Chapter 724: Topsy-Turvy

Even in their wildest dreams, the actors surely couldn't have guessed that those figures they were acting out were standing right there in the audience, watching them raptly.

Several of the Jinghun present clapped and shouted, "Bravo! Bravo!"

It was meant to be a romantic comedy, but the Jinghun acted as though they were watching a thriller instead. The Jinghun felt that this was high praise: their comrades' antics had been so influential that there was even a play about it.

Zhang Lie would have been perfectly happy to applaud if someone else had done this instead of him, but he couldn't help frown upon watching this ersatz performance.

The two actors on stage were acting out the scene of Zhang Lie and Li Qianlin's confrontation on stage during the wedding, but Zhang Lie found this reenactment farcical. If they really were to face off against each other in the wedding, they would have been struck down by the two kings of the realm.

However, the captive audience didn't see any issue with this reenactment. To them, as long as there was sufficient drama involved, any logical inconsistencies could be smoothed out.

Given how the actors on stage were dragging out the play, they could divide a single wedding into thirty-six episodes, and they would be able to enact all thirty-six episodes if Zhang Lie and Li Qianlin remained in the headlines.

Most importantly, there were countless such retellings of the wedding floating around. There were several popular variants among these.

The past boyfriend: Zhang Lie was Li Qianlin's past boyfriend, but the king of the east forcefully separated them because of his lack of strength. In rage, Zhang Lie was motivated to grow stronger than he ever had been before. When he learned that Li Qianlin was getting married, he rushed over to crash the wedding.

The past girlfriend: this version arose because much of the audience, not having attended the wedding personally, was unaware of whether Zhang Lie was male or female, and treated him as female. Interestingly enough, many favored this version above the others.

This supposed 'Zhang Lie' was Duan Gen's past girlfriend, but they broke up because of their differences in status or because of Zhang Lie's abrasive personality. Upon hearing that Duan Gen was getting married to Li Qianlin, 'Zhang Lie' crashed the wedding, crippled Duan Gen, and snatched away the bride, in order that no one would have what she, Zhang Lie, couldn't possess.

The elopement: Zhang Lie and Li Qianlin were in love, but the king of the east separated them by force. The day of the wedding, Zhang Lie contracted with an external party to escape with Li Qianlin.

In this variation, the reason that Zhang Lie and Li Qianlin were able to escape weren't because of their own strength, but rather that of the mysterious party. ?This external party was unwilling to see the worlds of east and west allying with each other; this version suggested a grand conspiracy at play.

Revenge: this was an even more ludicrous version of events. Allegedly, the king of the west had destroyed Zhang Lie's entire clan, leaving him the only survivor.

Zhang Lie cultivated for many long years hoping for a chance to take revenge. He wanted the western king's line to perish, and for the western king's reputation to diminish in the public eye. During the wedding, he snuck into the ceremony and struck at an opportune moment, crippling Duan Gen and snatching away the bride.

Reincarnation: Zhang Lie couldn't stand this version, which was far too fantastical for his taste—something along the lines of Zhang Lie and Li Qianlin being fated to be together in three separate reincarnations.

Generational feud: the king of the west snatched away Zhang Lie's woman in the past, and Zhang Lie now snatched away his son's woman in the present.

Generational feud, redux: the king of the east snatched away Zhang Lie's woman, and Zhang Lie now snatched away his daughter.

After the performance, Zhang Lie tipped the actors—he wasn't particularly enthused by the performance, or at all, but Li Qianlin liked it very much.

Enjoying the results of someone else's hard work certainly was worth some money; it would be immoral not to pay. Zhang Lie would hardly do something so unethical, at least not in sight of Li Qianlin...

Suddenly, Zhang Lie discovered that Li Qianlin had gone missing. He searched for her and found her in front of a noticeboard.

Li Qianlin pointed at two of the notices and shouted, "Zhang Lie, look! There are bounties on us now!"

Zhang Lie rolled his eyes at her. "What's exciting about that?"

"Well, no one has ever issued a bounty on me before. Of course I'm excited!"

She walked up to inspect the drawings carefully before clucking her tongue in annoyance. "Am I that ugly? Who drew these notices?!"

"That's how your father thinks of you, of course!"

"Liar!" Li Qianlin retorted.

"Don't you want to be drawn in an ugly fashion? Would you rather have the whole world search for your exact likeness?"

Li Qianlin pursed her lips. "Aren't you a hero? With you around, what do I have to fear?"

Zhang Lie had to explain, "The reason you're drawn in such an inaccurate fashion is because your father doesn't really want to chase you down."

Li Qianlin frowned. "Can't he just not issue these bounties, then?"

Zhang Lie shrugged. "He has to at least put in the illusion of effort to maintain cordial relations with the west, after all."

This sort of thing had happened in Zhang Lie's past life, but the context was different. In his past life, the king of the realm didn't want to chase Li Qianlin down. In this one, he thought the chase would be meaningless, a waste of time and effort. If even the king of the east were unable to stop Zhang Lie, how would anyone else be able to succeed?

Zhang Lie appreciated his own portrait. In his past life, Li Qianlin was the only one who had a bounty issued on her, not him.

"It looks a little like modern art..." Zhang Lie's drawing looked like that of a monster, with eyes, ears, mouth, and nose all out of alignment. When he turned to Li Qianlin, however, his thoughts about the perceived inaccuracies of his drawing vanished.

Li Qianlin's portrait looked like that of a different person entirely, fat and fuzzy with hair.

"No, this won't do! I have to talk to my father about this!" In anger, Li Qianlin reached out to tear the bounty from the noticeboard, but Zhang Lie stopped her in time.

In this life, Li Qianlin didn't have to experience a harrowing chase before meeting with Zhang Lie, and her personality was somewhat different from before.

Or rather, this was Li Qianlin's original personality, and her escape and subsequent maturity had changed her for the better. That change was what ultimately got Zhang Lie interested in her...

1. I hope this is not also the author's perspective on this work...