Day and night tour

Chapter 10 All beings have appearances
Rumors take on as many different faces as they pass through as many mouths.

The outer courtyard is very large. People on the east and south sides of the courtyard are all talking about Zhou Xuan, but the image of Zhou Xuan created in the conversations on both sides is surprisingly completely different.

Those in the east believed that Zhou Xuan was the little overlord of the silver spear, whose spear skills were vigorous and steady, and he could exorcise the female ghost with just a few shots.

Those in the south believed that the reason Zhou Xuan was able to escape from Luoying Hall alive was not because of his gun, but because of his "true self".

"That female ghost didn't target the right person when she committed the crime. She thought the young master was easy to mess with. In fact, the young master has another identity."

The person who said this lowered his voice and spoke in a very secretive manner, as if he was talking about something taboo.

I am afraid that if I speak out, I will be targeted by certain organizations and forces, which will bring me unnecessary trouble.

But in fact, he wanted more people to hear his brilliant insights, so he spoke even louder than usual.

"What is the young master's other identity?"

"Haven't you heard? Didn't the young master die some time ago? His soul was called back by the ancestral tree and the old man... In fact, the one who was called back was not the young master, but a wandering soul, and it was very fierce."

"That female ghost wanted to harm the young master, but guess what, the young master suddenly turned into a green-faced, fanged man with long nails, and ate the female ghost alive in no time."

"That is the true face of the young master. He is a vicious ghost wearing human skin."

For a moment, fear filled the hearts of the people chatting in the south. A few disciples who loved to show off pretended to be compassionate, stomped their feet hard on the ground, and said with deep sorrow:

"Alas, the young boss is harboring evil intentions, and the boss doesn't come out to manage it. If this continues for a long time, I'm afraid the Zhou family will be finished! We have to reflect on this, reflect on it carefully."

The voices of the two groups chatting became louder and louder. Gradually, the "Silver Spear Faction" in the east heard the discussions of the "True Appearance Faction" in the south and took the lead in attacking.

The Benxiang faction was unwilling to be outdone and also started arguing.

People in the south and the east have different ideas and each holds his own opinion, and no one can convince anyone else.

It feels a bit like a fight between fans.

The quarrel between the two sides became more and more intense, and some of the hot-tempered ones even showed signs of violence.

Fortunately, someone with sharp eyes reminded us that “Master’s wife is here.”

Suddenly,

The quarreling noises died down.

Xu Li especially protects Zhou Xuan, and everyone in the Zhou family knows that if they are heard by her talking about Zhou Xuan, they will at least be scolded.

For a moment, everyone present reached a tacit understanding and shifted the topic to other places. Some talked about food, some talked about which customer was difficult to serve recently, and almost no one talked about Zhou Xuan.

But there are some blind people who insist on bringing up matters that are not related to the topic.

The blind man is called Han Jianshan, and he is the driver of Zhou's team.

The Zhou family did business, and they relied on ox carts and horse carts to transport coffins and other goods. They also had rickshaws to transport customers. However, because the business was so big, their clients included many powerful and wealthy people.

If these rich and powerful people took a horse-drawn carriage or a rickshaw, they would lose their status.

So in the past two years, the Zhou family spent a huge amount of money to buy a Met car, and then spent money to send Han Jianshan to the driving school in the mansion to study.

The Met car in the troupe also became Han Jianshan's treasure and face. Whenever he had time, he would take a piece of cotton cloth and polish the car until it was shiny.

If any ignorant child pees too close to the car, Han Jianshan will chase him and kick his butt.

The car became Lao Han's self-esteem, and his identity as a car driver made him very inflated.

His salary was originally fifty to one hundred yuan higher than that of ordinary chefs, and some picky customers would even give him tips.

Sometimes, guests would ask him to pick up a few relatives or friends along the way, and would usually add some travel expenses, which would go into Lao Han's pocket.

Adding all the various things together, the money that Lao Han earned was much higher than that of the other masters.

With money, he feels confident, but that is all he can do. What really makes Lao Han feel inflated is his status as a customer.

Guests who can be picked up and dropped off by Zhou family’s car are all well-known in Pingshui Prefecture.

The people sitting in Old Han's car were either the boss or the director, and they were all chatting about high-end topics such as finance, policies, concubines, cocktail parties, gentlemen, and celebrities in nightclubs.

After being influenced for a long time, Lao Han always felt that he had become upper class. When he was chatting in the yard at night, if he heard others talking about ice cream, tea stalls, and prostitutes, he would stand up and laugh at the other person.

"What good things have you eaten and played? Nightclubs are the place of decadence and extravagance. The foreigners drink foreign liquor, and one sip can make you fall in love with it. Do you know chocolate? It's so sweet, you can't even buy one piece with your daily earnings!"

"Don't just eat, drink and have fun every day. Think further ahead. Mr. Dai from Pingshui Prefecture has already told me today that favorable policies will arrive in two months..."

He was showing off his so-called knowledge all the time, and after showing off for so long, he started to take it seriously.

He always felt that he was on par with his senior brothers in the troupe, and those apprentices and masters were not even worth his attention.

Just now, the Benxiang faction and the Yinqiang faction were arguing loudly, but as soon as Xu Li came out, everything stopped.

In Han Jianshan's eyes, this was a loss of face.

"I haven't even spoken yet, and you're stopping? Why? Because you're the master's wife? Have you asked for my opinion?"

If he didn't stand up and say something, he would feel embarrassed.

So he walked straight towards Xu Li.

Xu Li came to the courtyard in the evening to listen to the radio with a few girls.

Recently, the radio station broadcast the plum blossom drum performance "Daiyu Burying Flowers", and they listened to it every night with great enthusiasm.

At this moment, the music is playing very well, the drum beats are getting more and more frequent, and the exciting part is about to come.

"Crack!"

Han Jianshan turned on the radio and the sound stopped abruptly.

"Old Han, what are you doing?"

Xu Li complained and rushed to turn on the radio, but Han Jianshan stopped him with his hand.

"Mrs. Xu, you are the eldest sister-in-law of the Zhou family. There are some things you can't just sit there and watch..."

"What am I looking at?"

Xu Li was usually a little annoyed with Han Jianshan, always feeling that this man was very floating. Now he turned off her radio and acted as if he was giving her a lesson. This was because she was being lenient. If it were the hot-tempered Second Sister-in-law Song Jie, she would have started to curse at him a long time ago.

"It's about the young master! Don't play deaf. The troupe is saying that Zhou Xuan is not the real Zhou Xuan. The soul summoned a fake one... It's not even a human, but a fierce ghost..."

"Han Jianshan, have you drunk too much? Go sober up, what are you doing here?"

Xu Li had always been protective of Zhou Xuan, and after the incident in the afternoon, she felt even more guilty, thinking that Zhou Xuan had run into the ghost baby because of her negligence. Now Han Jianshan was scolding Zhou Xuan in front of her, which really ignited her anger, and she started to scold him directly.

Han Jianshan was not convinced and said, "I'm not drunk. Zhou Xuan is just a fake Zhou Xuan! Let us judge for ourselves. Has the young master become a different person since the summoning of the spirits?

In the past, the young master would beat or scold anyone he saw, and would flirt with the pretty girls in the troupe. But now, he has a mild temper and doesn’t cause trouble anymore…”

"Isn't this good? Xuanzi has also died once, and now he has gained enlightenment and has begun to see his true nature and become civilized and kind.
This is a good thing for everyone, and even better for the troupe. Why do you say it as if it is an unforgivable crime?"

Xu Li responded: "Is it possible to be kind?"

"Haha, no matter how evil he is, he is the real young master. No matter how kind he is, he is still a fake! Xu Li, don't pretend to be ignorant. In our troupe, the bloodline is pure, which overrides everything..."

"Shh..."

When Han Jianshan was halfway through his words, Xu Li had already organized her words and was ready to scold Old Han, but when she saw Zhou Xuan almost walking under the willow tree, she didn't want the rumors in the yard to affect Zhou Xuan.

So, she suppressed her anger for the time being, put her middle finger to her lips, and made a gesture of silence.

It's just like the behavior of a kind elder - you can quarrel all you want, but don't quarrel in front of the younger generation, especially when the topic involves the younger generation.

Actually,
Xu Li was worrying too much. Zhou Xuan was not a fool.

Although at present, there is really no one who is so tactless as to poke Zhou Xuan's nose and say "You are a fake" to his face.

But Zhou Xuan always overheard some small criticisms about himself while walking around the courtyard.

But he doesn't care.

What evidence do you have to prove that I am a fake?

If you don't have evidence, just keep it to yourself.

He would not be stupid enough to take the initiative to prove to others that he was the real Zhou Xuan.

If he doesn't verify this kind of thing, the discussion will only get smaller and smaller once the hype has passed.

But once he gets into trouble, it will cause a thousand ripples. By then, if a few people with ulterior motives add fuel to the fire, there will be countless traps waiting for him to fall into.

Silence is worse than speech, and stillness is worse than movement.

Some injustices never change no matter what era it is in.

Zhou Xuan's mind was as clear as a mirror.

He was holding a notebook and walking towards the inner courtyard.

The purpose of his trip was to go to the "Quiet Talk Hall" in the inner courtyard.

The Jingyu Hall is a place dedicated to making up corpses.

The ghost opera troupe performs operas for the dead. The dead people in Pingshui Prefecture have to be dressed up lifelike and placed in the main seats in the audience.

Dressing up the corpse is a very important part of underworld drama.

This work is usually done at night.

When the work is being done, the troupe owner Zhou Lingyi must be present.

Zhou Xuan has adapted "Love in Lushan" into a novel. He hasn't finished writing it completely, but he has written about 6,000 words as a sample draft to show to Zhou Lingyi.

If Zhou Lingyi likes it, he will continue to serve the rest.

He put this draft in his notebook.

The contents of the hand-written note were a book rewritten from Love in Lushan Mountain. This book was not for Zhou Lingyi to appreciate, but for Zhou Lingyi to help with her comments and corrections...

It doesn’t matter whether Zhou Lingyi gives comments or not, Zhou Xuan mainly uses this opportunity to cultivate the relationship between the two siblings.

When Zhou Xuan walked under the willow tree, he saw Xu Li, raised his hand to greet his sister-in-law, and then continued to walk towards the inner courtyard.

Suddenly, his sleeve was grabbed by Han Jianshan.

"Don't go, Zhou Xuan. There are some things you need to explain to everyone."

Under normal circumstances, Han Jianshan would never be able to expand to this extent.

But tonight he completely lost his mind, commonly known as "dementia".

Firstly, he wanted to show off, but was scolded by Xu Li and felt humiliated.

Secondly, he was rather blind in his judgment of his own identity. Zhou Xuan came to the willow tree, greeted Xu Li, and then directly ignored him, which made him very angry.

Things were happening all the time, making him lose his mind and he actually took the initiative to hold Zhou Xuan.

"Is he speaking so arrogantly now?"

Zhou Xuan pointed at Han Jianshan and asked Xu Li.

Xu Li choked and shouted, "Old Han, take your hands off me. This is against the rules."

"I, Old Han, have rules and proper manners, but Zhou Xuan, you have to prove today that you are the real Zhou Xuan, and not a ghost in human skin. If you can prove it, I will kowtow to you three times!"

"Get lost! You can kowtow to whoever you want, what does it have to do with me?"

"You can't prove it. You are guilty."

"How can weakness be worse than your kidney weakness? Look at the cold sweat on your forehead, Lao Deng!"

Zhou Xuan doesn't care about other people's slander against him and is kind to others, not because he is easy to bully, but because he is civilized and well-mannered.

Civilization and quality also have to be balanced and scored.

There is no need to be civilized to an old man like Han Jianshan, who casually pulls other people's sleeves and acts condescending as soon as he opens his mouth.

After Zhou Xuan finished scolding Han Jianshan, he continued to walk towards the inner courtyard. Han Jianshan became even more rampant. This time he not only caught him, but also dragged him.

When pulling his sleeve, he even pulled the flesh on Zhou Xuan's arm.

"Gan!"

Zhou Xuan responded decisively. He turned around and hit Han Jianshan with a big choke.

"Snapped!"

(End of this chapter)