Chapter 57: Chopped Chili Fish Head (Part 8)
Leng Yue didn’t stay in Shenxiu’s room until dawn. She left quietly around the third watch, after Jing Yi had fallen into a deep sleep.
As she departed, she made sure to observe her surroundings.
The Old Abbot, who lived in the courtyard next to Jing Yi’s, was sprawled out snoring loudly.
Wang Tuo sat cross-legged on a cushion in his room. The food Leng Yue had left in the lunchbox had been completely devoured, and he was now struggling to read the monks’ examination papers by the dim light of an oil lamp.
Shenxiu had taken over for the young novice on duty in the main hall. He sat humbly and properly before the Buddha, his low chanting echoing melodiously through the hall, more beautiful than any song.
Everything was peaceful and tranquil.
So Leng Yue left with peace of mind, completely unaware that in less than three hours, she would return with a head full of troubles.
Clearly, many others hadn’t anticipated what happened either.
When she returned, the night shift in the main hall had ended, and a new group of monks had taken over the chanting. Wang Tuo was sprawled on the floor of his room, hugging a stack of papers as he slept, drool pooling around him. The Old Abbot had already woken up and was standing shirtless in the courtyard, huffing and puffing as he stretched his arms and twisted his waist.
Truth be told, even if these people had been holding hands and dancing in circles before her eyes, she wouldn’t have spared them a second glance. She had come for two people: Jing Yi and Shenxiu.
If she couldn’t find Shenxiu right away, seeing Jing Yi first would suffice.
At this hour, there was no way Jing Yi would be awake.
So Leng Yue leaped through the window into the room and tiptoed into the inner chamber.
Jing Yi was indeed still sound asleep in bed, except…
Shenxiu was also in that bed. He was using the only pillow, while Jing Yi rested his head on Shenxiu’s shoulder. The two of them were sleeping under the same blanket, equally content.
Leng Yue’s face turned as green as grass.
“Jing Yi!”
Her shout woke both of them.
Jing Yi groggily opened his eyes, his gaze shifting between Shenxiu on the bed and his wife standing beside it. Suddenly, he realized the source of the confusion and jolted upright in alarm.
“Wife…”
“Call me ‘benefactor’!”
“…”
Only after Jing Yi scrambled out of bed did Shenxiu rise leisurely. He calmly straightened his robes, put on his shoes, and stood up, offering Leng Yue a humble smile. He clasped his hands and bowed slightly. “Amitabha, Benefactor Leng. This humble monk has been discourteous.”
Jing Yi had grown up under the cunning tricks of his three shrewd older brothers and the Crown Prince, who was only two years his junior. From the moment he could remember, he had learned that hesitation in admitting fault led to punishment. Seeing Shenxiu take the lead, Jing Yi blurted out without a second thought:
“This humble monk has also been discourteous!”
“…”
Leng Yue glared at Shenxiu, who stood composed and fully dressed, and then at Jing Yi, who stood bare-chested and barefoot beside him, his hair disheveled and expression flustered. She gritted her teeth so hard they audibly creaked.
“What… is going on with you two?”
Heaven and earth bore witness—Jing Yi truly had no idea how his wife, who had been sleeping beside him, had turned into Shenxiu.
Jing Yi was momentarily speechless, but Shenxiu, with a slightly apologetic expression, calmly bowed his head and said, “Shenxiu and my junior brother have behaved improperly, making a spectacle of ourselves before Benefactor Leng.”
His words sounded…Watching Leng Yue in her crimson robes turn an even deeper shade of green, Jing Yi felt a chill run down his spine and hastily waved his hands. "No, no, no... He's spouting nonsense!"
Shenxiu cast a look at Jing Yi that seemed to say "this child is beyond teaching," then softly chanted a Buddhist invocation. "Those who have left the secular world do not speak falsehoods. To recognize one's error and correct it is a great virtue."
Leng Yue clenched the scabbard in her hand so hard it emitted a sharp creak.
Jing Yi briefly considered writing a tragic young monk—exceptionally handsome and talented—into his next story, one who would suffer eighty-one hardships only to meet a gruesome end.
"Error?" Leng Yue raised an eyebrow, her teeth gritted. "You two were curled up together sleeping soundly, and I showed up uninvited, disturbing your peaceful dreams. Isn't that my error?"
"Amitabha..." Shenxiu pressed his palms together, his expression growing more apologetic. "Patron Leng overthinketh."
Jing Yi slowly let out half a sigh of relief.
Considering he'd finally started speaking like a reasonable person, he might just grant him an intact corpse in the story.
While Jing Yi was mentally reconstructing Shenxiu's remains, he heard the monk add humbly, "The fault naturally lies with us two humble monks. We overslept and rose late."
Just as Jing Yi was about to add a few more stab wounds to Shenxiu's fictional corpse, the monk continued, "Junior Brother, after seeing off Patron Leng, accompany me to receive our punishment."
"..."
Leng Yue drew an envelope from her sleeve with two fingers and flicked it outward. The lightweight letter instantly shot toward Shenxiu's perpetually gentle, smiling face like a leaf caught in a storm.
She had put eighty percent of her strength into it—if this thin envelope struck someone's face, it could reshape a delicate oval face into something far broader.
Shenxiu remained unperturbed as the envelope flew rapidly toward him. When it reached his face, he leisurely raised a hand and caught it as effortlessly as plucking a butterfly from the air, without shifting his footing an inch.
Leng Yue pressed her lips together and tightened her grip on her sword.
Shenxiu's martial prowess was even more profound than she had estimated last night. If they were to truly cross blades, she suspected that even with both of her sisters joining the fight, the three of them might not scratch him.
"You..." Leng Yue took a deep breath and glanced at the envelope now held lightly in Shenxiu's hand. "Take the letter and go. I have some family matters to discuss with your junior brother."
Shenxiu gently weighed the envelope—which bore neither addressee nor sender—in his hand and smiled faintly. "Many thanks, Patron Leng."
After bowing to the visibly conflicted Leng Yue, Shenxiu turned and murmured something swiftly and softly to Jing Yi before exiting with the envelope, his expression still warm and amiable.
Leng Yue stared at the doorway until Shenxiu disappeared from view, not turning back until even the faintest echo of his footsteps had faded. Her face hardened into a cold mask.
"What did he just say to you?"
Jing Yi opened his mouth, then closed it, sighing silently. He turned and walked to the bed, sprawling across it like a starfish before closing his eyes and resigning himself to fate. "If I tell you, you definitely won't believe me. Just proceed with whatever level of disbelief you deem appropriate."
"..."
If she weren't carrying urgent business, Leng Yue would have proceeded with the level reserved for "beaten to death without believing."
She exhaled slowly, struggling to calm herself, then further calm herself. "Speak. I'll believe you."
Jing Yi lay motionless in his starfish pose. "He said the tea is hot."
"..."The tea was hot, so why did Shenxiu have to whisper it solely to Jing Yi?
Recalling the scene she had witnessed upon entering, Leng Yue felt so sour she wanted to tear down the temple.
She knew perfectly well that ordinary monks in the temple slept a dozen or more to a large communal bed, and it wasn’t inappropriate for her senior brother to share a bed with a newly ordained junior. But...
All that appropriateness hinged on one condition: the junior’s secular name couldn’t be Jing Yi.
She didn’t know when she had become like this. It wasn’t just men or women getting close to Jing Yi that made her heart ache and burn with jealousy—even when cats or dogs rubbed against him, she felt the urge to nuzzle up to him a few more times to make up for it.
The more Shenxiu spoke exclusively to Jing Yi, the more she wanted to get to the bottom of it. So, in a fit of pique, Leng Yue grabbed the teapot from the table and poured tea into an empty cup. The liquid flowed slowly from the spout, steaming hot.
Instinctively, Leng Yue judged that given the room’s current temperature, the tea couldn’t have been brewed more than half an hour ago.
Half an hour...
Leng Yue froze abruptly, so stunned that she forgot to withdraw the hand holding the teapot. The tea overflowed the cup, spreading across the table and releasing a thicker cloud of steam.
“What’s wrong?”
It wasn’t until Jing Yi swiftly took the teapot from her hand that Leng Yue snapped out of her daze. By the time she came to, Jing Yi already had one arm wrapped around her waist and the other hand pressed against her forehead.
Feeling the warmth of her skin, Jing Yi’s furrowed brow relaxed.
“Didn’t sleep well last night?”
Leng Yue couldn’t lie about this—the dark circles under her eyes, which always appeared when she lacked sleep, were the most honest answer.
Before Leng Yue could respond, Jing Yi had already carried her to the bed.
“Stop fooling around... There’s something important!”
Ignoring her protests, Jing Yi laid her down on the bed and silenced her with a deep kiss. Watching his wife go soft and pliant in his arms within moments, Jing Yi spoke with a hint of guilt, “I’m sorry, I slept too soundly last night.”
Leng Yue couldn’t muster any anger and weakly rolled her eyes. “Do you know why?”
Jing Yi shook his head.
“Your wound got wet and wasn’t properly cleaned. You developed a fever right after you fell asleep. Luckily, I had the ointment your second brother gave me...” Leng Yue turned and bit Jing Yi’s arm, which rested near her ear, with force. “I shouldn’t have bothered with you. If you’d lost a leg, you’d have behaved!”
Jing Yi grinned shamelessly, burying his smooth head into the crook of her neck and nuzzling her wildly. “I always knew my wife is the best in the world...”
“Get off, get off...” Leng Yue pushed his hairless head away impatiently, her phoenix eyes glaring. “Sit down properly. I have something to tell you.”
Jing Yi clung to her stubbornly, shaking his head. “No, I only want to hear how you worried over me so much last night that you couldn’t sleep.”
“...”
Leng Yue used all her strength to pry this sticky, plaster-like man off her by gripping his neck. “Let me tell you, last night Wang Tuo did something incredibly stupid.”
Seeing Jing Yi’s slightly dazed expression as he struggled, Leng Yue finally released her grip on his neck. Jing Yi coughed seriously for a moment, catching his breath with a pitiful look, and casually asked, “How stupid was it...?”
“The entire Ministry of Rites was driven to tears by his stupidity.”Jing Yi rubbed his nearly-strangled neck, his tone casual yet tinged with resentment. "Did he imitate Zhang Lao Wu and knock himself to death?"
"Even dumber than that..." Leng Yue sighed heavily, gathering courage before continuing. "Do you remember how you spun that nonsense about the Food-Delivery Goddess of Mercy and Qi-Delivery Goddess of Mercy to him last night?"
"Of course..." Before Jing Yi could finish basking in his pride, he suddenly froze. "Did the Ministry of Rites find out?"
Leng Yue nodded weakly. "Not just the Ministry of Rites—the Hanlin Academy and An Wang's residence know too. I estimate by tonight, every commoner in the capital will know."
Jing Yi felt like crying. "Didn't you tell him not to mention this to anyone?"
Before he finished speaking, Jing Yi himself realized something was wrong.
"Wait... He's in the temple. How would outsiders know?"
Leng Yue nodded slowly, looking at Jing Yi as if watching a child she'd raised finally come of age. "You guess."
Jing Yi pressed his lips together, furrowing his brow in contemplation. After a moment, he suddenly understood. "I remember now! Legend says Goryeo has a Psychic Secret Art—those who master it can see images of people they're thinking about from thousands of miles away. I'm certain someone in the Goryeo delegation knows this art and witnessed our entire charade from last night."
After listening quietly, Leng Yue responded faintly, "Do you know the principle behind this Psychic Secret Art?"
Jing Yi shook his head. "You do?"
Leng Yue nodded gently. "I've heard of this art too. Finding it quite miraculous and useful, I went to ask His Highness whether cultivating this art truly allows one to see images of those they miss. After studying it, His Highness confirmed it's real."
Jing Yi's eyes lit up, leaning closer again. "Then have you practiced it?"
"No."
Jing Yi frowned. "Why not? If you mastered this, investigating cases would be so much easier. Just concentrate on the deceased, and you'd see everything they experienced before death—the murderer and method would all become clear."
Leng Yue looked at Jing Yi as if the child she'd just raised had suddenly had his head slammed in a door.
"Because His Highness discovered the essence of cultivating this art lies in fasting—not eating." Seeing Jing Yi's confused expression, Leng Yue sighed and chose the bluntest explanation. "Meaning the visions are real, but they're hallucinations from starvation madness."
"..."
Jing Yi buried his perfectly round head dejectedly against Leng Yue's chest. She reached out and ruffled his unimaginably complex mind. "It's alright, you're not the only one foolish enough to believe it... I've heard this lie has many believers in Goryeo, saving their king considerable grain supplies. That's why the Goryeo king turns a blind eye to it."
Jing Yi didn't feel any better.
"If it's not this secret art... could Wang Tuo have sent messages out?"
To Jing Yi, the latter sounded even more far-fetched than the former.
When he came yesterday, he'd specifically noted how the front and rear gates of Anguo Temple were tightly guarded by imperial troops under royal decree. Wang Tuo possessed no wall-scaling abilities—how could he possibly send messages out?
Unless...Leng Yue nodded. "Last night, the Ministry of Rites intercepted a letter he tried to send to Goryeo at the guesthouse. The letter was written in the Goryeo language, roughly saying he witnessed the manifestation of the Central Plains' Food-Delivery Goddess of Mercy, then kept thinking how much more useful this bodhisattva would be in Goryeo, and wanted to bring the Food-Delivery Goddess of Mercy to Goryeo."
"And then?"
"Then..." Leng Yue glanced at this person who seemed almost eager for chaos. "Then, no one in the entire Ministry of Rites knew what the Food-Delivery Goddess of Mercy was. They urgently consulted the Hanlin Academy overnight, but no one there knew either. The Ministry of Rites feared this might be some codename for a secret operation, so your third brother took that letter to Prince An's residence."
Leng Yue shot a gloomy glare at this person lying on top of him, nearly choking with suppressed laughter. "And then... His Highness summoned me... His Highness said, aside from you, no one could fabricate such an absurd story and make it sound so convincing."
Jing Yi could no longer hold back, rolling on the bed with laughter. Only after laughing his fill did he rub his tear-filled eyes and ask, "What did my third brother say?"
"Do you think if His Highness had told your third brother the truth, you'd still be alive to roll around on this bed?"
Jing Yi paused, toning his loud laughter down to a light chuckle, still wearing an infuriatingly smug expression. "Then... is my third brother still searching for the Food-Delivery Goddess of Mercy?"
Leng Yue gave him an exhausted sidelong glance. "No. His Highness told him there must be something significant behind this that requires specialized investigation, so he took over the matter and sent your third brother away. Right now, the entire Ministry of Rites is scratching their heads in frustration."
Jing Yi's smile deepened as he nuzzled against Leng Yue's chest a few times, making Leng Yue's body go soft. "That 'specialized investigator' would be you, right?"
Leng Yue responded with an annoyed "Mm-hmm."
Jing Yi wrapped his arms around Leng Yue's waist, smiling contentedly. "It must be because you couldn't bear to see me suffering here alone, so you volunteered to come."
Leng Yue couldn't detect any signs of suffering in this overly self-satisfied person before him, but truth be told, he had indeed requested this assignment himself.
"I came for two reasons..." Leng Yue grabbed him by the ear and pulled away this person who kept nuzzling against his chest, enunciating each word clearly. "First, to investigate how this letter managed to leave the temple, and second, to dissuade Wang Tuo from his notion of capturing the Food-Delivery Goddess of Mercy alive. If either of these fails, we'll both be getting caned together."
"Yes, yes, yes..."
Only then did Leng Yue release Jing Yi's poor ear, lazily letting out a long yawn.
Rubbing his nearly torn-off ear, Jing Yi pondered Leng Yue's words and finally caught the implication. "You came to the temple to investigate... Do you suspect someone in this temple?"
"I suspect Shenxiu."
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