Mutated Tao

“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 am from?” Li Huowang asked Lu Zhuangyuan about something he needed to know.

“Of course, I do. In the Western Capital City, there is a Monastery. I’ve heard that anyone who prays there for a son has their wishes 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 down the location. Compared to the man-eating Dan Yangzi, the Monastery should be a place with good people.

“But, you are 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 will 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 people would not hire us to perform at funerals; they just make do with dinner and wrap it up. What a bunch of unfilial punks!”

“It will all come to pass. You just need to endure for a couple of years.”

“Yeah, there’s nothing much we can do but to endure. I’ve been thinking of traveling along my route a hundred more times when the times get better. Once I’ve accumulated enough money, I will finally be able to buy a theatre for my family in Western Capital City. If I manage to do so, then I will be able to die happy. With a theatre, at the very least my sons and grandchildren will not have to suffer as much as I did. All they would need to do is to study back at home. Who knows, maybe we will get lucky and someone in my family will become a scholar! If that happens, then from then on we would 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 would still have a goal to look forward to even though he was already so old.

The more they talked, the friendlier the atmosphere between them 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 was not their choice to be inflicted with such ailments; 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 would use to dry their grains, Lu Zhuangyuan took a look at the village and saw that many of the farmers were having their dinners just outside of their house and said, “Alright! There’s 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 was not in a rush to travel; everyone was already tired from the journey, and so this was a good opportunity to rest.

While Li Huowang was not interested in such old school performances and operas, the rest of them were clearly interested; they decided to help out with setting up the stage. They took some bamboo stakes and red clothes to set up the stage.

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 use it to see myself clearly! This is what they use to put on their 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 in the mirror.

“Senior Li, what’s wrong?” Bai Lingmiao asked, having sensed that something was wrong.

“Junior Bai, did I look like this even back when I was in Zephyr Temple?” Li Huowang gingerly touched his face.

“Yeah. You’ve always looked like that. What’s wrong? Is there 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 when he asked himself. His memories were all jumbled up, and now he didn’t even know how old he was.

Based on his reflection, the only thing he could predict was that he was no more than 30 years old.

Li Huowang tried searching his memories for any mentions of his age, but there were none.

“Senior Li? Is everything alright? Please don’t scare me.” Seeing Li Huowang’s reaction, Bai Lingmiao was quite nervous.

“Nothing. I’m fine. I was just thinking about something. Quickly return the mirror back to them. They would need to use it to perform their show.”

“Alright.” Bai Lingmiao took the bronze mirror and walked backstage.

“Yi~Yi~Aaaa~” Lu Juren started singing on the stage.

Meanwhile, Li Huowang once again laid down on the rice stalks. “Sigh, I feel like my entire life is a joke.”

He thought that he would be much more emotional, but he was surprisingly calm. Now, he just had another objective—to find out just how old he was.

The night sky was clear and had a moon, so the simple stage could be seen by everyone in the village.

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 anyways. They would usually tend to the fields and sleep. To the farmers, having a troupe performing in front of their village was one of the rare opportunities to enjoy some entertainment.

The Lu family’s troupe was small. With the exception of the granddaughter, there were only 6 performers.

Due to that, they had to exclude some of the performances. There were too many things to do, including having to play the musical instruments, applying make-up, and performing.

Luckily, the farmers were not a picky bunch. All of them took a stool and happily watched the show.

Meanwhile, Li Huowang and his group were resting on a bunch of dried grass stalks and admiring the show from afar; the sound coming from the stage was loud enough for them to hear.

Li Huowang had never watched one before, and so he didn’t know what it was that they were performing. The only one he could recognize on the stage was Lu Zhuangyuan. The latter had put on black makeup while carrying a large halbert. It looked extremely tiring for him to perform on stage at his age; after all, he had to sing while swinging the halberd around.

“Excellent!” The sound of cheering suddenly rang out, surprising Li Huowang.

The show continued as the area in front of the stage was filled with people. The entire Lu family poured their heart and soul into their performance on the stage, captivating the farmers below. The only one who wasn’t interested in the show was Li Huowang.

Soon the moon had crawled to the middle of the sky, and the performance of the Lu family came to an end.

Just then, Li Huowang saw Luo Juanhua appear on the stage in tattered clothes. She was carrying her daughter and a basket woven using 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 that people step on~ Both me and my daughter are cold and hungry, and have had to endure so much~ The only thing we could rely on is the food and the money that people donate to us~”

As she sang, Luo Juanhua pinched her daughter lightly on the buttocks. At the same time, the two-year-old child started crying as if she understood what she had to do.

Chacha and Char’s Thoughts

MC chilling while everyone works