Chapter 6
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Ah Nuo
Sheng Yuanyao’s questions remained unanswered.
While the exact date of Young Master Huo Qi’s death could be ascertained, the old Daoist priest of Danxia Temple lived in a secluded mountain, with sparse incense offerings and such a long time having passed. No one could clearly say when the Daoist boy had appeared by the old Daoist’s side.
Let alone a precise date, even whether he was disabled or not, no one could say.
Who would remember an irrelevant person from ten years ago…?
However, Lu Xingzhou had a Xiazhou accent, possessed the land deed to Danxia Temple, and could refine elixirs. He was most likely that Daoist boy from back then. If he was also Young Master Huo Qi, then the Huo family murder case could almost be declared solved. Sheng Yuanyao could practically imagine a complete drama of grudges and vengeance.
Unfortunately, no clear link could be found between the Daoist boy and Young Master Huo Qi. Solving a case couldn’t rely on speculation.
In terms of age, there was also some discrepancy between Lu Xingzhou and Young Master Huo Qi. If Young Master Huo Qi were alive, he would be eighteen this year; Lu Xingzhou was nineteen. He was able to exchange the land deed, and his identity papers were perfectly legitimate. Of course, one couldn’t rule out forgery, but this would be difficult to prove. Crucially, Sheng Yuanyao knew many members of the Huo family, and Lu Xingzhou did not resemble them.
Sheng Yuanyao spent several days investigating and questioning, with this being the only progress.
In short, based on the surface evidence, Lu Xingzhou indeed had no connection whatsoever to the Huo family murder case.
She stood up, feeling a bit weary, and left the Demon Suppressing Bureau, heading directly towards the Huo manor. According to her subordinates’ reports, Lu Xingzhou had been busy with renovations at the Danxia Gang’s old site for the past few days. She felt she absolutely had to meet Lu Xingzhou; there were a great many things she wanted to ask him.
But before she had walked two blocks, she saw a chubby-faced little Daoist boy sitting at the entrance of a sundry shop on the street corner.
The little Daoist boy sat there, his hands tucked into his sleeves, a pair of dark lenses perched on his nose, almost obscuring half his face. Beside him stood a small banner, inscribed with “Fortune Telling by Character Analysis and Divination.”
Let alone asking for a divination, just the sight of this scene alone was enough to make people burst out laughing.
Sheng Yuanyao’s stifled mood of the past few days suddenly brightened considerably. She sauntered over with a smile and squatted in front of the little Daoist boy. “Hey, why are you here all alone?”
The little Daoist boy stuck out his index finger, pushed the dark lenses down a bit, and peeked over them at Sheng Yuanyao. “Pretty big sister, it’s you! Want your fortune told?”
Sheng Yuanyao chuckled. “By the way, I haven’t even asked your name. What are you called?”
“My name is Ah Nuo (阿糯), as in nuò for glutinous rice.”
“You’re dressed as a Daoist child. Shouldn’t you use a Daoist name?”
“Ah Nuo is my Daoist name! My full name is Nuomi Tuanzi (糯米团子 – Glutinous Rice Ball), and my surname is Lu!”
Sheng Yuanyao almost burst out laughing. Her biggest impulse right now was to pinch the little child’s face, but unfortunately, their relationship wasn’t at that level, and she still had to maintain the dignified air of a Demon Suppressing Bureau Commander…
Seeing her reaction, Ah Nuo scratched his head. “What, can’t Ah Nuo be a Daoist name?”
“Yes, yes, of course it can. Hmm… Venerable Ah Nuo, where’s your Master?”
Ah Nuo, having been called “Venerable,” was very happy. “Master’s repairing the house. I came out to earn some extra money.”
Sheng Yuanyao was rather speechless. “You just had a huge windfall; you’re not poor. Why do you seem so desperate for money, needing a child like you to help support the household? Isn’t Lu Xingzhou afraid something will happen?”
Ah Nuo put his hands on his hips. “Ah Nuo is very capable! I can help Master a lot!”
Sheng Yuanyao still smiled. “So, how many times have you opened for business?”
Ah Nuo chuckled apologetically. “Only waiting for a fated (有缘 – yǒuyuán) person.”
“Then am I your fated person?”
Ah Nuo blinked his big eyes.
Who knows if she’s fated? Ah Nuo only knows about the ‘yuan’ from ‘yuanbao’ (元宝 – silver ingot/treasure). This big sister definitely has some.
Sheng Yuanyao laughed. “How much for a reading? How about you tell my fortune?”
Ah Nuo’s eyes immediately lit up. “One liang of silver! Just one liang!”
One liang of silver is very expensive… Who would be such a fool to pay a child like this one liang for a fortune-telling!
But Sheng Yuanyao actually pulled out a liang of broken silver and smiled. “Tell me about my marriage prospects?”
It was more like teasing a child than genuinely seeking a fortune.
Sure enough, a fated person with money! Ah Nuo snatched the silver, grinning. “Big sister actually has no intention of looking for marriage. Her elders at home are quite keen on urging her to marry, and that’s one reason Big Sister fled to Xiazhou.”
Sheng Yuanyao’s smile froze on her face.
She had multiple reasons for coming to Xiazhou, but undeniably, avoiding her family’s urging to marry and arrange marriages was a significant one! And no one outside her immediate family knew this reason!
Was it truly divined? Without even analyzing characters, without looking at palm lines, without needing calculations, just by looking at her face?
A bit outrageous…
Her expression turned serious. “Then what? Where is my destined partner?”
Ah Nuo looked Sheng Yuanyao up and down again for a long time. His expression, hidden by the sunglasses, also turned a bit odd, and he scratched his chubby head in confusion.
Sheng Yuanyao’s heart actually tightened. “Well?”
Ah Nuo gave an awkward laugh. “Big sister, don’t worry. You will definitely marry the one your heart desires in the future. It’s just… it’s just that you might have a few sisters.”
Sheng Yuanyao was expressionless.
Bullshit.
With my status and position, would my future husband dare to take concubines?
I’d hack him to death!
Ah Nuo carefully glanced at her and quietly hid the silver securely. He could guess what this big sister was thinking… But Big Sister, is there a possibility that your ‘Spouse Palace’ (夫妻宫 – a term in face reading/astrology for marriage prospects) doesn’t look like that of a main wife…?
Sheng Yuanyao expressionlessly pulled out another large silver ingot. Ah Nuo’s eyes gleamed, about to grab it, but Sheng Yuanyao suddenly pulled it back. “Though your marriage fortune-telling was utterly inaccurate, if you can divine who the killer in the Huo manor case is, this silver is yours.”
Ah Nuo chuckled apologetically. “No one can divine such a hexagram. At most, I can tell you some clues.”
“Then clues.”
Ah Nuo counted on his fingers for a long time, muttering, “A vengeful spirit seeking retribution… someone who has done too many harmful deeds.”
Sheng Yuanyao retrieved the silver ingot and replaced it with a liang of broken silver.
Ah Nuo was on the verge of tears. “Big sister, don’t rush, there are more clues, more clues… Hmm, calamity arising from within the family.”
Sheng Yuanyao narrowed her eyes and suddenly asked, “How much do you know about your Master’s past at Danxia Temple?”
Ah Nuo shook his head. “I don’t know! I’m only six! Master never talked about things from so long ago.”
“…Didn’t you also know that a sow named Little Blossom was buried there?”
“That’s what I heard when Master was secretly laughing at Gang Leader Liu.”
“Hmm… Where have you two been living these past few years?”
“In the south, on Miaoyin Mountain (妙音山 – Wonderful Sound Mountain). Master found me and raised me. Master’s legs weren’t convenient, and he was bullied, so he brought me back to his hometown.” Ah Nuo said tearfully, “But then, less than half a year after coming back, he got bullied again.”
Sheng Yuanyao remained silent.
Lu Xingzhou being abandoned by the Danxia Gang, though he retaliated effectively on the spot, was indeed essentially being bullied.
If he picked up Ah Nuo as an infant and raised him until now, considering he himself would have only been thirteen back then… It must have been truly difficult all these years. No wonder both master and disciple seemed to have money on their minds; how else would they have survived to this age and supported their cultivation without finding ways to earn money?
Sheng Yuanyao thought for a moment and felt there was nothing specific she needed to ask Lu Xingzhou directly. Assuming he was the killer, direct questioning would surely yield nothing; that fellow wasn’t as honest as a six-year-old child. She would have to consider approaching it indirectly.
Thinking this, she said, “Then go back and tell your Master that I have a patient with madness. Please ask him to treat the illness. If he can truly cure it, the price is negotiable.”
Ah Nuo brightened. “Okay! I’ll go tell Master right away!”
Having said that, he scampered into the sundry shop behind him, holding up the broken silver and placing it on the counter, which was about as tall as him. “Two jin of ‘wife cakes,’ please! No wife, can I get a discount?”
Sheng Yuanyao finally burst out laughing.
“Wife cakes” apparently didn’t come with a discount. Ah Nuo, with a long face, carried two jin of cakes and dashed back to the Danxia Gang’s original site—which had been mostly renovated these past few days. Since the Heavenly Sword Sect was renting it, it would probably be called the Heavenly Sword Sect starting tomorrow, or perhaps a different merchant guild name.
Currently, the Heavenly Sword Sect members hadn’t moved in yet, and the large manor was filled with workers replacing beams and painting. Lu Xingzhou had established an alchemy room in a corner for himself and was currently refining elixirs.
Ah Nuo ran in, laughing from afar. “Master, I earned two liang of silver today!”
Lu Xingzhou, watching the alchemy fire, smiled faintly. “Sheng Yuanyao’s business?”
“Yes, yes!” Ah Nuo put the cakes aside and smiled. “Big Sister Sheng wants you to treat an illness. Are you going?”
“Of course I’m going.”
“But Master…”
“What?”
“Aren’t you giving away too many clues? Aren’t you really afraid of getting arrested?”
“If it were a local veteran, they would have already arrested me for a harsh interrogation or even tortured a confession out of me. But it’s Sheng Yuanyao,” Lu Xingzhou said leisurely. “The Sheng family has been in the Demon Suppressing Bureau for generations. Sheng Yuanyao is newly appointed and still has her youthful idealism; she still adheres to due process. Without any evidence, she won’t act rashly. That’s why as soon as I heard Sheng Yuanyao was here to ‘gild herself,’ I knew the opportunity for action had arrived.”
“Then aren’t you afraid Big Sister Sheng will really find out it was you? I think she’s very smart and diligent.”
“But wasn’t it you who killed the people?”
Ah Nuo: “…”
Lu Xingzhou laughed. “Actually, the clues I’m leaking to her have little to do with us. They simply prove my lineage from the Daoist temple. As for the killer, I’m constantly guiding her to think about Huo Shang. I want her to inform the Huo family in the capital about the possibility that Huo Shang isn’t dead.”
“Why do you want them to think Huo Shang isn’t dead? Just to shift the blame?”
“If only some servants died, the Huo family would probably only send a steward to handle it, which is meaningless. But if Huo Shang appears, then members of the Huo family itself will surely come.” Lu Xingzhou looked at the furnace fire, the flames reflected in his pupils, as if there was fire burning in his eyes. “The hope for curing my legs, and the Huo family’s hell, will both begin from this point.”
“What if they insist you are Huo Shang?”
“However, I am indeed not Huo Shang. No amount of testing will prove otherwise.” Lu Xingzhou smiled faintly. “Of course, if they truly believe that, there could be other benefits.”
“What about Big Sister Shen Tang and her group?”
“If they truly are the remnant forces of the Heavenly Sword Sect, they would make a very useful group of enforcers…” Lu Xingzhou paused here, a slight frown on his face. “But I highly doubt if they are truly the Heavenly Sword Sect.”
– Mochinuna.
