roccoschili Chapter 109: Thunderwood Breaks, Shadow Protectors Secretly Interact
Chapter 109: Thunderwood Breaks, Shadow Protectors Secretly Interact
The moment the wooden abacus cracked after being struck by lightning, no one in the courtyard spoke.
The seven beads were still jumping on the wooden beam, and cracks were creeping out from the bottom of the bead groove.
The three old copper bells that rang in the distance, separated by several alleys, still sounded muffled in my ears.
Dark brown foam floated on the surface of the medicinal soup. Cheng Xiaojin's hands were soaking in it, his fingertips turning ashen. The heat turned into cool white mist as soon as he touched them.
Tong Kexin stood next to Cheng Xiaojin, holding a bowl. "It's cracked. Does that mean something bad is about to happen over there?"
"It's already out."
Tang Wanqing pulled a silver needle from Cheng Xiaojin's wrist. The needle tip was blackened. She glanced at it and threw it into a porcelain bowl. "It's just that it's not our turn to see it yet."
Cheng Xiaojin dipped his hand into the medicinal soup, sweat beading on his neck from the pain.
"The people in Liulichang are very concerned about face. If the Buddha were to turn his back on himself, they would first invite three groups of masters, then close the door and cry, and only then would they think of finding the junk collectors in Panjiayuan."
Tieguai Li immediately flew into a rage upon hearing this, "You're still thinking about going? You just pulled your hands back from the King of Hell's kitchen stove, can't you at least be human for half a day?"
"I want to be one too."
Cheng Xiaojin looked at the ring of black foam on the medicine surface, "But other people's old things have come back to life, and they won't approve my leave."
Tang Wanqing pressed the medicine packet into the basin, "You can't touch old things, copper or iron, or enter yin places for three days. If you dare to go to Liulichang, I'll tie you up in the yard first."
Cheng Xiaojin looked up and said, "Miss Tang, your methods are becoming more and more like those of a bandit."
Tong Kexin put down her bowl. "Even bandits are reasonable, but you aren't."
Master Ma had been sitting on the threshold of the main room, a white mark around the bottom of his teacup. Suddenly, he asked, "How many days left on that nose scar?"
The wind in the courtyard stopped for a moment.
Tieguai Li frowned. "All things considered, half of the seven days of guarding the mouth have already passed."
Zhou Banxian said, "He's staying by Boss Lin's side. His shadow is missing half an inch and he was bitten by the seventh gate energy. If he stays there too long, even if he doesn't die, he'll be dragged away by the gate energy."
Tong Kexin asked, "Wouldn't that half-copper coin protect him? Why not just send it over?"
"You think you're delivering takeout?" Tieguai Li slammed the broken pieces of abacus wood onto the table.
"Boss Lin is so suspicious now that he can filter people with a sieve. Whoever goes to see Nose Scar will be put on the altar."
Cheng Xiaojin didn't reply. His eyes fell on the half of the protective copper coin on the table. The chip was dark yellow and there was a thin black line around the edge.
There was also a bronze plaque with the character "Shen" on it, the snake-biting-tail pattern dimming in the morning light.
Tang Wanqing looked at Master Ma and said, "The Shadow Protection Coins must pass through my Red Line Array before I can suppress the Shadow after I get the Nose Scar. But I can't leave the hospital today. The Zhenhai Iron Sinks and Protects the Nation Temple's array diagram is still counteracting the attack."
"So you stay," Cheng Xiaojin said.
Tang Wanqing immediately looked up. "You stay too."
"It would be pointless for me to give up these hands."
Cheng Xiaojin shook his hand in the medicinal soup. "I'll be responsible for coming up with bad ideas, and Brother Li will be responsible for taking the scolding."
Tieguai Li sneered, "I knew it wouldn't be good."
Master Ma picked up his teacup and scraped off the dry tea foam from the rim. "Dead end."
Zhou Banxian's eyelids twitched. "This method hasn't been used for years."
Tong Kexin's head throbbed with pain. "What teeth?"
Cheng Xiaojin said, "Old hands in the trade do so secretly, without seeing the person, touching their hands, or leaving any trace. The item is hidden under the tea table. The person receiving it only takes half of the clue, and the person handing it over only recognizes the secret mark. There's a pot of cold tea and an empty table in between, so no one can say for sure who has seen whom."
"Can we keep it from Boss Lin?"
"You can't hide it forever. If you can keep it hidden until the nose scar covers your shadow and you spill some real stuff, that's enough."
Cheng Xiaojin looked at Tieguai Li and said, "Don't touch Aunt Zhang's Qianlong Tongbao. Take another old Qianlong coin from Master Ma's treasury, smear it with Aunt Zhang's stove ash, and place it outside the protective copper coin. Don't let Boss Lin's watchdogs smell out Tang Wanqing's red thread."
Tang Wanqing frowned. "You're treating me like a spice?"
Cheng Xiaojin grinned, "You're more expensive than spices."
Tong Kexin picked up her chopsticks and tapped the edge of his bowl. "Stop joking, is it safe for Brother Li to go alone?"
"The old teahouses on the outskirts of the ghost market are closed during the day; the Dead Man's Road has few living people."
Zhou Banxian said, "Boss Lin's men wouldn't dare to openly block the area."
Tieguai Li put the copper purse into the old cloth and stuffed it into the small hidden compartment inside the prosthetic leg. "Little Jinzi, if you run off to Liulichang again while I'm not around, I'll nail your two shoes to the door frame when I get back."
Cheng Xiaojin nodded, "Don't nail the shoes to the feet; we still need to keep the feet to kick the stall."
When Tieguai Li went out, it was already quite bright outside.
The old teahouse's signboard hangs askew, half of the red paint peeling off. Inside, tables and chairs are upside down, covered in thick dust. On the wall hangs a yellowed picture of Zhong Kui, his eyes blackened by smoke.
Tieguai Li entered without looking at the paintings, leaning on his prosthetic leg and walking around the first seven tables before stopping at the eighth.
He stuffed the old cloth bag under the tea table, scratched a vertical hook with his fingernail on the wooden edge, and then wiped off half of it with his thumb, leaving a mark like that of a vendor moving a table.
"Collecting scraps is a life-threatening job."
He didn't go far; he turned and squatted down behind the shoe repair stall diagonally across the street, lighting a cigarette.
Halfway through his cigarette, a junk collector appeared at the street corner. He wore a tattered felt hat, carried a burlap sack on his shoulder, walked with an uneven gait, and called out softly, "Scrap metal, old books and newspapers."
Tieguai Li squinted and saw that the man's shadow was shorter at the heel.
The man with the nose scar hadn't been in the teahouse for more than half a cup of tea's time when he came out. The burlap sack had deflated a little, and he raised his hand to wipe the scar on the bridge of his nose, his hand trembling.
A moment later, the man with the nasal scar returned, stuffed a small roll of paper under the tea table, turned around, and carried his tattered load away.
When he reached the alley entrance, he turned his head back. His hat brim was pulled low so that his face could not be seen. His right hand was pressed against his chest, where half of a protective copper coin was probably pressed.
Tieguai Li and the other shoe repair stall owners yawned for the third time before going over to get the paper roll.
When Cheng Xiaojin returned to the hospital, she had already come out of the medicine basin, and was sitting at the table drinking bitter tea with her hands covered in thick cotton cloth.
"Did you get it?"
"Got it." Tieguai Li put the paper on the table. "That bastard's hands were shaking like he owed gambling debts. If the copper coins had been delivered to him two days later, he would have had to pay for his own shadow's funeral."
Tang Wanqing unfolded the photographic paper, glanced at it, and her face darkened.
Zhou Bansian leaned closer and asked, "What's written?"
Tang Wanqing read aloud: "Lin has already requested assistance from higher authorities. Shen will arrive in Beijing in three days, accompanied by two Southeast Asian rulers and one sorcerer. Their target is the Cheng family's ashtray. The third key is the key to a living person."
The courtyard remained quiet for even longer.
Tong Kexin put down the bowl she was holding. "Is the 'Shen' character the same as Shen Jiulou?"
Master Ma didn't speak, he just looked at Cheng Xiaojin.
Cheng Xiaojin touched the edge of the table with the back of his hand, which was wrapped in a dry cloth. "Boss Lin is scared."
Tieguai Li glared at him, "They all shouted that a big shot from Southeast Asia is here, and you think he's scared?"
"If he were truly confident, he wouldn't have shown the character 'Shen' to the person with the scar on his nose."
Cheng Xiaojin smirked. "Bluster, scaring their own people and us too."
Zhou Banxian held the photographic paper in his hand, "But we have the bronze plaque with the character 'Shen' in our hands, and there really is such a scheme going on all over the city."
"An old geezer like Shen Jiulou wouldn't personally get involved just because Boss Lin has a leg that's good for running errands." Cheng Xiaojin looked at the bronze plaque with the character "Shen" on it. "Even if he came, it wouldn't be to clean up Boss Lin's mess."
Master Ma finally spoke: "Chong Cheng Shouyi."
"Yes." Cheng Xiaojin looked down at his hands. "The plate my father left behind in Ouroboros might be about to be exposed. Boss Lin thought the name Shen could crush me, but he forgot that if my father really had a past grudge with Shen Jiulou, this signboard would be more than just a death sentence for us."
Tong Kexin asked, "Can it still save my life?"
Cheng Xiaojin picked up a piece of braised pork intestine with his chopsticks but didn't hold it properly, and it fell back into the bowl. He glanced at his fingers and gave a rather awkward smile.
"I don't know if I'll survive, but at least I can make sure that Boss Lin won't dare to kill me before Shen arrives."
Tieguai Li retorted, "You call this good news?"
"Of course, if it weren't good news, I'd be in my coffin right now having this meeting with you."
Tang Wanqing put away the photographic paper. "The Nanyang line will arrive in Beijing in three days. The seven anchors at Liulichang will be moved first, but the anchor at Huguosi is not yet stable. Cheng Xiaojin, if you make a mistake in the next step, there will be a lot of pitfalls behind you."
Cheng Xiaojin looked towards the horizon.
The morning light shone over the roof ridge and fell on the broken wooden beam of the abacus. The seven beads stopped jumping and stopped next to the crack.
The old copper bell rang again from the direction of Liulichang in the distance.
Cheng Xiaojin put down the bowl. "Then let's go check the ditch first."
Tong Kexin immediately raised her eyebrows.
He quickly added, "I won't touch it, I'll just look."
Tieguai Li sneered, "What you say is worth less than Boss Lin's guarantee."
Master Ma stood up and put the bronze plaque with the character "Shen" into his sleeve. "People in Liulichang will come to us first."
Cheng Xiaojin looked up. "Han Shaobai?"
Master Ma nodded, "Boguzhai has several funerary objects buried there. Once the seventh item is moved, his family will be the first to lose sleep."
The cracked bowl of batter in the corner made a soft popping sound.
Tong Kexin looked back for a long time, then picked up the basin and put it in her arms. "Sister Zhou hasn't come back yet. Don't just focus on Liulichang."
Cheng Xiaojin looked at the cracked basin. "I won't forget."
Someone pushed a cart past outside the courtyard, the wheels making a hollow sound as they rolled over the bluestone slabs.
Daylight broke, but something beneath this city was just beginning to open its eyes.