Chapter 59: The Creepiness Value Exceeds Ten Thousand Points

"What on earth are you doing?"

Chen Ye stared at the buckets scattered all over the ground, feeling as if a multitude of little question marks had just popped up before his eyes.

Anyone who didn't know better would think he was setting up some kind of grand array to vanquish demons and exorcise spirits...

"Just being prepared for a rainy day!" The old erhu player replied in a tone of absolute naturalness, almost making Chen Ye feel like he was the one in the wrong.

Chen Ye chuckled helplessly. "Even if you need to store water, wouldn't it be easier to just use one large container? Why bother dividing it into so many?"

"Didn't that bucket get dragged away by a dog last time? I'm preparing a bit more this time so I don't wake up at the crack of dawn with nothing to drink."

"..." For a moment, Chen Ye could not find a single reason to retort.

His Pupil of Fortune fell upon the old erhu player, and his brow furrowed slightly as he noticed something abnormal about the man's halo.

Within that streak of golden radiance, a spot of pitch-black ink had actually gestated.

Barely perceptible black mist occasionally swirled around the golden light.

Black and gold intertwined, the eerie and the sacred coexisting.

"What kind of fortune manifestation is this?"

Chen Ye could not help falling into silence. Of course he knew the old erhu player's identity was mysterious, but he never expected an abnormality to appear in the man's manifestation of fortune as well!

Moreover, the golden halo of fortune had only ever appeared on the old erhu player.

It symbolized destiny!

Yet the speck of jet-black gestated within that golden light seemed to add a sense of the uncanny to this sacredness, making it appear abrupt and contradictory.

Several possibilities flashed through Chen Ye's mind instantly, but no matter how he guessed, he remained clueless about the old erhu player's halo of fortune for the time being.

A halo of fortune like this was simply too rare!

However, moments later, that inky mark slipped into the water like a fish, leaving not a trace behind, leaving only dazzling golden particles shining brilliantly at the very center of the halo.

"It vanished?"

Noticing that the jet-black mark had faded away, Chen Ye could not help letting out a sigh of relief.

Perhaps...

He was just worrying over nothing.

It might just have been some unclean thing passing by, leaving behind a trace of its aura, but it was completely useless against the old erhu player.

Chen Ye's gaze returned to the buckets covering the ground.

He always felt that the old erhu player must know something, but simply chose not to spell it out to him.

Just then, the old erhu player picked up the erhu by his side and smiled, "All right, let's play a duet."

"A single day without practice feels like three autumns!"

"Making a living through street performance requires diligent practice every day; one must not let it rust!"

Hearing this familiar voice, Chen Ye's mood relaxed, and he sat cross-legged beside the old erhu player.

The sounds of the suona and the erhu rang out in unison.

The melodious tune echoed through Xining Alley once again.

At first, Chen Ye was troubled by the various events of the day and found it difficult to concentrate.

Flaws and errors appeared in many places.

While practicing, he felt as if his breath control was blocked, and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't blow smoothly enough.

"Use your heart," the old erhu player prompted patiently and gently.

Chen Ye nodded, took a deep breath, and cleared away the distracting thoughts in his mind.

He poured his whole heart into playing the erhu...

He closed his eyes and emptied his mind, leaving only the melodious music echoing in his ears, and his mind seemed to enter the world of music along with it.

This time...

Chen Ye felt as if that state of mind like still water had finally returned. At the same time, his control over the suona instantly became completely different.

Even during the climax, he was able to keep up with the old erhu player's performance.

Of course, the ensemble music still had flaws and sounded just a tiny bit discordant, but compared to last time, it was already a massive improvement!

[Bizarre Value +300!]

[Bizarre Value +300!]

[...]

For an entire night of continuous practice, Chen Ye was completely immersed, forgetting the passage of time.

Unawares, his Bizarre Value finally broke through the milestone of ten thousand!

Suddenly...

Chen Ye felt a stir in his heart, realizing that a certain change was quietly taking place within him.

His perception of the world seemed to become sharper than before.

With his eyes closed, he could suddenly capture every subtle emotional change within the musical melody.

In the past, Chen Ye could only rely on the general direction of the melody to figure out the emotion of a piece.

Just like an ordinary listener, he simply listened with both ears to whether it sounded good or not—good was good, and bad was bad.

But now...

He could clearly hear every detail handled in the music, how much force and what technique were used, and with what state of mind the performer infused new life into the music.

Immersing his mind and listening carefully...

Finally, Chen Ye figured out where the problem lay in his duet with the old erhu player!

Although the erhu melody carried joy and melodiousness, as if carrying the listeners to a vast grassland, cloudless, with wild horses galloping freely, far away from the secular world and free of worries.

Yet hidden faintly within this joyful melody was a tragic past.

That past seemed to recount an unreachable hometown, where there were people he could no longer see and thoughts he could not let go of, yet there remained a persistent hope, transforming into a blazing fire that continuously burned that heart!

He wanted to forget this matter, creating a free space within the musical world, but that past refused to be erased; instead, it was deeply branded there.

That heart beat violently amidst the burning hope like fire, yet rapidly plunged into the abyss of eternal damnation...

At this moment, Chen Ye's tune suddenly stopped; he could no longer sustain the performance.

Because he could not understand what the old erhu player was trying to express...

At this time, the old erhu player's performance also gradually ground to a halt.

Leaning against the low tile wall, he lazily picked up the water ladle, poured the water into his mouth, and looked up at the night sky with a slightly hazy expression in his eyes.

After a moment, as his gaze shifted back to Chen Ye, a hint of gratification appeared within it:

"Your progress today is quite good."

However, Chen Ye did not look very happy. He hesitated for a moment, preparing to speak...

The old erhu player suddenly let out a self-deprecating laugh and interrupted him. "People, in this world, must learn to part ways. When you get old and live long enough, who doesn't have a few sad pasts?"

The words at the tip of Chen Ye's tongue went unsaid, and he only nodded silently.

"Alright." The old erhu player stretched lazily, loosening his muscles and bones. "It's getting late. We won't play at this hour; time to sleep when you should sleep."

As soon as he finished speaking, the fellow rolled up his small bedding right there, wrapping himself tightly into a living "silkworm pupa."

Thunderous snores echoed from inside the "silkworm pupa."

"Go to sleep then!"

Chen Ye muttered under his breath with a trace of disdain.

He looked up at the sky, and suddenly he, too, began to miss that unreachable hometown.

The music just now, that thick sentiment of homesickness, stirred up the yearning in his heart...

However, where did the old erhu player's sad past stem from?

He ought to be a native of this city, with transcendent strength and a mysterious identity; wherever he wanted to go, where could he not go?

Why would he choose to become a "wandering existence"?

All sorts of questions lingered in Chen Ye's mind.

In fact...

He wanted to sleep a little, but at this stage, how could he possibly fall asleep?

The progress of this month's stage mission was not far ahead, and his ranking had just managed to squeeze into the top ten.

There were still many things waiting to be resolved.

The pollution in the lower reaches of the Xijing River and the subsequent food problems, as well as the streak of black that flashed through the old erhu player's golden radiance...

All kinds of unsettling factors seemed to transform into whispers by his ear, constantly urging Chen Ye that he must grow stronger rapidly!

Only by possessing formidable strength could he have the confidence to deal with these problems that might follow one after another.

He took a candied roasted chestnut from the oiled paper bag, swallowed it, and regained his energy.

Immediately afterward...

Maintaining his wandering posture of covering six meters per step, he left his temporary dwelling and began his nocturnal roleplaying!