Chapter 826: Chapter 614: Three Yin Days_2
"No," Xiang Fengchen presented another piece of silver, significantly heavier than the previous one, "Mr. Ji, please take your time to remember. We’re not in a rush."
"Ah, you see, it just came back to me." The old storyteller slapped his forehead as he pocketed the silver, a look of sudden realization on his face.
"It was a foreigner, spoke with a bit of an accent, seemed somewhat scholarly, though not as much as myself of course, much more capable than the average person, though. If he could have dedicated himself wholeheartedly to the world of literature, I’m afraid he would have gained some notable achievements. Unfortunately, like me, he was born in the wrong era..." The storyteller rambled on, mostly praising himself, providing very little information of value to Yang Xiao and his partner, which only fueled the anger that had been building within Yang Xiao.
"Elder, that foreigner is a friend of ours. Could you be more specific?" Xiang Fengchen also suppressed his anger, trying to coax more information politely, "Where did you meet him, and what did you talk about? To be honest, we just spoke with the hunchbacked waiter at the restaurant. He said it was you who asked him to act out the scene and that the promised reward was also arranged by you."
"Oh?" With a snap, the storyteller opened his fan and began to gently wave it, leaning back in his chair with an air of contentment, "Is that so?"
"Motherf..." Yang Xiao abruptly stood up, grabbed the old man’s fan and tore it in half, then seized the old man’s face and pulled it outward with force.
"It hurts! It hurts!!" The storyteller was caught off guard, his air of superiority completely gone, "Please... Stop!"
"You ungrateful old man, giving you face and you don’t take it!!" Yang Xiao reached out and tore open the old man’s clothes, took out all the silver and copper coins without leaving a single coin, and then threw him back into the chair, "Now, answer me question by question, or else... I’ll beat you to death!"
After this ordeal, the storyteller became much more compliant. Yang Xiao took a deep breath and complained to Xiang Fengchen, "What’s the point of talking nonsense with him?"
"Next time I’ll listen to you," Xiang Fengchen said, not to be trifled with, and he gave the storyteller a warning before asking further.
The following events unfolded surprisingly smoothly. The storyteller cooperated fully, spilling everything he knew. This so-called "Loyal Twelve Generals" story was entirely concocted by the mysterious foreigner, who had given him silver to publicly narrate it at the restaurant, and specifically instructed him to find someone to play the fool and follow his script.
In short, the hunchbacked waiter had been found by the storyteller, and the old man was merely acting on what the mysterious foreigner had told him to do.
Unfortunately, the old man knew very little about the foreigner. He had run into the man on the street three nights ago while on his way home. It was only because of the silver that he had agreed to tell the story, and the story sounded like a good one at that; it was an opportunity to get both free silver and a good story—which was a rare find.
However, during the process of helping the old man remember, he managed to recall some details. First, the person had an unusual smell, not just bad but with a faint hint of blood, which likely meant he was wounded.
Moreover, he probably had only one arm, since the old man felt an empty sleeve when the man reached for the silver.
These two points immediately helped Yang Xiao lock onto the identity of the mysterious person—he was the old beggar who had saved Fang Zhou yesterday.
"He was also blind," Yang Xiao tried to confirm.
"No, absolutely not," the storyteller shook his head with certainty, pleading, "Gentlemen... Gentlemen, believe me, he was a foreigner, he couldn’t be a blind man wandering the streets, and besides, if he was blind, how could he have recognized me?"
Yang Xiao took a deep breath, the image of the beggar from the Land Temple surfacing in his mind. It seemed that they had been deceived yesterday, failing to recognize the true Buddha.
What Yang Xiao couldn’t understand was why the depiction on the wanted poster didn’t resemble the old beggar at all. Could it be that this "rebel party" had accomplices?
"The story has a second part, tell us now, and make it quick!" Xiang Fengchen, having discovered how to deal with the storyteller, was no longer patient and threatened.
"Don’t rush, my dear patrons, let’s continue from where we left off, it goes like this..."
"Smack!"
Annoyed as he was, Xiang Fengchen delivered a slap, "Cut the crap, just tell us the important parts!"
"This next act is called ’The Crown Prince Switcheroo.’ This Old Master He is not a heartless and ungracious man; on the contrary, he is a true hero. He used his own son’s life to save the bandit young master’s life. The whole thing was orchestrated by him and the other eleven guards."
"Including the death of everyone at the end, only in such a way could the performance appear real and convincing. To not reveal any flaws, they burned his own son, who was dressed in the young master’s clothes, alive. That’s how they deceived the skies and tricked the other group of bandits," the storyteller rattled off without any hesitation.
Actually, upon hearing the sobs of "Old Master He’s" wife in the dead of night, Yang Xiao had vaguely guessed the outcome, and now it was finally confirmed.
If one were to deduce the end of the story from all this, it meant that the Old Marquis had not betrayed his former master. He had traded his own younger son for the similarly aged Ninth Prince, and for this deed, he had been ennobled as Marquis Zhongyi. Yet for the same reason, he was also subjected to the scorn of thousands, bearing the stigma of disloyalty.
At the same time, the identity of that venerable ancestor in the family had also become apparent; all the previous anomalies now had their explanations.
No wonder he was treated with imperial honors, fearless of the crime of presumption. As the sole survivor of the previous emperor, once he turned the tides of war and snatched victory from defeat, he would be the new emperor, the sovereign above millions!
But that was, after all, the previous dynasty. In the present, the people in the Earl Mansion were undoubtedly members of the rebel party. Once discovered, extermination of the entire household would be too light a punishment.
"Did he tell you where to find him?" Xiang Fengchen pressed on.
"Well..." The storyteller hesitated.
"F*ck me..." Yang Xiao rose to his feet.
"No, no, please..." Terrified, the storyteller shuddered, frantically waving his hands in entreaty, "Please, young hero, no violence. He didn’t tell me that, but he... he said two lines to me in the end, told me... told me to remember them well. I have no idea why."
"What did he say?"
"Dark days, dark rain, dark hours pass, before the Immortal Temple, discern right from wrong," the storyteller recited word by word, terrified of making any mistake that could bring him undeserved trouble.
"Is that all?"
"That’s all, really."
Looking at the storyteller’s pitiable state, Yang Xiao believed he was probably telling the truth. After pondering over these two lines, Xiang Fengchen also seemed to grasp their profound mystery. He stood up to leave and did not forget to instruct the storyteller to keep his mouth shut, while leaving a silver piece on the table.
Stepping out of the house, the two met up with Nolan Shuo and Jiang Qingluan, who had been waiting in the back alley, and then departed from Chunhe House. They quickly shared the information given by the storyteller on the road.
"What’s the mystery behind those two lines?" Yang Xiao asked in a low voice.
"Dark days, dark rain, dark hours, are extremely rare triple yin days in divination, also known as the Great Dark Days. This predecessor is suggesting that we use the Divine Turtle Shell for divination on such days," Xiang Fengchen explained softly.
"What can be divined?" asked Jiang Qingluan.
"I don’t know," Xiang Fengchen answered bluntly.
"Will there be triple yin days in the days to come?" Yang Xiao suddenly realized this critical issue, especially since Xiang Fengchen had just mentioned how rare such weather was.
"No," Xiang Fengchen shook his head, "so we must create our own opportunity. The triple yin days are but a metaphor, a rare convergence of yin energy. We needn’t stick strictly to the weather or the hour; as long as we find a place with enough yin energy, we can do the divination."
"That well?" Yang Xiao suggested.
"No good, not to mention that place has already been suppressed—even if it hadn’t been, it would still not be enough, far from it," Xiang Fengchen shook his head.
"It looks like there’s only one place left; we must seek out the ancestor from the Earl Mansion," Nolan Shuo took a deep breath.
"And we can only go at night," Xiang Fengchen added softly.
