Secrets

Wang Qilin and Xu Da left. Zhang Yuning looked at his grandfather suspiciously. "Just now, Lord Xu had his arm around Lord Wang and called him 'you little devil'?"

Divine Physician Zhang said solemnly, "Sit quietly and reflect on your own faults; when speaking, do not discuss the failings of others. Do not talk too much about those two lords' affairs. Many years from now, this may become a celebrated tale of our dynasty."

Zhang Yuning was about to say something else when a man approached furtively and beckoned to him. "Young Master Ning, last night..."

Divine Physician Zhang looked over, but Zhang Yuning spoke first. "It's Foolhardy. He's here for more medicine."

The old man frowned at that. "Tell him to take it easy. You can't take too many tonics! Strange, though. What does a bachelor need so many tonics for?"

With that, he turned back and stood in the doorway, continuing to gaze after the two receding figures. Dimly, he seemed to see that summer again...

Once, a youth knew no shame.

Once, a youth knew no sorrow.

Later, the youth was forever shy.

Ever after, the youth could not forget sorrow.

The town center of Crouching Dragon Township was small, consisting of a few shops built around two intersecting main streets running east-west and north-south. The Gathering Fragrance Restaurant was the largest.

The restaurant was a small two-story building. Once inside, Xu Da made a show of tightening his belt.

He knew Wang Qilin came from poverty and had never been inside a restaurant, so he wanted to show off in front of him.

Yet after stepping inside and looking around, Wang Qilin looked disappointed. "I heard about the Gathering Fragrance Restaurant in Crouching Dragon Township even back home. I thought it would be luxurious, but this is all it amounts to."

Xu Da, who had been preparing to show off, sensed something amiss in his tone. "How luxurious did you think it would be?"

Wang Qilin pointed at the ceiling. "At the very least, there should be a glazed-glass lamp two feet across hanging here, paintings of dishes by famous artists on the walls, and two pretty girls stationed at the entrance. When someone comes in, they say, 'Welcome,' and when someone leaves, they say, 'Thank you for your patronage.' Those two girls should wear tight silk dresses with slits right up to the tops of their thighs..."

"Where is this place you're talking about? No other reason, I just want to see the paintings by those famous artists," Xu Da said longingly.

"In my dreams."

The proprietor put down his account book and came out to attend to them himself. Xu Da said, "The usual. Pig's trotters four ways, dry-steamed pork, a big sweet-and-sour carp, and turtle soup."

"Give me big trotters, and a big carp too-never mind, I'll pick it myself."

Outside Crouching Dragon Township flowed the Subduing Dragon River. It was said that a carp had cultivated to enlightenment in this river, swum east into the sea, and leaped over the Dragon Gate to become a flood dragon. Both the river and the township had taken their names from this.

No one took such rustic tales seriously, but the Subduing Dragon River did indeed abound in large, plump golden-scaled carp.

The Gathering Fragrance Restaurant kept its fish alive. There were two pools in the backyard, one for golden-scaled carp and the other for assorted fish such as grass carp, crucian carp, and silver carp.

When they reached the backyard, they immediately spotted a fish in the mixed-fish pool leaping about, trying to jump out of the water and into the carp pool.

Wang Qilin praised it. "That fish really has ambition. Are kings, nobles, generals, and ministers born to their station?"

"Who says only carp can live in the carp pool?" Xu Da said. "Ten years east of the river, ten years west. Don't bully a youth for being poor! Today, it's my turn as a grass carp to live in the carp pool!"

Ripples spread. With a flick of its tail, the grass carp finally broke through the shackles of fate and leaped into the carp pool.

Xu Da pointed at it. "A grass carp becoming a carp-a good omen. Cook it for me along with the biggest carp."

The carp pool erupted into turmoil. As the grass carp jumped in, a dozen or so large carp swam frantically about and lunged toward the surface, churning the pool into a murky mess.

The waiter tried for a while but simply could not catch the grass carp. Xu Da took the net and tried himself, stirring things up beside the pool for some time before finally succeeding.

In the pool, the grass carp had been lively and vigorous, as graceful as a swimming dragon. Once in the net, however, it stopped moving, its whole body stiff as a board. It looked dead.

Xu Da was deeply disappointed. "What rotten luck."

He tossed the grass carp back into the pool, where it floated stiffly on the surface.

But Wang Qilin's eyes were sharp. He noticed its pelvic fins moving slowly. It was clearly keeping itself afloat by secretly paddling!

A backstroking grass carp?

Something was wrong with this fish!

He said to the waiter, "Please find a jar and put this fish in it for me. I have a use for it."

After that, he carried the water jar upstairs while Xu Da carried a wine jar.

The proprietor arranged the largest private room for them. Inside, a large round table was surrounded by sixteen grand armchairs. The east and west walls were covered in calligraphy and paintings, while plum blossoms, orchids, bamboo, and chrysanthemums stood by the southern window. This was definitely VIP treatment.

Xu Da was puzzled. "What do you want a dead fish for? A grass carp, at that?"

Rather than answer, Wang Qilin asked, "What did you mean earlier when you said my life was in imminent danger?"

At that, Xu Da broke the seal on the wine jar and downed a bowl first. His brows knitted together, and his face looked bitter. "Earlier, when Grand Seal Shi appointed you a Minor Seal, I said you lacked the experience for the job. Did you think I was jealous of how quickly you'd been promoted?"

"Weren't you?"

"Like hell I was!" Xu Da downed another bowl. "The Minor Seal post in Crouching Dragon Township is a death warrant. The office is cursed. Every year, on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, when the gates of the underworld open wide, the serving Minor Seal gets killed by a vicious ghost!"

"There's actually something like that?"

Xu Da grunted. "If you don't believe me, ask the proprietor whether, before Master Cao, Crouching Dragon Township had to get a new Minor Seal every fifteenth day of the seventh month."

A little later, a knock came from outside, and the waiter pushed the door open to serve the food.

The first dish was a tofu soup. As the waiter set down the bowl, he called out, "Soup before your meal keeps prescriptions away. My lords, please try our Prefect Wang's Eight-Treasure Tofu first."

The bowl held finely crumbled silken tofu, its snowy-white pieces smooth as fat, mixed with shiitake mushrooms, melon seeds, pine nuts, diced ham, and other ingredients. The broth was cloudy white like soy milk, steaming hot, and the savory aroma of chicken stock wafted into their noses.

Wang Qilin said, "Wait, did we order this?"

Xu Da said, "We did. Turtle soup."

"Where's the turtle?"

"Prefect Wang's Eight-Treasure Tofu. Wang-eight for short."

Wang Qilin smiled wryly. "All right. Waiter, I'd also like to ask you a couple of things..."

"You're too polite, my lord. Are you asking about this dish? Heh heh, allow me to explain in detail. Our eight-treasure tofu is something special. Its eight treasures include two meat ingredients, two vegetables, and two dried nuts. There's nothing unusual about those. The wonder lies in this pot of chicken stock..."

Seeing the waiter proudly preparing to launch into a lengthy speech, Wang Qilin shook his head. "I'm asking how many Minor Seals Crouching Dragon Township has had over the past ten years."

The waiter paused. "I don't remember clearly. I think there was a new one every year?"

Xu Da gave him an "I told you so" look while swiftly ladling himself a bowl of tofu soup and digging in.

Slurp, slurp.

Smack, smack.

Heh heh.

Once the waiter had left, Wang Qilin asked, "Why don't the higher-ups abolish the Minor Seal post in Crouching Dragon Township?"

Xu Da sneered. "Who told you they never did? The year they abolished it, no Minor Seal died, but the Grand Seal above him did! Auspicious County can't go without a Grand Seal, can it? Shi Zhoushan was the next Grand Seal to take office. The very first thing he did was assign another Minor Seal to oversee Crouching Dragon Township!"

Wang Qilin asked again, "But Master Cao was fine, wasn't he? You've seen what I can do. I could handle the infant spirits that Master Cao couldn't. So if Master Cao could suppress that vicious ghost..."

"First, who told you Master Cao used to be the way he is now? Second, who told you he suppressed that vicious ghost?" Xu Da interrupted him. "You never saw what Master Cao could do when he first came to Crouching Dragon Township. Back then, he had two fierce gods on his back!"

"But after the fifteenth day of the seventh month last year, only one fierce god remained on his back. The other had died in his place. That vicious ghost didn't leave empty-handed. It was merely tricked into leaving!"

At this point, Xu Da scratched his head in confusion. "There's something else I can't figure out. Master Cao's fierce god is very powerful. How could it fail to deal with a few infant spirits? There's something strange about this. It may well be connected to the curse."

Wang Qilin asked again, "Then what exactly is this curse about?"

Xu Da slurped the rich chicken stock. "I don't know the details. All I know is that a former Minor Seal of Crouching Dragon Township handled a case that resulted in a terrible miscarriage of justice. The wronged soul became a vicious ghost and comes back every year for revenge-hey, it's been so long. Why haven't they brought this master's favorite sweet-and-sour carp yet?"

He opened the door and shouted a couple of reprimands. The waiter hurriedly brought in a platter of sweet-and-sour fish.

Xu Da took one look and flew into a rage. "This isn't the fish I caught. It looks different!"

Wang Qilin examined the fish's face closely but could make nothing of it.

The waiter, however, immediately begged for mercy. "Forgive me, sir! Forgive me!"

"Where's the fish I personally selected? Did some filthy rich bastard snatch it away?" Xu Da roared.

The waiter smiled bitterly. "Sir, you won't believe this, but that fish of yours-it disappeared all on its own!"