Chapter 147

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Protagonist:

Shaowei

Liu Qi

Hearing this answer, Yingniang looked in surprise at Zhao Qie'an standing there, and praised Shaowei: "One would think your family's forebears must have been a skilled hunter!"

She then laughed and said: "But you, this little head of household, are also extraordinary. As the saying goes, building a family fortune is easy, but guarding it is hard. That you could hold onto him means your abilities are surely no ordinary matter."

"Speaking of it, it's all thanks to you!" Yingniang patted Shaowei's hand again, her smile simple and warm: "In my early years when I worked as an assassin for others, I was once saved by Old Zhao. After that, my master lost his state, so I took up my blade and went solo..."

Judging by her age, Shaowei determined that the master she spoke of who lost his state should be one of the vassal kings of a different surname who were successively exterminated some years ago.

"I thought, I must repay this kindness. But Old Zhao said he couldn't think of anything he needed my help with, and also found me too long-winded, driving me away like an evil spirit."

"All these years have passed, and I figured this debt could never be repaid. Who would have thought that recently, he uncharacteristically sent someone to deliver a message to me. The message asked: does that promise to repay the kindness still count? If you don't want to repay it anymore, just pretend I never asked."

Though they hadn't met in many years, this blunt and simple way of asking — one look and you knew there was absolutely no possibility of forgery. Yingniang's word was as good as gold when it came to repaying kindness. She soon appeared in person to take the task and went to Ba Commandery.

Listening to her chatter on and explain the whole story, Zhao Qie'an remained silently speechless. It was no wonder he dug up this old debt — in recent times, entrusting people with tasks had left him owing quite a few external debts. To balance the books, he had no choice but to try collecting on these old debts too, thinking whatever he could recover was that much gained.

Seeing Yingniang fully poised to also recount how she had saved him back then, Zhao Qie'an urged in a hoarse voice: "Let's talk business."

"I'm just getting to it. You, a person who to this day doesn't understand the art of speaking, don't come lecturing me." Yingniang indicated she had her own narrative rhythm. She took the tea Xiao Yu held out, first laughed and praised the good child, drank half a bowl to moisten her throat, and then launched into the main topic.

"I traveled all the way to Ba Commandery, and after much inquiring found that Chiyang's master's sect. That Taoist temple is hidden in a secluded deep mountain. It's said the temple originally had no plaque and no name, only because the surrounding mountains were called the Seven Linked Mountains by the common people, it came to be called Qishan Guan. Chiyang and that Baili National Preceptor's master became known to the world as the Seven Mountains True Man."

"The origins of this Seven Mountains True Man are a mystery. His original name cannot be traced either. Only that his abilities were very extraordinary. In the chaotic times he saved and treated many people. As his reputation gradually grew, he attracted many seekers of the Dao to come and join. He did not accept disciples, but allowed those people to establish their own lineages within the temple."

Letting others establish their own lineages on his own turf — this kind of action was something Shaowei, with her extremely strong territorial consciousness, could not understand. But this kind of carefree, unrestrained style, treating all matters with utter indifference — Shaowei was not unfamiliar with it.

An even more familiar style of speech appeared in Yingniang's account: "That Seven Mountains True Man said, this temple was also something he picked up. Since it was empty and no one wanted it, he picked it up to use. He can use it, and others can use it too."

"However, his abilities are strange and unfathomable, and he is proficient in Qimen Arrays. He does not tolerate those with crooked hearts doing evil. Over many years, the temple has been more or less peaceful, and has been successively expanded by the temple's people."

"Legend has it that many generals and state rulers once invited him to leave the mountain and enter the world. He only said the timing had not yet arrived. If they insisted on inviting him, they would be blocked outside by the arrays he laid down."

"There were also many people who, wanting to learn his abilities, kowtowed all the way to the temple gate, smashing their heads until they bled. Yet he did not care about any inheritance, and never agreed to accept disciples. Until the year he turned eighty, he went down the mountain to wander. He was gone for several years. When he returned to the temple, there were two more children by his side..."

"The older one was eleven or twelve, his appearance different from ordinary people. The younger one was also about ten, born with a few points of feminine looks. The Seven Mountains True Man originally only wanted to accept the younger one as a disciple. But the younger one also had a temper, and counter-threatened the Seven Mountains True Man, saying only that if he wouldn't accept the other person too, he wouldn't become a disciple either."

"The Seven Mountains True Man helplessly compromised, only saying the older one indeed had some talent. But this person only ranks by aptitude, so he had the younger one be the senior brother, and the older one the junior brother."

"The two boys kowtowed to their master, asking the master to bestow names. The True Man however said, let them choose their own names."

"The senior brother looked at the wind between the trees, and took the name Baili Youyi."

"The junior brother gazed up at the sun in the sky, and spoke the two characters Chiyang."

During these days, Shaowei had also successively obtained some information related to Jiang Fu's master's sect and Chiyang. But that information was a mix of true and false, occasionally even self-contradictory. It was far less fluent and detailed than Yingniang's current recounting. To be detailed to such an extent — even the dialogue when the Seven Mountains True Man accepted disciples was this clear — it was as if Yingniang had been a tile in that temple back then, hearing it on the spot.

Sensing the little head of household's doubt, Yingniang smiled: "Though I didn't hear it personally, there are others who did."

She patted her chest: "My Yingniang's intelligence gathering has always listened to all directions. Since I'm telling you, it's definitely been through much verification and cross-checking. Not saying it's one hundred percent credible, but you can boldly believe eighty percent!"

"I found a Taoist priest who guards the back door. This priest is fifty years old. Because he was burned before, his face is covered in terrifying scars. His temperament is solitary and taciturn. He beats and scolds the little Taoists at the drop of a hat. Therefore no one dares get close to him." Yingniang revealed her main source of information: "According to my inquiries, this person has been in the Qishan Guan since childhood. He surely knows many old matters. It's just that to make such a person willing to open his mouth, one cannot avoid using some methods."

Xiao Yu couldn't help asking: "Did you torture him severely?"

Yingniang laughed and waved her hand: "I went and knocked on that back door, only saying I came to seek relatives but didn't see my old aunt and uncle, and wanted to stay in the temple for a few days. At first he still had no good face. Who told me to be diligent and quick, cooking and washing for him for over ten days, and it just so happened to let him know I was a pitiful widow who only wanted a roof over my head..."

"By the eighteenth day, he hemmed and hawed and said he had saved up some money and goods over these years, enough to go down the mountain and build a house. Then he would farm and raise chickens, and naturally wouldn't worry about food and clothing for the rest of his life."

Shaowei's eyes were opened wide, and she blurted out three words in shock: "Honey trap?"

"The little head of household seems to have read military treatises!" Yingniang laughed and patted Shaowei's hand again, saying:

"All the schemes in this world, the most crucial thing is nothing more than adapting to the time, place, and person. Dealing with this kind of man who has age but no ability — if you're too young, he'll guard against you having ulterior motives, and it won't last long. If you're too beautiful, he'll still suspect you're a fox spirit stealing yang to take his life. It just so happens that a rough, solid widow with nowhere to go and nothing to ask for is a good hand for running a household in his eyes."

Shaowei's face was full of eager learning and benefit.

"I made excuses that I still needed to consider a bit, but still washed his clothes and swept his house. For such a lonely old man, where in his life had he ever tasted such immortal days? He couldn't even dream of it! Naturally he would spare no effort to keep me, and his words became more and more. He rarely went down the mountain. What he could talk about was nothing but temple matters. I cross-checked with the information I inquired from other places. He didn't tell any lies, only occasionally exaggerated his own abilities —"

"He watched those two brothers grow up. The senior brother was elegant and carefree, intelligent beyond compare. He learned everything fast. And because he heard the senior brother's family originally practiced medicine, on the path of refining pills and making medicine he was even better than the master."

"The junior brother also had talent and comprehension. It's said he was especially skilled in painting. Only because of a strange illness in his body, he rarely saw people. Originally the people in the temple who understood medicine all said that with this illness he would surely not live long..."

"The rest of the detailed inside story is not something a disciple like him could know. He only vaguely heard that there seemed to have been some divergence between the two brothers."

"So it went until about thirteen or fourteen years ago. The current Emperor ascended the throne several years ago. The world gradually pacified. The Seven Mountains True Man passed away. The senior disciple Baili Youyi went down the mountain and entered the world, and at a young age rose to the high position of National Preceptor."

Standing with hands behind his back, Zhao Qie'an looked into the wind, letting the wind blow a strand of his hair. A faint trace of pride and shared glory could be seen in his eyes.

Yingniang: "Chiyang remained guarding the master's sect. It's said his body deteriorated day by day. One day, he proposed going to the quiet chamber on the rear cliff to seclude himself and comprehend the Dao. He only brought two close disciples with him. That quiet chamber is built on the cliff edge interior, connected to the rear of the master's sect only by a dangerous bridge. The temple people only thought he planned to silently pass away in this place.

Who knew this seclusion would last three years. He never permitted anyone to approach the back mountain. After three years, Chiyang emerged from seclusion, and there was the mysterious saying that he had comprehended the Great Dao and preserved his life. From then on, he no longer simply avoided people, and began going down the mountain to walk about, doing good and saving people."

Shaowei had only heard the vague saying "Chiyang secluded himself at the master's sect and attained enlightenment" before. She didn't know this seclusion place was the back mountain quiet chamber that deceived people's eyes and ears. She immediately raised a doubt: "During those three years, would he have secretly left the master's sect?"

Yingniang smiled and looked at Zhao Qie'an: "Your little head of household is truly clever."

Zhao Qie'an still stood with hands behind his back in the wind. A faint trace of pride and shared glory appeared in his eyes again.

Yingniang laughed and scratched Shaowei's nose with her finger. Shaowei dodged backward, her crossed legs both lifting up, like a colorful pottery tumbler. When she bounced back into position, she hurriedly asked: "Did Yingniang discover something in that quiet chamber?"

"That quiet chamber was abandoned because a few years ago it experienced a torrential rain, and falling rocks blocked most of the entrance." Yingniang said: "I took advantage of the night to enter and investigate several times. I discovered there is a hidden chiseled cave inside the chamber wall. Though it has been sealed, traces remain. That cave opening leads directly to the only gentle slope on the four sides of this mountain cliff. Though this mountain is steep, it is not high. If one has a rope to borrow force, descending the mountain from this gentle slope is not difficult."

"He must have left." Shaowei frowned in thought: "Those three years, who knows where he went, whether he met someone, sought some life-extending method..."

She hurriedly asked again: "What were the names of those two disciples who guarded the seclusion for him back then? Where did they go afterward?"

For as long as three years, food and daily necessities would certainly not be lacking. They would have to contact the temple people on schedule. At least one person had to stay as cover. Both of them were in the know.

"He only had these two disciples in the master's sect. Later when he went down the mountain, he accepted another one." Yingniang said: "One of them got a strange illness and died. The other followed him into the capital."

"Shunfa?" Shaowei immediately looked at the house slave.

Shunzhen by Chiyang's side was not a disciple from childhood. There was only one disciple named Shunfa whom Chiyang brought out from the master's sect.

The house slave first nodded, then shook his head: "This person should be the one who stayed as cover. Otherwise he probably wouldn't have survived to today."

Shaowei also reacted at once, and instantly felt a bit dejected. The cover person only knew Chiyang had left, but couldn't know where Chiyang had gone.

But she did not come away empty-handed; from this it could be inferred that Chiyang's experiences during those three years were a secret that needed to be concealed, and most likely constituted his weakness.

"After so many years, his whereabouts back then can no longer be traced." Yingniang volunteered, "But his appearance is distinctive; someone along the way might have noticed him, only his destination is unknown, and he cannot be accurately tracked. However, I've taken on a few jobs, and along the way I can help keep an eye out for you."

"It's just that such intelligence always requires careful screening and verification, and also depends on luck, so don't pin too much hope on it either."

Shaowei nodded and thanked her solemnly.

"Nothing to thank me for — who told me I owe him a life!" After saying a good deal more trivial news, Yingniang then rose to take her leave.

Zhao Qie'an, who had recently had many dealings with people, detained her with courtesy: "It's pitch dark out; eat dinner before you go."

Yingniang nodded quite readily.

Zhao Qie'an thought for a moment, then found himself in a bind — this matter must not alarm the front courtyard kitchen, and Mo Li, who runs the kitchen of this courtyard, was not present at the moment. He wanted to keep a guest; who would cook?

Zhao Qie'an, whose cooking was not refined, steeled himself and walked toward the stove house; Yingniang clicked her tongue, unable to bear watching, and took up the ladle herself, cooking for herself as a guest.

Shaowei felt a touch of embarrassment, and with Xiao Yu helping out as an odd-job hand, busied herself; the house slave honestly tended the fire.

After seeing Yingniang off in a flurry, Shaowei bathed, then sat on the bed with her hair loose, pondering and sorting through the information.

She had also heard many rumors concerning Baili Youyi; some were not credible, but some matched what Yingniang had said today.

For instance, there was a rumor in the Capital that the National Preceptor of Baili State was extraordinary from birth; his father was a Doctor who, amid the chaos of war, had an unknown surname and was known only by the name Zhi, so people called him Doctor Zhi. This man's medical skill was superb yet he was overly bold; because he used excessively heavy dosages and killed a consort most favored by a sovereign, he was subjected to Yanmen.

The sole fortune was that his wife was already pregnant at the time; later she gave birth to a son, name unknown, only known that his cries and laughter could divine fortune and misfortune. When this son reached ten years of age, he was taken away by an exalted person to cultivate; upon re-entering the world in his youth, he became the later Baili National Preceptor.

Shaowei thought: Jiang Fu later appeared in the world with a male identity, perhaps because her gender was concealed at birth; the reason remains unknown, but Jiang Fu possesses a thoroughly unconcerned, go-with-the-flow personality, and probably also harbored the intention of one day thoroughly changing her identity — in the end, that false male identity was shed by her together with the name Baili Youyi.

But now, learning that the name Baili Youyi was one she chose herself after entering her master's sect, and that her birth father had no surname… then why would she claim the surname Jiang? Simply because she liked it?

Shaowei jumped down from the bed and pulled over her outer robe.

The house slave had just bathed; at this moment he was walking past the corridor with a wooden basin tucked under his arm. Shaowei blocked his path and suddenly asked: "Zhao Shu, do you know why Jiang Fu bears the surname Jiang?"

The house slave nodded: "I know — because her Mother bears the surname Jiang."

He added: "Her Mother died in difficult childbirth when giving birth to her, so she never celebrates her birthday."

Shaowei fell silent for a moment, then suddenly realized something was wrong: "But she celebrates her birthday every fifth month in Taoxi Township — is even that fake?!"

"The fifth month is the Evil Month; she must consider her own birth a most evil matter of life and death, yin and yang contending, and this month more fitting." Zhao Qie'an merely speculated: "Or perhaps that is the day of her new life upon entering her master's sect."

"Then what is her true birthday?" Shaowei looked as if she attached supreme importance to this matter.

Zhao Qie'an: "It should be the sixth day of the seventh month."

He said: "After she broke free and left Chang'an, she once went by her mother's grave to pay respects; the tombstone bore the deceased's date of death, which was precisely the sixth day of the seventh month."

That day he also kowtowed three times at that grave and carefully pulled weeds.

"The sixth day of the seventh month…" Shaowei quickly calculated: "There are still eighty days."

Today, after hearing and pondering Jiang Fu's many pasts, and now learning that she even lost her Mother on the very day of her birth, Shaowei felt all the more that this person seemed to have always been pushed forward by a formless fate… and facing that prophecy of "perishing at thirty," Shaowei could not help but add one part reverence, two parts hatred, three parts gravity, four parts urgency.

This birthday, having been verified, should not be wrong again; Jiang Fu has eighty days left before she turns thirty.

In the midnight corridor, Shaowei, clad in loose robes with hair unbound, raised her eyes; her gaze was firm as a rock: "We must find her back before that day arrives."

The house slave nodded slowly at her: "Good."

?? 【From now on, a countdown will appear before Shaowei's eyes every day.】

? Thanks to everyone's monthly tickets, thanks to book friends for the generous rewards from the unexpected, spiritual Koala showing off meals, Guyun LW, Yanzhi Hu 1, Fans Not Transparent, Shi Gan Dang Dang Dang and other treasures.

? Good night everyone.