Chapter 98: Clear Sky Day Chapter 77: She Is Going to the Capital

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Protagonist:

Shaowei

Liu Qi

The man's voice fell, and he shoved Ming Dan's shoulder hard, pushing her back a step so she stumbled on the door threshold and nearly fell.

Ming Dan did not argue with him; swallowing her tears, she retreated, pulled the door shut in one motion, hastily locked it, lifted the lamp, and walked quickly back the way she had come.

She switched the lamp to her left hand, and as she walked she used her right hand to wipe at the red marks on her left wrist, her expression disgusted and humiliated.

That man was Zhu Niang's son, named Jingyi, a greedy rotten thing whose name belied his nature.

Zhu Niang had once served as a maid in a great household; amid the chaos of war she gave birth to a son, and the two of them depended on each other for survival. Once when they went out they encountered bandits; to protect her son, Zhu Niang let herself be captured, and was eventually brought to Tianlang Mountain.

Zhu Niang was not her mother; her birth mother bled to death giving birth to her, and at that time Zhu Niang's own newborn child had just died, so she grew up drinking Zhu Niang's milk.

Zhu Niang always remembered the place where she and her son had lived before — a small fishing village in Donglai Commandery.

Women in the stockade were rarely allowed to leave the mountain, but she was an exception; she was very skilled at pleasing Qin Fu, and could occasionally go down the mountain with those who went out. Zhu Niang missed that son, and several times stuffed the silver and jewelry she had stolen and saved into her hands, asking her to go down the mountain and entrust people to hire someone to go several hundred li away to Donglai Commandery, to inquire after her son's whereabouts and pass along messages.

She accepted the silver and jewelry, agreed on the surface, but never actually went to do it even once — what if Father found out? She wasn't about to risk doing such a foolish, losing proposition.

Until Tianlang Mountain was surrounded and suppressed, Zhu Niang was released and returned to her native place, back to that fishing village, and her son Jingyi was actually still there.

Jingyi had apprenticed to an old man, learned some folk methods for treating bone injuries, and counted as half a Wandering Doctor; as for why he went wandering to practice medicine, naturally it was because he had boasted his skills too high — half healing, half swindling.

His wandering range was only within a few hundred li, but this time, Zhu Niang made him try going to a farther place — to the capital, Chang'an.

The Ling Family Army that took that woman away was also headed for the capital.

When they left Tianlang Mountain, she and Zhu Niang secretly hid away quite a few valuables, and these became Jingyi's travel expenses for entering the capital.

Accustomed to swindling, Jingyi was very good at worming his way in and gathering information; plus he genuinely knew some folk remedies for bone injuries, and through twists and turns he was invited, along with several other Jianghu Doctors, by the Lu Hou Mansion — which was searching everywhere for doctors — to treat the young lady's leg ailment.

The Lu Hou Mansion was not a household easily fooled; his skills were insufficient, and he was soon shown the door.

But the information was in hand; sky-high wealth and honor were about to descend.

Jingyi stayed in the capital from then on, continuing to investigate secretly and send news back to Donglai Commandery.

Long preparation, tormented by hesitation, she never dared take that step — a person gone mad isn't dead, what if she saw through her?

But Zhu Niang encouraged her, urged her on; when the Feng family came seeking her, the already dying Zhu Niang was still calling her "Shaowei" — that was the last voice Zhu Niang left in this world, calling out to her for another person.

She thus became that person, and with trembling fear entered the capital.

She rarely left Xian Tai Gong, and never sought out Jingyi on her own, until last year's winter solstice sacrifice to heaven, when she followed Xian Tai Gong's people out of the city for the winter rite; on the return journey cold rain blocked the road, and while they rested at a Taoist Temple, Jingyi suddenly appeared in the evening.

She originally wanted to pay a sum of money to silence him and persuade him to leave Chang'an, but this man was insatiably greedy, demanding money every month, and telling her this wasn't repaying a debt but repaying kindness — a debt can be repaid in full, but kindness can never be fully repaid, and she ought to repay him with a gushing spring for the rest of her life.

All she did was pass along a message, and he wants to cling to her and blackmail her for a lifetime!

He even claims Zhu Niang paved the way for her with her life — that's even more nonsense!

Ming Dan hadn't suffered this kind of humiliation and coercion in a long time; thinking of Jingyi's face and words, she felt indignant and wronged, and as she walked quickly she muttered in a low voice: "What 'paved the way for me with her life'... she was already sick, already going to die! It wasn't me who caused it!"

Thinking back now, Zhu Niang's help, no matter what she said was for her own good, probably didn't have a shred of sincerity — it was all just scheming for her own son!

Clearly she alone bore all the danger, yet she's expected to turn around and support that rotten thing! This was probably all calculated by Zhu Niang!

Ming Dan raised her hand to wipe the wet traces from her face, took a deep breath, and forced the remaining tears back down.

She returned all the way to her living quarters; Ming Dan pushed open the door, and inside candlelight burned — a young girl in a blue-gray skirt and blouse was bent over a desk writing; seeing her return, the girl looked up and said: "Feng Young Lady has returned; I only have two lines left to finish copying!"

Ming Dan nodded indifferently, and did not speak further with her.

Dozens of youths the same age had been selected into Xian Tai Gong; no one knew which one was the so-called Tianji Incarnation; compared to that distant, unknown identity, Ming Dan, this Hou Mansion daughter, was the genuinely precious one, and drew crowds of people fawning over her.

Worldly affairs were everywhere; Ming Dan quite enjoyed the adulation here, but she truly hated copying those boring, abstruse assignments — time-consuming and hard on the eyes — yet there were always people fighting to help her do things, so she happily washed her hands of it.

At this moment, Ming Dan knelt at the dressing table, took down her hair bun, and while combing her hair she looked at the pretty jewelry on the table, and her mood slowly improved.

Through the makeup mirror she glanced at the girl still writing behind her, and a sense of superiority radiated from the corners of her eyes and brows.

These people cram their heads full of learning, wanting to show their faces before those Daoist Officials and clerks, but she doesn't need to — what she already possesses now is something these people could work themselves to death and still never attain.

After the girl finished copying she set down her brush, carefully tidied the book desk, then came over to Ming Dan and attentively combed her hair, her eyes unable to keep from darting toward those jewelry pieces.

Ming Dan noticed her gaze; though she was unwilling and reluctant in her heart, she still took out a silver hairpin and tossed it over: "Here, this one's for you to wear."

The girl got the hairpin, was very happy, and combed Ming Dan's hair even more earnestly, while chatting about recent news she'd heard, including: "They say the Red Yang Immortal Master will be back in these two days... wonder if the Immortal Master will personally guide the assignments then?"

Hearing that title, Ming Dan's face in the mirror changed slightly; that Daoist's appearance and manner were strange, and he had appeared in her nightmares several times.

But compared to the Red Yang Daoist, lately another figure appeared in her dreams even more often — no, not a person, but a ghost, a very fierce ghost.

This night, she dreamed of that ghost again.

On Tianlang Mountain, heavy snow swirled; a blood-drenched shadow walked over, each step leaving a fresh red blood footprint in the snow.

That not-tall yet ferocious shadow drew near, and in its hand it was actually carrying her father's skull!

"Don't kill me!" Ming Dan screamed, suddenly jolting awake and sitting up; fear still hadn't dissipated, and she wept as she murmured: "I'll never draw those talismans again, never again!"

She had recently learned some talismans that could suppress ghosts, so she drew many and layered them onto the wooden effigy carved with Shaowei's Eight Characters of Birth.

Who knew not suppressing would have been better — the more she suppressed, the more Shaowei came into her dreams.

Clearly a fierce person becomes a fierce ghost after death; such a ferocious person, dead, would surely be an utterly evil ghost; their power would not have diminished, and they might even be a tyrant in the Ghost Realm! How could a few ordinary Dao Talismans suppress them? She'd likely fail to suppress and suffer backlash instead!

Truly hateful — alive she made her afraid, dead she still makes her afraid!

Ming Dan wept and lifted her face, but saw the room dark with the lamp extinguished, and behind the screen there seemed to be a black shadow swaying.

She was so frightened she screamed again; her hand randomly grabbed a shoe — it was the new pair she had just made, Double-Layered Embroidered Round-Toed Shoes, which she loved so much she couldn't put them down, so she had placed them on the bed to look at while falling asleep.

But now she couldn't care about cherishing them; she seized the new shoe and hurled it at the screen, crying as she said: "I'll burn you things later, burn lots and lots of things, just don't come scare me again!"

With a loud clang, the Embroidered Round-Toed Shoe that flew out hit the screen and was knocked aside, falling to the ground and rolling several times.

Under the dim lamp light, a young girl's hand picked up a pair of Embroidered Round-Toed Shoes with obvious wear marks but washed very clean, and placed them on the folded Zhu-Bai Curved-Hem Skirt.

Beneath the folded clothing lay a spread of blue cloth; the cloth was wrapped and tied into a bundle.

The bundle was lifted onto the bed, and Shaowei lay down, using it as a pillow for her departure.

In the deep night of early winter, all around was exceptionally quiet; the lamp had already been blown out, yet Shaowei still felt not the slightest drowsiness.

She lay with eyes wide open for a long time; her left hand touched the Divine-Demonic Mask beside her, and she placed it over her face.

The pitch-black night was like ink; the mask's outline blurred, only a pair of eyes even blacker than the night gleamed clearly.

The short knife, moreover, never left her side, always within reach; Shaowei lay there masked, right hand gripping the hilt, left hand holding the scabbard, the two slowly parting in the night with a faint unsheathing sound.

The sharp blade outshone snow, casting a layer of cold light that reflected off the girl's pupils, sharper than the blade itself.

Above the house, the dense grey clouds of the sky canopy seemed to have been sliced open by either the knife light or her gaze, and suddenly freezing night rain poured down with a crash.

The rain did not fully cease until the next morning, merely turning from dense rain curtains into misty rain fog.

Shaowei had agreed to meet Liu Qi at Taiqing Pavilion; who would have expected such a cold rain.

As Shaowei headed for Taiqing Pavilion, she thought: the garden paths after rain would be hard to walk and overly damp and cold; Liu Qi might not come; she would go look first, and if she didn't see him, she would go to his residence to find him; his legs and feet were bad, and she wouldn't blame him.

Who knew that just as she neared the pavilion front, she saw a youth in a blue cloak standing inside the pavilion, unknown how long he had waited; she had become the latecomer instead.

Liu Qi watched that light figure appear in the fine rain, without an umbrella.

Wind rose on the pool surface, blowing the rain mist askew; rain droplets on the withered lotus tilted every which way, dripping patter into the pond; she ran into the pavilion with quick steps.

Bamboo curtains had been lowered on two sides of the pavilion; A Ya knelt on a cushion brewing tea, the teapot already bubbling with steam; Shaowei knew Liu Qi had waited a good while, and couldn't help asking first: "It's raining, why did you come so early?"

"Afraid you'd come too early." As Liu Qi spoke, his gaze fell on the bundle on Shaowei's shoulder, and he asked again: "Have you truly decided?"

Ten days ago, she told him she had made a decision.

That decision was indeed not within his expectations.

She was unwilling to stay here; she wanted to go to the capital.

She said the people she wanted to find and the people she wanted to kill were all in Chang'an.

She once again chose to face danger head-on rather than avoid it — undoubtedly risking everything — but she said this time she would not act recklessly, would not charge alone at that copper wall and iron wall; she already had meticulous strategies and countermeasures.

He asked what strategies and countermeasures; she answered solemnly with two words: "Deceive people."

She was going to Chang'an to deceive people, to deceive the world, including the Son of Heaven who granted those people power.

She would deceive the world and the Son of Heaven, don the Divine-Demonic Mask, and pretend to be those gods and spirits who refuse to open their eyes.

Shaowei had recently mastered all manner of official systems and ritual systems; she knew that under the current Son of Heaven, besides the National Preceptor, Immortal Master, and other independent titles, there were the Three Dukes and Nine Ministers, and the head of the Nine Ministers was the Taichang Temple Minister.

The Taichang Temple not only oversaw cultural education administration across regions, but also managed sacrifices to heaven and earth, gods and spirits, and auspicious and inauspicious rites; within the temple was the post of Tai Puzhe, ranking just below the Taichang Temple Minister; the Tai Puzhe was currently called the Great Wu God by the nation, responsible for spirit communication and state sacrifices to the altars of soil and grain, mountains and rivers.

The Great Qian Tai Puzhe position has been vacant for many years; it is said because no sufficiently outstanding Wu Nu or Nuo Master has appeared.

Every three years, the Taichang Temple orders regions to select Nuo Masters and Wu Nu; the origin of Wu Nuo lies in the South, therefore Jingzhou and Jiaozhi must each present ten Wu practitioners every three years to serve in the Taichang Temple; Wuling Commandery is also within range.

Shaowei had Liu Qi arrange it; she would enter the capital as a Southern Wu Nu.

Before agreeing, Liu Qi first told her an old story, asking if she knew why the Tai Puzhe post had been vacant for years and Great Qian had long lacked a Great Wu God —

One, because no sufficiently outstanding Wu practitioner appeared; two, because the previous Great Wu God secretly colluded with a favored concubine, using witchcraft to harm his elder brother Liu Gu, thereby offending the imperial countenance, and was tortured to death.

Whether the Tai Puzhe above ten thousand people or a common Wu Nu, all tread the unknown zone between state politics and gods and spirits; life and death often hang on the emperor's whim.

But Shaowei's mind was made up, and she did not waver because of Liu Qi's old story; she countered: "I know this is risky, but whose life and death is not in the emperor's whim?"

By the emperor's word, a Wu practitioner can die, and a Crown Prince can also die.

Thinking thus, the Emperor is indeed overbearing; Shaowei recalled once discussing with Jiang Fu the bold claim that "the Son of Heaven is also deceiving," and felt all the more justified; such an unreasonable deceiver deserves to be deceived by her — the deceiver is always deceived in turn.

At that time, seeing Liu Qi silent, she mistakenly thought he was unwilling to let her deceive his Imperial Uncle and thereby ruin their Liu family realm; she said: "It can't be called deceiving; I have real ability."

Seeing her misunderstand, Liu Qi didn't correct her, just went along and asked: "What kind of ability?"

She said: "This reliance cannot be told to you; I must have my own secrets, after all."

Liu Qi laughed; what does "must have my own secrets" mean? She clearly always has many secrets, too many to count.

But he could roughly imagine her reliance; that Eight-Character Warning from back then was enough to show its extraordinariness.

He naturally knew that although she did not fear risk, she would not act blindly; otherwise that would not be risk but suicide; she does not fear death, but surely would not die in vain.

He was only responsible for explaining the pros and cons further, yet could not sway her. So he agreed to arrange the matter, and let her consider carefully during this period.

And at this very moment, in Taiqing Pavilion, her answer was: "I've brought my bundle; why do you still ask if I've decided? Of course I've decided."

Such an answer and such a tone made Liu Qi laugh involuntarily; he suddenly asked with some curiosity: "May I ask, why are you unwilling to stay?"