Chapter 567: Chapter 518, Chance Encounter_1 Chapter 567: Chapter 518, Chance Encounter_1 Daohua and Dong Yuanyao had just leaped over the wall when they saw a thin man in the courtyard, kneeling while wearing only a white undershirt.
Seeing the man turn his head toward them, both of them simultaneously made a shushing gesture.
At that mont, the sound of patrolling soldiers echoed from the other side of the wall.
“I clearly saw those two maids run in here, so why is there no one?”
“Could they have run to another alley?”
“Impossible, I would not have mistaken it.”
“Then, could they have climbed over into the courtyard?”
Upon hearing this, Daohua and Dong Yuanyao’s expressions changed.
After glancing at the man on the ground who had turned his head away, showing no interest in dealing with them, Daohua tugged at Dong Yuanyao, pulling her into the side room to hide.
Soon, a patrolling soldier appeared on the wall.
The patrolling soldier paused upon seeing a person kneeling in the courtyard, and then asked loudly, “Brother, have you seen two maids pass by here?”
In the side room, Daohua and Dong Yuanyao’s hearts were in their throats, watching the man intently, afraid that he would betray them.
The man looked up at the soldier on the wall, shook his head, and then turned back around.
The patrolling soldier seed to want to say more, but at that mont, a middle-aged man entered the courtyard.
Recognizing the middle-aged man as the leader of the Shuangxi Troupe, the patrolling soldier said nothing further and quickly climbed down from the wall.
Seeing the troop leader, Jia, looking over the wall, he furrowed his brows and approached the kneeling man: “What happened?”
The kneeling man remained silent, rely shaking his head.
Master Jia, seeing his response, beca angry: “It seems you really don’t accept the punishnt your teacher has given you.” With a humph, he walked over to the side, drew out a smooth, thumb-thick switch, and began to polish it.
“Smack, smack, smack!”
The switch repeatedly struck the man’s body, and soon, his white undershirt began to show trickles of blood.
In the side room, Daohua and Dong Yuanyao silently watched the scene, both inevitably feeling pained for the man.
After what felt like about the ti it takes to drink a cup of tea, Master Jia grew tired, tossed the switch down with a ‘smack,’ and looked expressionlessly at the man on the ground: “We actors, in front of those officials and nobility, exist rely for their amusent and laughter.”
“You have integrity, you value your dignity, not afraid to offend others, preferring death to subservience, but there are so many others in the troupe—do you also want them to die with you?”
“Reflect on what your teacher has told you. Once you enter our line of work, dignity, backbone, it all becos irrelevant to us.”
“For people like us, only by enduring what others cannot can we live peacefully in this world.”
Master Jia spoke for a while, sighed when looking at his disciple with his head lowered, then left with his hands behind his back.
Once he had left, Daohua and Dong Yuanyao hiding in the side room slowly ca out.
They approached the kneeling man, wanting to thank him, only to notice that the ground was dotted with damp spots.
Daohua and Dong Yuanyao exchanged a silent glance.
After a mont of silence, Daohua took a bottle of golden sore dicine from her pouch and handed it to the man: “We thank you for your help just now.”
Dong Yuanyao also spoke up, “Please get up. The weather is still cold during the New Year period, and kneeling like this could make you ill. Go inside and have soone apply this dicine to you.”
It was then that An Xi slowly turned his head to look at them, tears still hanging on his face.
Seeing them look at him with sympathy, An Xi revealed a hint of a sneer: “For soone as worthless as , living is no different from being a walking corpse.”
Daohua frowned: “…Admittedly, we don’t understand your situation, and shouldn’t be ddling, but I don’t quite agree with what you just said.”
“We may not be able to choose our environnt, but we can change ourselves, adapt to the environnt. Each one has its own rules for survival, its own difficulties. If everyone devalued themselves like you do, I’m afraid very few could go on living.”
Dong Yuanyao: “Indeed, if you are dissatisfied with reality, then rebel. Don’t debase your own body like this. This tactic only works on the people who care about you; it’s completely useless against those who don’t take you to heart.”
Seeing that he did not speak, Daohua set down the golden sore dicine without saying much more, and pulled Dong Yuanyao away through the back door.
Upon hearing the sound of the back door closing, An Xi turned her head to look over, fell silent for a while, then turned her gaze to the golden sore dicine on the ground, picking up the bottle.
…
As they left the alley, Daohua and Dong Yuanyao stealthily walked down the street, only breathing a sigh of relief when they saw no patrolling soldiers.
“Let’s go, we should hurry back, so Manman and the others won’t be left waiting and cause trouble.”
The two hurried toward Sihai Restaurant.
On the way, Daohua began discussing the man they had just encountered with Dong Yuanyao: “You seem to know that person?”
Dong Yuanyao: “How could I not? The man we just saw is the mainstay of the Shuangxi Troupe. Nearly all the officials’ families in the province who enjoy opera know him.”
Daohua spoke, puzzled: “If he’s already a mainstay, why was he beaten?”
Dong Yuanyao curled her lips and said softly, almost whispering, “What else could it be? He must have had a conflict with a patron. Did you see his appearance just now?”
Daohua nodded her head.
Dong Yuanyao: “What do you think of his looks?”
Daohua pondered for a mont: “Very handso, with fine skin and large eyes, and his teeth are white as his lips are red.”
Dong Yuanyao: “Many people say he’s even more feminine than a woman. Most who invite the Shuangxi Troupe to perform do so because of him. Think about it, a man with such an appearance, how could he not attract trouble?”
Daohua sighed, about to say sothing, when she saw the patrolling soldiers approaching from the street ahead. Without a second word, she pulled Dong Yuanyao and started running in the opposite direction.
“They are over there!”
Seeing that the patrolling soldiers had spotted them, Daohua and Dong Yuanyao cursed their bad luck.
They moved swiftly through the crowd, running forward while occasionally looking back; the soldiers were getting closer. Just as they were growing extrely anxious, suddenly a figure appeared in front of Daohua, halting her in place.
Daohua, unable to stop her montum, collided with the person.
The impact was significant, and Daohua was sent stumbling backward. Seeing this, Xiao Yeyang hastily extended his hand to catch her.
Dong Yuanyao, who also stumbled into Daohua, keeled over to one side.
Xiao Yeyang, preoccupied with Daohua, ignored Dong Yuanyao completely. Just when Dong Yuanyao thought she was about to experience an intimate mont with the ground, a pair of hands steadied her.
“It’s you!”
Dong Yuanyao, surprised at the person holding her up, widened her eyes.
Sun Changze steadied Dong Yuanyao to her feet, then imdiately let go of her hand: “Miss Dong, are you alright?”
Dong Yuanyao shook her head and was about to speak when she heard Daohua’s excited cry: “Xiao Yeyang!”
Xiao Yeyang, seeing the delighted expression on Daohua’s face, said with a smile, “Are you that happy to see ?”
Daohua, opting not to waste words, said anxiously, “Xiao Yeyang, patrolling soldiers are after us.”
Xiao Yeyang glanced at De Fu, motioning him to handle it, before resignedly pulling her into the nearby shop: “Why do you always manage to attract trouble?”
Daohua retorted: “It’s not causing trouble; trouble finds .”
Watching Daohua follow Xiao Yeyang without calling for her, Dong Yuanyao took a deep breath and waved frenziedly at Daohua’s retreating figure.
Seeing Dong Yuanyao’s playfully grinding teeth, Sun Changze couldn’t help but chuckle out loud.
Dong Yuanyao, hearing the laughter, turned her head to look and saw Sun Changze chuckling with his hand over his fist, feeling slightly uneasy. She huffed and, with her head held high, went into the shop.
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