roccoschili Chapter 57: Exchanging Fragments for Fragments
Chapter 57: Exchanging Fragments for Fragments
When Liu Bai entered the courtyard, the red cloth covering the well bulged upwards.
The commotion wasn't significant; the bricks at the four corners remained unmoved, but the red cloth did bulge out by half an inch in the middle, as if someone had pushed it from below.
Cheng Xiaojin stood at the entrance of the main room, a half-smoked cigarette dangling from his lips. He felt that the gesture of raising his head looked a bit like an insult.
"Brother Liu, you've arrived just in time! The well is practically giving you a heads-up!"
Liu Bai stood in front of the screen wall, his linen shirt collar was clean, sandalwood beads hung from his wrist, and the soles of his shoes were still dry. He was indeed very... refined.
He first looked at the well, then at the pomegranate tree in the corner of the courtyard, and finally his gaze swept over the two blue stones under the threshold of the main room.
"Master Ma's courtyard is quite interesting."
Master Ma's voice came from inside the main room: "Come in and sit down."
Cheng Xiaojin stepped aside to make way, cursing inwardly. This bastard acted like a civilized young man of the new society at Baiyun Temple, never mentioning Master Ma once, but today when he entered the courtyard, his eyes practically measured every single paving stone.
The octagonal table was very clean. On the left was a yellowed handwritten copy, the second volume, and on the right was empty.
Master Ma sat in the main seat, his enamel teacup lid tightly fastened.
Zhou Banxian leaned against the wall, holding a wine pot, the lid of which was not unscrewed.
Tieguai Li stood by the door, holding a hex wrench in his hand, looking just like a thug.
To someone who doesn't understand, this scene looks almost like an interrogation of a spy.
Liu Bai didn't seem to care at all. After entering, he nodded to Master Ma and said, "Master Ma."
Cheng Xiaojin took the cigarette and laughed: "Oh, you know him? I thought Brother Liu didn't mention it last time because this revolutionary base wasn't marked on the old Beijing map."
Liu Bai glanced at him: "Brother Cheng reported back very quickly."
Master Ma placed his finger on the lid of the teacup: "Sit."
Liu Bai sat down, opened the gray cloth bundle, revealing a handwritten copy with white wax seals at the corners.
Volume 1.
The two books were placed a foot apart, one with a darker paper and the other with a lighter paper. The worm-eaten marks on the edges of the books had the same old smell. They had each endured decades in a dark room, and today they were placed together again.
Master Ma spoke up: "Let's make the rules clear first."
"You can only read pages 87 to 95 of the second volume. You can copy, but you are not allowed to make rubbings, prints, or take away any page, including scraps of paper."
Liu Bai nodded: "Okay."
"Put out the things you gave Xiao Jin first."
Liu Bai pulled out two stacks from the bamboo paper envelope: "Pages 46 to 51, Returning to the Pillar Ritual."
He then pulled out a single page: "Page 31, Xin Metal Restoration Method."
Cheng Xiaojin stared at page thirty-one, his right hand fingers twitching slightly on his knee. His fingers had already extended past the second joint, their bluish-black color pressed against the skin, giving off a cold, old metallic sheen.
Liu Bai's gaze fell on his hand: "It's gotten deeper."
Tieguai Li snorted at the door: "Stop trying to scare people with your knowledge. If you really know what you're doing, you should know that saving lives comes first, instead of just thinking about copying books."
Liu Bai wasn't annoyed; he remained as refined as ever: "Master Li is right, that's why I came."
Cheng Xiaojin used two chopsticks to hold down the edge of the paper as he read page thirty-one.
Use fresh well water, iron filings from the same system, and aged mugwort ash. Immerse both hands in the water for two hours, using the metal element to draw out the remaining evil spirits from the fingers. Repeat this every three days.
He raised an eyebrow: "Why is there smaller print at the bottom?"
Liu Bai said, "I copied the small characters exactly."
Cheng Xiaojin read it aloud: "This method is repeated seven times. If you need it urgently, reduce it by five, and the remaining loss will remain forever."
The air in the room suddenly felt lower.
Tong Kexin's words popped into his mind: "If you dare to lie to me, you just wait."
"So this prescription is for installment payments, and it even comes with interest."
Zhou Banxian hugged the wine jug tighter. "If you can pull it back, then there's a way."
Master Ma was still thinking about the important matter at hand. "Xiao Jin, check the first volume."
"My hand feels like I'm wearing a cotton glove right now. If it turns out to be toilet paper, we'll make a fool of ourselves."
"Use your eyes, your nose, and the little skill you have left."
Cheng Xiaojin leaned closer to the top volume, without touching it with his hand.
First, look at the paper edges. The wormholes are old, the wax seal is old, and there are horizontal bamboo stripes on the paper surface. It has been pressed to a glossy finish, and it has the dryness and moisture that old paper should have.
Upon further inspection, it wasn't the smell of freshly smoked paper; there was ash and mold in the paper, and a musty smell from an old cabinet that hadn't seen the light of day for decades.
"The paper is right, the taste is right, I can't guarantee the year, but it wasn't made in the last two years."
Liu Bai smiled and said, "Brother Cheng's hands may be a bit dull, but his skills are still there."
"Don't praise me too much. I'm prone to getting arrogant, and if I get arrogant, I'll raise prices."
Master Ma pushed the second volume onto the table. "Begin."
Liu Bai reached out and touched the cover of the book. His fingertip touched it, but he paused for a moment. His index finger trembled, and his Adam's apple bobbed.
"Thirty years."
Master Ma smacked his teacup lid against the glass. "Has the Liu family not seen the second volume of the Cheng family's collection for thirty years?"
When Liu Bai opened it, he handled it very gently. "I saw it once when I was six years old. It was in my grandfather's cabinet. I didn't understand back then. I only remember him crying while looking at half a torn page."
Cheng Xiaojin leaned back in his chair.
"Even the Liu family shed tears while stealing treasure? I thought you all used your tears to moisten the mechanisms."
Liu Bai turned to page eighty-seven, but didn't respond to that sentence. "Brother Cheng, the concepts of 'guarding' and 'taking' seem contradictory, but when you're really in the underworld, sometimes the difference is just a breath."
"Save those words for your ancestors' meetings; I only care about the present situation."
"Copy it." Master Ma was trying to mediate; he didn't want a fight to break out in his house.
The blue-black ink fell onto the paper, the pen tip moved very steadily, and the only sound in the room was the sound of writing.
The array diagram guides the copper sheet pattern, the pile position alignment method, the iron bone water inlet, the midnight water intake, the 11 AM sealing, the three calls and three responses, the directional numbers, the back pile sealing, and the taboos.
Nine pages, forty minutes, not a single word out of place.
Another muffled thud came from the wellhead—a short, heavy thud—and the edges of the two tattered scrolls on the table trembled.
Liu Bai looked up at the courtyard.
"What's under the third pile is coming sooner than I expected."
Master Ma said, "I'll copy yours."
Cheng Xiaojin looked at him. "Brother Liu, do you know what's down there?"
"I know part of it."
Which part?
"I told you, you won't be able to sleep tonight."
"I can't sleep right now either, so please don't try to coax me like a little kid."
Liu Bai put down his pen. "The third one is just the bone. When the bone moves, the flesh will seek out the bone. When the other parts of the nine ones react, you will hear a more complete sound."
Master Ma closed the second volume. "Leave the ritual for returning to the staking position that you gave me here, and also page thirty-one."
Liu Bai nodded. "It was an exchange after all."
He got up and walked to the door, then stopped.
"Brother Cheng, Boss Lin is coming to Beijing the day after tomorrow, bringing with him an old man from Chaozhou. His technique is called 'Iron Memory'."
Cheng Xiaojin's face darkened. "You knew that too?"
"I knew it a little earlier than you."
"So, did you come here today to save my hand, or to watch how Boss Lin chops me up?"
"Yes, we have them all."
Tieguai Li took a step forward, weighed the wrench in his hand, and said, "You're the kind of kid who's asking for a beating."
Liu Bai wasn't afraid and nodded at him. "Master Li, the fake iron is very well made. It's rare to be able to fool Glasses King. But Iron Maniac is touching the iron body. The bottom of a Qing Dynasty pot can't withstand it."
Cheng Xiaojin stood between the two of them, saying, "The array diagram is in Boss Lin's hands."
"So you have to get it before he turns on you."
"How do I take it?"
Liu Bai picked up the gray cloth bag.
"That was Brother Cheng's scheme; I can't step in for you."
He stepped over the threshold and then stopped. "I didn't mention Master Ma at Baiyun Temple that day because I wanted to see if you would come back to report."
Cheng Xiaojin narrowed his eyes. "What if I don't report it?"
"This exchange won't happen here today."
After he finished speaking, he stepped out the door, and the courtyard door closed. The main room was quiet for a few seconds.
Master Ma picked up the teacup and put it down again. "He deliberately didn't mention me, and he deliberately sold you Boss Lin's itinerary. This person is playing chess with every move he makes."
Cheng Xiaojin looked at the second volume on the table, "But he also gave me page thirty-one."
"I saved your life so you could play the next round."
Tieguai Li asked, "Then shall we let him copy the second volume?"
Master Ma picked up the second volume, turned to page ninety-three, and pointed to two directions on the paper.
"There was one step he didn't calculate. I had already swapped the positions of two key numbers on page 93 of the pages he copied. When he took it back and calculated it accordingly, the deviation in the pile position would be a full thirty steps."
Cheng Xiaojin leaned back in his chair and chuckled twice. "When did you change it?"
"Why did you think I made you sleep at Tieguai Li's place last night?"
Cheng Xiaojin stared at the two altered numbers, remaining silent for a long time.
The red cloth covering the well in the courtyard bulged again.
This time, a dark red watermark seeped through the edge of the red cloth.