“Are you sure that divine fortune teller with tough words is setting up a stall here?” Jiu Hui accompanied Linchi to search around the place where it was scammed twice, but they still couldn’t find the so-called fortune teller.
Linchi nodded with certainty, “The day I met him, he was right here.”
“Miss, who are you looking for?” The woman at the clothing repair stall next door saw Jiu Hui and Zhi You walking back and forth with a cat and a bird twice, and asked enthusiastically, “If you’re looking for someone, ask me. I’ve been running this clothing repair stall for more than ten years, and I’m very familiar with the ten streets and eight alleys.”
“Auntie, I heard that there’s a fortune teller nearby who’s incredibly skilled. Why isn’t he here today?” Jiu Hui crouched down in front of the stall and helped the woman organize the clothes on it.
“Are you talking about Crooked-Mouth Liu?” The woman glanced at Jiu Hui, then looked at Zhi You who was following behind her, and waved her hand as she whispered, “Little girl, auntie will tell you the truth. That Crooked-Mouth Liu is usually idle and swindles people. He doesn’t know how to tell fortunes at all. You and this young master look like you’re blessed. Why would you need to have your fortunes told?”
“I see. Fortunately, my aunt told me the truth, or I would have been deceived.” Jiu Hui was nimble and quickly helped to organize the clothes on the stall: “Thank you, aunt.”
“You’re welcome, you’re welcome.” The woman smiled happily, feeling that she had done another good deed.
By the time Jiu Hui reached the corner, Linchi finally couldn’t control the sadness in his heart.
“A swindler, a real swindler……” Its mung bean-like eyes were full of tears, and the feathers on its body had lost their luster: “My silver, my hard-earned silver.”
“You don’t care about your boss who has been in prison for three years, but you only care about money?” Bai Qi flicked his tail and hit Linchi twice. After he became the boss, he would definitely not accept such a stupid and disloyal little brother.
“The boss won’t die if he’s locked up in Zhenyao Prison, but if I lose my money, it’s really gone.” Linchi argued forcefully, “Do you know how hard it is to earn money?”
Seeing that the cat and the bird were about to start arguing, Jiu Hui frowned. “If you keep arguing, and someone discovers that you can speak human language, and attracts disciples from other major sects, I won’t be able to protect you.”
Bai Qi and Linchi immediately fell silent. Bai Qi even meowed a few times, pretending to be a normal, ordinary cat.
“Let’s go, I’ll take you to buy meat buns.” Jiu Hui was very satisfied with their tact. She and Zhi You turned a few corners before they found the meat bun stall that Er Miao wanted to eat.
The meat bun stall was doing a brisk business, and the few tables set up on the side of the street were all full of customers. As Jiu Hui paid her bill, she overheard a few diners joking with a middle-aged man.
“Crooked-Mouth Liu, you were just beaten up the other day, and now you’re out here scamming people again?”
“The little girl was fine, but he insisted that she was a jinx. He deserved to be beaten to death.”
Crooked-Mouth Liu?carpreads.pages.dev
Jiu Hui sized up the middle-aged man. He was thin and wiry, with sallow skin and unkempt hair and beard. It looked like he hadn’t groomed himself in several days. His right leg was wrapped in a yellowed bandage, giving him an overall disheveled appearance.
He retorted while munching on the meat bun, “A young girl without any brothers, isn’t that the fate of a jinx?”
“Chirp, chirp, chirp!” The Linchi bird screeched madly, flapping its wings as if it wanted to scratch the middle-aged man’s face. It was this swindler who had cheated it out of two hundred taels!
“Master Fortune Teller Liu?” Jiu Hui sat down next to the middle-aged man. “I heard you’re a great fortune teller. Would you like to read my fortune?”
“Miss, this man is a liar. Don’t believe his nonsense.” A diner worried that Jiu Hui would be deceived and advised her, “If you really want to have your fortune told, go to Old Man Wang on the corner of East Street. He charges less.”
“Thank you all, I have come to find Mr. Liu today about an old matter.” Jiu Hui cupped her hands in thanks to the crowd. “A few days ago, Mr. Liu read the fortune of a junior in my family. The junior gave Mr. Liu two hundred taels of silver, and Mr. Liu gave him a feather. Does Mr. Liu remember?”
“Two hundred taels?!” Everyone gasped. He had cheated them of so much money, no wonder they had come looking for him.
“Crooked-Mouth Liu, you’re really heartless. How dare you swindle people out of so much money?” A tall and sturdy diner stood up and grabbed Crooked-Mouth Liu. “With me here watching him, he won’t be able to run away with his limping leg. Miss, you should hurry and report this to the City Lord’s Mansion and have them arrest him.”
“Right, right, right. Quickly go report it to the City Lord’s Mansion.” Everyone came back to their senses and helped Jiu Hui come up with an idea. “I wonder if we can get the two hundred taels back?”
“Don’t accuse me falsely. It’s true that I, Crooked-Mouth Liu, like to swindle money, but I would never swindle two hundred taels.” Crooked-Mouth Liu struggled with all his might. “If you have the guts, call out your family’s junior.”
“Chirp, chirp, chirp!” The Linchi bird flapped its wings and flew into the sky, quickly disappearing from sight.
“The young lady is fair and innocent-looking, she wouldn’t lie.” The diners didn’t believe Crooked-Mouth Liu’s excuse. They held him down with their hands and feet. A young man walked up to Jiu Hui with a blush on his face. “Don’t be afraid, miss. I’ve sent my younger brother to report this to the City Lord’s Mansion.”
“Let me go, let me go.” Crooked-Mouth Liu struggled to no avail, his face red and his neck thick with anxiety. “Even if the people from the City Lord’s Mansion come, I’m not afraid. No one can wrong me!”
“You’re the one who took my two hundred taels of silver!” At this moment, a half-grown youth of sixteen or seventeen squeezed into the crowd. He was so angry that he was hopping mad. He clearly stated the day and place where he had encountered Crooked-Mouth Liu: “There were other people present that day, so don’t even think about denying it.”
Linchi was a bird yao, and even after transforming into a human form, his voice was still loud. Despite the chaos, his voice was still the loudest among the crowd.
Seeing that Linchi was rolling up his sleeves and about to fight Crooked-Mouth Liu, Jiu Hui retreated to Zhi You’s side and whispered, “Why do I feel like this Crooked-Mouth Liu really doesn’t remember this incident?”
For ordinary people, two hundred taels of silver was a huge sum of money. Crooked-Mouth Liu had cheated Linchi of so much money, so he shouldn’t have reacted to Linchi in this way.
“That day, I fell ill and slept at home for an entire day, only waking up when it was almost dark.” Crooked-Mouth Liu remembered it very clearly. That day, he didn’t know what had happened. When he woke up, it was already dusk. He was worried that he had fallen ill, so he went to the Rejuvenation Hall to get some medicine to take.
“The guys at Rejuvenation Hall definitely still remember me. It was almost dark when I went to see the doctor!”
“You went to get medicine in the evening, so it didn’t delay you from going out to swindle people during the day.” Someone who knew Crooked-Mouth Liu well exposed his lie: “I clearly saw you that morning. You were holding a fortune-telling banner, thinking about going out to swindle money. You didn’t even respond when I greeted you.”
“The young master is here!”
“Greetings, Young Master!”
Seeing the common people so trusting and welcoming of Tao Xiangyi’s arrival, Jiu Hui knew that the Tao family was highly respected in Taolin City. No wonder Tao Er went crazy on the street, and no one beat him. It turned out that it was all due to the face of his father and elder brother.
Tao Xiangyi didn’t expect to see Jiu Hui and Zhi You here. He dismounted and bowed to them. “I didn’t know you two were entering the city. What brings you here?”
Jiu Hui pointed at Linchi and Crooked-Mouth Liu, who were stopped by the diners, and told the story with a smile: “There might be something fishy about this. We’ll go to the City Lord’s Mansion with you.”
The city guards took Crooked-Mouth Liu away. Tao Xiangyi saw that Jiu Hui was still at the bun stall, so he stood by and waited for her.
“Everyone, we are just acquaintances, but you are willing to help me with all your might. I, a young woman, thank you all here.” Jiu Hui took out a few pieces of broken silver and handed them to the bun shop owner to pay for everyone’s buns: “The New Year is approaching. I wish you all a safe and auspicious New Year.”
The steamed buns didn’t cost much, so everyone happily accepted Jiu Hui’s treat and returned the gesture by cupping their hands and bowing like her. “May everyone be blessed, may everyone be blessed.”
Tao Xiangyi watched this scene quietly, his heart faintly moved. Over the years, he had helped his father guard Taolin City and had come into contact with many immortal cultivators, but he had never seen an immortal cultivator like Jiu Hui who blended in so perfectly with ordinary people.
These mortals who were chatting and laughing with Jiu Hui didn’t know that they were helping an immortal cultivator who didn’t need their help. So when Jiu Hui thanked them, they were happy and satisfied, not fearful or uneasy.
This was a common occurrence, but for the lofty immortal cultivators, it was unusual.
The City Lord’s Mansion acted swiftly and soon found out that many people had indeed seen Crooked-Mouth Liu setting up a stall to tell fortunes on the day of the incident. The city guards also found a purse at the foot of Crooked-Mouth Liu’s bed, which happened to contain two hundred taels of silver.
“Young City Lord, I really don’t know where this silver came from.” Crooked-Mouth Liu was at a loss. Why had so many people seen him that day when he had clearly been unconscious until evening?
Could it be, could it be that it’s haunted…
“Young City Lord, I really didn’t do it. It must be a ghost, yes, it’s a ghost!” Crooked-Mouth Liu looked around in terror, afraid that a vengeful spirit would suddenly appear and seek revenge on him.
Who was this ghost?
Was it the old woman who jumped into the river a year ago because of his fortune-telling, or the old widow who died of illness after he cheated her out of her money?
Or had they all turned into ghosts to get revenge on him?
“Immortal Jiu Hui, Immortal Zhi You, what do you two think…” Tao Xiangyi saw that Crooked-Mouth Liu was so scared that he peed his pants, and waved his hand to have him dragged aside.
“Could it be possession?” Linchi saw that Crooked-Mouth Liu was so frightened that he was almost delirious, and he began to doubt whether the person who had told his fortune was really Crooked-Mouth Liu.
“It’s not possession.” Jiu Hui took out three incense sticks from her storage ring and lit them. The incense flew up in the air and circled Crooked-Mouth Liu three times. The smoke from the incense seemed to be afraid of approaching his body and drifted away in all directions.
When they were on the fourth lap, the three incense sticks suddenly snapped in half and fell to the ground.
“This incense is called the Spirit-Inviting Incense. It uses the Jian tree as a guide. Burning this incense can connect to heaven and earth and see the three souls and seven spirits.” Jiu Hui bent down to pick up the broken incense. “If someone has been possessed, the smoke will enter the brain through the seven orifices. If they haven’t been possessed, the smoke will go straight up to the sky.”
“Jian tree?” Linchi’s tongue was tied. “Didn’t the Jian tree wither and break long ago?”
“Well, this is a family heirloom left by the village elders.” Jiu Hui emphasized, “Use a little less.”
“May I ask Immortal Jiu Hui, what does it mean that this smoke is scattering in all directions?” Tao Xiangyi didn’t understand the Jian tree, and he tactfully didn’t ask about it. “Since it’s neither being possessed nor not being possessed, what other possibilities are there?”
Jiu Hui looked up at the sky and shook her head slowly after a while. “I don’t know.”
The sky was gloomy, as if it was about to snow.
The group stayed in the City Lord’s Mansion for an hour. Linchi retrieved its two hundred taels, and Crooked-Mouth Liu was taken to the City Lord’s Mansion prison for repeated fraud and indirectly causing the deaths of an innocent old man and a widowed woman. He would be tried on a later date.
Tao Xiangyi wanted to keep them for dinner, but Jiu Hui still wanted to take Zhi You shopping, so they said goodbye to the City Lord’s Mansion.
Not long after leaving the City Lord’s Mansion, snow began to fall.
“It’s snowing.”
“A good snowfall bodes a good harvest, next year will be another good harvest.”
Jiu Hui stopped in her tracks and looked up at the falling snow. The fine snowflakes danced like willow catkins carried by the wind. She blinked and shook the snowflakes off her eyelashes. “It’s snowing.”
The children on the side of the road were jumping up and down with excitement because of the first snow. The naughty children stuck out their tongues to taste the snow. The adults, worried that the children would freeze, yelled at them to go back to the house, but they didn’t forget to look up at the fine snow and put a thick cotton coat on the children.
The snow fell more and more heavily, and soon a thin layer of snow had accumulated on Jiu Hui and Zhi You’s hair. Infected by the joy of the passersby, Jiu Hui bought two strings of bright red hawthorn balls and gave one to Zhi You: “Eating something sweet on a snowy day will make you feel better. Try it.”
“I’m not in a bad mood.” Zhi You took a bite of the hawthorn ball. It was so sour that it made his handsome face twist a little.
He was simply tired of the endless white snow.
“So sour!” Jiu Hui’s facial features twisted together from the sourness of the hawthorn ball. “This isn’t sweet at all.”
She turned her head and saw that Zhi You was already eating the third one, so she reached out and snatched it away. “Your eyebrows are all wrinkled from the sourness. Don’t eat it.”
Zhi You licked the sugar frosting from the corner of his lips. “It’s not that sour.”
“But it’s not sweet enough.” Jiu Hui put away the hawthorn ball. “Don’t do anything that will make you feel uncomfortable.”
“Let’s go.” Jiu Hui pulled on his wide sleeve. “There’s a vendor selling sugar balls up ahead. I’ll take you to try them.”
“Boss, can you drizzle some sugar syrup on our sugar balls?”
“Thank you, Boss. I wish you great fortune.”
“Boss, I want two peach blossom cakes, fresh out of the oven.”
“The boss’s sugar-fried dough twists are really delicious. Will you come again on New Year’s Eve?”
“Yes, yes, I just moved to Taolin City not long ago. My family is strict with me, so I rarely go out on weekdays.”
Bai Qi followed the two with difficulty, his four chubby legs struggling through the snow. The snow was falling heavily, and a layer had already accumulated on the ground. He watched the little yao girl chatting with the stall owner as she ate, and he scoffed.
These mortals kept calling her “girl” so cheerfully. If they knew she was a yao, wouldn’t they be scared to death?
“Boss, make me two bowls of sweet fermented glutinous rice balls,” Jiu Hui said as she pulled Zhi You to sit down at a small stall that sold rice balls. “Zhi You, what kind of filling do you like?”
Zhi You shook his head in a daze. “I don’t know.”
He had never gone shopping with anyone before, and he did not know what kind of food there was in the mortal world.
“Then one bowl of sesame filling and one bowl of peanut filling.” Jiu Hui patted the snow off her shoulders. “I’ll share mine with you later, so you can try both.”
“Please wait a moment, young lady and young master. It’ll be ready soon.” The stall owner was a woman in her twenties. Compared to others, she was dressed in thin clothes, but she was very nimble. She quickly cooked two bowls of rice dumplings.
“Try mine first. Do you like it?” Jiu Hui shared the glutinous rice balls in her bowl with Zhi You, waiting for him to take a bite.
Zhi You used a spoon to scoop up the glutinous rice dumpling that Jiu Hui had given him and took a gentle bite. The dumpling burst open, releasing a piping hot filling that was both sweet and fragrant.
“Is it delicious?” Jiu Hui asked with a smile.
Zhi You nodded.
“You may not like snow, but you can try to like the delicacies of snowy days.” Jiu Hui divided another dumpling into Zhi You’s bowl. “The path of cultivation is long and arduous, and both happy and unhappy things may happen. You must strive to make yourself a little happier.”
The hazy heat turned into white mist that swirled in the air. Zhi You lowered his eyelids and said, “Yes.”
As the light snow turned into a heavy snowfall, Jiu Hui glanced at the busy stall owner, whose skirt revealed a bit of a fluffy tail.
“Boss, I’m paying.” A big man stood up and blocked the stall owner, just blocking Jiu Hui’s sight.
“Boss Song, the medicine you gave me yesterday worked very well. I used it once last night, and my back pain was gone when I woke up this morning.” The big man paid his bill and said in a loud voice, “It’s snowing so heavily. It’s not safe for you to be out here setting up a stall by yourself. What if someone causes you trouble? Hurry up and pack up and go home.”
“Yes, yes, yes, pack up quickly and go home.” An auntie walked over and blocked Boss Song even more tightly. “Leave now, I’ll help you pack up your stall.”
“Boss, your soup dumplings are delicious. We’ll come again next time.” Jiu Hui smiled as she looked away and put down some silver. “It’s getting cold. You should head home early.”
After Jiu Hui and Zhi You left, the aunt and the man who helped pack up secretly sighed in relief. That young lady probably didn’t notice them just now, right?
On the way back, Bai Qi observed Jiu Hui’s expression. Seeing that there was nothing unusual, he asked, “Why did you let that squirrel yao go?”
“She has the aura of merit, she’s a benevolent yao. Even mortals who know her true identity are desperately trying to cover for her, so why should I deal with her?” Jiu Hui reached out to catch the falling snow. “Crooked-Mouth Liu is a human, and she’s a yao, but who’s the more detestable one between them?”
“In my opinion, those two mortals are really gutsy, daring to shield a yao.” Recalling his bitter past of being feared and chased by humans, Bai Qi felt a bit sour in his heart: “Your Wangshu Pavilion is acting inappropriately, and so are the people in the city you protect.”
This squirrel yao had a low cultivation level and couldn’t control the demon energy in his body at all. He didn’t believe that the Wangshu Pavilion had never discovered it.
“How did you know that something was wrong with us, instead of the outside…” Jiu Hui paused, looked at the flowing light galloping ahead, and pulled Zhi You sideways to avoid it. She took off the shawl on her body, and the shawl was as flexible as a dragon, and it slammed hard on the flowing light that was leaving.
“Ouch.” The flowing light fell to the ground with a cry of pain. She didn’t expect it to be an acquaintance.
“It’s you again! Sword-flying so fast in the sky, you don’t care about your own life, but others do!” Jiu Hui let go of Zhi You, put her hands on her hips and said, “It’s the New Year, don’t force me to slap you.”
Zhi You looked at Jiu Hui, who had unhesitatingly stepped in front of him, and slowly lowered his head, the corners of his mouth slightly raised.
The Shenji School’s head disciple, who had been beaten black and blue, lay in the snow. He looked up at Jiu Hui, who was standing on a flying sword, and reached out to cover the pouch at his waist in despair.
He was really out of money!
Author’s Note:
Sect’s head disciple: There’s nothing left, really not a single spirit stone left.
Zhi You: (*￣︶￣)， (#^.^#)，^_^
Little Garlic Chive: It’s the New Year, so what if we fight?