Ch31 - Singing the Greatest Show (8) — Scapegoat

The more Second Master He wanted something, the more patient he became.

After he courteously thanked him, he left without delay. Su An looked at He Changhuai’s back, who was leaving, and asked someone to call Yu Qiong. But when he washed his face and changed his clothes, he learned that Yu Qiong had fallen into the water. 

In the backyard.

Yu Qiong was shivering in the duvet, his hair was still covered with icicles, and his face was flushed red from the cold, and he also seemed half-conscious.

After pouring hot water and massaging the person, it took a long while for Yu Qiong to come back to his senses. Su An already understood the whole situation. Yu Qiong fell into the water for some reason, but fortunately, he was holding onto the old tree tightly, and luckily, Chang Shi passed by and rescued him, otherwise, he would be remembered as the person who freezes to death here.

Seeing that the person was awake, Su An asked, “Yu Qiong, why did you fall into the water?” 

Yu Qiong shivered. With panic in his eyes, he even gestured as he mouthed: “Someone pushed me!”

The smile on Su An’s lips stiffened for a moment, “Someone pushed you?”

The atmosphere in the room became odd. This place in the alley was originally two courtyards, but after opening it up, a lake was dug in the middle. While the people of Yishui Building lived here, while the people who defected from Yishui Building went to live there. Both groups knew each other and were acquaintances. If Yu Qiong was really pushed down, wouldn’t it be an acquaintance committing the crime?

But who can have such a big grudge towards a beggar who just arrived at Yishui Building?

Chang Shi stood up, “Master, the theater master entrusted me to bring a message. On the way back, I saw Yu Qiong falling into the water, but I didn’t see anyone around.”

Su An: “With what message?”

“The theater master asked me to tell you that an opera troupe two blocks away has disbanded and are now selling their people,” Chang Shi continued, “The theater master even said that there are a few good seedlings there and would like to take a look with you.”

Su An looked at the sky outside, the snow was still falling, gloomy and dreary, “Let’s talk about it tomorrow. Okay, you guys go out, I’ll talk to Yu Qiong again.” 

Since the everyone left, the room was silent. Su An tucked the quilt and asked Yu Qiong: “Yu Qiong, do you really feel that someone is pushing you?”

Yu Qiong was still in a state of fear, and when he saw that Su An didn’t believe him, he was even more anxious and afraid, “Master—” he said in a hoarse voice, “I, I…”

“I know,” Su An shushed, “You can’t speak, so I’ll ask you a few questions now. Nod your head if it’s right, and shake your head otherwise.”

Yu Qiong nodded obediently. 

“You met He Changhuai in the afternoon, the one in my room,” Su An asked, “Are you afraid of him?”

Yu Qiong shook and nodded.

Su An: “Did he hurt you?”

Yu Qiong frowned, he thought carefully, then he showed an hesitant expression. First, he slowly nodded, and then he hesitantly shook his head. 

Su An couldn’t understand what he meant, “Second Master He has been studying abroad some years ago and has only returned to the country in the past two years. After returning to the country, he has been staying in the north. It stands to reason that you should never have seen him before. Could it be that you, Yu Qiong came from the north before?”

Yu Qiong looked at Su An blankly, and Su An turned over his palm to take a look. Yu Qiong has many scars on his palms, but they were all new ones. It can be seen how delicate these hands were originally, with soft fingers that didn’t even have thick calluses.

Yu Qiong blushed shyly, and buried in the bed, motionless.

We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.

“Last time you also looked at President Jiang and couldn’t even not move.” Su An said, “Could it be that you have seen President Jiang before?” 

Te Hlbcu rtbbx tlr tfjv, “Lf, tf fjar, fjar olrt.”

Ve Cc: “Sja olrt? Qtja vbfr atja wfjc?”

Ktfc atfgf kjr j revvfc cblrf bearlvf, “Helmx, atf vbmabg lr tfgf!”

Ve Cc rabqqfv, jcv vlvc’a jrx jcs oegatfg, “Kjxf j ubbv gfra. Tbe mjc bcis rlcu bc rajuf ktfc sbe tjnf j ubbv gfra. Glvc’a sbe rjs sbe kjca ab wjxf j iba bo wbcfs ys rlculcu obg wf?” 

Yu Qiong nodded.

Su An got up and went out, letting others take care of Yu Qiong. He took the feldspar to the lake. The lake was calm, and the edge had already begun to freeze. Chang Shi pointed to the hole, “Master, Yu Qiong fell into this one.”

There was a downhill that touches the shore. Seeing that he would fall into the lake if he was not careful, Su An walked over to look at the footprints. They were messy, and it was estimated that Chang Shi stepped on it when he rescued Yu Qiong, “Did you see other footprints when you rescued Yu Qiong?”

Chang Shi shook his head, “I was so anxious that I didn’t pay attention to my feet.” 

“Forget it,” Su An went back. “Go call the theater master and tell him that I will go with him tomorrow to see the good seedlings.”

Chang Shi responded, then he hesitated for a while, and lowered his voice, “Master, do you think this has something to do with Ji Yusheng’s grievance?”

In the winter, as soon as these words were uttered, a chill seemed to come up from the soles of his feet. Su An coughed lightly, “How so?”

“Yu Qiong just came to Yishui Building, who can be at enmity with him?” Chang Shi said seriously, “Yusheng may have lingering grievances, but he can’t bully us to vent his anger, so he can only bully this newcomer.” 

“Don’t talk nonsense,” Su An said, “Do you really believe what Old Xu said?”

Chang Shi rubbed his head, “Master does not believe it?”

Su An did not deny it, “You should just get going.”

The disbanded opera troupe was called Xiyang Pavillion, and they had many young apprentices who learned to sing. Su An and the theater master picked a few and led them back slowly. 

The snow has stopped today and everywhere was white and busy. Su An thought the white looked too dazzling, so he wore black to suppress the color. Coincidentally, when they went back, they happened to meet, He Changhuai who came out of the jewelry store.

He Changhuai was tall and big, and as soon as he saw them, he stepped forward with a slight surprise, then he opened his mouth with a smile, “Boss Ye, isn’t it a coincidence?”

Ye Su’an soft eyebrows were raised in surprise, and the corners of his mouth could not help but bring out a smile, “Second Master He, we meet again.”

Naturally, He Changhuai would not say that he had gotten the news and waited here in advance for a chance encounter. He smiled casually and winked at him, “I have a destiny with Boss Ye, maybe our hearts resonate with each other. I’m afraid the moon god is not holding the wrong rope, he did not bring me a daughter-in-law, but bring me Boss Ye instead.” 

Ye Su’an: “How come the Second Master’s mouth became so generous?”

Is your heart only amount this much? Only this much?! You're not even as good as that smelly uncle from before.

The two walked in front, while the theater master followed behind with the new apprentices. He Changhuai said: “It’s so cold today, what is Boss Ye doing outside?” 

Su An pointed to the theater master behind him, “You have to ask him about it.”

The theater master smiled embarrassedly, “Nothing, nothing, just saw some good seedlings, so I dragged Boss Ye over to take a look.”

He Changhuai nodded, “Is Boss Ye cold?”

Su An stretched out his hand to show him. His five fingers were slender, white as jade and his fingertips were a little red. “Second Master, do you think I’m cold?” 

He Changhuai smiled, He Changhuai laughed, “I see that you are not cold, but I am afraid that you are cold, so I offended, Boss Ye.”

He took off the scarf from his neck and put it on Su An’s neck gently. The warm feeling came, as He Changhuai straightened the scarf, “Please take it home all the way, don’t untie it on the way.”

Su An froze for a moment, then looked up at him from the scarf.

He Changhuia’s eyebrows, which were thick and heavy in colors, were handsome, he then chuckled lightly, “Does Boss Ye have any other business to do next?” 

Ye Su’an shook his head, “There isn’t.”

The theater master then anxiously stepped forwards to remind him, “Boss Ye, have you forgotten what Old Xu said?” Why don’t we find a Taoist priest when we come back and do some exorcism?

Su An suddenly realized, and nodded again, “There is one more small matter.”

He Changhuai also did not stay with him, “Then that’s all for today, Boss Ye. Let’s see each other again tomorrow at Yishui Building.” 

After he finished speaking, he turned around and strode away. Su An looked after his back for a while and sighed.

Absolutely, one is more pretentious than the other.

The theater master thought that Boss Ye was going to buy a yellow talisman, but Su An took him to the bookstore all the way, so he wondered, “Boss Ye, are you going to buy books?”

Su An pointed at him, “Master Cheng, if you want to buy a talisman, you can go to the end of that alley. I’ll go look at the books first, you go over and wait for me.” 

Theater master: “Good, Boss Ye take your time, I’ll go right away.”

There was no one in the bookstore. Su An walked over and asked the shopkeeper, “Where is your bookkeeper?”

The shopkeeper raised his voice, “Mr. Bookkeeper!”

After shouting several times in a row, the bookkeeper came out, with a pale beard and slightly wrinkled face, “What’s the matter?” 

Su An pondered and spoke in a steady voice: “Old Sir, I have something to ask you. Is the red fish still available in President Jiang’s resident? And where is it sold again? I want to buy a few.”

The bookkeeper walked in with a frown, “What? What red fish?”

Oh, this old gentleman has a hearing impairment. What Old Xu said was so mysterious, but in fact this old gentleman just couldn’t hear it.

Su An asked the question again, then the bookkeeper said with a bitter face: “Boss Ye, I don’t know how this fish got here, perhaps it was Master Jiang who brought it here at will, or perhaps it was sent by someone else. The ledger only recorded a few entries and exits, but there was nothing else. ” 

“Okay, I understand.” Su An nodded and left the bookstore.

It just so happened that the theater master sneakily brought a person over. Theater Master Cheng was full of excitement and lowered his voice: “Boss Ye, there really is a Taoist priest, look, I’ll bring him here.”

The Taoist priest was also wearing simple clothes, and he could not see how he was different from ordinary people. Su An looked at him for a while, but the Taoist priest dodged his eyes, and didn’t dare meet his gaze.

Su An didn’t say anything, “Let’s go back then.” 

Then went back and settled down the newly brought apprentices, then the theater master and a group of spectators gathered around the Taoist priest and went to the backyard. As soon as they got close to the well, the theater master’s eyes were red, “Yusheng, you died so miserably.”

The Taoist shivered, and was about to go to hunt ghosts in a decent manner, when Su An suddenly asked, “Why didn’t you even wear your Taoist clothes?” The people around looked at the Taoist priest suspiciously.

Not everyone seemed to believed it, so the look they gave towards the Taoist priest was full of suspicions. After all, there was not much real material in this business, but there were many scammers in them.

However, Su An and the liar have an indissoluble bond, and at a glance, he could see how much weight this Taoist priest has.

The Taoist priest was sweating profusely and forced himself to stay calm, “Isn’t it necessary to see the premises first? It’s not time for the official exorcism yet.” 

“Actually, I don’t believe that there are ghosts in this world,” Su An looked around, “Think about it for yourself, who has seen ghosts since childhood?”

A group of people looked at each other and shook their heads one by one.

The Taoist priest was anxious: “Ai, you people——”

“I believe Yusheng is not that kind of person,” Su An continued, “You all have been with him for so long, and you know what he’s like. You’re not allowed to talk about ghosts later, let Yusheng at least be buried in peace.” 

The crowd was silent for a while, and several people couldn’t help but secretly wipe their tears. The theater master also lowered his head and wiped away his tears, and suddenly said: “No, Boss Ye, if there were no ghosts in the world, why would there be crying in President Jiang’s residence?”

“This…” Su An deliberately hesitated, “This is because others have misheard.”

But the Taoist priest immediately said: “You don’t know this! How could the cries in Jiang Zhengrong’s mansion be misheard by more than a dozen maids and servants? It’s clearly an evil spirit!”

Su An asked back: “Then have you seen the unjust soul in President Jiang’s residence?” 

“I haven’t seen it before,” The Taoist priest snorted, “But some of my colleagues have seen Jiang Zhengrong once, and they all say that his back was marked black, which is an ominous sign!”

“What does this have to do with the ghost?”

The Taoist priest subconsciously blurted out: “The omen of dying, of course, It’s to find a scapegoat!”

Sunnyshies: Again, this isn’t a ghost ship! The ghost arc is still miles away~ These bizarre events will be explained in the later chapters… 

Anyway, its been a while since I updated this novel…after zombie emperor, this novel will step into the chart and will become a priority~ Also, I want to finish this arc too. This arc gave me a headache. The author really write words depending on the settings…