“Hey, buddy, what on earth are you thinking?” Zhu Yinxiao laughed so hard she could barely breathe. “Third Brother and Fourth Brother are absolutely innocent. I can personally vouch for that.”
“Then where did this fabricated story even come from?” Anping asked in disbelief.
This was just too ridiculous.
Speaking of which, Mu Gesheng was such a money-grubber. If someone was going to write a story about him like this, shouldn’t they at least have to pay him royalties?
“This matter actually has another side to it.” Zhu Yinxiao rubbed her chin. “Looks like you know half of the story already—the incident where Second Brother and Fourth Brother wreaked havoc in Fengdu. But you probably don’t know why they came to Fengdu to gamble in the first place.”
“Why?”
“Third Brother had only recently taken charge of the Yin-Yang School at the time. Something went wrong, and he ended up owing a huge debt. Part of it was a debt of gratitude, and part of it was incense money. The situation was extremely tricky. With his strength at the time, it was difficult for him to handle. Meanwhile, the people of the Yin-Yang School all took the opportunity to test the abilities of the newly appointed Wuchang Zi. Hardly anyone was willing to help him. In the end, Fourth Brother thought it over and persuaded Second Brother to pull off that stunt.”
“They won more than half the Ghost Market through gambling, then caused a huge disturbance throughout Fengdu with just the two of them. At the time, the incident practically turned Fengdu upside down. The Ten Halls of Yama were left with no face to show. Although, on the surface, it was Mister who stepped in and resolved the matter in the end, in reality, he had helped Third Brother out of his predicament.”
“First, the debts owed by the establishments in the portion of the Ghost Market they had won were forgiven. That settled the incense money. Second, Second Brother and Fourth Brother, who had caused the disturbance, were punished severely in the end, preserving Fengdu’s dignity. That settled the debt of gratitude. Finally, although it appeared that the Seven Schools of the Philosophers had lost face, in reality, both the punishment and the aftermath were decided by Mister himself. This was a form of deterrence. If members of the Seven Schools of the Philosophers committed an offense, only the Seven Schools themselves had the authority to deal with it.”
Anping held his teacup, listening for a long time without being able to recover from his astonishment.
Zhu Yinxiao smiled faintly. “No one can easily take a seat among the Seven Philosophers. Mister went to such lengths for us. That’s how the Ginkgo Study became a place where we could find shelter and peace.”
“…How do you know all this so clearly?”
“I was raised by Mozi.” Zhu Yinxiao looked at him and suddenly smiled. “But you, as an outsider, seem to know a little too much.”
Anping shuddered. Only then did he realize that he had been subtly coaxed into revealing information all along.
“Relax. Fourth Brother told me about you. He cares about you, so that makes you one of our own.” Zhu Yinxiao patted his shoulder. “But you need to be careful, buddy. You’re far too quick to let your guard down. Among the Seven Schools of the Philosophers today, not everyone can be trusted.”
“What do you mean?”
“Fourth Brother’s memories are incomplete. Since you’ve been getting information from him, I assume you don’t know about the upheaval among the Seven Schools back then…”
Zhu Yinxiao had only spoken halfway when she suddenly raised her hand. A sharp gust of finger force pierced through the bamboo blind.
“Who’s there?”
“This humble official has taken the liberty of intruding—”
Someone outside bowed respectfully.
“Greetings, Star Constellation Zi—”
The moment Anping heard that drawn-out voice, he recognized the visitor.
It was actually Cui Ziyu.
“So that’s why. There aren’t many people here who recognize my true identity.” Zhu Yinxiao poured herself a cup of tea. “Judge Cui, what brings such a busy man here?”
“This humble official is unworthy of such courtesy. I merely heard that Star Constellation Zi had graced the Ghost Market with your presence, and wished to ask you to help deliver a letter.”
“What kind of letter requires me to deliver it? Is it for Fourth Brother or my elder brother?”
Cui Ziyu replied, “Respectfully addressed to Tian Suan Zi.”
“What is it about?”
“…A request to convene the Seven Schools.”
Zhu Yinxiao’s expression changed drastically. He slowly said, “Judge Cui, do you know what you’re saying?”
He poured the tea onto the floor.
“You should be grateful my elder brother didn’t hear you say that.”
“This humble official knows full well that I have violated a taboo and deserve to die ten thousand deaths.” Cui Ziyu seemed to be forcing himself to go through with this. Even his perpetually drawn-out manner of speaking had become considerably more brisk. “However, the disturbance in the Yin-Yang Ladder is a matter of great importance. Although it was suppressed some time ago, it alarmed the Ten Halls of Yama. And given the precedent of what happened before, this matter cannot simply be dismissed lightly…”
“The Yin-Yang Ladder.” Zhu Yinxiao let out a cold laugh. “It’s the Yin-Yang Ladder again.”
“Tian Suan Zi made a divination back then, predicting that there should be no disturbances involving the Yin Soldiers for several hundred years. Yet now, before even a hundred years have passed, something has happened. Perhaps there was a problem with that divination…”
“Judge Cui.” Zhu Yinxiao interrupted him, smiling faintly. “Fengdu knows that my elder brother has returned to the City God Temple. They’re too scared to come knocking on his door, so they’ve sent you to find me instead, haven’t they?”
Cui Ziyu lowered his head and said nothing.
“Fine.” Zhu Yinxiao nodded toward the table. “Put the letter down and leave. Please.”
“Otherwise, I can’t guarantee you’ll still be around to see the midnight lanterns.”
After Cui Ziyu hurriedly withdrew, Anping immediately asked, “What exactly was that divination you were talking about?”
Mu Gesheng had once told him that the reason he had ended up half-dead and lost his memories was that he had performed a divination he should never have attempted.
And what about the “upheaval among the Seven Schools” that Zhu Yinxiao had mentioned but hadn’t finished explaining? What connection did the two have?
Zhu Yinxiao lowered the bamboo blind, shutting out the storyteller’s voice.
“A few days ago, Fourth Brother sent me a letter. He said that, by a strange twist of fate, you had tasted his blood and were therefore able to glimpse his memories.”
“Blood can indeed serve as a medium, but establishing a connection through just a few drops of blood is quite rare. What’s more, Fourth Brother is Tian Suan Zi… But since he didn’t intend to say much about it, I didn’t think it appropriate to probe further.”
Zhu Yinxiao looked at Anping.
“Do you know how the Yin Soldier rebellion back then was finally suppressed?”
“…I saw the General’s Nuo Dance in my dreams.” Anping fell silent for a moment before answering. “I don’t know what happened after the city fell.”
“Just as I thought.” Zhu Yinxiao sighed softly. “What happened afterward was the upheaval among the Seven Schools.”
“That night, my elder brother and the others failed to eliminate all the Yin Soldiers. In the end, Fourth Brother used a single Mountain Ghost Coin as the price to suppress the remaining resentful souls inside the Yin-Yang Ladder.”
Anping’s expression changed. “You mean…”
“A few days ago, the lingering resentment of the Yin Soldiers stirred again. Because of this, my elder brother entered the Yin-Yang Ladder, which had been sealed for a long time, and retrieved that Mountain Ghost Coin.”
Zhu Yinxiao spoke calmly. “Fourth Brother should have the Mountain Ghost Coin by now. This also means that he will recover part of his memories.”
“Very few people who witnessed what happened back then are still alive, and even fewer know the truth. My elder brother instructed me a long time ago that unless Fourth Brother remembered it himself, no one was allowed to tell him.”
“Of course, my elder brother’s wishes must be respected. But now that Fourth Brother has obtained the Mountain Ghost Coin, there’s no longer any need to keep avoiding the subject.”
Zhu Yinxiao picked up the envelope on the table, rubbed it between his fingers for a moment, then looked at Anping.
“Do you know what divination he performed back then?”
At the City God Temple.
“Your Majesty asks when I’ll return, but no date has yet been set.\
Braised eggplant and oil-braised chicken instead.
When shall we sit together by the western window, trimming candle wicks?\
And reminisce about the days when we fought over food.”
Mu Gesheng was lying on the kitchen roof, muttering to himself intermittently. He gazed at the lanterns hanging along the distant streets and suddenly said, “Third-Ninth Day, how about we go out for a stroll?”
Chai Shuxin walked out of the kitchen, holding a bowl of medicine. “It’s time for you to take your medicine.”
The moment Mu Gesheng heard the word medicine, he nearly went mad. He was practically ready to throw a tantrum and roll around on the roof.
“Let’s make a deal. It’s a festival today. Can we skip one dose?”
Unexpectedly, after a moment of silence, Chai Shuxin actually agreed.
“Fine.”
“What? You agree?” Mu Gesheng abruptly sat up. “Third-Ninth Day, did you eat something bad and upset your stomach?”
Immediately realizing that he’d said something inappropriate, he quickly took it back.
“No, no, no! You’re in excellent health and can eat anything without getting sick. Pretend I didn’t say anything.”
Chai Shuxin said nothing. He returned to the kitchen to put down the bowl of medicine.
After a long while without hearing any movement, Mu Gesheng jumped down from the roof. When he discovered that nobody was in the kitchen, he was just wondering where Chai Shuxin had gone when a creaking sound suddenly came from behind him.
The main gate of the City God Temple had been pushed open.
He turned around and saw Chai Shuxin standing at the entrance, holding a lit lantern in his hand.
The other man’s face was still expressionless. He simply looked at Mu Gesheng earnestly and said softly, “Wishing you peace and good health on the Lantern Festival.”
Mu Gesheng paused, then broke into a smile.
“Wishing you good fortune on the Lantern Festival.”
The lantern in Chai Shuxin’s hand was made from bamboo strips and rice paper. This traditional style of lantern was no longer commonly seen nowadays. Narrow strips of imitation silk-pattern paper bordered its upper and lower edges, giving it a simple yet elegant appearance.
“What made you think of buying this?” Mu Gesheng walked up to Chai Shuxin. “Wait, did you make this yourself?”
Chai Shuxin was slightly taken aback. “You actually recognized it?”
“The entire courtyard is decorated with paper-cut window decorations made by you. If I couldn’t recognize your handiwork, I’d have to be blind.” Mu Gesheng teased him. “Speaking of which, you didn’t use the Blood-Licking Saber to cut the paper, did you? If Second Brother finds out you used his saber like that, he’ll come haunt you in your dreams and kill you.”
“Let him come.” Chai Shuxin replied calmly. “It’ll be a good opportunity for a fight.”
“Fine, look at you, so mighty.” Mu Gesheng took the lantern and smiled. “As the saying goes, a gentleman should be admired beneath the moon, while a beauty should be appreciated beneath the lanterns.”
“Come on, beautiful. Let’s go out for a stroll.”
When the Lantern Festival arrived, lanterns became hot commodities.
The West City Street was an old street. Its buildings had been renovated in a traditional architectural style, most of them two-story buildings with sweeping eaves and upturned corners. Wires and red silk ribbons stretched between the buildings, with lanterns hanging densely overhead.
The street was packed with people. Vendors carried bamboo racks covered in colorful lanterns.
As Mu Gesheng walked along, he laughed and said, “Electric lanterns are all the rage nowadays. I remember taking my daughter to the lantern fair that year. She absolutely refused to leave until I bought her one. She cried even harder than Fifth Brother did back then.”
As he spoke, a nostalgic expression appeared on his face.
“That lantern was hilarious. It even played the Ultraman theme song.”
Chai Shuxin pointed toward a lantern stall nearby. “Is that the one you’re talking about?”
It was a stall specializing in electric lanterns, with all kinds of designs available. There were zodiac animals, SpongeBob SquarePants, Peppa Pig, and just about everything else.
Mu Gesheng’s eyes lit up.
“Look at that! I’ve searched high and low, and here it is!”
He walked up to the stall.
“Let me pick one out for my daughter. I’ll hang it beside her bed when we get back.”
Chai Shuxin, however, remained quite calm. “Which one do you want?”
“Welcome, welcome! Feel free to take a look!” The shopkeeper was exceptionally enthusiastic. “Are you two buying these for yourselves, or taking one home for the children?”
“Thank you.” Mu Gesheng replied with a cheerful smile. “I’m buying one for my daughter.”
Although his face really didn’t look like that of someone with a daughter, and the idea that he had married young was equally hard to believe, the shopkeeper was only momentarily stunned before smiling again.
“Of course! How old is your daughter this year? Children of different ages like different things. Just tell me her age, and I’ll recommend something. I guarantee she’ll love it!”
“She isn’t very old.” Mu Gesheng waved his hand. “She graduated from kindergarten.”
“That’s easy!” The shopkeeper enthusiastically took down a lantern and handed it to Mu Gesheng. “This one, then! It’s my best-selling item. Little girls in kindergarten are practically fighting over it!”
It was a cartoon doll with rather unusual color combinations and a pair of rainbow wings on its back.
Mu Gesheng burst out laughing when he saw it.
“Oh, this little flower fairy is quite pretty!”
“It’s not a little flower fairy. It’s Disney Princess merchandise.” The shopkeeper explained confidently. “It even comes with music. Here, give it a try!”
The moment Mu Gesheng switched it on, deafening music burst out.
“Legend has it there’s a Magic Fairy Castle—”
“Wonderful, wonderful! A Disney princess on the run, who escaped to the Magic Fairy Castle and became a magical fairy instead.”
Mu Gesheng laughed until he could barely stand. Turning to Chai Shuxin, he said, “This is the one.”
After Chai Shuxin paid for it, he asked helplessly, “How much longer are you going to play that music?”
“We should at least listen to it once. Otherwise, when my daughter comes back and sees it, she’ll definitely smash it.” Mu Gesheng laughed as he walked. “The child’s reaction will be hilarious.”
“If you already know she’ll smash it, why buy it?”
“She has an adolescent rebellious streak combined with menopausal irritability. She’s practically an elderly child.” Mu Gesheng spoke earnestly. “Young people have a lot of pressure in their lives. They need a little childlike innocence.”
“Really?”
“Of course not.” Mu Gesheng replied. “Actually, I just want to see her lose her temper.”
“She already loses it badly enough. If she gets any angrier, she’ll go bald.”
“Third-Ninth Day, there’s a hidden meaning in your words.” Mu Gesheng laughed when he heard that. “Aren’t you indirectly mocking her father for going bald at a young age? Third Brother only suffers from serious hair loss. He’s never actually gone bald.”
Chai Shuxin looked perfectly serious. “Hair loss is hereditary.”
“Fine, you’re the professional here. I’m an amateur, so I won’t argue with you.” Mu Gesheng laughed. “At worst, when my daughter comes back, you can make her some black sesame paste.”
“I’ve made it before. She wouldn’t drink it.”
“Come to think of it, Third Brother didn’t like drinking it back then either.”
“That’s because yours tasted terrible.”
“Little Physician, are you trying to strike straight at my heart?”
The two continued walking and chatting, and before long, they had explored the entire length of the street.
“Once today is over, the temple fair will close for the season. It’s only during these few days of the first lunar month every year that we get to see some of these old-fashioned things from the past.”
For once, Mu Gesheng showed a rare moment of sentimentality. Chai Shuxin looked at him, his lips moving as though he was about to say something. But then the man suddenly perked up.
“Wonderful! The things at the temple fair are ridiculously expensive. Once the first lunar month is over, they can all get lost!”
Chai Shuxin: “…”
He fell silent for a moment before saying, “Once the first lunar month is over, Star Constellation Zi and the others should be leaving too.”
Mu Gesheng teased him at the remark. “What, going to miss them?”
“It’s rare for everyone to get together.”
“That’s true. It is rare for everyone to get together.” Mu Gesheng said, “But this year is different. If my guess is correct, Fifth Brother won’t be leaving so soon.”
Hearing this, Chai Shuxin looked at him. “You mean…”
He stopped halfway through his sentence when he noticed the Mountain Ghost Coin held between Mu Gesheng’s fingers.
It was precisely the one Chai Shuxin had retrieved from the Yin-Yang Ladder.
“I’ve remembered a few things.” Mu Gesheng tossed the coin into the air. “And I’ve also made some predictions about what may happen next.”
“No wonder you refused to tell me personally what happened back then.” Mu Gesheng looked at Chai Shuxin and smiled. “I’ve remembered what divination I performed back then.”