STOTTD | Chapter 9

Chapter 9

“Creak, creak——”

Seeing that the outside had quieted down, A Ke waited silently for a while, but still did not wait for anyone to come in.

So she opened the door and stuck her head out to look left and right.

Under the osmanthus tree in the center of the small square courtyard sat a handsome man with clear brows and fine features, a pair of narrow phoenix eyes slightly upturned, giving off a chilly air that kept others at a distance.

Right across from him sat a female Daoist priest wearing a hibiscus crown and a bamboo-green Daoist robe. Her small face was bare of powder, her distant-mountain brows slightly lifted upward, her peach blossom eyes lowered slightly, and her eyes were very light in color, pale as weak tea. That made her whole temperament seem lighter as well, like a fairy who did not eat the smoke and fire of the human world, cold and ethereal.

But when he smiled with curved brows and eyes, that cold and detached temperament disappeared, and one only felt he was elegant and graceful, with rosy lips, a beauty like lotus flowers emerging from clear water.

Moonlight was like water, and the two of them leaned against the boundless stars, chatting freely in the midsummer osmanthus night, blending into the dusk, somehow looking rather well matched.

A Ke stood there and looked for quite a while, then silently sighed to herself. She thought that perhaps he was too anxious about the Shen Shaoqing’s marriage, to the point that even looking at a daoist priest felt suitable.

He stepped forward and asked, “daoist priest, has the evil thing been driven away?”

Zhou Xin stood up, took A Ke’s hand, removed the money pouch at her waist and placed it in her palm. “Shen Jibai has beaten it back to its original form. I didn’t help much in this demon-catching trip, so you should take this money back.”

“How can that be?” A Ke waved it off. “daoist priest saved Da Ge Da Jie, I saw that with my own eyes!”

Shen Jibai said, “Since Lingyun Jun has already spoken, Auntie should not refuse.”

“Then… all right.”

A Ke took the money pouch and smiled. “This tea has long gone cold, it can’t be drunk anymore. I’ll go brew another pot for daoist priest.”

She walked into the side room on the left of the main hall, and after a short while came back with a pot of tea, pouring Zhou Xin a fresh bowl.

“Thank you.”

“You’re too polite, daoist priest! It’s already late, and the lane gates have long been closed. daoist priest won’t be able to go back tonight, so why not put up at my humble home for one night?”

After saying that, as if afraid of being refused, she pointed to the room on the west side of the courtyard. “This room has always been empty, even the bedding is new. daoist priest has worked so hard for Da Ge Da Jie, just give me a chance and let me show a little hospitality?”

Shen Jibai: “She has a token, the Golden Armored Guards won’t stop her from leaving the ward.”

A Ke was a little embarrassed. “This…”

Zhou Xin said, “A Ke is so kind, how could this poor Daoist refuse?”

“Good!”

A Ke answered happily with a smile, rolled up her sleeves and walked toward the side room on the left of the main hall. “You’ve been busy until now, so daoist priest probably hasn’t eaten dinner yet! We haven’t eaten either, so why don’t we eat together.”

At her words, Shen Jibai put down his teacup somewhat speechlessly. “For dinner we had hepherd’s purse porridge. It’s only been less than two hours since then, Auntie, and you’ve already forgotten?”

A Ke turned back and gave him a half-warning, half-reproachful look, then smiled and explained to Zhou Xin, “Don’t listen to his nonsense, hepherd’s purse porridge was what we had last night!”

Shen Jibai lightly pressed his thin lips together, turned his face away, and said nothing more.

“Does daoist priest have any food he likes?”

Zhou Xin loved spicy food and liked Sichuan cuisine the most, but chili peppers had not yet been introduced in the Tang dynasty, so even if she wanted to eat them, she couldn’t.

As for dishes without chili, she couldn’t think of any for the moment, so she settled for second best and asked, “Is there meat?”

“Yes, yes, yes!” A Ke laughed. “There’s still a piece of mutton that hasn’t been cooked yet! Then let’s make wontons with mutton and chive filling, and eat them with vinegar celery. They won’t feel greasy at all!”

“Good.” Zhou Xin nodded.

Shen Jibai glanced sideways at her, his gaze carrying a hint of scrutiny. “Can a cultivator eat meat and fish?”

“Why not?” Zhou Xin said. “Daoists aren’t monks.”

daoist priest is divided into several sects, some require fasting, some require strict observance of rules and discipline, and some even cannot marry or have children.

The Taiqing Daoist Temple lineage advocates that the Great Dao is simple, cultivation lies in the heart, and there are not so many rules.

She followed A Ke energetically into the side room, smiling with curved brows and eyes as he said, “I’ll help A Ke out.”

“No need, no need——” A Ke refused, while pushing Zhou Xin out of the side room, “I heard daoist priest and Shen Shaoqing discussing the case, you two continue with the important matters.”

The side room had an empty window, directly facing the stone table under the osmanthus tree, and the distance was not far.

After Zhou Xin sat back down, she discovered that sitting here allowed her to see the situation in the side room very clearly.

She looked at A Ke busily moving around in the room, picked up her teacup and took a sip of hot tea, and before she had even swallowed it she spat it out.

Shen Jibai looked over with a faint glance.

“It’s too hot.”

Zhou Xin smiled, picked up another teacup, poured herself a cup from the cold tea in that pot, and drank a few mouthfuls before the salty taste in her mouth and tongue finally faded.

This cold tea was just ordinary tea leaves boiled in plain water, but the hot tea had quite a few seasonings added. Could it be that boiling tea with pepper and salt was the Tang dynasty’s way of entertaining guests?

“Lingyun Jun.” Shen Jibai looked at the teacup in her hand. “That pot isn’t the one my aunt just brewed.”

Zhou Xin put it down as if she had taken the wrong one, and shifted the topic back to the case. “How did Zhang Qing become mad?”

“He was frightened by the hamster demon.”

“Then before he went mad, was there anything suspicious about him?”

“None.” Shen Jibai said, “However, on the night the King of Ten Thousand Foxes broke free of the seal and escaped from the Demon-Sealing Tower, he happened to go to the Tang family home to attend Tang Third Young Master’s birthday banquet, and stayed at the Tang residence for one night.”

Wasn’t that the same night that A Ke was killed?

But A Ke was killed in a locust forest outside Luoyang City, and the murderer wasn’t in the city at all that night, so it couldn’t be someone from the Tang residence.

Probably seeing that he was somewhat disappointed, Shen Jibai said again, “Tang Third Young Master left the city the next day to offer sacrifices to his ancestors and has not returned yet. When he comes back, I will naturally send someone to inform Taiqing Daoist Temple.”

Zhou Xin nodded. “That works too.”

Shen Jibai picked up his teacup and sipped tea one mouthful at a time, with no intention of speaking again. Zhou Xin did not say anything more, and did not drink tea anymore either.

The night wind blew over, and he rested his chin on one hand, turning her head to look at the busy A Ke, and suddenly felt a trace of warmth.

So he saw it.

Zhou Xin thought to herself.

She saw that he kept drinking tea, not because he was thirsty, but because he was hungry.

After a pot of wontons was brought out, A Ke took a large bowl and filled it to the brim, placing it in front of Zhou Xin.

Zhou Xin: “…”

She had thought that bowl was prepared for Shen Jibai.

Looking again, he saw that the bowls of Shen Jibai and A Ke were both very small, probably less than one-fifth the size of a large bowl.

She blinked, looking at the full bowl of wontons, then at the four small dihes on the table, with meat and vegetables arranged together, and suddenly felt A Ke’s enthusiasm.

This was the normal way a person expressed gratitude, right?

She took a bite of the wonton and raised her eyebrows in satisfaction.

Whether it was because she had not touched meat for too long, or because A Ke had used some secret method, this filling was clearly mutton, yet it did not smell gamy at all. Once in her mouth, it left a lingering fragrance between her teeth and lips.

Zhou Xin wolfed down the wontons, not even bothering to eat the side dihes on the table.

Shen Jibai kept glancing over, his expression somewhat surprised, as if A Ke usually did not eat meat.

Seeing Zhou Xin eating so happily, A Ke was very pleased. She asked with curved brows and eyes, “daoist priest and Shen Shaoqing are colleagues?”

Zhou Xin mumbled, “I wouldn’t dare claim that, this poor Daoist is Shen Jibai’s subordinate.”

A Ke became interested. “Why has Shen Shaoqing never mentioned that Dali Temple also has female constables? Besides daoist priest, are there any other ladies? Any you get along with?”

Shen Jibai seemed to think of something, and his face turned ugly.

“In the entire Dali Temple, there is only Lingyun Jun as a single female. Also, this nephew has no intention of marriage, so Auntie should not mention it again in the future.”

“I see…”

A Ke was a little disappointed and said nothing more.

Thinking of the remarks made by those people in the teahouse, Zhou Xin lowered her head and suddenly felt that the mutton in her bowl was no longer fragrant.

＊

“Cock-a-doodle-doo——!”

Before the sky was even bright, the rooster in the courtyard was already crowing bravely and energetically.

Zhou Xin pulled the quilt over her head and heard a cry of alarm from next door. She impatiently shouted, “Shen Jibai, what are you yelling about early in the morning?”

The person next door forcefully slapped the wall, his tone rarely carrying a bit of panic.

“A Ke! food-spirit is gone!”

“What!”

Zhou Xin was instantly wide awake, hurriedly putting on her shoes and pulling on her outer robe as he ran to the next room, her voice becoming urgent too. “What do you mean it’s gone? How could it be gone!”

As soon as he puhed the door open, he saw that man bare-chested on the bed searching for something. His chest muscles were smooth and defined, but beneath his pectorals his belly had grown large, the bulge nearly comparable to that of a woman four or five months pregnant.

Oh my?

Wasn’t it said that food-spirit was gone? Could it have crawled into his stomach?

Shen Jibai reacted quickly and pulled the quilt over himself. His snow-white arm propped up on the bed, and the blue veins on the back of his hand were faintly bulging.

He called out half embarrassed, half annoyed, “A Ke, don’t you know you have to knock before entering someone else’s room!”

“Shen Jibai was shouting so loudly, this Zhao was worried, and for a moment…” She touched her nose. “I just didn’t think of it.”

Shen Jibai turned his head away. “Get out!”

Zhou Xin did not mind. Instead, she asked in a patient, coaxing manner, “Your stomach swelled up like this overnight, and Shen Jibai isn’t worried?”

“What good would worrying do?”

“If you’re worried, then let this Zhao take a look and find out what exactly is going on! Only by figuring out what did it and how it did it can we come up with a response. Otherwise, if you seek treatment in a hurry when you’re already sick, not only will you suffer for nothing, you’ll just add insult to injury.”

Her words were well reasoned, leaving no room to argue against.

Shen Jibai was silent for a moment, then said, “Although Lingyun Jun is a cultivator, after all you are still a woman, and it is not suitable for you to interfere in this matter. In Shen’s view, now that daylight is bright, the true person should also be awake. Rather than wasting words here, it would be better to go to Taiqing Daoist Temple as soon as possible.”

As soon as he finihed speaking, he suddenly covered his lips and retched.

Zhou Xin: “?”

No way!

Was the effect this realistic? It even had morning sickness?

This completely exceeded her understanding, so he could only nod and say, “That works too. Then Shen Jibai should get dressed as soon as possible, and this Zhao will go inform A Ke.”

Turning around and walking out, he closed the door behind her and stepped to the front of the main room to knock.

“Knock, knock, knock——”

The door opened from inside. A Ke was wearing an outer robe and blinking sleepily. When he saw who was knocking, he instantly woke up most of the way. “daoist priest?”

Her gaze swept up and down, and he asked, “Has something happened?”

“How did A Ke sleep last night?”

“Quite well. Tan’er’s complexion is also much better than yesterday.”

“That’s good.” Zhou Xin said, “Shen Jibai somehow provoked some evil thing, and needs to make a trip to Taiqing Daoist Temple as soon as possible. I came to inform you.”

At this, A Ke’s expression froze, and worry immediately crept onto her face. “Shen Shaoqing is in trouble? What happened? Is it serious? How is he now?”

For a moment, Zhou Xin didn’t know how to explain. She “uh”ed for a long time, and then said with not much confidence, “Maybe probably perhaps… nothing?”

A Ke: “!”

She hurriedly said, “No, this servant must go and have a look!”

Zhou Xin stopped her once. “Although the situation is somewhat special, the problem should not be too serious. A Ke need not worry.”

“No, if I don’t see it for myself, I won’t be able to feel at ease.”

While speaking, A Ke had already walked toward Shen Jibai’s room, even forgetting to close the door.

Zhou Xin was about to close the door when she saw a worn talisman pouch lying on the floor inside, and the style looked very familiar.

After picking it up and examining it carefully, he found that one corner of the talisman pouch bore the seal mark of Linghe Zhenren, and only then did he realize that this was a uniquely blessed protective charm from Taiqing Daoist Temple.

Strange.

This talisman repels evil and wards off calamity, with it present, food-spirit simply could not get close to this room, let alone come in to harm someone.

If that was so, then why did Da Ge Da Jie still get hit?