Dispelling illness

Sure enough, while the Daoists were still bewildered, someone came over to say that their Master of the Household invited the adepts of the Way of the Celestial Masters to help avert calamity and dispel illness.

This was probably not an invitation they could decline.

Never mind how many offerings the Shen Family had given the Way of the Celestial Masters over the years. One fact alone settled it: they were staying under the family's roof right now, and it was late at night. As the saying went, even a mighty dragon did not overpower the local snake. Besides, the Shen Family was itself the flood dragon of Wuxing, while this bunch of Daoists seeking a night's lodging were, at most, earthworms passing through... After today's wretched business, with Shen Jin swinging between immense joy and crushing sorrow, if they truly annoyed him and he had them all cut down and buried on the estate, what could they do about it?

So they had to go.

But there was another small problem: there were no actual high-ranking masters among the Daoists here.

The hierarchy within the Way of the Celestial Masters, or the Way of the Five Pecks of Rice, was extremely strict. One aspect was the order of transmission, with fathers and sons, masters and disciples forming successive tiers. The other was the celestial register system. Were you a Celestial Official who had received a register? What rank of Celestial Official were you? Which divine generals were you qualified to summon? All of this was recorded in writing in the Precious Register. That was also why, within the talisman-and-register system, registers could serve as the foundation for talismans.

At this very moment, the party Liu Acheng was traveling with was essentially escorting goods. They were taking some produce from their fortified manor, certain supplies purchased in Jiankang, and probably some very straightforward gold and silver to Kuaiji, to ensure that Master Du Ming had sufficient material resources in that second major center of activity where renowned gentlemen gathered.

How could there possibly be a proper master among them?

The few Daoists in long robes were the sort who managed affairs in the fortified manor. In essence, they were business and accounting personnel. Each was cleverer than the next, but they really had never performed such a high-level healing ritual!

Thus, plainly lacking confidence, they hastily agreed on the spot and said they would return to their rooms, unpack their chests, and prepare their supplies. Once inside, however, they began pushing the task onto one another... Watching them, Liu Acheng kept yawning. Why not just bluff their way through it?

If Master Shen wanted them to drive illness away from his benefactor at a distance, then they could do just that. Try their hardest, keep at it all night, and leave first thing tomorrow morning. Could anyone verify the results from afar?

"Let us stop passing this around. Our only way forward now is to stand or fall together. Everyone must put in their effort and let the head of the Shen Family see that we have done our best... No one is allowed to hide."

"If all we must do is our best, that is certainly no problem. But if the head of the Shen Family speaks to us, who is going to answer?"

"Exactly. That is where the trouble lies. We all know General Wang is beyond saving in his condition... But once we finish dispelling the illness, if the head of the Shen Family insists on asking whether that means he will recover, who will answer, and what will he say?"

"If we say yes, and General Wang dies a while later, what happens when the Shen Family remembers tonight and comes knocking, asking who promised he would recover? Who can protect us? If we say no, given how the head of the Shen Family was today, swinging between joy and grief, what if he simply has us cut down?"

"And what is the greatest danger? That this member of the Shen Family knows perfectly well that the man cannot be saved, and flies into a rage on the spot even if we say yes!"

"This really is not something we can bluff through. The Daoists might run, but our enormous Private Estate cannot... Besides, within Wuxing, I doubt even the Daoists could escape."

Clearly, these men who directly managed affairs were simply too clever.

"So what you masters mean is that you want me to speak for you?" Liu Acheng finally understood.

"Young Master Acheng." Daoist Feng, who had become the closest to Liu Acheng during their journey, hurried over. "I am not trying to drag you into this, but this trouble has landed on all of us. If things truly go wrong, dressed as you are..."

"I know, I know. No egg survives when the nest is overturned; everyone gets wet when the boat capsizes." Liu Acheng nodded in acknowledgment. "I will go with you and do the talking."

The Daoists were delighted, but only for a moment. Then they looked at one another and grew dejected again.

What did it matter if someone spoke for them? What did it matter if the risk was slightly smaller? Did that mean there was no risk at all?

Today's affair truly was a calamity fallen from the blue.

But these clever Daoists had no say in the matter. Before long, saber-bearing warriors came with an estate steward to hurry them along. If it was a blessing, it was no disaster; if it was a disaster, there was no escaping it. The four or five men in long robes and Crimson Futou, Liu Acheng among them, took their supplies and went over.

Entering the brightly lit main hall, they indeed found Shen Jin sitting alone, turned sideways on the couch at the head of the room. His eyes were red and his hair disheveled; he had clearly been crying. Although the group filed in and saluted him with clasped hands, he acted as though he saw nothing and continued staring into space.

He seemed a different man from the aggressive, indignant figure they had seen during the day.

Soon, the leading warrior stepped forward of his own accord and spoke from almost beside him. "Master of the Household, the masters have all arrived."

Only then did Shen Jin turn his head slightly and dip his chin numbly.

At this point, not only Liu Acheng but probably the Daoists too were inwardly cursing... Judging by his condition, asking them to dispel illness probably had not even been Shen Jin's idea. Rather, seeing Shen Shijian like this, the leaders of his personal slave retainers and the estate stewards had passed the trouble down through the ranks until it landed on them.

"Masters, how do you intend to dispel the illness?" Sure enough, it was still the warrior who turned back to ask.

"They mainly make talismans and use them as the basis for a Daoist ritual." True to his word, Liu Acheng took over from the very first question. "There is no alternative. The patient is not here, so they can only draw talismans and burn them in a sacrificial brazier, asking the immortals to dispel his illness from afar... Moreover, they are only passing through. They have no high-ranking master, brought no ritual implements, and have very few people. They cannot possibly perform a Grand Cosmic Offering. Look, every ritual practitioner in the party is here."

The warrior froze for a moment, plainly rather dizzy from all these explanations, but could only nod. "In that case, ask for whatever implements you need."

"Then let us perform it right here, before everyone." Liu Acheng nodded quickly, then turned and waved to them.

His meaning was simple: it was their turn to perform.

The Daoists dared not delay. They immediately requested tables, braziers, incense burners, paper, brushes, and so forth, looking quite convincing. For a time, they attracted almost everyone's attention and gave the otherwise idle estate staff and Shen Jin's attendant slave retainers something to busy themselves with... That had been the latter's purpose all along.

Liu Acheng, however, had settled himself behind a table at one side of the hall from the very beginning.

Though the devilishly shrewd slave retainers and estate stewards had noticed this long ago, they all pretended not to see.

But soon, once the various implements were ready, the Daoists revealed their true clumsiness... They really were accountants, storekeepers, and wagon-train supervisors. They hunched over their talismans, drawing stroke by stroke like children just learning to write. Some, plainly unsure of themselves, stopped halfway to see how the others were drawing. Their standing looked wrong, their hunching looked wrong, and their talismans probably did not look like talismans either.

At this point, not only were the estate staff and slave-retainer warriors exchanging looks, even Shen Jin began watching with a frown.

"Is there no music?" What else could Liu Acheng do? Saving these people really meant saving himself. He could only steel himself and speak. "Master Feng, did no musicians accompany you this time?"

Daoist Feng had gone pale from drawing talismans. Looking up now, he could only manage a slight shake of his head. Even if he had never eaten pork, he had seen pigs run: he knew for certain that no level of Daoist ritual involved music.

Liu Acheng sighed and could only turn to the Shen Family's people. "They are merely a freight convoy and truly came with very little preparation. Sorry for the trouble, but could you fetch the bamboo flute on the table in the guest room where I am staying?"

One of the estate stewards raced out as though he could not wait, and before long really did bring Liu Acheng's bamboo flute back. His speed was astonishing.

Liu Acheng wasted no time. Taking the bamboo flute, he tested a few notes and began playing "Only Mom Is Good in the World."

The Daoists had grown used to hearing it on the road and merely treated it as accompaniment. But when had anyone in the Shen household heard this new tune, especially played so haltingly? Their attention was naturally drawn to it at once. Everyone, Shen Jin included, looked toward the flute player, conveniently concealing the Daoists' clumsiness.

Sure enough, after two passages, even Shen Jin could bear it no longer and spoke. "Young master, does this celestial music only take effect when you play it?"

"Of course not." Liu Acheng hurriedly waved a hand. "I am not even a member of the Way of the Celestial Masters, only a traveler hitching a ride... We were rushed on the road and truly have nothing prepared, you see."

"You are not a member of the Way of the Celestial Masters?" Shen Jin finally looked stunned. "Why are you dressed exactly like them?"

"To tell you the truth, Brother Shijian, my surname is Liu and my given name is Cheng. I am from the Liu Clan of Pengcheng and only came south from the north this year during the Grand Commander's Northern Expedition. Because the Grand Commander suddenly became gravely ill, relief stopped, and I did not even have winter clothes. I was no better than a beggar. As it happened, my old acquaintance from the north, Brother Lu Song, came from a distinguished Daoist family and had already entered Master Du Ming's tutelage, so I sought him out and asked for this set of winter clothes... On this journey, too, it is only thanks to Brother Lu Song that I can borrow their wagons to travel south to Kuaiji." Holding his flute, Liu Acheng answered calmly.

"The Liu Clan of Pengcheng?" Shen Jin's attention settled on a particular point.

"Not the branch that has a feud with your family, Brother Shijian. I know of that branch. Mine is merely a small, separate branch that drifted to Qiao Commandery," Liu Acheng continued.

Shen Jin nodded, seemingly about to say something, then turned back to ask, "A northerner from a minor family who only returned with the Grand Commander this year, and at your age, actually knows of the grievances between my family and that branch of the Liu Clan of Pengcheng?"

"It is precisely because I come from a minor family and am this young that I know," Liu Acheng replied as fluently as ever. "I learned it all by making inquiries along the way. Only upon reaching the Middle River did I learn about the Three Rivers and Five Lakes. In Yixing, naturally, I learned how Zhou Chu eliminated the three scourges, and how the Wang Clan toyed with Zhou Zha in the palm of their hand. And after seeing you behave as you did at Zhangpu Pass today, naturally, I learned of the Shen Clan's rise and fall."

Shen Shijian stared at the boy before him without speaking for a long time.

Meanwhile, below them, Daoist Feng had finally struggled to get a talisman nearly finished when his hand slipped, ruining it outright... His greatest fear now was that Shen Jin would directly ask who had told Liu Acheng about the Shen Clan's rise and fall. What would he do then?

"Since you have an old acquaintance serving as a master in the Way of the Celestial Masters, why not remain with them instead of heading south to Kuaiji in winter? Have you been recommended to Master Du Ming?" In the end, Shen Jin steered away from the subject of his own family.

"To tell you the truth, Brother Shijian," Liu Acheng answered with a smile, "someone like me, without roots or support and newly arrived South of the Yangtze, cannot decide for himself where to go. Wherever someone recommends you as a household guest, that is where you must go."

"Just as I thought." Shen Jin gave a derisive chuckle. "In that case, you seem quick-witted to me. Why not stay and become my household guest?"

"If I became your household guest, Brother Shijian, what sort of treatment would I receive?" Liu Acheng pointed toward a warrior beside them. "Would I have a tall, fine horse to ride, and a straight saber and longbow to carry?"

His eyes were still red, but that did not stop Shen Jin from laughing heartily. "You are, after all, a son of the gentry. How could I make you a cavalryman? If you are willing to come, study in my household for a few years first. Once you are a little older, how about I recommend you as a county clerk? Right there at Zhangpu Pass, where we were today. As a clerk there, even if you remain upright and incorruptible, you could afford a fine horse yourself within a year!"

For an instant, Liu Acheng was genuinely tempted. Then apprehension followed, and he shook his head repeatedly. "If I had met you a month earlier, Brother Shijian, I would certainly have agreed without hesitation. Back then, all I wanted was to survive, preferably with an estate of my own. That would have been enough for my whole life... But now I truly cannot."

"You think your prospects are better with Master Du Ming?" Shen Jin wore a half-smile. His attention now fully diverted, he felt the boy's momentary temptation had been genuine, which only made him more inclined to tease and mock him.

In essence, his attitude was: You dare put on the airs of a gentleman who knows our "Shen Clan's rise and fall" and sit here entertaining me, even calling me "Brother Shijian"? Then I will let you see for yourself whether you are worthy!

"I am not going to Master Du Ming," Liu Acheng said honestly. "Master Du Ming hardly has any prospects himself. How could I count on him? Xie Eastern Mountain recommended me as a household guest to Xi Linhai."

As he spoke, he took Xie An's calling card from his robe, displayed it briefly, then tucked it away again.

The smile on Shen Jin's face froze instantly, but only for a moment. Then he smiled again and turned to instruct the slave retainer beside him. "Serve our honored guest fine tea, and bring a warming stove, an Armrest, and a Cushion."

Liu Acheng accepted without ceremony, clasping his hands and smiling. "Over in Black Robe Alley, I could only sit on a folding stool. Only here do I get a proper seat. As for fine tea, I have only heard of it, never seen it..."

Shen Jin gave a dry laugh. "By day and by night, I have made a fool of myself before young Brother Acheng twice in one day."

"What is there to laugh at?" Liu Acheng comforted him instead. "After decades as a Punished Family, you were released in a single morning, only to be shackled again that same day. Your behavior was only human, Brother Shijian... If you ask me, the fact that you can restrain yourself now is already remarkable."

Shen Jin raised his head and sighed. For a long time he said nothing, and tears glimmered faintly at the corners of his eyes again.

Liu Acheng offered no further comfort. He simply let them bring over the warming stove, Armrest, and Cushion, then watched several maidservants prepare his fine tea. First, they brought a stove, then took out something resembling a tea cake and roasted it over the fire. Once its fragrance emerged, they crumbled it into a pot beside them that looked like something used for cooking porridge. They stirred it vigorously several times with a wooden spoon. The smells of what seemed to be scallions and ginger rose along with the tea, and only then did they ladle out a bowl and set it on the table before him, even providing a small spoon.

Greatly curious, Liu Acheng stirred it with the spoon. Sure enough, there were both scallions and ginger inside, and apparently orange peel too.

Compared with tea in later ages, this fine tea was more like a medicinal decoction.

After tasting a mouthful, the boy reached his conclusion: it was a salted medicinal decoction. Some cured meat, or simply cooking porridge in it, would have made it better. Then it could at least count as a late-night meal.

"Brother Shijian." Having drunk his host's fine tea, Liu Acheng could hardly keep offering perfunctory words, so he sincerely tried to console him. "There is something I would like to say... But I fear speaking too deeply when we are only newly acquainted."

"For us to meet twice in one day like this is already a meeting ordained by fate, and tonight we have taken to each other like old friends. Why speak of being newly acquainted?" Shen Jin immediately answered with a bitter smile.

"Then I will speak plainly. I believe your approach to freeing your family from its punished status was exactly right, Brother Shijian. You were merely unlucky. So the only thing to do now is curb your impatience, endure, and continue trying to follow Wang Pingbei on the Northern Expedition," Liu Acheng said earnestly. "But though that sounds easy to say, it is a heavy burden for both you and the Shen Family."

"So it truly is the only path?" Shen Jin replied bleakly, as though seeking confirmation. "I did not choose wrongly?"

"No." Liu Acheng's expression turned solemn. "Though I only arrived South of the Yangtze this autumn, I can see clearly that the land here is narrow and crowded with great gentry clans. The desirable posts at the top have long been monopolized and fenced off by those second-rank, first-class families. No matter what methods those below try, they simply cannot rise... Not because they are incapable, nor because they have failed to maneuver for advantage, but because those above cannot even divide the positions among themselves and are truly unwilling to yield any.

"Consider Master Du Ming. As a Daoist, he has persuaded the powerful that he is an immortal, yet no one is willing to give him a high office. Is that not the same thing?

"I have thought it over again and again myself. The only way to struggle free and carve a path through is through an uncertainty tied to victory and defeat, such as the Northern Expedition. Only when those above need people like us to risk our lives do we have a chance to squeeze through a crack... So you were right to volunteer for the Northern Expedition to wash away the name of Punished Family, Brother Shijian.

"Furthermore, the suppression of your Shen Family also involves the Wang Dun Rebellion all those years ago. Naturally, Wang Pingbei is the only person now willing to help you rise. Taken together, encountering Wang Pingbei here as commandery governor, and then seeing him appointed General Who Pacifies the North, was almost the greatest good fortune the Shen Family could have hoped for."

"But..." Shen Jin grew still more dejected. "But what do we do afterward?"

"There is no other way," Liu Acheng stressed. "Either wait for Wang Pingbei to recover, or wait for him to die, and then, when fighting breaks out in the north again, seize the opportunity to approach his family in the name of carrying on his ambition to pacify the north. Ask them to submit a petition on your behalf requesting permission to serve in the north... Otherwise, there is no path. Brother Shijian, at a time like this, you must not think of changing your allegiance! If you do, you will have no future at all! You must always remember that Wang Pingbei has already recruited you!"

Shen Jin started violently. Only after a long while did he slowly rise from his seat and clasp his hands. "Thank you, Young Master Acheng, for dispelling my grave illness."

--------I am a divider that knows nothing of the Dao------

Shen Jin, courtesy name Shijian... Though of a Punished Family, he still possessed over ten thousand servants and a hundred li of farmland. Earlier, Emperor Taizu passed through Yixing and lodged in the Shen Clan's gardens. Hearing that Jin had arrived that night, he played a transverse flute, the melody filled with sorrow and tenderness. Suddenly he made a gross error. Unable to endure it, Jin sent his attendants to question him. Emperor Taizu replied, "When the tune goes awry, Young Master Zhou turns his eye. I had not expected the Shen Clan to possess such musical skill as well." Jin was greatly astonished and thus conversed with him. Finding him extraordinary, he talked with him through the night until dawn.

-New Book of Qi, Biographies, volume fifteen