"You know each other?" This time it was Cosbody's turn to be surprised.

"I have worked under Captain Kris for a while." Ashu Rufate answered as lightly as possible. However, his pretended calmness could hardly escape a pair of truly keen eyes.

"Oh, let's talk about the old things. Dear, an urgent matter happened. Our musician didn't know what emergency he had and fainted. He had always said that he had a stomachache. I wanted him to hold on, but now it's over." Chris didn't care about Ashu Rufate and said anxiously to Cosbody.

"Musician...are there any reserved musicians in the troupe?"

"I resigned two days ago, I've told you!"

"Then...what should I do..."

"We can't announce the suspension of the performance, otherwise it would be like smashing our own sign. I remember Fei Runan has a private musician, a very outstanding performer. We still have time to take advantage of the break..."

"We can't guarantee that person is at home. And his relationship with me is not so close...and time...we don't have much time to delay!"

"But you can't fail this performance, otherwise your plan will be wasted, and we may even become a joke and never turn it over, right?"

"Wait a minute, Captain Chris, I can play." Ashu Rufate suddenly interrupted.

"Ash Rufate?" The couple looked at Ash Rufate together, their eyes full of confusion.

"I have spent a lot of effort learning the skills of playing during this period. If I were playing the lyre, I would be a little confident." Ashu Rufate smiled slightly. After all, he had a meal from someone else (although it didn't mean much to him) and watched a scene for free. Especially after Carrie's special training period, he felt that he should be able to play music of the same level as he had just heard.

A few minutes later, Ashu Rufate came to the backstage of the stage. This time, the background change was delayed by several minutes than normal, but it was still within the audience's tolerance. At this time, looking down from the corner of the stage, you can see that the audience was basically in place after a brief rest, discussing and waiting for the beginning of the final drama. Now it is still time.

"These are the repertoire..." Chris sent a score to Ashu Rufate. "Just follow this performance." She no longer demanded too much, as long as she could succeed in the performance this time. Most audiences actually couldn't find such a small mistake in the performance. It must be said that at this time, the team of Chris's team was no longer the same as before. There was a whole band next to Ashu Rufate, and more than a dozen players holding various instruments. "The others are fine, but there is a solo piano sound here. As long as we can finish this segment, we can be considered successful."

The audience's waiting did not last much, and soon the last scene opened. After a collective performance, the actor who played the hypocrite stood in the center of the stage and began a dance to express inner monologues. Other music stopped, with only the sound of the piano accompaniment. The hypocrite's dance was cheerful and joyful, full of victory and pride, while the solo of the piano sound in the background was sad and melancholy. This strong contrast created a very unique effect. It was just used to express the special incongruous feeling of evil over goodness.

Kris stood in a corner of the theater, her heart fluctuated with the sound of the piano. Things were better than expected, and Ashu Rufate played quite well - no, it should be said to be extremely excellent. He also played according to the score, but people like Kris could easily judge the level of their performance.

To be honest, she doesn't seem to remember that Ashu Rufate is actually good at this.

The following performance further proved her judgment. In each group performance, the sound of the piano was not suppressed by other instruments at all. In fact, Chris's feeling, the sound of the piano seemed to have become a dominant without realizing it, and became a practical master of many different instruments, controlling the sound of other instruments like a king controlling his subjects. Only a real master can master the skills contained in this.

The performance finally ended. With the audience's long-lasting applause, all the actors and musicians came out to leave. The generous noble ladies kept throwing flowers and some other small gifts onto the stage to express their appreciation for the performance.

When Ashu Rufat walked out of the backstage, he saw Cosbody waiting for him. Seeing Ashu Rufat come out, Cosbody's first reaction was to give him a hug again.

"Thank you, my friend, you helped me again." Cosbody's expression was sincere.

"Cosbody, it seems... your situation is not as good as you said." Asu Ruffat asked. "What the hell happened?" He estimated that there was no doubt that Cosbody had made a fortune, but it seemed... he was in some trouble.

"It's not convenient here, let's go back and talk." Cosbody said softly, and grabbed his arm. "You haven't found a place to stay yet, right? Why not stay in a humble house for a night?"

Cosbody's home lives in the city's wealthy area. It is no exaggeration to say that it is also a very grand house in the wealthy area, which can be called a miniature palace. The house is surrounded by ornamental plants, and the luxury inside gives people a sense of return to nature. Everything doesn't look very eye-catching, but after careful study, it finds its own secrets. For example, the chair Ashrufate sits on is simple in appearance, but it is actually made of fragrant wood, which naturally exudes a faint fragrance. The cups and porcelain on the table are not outstanding on the outside, but are actually expensive items from foreign countries.

Cosbody and Ashurufat sat at the table, while Chris stood beside her husband. Now there were only two of Cosbody and Ashurufat left in the room. It was completely dark, so the candlestick in the middle of the table had been lit. The host and the guest had already used dinner together before. According to human living habits, if there were no dance parties, cards and other social interactions, they should be able to go to bed at this time.

During this period, it is not a special thing to have a secret conversation with a friend from afar in his living room alone. So servants such as servants and maids left tactfully. In fact, if one of them had a particularly curious or had other intentions to try to eavesdrop, he would not be able to hear anything special. Because the topic of discussion between the two sides was how Cosbody knew Chris and how to marry her home. These were topics that old friends would talk to each other when they met. For the people who were talking, it was naturally a hot topic, but for the listeners, it was naturally a boring trivial matter that had nothing to do with him.

"So...we're together like that." Cosbody ended the conversation with this sentence.

A brief silence appeared in the air. This was because the old topic had ended, while the new topic had not been picked up yet.

"I can ask, what happened to the performance this afternoon?" Asu Ruffatt entered the venue, he noticed that the audience who came to enjoy the performance did not buy tickets. He initially thought it was because Cosbody was generous and invited guests from all parties for free, but what happened later showed that things didn't seem that simple. "Cosbody, is there any crisis hidden on the surface of your scenery?"

"Ashu Rufate, things... are actually like this." Cosbody looked back at Chris, his voice becoming a little heavy. "I am indeed facing a crisis." He paused for a moment, as if he had made up some determination. "But it wasn't what you guessed... it wasn't money, but from the other side."

“On the other hand?”

"Someone covets my property." Cosbody sighed. "Oh, I know this. In fact, this happened when the two of us did that vote in Mill City... But I really didn't expect that an honest and legal businessman would encounter such problems. It seems that the whole world cannot escape this kind of trouble." He made an exaggerated gesture.

"Ashu Rufate, it seems that I am too rich. Now people outside estimate that I earn 100,000 gold coins a year. They are jealous of all this and want to deal with me with some means that... surpasses commercial competition."

"Who wants to deal with you? Are there any clues?" Ashu Rufate asked.

"I don't know who it is. In fact, there is no evidence that someone is plotting against me. But you know I am a gambler, and I have a keen sense of danger. This is actually the same as at the gambling table. As long as the other party has a smile, a blink, and an inadvertent small move, I can guess the good or bad of the cards in the hands of others. Now it is this intuition that tells me the danger. Look, so I have been spending money vigorously recently... On the one hand, I help the poor, and on the other hand, I try to win over the top people in the city, find ways to improve my evaluation in the eyes of others, and accumulate some capital for myself to fight against the storm. A gentleman with good reputation and a nouveau riche who is unkind are two concepts. If someone tries to do it, the former will at least make people feel some concerns... Today's free performance is very important. But... I am not 100% sure."

"So Ashu Rufate, if you have your help, it will be very helpful to me. With your courage and my money and wisdom, we can - at least I believe can - solve a lot of trouble. How about it? Stay and partner with me again?"

His expression was extremely earnest and sincere. It was the expression of facing a true friend.

"Cosbody, dear friend." Ashu Rufate whispered. "To be honest, I'm happy to help you. But... you may not believe anything I say. Why not take a look at this."

He pushed his hair back and revealed his ears.

"Ash Rufate, you..." Cosbody's expression was really shocked. "You are an elf? No, you can't be an elf... I understand. You accepted someone's commission and wanted to go to the elf's kingdom to perform a mission? So you specially found a magician to impose an illusion on your ear?"

Ashu Rufate did not answer, just let the other party guess. There was indeed an illusion on his ear, but it was to disguise the elf's long ears as human ears - the opposite of what Cosbody guessed. It was provided to him by Carrie, in order not to cause any trouble along his journey.

"Hey... I understand. Ashu Rufate, I won't make it difficult for you. I know that the mercenary industry also has its own moral standards. Since you are ready to accept such a difficult task and are ready for it..." Cosbody exhaled a puff of cigarette (he had been biting the cigarette tube before).

"It's really a pity." Ash Rufate replied.

"No, my friend, my request is too abrupt." Although Cosbody was disappointed, she immediately cheered up. "Ashu Rufat, I want to give you a piece of advice. Although you used some magic to change your ears, it doesn't mean you can pretend to be an elf. There were many people holding your naive thoughts like you, but no one has successfully gotten into the elf kingdom. Because the gap between human body shape and elf is quite obvious."

“Body size difference?”

"Your skeleton is not particularly large among humans, but it is very conspicuous among elves. Almost no elves will look like this. They are...slimmer, regardless of gender," said Cosbody.
Chapter completed!