Fleeing from famine? Not a chance; the divine healer's wife made her fortune.

Chapter 203 Controversy Arises Over Innovative Shadow Puppetry

Innovative shadow puppetry sparks controversy

The moment the starlight vanished in the bronze mirror, Su Yunlan heavily tucked the gilded and kingfisher feather hairpin into her black hair.

The jade bracelet gleamed softly on her wrist, and the sound of shadow puppets and jade pendants from the depths of the space grew clearer, resonating with the cinnabar mark on the incomplete score of "Rainbow Feather Dance" on the dressing table.

&34；东家！&34；孙皮影艺人撞开厢房的门，怀里抱着的牛皮影人在晨光中泛着琥珀色，&34；您说的那个...那个叫&39；追光&39；的机关，咱们试成了！&34；

Su Yunlan's fingertips traced the missing last chapter of the incomplete score, and the Big Dipper pattern formed by fireflies last night seemed to still flicker before her eyes.

As she embedded the triangular glass mirror into the roof beam of the stage, Sun Shadow Puppet was adjusting the light and shadow with silk soaked in tung oil, and the twenty-eight constellations shone brightly on the screen.

&34;These lights and shadows must change with the rhythm of the melody. &34;She crushed the lodestone she took from the hidden compartment into powder and mixed it into a specially made candle wick, &34;When the Twenty-Eight Mansions moved to the Purple Palace Enclosure—&34;

&34; "The copper bell startled the whole audience!" &34; Sun the shadow puppeteer excitedly shook his wrist, and the cowhide-cut Chang'e spun out a moon-like afterimage on the screen.

The ancestral peach wood puppet hanging around the young artist's neck suddenly trembled, creating a strange resonance with the jade bracelet on Su Yunlan's wrist.

Seven days later, on the night of the performance, the courtyard of the inn was packed with people.

Su Yunlan hid behind the carved pillars on the second floor, watching Sun Shadow Play hang the improved west Wangmu shadow puppet on a gold thread rope.

The improved glass lampshade refracted the moonlight into a seven-colored halo, which, mixed with her specially made calming incense, permeated the crowd.

As the drumbeats suddenly began, the Twenty-Eight Mansions diagram flowed across the screen like a cascading Milky Way.

When the shadow puppet of Hou Yi nocked a bow and shot an arrow, the sparks from the exploding magnetic candle wick startled the entire audience into cheers.

Just as Su Yunlan was about to breathe a sigh of relief, she saw Qian, a moviegoer in the front row, suddenly stand up and slam his silver-inlaid cane heavily on the ground.

"Absurd!" The old man's withered fingers almost pierced the curtain. "Shadow puppetry is about the play within the shadow, and the soul within the play. What are these fancy gadgets?" He pointed tremblingly to the newly added gilded cloud pattern in the corner of the curtain. "Even the puppet joints have been changed to movable knots! You've ruined the reputation of our ancestors!"

The clamor was like cold water poured into hot oil.

Su Yunlan saw Sun Piying's hands, which were manipulating the shadow puppets, begin to tremble, and gold powder fell from the robes of the Queen Mother of the West.

The veteran theatergoers who had been cheering looked at each other in bewilderment. Some began to tear up their tickets, and scraps of paper fell like snowflakes onto the calming incense ash she had prepared overnight.

The sound of porcelain shattering came from backstage.

Su Yunlan staggered and grabbed the vermilion pillar for support, when suddenly a cold light flashed from the jade bracelet on her wrist.

The jingling of shadow puppets from the depths of space became jarring, tangling with the incomplete and fragmented musical score.

She saw the silver needles in her hair trembling in the bronze mirror, and the patterns drawn by the starlight last night were cracking on the mirror surface.

"The shopkeeper..." The servant held the torn-up script, hesitant to speak.

Su Yunlan dug her fingertips deep into her palm, and the modified curtain fluttered in the night wind. The Big Dipper embroidered on the back suddenly emitted starlight, echoing the bloodstains seeping from the bottom of her dressing case.

A dull thud came from the attic as something heavy fell to the ground.

As Su Yunlan turned around, she caught a glimpse of Xiao Yuhan's battle robe sweeping across the corner of the stairs, revealing half a blood-stained bandage peeking out from the dark blue fabric.

The man's cool, agarwood scent mingled with the stench of blood, and a scorched corner appeared on the embroidered handkerchief with the dragon pattern on his belt buckle.

(Continued from above)

The lanterns under the eaves swayed from the noise of the argument. As Xiao Yuhan walked over, stepping on the broken porcelain, his black boots crushed a blood-stained theater ticket.

His left hand rested lightly on the dragon-patterned belt buckle at his waist. The back of his hand, with its distinct knuckles, still bore the calluses from the wind and sand of the northern frontier, but when it touched Su Yunlan's shoulder, it transformed into a spring-like force.

"Master Sun, could you please explain the purpose of improving the slipknot to everyone?" Xiao Yuhan's voice was like a knife soaked in snow water, clear and cold yet carrying a convincing strength.

As he spoke, the scar on his Adam's apple trembled slightly; it was left half a month ago when he shielded Su Yunlan from a poisoned arrow.

Sun, the shadow puppeteer, bobbed his Adam's apple as he pulled open his clothes, revealing his ancestral peach wood puppet.

The puppet's joints were bound with faded red thread, a stark contrast to the gilded snap fasteners on the shadow puppet of the Queen Mother of the West on the screen. My father, on his deathbed, clutched this puppet, refusing to close his eyes, because old-fashioned bamboo nails had jammed the flying sleeves. Suddenly, the young man exerted force and snapped the red thread, the peach wood limbs scattering into seven pieces before everyone's eyes. If there had been a snap fastener mechanism back then, this masterpiece of the "Feast at Yaochi" would never have been lost!

The magnetic powder behind the curtain suddenly emitted a faint blue light, resonating with the jade bracelet on Su Yunlan's wrist.

From the depths of the space came the tinkling sound of shadow puppet pendants, mixed with Sun Shadow Puppet's hoarse cry: "Tonight, these mechanisms will save the life of shadow puppetry!"

The hands of those in the front row, tearing up their tickets, hung in mid-air.

Several girls with their hair styled in the "flying fairy bun" style were the first to have tears in their eyes. They recognized that the peach wood pieces scattered on the stage were the prototypes of the seven fairies in "The Banquet at Yaochi".

Without anyone noticing, scattered applause began to spread from the second-floor VIP seating area, like sparks igniting a blood-stained curtain.

Xiao Yuhan gently stroked Su Yunlan's cool fingertips with his thumb. The penetrating wound on his palm had not yet scabbed over, and the warm blood transmitted a reassuring rhythm through the bandage.

Su Yunlan suddenly caught a whiff of a strange fragrance—she had clearly seen this scent, a mixture of agarwood and borneol, in the hidden compartment of her space last night when she was mixing the calming incense.

&34;Look. &34;The force with which Xiao Yuhan lifted her chin was lighter than moonlight.

Following his gaze, the golden Big Dipper on the back of the modified curtain was absorbing starlight, and the torn theater tickets turned into fireflies under the glass lamp, dancing around the Twenty-Eight Mansions.

The spatial jade bracelet suddenly became hot, and Su Yunlan vaguely saw the missing final chapter of the incomplete score appearing and disappearing in the light and shadow.

At that moment, the money-grubbing fan's staff cleaved through the light curtain.

The old man's age-spotted hands clutched half a peach wood puppet, a keepsake clutched by Sun Shadow Puppet's father on his deathbed. "A mere trifle!" he murmured, his cloudy eyes fixed on the gap in the curtain. "Back then, General Xiao fought a bloody battle at Cangwu Pass, relying on solid troop deployment, not these fancy tricks!"

These words were like a poisoned arrow.

Xiao Yuhan's fingers tightened suddenly on the buckle, and the blood-stained embroidered handkerchief from the hidden compartment fell to the ground.

Su Yunlan clearly saw fresh blood seeping from the hem of his battle robe, leaving ink-plum-like stains on the dark blue brocade—last night he said he was going to inspect the caravan, so it turned out...

"Do you all know what kind of mechanism this light-tracking device uses?" Xiao Yuhan suddenly raised his voice, his combat boots stepping over the blood-stained embroidered handkerchief.

He picked up the gold thread that Sun Shadow Puppet had dropped. The magnet at the knot shimmered purple in the moonlight. "It's the star-guiding rope used by scouts in the northern frontier. After its improvement, it can save the lives of an entire team." He flicked his wrist, and the gold thread drew a map of Cangwu Pass on the screen. "Now it illuminates the path to a new life for shadow puppetry."

A gasp rippled through the crowd.

Several elderly men who had served in the army rose shakily. They recognized the knotted rope as the secret code used by the Xiao family army to transmit messages.

Suddenly, the jade bracelet on Su Yunlan's wrist vibrated violently. The sound of shadow puppets and jade pendants from the depths of the space finally perfectly overlapped with the incomplete score of "Rainbow Feather Dance". The missing musical chapters turned into light symbols and disappeared into the curtain.

&34; Fallacy!

"That's all nonsense!" The fan's roar shattered the miracle.

His withered, twig-like fingers poked at Su Yunlan's nose. "Don't think I can't see it. These mechanisms are not human craftsmanship at all! You..."

Xiao Yuhan's sword sheath suddenly appeared between the two of them.

Su Yunlan saw the bulging veins on his neck, a sign of suppressed, overwhelming rage.

A corner of a blood-stained bandage peeked out from the sleeve of her battle robe, creating an eerie resonance with the bloodstains seeping from the bottom of her dressing case.

"Three days later, at Shenshi (34-34 PM), I would be honored to have Mr. Qian grace my humble abode with his presence." Su Yunlan suddenly stepped forward, her fingertips holding half a bloodstained magnet.

This was something she had pried off the sole of Xiao Yuhan's boots, covered in the unique red-scaled sand of the Northern Frontier. "At that time, I will bring the complete score of 'The Jade Pool Banquet,' and..." She paused deliberately, the jade bracelet rubbing against the magnet producing a piercing sound, "...the raw wooden embryo of the Seven Fairy Maidens puppet."

The money-grubbing fan's cane clattered to the ground.

The old man stared at the bloodstains reflecting off the magnet; they were the distinctive cinnabar marks left by the garrison of Cangwu Pass twenty years ago.

As he staggered out of the crowd, Su Yunlan noticed that he secretly stuffed the blood-stained theater ticket into his sleeve pocket—it had the Big Dipper code written on it with magnetic powder.

After the crowd dispersed, Su Yunlan found half a cup of cold tea amidst the mess.

The star map outlined by the foam matched the pattern of the space jade bracelet, and the bloodstains on Xiao Yuhan's battle robe had somehow congealed into the Heluo pattern.

As she bent down to pick up the broken porcelain, she heard a heavy thud coming from the attic, mixed with the suppressed sobs of the shadow puppeteer Sun—a half-sucked, poisoned silver needle was sticking out of the chest of the ancestral peach wood puppet.