Jinghong Yan: A Deadly Swan Song on the Opera Stage

In costume, I’m Su Fuxue, who brings all the joys and sorrows of the world to life onstage. Out of costume, I’m a living King of Hell who can see through the demons lurking in people’s hearts.

On the eve of the “Jinghong Banquet,” my senior sister was found hanged onstage. The authorities ruled it suicide, but I knew a woman as proud as her would never take her own life.

While they examined the body, I “read” the play. From the old troupe leader’s trembling whiskers, to the musician’s erratic notes, to my junior sisters’ envious, jealous glances, every tiny expression was part of a clumsy performance.

Shen Gunan, the cold-faced coroner who believes only in bones, said I was making a fool of myself.

So I imitated the victim’s handwriting and showed him what it meant to “deceive Heaven and cross the sea.” I studied the killer’s words and actions to make him understand that the human heart is harder to read than bones.

When bodies kept turning up on the stage, he finally handed me his scalpel. “Miss Su, in this play, I’ll examine the bones, and you’ll cut open the heart.”

[The hook in one sentence]: Other heroines rely on magic. Mine relies on acting!

Watch a clear-eyed, career-driven leading actress turn the stage into a courtroom and perform a grand drama of catching killers!