Chapter 83: The Stationery Shop

He had to admit, this woman's hands felt quite good. The gentle touch transmitted through his hair left both body and mind pleasantly relaxed.

Niu Youdao closed his eyes and enjoyed it as he waited. He assumed she had something to discuss and was waiting for her to say it.

"Master Dao, that Wei Duo is still kneeling outside," Shang Shuqing reminded him.

Niu Youdao said indifferently, "The Shangqing Sect tried to kill me. If he likes kneeling, let him kneel!"

Shang Shuqing fell silent again. Only when she began arranging his hair into a topknot did she speak once more.

"Master Dao, if you need a quiet place to enter seclusion, we actually have somewhere absolutely safe. At least so far, it has never been exposed to outsiders."

Niu Youdao gave a soft sound of surprise.

"There's such a place here? Where?"

Shang Shuqing said, "I won't hide it from Master Dao. The foundation my brother and I possess in Canglu County isn't limited to what you've seen before you. There is also a secret realm."

"A secret realm?"

Niu Youdao slowly opened his eyes.

"What kind of secret realm?"

Shang Shuqing said, "The matter is important, so it isn't convenient to tell Master Dao the details yet. If Master Dao is willing to go there for secluded cultivation, you'll naturally see it for yourself when the time comes."

Niu Youdao considered it briefly.

"If safety can truly be guaranteed, I have no objection."

"Good. We'll make arrangements for Master Dao immediately. But you may need to wait a few days so we can put up a little cover. Otherwise, if Master Dao suddenly disappears, Sister-in-law and the others may become suspicious."

"A few days is no problem."

Niu Youdao had effectively agreed. After a brief silence, however, he asked, "You were the one who persuaded His Highness and Mr. Lan to let me enter seclusion in that secret realm, weren't you?"

Shang Shuqing froze slightly. She did not know how he had guessed. That place was of tremendous importance. Shang Chaozong and Lan Ruoting had indeed hesitated over letting Niu Youdao go there, and she truly had been the one who insisted until she persuaded them. She did not answer the question.

Instead, she asked, "Master Dao, do you have a hairpin?"

She had already finished arranging Niu Youdao's topknot, only to discover she lacked a pin to secure it. Seeing her avoid the question, Niu Youdao did not pursue it. In truth, he understood perfectly well.

Letting him enter seclusion in some secret realm was at least partly because they feared that once he left, he might never return.

Whether he returned was not, by itself, the real issue. With Tianyu Sect support now in place, his importance to them had already diminished. The crucial point was that they had just revealed an extremely important plan to him, and he also knew the truth about the hundred thousand Crow Generals. If that information leaked, this side could be plunged into irredeemable disaster. Someone more ruthless might simply silence him permanently.

But Shang Chaozong would not find it easy to kill him without anyone noticing. Borrowing Feng Ruonan's cultivators to do the job would be difficult as well. How would Shang Chaozong explain it to Feng Ruonan and the Tianyu Sect? Had they not said Niu Youdao could help locate the hundred thousand Crow Generals?

If Shang Chaozong moved against him without a proper reason, Tianyu Sect would certainly demand to know what was going on.

"I've never used a hairpin. Why would I have one?"

Niu Youdao smiled. Shang Shuqing hesitated, then raised a hand to her own hair and removed a relatively neutral-looking hairpin. She inserted it into Niu Youdao's topknot.

When she was not going outside, she did not wear her veiled hat. Instead, she merely covered the lower half of her face with a thin veil. After studying the neat, perfectly arranged hairstyle, Shang Shuqing smiled.

"What does Master Dao think?"

"Mirror."

Niu Youdao beckoned. Yuan Gang quickly brought over a bronze mirror.

Niu Youdao took it, looked himself over, then asked Yuan Gang, "What do you think?"

"Not bad. You look a lot sharper."

Niu Youdao handed the bronze mirror back, rose, and turned around. Touching the topknot, he laughed.

"The Commandery Princess arranged it personally. I almost can't bear to take it down."

Shang Shuqing pressed her lips together in a smile.

"That's all right. If Master Dao doesn't mind, I can take care of this for you from now on."

Niu Youdao waved his hands. How could he possibly treat a Commandery Princess like a maidservant? In the county seat of Canglu County, the turmoil from the recent purge had already subsided with remarkable speed. Some households rejoiced and others grieved; each knew its own fortunes. Common people could not resist the larger tide and could only drift along with it.

On one street stood a stationery shop called Quiet Ink Studio, the finest establishment of its kind in the county seat. Its brushes, ink, paper, inkstones, and other scholarly supplies were also the best available locally. Quiet Ink Studio appeared to be doing business as usual, but the man behind the counter had changed.

The former proprietor had supposedly gone away to avoid the recent turmoil. He was hardly unique. After witnessing shops connected to certain households being confiscated, quite a few merchants had adopted a similar wait-and-see attitude and temporarily hidden themselves away. The new proprietor wore plain clothes over a lean frame. He held a feather duster and meticulously dusted the displays, working with great care. Three men wandering the street stopped outside Quiet Ink Studio.

They looked up at the signboard, quietly checked their surroundings, then entered one after another.

"Honored guests, what would you like..."

Hearing them enter, the new proprietor turned to greet them. Before he finished, however, he saw the man leading the group and froze. The leader was a powerfully built man. He looked around the shop's displays, then slowly approached the proprietor. The new proprietor lowered his voice.

"Brother Liu, what are you doing here?"

The burly man lowered his voice as well.

"Lu Shengzhong, Wang Heng sent you to avenge Young Master Yanqing, yet here you are selling brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones. What are you pretending to be, some refined scholar?"

As he said, this new proprietor was none other than Lu Shengzhong, who had come under Wang Heng's orders to take Niu Youdao's head. And the burly man was no stranger either.

He was Liu Ziyu, son of Liu Lu, steward of the Song Residence under the capital's Commandant of Justice, and a disciple of the Liuxian Sect. He too had come after receiving instructions from the Song clan.

The two were not particularly close, but the Song and Wang families were connected by marriage and had dealings with one another. They had met before, knew each other, and understood the other's background. Pretending to be refined, my ass. Lu Shengzhong cursed inwardly. The son of a household servant, and he still had the nerve to come swaggering around giving orders. He kept the unpleasant words to himself and remained courteous on the surface.

"This isn't the place to talk. Come to the back."

He glanced toward the street, put down the feather duster, turned, lifted a curtain, and went inside. Liu Ziyu and the other two followed.

The moment they met in the back room, Lu Shengzhong asked again, "Why did you come?"

Liu Ziyu said coolly, "Do you even need to ask? They were worried you couldn't handle things alone, so they sent me to keep an eye on the situation. The family is treating this so seriously, yet you seem perfectly relaxed. Are you planning to muddle through somehow and go back with a token explanation?"

Lu Shengzhong smiled bitterly.

"Brother Liu, now that you're here, surely you know what Canglu County is like at present. There are so many experts around Niu Youdao. How could it possibly be easy to act? I'm looking for an opportunity."

Liu Ziyu gave a cold snort.

"Spare me that routine. Who are you trying to fool? I've been watching you for more than a day or two. You've hidden inside this shop without setting foot outside and haven't even gone out to gather information. How are you supposed to find an opportunity like that?"

Lu Shengzhong sighed.

"This place is already under Shang Chaozong's control. Who knows how many hidden sentries he's planted? Running around asking questions and attracting attention would be courting death. And even if I did gather information, so what? Bai Yao is beside Niu Youdao. Could you or I simply attack him head-on? This has to be done through strategy. We can't overcome them by force."

Liu Ziyu raised an eyebrow.

"Hiding inside a stationery shop counts as strategy?"

Lu Shengzhong shook his head helplessly.

"Brother Liu, if you've been watching me for more than a day or two, then you should know something about this place. Let me ask you: compared with other shops of the same kind in Canglu County, what level would you say Quiet Ink Studio is?"

Liu Ziyu frowned.

"Among the best. What does that have to do with your strategy?"

Lu Shengzhong spread both hands.

"Think about it. Shang Chaozong has so many people. They can't possibly avoid using brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones. Given the status of the people around Shang Chaozong, they won't use cheap scholarly supplies either. If they come into the county seat to purchase them, Quiet Ink Studio is bound to be their first choice. That gives me an opportunity to make contact, and it's the sort of contact least likely to arouse suspicion."

He had barely finished when one of the men standing behind the curtain and peeking through a narrow gap suddenly hissed softly, warning them to be quiet. A voice immediately called from outside.

"Proprietor, are you here?"

Lu Shengzhong raised a hand toward Liu Ziyu, signaling him to wait, then quickly lifted the curtain and stepped out. The moment he saw how the burly customer outside was dressed, he paused. Others might not have recognized the uniform, but he did.

It was the dress of the Yingyang and Wulie Guards. The saber hanging at the man's waist made it even more obvious. A broad smile immediately spread across Lu Shengzhong's face as he went forward.

"Honored guest, what would you like?"

The customer asked the prices of several kinds of brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones, selected some of each, paid, and told him to wrap them up. Lu Shengzhong did not say anything unnecessary. While packing the goods, however, he picked up a brush and wrote a short note.

After blowing the ink dry, he slipped the paper into the package and wrapped it together with everything else.

The customer noticed and asked curiously, "Proprietor, what did you write and put in there?"

Lu Shengzhong chuckled.

"This is a stationery shop. What we sell is a little refinement. I casually wrote a poem and tucked it inside, hoping to add some elegant amusement for an honored guest and perhaps tempt you to visit again."

He placed the wrapped purchase in front of the man. The customer laughed.

"You scholars certainly have your little refinements."

Shaking his head, he picked up the package and left. Lu Shengzhong saw him to the door. After looking left and right along the street, he quickly returned to the back room and found Liu Ziyu peering through the curtain. Liu Ziyu turned to follow him.

"One of the Yingyang and Wulie Guards?"

"They arrived just as I was talking about them. Looks like my judgment was right."

Lu Shengzhong rubbed his hands together excitedly.

"I hear Shang Shuqing is highly accomplished in the qin, chess, calligraphy, and painting. I slipped a fine poem inside. Once a man from the Yingyang and Wulie Guards takes it back, there's a good chance it'll reach her ears and catch her attention. That gives me a gradual opening for contact. After that, we can wait for an opportunity to act. Even if it merely draws some other person from their inner circle into dealing with me, that will do."

"A fine poem?"

Liu Ziyu looked him up and down.

"You write poetry now? Are you sure one poem of yours can make them interested in you?"

Lu Shengzhong laughed. He went to a small writing table farther inside, ground a little ink, dipped his brush, and swiftly wrote a poem across a sheet of paper. Setting down the brush, he lifted the page, gave it a shake, then turned and handed it over.

"Brother Liu, have a look. Tell me what you think of this poem."

Liu Ziyu accepted it with obvious suspicion. He looked down and murmured as he read:

"Once I had known the vast sea, no other waters seemed like water;
Save for the clouds of Mount Wu, no other clouds seemed like clouds.
Passing through the flowers, I scarcely turn to look—
Half because I cultivate the Dao, half because of you."

After finishing, he clicked his tongue appreciatively and nodded. The look he gave Lu Shengzhong was distinctly surprised.

"A fine poem. Truly a fine poem! I never knew Brother Lu had this kind of talent."

Lu Shengzhong waved a hand.

"You're flattering me. It isn't actually my poem. Your young master, Song Yanqing, gave it to me. I'm merely borrowing it for the occasion."

The subject made him somewhat emotional. When word suddenly spread in the capital that Song Yanqing had developed a gift for poetry and lyrics, Lu Shengzhong happened to flatter him once when Song Yanqing visited his father-in-law, Wang Heng. To his surprise, Song Yanqing had actually written something for him, and not merely one poem, but two. Lu Shengzhong had not thought much of it at first. After seeing them, however, he had been astonished. They really were excellent poems.

"Young Master Yanqing wrote poetry?"

Liu Ziyu's expression twitched. He knew perfectly well how little ink Song Yanqing had in his belly.

Poetry?

What kind of joke was that? He lowered his eyes to the poem in his hands and muttered inwardly that Song Yanqing had probably found someone else to write it for him...

[End of Chapter 83]