Chapter Ninety-Six: Dream Adrift

Right now, the hottest figure in all of Dream-Floating City is neither Cui Dandan, the gifted daughter of the local noble Cui clan, nor Xu Zhendong, the Xu family’s celebrated prodigy.

It is a fisherman named Xie Xiushi.

This fisherman, who should have been living in a thatched hut by the sea, actually bought a house in Floating Dream Quarter in the northern district of Dream-Floating City a month ago. One must know that even the most ordinary house in Floating Dream Quarter fetched a minimum of one thousand taels of silver through the city’s brokers.

A peck of rice cost only five copper coins, one thousand copper coins made one string, and one string made a tael of silver.

Not only that, he also bought, at three times the market price, a medicinal shop and a tavern on a bustling street in the southern district of Dream-Floating City, yet he did not replace a single person in either place.

He did not even change the accountant who kept the ledgers.

His only instruction was to have the medicinal shop and the tavern send over herbs and foodstuffs to the Xie residence in Floating Dream Quarter whenever they restocked. Beyond that, he gave no other orders.

In addition, this fisherman also bought many slaves and servants from the brokers, then went to the martial halls to hire several men to guard the gates and protect the estate, again paying twice the going rate.

With such extravagant and generous spending, the dark-skinned fisherman who had entered the city a month earlier in complete obscurity naturally became the most talked-about man in Dream-Floating City.

Every day, countless people lingered before Xie Xiushi’s courtyard, hoping to catch his eye and be taken into the Xie residence at a high price.

Yet alongside the fisherman’s high profile, many rumors and malicious whispers also spread through the taverns and teahouses of Dream-Floating City.

“Xie Xiushi is nothing more than a fisherman who makes his living off the sea. He fishes one day and idles the next, spending his days in that shabby thatched hut of his. Where would he get so much money?”

“Exactly. Three generations of his family were fishermen. Where did his wealth come from? Could it be that the misfortune at the Deng landlord’s estate in Evil Sheep Ridge some days ago was his doing?”

“If you ask me, it was definitely him. They say a man’s face reflects his heart, and just looking at his makes my skin crawl. He doesn’t look like a good person, so of course he wouldn’t do anything good either!”

“But he seems rather honest-looking to me. Besides, though the incident at the Deng landlord’s estate in Evil Sheep Ridge did happen some days ago, Xie Xiushi had already entered the city a month earlier...”

“You’re being paid by Xie Xiushi to speak up for him here, aren’t you?”

“This fellow must have taken Xie Xiushi’s money. I can’t stand the look of him either. If it wasn’t Xie Xiushi, who else could have done the deed at the Deng estate?”

“Exactly. As the saying goes, harsh mountains and poor waters breed ruffians. It is no surprise that a fisherman like him would be ruthless and vicious. He must have killed the Deng family and stolen all their gold and silver.”

“If that’s so, why would he come back? Why not go to another city?”

“The thoughts of such a cruel man are impossible to fathom. You’re defending him this time—have you also taken money from that fisherman Xie Xiushi?”

“...”

Inside a tavern in the southern district of Dream-Floating City, even though a few dissenting voices arose, they were quickly drowned out by the furious tide of spittle and outrage. Others who had also wanted to voice their doubts, seeing this scene, remained silent and said no more.

Rumors always spread with astonishing speed, especially when they involved the thrilling and eye-catching matter of murder and plunder.

Those who had once gathered before Xie Xiushi’s courtyard hoping for profit were soon transformed into righteous, impassioned men seeking justice for the Deng landlord. Had the blades in the hands of the four guards before Xie Xiushi’s courtyard not still been sharp enough, his gate might already have been trampled down.

“Young master, it’s mostly been arranged.”

At the rear of that furious crowd stood a handsome and elegant young man holding a folding fan and wearing a ring-shaped jade pendant at his waist. He watched the scene with a smile.

“A fisherman should know his place. Not just anyone can live in Floating Dream Quarter.”

Xu Zhendong closed his fan. Hearing the soft report from the servant beside him, a trace of coldness flickered in his eyes. He then bent down and climbed into the four-man sedan chair with its green canopy and grass-green curtains.

The sedan had not gone far before it arrived at a vermilion mansion.

On the gold-threaded nanmu plaque above the mansion were engraved two bold, sweeping characters: Xu Residence.

In Floating Dream Quarter, there were two mansions occupying the largest tracts of land: one was the Xu Residence, and the other was the Cui Residence. The Xu and Cui estates faced each other across the street, while the remaining courtyards and houses in Floating Dream Quarter belonged to wealthy gentry and cultivated men, with few merchants among them.

The residents of Dream-Floating City often sighed that within Floating Dream Quarter, all one heard were refined scholars and witty conversation, and no vulgar boors came and went.

Yet a month ago, this fisherman had suddenly bought a courtyard house in Floating Dream Quarter, though that house had already been listed with the brokers for some time without attracting a buyer.

Still, it should not have been the home of someone of such lowly status.

Even if he could afford it, he absolutely should not have bought it.

“If a prodigy of the age were truly as vulgar and shallow as this Xu family prodigy, then it would be an insult to the divine beast called the kirin.”

In the red pavilion of the Cui Residence’s rear garden, silver curtains swayed gently. Fine fingers plucked the strings of a zither, sending out waves of exquisite music. Beneath the long corridor of the red pavilion, the koi in the pond leapt lightly, raising ripples in rings.

“Miss, I’ve nearly finished investigating Xie Xiushi as well. According to the fishermen nearby, ever since the auspicious rain from the heavens one year ago, Xie Xiushi has been living in seclusion in his thatched hut and rarely leaving it. And in Banyue City and Yaoping City of Nansi Prefecture, there have been people pawning pearls of considerable value on and off throughout the year.”

Cui Dandan sat cross-legged on a soft cushion embroidered with green-leaf lotuses, her ten fingers gently stroking the ancient zither. Behind her stood a pretty maid in blue, holding a small blue booklet as she spoke to Cui Dandan.

“According to the pawnbroker’s assistant in Banyue City and the shopkeeper in Yaoping City, it should be the same person. There is a very high chance it was Xie Xiushi himself.”

“An astonishingly lucky fisherman.”

Cui Dandan’s fingertips came to a graceful stop, and the music slowly faded. A breeze lifted the corner of the silver curtain, revealing her breathtaking features. The only pity was that her lips were a sickly pale, diminishing that beauty by a fraction.

“A month ago, Xie Xiushi pushed a wooden cart covered in thatch into the city. According to the servants placed in his courtyard, the contents of the cart were a crystal coffin of no small expense. Besides that, the herbs and foodstuffs he ordered from the medicinal shop and tavern were mostly things with healing and invigorating properties.”

“Oh?”

A trace of interest appeared on Cui Dandan’s face.

“After that coffin first appeared, it was always locked in a side room in the inner courtyard by Xie Xiushi, under the watch of two men from the martial hall who could crush a hundred catties of stone with bare hands. One of those men used to be a guard of the Xu family.”

“No wonder Xu Zhendong was so eager to have Xie Xiushi put to death. So he was afraid I would learn of this.”

Cui Dandan smiled faintly and lightly extended a hand. The blue-clad maid behind her closed the booklet and quickly helped her to her feet.

“But he forgot that Dream-Floating City is not ruled by us.”

Cui Dandan gave a soft cough, picked up some fish food, and tossed it into the pond below the pavilion. Watching the koi gather and jostle for the food, she said with a light laugh:

Her laugh carried a hint of self-mockery.