Cypress Boat Floating

Ye Jianqing pried open Lu Ci Qiu's hand and tried to push him away from him.

"I want to go take a look at the back." Ye Jianqing said in a low voice, which made Lu Ci Qiu feel a little distressed.

"Let's go out first. It's not safe here." Lu Ci Qiu stood in front of Ye Jianqing on guard until he heard her speak and then turned around.

The scene of the actor falling in a pool of blood with Ye Jianqing's face reminded him of his previous life, when Ye Jianqing fell in front of him to block the arrow for him. He felt very insecure here. The smell of blood floating in the air was not fake, and the blood under the man's body was not fake either. Everything here was challenging his senses. He subconsciously wanted to take Ye Jianqing away from here. He didn't want Ye Jianqing to take risks here.

"It's okay, I'll go take a look and be back. She dares to threaten me so openly, she must be planning to lure me there, how can I let them down." Ye Jianqing stared at the curtain, behind which was a mystery.

She had deliberately asked Uncle Lin to take her to Chunmanlou in the morning, and then met Jiang Wanyin, who shouldn't have been there, in the backyard of Chunmanlou. Then she met the circus troupe on the street. Every little thing was leading her here. If he didn't go, wouldn't he disappoint them?

Although she could not foresee that there would be a breach of secrets ahead, nor did she know who she would meet on this trip, or whether she would be able to come back alive, she felt that she had to go.

"If you insist on going, then I'll go with you." Lu Ci Qiu held Ye Jianqing's hand and refused to let go. He really didn't want to let Ye Jianqing take the risk alone. With him accompanying him, two people would always have a better chance of success than one person.

"What? You weren't going to go in with me?" Ye Jianqing retracted his gaze and winked at him mischievously, trying to ease his tense mood.

But there was no smile on Lu Ci Qiu's face. He still looked at her seriously. He said softly, "Wherever you go, I go," which made Ye Jianqing's heart tighten.

The person in front of me is too worried about his own safety, which is wrong.

"Okay, okay, don't be nervous, let's go in and take a look. If they really want to kill us, they won't use this method." Ye Jianqing's arms were held tightly by him, and she struggled to stretch out a small section of her arm to pat the back of his hand. She knew that Lu Ci Qiu was worried about her safety, but the arrow was on the string and had to be shot.

Lu Ci Qiu let go of Ye Jian Qing's arm and held her hand with one hand. Ye Jian Qing raised her eyebrows, feeling that it was strange. She wanted to break free but couldn't. She couldn't help but wonder, "When did Lu Ci Qiu become so strong?"

Lu Ci Qiu took the lead, holding Ye Jianqing's hand and walking up the stairs beside the stage. The red curtain blocked their view, forcing them to stop at the front stage.

"Come in." Ye Jianqing said behind him.

Lu Ci Qiu nodded, carefully lifted a corner of the curtain with his other hand, and looked inside.

"no one."

The stage was empty, without a trace of anyone. The floor was clean as before, even the blood that had just flowed from the female lead's body had been cleaned up.

The two of them stepped onto the stage.

After so many years of changes, some brothels have been fixed in history. For example, the one that Ye Jianqing and Lu Ci Qiu are entering now was bought by the famous Liu Family Clan in the West District a long time ago.

The Liu Family Troupe performed Peking Opera, so the stage was naturally built according to the requirements of Peking Opera. Two beams were set up in front of the stage, and a square partition was used on the stage to separate the front and back stages.

The stage is divided into the main room and the side room. There is a doorway on each side of the main room, and two doorways on each side room. They serve as the entrances and exits of the actors on and off the stage. The right side facing the audience is the entrance for the actors, called "exit", and the left side is the exit, called "entry".

In addition to being a preparation area for opera performances, the backstage is also an integral part of the performance; people who play drums and gongs, and who provide singing chorus for the opera, all live here.

Ye Jianqing did not let Lu Ci Qiu continue to walk in front. He turned sideways and walked around Lu Ci Qiu, walked in front of him, and led him around the partition and walked towards the "Enter the Prime Minister" door.

"The backstage should be connected. Although we can go in any direction, since we are here, we should abide by the rules." Ye Jianqing naturally explained to Lu Ci Qiu.

When we arrived at the backstage, there were a lot of things, and they were placed in a messy manner, but there was still a passage for walking through. The costumes were hung on both sides and could be changed at any time when needed.

Although there are many people in the Liu Clan, not many of them can play a role perfectly, so most of the time one person needs to play several roles, and those small roles need to be replaced frequently, which means they need to change clothes in a timely manner.

Hang the clothes on both sides so that they can easily find their clothes and change as soon as they get off the stage.

The passage was well-lit, with even visible particles floating in the air. Passing by the costumes and walking forward was where the actors put on their makeup. Several dressing tables were filled with rouge, and mirrors were placed steadily on frames, reflecting the actors' makeup.

The dressing table was placed in a place where the sun could not reach it and was hidden in the shadows. If you wanted to see it clearly, you had to light candles. There were candles on both sides of each mirror.

Further ahead are the various equipment needed for opera, including broadswords, long swords, spears, shields, etc.

When walking from the sun to the shade, the eyes cannot fully adapt when entering the room, so the eyes will be closed for a few seconds.

Someone took advantage of this weakness of humans and pounced on Ye Jianqing and Lu Ci Qiu while they were walking from the well-lit area to the dressing table with their most convenient weapons.

Although Ye Jianqing felt discomfort in her eyes, her body reacted very quickly. She dodged sideways before the big knife reached her head. The time she spent dodging was enough for her to recover her eyesight.

She let go of Lu Ciqiu's hand and grabbed the man who was slashing at her with a big knife. The man was no pushover and turned around to break free from Ye Jianqing's grasp.

The opponent's first attack was fatal. Ye Jianqing knew that he could not show mercy, so he took advantage of the moment when the opponent turned around to pull out the skylark tied to his calf.

A cold light flashed across the other person's eyes, and before the other person could react, Ye Jianqing stepped forward, grabbed the Skylark with her backhand and cut the other person's throat. Her movements were seldom exaggerated, but always straightforward, going straight for people's weaknesses.

Although the opponent had practiced before, he was different from Ye Jianqing who had been trained through life and death. Under Ye Jianqing's attack, he could only start to resist with a big knife, and his defense was still much more passive.

When she wanted to counterattack, she found that she had already been beaten by Ye Jianqing, and had been cut by him many times.

Lu Ci Qiu was unable to join the battle, so he could only draw his sword and stand aside to guard Ye Jianqing. There should be more than one person here, and he had to make sure that no one would disturb Ye Jianqing while he was concentrating on the fight.

Ye Jianqing's knife was fast, and his figure was fast too. The skylark was like a real bird in the clouds, flying freely in the sky. Its wings ruthlessly cut the opponent's skin, and blood splattered on it, but it didn't care at all. It even wanted to howl to the sky a few times to show its achievements.

There is no better example of man and sword becoming one.

The opponent obviously knew that she was no match for Ye Jianqing, but she didn't even have the chance to call a halt. Apart from defending against Ye Jianqing's attack, she couldn't spare any energy to fight back.

"Stop it!" A man with a burly build walked in from the "out of the general" doorway.

The man had his hands behind his back, with a serious look on his face, and the beard on his face just added a bit of middle-aged charm to him.

Hearing the voice, Ye Jianqing gave up on this opponent who was obviously inferior to him, and returned to Lu Ci Qiu as quickly as possible, holding the Skylark in his hand and looking at the person who came vigilantly.

"Miss Ye, I'm so sorry to invite you here without your permission. Please forgive me for any inconvenience I may have caused." The man walked up to the person who had just attacked Ye Jianqing. The man had already exhausted all his strength and was slumped on the box.

Only then did Ye Jianqing have time to see what the other person looked like. The person looked three-quarters like him. He thought it must be the Wudan on the stage just now. He didn't know what method was used to make a person who looked three-quarters like him look exactly like him.

"Is this your way of entertaining guests? That's really interesting." Ye Jianqing snorted coldly. She was very dissatisfied with this man's self-righteousness.

"Please forgive me, Miss Ye. Since I want your help, I have to try your methods first." The man didn't care about Ye Jianqing's emotions at all. He had a smile on his face that he thought was warm, but in fact it looked very hypocritical in Ye Jianqing's eyes.

"Help? Boss Liu is really good at asking for help." Ye Jianqing was so angry that he couldn't help but want to applaud him. This guy was really shameless.

Yes, that’s right, this person is the owner of Liu Family Troupe - Liu Miao.

This person has some prestige in the capital. Ye Jianqing had seen him once when he came to the West District to investigate a case. He didn't recognize him at first glance, but he recognizes him now.

"Miss Ye, would you please come into the inner hall? The backstage is crowded and it would be uncomfortable to chat here." Liu Miao extended his hand to Ye Jianqing and motioned to her.

"Let's go." Ye Jianqing came here for the person behind the scenes. Now that the person has appeared, she will not be stupid enough to refuse to leave.

Lu Ci Qiu tugged at her sleeve worriedly. He was still worried about what this stranger, Mr. Liu, would do to them.

"It's okay." Ye Jianqing just opened her mouth to comfort Lu Ci Qiu, but Liu Miao spoke for her.

"Don't worry, Eighth Prince. You came to my Liu Clan mainly to watch the show. With your status, how dare I do anything to you?"

"How do you know my identity?" Lu Ci Qiu looked at him warily. This man was very dangerous.

Liu Miao laughed out loud, "South City flood case, female corpse case, marching pattern, you have been in the court for only half a year and have solved many strange cases. You are the first virtuous king to be given the name 'virtuous' by the emperor. Everyone in the world knows you. Is it strange that I know you?"

Lu Ci Qiu looked at him with a frown and said nothing. What the other party said was true, but he felt uncomfortable listening to it.

"My Lord, Miss Ye, please come in."