Zhou Shanheng stepped forward and was just about to speak when he saw the night wind sweeping through the willow-like smoke. A strand of silver hair fluttered beside the young man’s ear, its color like moonlight and shimmering like water.
Zhou Shanheng paused, and a strange feeling arose in his heart.
Xin gongzi was, at most, just past his coming-of-age ceremony, how could he have white hair?
But when he looked more closely, Xin Hexue had already tucked the loose strand behind his ear. When Zhou Shanheng looked again, it was no different from the rest of his black hair.
Perhaps it was the dim candlelight on the street or the hazy moonlight, so he must have seen it wrong.
Still, Zhou Shanheng had doubts in his heart. “Xin gongzi, where did this carriage come from?”
Xin Hexue raised his hand and touched the bridle on the brown horse, explaining patiently, “I rented from a lodging house. I originally planned to visit Huifu Temple again…I left something there during the day. When I passed by Xushou Village, I saw your house still lit up and guessed you might still be awake, so I came to bother you for a while.”
Zhou Shanheng asked, “Did you find the lost item?”
As soon as he spoke, he realized it was a pointless question. Xin Hexue hadn’t had time to return to Huifu Temple, he had come to help take his mother to the medicine shop in the city.
Zhou Shanheng cupped his hands in a formal salute, and said to Xin Hexue solemnly, “Thank you very much for tonight. I will remember this kindness deeply. If there is anything I can do in the future, I will definitely do my best to help.”
Then he added with guilt and apology, “I delayed your affairs…”
This was originally an excuse made up ny Xin Hexue, he hadn’t really lost anything at Huifu Temple.
Xin Hexue calmly reassured him, “The novice monks at the temple should have stored any lost items. Zhou xiong doesn’t need to worry, it won’t be too late for me to go tomorrow.”
He looked up at the moonlight again. “It seems I won’t make it back to Xushou Village tonight. What about you, Zhou xiong?”
Zhou Shanheng: “The medicine boy has prepared two rooms for me and my mother. She can take her medicine and rest first. With Erlang at home to watch the house, it’s fine to return tomorrow morning.”
Xin Hexue nodded. “Then I’ll take my leave for now.”
He boarded the carriage, the driver cracked the whip, and the cart headed down the alley. At the corner out of Zhou Shanheng’s sight, the carriage vanished like smoke, leaving only two fireflies circling nearby.
Just moments ago, they had been used by Xin Hexue as materials for his illusion spell.
Xin Hexue steadied himself against a stone wall and coughed softly, the sound light and low.
A strand of silver hair, like moonlight, spilled down beside his ear.
He raised his hand and twirled the strand, his eyes lowered in thought.
It seemed the Bodhi Lord’s reminder was not wrong.
The koi demon’s fortune-bringing meridians and spiritual cultivation were all contained in his danxin.
Usually, when he used small spells like illusions, even if it consumed spiritual energy, it wasn’t a problem. Even if his spiritual energy was depleted, he could slowly recover it over time.
But interfering with a mortal’s fate and using the danxin to seek blessings for them was an act that interfered with karma and destiny, which would often deplete the koi demon’s heart force. Once it was exhausted, at best he would need to cultivate for another two hundred years in his original form. At worst, his soul would return to the heavens and earth.
After all, everything under heaven follows its natural course and shouldn’t be interfered with lightly.
Thinking this way, Zhou Shanheng must be an unlucky soul, one of those destined to carry a great burden, to suffer hardships of will, of bone, and of flesh…
Even this time, Zhou’s mother was originally supposed to pass away from her sudden illness.
It was likely that in the script, the koi demon had lent a hand, which spared Zhou Shanheng the pain of losing his mother and allowed him to participate in the provincial exam next year.
However, in the script, although the koi demon clearly did so much, Zhou Shanheng never truly knew how much danxin and heart force it cost, which led to the ending in the script.
How could that be acceptable?
This poor scholar had to know how much he had paid. There was no reason to let him feel at ease.
Xin Hexue was thinking about how to maximize heartbreak value. He lowered his gaze, his fingers brushing the silver strand by his ear. With the illusion spell still active, there was no sign of anything unusual.
He said to the two fireflies circling nearby, “Go now.”
The two fireflies, having been touched by fortune-blessed spiritual energy, had already started to develop spiritual consciousness. They buzzed around Xin Hexue twice before flying off to the mountains and hills outside the town.
………
The next day, Xin Hexue, who was in the form of a white koi in the water vat, saw Zhou Shanheng return with his mother. After a while, Zhou Shanheng left alone in a hurry, carrying an account ledger.
Quietly, Xin Hexue followed in transformed form. To keep Zhou Erlang from noticing anything unusual with the water vat, he left behind a white koi conjured with a small spell.
Xin Hexue saw Zhou Shanheng knocking on door after door in Xushou Village. Over the past few years, Zhou Shanheng had helped the villagers write spring couplets, pen letters, and draft tomb inscriptions. Out of kinship and neighborhood ties, he had allowed many of them to buy on credit.
Now, there wasn’t enough money for his mother’s medicine and Zhou Shanheng was trying to collect on those debts. But with last year’s floods and this year’s drought, every household was strapped for food money. Even the kindest neighbors turned cold-faced. A man with a sullen face saw him holding the account ledger, and closed the wooden door tightly.
Zhou Shanheng knocked on every door from morning until noon, but he collected only 200 wen out of the 2,000 owed, and faced rejection at every turn.
Under the scorching sun, the heat was rising from the cracked fields, making everything seem to be emitting white smoke and melting.
When he returned home, Zhou Erlang rushed up anxiously and asked, “Gege, how did it go?”
Zhou Shanheng poured a cup of tea, shook his head, and said nothing.
After a moment, he comforted Zhou Erlang, “Don’t worry. I’ll find a way. After lunch, I’ll go to the county seat and see if there’s any work available.”
Zhou Erlang lowered his head. He had heard from their mother that long-term medicine would cost at least 20,000 wen. Where could they possibly get that kind of money? “Gege, your provincial exam is in September. You’ll need money for travel too… If only I were older, I could help build city walls or dig riverbeds…”
Zhou Shanheng comforted him, “Don’t worry. If it doesn’t work out, we still have a few acres of land at home that can be pawned. You just focus on studying and taking care of Mother.”
Xin Hexue heard everything and shifted his gaze.
Neither of the Zhou family brothers noticed that a young man wearing a white veil hat quietly left the courtyard.
………
The village paths were packed with yellow sand.
A villager carried a fox he had caught hunting in the mountains. The fox wasn’t dead yet. It had often stolen chickens from his backyard, and he had finally caught it alive.
Knowing its end was near, the fox cried out miserably, and the sound was particularly miserable.
“Xiong, are you selling that fox?”
The voice was clear and smooth, like a stream melting ice during late spring chills.
The villager looked up in surprise. “You want to buy it?”
The speaker was a young man in a white robe, his face hidden behind a light gauze veil.
The villager noted he had an extraordinary demeanor and was dressed elegantly, so he opened his mouth and quoted an outrageous price.
The young man gently adjusted the edge of his veil hat and nodded in agreement.
The villager handed over the fox with its limbs tied.
Xin Hexue asked, “Where do you live? I’ll return at dusk to pay you. I need to fetch some silver from the city bank first.”
Hearing this, the villager grew suspicious. “Are you trying to get something for nothing?”
Xin Hexue’s expression didn’t change. “I’m buying on credit. Zhou Shanheng is my good friend and can vouch for me. If I don’t come back by this evening, I’ll pay you double tomorrow.”
