Infinite Professions from a Pearl Collector

Then, an idea flashed through his mind like lightning.

’If it’s a ghost play, I’ll use a play to solve it!’

In that instant, Chen Ye sank his Qi into his Dantian. He abruptly opened his mouth and, in the same high-pitched tone, picked up where the ghost’s song left off.

"My lady, why are your cheeks stained with tears? Could it be your husband has returned too late?"

His voice was clear and resonant, each word perfectly enunciated. It instantly diluted some of the eerie, sinister atmosphere.

The ghost, which had been singing with crazed abandon, suddenly paused. Its hollow gaze turned to Chen Ye, seemingly taken aback.

The audience below was also stunned, unable to comprehend what this young apprentice was trying to do.

But Chen Ye paid them no mind. He strode across the stage, stopping before "Bai Xiaoyu." His eyes filled with the deep affection and guilt of a long-awaited reunion as he continued to sing.

"For years I battled on the fields of war, surviving countless brushes with death to return home. I never thought we would meet again today, only to be separated by life and death..."

He sang and acted simultaneously, casting himself as a devoted husband who had fought for his country, died tragically, and whose soul had returned to his hometown.

The ghost stared blankly for a moment, then was actually drawn into the play. The ferocity in its eyes gradually gave way to confusion and sorrow, and it began to sing a duet with him.

"My love... is it truly you?"

"It is I, my lady! I have returned!"

Chen Ye seized the opportunity to steer the plot in a new direction.

He had forcefully twisted the original drama of a faithless husband murdering his wife into a tragic tale of a devoted husband’s soul returning home, only to find himself separated from his wife by death.

He sang of the man’s love, as deep as the ocean, utterly devoted to his wife.

She sang of the woman who waited faithfully in her humble home, her endless longing for her husband’s return.

With their back-and-forth singing, every frown and every smile, they transformed a grim and ghostly murder scene into a profoundly moving story of parting between the living and the dead.

The audience watched, completely dumbfounded.

Finally, as Chen Ye sang the last line and slowly collapsed into "Bai Xiaoyu’s" arms, the play came to an end.

"My love—!"

The ghost let out a heart-wrenching wail. A thick black qi shot out from the top of Bai Xiaoyu’s skull, coalescing in the air into the blurry figure of a woman.

Most of the resentful energy surrounding her had also dissipated during the play.

The female ghost then lowered her head and looked deeply at Chen Ye. Her gaze was incredibly complex, containing gratitude, reluctance to part, and an endless tenderness.

Chen Ye’s heart stirred. He said, "Your obsession is resolved. You should go."

Hearing this, the indistinct female ghost simply shook her head gently and let out a faint sigh.

"Chen Lang, you don’t understand..."

With that, she whipped her head around, her eyes filled with venomous hatred as she stared at Mr. Lu in the distance. Her voice was utterly ice-cold.

"Lu Shouyi, I will be back for you! I will make you taste the agony of losing your most beloved. I will kill your daughter!"

Before her voice had faded, her figure dissolved into a wisp of green smoke, disappearing into the wind and rain.

THUD. Bai Xiaoyu’s eyes rolled back, and she collapsed to the ground, unconscious.

The ghostly barrier trapping them in the theater vanished, and the sound of the wind and rain outside rushed back in.

It was all over.

Of course, the show could not go on.

A flurry of activity ensued as people rushed to carry the unconscious actress off the stage for medical attention.

Guan Sihai’s face was a frightening shade of ashen-green. He no longer cared about being polite to their host. He strode directly to the deathly pale Mr. Lu, his voice suppressing a towering rage.

"Master Lu, don’t you think you owe me an explanation?"

"There are rules for performing a Ghost God Play! Even the opening is different from a normal play. Yet you said nothing and just had us perform. Did you want everyone in the Qingchun Troupe to die here?"

Guan Sihai was truly furious.

Mr. Lu’s concealment was simply too malicious. This wasn’t hiring them for a private performance; it was using them as sacrificial offerings to appease a resentful spirit!

If not for Chen Ye’s quick thinking, the consequences would have been unimaginable!

Faced with Guan Sihai’s accusation, Mr. Lu’s lips trembled. His face was ghastly white, but he couldn’t utter a single word.

Because every word Guan Sihai said was true. He was indeed in the wrong.

At this tense, confrontational moment, Chen Ye walked over.

He first shook his head slightly at Guan Sihai, signaling for him to calm down, before turning his gaze to Mr. Lu.

"Master Lu, that thing may have retreated for now, but you heard what it said before it left."

Chen Ye paused, his tone grave.

"This is far from over. It made it clear that it will be back."

"So, if you want to resolve this completely and save your daughter’s life, you must tell us everything, down to the last detail."

Hearing Chen Ye’s words, Mr. Lu shuddered and lowered his head as if lost in thought.

A moment later, he ordered in a hoarse voice, "Someone, take the young miss back to her room. Everyone else, leave us."

Lu Jinghong was about to say something, but her close friend, Qi Nana, tugged on her arm. Helpless, she had no choice but to leave obediently.

Only then did Mr. Lu let out a long breath. "Truth be told, my name isn’t Mr. Lu. My real name is Lu Shouyi."

And so, with Mr. Lu’s narration, a long-buried story from the past was slowly unveiled.

It turned out that Mr. Lu, now one of the wealthiest men in the region, had started out as nothing more than a poor boy hauling sacks at the docks.

Back then, he had a childhood sweetheart named Su Lan.

Su Lan’s family was slightly better off than Lu Shouyi’s, but only to the extent that they could barely make ends meet.

Even so, Su Lan’s parents looked down on the dirt-poor Lu Shouyi and were vehemently opposed to their relationship.

But Su Lan was stubborn. She had set her heart on Lu Shouyi and refused to marry anyone else.