"Which uninvited guest?" Zhang Laifu looked around and suddenly noticed two men in the crowd.
The pair stood by a pastry stall making inquiries. One of their silhouettes struck Zhang Laifu as familiar.
Indeed, it was him—Lao Yu, the driver.
A vile chill crept up his spine. Zhang Laifu averted his gaze at once. Lao Yu was not like Lao Zheng; he wasn't nearly as cautious, and he would dare to murder someone in broad daylight right in the street.
Li Yunsheng said, "Those two are here looking for you, aren't they?"
Zhang Laifu gave a slight nod. "They are."
Li Yunsheng waved his fan, and a wisp of smoke enveloped Zhang Laifu. With this shroud of smoke, Lao Yu would not notice this spot for the moment.
"Brother Laifu, if it were only the two of them, I could handle it. But an uninvited guest has just arrived on my end as well. Go first. For a hundred paces, so long as this incense doesn't go out, they won't notice you."
He handed Zhang Laifu a talisman paper and began chanting an incantation:
"A single stroke of the talisman traverses the nine glows of dawn,
Dust flies, smoke churns, stirring up crashing waves.
The paper descends upon the body, turning wind into a steed,
Smoke rises beneath the feet without kicking up sand.
Wind obeys my command and serves as my carriage,
Clouds swirl before me like blossoming flowers.
In one stride cross the river beneath the willows,
In two strides scale the mountain beyond the horizon."
Hearing these words, Zhang Laifu felt his blood surge again.
Li Yunsheng's incantation was vivid. Zhang Laifu could practically see smoke billowing beneath his feet, feeling as though he could bolt dozens of li the instant he let loose his legs.
"Brother Laifu, once you're a hundred paces past this stall, the smoke around you will disperse. Clutch this talisman paper and focus your mind on running swiftly. You'll run extraordinarily fast, and they certainly won't catch you. Leave this place at once!"
Li Yunsheng pressed the talisman paper into Zhang Laifu's hand and added, "Remember this above all: if the talisman paper is completely ruined, it will lose its power. You must shake them off as fast as possible."
Zhang Laifu voiced his thanks and turned to leave. Yet he had barely gone thirty paces when the smoke around him suddenly vanished.
*This isn't anywhere close to a hundred paces!*
Zhang Laifu hurriedly squeezed into the crowd. Having no idea what had gone wrong, his only thought now was to get out of Zhuzi Street as fast as he could.
The trouble had not originated with Zhang Laifu, but with Li Yunsheng; the uninvited guest he had mentioned had arrived.
A man had stepped up to Li Yunsheng's table. By some unknown method, he snuffed out all three sticks of incense burning upon it.
Li Yunsheng looked up at him. Just as he was about to ask after his origins, the man unfurled a folding fan and brought it down atop Li Yunsheng's talisman papers.
He was an insider of the Zhuyou branch.
Yet this gesture was anything but friendly.
Pinning down Li Yunsheng's talisman papers meant he was forbidding Li Yunsheng from conducting business here.
Li Yunsheng looked at him and said nothing.
The man first appraised Li Yunsheng's talismans. "Drawn on yellow paper, these few brushstrokes are clean and crisp. Yet I wonder if they were copied from an ancient scroll or from some later transcription?"
He was inquiring whether Li Yunsheng possessed a formal lineage.
Li Yunsheng replied, "Be it an ancient scroll or a later transcription, what my master taught me to banish evil and cure disease are all genuine methods."
The man asked again, "Curing disease is easy, but banishing evil is hard. May I ask, sir, whose tradition do you uphold?"
Li Yunsheng stood up and cupped his hands. "Some revere the Old Man of Mountain Herbs, while others honor Heavenly Emperor Xuanyuan. My master bade me remember that we all share the same bloodline, without distinction."
This single line explained the origins and lineages of the Zhuyou branch. Within the trade, there were two traditions regarding the identity of its ancestral patriarch.
One held that he was the ancient divine physician Miaofu, which was the Old Man of Mountain Herbs Li Yunsheng mentioned. The other pointed to the Yellow Emperor of the Xuanyuan clan, the Heavenly Emperor Xuanyuan.
Li Yunsheng had clearly stated his lineage and signaled that he had studied both traditions, matching the trade cant.
Had his counterpart insisted on being difficult, he could have pressed further about Li Yunsheng's master's name. But doing so would have made it hard for them to get along amicably.
The man was a person of discretion. He lifted his fan and cupped his hands. "I am Lan Chunming, hall master of Heishakou. Forgive my offense just now."
Li Yunsheng had heard of this hall master, though he had no idea what had brought him here.
"Why would a mere registered journeyman like me disturb the hall master?"
Lan Chunming waved his folding fan and said, "You are far too modest, sir. The talisman unlocks the yin orifices in sequence, and the incantation settles into the mind in distinct tiers. Looking at your attainment, sir, you must be a hall pillar, no?"
A hall pillar referred to a third-tier craftsman.
"Hall Master, you flatter me. I truly am just a registered journeyman." Li Yunsheng produced a silver dollar and offered it. "This is today's merit money."
The hall master waved his hand at the coin. "It doesn't take this much."
Li Yunsheng insisted on presenting it. "A token of my regard for our first meeting."
Lan Chunming adamantly refused it. "We shall waive today's merit money as a token of my own regard. Sir, our hall branch is short of people right now. Since we are both hall pillars, come back to the hall with me for a cup of wine. From now on, we can discuss our affairs together."
He was inviting Li Yunsheng to join the guild hall.
Li Yunsheng shook his head repeatedly. "The hall master has truly mistaken me for someone else. If I were a hall pillar, would I be reduced to setting up a stall by the street?"
Lan Chunming chuckled. "Sir, at least you have a stall. I don't even have that; I wander around practicing medicine with nothing but a handbell. In our trade, we don't open clinics—this is simply how we make our living. Setting aside how high your skill is, I am inviting you to the hall for a cup of tea. Surely you can grant me that much face?"
Li Yunsheng truly did not wish to become entangled with the guilds, yet certain matters could not be dodged.
He swept a glance across the crowd. The two men who had been watching Zhang Laifu were gone. He did not know whether that big tree could weather this calamity.
***
Zhang Laifu walked out of Zhuzi Street and made his way along the Heisha River for half an hour. He checked behind him the entire way; no one was following. He must have shaken Lao Yu and his partner off.
His heart fluttered and his legs felt weak. He was genuinely starving. Having had no breakfast, on top of being wracked by yin energy, stars danced before his eyes.
There was a stall selling pastries by the roadside, and he wanted to buy one to quell his hunger.
The pastries were not expensive—seven copper coins each, or three for two dazi. Zhang Laifu produced a silver dollar, which put the vendor in a bind. "Sir, I can't break this."
As Zhang Laifu fished in his pockets for loose change, he caught sight of Lao Yu catching up, accompanied by an assistant.
This assistant was named Xiao Zhuzi. He was a fire-blade scout from Hunlong Stronghold and an attendant to Zhao Yingde, who often stitched up Zhao Yingde's wounds.
Fire-blade scouts were the fiercest fighters in the stronghold and held the highest rank among the bandit foot soldiers.
Xiao Zhuzi pointed at Zhang Laifu. "Chief Yu, is that him?"
Lao Yu was a torch chief of Hunlong Stronghold with over a dozen fire-blade scouts under his command. He had brought Xiao Zhuzi along this time specifically to scout for news of Lin Shaocong and Zhang Laifu, never expecting to run straight into Zhang Laifu on Zhuzi Street.
"That's him. Get ready to move!"
Xiao Zhuzi took a thimble from his pocket and slipped it over his middle finger. "Following the chief's orders, we need to take him alive."
Lao Yu shook his head. "This brat isn't simple. No need to take him alive. Kill him and bring his head back—it's the same."
Xiao Zhuzi did not argue the matter of dead or alive further. "Chief Yu, wait here. I'll circle around in front of him..."
Before he could finish, Zhang Laifu bolted.
Xiao Zhuzi started. He had not expected Zhang Laifu to be so vigilant.
"After him!" Lao Yu sprinted in pursuit, Xiao Zhuzi close behind.
Zhang Laifu was only twenty to thirty paces ahead of them. Lao Yu and Xiao Zhuzi were both craftsmen. With a craftsman's physique, closing such a distance on an ordinary person should have taken only the blink of an eye.
Yet after chasing him for ten minutes, they were still twenty to thirty paces behind.
They hadn't gained an inch?
That made no sense!
How could this Zhang Laifu run so fast?
Zhang Laifu clutched the talisman paper Li Yunsheng had given him, his face drained of color.
Running like this was no solution. Zhang Laifu was exhausted, whereas Lao Yu and Xiao Zhuzi were not straining nearly as hard.
The talisman paper had a time limit as well. It was already growing sticky in his grasp. If it tore to shreds, its power would fail.
What should he do now? Where could he run to shake Lao Yu off?
Head for the police station? Bandits would certainly steer clear of the police.
Yet the crux of the matter was that Zhang Laifu had to avoid the police as well.
Run to the Lin family's great residence?
That was even worse. The Lin family had wanted to silence him in the first place. If he led the bandits there, the Lin family's most sensible move would be to kill Zhang Laifu and pin the entire mess on him.
Turn back to find Li Yunsheng?
Zhang Laifu dismissed that notion immediately.
Li Yunsheng had already helped him so much and was facing trouble of his own right now. Zhang Laifu could not possibly drag him into this.
Seeing that he had run out of the city and had nowhere else to turn, Zhang Laifu threw caution to the wind.
He ran straight toward the old manor.
An old ghost inside the manor wanted to kill him, and two bandits behind him wanted to kill him. Which one would succeed depended on their luck.
No matter which of them died, Zhang Laifu wouldn't lose any sleep over it!
Chapter 25