"Oh, you child, you needn't have brought anything! Why bring so many worthless things?"
A plump woman warmly welcomed Chen Qing inside, but her eyes filled with disdain when she accepted his gifts. Chen Qing could only smile apologetically in embarrassment. Madam Huang... was as blunt as ever.
Although Master Huang's home stood in an upscale part of Liuzhou, the residence was small, with only an old kitchen maid to tend the fire. He truly was a scholar of modest means and high standing.
Following the woman, Chen Qing reached the pavilion where his teacher painted after only a few steps. The pavilion in the rear courtyard and its pond of koi were the finest sights the Huang residence had to offer. Everyone familiar with his teacher knew that he liked painting fish here in his spare time.
"Chen Qing, you're here?" After seeing Chen Qing bow in greeting, Master Huang put away his brush and hurried to boil water for tea.
"Master, let me!" Chen Qing hurried forward to take the kettle and deftly began heating water on the charcoal stove beside them.
Master Huang nodded and made no objection, sitting down with a smile. His wife went to the kitchen, evidently to prepare a few dishes for their guest.
"Passed the examination? What place?" Master Huang asked with a smile.
"I'm ashamed to say I came last in the second tier..." Chen Qing reported his results awkwardly.
"Oh, you were rather lucky..." Old Master Huang smiled. "I told you back then that your writing wasn't steady enough and urged you to sit out one round. With your aptitude, placing in the first tier wouldn't have been impossible if you'd waited another three years. At the very least, you could have secured a place in the Hanlin Academy. Why would you have had to become a county magistrate in that bitterly cold northern land?"
"I did want to follow your advice, Master..." Chen Qing sighed too.
He had wanted to, but his circumstances wouldn't allow it. To support his years of study, his family had sold every last bit of their ancestral land. His eldest brother's son was old enough to begin school, and there was still nothing set aside for his younger sister's dowry. If they supported him for another three years, his eldest sister-in-law would probably demand a divorce!
County magistrate it is, then. Even an honest prefect could make a hundred thousand taels of silver in three years. As a fully fledged county magistrate, surely pocketing ten or twenty thousand wouldn't be too much?
"Ah..." As they spoke, Master Huang sighed. "You were lucky, but that boy Cui Yan wasn't."
Chen Qing paused. He had been wondering how to steer the conversation toward Cui Yan, only for his teacher to bring him up first.
He followed with a sigh. "Indeed. Cui Yan was immensely talented and had a bright future. His Majesty had even taken a liking to him and intended to make him his son-in-law. His prospects were excellent."
"Haha!" Master Huang immediately laughed. "That lad was devilishly handsome. Quite like me in my younger days. If I had a daughter, I probably couldn't have resisted making him my son-in-law either, haha..."
"Quite right, Master." Chen Qing laughed along, but a trace of coldness entered his eyes.
That demonic fox could alter memories, but there were many things it couldn't change. After spending so many years as Master Huang's daughter, how could merely changing memories erase all the traces?
The daughter's bedroom in the courtyard, the dowry prepared back then, her clothes from childhood to adulthood-those things couldn't be erased. Did Master Huang not have the slightest doubt?
At this thought, Chen Qing stopped hesitating and said directly, "Yes, he really was handsome. Plenty of young ladies from distinguished families took a liking to him at the Narcissus Poetry Gathering back then. He certainly held out, though. He never agreed to a match..."
At these words, Master Huang's expression visibly stiffened. Chen Qing didn't know whether he was imagining it, but he suddenly felt the entire courtyard grow considerably colder.
The next instant, an uncanny gust swept through the courtyard, sending the paintings on the table flying everywhere.
The wind blew so hard that Chen Qing couldn't open his eyes, but he hurried to his feet to help collect Master Huang's paintings. Once the wind stopped, Master Huang completely ignored the ink-covered table. The first thing he did was take a mirror from his sleeve and straighten his beard.
Chen Qing was familiar with this sight. Master Huang cared about his appearance and always kept his beard meticulously groomed. Whenever it became even slightly disheveled, he would take out the little bronze mirror he carried and check it. Many people at the academy joked about it.
This time, however, as Chen Qing tidied the paintings and calligraphy on the table, he couldn't help glancing at that mirror.
He had once thought it was merely Master Huang's peculiar habit, but now he wasn't so sure. If his suspicion proved correct, this mirror was very likely something else entirely...
Master Huang carefully straightened his beard and placed the mirror directly on the table. Whether intentionally or not, its reflective surface faced Chen Qing.
"What poetry gathering did you mention?" Master Huang looked puzzled. "Why haven't I heard of it?"
"You haven't heard of it, Master?" Chen Qing put on a puzzled expression. "How strange. Haitao said he hadn't heard of it either. Did I really remember it wrong? That shouldn't be..."
"You little rascal... your poetry is a dreadful sight, yet you're still thinking about some unheard-of poetry gathering?" Master Huang scoffed. "Have you no shame?"
"Ahem..." Chen Qing lowered his head and coughed softly, but his heart grew colder still.
He's pretending not to know about the poetry gathering either?
The Narcissus Poetry Gathering couldn't possibly be erased completely. The fox demon could erase every attendee's memories, but not those of people outside it. Such a grand gathering would have been known to plenty of people who hadn't attended. A little investigation would uncover it.
He and Cui Yan had been away in the capital for nearly a year, and many new students had entered the academy. Together with the students who hadn't been able to attend back then, had none of them ever mentioned it? Had this teacher responsible for their instruction never heard even a whisper?
It seems... Wang Ye was probably right...
After chatting for nearly an hour and staying for lunch, Chen Qing finally took his leave. Once he had gone, Old Master Huang went straight back to his study and placed the bronze mirror on the desk. Something bizarre happened the next instant: a strange mouth grew out of the bronze mirror, and it began to speak.
"That boy remembers!"
"Mm..." Master Huang nodded. "It seems Chen Qing was the reason A Li was exposed. Did you get a clear look? Does he truly have no bloodline at all?"
"I looked carefully. A mortal body, and his fortune isn't much either. Barring anything unexpected, he should retire after reaching the post of fifth-rank prefect. He won't have much of a future."
Master Huang nodded. He had verified Mr. Mirror's ability to read people's fortunes many times, and it had never been wrong. This was also why they had placed their bets on Cui Yan.
A Li's cultivation was too shallow. At her normal pace, she wouldn't be ready in time for the crown prince's consort selection. The imperial Xiao Household possessed the Golden Crow Bloodline, and since Xiao Yan had become crown prince, his bloodline was naturally exceptionally pure. With A Li's previous cultivation, her demonic nature would have been exposed before she could even approach him!
The Thousand-Faced Fox clan could seize people's fortune through sexual union. Cui Yan had the talent of a chief minister, and his fortune was exceptionally strong. The mirror had once divined his future and found that he would be no less accomplished than Wang Ye, the currently prominent deputy minister of the Court of Judicial Review.
Thus, their original plan had been to seize Cui Yan's vital essence after he placed third in the imperial examination. Only then could A Li break through her limits and barely manage to participate in the crown prince's consort selection without being exposed.
Anyone drained of all their vital essence would naturally die suddenly. To avoid discovery, A Li had even cautiously cut open Cui Yan's belly and eaten his liver and kidneys to divert the imperial investigation. They had never expected the young scholar who accompanied Cui Yan to remember everything!
"Whatever the case, this man is a threat. He must be eliminated!" The mirror's voice was vicious.
Whether it was imagining things or not, that boy had seemed to keep observing it earlier, deliberately or otherwise, as though... he had noticed something...
Old Master Huang looked at the mirror and frowned. It wasn't that he couldn't bear to lose a student. He merely felt that bringing up the Narcissus Poetry Gathering so abruptly was unlike the boy's usual cautious nature.
Could he have been deliberately testing me?
There's no mistake. It should be a Mirror Demon!
After leaving Master Huang's residence, Chen Qing couldn't keep the excitement off his face.
Once he had confirmed that the Thousand-Faced Fox was involved with Master Huang, he had begun to wonder what the man relied on to dare cooperate with something so terrifying.
Among the monsters he had designed, the Thousand-Faced Fox ranked among the most dangerous. Not only could it tamper with people's memories, it could also seize their vital essence through sexual union.
The stronger the fortune of the person it coupled with, the faster that thing evolved. This was why such monsters tried every possible means to infiltrate the imperial family. After all, who under heaven possessed greater fortune than the emperor?
As long as she could couple with the emperor often enough, the Thousand-Faced Fox would have a chance to evolve into her ultimate nine-tailed form. Then nothing would be beyond her power to beguile, and no bloodline could resist her memory manipulation. Never mind becoming empress consort-no one would object even if she became the reigning empress!
Conspiring with such a monster was far less reliable than bargaining with a tiger for its skin!
But things were different with a Mirror Demon.
It was one of the few beings that could counter a Thousand-Faced Fox. No illusion under heaven could deceive it, and it could warn its master at any time. It could also identify anyone's origins. As long as someone was reflected in the Mirror Demon, it could reveal their fortune, origins, and bloodline-everything.
It was the most functional of the seventy-six kinds of Artifact Demon he had designed!
At this thought, an intensely powerful desire to seize it rose within Chen Qing. With this thing, his safety would improve enormously. Even if a monster approached, he would know its background in advance and could take precautions!
His original agreement with Wang Ye had been that he would help probe Master Huang's secrets, and Wang Ye would send imperial guards to escort him north to take up his post. Now it seemed... his itinerary needed changing...
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