A Knock at Midnight (Please Vote with Your Monthly Tickets)

He Shengjun had sent Zhang Laifu to watch the Old House, and Lin Shaocong was furious.

After Lin Shaocong berated him for a few sentences, He Shengjun grew unhappy too. "Young master, you told me to find him work, but it couldn't be at our main estate, couldn't be too close to it, and couldn't have him running around the streets. Do you think a place like that is easy to find?"

"Now I've found him work, and you say the job isn't suitable. Haven't you made this assignment a little too difficult for me?"

Lin Shaocong snapped, "I told you to find him a job, not send him to his death! All these years, not one person who spent the night in the Old House has walked out again. No one's found them, dead or alive. Isn't that the same as taking his life?"

"He deserves to die!" He Shengjun's tone changed. "Young master, you're meant to do great things. When are you going to stop being so softhearted?"

"You know perfectly well how much trouble that man could cause. If you hadn't given me orders beforehand, I would have killed him myself!"

Lin Shaocong pressed his lips together and said nothing.

He Shengjun realized he had raised his voice. Softening his tone, he went on, "Young master, in a family as large as the Lin Family, who else can you trust? Don't you trust me to handle things?"

"I know you won't kill someone who's been through hardship with you. Sending him to the old estate doesn't count as killing him. If he can't make it through, that's his own bad luck. How can he blame us?"

Lin Shaocong sighed and said no more.

It wasn't that he had nothing to say. He simply couldn't say it.

He Shengjun had struck at the heart of the matter: in the entire Lin Family, He Shengjun was the only one who could get things done for Lin Shaocong.

In other words, whatever He Shengjun did, and however it turned out, Lin Shaocong had to accept it.

Zhang Laifu boiled himself some Chinese cabbage and white rice, ate his fill, then carried a rolled-up straw mat from the storeroom and prepared for bed.

He certainly wasn't going to sleep in the servants' quarters out front. Those buildings were so shoddy they might collapse at any moment.

The buildings in the rear courtyard were a little sturdier, but the grounds were tricky. The swing frame had rotted and could fall on someone, weeds covered the whole courtyard and hid the paths, and a trip to the latrine at night might end with him in the pond.

The main house was built best. Its hall stood in front and its bedrooms in back. The bedroom roof still had most of its tiles; at least it could keep out the wind and snow.

The only inconvenience was a Waterwheel blocking the doorway. That was no great problem. He could move it.

Zhang Laifu lifted the two handles of the single-wheeled cart. Before the wheel even moved, the two water tanks on top began clanging without pause.

Why did this Waterwheel make so much noise?

Then again, that might not be a bad thing.

Zhang Laifu left the Waterwheel at the doorway.

If anyone tried to come in and touched the Waterwheel, he would hear them. It worked better than an alarm.

He settled into the inner room. He Shengjun had prepared several padded coats for him, but they were several sizes too big. That suited him fine: they made good blankets. Wrapped up snugly, he was warm.

Tomorrow, Zhang Laifu planned to visit Pearl Street and repay the Silver Dollar he owed Li Yunsheng. He would give him another as an apology.

One more would cover the tuition he still owed.

Another might buy him a few more lessons on opening a Bowl.

And with one more, he could ask where to find Craft Essence.

Would He Shengjun come to check on him tomorrow?

Probably not.

The place was in such disrepair that the Lin Family clearly cared little about it. He Shengjun surely wouldn't bother making a round trip of dozens of miles...

It was already dark, though Zhang Laifu guessed it was only eight or nine o'clock. Unable to sleep, he took out the white hat and examined it closely.

Nothing about its appearance stood out. Li Yunsheng had once said that a Bowl would react when it encountered the right soil. What could that soil be?

Could it be ordinary earth?

Zhang Laifu gathered some dirt and sand from the courtyard and put it in the hat. He waited a long while, but the hat gave no response.

So it probably wasn't dirt and sand.

Clothes and hats were always mentioned together. Why not try cloth?

Zhang Laifu found a pair of scissors in one of the women's rooms in the rear courtyard, cut a piece from his filthy robe, and put it in the hat.

Still no response.

Li Yunsheng had said that things with no apparent connection could also become soil. Since he had nothing else to do, Zhang Laifu looked around for more things to try.

He went down to the cellar, tore off a handful of Chinese Cabbage leaves, and put them in the hat. Nothing.

He pulled up a handful of Radish Greens. No response from those either.

He put in some rice. That didn't work.

Li Yunsheng seemed to have mentioned things like Iron Filings and Sawdust.

The veranda pillars were made of wood. Zhang Laifu took a kitchen knife and was about to scrape off some Sawdust when he thought better of it. He had been hired to watch the house. Taking wood straight from the building hardly seemed appropriate.

The Waterwheel was made of wood. Even if the Old House was renovated, no one would use that cart again. Zhang Laifu took his knife and scraped at a water tank twice.

Clang-clang-clang!

The tank wasn't just noisy; it was remarkably hard. Zhang Laifu scraped for ages, curling the knife's edge, and came away with only a tiny pinch of Sawdust.

He put the Sawdust in the Top Hat and waited. Nothing happened.

That Sawdust had been hard-won, so Zhang Laifu couldn't bear to throw it away. He tucked it into his pocket, then searched the rear courtyard for some needles and thread to put in the hat. Still no response.

He made a full circuit of the front courtyard, rear courtyard, and side courtyard. The hat never changed.

Back in the main courtyard, Zhang Laifu was ready to give up. But as he passed the room adjoining the east side of the main house, the hat seemed to stir in his hand.

Why had it moved? Was the right soil in there?

Two rooms adjoined the main house, one on each side. The western room was a study; the eastern one was the Ancestral Hall.

The Ancestral Hall was where the ancestors' memorial tablets were enshrined. Why would this Top Hat react to it?

Creeeak.

Zhang Laifu pushed open the Ancestral Hall's door. The moment one foot crossed the threshold, the Top Hat in his hand moved again.

This time the movement was unmistakable. He watched its brim curl upward.

The Top Hat's strong reaction gave Zhang Laifu a bold idea.

The Top Hat might have been made by an ancestor of the Lin Family, or perhaps it had some deep connection to one of them.

There had to be something special in the Ancestral Hall that could awaken this Top Hat.

Where could that thing be?

Holding the hat by its brim, Zhang Laifu carefully tested it around the Ancestral Hall.

The memorial tablets in the Ancestral Hall had long since been moved out. All that remained was a pile of clutter and an offering table.

A thick layer of very fine dust covered the table.

Zhang Laifu gently wiped some dust from the tabletop. The hat began to tremble violently.

Did the hat really react so strongly to this table?

Perhaps someone had once kept it on the table for a long time, or perhaps the table and the hat had belonged to the same person.

Or, more directly, the table was the perfect soil for the hat!

But how could a table become soil?

How was he supposed to fit a table that large into a hat?

Zhang Laifu scraped off some Sawdust and put it in the hat. Nothing changed.

Should he chop off a table leg and put that in?

Was a table leg fundamentally different from Sawdust?

Was there another way?

After turning it over in his mind, Zhang Laifu found a way to turn the table into soil.

Burn it to ash and put the ash in the hat. Wouldn't that make it soil?

A table wouldn't cost much; he could buy the Lin Family a new one. But burning this one in the Ancestral Hall was out of the question. He might set the building alight. He ought to burn it in the courtyard.

"Ancestors of the Lin Family, please don't take offense. I'm only here to work, and I bear you no grudge. I just need to borrow your table. When I'm done, I'll buy a new one with my own money and put it back in the Ancestral Hall."

Zhang Laifu was about to move the table when he suddenly remembered something.

On Fangpai Mountain, when Yuan Kuilong had wanted to open his Bowl on the spot, Old Song had said that once the process began, it couldn't be stopped. He had to wait until he found a good seed before opening it.

Zhang Laifu had no seed. If he opened the Bowl successfully but had nothing to plant, wouldn't the Bowl go to waste?

Where could he get Craft Essence?

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A sudden pounding came from the front courtyard.

The Lin Family's old estate was large, with two courtyards between the front gate and the main house. An ordinary knock would never have carried this far.

Zhang Laifu heard it clearly. Whoever was knocking was using enough force to smash the gate panels.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Who would come knocking at a deserted mountain Old House in the dead of night?

Had He Shengjun come?

He had only just left. Was he already back to check on him?

Zhang Laifu was about to leave the Ancestral Hall when he heard a noise outside.

Clang-clang-clang!

Someone had touched the old Waterwheel.

That meant someone had reached the main house's doorway.

A moment ago, they had been outside the estate. Now they were at the main house. They had moved far too fast!

P.S. Dear readers, I'll add an extra chapter at midnight tonight. In the dead of night, no one will notice me. If I slip it in quietly, it shouldn't affect the new book period.

Please give all your November monthly votes to Laifu, and let's share in his good fortune. Shala thanks you all.