Liu Siniang Returns as Sha, Zhong Jinqiu Hears the Wind

Though the people were acting strangely, it still felt good to sit down to a feast together.

The town chief's own cook had a skill different from the town delicacies Chu Tianshu had eaten before.

The great chunks of red-braised beef had been stewed until tender and flavorful, even the tendons yielding to a gentle bite.

There were termites mushrooms and pork cooked together in one pot, pickled greens and pig's trotters, bamboo-tube chicken, cold dressed mint, pineapple sticky rice, and sour red bean soup.

Since coming to this world, Chu Tianshu had eaten mostly hearty meat dishes. It had been a long time since he'd had a feast with such a good balance of meat and vegetables.

Especially the pineapple sticky rice.

He didn't know what variety it was, but compared with modern pineapples, it was much less sweet and less tart, with a delicate sweetness and a smooth fragrance.

The town chief seemed to have asked around about Chu Tianshu's appetite. The platters on the main table were all heaped high.

Tables filled the front hall and courtyard. The sun blazed outside, but it couldn't dampen anyone's enthusiasm for the feast.

After midday, everyone gradually laid down their chopsticks, but no one left the table. They simply began to chat.

The town chief kept trying to strike up a conversation with Adjutant Zhou, but Adjutant Zhou kept talking to Chu Tianshu about things he had seen and heard in the city.

Nearby, the masters of the Zhu and Tan families finally found a chance to strike up a conversation with Shopkeeper Ma, whose identity as a mage had been exposed.

Meng Lianfa and Zhong Jinqiu talked about tea.

"...The Yi Province Military Academy?"

Chu Tianshu nodded. "I read about it in the newspapers. It's a place that trains modern officers, teaching military strategy and tactics and emphasizing the drilling of new recruits."

Adjutant Zhou had taken off his torn clothes and changed into a black outer robe with centipede-knot fastenings from the town chief's household. Sitting sideways at the table, he was in high spirits.

"It's more than just a place to study military strategy. It might also be the martial arts school with the deepest foundation in all of Yi Province."

"Though it hasn't been around for long," Adjutant Zhou said, "they've collected so many secret manuals on different fist arts and weapons skills that even one or two rooms couldn't hold them all. I hear they've also got quite a few rare manuals of magic there."

"They haven't produced any particularly famous experts yet, but once the students graduate and spend a few years honing their skills, who knows?"

Chu Tianshu listened with great interest, and it showed on his face.

"Little brother, to have skills like yours at your age, staying in this little town is a real waste of your talent."

"Our commander is a good brother of mine too," Adjutant Zhou said. "He can recommend specialized students to the Military Academy. If you're interested, little brother, I'll ask him to write you a letter of recommendation when I get back."

Chu Tianshu hurriedly said, "I haven't earned such a favor. I wouldn't dare accept."

Adjutant Zhou said, "With the times as they are, none of us can live in peace. But if you have ability of your own and command troops besides, you'll feel more secure than someone with no one to rely on."

"At your age and with your foundation, once you've studied at the Military Academy, getting a battalion-level post under our commander would be no trouble. And I wouldn't be helping you for nothing. In the end, brothers help each other out, and I have high hopes for your future."

"One day we could win merit and build a career together, rise through the ranks together. Wouldn't that be glorious!"

Shopkeeper Ma suddenly said, "Joining the army and making something of yourself would be a good path too."

Chu Tianshu couldn't help glancing at the old man.

From Shopkeeper Ma's perspective, given the ambition and martial prowess Chu Tianshu had shown, and everything else about his situation, joining the army in the future ought to be his best choice.

If not for the token screen showing him a hope of returning home,

Chu Tianshu reckoned he really would have found a way into the Military Academy. Even without taking Commander Xu's route, he could have tried on his own.

But at least for now, he wasn't ready to send himself into a military academy and be confined there in this unfamiliar Republic of China.

"As things stand, I still don't think I could put up with military rules and routine duties. Perhaps in six months or a year, I'll feel differently."

Chu Tianshu raised his cup with a smile. "Let's not talk about that. Let's drink."

Adjutant Zhou looked somewhat regretful as he picked up his cup and took a sip.

Before anyone knew it, they had talked into the afternoon. The sun still had an hour or two before it set, but its light was no longer so fierce.

An old man came looking for Adjutant Zhou. He wore a black hat with a piece of jade shining on its front. His fair face was rosy, his goatee fine and soft, and he held a snuff bottle in his hand.

"Troupe Leader Chen!"

Adjutant Zhou called out, "Has the old master settled in?"

Before he had even entered, Troupe Leader Chen already wore a hint of a smile. "The old master has gone to rest, and the troupe has recovered its spirits. It isn't as brightly lit here as it is in the city, after all. We'll probably have to set up the stage outdoors for the opera, so we might as well start early."

Adjutant Zhou thought that made sense. "We're sharing the fun with the townspeople, after all. We do need to find a spacious place."

Troupe Leader Chen said, "I've found a place too. There's a river on the west side of town, with a large stretch of grass along its bank. We'll just need some help putting up the stage."

Adjutant Zhou laughed. "So you've come to borrow some hands."

"You men!"

He waved a hand and called to the soldiers resting after eating and drinking their fill. "All of you, follow Troupe Leader Chen and put up the stage."

The soldiers answered in unison and followed Troupe Leader Chen out.

No one paid much attention to the time. It seemed like no time at all before someone came to report that the stage was ready.

Chu Tianshu and the others went to the west side of town to take a look.

The stage was more than three feet high and some ten paces square. Along its edges, thick bamboo poles held up heavy canvas for a roof.

The front of the shelter was open for the audience, while canvas hung down at the back, blocking the view behind the stage.

Many townspeople had already gathered on the grass to wait for the opera. No one sat in the empty chairs in the front row; they were obviously reserved for the town chief, Adjutant Zhou, and the others.

Adjutant Zhou pulled Chu Tianshu along to sit in front.

They could still see people carrying things from a carriage nearby to the back of the stage with great solemnity, especially the last item.

Before taking it out, the troupe leader bowed three times toward the carriage. Then he carried it out reverently and walked behind the stage, every step as measured as if marked with a ruler.

It was a painted porcelain statue of a deity about a foot tall, dressed like a warrior general from an opera. With a majestic face and an imposing bearing, he sat squarely on a jeweled chair.

"It's a statue of Huaguang."

The town chief praised it from beside them. "Although Great Emperor Huaguang is also called Great Emperor Wuxian and is regarded as the god of wealth and founding master of opera troupes, it's rare to see a troupe observe the rites so carefully as to bring a statue to worship when setting up a stage in the open."

"They truly are a troupe raised by the old master!"

Adjutant Zhou laughed. "That they are. Don't be fooled by the fact that there are only twenty-odd people in the troupe. Every one of them has a special skill, and they can perform all the Five Robes, Four Pillars, and Eighteen Jianghu Classics."

He raised his voice. "Troupe Leader Chen, what are you performing today?"

Troupe Leader Chen poked his head out from behind the stage and answered, "Since we're starting at sunset, we'll perform Mulian Opera."

The town chief slapped his armrest. "Mulian Opera, red at both ends. Good!"

Mulian Opera told the story of Mulian rescuing his mother, but it had changed considerably from the original little story about the Buddha's disciple Mulian, with additions and omissions from local folk retellings.

"Red at both ends" meant that performances of the opera often ran from sunset until sunrise the next day, with the red sun visible at both the opening and the close.

Chu Tianshu had no interest in opera. These days, whenever he practiced too little, he felt restless. He had been fine while eating, but now it was nearly dark and he was still sitting here. It was a real waste of time.

But he noticed that not only Adjutant Zhou and the town chief, but also Shopkeeper Ma, Zhong Jinqiu, Meng Lianfa, and the others sitting nearby all looked eager.

He turned his head again and saw that there were clearly cooks and servers from the restaurant in the crowd.

Fine, I'll watch.

Mulian Opera was too long to finish in a single night, so a performance often opened with one of its most exciting passages and grew more gripping as it went on.

Today's performance began with a clamor of gongs, drums, and clappers. A woman came out from behind the stage, dressed in black with long sleeves. Taking tiny steps on small feet, her face painted like a ghost's with brows outlined in blue, she briefly recounted the preceding events in a few spoken lines.

She was Mulian's mother, Liu Siniang, and the opening play was Liu Siniang Returns as Sha.

Liu Siniang had sworn to worship the Buddha, then broken her vow by abandoning vegetarianism, killing living things, and eating meat. Having violated the five precepts, she had been cast into hell. Today, taking advantage of the gates of hell being thrown open, she returned home with two ghostly bailiffs to visit her family.

Another gong sounded behind the stage. To a haunting tune at the side, two ghostly bailiffs on stilts swayed onto the stage.

Chu Tianshu found something to interest him. The two bailiffs strode on wooden stilts about a foot high, their bodies pitching forward and back. It looked perilous, yet they never fell, perfectly capturing the elusive movements of ghosts.

He had long heard that performers in the great opera troupes of the old society possessed real skills.

Though today's troupe was small, it was indeed rather impressive.

But compared with Liu Siniang, the two ghostly bailiffs still fell well short.

According to the play, the bailiffs enjoyed a table full of offerings while Liu Siniang, driven to desperation by hunger, picked up two candles and gnawed on them.

Normally, this part involved quickly biting pieces from the sides of the candles, followed by a little fire-eating and fire-breathing.

But this Liu Siniang bit the tip clean off a candle on her first bite. Her tongue seemed wrapped in flame, and when she spit it out, she lit the remaining candle before biting and spitting again.

Fire flickered in and out, the candles flared and dimmed, and the drumbeat grew faster and faster.

Chu Tianshu could see clearly that, from her first bite, Liu Siniang had not taken another breath. With that single breath, she bit through two long candles, swallowing and spitting flames dozens of times in between.

That skill was leagues beyond the two ghostly bailiffs'.

Soon, Liu Siniang's son came onstage. Unwilling to let him see her ghostly appearance, Liu Siniang raised a sleeve to cover her face and dodged left and right.

Her feet were not bound. Instead, she wore wooden small feet over the balls of her feet, which were very awkward, yet even with such steps, she leaped freely among the tables and chairs onstage.

Standing on the back of a chair with one foot, she spun the entire chair around while slowly raising her other leg above her head. Her sleeve half concealed her face as her gaze swept over the audience.

The audience erupted in cheers and applause.

Chu Tianshu met her gaze.

The woman's eyes were sorrowful, but as their outer corners lifted, they suddenly changed, becoming truly filled with the bitter resentment of a suffering ghost, while her voice rose and fell in a plaintive chant.

"Incredible!"

Chu Tianshu couldn't help applauding. There was no sinister Qi about her, but her gaze really did look like a ghost's. He knew what he was talking about.

The troupe most likely doubled as the old master's guards, which explained why it had so many skilled people.

Judging by this Liu Siniang, she was probably proficient in cruel, vicious fighting methods like Legs Beneath the Skirt and Poking Foot.

The night passed. The others watched the opera, and so did he. Everyone enjoyed themselves to the fullest.

Probably only Chu Tianshu himself knew what he had spent the night pondering.

When the performance ended at sunrise, Adjutant Zhou arranged for them to watch another in seven days. Only then did they all return home.

Chu Tianshu returned to the restaurant, still a little distracted as he walked toward his room.

Behind him, Shopkeeper Ma and Zhong Jinqiu stopped when they reached the courtyard.

The wind blew through the little tree in the courtyard. Shopkeeper Ma looked at the yellow leaves on its branches and sighed.

"I really am old. I don't have the stamina anymore. After a night of enjoying the show, my heart feels unsettled, like something's not quite right."

"With your constitution, it's perfectly normal to feel your heart racing after staying up all night. Mine isn't nearly so poor, but I feel much the same."

Zhong Jinqiu reached out and caught a leaf, then abruptly changed the subject. "That thing you mentioned yesterday-were you thinking of giving the Spirit Yang Gallbladder to Chu Tianshu?"

Shopkeeper Ma was taken aback. "Once you've spent some time together..."

Zhong Jinqiu said decisively, "You've always been a better judge of people than me. If you've decided, that's enough. Back when we roamed the jianghu, you were the brains and I was the hands."

Shopkeeper Ma smiled. "At most I was the eyes, while you took on the ears, hands, feet, and weapons all by yourself. This matter will require your effort, so I'd still like to wait until you've had another look."

"Hmm... Then listen to me. I'll sleep for four hours, then bring the thing over."

Zhong Jinqiu looked thoughtful and raised his hand. His palm gave a gentle, rippling bounce, and the narrow, withered yellow leaf silently came to rest on the tip of his middle finger. The slightest breeze would make it spin helplessly.

If he was the ears, then over that half day and night, he had already faintly heard a troubling wind.

He couldn't yet say exactly how it would trouble them.

Before the wind grew fierce, since he had seen what his old friend had in mind, he would get it done first!