The sound of roosters crowing rang out.
Inside the Mingquan Courtyard, the candle flames had already been extinguished, and white wax covered the candlesticks like tears.
The charcoal basin in the room radiated remnant heat. Xiaoman, her hair combed into double-tufted buns, was huddled on a small wooden stool. Her head had nodded repeatedly all night, and drool dripped onto her knees.
Hearing the roosters crow, she jolted awake. She first looked toward the canopy bed. Seeing that both Chen Ji and Wu Yun were gone, she hurriedly stood up in a panic. "Young Master? Young Master, where are you?"
Xiaoman laid on the floor and looked under the bed. In her memory, whenever the Young Master had nightmares, he would hide under the bed. But this time, the space under the bed was completely empty.
At this time, Chen Ji's voice came over: "I am in the courtyard."
Xiaoman anxiously pushed open the room's doors, only to see Wu Yun resting on the grey tile eaves of the courtyard wall, her paws tucked in as she closed her eyes to rest her spirit. Meanwhile, Chen Ji was currently holding a bamboo broom, sweeping the dust on the ground into a pile.
Seeing the broom in Chen Ji's hand, she turned pale with fright. "When did Young Master wake up? Why are you sweeping the floor yourself?! Give me the broom!"
Chen Ji said casually, "Being idle is still being idle; let me sweep."
Xiaoman was heartbroken. "Which noble gentleman sweeps the floor himself? Everyone else is absolutely precious and noble. How many times have I told you? You need to put on the airs of a Young Master! This way, they won't look down on you!"
Chen Ji smiled and said, "Merely a Concubine's Son. I can hardly be considered a noble gentleman."
Puffing her cheeks in anger, Xiaoman said, "Who says you don't count?! If I say you count, then you count! With the Chen Family's lineage of generations of high officials and an estate ringing with the bells of dining, pulling out any random Concubine's Son could still suppress another family's legitimate eldest son! In the future, when you marry a wife, you absolutely must not lower your status and marry a concubine's daughter. You must find a legitimate daughter from a scholarly family; only that will do!"
The concept of social status and family background had already deeply penetrated everyone's marrow. Chen Ji didn't agree, but there was no need to argue with her about it either.
Seeing him remain silent, Xiaoman forcefully snatched the broom away and leaned it against the corner of the wall. "I'll go boil water for you to wash up first. After washing up, you still have to go pay respects!"
Chen Ji shook his head. "No need. I won't go pay respects anymore from now on."
Xiaoman became suspicious. "Why are you suddenly acting so tough? Did the sun rise from the west?"
Chen Ji explained, "I just went to pay my respects to Madam. On her own initiative, she instructed me that I don't need to go pay respects to her anymore from now on."
Xiaoman grew even more suspicious. "Could she have such good intentions?"
Chen Ji smiled and said, "Perhaps she chanted Buddha's name until a bit of a compassionate heart emerged."
Xiaoman muttered in a low voice, "She's been chanting Buddha's name for so many years and I've never seen any compassionate heart emerge. Why did it suddenly emerge today?"
Chen Ji corrected her, "It wasn't her own chanting that brought out the compassionate heart. It was me who chanted her compassionate heart out. Sincerity Leads to Spiritual Fulfillment."
Half-understanding, Xiaoman said, "Ah?"
Chen Ji waved his hand. "Go boil water."
Xiaoman dragged out her response: "Oh..."
She went into the side room, lifted the lid of the stove, picked up coal briquettes with iron tongs, and tossed them inside. "Right, Young Master, did you not have nightmares last night?"
Chen Ji's eyes flickered. "I had a dream, but it was different from before."
Xiaoman stuck her head out from the side room. "You didn't dream of that bizarre battlefield again?"
Chen Ji's pupils constricted slightly.
This world's 'Chen Ji' actually shared the same dreams as him?!
Remaining silent for a long time, Chen Ji probed further to bait words out of Xiaoman: "Actually, thinking about it now, that dream wasn't so scary."
Curling her lips, Xiaoman pulled her head back into the side room. "You were the one who said that dream was terrifying. Demons, Monsters, Ghosts, and Spirits, flying birds and running beasts were everywhere, and there were also many soldiers killing back and forth, blood flowing so heavily it could float shields."
Chen Ji confirmed it was the exact same dream.
Just what connection existed between himself and this world's 'Chen Ji'? Why would they have the same dreams?
Could this... be the critical key as to why Master and Li Qingniao were able to smuggle him down from the Forty-Nine Heavens?
Chen Ji couldn't help but carefully recall the words Li Qingniao had spoken: "The people of the Northern Kuru Continent are responsible for smuggling you," and "The Forty-Nine Heavens cannot keep you; go to the place you should go."
He suddenly awoke to the realization that there were two critical pieces of information within these words:
The first critical piece of information was that the people responsible for smuggling him came from the Northern Kuru Continent, one of the Forty-Nine Heavens... Could it be that his Master, Yao Qimen, was also a person who came down from the Forty-Nine Heavens?
Chen Ji recalled that he had once asked his Master if he wanted to ascend to the Forty-Nine Heavens to become among the Immortals. His Master's reply was... "If I do not have a hundred thousand years of life, what is the point of being a heavenly immortal!"
The second critical piece of information was the phrase "cannot keep you"—these four words were worth careful consideration. Who was trying to keep him? Why did they want to keep him in the Forty-Nine Heavens?
Thinking up to this point, Chen Ji kept feeling as if there was an even greater, looming crisis enveloping him from above the firmament.
At this time, Xiaoman walked out of the side room, wiping her hands on the clothes behind her back. Seeing Chen Ji zoning out, she waved her hand in front of his face. "Young Master, what dream did you have last night?"
Chen Ji spun a lie: "Last night was a beautiful dream. I dreamed that I earned a lot, lot of silver, purchased tens of thousands of acres of paddy fields, and even took over a silk shop, an inn, a restaurant..."
Xiaoman muttered, "Still thinking about earning money. It's already a great fortune if your money isn't swindled away. Previously, you truly did have a restaurant and a few hundred acres of fertile land, but wasn't it all coaxed away by Madam? Auntie's 'Gufu Pavilion' was located outside the East Brilliance Gate at Dengshikou in the Capital City, where land is as precious as gold. It was very famous."
Chen Ji froze. Such a thing existed?
He couldn't directly ask what other properties existed besides this Gufu Pavilion, so he could only pretend to speak carelessly: "Wealth and money are mere worldly possessions; one cannot bring them into the world at birth, nor take them away at death. I've already forgotten what Auntie left behind, and you don't need to constantly keep thinking about it either. Giving it to Madam is just giving it to Madam."
Xiaoman was so angry she clenched her fists tightly. "You forgot, but I definitely won't forget! Nanny Li said that Auntie left you the Gufu Pavilion outside the East Brilliance Gate, the Yujing Courtyard at the Eight Great Hutongs, the Chen's Grain and Oil Shop, the silk shop outside the Bell and Drum Towers, and three hundred and twenty acres of fertile land in Changping! Every single one of them is a property that others couldn't accumulate even in an entire lifetime! When Auntie purchased them back then, she definitely expended a great deal of heart's blood!"
Chen Ji's heart suddenly tightened. So many properties had all been subject to Madam Liang's Taking By Craft Or Force?!
Remaining silent for a moment, he said, "Xiaoman, bring out those three volumes of the Diamond Sutra in the room."
Giving an "Ah" sound, Xiaoman asked, "Why is Young Master taking the Scriptures?"
Chen Ji said earnestly, "To go pay respects."
Xiaoman: "?"
She didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "You finally managed to be exempt from morning respects with great difficulty; you'd better not go. Those properties are like meat buns thrown at a dog; you definitely won't get them back. However..."
"However what?"
Xiaoman said earnestly, "Young Master, you should go participate in the Imperial Examination. Once you become a high official, Madam will definitely not dare to forcefully occupy these properties anymore, and she will return them all to you."
Chen Ji was deep in thought. Although he didn't have many material desires, the Mountain Lord Pathway burned money like flowing water. Sooner or later, he would need to take back all these properties.
No, even if he didn't spend a single cent, he simply couldn't stand seeing others forcefully occupying his things...
But wanting to take them back wasn't an easy matter; he could only wait until they reached the capital to plan for the long term.
A thought flashing through his mind, Chen Ji suddenly sighed with emotion, "It's been so long, I've almost forgotten what Auntie looked like."
Hearing these words, Xiaoman's mood also dropped, feeling depressed. "It truly has been a very, very long time... But how could Young Master forget Auntie? She was the most beautiful and gentle woman in the entire world. When Auntie smiled, it looked pretty; when she didn't smile, it also looked pretty. Every time I saw her, I would think, how could such a woman marry Master? I'm afraid all the scholars in the entire Capital City thought this exact same thing back then."
Chen Ji remained silent, not interrupting.
Xiaoman continued speaking softly, "Auntie taught me many things, but I was too stupid and could never learn them. She didn't find it annoying either, actually teaching me over and over again. Young Master, I really envy you. If only I had a mother like that... Actually, Auntie also told me to call her 'Mother', but I didn't dare to."
Chen Ji remembered his own mother was also like this. When he was young and couldn't learn pinyin no matter what—as if he hadn't opened his mind to learning—his mother would teach him tirelessly, over and over again without annoyance.
His voice subconsciously softened. "Why didn't you dare to call her Mother?"
Xiaoman smiled. "Probably because I felt I was unworthy. How could I have such a good mother? But later, when I wanted to call her that again, she was no longer there."
Chen Ji didn't know if what Xiaoman said was the heartfelt truth or if, like Jin Zhu, Jiao Tu, and Yun Yang, her mouth was full of lies. He could only choose to believe half of it for now.
But this world seemed to have a special magic. When you mentioned your long-unseen mother, the world would also turn a bit gentler.
Mothers who were seen frequently, however, didn't count.
Xiaoman asked, "Right, Young Master. Aren't you curious about who exactly keeps wanting to buy your whereabouts? We don't even know who it is; what if they want to harm you? You can't continue to indulge them like you did in the past."
Chen Ji remained silent. Curious? Of course he was curious.
Someone spending ten taels of silver a month to buy his whereabouts could be considered quite generous.
Who could the buyer be? Madam Liang, or Wang Gui?
It shouldn't be Madam Liang. As the primary wife managing the Chen Estate, if she wanted to know what he was doing, she only needed to summon the maids for questioning. Who would dare not speak? Furthermore, in the past, he was manipulated by everyone; what need was there for the other party to buy his whereabouts?
It also wasn't Wang Gui. Wang Gui was stingy and couldn't bear to part with this money.
Then who could it be?
This feeling of being Prized and Spied Upon by someone nearby was too unpleasant. He had to bait the other party out today!
Pondering for a moment, Chen Ji instructed Xiaoman, "I'm making a trip to the Eastern Market. Tidy up and come with me."
Xiaoman's eyes widened. "Really? You were never willing to bring me in the past!"
Chen Ji was astonished. 'He' didn't bring Xiaoman when going out in the past?
That's right. According to what Wu Hongbiao said, he had begun receiving secret training several years ago. Those days when he went out without Xiaoman, he must have secretly gone to meet Wu Hongbiao.
Thinking up to this point, Chen Ji nodded. "I'm bringing you this time. Let's go."
"Young Master, wait for me a moment." Xiaoman trotted all the way back into the room and brought out a piece of paper and a stone eyebrow pencil. "Young Master, can I write down this trip to the Eastern Market and give it to Sister Liqiu?"
Chen Ji nodded. "You can record it."
Biting the end of the stone eyebrow pencil, Xiaoman lowered her head and thought for a moment, then asked again, "Young Master, can I record the matter of you not needing to go pay respects to Madam?"
"You can record it... Why are you recording in such detail?"
Xiaoman said as if it were perfectly natural, "Only if the employer is satisfied will they continue giving us silver, ah! Ten taels every month... I mean, eight taels of silver every month!"
Chen Ji held back a smile. "Then record it properly."
"Oh, don't worry, Young Master. Before recording, I will always ask you first." Standing to the side right in front of Chen Ji, Xiaoman lowered her head and earnestly recorded it stroke by stroke on the paper: "Thirteenth day of the twelfth lunar month, thirty-first year of Jianing. Young Master took Xiaoman to the Eastern Market."
(End of this chapter)