After washing themselves clean, the two left the temple and headed straight for the market.
They bought two large legs of lamb to prepare and cook, along with some other ingredients.
To Qu Zan's surprise, Doje was quite skilled at cooking.
In particular, he made noodles from highland barley mixed with a little wheat flour. With clear broth simmered from lamb bones and a sprinkling of chili and chopped scallions, they were simple but tasted excellent.
"I never imagined you were so good at making noodles, senior brother. You must have made them often before," Qu Zan said with a smile.
He slurped up a hearty mouthful. Doje's noodles were springy and delicious.
"This is my first time actually making them!" Doje said with a smile.
"Impossible. How could they be this good on your first try?"
Doje grinned smugly and said, "I loved good food as a child and was always sneaking peeks into the kitchen.
"I never dared steal anything to eat. If I got caught, they'd break my hands.
"So I stole smells instead. Hehe, you could catch me stealing food, but you couldn't stop me from stealing smells, could you?
"After I'd been stealing smells for a long time, it no longer satisfied me.
"So I followed the steps myself, using grass, stalks, and mud. I built my own stove and made my own tasty dishes.
"I rolled out those mud noodles hundreds of times. But today was my first time making proper barley-and-wheat noodles. Meiduo, are the noodles good?"
"They're delicious. Your noodles are delicious, senior brother." Meiduo followed Qu Zan in calling him senior brother.
Beside the stove, Duimu lifted a large piece of lamb out of the pot and divided it among Qu Zan, Doje, and Meiduo. Then she sat back down by the stove.
"Aji, come eat with us," Qu Zan said.
"I... I'll watch the fire. You eat first..." Duimu said.
Qu Zan hurried over and pulled Duimu to the table.
Doje asked, "Junior brother, how is the search for liquor going?"
"I still haven't found any leads or anywhere selling it. Looks like that's the only place that has it," Qu Zan said.
Doje knew the place Qu Zan meant was the Lay Buddhist Courtyard. Quite a few nobles and merchants from outside lived there, and only they had things like that.
"Are you looking for liquor? Would home-brewed liquor do?" Duimu asked curiously.
Qu Zan perked up at that. "Aji, do you know how to brew it?"
"Not me. The Kamang Family I work for-the master of the house has privately brewed quite a lot," Duimu said quietly.
"Could you help me buy some? I... need it for a ritual," Qu Zan said.
Delighted that she could help, Duimu said, "I'll go ask right now..." Qu Zan handed her five taels' worth of secret silver coins.
When she returned, she carried a skin full of liquor. Duimu handed him both the skin and the remaining one tael of secret silver.
Qu Zan took the skin and gave the one tael of secret silver to Duimu, telling her to keep it to buy things for her household. Hearing him say that, Duimu put it away.
Doje unscrewed the cap, and a strong, pungent smell hit him in the face.
"What is that smell? It stinks," Doje said.
"That's liquor. Those who don't drink hate it, while those who like it cling to it as dearly as life itself," Qu Zan said.
Amid the lively bustle of the meal, they ate every last bit of lamb and noodles.
"I'm so full!" Meiduo declared loudly.
After washing the pots and bowls, the two saw that it was getting late and headed back toward the temple.
They chatted along the way.
"What sort of place is Jieyou Alley?" Doje said in surprise. "The Consort Lodge? I've never been there. You went off to enjoy yourself alone, you rascal." His eyes were full of envy.
"I advise you not to go. It's no good place," Qu Zan said.
"You've been there yourself, and now you're telling me it's no good. Whether it's a good place or not, I'll have to inspect it personally," Doje protested.
The moon shone bright overhead, and puddles dotted the dirt, reflecting its clear light.
"Now that we've found liquor, we'll go see that Gap-Toothed Old Man tomorrow!" Doje said.
Qu Zan murmured his agreement.
The next day, after lunch, the two went straight to the stables.
Yeluo was shoveling horse manure. Seeing the two return, he was rather worried and surprised, thinking he had done something wrong again.
"What are your instructions, Lamas?" Yeluo asked respectfully.
Qu Zan pressed his palms together and said, "Elder, there is something I need your help with. I hope you won't refuse."
Yeluo tended horses in the stables, doing backbreaking work all day. The temple's steward monks were ill-tempered and treated their inferiors with extreme arrogance. When had he ever seen a Scholar Monk treat him with such courtesy?
"Please give me your instructions, Lama," Yeluo said, hastily returning the gesture.
Qu Zan handed Yeluo a skin and said, "This humble monk invites you to drink this, elder."
Yeluo took the skin and caught the smell of its contents.
He hastily waved his hand. "I can't drink liquor. Drinking is out of the question for me."
"Why not? You're not a monk. Drinking wouldn't break any precepts," Doje said.
Yeluo sighed. "I drank when I was young and damaged my brain. Now that I'm old, my memory is failing. Every so often, my mind goes blank, and I can't remember anything that happened during that time."
"Where did you get so much money for liquor?" Doje asked.
Yeluo's eyes were cloudy and somewhat bewildered. "That... I don't know either..."
"This time, I'm treating you to liquor, elder," Qu Zan said, deliberately making his voice stern.
Yeluo was extremely surprised. Brewing barley liquor consumed a great deal of grain, so liquor was precious.
Why was this Lama so determined to make him drink?
"I still have work to do," Yeluo said.
"It's fine, elder. Just drink. My senior brother will do your work for you," Qu Zan said with a smile, pointing at Doje.
Doje shot his junior brother an irritated glance.
"It's not as though I never tended horses or shoveled manure as a child." As he spoke, Doje took the wooden shovel from Yeluo, hitched up his monk's robe, and began working.
"You mustn't!" Yeluo cried. "If the steward sees you two Lamas doing my work, I'll be punished."
Yeluo saw the two pleading and pressing him, and he also craved liquor and was addicted to it.
He took a sip. Once the fragrant, sweet, bracing liquor reached his stomach, he could no longer stop. He began drinking in great gulps.
After the old man had drunk half the skin, his face had not changed in the slightest, but his eyes had.
The cloudiness vanished from his eyes, leaving them keen and piercing. His constantly trembling hands grew steady. Compared with his earlier nervous, cringing manner, his whole bearing was now wildly unrestrained and relaxed.
He hefted the wineskin in his hand. "This liquor is quite good."
Doje was the person from the tunnel that night; the very same person, yet after drinking, there was a difference as vast as heaven and earth.
He stopped what he was doing, a look of horror on his face.
"Weren't you helping me with my work? Keep going. Don't stop," Yeluo said, taking another small swig.
Doje had wanted to refuse, but the other man's bearing was completely different now. He could only continue shoveling manure.
Qu Zan bowed with his palms pressed together. "Old brother, it's been a long time."
"Has it been long? I remember it being not so long ago. For old people, hehe, time always passes particularly quickly." The Gap-Toothed Old Man chuckled. "Tell me, why did you want to see me?"
"It wasn't that I wanted to see you, but that you wanted to see us, wasn't it?" Qu Zan said. "You said before that fate brought us together. In Buddhism, fate is the convergence of all causes and conditions.
"With your power, you could easily have avoided us, yet you showed yourself before the two of us that day. At that time and in that place, I don't believe it was a coincidence. It must have arisen from some kind of necessity."
"Clever lad. You really are smart," Yeluo said. "I won't keep you guessing any longer. I can see certain signs of the future. I need you to go to the Golden Roof of the Corpse Camel Temple and fetch something for me..."
"...The Golden Roof of the Corpse Camel Temple? That's the highest point in the temple. What's there?"
"A Golden Benba Bottle, with a hand engraved on its body," Yeluo said.
Before you continue