And now, to make wearing the Nuo Mask easier, she had pinned her hair into a high bun. For some reason, her whole demeanor had turned sharp and brisk.
Though her features had not changed, she had gone from a demure beauty to someone so dazzling that people scarcely dared look straight at her.
As lovely as peach blossoms!
So this was where that divination came true!
Chapter 26: The Ji River
In the end, they never caught the disguised boatman who had fled.
After all that commotion, dawn had broken. Cui Jiuyang wanted to go back to bed, but Fifth Master Yang, who had hurried over, gave him no chance.
In the guildhall's banquet room, only the Fifth Master and the four of them sat at the large round table, yet it was laden with all manner of breakfast dishes.
The sight of fried sugar cakes dispelled half of Cui Jiuyang's sorrow over losing his chance to sleep in. Tofu pudding banished the other half. Of course, when the beef pot stickers arrived, his sorrow had already turned to joy.
"Thank goodness you were all here last night. Dead men sneaking in-such a thing is unheard of. Do any of you have a lead?" Fifth Master Yang asked as he ate.
Mama Liu spoke first. "Last night, one of them entered my room first. He made some noise and woke me. I had the feeling they were looking for something."
Then Spirit Medium Wei said, "After Mama Liu started fighting them, the Ninth Lady woke me. But these old arms and legs are hardly fit for fighting, so I thought I'd have the Ninth Lady fetch Mr. Cui."
The Ninth Lady had not yet returned to her gentle, graceful self. She looked thoroughly impatient, as though people fussing and chattering over a meal irritated her.
She stuffed a triangular sugar bun into her mouth and said as she chewed, "I took a fishing spear to fetch Mr. Cui. He happened to be coming out, so I went after the man in black who had gone upstairs. They really were looking for something. That man had turned several empty rooms on the second floor upside down."
Cui Jiuyang was waging a campaign of annihilation against the diced-pork buns. Hearing them mention him, he raised his head. "I know who's behind this."
Everyone else at the table looked at him in surprise, waiting for him to continue.
"The Japanese."
"The Ninth Lady and I found the Japanese imperial family's chrysanthemum crest on the sunken ship."
Cui Jiuyang swallowed the last pork bun and took a sip of tofu pudding to wash it down, then fixed his gaze on the Fifth Master. "Think carefully, Fifth Master. What do you have that could bring the Japanese to your door?"
"They have something on them that blocks divination. I can't work it out, so you'll have to think of it yourself."
Fifth Master Yang put down his chopsticks and leaned back in his chair. He remained silent for a long time before speaking. "The year before last, the Japanese consulate in Jinan contacted me. They said they had an archaeological team that wanted to learn about the Jidu Shrine."
"The Jidu Shrine?" all four asked together.
It was understandable that Cui Jiuyang had never heard of it, but the other three at the table were all born and raised in Jining City, and none of them had heard of such a shrine either.
Seeing their puzzled faces, the Fifth Master began explaining in detail.
"The Ji River was one of the four great rivers of antiquity. During the Han dynasty, it entered Juye Marsh north of Dingtao. After leaving the marsh, it flowed east of Liangshan, reached the area south of Anmin Pavilion, and joined the Wen River. Then it flowed north past the east side of Daimiao and the west side of Butouzi, reaching Fish Mountain before turning northeast into the Bohai Sea. It stopped flowing in the late Tang dynasty."
"Our local historical records in Jining City say that there was an extraordinarily mysterious Jidu Shrine twenty li west of the ancient city."
"The Ji River crossed three provinces, sometimes flowing across the surface, sometimes running underground. It was the most mysterious of the four great rivers."
"The Jidu Shrine was much the same. They say it only appeared aboveground once every few decades, standing beside the ancient course of the Ji River on a full-moon night."
"The gazetteer of Jining Prefecture records a total of three people who entered the Jidu Shrine. One was Zhang Zeduan of the Northern Song. Another was Pu Songling of Zichuan County, the author of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio. The third account dates to the Tongzhi reign of the former Qing dynasty... but no one knows who that person was. It only says he was a resident of Jining City."
"Presumably, he later made a name for himself as well."
"But there are no records of what those three saw, heard, or obtained inside the Jidu Shrine."
"If even Pu Songling kept his lips sealed, then..." Fifth Master Yang did not finish, but the others understood.
Pu Songling loved tales of ghosts and fox spirits above all else. If he had entered the Jidu Shrine yet left the experience out of Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio... there had to be a very compelling and mysterious reason.
"As for whether anyone else ever saw or entered the Jidu Shrine, the local gazetteers contain no other records."
Cui Jiuyang followed up. "Then... how did you learn about the Jidu Shrine, Fifth Master Yang?"
Fifth Master Yang smiled bitterly. "It's something of a joke. At the time, the Japanese believed... that I was the last person to enter the Jidu Shrine!"
Cui Jiuyang's expression grew serious. "Then what exactly is it like inside?"
Fifth Master Yang waved his hands repeatedly. "Don't joke, Mr. Cui. I was only six in the last year of the Tongzhi reign..."
"Who knows where the Japanese got their information? They said that since I had started as a peddler going from street to street and eventually built Shengdelong into what it is today, a merchant of such enormous wealth must have had some extraordinary encounter!"
He looked indignant. "Couldn't I have built my business through a lifetime of diligent work? I began selling scraps of cloth, needles, thread, and local rouge in the streets when I was twelve. I chose those goods only because they were light enough for me to carry."
"At seventeen, I traded my carrying pole for a handcart and added other sundries and pastries. Bandits plagued the area in those years. I crossed White Horse Mountain, Black Mountain, and Qixia Mountain again and again to sell New Year's goods, and nearly lost my head!"
"I was twenty-three before I rented my first street-front shop, operating under the Fengjiu Cloth Shop and selling coarse cloth and cotton fabric. That was when General Liu raised his army. His thugs kicked in my door and put a blade to my throat. I pledged three thousand sets of uniforms alone!"
"At thirty, I acquired my first cargo boat. I paid my respects to the local bosses, burned incense, bowed and scraped, and only then managed to break into the canal trade."
"For decades, right up to this day, I've advanced one careful step at a time. Why would I, Yang the Fifth, need some miraculous encounter or heavenly secret?!"
Cui Jiuyang almost applauded. It would take at least a thirty-two-episode television drama to tell that life story!
But that still did not answer the question. "Then... what have the Japanese come looking for this time? Did they sink your ship and kill your men just to cause trouble?"
Fifth Master Yang pondered for a moment. "I suspect... they want to get a hydrological chart of the Ancient Ji River's course from me..."
Cui Jiuyang counted on his fingers. "You said the Ji River stopped flowing in the late Tang dynasty. That would be roughly a thousand years ago... You have a hydrological chart of a river course from over a thousand years ago?"
Fifth Master Yang answered quite matter-of-factly. "As long as something like that exists in Jining City, I can find it. It's just a matter of spending a little silver."
"After the Japanese came to see me, I grew curious about the Ancient Ji River, so I had someone search the historical records of Jining Prefecture for accounts of the Jidu Shrine and the Ji River. Then I approached the antique dealers and old book dealers. I never said I wanted a hydrological chart, only that a feng shui master had advised Shengdelong to acquire old books, paintings, and antiques related to great rivers that year."
"For a while, people came to Shengdelong in an endless stream to offer their treasures."
At this point, Spirit Medium Wei and the other two recalled it. So that was why Shengdelong had wanted rare old books related to water back then!
"Among those piles of old papers, the elderly scholars I hired easily found an early Tang hydrological chart of the Ji River's course. Written on it were the words, 'Produced by the Waterways Directorate under heaven's mandate.'"
"But information about the Jidu Shrine remained extremely scarce. There was only a myth in a collection of strange rural tales by an unknown author:
"The Yellow River Spirit Source Water God and the Jishui Qingyuan Water God had a falling-out. Their conflict caused both the Yellow River and the Ji River to flood at once, inundating seven thousand li!
"Over a million people across Henan and Shandong were displaced. The Heavenly Emperor flew into a rage and banished both gods to the Heavenly Prison."
Chapter 27: Lake Water
After hearing the Fifth Master out, Cui Jiuyang finally asked one question. "Then, Fifth Master, if the Japanese suspected you had a hydrological chart of the Ji River's course, why didn't they simply come and ask for it? They'd already approached you once. Nothing stopped them from doing it again."
The Fifth Master curled his lip in contempt. "I hate foreigners, whether they're from the East or the West."
"They come onto our land and throw their weight around with guns and cannons. They ignore our rules and bully our people. Am I supposed to hand it over just because they want it?"
"A few months ago, Big Old Chen, the provincial Governor Zhang's adjutant, sent me a telegram. He said the Japanese were willing to trade a Changbai Exiled Immortal Painting for the hydrological chart I had."
"Hmph. Do they really think I'm fond of old books and paintings?"
"I told them flat out that I didn't have it and had never seen any blasted hydro-whatever chart."
"Big Old Chen and I are on good terms. He sent me a private telegram asking if I'd lost my senses. Why not hurry and find that chart in secret? Was I really going to pass up such a perfect chance to make friends with the Japanese?"
"I think he's the one who's lost his senses. A military man, yet his spine isn't even as stiff as a hemp stalk. What a laughingstock."
Afterward, Cui Jiuyang received all the material on the Ji River and the Jidu Shrine that Fifth Master Yang had found in old books, including the hydrological chart of the Ji River's course drawn by the Waterways Directorate in the early Tang dynasty.
Fifth Master Yang handed over something so precious without so much as blinking.
"The Japanese are using underhanded tricks to make trouble for me. If I don't deal with them, they'll think Shengdelong is a lump of rotten tofu. I'm giving you these materials, Mr. Cui. Please knock the arrogance out of them!"
As he spoke, Fifth Master Yang's deeply wrinkled face was filled with resolve.
They took their leave of Fifth Master Yang, headed to the docks, and traveled south along the canal toward Lake Taibai.
Whatever the Ji River and the Jidu Shrine were about, the Japanese had transported that great lump of iron there, and no one knew what they intended to do.
For the sake of that sleeping Malevolent Flood Dragon, they had to retrieve the Iron Rhino no matter what.
Lake Taibai stretched as far as the eye could see. Among the great lakes around Jining Prefecture, it was second only to Weishan Lake in size. It had been named for Li Taibai, who had lived there for over twenty years.
Spirit Medium Wei remained kneeling and bowed low in the little boat, her eyes closed and her head lowered as she devoutly sought guidance from her Gray Family Immortal.
At some point, the Ninth Lady had returned to her gentle, graceful self. Her appearance had not changed, but her bearing was entirely different. She seemed like a completely different person from the one who had chased down the men in black last night.
Facing the wind at the bow, with a few strands of hair fluttering in the breeze, the Ninth Lady had a quiet, tender beauty about her.
Cui Jiuyang ventured a question. "Ninth Lady... last night must have worn you out. Thank goodness you took down that man in black upstairs. Otherwise, who knows what might have happened?"
She had been gazing absently across the broad lake. Normally, she practiced opera by day and devoted her nights to cultivating the Nuo Mask Spirit, leaving her few chances to wander about and enjoy the sights.
Lake Taibai covered eighteen thousand mu. Waterbirds circled overhead, and ripples shimmered across the water. Had they not had business to attend to, it would have been an ideal place to unwind.
Though she had things on her mind, the sudden sight of the scenery still left the Ninth Lady entranced.
Only when Cui Jiuyang spoke did she come back to herself. Her lips curved into a shy smile. "Earlier... when I offered wine to the Nuo Mask, I drank a little more to bring myself into harmony with the Nuo Mask Spirit... I don't know whether I did anything discourteous. If I did, please forgive me, Mr. Cui."
An offering of wine?
Drank a little more?
Cui Jiuyang could not help laughing. Oh, so that fiery whirlwind of a girl last night had simply been drunk?
Interesting.
Cui Jiuyang did know that each Nuo Mask favored different offerings. Some wanted incense, some wanted wine and meat, and some wanted raw, bloody flesh.
According to Grandfather's Record of Experiences, the Nuo Mask tradition in Sichuan and Chongqing was called the Ba Witch God Masks. Some masks there could only be worn after a living prisoner of war had been sacrificed.
Even with his great-grandfather's level of cultivation, when he traveled through Sichuan and Chongqing and first encountered those Nuo Mask rites, he had suffered an unexpected setback.
He stole a glance at the Ninth Lady. Such a lovely beauty, yet that was what she became when drunk. It was rather amusing.
Just as he was wondering when he might share a few drinks with the Ninth Lady, Spirit Medium Wei suddenly raised her head. "Mr. Cui... the great immortal says... the Iron Rhino is at the bottom of the lake!"
The bottom of the lake?
Lake Taibai was a thousand feet deep. How were they supposed to get down there?
At those words, however, Mama Liu simply reached into the lake and scooped around. In no time, she caught several tadpoles...
She gave each of them a tadpole. "Hold this in your mouth, and you can keep the water out for an hour. Whatever you do, don't swallow it, or you'll die without a doubt!"
Cui Jiuyang felt more than ever that those twenty-five silver dollars had been well spent. Whether it was the twentieth century or the twenty-first, talent was still the most valuable thing of all.
Everyone held a tadpole in their mouth, and Mama Liu jumped into the water first. Her body, normally as fat and round as a ball, became extraordinarily nimble once submerged.
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