CH 58

Chapter 58: Bone Threads (III)

A long train of horse-drawn carriages trotted along the main road of Qingping County. The men manning the carriage were dressed in an unusual manner. Their robes were wide with large sleeves, and a fierce beast's head was embroidered on the front and back of each robe, which was normal. But their robes were entirely white, and billowed gently with the movement of the horses, so that they looked like they were wearing clouds, creating a beautiful mixture between aggression and elegance.

If looking purely at the clothes, it was impossible to tell the ages of those on the horses. They seemed to have gone through many years of physical training, so that their mannerisms were restrained and stiff. As for their faces... each of them wore an odd mask in the shape of a beast's face, and it was impossible to see what they looked like.

There were dozens of them in the carriage, perhaps a hundred. They formed two rows of horses, with a row of three carriages inbetween whose windows were sealed shut. Each carriage bore two flags on its side –– a total of six –– which depicted a complex design against an ink-black field. At first, the design was impossible to make out, and it was only under sunlight that contours could begin to emerge. On top of that black field were two large characters calligraphed to resemble a contorted dragon and a twisted snake –– Taichang, the Ministry of Ceremonies. 

In previous dynasties, the Taichang had controlled all the ghosts and gods in heaven and on earth; maintained balance between yin and yang; within the Taichang, the Minister and Deputy Ministers of Ceremonies were responsible for all. Ever since the Great Priest had gained power over the Taichang, the Deputies' roles had become greatly limited, and even the Minister had become the Great Priest's lieutenant. And since the Great Priest was extremely old, he had already been served by a number of lieutenants.

Now, especially in the last two generations, the entirety of the Taichang, from the Minister and Deputy Ministers, to the Taizhu and Taipu and right down to the Changzi and more* –– they were all intimately close to the Great Priest and their origins were unknown. It was suspected that they were all his disciples.

As the carriage train reached a fork in the road, they split into two groups, with two dozen men diverting into the Qingping county seat along with one of the carriages –– they were the team that had been ordered to exorcise the plague. The rest of the group, around a hundred and twenty people, took a winding mountain road. The two riders at the front of this group wore gleaming copper coin pendants on their hips, and also carried tasselled jade tiles. 

The carvings on the jade tiles were different for each rider: the one on the left had a tortoise, on which stood a bird with long plumes, and both animals were circumscribed within two curling characters –– Taipu. And the tile on the left had the long face of a beast, above whose head hung a small eight-sided bell, and both carvings were also circumscribed by two characters–– Taizhu.

The Taipu and Taizhu both worked within the Ministry of Ceremonies. The Taipu was responsible for telling fortunes and navigating yin and yang, whereas the Taizhu performed sacrifices and exorcisms.

As the train exited the mountain path, the leader carrying the Taipu tile made a gesture with his hand, and the entire train obediently came to a stop.

The Taizhu turned to face him, his eyes full of puzzlement gleaming from behind his mask, and asked, "What is it?"

The tone was profound and serious, but the voice was rather young, like a young man only a little over twenty years of age.

"Let me confirm the direction again," the Taipu said –– the voice was that of a woman, equally young, and contained some nimbleness within that outer layer of warmth and brightness.

As she spoke, she took off the beast mask that she wore, revealing a pleasant face. Just from her face, she seemed even younger than her voice suggested, perhaps only seventeen or eighteen. Thankfully, she had elegant brows and a pair of eyes as deep as lakes, which helped to ground her aura and make her seem calm and stable.

The position of Taipu was a unique one: whether one was practicing divination or decoding dreams, it all had to do with innate talent, and so to become a Taipu one only had to be a highly skilled and fortunate person –– it did not matter whether one was male or female. Because women happened to be more sensitive to such areas, the latest generations of Taipu had included a number of women.

The Taizhu nodded in agreement and said, "True. After all, this is about great disasters. If we get it wrong, we'll surely be punished when we return to the capital." As he spoke, he anxiously pointed his finger upwards and added, "That person won't be happy."

The Taipu glanced at him, then peered up at the layers of clouds in the sky. "The Great Priest has always been just and fair. His punishments are insightful and never depend on his mood. Besides, we won't be able to see him at all when we return. You're overthinking it..."

"Hey, lady, I was just saying. Can you stop being so serious?" the Taizhu snapped.

"No."

The Taipu threw out her response nonchalantly, as she reached into her pocket and extracted a grass knot, a tortoise shell, and a bamboo-scented sheet of paper. She carefully unfolded the paper, on which the first few rows of writing were dry and faint –– they had clearly been written some time ago. There were very few words, and the content was straightforward and direct. In the place on the paper where the sender was supposed to identify themselves, there was a red stamp with two simple characters: Tongdeng.

She confirmed the location written on the paper, then carefully folded it back up again. She arranged the grass knot and the tortoise shell in her palm and said, "Be discreet in word and deed, and especially do not speak ill of the Great Priest in my presence. Or else I may become angry."

The Taizhu shook his head, exasperated. "There you go accusing me of all kinds of nonsense again. I would never dare to speak ill."

Although it was commonly known that the officials within the Taichang were of mysterious origins, there were still some distinctions.

For instance the two riders at the front –– ten years ago, they had both been recruited by the Great Priest and had both been educated at the Taichang. They had slowly grown up and climbed the ranks from Changzi to Changshi to their positions today. Although they'd had almost the same experiences and were of the same age, the Taizhu feared the Great Priest more than he respected him –– and the Taipu respected the Great Priest more than she feared him... far more.

The Taipu focused on her divination and ignored the Taizhu.

After some time, the Taipu glanced at the grass knot in her hand then looked at the horizon. "Yi," he muttered.

"Yi what? Are we lost?" the Taizhu demanded.

The Taipu gently furrowed her elegant brows and fell deep in thought. Finally, she muttered, "I divined... but it shouldn't be."

"You're always speaking in bits and pieces. Say it properly. What did you divine?" The Taizhu followed her gaze and looked at the horizon too, but apart from dark clouds, he saw nothing. Then he stared at the grass knot in her hand, and apart from the fact that the knot looked rather worn, he saw nothing peculiar either.

"Nothing. I just divined that someone is in Qingping County who really shouldn't be. But it's impossible..." the Taipu explained, then she shook her head. "Never mind. In any case, it was only an approximation. I must be mistaken. But we have serious matters to deal with. I've confirmed the location: we keep going down this path toward the southwest."

"Where do we rest tonight?"

The Taipu glanced at the Taizhu again and said, "See that mountain that looks like a dustpan? That's where we're headed."

The Taizhu raised his fist to send a signal to the rest of the train and kicked his stirrups. "Let's go."

Meanwhile, in the Fang family compound, the group was discussing something different...

Their discussion was provoked by Jiang Shining going in to treat the three plague-ridden beggars. As he saw that their fevers were receding, he also noticed that one of the child beggars who looked like a skinny monkey was actually a little girl.

"Now this is unfortunate..." Jiang Shining raised his hand to gesture at the left side of his face and said, "The other two's rashes all stop by their necks, but that little girl has a huge patch on her face. The rashes don't just bleed –– they're going to get gangrenous. We have to clean away the already rotten flesh, and when she recovers, that girl's face..."

The group already knew about the disgusting rashes, and had seen how frail the little girl looked. Naturally, they could imagine the immense scar that would ravage the girl's face after she healed –– half her face would be ruined. The child was still so young. If her face was ruined now, what would she do later?

Fussing really ran in the Jiang family. Although the beggar was a complete stranger, Jiang Shijing became extremely worried for this little girl.

Xue Xian had been rolling his wheelchair past them, but, upon hearing Jiang Shining's words, he stopped.

The only thing that determined whether Xue Xian was interested or uninterested in doing something was his mood. Auntie Chen was a real talent, and the feast that she'd laid out for him that morning had been excellent. And once he ate his fill, he was in a good mood, and he could even forget a bit of what was burdening him, to the point that when Xuanmin walked out of the door and came towards him, he barely noticed.

Xue Xian hated to eat and drink for free, but to give them gold beads would be to treat the Fang home as an inn. As he'd been pondering how to repay his debt to the Fangs, he'd heard Jiang Shijing fret and had had an idea. 

"I have a solution for the little girl's face," Xue Xian said.

Stunned, the group turned to him. "What solution?"

If he could make a paper body for Jiang Shining, then of course he could help make a new prosthetic for the little girl's face. However...

"I can't just magic flesh out of nowhere for her. There needs to be some form of exchange with another material object," Xue Xian explaiend.

Jiang Shijing was not stupid, and Jiang Shining had experienced it all before so could offer advice. The group quickly debated the issue: "Some form of exchange... to go on someone's face... Hey! How about a mask?"

Stone Zhang, who was still eating his breakfast, eagerly raised his hand. "I can help! I can carve her a beautiful, extravagant mask!"

Oh, fuck off!

Xue Xian glared at Stone Zhang. "Not even eating will shut you up, it seems. Have you ever seen someone with a face carved full of designs?"

Silently, Stone Zhang went back to eating.

"I mean yirong masks," Jiang Shining explained, chuckling. "The kind that you can use to entirely replace your face. But a mask is still just a mask, and we still need you..."

He glanced at Xue Xian.

Xue Xian nodded. "That's also what I mean."

"But..." Jiang Shining asked awkwardly. "Who could make one?"

Stone Zhang hurriedly put his bowl back down again. "I can."

"Really? But aren't you a stonemason?" Xue Xian asked skeptically.

"Many such skills are transferrable," Stone Zhang said, pointing at himself. "I've seen others make them before. Plus, I'm extremely nimble-fingered. I'm sure I can make an adequate one."

It was hilarious to see a stout, balding little man speak of his own nimble fingers so proudly.** But indeed, no one else at the table was as nimble as he, and none had observed the making of an yirong mask. So the task fell to him.

Stone Zhang did not delay: he immediately listed the materials that he needed, and then went to thoroughly wash his hands.

In the meantime, the others did not sit by idly either. Since he'd woken up in the morning, Twenty-Seven had tucked himself away in a corner of the courtyard, holding the black cloth that had been used to blindfold Stone Zhang in one hand and using the bundle of sticks in his other hand to trace markings across the floor. After he finished his spell, he would study the markings and then reset everything...

Stone Zhang had not asked for a lot of materials, and fortunately Fang Cheng's compound was full of raw materials, especially those relating to medicine. But the most unique ingredient seemed to have been prepared long in advance.

"What else do we need?" Jiang Shining asked.

Stone Zhang cleared his throat and mumbled, "X glue." 

"What glue?" Xue Xian suddenly turned around. 

With a face full of resignation, Stone Zhang sighed and repeated, "Dragon glue."

"What in the world is dragon glue?"

"It's glue made out of dragon skin." Stone Zhang felt that he had signed his death seal with those words. He wished he could slap his own mouth off. You volunteered for a task, and look at you now. You're getting yourself killed.

Xue Xian's expression turned dark. "What the fuck? Who is making glue out of dragon skin? Drag him out there and show him to me!"

"It's not... that's... that's just what it's called," Stone Zhang quickly explained. "You know how whenever there's some strange new item, people come up with mysterious, powerful names for it. They like to name things after dragons but it usually has nothing to do with them. That glue comes from western merchants. It is made of animal skin..."

But Xue Xian was still furious. He slapped the table and shouted, "Why do you need some mysterious glue? Go get some pig skin!"

"Alrighty," Stone Zhang said. He did what he was told.

Just as Xue Xian finished roaring with rage, he turned to see Xuanmin behind him. Their eyes met, and then Xue Xian swiftly wheeled his chair away, making his escape.

Xuanmin watched him go.

Actually, pig glue was perfectly adequate –– they just needed to be careful about taking it out of the pot, as doing so too early or too late would ruin it. 

Stone Zhang, standing guard by the pot, decided that it had been enough time. Just as he made to turn off the heat, a hand shot out to stop him. 

He only needed to see that snow-white sleeve to know who it was. He filled his voice with respect and deferentially said, "Master."

Xuanmin did not waste his words. He glanced at the pot and said, "Let it boil a bit longer."

Stone Zhang was stunned. "Master, you know how to make these masks too?"

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* Yeah i'm not gonna lie, I have no idea what those last 3 things are, but they're obviously like certain positions within the ministry so like????? there ya go.

** Why ?? He's the best stonemason in the area... so mean!!!