Chapter 121

Xu Yuan handed up the plaster and the wine gourd together: "You have two plasters left; I brought them back for you. Also, this gourd of wine is my tribute to you."

Grandpa Shen smiled happily, taking the wine gourd: "You still remember to bring something for an old man like me. Good, good, good. I went to Qihe Terrace when I was young; I remember a household surnamed Liu brewing wine in the town, with a unique flavor..."

"This isn't the Liu family's wine." Xu Yuan thought of Old Man Liu and sighed inwardly.

"Not the Liu family's?" Grandpa Shen pulled out the gourd stopper and sniffed; his expression changed: "Where did you get this wine?"

"An old fox schemed against me, made me do him a huge favor, but the reward wasn't enough. Could I take such a loss? I argued with him, and he gave me this gourd of wine as compensation."

Grandpa Shen seemed to know something; his expression shifted, and finally he sighed: "It is good wine. But you indeed cannot drink it, so leave it for me, an old man."

"It was meant as tribute to you anyway."

Grandpa Shen pointed again at the two plasters: "You keep them for use."

"But you..."

"I'm not dying yet!" Grandpa Shen glared: "How can I take back what I gave you!"

Xu Yuan helplessly put the plasters away again: "I am preparing to go to Luocheng Prefecture with the Quhui Office. Do you have any instructions for me?"

Grandpa Shen waved his hand: "I won't give instructions; whatever needs saying, your Aunt Wang, that nagging woman, will definitely tell you."

"You are right."

Xu Yuan bid farewell to Grandpa Shen, came out, left the alley to the livestock market, found a donkey-slaughterer, and negotiated with the boss to take only the black donkey heart.

The boss selected a black donkey to slaughter; the donkey heart was priced at one qian of silver for him—a bit higher than the normal price, because the boss would have to sell the rest slowly.

Xu Yuan originally wanted several more black donkey hearts, but today there was only this one black donkey.

Afterwards, Xu Yuan went to another shop, which specialized in black dogs.

Evil spirits were everywhere; black dog blood was a good thing, so it was also very expensive.

Over a hundred years ago, Rank Dan Xiu had already developed a method to keep black dog blood fresh for a long time.

But Xu Yuan wanted fresh blood, so the price was naturally even higher.

After haggling with the boss for a while, he bought a wooden bucket of black dog blood for three taels and two qian of silver.

The last place to go was a midwife in the city, who raised many wild cats.

Xu Yuan spent another three hundred wen to buy a black cat.

The midwife provided thorough service; the cat had already been slaughtered and cleaned.

Xu Yuan carried all the things back.

There were still a few households in the alley, but all had their courtyard gates tightly closed; yet inside and out it was clean, with no fallen leaves seen before the doors or within the courtyards.

When Xu Yuan was at home, he opened the door every day to sweep.

After Xu Yuan went to Qihe Terrace, it was Lin Wanmo.

There were seven or eight households in Henggong Alley; to be precise, eight households of six surnames.

Besides Xu Yuan's family, Grandpa Shen, Aunt Wang, and Uncle Mao Si, the other four families were all like this.

The courtyard was desolate; doors and windows were tightly shut, with wooden boards nailed over the windows, letting not a single ray of light in.

Xu Yuan pushed open the door: "Uncle Chen, I have come to see you."

The room was heavy with yin qi, rushing to the face, cold as an ice cellar.

The moment the door opened, more than ten will-o'-the-wisps ignited in the empty room, drifting like souls for a moment before slowly extinguishing.

It was as if... something in the darkness opened its eyes, saw it was an acquaintance, and closed them again.

On the ground, arranged according to special directions, lay some magical objects.

Surrounding a pitch-black coffin in the center of the room.

On the coffin sat one large and two small coarse porcelain bowls.

The bowls contained rice that had already turned yellow.

After Xu Yuan called out, something inside the coffin knocked on the coffin lid twice, as if responding.

Xu Yuan entered the room, first scooped some black dog blood from the bucket, and filled the largest coarse porcelain bowl in the middle.

The rice in the bowl absorbed the blood fully, swelling to the size of mung beans, each grain dark red and shining!

But not long after, they all shrank back down, returning to the appearance of rice.

A gulping sound, gulp, gulp, came from inside the coffin.

Afterwards, Xu Yuan cut the black donkey heart and black cat meat into four portions, took one portion, and placed it separately into the two small bowls on either side.

That rice surged up like living worms, burying the black donkey heart and black cat meat.

Then it slowly sank down, and a gnawing and chewing sound, creak, creak, came from inside the coffin again.

After everything was eaten, Xu Yuan added another bowl of black dog blood: "Uncle, eat slowly, don't choke."

The thing in the coffin drank another bowl, let out a satisfied burp, knocked on the coffin lid again, and Xu Yuan stopped his hand.

"Uncle, I am going on a long journey. Rest assured, I will definitely return, but I suppose I will be gone for a while; I came to talk with you..."

After visiting all four households, the prepared items were exactly used up.

Of the four elders, Uncle Chen could eat the most, while Aunt Zhou had the smallest appetite.

In previous New Year periods, Xu Yuan would follow his father to buy black donkey hearts, black dog blood, and black cat meat, and knew their appetites perfectly.

Inviting them to a meal today was actually giving everyone a New Year's Eve dinner in advance.

Uncle Mao Si had not gone out to work these past two days; he hid behind the door, listening to Xu Yuan walking back and forth in the alley, even bidding farewell to those four dead ghosts, yet deliberately passing his own door without entering, making him itch with anxiety, yet too embarrassed to come out and ask directly.

Finally, Xu Yuan carried the empty wooden bucket and came out of Aunt Zhou's house last; Uncle Mao Si forced himself to open the door: "A-Yuan."

"Uncle Si." Xu Yuan greeted with a smile and turned to leave.

"Hey, hey, hey!" Uncle Mao Si, angry and ashamed: "You little rascal, I loved you for nothing!"

Xu Yuan turned back with a playful grin: "Uncle Si, if people are living well or not, go see for yourself; Miao Po Village isn't far.

If I say "good," will you really feel at ease?

Besides, weren't all those furnishings in her new room made by you?

Uncle Mao Si's face turned red: "I made them, carried them over, and left them not far away—she'd see them and pick them up herself."

Xu Yuan sighed in frustration: "She's already picked them up—doesn't that show her attitude? Uncle, you're this old and still so useless!"

Uncle Mao Si was mentally confused and didn't even realize how blunt this kid's words were!

"You don't understand—this alley… I don't want to drag her down, sigh!" He let out a long sigh.

Xu Yuan grew serious: "Uncle, do you trust me? I will surely make everyone live a proper life!"

Uncle Mao Si opened his mouth, but in the end, he still said only those three words: "You don't understand."

Uncle Mao Si sadly waved his hand, bowed his head, and walked back inside.

Xu Yuan knew that no matter what he said now, Uncle Mao Si had no faith he could truly change the alley's condition, so he shook his head and thought: When I've done it, I'll throw them a grand celebration.

Then I'll call everyone—Uncle Chen, Zhou Yi—and have them eavesdrop and make a ruckus at the wedding chamber!

Let everyone have a proper, joyful celebration.

Uncle Mao Si will surely be grateful to me!

As Xu Yuan thought this, he swayed his head back and forth; all this activity had already brought him close to noon.

Back at the small courtyard, he saw Yu Yunhang waiting for him in the yard: "My lord, you're back—the Commandant said they've gone ahead. Settle your household first, then catch up."

(End of Chapter)