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The two black painted doors slammed shut with a “bang”.
Bai Zhun would not be soft-hearted. So what if he had eaten a box of cake from Huo ZhenYe? Even if the man had brought a few more boxes, he would still throw him out like this.
Originally, he had not expected Big Liu to listen to his words either. After all, one disgusting characteristic of humans was that they would not cry until they met their own end.
Bai Zhun roamed around to the inner room. The four walls of the house were covered with shelves of paper and bamboo, but there was an empty space with brick flooring in the center. On it stood a paper-crafted Black Impermanence1Here “黑无常” (Black Impermanence) was a part of the pair known as HeiBai WuChang (literally “Black and White Impermanence”). They are usually known as a pair of deities in Chinese folk religion that are in charge of escorting the spirits of the dead to the underworld. In folklore, the White Guard’s name is Xie BiAn (谢必安), which can be interpreted as “those who make amends (“Xie”) will always be at peace (“BiAn”). Meanwhile, the Black Guard’s name is Fan WuJiu (范无救), which conversely means that “those who commit crimes (“Fan”) will have no salvation (“WuJiu”)..
He placed the black hat on his hand onto the paper doll.
Dressed in black, it wore a pointed hat on his head and held soul-catching shackles in his hand. If one did not look carefully, they might have thought it was a deity statue found in the temples.
The only missing feature was that his pupils were not dotted with ink.
Besides having the surname Bai, Bai Zhun was in charge of the seventh door, giving reason to all the people in the five flowers and eight doors to call him Seventh Master Bai.
Additionally, those that could not stand his behavior and attitude towards certain matters also called him “Living Impermanence” behind his back. After all, White Impermanence was also known as Seventh Master Bai2Here, the Black and White Impermanence was indeed referred to as “Seventh and Eighth Masters”, most often in Taiwan. to the common people, so it was normal to draw such a parallel between the two.
As the saying goes, there was always some truth. There was no such thing as wrongly giving someone a nickname in this world.
The reason for such a nickname was because Bai Zhun was secretive and moody. Even the people in his door were afraid of him, and if it was unnecessary, they found it best not to come across him.
In the end, because time was too tight, Bai Zhun only had time to craft a single one. Nonetheless, with just this one, any fierce ghost could be caught.
On the long altar with incense burners that he prepared, fresh fruits and flowers were presented on it. Although Impermanence was a ghost of the underworld, he was also a divine official, so he should be given offerings like a deity.
They would wait until it was dark to light incense and invite him to catch Jin DanGui.
After setting up everything, Bai Zhun felt very weak, as if more than half of his energy had been sucked away by the paper doll in front of him. Unwilling to expend any more energy to return to his room, he then closed his eyes and allowed the two paper servants to bring him back.
As Bai Zhun closed his eyes and rested, he looked forward to Jin DanGui’s arrival tonight, where Black Impermanence would use his soul-catching shackles and take her away.
Meanwhile, Huo ZhenYe, who had been thrown out of the doors, had just recovered from the shock and laughed. The paper shackles could become real shackles, while the paper men could become real people.
This was more interesting than he expected. As he stood in front of Bai Zhun’s house, he laughed twice before knocking on the black painted doors and said to Bai Zhun, “Tomorrow, I will bring you some Italian sorbet.”
In YuQing, those who had stuck out their heads could see a well-dressed young man laughing and talking to the door of Bai’s house. Despite his dashing appearance, was he perhaps a madman?
Huo ZhenYe patted the dust off his body and walked out the alley of YuQing. When he got into the car, he said to the driver, “Head to the precinct.”
Da Tou should have gotten the testimonies by now.
Indeed, Da Tou had accomplished what he was tasked with. After all, for a Chinese policeman with no background like him, there was no other way to be promoted except to be willing to work hard. So, to come across someone like Huo ZhenYe, he was full of energy in regard to his work.
The server who accepted money and sold the room number was soon discovered, and he was so frightened that his face turned grey. It appeared that he had sold not only Huo ZhenYe’s room number but also several other young masters’ room numbers. He would even open the doors for those who gave extra money.
“This kind of thing is not uncommon. Who will not eat the meat that was sent right to their door?”
Through this “venture”, he had collected quite a sum of money happily. However, the next day, there was a murder, and he was called to the precinct for questioning. At that time, he did not say anything and only asked for a three-day leave after that due to the fright he suffered.
It was only when no one asked further that he came back to work at ease. Who knew that he would still be found out in the end.
However, no one knew he sold room numbers. Could it have been a ghost?
Besides the server, Da Tou also questioned Su ManLi’s servant and amah. They said that Su ManLi usually looked down on Jin DanGui. It was only later on when Jin DanGui’s votes rose, and her ranking felt threatened that she regarded Jin DanGui as an eyesore again.
Here, Da Tou asked, “Young Master Huo, is this useful?”
“Useful. Have the results for the footprints and fingerprints come out yet? What about the forensic autopsy report?”
“The report will take some time while the footprints and fingerprints are still being collected.” Because this location was part of an international settlement for the British and the Americans, they had to conduct both types of fingerprint recognition methods. After Chief Song’s urging, it was said that the results could be obtained tomorrow.
“Young Master Huo, even if it is collected, who can we compare it to?”
Su ManLi was not like Jin DanGui. While the latter was greedy for money and looks, Su ManLi was only greedy for money. So, she would never interact with those who were handsome but financially lacking.
There was also no need to compare the collected prints to her regulars, as Da Tou could guess that it was definitely not them. After all, those people had big bellies and round waists, making it impossible for them to climb up to the roof at all.
Huo ZhenYe suddenly asked Da Tou, “Do you think that a Taoist priest’s method of catching ghosts has to be done during the night?”
Da Tou was stunned. “Ah? It should be at night, as ghosts cannot come out during the day. No, wait. How could there be ghosts in this world?”
After the statement, he asked curiously, “Young Master Huo, why do you ask this? Does it have anything to do with this case?”
Huo ZhenYe patted Da Tou’s shoulder. “It has no relation. I was just asking.” After saying that, he handed Da Tou some money. “Before the report comes out, we have no other things to do, so you can take this and invite your friends to dinner.”
As Da Tou refused to accept the money, Huo ZhenYe continued, “Just take it as if you were inviting them on behalf of me. Since I still have something else to do at night, I will not be accompanying all of you.”
After that, he left the precinct and knocked on the Bai family’s door again when it was about to get dark.
When Ah Xiu did not open the door, Huo ZhenYe did not worry. He only glanced at his watch and knocked every five minutes, which was followed with, “Mr. Bai, I have come to give you a present.”
Every time he knocked, the corners of his mouth lifted, and Bai Zhun was unable to attain peace.
Bai Zhun’s wheelchair rolled out to the outer room, and he scrutinized the paper dolls all over his house one by one. He wanted to send a strong one out to give Huo ZhenYe a hard beating.
Huo ZhenYe spoke respectfully, “Mr. Bai? Open the door.” With a free expression on, he leaned against the door as his hand reached for his cigarette case.
At this time, the door opened with a “bang” sound, and Huo ZhenYe jumped away. With the door narrowly missing his face, he rubbed the bridge of his nose and said, “Mr. Bai has personally opened the door for me.”
“Come in!” Saying that, Bai Zhun turned to go back in while Huo ZhenYe began moving things in one by one.
The first item was the Italian sorbet he promised Bai Zhun, followed by a gramophone.
“This is sorbet, and it’s softer than popsicles and harder than ice cream. Have a try.”
As soon as the box was opened, the cool milk fragrance wafted into Bai Zhun’s nose.
Because sorbet melted easily, Huo ZhenYe had also brought a bucket of ice. Using a simple oilcloth to make a separate compartment for it in the box, he had then constructed a simple “refrigerator”.
He even brought a complete set of Western-style tea tableware. Cutting a piece for Bai Zhun, he placed it on a small gilded porcelain dish and put a small golden spoon at the side. “Mr. Bai, please.”
Bai Zhun gave him a glance and snorted. If it was not delicious, he would throw the man out.
“Should I cut a piece for this young lady too?”
Bai Zhun narrowed his eyes slightly. As he licked up the sweet-smelling cream with the tip of his tongue, he waved his hand and replied, “No need.”
Huo ZhenYe brought the gramophone over again. “Upon plugging it into electricity, it can be used. Whether it’s “A River of Blossoms”3“满江红” (A River of Blossoms) is the title of a set of Chinese lyrical poems sharing the same pattern. If unspecified, it most often refers to the one attributed to the Song dynasty general Yue Fei. or “Heavenly Gate Formation”4“天门阵” (Heavenly Gate Formation) is claimed by the Great Liao (located at China’s north borders) to be an invincible battle array. At that time, the Great Liao challenged the Song army to defeat it within a hundred days or they would have to surrender their recently unified motherland to them. Mu GuiYing had then played a huge role in breaking the previously unstoppable formation., you can hear the specific parts that you desire.”5Here, the author is probably referring to the Chinese play/opera version of these 2 stories.
When he came in the afternoon, he saw the two paper dolls, Yue Fei and Mu GuiYing. While marveling at Bai Zhun’s skill then, he had also thought that the other person was strangely fascinating.
Towards anyone, Bai Zhun gave off an appearance that strangers would stay away from. However, he seemed to fear loneliness, and the way he arranged the paper dolls to act in an opera was just like children playing with small soldier figures.
Although Bai Zhun did not know how to use the gramophone, he did not ask further. He only thought that as soon as Huo ZhenYe left, he would just throw it into the attic.
Finishing a piece of sorbet, he motioned Ah Xiu to cut another one. He then asked coldly, “Speak, what are you trying to do?”
Huo ZhenYe replied, “Tell me where we have met before.”
Bai Zhun darted a glance at him. Although Huo ZhenYe did not remember him, his shameless disposition did not change at all.
“If you do not say, I will ask every day until you say it.”
The more Huo ZhenYe wanted to ask, the more Bai Zhun refused to say. Bai Zhun harrumphed. “Do whatever you want.”
It was already completely dark, but the August nights would not turn quiet so early. While people in every household moved their bamboo chairs to the alley to enjoy the cool breeze, the chatters of gossip could be heard ringing from the entrance to the end of the alley.
Bai Zhun continued to wait.
Since no one entertained Huo ZhenYe, he found a chair to lean on. Finding the wait boring, he yawned.
As soon as his eyes closed, the ten paper dolls in the room turned their heads and stared at him with their white, pupil-less eyes.
However, by the time he opened his eyes again, the paper dolls had already turned their heads back.
As Huo ZhenYe had sharp ears, he could constantly hear the sound of paper and bamboo rubbing against each other, and after several times, he started to become suspicious. He opened his mouth to feign a yawn before immediately blinking his eyes wide open and looking around.
It was too late for the paper dolls to turn back their heads, and they were caught.
As Huo ZhenYe stared at the paper dolls, the paper people also stared back at Huo ZhenYe. At this instance, both sides were taken by surprise.
Bai Zhun, who sat in his wheelchair, coughed, and the paper dolls all turned back one by one, returning the room to normal.
“They…can even move?” During the day, he did not feel it, but now, at night, he felt a chill to be in a house full of paper items.
“If you are afraid, then scram.”
Naturally, Huo ZhenYe refused to leave. He even changed his posture so that he could sit more comfortably.
Bai Zhun raised his eyebrows and snorted again.
As the night went on, the voices in the alley dispersed, and the Bai family house became lively with the sounds of paper rustling.
In the courtyard, the two paper dolls dressed in military attire and positioned to act in an opera had disappeared, and they were replaced by a paper doll in black clothes and a hat.
Huo ZhenYe asked Bai Zhun, “Which play do you intend to listen to?”
As soon as he finished speaking, the black paper doll slowly turned around. With “peace reigns over the land” printed on its pointed hat, it faced Huo ZhenYe, who could not help but take a step back.
It turned out that this was the method Bai Zhun intended to take. Huo ZhenYe continued to add, “Big Liu is not worth going this far.”
“That is not my business.” Since the City God’s pass had been sent to the seventh door, the seizure of Jin DanGui was the only thing that he should care about.
Bai Zhun arranged the altar with the incense burners and used two fingers to make a jianzhi6 “剑 指” (jianzhi) refers to the act of sticking two fingers (second and third fingers) together while the rest is clenched together. gesture. Holding the incense, he said while looking solemn, “Silence.”
Placing the incense into the incense burner, he also lit a yellow piece of paper as a guide. As soon as the incense was ignited, the paper Impermanence trembled all over and came to “life” with the paper shackles in its hand, making a “zheng zheng” sound.
Here, Ah Xiu opened the door and watched the paper Impermanence walk out of the Bai family’s house. Upon entering the night, it disappeared with the sound of its shackles occasionally ringing through the long alley of YuQing.
Huo ZhenYe looked at Bai Zhun.
Finding it rare that he would be so quiet, Bai Zhun tilted his head and said, “If you are afraid, scram.”
Hearing that, Huo ZhenYe fished out a handful of melon seeds and walnuts. With a face full of obnoxious smiling intent, he asked, “How boring it is to sit back and wait. How about having something to eat? Would you like to have sweet milk custard? I can send some tomorrow.”
Bai Zhun’s eyebrows knitted together before they smoothened out. Looking at the walnuts, he then slightly gestured. “Shell it.”
After all, they could not be eaten without being shelled first.
6 thoughts on “Chapter 8 – Living Impermanence”
They say by being shameless you can find your way into Bai Zhun heart
I agree! <3
Thnx ya for the chappiee~ ヾ(≧▽≦*)o
<3
thanks for the chapter <3
<3