By the time they returned to Qingxu Temple, it was already noon the next day. Qingxuan led all the young Daoist disciples down the mountain to receive them. Three men dressed as merchants had been waiting at the temple for Rong Chen Zi for two days, and having heard of his return, they too had come down to meet him at the foot of the mountain. Rong Chen Zi walked up the mountain while exchanging pleasantries with them, then inquired about matters at the temple, and was relieved to learn all was well.

The great He Bang was not particularly keen on walking — she could only manage a short distance before her feet hurt. All the disciples were present, and there were guests besides, so Rong Chen Zi was keeping up the dignified air of master and Zhiguan and could not simply carry her. He walked far ahead, paying her no attention.

This creature grew rather displeased, pouting so hard her lower lip could have held an oil jug. Rong Chen Zi glanced back a few times and slowed his pace imperceptibly to wait for her — but when her feet hurt she moved in a shuffling crawl, and there was simply no keeping up.

While asking the visitors their business, Rong Chen Zi’s right hand quietly folded a yellow paper talisman.

Once it was done he said nothing further, and simply let it drop to the ground.

The talisman lay where it fell without any particular reaction — but when He Bang shuffled past it, a wisp of green smoke rose up and it transformed into a small date-roan colored donkey. The little donkey was rendered with marvelous lifelikeness, and He Bang immediately cheered up, stroking and fussing over the creature with great fondness.

The little donkey was small but nimble; the rugged mountain path gave it no difficulty at all. Looked at more closely, one could also see that its four hooves hovered a fraction above the ground, yet its pace was perfectly steady and smooth.

Upon returning to the temple, Qingxuan brought water for him to wash up. As always when he cleaned his face, he wrung out the towel and used it to wipe He Bang’s face and hands as well. He Bang was inspecting her feet — fortunately the silk slippers were soft, so the skin had not broken, only a little redness and swelling.

Rong Chen Zi gave her a brief wipe-down, then went into the inner chamber to change his robe. He Bang sprawled across his bed, swinging her little feet in the air and reading the Extensive Records of the Supernatural.

When Rong Chen Zi came out dressed in fresh clothes, she grabbed his sleeve and tilted her head back to look up at him, her voice sweet as soft sticky rice: “Zhiguan, come back early.”

Rong Chen Zi gave a low sound of assent. Seeing her cheeks rosy and soft as a ripe apple, and finding no one nearby, he leaned down and pressed a light kiss to her cheek, then ruffled her long hair and went out the door.

The moment Rong Chen Zi was gone, Qingxuan came to bring food. He Bang grabbed him and whined: “Qingxuan, I want turtle dove and mushroom soup!”

Qingxuan looked pained: “Your Highness, this is a Daoist temple — we can only eat vegetarian food here. The kitchen already only prepares three meals a day, but for your sake, Your Highness, we have already specially assigned a rotating group of people to handle your meals every day. And as for turtle doves — they are living creatures. This young Daoist does not dare to break the temple rules. If Master finds out, he will scold us!”

He Bang was unmoved: “Then can’t you go and buy ones that are already dead? No matter what — I want turtle dove and mushroom soup!!”

Qingxuan caved, bowing his head rapidly: “All right, all right, this young Daoist will go and catch turtle doves!”

Only then did He Bang brighten, waving a fair hand at him: “Qingxuan, you are the best! Off you go!”

Qingxuan walked away deep in thought, and by the time he reached the kitchen he pulled Qingyun aside and asked hesitantly: “Could you… could you make flour… taste like turtle dove?”

While He Bang made trouble inside, things were not calm on the outside either.

Rong Chen Zi was in discussion with three lay believers about the matter of a rabid dog eating people in Li Family Settlement, when Qingsu came in to report: “Master, there is someone outside who wishes to see you.”

Seeing the unusual expression on his face, Rong Chen Zi assumed it must be the great He Bang up to some mischief again, and said quietly: “Whatever she wants, give it to her. Don’t fight with her.”

Qingsu shook his head slightly: “It is not her.”

Rong Chen Zi got to his feet, excused himself to the three visitors, and went out. He arrived at the side hall used for receiving guests and was genuinely startled. Standing in the guest room was a young woman of perhaps fourteen or fifteen, with bound feet in the lotus style, her brow still carrying the unblossomed innocence of a child.

Rong Chen Zi placed her immediately: “Young Miss Liu? How did you come to be at this humble temple?”

The young woman’s color was wan, and she wore a melancholy expression: “Rong Zhiguan,” — she was a daughter of a great house, and though he had seen her a few times, this was the first time she had spoken to him directly. Her voice was not as young as her appearance; it was somewhat hoarse, as though she had spent the night walking, — “after Zhiguan departed, my father beat me night and day without relenting. This woman could not bear it and had no choice but to flee. But I have seldom left home, and I have nowhere else to go…”

She walked toward Rong Chen Zi step by step, her expression sorrowful and pitiful. Rong Chen Zi stepped back one pace, his expression unchanged: “In that case, Miss may stay here temporarily. This humble Daoist will have a disciple prepare a clean room — someone will come to escort you there shortly.”

He and Qingsu went out to the courtyard. Qingsu was bewildered: “By all accounts, Cabinet Elder Liu is also a man of the world — he would hardly beat his daughter so severely over a thing like this, would he?”

Rong Chen Zi’s expression was grave: “Was Young Miss Liu still at Liu Mansion when we departed?”

Qingsu nodded. Rong Chen Zi thought carefully: “We only just arrived at the temple a moment ago. She departed after us, and a sheltered young woman of the inner chambers who has never left the compound somehow arrived here ahead of us? Furthermore, if Cabinet Elder Liu truly blamed her for this — did you see any sign of injury on her body just now?”

Qingsu was also at a loss: “Why would she lie?”

He was also privately wondering to himself — could this be yet another one who had taken a fancy to Master?

But he dared not say it aloud.

Rong Chen Zi sent Qing Ling down the mountain to look into the Liu household’s situation, then returned to the main hall. The three lay believers, for their part, did not dare to show the slightest impatience: “Zhiguan, this matter is truly very strange.” The man in the blue silk coat among the three was a native of Li Family Settlement, the village next to Lingxia Town. His name was Li Juqi, and his family ran a grain merchant business. He was not exactly a virtuous man in ordinary times, but apart from mixing middle-grade rice in with the premium rice, mixing glutinous rice with sticky rice, and mixing old grain in with new — he had not done anything egregiously wicked.

At this moment this Li Juqi’s face was filled with terror, even the little goatee on his chin was trembling: “Zhiguan, my dog is originally a Pekingese from the western regions — a mouth this small…” He held up two fingers about an inch apart. “It has always been kept by my wife. Let alone eating people — it runs like it’s flying the moment it so much as sees a rat!”

He poured out his grievances in a flood: “And now it has suddenly bitten to death the son of Li Shi from the west end of the village! Previously Li Shi and I had a scuffle over a matter of purchasing grain, but however unscrupulous I may be, I would never send my Pekingese to bite his son to death! Daozhang, even if I had mouths all over my body I couldn’t talk my way out of this one…”

Rong Chen Zi’s thoughts were still partly on Liu Qinfang, but he gave a brief nod: “Where is the body now?”

Li Juqi gulped down two mouthfuls of water. These past few days he had been in a constant state of agitation, and only upon reaching this Daoist temple had he found any semblance of calm. Mentioning the body still made his heart seize: “This humble man had intended to bring the body here, but that old rascal Li Shi wouldn’t allow it to be transported — insisted I was trying to escape, and that he’d have me brought before a magistrate! Daozhang, you know I already had a quarrel with him — if it went to court, wouldn’t they find me guilty of setting a dog on someone to settle a score and convict me of deliberate murder?”

Rong Chen Zi raised an eyebrow: “The body is still at the victim’s family home? And the dog?”

Li Juqi hesitated slightly: “When this humble man left, the body was still laid out in their main hall. As for the dog — when everyone discovered it, it was gnawing on Li Shi’s son’s neck, its entire head and mouth soaked in blood. They say Li Shi’s son, Li Pan, still hadn’t quite died yet at the time — his throat was still making rattling sounds, and blood was seeping out everywhere on his body. Even his… private parts had been chewed off. Oh, Daozhang, you have no idea — I, old Li, won’t be able to eat meat again for three to five years after a sight like that!”

He looked thoroughly revolted and drank another mouthful of water: “Afterward a villager hit it with a carrying pole. It let out one yelp, and then it fled. No one has seen it since.”

Rong Chen Zi listened with a deepening frown: “Did the Li family invite any other practitioners to perform rites for the son?”

Li Juqi hesitated for quite some time, and finally admitted: “Yes… before all this, Li Shi invited a practitioner of the arts who said the dog and Li Shi’s son were bound by grudges from a past life, and performed a rite of exorcism.”

Rong Chen Zi nodded: “And then?”

Li Juqi’s expression grew very strange: “The next day he vanished. His belongings were all still there — just the man himself was gone, without so much as a word to the host family.”

The whole village had been asked, and no one had seen him leave. The strangest thing was that the room he had been given was the best in Li Shi’s house. For two whole days no one had seen him open the door and come out. At first everyone assumed the master was performing his rites and dared not disturb him. After a long time had passed, they finally forced the door open and found the man gone — yet at the time the door had been latched from within, the door bar still in place. It was our village’s Li Erniu who led a few young men and forced it open.

Rong Chen Zi pondered this for quite some time, then suddenly asked: “Between Li Family Settlement and Lingxia Town — is there not a mountain separating them? Called Changgang Mountain?”

Rong Chen Zi returned to his bedroom. He Bang was still lounging on the bed playing. He called for a disciple to bring in fresh water to clean her shell. She lay obligingly in the wooden basin while Rong Chen Zi used a loofah sponge with measured pressure and rhythm, and she hummed with contentment. Rong Chen Zi pinched her shell: “Don’t open the shell — you don’t want dirty water getting inside.”

The river clam was still indignant, and, dripping wet, rubbed herself against Rong Chen Zi’s Daoist robe: “Good grief, I’m not that dirty!”

Rong Chen Zi seemed to have something on his mind and was not in the mood to banter: “Can you tell whether the thing in front of you is a demon or a person?”

He Bang rolled over in the wooden basin: “If their cultivation is lower than mine, yes.”

Rong Chen Zi wrung out the towel and dried her off: “Come with me in a moment to take a look at a few people.”

He Bang tilted her head and thought for a while, feeling she had forgotten something. After having her shell scrubbed, she climbed onto the bed to change her clothes. Rong Chen Zi turned his face aside and refused to look.

She put back on the white feathered robe with great excitement, and walked to the door. Then she finally remembered what she had forgotten: “Oh good heavens! Qingxuan — where is my turtle dove and mushroom soup?!”