"Haha, please don't think too highly of me, old man. Do you know of any famous sects around here that are similar to the one I'm from?" Li Huowang asked Lu Zhuangyuan about something he needed to know.
"Of course I do. In the Western Capital City, there's a Monastery. I've heard that anyone who prays there for a son has their wish come true!"
A Monastery?
Li Huowang remembered what Dan Yangzi had said before. He was once chased and hunted down by monks.
Could this be the very same Monastery?
Li Huowang silently noted the location. Compared to the man-eating Dan Yangzi, the Monastery should be a place with good people.
"But you're a Taoist. Is it appropriate for you to go to a Monastery?"
Li Huowang stared at the Taoist robe he was wearing. Luckily, Lu Zhuangyuan had reminded him.
It seems that I'll need to change out of my robes. Either way, I'm not a real Taoist.
"How's your business been recently? Is everything going alright?"
Sensing how Li Huowang had changed the topic, Lu Zhuangyuan understood and didn't press on.
"Sigh... not really. The kingdom recently had a drought, and then a flood shortly after that. The people don't even have much money. Nowadays, there are so few people who would pay to watch such shows. Even the rich don't hire us to perform at funerals anymore—they just make do with dinner and wrap it up. What a bunch of unfilial punks!"
"It'll all come to pass. You just need to endure for a couple of years."
"Yeah, there's nothing much we can do but endure. I've been thinking of traveling along my route a hundred more times when things get better. Once I've saved enough money, I'll finally be able to buy a theatre for my family in the Western Capital City. If I manage to do that, then I'll be able to die happy. With a theatre, at the very least my sons and grandchildren won't have to suffer as much as I did. All they would need to do is study at home. Who knows, maybe we'll get lucky and someone in my family will become a scholar! If that happens, then from then on we'll be able to live in peace." Lu Zhuangyuan chuckled at the thought as he smoked his pipe.
Li Huowang listened to Lu Zhuangyuan's goals and felt somewhat envious. To think that he still had a goal to look forward to, even at his age.
The more they talked, the friendlier the atmosphere became. At the very least, the Lu family no longer treated Puppy and the rest as monsters, but as people with ailments. To begin with, it wasn't their choice to be afflicted; everyone was just trying to live the best life they could.
By the time they arrived at Wuli Gang, Luo Juanhua was already friendly enough with Bai Lingmiao to allow her to carry Cui Er.
Standing in an empty field that the farmers used to dry their grains, Lu Zhuangyuan looked at the village and saw that many of the farmers were having their dinners just outside their homes. He said, "Alright! There are quite a few people here in Wuli Gang. Lu Family! Open the boxes and set up the stage! It's time to earn some money!"
They needed to perform, and Li Huowang's group wasn't in a rush to travel; everyone was already tired from the journey, so this was a good opportunity to rest.
While Li Huowang wasn't interested in such old-school performances and operas, the rest of them clearly were; they decided to help set up the stage. They took some bamboo stakes and red cloth to construct it.
Li Huowang was trying to sleep on a stack of dried rice stalks when he felt someone poking at his nose. He opened his eyes and saw Bai Lingmiao grinning at him.
She raised both her hands, and a golden item dangled in front of Li Huowang. She excitedly said, "Senior Li! Look! This is such a clean bronze mirror! I can see myself clearly in it! This is what they use to put on makeup!"
"It's not sunset yet. Why have you taken off your blindfold? Aren't you afraid of..."
At that moment, Li Huowang saw his own reflection in the mirror and was shocked—he didn't recognize the face staring back at him.
"Senior Li, what's wrong?" Bai Lingmiao asked, sensing that something was off.
"Junior Bai, did I look like this back when I was in Zephyr Temple?" Li Huowang gingerly touched his face.
"Yeah. You've always looked like that. What's wrong? Is something wrong with your reflection?"
Li Huowang set down his hands and touched his reflection in the bronze mirror. However, it didn't change. In the mirror, he no longer looked like a teenager; it seemed that he had been in this world for quite some time.
If the world with the hospital was my reality, then I would have been 17 years old. So how old am I now?
He couldn't come up with an answer. His memories were jumbled, and now he didn't even know how old he was.
Based on his reflection, the only thing he could guess was that he wasn't more than 30 years old.
Li Huowang tried to search his memories for any mention of his age, but there were none.
"Senior Li? Is everything alright? Please don't scare me." Seeing Li Huowang's reaction, Bai Lingmiao grew nervous.
"Nothing. I'm fine. I was just thinking about something. Quickly return the mirror to them. They'll need it to perform their show."
"Alright." Bai Lingmiao took the bronze mirror and walked backstage.
"YiAaaa~" Lu Juren began singing on the stage.
Meanwhile, Li Huowang lay back down on the rice stalks. "Sigh, I feel like my entire life is a joke."
He thought he would be more emotional, but he was surprisingly calm. Now, he had a new objective—to find out just how old he was.
The night sky was clear and bright with the moon, so the simple stage was visible to everyone in the village.
Upon hearing the news of a theater troupe arriving outside the village, almost everyone in Wuli Gang came out to watch the show.
Most of them had nothing to do anyway. They usually just tended to the fields and slept. For the farmers, having a troupe perform in front of their village was a rare source of entertainment.
The Lu family's troupe was small. Except for the granddaughter, there were only six performers.
Because of that, they had to cut some acts. There were too many things to do—playing instruments, applying makeup, and performing.
Luckily, the farmers weren't picky. They all grabbed stools and happily watched the show.
Meanwhile, Li Huowang and his group rested on a pile of dried grass stalks and admired the show from afar; the sound from the stage was loud enough to reach them.
Li Huowang had never seen a performance like this before, so he didn't know what they were acting out. The only one he recognized was Lu Zhuangyuan, who had put on black makeup and carried a large halberd. It looked exhausting for someone his age to perform—after all, he had to sing while swinging the weapon around.
"Excellent!" The sound of cheering suddenly rang out, surprising Li Huowang.
The show continued as the area in front of the stage filled with people. The entire Lu family poured their heart and soul into the performance, captivating the farmers. The only one who wasn't interested was Li Huowang.
Soon, the moon had climbed to the middle of the sky, and the Lu family's performance came to an end.
Just then, Li Huowang saw Luo Juanhua appear on stage in tattered clothes. She was carrying her daughter and a basket woven from dried grass.
"My cruel uncle-in-law has chased me away~ I'm just like a lone swan drifting in this world~ I have suffered so much, just like the wild grass people step on~ Both my daughter and I are cold and hungry, and have had to endure so much~ The only thing we can rely on is the food and money that people donate to us~"
As she sang, Luo Juanhua lightly pinched her daughter's buttocks. At the same time, the two-year-old child started crying, as if she understood what she had to do.