“Do you think this play can last for three shichen?” Tan Weishi asked her older sister eagerly.

Tan Weixin was stunned for a moment before she understood. Theater performances, especially excellent ones, always ran overtime. When the audience's emotions were stirred, when the applause and curtain calls intertwined everyone's feelings, no one knew how long the performance would become. "Three and a half shichen, maybe? Are you sure your subordinates can handle that many curtain calls?"

Her sister's encouragement made Tan Weishi very proud. She said with a beaming smile, "Definitely. But after the performance, it's like my body is emptied, as if I have no strength left. So these three performances have to be spaced out. … It's just, I don't know when we'll be able to perform again after these three shows. And after they're done, I need to rest properly too."

The success of the rehearsal filled Tan Weishi with excitement, but the dark circles under her eyes due to fatigue, and the weakness in her movements, couldn't be concealed. "Well, rest well for a few days then, and after celebrating Mother's birthday, come back to Yunzhou with us, okay?" Tan Weixin gently embraced this younger sister who seemed much healthier than herself, and said with affection.

"Mm," Tan Weishi responded with excitement and a little shyness, thinking of what going to Yunzhou meant.

"By the way, brother-in-law, sister, Yun-jiejie, Father asked people to take over two hundred invitation seats from me. Do you know who they're for?" For the entire performance hall, two hundred seats was a significant number. Tan Weishi had been busy with the rehearsal recently, so when Tan Xiaopei asked for two hundred seats, she was annoyed and casually told her subordinates to handle it. Now that she thought about it, it seemed a bit strange. These two hundred seats were scattered throughout the hall, from the very edge of the first row to the last. They were probably not for VIPs, especially the seats in the corner of the last row, which made her wonder who they were for. Although tickets for *Zi Ye* were undoubtedly in high demand, deliberately giving people seats in the corner was indeed a bit odd.

"Do you know who's been in Danyang recently?" Ye Tao asked with a smile.

"Who?" Tan Weishi asked, thinking it should be someone she had at least heard of.

"Jiang Yan, the great strategist from Chunnan, and the newly appointed ambassador to Dongping have both arrived, although their seats are arranged in the boxes. But there are also people from other factions in Chunnan who can't be put together with them. There are people from Beiliao and people from Xiling. His Majesty seems to have staggered their arrangements. Some people still need to go through the Intelligence Bureau to make them think they put in a lot of effort or spent a lot of money to get someone to give up their seats. As for some of the boxes, there will also be some of these people watching *Zi Ye*. Two hundred seats really isn't that many. Divided into three shows, it's not much at all," Ye Tao explained. At least his own box would have a liaison officer from the Beiliao Western Route Army, Gao Senqi's thirteen-year-old son, Gao Hui.

"Why?" Tan Weishi asked, then seemed to realize something and asked, "Is Father up to some trick again?"

Ye Tao smiled faintly and said, "This is a good opportunity to show the grandeur of the great nation of Dongping. His Majesty is so clever, he won't miss such an opportunity. You didn't write the Tan family ancestors too well, and you didn't write the founders of those other countries too badly. His Majesty will definitely be very happy. Your identity, your insights, are all here, and they say more than anything else."

"Hmph," Tan Weishi pouted. Such a cute expression still often appeared on her face, and she never deliberately suppressed it. "Father is always like this, he can always connect good things with military and national affairs." She frowned again and said to Ye Tao, "You're like that now too!"

Ye Tao didn't retort, but tilted his head and looked at Tan Weishi. Dai Yun laughed and said, "His Majesty has spent so much money anyway, just think of it as His Majesty bought tickets and gave them to others."

Tan Weishi was amused. She said, "That's good. However, *Zi Ye* won't disappoint. Although, actually, the audience members can't hear the most wonderful effects. I once tried watching the play in the center of the stage, listening to the lyrics of those characters, and during the climax, the lyrics rang out one after another around me, as if the whole world was spinning around me. During rehearsals, I didn't know how much effort I put into getting those idiots to cooperate, but when they finally got it right, that feeling made me feel that it was worth it, no matter how tired I was. … However, including the dress rehearsal, we can only hear it four more times at most."

Looking at Tan Weishi's expectant yet regretful expression, Ye Tao felt a little sad. He thought for a while, carefully considered it, and said, "How about this, after this performance, let's count ten years, and then we'll come to Danyang again and perform *Zi Ye* again… Or, twelve to fifteen years later. It should be just in time for the completion of the new capital city of Dongping, and we'll come to perform again, to unveil the new city, how about that? I guarantee that by then, we'll definitely have a way to preserve the most wonderful sounds and images, how about it? However, the performance at that time can't be worse than this one, okay?"

Tan Weixin frowned slightly. Ye Tao was setting an incredible timetable for himself, probably at least photography and recording technology. But maybe not, was Ye Tao planning to conquer sound film technology in ten to fifteen years, or to make silent film technology able to synchronize with music records? Tan Weixin didn't doubt Ye Tao's ability, but how many things would Ye Tao have to do in these ten or fifteen years? How much time could he devote to technology research and development? That was a big question. Tan Weixin didn't feel much about Ye Tao's promise to her younger sister, at least she wouldn't be jealous or anything. Dai Yun wouldn't either. Because she was stunned by the content of Ye Tao's promise.

"Really?" Tan Weishi and Dai Yun asked almost in unison.

Ye Tao thought for a while again, and nodded firmly, saying, "I said it, I will guarantee to do it."

What Ye Tao didn't expect was that Tan Weishi soon told the entire troupe about Ye Tao's promise as a form of encouragement. Ten years immediately became an agreement for everyone. Everyone said that as long as they could still perform in ten years, they would stand on the stage of the Grand Theater again to celebrate the new capital city. The actors, who were still a little young now, might inject their accumulated understanding of the world into another performance after ten years of accumulation, to personally witness an era, to become names engraved on the milestone of a technology. Compared to such honor and expectations, the generous gifts that Ye Tao was giving now were not that important.

Six days later, after tense and complicated adjustments, the opening ceremony of the Grand Theater and the premiere of *Zi Ye* arrived as scheduled.

In this era, explosives and gunpowder were still extremely cutting-edge technologies, and could not be mastered by terrorists, assassins, and die-hards. Otherwise, some people would definitely be drooling over the concentration of so many high-value targets in the theater. Tan Xiaopei, Zhuo Xiu, Zhuo Mang, Tan Weiming, Tan Weiran, Tan Weixin, and even Consort Lian Chang Ling and the young prince Tan Weizai, who rarely appeared together, were all conspicuously present in the audience, sitting in the front row. And Ye Tao, Chi Xianping, Huang Xuping, Qu Yan, Pang Rong and other important ministers of the kingdom, as well as Dai Yun, Xu Yao, Chi Yun and other young elites, sat in the second row. Jiang Yan and others, who had originally been arranged in boxes, also requested to sit with these people and were arranged in the third row. And the current ambassador from Chunnan was actually Song Xiangjun, the most beautiful woman in Chunnan, instead of Song Xiangjun's husband as everyone had previously thought, which made people marvel at Chunnan's originality, which had always been very disciplined in its use of personnel. But Song Xiangjun also sat gracefully in the second row, sitting with Dai Qiuyan, smiling and talking, without any restraint.

Without mentioning the security considerations of such an arrangement, Tan Xiaopei sitting in the first row really made those who were arranged in the boxes feel uneasy, and one by one they ran down to pay their respects. This forced Tan Xiaopei to go on stage and give a short speech to everyone before the performance to calm everyone down. And soon after, the curtain opened, and the lights throughout the hall gradually dimmed.

The first act began in the Tang Dynasty capital, at a place then known as the Ping'an Gate, which was the imperial execution ground for serious criminals. The background was red walls and yellow tiles, but the walls of the Ping'an Gate were already somewhat dilapidated. Liu Xiangyuan, playing the role of Consort Xuan, was tied to a stake, and a dozen people dressed as soldiers were constantly piling firewood around the stake. In the distance, there were faint noises and cries. The projector also projected silhouettes of guillotines falling on the stage, which, combined with the screams simulated by the voice-over actors behind the stage, highlighted the desolate and tragic atmosphere of the entire scene, instantly capturing everyone's attention.

And in this atmosphere, Liu Xiangyuan began to sing the first aria of the entire play. Her voice did not project the desolation corresponding to the scene, but rather her full of determination and anger, telling the complex feelings of being misunderstood, slandered, and framed to end up in this situation, singing out her complex emotions of hatred, love, and regret for the emperor who had executed her entire family. And the cold tone of a treacherous executioner on the side further provoked this emotion completely. Just as all the audience members were hanging on the moment when the executioner shouted "Light the fire!" the shout of "Stop! Put out the fire!" instantly made all the audience breathe a sigh of relief. …

The character who walked out gracefully from behind the scenes was precisely "Chen Jia," who was the most controversial character in the entire play. The old prime minister walked out, trembling as he saluted Consort Xuan, took her down from the stake, and put a cloak on her. Then he told her that His Majesty had summoned her…