Chapter 24 Seeking Advice
February 7th, Chou hour.
Shen Kuo was the only one on his horse in the dark street. He bit his lip in anger. After copying the footprints of Huo Dou, he believed that he could figure out the opponent's tricks, but now it seemed that he was still far away.
He realized that the only person in the city of Bianliang who could possibly help him was Huai Liang, a monk who sold pork heads outside the front gate of Daxiangguo Temple. However, Bao Zheng had already set up many rules and regulations prohibiting the disclosure of too much information, which was indeed a troublesome matter.
Unable to think of the answer, he could only ride his horse quickly out of the city. The city gates would not be closed all night today, so he still had time to go back. He did not plan to sleep, thinking of going back to modify the drawing of the hat demon he had drawn before. Technically speaking, it is not impossible for the hat demon to turn in space if it is pulled by a thin line. As long as the person pulling it turns, it will naturally turn with it. But he just saw with his own eyes that the hat demon was flying and turning sharply more than a foot above the eaves, and it was even nimble. If there was a person hiding in the dark in front, how could he run on the roof without stepping on the tiles? Is this person as light as a civet cat?
Returning to the Yang residence, he quietly entered through the corner door to avoid waking up the old Yang couple. When Old Yang was not on duty at the Sitianjian, he also had the habit of observing the stars at home at night. Maybe he was still awake at this moment, but the old lady was used to going to bed early, so he had to be careful.
He tiptoed into the garden and found Yang Weide standing in the middle of the garden watching the small moonlight tonight, probably worried whether his conclusion that the hat monster would appear tonight would come true. Seeing Shen Kuo leading the horse in, Old Yang immediately stepped forward to help send the horse to the barn in the backyard. Then the two of them went to the study and closed the doors and windows.
When Yang Wei De lit the oil lamp, he saw Shen Kuo's gloomy face and guessed about 70% of the situation.
"It came out?"
"Yes, here I come." Shen Kuo nodded.
"But..."
"It's on Panlou Street, exactly where you pointed out, teacher."
"Oh?!" A strange look, half worried and half happy, appeared on Yang Wei De's face.
"It seems that there is indeed a pattern to follow?"
"Teacher, why don't you calculate the time and location of its next appearance?"
"Okay, I'll try again."
Shen Kuo said goodbye and returned to his bedroom to study the blueprints again. These blueprints were based on the sky lanterns with some traction devices added; but after seeing the object with his own eyes tonight, he felt that his previous thinking was wrong. Now it seems that the object has no rationality that can be understood, maybe it is just a "ghost object"?
This real thought scared him. He thought that over the years he had gotten rid of the habit of lazily classifying unknown things as supernatural forces.
Feeling frustrated, he tore up all the drawings, leaned on the bed and waited for dawn, and fell asleep after a moment. In the broken dream, a dark cloud always lingered in front of his eyes.
February 7th, Mao time.
When he woke up, it was already daybreak. So he got up quickly and rode out without eating breakfast. But he saw Yang Wei De, dressed in Taoist clothes, also about to go out. He was not so enthusiastic about going to Lao Bao in the past. He always set out when the sun was high in the sky.
"Teacher, are you in a hurry to go to Mr. Bao's place? It's not even 12:00 a.m. yet, and the sedan bearers haven't arrived yet."
"No, there's no need to rush Bao Longtu. The Prince Consort's family next door came to invite me yesterday, saying that they had been having troubles since moving in and had run into some bad people, so they wanted me to go take a look at the layout. You left so early, are you going to see Old Bao?"
"No, I have asked Xu Chong to take leave. I will not go to Mr. Bao's place today because I have other things to do."
"Then be careful."
Yang Wei De did not ask any more questions. He went to the Prince Consort's Mansion across the street alone. When Shen Kuo went to the stable to get the horse, he found that the old donkey had gained a lot of weight recently just by eating and drinking without working. He suddenly remembered the agreement with Xiao Ping that he would return the donkey after settling down, but unfortunately he had not been able to do it. With a sigh, he rode his horse to the city.
When he arrived at Daxiangguo Temple, it was still too early. Except for some breakfast vendors, most of the vendors had not yet set up their stalls, so he sat in a small shop and ate Hu pancakes.
There were several people sitting in the shop, whispering to each other. Shen Kuo listened quietly. Sure enough, the news that the hat demon had come again had spread on such a cold morning. It seemed that Xu Chong's idea of sealing off the scene to prevent the news from leaking out was simply a delusion.
The people behind this conspiracy probably relied most on the efficiency of rumor spreading, not magic, which is an irrepressible force. Therefore, the government's lifting of the ban on "The Legend of the Heroes of Chaos" was so pragmatic and wise. It is better not to argue than to have no defense. The Song Dynasty will not be overthrown by a puppet show.
"Have you heard that the 'thing' from yesterday is back again?" One of the old men said in a low voice. Among some cautious people, the hat monster is usually referred to as "thing", "matter" or "object" to avoid bad luck if the name is spoken directly.
"It appears again?" another sturdy young man raised his voice. His axe and firewood were placed outside the shop. He was probably a woodcutter.
"On Panlou Street, we ran into the Kaifeng Prefecture's police. Seven or eight public servants died, with blood gushing from all seven orifices and bones broken all over their bodies. In the end, a Taoist priest from Longhu Mountain arrived and drove away the hat monster. I heard that the hat monster ran into the puppet shed of the Wood Spirit Class while escaping."
"The puppets of the Wood Spirit Class are already supernatural. How could they attract that 'thing'?"
"Yes, as the saying goes; when a country is in its last days, evil spirits will appear... It seems..."
"Dear customers," the porridge shop owner interrupted, "please be considerate of my humble business and don't talk about the affairs of the country."
"I understand, I understand." The old man nodded.
"The shopkeeper is too cautious. It's freezing cold this morning, are you afraid that the spies from the Imperial City Bureau will come out and eavesdrop?" The woodcutter laughed.
At first, everyone laughed along with the woodcutter, but gradually they stopped laughing and turned to look at Shen Kuo in the corner, their eyes full of suspicion.
Shen Kuo was very sure that the card for entering the palace today was hidden in his arms, and it should not have been revealed, but his temperament as an outsider seemed to be somewhat different from that of ordinary people in Bianjing City. Why did he attract such a look?
He came out of the shop and saw the pig head meat sign hanging out from afar. He hurried over to see that it was the waiter Xiao Yi who was preparing it. Huailiang had already arrived, but was just dozing off behind the counter. He could smell alcohol from afar. It seemed that he had drunk too much again early in the morning.
"Sir, are you here to get the seal?" Brother Xiao Yi greeted Shen Kuo quickly when he saw him.
"Exactly."
The slovenly Huailiang woke up and asked Shen Kuo to sit down at the first table. He stumbled and took out the paper and seal from the small cabinet behind the stove and handed them to Shen Kuo. Shen Kuo tried to stamp a few seals on the paper, and they were exactly the same as the original ones. Huailiang was not only smart but also very skillful.
"Can you tell the real from the fake?" the monk said proudly, reeking of alcohol.
"The master's technique is simply divine."
“Hahahaha…” The monk laughed, “This isn’t really a brilliant move.”
"How can it be more clever?"
"Hey, sir, you may not know that Master Huailiang also has a 'Quick Seal', which is faster than the 'Convenient Seal'." The waiter Xiao Yi interrupted.
"Quick Print?"
"Oh, then it's not an ordinary seal."
The monk said.
"Can you tell me something?" Shen Kuo's curiosity was aroused, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it.
"Do you know Bi Sheng's movable type printing?"
"I have heard of it. It is also recorded in my booklet Mengxi Bitan: During the Qingli period, there was a commoner named Bi Sheng who made movable type. His method was to carve characters with clay as thin as the edge of a coin, and each character was a seal, which was then burned to make it hard. First, an iron plate was set up, and rosin, wax, paper ash, etc. were placed on it."
"This method can't actually be used as a seal. But it can be used for other purposes, such as the 'Jicui Huage' that Mr. Pei made a few days ago, which is specialized in counterfeiting. There are often poems and calligraphy by celebrities. Many people have never seen the original poem, but the clay movable type of this font is used to print the whole poem. It can deceive those who have seen the original, but it can deceive those who only know a little bit."
"Can't we just find an expert to forge the handwriting?"
"You don't know how many such calligraphy and paintings are sold every day in these forgery calligraphy and painting shops in Tokyo. The buyers themselves don't believe in them, they just hang them there for display. If you ask an expert to copy the title, the price will be set by the characters. If the characters are made into movable type and copied at will, wouldn't that be a waste of money?"
"Is that so? It's a pity that the prince consort has no vision."
"He is a lover of calligraphy and painting, so how could he not understand? He is just being pretentious. Ordinary people know that something they bought for a few hundred coins cannot be genuine. Why would they seek such bad luck?"
" The Prince Consort's family has been having some bad luck lately. This morning I asked Mr. Yang to go to his house to look at the geography."
"Oh?" Huailiang's expression changed slightly, as if he was a little sober. "By the way, you are not here just to get the seal. Xiaoyi went out to buy soy sauce and vinegar this morning, and heard that the hat monster appeared in front of Panlou again."
"Master is indeed meticulous..."
"I also know your difficulties. Your superiors require you to keep this confidential and not tell anyone about this. But if you trust me, you don't have to stick to me. I won't tell anyone."
Huailiang was open-minded and he saw through Shen Kuo's worries.
"master……"
"You want to know how the hat monster flies?"
"Master, do you know?"
"Xiao Yi, there will be more customers soon. Go to the kitchen and don't linger around."
Xiao Yi left angrily.
"Mr. Shen, what do you think?"
"Well, I'm ashamed to say that a few days ago I thought I had understood something and had drawn a picture, and I was just one step away from understanding it. But last night I was wondering if I had guessed wrong."
"Oh, you saw it with your own eyes? Tell me about it." Huailiang turned around and saw Xiaoyi busying himself over there and not eavesdropping.
"I saw it flying about a foot above the eaves, pasting tiles and crossing the ridge, rising and falling or turning as if walking on flat ground. I guessed a few days ago that the so-called hat demon is something like a Kongming lantern that can rise into the air with hot air, and is secretly pulled by a thin line. The only thing I don't know is how the smoke spreads around. However, when I saw it with my own eyes last night, I felt discouraged. It's not just the smoke that is unexplainable. It can move and turn in the air, as agile as a bird, and it is definitely not a clumsy thing like a prayer lantern that rises by evaporating hot air."
“So amazing?”
The monk frowned.
"Yes, if there is someone leading him in the dark, he would have to run and move on the rooftops. Even if he is as light as a cat, it would be difficult. If he is too heavy, he will step on the leaky roof and fall off."
"There must be some truth in this. " Huailiang seemed a little hesitant.
"As the master said, everything can be found by following its path. However, we were able to see the hat monster last night because Yang Shaoqing used the magic of Qimen to calculate the place and time where it would appear."
"It's not impossible to calculate the location and time. Although the Jingyou Dunjia Fuying Sutra is kept in the Forbidden Palace, it may be out there. As long as you know that Yang Shaoqing is using this book to calculate, you can reversely calculate the location and deliberately wait for you to run into it."
"But how can it fly so lightly? I still can't figure it out. I'm really getting discouraged."
"Why be discouraged? If you can't find the right door, you will just be obsessed with appearances."
"Being obsessed?"
"Yes, although you see the concrete form, you are obsessed with its appearance and fail to see its true nature. This is attachment to appearances. Leave the question to me and I will ponder it."
"Well, there is one strange thing, though. It's the cloud of mist that surrounds the Hat-Monster. I had assumed it was some kind of smoke, like rosin or sulfur, but I walked along the street where it flew yesterday and I couldn't smell any sulfur."
The monk just nodded but didn't answer.
"Oh, there is one more thing that needs the master's help."
"But it's okay."
"It was the Altar of Land and Grain in Yongqiu County. On the second day of the second lunar month, when the solar eclipse occurred, the footprints of the evil spirit extended to the bottom of the round hill. The officials on the Altar of Land and Grain felt the ground shaking, but none of the soldiers guarding below felt it."
"Is it there? I did participate in the reinforcement of that earthen altar a long time ago, but I have never been there. I only drew the blueprint."
"Master, do you know how to create cracks in this rammed earth dome?"
"I will also think about this matter together with the previous ones."
"Thank you for your help."
"Is there anything else?"
"That's all for now." Shen Kuo smiled embarrassedly.
He seemed to have offended Lao Bao by leaving a lot of questions, and he was a little nervous, but he knew that his decision was right. It was impossible to hide the whole truth in front of Huai Bing, who was extremely smart. Having such an idea was also disrespectful to Huai Bing. Huai Bing didn't even ask whether Shen Kuo was working for the Imperial City Department or Kaifeng Prefecture. This was his free and easy and generous nature. He only cared about those unsolvable mysteries. He was obsessed with solving all kinds of unsolvable mysteries in his life.
