Volume Two. After One Stepped Down, Another Would Step Up
Chapter 26. Lord Seventh
The lush green of trees that stayed flourishing year-round, the bright prosperity, the birds that pa.s.sed by, the ranges of mountains extended up and down uninterrupted, like the curve of a beauty"s back.
This place was South Xinjiang.
Under an old tree that had to be at least a hundred years old sat a South Xinjiang boy with perfect posture; he was around ten and was doing a.s.signments. He might be young but his determination was bursting, as he had been focused for two hours now, looking like nothing could disrupt his work.
Next to the table was a deck chair arranged horizontally, and on it was a man resting with his eyes closed. He was dressed in robes like someone from the central land, and between his thighs was an old open book.
At the man"s feet was a small sable. Being ignored by everyone, it chased its own tail in boredom.
At that moment, a warrior walked to them, letter in hand. Seeing the sight before him, his steps got quieter and he waited by the side in silence.
The man on the deck chair opened his eyes. He looked halfway over twenties, his long narrow eyes¹ carrying a hint of amus.e.m.e.nt. When he looked around, he was truly an exceptional beauty. The small sable nimbly jumped into his embrace and climbed up his shoulders, its tail stroking his chin.
The warrior presented the letter with politeness. "My Lord, it iss a letter from Head Butler Song."
"Lord Seventh" uttered a word in a.s.sent and opened the letter with only mild interest, but halfway through reading, he abruptly sat up, the look in his eyes sobering, "Is it really him?"
The small sable upon seeing the mysterious paper in front of it reached out its claws, but was held back by its owner by the neck and gently thrown onto the table by which the boy was sitting.
Only then did he raised his head, "Who is it, father?"
The man didn"t answer right away. He stood up and took two steps forward, leisurely folding the letter while talking about something completely off-topic, "Lu Ta, did you remember what I told you last time about the principle of this world, about how division precedes unity and vice versa like a circle?"
The young man seemed to be used to his father"s habit of speaking nonsense before reaching the focal point, so he played along. "You say that it is simply like how after sitting for a long time, one has to stand up, and when they can"t stand anymore they sit down again. There is no philosophy to it, just that us humans are born to suffer."
A satisfied smile appear on the man"s face, and he said to the dazed South Xinjiang warrior, "Axinlai, go find your Great Shaman for me and ask him if he thinks what I said is reasonable."
Axinlai"s face was of pure confusion. "Huh?"
The man was about to say something when they heard a small laugh and a gentle voice, "Are you so unoccupied to the point of wanting to stir up troubles?"
The man who just came in was dressed in black from head to toe, carrying a scepter that was also solic black. Upon seeing him, Axinlai bowed, "Great Shaman."
The shaman muttered a word of acknowledgement and gestured at him. "Go do your work—Beiyuan, don"t always make fun of good-natured people."
The man named Beiyuan gave him the folded letter while still smiling, "Guess who has graced our shop with their holy presence?"
The shaman didn"t feel particularly intrigued, but he received it anyway with a grunt, "As long as it"s not the Emperor of Da Qing… Hm? Lord Zhou?"
On the other man"s face was a smile that carried no good intentions at all, "My little venom, how about we pay Zhongyuan a visit? Since our old friend has asked for help, isn"t it natural that we should put our lives on the line for him if possible?"
The shaman looked at the other man"s mischievous face without saying anything, but internally he knew the other clearly just wanted to watch chaos happen while "helping" his friend.
Zhou Zishu, not knowing he had signed his fate for having such an acquaintance, was currently distressed about a very materialistic matter—"Giant"s Stomach" Ye Baiyi"s presence had left him with a money problem.
After the short staring contest with Wen Kexing, Zhou Zishu came to a realization: If Wen Kexing was reliable then sows could climb trees. He must have possessed terrible luck to be running into both a bigeater and a freeloader, how great.
Wen Kexing, seeing that Zhou Zishu"s gaze had turned sour, couldn"t help but tighten his clothes around him. He said in a small voice, "I only sell my entertainment value and not my body, you must not leave me here."
Zhou Zishu asked, "So what are you going to do now?"
Wen Kexing said, "Since you"re the one who treated us, you should sell yourself instead."
Zhou Zishu gritted out, "I"m not a f.u.c.king maiden, will you buy me if I do sell myself then?"
Wen Kexing"s eyes immediately brightened, "Of course, I will buy you even if I have to sell away all of my fortunes!"
Zhou Zishu lowered his voice, "Can you sell all of your fortunes to pay for this meal first then?"
After a stretch of silence, Wen Kexing finally replied, "Ah-Xu, how about we just run?"
Zhou Zishu turned his face away without a word. He might have done some rogue-like activities to earn some cash, but there was still some conscience left in him; leaving without paying for a meal was very much against his code of conduct, and… He looked at Wen Kexing"s openly brazen face, and there"s this despicable man.
The moment his face turned, he saw someone walking in. Zhou Zishu"s spirit was revived as he called out, "How coincidental, Young Miss Gu!"
The moment Gu Xiang heard it and saw the two of them, her face turned green with fear. She was going to leave immediately, but she was not as fast as Wen Kexing. The man was already standing in front of her and asked serenely, "Ah-Xiang, why are you running?"
A pale Gu Xiang managed to reply, "Mas… Master, I just… went… the wrong way."
Wen Kexing patted her shoulder and tugged her back inside, "Don"t be shy, if you"re here then stay."
Gu Xiang felt goose b.u.mps breaking out on her skin, feeling like there was no way her master could harbor good intentions. But now that she couldn"t escape, she had to stay close to his every step with skittishness, her posture not unlike someone who was going to be executed. Wen Kexing led her to their table and asked, "Do you have money with you?"
Immediately Gu Xiang pulled out all she had, from silver crumbles to paper cash and gold ingots. Only now did Wen Kexing nod in contentment and shout with the confidence of a loaded man, "Show us the bill!"
Gu Xiang thought, No wonder that fortune teller told me to use my wealth to avoid bad luck, o" merciful Buddha!
Now that she had helped them, Wen Kexing was reasonable enough to let her tag along again, no longer chasing her away. Walking ahead of them was Zhou Zishu who was deliberating something; after a while, he suddenly looked back and asked directly. "Brother Wen, why did you burn the room of the Zhang brat that night?"
Gu Xiang was alarmed, "Master, you committed arsonry?"
Wen Kexing said entirely seriously, "I saw an astronomical phenomenon indicating that the kid would face a great calamity and it needed fire to be quelled, so I did it right away."
In the middle of his talk, he saw Zhou Zishu and Gu Xiang"s disdainful faces, so he added, "Acts done out of goodwill don"t need to be said out loud, don"t look at me with such adoration."
Gu Xiang said, "Master, can you see my fate in the stars too?"
Wen Kexing replied, "There will be a great disaster happening to you if you don"t shut up for a day."
As expected, Gu Xiang didn"t open her mouth again.
They returned to the place where the execution happened during the day. Most of the crowd had dispersed and the Ghost was nowhere to be found; it was said that his martial art skills were crippled completely, and a chain was pierced through his shoulder blades to keep him in place. They arrived when Cao Weining, accompanied by Zhang Chengling, was looking for them. "Brother Zhou, Young Brother Zhang told me that you are his master…" He suddenly stopped talking to gape at Gu Xiang who was standing behind Wen Kexing, his mouth wide open.
Gu Xiang blinked a few times for no reasons, while Cao Weining kept staring at her stupidly.
Next to him, Zhou Zishu cleared his voice. Cao Weining was pulled out of the daze and blushed deeply, stuttering, "M- Miss… Apologies, I didn"t mean to be rude, really, just…"
Gu Xiang, unsure about what to make of that, felt like this young man was not quite right in the head. She saw Cao Weining abruptly took a few steps back while speaking with the smallest voice possible, "My last- last name is Cao, first name Weining, from Tai- Tai Hang, belonging to the "Wei" line of Qing Feng Sword Sect, my master is- is Qing Feng"s P-Patriarch Mo Huaiyang…"
After judging him once, Gu Xiang asked Wen Kexing, "Master, what"s wrong with him?"
Shattered on the ground before he could announce his entire family tree were Cao Weining"s pure, juvenile feelings that had just blossomed.
Zhou Zishu glanced at Zhang Chengling and said after some thoughts, "Over here, brat." Seeing that the elder didn"t shun him away anymore, Zhang Chengling was overjoyed and cheerily followed him. Wen Kexing patted Cao Weining"s shoulder and went back to his room with Gu Xiang.
The moment Gu Xiang walked past him, Cao Weining could sense a waft of fragrance that muddled his brain completely. Only when they were long gone was he snapped out of the trance, and he started whispering in amazement. "Guan-guan crooned the osprey, from where amidst the water, the North was famed for having beauty… who with a gentleman would make a fated pair…² How can such a beautiful young maiden exist, how does…"
He walked away while still lamenting, again drowned in his infatuation.
Gu Xiang whispered to Wen Kexing once they were far away, "master, Old Meng is also here, he wants to tell you about below…"
Wen Kexing was completely undisturbed. The corner of his lips lifted but there was no hint of a smile in his eyes. He said gently, "Even Old Meng wants to tell me what to do?"
"…Yes."
Zhou Zishu silently brought Zhang Chengling to his own room. Nodding once, he said. "Sit down, I want to ask you something."
Zhang Chengling sat, perfectly well-behaved. "What do you want to know, shifu?"
Zhou Zishu mused before asking, "Did the man with the mark of a hand on his face whom you met that day ask you about whether you had come across a man with a finger missing?"
Zhang Chengling nodded. Zhou Zishu asked again. "So have you met him?"
Zhang Chengling shook his head. "Shifu, who is that man?"
Not giving the younger an answer, Zhou Zishu crossed his legs, index finger lightly tapping his one of his knees. Xue Fang the Hanged Ghost was rumored to have lost a finger, that was why he knew the man in black who Gu Xiang killed in the abandoned shrine was not him.
But what was the intention of the red-clothed Delighted Mourning Ghost?
After a while, he spoke slowly with unusual seriousness. "Try to remember it more clearly, kiddo, did you see anything out of the ordinary that night?"
By "that night", he meant the night the entire Zhang family was murdered. Zhang Chengling"s breath quickened, and Zhou Zishu softened his voice even further. "Don"t rush things, just think it over carefully. I"m afraid that memory might be very important."
Zhang Chengling paled. After a good while, he shook his head while replying in a choked voice, "Shifu, you ask me whether there was something unusual, but wasn"t that entire night an unusual event?"
Zhou Zishu"s brows furrow and he no longer pushed him further. After a bout of grave silence, he said. "I"m going to teach you a mnemonic rhyme; you have to try to comprehend it yourself and utilize it to further your cultivation. You can come to me if there is any confusion."
Zhang Chengling was dumbfounded.
Zhou Zishu added. "You shouldn"t leave Sir Zhao"s side during these coming days, and must not act on your own or leave the Gao"s manor, do you understand?"
Zhang Chengling"s eyes widened. "Shifu… Thank you, shifu!"
Zhou Zishu awkwardly coughed and scolded him, "Stop speaking nonsense and remember what I"m going to say, I will not repeat it for a second time."
Footnotes.
The volume t.i.tle is from a line in the poem 好了歌注/Notes On the Song "Hao Liao", by Cao Xueqin.
¹ The original phrase literally translates to "peach blossom eyes." In physiognomy, this eye shape indicates that a person is often more alluring but also more scandalous.
² He has mixed up several poems. The first and last line are from The Song of Osprey, and the second line is from Reeds; both poems are from Confucius"s Book of Odes. The third line is from Ode to A Beauty, by Li Yannian.