Wandering Gods of Day and Night-Chapter 939 - 378: Deceiving Mingjiang Prefecture (Part 2)
"Hey, look, there’s a rainbow in the sky?"
"How can there be a rainbow this deep into the night?"
"Who knows, perhaps it’s because Mr. Zhou’s ’Mingjiang Fire Record’ was so touching. Even the elderly were moved, hence the anomaly."
As the crowd was discussing, Zhou Xuan returned to the stage and struck the gavel.
"Bang!"
The gavel’s thud scattered all the discussions, and the night sky regained its tranquility.
Zhou Xuan clasped his hands and addressed the crowd: "Ladies and gentlemen, today’s story ends here. Tomorrow’s Chapter will see the East Market Dragon God awakening, bringing an autumn shower that extinguishes the East Market’s flame; the God of Suffering arriving to fight desperately against the Star Covering."
A good storytelling venue is one where the storyteller wants to leave but the audience isn’t willing to. In this entertainment-scarce era, catching a good story means listening endlessly, with everyone pleading for Zhou Xuan to continue.
Zhou Xuan bid farewell multiple times, and both the Painter and God Traveling Department stepped in to smooth things over, finally calming the scene down, leaving the locals with no choice but to leave reluctantly.
"Mr. Zhou, we’ll be back tomorrow," the audience said as they greeted Zhou Xuan.
"A table, a fan, a silk cloth—at the same time tomorrow, I’ll be awaiting your esteemed presence."
Zhou Xuan had become quite experienced with his appearances now, readily armed with pleasantries.
Among the ebbing audience, the white-robed Daoist "Jia Dao" also kept his head down, blending into the crowd as he left.
Little did he know, the engineer, this powerful "Blood Flesh Divine Dynasty Consciousness," had already caught sight of him.
Zhou Xuan, meanwhile, continued gazing up at the Wish Power that hadn’t been fully absorbed and was unwilling to enter the Prefecture City’s clouds.
"Why won’t they enter the Prefecture City?"
He pondered this question for a long time.
As Zhou Xuan stood there on the stage thinking, among the gradually dispersing audience, six people remained.
These six were residents of East Market Street.
They seemed to have made a certain decision and walked towards Zhou Xuan. Once on stage, they immediately kowtowed to Zhou Xuan.
Every bow was sincere, resounding with a thud.
"Why are you doing this?"
Zhou Xuan was interrupted by the sound of kowtowing and quickly went to help the crowd. Only then did he realize that these six were from East Market Street.
"Lao Xu, are you the one running the boiled water business on East Market Street?"
"Xiao Zhang, you’re an assistant at the flower wreath shop on East Market Street."
Having lived on the street for ages, Zhou Xuan didn’t claim to know everyone, but he recognized most.
Lao Xu and Xiao Zhang kowtowed again after being named by Zhou Xuan and said, "We used to have no conscience and bullied Mu Hua. Ever since Sister Cui saved us, we’ve been unable to sleep day or night. Today, after hearing your story, we couldn’t help but feel even worse."
"Oh, you’ve had a change of heart?" Zhou Xuan said.
"We wanted to apologize to Mu Hua, and also, we heard that Sister Cui is still alive, and we’d like to show some sincerity."
Lao Xu took off his shoes, untying the string of his socks—for in those days, many wore socks without elastic tops, binding them with strings to keep them secure.
After untying the socks, Lao Xu pulled out a finger-thick piece of gold from it, intending to give it to Zhou Xuan.
"Mr. Zhou, this is my sincerity. Please pass it on to Sister Cui."
The others followed suit, digging out gold and silver from their socks and pockets sewn into their underwear.
Xiao Zhang, being an assistant, didn’t have much money but also retrieved some dirt-stained banknotes from his shoe soles to give to Zhou Xuan.
Zhou Xuan squinted his eyes into a line, hesitant to take the money—it truly had a pungent smell.
He shook his fan and said with a smile: "To correct your mistakes is a great virtue. I accept your intentions on behalf of Sister Cui.
However, Sister Cui is now staying with our Zhou Family’s Troupe. Our troupe doesn’t claim wealth, but ensuring Sister Cui has ample food and clothing is naturally no problem. In daily life, there’s no shortage of silver coins for support.
If you truly wish to repent, then daily pray that Hua Zi might come back to life."
Once Zhou Xuan’s words fell, regret colored everyone’s faces as they said: "Mr. Zhou, how is that possible? The dead can’t be resurrected."
"Exactly, if Hua Zi could live again, we’d do anything, but he can’t come back."
"The dead are like a lamp extinguished." Lao Xu sighed too.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Xuan’s expression suddenly changed and he immediately questioned Lao Xu: "What did you just say?"
"Mr. Zhou... I... misspoke... I..." Lao Xu trembled under Zhou Xuan’s unexpected glare and stammered.
Zhou Xuan pressed his hand on his shoulder, shook his head, and said, "I’m not trying to scare you, but what did you just say?"
"The dead... are like a lamp extinguished."
"You don’t believe Hua Zi can live again?" Zhou Xuan asked.
Lao Xu nodded.
The others nodded too.
"Then do you believe your deceased relatives can come back to life?" Zhou Xuan asked again.
The crowd shook their heads in bewilderment.
They were unaware of Zhou Xuan’s intentions.
Resurrection is only a theatrical story—such things do not happen in the human world.
Zhou Xuan asked once more: "If I told you your relatives, Hua Zi, can all come back to life, do you believe it?"
They looked at each other and slowly shook their heads, then fell silent.
From their expressions and movements alone, there was no need to ask further; it was clear they did not believe Zhou Xuan’s words.
