Chapter 10:
The Blind Fortune Teller
THE SNOW FELL IN STOPS and starts for a full day and night. For Xue Xian and Jiang Shining, this brought both advantages and disadvantages.
As the snow continued, the sky thronged with dark clouds, rendering yang energy scarce and yin energy plentiful. Since Jiang Shining, the one saddled with all the labor, was a spirit that feared yang energy, this eased his travels greatly. No longer did daytime render him immobile.
Then there were the disadvantages…
“Shield my face with your hand! Hurry! The wind is about to blow my head away!” Xue Xian shouted with all his might.
Obviously, he couldn’t remain perched on Jiang Shining’s shoulder during a gale. In his desperation, Jiang Shining had no choice but to tuck Xue Xian into his lapels, leaving only the latter’s head exposed so he could issue his orders. However, the infernal wind refused to play by the rules. As it continued to roar and buffet them from all sides, Xue Xian’s temper flared.
Grimacing, Jiang Shining raised his hand to shield Xue Xian’s head and struggled to move against the wind. “Why not tuck that precious head of yours all the way into my clothes?”
“Absolutely not,” Xue Xian said. “You’ll take a wrong turn the moment I stop paying attention.” Bold words from someone with no sense of direction, but he continued with a sneer, “The moment you enter the city, you’ll be wailing and asking me which way to go.”
Jiang Shining pushed on without answering.
They were headed to Wolong County, two cities over from Ningyang County. The place was by a river and home to an old ferry crossing. With only a few boats arriving and departing each day, it wasn’t a large crossing, nor was it the only way to get to Anqing Prefecture. They’d actually chosen to cross the river there because Xue Xian was looking for someone.
“There’s a family that lives to the east of the crossing,” Xue Xian told Jiang Shining. “Two brothers, though they’re not very close. I’ve been there twice, and both times I saw them bickering. The older brother knows a trick or two, so I want him to take a look at my marble. Perhaps he can tell me the whereabouts of the man who sold it to Scribe Liu.”
Since Xue Xian had been to them twice, the other party was sure to be a reliable expert in his craft, so Jiang Shining had no objections. He headed toward Wolong County.
To avoid the hassle of entering and exiting the city, they bypassed the two county towns in between, traveling entirely along the mountain routes. They were a dragon and a ghost, two creatures used to travel by night. Logically speaking, they had little to fear.
Nonetheless, rumors spoke of bandits who lurked around the mountains and forests here. Nothing formidable, but they’d still pose some trouble for travelers. As Xue Xian carried his golden marble, Jiang Shining remained on high alert, fearing that they’d run into a gang or two and be torn from limb to paper limb.
When Jiang Shining noticed the signs of past fighting—deep cuts from blades and axes etched into the crumbling walls of the run-down temples where they rested, dried dark red bloodstains at the corners of the doors—his worries intensified. But for some reason, perhaps because they’d taken a different route, they didn’t encounter a single bandit along the way. Occasionally, they even came across a passing carriage or two which they hitched a ride on in paper form.
In short, their journey was uneventful to an almost unsettling degree. When they arrived outside the city gates on the fourth day, Jiang Shining was still in disbelief.
“Was our luck just that good?”
Xue Xian looked up at the gates. “Everyone else is terrified of plundering bandits and wants them to stay away. You’re the only person who spends his entire day hoping to meet one.”
Upon the gates were inscribed three giant characters that marked Wolong County. Jiang Shining read them aloud, then remarked, “They say any location bearing ‘dragon’ in its name has witnessed a dragon sighting before. Wolong—resting dragon. Sounds like a real one once slumbered here.”
Xue Xian snorted. “This puny county city? There’s barely enough space for one of my feet, let alone to take a nap!”
Jiang Shining stared at him in confusion. “Uh, I wasn’t talking about you?”
They’d arrived just in time for the end of the night watch. The sound of bells tolling from the city echoed through the air, resounding outward. When the fifth wave of peals faded, the gates slowly swung open.
As the guards opened the gates, Jiang Shining ducked into a corner, planning to slip through the gap in paper form while the sky was still dark. That way, he could avoid the potential troubles that would come with being questioned. But just as he stepped backward, he felt something poke at his heel.
“What’s wrong?” Xue Xian asked.
Jiang Shining squatted down and brushed away the snowdrift next to his footprint, then pulled out a slightly deformed piece of iron.
By the light of the lantern on the city wall, Xue Xian squinted at the object. It was roughly the size of a thumb, with one side bearing a crude engraving of a wolf’s head. On the other side a name was inscribed but had been scratched out, rendering it impossible to read.
“Another one,” Jiang Shining muttered as he pulled out a similar piece from his lapels. He’d found it beneath the statue of that rundown temple, the surface marred with a single drop of blood. Like its twin, it bore a scratched-out name that was completely illegible. “Well, let’s keep it for now.”
Jiang Shining put both pieces away and tarried no longer. While the guards were distracted, he slipped through the gate and into the city.
The moment they were inside, Jiang Shining froze.
Wolong County looked nothing like Ningyang County. He couldn’t see a single straight road—instead, the streets twisted and turned, crossing over and under each other like a chaotic labyrinth. Finally, Jiang Shining gave up and looked down at Xue Xian.
“Which way should we go?”
Xue Xian, who was still proudly clutching his golden marble, gave an exaggerated sweep of his head.
“At the first intersection, you’ll find the Zhang family’s fried flatbread shop to the east. Take the diagonal road it’s on.”
“See that sesame cake shop? Turn west at that corner.”
“Find the side road with the smell of fresh wontons. Yes, that one. Take it.”
After weaving through several streets, Jiang Shining found himself driven to hunger by Xue Xian’s directions. As a wandering ghost, he had no idea how long it’d been since he last felt his stomach rumble.