou Lang... finally meet her again?

"Whether it's eighteen years, twenty-eight years, eighty years, or eight hundred years?"

Zhou Yang responded softly, "This is just a play."

"Ding Ling, don't get too caught up in the play."

"Life outside of acting is even more worth your time."

He couldn't recall any promises or principles that Xue Lang and Bao Chuan had made.

It was just that Ding Ling was too immersed in the role.

At this moment, the sky was high and the earth was vast, and the light of day suddenly became bright, completely washing away the ghostly charm.

Having already escaped the Opera Ghost and demons, why let this woman become trapped in the drama, unable to extricate herself?

However, upon hearing his words, Ding Ling's heart sank to the bottom.

Her eyes welled up with tears, and she couldn't help but ask again, "Sir, now that we've met, could you please tell me your name? Not just your surname?"

"Could you please tell me where you are?"

Upon hearing this, Zhou Yang felt a sense of bewilderment.

Ding Ling has already left the Opera Ghost Realm. Having experienced this ghostly calamity, her Mindfulness will surely improve significantly. With her mastery of the "Draft of Divine Makeup and Ghost Painting" and the Breathing of the Ghost, she may very well achieve great things in the future.

Guan Village was so dangerous, and he was all alone with no help.

If they manage to survive and remain trapped in the Guan Village, perhaps the Ding Ling... can offer them some assistance?

Zhou Yang thought this to himself, and then smiled slightly.

Tong Ding Ling said:

"You can leave now."

"Go in peace."

Even so, how could he possibly bear to do it?

These two sentences, upon reaching Ding Ling Ding Ling's ears, caused his heart, which had already plummeted to rock bottom, to suddenly swell with joy.

She understood her husband's feelings.

This affection made her happy.

This made her extremely sad.

She was overwhelmed with mixed feelings of sorrow and joy, and in that instant, as if realizing something, she repeatedly called out, "Sir, sir..."

Only the silent mountains responded to her.

Only withered grass and dry willows remain.

Only that scenery remains unchanged for countless years.

Ding Ling burst into tears!

I rode a white horse, passing through three passes...

I changed into plain clothes and returned to the Central Plains...

"Abandoning Western Liang —no one cares..."

All I want is...

"Wang Baochuan..."

This is the last line of the play her teacher taught her.