Chapter 25: 24, Corpse Lotus Root

24, Corpse Lotus Root

"You stayed in the wine cellar for a day. Did you have any strange dreams? Did any hallucinations appear?" Zhou Chang asked the worried Stone Egg.

Hearing the voice, Stone Egg turned his head in surprise and looked at him: "Did Big Brother have a dream in the cellar too?"

The young man's pretense of being a god or ghost had been exposed; his status might be lost with Yang Rui, so he had become especially close to Zhou Chang—also making some plans for his future.

Zhou Chang nodded.

Stone Egg lowered his eyelids, recalled for a moment, and said to Zhou Chang: "At first I felt nothing, but later it felt as if a damp, hot wind blew into the coffin from somewhere unknown, and then I started dreaming.

At the beginning, those dreams were very chaotic and hard to remember clearly.

Later, I dreamed I seemed to sink into a vast lake..."

Speaking here, Stone Egg felt some fear: "The water in that lake was emerald green; I could only see blurry scenes before my eyes.

Later, I heard a 'glug, glug' sound behind me, like something breathing.

I twisted to look—just then the lake water suddenly cleared, and I saw lotus roots, section by section, colorful and variegated, growing in the mud at the lake bottom; water passed through the lotus eyes, producing the sound I had heard."

"Colorful lotus roots?" Zhou Chang raised an eyebrow.

"Maybe they were lotus roots..." Stone Egg said hesitantly, "Those lotus roots had eight or nine main sections in total; from each main section several branches grew outward. For some reason, they were all wearing those colorful dresses and skirts that only women wear...

I found it strange, so I leaned in to look, not expecting those nine lotus sections to sway as pushed by the water; the floral clothes on them swayed along—

One lotus section was closer to me; I saw a pitch-black rope wrapped around that section, already strangling the lotus root more than halfway; many lotus threads floated out from the broken place of the lotus root, swaying in the water, and suddenly turned into pitch-black hair!

That lotus section, nearly strangled in two, became a swollen woman's head!

It topped a full head of messy hair and smiled at me!

In my panic, those few lotus sections all turned into swollen women wearing floral skirts; they were led by a rope tied around their nearly broken necks, waving at me endlessly in the water!

Several women's feet stepped into the mud; in the mud, clumps of white things writhed. I glanced and saw they were nothing but vast numbers of female corpses trapped in the swamp!

I was so frightened that cold chills ran down my back; I quickly swam toward the water surface—

Those female corpses lay beneath the water, staring straight at me!

The higher I swam, the more I saw a thin, tall figure, seemingly wearing the rat-tail braid of the former dynasty; he held a fishing rod and was fishing by the lake.

While fishing, he also chanted the 'Sutra of Purity and Stillness' that we recited this morning.

One person does not enter a temple; two people do not look into a well; three people do not embrace a tree..."

Stone Egg, immersed in the terrifying memory, murmured softly, unable to control himself!

"Dad, the newly opened braised meat shop next door smells so good."

The child, with a large head, small body, and slightly bulging belly, looked at the banner in front of 'Li Braised Meat' not far away, sniffed hard, and said to the man ahead of him.

The man carefully supported a middle-aged woman, walking toward their own house.

Hearing his son's words, he glanced sideways at that braised meat shop and said quietly to the child: "Nowadays fewer people raise pigs, cattle, and livestock; what good meat could that braised meat shop use?

It might even be human flesh... not edible..."

The man used words to frighten the child.

The child was not afraid; he nodded unconcernedly, his topknot on his head swaying back and forth: "I know, I know, Dad. Mother's illness is not yet cured; money is needed everywhere in the house. I'm just telling you—

The braised meat at that meat shop really does smell so good..."

Hearing his son's sensible words, seeing the look of suppressed longing in his eyes, the man's eyes stung with tears.

He opened his mouth, but finally only sighed 'Ai', supported his wife into the main hall; the child immediately brought a stool, letting his dazed mother sit down.

Outside the door, the sky grew darker and darker.

Inside the room, the light grew dimmer.

In the dim room, the rumbling of a father and son's stomachs became even more obvious.

"The winery said in a few days at least, your mother will be well." The father spoke, shifting his son's attention; their family now got only one meal a day. "Old Li at the end of the street, who suffered from madness, had his family take him to Wen Yongsheng Winery to stay for a day.

After returning, he was dazed for a few days, then he was well."

"Oh..."

"What is the name of the owner of that newly opened braised meat shop? I think I heard someone mention it."

"It seems to be called something like Li Meihua..."

"Hmm."

The father and son chatted a few more words, then both lost the desire to speak.

They were simply too hungry.

Moreover, from the braised meat shop next door, waves of meat fragrance kept drifting over.

The man saw that some customers had already gathered in front of that shop; he swallowed, stood up to close the door, wanting his son to sleep early.

At this moment, the wife, sitting on the stool like a clay statue, moved her lips and spoke a muffled sentence: "Anthropomorphic steps..."

"What?" The man jolted, hurried to his wife's side, stared at her face, "Child's mother, what did you say?"

"One person does not..."

"One person does not enter a temple; two people do not look into a well..." The words from the wife's mouth grew clearer; her eyebrows trembled slightly, and expression gradually returned to her face.

The man was overjoyed.

The child looked at his mother's expression but felt it was somewhat strange.

"She is about to wake up!

Youngest son, your mother is about to wake up!" The man was so happy he almost shed tears; he looked left and right, then suddenly fixed his gaze, as if making a firm decision; he took a few copper coins from his chest and handed them to the child, "Go!

Youngest son, go buy a piece of braised meat to eat!

Buy the cheapest kind!"

Zhou Chang pushed the cart back home.

Yang Rui, his face dark, led Stone Egg inside the house.

"Sigh, that man—" Zhou Sanji looked at Yang Rui and his disciple, whose expressions were off, and let out a helpless sigh, as if he knew some of the inside story.

"Wine is medicine; it can cure a troubled heart…" Zhou Chang said thoughtfully. "Does Uncle Yang have some heart trouble? Today when he heard the people in the distillery say Stone Egg wasn't crazy, he really did look a bit unhappy.

And he didn't smile the whole way."

Zhou Sanji turned back to look at Zhou Chang, a smile appearing on his face: "You don't understand, it's all old folks' business.

As long as you're doing well now, I'm content. You don't need to worry about the rest.

—He's already taken Stone Egg as a disciple. If the other fellow hasn't done anything to wrong him, he can't chase the man away either. Don't worry, there's nothing going on."

The old man refused to say more, so Zhou Chang didn't press further. He glanced toward the side-room door and said instead: "What has Bai Xiue been doing today?"

"Sitting at home sewing the Hundred Beasts Robe, of all things — making a fuss over nothing!" Zhou Sanji glared at Zhou Chang, his tone turning sour.

"I'll go check on her." Saying so, Zhou Chang headed toward the door of Bai Xiue's bedroom.

All the threads of his perception he now possessed had already been strengthened in the distillery, but their number had not changed.

So he still needed to spend more time near Bai Xiue, obtain more threads of perception from her, and bring them into the wine cellar to reinforce.

"Hey, don't go!

Come back and tend the fire, it's almost suppertime!

You brat, the moment things go a little well you stop listening!"

The old man called out behind Zhou Chang, but Zhou Chang paid him no heed.

He walked to Bai Xiue's door, paused a moment, didn't knock, and pushed the door open and went straight in.

The crimson light of the setting sun stepped into the dim side room along with his tall figure.

Bai Xiue, sitting on the small wooden bed, was visibly flustered at the sight of that figure bursting in unannounced. She immediately tried to hide what was in her hands behind her back — in her hands was a piece of grey-black fur about the size of a bowl mouth, that piece of fur seemingly sewn together from several rats.

What Bai Xiue truly wanted to hide was not that piece of rat-fur.

Rather, it was the few ground beetles she was holding in her hand. These ground beetles, still to be seen in the dead of winter, had their elytra stitched together by wisps of faint white, translucent thread, and Bai Xiue had hidden them beneath the rat-fur.

"Miss Bai, forgive the intrusion."

Zhou Chang stood at the doorway without going further inside, which somewhat eased Bai Xiue's heart.

She lowered her head and said softly: "What is it, Young Master Zhou? Next time please knock first…"

If he had knocked, how could he have discovered Miss Bai's secret?

Zhou Chang saw that the piece of rat-fur Bai Xiue had hidden was indeed pieced together from several rat skins, but on that piece of fur there was not a single trace of stitching — even in the sewing basket beside Bai Xiue, every spool still had its thread end neatly tied off, showing no sign of having been used.

She truly did possess a special thread that could be used to sew the 'Hundred Beasts Robe' she had promised her grandfather.

That kind of thread should share the same origin as Zhou Chang's perception robe.