Free Web NovelChapter 612: Slipping Away
In his dream, he had returned to more than ten years ago, when he was supervising the construction of Mount Xu’s Grand Spirit-Gathering Array.
Mount Xu’s transformation had taken a long time, but the pre-construction feasibility discussions had actually lasted only three months.
What the gods and the Lord Emperor both wanted to do, no one in Beijia could stop.
Zaifu Kua still remembered that during those three months, his colleague and good friend Mei Shifu had argued with him until heaven and earth went dark over the array’s construction issues.
“This is absurd. Doing it this way is far too dangerous!”
“This is His Majesty Lord Emperor’s will, and also the result calculated by the gods. What is there for you to doubt?”
“But, but...”
“But what? We only need to carry it out firmly and supervise the construction with all our strength!” Zaifu Kua sneered. “If you or I dare alter even one part, and something goes wrong, will there even be enough heads in our families to be chopped off?”
After this happened several times, Mei Shifu gave up.
Yet no matter how careful everyone was, an accident still happened on the day they installed the array eye...
More than ten years had passed, but Zaifu Kua still remembered that day on Tianshu Peak. Fireballs had flown in all directions, roars shaking the heavens, an apocalyptic scene that left everyone witless with terror.
Fortunately, he had still been some distance from the eruption point.
But Mei Shifu, who had been on Tianshu Peak, was gone on the spot.
Alas, everything was fate, not one bit was up to man.
Zaifu Kua slept until noon the next day before waking.
Seeing his eyes staring blankly at the canopy, his concubine could not help but worry. “Master?”
“Nothing. I just thought of old people and old matters.” For the first few years after Mei Shifu’s unfortunate death, Zaifu Kua had often dreamed of the man coming to accuse him. But after he went to a temple and asked for a mind-calming talisman, things had improved.
Why, after more than ten years, had he dreamed of this person again?
Still, whatever the two of them had said in the dream, he could no longer remember after waking. Presumably, it was still those old rotten matters from before.
It seemed he would have to go to the temple and request another calming talisman.
Yet when he went to the temple, the fortune teller from last time came over again to read his face. The moment they met, he said, “Congratulations.”
Zaifu Kua said irritably, “What’s there to congratulate?” Last night, I’d even dreamed of that short-lived ghost, Old Mei.
“I once said Lord Zaifu would face a calamity at seventy-four.”
“Yes.” And that had weighed on me for years.
“Today, looking at Lord Zaifu’s brows and eyes, that trace of misfortune has already dispersed.” The fortune teller bowed all the way to the floor. “Congratulations, Lord Zaifu. Your calamity has been safely passed. A hundred years of life may be expected!”
Zaifu Kua was first shocked, then overjoyed. “It’s over? My tribulation has already passed?”
Ordinarily, he would have been half believing, half doubtful. But last night, he had suddenly dreamed of Mei Shifu, whom he had not seen in ages. Had this old friend helped him from the shadows?
In any case, this was a good thing. A heaven-sized good thing!
“Reward him!” When Lord Zaifu was happy, the fortune teller immediately received a handsome reward of a hundred taels of silver.
“A banquet. We must hold a banquet!” Zaifu Kua beamed. “Seven days from now, no, no, five days from now! Invite all my old friends.”
His attendant agreed, then carefully reminded him, “My lord, your seventy-fifth birthday is next month.”
“What does that matter?” Zaifu Kua waved a large hand. “Hold it! Hold them both!”
* * *
He Lingchuan likewise slept until the sun was high before getting up.
The moment he opened the courtyard gate, he found two Tongxin Guards standing guard outside.
Clearly, his residence was being specially watched.
Jiao Yu strolled out from somewhere and stretched beside him.
“People are watching you from the shadows too. I can smell them.” Passing by a large tree, the tiger rose onto its hind legs and raked the trunk with ten sharp claws, producing a tearing scrape. “I really want to eat them all!”
The feeling of being watched was especially unpleasant. It was the dignified Royal Palace General of Mount Bai...
“Hold it in.” He Lingchuan stroked the tiger’s back, feeling the knotted muscles beneath its fur. “I told the kitchen to slaughter a fat sheep last night. The meat was wrapped and hung in the cold-water pool, waiting just for you.”
The reason it was not hung in the lake behind the mountain was that the place was not safe.
Sure enough, when the fierce tiger heard there was meat to eat, its anger subsided.
As He Lingchuan walked out, he also noticed several pairs of eyes watching him from nearby. His awareness was gradually strengthening now. Whenever he was being observed, a strange feeling would naturally arise.
Clearly, aside from the overt guards Fan Long had placed in Fleeting Thoughts Manor, there were also covert scouts.
After entering the rear kitchen, the fierce tiger got its cleaned and skinned fat sheep as it wished, while the warmhearted kitchen matron stuffed a large food basket into He Lingchuan’s hands.
Four stacked food boxes, one atop another.
He Lingchuan praised the cook a few times and handed over ten copper coins as a tip. Then he put both the food basket and the fat sheep into his storage ring and strolled leisurely toward the rear mountain.
With Fushan Yue’s silver scattered about, Fleeting Thoughts Manor was looking more and more like a proper villa.
Servants swept fallen leaves from the paths, making a soft shushing sound. The fierce tiger could not resist and rolled twice in a thick pile of leaves.
Ah, how refreshing!
The pavilion on the rear mountain was under repair, clanging and tapping.
Late-autumn sunlight fell on the body, bringing a rare warmth.
Behind the weasel family’s shrubs, a gap had already been opened. A small pier had been built overnight, and the pleasure boat was moored there.
He Lingchuan jumped onto the boat, untied the cable, and pushed the wooden oar against the pier’s plank.
The tiger had just leaped onto the bow when the pleasure boat left the shore, drifting leisurely toward the center of the lake.
It sat down, its huge eyes fixed on the bank, and suddenly said, “Those rat-like things really did show themselves.”
Behind the lakeside trees, human figures flickered.
“They’re called the Tongxin Guard, not rat-like things.” Looking at the tiger’s gaze, He Lingchuan felt it looked like a cat staring at mice. Even the tuft of white fur at the tip of its tail kept swaying. “Time to eat.”
The tiger’s attitude toward the Tongxin Guard was probably because Fushan Yue was growing increasingly impatient with Lingxu City’s restraints and controls.
He Lingchuan took out the fat sheep, cut it into several large pieces, and placed them at the bow to feed the tiger.
The cabin was too cramped for a fierce tiger nearly three meters long.
He Lingchuan opened the food boxes one by one. Inside were a large bowl of braised rice noodles, a steamer of pan-fried buns, a big stack of scallion pancakes, a small pot of fragrant pear soup, and in the corner, a small bowl of pickled shallots.
The bottoms of the pan-fried buns had been fried into golden crusts. Scraping them with chopsticks made a crisp rasp. The bun skin, however, was very soft and moist, dotted with a few black sesame seeds. He Lingchuan was not afraid of the heat and stuffed one directly into his mouth. With a little “pfft,” the juices burst out.
As for the scallion pancakes, though each was thin, they had several flaky layers. When he rolled one up, he tucked in a few pickled shallots, and the flavor immediately rose two levels.
The bowl of braised rice noodles was even better. Not only was it full of toppings—dried mushrooms, shrimp, pork, squid, bamboo shoots, and daylily buds—but its base was also a rich stock simmered from pork and chicken bones. The broth had just the right thickness and silkiness. One slurp, and it went down with a wonderfully satisfying sound.
Never mind He Lingchuan, any ordinary person would feel warm all over after finishing a steaming bowl of braised rice noodles.
He was eating like a storm sweeping through clouds, which made the tiger across from him, eating raw meat, seem gentle and refined by contrast.
There was no helping it. Big cats were naturally unable to chew properly. They could only shear meat with their side teeth and swallow it.
By the time He Lingchuan finished eating, Jiao Yu had gnawed through less than a quarter of the sheep.
He grabbed the wooden oar and rowed toward the northern bank.
The man and tiger had boarded on the southern shore. Now they were traveling in a straight line toward the northern bank, which meant the Tongxin Guard originally watching them had no choice but to run north along the shoreline.
Unfortunately, the lake was not small, and the shoreline was quite winding.
One Tongxin Guard grew impatient and began taking off his outer robe. “Let’s swim across. Swimming is faster than walking!”
Swimming also allowed a straight line.
However, he had only reached the water’s edge and had not yet removed his shoes when a companion suddenly grabbed him.
“Don’t go in. Look at the lake!”
The man glanced toward the water just in time to see a large creature leap over a meter out of the lake before crashing heavily back down. The bursting spray scattered gold and jade in the sunlight, spraying fiercely across several faces.
The men wiped water from their faces. “What was that?”
“It looked like a big-mouthed catfish.”
Catfish ate everything and were already prone to growing large. This one was more than three meters long, and when it emerged from the water, its mouth gaped wide enough that stuffing a whole person inside would be no problem at all.
At this moment, another huge fish exposed its back at the surface. It was not a catfish, but it was no smaller, only slightly paler in color. ƒгeewёbnovel.com
It circled near the shore, and no one dared enter the water anymore.
How did two fish kings suddenly end up in Mount Qilin’s rear lake?
Anyone could guess it had something to do with these Chiyan people.
The group could only obediently circle the shoreline toward the northern bank.
By the time they arrived, the pleasure boat had already drifted into the tall grass on the northern shore. The fierce tiger was still lying on the bow eating. There was now only one hind leg of the fat sheep left.
As for the cabin, it was naturally empty.
The Tongxin Guard looked at one another, all somewhat frustrated.
That brat’s as slippery as Deputy Commander Fan had said!
On their first day assigned to Fleeting Thoughts Manor, they had already lost the man they were following!
But the lake was so large. No matter where the man surnamed He rowed, he could easily shake them off. How were they supposed to solve this?
While they stood there at a loss—
He Lingchuan had already arrived at the foot of Mount Qilin, humming a little tune. His bighorn cliff ram was leisurely chewing grass roots there. Seeing its master arrive, it happily rubbed against his arm.
He Lingchuan mounted the cliff ram and sped south.
There had already been many fish in the rear lake, but no monsters. He had asked the gibbon Old Ge to help invite two fish monsters to move in.
These two fish monsters usually helped people in lakes and rivers drive fish into nets, receiving a share of the catch or some payment afterward. But competition in that line was fierce. There were plenty of younger, stronger juniors, and humans pushed prices down ruthlessly. The two large fish always felt they could not eat their fill.
Now, He Lingchuan had invited them to live in Qilin Lake.
The lake was not especially vast to the two fish, but it was deep and connected to karst caves within the mountain, making the environment quite good.
Qilin Lake’s old fish monster had been cleared out long ago. For the two new fish kings, there was abundant food here, and He Lingchuan had also guaranteed he would regularly give them extra meals. The work itself was especially simple. They simply could not allow others into the water, and they were occasionally to help pull the boat.
As far as He Lingchuan was concerned, a monster that could be bribed was a good monster.
* * * frёewebnoѵēl.com
Dong Rui walked down the street in coarse cloth clothes, a veiled hat on his head, with a little squirrel lying on his shoulder.
The squirrel kept giving him orders:
“Straight ahead.”
“Left, left! Not right!”
“Into the alley.”
“You overshot it, idiot! Go back. That’s not the road I meant!”
Dong Rui: “...” Where did that man surnamed He find this tiny chatterbox? I really want to sew its mouth shut.
