Chapter 6: Gold Ingots (2)
It was actually a narrow door on the side corridor of the patio. Behind the door was a narrow road, sandwiched between the fire walls. It was cramped and awkwardly positioned and could be easily overlooked if you weren’t paying attention.
As soon as Xuan Min finished speaking, a dull clunk emanated from behind the narrow door as if someone had stepped on a piece of loose rock slab, causing it to tilt a little.
Adviser Liu’s expression shifted slightly. He smiled tersely and said, “That’s just an extra room under my house. It’s not in the way, not in the way. Master, why don’t you come—Hiss, why did you come outside?”
He wanted to lead Xuan Min’s gaze back to the main house but just when he was only half done with his sentence, a figure poked out from behind the narrow door.
It was a young man in a thick grey-blue robe. He looked like he was in his early twenties and was probably of the same generation as Xuan Min. However, his behaviour and expressions were extremely odd. He latched onto the wall with two hands and had a timid yet curious expression on his face, rather like a child that hides behind the door to look at visitors.
After being scolded by Adviser Liu, he looked instantly at a loss and shrank back towards the door instinctively. However, he did not shrink all the way and still revealed half of his face.
There wasn’t any bright lantern there nearby and so the man’s features seemed very hazy.
Xue Xian could not see his appearance clearly but his instincts told him that the man’s relationship with Adviser Liu wasn’t simple. He silently whispered to Jiang Shining, “Who is he? Do you recognise him?”
Jiang Shining said witheringly without a single glance, “I’ve never been to the Adviser’s mansion. How would I recognise him?”
Xuan Min frowned at Adviser Liu, who looked obviously uncomfortable, and walked directly towards the narrow door.
“Ah, ah, Master—” Adviser Liu had probably never seen a monk who didn’t treat himself like an outsider and called out, following behind. “He’s no trouble, really. That’s my disappointing eldest son Liu Chong over there. He’s family, nothing to be suspicious of.”
He seemed to be afraid that his eldest son, who looked like he had some problems, would embarrass him. Seeing as he could not stop Xuan Min, he waved his hands at Liu Chong, who was behind the door, as if he was coaxing, yet as if he was shooing him away. “Chong-er, be good. Go and stay in your room. Dad is talking to the master about serious business.”
Hearing him talk like that, he got yet another sweep of Xuan Min’s bland gaze.
Xuan Min’s tone was cold. “There is an Array of Waves of Water into the Hall here. This array requires the East and West to block the wind, North and South to gather the qi, a balance of yin and yang. But the West over here is an outlet of wind.”
Not only that, the south-west corner was gloomy, cramped, and had an undercurrent of yin energy. Clearly not a balanced array.
Hearing his words Xue Xian looked at the dark path after the narrow door, thinking, Either the person Adviser Liu invited was unskilled or…this narrow road was extended upon Adviser Liu’s request afterwards.
Sure enough, Adviser Liu looked uncomfortable immediately after Xuan Min spoke. He opened his mouth awkwardly and said, “To be honest, this narrow road was altered only later.”
While he spoke, Xuan Min had already crossed over the threshold and stood behind the narrow door.
When Liu Chong, the eldest son of Liu Xu, saw that the visitor had come inside, he first shrank a few steps back against the wall and smiled a little shyly at Xuan Min.
Xue Xian noticed that his legs weren’t too agile. They probably weren’t like that due to sickness but they looked incredibly clumsy. Liu Chong wasn’t that bad looking and Xue Xian could tell that he resembled his mom more than his dad. With his pale and wide eyes, he should’ve been the charming sort and would’ve been pleasant to look at when he smiled. But because of his too-childish gaze, his smile had an air of idiocy to it.
Clearly, this Liu Chong was a blockhead.
Before, no matter how Adviser Liu greeted him, be it hard or soft approaches, Xuan Min had always looked as if he wanted to ignore him. Now, facing a giggling child with problems, he seemed to suddenly know a thing called “etiquette”—he nodded to Liu Chong. Even though it was expressionless as ever, it was still more or less a response.
Adviser Liu’s face immediately seemed a little green. Clearly, in Xuan Min’s eyes, he as a county adviser still could not compare to a blockhead.
There was more than just a narrow road behind the door.
Xue Xian hung at the opening of the pocket and looked around. The narrow road wasn’t just a dead end, there was a little unnoticeable room there. The room was extremely simple and at first glance, it seemed as if it might be used for storage. But Xue Xian saw that the blockhead Liu Chong was timidly retreating into that room.
To someone who did not understand much of worldly matters, when they met a stranger, they would only run towards the place they feel the safest in, either to their parents’ side or towards their own room. This was what Xue Xian had picked up when he was wandering the human streets for the past half a year.
Liu Chong undoubtedly belonged to the latter.
Xue Xian immediately thought that Adviser Liu was a strange person—which father would let his own son live in this kind of a place that doesn’t see the light? Was he going to rear his son as if he was a ground rat?
Besides, for some reason, this room was full of yin energy. If not for him seeing with his own eyes that this was a place for living humans to live, Xue Xian would’ve suspected that this was a burial mountain.
Till now, Adviser Liu had been hiding here and there and was probably afraid of Xuan Min seeing this room. But Xuan Min still saw it. That is why he could now only put on his thick old face and explain, “My son has a weird temperament and doesn’t like noise. He always said that he wanted to live in a peaceful place.”
Xue Xian, “...” Bullshit! Why don’t you send him out into the wild graves outside the city? It’s the most peaceful there. Even the yin energy there can’t compare to here.
Hearing this kind of nonsense coming out from his mouth, Adviser Liu himself felt as if it was a bit too much and so he coughed dryly and tried to change the subject. “Master, the outlet of wind that you were referring to, is it this narrow road?”
Xuan Min replied, “And this room.”
“If I get someone to seal the high window on the south side of the room, will the outlet of wind from the West be gone?” asked Adviser Liu.
“Seal it?” Xuan Min repeated in a cold voice and pointed at Liu Chong, frowning, “He doesn’t need to breathe?”
Adviser Liu, “This…inconsideration, inconsideration.”
In just two sentences, Xue Xian’s impression of Adviser Liu had worsened. The eldest son was only mentally challenged and yet the father did not care about whether he lived or died at all.
What was even more ridiculous was that after Adviser Liu was stopped by Xuan Min, he looked helpless. It seemed as if Adviser Liu had never thought that he could have let Liu Chong move out from this room and then seal the outlet of wind.
As the sky brightened, the silhouettes of the other parts of the mansion looked clearer and clearer as if it had been passed through water. However, in only this room, the door lintel remained hazy and gloomy.
Just like Xue Xian, Xuan Min had noticed the abnormal amount of yin energy here.
A good mansion, even if it was located at the south-west corner that usually gathers a lot of yin energy, should not have been as gloomy as it was now. This was strange.
Xuan Min did not spare Adviser Liu a single glance and walked towards that small room.
Silly Liu Chong scratched his head as if he didn’t understand why the visitor had to go inside his room. He stood blankly at one spot then seemed interested all of a sudden, like he had gained a playmate. Supporting himself along the wall, he clumsily followed a few steps and caught up to Xuan Min.
A man who was in his early twenties yet was incapable of being steady on his feet. He stumbled as he walked. Even if he wanted to be side by side with Xuan Min, he could not stay still, he would suddenly be a few steps ahead or suddenly a few feet behind. His gaze, however, was very focused. From the beginning till the end, he stared at Xuan Min’s waist area as if he was seeing some precious and bizzare thing, his eyes not shifting at all.
This blockhead was not looking anywhere else but the opening of the pocket.
Xue Xian, who was lying inside, was so uncomfortable from being looked at that he wanted to explode. Unfortunately, he hadn’t managed to hide himself in time and so couldn’t hide now no matter how much he wanted to. He couldn’t move while this blockhead was still staring now, could he? It would be a small matter if he cried from terror but if he got excitable and couldn’t control himself and did something that couldn’t be stopped, that would be bad.
The room wasn’t too far away. Xuan Min was tall and had long legs and so he arrived in front of the room quickly.
From Xue Xian’s angle, he could see just a little from the slightly open door and was shocked because beside the door were piles of yellow stuff that looked like gold ingots at first glance. But if one looked at it a little longer, they would realise they weren’t real gold ingots but paper folded ones.
As in the kind made from yellow paper, ingots that you fold and burn for the dead!
Xue Xian was still surprised when Liu Chong, who was following behind Xuan Min all this while, said, “Mm…Can I play with this?”
As he spoke, he pointed to Xuan Min’s waist.
Xuan Min looked down at his waist but didn’t know what Liu Chong was referring to.
“The yellow paper.” Liu Chong pointed again.
This time, Xuan Min clearly saw that he was referring to the paper man that was sticking out from the opening of his pocket.
Xue Xian: “……………………………” What the hell? Did this blockhead eat courage? How dare he play with an actual dragon?! Does he still want to live?
What could a blockhead know? Things like paper would be torn in half in his hands, maybe even eight pieces!
Xue Xian imagined all of this for a while and immediately felt an unspeakable pain coming from a certain unspeakable part. Without caring anymore, he retracted one hand back into the pocket and pinched the Baldy through the white hemp, thinking, “Wherever you are, be it in the skies or under the ground, if you dare give me out, I’ll never let you go!”
Xuan Min, “…” How can this vile spawn be this naughty?
Chapter 6: Gold Ingots (2)
It was actually a narrow door on the side corridor of the patio. Behind the door was a narrow road, sandwiched between the fire walls. It was cramped and awkwardly positioned and could be easily overlooked if you weren’t paying attention.
As soon as Xuan Min finished speaking, a dull clunk emanated from behind the narrow door as if someone had stepped on a piece of loose rock slab, causing it to tilt a little.
Adviser Liu’s expression shifted slightly. He smiled tersely and said, “That’s just an extra room under my house. It’s not in the way, not in the way. Master, why don’t you come—Hiss, why did you come outside?”
He wanted to lead Xuan Min’s gaze back to the main house but just when he was only half done with his sentence, a figure poked out from behind the narrow door.
It was a young man in a thick grey-blue robe. He looked like he was in his early twenties and was probably of the same generation as Xuan Min. However, his behaviour and expressions were extremely odd. He latched onto the wall with two hands and had a timid yet curious expression on his face, rather like a child that hides behind the door to look at visitors.
After being scolded by Adviser Liu, he looked instantly at a loss and shrank back towards the door instinctively. However, he did not shrink all the way and still revealed half of his face.
There wasn’t any bright lantern there nearby and so the man’s features seemed very hazy.
Xue Xian could not see his appearance clearly but his instincts told him that the man’s relationship with Adviser Liu wasn’t simple. He silently whispered to Jiang Shining, “Who is he? Do you recognise him?”
Jiang Shining said witheringly without a single glance, “I’ve never been to the Adviser’s mansion. How would I recognise him?”
Xuan Min frowned at Adviser Liu, who looked obviously uncomfortable, and walked directly towards the narrow door.
“Ah, ah, Master—” Adviser Liu had probably never seen a monk who didn’t treat himself like an outsider and called out, following behind. “He’s no trouble, really. That’s my disappointing eldest son Liu Chong over there. He’s family, nothing to be suspicious of.”
He seemed to be afraid that his eldest son, who looked like he had some problems, would embarrass him. Seeing as he could not stop Xuan Min, he waved his hands at Liu Chong, who was behind the door, as if he was coaxing, yet as if he was shooing him away. “Chong-er, be good. Go and stay in your room. Dad is talking to the master about serious business.”
Hearing him talk like that, he got yet another sweep of Xuan Min’s bland gaze.
Xuan Min’s tone was cold. “There is an Array of Waves of Water into the Hall here. This array requires the East and West to block the wind, North and South to gather the qi, a balance of yin and yang. But the West over here is an outlet of wind.”
Not only that, the south-west corner was gloomy, cramped, and had an undercurrent of yin energy. Clearly not a balanced array.
Hearing his words Xue Xian looked at the dark path after the narrow door, thinking, Either the person Adviser Liu invited was unskilled or…this narrow road was extended upon Adviser Liu’s request afterwards.
Sure enough, Adviser Liu looked uncomfortable immediately after Xuan Min spoke. He opened his mouth awkwardly and said, “To be honest, this narrow road was altered only later.”
While he spoke, Xuan Min had already crossed over the threshold and stood behind the narrow door.
When Liu Chong, the eldest son of Liu Xu, saw that the visitor had come inside, he first shrank a few steps back against the wall and smiled a little shyly at Xuan Min.
Xue Xian noticed that his legs weren’t too agile. They probably weren’t like that due to sickness but they looked incredibly clumsy. Liu Chong wasn’t that bad looking and Xue Xian could tell that he resembled his mom more than his dad. With his pale and wide eyes, he should’ve been the charming sort and would’ve been pleasant to look at when he smiled. But because of his too-childish gaze, his smile had an air of idiocy to it.
Clearly, this Liu Chong was a blockhead.
Before, no matter how Adviser Liu greeted him, be it hard or soft approaches, Xuan Min had always looked as if he wanted to ignore him. Now, facing a giggling child with problems, he seemed to suddenly know a thing called “etiquette”—he nodded to Liu Chong. Even though it was expressionless as ever, it was still more or less a response.
Adviser Liu’s face immediately seemed a little green. Clearly, in Xuan Min’s eyes, he as a county adviser still could not compare to a blockhead.
There was more than just a narrow road behind the door.
Xue Xian hung at the opening of the pocket and looked around. The narrow road wasn’t just a dead end, there was a little unnoticeable room there. The room was extremely simple and at first glance, it seemed as if it might be used for storage. But Xue Xian saw that the blockhead Liu Chong was timidly retreating into that room.
To someone who did not understand much of worldly matters, when they met a stranger, they would only run towards the place they feel the safest in, either to their parents’ side or towards their own room. This was what Xue Xian had picked up when he was wandering the human streets for the past half a year.
Liu Chong undoubtedly belonged to the latter.
Xue Xian immediately thought that Adviser Liu was a strange person—which father would let his own son live in this kind of a place that doesn’t see the light? Was he going to rear his son as if he was a ground rat?
Besides, for some reason, this room was full of yin energy. If not for him seeing with his own eyes that this was a place for living humans to live, Xue Xian would’ve suspected that this was a burial mountain.
Till now, Adviser Liu had been hiding here and there and was probably afraid of Xuan Min seeing this room. But Xuan Min still saw it. That is why he could now only put on his thick old face and explain, “My son has a weird temperament and doesn’t like noise. He always said that he wanted to live in a peaceful place.”
Xue Xian, “...” Bullshit! Why don’t you send him out into the wild graves outside the city? It’s the most peaceful there. Even the yin energy there can’t compare to here.
Hearing this kind of nonsense coming out from his mouth, Adviser Liu himself felt as if it was a bit too much and so he coughed dryly and tried to change the subject. “Master, the outlet of wind that you were referring to, is it this narrow road?”
Xuan Min replied, “And this room.”
“If I get someone to seal the high window on the south side of the room, will the outlet of wind from the West be gone?” asked Adviser Liu.
“Seal it?” Xuan Min repeated in a cold voice and pointed at Liu Chong, frowning, “He doesn’t need to breathe?”
Adviser Liu, “This…inconsideration, inconsideration.”
In just two sentences, Xue Xian’s impression of Adviser Liu had worsened. The eldest son was only mentally challenged and yet the father did not care about whether he lived or died at all.
What was even more ridiculous was that after Adviser Liu was stopped by Xuan Min, he looked helpless. It seemed as if Adviser Liu had never thought that he could have let Liu Chong move out from this room and then seal the outlet of wind.
As the sky brightened, the silhouettes of the other parts of the mansion looked clearer and clearer as if it had been passed through water. However, in only this room, the door lintel remained hazy and gloomy.
Just like Xue Xian, Xuan Min had noticed the abnormal amount of yin energy here.
A good mansion, even if it was located at the south-west corner that usually gathers a lot of yin energy, should not have been as gloomy as it was now. This was strange.
Xuan Min did not spare Adviser Liu a single glance and walked towards that small room.
Silly Liu Chong scratched his head as if he didn’t understand why the visitor had to go inside his room. He stood blankly at one spot then seemed interested all of a sudden, like he had gained a playmate. Supporting himself along the wall, he clumsily followed a few steps and caught up to Xuan Min.
A man who was in his early twenties yet was incapable of being steady on his feet. He stumbled as he walked. Even if he wanted to be side by side with Xuan Min, he could not stay still, he would suddenly be a few steps ahead or suddenly a few feet behind. His gaze, however, was very focused. From the beginning till the end, he stared at Xuan Min’s waist area as if he was seeing some precious and bizzare thing, his eyes not shifting at all.
This blockhead was not looking anywhere else but the opening of the pocket.
Xue Xian, who was lying inside, was so uncomfortable from being looked at that he wanted to explode. Unfortunately, he hadn’t managed to hide himself in time and so couldn’t hide now no matter how much he wanted to. He couldn’t move while this blockhead was still staring now, could he? It would be a small matter if he cried from terror but if he got excitable and couldn’t control himself and did something that couldn’t be stopped, that would be bad.
The room wasn’t too far away. Xuan Min was tall and had long legs and so he arrived in front of the room quickly.
From Xue Xian’s angle, he could see just a little from the slightly open door and was shocked because beside the door were piles of yellow stuff that looked like gold ingots at first glance. But if one looked at it a little longer, they would realise they weren’t real gold ingots but paper folded ones.
As in the kind made from yellow paper, ingots that you fold and burn for the dead!
Xue Xian was still surprised when Liu Chong, who was following behind Xuan Min all this while, said, “Mm…Can I play with this?”
As he spoke, he pointed to Xuan Min’s waist.
Xuan Min looked down at his waist but didn’t know what Liu Chong was referring to.
“The yellow paper.” Liu Chong pointed again.
This time, Xuan Min clearly saw that he was referring to the paper man that was sticking out from the opening of his pocket.
Xue Xian: “……………………………” What the hell? Did this blockhead eat courage? How dare he play with an actual dragon?! Does he still want to live?
What could a blockhead know? Things like paper would be torn in half in his hands, maybe even eight pieces!
Xue Xian imagined all of this for a while and immediately felt an unspeakable pain coming from a certain unspeakable part. Without caring anymore, he retracted one hand back into the pocket and pinched the Baldy through the white hemp, thinking, “Wherever you are, be it in the skies or under the ground, if you dare give me out, I’ll never let you go!”
Xuan Min, “…” How can this vile spawn be this naughty?
