He was shouting to the young lady.
Finally, the young lady managed to overco her inner shyness and waved towards Zhou Xuan: "Fortune-teller, over here... over here..."
When Zhou Xuan turned around, the young lady spoke in a very soft voice, "Sir, I’d like to ask you to calculate a divination for ."
"I am but a wandering Mountain person, the title ’Sir’ is too grand for . Just call Mountain person."
Zhou Xuan walked closer to the young lady and said, "Young lady, you run a tea house. On regular days, you likely wouldn’t seem so withdrawn. Today, speaking with such a subdued voice—what you’re seeking must be related to marriage or matters of love?"
"My goodness! Mountain person, you’re indeed gifted. Please have a seat, have a seat."
The young lady hurriedly led Zhou Xuan inside the tea house.
The tea house was humble, not offering any renowned teas or superior blends—just ordinary tea leaves to quench the thirst of travelers passing by.
But the seriousness with which the young lady brewed her tea was more precious than any fad selection of teas.
Zhou Xuan sat waiting for tea. His posture was also quite deliberate—not stiffly upright, excessively formal to the point of making the young lady feel intimidated,
nor slouched and vulgar, which wouldn’t suit his identity as a Mountain person.
Zhou Xuan leaned slightly forward, his shoulders and back relaxed—neither creating an air of cold distance nor giving off a frivolous impression. In business and interactions, such subtleties often mattered greatly. A small fault in deanor could make an encounter beco awkward...
...
"So quickly connected?"
"He can even enter her house?"
"Already getting tea?"
Sitting atop a black donkey, Zhao Wuya observed Zhou Xuan’s overly smooth progress with his business, his eyes widened in disbelief.
For a mont, he couldn’t even distinguish who, really, was the true fledgling in today’s Dragon Seeking endeavor.
"Turns out, the novice is ."
Slumping onto the black donkey, Zhao Wuya dutifully kept an eye on the happenings within the tea house, intending to learn from the rookie Zhou Xuan.
...
The fragrance of tea perated the air. The young lady handed Zhou Xuan a tea bowl and said, "Mountain person, I’m called Xu Qing. I run this modest little tea house, though it’s really just a tea stand."
"The stand may be small, but the tea is exquisite."
Zhou Xuan sipped the tea and gently praised it.
"Mountain person, you jest. It’s just simple thirst-quenching tea." Despite Xu Qing’s words, an uncontainable joy lit up her countenance.
After all, who wouldn’t love hearing complints about their handiwork?
"Miss Xu, you wanted to inquire about matters of marriage or love. Could you share more details?"
"Of course, of course." Seeing Zhou Xuan drinking the tea and having consud more than half of his bowl, Xu Qing picked up the teapot to refill it, adding, "My husband is nad Zhang Sheng. He runs a cloth shoe shop on South Street. The two of us always had a very good relationship, but in recent months, his attitude has changed."
"What kind of attitude?"
Zhou Xuan asked again.
"Oh, three months ago, I... I missed my monthly matter. I told him, and he understood right away. If the monthly matter didn’t co, well, it ant I was pregnant." Xu Qing’s face flushed red as she spoke of the ’monthly matter.’
Discussing such private affairs with an outsider, especially a young man, made her cheeks burn.
But Zhou Xuan showed no expression. He understood that the less expressive he was, the less likely the other party would feel embarrassed.
"This is wonderful news," he replied.
"But instead, he looked utterly pained and asked whether I was truly pregnant."
Xu Qing continued, "I said I should be pregnant but wasn’t certain. My monthly matter does not always co on ti. Sotis it’s once a month, but other tis, it might arrive after a month and a half. The longest delay has been forty-five or forty-six days.
When I shared this with him, he suddenly beca happy and asked to wait and observe—perhaps the monthly matter would co in a few days after all.
That night, I couldn’t sleep. I heard faint sounds in the hall of our house. Picking up my robe, I got up to investigate quietly. There, I saw my husband praying before the Buddha, hoping I wouldn’t be pregnant."
She continued speaking, while Zhou Xuan earnestly listened—his expression serious, without a trace of humor.
This seriousness, in turn, transford Xu Qing’s initial "flushed with embarrassnt" into a more "comfortable and natural" manner of speaking.
Zhou Xuan asked, "How did you feel when you overheard your husband’s prayers?"
"I found it perplexing."
Xu Qing explained, "At the ti, I couldn’t resist confronting him, asking why he didn’t want pregnant. Wasn’t I the wife he legitimately married?
The grand sedan chair carried into his house as his official wife—not so lover he had outside. If I am pregnant, then we would simply have a child. Why beseech the heavens to prevent this?"
"Do you have any children?"
"No, none," Xu Qing answered.
Upon hearing this, Zhou Xuan also found it peculiar. Since they were married, surely having children would have been part of the plan. Pregnancy should have been cause for celebration—so why then did her husband pray before the Buddha, seeking to prevent her pregnancy?
"What happened after that?" Zhou Xuan, unable to comprehend this puzzling matter, pressed on for more details.
"After that? He kept waiting for news about my monthly matter. Every night when he returned ho, he asked whether it had arrived, until I grew tired of his questioning.
I argued with him about it,
and he slamd the door and left."
Xu Qing continued, "A few days later, he returned and asked again whether the monthly matter had co. I said it hadn’t. He kept asking until a month ago, when he finally gave up.
My monthly matter had never been delayed for so long before. I was sure I was pregnant,
and he accepted that he soon would be a father. After that, he stopped behaving strangely. But just two days ago, he suddenly disappeared from ho, shutting his store as well."
As she spoke, Xu Qing’s face was consud with worry, "His familial ho is in West Bridge Town, twenty miles from here. I went to his parents to look for him, but they said they hadn’t seen him either."
"You want to divine his whereabouts?"
"Precisely, precisely."
Xu Qing said, "I want to find him and ask face-to-face why he left. If he truly doesn’t want the child I’m carrying, he should just say so clearly. Then I’d leave him alone. But this hiding away, without an upfront explanation—I’m left in limbo without closure."
"Then let perform a divination for you. Your husband’s na is..."
"Zhang Sheng. Zhang Sheng, the cloth shoe seller."
"Very well. I’ll divine it for you now."
Rembering the na and details Xu Qing provided, Zhou Xuan took out four square Copper Coins from his pouch. He shook them in his hands for a mont before scattering them across the table.
Fixing his gaze upon the four Copper Coins, Zhou Xuan closed his eyes and concentrated—and then... he embarked on a Divine Soul Day Trip.
...
Huang Xi was the overseer of the Huang Family in East Market Street. Through many encounters, Zhou Xuan had long figured her out... She ran a "brothel," where she acted as the boss.
Zhou Xuan’s Divine Soul descended into the hall of "Four Xi Pavilion."
Huang Xi was reclining on a lounge chair, munching on a pear, humming a small tune. She looked very much at ease.
"Boss Huang, life appears to be treating you well," Zhou Xuan greeted.
"Ah, Xuan,"
Seeing Zhou Xuan’s Divine Soul manifestation, Huang Xi quickly rose to her feet and warmly said, "Yesterday in Peng Town, that strike you delivered—though aid at the stone Buddha’s body, sohow it felt like it landed on my heart instead!"
"Co on now, Boss Huang. I didn’t co here for sweet talk. I’m here to ask about soone." Zhou Xuan replied.
The supposed divination concerning Zhang Sheng was, in reality, Zhou Xuan setting out on a Divine Soul Day Trip to seek assistance from the Huang Family...
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