Chapter 71 A Play

The three drumbeats sounded quickly, accompanied by the singsong of a Chinese opera.

Mist swirled on the lake, and a red figure emerged from the water, as if standing in the clouds.

Her posture was graceful, her waist slender, wearing a phoenix coronet and a red cape.

Several large red lanterns floated around her, reflecting the surrounding lake in a crimson glow.

Like pairs of bloodshot eyes.

The opera singing was erratic, and coupled with the strange movements of the singer, it gave off a chilling feeling.

Young Master Huang... was indeed a ghost.

Qin Jian, wearing a paper doll head, couldn't help but tremble.

He was one of the first group carrying the sedan, and as he trembled, the entire sedan shook with him.

Inside the sedan, Tang Shirou clasped her hands together, clutching the hem of her dress tightly, her face devoid of color.

At first glance, she looked no different from a ghost.

Fortunately, the curtains around the sedan were lowered, so she could only hear the sounds and couldn't see what was happening on the lake.

No one dared to make a sound.

Shortly after the three drumbeats, Qin Jian, An Xuan, Chen Qiang, and You Qi, the four sedan bearers, exerted their strength together, lifted the sedan, and ran towards the designated location.

It was an old wooden stage.

It was located by the lake, built along the water's edge.

But it had clearly been abandoned for a long time, and was surrounded by waist-high reeds and various aquatic plants, which they hadn't noticed from afar during the day.

Now, the stage was also eroded by the mist, and shadows flickered around it, obscuring what might be lurking there.

As the sedan bearers stepped onto the wooden stage, the wood under their feet was clearly decayed, and the harsh creaking sound rang out from time to time, as if the planks might break at any moment, causing them to fall into the water.

Following the rehearsed routine, the men took a deep breath and swayed as they carried the sedan, slowly jogging two laps around the wooden stage.

In An Xuan's words, the general meaning of this scene was to take the bride from her home and deliver her to the groom's mansion.

After carrying the sedan and swaying for a while, the fourth drumbeat finally sounded.

An Xuan and the others immediately looked in one direction.

According to the arrangement of the play, the second group would arrive from this direction soon.

After completing a handover, they could leave.

Now was the moment An Xuan was most worried about. He feared that the second group wouldn't show up.

There was a high possibility of something going wrong along the way.

Time passed, and some time had passed since the fourth drumbeat, but the direction in front of them was still shrouded in a thin layer of mist.

The second group had not appeared.

Had... something happened?

Just as An Xuan was rapidly considering how to respond, a blood-red sedan chair burst out of the mist, zigzagging towards the stage where they were.

An Xuan immediately felt the frame on his body tremble, and he assumed the others were as worried as he was that the second group wouldn't come.

Seeing the sedan finally appear, they breathed a sigh of relief.

They immediately carried the sedan forward to meet it, and the two identical red sedans began to perform their scene.

Although it was called a scene, the plot and actions were very simple. After all, none of them had ever performed such a play before, and if the actions were more complicated, it would be a real hassle.

Jiang Cheng's group's sedan and An Xuan's group's sedan circled each other twice, the singsong of the opera floating around them, sometimes to the left, sometimes to the right, very eerie.

The surrounding mist was thick, and they could only see a small area nearby. As for what was happening on the lake, they couldn't see it and didn't dare to look.

Everyone's mind was now focused on finishing the play as quickly as possible.

Hopefully, there wouldn't be any more mishaps.

The fifth drumbeat sounded.

The two teams glanced at each other, then stopped in perfect coordination, gently lowered the sedan chairs, and then, according to the instructions on the paper, stepped to the rhythm of the opera, taking strange and mechanical steps, hopping away from the sedan chairs, and finally arriving at the other's sedan, taking over their positions.

The two groups passed each other, which meant that the sedan chairs remained stationary while the sedan bearers switched places.

The whole scene was strange and silent, and Qin Jian, wearing the paper doll head, felt very uncomfortable, as if his clothes were crawling with maggots.

They were waiting, everyone was waiting.

Both groups stood solemnly by the sedan chairs, no one daring to make a sound, and even the sound of breathing couldn't be heard from inside the sedans.

They were waiting for the sixth drumbeat.

After the sixth drumbeat, they could leave separately and return to the abandoned house to regroup.

The lake, trapped within the large house, felt very unsettling, gloomy, as if the water was filled with the souls of the dead.

They even suspected that if they rushed to the water's edge now, holding a lantern and looking down, the reflection in the water might not be their own face.

Perhaps... it would be a fierce ghost with a green face and fangs.

As the mournful singing of the opera approached its climax, they finally heard the sixth drumbeat.

The sedan shook slightly, and An Xuan understood that everyone had breathed a sigh of relief.

The same was true for the other team. Zuo Qing, Jiang Cheng, and the others reacted even faster than An Xuan's group. They immediately lifted the sedan and ran off in another direction.

As the second group, they needed to make an extra loop, and they could only return after An Xuan's group had returned to the gathering courtyard.

An Xuan and the others grabbed the carrying poles, immediately hoisted the sedan onto their shoulders, and then retreated along the arranged route.

On the way back, their speed was clearly faster than when they came.

The singing of the opera behind them gradually subsided. If Qin Jian's paper doll head were removed at this moment, it would be discovered that the expression on his face was much better than when he had first heard the opera.

He had originally thought that... today might be fraught with danger.

Glancing at An Xuan, who was also in the first row, Qin Jian narrowed his eyes slightly.

This Mr. An was indeed resourceful. The suggestion he had made to him had actually saved his life.

Although it was too early to say, he could clearly feel that after the opera singing disappeared, the eerie aura that permeated the lake had also dissipated.

Tonight... there should be no problems.

As for tomorrow, it would depend on whether anyone made a more fatal mistake.

Moreover, he understood Mr. An's meaning. He still had a Tang Shirou who could be sacrificed.

Although he hadn't spent much time with Mr. An, he admired the latter's mind and methods, even though he was decades older.

Casually glancing at An Xuan beside him, Qin Jian's eyes revealed some other thoughts. It seemed that... the clue should be on him.

Faster, faster.

You Qi was running, drenched in sweat. He stared intently at the courtyard not far ahead. As long as they entered the courtyard, and then waited for the other group to return, this mission would be...

"Creak—"

A sharp friction interrupted his thoughts.

In the next second, the courtyard door suddenly opened, and an identical red sedan chair burst out of the courtyard, heading straight for them.