Chapter 42: The Wind Comes 1 Sitian Pavilion
Jiang Zheng loved wine, and the jar of wine was soon empty, leaving only the last glass, which was left for He Xuan who had not yet returned home.
After a satisfying meal and a few drinks, Fang Yan stood up to take his leave. Jiang Zheng's thoughts were slowed by the wine, and after a while, he asked incoherently, "Don't you have to go to the government office today? Why are you in such a hurry?"
Fang Yan drank only a small cup. Although his face was stained red, his mind remained clear. "Originally, I didn't need it, but after thinking about it, I realized that the government office must have been overwhelmed with work these days. Now that County Magistrate Zhao is dead and County Lieutenant Bi won't be back for a while, it's not appropriate to leave Chief Clerk Qu alone to work in the government office while I stay idle here."
This made some sense, so Jiang Zheng stopped trying to persuade him to stay.
Xun Shu saw Fang Yan out. When they returned to the backyard, Jiang Zheng was standing in front of a pile of coffin wood in the corner of the yard, muttering to himself, "A lot of people have died recently. Looks like I need to go back into the mountains to find some good stuff..."
"..." Xun Shu walked behind Jiang Zheng, supported him, and said, "Uncle Jiang, you've had too much to drink. Go back to your room and rest."
"How can I get drunk with just a jar of wine? I'm just happy!" Jiang Zheng said this, but still obediently let Xun Shu pull him into the house. "You and Xiaoxuan are back safely, I'm so happy..."
Xun Shu's breath hitched, and she couldn't help but think of He Xuan's identity. She pursed her lips and hesitated, wanting to lay the groundwork in advance, but when she saw Jiang Zheng's happy face, she couldn't say anything.
She helped Jiang Zheng into the house and sat on a chair beside the table. Just as she was about to leave to prepare some hot tea to sober her up, she suddenly heard Jiang Zheng mumble behind her, "Xiao Shu, I've been feeling restless these past few days. I feel really bad, as if something is about to happen."
Xun Shu was stunned. He turned around and looked at his face carefully, but couldn't see anything. He could only comfort him: "No, it must be an illusion."
Jiang Zheng shook his head. "Xiao Shu, in our line of work, we tend to get a sense of what's going on before it happens. Didn't I tell you this? A few days ago, I saw someone sneaking around nearby, but they didn't come forward, so I couldn't just go up and chase them away. As a businessman, you can't just block customers from coming in, right?"
"...But we sell coffins. Who would be willing to stay near a coffin shop? It's okay to drive away anyone who notices something strange." Xun Shu said silently.
"Selling anything is a business, and the key is to open the door and welcome customers."
Jiang Zheng was drunk and drowsy, his mind flooded with old troubles, and he muttered endlessly. Xun Shu, seeing that he was still able to take care of himself, left the room to make some sobering tea. While it was boiling, she fished out the three copper coins that had been with her for so many years from her bag and examined them carefully in her hands.
It is difficult to read the face of a close person accurately because of the heavy ties. However, by fortune-telling, one may be able to get a glimpse of the situation.
Before going to the Zhao residence, she had asked for a fortune for He Xuan, and it had been auspicious. After Magistrate Zhao's death, when He Xuan and she were trapped in the Zhao residence, she had wondered what had happened to the fortune. Was it because she was not skilled enough and had misjudged the fortune, or was the bond between her and He Xuan deeper than she had imagined? Now that it was over, she finally understood that she had lived up to her master's teachings and had not misjudged her relationship with He Xuan.
Isn't everything in the Zhao residence a good omen for He Xuan?
Xun Shu curled the corners of his lips, collected his thoughts, threw up the copper coin, and watched it spin in the air, rising and falling, until it finally formed a ridge representing water, and he stood there in a daze.
Kan is the water hexagram, a very unlucky hexagram, which represents many difficulties and a dilemma.
Jiang Zheng always does good deeds and has a very kind heart, so how could he get such a fortune...
Hot steam rose from the teapot on the stove, and the water in the pot gradually became turbulent from calm. Xun Shu placed a thick cloth under the teapot and carefully poured water into the tea bowl, staring at the broken tea leaves floating up and down in the bowl, but his mind was completely on the hexagram just now.
There were three people living in the coffin shop: Jiang Zheng, her, and He Xuan. Although He Xuan had many secrets, he had a noble destiny and could bring blessings to those around him. There might be occasional troubles, but they would not bring about such a great disaster... If it weren't for He Xuan, she would be the only one left.
If it were her...
Xun Shu gritted his teeth and pushed open the door in his mind, forcing himself to walk into the long-forgotten memories.
How long ago was that? About five years ago.
That day, the master observed the celestial phenomena at night and made a divination. The next day, he expelled her from the sect without showing any mercy. He ordered her not to return to Sitian Pavilion in her life and not to mention her relationship with Sitian Pavilion to the world again.
Sitian Pavilion was a major Xuanmen sect with a thousand-year-old heritage. She had grown up within the pavilion, and all her memories revolved around Sitian Pavilion, Yundan Mountain, and her master's sect. As far back as she could remember, her brothers and sisters had descended the mountain one after another to be reborn. She had imagined that one day she would leave this place, but she had never imagined that it would be when she was ten years old.
After descending the mountain, the world suddenly changed. She followed the refugees for over a hundred miles and met Jiang Zheng who was returning to the city. If she hadn't met him by chance, she would have been dead long ago, right?
At that time, she didn't understand why she was expelled from the sect and why she was driven down the mountain in such a hurry when she had clearly done nothing wrong. This made her resentful and sad for a long time. Later, when she settled down in the coffin shop and the floods receded, she heard some news about the Sitian Pavilion.
The head of Sitian Pavilion died unexpectedly, and the entire Sitian Pavilion was burned down. The divine pavilion that had been passed down for thousands of years thus perished.
The Sitian Pavilion had produced several successive imperial preceptors, and had always been a place of great esteem by successive emperors. As time passed and imperial power shifted, only the Sitian Pavilion remained hidden in the mountains. After thousands of years, it was finally time to step down.
The news reached the late emperor, who was deeply concerned and ordered Qin Yuan, a junior official at the Dali Temple who was in Chaozhou and had not yet returned to the capital, to investigate the situation. He happened to encounter her, hiding in Yundan Mountain, trying to sneak back to the palace to investigate. Fortunately, Jiang Zheng, worried about her, secretly followed her for a hundred miles and arrived just in time to rescue her. It was also that time that Jiang Zheng learned of her situation, and for all these years, he had quietly concealed it and protected her.
That was the last time she went to Yundan Mountain in her memory, and the last time she looked at the Sitian Pavilion on the top of the mountain from the forest.
Although she had been hiding in the coffin shop these years, she had heard some things about the world, such as the emergence of the Changsheng Palace in recent years, which seemed to be closely related to the Sitian Pavilion. Another example was that many people in the world had been looking for a treasure that disappeared along with the Sitian Pavilion, a mirror that was rumored to be able to see past and present lives.
When he heard it for the first time, Xun Shu saw that the person who spoke was so sure that he almost thought that her brain was broken and her memory was lost.
How could there be a precious mirror in the Sitian Pavilion? Such a ridiculous thing, I don't know where it came from.
Could Jiang Zheng's premonition be related to this matter? Could it be that her identity had been discovered, and someone wanted to inquire about her about this mythical mirror, which was why she was hanging around outside the coffin shop?
And then there was the Sitian Pavilion disciple mentioned at Zhao's house. A few years before she left the mountain, she was the only disciple left. Who was that person? If he was really her senior brother, why didn't he return to the mountain to see his master after he went to Chaozhou?
Furthermore, there's a secret chamber within the Sitian Pavilion, known only to the direct disciples. If the departed disciples truly committed acts detrimental to the common people, they'd undoubtedly harbor evil intentions and remove the texts within. Is the chamber intact? Have the last remaining artifacts from the Sitian Pavilion been stolen or destroyed?
Xun Shu sighed and decided to go back to Sitian Pavilion to take a look.
The tea on the table was almost cold, so she picked it up and walked towards Jiang Zheng's room. Jiang Zheng was drowsy, and when he saw Xun Shu coming in, he raised his eyelids and said with a smile: "Xiao Shu, go and rest quickly. You must be exhausted after coming out of that den of wolves and tigers."
Xun Shu remembered the divination she had just asked for Jiang Zheng, and thought about the matter of Sitian Pavilion. She made up her mind to set off in the afternoon, go early and return early to avoid any accidents in the coffin shop, but she was not there and could not help.
She told Jiang Zheng that she was going to leave. Jiang Zheng shook his head, his sleepy eyes instantly opened, but he didn't try to stop her: "You may not have been back for many years, so it would be good to go back and pay your respects to the master. But be careful, and go early and come back early."
Xun Shu nodded obediently: "Okay, I'll go to the funeral clothing store and borrow a horse. I'll ride as fast as I can and will be back the day after tomorrow at the latest. Uncle Jiang must also be careful these two days."
She helped Jiang Zheng lie down on the bed. When she looked up, she saw the bronze mirror hanging beside the bed and was stunned for a moment.
This mirror was in her room. It was usually placed on the windowsill, covered with a layer of dust and rarely used. It was unknown when Jiang Zheng brought it here.
Jiang Zheng followed her gaze and explained awkwardly, "I thought it looked nice, so I hung it here."
"Then leave it here. It'll just gather dust in my room." Xun Shu stood up and left, reminding him as he reached the door. "Uncle, go to bed early. I'll close the shop when I leave. He Xuan will probably be back this afternoon. Don't tell him too much. Just tell him I'm going to the mountains to pick wild mushrooms."
"I know." Jiang Zheng waved his hand.
"Also, remember to tell him to just talk about those things and I'll talk to him after I come back." Seeing Jiang Zheng's face full of doubt, Xun Shu was afraid that he would ask more questions, so he quickly added, "Just say it like this, he will understand."
-
He Xuan sent Xun Shu back to the coffin shop. After seeing the signal, he whipped his donkey as fast as he could to rush back to Zhao's house. When he arrived at the back garden without any obstruction, he saw Li Song and his men pushing down the rockery, revealing the piles of silver hidden inside.
Li Song greeted He Xuan with a smile, his brows full of excitement. "The old case from five years ago has finally been settled. Lord Qin can rest assured, and you can also refute other people's doubts. From now on, no one will say that you were able to enter the Dali Temple because of the relationship with the eldest princess!"
"If I weren't the eldest princess and the son of the Marquis of Pingyang, I certainly wouldn't have been able to enter the Dali Temple and become its Junior Minister. If they want to question me, let them; it has nothing to do with me." He Xuan bent down and picked up a silver ingot. He brushed off the dust, revealing the mark on the silver ingot. After confirming it was correct, he said, "The disaster relief silver has been found. This matter is finally half settled."
Li Song's laughter caught in his throat. He asked in confusion, "Only half of it is resolved? Could the other half be Governor Ouyang?"
"Yeah. I've always felt that there must be someone else behind Governor Ouyang, but I don't have any evidence right now, so I'm afraid I can't do anything to him." He Xuan tossed the silver ingot back into the silver pile and slowly brushed the dirt off his fingers. "That's okay, the truth will eventually come out."
Li Song sighed, "I admire you and Master Qin's patience and determination."
He Xuan looked around and saw that everything was in order. He said, "Is there anything else? If not, I'll go back now."
"Wait." Li Song grabbed He Xuan's arm. "You didn't think I told you to turn back so I could count the money, did you? The Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice heard that the case was getting closer, so he sent someone to Chaozhou to accompany me. They're slow, so we estimate they'll arrive this evening. The Chaozhou County Government is hosting a banquet tonight, and you and I must both attend."
He Xuan rubbed his aching forehead, his face full of helplessness.
When he sent word back to the Dali Temple, requesting Li Song and others be transferred to Chaozhou, he anticipated that his feigned illness meant he could no longer conceal his intention to investigate the case. He had assumed Chaozhou was remote, and by the time the news reached Chaozhou, he would have already confessed everything to Xun Shu. He hadn't anticipated the Ministry of Justice sending someone directly to accompany Li Song.
It would be unreasonable if he was not at the welcoming banquet tonight. He just hoped that Xun Shu would not go out today, and would not go to find Fang Yan, so that he could get the news from him first.
He wished to tell her in person the secret he was hiding.
Li Song frowned when he saw him like this: "Could it be that you've become addicted to playing the coffin shop boy in this rural town and don't want to go back to the Dali Temple? Wait..." He seemed to suddenly understand and asked tentatively, "Could it be that you haven't told Miss Xun about your identity yet?"
He Xuanhan had a cold face and said nothing.
Li Song's eyes widened, and he burst into laughter, unable to straighten himself for a long time. He was about to seize this opportunity to criticize He Xuan again, but he suddenly heard him say, "Why do I need to say it? Ah Shu is so smart, I'm afraid he guessed it a long time ago."
Li Song's laughter was choked in his throat and turned into a hoarse duck quack: "Then why are you still like this?"
He Xuan lowered his eyes, staring at the dazzling white light on the ground: "Whether she guesses it is her business, whether I confess is my business. After all, I owe her an explanation."
-
Xun Shu was naturally waiting for He Xuan's confession, but compared to this confession, she had more important things to do at the moment.
She stuffed a few pieces of cake into her bag and took two small gourds filled with water. After closing the door of the coffin shop, she went to the funeral clothing store.
The funeral clothing store, like the coffin shop, was quiet today. Uncle Fang was dozing off in the store. Seeing Xun Shu, he was a little surprised: "Didn't Xiao Yan go to your house? Why are you here?"
"Something happened at the government office, so Brother Fang Yan has gone back." Xun Shu clasped his hands together and said softly, "Uncle, I want to borrow your horse to go out of the city."
"But do we need to go somewhere far away to find coffin wood? There have been a lot of funerals in the city recently, so we need to prepare more wood."
Xun Shu couldn't lie, so she could only mumble a few "hmm." Fortunately, Uncle Fang didn't pay any attention to her inappropriate behavior. He quickly walked to the stables in the backyard, led the horse out the back door, circled around to the store, and handed the reins to Xun Shu, carefully instructing him, "Xiao Shu, be sure to pay attention to your safety when you go out alone."
Xun Shu nodded, carefully climbed onto his horse, said goodbye to Uncle Fang, and without further delay rode out of the city.
Yundan Mountain is more than a hundred miles away from Chaozhou. Leaving the city gate on the north side, you first walk along the gravel road beside the river for an hour and a half, then walk along the mountain road and cross a mountain before you can catch a glimpse of a corner of Yundan Mountain.
The road that seemed to have seemed impossible to walk five years ago could now be covered in just a few hours. When she reached the foot of Yundan Mountain, the sky darkened. Xun Shu looked up at the mountains that blocked out the sun and finally realized that there were places she could never return to.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com