After the Immortal Disappeared

Hee Lingchuan lifted his shirt and saw that the wounds from the Werewolf’s claws the previous night were indeed healing. They didn’t hurt much anymore. Even the gash on his ribs, deep enough to expose bone, was now covered in a thick scab.

’That’s incredibly fast.’ Hee Lingchuan turned and grabbed a handful of pear paste candies for it. "With Lingguang around, I’ll suffer a lot less."

Lingguang wanted to say that proper Demon Apes don’t eat candy, but the pear paste candies smelled too fragrant. The paw it extended to refuse instead cupped to accept them, and it silently took the treat.

Hee Chunhua had gone to the palace at dawn and hadn’t returned yet.

Next, Hee Lingchuan washed his face and changed his clothes. He then scarfed down a dozen large meat buns and washed them down with two huge bowls of peanut soup with egg drop, getting about sixty percent full before heading out.

Assistant Liu was standing just outside the door. He had changed his clothes, but he had two large dark circles under his eyes, clearly having not slept for the rest of the night.

The moment he saw Hee Lingchuan, he performed a deep bow and didn’t straighten up for a long moment.

Hee Lingchuan asked in surprise, "Why the sudden formality?"

"Eldest Young Master Hee, you saved my worthless life last night! This humble one is eternally grateful!" In the face of crisis, Hee Lingchuan had given him the horse first. Assistant Liu had lived to be over forty, and he had never been treated this way by someone of high status. Even the servants of powerful families, who called him "Assistant," couldn’t be bothered to hide the disdain in their eyes.

"If it’s a worthless life, then it’s not worth anything. Nothing to be thankful for."

"..."

Hee Lingchuan chuckled. "Alright, stop being dramatic. Just do your job well for me."

Before yesterday, Assistant Liu’s respect for him had been for the sake of money. After yesterday, it was from the bottom of his heart. He glanced around, making sure the Medicinal Ape wasn’t present, then lowered his voice. "Eldest Young Master Hee, you had just hired Lingguang as your Pill Master yesterday morning, and last night you nearly lost your life! Don’t you see? This ape must be a bad omen!"

Hee Lingchuan froze. If Assistant Liu hadn’t brought it up, he would have forgotten about it.

"It took some time before it brought harm to its previous masters." The more Assistant Liu thought about it, the more scared he became; after all, he’d nearly been a victim himself yesterday. "But with you, it hasn’t even been half a day, and disaster has already struck!"

"Enough. No more wild speculation. Haven’t you heard that good fortune follows disaster?" Recalling the anxious look in Lingguang’s eyes last night and this morning, Hee Lingchuan added, "All I got were a few more scars, but in return, I gained a giant wolf from the North Star Tundra as a companion. How could I not think my luck is pretty good?"

He climbed into the carriage and said to the worried-looking Assistant Liu, "The ones who ambushed us last night are now stray dogs, hunted with nowhere to hide. What do you have to be afraid of?"

He knew in his heart that Dong Rui wouldn’t be captured so easily. But with one of his Demon Puppets lost, two others injured, and a city-wide manhunt for him, the Demon Puppet Master probably didn’t have time to settle scores with the Hee Family for now.

Once they were in Xiazhou, the Hee Family would be on their own turf and would have even less to fear from him.

Besides, up north, there was still Grand General Nian Zanli, waiting to settle the blood debt for the murder of his son. These old matters had all happened before the Medicinal Ape came into his service. If they were talking about jinxes, Hee Lingchuan himself was probably the biggest one.

Assistant Liu thought about it and agreed. Besides, he was just a small fry. Who would go out of their way to cause trouble for him?

"So, where to now?"

"Take me to Jinghe Hall at the foot of Bijia Mountain." Hee Lingchuan leaned back against the soft seat and yawned. "I’m going to visit the wounded."

The carriage rumbled on its way. Hee Lingchuan kept the curtain open, marveling once again at how Shihuan’s prosperity and vitality were far beyond what Black Water City could compare to. North Avenue was packed shoulder-to-shoulder. Shihuan City’s most important businesses were at the North Pier, where goods from the south and north had to be loaded and unloaded.

Da Yuan marshaled the strength of the entire nation just to support its wealthy Capital City and Vice Capital.

But Hee Lingchuan was heading in the opposite direction, south. After a few turns, the road became narrower and more uneven. Besides the sparser crowds, the buildings looked less glamorous, their layouts and scales much smaller, and they started to huddle closer and closer together.

Hee Lingchuan was reminded of his little cabin in the Panlong Dream Realm.

’Turns out, one-story houses are pretty much the same everywhere.’

Soon, the carriage passed a tavern. Its facade was no longer bright, and on its swaying sign were two large, bold, ink-black characters that read: Xiang Chuan.

He recalled Fuzzy Peach saying that he and his brothers from the Supporting Army had been drinking at this Xiang Chuan tavern yesterday. The drinks were cheap, served in large bowls, and not watered down. And the pig’s head meat they served with the alcohol was plucked clean of hair.

Another few hundred yards later, the road ahead was suddenly congested, and the carriage could barely move.

Hee Lingchuan stuck his head out and saw a crowd had surrounded a one-story house three layers deep, all of them clamoring and chattering at the doorway.

Bodies were being carried out of the house, covered in white cloth.

It was two dead people.

The cloth wasn’t secured properly. A strong gust of wind blew past, lifting a corner of the sheet and revealing a woman’s face.

She looked to be twenty-four or twenty-five, neither fat nor ugly. There was a deep gash on her neck.

’A fatal throat-slitting. The cut was clean.’ Hee Lingchuan deduced that the murder weapon was a short blade or a dagger. The killer had likely stood behind her, covering her mouth with one hand while using the other to slice her throat, thus avoiding attracting the neighbors’ attention.

The door to the house was open, and he took the opportunity to glance inside. Weeds grew from cracks in the floor, junk was piled in the corners, and a square table had a lame leg, propped up with half a tattered book.

’This family was very poor. So poor that even after the dead were carried away, the living onlookers who went inside would only be able to swipe a few chipped porcelain plates and earthenware bowls.’

Hee Lingchuan also noticed several older women quietly spitting toward the base of the wall.

Assistant Liu came over for a look as well and said in surprise, "Isn’t this Second Madam Yaoo’s home? They were a family of two, and both have been carried out." He tutted. "I heard the Official Family started searching for fugitives at dawn. A lot of commoners were injured."

Hee Lingchuan gestured toward the crowd. "Why do I hear people pointing and muttering, ’Just as I thought, those two were bound to run into trouble sooner or later’?"

"That’s because of the business they were in. Second Madam Yaoo’s husband went to fight on the front lines and came back with only one hand, and his temperament changed. He was illiterate and couldn’t do manual labor. After he blew through their meager pension, he made his wife sell her body. And the place of business was their own home."

Hee Lingchuan understood. "So they were running a brothel out of their home."

"Doing that kind of business, they were unwilling to pay protection money, so they were bound to offend people. Plus, Second Madam Yaoo’s husband often argued with clients. The neighbors heard it many times."

After hearing this, Hee Lingchuan said nothing more. It was none of his business.

It was none of anyone’s business.

Two insignificant city dwellers, two worthless lives comparable to stray dogs—even if they died a bizarre and violent death, it wouldn’t cause much of a stir. In a week or so, everyone would have forgotten the whole affair.

...

Ever since the Monarch stopped coming to Luming Garden to hunt, more and more houses and markets had sprung up at the foot of Bijia Mountain.

With more people came more infirmaries and pharmacies.

Jinghe Hall was a chain of medical halls opened by the Fu Family. Although the one at the foot of Bijia Mountain was just a branch, a famous doctor was seeing patients in the front hall this month, so there was a constant stream of them.

The back hall was divided into a pharmacy and patient wards. Patients with severe illnesses or injuries could rest here, making it convenient for the doctors to provide immediate treatment.

After asking a couple of people, Assistant Liu led Hee Lingchuan to their target—

the young commoner who had been sent here for emergency treatment by General Ke’s men last night.

The young man was already awake. The dark color between his eyebrows was gone, but his face was even paler, and he looked drained of both energy and spirit.

He was sitting up in bed, wrapped in a quilt, eating breakfast.

It consisted of a pot of thin, watery millet porridge, a small saucer of pickled melon rind, and half a steamed bun.

The bun must have been very hard; the youth gnawed on it twice without making a dent.

The ward was large and held many patients, but there was only a single brazier in the corner, clearly not providing enough heat.

He recognized Hee Lingchuan as well. He set down the bun and, without making a move to get out of bed, simply cupped his fist. "Young Master Hee!"

"Just keep eating. How are your injuries?" ’This kid is interesting,’ Hee Lingchuan thought. ’Everyone else respectfully calls me Eldest Young Master, but he uses the more literary "Young Master."’

The youth picked up the pot and slurped the porridge loudly. "The doctor says I won’t die."

"My mother is grateful for your protection and specifically asked me to visit you." As he spoke, Hee Lingchuan produced a sandalwood box, presented it to the youth, and opened it. "A small token of our gratitude, though it is hardly enough."

Inside the box, nestled neatly, were two Luminous Pearls the size of lychees, perfectly round, and two blocks of the finest Mutton Fat Jade, which looked like marbled fat, lustrous white and smooth.

A reward from Madam Ying for saving her life was bound to be impressive. These four treasures could be sold for at least two hundred taels of silver.

Even in Shihuan City, that sum was enough for a family of four to live comfortably for several years.

"It was a simple effort. I am ashamed to accept." The youth hadn’t expected such a valuable gift from the Hee Family and couldn’t hide his surprise for a moment. "Is Madam Ying well?"

"She... was a bit shaken up. She’s still resting today."

"How did things end last night?"

The youth had been hit by a poisoned arrow last night and passed out early, so he missed the finale.

At that moment, Assistant Liu stepped forward, placed a whole basket of fruit on the table, and lifted the lid. Then he left the medical hall to take care of the other tasks Hee Lingchuan had given him.

Inside the basket were two large bags of strawberries and a bag of large red dates.

In the dead of winter, fruit was more expensive than meat.

"Last night... well, it’s a bit complicated," Hee Lingchuan said, stroking his chin. "In short, both the Werewolf and the Ghost Ape were subdued, but the Ghost Ape was later rescued by its master, whom we still haven’t found."

"Were there any casualties?"

"The injuries were all on me and General Ke. A coachman was shot in the left eye. By the time he was brought here, it was too late to save him. You’re luckier than he was." Hee Lingchuan said, "My father has already sent his family a generous compensation."

’I really was lucky,’ the youth thought, sighing deeply. Hee Lingchuan noticed a hint of melancholy in his expression.

The youth then introduced himself. His surname was Sunx, his given name Hongye. He had once been the reading companion for the third son of the Hex Family of Fangtai. He had left the Hex Family a few months ago and was now working as an accountant at a rice shop.

"The Hex Family of Fangtai?" ’Why does that sound familiar?’

"The family of the current Imperial Censor, Hex Liwen. You met the Hex Family’s third son yesterday."

"Oh!" Hee Lingchuan remembered. "Hex Shu?"

Sunx Hongye nodded.

"Then what were you doing in Luming Garden looking for General Ke?"

"I..." The youth pressed his lips into a thin line, a blush creeping onto his face. He hesitated for a long moment. "I was recommending myself to General Ke."

Hee Lingchuan grew even more curious. "What position were you seeking?"

"An advisor! A military strategist!" Having said it, Sunx Hongye let go of his inhibitions. "Rather than wait around in Shihuan to be slaughtered, I’d rather serve a wise lord and build a legacy!"