Yunyan Pavilion.
The shopkeeper brought over some good tea. After the two sat down, Liu Hanyan looked at Li Mu with some confusion and asked, "Why did you want to become a storyteller?"
No matter how she thought about it, she couldn't connect a bailiff to a storyteller.
Li Mu couldn't tell her that he wanted to condense the Sparrow Shade as soon as possible and regain his masculinity, so he could only say, "A bailiff's monthly salary is five hundred coins. It's only enough to eat …"
Liu Hanyan froze for a moment, then she remembered something and said apologetically, "Sorry, I forgot that you still have to help me draw talismans. How about I give you some money …"
"No need." Li Mu waved his hand and said, "If it wasn't for you, no bookstore would be willing to print my books. You've already taken care of me so much, so how can I take your money?"
Liu Hanyan asked, "But you have to be a bailiff, write a book, and tell a story. Can you do it all?"
"It's okay," Li Mu smiled and said, "If it's not convenient for Yunyan Pavilion, I'll go somewhere else to ask."
Liu Hanyan was worried that he would misunderstand and said helplessly, "If you're willing, you can try it here. I'll give you ten taels of silver every month. The rewards from the customers will all be yours …"
In her heart, Li Mu had clearly become someone who had to work three jobs because of the pressure to survive. And part of this pressure was given to him by her.
Li Mu shook his head and said, "I've already asked around. The best storyteller here only gets two taels of silver a month. The rewards from the customers can only be split fifty percent. Lady Liu, I know you're taking care of me, but I still want to earn money through my own efforts and not rely on others' charity …"
Liu Hanyan was worried that her insistence would hurt Li Mu's fragile self-esteem, so she could only nod and say, "Okay then …"
It wasn't that Li Mu wasn't moved by the salary of ten taels of silver. Who wouldn't want money? It was just that he owed Liu Hanyan too much. If he calmly accepted her help, what was the difference between being her sugar daddy?
Although there was always a voice in his heart telling him to say yes to her so that he wouldn't have to work so hard, his pride as a man won in the end.
Liu Hanyan stood up and said, "Wait here for a moment. I'll arrange it."
Of the four shops in the Yunyan Pavilion, the music shop had the best business, followed by the opera house, the bookstore, and finally the teahouse.
After all, the people who came to this kind of place were all young people who had time and money to spare. Watching beautiful girls singing and dancing was much more interesting than listening to the old man talking to himself.
However, storytellers also had a lot of fans. When Li Mu walked into the teahouse, he saw more than a dozen customers drinking tea while listening to the old man on the stage.
Listening to the story was free, but most of the customers would order a pot of tea and a few side dishes when listening to the story. Most of the teahouse's income came from this.
Occasionally, there would be generous customers who would take out their money pouches and tip the storyteller. The teahouse would deduct half of the money and the rest would be the storyteller's extra income.
After a while, the old man finished his story and a customer shouted from below, "It's still early today, tell us another story!"
At this time, a waiter walked up to the old man's ear and whispered a few words. The old man stood up and clasped his hands to the audience. He smiled and said, "This old man isn't feeling well today, so I'll stop here. Today, a new storyteller came to our shop. Why don't you all listen to his story …"
When the old man finished speaking, there was a commotion among the customers below the stage.
"A new person?"
"What's so good about a new person? Among these people, only you, Old Man Song, have a good story."
"Let's go, let's go …"
…
After the old man stepped down from the stage, several people immediately paid the bill and left. The teahouse manager looked at Liu Hanyan and said awkwardly, "Miss, this …"
Liu Hanyan shook her head and said, "Continue listening."
The few customers who stayed either had their tea just served or had not finished the side dishes they ordered. Although they were still sitting there, their eyes moved away from the stage.
It was not until two of the waiter moved a screen to the stage that the crowd glanced at it in surprise.
"What's going on?"
"Why is it blocked?"
"So mysterious. What kind of gimmick is this? Hurry up and drink. After finishing this pot of tea, we'll listen to music on the other side …"
Li Mu came up from the backstage and sat on the chair behind the screen.
As a bailiff, he patrolled the streets every day. Not everyone in Yangqiu County knew him, but at least most of the people on Weiyang Street were familiar with him.
Therefore, he asked Liu Hanyan for a screen to block his view.
Sitting on the chair behind the screen, Li Mu cleared his throat and said, "The story I'm going to tell today is called 'Transforming into a Butterfly'."
"During the previous dynasty, in the Zhu Family Manor in Yangqiu County of the North Region, there was a woman named Zhu Yingtai. She was beautiful and intelligent. She learned poetry from her brother since she was young and liked to read. However, there was no good teacher in her family and she wanted to study in Zhongjun …"
In order to harvest these people's sorrow, Li Mu told an adapted version of 'The Lovers of the Liang Dynasty'.
As one of the four great love tragedies in ancient times, 'The Lovers of the Liang Dynasty' was really sad to the bone. Li Mu was twelve or thirteen years old and had his first awakening of love. When he did not know what love was, he cried his eyes out when he watched 'The Lovers of the Liang Dynasty' for the first time …
Today, even if the people present were all fierce men, as long as they still had human emotions in their hearts, Li Mu could harvest their sorrow.
"On the way to study, Yingtai met Liang Shanbo, a scholar who also went to Zhongjun to study. The two of them hit it off at first sight and enjoyed each other's study. On the grass bridge pavilion, they used soil as incense and became 'brothers' …"
Below the stage, the few guests who were drinking tea gradually slowed down.
"A woman dressed as a man?"
"Interesting …"
"You can't even tell? How flat is the woman's chest?"
…
Although this new storyteller's skills were not as good as the other storytellers, his story was quite interesting. It was fresh and unconventional. After listening to a paragraph, they actually listened to it.
A series of funny stories caused by the female lead dressing as a man also made the few people present smile. The two guests who were about to leave silently asked the waiter to refill the pot of tea.
"Interesting."
"This story is novel and quite funny …"
"It's funny, but it doesn't seem to have anything to do with 'Transforming into a Butterfly'. The name is off-topic …"
Everyone listened and discussed with great interest. Until Li Mu told them that when Liang Shanbo went to the Zhu family to propose, he learned that the Zhu family's father had already betrothed Yingtai to Ma Wencai, the son of the South County's County Chief. The happy marriage had already become a shadow. The two of them met on the platform, looked at each other with tears in their eyes, and left in a sad manner …
The faces of those guests gradually became serious, but they also knew that this was the usual routine of storytellers. They would first suppress their desires, then suppress their desires. The subsequent development of the story would definitely be that the two of them would overcome various obstacles and live happily together …
However, behind the screen, the storyteller's voice came slowly, "Shan Bo fell ill from depression and died not long after. When Yingtai heard the bad news of Shan Bo, she swore to die …"
"Dead, dead?"
"This is impossible. His ghost must still be waiting …"
"What will Zhu Yingtai do? Are the two of them going to fall in love with each other …"
Below the stage, everyone looked anxious. Liu Hanyan's heart also tightened.
At this moment, Li Mu stood behind the screen and frowned slightly.
Just as he told the most tragic part of Liang Zhu and wanted to guide everyone's grief, he realized that he could not guide any of it.
He originally thought that these people were really heartless until he used his Heaven's Eye to look through the screen. Only then did he realize that almost everyone was filled with a faint sense of sorrow. However, this sorrow could not be guided by him.
Li Mu did not use his heavenly eye divine ability, so he could not see anything.
There was only one possibility for this situation, and that was that their grief was not directed at Li Mu.
"How could this be?" Li Mu frowned. Could it be that even if the emotions were because of him, as long as they were not directed at him, he could not guide them?
The reason why he could not absorb the grief of these people was because their grief was directed at Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai, not him, Li Mu!
Then wouldn't all his hard work have been in vain?
Below the stage, everyone was listening nervously. However, after a long silence from behind the screen, they could not help but urge him to continue.
"Hurry up, what's next?"
"Where's the storyteller? Is he asleep?"
"I've already given him the money. Hurry up and continue!"
The hope of gathering the Sparrow Shade was ruthlessly destroyed. Li Mu was depressed. He said impatiently, "There's nothing next!"
Below the stage, there was a moment of silence. Then, the atmosphere exploded.
"What did you say?"
"He hasn't finished yet!"
"How can he only tell half a story!"
"Bastard, you dare to play with us!"
…
Hearing the angry roars of the crowd and feeling the boundless anger coming from behind the screen, Li Mu was stunned on the spot.
Although he did not collect any grief today, the progress of collecting anger had greatly exceeded Li Mu's expectations.
His heart stirred, and he immediately came up with a brilliant idea.
Li Mu jumped down from behind the screen and said loudly, "That's all for today. Listen to the next episode …"
Below the stage, everyone was enraged.
"Bastard, come back here!"
"Don't even think about leaving today!"
"How dare you play this game. Do you believe that I won't beat you to death!"
Li Mu hid behind the stage and took a deep breath. His face was filled with satisfaction.
In front of the stage, someone cursed while holding onto the table. He said weakly, "Aiya, why am I so tired? I'll take a break first. Who can go and catch that bastard …"
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