With his words, the idle onlookers on the other side of the winding stream also sensibly dispersed, revealing the five musicians kneeling on the ground. Perhaps to let Dragon General’s voice carry to all places, the music from the small boats on the pool suddenly stopped, and even the dancers in the woods ceased their dancing, quietly kneeling on the ground.

Almost instantly, the banquet that had been lively and noisy became silent as death. This enormous contrast was almost suffocating.

Shi Xi instinctively looked toward the other side of the winding stream. Those five musicians were all young, wearing distinctive narrow-sleeved short jackets. There were both men and women, all holding flutes in their hands. It seemed that from his distant view earlier, he hadn’t seen clearly—the musicians on each boat should all be holding the same instrument.

Listening to the whispered conversations of nearby guests, Shi Xi discovered that everyone believed this matter should just be dropped, after all, the law doesn’t punish the masses. When all was said and done, it was just playing one wrong note, and it wasn’t even certain it really happened—why take it so seriously? Moreover, even if a note really was played incorrectly, questioning these five musicians would lead to two possible situations. One was that they would all unanimously identify who played the wrong note, and the other was that they would turn on each other. Either development would make the scene very ugly.

Shi Xi held the mood of watching a good show, never expecting that Wang Dun would smile faintly and point across the winding stream, slowly saying: “It’s the one in the middle.”

Everyone’s gaze immediately focused on the musician in the middle—a girl of about ten years old. She was seen with her head lowered, trembling all over, not saying a word in her defense, apparently acquiescing.

Shi Xi stared in amazement. Could it be that Wang Dun, Wang Chu Zhong, really possessed supernatural hearing?

What happened next shocked the entire gathering.

After the young female musician was pointed out, she was immediately executed on the spot by a nearby servant with a blade. The gushing blood instantly stained the bluestone slabs beneath her. The guests all changed color, while Wang Dun, the instigator of it all, remained unmoved, calmly drinking the wine in his cup as if nothing had happened.

Shi Xi was so terrified he nearly cried out, fortunately Shi Chong beside him was prepared and quickly covered his mouth.

The young female musician’s corpse was dragged away, the blood was quickly washed clean, and the remaining four musicians were also led away. The atmosphere was eerie for only these few minutes before the music resumed, the dancers began dancing again, and although the guests’ expressions were somewhat unnatural, they still began clinking cups and exchanging toasts again.

Although Shi Xi was young, he had witnessed the life and death of pets and knew how terrifying death was. Precisely because he knew, he was all the more shocked, not recovering his senses for quite a while.

In his daze, Shi Xi heard someone asking his father in a lowered voice: “Did that musician really play a wrong note? If she was wrongly accused, why didn’t she speak up in her defense?”

“People are born into different classes. As a lowly servant, how could she resist authority? Naturally, whatever the nobles say is what it is,” Shi Chong sighed meaningfully, raising his wine cup, “Gentlemen, cherish your own status.”

Shi Xi looked up, staring intently at his father, knowing he must have something to tell him.

Sure enough, Shi Chong reached out to stroke the top of his head, calmly instructing: “Xi’er, all this may just be a performance—don’t take it too much to heart.”

“A performance?”

“Do you remember what I said earlier? Those invited today are all the literati and refined scholars of our Great Jin Dynasty. With such a performance, I’m afraid by tomorrow, all of Luoyang City will know the name Wang Dun, Wang Chu Zhong.”

“…This is… for fame?”

Shi Xi asked in a daze.

“Exactly.”

Shi Chong was very satisfied with bringing his son out to gain experience today. Although this strong medicine was administered too heavily, the results seemed good.

Shi Xi was completely muddled, his little head full of thoughts he couldn’t straighten out. No matter how exquisite the delicacies or how beautiful the scenery, in his eyes everything was shrouded in a thick layer of blood. Perhaps seeing his low spirits, when the banquet was mostly over, Shi Chong led him in taking their leave. They boarded the Shi family’s ox cart, but after bumping along for only a short while, it stopped.

“Master, someone seeks an audience, offering treasure in hopes of protection,” the Shi family’s driver reported in a low voice.

Shi Chong lifted the carriage curtain, and a servant below timely handed up an opened brocade box. Inside the box was a blue-green bead, lying quietly within.

Shi Xi only glanced at it before looking outside the carriage, discovering a young man kneeling beside the cart wheel—apparently one of the four musicians who had been implicated and expelled from the Wang estate. He wore the musician’s attire of the Wang estate, still holding a flute in his hands, with bloodstains still on his clothes from the earlier splashing.

“The musicians of the Wang estate have all undergone years of careful training. Xi’er, I remember you enjoy flute music—shall we take him home?” the purple-robed middle-aged man asked casually. He didn’t ask the musician’s opinion, because given his status, even if he found the man displeasing, he could take the bead and kill him with a blade without consequence, just like the young female musician who had died earlier—they were simply not the same class of people as him.

Shi Xi didn’t know when he had developed a liking for flute music. For a moment he didn’t know how to answer, only staring intently at the young musician kneeling there.

And the latter, as if there was a telepathic connection, slowly raised his head…

The phone on the bedside table rang with the deafening “Turkish March,” and the doctor suddenly opened his eyes, staring blankly at the ceiling for a long time before completely extracting himself from the bizarre dream.

But everything in the dream didn’t fade and blur quickly like ordinary dreams usually did. Instead, as he recalled it, it became increasingly clear.

Winding stream with floating cups… put simply, wasn’t that just conveyor belt sushi! But the high-class ambiance was incomparable to conveyor belt sushi!

However, at the moment when the young musician lifted his head at the end, he had awakened and hadn’t seen the other’s face.

Why… did he care so much…

From the perspective in the dream, although he could only see the curve of that person’s jaw, it was inexplicably familiar, making his whole body tremble.

The doctor lay expressionlessly in the rousing “Turkish March” for another half minute, until Tang Yuan from the next room couldn’t help running over to turn off his phone alarm.

“Get up! Didn’t you say you have surgery this morning? Hurry up and go to work to earn money to support me!” Tang Yuan righteously lectured, then turned around and was speechless, “Where did you pick up this green bead? I haven’t seen it before. It’s already broken but you’re still keeping it?”

On the bedside table lamp base, which happened to be a lucky cat, there was a broken bead placed on the cat’s raised paw, glowing with a deep blue-green light in the clear morning sunshine.

“I don’t know either…” The doctor frowned. This bead was something he had found in his clothing pocket after returning from Mingde University. He didn’t know why he hadn’t thrown it away, just casually placing it beside his bed. Thinking about it now, the bead lying in the brocade box in his dream was quite similar in color and size to this one.

So dreams really are projections of reality?

But why would he dream of becoming that child named Shi Xi? And dream of his father…

The doctor pressed his lips together. He thought that after passing his teenage phase, he wouldn’t dream of imaginary parents anymore, but deep in his heart, was he still secretly hoping for their existence?

His mood was inexplicably heavy, and even after a full day of work at the hospital with countless trivial matters, it didn’t improve at all.

It wasn’t until evening near the end of his shift that he had time to return to his office. Seeing his state, Chun Ge immediately teased: “Why the long face? Did Student Ye reject you? I heard gossip about you two going out on a midnight date!”

“Who’s spreading gossip?” The doctor was startled, then rarely seriously declared, “Don’t spread it anymore—it’s not good for the girl.”

Chun Ge raised his eyebrows in surprise, walked around the doctor in a circle, patted his shoulder and asked: “So what exactly is wrong? Keeping a straight face isn’t like you at all!”

The doctor pulled out his phone from his white coat pocket with a pained expression, saying mournfully: “My new phone screen cracked…” The problem was he didn’t even know how the phone screen had cracked—he had no memory of it at all.

“…My condolences.” Chun Ge wiped his face and helplessly punched him, “If the screen’s cracked, go get it replaced!”

“Replacing an original iPhone 6 screen costs nearly two thousand yuan! Although it’s cheaper on Taobao, I don’t dare just randomly replace it!” The doctor said in distress, “And I have to pay next year’s rent soon, so I need to save money. Anyway, the phone still works, so I’ll just make do with it for now.” The doctor scratched his hair, not saying out loud that he now had an extra mouth to feed at home. Although taking care of Tang Yuan didn’t cost much money, he still needed to save some emergency funds, just in case.

When it came to financial issues, even close friends couldn’t say much. Chun Ge could only invite: “Want to have dinner together tonight? Though I need to finish my rounds before getting off work. Bring your little guy—I’ll treat you both to hot pot!”

“What hot pot in this hot weather…” The doctor complained, but still made an appointment for time and place, called Tang Yuan to come to the hospital, and they both waited for the kind-hearted long-legged uncle to get off work and treat them.

Actually, not only did Chun Ge notice the doctor’s bad mood, Tang Yuan, who lived with him day and night, was even more aware of it. After eating hot pot and returning home, Tang Yuan discovered that the doctor was unusually writing and drawing at his desk while using a calculator. Extremely curious, Tang Yuan took the opportunity of bringing water to sneak a peek, immediately discovering he was keeping accounts—so this was the reason.

“What’s this expense?” Tang Yuan pointed at the largest number, feeling heartbroken. That unreliable glutton of a master had thrown him out without giving him any living expenses at all. He began seriously considering whether to go to his senior brother’s shop to get some antiques to sell, but Second Senior Brother didn’t seem to be around at all!

“That’s rent. I need to pay next year’s rent. The contract I signed back then requires paying rent annually.” The doctor bit his pen, mumbling unclearly. Although the house was particularly cheap when he first rented it, the rent increased every year, and paying a whole year’s rent at once was still quite a large sum.

The doctor used his cracked-screen phone as a calculator, calculating over and over. After quite a while, he finally noticed that Tang Yuan hadn’t left but was looking down with a grave expression. The not-particularly-sensitive doctor actually understood instantly and quickly explained: “Don’t be like that—this isn’t your fault! Even if I hadn’t taken you in, I’d still have to pay rent! Actually, supporting you doesn’t cost much money!”

Tang Yuan looked up, seriously studying the doctor’s expression, while the latter timely showed a sincere smile, completely unaware how foolishly innocent he appeared to others. After confirming for a while, Tang Yuan finally sighed with the air of an old man, patted the doctor’s shoulder, and said with disappointment: “Uncle, you haven’t reached menopause yet—how did you get dementia already? You’ve forgotten things you did yourself?”

The doctor’s eyes widened. Just as he was about to ask what was going on, he saw Tang Yuan patter in his little slippers to the bookshelf, pull open a drawer, rummage out a document folder, then patter back and hand it to him.

Curiously looking down at it, the doctor’s eyes widened even more.

This was a property deed! For the very house he was living in now! And it had his own signature!

When had he bought a house?! How could he have no memory of it himself?!

The doctor was completely bewildered, turning the property deed in his hands over and over several times, flipping through the attached purchase contract, name transfer copies, deed tax invoices, and land certificate several times. No matter how he looked at it, it didn’t seem fake. But where would he have gotten the money to buy a house? He’d only been working for a few years, and housing prices in this city were impossibly high. Even if this house was cheaper, he absolutely couldn’t afford it…