1 Blue Mountain Pavilion

The sounds of cymbals collided as a loud sound vibrated in the air. At this sound, a figure dressed in heavily embroidered brocade robes that had long white silk flowing from the sleaves. The person who had just come onto the stage had on an extravagant headdress adorned in flowers and beads that would flow over her shoulders, the strings of beads would give off a sound as soothing as rain with the slightest movement. The face was painted a chalky white, with pink cheeks, and painted plum lips.

She seemed to be acting in great despair, as the long white silk of her sleeve was brought over her face and she closed her eyes.

The figure moved in a delicate manner as she kneeled before the empty grave, begging for the return of her beloved.

In an instance, the grave opened up, and her figure disappeared into the darkness. Soon, two butterflies emerged from the grave and they flew away together.

At this signal to end, the crowd cheered loudly. But there were some sobbings of women from the audience who found it tragic that the people could not be together and enjoy the joys of life, and could only accompany each other as butterflies in the afterlife.

On the upper floor of the Blue Mountain Pavilion, two figures are looking down at the stage, "Brother Ning, what do you make of the performance?" A young man dressed in plain leaf green robes with a childish face turns to another young man in indigo blue robes and asks.

"Not bad." Says Brother Ning, as he looks at the figure that has retreated into the shadows. He rubs his chin, savoring the moments of when he could see her face in grief covered in the long white silk sleeve.

"Do you want me to ask around for her name?" The young man in green has a smile on his face as he picks up a cup of cold tea from the table, before downing it tastelessly.

"Mo Yi doesn't think that brother Guo Ning can't ask for the name of a simple performer?" Brother Ning asks, gently knocking Xiao Yi on the head with the back of his chopsticks.

"Of course not." Mo Yi retracts his foolish smile and answers. "But it is best to do so when the restaurant is not as crowded.

Guo Ning does not say much, simply giving a simple nod in agreement. He gets back to eating the platters of roast chicken that were on the table.

The view from their seats also watched over the Bei River that flowed beneath this establishment. It was said that the view from the Blue Mountain Pavilion was the best in the capital when it came to the preference of the patrons. Why, one might ask, of course, it was because of the delicacies that were said to be comparable to that of the imperial palace. There were also beauties, ravishing as the moonlight shining through the starry night. Finally, there were the operas that were performed, the performers with their faces hidden could perform compellingly and still bring tears to the eyes of the audience.

The Blue Mountain Pavilion was built atop a large floating island in the middle of the Bei River. The only way in and out of the Blue River Pavilion was but a bridge that connected the floating island to land. The other way would be by boat, but it was quite costly to rent or buy one. Thus, it was a luxury only afforded by those who had silver.

Since it was the beginning of spring there were chunks of melting ice in the river and floating along the currents. The area outside was not particularly warm as one could catch a chill if outside in the wind carelessly, but the Blue Mountain Pavilion was very thoughtful of the guest, providing small silver furnaces at each table to prevent the cold from entering.

Mo Yi and Guo Ning spend some time before entirely polishing off the entirety of the food. Wiping his mouth with his sleeve, Mo Yi looks up at Guo Ning who always seems to have an angry frown on his face.

Slightly jolted by this, Mo Yi smiles nervously as he reaches for a napkin to clean his sleeve. "We're done, right? Do you want to go now?"

Guo Ning nods as he places a tael of silver on the table. Eating at the Blue mountain restaurant was not something that everyone could afford, especially when it came to such a lavish meal.

The Blue Mountain Pavilion was fully packed as always and there was another performance taking place on stage. Guo Ning leaned on the pillar of the second floor as he watched the performance on stage. Though this time, the person performing was not part of the opera, instead, it was a courtesan who was onstage.

The courtesan was sitting on a swing that was made from silk fabric. Her dress was sheer to the point that one could see the outline of her body beneath the many sheer layers. As she joyously swung back and forth, the fabric from her dress lightly floated about, creating an illusion of clouds.

Many guests on the bottom floor seemed smitten, getting closer to the woman's swinging figure, reaching for the thin layers of clouds. Though, no matter how hard they reached, the floating clouds still remained unattainable.

If the previous performance by the opera performer of the butterfly lovers was considered to be full of melancholy and regret, then the performance by this woman was that of joy and loneliness.

Guo Ning did not stay around for long, he turned to Mo Yi and mouthed "Let's go."

Understanding the meaning, Mo Yi turned around to leave. As he descended from the stairs, his eyes seemed to be wandering around, looking for someone. Finally, his eyes rested on the sneaky looking middle-aged man who seemed to be in charge of overlooking the performers.

Silently sneaking upon the man, he enquired "What was the name of the performer?"

"Ah, you mean the name of the dancing fairy, her name is Cai Qing." The man said directly without even the slightest show of discrepancies.

"No, the name of the opera performer from before." Mo Yi corrected himself.

"This… uh..." The middle-aged man stammered for a bit, not wanting to give up the name of the young opera performer.

Mo Yi watched the man with a sense of distaste, before reaching his hand into his pockets to pull out a few bits of silver and pushing them into the man's hand. "This should be enough to help you remember." He said with a smile that was not that much of a smile.

The middle-aged man squinted a bit before weighing the silver in his hand. "Miss Su Wan, aged 17, has been performing in our Blue Mountain Pavilion for two years."

After saying that bit of information, the man returned to his post of overseeing the performances.

Mo Yi returned and recounted the brief information he had heard to Guo Ning, who had a smirk on his face as he listened.