Chapter 47: The World Is Like A Burning House
The old man’s blinded eye seemed to have been gouged out by some sharp tool, leaving only a deep socket, with twisted flesh mounds like earthworms growing around the outside. At a glance, it was somewhat eerie.
Hearing Ah Hua’s words at this moment, the old man’s expression changed abruptly. He set down the idol he hadn’t yet mounted and stood up.
“Kid, what happened?”
Ah Hua didn’t speak, rushing into the room, rummaging through cabinets and overturning furniture, flipping the bed and dismantling the table. Finally, he charged toward the shrine, reaching for the incense burner.
The old man immediately stood in front of the shrine, blocking Ah Hua, and sternly said,
“The Li Tan Banner is an ancestral heirloom, more baleful than auspicious. I’ve said many times, it must not be used lightly!”
Ah Hua stared fixedly at the old man, veins bulging at his temples, eyes bloodshot, seeming even more deranged.
Seeing this, the old man showed heartache in his eyes, and his tone softened at once,
“Kid, no matter what, we can’t do anything against our conscience! Your dad has worked as an ice worker for decades without ever pocketing a single copper coin.
The old man feared Ah Hua would go astray and pleaded almost desperately,
“It’s fine if we’re poor or tired, as long as we can endure hardship! You just deliver water honestly, and sooner or later you’ll make it through!”
This old man was Ah Hua’s father.
He had once been an ice worker at Baoquan Ice Cellar.
As the saying goes, ‘No action in the first nine, walk on ice in the third and fourth nines.’ In the capital region, every third nine days was the busiest time for ice cellars everywhere.
Official ice cellars, noble household ice cellars, merchant and commoner ice cellars divided river sections, released gates to store water, harvested ice, and stored it.
But official ice cellars and noble household ice cellars only took ice from sweet water rivers like Beihai and the Imperial River.
Crystal clear like jade, melting with a fresh fragrance, exclusively for the palace, nobles, and public offices.
While merchant and commoner ice cellars like Baoquan Ice Cellar could only take ice from turbid flows like the North Grand Canal, pale gray and mottled, with a fishy stench when melted.
Every ice worker had to stay in the ice and snow for months, walking on the ice, using special ice-chiseling tools to cut it.
Starting from far away, cutting in rows and ranks, then dragging to the riverbank ice cellar entrance.
Thus, ice worker was the most dangerous occupation in the entire ice-making process.
Not only grueling, but extremely perilous, with drownings in ice rivers every year.
The old man had been a worker for most of his life. Though he luckily survived intact, he had been accidentally blinded in one eye by an ice hook.
The cellar master was benevolent and gave the old man a large sum of money.
The old man was quite sensible and proactively resigned, doing odd jobs mounting god paper crafts in his daily life.
The old man didn’t want Ah Hua to follow in his footsteps and take his place.
But he also felt that water-related work provided a living—as long as there was water, there would always be food on the table.
So, being a water carrier was great.
A bully in the capital, yet only pushing carts to deliver water in the city—able to seek shade in the heat, add clothes in the cold, without enduring the bitter ice and snow.
Perhaps the words “endure hardship” stung Ah Hua. He grabbed the old man’s collar, eyelids drooping, eyes hidden in shadow.
His voice only trembled slightly,
“Dad, I’ve endured for five years, still just a temporary water carrier! Eating starvation rations, drinking sludge water, running stinking alley routes—how much longer do I have to endure?…
Dad, you’ve endured a lifetime of hardship—Mom ran off, your eyes went blind, your livelihood gone… Dad, give me the thing.”
“Ah Hua, that thing is too dangerous! If someone finds out, we can’t hold onto it!”
“Dad.”
Ah Hua released the old man’s sleeve without saying more.
The old man let out a long sigh, his once straight back gradually hunching bit by bit.
He bent down, groped behind the shrine for a moment, and took out a piece of altar suppressing wood.
Rectangular, arm-length, with “All Ghosts Obey” carved on the front, and the Qiankun and Kanli trigrams at both ends.
Clearly an old object at first sight.
The old man then pushed at the altar suppressing wood, revealing it was hollow inside, quietly holding a triangular black command flag.
Seeing this, Ah Hua snatched the altar suppressing wood from the old man’s hand, took out the command flag, stuffed it into his pocket, casually shoved the altar suppressing wood back to the old man, and headed out the door without a word.
“Humbly before the Spirit Official Guardian Deity, my son is young, inherently pure and good. I beseech the Spirit Official Guardian Deity to shelter and protect my boy safely…”
After Ah Hua left, the old man knelt before the shrine, his expression devout.
Ah Hua had used the Li Tan Banner twice before without incident.
This time, it should be the same, right?
The old man vaguely guessed Ah Hua might be doing something bad, but how could he bear to truly refuse or punish the kid?
He could only silently pray, eat vegetarian meals, and make offerings to the gods, hoping to cleanse Ah Hua’s sins.
“The world is a house of fire, coolness no more. If there are sins to punish, let me substitute—beat me with the staff, let illnesses come to me, only beg my son be free of false calamity.
If there truly are deities.”
……
Just past the hour of Dog, sunset with crows as city gates close.
A figure wearing a bamboo hat, cloaked in a greatcoat, carrying some dried mountain goods, slunk sneakily into Wuqing County.
Zhuang Kun’s gaze wary, scanning the surroundings, then pretending to be a mountaineer selling goods, first went to the warehouse to sell the mountain goods.
Only then did he change into inconspicuous clothes and head west of the county.
With the Heavenly Rice Barn burned and the Azure Gang Yang Huo missing, Zhuang Kun had originally planned to flee for good, never returning to Wuqing County.
But calming down, Zhuang Kun realized he couldn’t flee, nor escape!
He’d heard the Azure Gang Yang Huo was immortal fate—how could he escape from an immortal’s palm?
Though Zhuang Kun didn’t know who the immortal was, where they were, or their exact powers—he’d never encountered one.
Zhuang Kun guessed those immortals were probably holed up in deep mountains, cave heaven blessed lands.
After all, that’s how it was in the biographical storytelling.
So Zhuang Kun decided to make amends by recovering the Azure Gang Yang Huo.
And needless to say, the culprits who night-raided and burned the warehouse were undoubtedly that gang of water carriers!
Zhuang Kun recalled a few days ago, when he led men to clash with Weihang Street and got badly humiliated.
Zhuang Kun spat a thick glob viciously.
“I remember, Ah Hua’s home seems to be near Lingguan Temple?”
First that little brat Ah Hua, then that old codger Chen Shun’an!
Lin Shou Zhuo… never mind, endure a bit longer.
Zhuang Kun reckoned he was in the shadows, enemies in the light.
Sooner or later he’d dig up useful intel!
Arriving at Lingguan Temple, Zhuang Kun didn’t take much effort to find Ah Hua’s home.
Bang!
The door was kicked open again.
Zhuang Kun’s eyes flashed coldly as he strode inside.
He found only an old man in the room, no sign of Ah Hua.
And at this hour, Ah Hua should have been off duty and home.
The old man hurriedly scrambled up from before the shrine, grabbing an axe, warily saying,
“Who are you looking for?!”
Zhuang Kun said impatiently,
“Old codger, tell me quick, where’s Ah Hua?!”
The old man sensed Zhuang Kun’s hostile intent, thinking him an enemy Ah Hua had made outside, and wanted to turn hostility to friendship, resolve it somewhat.
“Young man, what grudge do you have with my boy? Does he owe you money? Any IOU? I’ll pay it!”
“I’ll ask one more time…”
Before Zhuang Kun could speak, a grasshopper chirp came from his bosom, exceptionally crisp and pleasing, clear even through the purple skin gourd and clothes, not muffled at all.
Zhuang Kun froze, then burst with joy.
“Your home has treasure?”
Zhuang Kun’s grasshopper was called Golden Head Overlord, a rare insect breed gradually gaining spirituality, able to detect qi and identify treasures.
And it ignored ordinary treasures!
The last time it chirped was upon encountering the Azure Gang Yang Huo!
Hearing this, the old man instinctively blocked the shrine, panicking,
“No, no…”
“Old codger, at this point, still not honest!”
Zhuang Kun brute-forced, shoving the old man aside and kicking the shrine over.
His eyes lit up as he picked up a piece of altar suppressing wood.
Soon, he found the altar suppressing wood wasn’t solid; opening it revealed it empty inside.
“Chirp chirp…” Golden Head Overlord chirped again, as if urging.
Zhuang Kun greedily said: “Where’s the treasure inside? Did Ah Hua take it?! I always knew that kid was sneaky and dishonest…”
The old man, pushed to the corner, seeing this scene, suddenly understood something. With unknown courage surging, he swung the axe and lunged.
“Want Ah Hua? Kill me first!”
“Die!”
Zhuang Kun kicked the old man square in the chest.
As a second-rate martial artist, his sudden assault was something the old man couldn’t withstand.
He flew out like a tattered sack, hit the ground, twitched twice, and breathed no more.
“Ah Hua, Ah Hua, where the hell did you go?”
