Chapter 49: Chapter 49: The Senior Leadership Group
These are all the clues we have now; discussing them further won’t yield any new results. We’ve been at this for so long, everyone’s tired. Yang Xiao mustered his energy to take the first watch, allowing Kuang Hongyi and Su Tingting to rest.
Su Tingting tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Every time she closed her eyes, she would see those children walking towards her. Eventually, she gave up on trying to sleep, got out of bed, and joined Yang Xiao on the night watch.
"Thank you, Mr. Chu."
Su Tingting meant this sincerely; without him, she wouldn’t have survived until now. She was also acutely aware of the old players’ ostracism toward the newcomers. Yang Xiao was a newbie too, but he had earned the old players’ respect with his abilities.
Yang Xiao was so sleepy his eyelids were almost closing, and he could only keep drinking strong tea in sips, replying half-heartedly, "I should thank you too, for taking the risk to warn me on stage."
"It’s what I should have done. Those poor children..." Su Tingting’s eyes dimmed when she mentioned the little girls who had died tragically, "I never thought the Feng Family would commit such inhumane acts. They deserved to be haunted by Xi Yao. They must atone for their sins! That’s what you think too, right?"
After a moment of silence, Yang Xiao suddenly asked, "Hmm... you’re not sleepy, are you?"
Su Tingting was startled, and it took her a while to realize she was so engulfed in sorrow that she couldn’t extricate herself, "I... I can’t sleep when I think about what happened tonight."
"Then you can keep watch. I can sleep; I’m dying of sleepiness." Yang Xiao yawned and walked over to the bed Su Tingting had been using, having been told by Kuang Hongyi that nothing would happen tonight, and besides, dawn was approaching.
Still, out of caution, Yang Xiao reminded her, "Remember, stay alert while keeping watch, and wake me up in half an hour."
After speaking, Yang Xiao collapsed onto the bed, which was still warm. He felt so comfortable that he almost immediately fell into a deep sleep.
Without Yang Xiao’s company, Su Tingting didn’t dare to sit alone at the table to keep watch. With the previous events casting a shadow over her, she always felt something lurking behind the windows or doors.
After confirming Yang Xiao was truly asleep, Su Tingting tiptoed over, "Mr. Chu? Mr... Mr. Chu?"
After softly calling twice and getting no response, Su Tingting felt reassured. She gently sat down, occupying just a tiny bit of space at the foot of the bed, but being closer to Yang Xiao made her feel much safer, "Huff—, I’ll just stay like this until dawn."
The night was dreamless. When Yang Xiao woke up, daylight had already filled the outside, with sunlight streaming through the gaps in the windows, casting a bright line of light on the floor.
Yang Xiao had a good rest, but he felt a bit embarrassed since he had promised Kuang Hongyi to keep watch and had irresponsibly slept through till morning.
Seeing Yang Xiao awake, Kuang Hongyi, who was sitting at the table with a teacup, came over and handed it to him, "How did you rest, Chu?"
"It was... it was okay."
Taking a seat at the side of the bed, Kuang Hongyi teased him, "Hey, you fell asleep so quickly last night. When you told Su Tingting to wake me up, I was planning to talk with you for a bit. But just as I got up and turned my head, you were already asleep. It must be nice to be young and able to fall asleep right away."
"Mr. Chu, wash your face." Su Tingting approached with a copper basin in her hands and a white towel draped over her shoulder.
Su Tingting stole a glance at Yang Xiao and winked, instantly he understood. Kuang Hongyi did not know that he had been slacking off to sleep, and that Su Tingting had covered for him, keeping watch all night on his behalf.
Accepting the basin, Yang Xiao said thank you, just as he turned his head to exchange a few words with Kuang Hongyi, footsteps sounded from outside, and Steward Liu hurried over.
Seeing that all three of them were present, Steward Liu’s anxious expression eased a bit, but his tone was still filled with sorrow as he informed them, "Fellow Blessing Guests, Shi Fukui is dead, his body is currently floating on the lake."
They had known of this news the night before, so it was not a surprise. Kuang Hongyi went straight to recounting the events that had taken place at the stage the previous night. Of course, he omitted the involvement of the children. He then openly questioned Steward Liu about whether there was anything being hidden from them, after all, the ghostly entity that appeared last night was certainly not Xi Yao!
After listening, Steward Liu was completely taken aback, and it took him a long while to come back to his senses, "Not Xi Yao? How... How could it not be her?"
"If it was Xi Yao, how do you explain the death of Shi Guanming?" Yang Xiao joined in the questioning, "There must be something wrong with the birthdate information!"
"Impossible, the birthdate surely belongs to Xi Yao; we had it calculated by an expert, there’s absolutely no mistake!" Steward Liu insisted stubbornly.
"On the night when the Old Master Feng arranged the marriage, did any other strange events occur?" Yang Xiao changed his approach, beating around the bush.
After pondering for a moment, Steward Liu shook his head, "I can’t quite remember, but there should be none. Wait here for a moment, I will fetch the old accountant from the mansion. There are records of everyone from the theater troupe who came that night, and each received a reward from the mansion."
Steward Liu had barely stepped out the door when he turned back to say, "By the way, don’t wait for Shi Fukui, since Shi Fukui died last night and he was with him, he’s been called by Master Feng for questioning."
After waiting for about the time it takes to burn a stick of incense, an elderly looking old man arrived, leaning on a cane and carrying a cloth bag over his shoulder.
The old man seemed to be over 70 years old, but based on the conservation practices of the ancients, his actual age might be around 60. Upon entering, he first courteously gave a bow, "I am the accountant of the mansion, are you the Blessing Guests invited by the master?"
"We are, dear sir."
After sizing up Yang Xiao a few times, the old man took off the cloth bag, and from it, he extracted a thick ledger with yellowed edges, "This is the account record of the silver spent by the mansion on the night the Bai Family Stage came over, including the personal seal of Master Bai."
They examined the ledger closely. Although it was written in archaic language, fortunately the handwriting was neat, and Yang Xiao could roughly understand what was written.
There were two entries in the ledger, one for exactly 1000 taels of Patterned Silver, and the other for 200 taels. Together Master Bai received a total of 1200 taels, and it was clearly stated in the ledger that only actual silver was to be paid, no silver notes accepted. This matched what Master Feng had said.
As for the accounts, other than the 1200 taels disbursed that night, there was another expenditure, these mainly being fragments of silver, and there were no specific names for the collectors, only some bizarre titles.
"Toulu, Master, Da Ti Diao, Er Lu Jiao, Wen Guanshi, Wu Guanshi, Xiao Guanshi, Di Banzi, Xiangtou, Jian Chang, Guan Caixia Ren..."
"What is this mess?" Su Tingting became more confused the more she looked.
The old accountant bowed slowly, "You don’t usually follow theater, so not knowing these terms is normal. The Bai Family Stage is considered a respected major troupe in town. The entire troupe, from top to bottom, consists of twenty to thirty people. Anyone who stepped into Feng Mansion that night received a reward, but the amount of the reward varied according to the individual’s status and seating within the troupe."
