The fifth day of the third month. Clear skies. A good day for a burial.
The night watchman's copper gong boomed through the second watch.
At the entrance to Qingshan Village, flames flickered as dozens of villagers gathered with torches held high. A few children huddled beside the adults, holding little torches of their own.
Their solemn gazes were fixed on the riverbank.
A heap of firewood had been stacked along the shore. A wooden post stood atop it, and a young man had been bound to the post, trussed up from head to toe.
A strong young man fetched some water from the river in a wooden bucket, then walked to the pile and flung the water over it.
Only then did Hanyu slowly wake. He lifted his damp, youthful face—and his expression changed in an instant as he struggled wildly against his bonds.
"Die, demon!"
The villagers raised their torches and shouted. Hanyu turned pale with fright.
An old man emerged from the crowd, hobbling toward him with a cane clutched in his unsteady hand.
"Demon, you won't be spared today."
Hanyu's face went white. He hurriedly begged, "Granduncle, I'm the only son of our Hanyu clan!"
That only made things worse. The old man flew into a rage, swung his cane, and whacked Hanyu on the head three times, leaving him dizzy and seeing stars.
"You may be the only son of the Hanyu clan, but you've nearly ruined every other Hanyu in the village!"
A strong young man came over with a torch, ready to light the fire. When Hanyu saw who it was, he hurriedly cried, "Uncle Dagen, are you serious? You raised me!"
Uncle Dagen glared at him furiously. "I raised you, and this is how you repay me?"
Hanyu couldn't help glancing at Uncle Dagen's crotch. The bulge in his trousers was impossible to miss. He remembered giving Uncle Dagen a pill that boosted a man's virility, with the side effect of an insatiable appetite.
What a disaster! He'd heard Aunt Dagen had run back to her parents' home and wasn't coming back.
"Enough dawdling. I'll do it."
A pretty young woman stepped out of the crowd. Her petite figure held a surprisingly buxom charm—it was a sight to behold.
"Sister Xiaolian, I..."
Hanyu begged miserably, but Sister Xiaolian's face remained cold as she slowly brought her torch toward the pile of firewood.
If he remembered right, he'd once given Sister Xiaolian a bottle of beauty water. Soaking in it could change a person's figure.
And change it had—dramatically. But the side effect was that an unmarried young woman had started lactating. What a disaster!
In the end, Sister Xiaolian didn't set the firewood alight. Unable to bear it, she drew back her torch. One after another, people in the crowd came forward, shouting that they'd light the fire.
Hanyu's face crumpled with misery. He gave a bitter smile.
A sweeping glance around revealed nothing but victims. Every one of them had suffered at his hands.
A year ago, a Glazed Bottle had flown down from the sky and smashed through the tiles of Hanyu's house. It had nearly crushed him to death in his sleep.
He hadn't died, but the days that followed were anything but easy.
At midnight every day, a pill would appear out of nowhere inside the Glazed Bottle. There was a different one each day, and their effects were wildly unpredictable.
The pill's uses would also appear in his mind.
They were real pills, but their side effects were just as potent.
Worse still, each pill lasted only seven days. Within that time, he had to take it himself or make someone else take it.
Otherwise, before the pill disappeared, its side effect would take effect on Hanyu instead.
Don't ask how Hanyu knew. He'd spent half a year squatting to pee, and only stood upright again when a pill with an antidotal effect finally appeared.
He'd tried throwing the Glazed Bottle into the river, tossing it down a ravine, and smashing it with an iron hammer.
But the bottle was astonishingly tough. It couldn't be damaged by force, and even if he threw it away, the moment he got home, it would appear in his arms again.
Perhaps he'd tried too many times and angered the bottle. One day, it simply moved into his body. In the end, its dogged persistence wore Hanyu down.
After that, the people of Qingshan Village were struck by disaster one after another!
Tonight, the villagers of Qingshan Village had finally reached their limit. They'd drugged Hanyu while he slept, hauled him onto the stake, and prepared to carry out justice on Heaven's behalf.
Quite a few people came forward, but no one lit the fire.
After one round, the villagers looked at one another, unsure who to send up next.
"Spare me! Uncles, aunties, brothers, sisters!"
Hanyu's tears and snot flowed freely as he wailed in utter despair.
The old man was already fuming at his howling. He gave Hanyu a few more whacks, then turned and swept his gaze over the villagers.
"Who's going to light the fire?"
The villagers under his gaze hurriedly lowered their heads, staring at their own feet as though they'd found something there.
After looking around, the old man got no response. He sighed helplessly. "So none of you want him dead, then?"
Silence fell all around.
The old man turned back and looked at Hanyu with a troubled expression. "Boy, look at your uncles and brothers. Not one of them can bear to do it. But if this keeps up, none of us can withstand your mischief."
"How about I lead all your uncles and the others in kowtowing to you, begging you to leave them alone?"
As he spoke, the old man tossed away his cane and stumbled as he began to kneel. The row of villagers behind him looked ready to follow. Hanyu immediately struggled against the ropes and shouted, "Don't! Don't kneel! Granduncle, don't do this. Let's talk it out!"
"If you still care about these uncles of yours, then leave! Get out of the village, and go as far away as you can."
The old man stopped and let out a deep sigh.
"Fine, I'll go. None of you are allowed to kneel!"
Hanyu shouted.
Someone quickly untied him. Once he was lowered down, a bamboo raft was brought over from the river. Clothes and plenty of food had already been laid out on it.
The pyre had only been meant to scare him. None of these kindhearted uncles could bring themselves to go through with it.
Hanyu wiped the tears and snot from his face, then silently knelt and knocked his head against the ground three times.
The old man sighed as he helped him up. "Go on, then! Go wreak havoc on the world outside."
The bamboo raft drifted with the current. Hanyu, with no home to return to, felt wretched as he left.
As the village grew farther and farther away, he heard cheers erupting from the shore. That made him feel even worse.
Downstream lay Jiangning Prefecture.
As the saying went, White Emperor City had mountains, Jiangning Prefecture had water, and the Southern Border had beauties... Ahem! It was Jiangning Prefecture's waterways that were said to have scenery unlike any other.
The river shimmered beneath the high crescent moon. Seen from afar, its reflection made it seem as though two moons were gazing at each other across the water.
Beneath the moon, a pleasure boat hung with red lanterns drifted slowly by.
Hanyu steered his bamboo raft, pushing with his pole first to one side, then the other, drifting aimlessly across the water. He hadn't thought about where he was going.
There was no going back, anyway.
Bang!
Lost in a daze, he hadn't noticed the pleasure boat until he'd bumped right into it.
Soon, hurried footsteps thudded across the deck. In the darkness, he couldn't make out the person's face; he only saw a head lean over the side of the boat, looking down as a voice barked at him.
"Who's there?"
Hanyu waved apologetically and cupped his hands. "I'm just passing by. I didn't mean to bump into you. I'll be on my way."
"Wait!"
Hanyu had just raised his bamboo pole to push away when the person on the boat immediately stopped him.
"Who knows if you're some ruffian who came to smash up the boat? Get up here so we can check."
Hanyu frowned, tamped down his irritation, and explained again. "I'm from nearby. I meant no offense."
The person above sneered. "If you don't come up, my brothers will come down and haul you aboard—and they won't be asking nicely."
Just then, Hanyu felt a faint stirring between his brows.
Midnight had arrived. In his mind, a snow-white Glazed Bottle suddenly spat out a black pill.
The pill rolled around a few times in his mind, and its effects immediately appeared.
"Since you're asking for trouble, that's perfect."
After reading the pill's effects, Hanyu wore a sly grin.
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