Several players cried out in disbelief, “How is that possible?! Who would willingly choose death?”
“Not necessarily,” someone hesitated, “Take Fang Lin as an example. Zhen Zhen grew up here. The education she received, the values instilled in her, were all about chastity. Aren’t all the people in Lie Nu Village taught the same?”
The group fell silent.
Wen Qianxue thought for a moment and said, “If that’s the case, then are we supposed to help her fulfill her last wish? A final wish is still a kind of desire, right?”
“Where does she live? How about we visit her again and have a proper conversation to understand what she really wants?”
Li Zhi shook her head. “Today, we already caused a stir asking about Zhen Zhen in the village. The villagers are wary of us now. Even if we go back, we need to do it secretly when no one is around. We can’t let the villagers find out.”
When she was climbing over the wall earlier, she had heard the middle-aged woman cursing. It’s likely they’ll be watching Zhen Zhen more closely from now on.
How could they go back without being discovered by the villagers?
Chi Yi sighed, “This is when I really miss that invisibility potion from the last quest.”
“There is another way,” Li Zhi thought for a moment. “Last night, when all the villagers went to watch the opera, the village was empty.”
Someone objected, “Even if we convince the troupe to put on another show, the villagers just watched one last night. There’s no way they’d come back again tonight. It’s not like they have endless money to spend.”
Li Zhi pondered slightly, “What if it’s free?”
“Easier said than done. Who’s going to perform for free? Us?”
Everyone exchanged glances before eventually looking at the trio with colorful hair.
Pink/White/Golden-haired trio: “…What?”
Chi Yi raised her eyebrows playfully, “Aren’t you guys stage performers? Why don’t you go up and dance for them?”
“What a joke!” Pink-haired player jumped up. “The kind of dance we do would be seen as scandalous in this era. We’d likely get ourselves drowned in a pig cage!”
“Then just tone it down a bit! Go up there, sway a little, shout a few lines, just enough to buy us some time!”
Everyone knew this was just a joke. In this era, anything other than traditional opera would likely shock the villagers, and there’s no way it could draw them in like the opera could.
In the silence that followed, Li Zhi heard someone vocalizing warm-up sounds from the backyard. When they’re not performing, the actors still practiced.
“Maybe there’s another way,” Li Zhi said. “Tao Yu might be willing to help us.”
Tao Yu, the new star who had portrayed Fang Lin so captivatingly last night?
So far in this quest, NPCs had always just been background figures, guiding the players through the storyline. Even when they encountered NPCs who helped the players, it was because the plot dictated it. They had never tried asking an unrelated NPC for help.
Would Tao Yu really help them?
Li Zhi stood up. “We won’t know until we try.”
She headed toward the main courtyard, and the others hesitantly followed. After passing through several intricately carved gates, they arrived at a courtyard filled with performance props.
Li Zhi quietly said to Chi Yi, “You go.”
Chi Yi quickly rubbed her eyes to compose herself.
In the courtyard, Tao Yu, now without makeup, wore a practice outfit and stood on one leg on a stool. Her long hair was braided and coiled neatly at the back of her head. When she saw the players peeking through the door, her expression sharpened. She put down her leg and hopped off the stool.
“What are you doing, sneaking around like this? If you have something to say, just say it!”
Chi Yi, who had deliberately rubbed her eyes to make them red, approached looking pitiful. “Sister Tao Yu, you’re the kindest person. Please help us.”
Tao Yu looked at her with disdain. “Spare me the flattery. Just tell me what this is about!”
She glanced at Chi Yi, who looked pitiful, then awkwardly cleared her throat. “Did the troupe leader short you on food again?”
Chi Yi sweetly clung to her. “Come with us first. We’ll tell you in private.”
Although Tao Yu still had a look of disgust on her face, her feet had already started to follow them. They walked all the way back to the players’ room, where she impatiently said, “Alright, alright, enough with the mystery. Just spit it out! You all look so gloomy, anyone passing by would think I owe you money!”
Chi Yi let out a soft sigh. “Sister Tao Yu, while we were wandering around the village today, we heard something. Here, when a woman’s husband dies, she has to commit suicide in his honor—just like Sister Fang Lin did last night.”
Tao Yu immediately spat in disgust. “Why bring up that useless woman? Bad luck, just like this wretched village!”
Last night, they had heard her curse Fang Lin, calling her pathetic for dying over a man, disgracing women. Seeing her reaction now, Chi Yi felt more confident and pressed on.
“I heard that in four days, another woman is going to commit suicide. Her husband died, and the villagers have locked her up, forcing her to die for him!”
Tao Yu’s expression changed slightly. “Is that true?”
Everyone nodded vigorously. “Of course it’s true! We all heard it!”
Tao Yu cursed furiously. “These people are truly despicable!”
Chi Yi, with a sorrowful tone, added, “It’s so pitiful to be a woman. Sister Tao Yu, let’s help her.”
Tao Yu hesitated, her earlier anger fading as she warily looked at them. “What are you planning?”
Chi Yi said, “We want you to put on a free opera tonight, so the villagers will come. Then we can sneak in and get her out.”
Tao Yu immediately stood up to leave. “I can’t help you. Goodbye!”
“Wait, wait, wait—!”
Everyone rushed to stop her, and Pink Hair even ran to the door, slamming it shut and blocking the way.
Tao Yu laughed in exasperation, crossing her arms. “What, are you planning to trap me here? Do you believe I won’t just shout for the troupe leader?”
She looked at their pleading faces and then shouted angrily, “Have you even got your own lives in order? Why meddle in other people’s business? Is there anyone who’s not struggling in this world? If you help every person you see, then no one will survive!”
“Please, Sister Tao Yu, help her.” Chi Yi, who excelled at playing the pitiful role, gave her best pleading look. Her face was naturally the kind that tugged at people’s heartstrings.
“You only need to perform the opera. We’ll take care of the rest. We won’t involve you at all.”
“Do you think I’m afraid of getting involved?!” Tao Yu glared angrily. Then, frustrated, she muttered, “I can’t believe I’ve run into a group of ancestors like you!”
“Fine.” She recalled Fang Lin, who had always overshadowed her when she was alive. They had been rivals, yet even though Fang Lin’s death had cleared the way for Tao Yu to become the lead performer, she didn’t feel any real joy from it.
“Consider it my way of earning some good karma.”
Everyone’s faces lit up with joy. Chi Yi quickly asked, “But performing opera requires the troupe’s cooperation. Will the troupe leader agree to put on a free show?”
Tao Yu shot her an annoyed look. “Of course I have a way. You just wait.”
Sure enough, within half an hour, someone came to inform them that Tao Yu would be performing a free opera at the village entrance that night, and the players were told to go inform the villagers.
Pink Hair grabbed a gong and went out, loudly announcing the free performance.
Hearing that there would be a free show, the villagers were delighted. The village chief did come by to ask about it, but the troupe leader told him that with Fang Lin gone, Tao Yu had taken her place as the lead. However, since Tao Yu hadn’t led a show before, she wanted to test the waters now to make sure everything went smoothly for the festival performance in four days.
Since it was just a trial run, of course, they wouldn’t charge for it. They figured it was a way to invite the villagers to see a rehearsal, giving them a bit of joy ahead of time.
The village chief didn’t ask any further questions.
After dinner that evening, sure enough, every household brought their benches and headed to the open-air stage. The children, as promised earlier, came running to find Li Zhi so she could teach them how to roll the iron hoops. Li Zhi played with them for a while, and when she heard the opera officially starting at the stage, she coaxed the children to go watch the show. Then, she quickly headed towards Zhen Zhen’s house with Chi Yi and Pink Hair.
To avoid raising suspicion among the villagers, the other seven players had already gone to the stage area. On the stage, Tao Yu had chosen the longest performance piece and began to sing slowly.
The layout of the village wasn’t hard to remember, and soon they spotted the courtyard with the white mourning flags. There was a lock hanging on the front gate, indicating that Zhen Zhen’s in-laws had also gone to watch the opera.
Li Zhi led the group around to the back gate. Inside the courtyard, the discarded basket she had placed against the wall during the day was still there. Pink-haired hoisted them up, and the two climbed over the wall, using the basket as a foothold. They easily made it inside.
Pink-haired stayed outside to keep watch.