Xue Xian belonged in the “stupid” category. Every time he patronized the boy’s services, he’d offered him three golden beads.
Lu Nianqi took the three silver pieces without fuss and tried to slip them into Lu Shijiu’s pocket. Lu Shijiu stopped him, saying, “My robe’s ripped. You keep it for now. Don’t be greedy.”
“Who’s greedy?!” Lu Nianqi said with a scowl.
Lu Shijiu ignored him to look toward Xuanmin. “What should I be divining?”
Xuanmin handed him the golden marble.
“This marble,” Xue Xian said. “It has passed through several hands. I wish to know where those people are.”
Lu Shijiu didn’t take the marble. Instead, he crouched down with his bundled twigs clutched in one hand. Staring at the marble intently, he slowly moved the twigs over the ground.
After watching this for a while, Jiang Shining noticed Lu Shijiu wasn’t drawing on the ground with the twigs—the twigs were moving by themselves. Lu Shijiu’s fingers only lightly encircled them. Jiang Shining watched the sticks while crisscrossing lines and scattered circles emerged on the ground.
At last, the twigs fell to the ground with a thump. Lu Shijiu frowned before picking them up. He traced the marks on the ground with his fingers, his eyes half closed and lips moving soundlessly, as if he were calculating something.
When he was done, he raised his eyes to the marble in Xuanmin’s hand. “Strange. I pinpointed the whereabouts of four people, but I couldn’t find the last one at all. It’s like they don’t exist.”
“That means there were five in total?” Xue Xian said to himself. “Well, good enough. Tell me about the four you found.”
“Mm.” Lu Shijiu nodded. “One is a fisherman. The second I couldn’t find. The third was a sorcerer, and the fourth was a man from the county office who you should have met before, named Liu. The fifth is this master here.”
Oh, just great! I knew about those four even without the divination, Xue Xian thought. Aloud, he asked, “Where are they now?”
Lu Shijiu traced the marks on the ground as he slowly replied. “The fisherman is currently in Anqing Prefecture, just one river away. The sorcerer is cultivating in a small cave on Mount Panlong, in the Shu region. As for the county scribe named Liu…” He ran his fingers over the ground, and his brows knitted, then relaxed. “Scribe Liu was caught in a fire last night. He won’t survive past today. As for the Master, I don’t think I need to tell you.”
His explanation done, Lu Shijiu withdrew his hand and looked at Xue Xian.
Jiang Shining was shocked. “Scribe Liu won’t survive past today?” He’d heard Old Lady Liu talk about how debts must be repaid, but he hadn’t expected it to really happen, let alone so quickly!
Lu Shijiu traced the ground again at his words. “Mm, right, he won’t live past today. He’s currently bedridden in one of the side wings of his home.”
The Jiang family had perished in a fire, their bodies reduced to ash. They must have endured the agonizing torment of burning alive. Liu Chong had languished every day in that side building, suffocated by a heavy shroud of yin energy. To siphon off many years’ worth of fortune, his father had nearly cost Liu Chong his life in the process. Scribe Liu’s time had run out. He would perish from his burns, his eyes falling shut within the side building where he lay. Truly, all debts must be repaid.
“Anything else you wish to know?” Lu Shijiu asked Xue Xian.
Xue Xian shook his head, causing the marble to roll a little. “I know everything I need to know.”
Lu Shijiu then looked at the others. “What about you?”
Hearing this, Xuanmin picked Xue Xian up and placed him back into the pouch. As the marble slipped from Xuanmin’s cool fingers, Xue Xian thought, If only I had arms to reach out with, I could hold on for just a little longer…
Unfortunately, the marble was smooth and round and rolled right to the bottom of the pouch, and thus the dragon-meat stew started boiling away again.
Having dealt with the golden marble, Xuanmin pulled out a folded sheet of paper from his lapels. It was the same brushstroke-packed sheet he’d unfolded in Guiyun Hall. There were characters and even rough sketches. Some had been jotted down hastily, while others were written in neat rows.
He handed it to Lu Shijiu without unfolding it, but the corner of the folded sheet was exposed, revealing the characters written there: Find them.
“I wish to know who gave me this piece of paper, please,” Xuanmin said in a low voice.
Lu Nianqi took another three silver pieces from him in accordance with his rules. Lu Shijiu looked at the paper while touching the twigs to the ground, letting them write.
Though Xue Xian was tucked back in the pouch, he was curious about Xuanmin. As his mind had yet to broil away, he perked up his ears, listening to the voices outside.
After a moment, just as Xue Xian’s mind was starting to melt again, he heard Lu Shijiu’s voice drift in. “You did.”
Xue Xian didn’t know what to say. He had the fortune teller divine the paper he’d left for himself? There was definitely something wrong with him.
Wait! That reminded Xue Xian of what Jiang Shining had mentioned earlier: The scent that clung to Xuanmin was reminiscent of medicine used to treat dissociation.
Could this bald donkey really be an amnesiac?! If so, he’s too fucking good at acting normal!
Just like Xue Xian, both Jiang Shining and Lu Nianqi could not help staring at Xuanmin. But Jiang Shining felt that he was being rude, so he hurriedly turned away, trying to wipe all thoughts from his mind.
Xuanmin didn’t return their stares, seeming oblivious to them. His expression as composed as ever, he asked Lu Shijiu, “Are you sure no one else has touched it?”
Lu Shijiu ran his hands over the ground again to check, then nodded. “No one else.”
“Thank you very much.” Xuanmin returned the gesture.
Now that the divinations were over, Lu Nianqi spoke up. “You’ve been away from home for half a month, all because you fell into this accursed place, huh?”
But Lu Shijiu didn’t seem to hear. He pointed to the door behind himself. “We can’t leave the way we came. We have to go through here.”
Lu Nianqi glared at him, frustrated, then walked off to the side.
Lu Shijiu disregarded his brother and pressed forward, down the hallway toward the door that led deeper into the tomb. Old Man Liu followed him, and the two walked a few steps before looking back at Xuanmin and the others.