Chapter 533: Natural Disaster

Chapter 533: Natural Calamity

"Rapid drumbeats, slow gongs—when the gongs stop and drums fall silent, listen to my singing—listen to me sing the Eighteen Touches..."

A voice, thick with falsetto and nasal tone, drifted from the alley on the left. When Li Sui turned his head toward the sound, Li Huowang frowned instantly. He immediately whipped the reins, urging the carriage to move faster, lest Li Sui be corrupted by such vulgar lyrics.

"Reach out and touch the silk strands beside your sister's face, dark clouds have been hovering for hours... Reach out and touch her forehead, the heavenly dome full and pleasing..."

Lü Juren, his nose painted with a white theatrical mask, stood atop a high platform, singing with all his might, his hands gesturing in rhythm with the lyrics.

Below, the old men and young men listened intently, occasionally winking at each other and exchanging low chuckles.

The song ended, and immediately a chorus of applause erupted. This was a new kind of folk opera unfamiliar to the capital; the people here had never heard anything like it. Copper coins rained down onto the stage.

"Play another one! Play another one!"

"Your troupe has women, right? I want a woman to sing this kind of song for me!!"

"That’s right! If they sing, I’ll pay more!"

Just as Lü ZHUANGYUAN bowed and caught flying copper coins with his gong, a voice came from outside the crowd. "What’s going on? What’s going on?"

When he saw that the approaching figure wore blue official robes, the crowd scattered in panic. Lü ZHUANGYUAN grew tense.

"Who let you perform here? And what kind of obscene song is that?! It's corrupting morals! Are you blind? Can't you see the big notice posted by the city gate?"

Lü ZHUANGYUAN tried to appear respectful, bowing slightly before the lead constable. "Respectfully, sir, I... I can't read. Please show mercy."

"I don’t care if you can read or not! Pick up every coin from the ground! Seize them all!"

He truly hated letting go of so many coins, but with two mouths in the character 'official,' there were always reasons for everything. Eventually, he had no choice but to comply.

As the constable departed happily with his pile of coins, the others looked dejected, dismantling the stage like wilted vegetables.

Just halfway through the dismantling, Lü Xiucai and Gouwa returned, still arguing.

"Damn it! You're called Gouwa, and your plan is just nonsense! Those beggars have searched for ages and found not even a trace of Master!"

"Watch your mouth! Who are you calling nonsense? At least I’m doing something. What have you done except talk? Do you really think you’re a scholar now?"

The two bickering figures arrived at the stage, where the dismantling had stopped upon seeing the half-torn structure.

"Master Lü, what’s happened? We finally found a good place to perform, why are we tearing it down again?" Gouwa scratched his painted face and asked.

Upon hearing the story, Lü Xiucai jumped in anger, waving his bound sword of copper coins. "The people of the capital are bullying us again! Where did those bastards go? I'll chop them to pieces!"

Lü ZHUANGYUAN sighed, rubbing his sore back. "Alright already. There's enough trouble. Stop causing us more grief. If we don’t make money, fine—we won’t. It’s not worth worrying about."

"Master, you can’t say that. Every day, people eat and drink—those are expenses! Besides, money here isn’t worth much. A single bun costs five coins." His daughter-in-law Luo Juanhua, holding a bronze mirror, spoke with dissatisfaction.

"Shut up! Do you think I don’t manage the money myself?" After scolding her with his pipe, he turned to Gouwa with a smile. "Um, Young Master Cao, have you found him yet?"

With no hope of making money and no chance of success, Lü ZHUANGYUAN wanted to leave too. But he knew he had other purposes for coming to the capital, and simply saying he was leaving would make it hard to explain back home.

Gouwa, sensing the mood, could only keep saying, "It’s almost done. Almost done."

But searching through the entire capital among so many people was like looking for a needle in a haystack—how could it be fast?

"Fine, let me send word to Xiao Man first via carrier pigeon. I’ve already asked the beggars—they won’t blame me if I can’t find Brother Li."

Thinking so, Gouwa headed toward the City God Temple, planning to find a destitute scholar to write a letter.

At that moment, the Brother Li he sought had just left the city. After walking dozens of kilometers, he found a secluded spot, stopped the carriage, provided water and feed for the horses, and prepared to head to Great Qi.

When he felt the tentacles sprouting from all directions across his skin, Li Huowang exhaled deeply. With his right hand raised, two tentacles wrapped around the spine sword and delivered it to his palm.

"Let’s go!" Li Huowang swung forcefully, his feet and six tentacles pushing hard against the ground, launching himself into the rift ahead.

Having experienced it once before, he was far more skilled this time. Through the rift, he arrived in Great Qi without even tearing his robe.

Yet before he could feel any joy, a shocking sight made his pupils contract. In the distance, a massive black cloud loomed like Mount Tai crushing down upon them.

"That’s..." Li Huowang narrowed his eyes and gazed carefully. "Those are locusts!!"

In the next instant, an endless swarm of locusts blocked the sun, covering the sky like a black ocean upside-down.

Li Huowang acted decisively, plunging the spine sword back into its sheath and drawing the Purple Spike Sword. The overwhelming aura instantly enveloped him, scattering the locusts that had been gnawing at his robe and hair.

The flapping of insect wings echoed for half a day. When the sun reappeared overhead, the trees and flowers around Li Huowang were nothing but bare stalks.

"Brother Li, this is a natural calamity," Zhuge Yuan said, his expression growing grim.

"This is also a natural calamity? Brother Zhuge, these are clearly just locusts."

"For the common people, grain is most important. They don’t care about missing one heavenly law—if they lose a law, they can still survive. But without food, they starve. To them, locust plagues are far more terrifying than any other disaster."

"What’s worse is that after locusts comes drought, war, plague—the whole of Great Qi may be devastated."

Looking toward the horizon where locusts flew toward the capital, Li Huowang felt a flicker of doubt. "What exactly is happening in Great Qi?"

Seeing Zhuge Yuan’s expression, Li Huowang said, "Brother Zhuge, if there’s anything you want me to do in Great Qi—"

Zhuge Yuan shook his head. "Brother Li, you’re not from Great Qi. This isn’t your karma. There’s no need to get involved. Besides, you’re not in a good situation yourself. Though I deeply care for the suffering of the world, I cannot take someone else’s burden."

(End of Chapter)