The drama queen hesitated on the threshold for an instant, then grit her teeth, stamped her feet, and followed Lin Feiran in.

The drama queen followed Lin Feiran closely, glancing around. Her expression cycled as swiftly as a stoplight through anticipation, shyness, disappointment, relief... On one hand, she yearned to glimpse her master waiting for her to come home. On the other, she warned herself not to hold her hopes too high. Her master had no regrets, and must have already gone to reincarnate. The greater her hopes, the greater her disappointment would be. After wandering around outside for so many years, she ought to be content just to be able to return home.

“Ah, tell me.” The drama queen tossed her head. To hide her panic, she dragged Lin Feiran into a conversation. “Is it possible that my master hasn’t gone to reincarnate?”

“It’s definitely possible,” Lin Feiran said seriously. “It’s not always because of regrets that ghosts don’t go to reincarnate. Some ghosts don’t reincarnate, for no reason aside from that they don’t want to. They think it’s rather nice to stay in the human world. I’ve seen many ghosts like that, too.”

The drama queen touched her chest and said ardently, “That’s right, that’s right. He might not have reincarnated.”

Gu Kaifeng watched her, smiling slightly. “Your master may still be singing opera somewhere. Didn’t you say that he thought of nothing else but opera? Perhaps he hadn’t sung his fill before he died and couldn’t bear to reincarnate.”

The drama queen nodded. “You’re right!” After a pause, she continued, “You aren’t aware, but I’m not the same as people who die and become ghosts. I’m a spirit. I have a little bit of magic. If my master’s spirit is still around, I could give him a big surprise...”

Lin Feiran was curious. “What surprise?”

The drama queen smiled mischievously. “I’m not telling you.”

Lin Feiran knew that she was chattering to distract herself from her unease, so he did not ask further. He conversed with her, a sentence here and a sentence there, while they explored the house and looked for Shen Fengsheng.

Before coming here, Lin Feiran had called the museum preservation department. He had tactfully mentioned that he was in possession of an old opera costume that resembled the one stolen from Shen Fengsheng many years ago, and that he wanted to bring it over for verification. If it was indeed the costume, he would return it to its rightful owner. Although Lin Feiran knew that this costume was 100% the genuine artifact, he still had to go through the necessary channels.

“Yes.” The drama queen glanced at the costumes in the room and lifted her chin proudly. “But they only have my master’s spiritual energy. What use is that? My master didn’t love them, and without that love, they can’t become spirits, even after hundreds of years.”

She put her hands on her waist and strode around the exhibition room, her expression cold and arrogant, very much like a queen making the rounds of a harem!

The drama queen said, “Hmph, what a group of little demons showing off their tricks.”

Lin Feiran: “......”

You’re the one who is a little demon, all right?!

The two led the drama queen through the front of the house. The drama queen looked around as she described what the residence looked like before.

She spoke for a while, then her thin shoulders suddenly slumped and she said quietly, with disappointment, “Master really isn’t here any more...”

“There’s still the back of the house,” Lin Feiran consoled, walking in that direction. He read off the introduction on the ticket, “In the back there is the living room, study, bedroom, and garden. If Master Shen didn’t go to reincarnate, he’s more likely to be in those rooms. Even if he’s not here, he might be in an opera house he used to visit often...”

Lin Feiran was looking down at the ticket. The moment he set foot over the threshold to the back of the house, he heard a long, vibrant musical note from somewhere far away. At his side, the drama queen became like a young girl who had unexpectedly met her idol. She blushed, her eyes shining, and she leaped with excitement as she screamed, “It’s Master! That’s Master’s voice!”

Before Lin Feiran had time to react, the drama queen drifted toward the song like a gust of wind. Lin Feiran and Gu Kaifeng immediately went in pursuit. When they passed through the garden entrance, the sky seemed to change color. Bright fiery red covered the entire garden like a grand net that covered heaven and earth. Being the flowering season for the royal poinciana, the big red flowers were currently in bloom, blocking out the entire sky.

Lin Feiran remembered that the drama queen had told him about this. Perhaps because Shen Fengsheng’s name contained the character ‘Feng’, he was especially taken with the royal poinciana. So, the garden of his residence contained only this kind of tree.

“How beautiful...” Lin Feiran gazed, enraptured, at the scene before him. Gu Kaifeng lightly hooked Lin Feiran’s pinky, then pointed to one of the poinciana trees and said, “RanRan, look.”

Lin Feiran glanced in the direction Gu Kaifeng was pointing. Under a poinciana not far away, a tall and slender silhouette suddenly turned around.

Shen Fengsheng had died of old age and had been getting on in years when he passed away. But he had taken good care of himself and had an elegant air about him, so one could still see the remnants of the beauty he had as a youth. His white hair shone under the red flowers, as clean and pale as snow.

Shen Fengsheng’s gaze lightly swept over them and landed on the costume spirit, who was floating toward him, her feet never touching the floor.

The drama queen stopped several paces from Shen Fengsheng. “Master! Do you know who I am?” she sobbed.

Shen Fengsheng got up, his expression gradually clearing. Laugh lines appeared around his eyes, and Lin Feiran heard the indistinct sound of his voice, as if it was coming from a great distance. “I know.”

The garden was silent for a moment, then Shen Fengsheng said with calm certainty and joy, “You’ve come back.”

As he finished, he opened his arms to her.

The costume spirit swallowed, then leaped toward Shen Fengsheng.

But she did not draw close to Shen Fengsheng in the form of a woman.

As the distance closed between the costume spirit and Shen Fengsheng, the costume spirit’s head, hands and feet all swiftly disappeared. The opera costume she was wearing also sagged as the body beneath disappeared. The costume spirit had turned into a real costume.

The costume drifted over to Shen Fengsheng. Its empty flowing sleeves and dress moved even though there was no wind, and eventually descended gently onto Shen Fengsheng’s body.

Just like a hug ten years too late.

The moment the costume fell onto Shen Fengsheng’s body, Shen Fengsheng tightly closed his eyes and angled himself backward to an incredible degree. Lin Feiran’s eyes went wide; he almost thought Shen Fengsheng’s body was about to snap into two. But his worry was swiftly replaced by surprise.

Shen Fengsheng’s body grew youthful at a speed so quick he could observe the changes. His head of white hair turned back into black strands, and the wrinkles on his face vanished. Now wearing the costume, Shen Fengsheng looked only seventeen or eighteen.

The youthful Shen Fengsheng stood up straight and slowly opened his eyes. His eyes shone as he glanced around spiritedly.

He opened his mouth and a leisurely, beautiful note once again rang out.

Shen Fengsheng’s eyes did not go to Lin Feiran and Gu Kaifeng. He seemed not to notice that they were even there. He sang his heart out, heedless of anything else. Perhaps he was singing only to himself, or perhaps he was singing for the costume he was wearing. His sonorous, resonant voice wound around the poinciana’s branches like a thin and elegant silver thread, then descended slowly... There seemed to be only one thing left between the heaven and the earth: this person and his costume.

There was nothing else.

Even after singing for a long time, Shen Fengsheng did not seem to have any intention of stopping. After all, ghosts did not get tired. Lin Feiran and Gu Kaifeng stood unmoving on the spot and listened for a long time, until they had stood so long their legs were sore. Lin Feiran moved his legs and shuffled a little, then Gu Kaifeng scooped him into his arms.

“So beautiful,” Gu Kaifeng exclaimed. “Coming here was worth it.”

Lin Feiran’s eyes were bright. “I can’t bear to leave. Let’s listen until closing time.”

Gu Kaifeng smiled. “All right.” He led Lin Feiran to a bench under the poinciana tree opposite Shen Fengsheng, and used his sleeve to clean off the dust and flower petals for Lin Feiran. He said, “RanRan, sit and listen.”