Chapter 275: The Bell Rings

Pan Yun immediately fell silent.

Although she had seen many things in the 26th century—Qi had revived, and many extinct things had reappeared—still… the Great Ming was not a case of Qi revival; it had always had Qi, albeit thin, and over centuries of accumulation, who knew what might have emerged?

Better to be cautious.

Although her merit was now substantial, she couldn't help feeling—perhaps it was psychological—that despite her merit, the closer she got to Mount Sanqing, the more uneasy her heart became.

Pan Yun tapped the counter, urging the clerk inside, "Hurry up, hurry up—it's only two pieces of silver. How long does it take to exchange for copper coins?"

The clerk smiled and replied, "Almost done, almost done. Look, this is the weight of your silver: three taels, two mace, and six fen. Today's exchange rate is one tael of silver for one thousand and fifty wen…"

The clerk clattered his abacus; Pan Yun said, "Three thousand four hundred and twenty-three wen."

"Three thousand four hundred and twenty-three wen…" The clerk, startled that she had named the amount first, looked up at her, then counted out the copper coins with even greater speed and deference.

Three strings, plus four more strings—so heavy—but Pan Yun took them without complaint, stuffed them into her sack, and reached for the twenty-three wen the clerk handed her, ready to leave.

The clerk leaned out the small window and called after her, "Little Daoist, our banknotes are just as valuable as silver—same exchange rate. You could use our notes; the minimum is one tael."

Pan Yun waved at him casually, "When your bank issues notes for one or two wen, I'll exchange."

The clerk: "... A one-wen note wouldn't even cover ink and paper costs…"

Pan Yun set off with her money, and sure enough, there were many beggars on the road.

She found it strange, "When we left Long Hushan for Quanzhou, we didn't see this many beggars."

Master Xuanmiao said, "It's because winter has come. The autumn harvest is completely over, and taxes and corvée labor have both been imposed. Some families can't pay their taxes, so they flee as refugees; others simply want to avoid corvée."

Pan Yun: "Can you really avoid it?"

Master Xuanmiao: "If caught, there's punishment. But what if you're not caught?"

Pan Yun understood. It was a gamble.

Checks at city gates had grown stricter; entering any city required inspection of household registers and travel permits.

Especially those who looked like they carried little luggage and traveled alone were scrutinized intensely.

Those like Pan Yun's group—with horses, carts, dressed as Daoist Priests, and accompanied by a child—were merely glanced at by the city gate soldiers, who waved them through.

Clearly, they knew these people weren't refugees or bandits.

Winter had arrived; all things fell silent. Even people stayed indoors. Walking the wilds, you might go half a day without seeing a soul—yet this was the moment when the relationship between man and nature, and man and the imperial court, grew most tense.

Hunters began entering the mountains to hunt for winter provisions; animals, too, were making their final efforts to store food.

The imperial court was busy collecting taxes, while local bureaus urgently posted notices for corvée labor.

Watching the scene, thinking of these things, Pan Yun and the others failed to reach the next relay station before dark, and so had no choice but to camp in the wilderness.

Calling it camping wasn't quite right.

Because they had found an abandoned Earth God temple.

Pan Yun jumped down from the cart, looked up at the eaves thick with spiderwebs, stepped forward, and pushed open the half-closed door.

The temple's roof was half-collapsed; standing in the center, one could see the bright stars above.

Fortunately, winter didn't bring much rain—otherwise, here you couldn't even escape the rain.

Pan Yun stood before the half-collapsed Earth God statue, gazed at it for a long moment, then smiled faintly, clasped her fists in greeting, "Earth God, this night your humble abode is borrowed by this Daoist and her sister-disciples. We apologize for the disturbance; we'll offer incense and food shortly."

She bowed deeply.

Seeing Miao Zhen and Seeing Miao He entered with their luggage, saw this, and also clasped their fists in salute, then began searching for places to rest.

Pan Yun had already found one: against the right wall, out of the wind, under cover, and secluded—perfect for quietly watching the door and every corner of the temple.

"Put your luggage here."

Under the moonlight, Pan Yun dragged in plenty of dry wood and kindling, then casually grabbed handfuls of straw from various corners of the ruined temple to start a fire.

Hmm, straw?

Pan Yun looked down at the straw in her hand, then whirled around sharply, "Does someone live in this ruin?"

Seeing Miao Zhen, who had been tidying the ground, made a soft "Hm?" and stood up to look at her. "Who's here?"

Pan Yun showed her the straw: "Fresh straw. Must've been dried this year."

Hearing this, Seeing Miao Zhen and Seeing Miao He immediately began searching around. "Is anyone here? Where are you hiding?"

"We're Daoist Priests. We're good people. We didn't come to take your place. Don't be afraid."

Pan Yun: "... If you search like that, even if someone's here, they won't dare come out."

She frowned, listening to the breathing and heartbeats inside, then said, "There's no one here now."

She looked up, through the broken tiles, at the clear sky. "The moon is bright tonight. Whoever lives here probably went into the mountains to hunt game."

If it were me, I'd stay in the mountains until nearly dawn. Sometimes hunting has to be done at night—especially for birds and wild chickens. You grab one, you get one.

Outside, Tao Ji, having just tied up the horses and fed them, also looked up and said, "The moon tonight is beautiful."

Master Xuanmiao, also looking up, said coldly, "Perfect for demons to roam."

Tao Ji shuddered, glancing nervously left and right. "Sister, don't scare me—I'm not good at spells."

Master Xuanmiao picked up her sword and turned to leave. "If you're not good, then practice."

Tao Ji followed behind her. "But it's hard to practice, isn't it?" Master Xuanmiao didn't enter the temple directly; instead, she walked around its perimeter.

She took out a spool of fine thread, tied it, stretched it out, and hung a bell wrapped in yellow talismans along the line.

She only marked the four corners. When she returned to the ruin, Pan Yun and the other two had already lit the fire and built a simple stove, on which a pot of meat broth was simmering.

Master Xuanmiao stepped forward, saw the pork ribs inside, and fell silent for a long while.

Seeing Miao He took a bundle of lotus leaves from her jade tablet's space, opened it, revealing pre-cut noodles. She beamed and said, "I have two bundles. Master and Uncle will have one; I and Little Uncle Seeing Miao Zhen will have the other."

Pan Yun casually praised, "Seeing Miao He really thinks ahead. I only thought of soaking buns in meat broth—I forgot we could boil noodles."

Seeing Miao He's eyes crinkled with delight.

Tao Ji: "You praise her like this every day? No wonder this whole trip has been nothing but meat, buns, and even pork jerky."

He pinched the flesh on Seeing Miao He's cheek, sighing, "You've gotten fatter again."

Miao He was also worried and sad.

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Pan Yun swatted his hand away. "Where'd I get fat? I just haven't lost any weight."

Tao Ji took a careful look at Miao He and nodded. "True, she really just hasn't lost any."

But along this whole journey—sleeping rough and eating in the wind, oh no, sleeping rough and feasting well—killing pirates, swindling and tricking people, even doing a stretch of good deeds—everyone had slimmed down, yet she stubbornly held her original shape, so of course she looked fat, didn't she?

In the end, Tao Ji didn't say anything to discourage his disciple, but instead patted her head and said affectionately: "Fine then, while we haven't returned to the mountain yet, eat a little more."

Miao He cupped her bowl of noodles and asked pitifully: "Once we're back at the mountain, Master won't feed me anymore?"

"It's not that bad, but you know, there's not much up on the mountain. You have to wait several days for a meat meal."

Back when they were at Mount Sanqing, unless Tao Ji went down the mountain to see patients and came back, they had to wait ten days to half a month for a single meat meal.

The chickens raised in the Daoist temple were meant to give them eggs when they had no meat to eat.

Wang Feiyin himself preferred vegetarian food, but the children were young—they needed proper nutrition.

Hearing that this was what her master was worried about, Miao He immediately pulled out the jade tablet hanging around her neck and said happily: "Master, I've already thought it through. Once we reach the county, I'll go to the butcher's and buy half a side of pork to store. Then even after going home we can eat meat every day."

Tao Ji stared at her jade tablet's storage space and asked: "Do you have money?"

"I do," said Miao He. "When we were at the Academy, we went down the mountain every ten days to earn money. When I bought things, Uncle-Master never let me pay. All the money I earned was saved—enough to buy lots of meat."

No wonder she'd been buying, buying, buying the whole way, never stopping and never feeling the pinch—she had money.

Tao Ji held out his hand. "Come on, hand over the money. Master will keep it safe for you. Later, when you grow up and your cultivation advances, you'll need it to buy your natal magic artifact."

Miao He clutched the jade tablet tight and said softly: "Master, actually I can save it myself. It's very safe in the storage space."

"The space is safe, but you're not."

Miao He turned to Pan Yun with a pitiful look.

Pan Yun gave a small cough and said: "Miao He, the water's boiling. Looks like we can put the noodles in."

Master Xuanmiao also turned to Tao Ji and said: "If you're afraid she'll get fat, once we're back at the mountain, every day make her carry a wooden bucket down to the Elixir Well to fetch water, with sandbags tied on, up and down the mountain four times. That'll do it."

She added: "Not only will it slim her down, it'll train her foundation and her lightness skill."

Tao Ji looked thoughtful. Actually, he didn't have to get his hands on the child's money—it was just that he was afraid Miao He didn't know how to restrain herself.

Miao He: …

She quietly reached out her hand. "Actually, I…"

Tao Ji had already nodded. "Fine then. You're not allowed to buy meat to bring back to the mountain. Since you'll be going up and down the mountain every day, just buy fresh meat at the big market instead."

Miao He opened and closed her mouth. Although going up and down the mountain sounded like hard work, fresh meat sounded delicious.

She closed her mouth and silently agreed.

Pan Yun and Seeing Miao Zhen quietly let out a breath of relief, and gestured for Miao He to hurry and cook the noodles.

Miao He came back to herself and placed the noodles in her hand into the pot in an orderly fashion.

The reason for saying "orderly" was that she was afraid if she tossed them all in as a clump, they wouldn't separate.

Just as she was happily cooking, a bell outside went jingling-jingling. Master Xuanmiao and Pan Yun whipped their heads around. A gust of yin wind swept toward them, spun once around the room, and quickly left.

Master Xuanmiao grabbed her sword, spun, and chased after it. "You stay here and watch them."

Pan Yun, who had run a few steps behind Master Xuanmiao, skidded to a halt, turned back to look at Seeing Miao Zhen and Miao He, then at Tao Ji holding his chopsticks and trembling slightly, suppressed the urge to investigate, turned around, and sat back down. "Let's eat our noodles first."

Seeing Miao Zhen had already bounced up, craning her neck to look outside. "Little Uncle-Master, shouldn't we go out and take a look?"

Tao Ji: "No, no, no, let's not go give Junior Sister trouble. If we go out, she'll just have to protect us."

Seeing Miao Zhen nodded with great reluctance. "I wonder what thing could shake Uncle-Master's dharma bell."

Pan Yun: "Either a demon or a ghost."

Miao He had already served the noodles. The first bowl she handed to Tao Ji. "Master, eat quick!"

Pan Yun and Seeing Miao Zhen looked up at Miao He together and sighed: "What a carefree heart."

Good night

(End of chapter)