The Night Watcher of Great Jing - Chapter 73

The turmoil surrounding the White Lotus Sect continued.

One lead branched into countless others, keeping the entire Jingning Guard in a frenzy.

The children sent to medical clinics for treatment were gradually collected by their families.

Cuixiang came to the Pacification Office with her parents and her rescued younger brother, Hutou, to find Zhao Li.

Zhao Li was not there, so the family kowtowed three times before the Bian’an statue outside the gates.

Before leaving, they gave the office plenty of farm-dried eggplant strips and preserved vegetables, as well as two fat hens.

Zhao Li knew nothing about this. She was at the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, trying to poach one of their people.

The young man who had performed spirit writing that day was named Qin Lang.

The strange events surrounding him had been reported by the local branch of the Imperial Astronomical Bureau.

The wife riding on his neck was not something an ordinary person could handle.

They could neither shout at nor strike someone in his condition. Nor could they allow him to remain outside and risk causing some disaster.

With no other choice, they had him live in seclusion within the Imperial Astronomical Bureau.

When the children went missing that day, Qin Lang had eagerly helped with the search.

He was plainly not a bad man.

For a good person to live in seclusion year after year without seeing anyone was cruel.

The Night Watch Bureau urgently needed talented people, so Zhao Li shamelessly came to poach him.

“A-Li, wouldn’t everything be easier if you joined our Imperial Astronomical Bureau instead?”

Her attempt to steal one of his people seemed to have provoked Daoist Xuanxu all over again.

With Shen Yan absent to watch him, the old Daoist clung to her like sticky candy and began endlessly trying to persuade her.

“You’re so annoying, Perfected One,” Zhao Li said bluntly.

Some time ago, she might have considered changing jobs.

But she had only just worked her way up to Thousand-Household Commander, and she needed only a little more experience to advance beyond Jingning Guard Minion.

If she changed professions now, all her previous work might be wasted.

Would all those scallion pancakes she had rolled have been for nothing?

Besides, she had developed some affection for the people in the Guard. If she dared run away…

For some reason, Shen Yan’s beautiful eyes flashed through Zhao Li’s mind.

That overprotective patriarch would probably cross a thousand mountains and ten thousand rivers just to pin her down.

The thought made Zhao Li inexplicably nervous.

Talking as they walked, the two reached the courtyard where Qin Lang lived alone.

The gate stood open. Qin Lang was bent over in the courtyard, scrubbing clothes.

He heard Zhao Li and Daoist Xuanxu talking and saw them approach. He seemed delighted.

Wiping his hands on the hem of his robe, he came out to greet them.

“Brother Qin, I’ve come to thank you.”

Rather than immediately state her purpose, Zhao Li raised the two packages in her hands.

One contained a roast chicken wrapped in oiled paper, meant for the living.

The other held incense, wax, spirit paper, and paper clothing Zhao Li had made herself, meant for the dead.

Qin Lang and his wife refused to part even in death. Their lingering obsession ran terribly deep.

If Zhao Li failed to observe every courtesy, she feared the dead woman might remember her as a scheming interloper.

Qin Lang still looked the same.

His back bent beneath its burden, he had to labor to raise his head and look at people. The smile on his face was strange and stiff.

Yet he was genuinely pleased to see Zhao Li and Daoist Xuanxu.

He was usually alone. The chance to speak with people and enjoy normal human contact made him happy.

Smiling, he accepted Zhao Li’s gifts without false modesty. “Thank you, Miss Zhao.”

He invited them inside and asked, “Are those children all right?”

Zhao Li and Daoist Xuanxu followed him into the courtyard.

“They were all saved, thanks in no small part to you, Brother Qin.”

The news plainly delighted Qin Lang. Even his steps grew lighter.

After inviting them inside to sit, he bustled about preparing tea.

But no one usually visited. After searching for a long time, he found only two mismatched bowls and brought them cold water.

His face flushed crimson, and he was about to search again when Zhao Li stopped him.

“There’s no need to trouble yourself, Brother Qin.”

“Bring over the incense, wax, and spirit paper. I’ll teach you how to make proper offerings to your wife.”

An ordinary offering table and worship would have some effect, but adding a few simple techniques made the results far more direct. The dead could enjoy the offerings immediately.

Zhao Li wanted to demonstrate her ability, so she had Qin Lang bring out the incense, candles, and paper clothing, then find brush, paper, and a brazier.

She spread a long sheet of yellow paper across a narrow table, dipped her brush in ink, and drew a remarkably vivid but simple horse and two little men carrying great sabers.

Then she asked for the name of Qin Lang’s wife, A-Rui, and the date of her death.

She wrote both on the yellow paper.

Finally, she used the paper to wrap the candles and clothing and placed everything together in the brazier.

Flames licked across the sheet and quickly consumed the offerings.

Blue smoke rose as they burned away.

The three waited in silence.

When the final tongue of flame died, a cold wind suddenly rose inside the room.

The light seemed to dim in an instant.

Crunch. Crunch.

The sound of biting and chewing filled the room.

Zhao Li tensed. She had not expected A-Rui, the being on Qin Lang’s back, to reveal her presence in broad daylight.

Daoist Xuanxu was startled as well. He instinctively raised a hand toward the point between his brows, but Zhao Li stopped him.

Qin Lang, however, brightened at the sound.

The stiff smile stretched across his face instantly became far more natural.

White flecks of wax drifted down from above like fine snow, scattering across his shoulders.

Within the shifting shadows, Zhao Li saw that the colors and style of the figure’s clothes and tiny shoes had changed.

Sure enough, whether alive or dead, women could not resist good food and new clothes.

Zhao Li had specially prepared the white wax with dried velvet grass grown on graves.

To a supernatural anomaly, it was a genuine delicacy.

Qin Lang’s eyes crinkled with a real smile. He rose and bowed to Zhao Li.

“Miss Zhao, A-Rui is very happy.”

Zhao Li smiled back.

The visit was partly to bring gifts and partly to test the wife on his back.

The more vicious a supernatural anomaly became, the more obsessive it tended to be.

Yet one who still loved food and beautiful clothes clearly retained some of her living personality.

That was good. It suggested stability.

Zhao Li looked at Qin Lang and carefully chose her words.

“Brother Qin, the world is growing more chaotic. The authorities are struggling to respond.”

“It is a shame for an extraordinary person like you to remain confined here forever. Why not come with me to the Jingning Guard?”

Qin Lang had not expected the invitation.

After hesitating for a long time, he shook his head.

“I know A-Rui’s condition. Sometimes when she grows angry, there is nothing I can do. If I leave…”

Unnameable emotions filled his voice. “It would be better for us to stay together in this courtyard.”

Zhao Li understood his concerns.

Here, inside the courtyard, he harmed neither himself nor anyone else.

If he left and A-Rui lost control, however, others might be dragged into the disaster, and Qin Lang himself would meet no good end.

Zhao Li had not expected to persuade him in a single visit.

“I will find a way to control the situation as soon as possible—one that keeps A-Rui from harming anyone without preventing the two of you from staying together.”

“When I do, will you come to the Jingning Guard with me?”

It was no idle promise.

Zhao Li remembered a few basic methods from the Incursion Division in her former life. They were crude and would have to be written down and tested first.

Besides, if all else failed, she still had the system lottery.

Who knew? Perhaps one day she would draw exactly what she needed.