Chapter 561: A Reunion with an Old Acquaintance
The drinker recognized the boy as a child from a neighboring household and asked curiously, “Who gave this to you?”
“Some older brother. Don’t know him.” The boy turned and ran off as soon as he finished speaking, his mouth still bulging with food. He had earned only three pieces of crisp candy for the errand and had no interest in standing around chatting with the man.
The drinker took the slip of paper and glanced at it. It was no wider than two fingers, and on it was written only one sentence: “Shouldn’t you be returning the turtle pearl to me by now?”
The message was so lacking in context that it left him completely baffled.
He cast a suspicious glance down the alley, then drew back into the courtyard and shut the door.
His companion asked, “Who was it outside?”
“No idea. Someone had a child deliver a note for Tong Wei.”
The inner room door creaked open, and someone came striding out in haste. “Give it to me.”
The man wore a face covering, and his voice was slightly hoarse.
He snatched the note from the drinker’s hand, read it twice, and his eyebrow rose.
The drinker asked, “Is it really for you?”
“What business is that of yours?” The man turned and hurried back inside, slamming the door behind him.
From beginning to end, he had not looked at either of them even once.
The drinker opened his mouth as if to say something, then stopped.
His companion tugged at his sleeve. “Forget it. It’s not as if this is the first day that oddball’s had a strange temper. Come on, come on, just sit down and keep drinking.”
Back in his room, the eccentric man inspected the note over and over, even holding it up to the light twice before finally setting it on the table. Then he picked up several bottles, mixing the powders and liquids inside them until he had produced a pungent, glue-like paste, which he spread over the paper.
Very soon, several more characters emerged on what had originally appeared to be the blank back side of the note: “Sister Chen’s Fish Soup.”
One of the shops in the front row of street-facing stores bore exactly that sign.
The man let out a soft sound, sat down, and thought things through carefully before finally pushing open the door and heading out.
* * *
For a neighborhood shop, the name Sister Chen’s Fish Soup went straight to the soul. One look at the sign, and any diner would know immediately what the establishment’s specialty was.
The shop was small. Only three small tables could even fit inside, and they could maybe barely fit in two more parties if they set up a couple of tables outside.
The customers sat on low stools, and one had to hunch forward to eat.
He Lingchuan was currently maintaining exactly that posture.
When the three smoking dishes and one steaming soup were brought over, the man he was waiting for happened to arrive as well.
He Lingchuan had thoughtfully chosen the innermost table. The newcomer sat down with his back to the street and casually pulled off his face covering, revealing a lower half of the face twisted and melted as though it were wax.
Yes, this man was none other than Dong Rui.
The moment He Lingchuan saw that face, he propped his forehead on one hand.
“Give me a moment.”
An appetite killer, truly.
Dong Rui said coldly, “If you don’t want to look, then get lost.”
“It’s been a while. I need time to readjust.” He Lingchuan personally ladled him a bowl of fish soup. “Come. For the sake of all those good times back in the swamp, let’s drain this bowl.”
The crucian carp soup was milky white and fragrant enough to make one’s mouth water.
Since Sister Chen had made it her signature dish, she clearly had some real skill.
Dong Rui accepted the bowl. He had intended to tip his head back and gulp it down in one go, but the moment he lowered his face toward it, he nearly scalded the skin right off his mouth. He almost sprayed out what he had already swallowed.
After finally forcing it down, he switched to taking small, careful sips.
The inside of his mouth burned so badly it felt ready to explode.
During all this, He Lingchuan had already poured himself a cup of wine and taken a drink, letting out a deeply satisfied “Ah.”
Damn it.
Dong Rui stared at him in silence, that old blood-pressure-spiking sensation from the past rising straight back up.
What “good times in the swamp”? The whole thing had been unbearable from start to finish.
He said darkly, “What do you want with me?”
“We still have business to handle in Lingxu City, remember?” He Lingchuan reminded him. “Lady Two?”
Back then, he and Dong Rui had both accepted a mission from Zhu Erniang. They were to locate her monster immortal shell in Lingxu City.
When Dong Rui left Demon Nest Swamp, he had left He Lingchuan an address and an alias for use in Lingxu City before heading out ahead of him.
And since He Lingchuan prided himself on keeping his word, the moment he arrived in Lingxu City, he set about finding his old companion to discuss what to do next. The only problem was that when he reached Dong Rui’s door, he discovered he was not alone.
To be safe, He Lingchuan had arranged to meet him outside instead.
The note trick was an old one. Dong Rui had used it so often in Demon Nest Swamp that he had practically worn it out.
“I remember.” Dong Rui picked up a piece of stir-fried duck offal with his chopsticks. “I gave her my word too. But I’m tied up at the moment, so you’ll have to wait a few more days.”
Besides the fish soup, Sister Chen’s specialty was stir-frying various chicken, duck, and pork offal. Organ meat was the cheapest of all. Once properly cleaned, tossed in oil, and mixed with seasonings, it came out irresistibly fragrant and made the perfect accompaniment to alcohol.
Of course, the most important part about them was that they were inexpensive.
Naturally, the little places hidden away in back alleys were always the ones serving the everyday food ordinary people could actually afford.
He Lingchuan asked, “What exactly did Zhu Erniang promise you that made you willing to come all the way here and do this for her?”
The Beijia Empire was a colossus. Lingxu City, moreover, sat directly beneath the gods’ gaze. And Dong Rui’s wanted notice had only recently been revoked, finally allowing him to enjoy his hard-won freedom again. Just how great a price had Zhu Erniang offered to make him come to Lingxu City and stir up trouble?
True, both of them had agreed under Zhu Erniang’s coercion to help her seize her molted shell. But in this world, was there any shortage of people and promises that turned out to be worthless?
Before moving forward, He Lingchuan needed to confirm that Dong Rui had not changed his mind or changed sides.
Otherwise, there would be no point in keeping in contact, and he would have to look elsewhere for help.
Dong Rui had learned a little caution this time. He blew on the fish soup before drinking it. “No matter the size or strength of the monster puppets I create, there’s always one flaw I’ve never been able to eliminate, and that’s how short their lifespan is. At best, they live a little over ten years. At worst, less than three months.”
“After all, divine blood is not something monsters of the present era can fully bear. The ghost ape is my most successful creation, but every few months, the blood poison reverses course in its body, making it suffer terribly. It’s nearly at its limit now as well. The power of divine blood is itself an unbearable burden, and that is something I cannot solve for them.”
So that’s the case.
“If a monster puppet breaks down, you can always make another one,” said He Lingchuan. Otherwise, why call them puppets at all?
“You’re cold-blooded!” Dong Rui glared at him. “Monster puppets are more lovable than most humans in this world, and you casually say they can simply be discarded?”
He Lingchuan rubbed his nose. “Come, eat!”
“Every monster puppet is unique. They’re far more precious than commonplace humans littering the world!” Dong Rui never missed a chance to take a swipe. “Zhu Erniang said she could solve this problem for me.”
“And how is she supposed to do that?”
“There are still several egg sacs left in her shell. Within them remains the concentrated monster essence of the Ancient Era. That can help me neutralize the side effects of divine blood. If I can get those, the lifespans of my monster puppets should extend by at least several times over, and they’ll suffer much less in ordinary times as well.”
He Lingchuan understood. The greater monsters of the Ancient Era had been the main force resisting the heavenly gods. The spider immortal had been immensely powerful in that era, and opposing a bit of divine blood would not have posed much of a problem.
For someone like Dong Rui, who regarded his research as life itself, the spider monster’s shell was an irresistible temptation.
Once he understood that, He Lingchuan felt rather reassured.
“So, has the snail toad still not recovered from its injuries?”
The moment those words left He Lingchuan’s mouth, Dong Rui froze. His eyes, when he looked over, were full of utter shock. “How do you...?”
His second reaction was to look around for the shopkeeper, only to discover that Sister Chen had already gone outside to drink with a regular customer after finishing the stir-fry.
There was only their table left in the shop, and they were speaking in extremely low voices.
“How do I know?” He Lingchuan leisurely picked up a slice of pork kidney, glossy with oil and cut in a decorative pattern. “Because I was the one who injured it. No, that’s not quite right. I was the one who blew it up, so of course I know.”
Dong Rui stared at him for a long while before finally finding his voice again, “Could you not, just once, leave my monster puppets alone?!”
Almost every single instance of him losing a monster puppet had been connected to this man.
Every single one!
How had even the snail toad fallen victim to this damned man?
“I didn’t know it was one of yours either.” He Lingchuan sighed. “It was only after I figured out what it really was that I remembered something you told me back in the swamp, that you once built a monster puppet for someone else in exchange for help escaping Beijia.”
Dong Rui looked heartsick. “Then why did you have to attack it?!”
“The monster puppet you made was carrying Snail Dwelling, the treasure lost by the Spring Palace more than ten years ago—yes, that very thing, the thick snail shell on its back—and it was committing crimes all across Chiyan territory. By sheer coincidence, I had been entrusted by the Crown Prince of Chiyan to investigate the case and hunt down the culprit.” He Lingchuan spread both hands. “Tell me, how could I not hit it?”
Investigating the case? He Lingchuan is the investigator?
Dong Rui shot to his feet.
But He Lingchuan moved faster, raising one hand to press down on his shoulder. “Easy now.”
The force behind that hand was immense. Dong Rui found himself unable to move at all.
He tried to brush He Lingchuan’s wrist aside, but the latter had already withdrawn his arm and jabbed like lightning beneath his ribs. “Don’t start. I’m not here to make trouble for you.”
Half of Dong Rui’s body went numb at once, and his breathing nearly seized up. He knew He Lingchuan had cut off his circulation of qi and blood, if only for an instant.
This brat’s strength has improved again. How infuriating.
He Lingchuan said quickly, “That case has already been handed over to someone else. What happens next has nothing to do with me, and I won’t expose you.”
Dong Rui was only half-convinced. “Who took over?”
“The Heavenly Palace.”
The color drained from Dong Rui’s face at once, and his already hoarse voice turned harsher still. “How did it end up with the Heavenly Palace?”
He Lingchuan countered, “Do you know exactly what the snail toad did?”
Dong Rui shook his head. “The moment I arrived in Lingxu, I took over its treatment. It was badly injured, and the wounds had been left too long. It took a tremendous amount of effort just to stabilize it and get it showing signs of improvement. Even now, it still needs regular care.” He paused, then added, “Before you came, I’d only gone out a few times.”
He Lingchuan sometimes forgot just how much of a shut-in this man really was. “The snail toad isn’t here?”
“No. This place is too small, and the environment is all wrong.” The house he was staying at was tiny; if he raised his voice, the neighbors would hear. It was no place for keeping an aberrant creature, especially when toads were not quiet by nature. Besides, the snail toad was amphibious and best suited to a muddy, damp environment.
“The two men in your courtyard, where did they come from?”
“They were sent by the snail toad’s owner. Officially, they’re here to help out. In truth, they’re useless. At most, they can buy things for me.”
He Lingchuan pressed further, “The snail toad’s owner, is his name Mai Xuewen?”
Dong Rui blinked. “His surname is indeed Mai. Tall and thin, looks scholarly, but there’s something gloomy in his eyes.”
That fits Mai Xuewen perfectly. He Lingchuan fell into thought before saying, “Back then, was he the one who helped you escape Beijia?”
Dong Rui gave him a wary look. “Didn’t you say you weren’t investigating the case anymore?”
He Lingchuan smiled and said, “I’m no longer investigating it for the authorities. But I still need to know what’s going on.” In his current situation, every scrap of information was another sliver of leverage.
