Chapter 23 Wood Spirit Puppet
The sixth day of the second month, the hour of Hai.
Everyone sat at two tables, waiting for the waiter to bring wine, food, fruits and vegetables.
At this time, not far away, fireworks were rising into the sky. This was the court's official announcement that the national mourning had ended ahead of schedule. Perhaps the emperor was also looking forward to having a good time and getting rid of bad luck. Xu Chong stared with his mouth wide open. This was the first time he saw fireworks that could explode into a field as bright as stars.
A woman with a blue and white handkerchief tied around her waist and a bun in her hair came to pour wine for these brave guests. Xu Chong, as the host, stood up to toast first, with brilliant fireworks outside the window behind him. It was the hour of Hai.
Everyone sat down and waited for the roasted fat lamb on the skewer to be served. The waiter specially sent the lamb head to Xu Chong. Another woman came to sing with a pipa, but was driven out by the group of people. They were already somewhat partial in drinking, so they couldn't be too ostentatious . Moreover, many of the singing girls in the Tokyo restaurant were spies from Kaifeng Prefecture. If they saw anything suspicious, they would report it to the reward. When the messengers from the other side came to harass them, they could just put the waist card of the Imperial City Bureau on the table to settle the matter, but as long as this card was shown, Lao Bao would definitely be angry. Because Lao Bao kept muttering every day: The enemy is in the dark, and I can't be in the light.
Everyone ate and drank for a while. Xu Chong had only known these people for less than a month, but they were already like brothers. They were toasting each other, playing finger-guessing games, and were very lively.
Outside, the lights of shops and buildings near and far gradually dimmed, and the streets below were sparsely populated.
Xu Chong, half drunk, stuck his head out of the window and looked down. He saw that only his group's horses were dozing on the side of Pan Street. The shops across the street were hastily closing their doors. The fireworks on Yu Street probably played a final role in boosting people's courage. Most people wanted to flee home before the last brilliant fireworks ended.
Xu Chong suddenly laughed and seemed to have something to say.
"Lord Yang seems to have miscalculated. In a moment, it will be tomorrow, and there has been no response yet. In my opinion, the hat monster may not appear today, and I guess it shouldn't appear anywhere else either. This building is only a few inches shorter than the Baifan Building on Imperial Street, and it can overlook the whole city. I haven't seen any chaos in the city." Xu Chong's thinking was still sharp, but he was more or less drunk and his words were unclear.
"Not necessarily. It's not dark enough now. You have to know that the Hat Monster always appears when it's dark. If it's pitch dark, no one can see it and naturally it can't scare anyone. But if it's too bright, it will easily expose its flaws, so the timing must be chosen."
Shen Kuo said.
"Timing? What timing?"
"For example, the timing is just right now. Not only is the sky dark, but there are few people on the street, but there are still people. If there is no one to watch, who will be the audience? How can the shocking news be spread? The people who are still wandering on the street are the last batch of drinkers returning home before the restaurant closes. These people are drunk and confused, and are the easiest to be fooled."
"Mr. Shen has some truth in what he said... I admire him," the tipsy Xu Chong nodded slightly, "However, this is Panlou Street, the most prosperous place in Bianliang City... not some poor alley like Lin Street in the north or Slaughtering Pig Alley in the south. If you want to find it, why here? It doesn't make sense."
"What difference does it make if there's no one on the street?" Shen Kuo had only drunk one glass, but he was a little drunk and decided to argue.
"I know what Brother Shen guessed..." Xu Chong burped, and a wave of alcohol rushed to Shen Kuo. "Brother, you think there are no ghosts in the world. The hat monster is actually some kind of suspended object, pulled by a thin line. But look here..." He pointed outside. Shen Kuo looked out the window along his finger, and saw all kinds of buildings here, some two-story and some three-story, with staggered roofs and flying eaves.
"There are many tall buildings here. How can a suspended object move forward or backward? If it is pulled by a line, it will not turn. It will bump into something after walking for a while. There are also these wine flags and signs scattered along the street. If it goes straight, it may scratch or rub against them..."
Shen Kuo discovered that it was no coincidence that Bao Da Ren chose Xu Chong as a leader among many foreign troops in Hanzhong. He was indeed meticulous. This was indeed something he had thought of when he was drinking just now and had been unable to figure out. He did not expect that Xu Chong, who seemed drunk, had thought about it.
Shen Kuo didn't know how to answer for a moment, and the other spies didn't understand what they were saying at all and were busy tearing the roasted lamb.
"Ah!" A woman screamed from outside .
Everyone rushed to the window. They saw the old woman selling wontons at the end of the street sitting on the ground with her finger pointed up into the air. Someone with sharp eyes saw that a cloud was rising in the direction of her finger.
When everyone in front of the window exclaimed in surprise, Shen Kuo finally squeezed to the window.
He thought to himself: Yang Wei De’s calculations were actually correct, so couldn’t that be the hat monster?
Look at that strange low cloud just across the street. Its shape changes with the clouds, but it is roughly like a Fan Yang hat rising into the sky or a flying bowl or dish.
He could almost feel his heartbeat. According to his guess, the person who controlled the hat demon should be hiding in the darkness not far away. But where was he?
The hat monster slowly rose up, looking like a faintly glowing Kongming lantern.
"Nothing more than that?" A thought flashed through Shen Kuo's mind. Ever since he saw the fire dog's footprints, his confidence grew a little.
But in a flash, the thing began to move slowly. It flew straight over the wonton stall, flew over the head of the old woman who was slumped on the ground, and stuck close to the sign of Qin Yang's Knife and Scissors Shop on the street. If it was pulled by a thin wire, this path was not chosen very well, and if it was not careful it might get caught on various signs, billboards and eaves along the street.
When Xu Chong and a few brave spies turned around and headed downstairs, Shen Kuo was still standing at the window, holding his breath and watching. He stared at the cloud with wide eyes, and then turned his gaze in the direction of its movement, fearing that he would miss any information if he blinked. He vowed to find the person hiding in the dark.
The hat demon flew along the eaves of the shop, flying in a completely straight line and no longer rising. Although the thin line could not be seen, the trick it used was obvious, and it was similar to what Shen Kuo had guessed before. At this moment, it was heading towards the main door of Panlou Store.
Shen Kuo could feel the floor vibrating beneath his feet. It was three or four sturdy imperial guardsmen running down the stairs. If Xu Chong was fast enough, he might be able to get out of the door before the hat monster flew across the street.
When Xu Chong rushed out of Panlou Huanmen, the cloud was right in front of him, across the street. When Xu Chong drew his knife and called his men to outflank it, the hat monster seemed to be frightened and began to rise. Shen Kuo was surprised that it actually interacted with the reactions of the people around it. Since the person pulling it could see everyone, he should have guessed it was in his field of vision, but he couldn't find it.
However, it was from this moment that the behavior of the hat monster began to deviate from Shen Kuo's rational speculation.
The fog no longer moved in a straight line. It flew diagonally and passed over the eaves lightly. This made Xu Chong's encirclement tactics ineffective. He couldn't even see where the hat monster went.
"It went to the puppet shed of the Wood Spirit class." Shen Kuo shouted upstairs. He didn't care about the shout as it would expose himself to the person in the dark.
Xu Chong quickly led his men around the house in front to chase the hat monster. Only Wang Sheng did not go around. He threw out a flying claw with a chain, grabbed the top of the wall, climbed directly onto the eaves and chased after it.
Shen Kuo stayed in Panlou and watched the hat demon fly to the locked door of the puppet shed and disappear into the darkness. Wang Sheng, who arrived first, did not dare to get closer to the door. Soon Xu Chong and others arrived. They and Wang Sheng looked at each other in bewilderment.
Shen Kuo then turned around and ran downstairs. He first went to the street corner to help up the old woman selling wontons. When he saw that she was fine and just frightened, he hurried to the puppet shed.
When he arrived at the puppet shed, Xu Chong and his men were still surrounding the door. But he saw that the door of the puppet shed was wide open, and the broken chain was lying on the ground, still smoking.
Xu Chong did not go in immediately. He sent someone to borrow a lantern from a nearby shop that was still open. At this moment, a group of people each drew their short swords. Xu Chong was the first to go in with the lantern, followed closely by Shen Kuo, and the others followed behind.
Many of the tables and chairs under the puppet show stage had been overturned. This was not the case when they left after watching the puppet show. It seemed that some powerful force did not go through the passage, but opened a path in the audience seats all the way to the stage. The scene on the stage was also tilted.
When everyone went on stage, they saw that a large piece of the curtain had been torn off, and that brutal thing had gone straight into the backstage from there.
Xu Chong carefully reached into the lantern through the hole in the curtain. Behind it was a warehouse, with wooden racks containing puppets arranged one after another.
He raised his hand suddenly to stop the person behind him from talking, listened carefully for a while, and made sure that the repetitive sound behind the curtain was just something rolling on the ground. He slowly lifted the curtain with a knife and then crawled in.
Shen Kuo, unarmed, was the second to go in. From all indications, something led them here and then disappeared. There was no back door, and it didn't seem to have opened a path on its own.
The wooden statue of Lu Ban, the master of the Wood Spirits, was lying on the ground and rolling. It seemed that he was also pushed down because he was blocking the road. It should not have been long. Shen Kuo thought to himself: The hat monster should be a light thing, but it has such a strong power?
Most of the puppets on the wooden frames were sitting there, just as the rumors said, with their eyes covered. There was paper on each wooden frame with names written on it. It was obvious that these puppets could not be placed randomly and had their own seats. There was also an incense table in front of the wooden frame. It seemed that after each performance, these wooden figures had to accept incense offerings from the troupe owner and actors. However, the largest row of frames in the front was empty, and the incense table in front was also lying on the ground. When everyone walked over, they could see the names marked on the wooden frames. They were the ones in "The Legend of the Heroes" that they had just watched: Ying Bu, Hou Jing, An Lushan...
"The hat monster took them away?" a guard named Yan Xiu exclaimed.
"Stop talking nonsense..." Xu Chong said.
"Xu Jieji, do you remember that prophetic poem?"
"Prophecy?"
"The next sentence of Huodou is: A ghost hero emerges to lead the group of monsters." Yan Xiu said.
"So what?" Xu Chong became alert.
"My Lord, I didn't know what it meant at the time, but now I think it might mean..."
"Stop talking. Seal this place and stay here. Don't let the news leak out. I'll go find Master Bao right away."
Xu Chong hurriedly left with Shen Kuo, leaving the terrified brothers to guard this terrible puppet shed. He certainly knew that it was impossible to prevent the news from leaking out in the busy city of Kaifeng.
Tomorrow morning, this matter will surely explode in the capital. As for the line in the prophecy poem that a group of ghosts and monsters will appear, he has never known how to interpret it. Lao Bao and Wen Yanbo seem to have several guesses, but they cannot agree on one. Now, the hat monster has reappeared. He doesn't want to guess what kind of connection the missing puppets of the treacherous ministers and the ghosts and monsters in the eighth line of the prophecy poem will have among the people. But there are definitely people in the streets of Tokyo who can make up stories.
On the way back, Shen Kuo remained silent, thinking about the flight path of the hat monster he had just seen. He was confident that he could guess the flying and control principles of the hat monster. In fact, after eliminating all the impossibilities, only one reasonable answer remained: it was a thing suspended in the air by hot air and pulled by a thin wire, and its appearance in the dark hours roughly matched the conjecture of hidden filaments.
But now his confidence was shattered. Everything in this world must follow its own way. The so-called way, whether tangible or intangible, must be traceable, verifiable, calculable and re-verified. This is what Huai Bing taught him. For him, re-verification is the essence of testing the theory, and the best way to crack the hat monster is not just to guess the principle, but to make a replica that can run the same way in front of Mr. Bao.
But now when I think back to the hat monster, it seems that there is no trace to be found, no calculation to be made, let alone verification and replication. However, Huai Bing also said that the Tao may not be tangible. Perhaps its internal mechanism is just invisible to me?
"Xu Jieji, I won't go to see Lord Bao." Shen Kuo suddenly said, "I'll take a leave tomorrow, too. I'm going to see someone. The Juntou Division is too far away, and it will take a lot of time to go back and forth."
"To see the monk who bought the pork?"
"Yes, now only his wisdom can solve these mysteries. By the way, let's ask about the Sheji Altar."
"You forgot one thing."
"What is it?"
"Get your seal. Hahaha..." Xu Chao laughed, "I know you don't have any money on you right now, so take these first."
As he spoke, he took out his purse and threw it to Shen Kuo, who caught the heavy copper coins.
"Brother, go and do your business. I will ask for leave from Bao Longtu for you, but remember. Lord Bao said: This matter is of great importance. After all, the monk is not a government official. Now those thieves are among the people of Bianjing and are also trying to find out the news. How can we speak without leaking secrets? How important and appropriate it is... Brother, please pay attention to it yourself."
As Xu Chong said this, he whipped his horse and rode away in a cloud of dust.
