Chapter 133:
By the Heaven Official’s Blessing, No Paths Are Bound
“CONGRATS, CONGRATS!”
“Congratulations, Your Highness!”
The newly built Puqi Shrine was bustling and lively; people came and went. Xie Lian traveled along the long tables packed with guests to deliver bowl after bowl of hot, steamy noodles, soups with oil that glistened like gold, and mouthwatering snow-white rice. His movements flowed like water.
Even as he ran hither and thither swamped with various tasks, Xie Lian still had to greet incoming guests. He managed to spare a moment to say, “Thank you, please have a seat!”
The original Puqi Shrine had unfortunately collapsed in a brawl, but it was now rebuilt.
The once-dilapidated little shrine was much more sumptuous this time; a new courtyard had even been added. Neither Xie Lian nor Hua Cheng had handled the reconstruction—rather, it had been spearheaded by the residents of Puqi Village. On the day when Xie Lian fled, they had rummaged through the wreckage and found a box full of gold bars. Naturally, they were the ones that had been stuffed into his donation box day after day by Quan Yizhen.
The villagers were almost scared out of their wits; they had never seen so much gold. After they came to their senses, the village head used a portion of it to rebuild Puqi Shrine. They didn’t dare to touch the rest of it and kept it safe for Xie Lian until he returned.
Thus, when Xie Lian returned with Hua Cheng, they were greeted with enthusiastic cries of “Daozhang” and “Xiao-Hua”—and also by a brand-new shrine and a box heavy with gold bars.
Xie Lian had planned to return the gold bars to Quan Yizhen, but Quan Yizhen would allow no such thing, refusing them left and right until Hua Cheng told him in no uncertain terms that, “If you don’t take those bars back, you can forget about learning how to properly nurse a ghost’s soul.” Only then did the child settle down and break his bad habit of blindly stuffing gold bars into people’s hands.
After making their greetings, the group of heavenly officials led by Mu Qing cautiously crossed into the yard. The moment they got a full look at the shrine, their words stuck in their throats.
Gaudy.
Too gaudy!
The bright, clashing celebratory reds and greens weren’t even the worst of it, nor was the extremely exaggerated divine statue painted in a rainbow of colors. The worst thing of all was the establishment plaque.
What in the world was even written—or drawn—on that plaque?
There naturally needed to be a celebration when a new shrine was established, but this shrine’s taste was terrible in every sense of the word—especially that ghastly establishment plaque. It was quite difficult for anyone to force compliments past their lips; all the congratulatory niceties they had prepared had been completely forgotten.
Xie Lian, on the other hand, didn’t mind the decor at all; he even thought it was rather nice. At least it wasn’t a dilapidated building that was constantly teetering on the brink of collapse.
“Please have a seat, won’t you?” he offered again.
The group of heavenly officials didn’t look like they wanted to sit; they probably had only stopped by to congratulate him and quickly show their faces. After delivering their gifts, they left in a hurry.
Xie Lian turned to Mu Qing. “Why did they leave in such a rush?”
“Do you even need to ask?” Mu Qing said.
“Well, yeah.”
“Then why don’t you go ask your dear San Lang?” Mu Qing spat crankily.
When Hua Cheng came back, the first one to know was Xie Lian. Second to know were the gods of the Upper Court, who hadn’t even warmed their seats yet in the new Heavenly Capital. On the day of the Shangyuan Festival, they had worked so hard to put together a Battle of the Lanterns…which was abruptly obliterated by Hua Cheng’s casual wave of three thousand lanterns, the same move he’d pulled at the Mid-Autumn Banquet. In addition, the heavenly bell had been tolling nonstop ever since that night. The entire Upper Court echoed with its ceaseless reverberating gongs, as if it were reminding them that the Nightmare of the Heavens had returned!
And right now, the Nightmare stood before them; no normal heavenly official would dare approach. However, they still wanted to get in Xie Lian’s good graces so they could beg Hua Cheng to show them some mercy in the future. After all, the gossip about the relationship between Hua Cheng and Xie Lian in the Upper Court was already fairly lurid with no need for exaggeration.
When he heard about this, Xie Lian recalled how Hua Cheng had demanded the Upper Court proclaim his heroism for an entire year. “Cheeky,” he said with a laugh.
“This is not just a matter of cheekiness!” Mu Qing scolded. “Tell him to lay off a little—it’s getting out of control. That bell is so noisy that everyone’s on edge, and the Upper Court can’t function with it constantly tolling. It keeps falling off the tower and crashing onto people. The Heavenly Capital has finally been rebuilt; don’t let it be destroyed again by something like that.”
“All right,” Xie Lian said. “I’ll tell him in a bit. While we’re here, wanna try some food?” He pointed at the rice, noodles, and soups on the tables in the yard, then added, “I didn’t make it.”
Rejection was written all over his cold expression when Mu Qing heard the first half, but his face returned to normal when he heard the last part. Right then, Feng Xin arrived. He entered the yard just in time to brush past several other junior officials who were about to leave.
After the junior officials greeted him, they began to whisper amongst themselves.
“It’s General Nan Yang.”
“It’s him. It’s so sad, his wife and son ran off with some guy…”
Veins bulged violently on Feng Xin’s forehead as he roared out curses at them. “What the fuck?! Aren’t you guys sick of this?! How many months have you been yapping about it?! Also—it’s just ‘ran off,’ not ‘ran off with some guy’! Stop fucking spreading false rumors!”
The gossipy junior officials were quickly scared away. Mu Qing stood to the side with his hands tucked in his sleeves.
“You shouldn’t have bothered to clarify. Now it just sounds even more embarrassing.”
Outraged, Feng Xin seized a broom and threw it over. Mu Qing caught it easily and snorted.
“Stale moves. You can’t use that trick on me anymore.”
Before Feng Xin could yell some more, Xie Lian walked over and stuffed another broom in his hands.
“Oh good, then how about both of you help me sweep the yard? We set off some firecrackers earlier, so the ground is covered in red scraps. Thanks. You can train some idioms if you get bored, okay?”
Feng Xin and Mu Qing were both struck speechless.
An hour later, the sound of rowdy human voices approached from a distance. The gathered guests looked outside, and after a short while, a large and boisterous crowd of people poured into the yard of Puqi Shrine.
“Is it here?”
“It’s here! Oho, and it’s pretty impressive too.”
“There’s really rice—so much rice!”
“And meat!”
The temple grounds which Feng Xin and Mu Qing had just swept were immediately made filthy again by the giant crowd of muddy feet. Eyes wide, Mu Qing gripped his broom, feeling as though he’d been given fleas.
“…What’s with those beggars?”
A man with messy hair and dirty clothes was leading the crowd of beggars—it was Shi Qingxuan. He hobbled and hopped over to Xie Lian, putting his hands together in courtesy.
“Your Highness, I’ve come to bother you! So, how about it? Does our agreement still stand?”
Xie Lian laughed. “Of course it stands! Everyone is very welcome. Please have a seat, have a seat.”
“Isn’t this too many people?” Mu Qing wondered.
“No!” Shi Qingxuan said. “All the amazing people who helped guard the human array at the royal capital last year are here now.”
When they were guarding the human array, Shi Qingxuan had promised them all that everyone would be treated to chicken legs after the deed was done, and that all would be welcome. With so many people missing in action after their grand battle, the chicken leg treat was never delivered. However, they could finally fulfill the promise today by serving up bowl after bowl of noodle soup with chicken legs.
“Everyone, no need to hold yourselves back today! Let’s eat!” Shi Qingxuan called out.
The cheering beggars crowded inside, filling the yard from the tables to the ground. They hugged enormous bowls close as they ate, slurping and slurping, chomping and chomping.