Jing Wen eventually arrived by the ruined lakeside. In the river’s reflection was a miserable sight. Jing Wen was soaked, and his wet white robes that clung to his skin were torn at the edges while blood occupied many spots. His hair, originally neatly tied, had gone loose.
Of course, Jing Wen could not see this sight, nor would he mind it if he could see. After all, he had once climbed under a pile of corpses when he had been in the imperial guard.
Placing his hands behind his back, he waited until the sound of five distinct footsteps approached him. It was naturally Zhou Aimin, who had arrived with the former Mister Wang’s servant girls.
The four servant girls, seeing the distinct bloodstains on Jing Wen’s white robes, became startled and anxious. In the first place, one of them had nearly become no different than a human swine, unable to talk or see, while the other was to be the release of Mister Wang’s anger in a perverse form. None of them was of a calm mind in the first place.
Now, seeing a man covered in blood, Su’er, who had not slept due to her troubled thoughts last night, lost her conscious entirely, while the other girls’ mind became faint. Realising his presence was rather harmful to the mental state of the girls, Jing Wen, without turning toward the five, left without any hurry, saying, “I have no qualms if Venerable Daoist let the four rest at my residency as well.”
Zhou Aimin stared at Jing Wen’s back for a while, then shook his head, thinking that he was rather fortunate to have caught Jing Wen’s interest with his fortunes; complete silence is probably how he would usually treat the passerby in life. Placing the fainted Su’er onto his back, Zhou Aimin prompted the three girls too, to follow Jing Wen.
When the Little Taoist finally caught up to Jing Wen, he handed Su’er for him to carry. “Honourable sir, I still have to divine for the people of Jing Village. The girls are too frail to carry her, so I must trouble you.”
Jing Wen received the girl expressionlessly, however, his actions were rather meticulous. He had purposely positioned Su’er to avoid the bloodstains on his body and slowed his pace to prevent her from waking up. The other three girls, perhaps surprised at the gentleness of the Jing Wen, were no longer as frightened. They hastened their steps, and before long, only the silhouette of Zhou Aimin could be seen by them.
When they finally arrived at Jing Wen’s residency, Jing Wen wordlessly laid Su’er onto a warn Kang and began walking toward his room. When he was about to reach toward the hinges of the door, one of the girls, Wu’er called out in a very serious manner.
“Than-thank you for saving Sister Su.”
It is commonly said that a girl with a delicate face combined with awkward seriousness creates a very cute look. Wu’er indeed looked rather cute at the moment, though it was impossible for Jing Wen to appreciate the scene.
Rather, he returned his hand to his side and turned toward Wu’er. Jing Wen said, “You are welcomed.”
Wu’er fumble over words for some time longer, before she asked, “Ma-may I ask why sir doesn’t have any servants in the house?”
Jing Wen answered without fluctuations in his voice, “I annul their contracts.”
Wu’er grew surprised at Jing Wen’s answer. She asked with some hesitation, “May I ask sir why you freed those servants?”
Jing Wen thought for some time. He then said, “I don’t need them.”
Glancing at the piece of white cloth covering Jing Wen’s eyes, Wu’er doubted his words, yet before she could ask any more questions, Jing Wen already made a gesture of parting and retreated into his resting chambers.This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.
Closing the heavy wooden door, Jing Wen fumbled through the various items on his table for some time. After some time, his fingers ultimately touched the edge of a Changzhou comb placed neatly at the furthermost corner of the room. Picking up the comb, he moved his dishevelled hair to his right shoulder and began running the comb through.
He combed his hair very seriously, before retrieving a hairpin to tie his hair into a bun. Halfway through this series of actions, his fingers reaching for the hairpin suddenly stopped.
---
An abrupt coughing noise startled Jing An, who had been searching in the proximity of the Jing residency for Jing Wen even since he disappeared after the Little Taoist’s message. Hearing the sound, she quickly gathered her thoughts and returned to the building, seeing the four girls in the main wing. She made a gesture of courtesy to the four girls that suddenly appeared, and did not force them out of the residency, assuming that they were likely guests Jing Wen had brought. Jing An continued to his bedchambers, where she found him to be coughing into his sleeves.
Anxious, Jing An quickly took out a medical pellet, and helped Jing Wen to swallow it. She asked, “Young Master, where have you gone? Was the Venerable Taoist in harm’s way? How did you get injured?”
Jing Wen waved his free sleeve while he answered, “Wang residency. Yes. I killed Wang and another person.”
Jing An’s face grew pale, but said with a steady voice, “Young Master, did anyone see you?”
Jing Wen thought for a moment, then said, “I heard no footsteps. Most of the townsfolk should be waiting for the Venerable Taoist in the main street. As for the four girls in the main room… if the venerable Daoist does not take them, give them each five taels of silver and allow them to live out the rest of their life carefree.”
Jing An’s complexion recovered somewhat. Realising the girl that appeared in their residency should be the new slaves Mister Wang had purchased from the North, she said with concern, “Young Master, you are too kind. While Mister Wang treats his servants cruelly, it does not warrant you to personally risk your life to save them.”
Jing Wen replied, “The Venerable Taoist had asked me to save them.”
Jing An unconsciously rose her voice, saying, “How could he be so outrageous! Young Master, you have already saved his life, yet he was still shameless enough to ask you to risk your life once more!”
Jing Wen frowned and said, “The Venerable Taoist had, in exchange for the rescue of Mister Wang’s servants, offered me information on an immortal elixir.”
Jing An became silent. She looked at Jing Wen and sighed, choosing to speak no longer. She understood judging by his personality, Zhou Aimin had likely offered him the information after he had chosen to save the girls. Moreover, immortal elixir was likely only fabrications of fiction. The emperors of old had spent the entire resources of their domain in search of these elixirs - how could a mere Taoist have it?
In the end, she combed the rest of Jing Wen’s hair and then helped him to change into another set of white robes.
Jing An saw behind the white cloth that the sun had already set. She said, “It is kind of late. Young Master, I will go prepare food for you.”
“Make five more serves for the girls and the Venerable Taoist.”Then, suddenly, Jing Wen said, “In addition, arrange a room in the Northern wing for the venerable Taoist and let the four girls reside in Eastern wing.”
Hearing this, Jing An smiled, and made a sound of affirmation. Even though she had an unfavourable view of Zhou Aimin and the four girls, and had understood Jing Wen’s intent upon seeing Su’er on the Kang - she could not help but feel a hint of joy.
The Jing residence was not as grand as the one in the capital, but often, the old Jing Ping would come here. In the later years of his life, Jing Ping probably spent more time here than in the capital. As such, the complex was always filled with countless servants, each playing a role in the maintenance of Jing residence.
But after the death of Jing Ping and the passing of inheritance to Jing Wen, he had immediately set free these servants, leaving both the residents in the capital and Jing Village to become desolate and quiet to the extreme.
After a month, this vast complex was finally going to reside more than just two people.
Perhaps… that abandoned residence in the capital would see life again soon.
---
When the Little Taoist had finished divine the fortunes of the townsfolk of Jing Village, the sun had long sunk under the tall mountains surrounding the village, and the mirage of the moon could be seen lingering amidst his teacup.
He used his fastest speed to organise the various divine instruments placed onto the table, then departed from the open space below the eaves. Fortunately, the instruments were not heavy, so aside from a slightly deeper footprint on the snow, Zhou Aimin did not have any difficulties arriving before the Jing residency.
He opened the heavy wooden door and entered Jing Wen’s residency. Immediately, he was greeted by Jing An, who wordlessly invited him to sit down at the table and offered him a bowl of rice.
The Little Taoist accepted the bowl elegantly, sitting down, he used his chopsticks to pick up a piece of pickled cucumber. He looked at Jing Wen, who had already finished and begun sipping tea. “Honourable sir, where are the four girls at this moment?”
Jing Wen looked at Zhou Aimin over his cup of tea and replied, “They are in the Eastern wing.”
Zhou Aimin said lightly, “I see, then does honourable sir have any issues for the respected lady beside you to overhear our conversation.”
“No.”
Zhou Aimin set down his chopsticks, his usually amicable expression replaced with a grave one. He said slowly as if to stretch out each word, “Then shall we talk about the immortal elixir?”