Chapter 2: The divination indicates that the person went out to buy tea and incidentally bought a person along the way. ...
The man on the ground was either dead or alive. Wang Gui kicked him, and the slave rolled over and lay down again, remaining silent despite being beaten like this.
Wang Gui grabbed his hair and lifted him up.
The long hair that had been covering his face was pulled up completely. The slave wasn't looking at him; even when he forced his head back, he kept his eyes downcast and his face indifferent.
Wang Gui looked at that face and felt a burning hatred.
He had never encountered such a difficult slave! In the past, some of the more rebellious ones would bite their tongues and commit suicide when they heard they were to be sold to male customers. In such a large slave shed, it was not difficult to die.
But this man, he never once attempted suicide. No matter how many times he was caught, he would always try to escape for his life. Once he was taken out to be sold, he was like a mute, refusing to speak no matter what was asked. If anyone tried to touch him, he would immediately bite without mercy, even if it drew blood! If you tried to discipline him, you could whip him until he was on the verge of death, but he wouldn't react at all, always with that dead-looking expression. But if you threw him back into the shed, hey, he would come back to life! Even if he was in so much pain that he couldn't stand up, he would still eat and drink, as if he valued his life to the extreme.
Wang Gui had been a slave trader for over a decade, and this was the first time he had ever seen someone who was both unafraid of death and eager to live a life of ease!
Wang Gui was also furious. He couldn't beat him into submission, he couldn't sell him, and disposing of him would be a waste of his face. Fuming with rage, he ground his teeth and raised the whip again.
"Wait a minute!"
A flash of green, and the girl in the bamboo hat hurriedly reached out and grabbed his whip, causing Wang Gui to abruptly stop. He looked up, somewhat surprised by Yue Yining's return, but still managed a smile: "Guest, what brings you here...?"
Yue Yining smiled politely, released his hand, coughed twice, and asked with a slightly awkward expression, "Boss, how much does this slave... cost approximately?"
Wang Gui's eyes lit up when he heard this.
A business opportunity! He changed his actions, grabbing the slave by the collar and smiling broadly, saying, "Not expensive at all! Miss, you want this one I'm holding, right? You have a really good eye! I'm not bragging, but there's no one in this slave shed who's better looking than him. He's truly a beauty! If you buy him and display him in your room, it'll be a daily delight to look at!"
"Let me put it this way, I feel a connection with you, young lady, so this is the price you'll pay!"
Wang Gui held up a number, and Yue Yining felt a chill run down her spine.
So expensive!
In fact, Yue Yining regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth. She barely had any money in her pocket; she should consider whether she could actually afford to do good deeds, especially since she was practically starving!
Yue Yining: "...Can you make it any cheaper?"
Wang Gui glanced at the person in his hands. The slave still kept his head down, unmoved.
Right now, these slaves are a hot potato. If we can sell them, even if it's cheap, it's worth it, as long as we don't lose money.
Wang Gui probed, "May I ask which family in Jinling you are, Miss? Many official families in Jinling bought their servants from me. If your household has many dealings with us, I might be able to give you a discount."
It would have been better if she hadn't said anything, because saying it made Yue Yining even more embarrassed.
Yue Yining: "...Please excuse me, boss. I am not from Jinling, nor am I a lady from an official family."
As she spoke, she clasped her hands in a fist and bowed slightly to the boss: "My surname is Yue, and my given name is Yining, Yi as in longevity and Ning as in peace. I am just a wandering Taoist priest with no home or family."
Wang Gui was very surprised. He rarely saw a Celestial Master; the few he had seen were all old men with gray hair and long beards. This was the first time he had seen such a young woman claiming to be a Celestial Master.
But some people reacted even more strongly than him.
The slave, who had been keeping his head down and not responding to anything the two said, suddenly raised his head after hearing what Yue Yining said.
Because of his unusually large movements, Yue Yining subconsciously glanced in that direction, but before she could see clearly, she felt her clothes tighten.
Yue Yining was taken aback.
The slave leaned over at some point and, in a moment of rudeness, reached out and grabbed the hem of her skirt.
At that moment, he knelt motionless on the ground, looking up at her in a daze.
He was in a terrible state, his long hair a tangled mess, his clothes ragged, and his whole body covered in dust and mud, making him repulsive to look at. His face was also covered in soot, making it almost impossible to tell his original skin color, except for his bright eyes, which stared straight at him. Yue Yining felt stunned by his gaze.
His gaze held a complex mix of emotions that she couldn't decipher, yet she vaguely sensed danger within it.
Many years ago, when Yue Yining was still young and diligently cultivating with his master in the Tian Guan Temple, he had seen many such eyes before the statue of the Heavenly Ancestor. They were all kneeling on both knees, muttering to themselves, with a variety of expressions, each different from the other.
Only those fleeting emotions on her face, captured over the years, piled up into a massive silhouette. A devotion to all, a deathly silence, a gentle tenderness, an indescribable madness.
Yue Yining was startled. Before she could think further, her fingers moved instinctively. She grabbed the hem of her dress, intending to pull it from the slave's grasp.
Just then, a single, round tear rolled down the cheek of the eyes that had been staring at her intently.
Yue Yining seemed to be under a spell, and suddenly froze.
The emotions in her eyes surged even more fiercely, becoming more complex, as tears streamed down her face. People who shed tears always undergo a dramatic change in appearance, their features contorted or contorted, but this dusty little slave cried very quietly. If it weren't for the tears almost washing away the dust and mud from his face, and if she hadn't heard the suppressed sobs in his throat, Yue Yining might have thought he was deliberately trying to elicit her sympathy.
But she knew it wasn't. Because she could tell he was extremely happy.
It's like a fool trying to catch the moon's reflection in the water, but actually managing to retrieve it; a treasure you know is impossible to obtain is suddenly placed right in front of you.
Seeing that he dared to grab the man's clothes and stare at him intently, Wang Gui, fearing that Yue Yining would be frightened by the slave's strange behavior, quickly raised his bamboo whip again and began to scold, "You filthy thing, where are you touching?! What are you looking at! Don't you want your eyes anymore—"
Yue Yining interrupted him again: "Boss, wait a minute!"
Wang Gui clearly didn't expect this person to stop him a second time.
The woman in the green and white robes straightened her back. This time, the awkwardness and hesitation on her face melted away like ice and snow, and the gazes she was being directed at changed.
She slowly said, "Okay, let's go with the price you said. I'll buy this slave."
…
The azure sky is clear and the dust is gone, the light shimmers on half the moon, and the sun has just set atop ten thousand pines.
Fu Yao was busy in the courtyard when she heard the noise from the gate from afar. She quickly washed her hands and went to greet her: "Miss, you're finally back! I made your favorite braised potatoes with crispy pork today—"
Fu Yao ran to the door, her bright smile suddenly freezing.
Yue Yining stood at the door, dressed in a bamboo hat and blue robe, exactly the same as when Fu Yao saw her off this morning, except that her eyes were somewhat unfocused, as if she dared not meet her gaze. Beside her stood a man, covered in dust and dirt, half a head taller than Yue Yining.
Yue Yining coughed twice: "...Yaoyao, this is the servant I bought from Jinling. This is Fu Yao, my personal maid."
The man spoke up, his voice hoarse, as if he hadn't had water in a long time: "Greetings, Miss Fu."
Yue Yining: "Yaoyao, why don't you take him to the backyard to wash up first? As for clothes... I came back in a hurry, so just give him an unworn robe from my wardrobe as a temporary substitute."
Seeing that Fu Yao was still glaring at the man beside her, Yue Yining lowered her voice and called out, "Yao Yao."
Fu Yao was visibly unhappy, but she didn't say anything. Instead, she said through gritted teeth, "Come in, I'll take you there."
Fu Yao led the person to the backyard and hurried back to her room, but she couldn't find her young lady.
She stormed off to the front hall, only to catch a glimpse of her young mistress's back. Yue Yining had removed her outer robe, leaving her in just a single garment, and was huddled under the roots of a tree in the courtyard. From a distance, she looked like a snow-white figure lying amidst the green foliage.
Fu Yao rushed over, shouting, "Miss! Why did you suddenly buy someone to take home? Don't tell me it's because of housework; I can do the housework myself, I don't need anyone else to help me—"
As she got closer, Fu Yao could see what Yue Yining was holding, and she suddenly stopped.
Fu Yao asked in surprise, "Miss, are you... are you preparing to do a divination?"
Yue Yining turned around, her long, black hair cascading down her back, revealing several items laid out on the bluestone slab in front of her: a flint, bamboo strips, a carving knife, silver needles, an iron hammer, gold powder, and thin firewood... and in her hand, she held a complete tortoise plastron.
Yue Yining hesitated for a moment, and after thinking about it, she put down the tortoise shell in her hand. "...Nothing. After thinking about it, I think I'll not do it for now."
Fu Yao knew that Yue Yining was a Celestial Master, but she didn't know much about the details.
The Celestial Master is skilled in the Five Arts. These five arts are: Mountain (representing spiritual cultivation), Medicine (representing fate), Physiognomy (representing destiny), and Divination (representing divination). Mountain is for cultivating one's character and nature; Medicine is the art of traditional Chinese medicine; Fate is for predicting destiny and fortune; Physiognomy is the art of observing appearances; and Divination is for interpreting divination and asking questions.
Her young mistress was particularly skilled in divination. Whenever the two of them were short of money while traveling the world, they would set up a stall on the spot to read people's birth charts and predict good or bad fortune.
Yue Yining's fortune-telling was incredibly accurate; every prediction she made came true. In any given location, if she set up her stall for more than three days, a long queue would inevitably form in front of it on the third day, with people from all around crowding around. However, they usually didn't stay at their stall for more than three days. Each time, as soon as they had earned enough for their next trip, Yue Yining would pack up and leave. This was also one of her young mistress's strengths—knowing her limits and not being greedy.
The profession of Celestial Master is extremely exclusive. Since the founding of the Eastern Xi Kingdom, the Five Arts have been monopolized by the state religion, Yingtianmen, and passed down only from master to disciple within the sect, never flowing into the common people. Therefore, regarding the Five Arts, Fu Yao was unaware of anything Yue Yining hadn't mentioned. She only knew that after each tortoise shell divination session, her young mistress would collapse on the bed, lying there all day without eating.
Fu Yao had no time to think about it. Her mind was completely occupied with the strange man bathing in the backyard—the dangerous man her young mistress had brought back!
"Miss, you still haven't told me, why did you suddenly buy a new person to take home?" Fu Yao, who was always quick-witted, suddenly stammered a little when Yue Yining didn't reply to her. "Or is it that you... you think I'm not good at my job?"
Yue Yining was both amused and exasperated: "No, how did this get to this?"
Seeing that the little maid was really sad, Yue Yining sighed and told her everything.
"Yaoyao, do you remember I did a divination this morning?"
Fu Yao nodded: "Of course I remember, because not only did you not stay in bed, you also got up earlier than usual."
Yue Yining pretended to have a headache: "Stop reading it, I'll definitely get up earlier next time..."
In the backyard, the sound of splashing water could be heard intermittently. Washed clothes were draped on a wooden pole, and the soft, half-dried cotton fabric fluttered in the wind, casting several shadows that overlapped to form a snow-capped mountain that was not particularly majestic.
A figure swayed and stood up from the foot of the snow-capped mountain. The muscles and bones from his back to his shoulders and neck stretched, tightened, and straightened like a river flowing into the sea.
He turned his head to the side, and the afternoon light fell on his naked skin, making him appear as if he were a jade sculpture.
His long hair, washed clean of dust, was gathered in front of him, still dripping wet. In the deserted backyard, the man lowered his eyelashes, his fingers repeatedly twirling the ends of his waist-length hair, and smiled silently.
Yue Yining squatted by the grass. Fu Yao saw her young lady raise her head. The afternoon sunlight dappled her eyelashes, illuminating the cunning in her eyes.
"Although I am indeed extremely bored, I would never resort to fortune-telling to find out how much tea is left in my house."
Yue Yining smiled slightly, "When I said I had calculated that I needed to buy tea, I was actually just trying to coax you. I did calculate that I had to go to the city today. The reason is not important; what's important is what I need to bring back."
"The divination says that I need to bring someone home who will cry for me."
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