Chapter Ninety-Seven: A Visit

At the entrance to the Xie manor in Floating Dream Hall, which was so tightly hemmed in by the crowd that not a drop of water could have leaked through, a monk suddenly appeared. His arrival made the clamorous throng fall quiet at once.

“Master Huiming, did you also come down from the Temple of Compassionate Mercy after hearing of this fisherman’s wicked deeds, to punish evil and uphold justice?”

The monk wore a crimson kasaya, carried a bright-yellow monk’s staff, and held a purple-gold alms bowl. Seeing someone bar his way, he only smiled and nodded, saying nothing as he strode directly toward the manor gate.

“Master Huiming, have you come to see our master?”

The four guards at the Xie manor gate, on seeing the monk approach, quickly lowered their weapons and asked with respectful expressions.

The monk nodded again, still silent.

“Please rest in the front hall for a moment. I will first go to the inner court and ask our master for instructions.”

Among the four guards, a tall man with a scar at the corner of his eye and a short bristling beard, sword at his waist, opened the gate and bowed as he spoke reverently to the monk.

Only after the monk had entered did he hurry inside and close the gate behind him.

In a side room of the inner court, where a bed had once stood, there now rested a crystal coffin, clear as glass. Within it, one could distinctly see a handsome man lying there.

He was dressed in a crimson robe embroidered with cranes, his hands folded over his chest. A letter also rested there upon his breast.

Before this translucent coffin stood a dark-skinned man with a furrowed brow and a face full of worry. His rough, weathered skin showed plainly that he had spent years under wind and sun.

He was the master of the Xie manor, Xie Xiushi.

Xie Xiushi poured the medicinal broth he had simmered one by one into the nine holes and eight vents set into the crystal coffin lid. The moment the liquid sank into the apertures, it soaked through the transparent cover.

A thread of faint vapor drifted up from the nine holes and eight vents. Xie Xiushi hurriedly drew a deep breath and pulled every wisp of that vapor into his body.

At once he felt clear-headed and invigorated.

“I’ve taken care of you for nearly a year now, just as that couple asked me to. I’ve done my duty well enough. True, they gave me a heap of pearls, but the silver I exchanged them for was spent without a soul to enjoy it.

“If you still do not wake up, then do not blame me for being heartless.”

Xie Xiushi looked at the handsome man in the crystal coffin, who still lay there like a corpse, and lightly stroked the transparent lid. In the depths of his eyes there flickered a trace of greed he could no longer suppress.

The silver he had gained from the pearls had already been spent mostly on buying this very estate. The remainder might last him ten days or half a month, but after that?

If the fellow in the coffin still did not wake, then every day would bring fresh expense and exertion: procuring the herbs and ingredients specified by that couple and brewing them into medicinal soup.

Besides, this man seemed plainly dead. He had already cared for a corpse for a full year; taking a little from his burial savings was hardly excessive.

The greed in Xie Xiushi’s eyes deepened little by little until it filled every corner of them. A hard glint surfaced on his honest-looking face, and his fingers paused on the rim of the crystal lid.

If he only exerted a little force and lifted, he could open the coffin.

Knock, knock, knock.

Three sharp, uninterrupted knocks sounded at the door.

The hardness in Xie Xiushi’s face vanished, and the greed in his eyes slowly dispersed as well. He lifted a lamp from the table, walked to the door, and slid back the latch.

He had barely opened the door a crack when he hurriedly squeezed out, then quickly locked the copper clasp from the outside.

Only after finishing all this did Xie Xiushi turn back to look at the visitor who had knocked.

“What is it?”

He coughed once and straightened his clothes. This silk garment had been specially ordered from a cloth shop by Xie Xiushi himself; it was far more comfortable than the coarse hemp garments he used to wear.

“Master Huiming is waiting for you in the front hall,” said the scarred, sword-bearing guard.

“Didn’t I say no one was to be seen? I pay you to guard this house. Is this how you guard it, after taking my wages?”

On hearing that a stranger was already in the front hall, Xie Xiushi could not help feeling displeased, and he barked at the guard before him with a note of anger.

“He is Master Huiming of the Temple of Compassionate Mercy. I advise you to go and see him yourself.”

The sword-bearing guard lifted his eyes to Xie Xiushi, a flash of ferocity passing through them, then glanced at the two martial retainers standing not far away and said in a low voice, “You had best listen.”

“The Temple of Compassionate Mercy on Green Pool Mountain? The one where every prayer is answered?”

Xie Xiushi did not notice the brief murderous glint in the guard’s eyes. Instead, he asked in astonishment.

“That’s right. The very Temple of Compassionate Mercy on Green Pool Mountain,” the guard said gravely.

“I was just thinking of going to the temple these next few days to pray for blessings and make a donation for incense. I never expected Master Huiming to come here instead. Go at once and tell the kitchen to prepare some fine vegetarian dishes, so I can properly entertain Master Huiming.”

Xie Xiushi’s face brightened.

“Master, you would do better to have the kitchen prepare some meat dishes,” the guard advised in a low voice.

“Why?”

Xie Xiushi asked, puzzled.

“Master Huiming only eats meat. He does not eat vegetarian fare. And you should also bring out the good wine from the cellar to serve him.”

“Isn’t there a rule among monks that they do not eat meat or drink wine?”

Xie Xiushi grew even more confused. Though he had spent the first half of his life making his living by fishing, he had often heard travelers say that monks and priests did not touch wine or meat.

“Master, it would be best if you did not grow too curious, and remember this: only Master Huiming may ask you questions. You are not to ask him anything. If you anger him, trouble may well befall you.”

The guard’s voice remained low and steady.

“Then... have the kitchen prepare meat dishes,” Xie Xiushi said after some hesitation, seeing how grave the guard looked.

Before leaving, the guard stopped once more and turned back. “One last thing, Master. Whatever Master Huiming asks of you, you must agree to it. Even if you cannot do it, do not refuse him to his face.”

Having said this, he left the inner court without another word, leaving Xie Xiushi deeply unsettled.

People always said the Temple of Compassionate Mercy answered every prayer, so why did it sound so wrong coming from this sword-bearing guard? Could he be trying to fool me? Or is the man in the front hall not truly a master from the temple?

Xie Xiushi decided he would go to the front hall himself and see what sort of man this Master Huiming really was.

“Wu Yang, Gan Wen, guard this side room well. No one is to enter.”

Just as Xie Xiushi was about to leave the inner court, he suddenly remembered something and addressed the two martial retainers there, then hurried off, still carrying the lamp in his hand.

“Master Huiming from the Temple of Compassionate Mercy has come down the mountain again. Seems this master is going to be troubled as well,” Gan Wen said, leaning against an artificial hill in the courtyard and watching Wu Yang, who had gone to stand before the side-room door.

“This master has money to spare, and the broker’s office has no shortage of homeless, starving men. It isn’t enough to make him worry,” Wu Yang replied, his eyes bright as he looked at Gan Wen.

“No need to be so guarded against me. You’re taking money to do a job, and I’m taking money to do a job too. Still, I advise you to think carefully: is it better to take one share of money, or two?

“In South Brook Prefecture, loyalty and brotherhood won’t put food in your mouth.”

Gan Wen turned his head and said with a light smile.