Night Visitors

A few days later, after a series of light rains, the weather in Yi Capital ushered in autumn.

Song You went out to listen to storytelling as usual.

He spent over a dozen cash on tea for the entire afternoon, drinking his fill, and when the old storyteller reached the most thrilling part, he tipped a few more cash, which happened to add up to a twenty-cash expense.

When he stepped on the damp flagstones and soggy leaves to return to the small courtyard, the moment he pushed open the door, he saw a Three Flower Cat running toward him from the kitchen. When it reached him, it slowed down and raised its head to stare at him. That appearance was no different from an ordinary domestic cat, except that it possessed spiritual intelligence and could speak human words.

"Taoist, where did you go again?"

"Same as the past few days," Song You answered honestly. "Does Three Flower Lady want to go again? I will take you with me tomorrow."

"Mm..."

The Three Flower Cat hesitated slightly, but instead of answering, she shifted her gaze. "What is that in your hand?"

It seemed this cat did not like storytelling.

Thinking thus, Song You also took out the things in his hand.

Oranges from the surrounding area of Yi Capital were newly in season, and when he returned, he saw someone setting up a stall by the road selling them very cheaply, so he had weighed out two catties. Immediately afterwards, he heard someone hawking candied haws on a stick. It was not because he was particularly greedy or wanted to eat them, but rather that he had not tasted their flavor for many years and could not resist buying a skewer as well.

The man and cat then gathered by the stone table.

Knowing that most cats disliked the smell of oranges, Song You put the oranges aside and picked up only the candied haws, first removing one piece with his hand.

"Does Three Flower Lady eat candied haws?"

"Fruit."

"It is fruit, hawthorn."

"Cats do not eat fruit."

"Sometimes they do, though."

The Three Flower Cat turned her head, staring at him with a look of are you a cat or am I a cat, and pondered for a full several seconds before saying:

"Three Flower Cats do not."

Song You savored the words for a moment before understanding that "Three Flower Cats" here probably roughly equated to "Three Flower Lady", which was her self-appellation.

"Really not eating any?"

"They do not taste good."

"I think they taste good."

"Then taste one."

Seeing that the piece of candied haws was already brought right before her, the Three Flower Cat stretched out her neck, drew close to it, and sniffed it carefully. She looked at it and then looked at Song You, as both her sense of smell and reason fed back to her that this did not taste good, yet after hesitating for a long time, she still opened her mouth.

She took a gentle bite.

Her small, sharp teeth successfully pierced into the candied haws, the outer layer of crystallized sugar delivering a crispy tactile sensation, while the hawthorn inside was also bitten open by her.

The Three Flower Cat chewed back and forth with her teeth on both sides.

Song You, however, did not look at her, merely taking one piece for himself and popping it into his mouth.

The sugar coating was easily broken, seeming to produce a slight cracking sound in the mouth, and immediately the hawthorn burst open, its sourness and sweetness exploding all at once. The hard hawthorn pit, meanwhile, constantly collided with his teeth in his mouth, making a crunching sound.

Song You could not help narrowing his eyes.

For this era to develop to modern civilization might still take a thousand or a hundred years, perhaps even longer, yet the flavor of this snack was hardly different from the one in his memory.

For a moment, he forgot whether he was a traveler in a strange land.

After a long while, when both the sweetness and sourness had dissipated in his mouth, Song You opened his eyes.

The Three Flower Cat had also finished eating the candied haws, leaving only a few hawthorn pits on the stone table, two of which had even been bitten open; it was unclear whether they had been swallowed.

Song You used his hand to gather up all the hawthorn pits she had spat out, spat the ones from his own mouth into his palm as well, put them together with hers, and only then met her gaze.

"Was it delicious?"

"What is that on the outside?"

"It is sugar."

"Sugar is delicious."

"Hawthorn is not delicious?"

"Fruit is not delicious." The Three Flower Cat observed Song You's expression. "Do you like to eat it?"

"Mm."

"Monkeys like to eat fruit."

"Then will you still eat?"

"Can Three Flower Lady eat only the sugar?"

"Then who eats the fruit?"

"You eat it. You like to eat it."

"Doesn't that mean I have to eat what you licked?"

"It was only licked."

"It has your saliva on it."

"It is only saliva."

"I am afraid that won't do."

"Then Three Flower Lady will not eat."

The Three Flower Cat's tone was crisp and forceful. Having spoken, she turned her body around, jumped down from the stone table, and walked away wagging her backside.

Song You did not mind, continuing to savor the flavor of the snack.

Tap, tap, tap...

Outside, a knock on the door suddenly sounded.

"Hm?"

Instinct told him it was Constable Luo.

Just as Song You finished eating the last piece of candied haws and placed the wooden stick on the stone table, he got up to open the door.

Outside the door, Constable Luo indeed stood there.

Today, Constable Luo was still in that same attire, but his waist now carried an iron ruler, and he was followed by two men behind him, also dressed in constable uniforms and boots.

The moment he saw Song You, he cupped his fists. "Greetings, Mister. Luo has come to thank Mister and deliver gifts."

Pausing slightly, he turned his head to say to the men beside him:

"Quickly pay your respects to Mister."

The two men behind him also immediately cupped their fists and chanted greetings to Mister.

"Please come in."

Song You led them into the courtyard, closed the main gate, and guided them across the courtyard until they were seated in the main room.

Immediately afterward, he took out the teacups Constable Luo had sent a few days prior and placed them before the men. Without pouring any tea, water seemed to seep into the cups on its own, gradually filling them up.

The three men were instantly struck with great astonishment.

Drawing closer to look, they saw the rims of the cups floating with white froth and emerald green, the tea fragrance alluring. It was truly a fine cup of tea.

"Please drink tea."

"Mister truly possesses immortal methods!"

"Thank you, Mister."

The three men hastily expressed their gratitude and raised their cups to sip.

"Judging by what Squad Leader said, has that tunneling thief been caught?" Song You got straight to the point.

"Precisely!"

Constable Luo was reluctant to part with his tea, yet he temporarily put down his cup and instead turned to enthusiastically cup his fists and thank Song You. "Mister's predictions are divine. Without even meeting him, a mere few words of guidance caused that thief's tunneling arts to fail. It is truly admirable."

"Was the capture smooth?"

"Extremely smooth," Constable Luo said. "Three days ago, my men and I encountered that thief and shouted the phrase Mister taught us. Yesterday at the third watch, when we found the thief's hiding place again, he still wanted to escape using his earth-escaping art, but he only sank halfway into the dirt before getting stuck there, and was captured on the spot by us."

"That is good."

"Mister has performed yet another deed of ridding the people of an evil." Constable Luo paused and pulled a red cloth bundle from his bosom. "As agreed with Mister beforehand, this matter shall be treated as Mister capturing the thief, and the bounty rightfully belongs to Mister. Here are twenty taels of public reward money, and the remaining ten taels were personally bestowed by my Lord. Recently, the nobles in the city have repeatedly applied pressure, and my Lord also has bitter grievances he cannot voice; let this serve simply as thanks to Mister for resolving our predicament."

Song You took the red cloth bundle and opened it to look inside. There were three waist-bound honeycomb silver ingots, each cast with the characters "ten taels" and representing official Great Yan currency.

Holding them felt heavy, and his heart felt heavy as well.

This sensation truly could not be compared to paper money, let alone to a string of numbers on an electronic screen.

However, Song You only took two of the ingots and handed the remaining one back to Constable Luo.

He did not say that he had merely devised a single strategy and did not deserve these twenty taels, nor did he say that the bailiffs toiled day and night in exhaustion and deserved a share of it. Doing such things that only added to unnecessary entanglements made one's heart weary. Yet apart from the twenty taels of bounty agreed upon beforehand, he was unwilling to take the magistrate's ten taels of personal gift.

It was still that same reason: he was unwilling to add to unnecessary entanglements.

Constable Luo instantly understood, his expression inevitably showing some difficulty, yet he did not dare to defy the wishes of such a high-level personage and had no choice but to put it away.

Then he heard him say:

"However, ever since Lord Liu heard of Mister's demeanor from my lips, he has held the utmost admiration and entrusted me with proposing to Mister that he wishes to host a banquet to thank Mister. If Mister honours him with your presence, it will be set for tomorrow at noon at Tianxiang Tower. I just do not know if Mister..."

Perhaps Constable Luo himself had not noticed that, imperceptibly, his tone and attitude before Song You had lowered considerably.

Even though Song You had not really done much.

"No need."

A smile hung on Song You's face, yet his refusal was crisp:

"I am merely an unworldly, reposing cultivator of the mountains, and ordinarily I only take pleasure in tranquility. I am unworthy of my Lord's partiality."

"I understand."

"Sorry for the trouble, Squad Leader."

"Where is that statement coming from, Mister?" Constable Luo said respectfully, finishing the tea in his cup. "Since we still have official business to attend to, we shall not disturb Mister's tranquility any further. As for the magistrate's side, Luo will naturally reply to him. Should there be any subsequent developments in this case that might possibly involve Mister, Luo will naturally come to report to Mister of his own accord."

"Thank you, Squad Leader."

"Farewell."

The remaining two men also hurriedly rose with him.

Yi Capital was the seat of Yi Prefecture and the third city under heaven; the bailiffs here had seen the world, yet facing such a genuine, unpretentious expert, they inevitably felt somewhat constrained.

None of the three felt that they had lost face.

Did not even the magistrate himself have to cautiously rely on Constable Luo to bridge the connection if he wished to make the acquaintance of Mister Song?

Creak—

The sound of the wooden door hinges remained acidly long.

It sounded truly somewhat vexing.

Song You stood at the doorway and frowned.

When he turned back, he saw that the Three Flower Cat had somehow jumped onto the stone table again and was lowering her head to lick the bamboo stick he had finished eating with, on which some sugar remained.

"..."

Song You shook his head and returned to the room to settle accounts.

He had been in Yi Capital for some time now. Yi Capital was prosperous, and commodity prices were high; his living expenses for food and clothing in the city were not small. Coupled with the rent, the purchases after moving, and his recent frequent visits to the pleasure districts and tile houses to listen to storytelling, he had spent nearly several thousand cash.

Afterward, his expenses ought to be a bit smaller.

These twenty taels—could they last for a long time now?

Two days later, at night.

The weather was cool, most suitable for leisurely sitting.

Song You lit an oil lamp and quietly read a book by the window.

The window in front of him was wide open, and a full moon in the night sky had risen above the city. There were no urban neon lights here, no traffic noise, only the eaves of ancient architecture and the full moon looking coldly at one another. The dark-toned tile roofs reflected the moonlight, pure darkness bearing pure brightness.

Behind him, the Three Flower Cat lay quietly, her eyes narrowed.

The night was so quiet that only the sound of turning pages could be heard.

This volume of Records of Geography and Scenery also possessed the unique local flavor of this world. Aside from recording famous mountains and great rivers, renowned Taoist temples and Buddhist monasteries, and internet-famous scenic spots checked in by famous literati through poetry and essays from ancient and modern times, it also recorded some fantastical and numinous places.

For example, Cloud Top Mountain, where immortals were rumored to have once roamed.

Earth Fire City, where the God of Fire slumbered in myth and legend.

The introductions were extremely detailed.

How much time passed was unclear, but the night gradually deepened, and the lamp smoke made his eyes sting. Only then did Song You decide to call it a day and go to sleep.

Blowing out the reading lamp, his entire body was bathed in moonlight.

Just as he closed the book with the aid of the moonlight, he saw that the Three Flower Cat behind him had woken up at some point and crawled closer, leaping directly onto the desk with her eyes fixed straight out the window.

"Mm?"

Song You also perceived the commotion outside.

Rustling, coming from the courtyard wall, sounded as though someone was scaling the wall.

Yet this sound was different from climbing a wall; it was more like hard objects colliding with the wall, sharp objects scratching the wall surface, with the raspy sound of wind faintly blowing through the night wind, accompanied by the clatter of tiles tumbling down and shattering, and a huge, ferocious head swaying outside the courtyard wall against the moonlight.