"There are at least twenty shops selling Xuan paper in Luo City, and they all have powerful officials and nobles behind them. Which one am I supposed to go to?" Bright Rabbit rolled her eyes.
Chen Ji said, "Then we'll have to ask Lord Zhou."
Bright Rabbit jumped off Zhou Chengyi's back and turned him over. "Lord Zhou?"
"Oh, Lord Zhou?!"
But Zhou Chengyi's face was ashen, his eyes wide open. He was already dead.
"Bright Rabbit, you killed him by accident!" Cloud Goat cried.
Bright Rabbit rolled her eyes. "Stop trying to pin the blame on me. He was poisoned."
Cloud Goat was puzzled. "But I took the poison capsule out of his mouth."
Bright Rabbit said, "He must have had poison hidden somewhere else on him. He only pretended to be trying to kill this kid just now; what he was really doing was secretly retrieving the poison."
"That's still your responsibility. You were in charge of guarding him."
"If you try to pin the blame on me again, I'll turn on you."
Cloud Goat said, "Sorry, force of habit..."
Bright Rabbit looked at Chen Ji. "Checking the shops one by one would take too long. If we drag this out, we'll definitely lose this big fish. Do you have any ideas?"
Chen Ji slowly got to his feet and walked over to the table, his palm tracing the texture of the Xuan paper. "Xuan paper is all made by hand, and every craftsman has different habits. Some like to use more blue sandalwood bark, while others prefer more rice straw. Some like to grind the pulp finer with a stone mill, while others are lazy and leave it coarser. The craftsmanship determines the price of the Xuan paper... If we find the same paper, we can find the shop."
Bright Rabbit leaned over for a close look at the paper's texture. Before this, all Xuan paper had looked the same to her...
Just then, a knock sounded outside the courtyard. Someone had picked up the copper ring on the Zhou residence's gate and was striking it against the door in a steady rhythm.
Outside the gate, a weathered, raspy voice asked, "Lord Zhou, is Chen Ji at your residence?"
In an instant, Cloud Goat, Bright Rabbit, all the men in black in the courtyard, and Chen Ji turned toward the voice.
Knock, knock, knock.
The knocking sounded again. The ring held in the beast's head on the gate struck the red-lacquered door, unhurried yet carrying an inexplicable sense of pressure.
In the dead of night, the knocking sounded especially jarring.
The men in black in the courtyard slowly drew their sabers without making a sound and waited for Cloud Goat's instructions.
These men were the elite of the elite. Chen Ji thought back to the time since he had transmigrated and realized that not one of them had spoken a single unnecessary word.
Knock, knock, knock.
Receiving no answer, the person outside the gate asked again in that weathered voice, "Chen Ji, are you in there?"
Chen Ji was somewhat bewildered.
Who would come looking for him?
After a moment's thought, Cloud Goat gave one of the men in black a signal with his eyes. "Drag all the corpses inside."
Bright Rabbit looked at Cloud Goat. "Who is it?"
"No need to be nervous. I recognize the voice." Cloud Goat went over and lifted the door bar.
When the gate opened, an old man stood in the darkness outside, his back hunched. He wore a long gray robe and black cloth shoes with white soles. The wrinkles covering his face were like fissures in parched earth.
His beard reached his chest, and his hair was gathered atop his head with a green hairpin. His hair and beard were both snow-white; he could hardly have looked any older.
The old man was also a little surprised to see Cloud Goat, who put on a smile. "Imperial Physician Yao, it's been a long time. Are you still in good health?"
The old man fell silent for a moment. "It's you. Shouldn't you be in the capital? What brought you to Luo City?"
Cloud Goat explained, "Something came up unexpectedly, so I came here. I happened to run into Chen Ji when I came to visit Lord Zhou tonight, so I kept him here for a chat."
The old man asked, "Has the inner minister's leg ailment improved?"
Cloud Goat smiled. "Much better, much better. He said that thanks to you, the illness he caught from the cold during his early years at the Firewood and Charcoal Bureau has eased somewhat."
The old man changed the subject. "Where's Chen Ji? Now that he's delivered the medicine, it's time he went back."
Cloud Goat thought for a moment. "Chen Ji, hurry back with your master. See how much Imperial Physician Yao cares about you? At his age, he's come all this way to fetch you."
Chen Ji hadn't expected Cloud Goat to let him go... Was it because the old man had mentioned the "inner minister"?
He hurried toward the gate, but as he passed Bright Rabbit, she grabbed him. "Don't go talking out of turn when you get back. We'll be coming to see you again."
Chen Ji said nothing to her and quickly walked out the gate. "Master, let's go back."
"Mm."
With his hands behind his back, Imperial Physician Yao shuffled unsteadily down the long street, his back hunched. He asked no further questions.
Chen Ji felt two gazes boring into his back like hooks. He turned to see Cloud Goat and Bright Rabbit watching him from the gate, smiles playing on their lips.
Cloud Goat and Bright Rabbit were both dressed in black, and both were strikingly good-looking, with straight backs and upright bearing. They were the sort of people who made a pleasing sight when glimpsed on the street.
Yet those two killed without batting an eye, as if human life were the cheapest thing in the world.
Snakes and scorpions-that was Chen Ji's deepest impression of the pair.
Chen Ji jogged a couple of steps to catch up with the old man. With a bang, the gate of the Zhou residence closed behind them.
Phew. Chen Ji breathed a sigh of relief.
This seemed to be a world where human lives were as cheap as grass.
When he first transmigrated, he hadn't felt much desire to survive. He had simply observed everything like a bystander, and whether he lived or died hadn't really mattered very much.
But since he had been able to be reborn, was there also a chance for his parents to be reborn? That was of vital importance to him.
First, he had to stay alive.
"Master, thank you for coming to get me," Chen Ji said sincerely, meaning every word.
But the old man sighed. "If I'd known the people here tonight were from the Secret Intelligence Directorate, I wouldn't have come."
Chen Ji said, "..."
What did he mean?
He would have just abandoned his disciple?
The old man muttered to himself, "Strange. The divination before I went out clearly showed great fortune. I thought I might pick up a gold ingot... Great fortune, my ass."
Chen Ji was baffled. "Master, aren't you going to ask about tonight..."
Walking ahead with his back to Chen Ji, the old man raised a hand to cut him off. "Wait. Don't you dare tell me. I don't want to know the first thing about troublesome matters like that. Nothing good ever comes of knowing. I've lived to ninety-two by minding my own business."
Chen Ji said, "You certainly know how to seek good fortune and avoid disaster..."
The old man stopped. "You delivered the medicine. Where's the payment?"
Chen Ji froze. How was he supposed to know there was payment for the medicine? "I forgot to ask Lord Zhou for it..."
The old man turned back unhappily. "Go back and ask them for it."
Chen Ji answered without hesitation, "I'm not going."
The old man pondered for a long time. "Then you'll have to make up the payment yourself."
Chen Ji changed the subject. "...You know them well?"
The old man glanced at him. "I had dealings with them back in the capital some years ago. That lot are ruthless and vicious, always doing things that make heaven and people alike cry out in anger. If you run into them on the street in the future, pretend you don't know them. Or, when you go out in the future, you can pretend you don't know me either."
Chen Ji said, "..."
The old man muttered to himself, "The Secret Intelligence Directorate's Twelve Zodiac Animals have come. I'm afraid Luo City won't be peaceful anymore."
The long street was quiet. Luo City seemed to be asleep, and even the East Market, usually the liveliest place of all, had fallen silent, with many of its lights extinguished.
A night watchman passed them, a white lantern tucked under his arm. Utterly bored, he struck his gong to mark the third watch and called out that the air was dry and people should beware of fire.
When they reached a crossroads, Chen Ji suddenly saw his master take three copper coins from his sleeve.
The next moment, the old man glanced up at the positions of the stars, squatted down, and cast the coins six times on the bluestone road to divine a hexagram. "Hmm... Left."
"Master, is there some danger on the right?" Chen Ji asked curiously.
"Not really. Judging by the hexagram, we might run into a beggar child. I've grown a little more compassionate in my old age, and I might toss the child some money if I see them. So I'm taking a detour to avoid seeing them," the old man explained calmly.
Chen Ji said, "..."
Inside the Zhou residence, Bright Rabbit squatted on a grand preceptor's chair, chin in hand, gazing at the night sky. "We're just letting him go? Because his master knows the inner minister?"
"Of course not. Lord Inner Minister is a ruthless man who turns on people without a second thought. Never mind Imperial Physician Yao's disciple-even Imperial Physician Yao would have to die if he truly stood in the inner minister's way."
Bright Rabbit sighed. "All right. Do you think that kid could be a Jing Dynasty spy?"
"He has to be," Cloud Goat said with certainty. "How could an ordinary apprentice withstand those needles of mine? He'd have passed out from the pain long ago. Besides, look at how quickly he adapted to the situation. That's not something an apprentice from a medical clinic could manage either."
Bright Rabbit was puzzled. "Then why let him go?"
Cloud Goat smiled. "If he really is a spy, then he came tonight to contact Zhou Chengyi and pass on a message. The Jing Dynasty's Military Intelligence Directorate must know about it too. After Zhou Chengyi disappears tonight, while he's still alive, the Military Intelligence Directorate will certainly conclude that he betrayed Zhou Chengyi."
Bright Rabbit's eyes lit up. "The Jing Dynasty has always dealt harshly with traitors. They'll definitely send someone to get rid of him. When they do, we can capture whoever comes to kill him and earn another merit!"
"Exactly!"
Quite some time later, a man in black returned to report. "My lords, we found two Xuan paper shops with matching paper based on its texture. The shopkeepers and assistants are being escorted to the prison in Luo City."
Bright Rabbit rose. "I'll go interrogate them tonight!"
Cloud Goat stretched. "Then I'll deal with the corpses. Once I'm done, I'll go back early and get some rest."
"First, let's discuss how we're splitting the credit!"
"Fifty-fifty, of course."
"No."
Cloud Goat raised an eyebrow. "Why not?"
Bright Rabbit said, "I killed nine people tonight, and you only killed six. I was the one who captured Zhou Chengyi too. Sixty-forty, or don't invite me to work with you again."
Cloud Goat sighed. "Relations between colleagues are harder to handle than corpses. Sixty-forty it is."
Bright Rabbit jumped down from the grand preceptor's chair and happily led the men in black away, leaving Cloud Goat alone to handle the aftermath.
After everyone had gone, Cloud Goat took a dozen or so palm-sized... shadow puppets from his sleeve.
He used a silver needle to pierce the wrist of each corpse in turn, squeezing out drops of blood.
Then he dipped the silver needle into each drop of blood and used it to paint eyes on the shadow puppets, one by one.
The blood sank into the puppets' eyes, turning them a deep crimson, and the little figures seemed to come to life.
"Done!"
The next moment, all the corpses in the courtyard stood up one by one and followed Cloud Goat out of the Zhou residence, their faces expressionless.
The group walked in a line along the long street for who knew how long before Cloud Goat suddenly spotted a little beggar child huddled by the roadside under a straw mat, curled into a ball against the cold.
Cloud Goat gazed at the child for a long time, then took a string of copper coins from his sleeve and tossed it onto the ground. Only then did he lead the dozen or so corpses into the night.