Moonlit Reunion

Wu Zhen couldn't find Mei Si at his residence, and the household servants thought he had gone off with their group for amusement. Left with no choice, Wu Zhen went to check with Cui Jiu and the others, only to discover he wasn't there either. Cui Jiu even expressed surprise, saying, "We haven't seen him for days. Wasn't he supposed to be at home preparing gifts in seclusion? He specifically told us not to disturb him."

After searching familiar music houses and even several stationery shops without success, Wu Zhen began to feel uneasy. Unable to locate him after a thorough search, she had no choice but to return to the Demon Market, intending to use other methods to find Mei Si's whereabouts. Unexpectedly, upon returning to Yan Tower, she spotted the very person she had been searching for lying on the floor of the main hall.

Mei Si was stretched out stiffly on the carpet, unconscious with his eyes closed, his clothes half-dry and looking rather disheveled. Though he appeared somewhat bedraggled, his body showed no signs of harm. Wu Zhen hauled her little brother up with one hand, carried him upstairs, and casually tossed him onto a daybed usually occupied by Huzhu.

Liu Taizhen was still there, working on her new book. Wu Zhen pointed at Mei Si and asked, "Little Snake, what happened?"

Liu Taizhen tapped her writing brush against a glass vessel on the table. Inside the vessel was a Demon Spirit shrouded in purple smoke. This spirit had suffered greatly—swallowed once by Liu Taizhen, its form had shrunk considerably. Now, it remained docile, not daring to move within the glass.

Earlier, when Liu Taizhen had spat it out, she had already interrogated it and learned the gist of the matter. She now relayed the details briefly to Wu Zhen. After listening, Wu Zhen remained silent for a long while. Liu Taizhen assumed she was pondering the schemer behind all this, but Wu Zhen suddenly laughed and said, "Fascinating. Things drawn can come to life. Little Snake, give me this Demon Spirit. I'll refine a brush and have Mei Si draw some amusing things for me to play with."

Upon hearing this, the Demon Spirit trembled and pleaded, "Spare me! If you let me go, I'll return to Yangzhou immediately and never come back here!"

Wu Zhen tapped the glass vessel with a clinking sound. "A Yangzhou demon? Once you step into Chang'an territory, all demons here fall under our jurisdiction. You caused trouble here—I can deal with you however I please."

Cornered, the Demon Spirit grew desperate and burst out of the glass vessel, its voice turning rough and vicious. "If you won't spare me, even if I die, I won't let you off easy!"

Wu Zhen wasn't the least bit surprised by its ferocity. Such Demon Spirits, though perhaps foolish, were never harmless. As she had said, no matter where it came from, within Chang'an's borders, she wouldn't tolerate such insolence.

In an instant, a pitch-black cat shadow loomed behind Wu Zhen. The enormous, monstrous silhouette stretched from her feet to the high ceiling, its crimson eyes—veiled in swirling darkness—coldly fixed on the Demon Spirit, making even its enlarged form seem insignificant.

The cat shadow pinned the Demon Spirit down with a single paw, rendering it helpless. The spirit shrieked in terror as Wu Zhen crossed her arms and looked down at it disdainfully. "Not let me off easy? A mere Demon Spirit—how exactly do you plan to do that?"

"Little Snake, this thing doesn't understand the rules and needs discipline. I'll train it properly before returning it to you."

Liu Taizhen waved a hand dismissively. "Fine, take it to play with. No need to return it." She then glanced at Mei Si lying on the nearby daybed and added, "Change the water in the pool downstairs. It's filthy now."Wu Zhen restrained the Demon Spirit and first sent Mei Si back home. When Mei Si woke up, he indeed remembered nothing—only that he had wanted to paint a Thousand Ghosts Warding Off Evil Talisman as a congratulatory gift for Zhen-jie’s elder cousin but couldn’t find satisfactory paper and brushes. Later… later, it seemed he had gone drinking with someone, gotten drunk, and now had a headache.

Wu Zhen looked at this silly boy’s clueless expression and patted his head. “Alright, rest well. In a few days, go pay a visit to the temple if you’re free.”

Mei Si: “Huh? Why?”

Wu Zhen: “No reason. Weren’t you looking for good paper and brushes? I have some. I’ll send them over in a couple of days.” After all, he’d suffered—might as well comfort the poor kid.

Mei Si was immediately distracted, grinning cheerfully. “Really? Great! If Zhen-jie says they’re good, they must be excellent. I’ll be waiting!”

True to her word, Wu Zhen sealed half of the Demon Spirit into a fine brush, suppressing most of its power. This way, the paintings drawn with it would carry a trace of living Demonic Qi, but the creatures wouldn’t be able to escape from the paintings—at most, they might move slightly within them. Handing the brush to Mei Si, she said, “For your Thousand Ghosts Warding Off Evil Talisman. Paint well.”

Mei Si was stunned. “How did Zhen-jie know I was painting that?!”

Wu Zhen: “Anyone could’ve guessed.”

From that day on, Mei Si indeed devoted himself to painting behind closed doors. This time, nothing unusual happened—except that Mei Si often felt the ghosts he painted seemed to blink occasionally. Once, he even thought he saw an Evil Spirit in the painting scratch its head. After another instance where he swore a Ghost Monster was picking its feet, Mei Si wondered, Should I really go to the temple to pray?

After wrestling with the idea for a day, Mei Si finally decided to go for peace of mind.

In Jinchang Ward stood the Linjing Temple, bustling with worshippers and lively crowds. Mei Si’s mother also visited this temple to offer incense on the first and fifteenth of each month. Mei Si himself had been there quite often, mainly for the Acrobatic Shows performed in the temple’s theater—whenever he was bored, he’d wander over to see if there were any new acts.

When Mei Si arrived at Linjing Temple, he noticed an unusually large crowd that day. Though it wasn’t as packed as during the Ghost Festival or Buddha’s Birthday, the front courtyard was filled with people, noisy and vibrant.

“What’s going on? Why so many people today?” Mei Si stopped a young man to ask and was told that a renowned monk was giving a scripture lecture. These lectures involved monks explaining Buddhist stories in simple, relatable language to guide devotees toward virtue, often accompanied by performances. For ordinary folks leading dull lives, such storytelling was a rare treat, so nearby families had come early in full force.

The lecture hadn’t started yet, with a few monks preparing on stage. Seeing the dense crowd, Mei Si avoided the crush and headed to offer incense instead. But as he turned, he spotted two familiar figures—one tall, one short. Who else could those backs belong to but his Zhen-jie and elder cousin? Watching them disappear around the back, Mei Si quickly sneaked after them.Afraid of being discovered, Mei Si didn't dare get too close, only observing from a distance as the two walked side by side. Soon, they stopped beneath a wall where Wu Zhen looked up.

Several cherry branches stretched over the wall, bearing bright red fruit. The two cherry trees in the temple were said to have been brought back by a revered monk during his travels. The temple monks didn’t know how to care for them properly, yet the cherries grew large and red. However, picking them was forbidden, and the wall had even been heightened to taunt onlookers who could only gaze longingly from below.

Peeking from the corner, Mei Si saw Wu Zhen eyeing the cherries while Mei Zhuyu hesitated and shook his head. Wu Zhen smiled and raised her hand, ready to climb the wall to pluck them. Then, to Mei Si’s lack of surprise, his ever-stern elder cousin reached out to stop her. Mei Si knew his cousin would never condone such ‘mischief’—unfortunately, he also knew Wu Zhen well. She thrived on exactly this kind of trouble.

An argument seemed inevitable. Mei Si watched nervously, expecting Wu Zhen’s temper to flare. She was the type to bristle at being told no, disliking advice or restraint. But what happened next defied his expectations. To his astonishment, his rule-abiding elder cousin lifted Wu Zhen up.

Tall and strong, Mei Zhuyu effortlessly hoisted her to the top of the wall, putting the cherries within her reach.

Seeing Wu Zhen elevated, Mei Si thought the cherry trees were doomed—his cousin never left anything behind, stripping every last fruit like a goose plucking feathers as it flew past.

Yet again, he was wrong. Despite the heavily laden branches, Wu Zhen only picked a few. Then, without hesitation, she popped one into Mei Zhuyu’s mouth.

Startled, Mei Zhuyu nearly dropped her but quickly tightened his grip, setting her down safely, his head bowed in slight unease. Wu Zhen fed him another cherry, pressing it to his lips until he awkwardly accepted it.

She murmured something to him. At first, he shook his head, but after another whisper, he nodded.

The sun felt blindingly bright to Mei Si. Was that really his cousin and elder brother? It couldn’t be. Wu Zhen never yielded so easily—since when did she stop just because someone told her to? And Mei Zhuyu, always so stern and composed—who was this flustered young man being teased by Wu Zhen? Though too far to see clearly, Mei Si was certain his elder brother was blushing!

Having never witnessed their private interactions, Mei Si had assumed their clashing personalities would make for tension. But after this scene, he realized he might have overthought things. Forget the Thousand Ghosts Warding Off Evil painting—he should have gifted them Mandarin Ducks Playing in Water instead.

After shadowing them a while longer and seeing how harmoniously they got along, Mei Si felt increasingly like a lonely third wheel. Unable to bear it, he turned back to the main hall to offer incense.

He had come to dispel bad luck after seeing something unclean, but spurred by what he’d just witnessed, his mind wandered. Before the Buddha, he impulsively prayed for love instead.A monk nearby, striking a wooden fish, overheard his words and chuckled, "This one doesn't handle marriage matters. There's a Bodhisattva in the back hall who specializes in that—very efficacious. You might as well give it a try."

Mei Si, as if guided by some unseen force, went to the rear courtyard, only to be frightened away by the crowd of young maidens praying for good marriages.

Better forget it, he thought. Marriage is no match for painting—he still had so many unfinished sketches to complete.