Chapter 43: Kite
February 12th, 3:00 pm
The two men led the horses and donkeys into the courtyard gate. The place was really nice, and Shen Kuo couldn't help but sigh.
"Xu Jieji, this courtyard is so quiet and elegant. I wonder who the owner is?"
"This place is the Qi family silk and satin shop on the front street. It is the outer residence of the shopkeeper Qi. Although it is not big, it is just a second courtyard, but it has its own unique charm."
Shen Kuo remembered that this shop had a large storefront, and thought it was a family with a fortune of ten thousand. The two stood in the courtyard, and saw a wintersweet in full bloom in the courtyard, with prayer strips wrapped around its branches, and lanterns to welcome the spring hung under the houses on all sides. The couplets on the pillars were also very new, probably because of the national mourning this year, so they didn't dare to put them on the outside door, so they put them inside.
"The windows and doors are so bright, and there's a smell of life all around, it doesn't look like no one has lived here for a long time."
"Brother Shen probably just thought it was a property that a wealthy family had left unused and was selling, but in fact, someone was living there yesterday."
"There were people living here yesterday?" Shen Kuo was a little surprised, but he guessed what was going on.
"I have already found out. When the incident happened at Baifan Building last night, this shopkeeper Qi was drinking with his wife Ru in the elegant pavilion of the west building of Baifan Building. He also saw the puppet spirits flying in the air in front of him. Although he was not as clear as us, he was also very scared. In the morning, he took his wife Ru and his belongings to the country villa to avoid the disaster, but he left his wife, children and grandchildren in the city. Because Shopkeeper Qi and Shi Yaban had some old friendship, he entrusted the key to this place to Mr. Shi. Originally, he didn't plan to rent it out, but Bao Longtu found out and came to see it in person in the afternoon. He said that the Juntousi was too remote, and it was not quick to respond to incidents in the downtown area . It urgently needed an inconspicuous place in the inner city as a base. There is a two-story attic in the second courtyard, which can be climbed up and have a good view, which is the best."
"Mr. Bao, did you get the key just like that?"
"Shi Yaban was scolded by the government this morning, so he dared not neglect the case, and naturally did not dare to disobey Bao Longtu's wishes."
"But the hat monster is not like other monsters. It comes and goes without a trace, and it is not necessarily possible to wait for it in a busy city."
"Bao Longtu is not unaware of this. He said there is another benefit."
"Any benefits?"
"He said that he had invited Master Huailiang twice, but the master refused each time, probably because he thought the military office was too far. He also saw that Master Huailiang was a lazy outsider, and this place was not far from the Daxiangguo Temple, so it would be convenient to invite him."
"Bao Longtu is very meticulous and wise."
Shen Kuo suddenly realized that Lao Bao was quite careful, and even noticed that Huailiang was lazy and unwilling to walk. This was probably true. Last time he invited the monk to Yuanqiu, he thought it was too far and refused to go, so he just asked him to dig according to the blueprint.
The two men crossed the yard and led the animals to the barn in the backyard. There were already people there, and a runner was sorting firewood and walking by. The old donkey started to bray, and Shen Kuo quickly pulled the donkey back, and the donkey stopped braying.
"Why is this animal barking so loudly?"
"Hey, this old donkey is shy. He will bark whenever a stranger comes near him. This is what happened to Yang Chunguan."
"Why don't you shout when there are so many strangers on the street?" Xu Chong said.
"There are a lot of people on the street now, and the more people there are, the less it dares to bark. But when there are few people, such as in the dead of night, it will make a noise. Even if a stranger walks by the wall, it will bark. Yang Chunguan said that the guard dogs at home are not as sharp as this old donkey's ears. When I said I wanted to return the donkey, he was still a little reluctant, saying that it would be better to keep it as a guard house than to take it away to make a donkey meat banquet."
"Hey, look at the donkey's ears. They are so long. They are less fresh than dogs."
The two looked around and saw a few peach trees growing here. The peach blossoms were just about to bloom, and the fragrance was already overflowing. Xu Chong saw that the branches of a peach tree next to the barn were very low and had already stretched out of the courtyard wall.
"If I don't trim the branches, I'm afraid that when the peaches are ripe, the children outside will crawl in and steal them."
"It's stealing, but it's not a childish thing."
"Not a child?"
Xu Chong realized that he had said something wrong, and after thinking about it, he decided that it didn't matter. "When I came here this morning, I asked the neighbors about the matter, and heard gossips saying that Madam Ru was originally a prostitute in a brothel, and she married Mr. Qi, who is nearly 70, at the age of 21 or 22. Haha, how could a young woman like her stay with an old man?"
"It's just the neighbors' gossip, right? How can prostitutes in brothels definitely not be good people?" Shen Kuo said.
"It's absolutely not a false accusation. This lady surnamed Feng does have one or two lovers behind her master's back. They often come in late at night by climbing this branch, and then go straight up to the lady's attic from the roof of the stable. They also take this road when they come out. Originally, this branch was not bent, and it didn't grow out of the wall. It became bent over time. In fact, the young man with whom she had a lover has been seen several times, and everyone on the street knows about it. Only the shopkeeper Qi, as his name suggests, has the blessing of Qi people, and he doesn't know anything about it. It's also the blessing of his previous life. Hahaha..."
"Everyone knows exactly how she climbed the tree and how she got up the building. It seems more like hearsay. It is not necessarily based on personal experience and cannot be trusted." Shen Kuo said. He felt that it was just a fabrication made up by the neighbors out of their prejudice against prostitutes.
Xu Chong realized that Shen Kuo was in a hurry to defend the brothel girl, probably because he was consciously putting himself in someone else's shoes, so he stopped talking and helped unload the items on the old donkey's back. He found that Shen Kuo had brought quite a few things.
"Why are you carrying these paper things?"
"These are all made by me after I comprehended the Hat Demon."
"Brother Shen, I have something to say but I don't know how to say it. At this point, do you still think that the hat monster is not a monster?"
"This matter...however..."
"I heard you say that Master Huailiang once said that everything in the world can be understood through understanding, and I believed it to some extent. However, you and I both saw what happened last night. Those puppets flew in the air, how could they be understood by just a few tricks?"
Shen Kuo was speechless. If it was before yesterday, he would have definitely refuted it, but after what he saw with his own eyes yesterday, he really had nothing to say, so he could only change the subject.
"The people from the Imperial City Bureau didn't do anything to the people on the scene last night, right?"
"I went to Baifan Building today and found Jin'er's aunt. According to her, Jin'er and Xiaoping were questioned all night and released after signing their names. The rest of the people seemed to have been released as well, except for Boss Pei, who might be related to the nursery rhyme in the revolving lantern because he was the one who handled it. So he is still being held in the Imperial City Division. He is asking people everywhere to find a way out."
"How are Xiao Ping and the others?"
"Her aunt only said that she was frightened, and she and Jin'er are recuperating at home. She won't go to Fanlou for the next few days. Hey, the last time she was frightened in the Prince Consort's Mansion, it was only a few days. This time is another fright. If she is usually timid, she would have been frightened to death."
"Do you know where her home is?"
"I want to know, too. Unfortunately, my aunt won't tell me. She said that for a family like them, it's enough to drink and smile in public every day, but it's forbidden to tell anyone where they live in private. But she only said that she would only stay for a day or two. You don't need to be in a hurry to see her, right?"
"Of course there's no rush. I just want to return the donkey to him."
"Hey, how can a lady like her, who has a lot of money, care about such a stupid donkey?"
The old donkey started to cry out, seeming to be quite dissatisfied with Xu Chong's evaluation.
"Brother Shen, why do you have a kite in your luggage? Are you trying to understand the hat demon as well?"
"Yes and no. There are only three kinds of things that can fly in the sky. Some are assisted by the rising air, like the sky lanterns; some have the power to spread their wings and soar, like sparrows and rocs; and some can take advantage of the wind, like this kite."
"But the three things you mentioned are not very similar to the hat monster or those puppet monsters flying in the sky yesterday."
"Yes, yes. Master Huailiang once taught me the method of vaporization, but he only solved one part of the mechanism, and the rest was impossible to solve. Especially flying up and down on the eaves, and being able to avoid the cover when encountering it, it is definitely not something that a clumsy thing like the sky lantern can do ."
Shen Kuo could only shake his head. The whole city was in panic, but he was in depression. Because his worldview was being seriously challenged. Originally, it was just the hat demon that could not understand the principle by the method of "following its reason and conforming to the Tao", and last night there were a lot of inexplicable puppets flying in the sky. The theoretical system of "everything in the world must conform to reason" was collapsing, and he was powerless to resist.
For a moment, he wanted to get rid of Xu Chong, not because Xu Chong brought too many negative thoughts, but because Xu Chong's problems made him realize that these negative thoughts actually came from himself. It turned out that he still had doubts deep in his heart, but he had always pretended that these doubts did not exist. He also couldn't control himself and felt that the mountains he saw were no longer mountains.
In the past, at times like this, the only way for me to rely on Huailiang was to dispel this terrible depression. However, when I met Huailiang at noon, he did not give any explanation, but maybe he has one now.
"Xu Jieji, Master Huailiang doesn't know about this new place yet. I'll go there first and tell him."
"Okay, sir, go ahead. I'll clean up here, and you can pick a good room first. My brothers and I will clean it up, and you can live there from now on."
"Okay, I'll take the one upstairs."
Shen Kuo raised his hand and pointed to the Embroidered Tower in the backyard, which was also the highest point here.
"Okay, when the others arrive, I'll ask them to clean up the yard. Oh, there's one more thing. Among the things we confiscated from Yu Silang's house last time, we found a handwritten list that seems to be very important. Mr. Bao found three or four names listed after the Saint Lady in the list, and one of them is Yu Jing. I think they are all important people in the sect."
"Tell me about it."
"In fact, Yu Silang is the only one we know of. The other two are Zhuge Suizhi and Saint Hu Yonger."
"Saint Lady Hu Yong'er might be Saint Lady's female disciple. Zhuge Suizhi sounds strange and doesn't seem like her real name."
"Bao Longtu also said so. It seems that it is not very valuable. Also, it is strange that Yang Shaoqing calculated that there was something strange near the Imperial Street tonight. Maybe he just calculated yesterday's events and missed a day. Since the arrival of the hat monster, such strange things have not happened in the same place. However, my brothers and I will be guarding in the wine shop near the Imperial Street. You can come if you want to at night, but you don't have to come."
Shen Kuo agreed, drew a bucket of water from the well in the front yard, washed his face, and then went to the Daxiangguo Temple.
