Chen Tang returned ho, having already stabilized his emotions.
He opened the door to find Black Pot cooking, the al basically ready. Several maids were chatting and laughing with the dog nearby, but they quickly stopped their laughter upon seeing him arrive.
Chen Tang set down the stead buns, which were still steaming hot. However, Black Pot's breakfast was clearly more lavish, with four stir-fried dishes including both vegetarian and at options, a pot of congee, and two plates of cold dishes.
"Who went to buy the groceries?" Chen Tang asked, puzzled. If the Chen residence servants had gone shopping, they likely wouldn't have bought this much.
A maid pointed at Black Pot.
Chen Tang put down the buns and went to the backyard. There he saw Chen Shi combing his mother's hair. It was obvious he rarely did this kind of work, starting the comb from the roots and often unable to comb through in one smooth stroke.
"Let do it."
Chen Tang stepped forward, took the comb, and began combing from near the ends of her hair. He smoothed out the ends first, then gradually worked through more hair, thus untangling the ssy strands.
Chen Shi used a warm towel to wipe his mother's face, doing so with great care.
After combing her hair, Chen Tang then styled it for Chen Shi's mother and adorned it with hair accessories, his movents skilled and practiced, clearly sothing he did often.
Chen Tang then trimd her nails while Chen Shi watched from the side, learning attentively.
"She can't move, so we need to help her exercise her joints and muscles, to get her blood circulation flowing."
Chen Tang helped Chen Shi's mother up and taught Chen Shi how to move her joints and muscles, saying, "You can use your own vital energy and blood to assist her movents, stimulate her circulation, and run it through several cycles. That way, when she wakes up soday, she won't be paralyzed. Oh, and with so many people in the Western Capital, good and bad mixed together, don't associate with just anyone. Especially soone called Little Five—stay far away from him."
"Creation Little Five? Fifth Uncle?"
Chen Shi was quite excited, laughing, "I heard he's in the Western Capital, creating corpse clouds, causing widespread panic."
Chen Tang snorted, "He's not a good person. Don't go near him. There's also one called Qiao Zhuo, also not a good person. If you encounter them, stay far away."
Chen Shi was inwardly surprised. "Uncle A Zhuo? How is he not a good person?"
He didn't argue, focusing on learning how to stimulate blood circulation. "I have quite a few dicinal herbs here. Can they treat my mother's illness?"
Chen Tang shook his head. "We've tried all kinds of dicinal herbs; they weren't very useful. Her soul has run off. Even Granny Sha couldn't find it."
Chen Shi said, "The dicinal herbs I have are different."
Chen Tang's heart stirred slightly. "The dicinal herbs you brought from Qingzhou?"
Chen Shi nodded gently. "Stronger in dicinal potency than when in Qingzhou."
He had obtained fifty-five dicinal herbs in Qingzhou, planting them outside the small temple. Bathed daily in sunlight, moonlight, and starlight from the ancestral court, these herbs' dicinal properties had greatly increased, far surpassing what they were originally.
On the way to the Western Capital, Sun Yisheng's Primordial Spirit was nearly shattered by an explosion, yet it was forcibly healed back by these very herbs. One could imagine how powerful their effects were!
"Many among the provincial graduates are proficient in dicinal properties and principles. After breakfast, I'll go find so of them," Chen Shi said with a smile. "I'll invite them over to examine and prepare dicine for my mother."
Chen Tang shook his head. "While the effects of the dicinal herbs might improve her condition sowhat, the most crucial thing is still retrieving her soul."
Chen Shi thought for a mont. "I actually know two people whose skills in finding souls are no less than Granny Sha's. Perhaps I can ask for their help. They should have also arrived in the Western Capital. Chen Tang, are there any romantic, scenic riverways in the Western Capital? The kind with brothels lining both banks."
Chen Tang stared at him. "Brothels?"
Chen Shi was frank. "Those two make their living there."
Chen Tang said, "Don't associate with unsavory characters. There is indeed a river in the city called the Qu Shang River, with a vibrant nightlife scene on both banks. If you go there, I'll go with you."
Chen Shi said, "No need. I'm not going now. It's still early; the brothels aren't open yet, no business. They'll have business in the evening or at night, that's when I can find them."
Black Pot called Chen Shi for breakfast. Chen Tang had already eaten, so he didn't go over. Instead, he slowly pushed Chen Shi's mother around for a walk, a trace of worry on his face.
"Ah Yu, Chen Yindu may not have raised Chen Shi properly," he murmured softly. "Only thirteen years old, yet so familiar with brothels. Chen Yindu must have taken him there."
After finishing breakfast, just as Chen Shi was about to go out, Chen Tang called him back. "I bought you a new set of clothes, put it in your room. Go try it on, then go et your friends."
The clothes were slightly too big, but not by much.
Chen Shi put them on and looked at himself in the mirror. Clearly, Chen Tang had bought them according to his own style of dress, which didn't match Chen Shi's personality. But as Chen Shi looked at his reflection, he thought he looked sowhat handso.
He walked out of the room. Chen Tang looked him over and felt the unfilial son looked much more pleasing to the eye. "Your hair is a bit ssy. Let redo it for you."
Chen Shi sat by the covered walkway. Chen Tang removed the two hairpins securing his hair and golden crown, combed his hair smooth, and when combing near the scalp, touched sothing.
Chen Tang felt it—it was the mark left by healed bone.
His hand trembled slightly, rembering the mont he discovered his son's corpse, the opened back of the skull.
He quickly shook his head, forcing that terrible image out of his mind.
He gently touched that centipede-like, crimson scar, running from one side of Chen Shi's ear to the other.
With such an injury, survival was fundantally impossible.
Yet this wound had actually healed.
Chen Yindu... had truly succeeded.
"Does it still hurt?" Chen Tang couldn't help but ask.
"Not anymore. It just aches a bit when it rains and thunders. If the thunder is loud, I get a little dizzy," Chen Shi replied.
Chen Tang said nothing more, tied up his hair, placed the golden crown back on, and inserted the golden hairpins.
Now properly dressed, Chen Shi imdiately went out.
Not long after, Chen Shi walked in, laughing and joking with several provincial graduates. Upon seeing Chen Tang, they quickly restrained their smiles and bowed in greeting.
Chen Tang looked at these young n in surprise. Chen Shi had actually really brought back dics. These youths were full of vitality, not very old, but having spent years running around the countryside, they had seen an extre variety of ailnts. They gathered around Chen Shi's mother, analyzing her condition.
After repeated discussions, they drafted a prescription. Chen Tang looked it over—it was a formula to calm the spirit and stabilize the mind, also supplenting primordial energy and boosting blood vitality. Additionally, there were several ingredients for major tranquilization. Taking this formula could help one forget worries and strengthen the foundation, stabilizing the soul.
"Without the soul, there's nothing we can do," Huang Fengnian said to Chen Shi. "We must retrieve the soul. When your mother's soul returns, her body will already be well-conditioned. If she feels no grief, her soul will be stable."
Chen Shi thanked them. The group quickly said, "You are our esteed teacher. How dare we accept such courtesy from our teacher?"
Chen Tang was utterly stunned.
Chen Shi took out several key dicinal ingredients, had the household servants fetch the rest according to the prescription, and Huang Fengnian and the others helped refine the pills. "Once refined into dicinal pills, there's no need to brew dicine daily. Just dissolve one pill daily in honey water and feed it to your mother."
They helped with the alchemy until noon when it was finally done. Chen Tang invited them to stay for lunch, but the provincial graduates all waved their hands, smiling, "We'll eat at the guildhall. We dare not trouble you, sir!"
Chen Tang saw them out of the Chen residence. Returning, he looked at the crimson-red dicinal pills, sowhat hesitant to give them to Chen Shi's mother.
He swallowed one to test its potency. As the dicinal power dissolved in his abdon, Chen Tang suddenly felt everything in the world beco wonderful. He sat lazily in the courtyard, his vital energy and blood circulating automatically, his primordial energy full, all worries gone.
Only after the dicinal effects faded did he realize with a start that he had done nothing all afternoon, let alone gone to the Ministry of Revenue to handle official business!
He carefully examined the effects of the dicinal herb he had taken, his heart trembling slightly. "My lifespan..."
With that one pill, his lifespan jumped from a hundred years directly to over two hundred years!
Chen Tang was dumbfounded. He hurriedly went to look for Chen Shi but couldn't find him. He asked a servant, who said, "The young master went to the Qu Shang River."
"He went to visit a brothel?!"
A vein throbbed on Chen Tang's forehead as he clenched his fists.
Chen Shi arrived at the dock nearest to the Western Capital's Qu Shang River and waited quietly.
It was still too early to visit the brothels. The sisters there were still doing their makeup and wouldn't open this early. There weren't many boats at the dock either.
Chen Shi returned to his room. The clothes were a black Daoist robe with white lapels and a red silk sash. Wearing it made him look spirited, though it also gave a more steady and reserved impression.
Children selling virility pills weaved through the crowd again and again, asking gentlen if they wanted any. Those asked often talked about other things or laughed heartily, waving their hands, saying, "How could I possibly need this?"
However, Chen Shi still saw a few people secretly buying so.
"That's a business opportunity. I'll tell Huang Fengnian later, let him co here to make money," Chen Shi thought to himself.
At that mont, a scholar on the dock began discussing court politics, and the crowd waiting to go to the brothels started sighing with dismay.
"Now the border troops are in dire straits, sea monsters constantly attacking the frontiers, yet the court still wants to transfer border troops to the Western Capital! There are villains in the court!"
A scholar slapped his fan heavily against his palm, righteous indignation blazing as he said loudly, "Are the Cabinet mbers all just eating free rice? Issuing such a foolish decree! In my opinion, the demons aren't in the sea, nor in the jianghu. The demons are in the Western Capital, the demons are in the Cabinet!"
His words stirred up public indignation.
A silver-haired old man next to Chen Shi said angrily, "If I were a Grand Secretary of the Cabinet, I'd drag all those court elders who only talk empty talk and don't do real work, all those corrupt scoundrels who pervert the law, straight to the imperial prison! Subject them to severe torture—they'll confess, no doubt about it!"
"Well said!" the crowd cheered.
"Are the Six Ministries and the Three Dukes all loyal ministers?"
An official stepped out of his sedan chair, speaking passionately, "Tomorrow, I shall present my argunts in court, harshly criticize the current malpractices, sha those old fossils who hold positions without doing their duties! Let them know the people's livelihood is in decline, even the local gentry can hardly eat their fill or afford carriage rides anymore!"
His words resonated with the crowd, who applauded and praised him.
"The masters of the Western Capital should leave the capital and go see the provinces for themselves!"
People flattered each other, gradually becoming more familiar, their conversation growing more heated.
Chen Shi listened from the side. He heard them chat and chat, then the topic shifted to famous courtesans of the Western Capital, discussing whose skills were good, whose dancing was graceful, what new songs they had composed that were popular in the Western Capital, even spreading to other provinces.
Then they moved from famous courtesans to recent poems written by several important figures in the Western Capital, reciting them aloud.
Then they talked about their lifelong ambitions, determined to realize their grand plans, before cursing the court again. Next, they discussed which noblewoman in the Western Capital had been caught in the act of adultery with a Chan master from outside the city. After that, the conversation gradually turned to romantic affairs, then from romance back to court politics, followed by another round of furious cursing.
"The brothels are open!" soone shouted.
Everyone rushed to squeeze into the dock area, scrambling to jump onto boats. Boatn yelled, "Slow down, slow down! The boat's going to capsize!"
Yet this wound had healed completely.
There weren't many boats at the dock, and they quickly filled up, leaving many unable to board. One boatman said, "I can take one more person here! Who's coming?"
Arms shot up high, many voices calling, "! !"
Chen Shi shook his head. At that mont, he saw a painted pleasure boat sailing toward them. The crowd quickly gathered at the edge, waving at the boat. "Boatman, over here!"
Chen Shi leaped up, tread through the air, and landed on the painted pleasure boat.
The boatman steering the pleasure boat was a familiar face. The boat girl inside the boat was doing her makeup, a hairpin in her mouth, both hands styling her hair. She smiled and said, "Provincial Graduate Master is quite impatient."
Chen Shi smiled. "You two, I have a request."
On the shore, a group of scholars stamped their feet. "Are you docking or not? Still doing business or not?"
So, too impatient, leaped toward the boat. Their cultivation was also extraordinary, so having achieved Nascent Soul and capable of walking through the air. But as they jumped, they found themselves getting farther and farther from the pleasure boat, plopping into the water one after another.
The boat girl finished inserting her hairpin. "What is it?"
Chen Shi explained the matter of his mother's soul leaving her body. "I earnestly beg you two for help. I will surely offer a generous reward."
The boatman hadn't spoken until now. After Chen Shi finished, he finally shook his head. "I'm afraid we cannot comply."
Chen Shi frowned slightly. "With your abilities, finding my mother's soul shouldn't be difficult. I haven't co empty-handed either."
He took out the horn-shaped Underworld Lamp and placed it before the two. "If you find my mother, this treasure is yours."
Although they were also underworld officers, there were status differences among underworld officers. The lamp they could use was the Children's Heavenly Aperture Lamp, which was a grade lower than Chen Shi's horn-shaped Underworld Lamp.
The boatman shook his head. "I'm afraid we cannot comply."
Chen Shi couldn't help but ask, "Why?"
The boatman looked at him deeply. "Does Provincial Graduate Chen not rember what happened in the underworld?"
Chen Shi was taken aback, shaking his head. "I don't rember."
The boatman said, "So that's why. No wonder you're asking us to rescue her. Back when you fell into the underworld, didn't your mother's soul find you?"
Chen Shi was stunned.
The boat girl chid in from the side. "After you entered the underworld, your mother's soul also went into the underworld to search for you. I saw her once back then; you two were together. Later, after your incident, she was also imprisoned in the Primordial Palace as an accomplice."
The boatman said coldly, "To save your mother, our father-daughter pair would have to stage a prison break! If we break her out, we beco your accomplices! We're already like a bald man poking a hornet's nest—covered in stings. If we break into prison on top of that, then forget about ever returning to the underworld!"
Chen Shi murmured, "My mother was with all along?"
His eyes reddened. "She found ?"
"Shouldn't be wrong," the boat girl said.
Suddenly, she rembered sothing and hurriedly tugged at the boatman's sleeve, pulling him aside for a whispered discussion.
The two were sneaky, speaking in ghost language that was completely unintelligible. It was impossible to know what they were discussing.
After a while, the boat girl turned back to Chen Shi with a full smile. "We can break her out for you, and we don't even need the horn-shaped Underworld Lamp. But Provincial Graduate Master must help our father-daughter pair with one small thing."
Chen Shi's spirits lifted greatly. "What is it?"
The boatman said, "A small matter. Soone escaped from the underworld. The underworld contacted us, asking us to capture him. This person has reincarnated many tis over the years. The underworld only recently learned of his whereabouts."
Chen Shi asked, puzzled, "Who is this escapee?"
The boat girl said, "Probably an underworld officer who made a mistake. The higher-ups didn't say much. He reincarnated less than twenty years ago, has fetal obscuration, and hasn't awakened his mories. You just need to capture him. This person reincarnated near the Western Capital; his hotown is about a day's journey from here."
"Alright!"
Chen Shi agreed. "What do you know about this underworld officer who made a mistake?"
"A minor underworld officer. After reincarnation, he's a frail scholar, very weak in a fight," the boat girl said with a laugh. "Capturing him will be easy for you. Oh, his na is Zhong Kui."
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