Ye Yan was the most well read among those present. When the elders of the Ye family asked for opinions, he was the first to speak. “It looks like something drawn by a person.”
That single sentence made several younger cousins stare at him wide eyed. “Do not say nonsense. Watch your mouth.”
Ye Yan remained careful as always. “It looks like it was done with charcoal and eyebrow pencil. The paper is also the cheapest kind, the type that costs four hundred coins for a stack.”
Reading has always been expensive, and he has always used the cheapest paper available. If the shop ever ran out of bad paper, only then would he buy something slightly better.
He was extremely familiar with the feeling of this type of paper.
The same goes for the charcoal and the eyebrow pencil. Ink and brushes are costly. When he writes drafts or notes that are not important, he would never bother to grind ink.
When he finished speaking, the entire room fell silent for a moment.
They were no longer as frightened, but thinking about the ghostly figures on the paper still sent chills up their spines.
Ye Qingyang compared the copied text to the original, lining them up according to the layout. Without those two ghostly figures staring from the painted page, the pressure on them lightened considerably, and recognizing the writing became easier.
He said, “Someone is pretending to be a spirit. Later we should invite a priest or a monk to come take a look, or the elders will not be at ease.”
Then he added with annoyance, “Call that Li the fortune teller from next door. Supposedly he is very capable.”
Ye Wangzu did not respond to this. “Let us first see what is written.”
The characters were missing strokes and limbs like bodies torn apart, so each person picked out the ones they recognized, writing down their guesses. Piece by piece, with guessing and checking, the entire morning passed before they finally put the message together.
“Why would they be looking for Master Li? How did it end up in our village?” someone asked, still convinced the paper was truly from the underworld.
“Do not pretend you do not know. It must have fallen on the way. Did you not hear Uncle Liang say it? That white clothed ghost messenger went downstream.”
Downstream was the Great Valley Village. Master Li lived in a house right by the river.
Judging by the location, his place was actually very similar to Yun Cheng’s family home. Both were far from the main settlement and could be reached simply by following the riverbank.
The draft paper and both drawings were collected by Ye Wangzu. He went out to explain the contents of the message to the elders, deliberately leaving out their suspicion that the drawings were created by a human hand.
The moment the elders heard that the message was not directed at their village, everyone finally let out a collective sigh of relief.
In these times, very few people dared to treat such things lightly.
Ye Gen said, “Then we should deliver this paper, this wanted notice, to Li the fortune teller.”
Ye Qingyang immediately raised his hand. “I will deliver it.”
Ye Gen looked at him. Qingyang did not look away. His eyes carried a restless spark and a touch of schadenfreude, completely unconcerned or guilty.
Ye Gen glanced at the eldest grandaunt. The elder nodded, so Ye Gen passed the papers to Qingyang. “This matter concerns ghost messengers. It would not be good if personal grudges caused delays. I also fear you may attract ill fortune. After delivering it, return right away.”
Still uneasy, he told his son Wangzu to accompany him.
Ye Qingyang was a ger. In the nearby villages he was known as the unattractive ger.
Speaking purely of his features, he was actually quite striking. His brows were sharp, his figure tall, and the mole near his eye was faint and elegant, giving him a refined, scholarly appearance at first glance.
But because of his gender, that handsome face became too masculine for a ger. His brothers joked that he looked more like a man than they did, and outsiders said even harsher things.
Last year, his grandfather mentioned arranging a husband for him. His parents were worried and invited Li, the fortune teller, to read his fate.
The reading said that Qingyang’s fate was too hard, and if a husband were brought into the family, the presence of another man would collide with the elder’s life.
The only elder in the family was his grandfather. Even if the old man agreed, Qingyang would never risk endangering him.
But when families came proposing marriage afterward, every one of them was either questionable in character or came with messy histories.
The eldest grandaunt was the oldest in the village and knew the affairs of every household. Matters of fortune readings were kept secret in most families, but she had heard countless similar situations.
As they walked, she explained to Wangzu, “He once said that the three brothers in Yan’s family cannot marry women. He later claimed that Cunshan would harm his own kin. I did not say anything at the time. And when it came to your younger sister, he insisted she could not marry before she turned twenty, and that foolish rule cost her a perfectly good husband.”
“This time, we will not concern ourselves with who drew it. We will treat it as the work of the underworld and see how he reacts.”
“If he truly has ability, he will not be afraid.”
Wangzu nodded. “When we arrive, give him the copy with clearer writing. It says there is a five day deadline to confess. After a couple of days we can check again. If he shows no reaction, we will go together at night.”
Qingyang’s eyes lit with excitement. “All right.”
Meanwhile, every household in the village waited anxiously for their family members to return from Ye Gen’s house, eager to see whether this matter involved real spirits or simple human trickery.
Even Yun Cheng, from early morning, was swept into the tense atmosphere by Second Uncle Ye and his whole family.
He had grown up sheltered, and most of what he understood of conflicts came from the internet, where he acted as a keyboard warrior. If he was honest with himself, this was the first time he had ever stepped out to handle something for real.
Before acting, he had prepared himself for failure and planned to persuade Ye Cunshan to try again if it did not work. If all else failed, he would hire someone to beat up Li the fortune teller.
But the result surprised him completely. People in this era reacted very strongly to anything that resembled superstition.
When Ye Yan returned, the entire family gathered around him. Little Chan clung to his leg and refused to let go.
She was only three, had little contact with other children, and understood very little. All she could feel was the unease coming from the adults around her. She waited anxiously for her father to return and even shed plump little tears.
Ye Yan picked up his daughter, coaxed her gently, and gave the simplest possible explanation. “It is not looking for anyone from our village.” The entire family immediately calmed down.
Yun Cheng also relaxed. Thank goodness the characters written were in simplified script. At least someone could recognize them.
But before he could fully exhale, Madam Zhao immediately asked another question that sent his heart right back up to his throat.
“Then who is it looking for?”
Yun Cheng stared fixedly at Ye Yan, eyes wide and unblinking, silently praying that he would not say the wrong name.
Ye Yan said, “It is looking for Master Li from Great Valley Village. They call him, Li the fortune teller.”
Liu Yun instinctively glanced at Yun Cheng. It was not her fault she reacted like that. The timing was simply too uncanny. She had just finished telling Yun Cheng a few things about the fortune teller Li Banzian, the impression still fresh in her mind, and now that very man had run into trouble.
Yun Cheng patted his chest guiltily and muttered, “Good thing I listened to Sister in Law and didn’t go to him for a reading.”
Madam Zhao’s expression darkened the moment she heard the words fortune telling. She was determined to save every possible coin to put her youngest son through school. She already carried a sense of debt toward her first two sons.
Although the family did not lack food or daily necessities, she could not provide equal spending money for all of them.
Later, when it came time to look for brides, she pushed for early marriages so the sons could set up their own households sooner, avoiding resentment and the risk of brothers turning against one another.
But with a fortune teller around, they had developed the habit of asking for a reading whenever matchmaking came up. Birth dates and destiny lines, auspicious days, compatible signs. And Li Banzian had declared that none of her sons could marry a woman.
If she spoke honestly, Madam Zhao had believed it at the time. She was not a superstitious person, yet if she truly disbelieved she would not have spent money on the reading in the first place.
Even so, she had never been biased enough to follow such advice, so she made the decision herself and chose suitable girls for all three boys.
Now, Ye Yan’s future showed not even the smallest glimmer of promise. Sometimes she wondered if they had really violated some taboo. But the daughter in law had lived in their household for two years now, and Madam Zhao had seen everything with her own eyes.
The in-laws whispered that the Zhao family did not treat their daughters in law like human beings. She kept these words buried in her heart and never dared speak them aloud.
Now that she heard the underworld messengers had gone after Li Banzian, all the pent up frustration in her chest dissipated in an instant, replaced by a clean bright feeling of satisfaction.
Yun Cheng explained that he had only wanted to check Ye Cunshan’s fortune out of worry for him. Madam Zhao and Liu Yun reacted exactly the same. “No need to find him. Nothing good ever comes out of his mouth.”
Knowing not to push his luck, Yun Cheng wisely closed his mouth.
Lunch had already been prepared and was being kept warm in the pot. When Ye Yan returned, the family sat down to eat. During the meal, Chan Jie clung to Ye Yan as usual, and he indulged her patiently, feeding her mouthful by mouth while recounting the entire incident in detail.
Originally, he had planned to share their suspicion that the matter had been caused by human hands, hoping to put the family at ease. But after thinking of how Wangzu had never mentioned it to the elders, he sighed internally and decided not to bring it up.
He only said gently, “The paper drifted down from the bend in the river toward the downstream valley village. It has nothing to do with us.”
The incident with the underworld messengers had caused an uproar all day long, spreading from Jinghe Village all the way to Dagu Village. Even in the rain, people threw on straw cloaks or held umbrellas, grabbed a handful of melon seeds, and hurried out to join the spectacle.
Li Banzian was also a wandering migrant. Because he could tell fortunes, his life was far better than that of the average outsider. He was usually mild mannered, tall and thin, fond of wearing oversized robes.
Even his winter coat was a large loose piece. He kept a small beard and carried a kind of airy pretentious elegance.
When the two Ye brothers arrived today, Li Banzian had assumed they had come seeking a fortune reading. He was even contemplating whether he should directly offer to break bad luck for an extra fee. Before he could decide, Ye Qingyang placed a sheet of paper in front of him.
On it, the figures of Black and White Impermanence were drawn tall and slender, misty yet powerful, the strokes so forceful they seemed to pierce through the paper. Their eyes appeared almost alive, staring straight into him and making his heart tremble.
If he had not been in this line of work for more than ten years, he would have torn the paper apart right then and there.
Ye Qingyang and Ye Wangzu followed their agreed plan. No matter how Li Banzian reacted, whether he denied or cursed or spoke unpleasantly, they would treat the drawing as a genuine artifact of the underworld.
When Li Banzian accused Ye Qingyang of retaliating because he disliked his fortune reading, Ye Qingyang spoke with a deliberately stiff and looping tone, warning him to mind his words and not offend the underworld messengers.
Wangzu used brute force and snatched the paper from the fortune teller, then held it out for the crowd to see.
Some villagers had wanted to help but were frightened by the fierce gaze of the drawn spirits. They backed away at once, terrified that even brushing against the paper might cause the underworld to mistake them for someone else and come claim their soul at night.
Wangzu did not try to force anyone closer. He simply made a slow circle through the crowd so everyone could see, then returned and slapped the sheet back onto Li Banzian’s shoulder. “We have said everything we should. Believe it or not.”
Li Banzian snapped, “You are all taking revenge on me. Your sister will bring misfortune to her husband if she marries before twenty. If I had not warned people, would you have had me harm other families’ sons?”
The villages of Jinghe and Dagu were closely tied through marriage. His words shook quite a few hearts. Many young men had once vied to marry Ye Cunxue. Without his warning, they might truly have married her, and who knew if they would still be alive to stand here watching the commotion.
Wangzu’s expression remained perfectly calm. He even nodded lightly. “Yes. I can also order the underworld messengers around if I want.”
The murmurs around them froze for a heartbeat.
By the time the two returned, the entire village already knew the story. Some people had even taken the trouble to run to the neighboring village just to snack on melon seeds and enjoy the spectacle.
Yun Cheng had been dragged out by Cun Yin for a walk, and from a distance he caught sight of Li Banzian’s appearance. Tonight, he planned to draw the fortune teller’s portrait into the underworld wanted list.
If possible, he hoped to resolve the matter of the fate reading before Ye Cunshan came home, giving him a pleasant surprise as thanks for the days of shelter and care he had received.
That night, when Yun Cheng began working on his drawings for the second time.
Meanwhile, Ye Cunshan was also continuing to carve characters onto the plain hairpin.
During the day, he had sold fifty hairpins, all of them the plain wooden kind. The sales matched his expectations. In the provincial city, people lived well.
Those who could afford the higher priced carved flower pins could easily buy gold or silver ones instead. What they truly wanted was the option for personalized engraving.
There were poor scholars in the city as well. Having spent years studying in the academy himself, Ye Cunshan knew just how much young scholars cared about looking presentable.
Even if they could not dress extravagantly, they liked to appear clean and tasteful, putting their little efforts into subtle accessories.
After selling the batch in the morning, he used the money to buy men’s plain hairpins from other shops and carved them with motifs symbolizing the four gentlemen, plum orchid bamboo and chrysanthemum.
He then strolled by the academy again, selling whatever he could before hurrying back toward Weixian. His goal was to clear all the remaining stock before similar items became popular there.
And once that was done, he could return home sooner.
To see whether the person waiting there had been thinking of him.
✦ ✧ ✦
[Translator]
☕ A LITTLE SOMETHING FOR THE TRANSLATOR
Coffee: useful. Translator: useful. You: potentially useful.
☕ BUY THEM A COFFEE →
✧ (づ｡•ㅅ•｡)づ ☕ ✧
✦ thank you for reading ✦
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ChaptersChapter 1 · I Shall Go With YouChapter 2 · You Are ResponsibleChapter 3 · Just make A DoChapter 4 · You Have To Hold MeChapter 5 · Live A Good LifeChapter 6 · Meet The ParentsChapter 7 · Lucky for My husbandChapter 8 · ThreatenChapter 9 · Turning Waste paper into NewChapter 10 · New Paper!Chapter 11 · He will look good in thisChapter 12 · Too HonestChapter 13 · Make Him HappyChapter 14 · WorshipChapter 15 · Feeling Sorry for moneyChapter 16 · I’m so reluctant to leave you.Chapter 17 · My feelings for him are no longer pure.Chapter 18 · Thinking about helping him in some wayChapter 19 · Buy one for my husbandChapter 20 · Cause troubleChapter 21 · Aftermath of the incidentChapter 22 · He led him home obediently.Chapter 23 · Why are you hugging me?Chapter 24 Part 1 · Sweet TalkingChapter 24 Part 2 · Sweet TalkingChapter 25 · You are my drean ManChapter 26 · I don’t fall for flirtingChapter 27 Part 1 · Teaching You How to Like MeChapter 27 Part 2 · Teaching You How to Like MeChapter 28 Part 1 · Picking up kid from schoolChapter 28 Part 2 · Picking up kid from schoolChapter 29 Part 1 · I Have a FriendChapter 29 Part 2 · I Have a FriendChapter 30 Part 1 · Pampering My HusbandChapter 30 Part 2 · Pampering My HusbandChapter 31 Part 1 · Don’t compare yourself with othersChapter 31 Part 2 · Don’t compare yourself with othersChapter 32 Part 1 · Come here and kiss me yourselfChapter 32 Part 2 · Come here and kiss me yourselfChapter 33 Part 1 · Let me explainChapter 33 Part 2 · Let me explainChapter 34 Part 1 · Little SecretChapter 34 Part 2 · Little SecretChapter 35 Part 1 · Going to the New Year MarketChapter 35 Part 2 · Going to the New Year MarketChapter 36 Part 1 · Please coax his little husbandChapter 36 Part 2 · Please coax his little husbandChapter 37 Part 1 · I want you to pamper meChapter 37 Part 2 · I want you to pamper meChapter 38 Part 1 · He wants to marry into the family!Chapter 38 Part 2 · He wants to marry into the family!Chapter 39 Part 1 · This is a separate priceChapter 39 Part 2 · This is a separate priceChapter 40 Part 1 · Husband, children, and a warm bedChapter 40 Part 2 · Husband, children, and a warm bedChapter 41 Part 1 · Biting SpringChapter 41 Part 2 · Biting SpringChapter 42 Part 1 · Isn’t managing you the important thing?Chapter 42 Part 2 · Isn’t managing you the important thing?Chapter 43 · Shameless!Chapter 44 Part 1 · Head of the HouseholdChapter 44 Part 2 · Head of the HouseholdChapter 45 · DatingChapter 45 Part 2 · DatingChapter 46 · You Were the One Who Got HookedChapter 47 · I Like Being Looked AfterChapter 48 · A Weighty AffectionChapter 49 · Go On, Say It AgainChapter 50 · There’s plenty of time in the futureChapter 51 · Karma and RetributionChapter 52 · Playing the “Villain”Chapter 53 · I’ll Be Very Gentle!Chapter 54 · Rural RomanceChapter 55 · Don’t CryChapter 56 · Unable to Afford TuitionChapter 57 · Coax MeChapter 58 · Do You Want Me to Keep You Company?Chapter 59 · You’re Not Good EnoughChapter 60 · WoofChapter 61 Part 1 · Are the Words “I Love You” Too Hot for Your Mouth?Chapter 61 Part 2 · Are the Words “I Love You” Too Hot for Your Mouth?Chapter 62 · My skin gets itchy if I don’t take care of it for a day.Chapter 63 · ClingyChapter 64 · Night TalkChapter 65 · Top Scholar TransmigrationChapter 66 · Imperial examinationsChapter 67 · Exams Over!Chapter 68 · You’re making fun of me as soon as you get back?Chapter 69 · Shameless!Chapter 70 · Truly unbelievableChapter 71 · One taelChapter 72 · Did you draw one for my brother?Chapter 73 · Bad LuckChapter 74 · Look like youChapter 75 · You’re so clingyChapter 76 · Careful your elder brother doesn’t beat you upChapter 77 · If you’re going to hit me, then just hit meChapter 78 · Cheng GegeChapter 79 · Thank you, DidiChapter 80 · Poor scholars from humble backgrounds usually have strong prideChapter 81 · Twenty two?Chapter 82 · Have you started preparing a new book yet?Chapter 83 · We’re PoorChapter 84 · I Still can’t believeChapter 85 Part 1 · But What happened in the end?Chapter 85 Part 2 · But What happened in the End?Chapter 86 · I’m a little kidChapter 87 · The person in this painting is my younger brotherChapter 88 · Yun Xiaocheng Even Has This SkillChapter 89 Part 1 · Preparations Before DepartureChapter 89 Part 2 · Preparations Before DepartureChapter 90 Part 1 · On the Road, a Transitional ChapterChapter 90 Part 2 · On the Road, a Transitional ChapterChapter 91 Part 1 · NarrativeChapter 91 Part 2 · NarrativeChapter 92 · Narrative, transitional chapterChapter 93 · Make you happyChapter 94 Part 1 · Burial and AdmonitionChapter 94 Part 2 · Burial and AdmonitionChapter 95 · Song Jin said she was very good to Cheng HuilanChapter 96 · She has a good older brother.Chapter 97 · Simplicity is the bestChapter 98 · HomecomingChapter 99 Part 1 · Going homeChapter 99 Part 2 · Going HomeChapter 100 Part 1 · AugustChapter 100 Part 2 · AugustChapter 101 Part 1 · How come you’re pregnant but still have such a slim waist?Chapter 101 Part 2 · How come you’re pregnant but still have such a slim waist?Chapter 102 · This is the love you have for me.Chapter 103 Part 1 · SeptemberChapter 103 Part 2 · SeptemberChapter 103 Part 3 · SeptemberChapter 104 Part 1 · Ye Xiaoshan, you’re so shamelessChapter 104 Part 2 · Ye Xiaoshan, you’re so shamelessChapter 105 · Ye Xiaoshan, what are you doing?Chapter 106 Part 1 · Daily lifeChapter 106 Part 2 · Daily lifeChapter 107 · The novel has many plotsChapter 108 Part 1 · Daily life + novel plotChapter 108 Part 2 · Daily life + novel plotChapter 109 · Monthly Exams and Daily RoutineChapter 110 · Mainly exams