Li Shizhang, his face twisted with malice, lowered his hand slightly. Instantly, two arrows shot out from beside him.
No matter how strong you are, you’d be helpless against such a sneak attack. Li Shizhang’s cold sneer hadn’t fully formed before it froze. His eyes widened, hardly believing what he saw.
Those two fiercely flying arrows, in the blink of an eye, were caught by Mei Zhuyu. Catching arrows with bare hands? How could anyone catch arrows with bare hands? How did he detect these two arrows? How did he catch them? Why did it look so effortless, as if it took no strength at all? Could it be that the arrows shot by the two robust servants beside him had no force?
Li Shizhang was provoked once again. Disregarding everything, he picked up his bow, nocked an arrow, and prepared to try himself. His actions were somewhat exaggerated due to his agitation, and the people around him hurriedly tried to dissuade him. But Li Shizhang couldn’t hear anything; he was stubbornly determined to see this through.
However, before he could lose his arrow, there was a whistling sound, and the two arrows they had shot earlier came flying back, wrapped in a gust of wind… or rather, they were thrown back.
With a thud, one arrow pinned Li Shizhang’s gauze hat, while the other grazed his neck and embedded itself in the tree trunk behind him. Feeling the sting on his neck, he reached up to touch it and felt blood. The arrow had grazed the skin on the side of his neck.
Li Shizhang’s hand trembled, and his bow and arrow fell to the ground. He stiffly raised his head to see Wu Zhen sitting under the tree, swinging her legs and smiling, and Mei Zhuyu, who had caught the arrows with his bare hands and thrown them back, still looking cold and indifferent.
That seemingly ordinary man now gazed in their direction with cold, impatient eyes, carrying a sharp killing intent that Li Shizhang had never seen before. Li Shizhang felt a chill run through his body, his heart pounding and his whole body trembling, nearly crying out in terror.
These were light arrows, not heavy iron or bronze swords. How could a normal person throw such things with such force from such a distance? It was impossible!
Li Shizhang was so frightened that he lost his wits. When he finally came to his senses, he found that Wu Zhen and Mei Zhuyu had already left. They had discovered his whereabouts but hadn’t even bothered to come and check, showing such… such disdain for him.
His face, previously pale, quickly flushed red. Li Shizhang was both furious and terrified. His servants fearfully asked if he was alright, and some cautiously inquired if they should continue following. Li Shizhang’s nostrils flared twice, and he showed an expression of angry humiliation. He stood up, threw down his bow, and turned to leave. “Follow what? Are you brainless? With that Mei around, what good could we possibly get? You useless lot, could any of you beat him?!”
The servants dared not contradict and anger him. They all followed behind him with lowered heads. Even if some showed resentful expressions, they quickly concealed them, not daring to say a word.
Li Shizhang walked quickly through the forest, his eyes bloodshot and his lips trembling. He thought viciously to himself, “This humiliation today, I will surely avenge in the future!”
Little did he know that ahead, some ‘friends’ sent by Mao Gong were waiting for him.
Those two arrows were Master Mei’s warning. Wu Zhen’s lesson hadn’t even begun.
Wu Zhen put down the white bone hand she was holding and chuckled lightly, “Go, entertain him well on my behalf.”
The bone ghost instantly dissipated into mist. Wu Zhen stood up from the ground, with Mei Zhuyu extending a hand to help her. Wu Zhen leaned against him and, looking at the departing bone ghost, smiled and said, “In these deep mountains, although there aren’t any greatly evil spirits, there are quite a few naturally born sprites, and they’re quite obedient.”
Mei Zhuyu had seen with his own eyes how she summoned the sprites of this mountain forest and ordered them to surround Li Shizhang. Even without seeing it firsthand, Mei Zhuyu could imagine how miserable Li Shizhang’s fate would be. If his willpower was slightly weaker, he might even be frightened out of his wits. With so many sprites mobilized at once, it was far more serious than when Wei Xi and the others were trapped in the forest.
Mei Zhuyu only thought about it for a moment before putting it out of his mind. It had always been the case that mistakes warranted punishment, and once punished, there was no need to dwell on it. After all, it was just a small matter.
Wu Zhen hadn’t spent much thought on Li Shizhang either. She smiled and led Mei Zhuyu along a path, finding a mountain stream hidden in a ravine.
“Look, isn’t it beautiful?” she asked.
On one side of the mountain stream were many large rocks. Sunlight filtered through the gaps between the rocks, falling on the still water of the stream. The water was so clear it seemed transparent, allowing one to see the stones and decaying wood at the bottom, covered with patches of moss. In the shadows, the moss appeared dark green, but when touched by sunlight, it was a vivid, fresh green, as if new leaves in spring, submerged in water, appearing even more clear and pure.
Orchid grass grew by the stream, half drooping into the water, gently swaying. The interplay of light and shadow transformed the mountain stream and its separated small pools into a dreamlike, tranquil place.
The servants hadn’t followed them here; it was just the two of them. Wu Zhen sat on a large rock, casually picked up a small pebble, and tossed it into the stream, creating ripples.
“Every year when I come to hunt in these mountains, I always come here to rest. Sometimes when I’m in a bad mood, I ride out of Chang’an alone to hunt in these mountains.” Living in a place of luxury and prosperity, always surrounded by bustling activity, one occasionally feels weary and bored. She had stumbled upon this place by chance a few years ago, and since then, had made it a habit to spend time here when she was feeling down.
Mei Zhuyu remained silent. He knew this place.
It was here that he had first seen Wu Zhen. However, at that time, only he had seen her; she hadn’t noticed him. He had stumbled upon this place while chasing an evil spirit, half-covered in blood and travel-worn, while Wu Zhen was washing by the mountain stream, possibly cleaning off blood from hunting.
Wu Zhen, not hearing a response from her husband, turned her head curiously to look at him. She saw that he wasn’t admiring the beautiful scenery at all, but instead had a distant, absentminded look.
His ears were still red.
What was wrong? Wu Zhen looked around but didn’t notice anything strange. The ravine was quiet except for bird songs, with a cool breeze gently blowing. Everything seemed normal.
“My lord,” she called.
Mei Zhuyu looked down at the water’s surface, not meeting her gaze.
Wu Zhen leaned in, tilting her head to see his expression. “What are you thinking about?” Her smile gradually turned mischievous. “Are you thinking of something…”
But Mei Zhuyu refused to say anything. Wu Zhen tickled his waist, determined to dig out this little secret from him. Unfortunately for her, Mei Zhuyu wasn’t ticklish. With one hand, he caught both of hers, and Wu Zhen couldn’t break free no matter how hard she tried.
Well, being strong certainly has its advantages.
The couple sat there for the whole afternoon, with Wu Zhen teasing him the entire time. However, she never discovered why Mei Zhuyu had such an expression when he first saw this mountain stream.
When they rejoined the others, everyone discovered that their Sister Zhen and her husband hadn’t brought back any game. Wu Zhen frankly admitted that the couple had gone sightseeing, eliciting a chorus of boos from the group.
“It’s fine, we’ve caught quite a lot this time. We’ll beat Li Shizhang!”
However, Li Shizhang never appeared. The noble youths who had been with him showed up one after another, but Li Shizhang had disappeared.
Li Shizhang’s disappearance lasted seven or eight days. It wasn’t until Wu Zhen and the others had left the western mountains and returned to Chang’an that he was found in the mountains.
When found, Li Shizhang was unconscious, his cheeks sunken and his beard unkempt. After waking up, he was scared out of his wits, clutching his head and screaming about ghosts. It took several days of recuperation before he improved somewhat, but he remained like a frightened bird, cowering at the slightest loud noise. Not only him, but the few robust servants who had been with him were also badly frightened. However, when asked about what they had experienced during those missing days, they all remained silent, their faces filled with fear.
Some suspected that Wu Zhen had sent people to deal with Li Shizhang, but Wu Zhen maintained an innocent appearance. Moreover, many noble youths testified that she had no opportunity to torment Li Shizhang. Thus, the matter could only be left unresolved. The Prince of Jiao Mountain, Li Shizhang, was soon escorted back to his fief to recuperate. It was unknown how many years it would take before he would have the courage to come to Chang’an again.
After that year’s autumn hunt, Mei Zhuyu’s reputation suddenly rose among Wu Zhen’s acquaintances. Legends about ‘Master Mei’ began to circulate in this small circle. It started when the first young nobleman, who had known Wu Zhen for many years, shamelessly brought gifts to their door, asking Mei Zhuyu to take a look at his allegedly haunted house. After that, Mei Zhuyu was frequently invited out.
Sometimes it was mischievous little sprites, which Mei Zhuyu easily dealt with and brought home for Wu Zhen to play with. Other times it was small demons that had secretly entered Chang’an to cause trouble, which he also brought back and handed over to Wu Zhen to send to the supernatural market for management. However, most of the time, it was a false alarm with no real problem, just people being overly suspicious. There was only one instance where he discovered that a servant was pretending to be a ghost to extort money, and Mei Zhuyu directly took them back to prison for questioning. After all, he was not just a Taoist priest but also worked in the Ministry of Justice.
Autumn passed in a flash. When autumn leaves fell across the city and cold winds swept down from the north, winter arrived.
As winter came, Wu Zhen’s belly grew increasingly large. She no longer enjoyed bustling about and even lost interest in her favorite songs and dances. Her greatest joy each day was to curl up and sleep, and she insisted on sleeping in her husband’s arms.
When she transformed into a cat, the tabby became noticeably heavier, with a visibly rounded belly. Every morning when Mei Zhuyu got up to go to work, he would wrap his wife in soft blankets and white furs, lower the bed curtains, and adjust the incense burner to ensure she could sleep well. However, after working at the Ministry of Justice for an hour, he would invariably see a lazy tabby cat jump through the window and curl up in his arms, as familiar with the routine as ever.
Despite the comfortable environment at home, she insisted on coming here to sleep. Mei Zhuyu was quite helpless. He had talked to her about it several times, and Wu Zhen always smiled and agreed to everything, only to forget it all and continue her daily routine, playing dumb to perfection. Mei Zhuyu couldn’t do anything about it, so he had to go along with her. He prepared thick fur cushions at the Ministry of Justice office, and when the tabby cat came running, he would wrap her in them like a blanket.
As a result, other officials at the Ministry of Justice often saw this scene: Mei Lanzhong sitting at his desk working, with a lazy sleeping cat curled up in his arms, the room filled with a peaceful stillness, inexplicably giving people the feeling that ‘this life is truly leisurely’.