"Slowly looking back, the evening that once belonged to us.
The redness is still you, the bright sun you gave to my heart.
When the singing began, the secretary Kim’s Cantonese pronunciation was very standard, and she sang quite professionally, her stage movements were more natural too.
Unlike Little Huang Ying, I remember she still mixed Nantong dialect when she spoke holding the microphone.
However, Li Zhiyuan still thought that Little Huang Ying sang better.
Initially, it was this song by Little Huang Ying that took him down a path he had never imagined before.
Of course, if forced to find a realistic reason, it wasn’t lacking either.
For instance, when Little Huang Ying originally sang this song, she poured her emotions into it, whereas secretary Kim only thought about getting through the day’s agenda quickly so that she could go grave digging at night.
Initially, the surface of the fishpond was completely still.
But when secretary Kim sang to:
"Even if thousands of songs come tomorrow, floating on my way in the distance; even if thousands of evening stars rise, outshining tonight’s moon..."
Li Zhiyuan’s body swayed slightly, he felt a wave of drowsiness, especially around his shoulders where he faintly felt a familiar chill, almost as if his old cold legs could predict a change in weather.
He knew that Little Huang Ying was listening and seemed unable to hold back any signs.
Li Zhiyuan took a deep breath to forcibly sober himself up, he couldn’t afford to venture into the Underworld at this moment.
A harsh electronic noise came from the speakers, everyone covered their ears, the children began to scream, and the performers on stage went forward to adjust the equipment, showing that they were both familiar and unfamiliar with it.
They all seemed to know how to operate and use it, but the frequency of use in normal days wasn’t high.
The equipment was old and troupes dreaded breaking their routine, logically it shouldn’t be .
Li Zhiyuan slowly pushed down his hands, quietly making a gesture for silence.
He did not know if Little Huang Ying could see him or if she would understand his intention.
But the current emotional instability would only make these water monkeys sense the eeriness and prepare earlier.
Wait until tonight to resolve it properly.
The electrical noise ceased, and the equipment returned to normal.
Such situations were quite common on the current performance stage; the villagers had been uncomfortably covering their ears before, but now continued chatting and laughing, with nobody leaving the scene.
Secretary Kim held the microphone, repeatedly apologizing to everyone, then the background music resumed and she began singing "Thousands of Songs" again.
Her eyes revealed impatience, if she had maintained some professional integrity before, then now, she was merely going through the motions, in the chorus part, she plainly stopped singing and handed the microphone to the audience below.
During the first chorus, some extroverted adults and noisy children started singing in their own versions of Cantonese, but when she continued to hand out the microphone during the second chorus, no one followed, it completely quieted down.
"Hurry up and sing, sing."
People were urging from below.
Secretary Kim maintained her professional smile, casually got through the song, completely unconcerned.
At the end of the song, secretary Kim tossed the microphone to someone beside her, then walked off to a corner, starting to speak with a few individuals.
A person dressed very extravagantly went on stage, performing poker card magic.
Li Zhiyuan followed a group of children, leaned toward the side of the stage, and could barely hear secretary Kim and others complaining about why it hadn’t ended yet.
He had noticed earlier that all ten people in the troupe spoke Mandarin with the same accent.
And in this gathering, the chef and the persons responsible for washing vegetables, dishes, and serving were also locals, facilitated by the village head.
This indicated that this group of water monkeys was concentrated only within this troupe.
But there was still one thing to be careful about, on the outskirts, was there also someone arranged to keep watch?
When the magic show ended, Li Zhiyuan clapped along with everyone while moving backward, leaving the crowd.
Beside the road in front of Big Beard’s house, Run Sheng was already waiting on a tricycle.
Li Zhiyuan got on the bicycle: "Brother Runsheng, follow this path to the village road, ride straight forward, don’t stop."
Run Sheng started riding, behind them, Tan Wenbin’s voice came: "Wait for me, wait for me!"
On the village road, the tricycle was in front, followed by a large boy running.
This scene was very lively, also making it possible to avoid alerting anyone.
At the power line tower in the field to the west of Big Beard’s house, an electrician in gray and white overalls was sitting on it.
This should have been a very normal scene, but Li Zhiyuan was using the results to deduce and seek evidence.
He quickly noticed something unusual about the electrician; there were two bags hanging beside him on the rack, filled with food and water.
But this place was neither steep mountains nor deserted, he could easily descend to the ground when he wanted to eat or drink, there was really no need to take them up there.
"Brother Runsheng, turn around, take another direction."
While turning around, Tan Wenbin finally climbed onto the tricycle, gasping for breath while saying: "Don’t... don’t leave me behind."
"Brother Binbin, we need you now."
When the tricycle rode to the east side of Big Beard’s house, another power line tower appeared in the distance.
"Brother Binbin, get off and run after the car."
Seeing Li Zhiyuan wasn’t joking, Tan Wenbin immediately jumped off the tricycle, continuing as before, shouting "I haven’t gotten on the car yet" while exaggeratedly swinging his arms chasing the car.
As the car approached the power line tower, there was an electrician on top too, but perhaps because the west side faced a village road leading to the main road, this side was more the heart of the village, hence he seemed more relaxed, leaning on a beam, with a cigarette in hand.