If I don't have money to go to college, I can only go to slay the dragon.

【Earlier】

During the day, in the courtyard, there are birds singing, flowers fragrant, singing and dancing.

The sound of a gong caused birds to fly on the eaves, surrounding the red and green courtyard, but they had no place to rest amid the series of musical instruments chiming and people singing and singing. They circled and sang in the dazzling sunshine.

"King Faint! I thought that my two brothers were in the court, blocking the east and west, fighting in the north and south. With such great achievements, why did you invite the princes from all walks of life to destroy my brothers? What's the rationale?"

On the stage, the small gongs are played quickly and intensively, making a clear sound, the Jinghu horsetail bows are strummed vigorously and loudly, and the three-stringed strings are rough and bold, held sideways in the arms. The Beijing ban and cymbals are fast and high, pushing the increasingly tense atmosphere on the stage to its peak.

The Sima Master, who put on a colorful show and had a red cross on his face, searched for the blood edict and grabbed the weak and spineless Lord Cao on the stage. He was menacing and aggressive.

"What a thief!" the melodious female voice sang, and her graceful figure fluttered her sleeves and jumped up to sit on the ground, causing the arrogant voice to shout, "What a traitor!"

The gongs, banjos, and cymbals were played one after another, and the actors on the stage stood apart and stood still. Under the rapid and intensive beating of the bangu, the musical instruments in the theater began to play one after another, and the melodious and sad female voice opened up, and on the stage Sanla sang, "When I saw a thief entering the palace with a sword, I was frightened to death. If I don't kneel to you, I will spare my life."

"What a traitorous concubine!" She sang with a pretentious face, "In the past, King Zhou doted on Daji and was bullied for being loyal to the country. Everything was done by you, a traitorous concubine. How could a loyal concubine protect the Hua Yi? I wish I could trample him to death. you!"

The theater actor with a broad body and a red cross on his face raised his arms and legs and stomped towards the female actor on the ground. With his black beard flying, his right hand went to his waist and pulled out a shiny sword. The sunlight shone on the open-air stage, reflecting the brilliance of the sword. On the other side of the courtyard, Lin Nian, who was sitting on the second floor sitting for tea and watching a play, turned his head slightly to avoid it, and heard the ferocious and arrogant sound of the play in his ears.

"Under the Seven-Star Sword—destined to return to the west!"

"What a thief!"

On the bright red stage, actors appeared one after another, and their deep and lyrical singing narrated the stories that had happened in history, spanning hundreds and thousands of years, following the fine buds in the official kilns. Rush into the throat.

Lin Nian sat by the wooden railing on the second floor of the courtyard, with a fine official kiln tea set on the table next to him. Li Huanyue sat sideways, quietly pouring the tea from the pot into the fair cup, letting each cup They are all good teas that you can taste with the same color, aroma and taste. When Lin Nian drank all the tea in his hand, he held the tea in front of him with both hands, showing his true etiquette.

Lin Nian looked at the fragrant tea that Li Huoyue got up and took it with both hands after a while. He smelled the fragrance and drank the tea, letting the fragrance of the tea linger in his mouth a few times before putting down the tea cup and looking at the stage in the courtyard opposite, doing his best. The actors performing for their two-person audience casually asked, "So what does this mean?"

The breeze blew the flower branches half an inch into the railing, and the sunlight cast the mottled shadows of the carved beams on the table, like the shadows of the flowers. In the inner courtyard of the quadrangle, after the secret party guests who were entertained by Ruyi Banquet left one after another, the hustle and bustle that sank to the bottom of the pond was soon awakened again by the excitement (continued from Chapter 1106: Gifted Wealth) .

"Isn't the play good?" Li Huanyue sat on an agarwood chair, facing the stage in the inner courtyard. Her sitting posture was very straight, and her waistline was like a gun. Even while drinking tea and watching the play, she seemed to be completing some kind of Tough task, meticulous.

"It looks good. Is this a Peking opera?"

"The repertoire of Henan Opera and the singing style of Peking Opera. It is natural to listen to Peking Opera when you come to Beigan."

"I haven't studied it, and I haven't listened to a few performances since I was a child. I probably can't tell the difference between Henan Opera and Peking Opera." Lin Nian said.

"Henan Opera was developed from Shanshan Bangzi that was introduced to Henan in the late Ming Dynasty, combined with Henan dialect and folk tunes. It has a unique rhythm and very colloquial lyrics. Peking Opera is more orthodox and 'elegant'. Although it is not as good as Kun Opera, it is The Daping tune and Huai tieo of Jiaojiao Henan opera are indeed much higher, which is the so-called 'Yangchun Baixue'. In fact, this statement is not accurate, it is just a joke among the people."

"One is more down-to-earth, and the other is more orthodox." Lin Nian summarized, "What is the name of this scene?"

He saw the actor playing the concubine on the stage being held hostage by the military attachés and strangled to death with a footlong white silk. The actor in the yellow robe who looked like an emperor knelt weakly in front of the painted face and prayed for life. He felt a little strange.

"Hongbi Palace." Li Huoyue took a sip of fragrant tea, "Also known as "The Great Sima Enters the Palace with a Sword" and "Iron Cage Mountain", it tells the story of Cao Fang who wrote a blood edict to kill Master Sima, but was later found by the Sima Master for the blood edict. , kill Zhang at the palace gate, and hang Zhang inside the palace. There is also a Yu Opera version. If you want to hear it, I can ask my husband to sing it."

Lin Nian gently twisted the rim of the official kiln cup with his right hand, feeling the delicate touch and the warmth and moisture of the tea's white mist on his fingers. After a while, he shook his head, said nothing, and focused on He walked onto the sunny stage, looked at the man in yellow robe kneeling down and begged for mercy, and quietly enjoyed this top-notch theatrical performance anywhere.

The "Red Palace" was over, but the drama in the inner courtyard was not. After the gentleman on the stage bowed to the two spectators on the second floor and left, the decoration on the stage was immediately removed and dressed up as another play. performance style.

"The next performance is the Peking Opera "Xiaoyaojin", one of the masterpieces of Gao Qingkui, one of the four great disciples of Peking Opera. The content is probably that Emperor Xian of the Han Dynasty, because of Cao Cao's increasing power, had a plan with Fu Wan, and sent a servant to send a blood edict to Fu Wan, his stepfather. I asked Sun Quan and Liu Bei to serve as outsiders and hoe Cao Cao." Li Huoyue announced to Lin Nian.

Lin Nian took a sip of tea and took another piece of Fu character cake on the plate on the table. When he took a bite, it tasted like rose bean paste and was sweet. He thought it was a special snack, which he liked, so he ate a few more pieces. Li Hueyue didn't answer, just watched the show quietly.

Figures rise and fall on the stage, and musical instruments intertwine behind the red curtain. Every line of Erhuang's singing is meticulously crafted and extraordinary, and can be regarded as a model of Peking Opera Laosheng's vocal art. The Huilong Qiang has a powerful breath, and it needs to be closed at the right time. If it were not in an open courtyard but in a theater, one "squirt" of it would have the effect of exploding the canopy.

Lin Nian just watched quietly, holding one cup after another of tea. After finishing the fortune cakes, he took the jujube cakes, Taishi cakes, and bergamot cakes. After watching the second scene, he continued to dress up again on the stage. Li Huo Yue announced the curtain as usual, "Xiaoyaojin" was followed by "The Founding of the Country", and after reading "The Founding of the Country" it was "Dazheng Palace".

Throughout the four plays, Lin Nian and Li Huoyue had no unnecessary chat. Li Huoyue announced the curtain, and Lin Nian drank tea and watched the play. Occasionally, he would ask questions when he encountered a part that he didn't understand. Li Huoyue said everything he knew. , as an orthodox person, she may not like to watch operas and listen to music, but she has known the relevant knowledge since she was a child, so it is just right to help Lin Nian with literacy.

After listening to the four plays, it was almost sunset. In the bloody afterglow, the gentlemen on the stage saluted the two loyal spectators. Lin Nian, who had listened for a whole day, knew that this was the last moment. Standing up and bowing to these artists, Li Huanyue sat on the side and did not move. She just watched quietly as the decorations on the stage were removed and dismantled, and the actors who had performed all day left with them. The inner court.

The two of them sat at the table again. The tea in the teapot finally dried up after being refilled countless times. There were still traces of cool water in the tea set, and there were only crumbs of dough red by the sunset on the plate with the snacks.

"How do you feel?" Li Huoyue asked.

"It sounds good, but I can't quite understand it. If you want to understand it, you have to study it, or listen to it often." Lin Nian said.

"You know that's not what I asked."

"." Lin Nian fell into silence, holding on to the wooden railing with his left hand and looking at the empty stage without saying a word.

"If your answer is no, that's okay." Li Huanyue said flatly.

"It's not a question of refusal." Lin Nian turned to her and said, "It's that I shouldn't stay here at all today."

"So I refused." Li Huoyue stared into Lin Nian's eyes. Without igniting the golden eyes, this gaze made Lin Nian feel that this woman was a little strange. The brown eyes were darker than the black ones. His eyes looked like he was meeting her for the first time.

"Can you give me a reason?"

"What reason."

"Your reasons."

"Hard to say."

"It's hard to say, or I don't want to say it, or I just can't say it."

"I can't explain it in a few words."

Lin Nian clenched his fist with his left hand and leaned it gently against his mouth, looking sideways at the pond and willow trees illuminated red by the setting sun, "What's the point? I won't talk about your possibility of success. Even if you achieve what you want to do, Will things change between the current situation and the future situation? From here to there, there is always a reason for walking this section of the road, not to mention what exactly exists on this road, you are clear."

After Lin Nian finished speaking, he was silent for a few seconds, looked at the lonely inner courtyard and said, "I need a reason."

"If I have to give a reason, it's probably the direction." Li Huanyue said, "We have been going the wrong way all along, so naturally someone needs to stand up and put the road back on track."

"The people who determine the orthodox direction should be the 'heads' of the dragon who have seen the beginning but not the end." Lin Nian said, "I thought you would respect them very much and follow their lead."

"When I first met you, I thought you would respect your school director very much and obey his orders." Li Hueyue replied.

"." Lin Nian nodded.

"What is the direction that the patriarchs are following that makes you so disgusted that you would not hesitate to do such a 'treasonous' thing? As far as I'm concerned, the orthodox policy seems to have never changed, and nothing has ever been done. If something out of the ordinary is really planning something very bad, then the secret party should know about it and take precautions, but as far as I am concerned, there is no news about it. Orthodoxy has been developing steadily for hundreds of years?"

Lin Nian suddenly found that he couldn't find any good words to describe the long-term trend of orthodoxy. They never competed for hegemony, nor did they devote their blood to the mission of slaying the dragon. They only dabbled in finance and land, and only maintained the smallest business. Due to demand, the European hybrids were once wary of the hidden ambitions of various clan alliances entrenched in the East, but in the end, the sleeping dragon seemed to have really fallen asleep, occasionally turning over to let everyone know that he was not dead.

"." Lin Nian frowned slightly. He realized that he might have never really understood orthodoxy.

Seeing Lin Nian's thinking, Li Huanyue said slowly, "Life only lasts for thirty thousand days. It's just a matter of time. Life is not eternal. When time comes, those who should grow old will grow old and those who should leave will leave. I will be empty without you." Not me, nothing to take away."

Lin Nian paused for a moment, then looked down and saw Li Hueyue's lowered eyes reflected in the ripples of water on the tea set.

"Have you ever heard of the acid-base constitution theory?" she asked.

"No." Lin Nian shook his head and waited for the next step.

"It's a simple concept: If your body is too acidic, you will get sick. Correcting the acidity and acid-base balance can cure the disease and restore health."

"Sounds bullshit."

"You do not believe?"

"Only a fool would believe it."

Li Huoyue nodded, "This is indeed a scam. The "acid-base constitution" was first proposed by an American liar who founded a fundraiser in the hope that rich people from all over the world would fund his research on the method of longevity. .”

"Only a fool would be fooled. Rich people are smarter than they think." Lin Nian shook his head, not sure why she mentioned this.

"We invested 100 million." Li Huanyue said, "Euros."

Lin Nian raised his eyelids, his eyes widened slightly, and then returned to normal, "Then you are really awesome."

Angry and funny, he had no idea that Orthodoxy would waste such a huge amount of money on such a thing.

"Although the tortoise has a long life, it still has its time. The soaring snake rides on the mist and turns into ashes. There are endless generations, and the river and the moon are just the same every year. Tomorrow comes tomorrow, there are so many tomorrows. I live to wait for tomorrow, everything will be wasted. .Thousands of years are but a blink of an eye; a hundred years of life are but a blink of an eye."

"Immortality." She said softly, "The clan elders have been praying for immortality."

"Immortality has always been a long-standing proposition. From the elixir made by the First Emperor of Qin in the East China Sea, to the elixir of the Queen Mother of the West, from the immortal meat of Tang monks in Journey to the West, to the flat peach that can extend life just by smelling it, it has never stopped for generations."

"Those are all myths." Lin Nian objected.

"The Dragon Clan is also a myth." Li Huoyue said lightly, "You can't deny that there are immortal things in this world, and they are around us."

Lin Nian was silent for a while and stared at Li Huoyue, "I don't quite understand what this has to do with you wanting to go on stage to sing in the fifth play. It is not uncommon for those in power to seek immortality."

Li Hueyue said, "The voice of assassinating the Qin Dynasty has been increasing day by day since the first emperor asked for the elixir."

"So you are worried that those clan elders will go crazy for the sake of immortality and keep making wrong decisions until the ship of orthodoxy crashes into the mountains and sinks to the bottom of the reef?" Lin Nian tried to understand Li Hueyue's thoughts.

The orthodox patriarchs are getting more and more crazy for the sake of longevity, and they will do whatever they can. The path of orthodoxy in the future will naturally go further and further away. Li Hueyue, as the orthodox "moon", really can't stand it anymore, so before the chaos, It is a reasonable development to strike in advance to bring order to the chaos.

"." Lin Nian looked at Li Hueyue's face that was illuminated red by the setting sun and seemed to have no extra color.

A voice in his heart told him that this matter was not that simple.

Sure enough, the next moment, Li Huoyue said, "Actually, the sect leaders have already found the way to live forever."

Lin Nian was slightly startled and stared at Li Hueyue.

"Have you ever heard of blood transfusion and life-extending therapy?"

Lin Nian frowned slightly and nodded lightly.

The concept of universal blood transfusion and life-extending therapy first originated from a study in Nature in 2005. This study used surgery to establish a parabiosis model between young mice and old mice, allowing them to share blood, organs and environment, and observe the impact on aging.

Experimental results show that the internal environment of young mice promotes muscle regeneration and liver proliferation in old mice. This promotion is due to the activation of local precursor cells in the tissues of old mice.

This study thus concluded that a youthful systemic environment rejuvenates aging precursor cells. After the publication of this paper, it triggered a wave of research on young blood to delay aging, and it gradually became a foundation work in this field.

The opportunity for Lin Nian to really understand blood transfusion therapy was a previous auction in the opera house. The product called "Leech Potion" was produced by the emperor. According to Paco, who was in charge of the auction at the time, the fundamental concept of Leech Potion was It also uses leeches to purify the toxins in the dragon's blood, and replace the clean blood into the recipient's body, allowing the dragon's blood to activate the dry and aging body, cure diseases, and be reborn.

At the same time, it was also that time when the emperor extended an olive branch to him for the first time, promising that he could use the technology of leech medicine to transform Su Xiaoqiang into a hybrid, extending her lifespan and allowing her to truly take the stage. But in the end Lin Nian refused without hesitation.

Before Lin Nian said anything, while she was deep in thought, Li Huoyue stood up next to her.

She picked up a bamboo chopstick on the table and walked to the screen. She bit the bamboo chopstick in her mouth and raised her hands to pull up her long black hair. She inserted the bamboo chopstick into her right hand to make a hairpin. She turned her back to Lin Nian and crossed her hands to hold the white T-shirt. He gently took off the white T-shirt covering his shirt, exposing his dizzyingly beautiful naked body to the red light of the setting sun.

"You want-" Before Lin Nian could say anything, his eyes suddenly locked on the iliac wing of Li Hueyue's back.

There was a small silver hole near the lumbar spine, like a hollow needle, which was deeply inserted and fixed in the girl's body.