First Order Income

Constable Luo returned a little earlier today.

Madam Wang was asking him if he had gone to visit the neighbors. This gossipy woman actually reminded Constable Luo of the group of people that afternoon.

He truly had no other choice today, so he carried some gifts in the afternoon to visit the new neighbor his wife described as increasingly possessing the demeanor of an exalted master. Yet he stood at the door knocking for a long time without receiving any response, only hearing a few meows.

On the contrary, as he was leaving, he ran into several out-of-town tea merchants and two martial escorts carrying gifts from their hometowns, and they turned out to be visiting the young mister as well.

After asking each other, Constable Luo found out—

the young mister who had newly moved in opposite his house was actually the exalted master who, while passing through Liangshui Ao, casually eliminated the fog ghost that had been committing evil for months!

That fog ghost wreaking havoc along Jinyang Road was nearly about to be posted on the city gates' notices. Now that it was eradicated overnight, the story had long been spreading everywhere in Yi Capital. Especially since Nanhua County had invited an exalted master who also failed to get rid of it, only for a passing exalted master to casually exterminate it, it made the tale all the more riveting to discuss.

He never expected such an exalted master to be right next door.

Possessing the ability to eliminate a fog ghost, even though Constable Luo still felt unsure whether the man could help him, the feat was already worthy of doubled respect.

Thinking of the items he had prepared today—a pack of brown sugar, a pot of fine wine—they were considered quite decent gifts among the usual ones for visiting relatives and friends in these times, and ordinary peasant households might not even have such financial means. Yet compared to the things those tea merchants brought, it somewhat lacked sincerity.

"Tomorrow I will prepare generous gifts and visit again."

Constable Luo spoke to his wife, but then heard the faint singing drifting from the courtyard opposite. It was the purest human voice; upon first hearing it, it felt spine-chilling, but after listening for a while, it actually sounded better than the singing girls in the tile houses.

He wondered if the young mister had returned home at this hour. If he had already returned, what was he doing now? Could he truly be entirely unconcerned about the ghost in his household?

Song You swept the stone table in the courtyard clean and, taking advantage of the evening coolness, ate his evening meal in the yard.

It was a rare extravagance today: he steamed a bowl of white rice. For some reason, the rice of this era produced a rich fragrance the moment it was steamed, a scent that could be smelled across one or two neighboring households, instantly whetting one's appetite upon inhaling it. Song You scooped a bowl, took another plate, picked out some meat for the Three Flower Cat, and also served it a small lump of rice. Man and cat quietly whiling away the time together in this dusk.

Shadows still shifted in the courtyard, and a ghost was chanting a tune.

Man and cat acted as if they were completely unaware.

"Is it delicious, Three Flower Lady?"

"Delicious."

"That's good."

Song You picked up a slice of meat with the white rice; between his lips and teeth was a familiar taste, and he also revealed a smile.

The mortal hustle and bustle was naturally the poetry of ordinary people, and when full of food and wine, one was most easily satisfied. Coupled with the company of Three Flower Lady, living alone here did not feel lonely at all, and he even had a feeling that living here for a long time wouldn't be unacceptable.

After finishing the evening meal, he sat back for a while to savor the flavor. When the night grew a bit deeper, Song You lit the oil lamp, tested his new brush, and began to draw talismans.

Fulong Temple was not famous for talisman-making, and the few types of talismans Song You knew were all acquired by past temple abbots during their travels across the realm.

The most common talismans on the market, and the ones people frequently sought at temples and shrines, were none other than two kinds: one to exorcise evils and repel ghosts, and the other to ensure peace and safety.

Song You knew a few talismans that relied on spiritual power to exorcise evils and repel ghosts. As for peace-ensuring talismans, they usually required communicating with deities and borrowing the power of their respective divinities. Although Fulong Temple housed a multitude of Taoist statues, they only dusted them off once a year on the twenty-third day of the twelfth lunar month, showing them limited respect. Therefore, the Taoists of Fulong Temple usually did not know these kinds of talismans.

Today, Song You only drew Yin-repelling talismans.

This type of talisman specifically repelled Yin ghosts.

For a moment, spiritual power stirred a breeze, the brush moved like a startled dragon, and the pea-sized flame of the oil lamp trembled accordingly, causing the light and shadow in the courtyard to flicker uncertainly.

The Three Flower Cat was full of curiosity. At first, it looked up from the ground, but since that made it truly hard to see clearly, it simply jumped onto the stone table to take a closer look.

Fortunately, while it watched, it did not disturb Song You.

Man and cat seemed to share an innate tacit understanding.

It was not until he had continuously drawn five talismans that Song You stopped.

He carefully folded them, using hemp string to string one up and hang it at the bedroom doorway, which could ensure that the female ghost would find it difficult to enter. He did not hang them in the other rooms; since they had agreed to live in peace and not disturb each other, he ought to leave the spirit more space for activity.

"Sorry for the trouble."

Song You bowed toward the bamboo grove.

Lifting his gaze, he saw stars filling the sky. The surrounding neighborhood had long since gone to rest, and the commotion from Chunming Street in the distance could not reach here. The night was exceptionally quiet.

"It seems to be the End of Heat now."

"What is the End of Heat?"

"It means it's about to turn cool."

"Oh..."

"Sleep, Three Flower Lady."

"Okay..."

The Three Flower Cat followed him into the house and onto the bed.

These past few days, Song You and Three Flower Lady had gradually grown familiar with each other. Although they had met by chance, leaning on each other for a period of time—with Song You always treating it with genuine sincerity, and the Three Flower Cat lacking human-like craftiness—after such a long time, both sides had developed some affection.

Cats loved warmth and often secretly snuggled up against him to sleep.

Early the next morning, the rooster crowed as usual.

Song You rose a bit earlier, put on his robe, and sat in meditation in the courtyard. Judging solely by his physical sensations, today was much cooler than the morning of the day he first arrived.

The Yellow Plum Tree in the courtyard had already begun shedding its leaves.

A wind blew past, and Song You casually held out his hand, catching a fallen yellow leaf in his palm.

"The End of Heat..."

The End of Heat was also the tail end of summer. The "end" meant stopping, signifying that the summer heat was beginning to dissipate, the scorching and unbearable weather had reached its final stage, and the transition into cooler days was beginning.

Song You threw away the yellow leaf in his hand and closed his eyes once more.

The morning spiritual power was at its clearest and densest, swirling around him like something alive, stirring the Green Lamp and causing a few more plum leaves to fall from above his head.

The city also awoke at this moment.

One could hear people carrying vegetables shouting along the streets to sell them, along with sellers of firewood and water. Cries and bargaining sounds reached his ears one after another. Yet Song You did not find it noisy; he merely felt that he was hearing the vital connection to the daily lives of the people in this era.

Yet right at this moment, a knock sounded at the door.

"Knock, knock, knock..."

"..."

Song You opened his eyes, got up, and went to open the door.

Standing outside the door was the party led by the merchant surnamed Li, along with the two martial escorts from before, each of them carrying things in their hands.

"Greetings, Mister."

"Please come in."

"Visiting in the early morning, if there is any disturbance, I kindly ask Mister to bear with us," the merchant surnamed Li said hastily. "We all eagerly wished to visit and thank Mister, so we inquired about Mister's current residence from my brother-in-law. If there is any impropriety..."

"No need for formalities, please come in."

Song You was truly unaccustomed to such excessive courtesy and simply welcomed everyone into the courtyard.

The group looked somewhat apprehensive, exchanging glances.

They had already heard from Wang Ji that this courtyard was haunted, that it had been rented out several times over the years, only for the tenants to move out the very next day. For the mister to dare live here showed extraordinary boldness, but as ordinary people, they inevitably felt a sense of trepidation.

Thinking that it was still broad daylight, that there were many people, and furthermore that the mister was here, the group then crossed into the small courtyard one after another.

Yet the moment they stepped inside, they felt none of the gloomy chill they had imagined of a haunted house. Instead, they saw that the yard was kept clean, with a breeze coming from some unknown source lingering among them, fluttering the falling plum leaves. They also saw a Three Flower Cat lazily walking out of the room, sticking out its tongue and stretching its limbs right where it stood, instantly giving one a feeling of peace, serenity, and physical and mental refreshment.

The courtyard was indeed cooler than the outside.

Yet this coolness was not the kind that made one feel uneasy, hair-raising, or covered in goosebumps; rather, it was a comfortable and clean crispness, resembling the moment one woke up fully rested, pushed open the door, and just happened to feel the damp chill of morning, or the pleasant relief of stepping out of a sweltering dusk after washing away the heat, greeted by the caress of the evening breeze.

The group exchanged glances again, reading astonishment in each other's eyes, then hastily stepped forward with gifts, speaking words of gratitude for Mister's life-saving grace.

The gifts these people brought were mostly cured meat and sausages made by their own households, as well as fine tea produced by themselves, overflowing with sincerity.

"You are all too polite."

Song You said this, but he was neither coy nor declining.

A pile of gifts was placed entirely on the stone table.

Seeing this, the group relaxed a great deal.

Immediately afterward, they saw the Three Flower Cat jump onto the stone table, seemingly attracted by the meaty scent of the cured meats and sausages, or perhaps out of a habitual inspection of unfamiliar objects trespassing into its territory. It approached the pile of gifts, sniffing left and right, and remarkably no one drove it away.

"Mister keeping company with a cat is truly an elegant pursuit."

The merchant surnamed Li smiled warmly as he looked at Three Flower Lady, the image recalling in his mind being the scene outside the city that day when this cat learned to salute him just like Mister.

Come to think of it, when Mister walked to Liangshui Ao, he was still traveling alone, but by the time he reached Yi Capital, he had a cat. It couldn't possibly be a random stray picked up from the mountains; it was likely about to attain spiritual awareness or had already done so before being subdued by Mister to keep him company.

Therefore, even in the face of this cat, his tone was extremely courteous: "Having a cat to keep you company is good too; Mister won't be so lonely while traveling across the realm."

"I think so too."

"For this cat to follow Mister is also its good fortune."

"Compared to me accompanying it, it's more that I need its company. It's hard to say whose good fortune it is."

"This..."

Upon first hearing this, the merchant surnamed Li didn't think much of it, but upon careful thought, the more he pondered, the more marvelous it became.

He could only say that Mister was indeed extraordinary.

After chatting for a while in this manner, the merchant surnamed Li suddenly caught sight of the yellow talisman hanging at the doorway of Song You's bedroom. Recalling the second purpose of their visit, he couldn't help but be overjoyed.

"Mister knows how to make talismans?"

"I know a few types of evil-repelling talismans."

"To not keep it from Mister, we hard-fated merchants constantly travel through the great mountains, inevitably encountering ghosts on night roads and demons on mountain paths. Earlier, we also sought out temples and shrines on Wu Mountain to beg for a talisman or two to ensure our safety. Unfortunately, some were completely useless, while others, though useful, could only serve as a warning. We came today with the notion of requesting a talisman from Mister to ward off evils and repel ghosts," the merchant surnamed Li said. "If we can have our wish granted, we will naturally be endlessly grateful."

"There is no need for such courtesy."

This was originally one of Fulong Temple's businesses.

Song You immediately took out the talismans he had drawn last night. For the ones that were lacking, he spread out the yellow hemp paper, summoned the cinnabar, picked up the brush, and drew them on the spot.

The group was immediately startled—

Although they could not see spiritual power wandering along the brush strokes and sealing into the cinnabar, they could still see the brush moving with the wind, causing the plum tree leaves to be faintly rustled. Sometimes when they went to temples and shrines in the past to beg for talismans, they could witness some strange phenomena, but when had it ever been as obvious as this time?

In an instant, everyone's hearts settled completely.

Until each person was allotted two talismans to keep close to their bodies, their courage swelled dramatically, and they even had the illusion that they would not fear the fog ghost should they meet it again.

"The triangularly folded ones are Yin-repelling talismans, which can ward off Yin ghosts. The square ones are demon-repelling talismans, which can drive away demonic evils. Yin-repelling talismans cannot drive away demons, and demon-repelling talismans cannot ward off ghosts; different talismans have different functions. Please bear this in mind, everyone."

"We shall naturally remember it strictly."

Thinking that everyone had brought gifts, Song You originally intended not to accept money, but unable to resist the group's sincere hearts, each person still gave some broken silver pieces.

This could also be considered their first order income.

Having finally sent the group off, Song You had just returned to the courtyard to sit in meditation for a moment, experiencing the spiritual rhythm of the season and gathering spiritual power, when he heard another knock at the door from outside.

Presumably this time it was his neighbors.

"Alas..."

Interrupting my quiet cultivation.