A woman lifted up the silk from the carved gold plate in her hand, and what was covered underneath was a flower carved from jade. The jade material was excellent, but the carving was not good, and the flower had lost its form and spirit.
"I want it," said the storyteller.
"What do you want?" Ji Liyou let go of the woman beside him and asked.
"The one below."
Ji Liyou looked at the woman, shook his head and said, "It's not as good as me."
He frowned and looked back at him.
Ji Liyou immediately knew that he was angry and said quickly, "I was wrong, I was wrong, what do you want?"
"That-" He pointed at the jade-carved flower with his folding fan.
Ji Li was helpless, so he called someone up and asked the price, "What, fifteen taels of gold?"
He couldn't believe it, "Fifteen taels of gold, my flesh hurts."
Expressing dissatisfaction, he honestly took out a piece of gold from his sleeve pocket and said, "I've had bad luck for eight lifetimes."
The visitor wrapped the flowers in silk and presented them, "Please take them."
Ji Liyou handed it to him, "Don't you want this? How can I get it for you?"
"You bought it, it's your turn to take it," he said ruthlessly.
Ji Liyou lowered his head, holding the jade flower in his hand, and asked, "What kind of flower is this?"
"Will leave."
"Jianli? Isn't the Jianli flower just a peony?" He reacted and stared at the dewy flower in the hand of the person in front of him.
"You take one and ask me to give you another. What do you want to do?"
"Go meet someone."
"who?"
The two quickly left the theater.
Ji Liyou joked, "After you come out of the theater, you won't take me to a brothel next, right?"
"Take you to meet someone."
"I dont go."
"Huh?" he said in a long voice.
"You definitely don't have any good ideas anyway."
Ji Liyou's back suddenly felt itchy. He scratched it with the jade flower, and a birthmark with a sharp top and a round bottom appeared on his wrist. At first glance, it looked like a leaf.
The storyteller said, "I'm going to visit an old friend. If you don't want to go now, just walk a hundred steps straight, turn left into a small alley, and walk another hundred steps back to Bolu."
He chuckled, "If you want to send me away now, you must have selfish motives, but I still won't leave."
"as you like."
"Who are you going to see?"
"A woman."
"Is it your crush?"
"What do you think?" he asked.
"If you have a crush, he must be an old monster."
"She's not like me, she's just a human being."
"Do you still value mortals?"
"She and I only have a three-way relationship."
"Ah? Three sides?"
"Plus today."
"I'm interested. What kind of woman is she? You want to come from Bolu to see her and give her peonies?"
"You know this is for her?"
"I still understand the truth of giving flowers to beauties."
"Is this jade peony also given to her?"
"Um."
"It's so generous. Fifteen pieces of gold are gone like this. It's not your money. You didn't even blink an eye."
"There is nothing wrong with returning the jade to Zhao intact," he said.
"The perfect jade returns to Zhao... Is this hers?"
"It should have been hers."
"I don't understand what you are saying."
"You don't have to understand. You just need to know that we are meeting a very important person. Just know this."
"Is it important? I think it's important to you. It's none of my business."
"If you don't want to follow, you can go back."
"Oh, it's here. Tell me, how did you fall in love with this girl at first sight?"
He glared at him and told him to be careful what he said.
Ji Liyou covered his mouth, "Could it be that you have a crush on others and they don't have a crush on you?"
"Stop talking nonsense."
"Okay, I won't expose your shortcomings. Is that woman beautiful?"
"She likes to wear a peony in her ear and hold a bag of candied fruits in her hand all day long."
"Like candied fruits?"
"Maybe, no one knows if she likes it, but she always eats it."
"Don't you just love it if you keep eating it?"
"Life is hard, so eat some candied fruits to relieve the pain. Can we say that she likes to eat candied fruits just to relieve her suffering?"
"From your words, it sounds like she's having a very unhappy life."
The two came to a courtyard, and a jujube tree was planted in front of the door.
The storyteller knocked on the door, but no one answered.
So he opened the door.
Ji Liyou quickly grabbed him, "This is someone else's house, how dare you break in without permission?"
"So what." He didn't care.
The yard is not big. I walked to the end in a few steps and opened the inner door. Through the bead curtain, I saw a woman lying on the hospital bed.
Ji Liyou saw that her eye sockets were sunken, and she was afraid that she might not survive for a few hours, so she turned her head away in fear.
"It's sir... Ahem... Sir is here?" Say one sentence and take two breaths.
Ji Liyou felt tired after hearing this.
"Hurry up and finish it, I'm afraid I'm going to get sick." He reminded the storyteller.
The storyteller opened the bead curtain, and the beads collided, which was quite unsettling.
He placed the peony next to her pillow.
"Today is his wedding?"
"yes."
"Thank you sir for your help."
The storyteller stretched out his hand, and the jade-carved flower immediately fell into his hand, "This is your thing, I brought it to you."
"No need, this thing is full of lovesickness, it makes me sad when I see it."
"Take it on the road and I will pray for you."
"What are you praying for?"
"The blessings of your parents, the blessings of your husband and wife, and the blessings of your children and grandchildren, I will ask for all these things for you."
"If you ask, you will get it?"
"Maybe." He sighed.
"Give it to him and keep it as a thought."
"I just ask my husband to never tell him and let him live his life as peacefully as he does."
"I promise you."
She finally felt at ease and slowly closed her eyes. The storyteller approached her and placed the perfectly bloomed peony on her pillow beside her ear. Behind the small earlobe, there was a red mole with a sharp top and a round bottom. One of the petals of the peony flower happened to kiss the red mole in the shape of a leaf, just like a petal kissing a fallen leaf.
After they both left here, Ji Liyou became curious about this woman and kept asking him about her. He put away the fan covering his head and looked at him deeply, "Do you really want to know?"
"You have nothing to do, just talk to me."
He handed him his other hand.
Ji Liyou was satisfied, "Let me see who she is."
Stepped forward and took hold of his outstretched hand.
He opened Ji Liyou's hoof and said, "I asked you to take Yu Jiangli in my hand, why are you touching my hand?"
"Isn't that how you showed me Zhao Lanyin's previous life last time? This time, show me the woman just now. Can you spare some meat?"
He sighed, "That woman just now has no previous life."
"Why? Everyone has it, why doesn't she?"
"You don't need to know her past life, just look at her current life. If you don't want her, just give her back to me."
"Yes, yes." He held the jade-carved peony tightly.
It turns out that she is an actress.
It's rare to see a woman singing in an opera. I don't know how she got into the theater.
The evening haze dyed the sky red, and the two men went to Liluoyuan to watch a play together.
There is not only one opera troupe in Liluoyuan. If you want to start singing in Liluoyuan, you have to pay a deposit first. If the guests like it later, you can stay and start collecting rewards. Even so, the opera troupes who travel all over the country still go here. They gather together not for any other reason, but because the dignitaries in Beiqiu like to come here to listen to operas and ditties.
What started singing in Liluoyuan today was a new opera troupe that had just arrived in Beiqiu.
Chu Cheng said a few words to a hunched-over man.
Gongyang Nong asked, "Have you been here before?"
"He used to set up a stage elsewhere, and I used to support him. The people under him sang well."
(End of chapter)