Chapter 2677: The Capital (Part 33)
Liu Sha followed Wu Hai into the inner room. The space was dim and reeked of something fishy. In the corner, an eight-or-nine-year-old boy sat chained, clutching a sleeping infant in his arms and watching the newcomers with wary eyes.
"Just collected today. This kid's too stubborn—that's his younger sister he's holding. Refuses to let go no matter what, even bit Zhao San. I haven't had time to deal with him yet. Going to starve him for two days first."
Liu Sha surveyed the various tools for harvesting from the living and breaking limbs scattered haphazardly around the room, then turned to look at the boy across from him, whose eyes were wide with terror. He couldn't help but sigh. Crouching down, he softened his tone and asked, "What is your name?"
"Xu Yong," the boy answered, trembling.
"Do you know what kind of place this is?"
The boy nodded, then shook his head. "Not a good place."
"This is your sister? How old is she?"
"Not yet a full month old. Mother is gone." The boy burst into uncontrollable tears, as though he had suffered the greatest injustice under heaven.
For some reason, looking at this boy, Liu Sha suddenly thought of his own deceased young son and murmured, "Ah, he should be about this size too."
"Can you use them?" Wu Hai urged, seeing Liu Sha lost in thought.
Liu Sha collected himself and sighed. "Let it be." Then he said to the boy, "I can take you away from here. From now on, you'll be my Daoist boy [Dao Tong]. Are you willing?"
"Then what about my sister? Mother said before she left that I can't let her die." The boy's response was stubborn.
"Your sister will naturally come with me as well. I can guarantee she'll never want for food or clothing in the future. The only condition is that you two can never acknowledge each other again."
"Can I still see her?"
"That depends on fate. Would you rather be separated and live, or stay together and wait for death?"
The boy thought for a moment, then bowed down and knocked his head loudly against the floor. "Master above, please receive this disciple's bow."
Zhou Lezhi stood respectfully beneath the corridor eaves, working through the problems the Teacher had set on a small blackboard. Systems of quadratic equations were no longer difficult for him now—in the past, he had viewed them as incomprehensible texts from heaven.
Speaking of which, the Teacher's abilities were truly remarkable. Although he didn't understand what practical use these equations had, he had to admit that only after learning did he realize his brain was actually this capable. Even the Teacher had called him a "wonder." This inevitably made him somewhat proud.
The blackboard and chalk were also the Teacher's own creation. The blackboard itself had been made by a carpenter, but the black lacquer coating it was something the Teacher had mixed himself. For this project, Zhou Lezhi and the Teacher's page boy Wang Zhi had run to many places to purchase all the necessary materials. Mr. Zhou had ground, pounded, and mixed ingredients in the backyard... After several days of tinkering, he had produced this "Blackboard and Chalk Set."
Watching the Master write and draw on the blackboard with evident satisfaction, Zhou Lezhi said cautiously, "Does the Teacher want paper? This student can go buy some."
"Paper isn't suitable for teaching. Only a blackboard has the proper sense of ritual."
These incomprehensible words left Zhou Lezhi utterly confused, but the Teacher said countless such things every day. During their time in Guangzhou, he had spouted even more similar nonsense. So Zhou Lezhi didn't take it to heart.
During those several months in Guangzhou, Zhou Lezhi had followed the Teacher running east and west, back and forth, nearly getting beaten several times. They had relied on Liu Zhao's Jinyiwei waist badge on multiple occasions to avoid being hauled off to the Yamen to face a lawsuit. During that period, he had visited relatives in Hetou Village once. Mr. Zhou had even boasted that he could "use his face" as a pass in the village. As for how this face was used, Zhou Lezhi never saw—instead, the Teacher was nearly mobbed by several villagers whose relatives had been executed because of him. Even Zhou Lezhi himself almost suffered collateral damage. The three of them could only flee in a wretched state.
Zhou Lezhi understood that the Teacher had been scouring all of Guangzhou in search of a treasure called the "Universe Mirror." With this treasure, while the Teacher might not necessarily be able to ascend to heaven, descend to the underworld, or become omnipotent, he could at least turn stone into gold, never worry about food or drink, and absolutely wouldn't need to serve as a mere retainer to Master Wang.
But regrettably, although the Teacher's entire trip to Guangzhou had been dedicated to searching for the Universe Mirror—even going so far as the shameful act of breaking into a merchant's home only to be driven away—he had ultimately gained nothing. Actually, even if Master Wang's letter hadn't arrived, they had intended to pack up and return to the residence. After all, their travel expenses were nearly exhausted.
Upon returning to the capital and seeing his daughter, the Teacher had danced with joy for a while, then proposed visiting Zhiling's grave to pay respects. This left Wang Liang, who had come to welcome them, momentarily at a loss for words. He made excuses that he hadn't handled the funeral arrangements and would arrange the grave visit after inquiring further back at the residence.
However, the Teacher's affection for Zhiling amounted to only this much. Instead, he showed a particular fondness for his daughter. He immediately named her Zhou Juli [Curie] and held her high in his arms every day. This astonished the servants—what was so special about a mere girl?
Zhou Lezhi was also quite fond of the plump, fair-skinned Zhou Juli. Yet observing coolly from the sidelines, he noticed that whenever Jieyi, Wang Zhi, and others watched the father and daughter enjoying their harmonious moments, intriguing expressions would cross their faces—seemingly sarcastic, seemingly sorrowful, and also containing something like worry...
What exactly was the matter with this child? Zhou Lezhi felt there was probably some story behind it all, but he neither dared to ask nor dared to mention anything in front of the Teacher.
"Teacher, I have solved the problem," Zhou Lezhi said respectfully to the Teacher, who was squinting on the bamboo couch beneath the corridor eaves.
"Mm." At that moment, the Teacher was watching Jieyi tease Zhou Juli in the courtyard, his face full of satisfied fatherly love. "Solve that geometry problem too. Don't use the method from last time—that was taught by me. Try a different approach."
Since returning from Guangzhou, Zhou Lezhi had often seen the Teacher in this contented state, muttering about obtaining such a courtyard within the "Second Ring"—something he found truly unimaginable.
Zhou Lezhi didn't know what "Second Ring" meant, but to live in such a courtyard, accompanied by a beauty like Jieyi, with Master Wang sending silver, firewood, and rice punctually each month, the whole household commanding servants and maids... even he would feel very satisfied. The only drawback was having no son, but the Teacher was still young and now a man of means and status. Heirs shouldn't be a difficult matter.
He quickly finished proving the geometry problem. Mr. Zhou apparently hadn't expected him to finish so quickly. He sat up and read through the proof process carefully, his eyebrows rising in surprise.
Generally speaking, the Teacher was quite satisfied with Zhou Lezhi's intelligence and learning ability. But at this moment, the satisfaction he expressed was obviously a level deeper.
"Good!" the Teacher praised. "You can draw inferences from one example to understand others. Remarkable. You are indeed a rare intellect."
"It is all thanks to the Teacher's cultivation."
This wasn't flattery; the Teacher truly spared no effort in his education.
"With your intelligence, you have a great future. In time, you can inherit my mantle."
The Teacher was very serious when saying this. Zhou Lezhi couldn't help feeling moved. "Many thanks, Master!" Yet guilt stirred in his heart—he was an "undercover agent."
Since returning to the capital, the Teacher's daily rhythm had been this leisurely. Besides playing with the baby at home, he went to Wang Yehao's residence to conduct consulting business every few days, and fought three hundred rounds with Jieyi at night.
Speaking of women, the Teacher seemed to harbor some regret over losing Zhiling. His lecherous nature flared up again, and he inquired obliquely several times about where to buy maids. Finally, Liu Zhao mentioned that every year during the spring famine, many refugees gathered outside Yongdingmen. Three to five taels of silver could buy a peasant girl with unbound feet, and among them were plenty of maidens with good potential. The only issue was that the human market had currently dried up—quality merchandise had long since been claimed, while lesser goods had either scattered or died. He would have to wait until next year for a fresh batch. The Teacher let the matter rest, saying they would wait until next year.
The Teacher was obviously not completely satisfied with such a harmonious life. Not long after settling in, the Teacher began taking his followers to wander around inside and outside the city every day, holding a map he had drawn himself that no one could understand. Zhou Lezhi quietly copied this map and sent it to Master Wang.
Looking at the marked major city gates, the Imperial City at the center, and place names like the Altar of the Sun and the Altar of Land and Grain, it was clearly a map of the capital. But many circles had been drawn on it, ring after ring. Their meaning was unclear.
On this map, some place names were unfamiliar even to the local brothers of the Liu family, and certain locations were marked with crosses, apparently indicating special sites.
Mr. Zhou took them to visit all these cross-marked locations, looking around in every direction, asking if anyone had witnessed strange phenomena. Unfortunately, not only did they gain nothing, but they were also reported multiple times for "spreading rumors to confuse the public." If not for Liu Zhao's protection, they might have been bound and hauled before the officials long ago.
"What do these rings mean?"
"Reporting to the Master, they seem to be extremely important to Mr. Zhou." Zhou Lezhi mentioned the words he had once heard him mutter about the courtyard in the Second Ring. "...This humble one also heard him sing some vulgar song, 'Ah, ah, Fifth Ring, you have one more ring than the Fourth Ring'..."
Master Wang and Liu Zhao both found this baffling. Liu Zhao studied the map several times and said, "Master, perhaps these circles are mileage charts. Hearthstone Daoist uses them to mark locations."
"Or perhaps they're talismanic secret codes?" Master Wang suggested.
"The Master makes a good point," Liu Zhao nodded. "Regardless of what they are, they must be some secret marking system Hearthstone uses to label the map."
"You followed him out to search—did you find anything? Any abnormalities?"
Both Zhou Lezhi and Liu Zhao shook their heads.
"He is probably still looking for the Universe Mirror," Master Wang mused.
"Yes, but ever since he learned about the Australians, he seems to have stopped mentioning the Universe Mirror," Liu Zhao said.
"Mm, these Australians... I don't know what their background is." Wang Yehao muttered. "Look into that Gao Family for me. Find out whose gate they belong to."
"Nine times out of ten, it's the Big Eunuchs in the palace," Liu Zhao said. "However, with the Eunuch Party falling from power, if their master also falls, this would be a good opportunity."
"Brother Liu, he treated us so arrogantly that even the three words 'Jinyiwei' couldn't intimidate him. The power behind him is definitely not the Eunuch Party," Zhou Lezhi reminded.
Liu Zhao slapped his forehead and laughed. "Look at my confusion! If they were really Eunuch Party people, they would have retreated long ago. Little brother, you have sharp eyes! But the power behind him being a eunuch in the palace is certain. Let me make inquiries for a few days, and we'll surely find out."
(End of Chapter)