Wu Zhen wanted to ask Mei Zhuyu to turn into a cat so she could give him a good rub.
Mei Zhuyu initially resisted, but Wu Zhen was exceptionally persistent. Despite being a few years older than him and having previously called him “Little Husband,” she had no qualms about acting spoiled now. She held his hand and sweet-talked him with countless flattering words, eventually wearing him down until he reluctantly agreed to her request and awkwardly transformed into a cat.
Wu Zhen picked up the tabby cat and leaned in to examine its belly. After a moment, she said, “It doesn’t look like your belly has grown at all.” She then happily placed the cat on her lap and petted it for quite a while.
However, that was the only time it happened. No matter how much Wu Zhen pleaded afterward, Mei Zhuyu refused to turn back into a cat. The reason was simple: after transforming back, he had suffered through Wu Zhen’s teasing, which was a painful experience.
As they traveled, they encountered various people—ordinary travelers, merchant caravans, and local farmers from nearby villages.
One day, while riding, Wu Zhen suddenly clapped her hands and jumped off her horse onto a cart, saying to Mei Zhuyu, “Guess what I have in my hands?”
Mei Zhuyu glanced at her closed hands and guessed, “Is it a flower?”
In recent days, Wu Zhen had taken to picking flowers to give to him, as they passed many beautiful wildflowers along the way. Whenever she spotted a pretty one, she would eagerly pluck it.
Wu Zhen shook her head, “No, no, guess again.”
Mei Zhuyu asked, “Is it some interesting little creature?”
Wu Zhen had a habit of capturing interesting little creatures to show him, and countless naive little beings had been disturbed by her on this journey.
Wu Zhen shook her head again, “Still wrong.”
Unable to guess, Mei Zhuyu asked, “What is it?”
Wu Zhen refused to reveal the answer just yet, laughing, “Close your eyes and feel it.”
Mei Zhuyu complied, closing his eyes and reaching out to touch what was in her palm. He felt something warm and fuzzy. When he opened his eyes, he saw Wu Zhen holding a small, fluffy creature.
“Is it a duck? But there aren’t any houses around here, where did a duckling come from?” Mei Zhuyu asked, puzzled.
Wu Zhen wiggled her finger, “Wrong! This is a gosling, not a duck.”
Both were covered in soft yellow down with red beaks and since Mei Zhuyu had never raised any, he couldn’t tell the difference. Wu Zhen placed the tiny gosling into his hands and leaned back against the cart, propping her legs up. “Just now, an old man was driving a cart to the city to sell goslings. I thought those little things looked interesting, so I went over to take a look. Who knew this little gosling was so feisty? It even dared to peck at my fingers, so I bought it from the old man.”
This impulsive behavior of hers was not new to Mei Zhuyu, who found it amusing. Holding the fluffy, adorable gosling, he thought it didn’t seem like the kind of creature that would peck at someone.
It felt quite nice to hold.
Seeing his gaze at the gosling, Wu Zhen smiled, “Let’s keep it for a few days, and then we can roast it and eat it.”
Though she said that, in the following days, she showed no intention of eating the gosling. Every day, while riding, she would hold it in her hands, and during breaks, she would have the oxen, Niu Yi and Niu Er, catch bugs to feed the little creature. Perhaps because there was little to amuse her on the road, having this gosling brought her much joy.
She even named it “Gouzi,” which made Mei Zhuyu both laugh and cry.
The only time she would complain and toss the gosling to Mei Zhuyu was when it needed to relieve itself. She would grab one of its little wings and toss it into the cart, shouting, “I don’t want this dirty thing anymore! We’ll boil it and pluck its feathers for dinner tonight!”
Yet, by evening, she would forget all about it and continue to play with the little creature in her hands.
Sometimes, as Mei Zhuyu watched her fuss over the gosling, he couldn’t help but worry about their future children. He could foresee that if they had a child, Wu Zhen would likely treat it the same way—playing with the little one when she felt like it, but when it became troublesome, she would just hand it off to someone else.
Lost in thought, Mei Zhuyu found himself shaking his head and smiling. Unfortunately, Wu Zhen was too busy scolding her “Gouzi” to notice his smile.
During these days, they were not just traveling; they were also searching for the whereabouts of the missing Pei family cousin. They had found a servant from the Pei family in Chang’an, who, along with a group of guards sent by Wu Zhen, was also looking for Pei Jiaya along the route from Chang’an to Kunzhou. They traveled quickly, and Wu Zhen’s small group, traveling light, had already overtaken them a couple of days earlier. The group was unaware that Wu Zhen had also left Chang’an to search for someone. When Wu Zhen saw them pass by, she didn’t approach, pretending not to know them.
On one hand, her current situation with her husband was not suitable for mingling with so many people. On the other hand, the circumstances surrounding Pei Jiaya’s disappearance were unclear. Wu Zhen preferred to keep their large group in the open while she acted discreetly, which was more convenient.
One day, as they neared Kunzhou, in a small town called Tangshui, Wu Zhen finally gathered some information about Pei Jiaya. She obtained this information from the local rat and insect spirits, which Mei Zhuyu had summoned.
Wu Zhen possessed the power of a cat spirit, which was different from the spiritual energy of ordinary spirits. Although her identity as a cat spirit was less effective outside of Chang’an, she could still command some small spirits. Mei Zhuyu, having practiced without a teacher, had quickly learned to use the power within him. After finding a comfortable inn to rest in the town, he summoned a group of small spirits for Wu Zhen to inquire.
These lesser spirits, though not very powerful, knew more than the ordinary townsfolk. One clever little spirit said, “I saw a handsome young man with a frail body and a Pei surname, accompanied by a group of servants and guards, about two months ago. They stayed for a couple of days at the Lu family inn before leaving the city.”
Wu Zhen asked if anyone knew the whereabouts of Pei Jiaya after they left the city. After a brief commotion among the spirits, a timid little one stepped forward and said, “I haven’t seen him, but I have relatives living outside the city. They might have seen him. I’ll ask them for you tomorrow.”
Satisfied, Wu Zhen nodded and agreed, pulling out some items from her pocket to give to them. “Thank you! If you can help me with this, I will reward you handsomely.”
The items Wu Zhen offered were rare herbs that could help spirits transform or enhance their spiritual energy for cultivation. The spirits, delighted by the benefits, eagerly agreed to help. That very night, the little spirit returned in a hurry with new information.
Tangshui was a small, remote town, and the curfew was not as strict as in Chang’an; only the front gate was closed at night. Wu Zhen entrusted her “Gouzi” to Niu Yi and Niu Er for care, and she and Mei Zhuyu followed the guiding spirit out of the city, heading towards the mountain path leading to Lushui.
The little spirit pointed down the mountain path, saying, “My second uncle said the person you’re looking for passed through here about two months ago and fell into the ravine below.”
The ravine looked quite deep. Wu Zhen nodded and said to Mei Zhuyu, “You wait for me up here. I’ll go down and take a look.” With that, she jumped down, holding the little spirit.
The slope of the ravine was not very steep, with various thorns and small trees growing on it. Wu Zhen could see clearly in the night and used the branches of the small trees to steady herself, landing safely in the ravine.
This ravine showed no signs of human presence and appeared to be an ordinary place where no one would come. Guided by the little spirit, Wu Zhen walked a short distance and soon spotted the wreckage of a cart, along with the remains of horses and human bones, not far from the stream, emitting a faint stench.
Two months had passed, and this pile of wreckage had gone unnoticed. However, the horse and human remains were incomplete, as if they had been partially devoured by wild beasts. Wu Zhen approached the cart wreckage and rummaged through the debris, confirming it was from the Cui family’s cart. She then searched among the dozen or so bodies, trying to find Pei Jiaya.
Furrowing her brow, she searched through the remains, and after a moment, she relaxed slightly; Pei Jiaya was not among the bodies.
“These bodies are unusual.”
Wu Zhen turned to see Mei Zhuyu standing behind her, having somehow come down.
“You jumped down too? The baby won’t shake loose, will it?”
Mei Zhuyu replied, “…No, I flew down.”
Wu Zhen: “Honestly, how come I didn’t know I could fly?”
Mei Zhuyu: “I used Daoist techniques to fly.”
Wu Zhen: “But you’re in my body now, and I don’t know any Daoist techniques.”
Mei Zhuyu: “I do.”
Wu Zhen: “That doesn’t make sense…”
Mei Zhuyu turned her to face the bodies, reiterating, “These bodies are not right.”
Finally, Wu Zhen stopped questioning how he had come down and began to examine the bodies closely. As she did, she gradually noticed something was off.
Earlier, she had only glanced at the bodies and assumed the missing parts were due to wild animals. Now she realized that the missing portions didn’t appear to be bitten off but rather seemed to have been corroded or melted away by something.
Each human and horse corpse showed varying degrees of melting. Wu Zhen, disregarding the foul odor, leaned in closer to sniff, but couldn’t detect anything unusual. It then occurred to her that she was currently in her husband’s body, not her own, and lacked that special sense of smell. Thus, she asked Mei Zhuyu, “Husband, come and smell this.”
Mei Zhuyu complied and, amidst the stench of decay, caught a whiff of something fragrant. This scent momentarily dazed him, and his gaze grew heavy.
Looking down, he couldn’t see his expression. Wu Zhen, noticing his silence, asked, “What’s wrong? Did you smell something burnt? Is it the work of a spirit?”
If it were the work of a spirit, there would surely be a distinct burnt odor surrounding the missing parts.
However, Mei Zhuyu shook his head, telling her, “No.”
Wu Zhen was puzzled, “No burnt smell? Then it wasn’t a spirit’s doing.”
Her frail yet terrifying cousin was now nowhere to be found.
Mei Zhuyu stood up and suddenly looked deeper into the ravine. After staring into the darkness for a moment, he said to Wu Zhen, “It’s getting late. Let’s head back and come back tomorrow.”
“Alright,” Wu Zhen nodded, leaving with him. However, before they departed, she glanced back at the darkness of the ravine, her expression not looking good.