novelraw Chapter 23 : Chapter 23
Chapter 23 : Chapter 23
Chapter 23
Seven seas, nine continents, eighteen islands—the mountains and rivers of the universe stretched tens of thousands of li. This picturesque world had also suffered calamity in the distant past. The mountains, rivers, lakes, and seas of today, the sights of the four seasons, had been protected through battles stained with blood.
The turmoil caused by the many Rule Fragments entering now could not be considered a calamity. They could not even harm the universe.
But among them, there were those who harbored such intentions.
Shuang Wenlü held his sword. After taking another leisurely circuit through the mortal world, a stir moved through his mind. He stopped at a tavern to rest.
This was a well-known tavern in the area. What they were most famous for was their home-brewed Four Seasons Wine.
The ingredients for the Four Seasons Wine differed, and even the water used differed. In spring they collected dew, in summer they gathered rain, in autumn they drew from springs, in winter they collected snow. There were flower brews, fruit brews, grain brews, and medicinal brews.
Drunk alone, each was merely a fine but ordinary wine. Yet if one could obtain the tavern’s secret methods and proportions and blend the four together, it became a rare vintage—Four Seasons Wine, a single mouthful containing the flavors of all four seasons.
Some wine lovers tried blending them themselves, but without the tavern’s secret method, combining four unrelated wines only produced a bizarre, strange taste.
More than that, because the four seasons were different every year, the four wines brewed each year also differed. Sometimes the flavors diverged too greatly, and even the tavern could not reconcile them. Thus, although the four component wines existed every year, a blendable Four Seasons Wine was exceedingly rare.
When Shuang Wenlü sat down in the tavern, he asked casually, “Tavernkeeper, is there any Four Seasons Wine left?”
The tavernkeeper was a woman with her hair wrapped up. Half her face seemed piled with worry lines, half with smile lines. “There is no Four Seasons Wine left, but the individual wines are still available.”
Shuang Wenlü did not make things difficult for her. He smiled. “Then forget it.”
He ordered two simple dishes and chose an empty seat.
He carried a sword, and his clothing and ornaments were unlike those of the others, yet none of the patrons in the room—nor even the tavernkeeper who had spoken to him—noticed anything unusual.
The tavernkeeper bustled about. The hall’s patrons chatted and laughed. Before long, another guest entered.
Bai Xiao stepped over the threshold and swept his gaze across the shop. In the main hall sat a few tables of patrons. One table near the counter looked like regulars. Another table had several people gathered in idle conversation. In the corner, a swordsman in white with an ink-black cloak sat alone at a table. Bai Xiao’s gaze slid past him without pause. He sensed nothing worth noticing.
He chose an empty table and ordered the best wine and dishes.
Bai Xiao was in a foul mood.
Suizhou had already fallen into chaos. In this kind of disorder, trying to control and exploit others through secrecy in order to obtain the Blood-Rust Blade was truly difficult. He had struggled for a long time without much result. Today, passing by this famous tavern, he came in to clear his mind.
He also ordered the renowned Four Seasons Wine. Shopkeeper Lu likewise said it was already gone. Bai Xiao frowned and glanced toward the counter.
“Is it truly gone?”
The tavernkeeper shook her head. “It is gone.”
Bai Xiao said nothing further and ordered something else.
While he waited, the regulars near the counter began chatting with the owner.
“Shopkeeper, your daughter still has not recovered?”
Shopkeeper Lu’s expression stiffened. She sighed. “Yes.”
A regular said, “My older cousin knows a physician at Rende Hall. They have an old Doctor Zhou there, very skilled. I can help you get in touch.”
Shopkeeper Lu hurriedly said, “No, no. I have already gone to Rende Hall. Thank you.”
“You went and it still did not get better? Sigh.” The regular shook his head. “Your daughter’s illness… it really needs treatment sooner. I heard the Sun family is thinking about breaking off the engagement.”
Shopkeeper Lu’s face dimmed. “I have already found someone else again. Her illness is… troublesome.” She sighed, exchanged a few more words, then turned and went into the back kitchen to check on the food.
The patrons in the hall began murmuring among themselves.
The Lu family and the Sun family had been introduced by a matchmaker and settled the engagement. It had originally been a good match. The wedding should have taken place last year. Yet just before the date, the Lu family’s daughter fell ill. They had no choice but to cancel the wedding in haste, planning to choose another auspicious day once she recovered. Who would have expected the girl’s illness to drag on for more than a year? The engagement had been delayed until now.
It was not hard to understand why the Sun family wanted to withdraw. When they first met the girl, she had been perfectly fine. People had headaches and fevers; falling ill at an inconvenient time was understandable. But now it had been more than a year, and whenever they asked, they only heard, “She is still ill.” The Lu family kept saying they were seeking help, yet whenever the Sun family offered to connect them with physicians, the Lu family’s attitude became strangely evasive. Would anyone not find that suspicious?
After the food and drink were all served, some time passed. Then a middle-aged scholar with a long beard walked in. Shopkeeper Lu greeted him warmly.
“You are Mister Wu, correct?”
Mister Wu stroked his beard. “I am.”
Shopkeeper Lu said with delight, “We have finally been waiting for you!”
She set out a table of fine wine and dishes. Then she carried out a small jar of wine from behind the counter and poured him a cup.
“Please, please. This is our most famous Four Seasons Wine. In recent years Heaven has not favored us—we have not been able to blend it at all. This jar was stored from five years ago. It is the last jar.”
Mister Wu smiled as he stroked his beard, admiring the jar with obvious satisfaction. Before he could speak, a sharp sound came from the neighboring table—a wine cup slammed heavily onto the tabletop.
Bai Xiao turned his head. “Shopkeeper, when I asked earlier, did you not say there was no Four Seasons Wine left?”
Shopkeeper Lu’s expression darkened. Still forcing a smile, she explained, “Guest, there truly is no Four Seasons Wine left for sale. This small jar is reserved for ourselves.”
“If it is reserved for yourselves, why are you pouring it for him?” Bai Xiao pressed relentlessly.
“He is a guest we invited. If you want Four Seasons Wine, wait until I brew another. Right now there is only this small jar. It is not for sale!” Shopkeeper Lu said, impatient, eager to attend to Mister Wu.
A regular at the side also chimed in. “Enough, enough. Shopkeeper Lu’s daughter is ill. They invited a doctor to treat her, out of kindness. That wine is for the physician—just let it go.”
Bai Xiao’s gaze fell on Mister Wu with open contempt. “With only one small jar, why ruin it by giving it to a fraud to drink?”
Mister Wu’s smile vanished. He did not look at Bai Xiao. He only said to Shopkeeper Lu in a calm, lukewarm voice, “Shopkeeper Lu, if you do not welcome me, why invite me at all?”
With that, he rose to leave.
Shopkeeper Lu’s face changed completely. She first forced a smile at Mister Wu.
“Please do not go, sir, please do not go. This person was not arranged by us—he is only a guest who just arrived!”
Seeing that Mister Wu still wore a stern face, she turned on Bai Xiao.
“Our own wine—who we offer it to is our business! What is it to you? Get out, get out!”
She seized the wine on Bai Xiao’s table and tried to drive him out, reaching out to shove him.
Bai Xiao dodged her. His face sank, then he smiled instead.
“He cannot even cure an illness, and you still expect him to rid you of a Yao Creature?”
At those words, Shopkeeper Lu first went pale with panic. By instinct she looked toward Mister Wu. Only after a pause did she retort, “What ridding of a Yao Creature? I invited Mister Wu to treat my daughter’s illness.”
Bai Xiao ignored her and looked straight at Mister Wu.
“Six years ago, you swindled and cheated. A rich household in Li County invited you to treat an illness. You scraped some dirt off your own skin and rolled it into a mud pellet, then deceived them that it was medicine. In the middle of the night you heard a commotion and thought you had killed the patient, so you climbed over the wall and fled. When they caught you and dragged you back, you discovered the patient had, by sheer accident, recovered. You dared to take credit for it, and from then on you used that banner to bluff your way forward, never exposed. And now you truly think you have ability?”
Mister Wu’s face changed violently. “How do you… cough! How dare you slander someone out of thin air?! The patients I, Wu Xiaoshan, have cured are real!”
“Then why did you start dabbling in cultivation and fortune-telling afterward?” Bai Xiao sneered. “When you cannot cure a disease, you just claim it is Heaven’s decree and nothing can be done. You have made a living freeloading off food and drink for this long without being exposed—that is impressive. But the Lu family’s Yao Creature is the real thing. Your courage has grown too arrogant. If you truly face a Yao Creature, be careful you do not even lose your life.”
Wu Xiaoshan’s eyes flicked, and he instinctively looked at Shopkeeper Lu.
Shopkeeper Lu looked even more tense. She argued fiercely, “What nonsense are you talking about?! There is no Yao Creature in my home!”
Now anyone could see something was wrong.
If the Lu family’s daughter was merely ill, and there truly was no Yao Creature, why was Shopkeeper Lu so nervous?
“No Yao Creature?” Bai Xiao mocked. “If there is no Yao Creature, why did you never agree when others offered to find physicians for you? Did you truly seek doctors? If someone goes back and asks at Rende Hall, your lie will be exposed. But you need not worry. I see your daughter’s fate is rich with peach blossoms. Right now she is tangled with that fox spirit. Before long, a new lover will come and deal with the fox spirit for her.”
Shopkeeper Lu’s eyes widened. Her face flushed crimson. In her urgency and fury, she could not speak. She could only point at Bai Xiao, trembling.
Wu Xiaoshan’s eyes spun. He pretended to slam the table in outrage.
“Shopkeeper Lu, you had someone invite me, so I came. And this is what you do?”
With that, he hurried out.
When Shopkeeper Lu had sought him out, she had indeed privately asked whether he could catch a Yao Creature. Before coming, he had inquired around. Aside from the daughter’s year-long “illness,” there had been nothing else. If there truly were a Yao Creature, how could the household have lived so peacefully for so long? Most likely the girl’s mind was not quite right—rambling about demons and ghosts herself, and the Lu family took it as truth. He had seen such patients before. He would try treating her and use his old routine of deception.
He had wanted the Lu family’s famous Four Seasons Wine, and so he took the risk. Yet he had not expected that the moment he stepped through the door, he would encounter such a strange scholar—three sentences, and his entire past was laid bare. Worse still, if the Lu family’s “Yao Creature” was real…
He had no intention of staking his own life on it.
Wu Xiaoshan cursed inwardly. If he had known, he would not have gotten involved. There were many patrons in the hall. That scholar’s words would surely spread. Not only did he fail to drink the wine, he would return with a stench on him. Who knew how many people would come to trouble him?
Shopkeeper Lu had no strength to stop him. The other patrons, having watched a spectacle for free, began whispering among themselves.
“Is the Lu family truly haunted by a Yao Creature?”
“Maybe. She says her daughter is ill, but her attitude has always been strange. So many neighbors offered to help connect her with physicians, and she never seemed to accept.”
“Is that not why the Sun family felt something was off and wanted to break off the engagement?”
Shopkeeper Lu swayed with dizziness.
“If it is all true, how did that scholar know?”
“Could he be a divine diviner?”
“Should we also go ask him?”
An old regular who knew Shopkeeper Lu supported her into a seat.
Some patrons had already crowded around Bai Xiao, asking him for details and begging him to tell fortunes.
Shopkeeper Lu’s daughter truly was not ill—she was entangled with a fox spirit. But if this were exposed, the whole region would gain a new strange tale to gossip about. Would her daughter have any reputation left?
“You… sigh. Take it easier,” the old regular said, shaking his head, not knowing how to comfort her.
Surrounded and flattered by the crowd, Bai Xiao’s expression improved considerably. He adopted a calm, unfathomable pose.
They were only mortals.
He gave guidance to a few people, and in each case he was accurate. The others became even more convinced. If that was so, then what he said earlier should also be true: the famous Mister Wu was a fraud, and Shopkeeper Lu’s daughter was not ill at all, but had become entangled with a fox spirit.
Some people’s gazes toward Shopkeeper Lu had already changed. That diviner had said the girl’s fate was filled with peach blossoms—not only this fox spirit, but other partners to come…
Just as they were talking, someone pushed forward from the back of the crowd.
With a thud, Shopkeeper Lu fell to her knees. She held up the Four Seasons Wine in both hands, offering it to him, pleading, “Please—please say that what you said just now does not count!”
She had spoken those words in front of everyone. Even if she begged the other patrons not to spread it, Bai Xiao could still repeat it to others. These patrons revered him; even if they knew the truth in their hearts, as long as Bai Xiao was willing to say a single sentence—that the fox spirit he mentioned was false—there would be room to salvage matters. She could only come and beg Bai Xiao.
“When have the words I, Baixiaosheng, speak ever been false?” Bai Xiao’s face remained bland, and he did not take the wine.
“It was my ignorance—I failed to recognize Mt. Tai, I slighted you. I was wrong! Punish me! Please save her! Please show her mercy!” Shopkeeper Lu begged.
Bai Xiao felt satisfaction in his heart, yet his expression stayed cold. “Do not make it sound as though I am petty enough to quarrel with a woman like you. Everything I said was the truth. Is my reputation not a reputation too?”
A regular, seeing Shopkeeper Lu’s state, felt pity and was about to speak up and persuade him. But hearing Bai Xiao’s words, he could not open his mouth.
At that moment, a voice suddenly came from the corner.
“You calculate so accurately. Why do you not come calculate me as well?”