The First Bowl

Zhang Laifu went to the willow tree, peeled back the bark, and took a bundle from a hollow in the trunk.

He opened it and found a Top Hat inside.

Lin Shaocong stared at the Top Hat, his eyes going blank. Then he looked at Old Liang's Craft Essence and silently compared the value of the two.

Holding up the hat, Zhang Laifu asked Lin Shaocong, "What's this?"

Lin Shaocong wanted to say it was just an ordinary hat, but after a moment's hesitation, he told the truth.

"This is a Bowl, a Bowl that can grow good things." Lin Shaocong had rules he lived by. Zhang Laifu had shared his hardships, and he never cheated someone who had been through hardship with him.

But if Zhang Laifu didn't even know what a Bowl was, Lin Shaocong could hardly be blamed. He couldn't let a treasure go to waste. He would have to find a way to get the Bowl for himself.

"A Bowl!" Zhang Laifu's dull eyes suddenly lit up. "The kind that can grow a train?"

"I've never seen one grow a train, but it should be able to grow plenty of good things..." Lin Shaocong froze. He hadn't expected Zhang Laifu to know about Bowls.

Had this fool been to Wansheng Province?

Was he pretending to be a fool too?

Lin Shaocong kept his promise. "The Bowl's yours. There's a horse over there too. Let's discuss who gets it."

Zhang Laifu spotted the horse tethered on the hillside. "Is that a prop, or is it real?"

Lin Shaocong was baffled again. Why was he talking about props? Did he still think they were acting?

"The horse is real. Of course, it's also a prop."

"If it's a prop, then we follow the script!"

"That makes sense," Lin Shaocong said. "If we're following the script, I can't walk well, so I should ride the horse."

Zhang Laifu glanced at the hillside. "Can you ride a horse here?"

"No."

"Then why bring up the horse? Let's get moving. You don't want to go back to the Hostage House and act there, do you?"

Zhang Laifu was right. Yuan Kuilong would catch up soon.

But Lin Shaocong did not leave just yet. He sensed the mud around them and quickly noticed something amiss.

Where Old Liang had fallen, he found a willow branch. Old Liang must have buried it before he died.

Lin Shaocong wrapped the branch in mud and rubbed it between his hands until it crumbled into Sawdust and mixed with the mud into a ball. Only then did he stop.

Zhang Laifu did not understand. "What are you doing with that willow branch?"

"It's a marker Old Liang left behind. Remember this: in Wansheng Province, markers are trouble. Some can draw enemies, some can track us, and some can even hurt people directly. You have to destroy any marker you find. The script requires it."

"When does the script say we retreat?" Zhang Laifu asked.

"Right now." Lin Shaocong pressed his palms together and rubbed them back and forth, as though rolling a ball of mud.

The mud on the ground began gathering around Zhang Laifu.

Zhang Laifu dodged quickly. Lin Shaocong explained, "Don't worry. This is to get us down the mountain. Look, there's mud under my feet too."

The mud gathered not only beneath Lin Shaocong and Zhang Laifu, but beneath the horse as well.

Before long, three masses of mud had formed into three huge balls, enveloping Zhang Laifu, Lin Shaocong, and the horse.

Zhang Laifu's head still stuck out, so he could breathe, but he couldn't move his limbs. "This prop is for getting down the mountain?"

"Yes. You're ready, aren't you?" Lin Shaocong's head, which had been pointing straight up, slowly began to turn to the right.

It wasn't just his head. The entire ball of mud around him was turning.

Zhang Laifu seemed to understand how they were getting down the mountain.

"Is this... safe?"

"If you have the skill, you can cast yourself a fortune and see whether it's sa—" Lin Shaocong's voice faded into the distance. He was already rolling downhill.

Zhang Laifu couldn't move his body, but he could feel that he was about to start rolling too.

The willow tree spun before his eyes. Everything around him began to spin.

Zhang Laifu's vision grew more and more chaotic. He could no longer tell which direction his head was pointing.

But he could clearly feel the path he traveled. The ball of mud was thinner than he had imagined, and rocks and tree roots kept striking his body.

Mud smeared his face, and dust filled his mouth. Zhang Laifu could barely breathe. It felt as though the hillside would never end.

At last, the mud ball struck a rock, and Zhang Laifu came to a stop.

The mud around him did not fall away. It had picked up so much dirt and sand that it had hardened into a shell.

Zhang Laifu couldn't climb out. Even Lin Shaocong was trapped in his shell. He had been frail to begin with, and after days of torment at the bandits' hands and a running fight all the way here, he was exhausted. He could not use many of his skills.

The horse, however, had somehow gotten out of its mud ball. It stood quietly watching the two men struggle.

Zhang Laifu shouted at the horse, "What are you looking at me for? Say something!"

How had it gotten out?

The more anxious Lin Shaocong became, the less he could move. Sweat poured off him.

"Water!" Zhang Laifu studied the horse and noticed a puddle beside it.

Zhang Laifu and Lin Shaocong rolled into the puddle and soaked the hard shells off their mud balls. At last, both men got free.

Lin Shaocong looked at the horse. It was a rare one indeed. After rolling down such a high mountain, it hadn't even been spooked.

"What's the next scene?" Zhang Laifu asked.

Lin Shaocong looked at Zhang Laifu. This man was rarer still. Lin Shaocong truly could not fathom what he was thinking.

"Do you really think we're acting?"

Zhang Laifu nodded. "What else would we be doing?"

Lin Shaocong still felt something was off. He checked again. "You really think that?"

"What else am I supposed to think?" Zhang Laifu wiped his cheek. Plenty of blood still stained his face.

From the Hostage House to Cripple Slope, Zhang Laifu had used the clay knife Lin Shaocong gave him to kill three bandits.

Old Liang didn't count as someone he had killed. According to the script, that kill belonged to Lin Shaocong.

This had to be acting. Otherwise, Zhang Laifu could not bear the thought of what he had done.

Lin Shaocong sat on the ground and looked up at Zhang Laifu.

He could not understand the man before him.

He could not tell whether Zhang Laifu was brilliant beyond compare or foolish beyond belief.

According to Song Yongchang, he was merely an actor from the Outer Province who had been tricked into coming here.

Yet when he had swung his knife and killed people along the way, his hand had not faltered.

The main problem now was that Zhang Laifu knew many of his secrets.

If Lin Shaocong wanted to keep pretending to be a fool, the best course was to kill Zhang Laifu to silence him, then return to the Lin Family and claim that Hunlong Stronghold had let him go.

Killing Zhang Laifu would also let him take the Bowl. There was everything to gain and nothing to lose.

But after hesitating for a long time, Lin Shaocong still could not bring himself to do it.

He had killed plenty of people since childhood, but he had never betrayed someone who had shared his hardships. That rule had never changed.

"Are you from the Outer Province?"

Zhang Laifu did not answer. He still did not quite understand what the Outer Province meant.

Lin Shaocong did not explain further. He had never been to the Outer Province himself and did not know the way there. "Let's ride to Heishakou together. Where do you want to go?"

Zhang Laifu thought for a moment. "I want to go to Qingxiang Garden!"

"That's a theater," Lin Shaocong said.

Zhang Laifu nodded. "I'm an actor. Of course I should go to a theater."

That theater was where the station was. Once he boarded the train, he could return to Yuedong.

P.S. In Wansheng Province, if you wanted to make something of yourself, you first needed a Bowl!

Dear readers, don't mind the short chapter. I don't dare post too much while the book is new. There's another chapter coming!

Thanks to patron Ken Huang, who has supported me all the way from Lord of Pro to now. I've always remembered that kindness.