Stir-Fried Lotus Meat

At the sight of this, Li Yunxin's heart stirred. As the man passed by him, he greeted him. "Yo, that was fast."

The young servant had already noticed Li Yunxin's attire. To keep a low profile today, he wore only a blue-cloth Daoist robe, with a wooden hairpin in his hair. But his looks saved everything—he still appeared noble and unearthly, like a young nobleman in disguise.

Such a striking person greeting him naturally delighted the young servant. He stopped, glanced down at the food box in his hand, reckoned that a few words would not hurt, and smiled. "Yes. Young master, you look unfamiliar. Did you just arrive in Weicheng?"

"Something like that. The weather here is rather strange." Li Yunxin tightened his collar. "Before crossing the bridge, I didn't feel it. But after crossing it and coming onto this street, it suddenly felt colder."

As he said this... the servant was standing right in front of those Faceless Ghosts that had been staring motionlessly at him.

One of them was almost standing directly on top of him.

The servant frowned. "Eh? You're right about that. I was just saying this street felt cursed today. The moment I came out of the residence and stepped onto this street, chills kept running through me. Even now—good heavens, isn't this a late spring chill? Cold wind keeps whooshing right down my neck!"

"Ah, you're from the residence? The prefectural residence?" Li Yunxin's eyes lit up as he asked with great interest.

"Ha, just a third-class servant." The young servant smiled rather reservedly, then seemed to realize this young master probably did not know what "third-class servant" meant. So he explained, "Still, it's comfortable enough. We get silver during festivals and holidays. If I live frugally for a year, I can save twenty taels of silver. Save up for a few years, go back home and buy a few mu of land, then I can... well..."

Having said that much, he felt this young master probably was not very interested in such things, so he stopped.

Who would have thought Li Yunxin instead straightened up and leaned forward slightly, appearing extremely interested? "That truly is quite good. Brother, you found yourself a fine master. Where I come from, things aren't nearly so good—"

He was handsome to begin with. Once he deliberately put on a friendly manner, he became even more refreshing than a spring breeze. Combined with the experience from his former profession—drawing people out in conversation was as easy as turning his hand over.

By the end, the young servant smacked the back of his head—the snacks in the food box had gone cold. He hurriedly apologized to Li Yunxin, then jogged into the alley.

Li Yunxin glanced once more at the residence in the night, clasped his hands behind his back, and walked away.

There was a Yin Spirit Array here. He did not want to cast any spells and attract someone's attention, so he could only gather information through scattered scraps of conversation. After asking around just now, coupled with his own deductions, he had learned seven or eight parts out of ten.

His initial guess had been correct. The Qiao Household and Prefect Li wanted the old Daoist's courtyard.

Neither the Qiao Household nor the prefect held any prejudice against Liu Laodao or himself—they simply wanted money.

Li Yunxin had long understood what the three people from the Qiao Household were thinking. The old Daoist's property truly was an enormous fortune to them. And the old man had neither children nor relatives, while Li Yunxin himself was merely an unfamiliar youth, not worth considering at all.

As for Prefect Li... at first, Li Yunxin could not understand why an official like him would ignore so many ways of making money, yet insist on risking public resentment and staining his own reputation just to scheme for a piece of property within his jurisdiction. By now, he had roughly figured it out.

This Prefect Li seemed to have offended someone.

Someone truly formidable—someone capable of threatening his life.

So formidable that Prefect Li had scattered his family fortune and begged the experts of Weicheng's Dao Tradition and Sword Sect to set up this Yin Spirit Array to protect his residence.

That servant named Aze had only noticed the street felt "chilly" tonight. This showed that the great array had indeed been completed only recently.

Prefect Li was short of money, and he was no upright official to begin with. The Qiao Household had delivered a windfall to his door, and the target was merely a down-and-out old Daoist... Li Yunxin felt that if he were in Prefect Li's position, he probably would have done the same.

Thinking this, he let out a breath.

He had cared so much at first because he feared there might be some hidden reason behind it—for instance, that someone had set their sights on him. Now, it seemed he had merely been dragged into it through bad luck.

Mm... that was not quite right, either...

Perhaps someone else was the unlucky one.

By the time he walked back to the temple, he had more or less sorted out his thoughts.

He pushed open the door, closed it behind him, entered the rear courtyard, then went into the main room and found food already laid out on the table.

Thin slices of braised beef sat in the center, sliced so finely they were almost transparent, the sauce on the meat giving off a soft sheen and fragrant aroma. Around it were a dish of crisp fried peanuts, golden and plump grain by grain; a dish of stir-fried lotus meat, jade-white slices of lotus meat paired with red and green pepper shreds, bursting with freshness and fragrance at a bite; and a dish of fragrant bamboo shoots with chicken, the chicken quickly stir-fried until done and immediately removed while tender, then accompanied by bamboo shoot slices gathered in the spring morning while still beaded with dew—fragrant and sweet.

Beside the four dishes sat a silver wine flask. Li Yunxin laughed the moment he saw it. Wasn't this Liu Laodao's most treasured one? Usually, even taking it out, he was afraid it might get knocked or chipped.

This old Daoist truly cared for his old companion.

Li Yunxin sat down at the table, picked up his chopsticks, and first took several peanuts. The more he chewed, the more fragrant they became. He then selected a slice of fragrant bamboo shoot. Once his mouth held a little of that fresh savor, he went for the braised beef. After several bites, he poured himself a cup of wine and drank it down.

The wine was not strong. It went down smooth and refreshing, then spread warmly through his belly, truly driving away the exhaustion of the entire day.

Only after drinking another cup did he see Liu Laodao edging in from outside, studying his expression, clearly wanting to speak but hesitating.

Li Yunxin found it amusing that a man his age seemed more like a child before him, this "child." He raised his chin. "Have you eaten?"

The old Daoist sat beside the table, stared at him, and asked eagerly, "Brother Xin, how did it go?"

Li Yunxin then told him every detail of the matter.

But the old Daoist was clearly more concerned about something else. "My... old companion?"

"If Prefect Li is determined to do this, no one can save him." Li Yunxin set down his chopsticks and looked seriously at the old Daoist. "No one can persuade him. To him, this concerns his own fortune and life. What could be more important than that?"

"So, if you want to save your old companion, you have to draw the firewood from beneath the cauldron. Solve Prefect Li's problem."

The old Daoist pondered for a while, blinking. "Brother Xin means... help him survive this calamity? Keep him safe? Ah... how could we possibly do that? Even a prefect has no solution, while we..."

Li Yunxin looked at him strangely. "Your way of thinking is rather strange. Why would drawing the firewood from beneath the cauldron mean helping him?"

He picked up a peanut and tossed it into his mouth, smiling. "They were planning to screw me over, and I'm supposed to help them? How cheap would that make me?"

"Just kill Prefect Li, and wouldn't that settle everything once and for all?"