What are you looking at? Ye Liu Xi glared right back; the chicken remained calm, shifting its gaze and then closing its eyes. Li Jin'ao finished his flute performance, and everything before him blurred. Though the painting was only a single scroll, the vivid performance and the mournful music stirred a quiet sense of melancholy within. Simply sparking a connection—reading, viewing, listening, or attending—would be considered worthwhile. Chang Dong added a chair and invited Li Jin'ao to share a meal. The dishes were all made of radish, potato, and peanut, with a few slices of meat scattered among them—there wasn't much meat, not because they didn't want to spend, but because they simply couldn't afford it. Li Jin'ao clearly understood this, and in that understanding, a quiet sense of gratitude emerged. He politely thanked them a few times before sitting down. Ding Liu stayed by to toast, her specialty—always calling him "Auntie Ao," and each time raising her cup with, "You're so amazing!" or "The shadow puppetry is absolutely wonderful!" Once people grow older, they especially love to be adored by the younger generation. Li Jin'ao made her feel buoyant and self-important, and as soon as a few cups of wine passed her lips, her tongue began to wander. Chang Dong poured her a drink: "I used to watch shadow puppetry performances, but something so lifelike—this is the first time I've seen it." Li Jin'ao said: "I understand, I understand—do you mean like the kind where the puppets are manipulated like strings?" Once someone drinks heavily, they become more relaxed and spontaneous. Li Jin'ao spread her arms wide and awkwardly gestured with them: "Only the joints move; the rest is stiff. There are indeed people who perform this style, but they're usually found at local markets—far from impressive." Chang Dong smiled sadly, feeling that the embarrassment was entirely self-inflicted. Li Jin'ao chewed on two peanuts: "Take the story of 'Summoning the Soul'—after Emperor Han Wu saw the shadow of Lady Li on the screen, he was deeply moved, wept, and bestowed countless rewards upon the magician. How realistic must that scene have been? If the performers are merely using wooden puppets "FATANG spoke up actively: 'Indeed, I've always been puzzled—back then I thought the Emperor took the shadow play seriously, but now I realize: it's just that I never saw someone truly exceptional at work.' Li Jinao said: 'No, no, no...' Though pleased, he remained composed: 'I still fall far short—I'm truly humbled.' As he spoke, he clattered a jade plaque onto the table. The plaque was made of bronze, covered with green patina, shaped like a tile, and its curved seal script had worn down so much it was now half-erased. Fatang wanted to pick it up and examine it closely, but Li Jinao had already spoken again. 'The plaque of the court magician—my family, I'm not exaggerating—when did the Han Wu Di first have shadow plays performed for him? It was Li Shaoong! What's my surname? Li!' Fatang found the name familiar: 'Ah, Li Shaoong—wasn't he the one Han Wu Di eventually executed?' Historical records state that after Li Shaoong revived the spirits of the deceased, Emperor Wu honored him as the General of Wencheng. But later, finding him overly elaborate and Li Jiniao narrowed his eyes: "Nonsense! How could they have killed them? That was entering the pass! Without our Li family entering the pass, how could there even be a shadow puppet troupe?" He lifted his wine cup and suddenly broke into sorrow: "Alas, my ancestral line—the Li family—has never been up to it. We've only mastered the surface of the art of shadow puppetry. If we had truly inherited the essence, I would now be riding in a steel-wheeled carriage myself." He belched, spilling wine all over his hands, clearly feeling a sense of regret, and then lowered his head to lick it off. Chang Dong remained composed: "The shadow puppet troupe you mentioned—was that the nine-member merchant caravan that travels between the interior and the exterior of the pass?" Li Jiniao chuckled, paused, and then gave Chang Dong a thumbs-up: "Indeed, those who operate the steel-wheeled carriages are no ordinary people. Only the truly exceptional know about this." He glanced dismissively at the people at the other table, lowering his voice with a air of mystery: "The common folk, how could they possibly know about the shadow puppet troupe? When they're drained of blood and barely make it through the threshold, yes, they can't go out—yet since ancient times, it's always been the shadow puppets who come and go." Now it makes sense—the shadow puppets inside the shadow coffins are indeed genuine, nine of them forming a procession that paves a path connecting the inside and outside of the pass. Ye Liuxi smiled slightly: "I still find it a bit puzzling..." With her mask pressing against her nose, her voice came a little muffled: "Emperor Wu went to such great lengths to bring people in, only to lock the gate once they arrived—why bother leaving a passage, allowing the shadow puppets to enter and exit freely?" Li Jin'ao chuckled dryly: "That's precisely Emperor Wu's cleverness." "At that time, within the Jade Gate Pass, it was a true dead end. The scholars, the imperial guards, the demons, and the criminals—all were sent in. The first two groups were capable, but the last What if they unite and rise up against us? Won't the Emperor end up stepping on his own feet? "The most brilliant strategy is to make you willingly stay here." "By opening this route, we're effectively granting you the status of a king. The conditions may be less favorable, but you'll have servants, lands, and funds—enough to enjoy the new pleasures beyond the frontier. No one will interfere, and you won't be bound by laws. Left to your own devices, wouldn't you be content? As for why only the shadow puppets can enter and exit—first, the Emperor holds a deep affection for Lady Li; second, the Yu Men Pass is such that neither humans nor spirits can pass through. The shadow puppets, being neither fully human nor fully spirit, are capable of human-like actions but don't stir up any supernatural disturbances—thus, they are ideally suited. Ye Liuxi, of course, had never seen Li Shaong's shadow puppetry before. Yet, if it could move the heart of Emperor Wu to tears and remain undetected even among merchants with longstanding business ties, it must truly be as close to human as possible. She tapped the table. "Look at me." "Li Jiniao laughed, choked on his wine: "Shadow figures and people are hard to tell apart, but not impossible to distinguish. They don't need to eat or drink, and even if they're damaged, they don't bleed. They don't mind being burned either—when burned, the scent is like hair being scorched. Are you a shadow figure? Try these points out for yourself." Ye Liuxi exhaled in relief. She truly didn't want to be a shadow figure; otherwise, she'd feel terribly out of place sharing a shadow coffin with so many others. Ding Liu, sensing that the wine had reached its peak, was afraid he might fall asleep mid-sentence, so she quickly brought up the crucial point: "By the way, Uncle Jiniao, you keep mentioning the shadow team, the shadow team—where exactly do they come from?" She was genuinely concerned about the location of the door. Li Jiniao grumbled: "This is a major secret—I can't possibly know that..." He didn't know, and Ding Liu, now discouraged, grew listless when she asked again: "Then, where exactly are you planning to go?" Li Jin'ao's tongue was now trembling as he gave two sharp claps on the rooster hanging upside down at his waist: "Go... to Xiao Yangzhou. They say there's unrest there. As a physician of the court, you must seize the opportunity, rise above the others. This rooster is no ordinary one—he's incredibly brave!" The wine had finally overcome him, and he collapsed onto the cups and plates, still comfortably licking his lips: "Incredibly brave... truly rare." Ye Liuxi stared at the rooster. It was no coincidence—the rooster was now lifting its eyelids, and its eyes slowly turning toward her. Ye Liuxi slammed the table: "Look again! I'll extract your eyesight!" The rooster suddenly closed its eyes. —— The woman at the front desk had brought people to carry the utterly drunk Li Jin'ao back to his room. Check the time—less than an hour until lights out. It's hard to find a place to take a shower, so no one wants to miss it. Chang Dong organized things so that everyone goes in batches, with the principle that no one should be left alone; at least two people should stay in the room at any given time, and the last two to shower should also go back together. He and Fei Tang stayed behind, while Gao Shen, Ding Liu, and Ye Liuxi went first. After Gao Shen finished his shower and swapped places with Fei Tang, when Fei Tang returned, he picked up a set of homemade playing cards from the front desk and happily announced that he'd be ready to play Mahjong once Xi and Xiao Liu came back. Chang Dong couldn't help but chuckle—how could he possibly expect women to take as long as they do to shower? Fei Tang still had a bit of the greenhorn about her. He carried a bag filled with clean clothes and toiletries, making his way all the way to the public bathroom. The place was quite run-down. There was just one bulb lit, and by the entrance, against the wall, stood a water cistern. A rope hung from the wall beside it, and there was a water inlet directly facing the cistern on the wall. To bathe, one had to fetch water from the cistern themselves; when the water ran low, one simply pulled the rope, and more water would flow in. Inside, the space was divided into several small rooms—only five or six—separated by wooden boards, many of which were cracked, some as wide as a person's palm, and it wasn't clear what purpose the partitions served. Along the wall, there were recessed channels that channeled dirty water to a lower level. It was rare to have a shower, though the simplest kind: a bucket hung high up, with holes drilled at the bottom, and when one scooped water into it, it would pour down. In the men's bathroom, there was only one person—Chang Dong found it rather uncomfortable and decided to get it over with quickly. He wet his hair and quickly washed and applied foam. Suddenly, he heard a faint, intermittent sound of running water, paused, and realized it came A voice from the other end quickly came through, "Is this Dong?" Chang Dong replied, "You guys are so slow." Ding Liu said, "Who are these men of ours! We take forever to just wash our hair. I'm almost better now, Dong. You just wait for my sister, Li, and we'll go up together." Chang Dong nodded. A while later, he heard the sound of Ding Liu's footsteps retreating. Both sides grew quiet. The sound of water running became especially clear, mingled with soft, occasional coughs—sometimes even her breathing could be heard. For the first time, Chang Dong realized that sounds could make one restless. He wiped his face and said, "I'll go out and wait for you." After stepping out of the bathroom, he took a deep breath and looked around at the guest rooms. Many rooms were lit, indicating a solid occupancy rate. Yet he couldn't quite put his finger on whether there truly was something else—something beyond what Li Jin'ao had described—interwoven within it. As he was thinking this, the lights in front of him suddenly went out, and all the lights extinguished at once. Chang Dong hadn't even reacted yet—someone had already protested, and there were several of them. —"What's going on? It's not even eleven yet!" —"It's getting darker earlier and earlier every day!" The woman at the front desk's voice seemed to drift out from somewhere in the corner: "It's about time." After a brief silence, a rush of closing doors and windows came through. The underground was dark, making it hard to see. Chang Dong couldn't help calling out, "Liu Xi?" Ye Liu Xi replied, "All right, I'm out." As the curtain of the women's restroom was drawn aside, a figure stepped out. Chang Dong reached out to take her hand, only to notice the curtain lifted again. Another figure stepped out.