Watching them leave, Cui Jiuyang beckoned to the common folk still waiting in line. "Come on, their business won't be until tomorrow. Let's get on with yours first!"
There were always a few busybodies among those waiting. Hearing that people from Shengdelong had come to invite Master Cui, they volunteered a thorough account of the chamber's affairs.
They said that ever since Jining Prefecture had opened its canal docks, twelve great commercial associations had dominated the market-not counting the government-run grain transport, just private merchant shipping.
Whoever you were, if you wanted to run a cargo boat on this river, you had to affiliate yourself with one of those associations and fly its banner.
Otherwise, nothing would go smoothly anywhere you went.
Why?
Along the entire canal, from one end to the other, the Twelve Merchant Guilds held shares in every business supplying food, drink, and daily necessities at every dock on both banks.
Renting a warehouse, finding a few reliable boatmen, buying grain properly dried and free of insect damage-the Twelve Merchant Guilds had a stake in every one of those transactions.
Even if you were so pent up your eyes turned red and wanted a few boat prostitutes to help your brothers loosen their bones, every pleasure boat hung with red lanterns belonged to Spring Source Hall, one of the Twelve Merchant Guilds.
Put simply, not a single piece of silver on this canal passed without going through the hands of the Twelve Great Commercial Associations!
And Shengdelong was the most powerful of the Twelve Merchant Guilds, with the largest number of businesses.
As Cui Jiuyang packed up his stall, he worked his fingers through a divination to see what tomorrow's business would be.
For the first time ever since he had begun cultivating The Eight Extremes, his finger divination yielded absolutely nothing.
According to Great-Grandfather's cultivation notes, finger divination was a cultivator sending a touch into the primordial heavenly mystery, which sensed it and responded.
If a divination ever produced no result, it demanded serious attention. There had to be something deeply strange about the matter!
Either the heavenly mystery could not be touched, or its response had been cut off.
That meant the matter you were divining lay far beyond your abilities, or someone more powerful than you had obscured your sight.
In short, two words: extremely dangerous!
But this delighted Cui Jiuyang... He seemed to have caught the scent of an opportunity.
Early the next morning, Cui Jiuyang strolled out of the little rented house where he was staying and headed straight for a breakfast stall.
The canal through Jining Prefecture connected north and south. People from both regions mingled on the docks, their accents varied and their tastes no less different.
Of all the breakfast foods, Cui Jiuyang loved stuffed flatbread best.
A fluffy, soft flatbread fresh from the hot stove was sliced in half, exposing its tender, honeycombed interior, then packed with great handfuls of fried meat sausage, fried potato slices, and fried tofu cubes. It only counted as good when it was stuffed so full the filling spilled out.
Then came a spoonful of sauce-the true test of the cook's skill. Every stall made it differently, some sweeter, some saltier, and chili oil made by pouring hot oil over chilies was indispensable too.
Especially with a bowl of silken tofu pudding on the side, topped with a spoonful of chive-blossom paste, a spoonful of Lao Yutang soy sauce, half a spoonful of chili paste, a few salted boiled soybeans, a pinch of finely chopped pickles, and a little coriander.
Fragrant bread, tender tofu, and a little chew from the pickles and soybeans-an exquisite combination!
Every time, before he even started eating, Cui Jiuyang was practically drooling three feet down.
By the time Cui Jiuyang had eaten and drunk his fill and ambled over to Shengdelong, Meng Er was already waiting at the entrance with a sheen of sweat covering his forehead.
"Master Cui, you're finally here! You're the only one we were waiting for!" Meng Er led the way, and Cui Jiuyang followed, rubbing his chin and pondering. Only waiting for me? Sounds like quite a few people have come.
This chamber of commerce certainly had grandeur.
The moment he entered, he stepped onto a woolen Persian carpet, so soft beneath his feet it felt like a layer of cotton.
Beyond the great revolving door stood the central hall, broad and imposing, with a ceiling a full three stories high.
A huge Jining Canal Shipping Map hung on the wall directly ahead, flanked by cloisonné vases and a large German standing clock.
Looking up, he saw multicolored stained glass set into the ceiling. The hanging crystal chandelier reminded Cui Jiuyang of the five-star hotel he had gritted his teeth and splurged on during his first vacation.
Meng Er gestured for him to turn left into a long corridor. The first door was carved solid wood, with a plaque reading "Council Hall."
Meng Er opened the door and invited Cui Jiuyang inside. He did not follow, but closed the door behind him.
Cui Jiuyang swept his gaze over the spacious council hall. A circle of people sat inside, their expressions varying as they watched him enter.
Cui Jiuyang snapped his fan open. Ha, what a collection of... demons and monsters!
Chapter 16: Fifth Master
He started with the person sitting nearest the door.
She was a middle-aged woman with a blue cloth wrapped around her head. She was short, about four foot seven to four foot eleven, but exceedingly plump. By Cui Jiuyang's estimate, she weighed at least 120 kilos, her whole body bundled into the chair like a ball.
Beside her sat an elderly gentleman with a goatee, dressed in a blue robe much like Cui Jiuyang's. He looked like a fortune-teller too. He would have been the most normal of the lot, except for the bird perched on his shoulder-a mynah blind in one eye, which fluttered its wings from time to time.
Opposite the fortune-teller sat a lovely, slender young woman in a lake-green dress. When she noticed Cui Jiuyang looking at her, she gave him a graceful little nod. Her charm was like a willow stirred by a gentle breeze-though it would have been even better without the Blue-Faced, Fanged Demon Nuo Mask in her hands.
Beside the young woman sat an old woman, scrawny and shriveled, with shifty brows and beady eyes. She looked for all the world like a rat that had become a spirit only to develop rickets. At the sight of her, something stirred within Cui Jiuyang, and he understood. His spiritual sense had been triggered. This must be the swindling spirit medium who had previously looked into Little Huzi's trouble.
The elderly fortune-teller spoke first, with great courtesy. "Oh, this distinguished fellow must be Master Cui, who has saved two innocent lives here in Jining Prefecture lately and made quite a name for himself. I hear customers crowd your doorstep like a marketplace. How did you find time in your busy schedule to come here...? Hahahaha."
The mynah on his shoulder chimed in support: "Crowd your doorstep like a marketplace! Like a marketplace!"
At these words, the others gave Cui Jiuyang a few more appraising looks.
Cui Jiuyang understood. This old fellow was brewing trouble; a few remarks had put everyone on guard against him. Smiling, he said, "What great reputation? How would I dare lay claim to the fame of Xiaoxiang Night Rain, head of Mount Heng? I'm merely trying to earn a bowl of rice."
Everyone else present was bewildered.
They had heard of Mount Heng, of course, but since when did it have a sect among the assorted trades of the jianghu? And where had this sect leader come from?
Xiaoxiang Night Rain certainly sounded like an impressive sobriquet. What sort of master was this? Why had none of them heard of him?
Cui Jiuyang did not care whether they had read The Smiling, Proud Wanderer. He sat down beside the young woman without ceremony.
Glancing sideways, he saw her willow brows slightly knitted as she tried to remember whether she had heard the sobriquet Xiaoxiang Night Rain before. Her puzzled expression was rather amusing.
Before he had finished admiring her, an elderly gentleman with graying hair emerged through another door ahead, wearing a Zhongshan suit and carrying a stack of documents.
A procession of attendants followed him, one holding a teacup, another a hot towel, another an abacus and account book, another reading glasses... Every one was a willowy maid in a qipao!
As soon as these maids entered, fragrance filled the room!
Ha, quite the display!
Cui Jiuyang did not know who the elderly gentleman was, but the others present certainly did.
He was the renowned chairman of the Shengdelong Chamber of Commerce, Fifth Master Yang.
Fifth Master Yang took the central seat at the head of the room. Once settled, he held out a hand, and a hot towel was immediately placed in it. The old man wiped his face, then raised his eyes and surveyed everyone in the council hall.
At that glance... even Fifth Master Yang, worldly and experienced as he was, a man who had seen every sort of grand occasion, froze for a moment.
What sort of creatures were sitting here?
The young woman was quite pretty, and the young fellow beside her looked presentable enough, but what were the rest supposed to be?
In truth, he had only sent his people to invite these... experts today because he had no other choice. Such matters were normally handled for the chamber by the Taoist priests of Mount Tai Three Suns Temple, but unfortunately a senior True Person of theirs had just passed on, ascending like a feather, and none of the priests could come.
He could only invite these experts with some local reputation in Jining Prefecture and see whether, in the absence of Hua Tuo, some rustic doctors might cure a strange illness.
Still, Fifth Master Yang had weathered storms for many years and possessed ample composure. He paused for only that brief moment, then smiled before speaking.
"Hahahaha, esteemed guests, I am Old Fifth Yang. Your gracious presence today truly brings splendor to our humble chamber."
Everyone cupped their hands. "You're too kind, too kind."
Whether eager to distinguish himself or simply to show off, the old man with the goatee stood. "Fifth Master Yang's great name is known to everyone in Jining Prefecture. If there is anything we can do to relieve your worries and resolve your difficulties, it would be the greatest honor for us all."
In every word and implication, the old man was presenting himself as the leader and representative of those gathered.
Cui Jiuyang did not care, but the shifty-eyed spirit medium was not about to yield. The old woman stood too. "Yes, yes, we'll put whatever abilities we have to use and offer whatever ideas we can. Fifth Master Yang, don't let our Elder Brother Xiang Qiming's doddering, bleary-eyed looks fool you. He has quite a reputation on Wazi Street in the west of town."
In a single sentence, she had called the fortune-teller Xiang Qiming a doddering, bleary-eyed old man and made it clear that Old Xiang had little real ability, merely scraping a living on Wazi Street among the poor on the west side of town.
Old Man Xiang also made his living on the streets. How could he fail to hear the spirit medium's jab? Chuckling, he replied, "Oh, Granny Wei, you're a charitable soul yourself. You've worshipped the immortals all your life with true sincerity. To serve them devotedly, you've never married or borne so much as a single child. How could that fail to move the immortals?"
The mynah called along with him: "True sincerity! True sincerity!"
Spirit Medium Wei had looked like a rat since childhood and naturally had never found anyone willing to marry her. Nothing enraged her more than people mentioning that she had no children. Unable to lash out in front of their wealthy patron, she glared twice at Xiang Qiming, shot the mynah a vicious look, and sat down.
A man of Fifth Master Yang's caliber could read the situation from just a few exchanges. An attendant came up behind him and whispered a few words into his ear, clearly identifying everyone present.
With the introductions over, Fifth Master Yang dispensed with further pleasantries. He put on his reading glasses and handed the papers to the maids for distribution.
Cui Jiuyang took a sheet and found that it was a rubbing of... writing?
But these were not ordinary characters. They looked more like something used for a special purpose-a Divine Oracle Cipher.
Cui Jiuyang began recalling the Book of All Under Heaven's Wonders that Great-Grandfather had written by hand.
At that moment, Fifth Master Yang spoke from the head of the room. "Fifty silver dollars. Tell me what is written on this sheet, or what these characters relate to, and fifty silver dollars will be yours."
At these words, the atmosphere in the council hall abruptly heated up.
Old Xiang the fortune-teller studied the characters on the white paper closely, the fingers of one hand working ceaselessly.
The plump middle-aged woman simply stared, as though she could find flowers blooming on the page.
The wing-fluttering mynah on Old Man Xiang's shoulder could no longer bear to watch. It gave a cry to catch the plump woman's attention, then hopped around in a half circle, reversing its head and tail, and called, "Turn it around! You're looking at it upside down!"
The plump woman's aging face reddened. She gave up altogether, muttering words like "demonic scribbles," "earthworms," and "tadpoles."
The young woman beside Cui Jiuyang gently bit her lower lip, her slender, jade-like fingers rubbing back and forth over the demon Nuo Mask in her hands. She seemed to be debating whether to put it on.
Just then, Spirit Medium Wei stood. "Fifth Master, I'd like a quiet room."
Chapter 17: Divine Ability
After Spirit Medium Wei left the council hall, Old Man Xiang the fortune-teller remarked, seemingly offhand, in a voice just loud enough for everyone in the room to hear, "Ah, that old woman has the real skill. Off to ask her venerable immortal. I can't do that; I have to rely on what little ability I possess myself."
Cui Jiuyang had just observed everyone's reactions, but the others in the room were secretly watching him too.
Apart from Cui Jiuyang, they had all spent half their lives plying their trades in Jining Prefecture, yet this was their first time entering a great establishment like Shengdelong.
This greenhorn Cui Jiuyang had made his name resound throughout Jining City in just two months, and today he had become an honored guest of Shengdelong, just like them. What abilities did he actually have?
Looking at the white sheet in his hand, Cui Jiuyang neither worked his fingers in divination nor shook coins to cast a hexagram. He looked at the conflicted young woman beside him and asked, "May I know your honored surname and name, miss?"
She turned and said softly, "I was taken in by the Nuo Opera Troupe as a child, so I have no surname. I was the ninth in the troupe, and my name was Yizhi. But when my name was entered in the Nuo Opera Register, the troupe master said nine was the ultimate number and could not be used as a surname, so he changed it to Jiu Yizhi."
Cui Jiuyang smiled broadly and raised an eyebrow. "Jiu Yizhi? A lovely name. A beautiful woman with a beautiful name-you truly live up to it."
Before you continue