Xue Zhao felt that this trip down the mountain might well cost him two years of his life.
Why?
Worry.
After seeing off Dong Chengfeng, the young woman surnamed Yan had locked herself in the inn’s guest room. A full day and night had passed, and she still hadn’t emerged.
What was she doing inside?
Why had the lamp remained lit throughout the night?
She ate no food, drank no tea—had she achieved immortality or something?
And what about those intermittent sobbing sounds he could hear even through the wall—what was that all about?
Xue Zhao had ground his back teeth hundreds of times before finally deciding to knock on the door and ask.
“Young lady, who’s bullied you? Tell me, and I’ll go rip off both his arms. Don’t be afraid—once, when some rotten scoundrel bullied our Mingyue, I ripped off both his legs!”
Just as he was about to knock, the door suddenly creaked open with a squeak, revealing a thin, pitiable face.
Xue Zhao’s hand froze in mid-air, his expression awkward.
“Xue Zhao.”
Yan Sanhe handed him a piece of paper. “I need these things immediately. Where can I procure everything?”
Xue Zhao took it and looked—his eyes widened in shock.
Two thousand large bowls;
Five hundred jin of strong liquor;
Five hundred jin of cooked rice;
One hundred chickens;
One hundred ducks;
One hundred pigs;
Xue Zhao licked his dry, cracked lips. “Miss Yan, what are you planning to…”
“Resolve a heart demon.”
Xue Zhao had heard the master mention this matter and knew that Yan Sanhe was a demon resolver currently working on resolving the heart demon of the Zhu Family from the Imperial Observatory.
But out here in this desolate wilderness, with only him and Yan Sanhe—the Zhu Family was still back in the capital!
Though full of doubt, Xue Zhao dared not ask too many questions. He drew in a breath. “Miss Yan, there’s only one place that could prepare so many things.”
“Where?”
“Mount Muli!”
Yan Sanhe looked at him. “If we go to Mount Muli now, how many days will it take? If it’s too long, I can’t wait.”
“Not long—a day and a night will suffice.”
…
Mount Muli.
Tang Jianxi woke early that morning with both eyelids twitching. Even holding his chubby, fair grandson in his arms couldn’t lift his spirits.
In the afternoon, he went to his study to practice calligraphy and calm his mind, but the more he wrote, the more agitated he became.
Just then, the head steward pushed the door open. “Master, Xue Zhao has arrived on the mountain with Miss Yan.”
“What?”
Tang Jianxi grabbed his robe and rushed outside.
Reaching the second gate, he encountered the two of them.
At the sight of Yan Sanhe, Tang Jianxi was greatly alarmed. “Miss Yan, you’ve gotten so thin.”
Yan Sanhe smiled faintly and pulled out the paper again.
“Tang Jianxi, I need to prepare these things.”
Xue Zhao beside her quickly added: “Miss Yan needs them to resolve a heart demon.”
The heart demon could be resolved?
Tang Jianxi lowered his head to glance at the list.
The items on the paper didn’t surprise him. What surprised him was: “Miss Yan, who is the incense lighter?”
“Me!”
“…”
Tang Jianxi’s face visibly cracked.
Yan Sanhe had once said that this heart demon ostensibly belonged to Zhu Xuanjiu, but was actually the heart demon of those thousands of crows.
And those thousands of crows were the wronged spirits of those who had died in the Former Crown Prince’s witchcraft case.
She had also said that one of them was Chu Yanling.
How could she be the incense lighter?
“Tang Jianxi.”
Yan Sanhe’s hair was disheveled, her clothes rumpled, but her eyes were exceptionally calm and clear.
“Go prepare everything. However much silver it requires, I’ll settle accounts with you later.
Also, I need a very large altar table, three plates of melons and fruits, two candlesticks, one incense burner, one sutra of rebirth, and a great deal of spirit money.
And a courtyard where no one can approach.”
Her voice sounded somewhat hoarse.
“I’m rather tired now and want to sleep well. When I wake, I want to eat and bathe.
For clothing, please trouble your wife to help me prepare something—the most beautiful outfit. I’d also like to ask her to help me style my hair in the most beautiful way.”
Tang Jianxi: “…”
“Xue Zhao, remember to wake me at the hour of the boar. Now please take me to the guest room.”
“Miss Yan, come with me.” Xue Zhao didn’t wait for his master’s instruction before making this decision on his own.
He didn’t know why, but during the day and night of waiting for her, he had developed a trace of heartache for this young woman.
Tang Jianxi watched their retreating backs, then passed the paper to the head steward behind him.
The steward glanced at it several times before saying with restrained alarm: “Master, preparing all these things completely will be quite difficult.”
“However difficult, handle it for me. If necessary, borrow from the mountain villagers.”
Tang Jianxi’s expression was grave. “Later I’ll repay them double.”
…
Mount Muli erupted into activity.
Chickens jumped, ducks quacked, pigs squealed in distress.
Men everywhere were sharpening their knives;
Women bustled in and out of kitchens;
The head steward led people in carrying out jar after jar of stored wine from the cave;
Tao Qiao’er searched through Tang Mingyue’s wardrobe, examining each garment;
Tang Jianxi busied himself finding the safest courtyard in the estate—matters involving the Former Crown Prince couldn’t be handled carelessly in the slightest.
All this commotion had nothing to do with Yan Sanhe. The moment her head touched the pillow, she fell into deep sleep.
…
Night arrived as promised.
At the hour of the boar, Tao Qiao’er knocked on Yan Sanhe’s door.
Yan Sanhe opened it.
Tao Qiao’er smiled at her gently. “Miss Yan, we meet again.”
“We meet again, Madam.”
Yan Sanhe invited her in. “Thank you for the trouble.”
“Why speak such polite words?”
Tao Qiao’er shook out the garment draped over her wrist. “Miss Yan, what do you think of this one?”
“Beautiful!”
A quarter-hour later, Yan Sanhe emerged from the room.
Xue Zhao, waiting outside, felt his eyes brighten. He quickly stepped forward. “Miss Yan, everything is prepared. Come with me.”
Just as Yan Sanhe was about to step forward, she suddenly thought of something and turned to ask.
“Madam, when Tang Mingyue married, did you cry?”
Tao Qiao’er was taken aback, then smiled self-consciously:
“Though he married into our family, I still shed basketfuls of tears. Her father was even more ridiculous—he started sighing and lamenting a full month before the wedding, saying how in the blink of an eye, our daughter was already getting married!”
“Mingyue is blessed with good fortune!”
Yan Sanhe nodded to Tao Qiao’er, then turned to leave.
Tao Qiao’er’s sharp eyes noticed that in her hand, held behind her back, she clutched a thin, long stick of incense.
…
The courtyard was situated at the cliff’s edge.
In the center stood an altar table;
Around the altar table were arranged more than a dozen long tables;
On the tables, two thousand large bowls and two thousand pairs of chopsticks were densely arrayed;
Above the bowls and chopsticks were whole roasted chickens, roasted ducks, and whole pig heads;
On the ground sat wine jars, one after another.
The moment Yan Sanhe stepped inside, the surroundings suddenly fell eerily silent—not even a whisper of wind, let alone insect chirping.
Tang Jianxi felt a chill shoot up from the soles of his feet.
He shivered, and just as he was about to speak, his vision suddenly brightened.
Looking up, he nearly scared his soul away.
Above, a blood moon had suddenly risen, dyeing the originally pitch-black sky crimson red.
What shocked him even more was that this moon was actually full—yet today was clearly only the second day of the third month.
“When the blood moon appears, the world transforms, the living become dry bones, skeletal remains dance with spirits.”
Beneath Yan Sanhe’s thick lashes, her deep, profound pupils held more than a little coldness. “Their resentment is very heavy indeed!”
Tang Jianxi’s heart pounded. “Miss Yan, may I stay and watch…”
“No.”
Yan Sanhe looked at him calmly.
“After you and Xue Zhao open the wine jars, wait outside. If I haven’t emerged by daybreak, come back in and settle me onto a bed.”
Tang Jianxi’s eyes showed confusion.
“I may be unconscious for several days. Please trouble your wife to care for me.”
Yan Sanhe took a deep breath. “Also, do you have anything you wish to say to them?”
————
Still suffering serious aftereffects from the sun. Tomorrow I’ll be at the hospital all day, so I’m asking for one day’s leave.