Day and night tour

Chapter 97: Nuo
Zhou Lingyi also reminded Lu Mingkun: "Fifth Senior Brother, just sew up the wounds on my brother's body. Don't send him to the water room. I don't want him to suffer any more."

When cleaning the body in the washroom, it will be cleaned several times, from inside to outside, in order to make the body clean and reduce the difficulty of embalming.

But this time Zhou Lingyi did not want to follow the normal custom and open the coffin after seven days.

She wanted to arrange a Nuo opera for Zhou Xuan, and not sing any unnecessary supporting performances, and then go up the mountain to perform the Nuo opera two days later.

Since time is short, there is no need to add too many spices into the corpse, and many troublesome processes can be skipped.

"I understand." Lu Mingkun agreed.

……

The masters in Jingyi's water room were all fans of Zhou Xuan's storytelling. Even if they put aside their status as the young master, they were willing to clean up Zhou Xuan's body with the utmost care in their lives.

After cleaning the fine dust and dirt from the wound, Lv Mingkun sutured Zhou Xuan's twisted and crisscrossed wounds with extremely delicate stitches.

The masters then applied a thin layer of wax on Zhou Xuan's clean body. This simplest and least harmful preservation method gave Zhou Xuan's whole body a faint luster.

The masters in the Jingyi Room and Lu Mingkun treated the young master like a work of art.

Zhou Lingyi set up an incense hall outside the Jingyu Hall, and Xu Li and Yu Zhengyuan brought out nine Nuo masks and placed them flat on the incense table in the hall.

There is a rule in Zhou's class.

To perform Nuo opera for someone, spending money is only one aspect. The most important thing is to invite nine Nuo masters to decide whether the Nuo opera can be performed.

If the Nuo mask agrees, then sing.

If the Nuo mask disagrees, then it cannot be sung. This has been the rule for many years and no one has ever broken it.

The Nuo masks that Xu Li and Yu Zhengyuan requested were the nine ancestral Nuo masks with the highest seniority and the oldest qualifications among the twenty-seven Nuo masks in Jingyu Hall.

The one placed in the middle is the Nuo mask as black as charcoal, and it represents the oldest ancestor in the Zhou family.

Zhou Lingyi lit the incense, held it with both hands, and confided to the Nuo face: "My ancestors of the Zhou family, my brother has passed away, and I want to invite a Nuo opera for him. When my brother was alive, everyone in the troupe liked him.
I am willing to interact with him and look forward to listening to his storytelling every day. The Zhou Family Troupe has not been so lively for many years.

What's more, my brother didn't die for himself, but died in a battle with the alien Ao. This alien has harmed our Zhou family for many years, and my father was also contaminated by his eyebrow blood.

Both externally and internally, my brother should perform a Nuo opera as he takes his last steps in life."

Zhou Lingyi knew that his ancestor Nuomian and Zhou Xuan did not get along well.
It was because "Zhou Xuan" was not originally a member of the Zhou family and was considered an outsider. Therefore, even though she had repeatedly pleaded, her ancestor Nuomian would not agree to join the Nuo sect. Zhou Xuan had no choice but to become the disciple of the "storyteller".

Now we need nine Nuo masks to judge whether Zhou Xuan can invite Nuo opera. Can this be a good result?

Zhou Lingyi, Yu Zhengyuan, Xu Li and the others watched the changes in Jiu Nuomian silently and nervously.

If they still lie quietly on the incense table, it means they agree. If five or more of their nine Nuo masks turn over by themselves, they cannot sing.

Moreover, Zhou Lingyi couldn't use the red string to pull the Nuo masks like she did last time - during the Nuo parade, the nine Nuo masks would be hung on the front of the coffin. If she pulled them forcefully now, she couldn't keep pulling them during the parade, right?
When the time comes and they all turn over, the Zhou family members will know what is going on at a glance. Not only will the Nuo opera not be able to continue, but many unexpected things will also happen.

Time passed by,

The incense that had just been burned in the incense hall was burned out inch by inch until the last incense root. The nine Nuo masks did not react at all.

"The ancestors didn't object. They still felt sorry for Xuanzi." Xu Li hugged Zhou Lingyi tightly.

Zhou Lingyi also worshipped again: "Thank you, ancestors."

She, Xu Li, and Yu Zhengyuan carried the Nuo masks one by one to the offering place in Jingyu Hall.
Zhou Xuan's ritual had also ended. Not only did his body look brand new, he also put on a new white storytelling coat. He was carried by his fifth senior brother to the newly built mourning hall under the ancestral tree and placed in the coffin.

On the bottom layer of the coffin were strips of cotton wool, paper money, and some storytelling fans in the troupe had placed page after page of book covers of "The White-Eyebrowed Hero" on the coffin. After listening to Zhou Xuan's storytelling, they went home and couldn't wait to compile the passages they had heard into book covers.

Now they regarded the pages they wrote on as a token of their thoughts and gifts to Zhou Xuan.

Zhou Xuan was carried and put into the coffin, and the rest of the people followed him. The Jingyu Hall, which was bustling just now, was now empty because the door was closed and the lights were not on, and the hall was pitch black.

It was in this empty room that the strange sound came from, and the sound came from the ancestral Nuo masks.

"Ancestor, isn't this bad for Zhou Xuan?"

"Why is it bad? He is not a member of our Zhou family, but he has taken over our family and pretended to be a member of the Zhou family! Such a person should be punished! He even wanted to perform Nuo Opera on the mountain? How could he be so worthy!?"

The Nuo mask, which was as black as charcoal, spoke with contempt towards Zhou Xuan.

"He should be given some hard-hitting treatment. Zhou Lingyi is the same. She is just a little girl, so it would be fine if she was allowed to be the boss. But she actually turned her elbow outward!"

"We have to teach them a lesson this time, or we, as ancestors, will think we have no temper!"

"They want to go to the mountain for a Nuo parade the day after tomorrow? Wishful thinking!"

After the black charcoal Nuo mask set the tone, the other Nuo masks had nothing to say.
Jingyu Hall became quiet again.

……

Zhou Xuan's coffin was placed in the mourning hall, and began to accept formal condolences from outside guests.
Zhou Lingyi and Xu Li went to Zhou Xuan's room to collect his belongings and burn them together with paper money.

As soon as she entered the room, Zhou Lingyi saw a pen and a notebook dropped on the ground. On the cover of the notebook, "Sister, Master, Goodbye" was written, but the last stroke of the word was not yet completed.

Zhou Lingyi held the notebook and looked at it for a long time before he sighed, put the notebook into the bag, and said to Xu Li: "My brother is cautious. If he sensed the human turtle, he would have informed me and Master Yuan in advance.
Now it seems... Ren Ao must have used some evil magic to summon my brother over. My brother sensed something and wrote this short suicide note."

"Xuan Zi." Xu Li couldn't help feeling sad again.

Zhou Xuan didn't have many belongings. Apart from some clothes, there were some books, notebooks, cups, and a dozen photo frames. The photos in the frames were taken on the day Zhou Xuan became his apprentice.
There are those funny photos he took with Yuan Buyu, as well as family photos taken with his five senior brothers and Zhou Lingyi.

“That was a good time.”

Zhou Lingyi held a family photo. Zhou Xuan in the photo was smiling slightly, like a ray of warm sunshine.

She put the photos in a small bag and she would keep them for the rest of her life.

The remains were cleaned up.
Zhou Lingyi and Xu Li left Zhou Xuan's bedroom, and on Zhou Xuan's desk, the diary was still turning pages, the handwriting still followed the rhythm and was slowly fading away.

However, Zhou Lingyi and Xu Li, while sorting out the remains, turned a blind eye to the conspicuous diary. Perhaps - they didn't see the diary at all!

……

There were not many people in the mourning hall paying their respects. Li Shuangyi entered the hall holding a bouquet of white chrysanthemums.

He first bowed three times to Zhou Xuan, then gently placed the chrysanthemum on Zhou Xuan's body, supported the coffin string with both hands, and said with a sigh: "Junior brother, I have never regarded you as my enemy, but people in the rivers and lakes cannot help themselves. I also have a dog chain around my neck... a dog chain that is extremely difficult to take off..."

"Third senior brother."

Li Shuangyi heard a bell-like sound and his body trembled. Then he calmed down and did not look up.

"Boss!"

"Third senior brother, please come with me." Zhou Lingyi really wanted to spend all his time accompanying Zhou Xuan on his last journey.

But besides being a sister, she is also the class leader, and some things had to happen so she had to make time to do them.

Zhou Lingyi walked in front and Li Shuangyi followed behind. The two kept a distance from each other, just like two years ago when Zhou Lingyi brought Li Shuangyi back to the Zhou Family Class.

The two of them left Zhou's camp and went to the alley behind the mountain. Liu Jiaotian followed them out, but she stopped at the end of the alley and waited.

Zhou Lingyi and Li Shuangyi went into the back mountain, climbed over the hill, passed through the wasteland, and finally arrived at a bamboo forest.

Li Shuangyi had never been to this place, but he guessed that it was probably secluded and remote, and a good place for Zhou Lingyi to take action.

"Laowu has been following you these past two days." Zhou Lingyi stopped at the skeletons in the bamboo forest.

"Ah."

Li Shuangyi nodded: "Old Five and I have a good relationship. When he followed me, he took the initiative to reveal his aura. He guessed what I had done and knew why you asked him to follow me. Old Five hoped that I would escape as soon as possible..."

"You were the only one involved in seducing my brother's soul, or did the other brothers also participate?"

"Myself!"

When Li Shuangyi was followed by Lao Wu, he knew that his affairs were exposed, but he did not leave. He did not want to leave!

Now facing Zhou Lingyi, he did not deny it.

However, he did not say that on the night when he seduced Zhou Xuanhun, he went back to the opera troupe, drank a lot of wine, and then met Yu Zhengyuan and his second senior brother Zheng Jiujiang.

The two men had a brotherly relationship with Li Shuangyi, and they both knew that Li Shuangyi seldom drank, let alone that much.

Therefore, they must have guessed that Zhou Xuan's soul was not lost for no reason, and it had a lot to do with Li Shuangyi.

"You lured Zhou Xuan's soul away. Was it Ren'ao who covered for you?"

"No, it's Lao Ma."

"The old horse is the foot of the White Walker."

Li Shuangyi lowered his head. He really didn't know about this.

"When did you join the theater?"

Zhou Lingyi asked.

"When I quit the Zhou Family Troupe, Zhou Xuan ruined my voice. I had no other skills to make a living, and no one wanted me to teach opera, so I sold cigarettes at the Liyuan Theater to make a living, earning some money and being able to listen to operas.

One day, Li Lisheng found me and said he could cure my voice if I joined the opera.

I agreed without any suspicion that he had any malicious intentions. After all, I had nothing at the time, so what was there worth being exploited?

Gradually, I realized that I had been fooled by that bastard Li Lisheng. He brought me into the gang, and not only did he fail to cure my throat, he also put me on a dog leash!

Later, I became his secret door, killing many people. I felt that I had changed. I was greedy for money and became cruel. I almost didn't recognize myself anymore!"

(End of this chapter)