Donkeys

"What is the origin of a pseudo-emotion root?" Feng Daiku explained, "A true emotion root is transformed from an emotion seed; it is conceived deep in the heart and takes root in the eyes. This pseudo-emotion root, however, is formed from phantoms. It is born in the eyes, lingers in the eyes, and dissolves in the eyes—both real and false, substantive and illusory. It is a fabricated trick born of illusion arts." Did they really dare converse like this in a cinema without fearing that others might overhear? Indeed they didn't. The people around them could neither see Feng Daiku nor hear their conversation. Using illusion arts to counterfeit the techniques of an Emotion Cultivator angered Feng Daiku somewhat. "Fifth Brother, where did this handkerchief come from?" "I got it in Heishipo from an intimate friend of mine when I pulled out a pseudo-emotion root." Feng Daiku murmured softly, "A pseudo-emotion root appeared in Heishipo, yet none have been seen in Kudaikan. Why is that?" Ma the Fifth said, "They aren't reckless fools. Counterfeiting Emotion Cultivator methods on your turf would be begging for your punishment, wouldn't it?" Feng Daiku shook her head slightly. "That's not what I mean. I'm saying, with the exact same motion picture, why wouldn't it plant a pseudo-emotion root here? If it has already planted roots, I must deal with it early. If it hasn't, where exactly is the difference?" Ma the Fifth understood her point. The motion picture screened in Heishipo might not be the same as the one shown in Kudaikan. But what was the difference? Ma the Fifth was actually prepared for this. "My men will arrive in Kudaikan tomorrow. They'll bring the film from Heishipo with them." Feng Daiku glanced at the screen and twitched her eyebrows. "Are they only bringing this one film? This *Bloodblade Detective* is rather dull." Ma the Fifth put his arm around Feng Daiku. "There are plenty of good motion pictures. We can enjoy them one by one." *** The next day, Feng Daiku stayed in the hotel to watch Heishipo's *Bloodblade Detective* with Ma the Fifth. With her meticulous eye, she caught the crucial point after barely ten minutes. "Fifth Brother, rewind this scene a bit." Ma the Fifth rewound the film about five minutes. The leading actress, Xiao Xiufei, was showering beneath a spray nozzle. At an emotional moment, a tear rolled down. The tear ran from the corner of her eye down her cheek, slipped down her neck, and slid onto her chest. The leading actor, Chu Ningsheng, suddenly stepped into the bathroom and drew the tear into his mouth. It had to be said that this sequence of shots was executed brilliantly. Analyzing it purely from an artistic standpoint, Ma the Fifth was thoroughly impressed; *Bloodgun Detective* had nothing to rival such a long take. The detail Feng Daiku noticed, however, was the shot of the male lead swallowing that tear. With that swallow, it was as if he had swallowed all of the heroine's sorrow and melancholy. "Fifth Brother, the film in Kudaikan shouldn't have this shot." "It didn't?" Ma the Fifth paused, bewildered. In his memory, he seemed to recall seeing this scene in the theater yesterday as well. Feng Daiku shook her head. "Fifth Brother, I am certain it didn't. This shot was filmed with exquisite care, leaving a profound impression. The only reason you didn't notice the difference is that you've had far too much experience in these matters. There are also people naturally uninterested in such things who wouldn't fall prey to the trick, but those people are exceedingly rare. When ordinary folk watch this scene, their hearts and minds are inevitably stirred, and that is how this pseudo-emotion root is planted. Look closely, Fifth Brother—first at that tear, then at the woman's chest. There is illusion craft woven into it." Ma the Fifth looked closely, and it really was different. He had slept with Xiao Xiufei before; her chest had been very fair, but here the color and texture had become much darker. The illusion started right there. To think they went to such lengths just to sell a few more movie tickets. Shaking his head, Ma the Fifth sighed. "After Ling Miaoying died, who knows who took over managing this film company? Doing this is truly vile." Feng Daiku knitted her brows slightly. "Fifth Brother, I cannot tolerate this. Regardless of their purpose, using such low-down trickery to counterfeit the methods of my pathway is something I absolutely will not stomach!" Ma the Fifth asked, "How do you want to handle it?" "Fifth Brother, is there any way to lure them to Kudaikan?" Ma the Fifth pondered for a moment, then shook his head. "Those people usually stay in Lüshui City. Trying to draw them out would be extraordinarily difficult." At the mention of Lüshui City, Feng Daiku sighed. "If it were anywhere else, there would be no harm in me paying them a visit. But if it's Lüshui City..." Lüshui City was Lü Huazi's territory. Which local spirit would dare claim they weren't afraid of Lü Huazi? Ma the Fifth comforted Feng Daiku a couple of times, and her mood improved slightly. "Fifth Brother, do you also want to learn their method to sell more movie tickets?" "What kind of person do you take me for?" Ma the Fifth shook his head. "No matter what business one runs, one cannot abandon basic integrity. When I get back, I'll expose this immediately and ensure no one else gets duped." Caressing Ma the Fifth's cheek, Feng Daiku said, "I'll teach you some illusion methods, Fifth Brother. If you run into anything like this in the future, you'll see right through it at a glance." Ma the Fifth was overjoyed. An opportunity to learn illusion arts from a local spirit was far too rare. Feng Daiku poked him on the forehead. "Letting you learn skills from me all the time makes things far too easy for you." Tightening his embrace around her, Ma the Fifth said, "How could I ever shortchange you? I'll pay tuition!" *** Early in the morning, before Qiu's Medicine Shop had even opened its doors, the old Mourning Cultivator was already sitting outside with his pipe. With such a baleful appearance, the medicine shop couldn't hope for any business all day. Even if customers came to buy medicine, they wouldn't dare step through the doors of Qiu's Medicine Shop just to avoid the Mourning Cultivator. Did this Mourning Cultivator have nowhere else to go? He had been to other places, but after repeated comparisons, he deemed this spot the most suitable. The primary reason was that his tier was not low, and ordinary people simply couldn't withstand him. Qiu Zhiheng had asked around: this man was named Yu Heshun, a tier-six Mourning Cultivator. Over his lifetime, he had turned eighteen villages into desolate ruins. Unable to endure his jinxes, the villagers had either died or fled. Once a village was abandoned, he had no way to cultivate either, forcing him to move from place to place. Now that he was old, he genuinely didn't want to move anymore, so he wanted to find a suitable household to latch onto and linger for a few more years. Few households could hold out against a tier-six Mourning Cultivator. Take that steamed bun shop in Ligou, for instance—Yu Heshun had gone there before, but the shop owner was an honest, simple man. Honest folk running honest businesses couldn't take much torment. After Yu Heshun sickened him with a few remarks, the bun shop had nearly shuttered; a few more days of such disgust, and the owner probably would have taken his own life. Qiu Zhiheng was clearly no ordinary man. In Yu Heshun's eyes, someone like this wouldn't necessarily die even after ten or eight years of torment, so this meal ticket had to be clutched tightly. Of course, had he heard Qiu Zhiheng's reputation, he wouldn't have dared keep up this harassment. Tolerating him temporarily was only because Qiu Zhiheng didn't want to taint himself with foul luck, but that hardly meant he would put up with him forever. "Old Seven, the Lu family newspaper office business was handed to you. You should be familiar with the people at the Yaowanggou newspaper office, right?" Li Banfeng said, "Not very familiar, but I know them." "Knowing them is enough. Invite them over in a little while." "Brother Qiu, you're not planning to have the newspaper expose this old bastard, are you? He has no shame whatsoever; I doubt that'll work." Qiu Zhiheng shook his head. "He knows shame—it just depends on what it is. Wife, follow this prescription, cook up a good medicinal meal, and take it out to Yu Heshun." His wife looked at the prescription and said with a blush, "Will this work? He's so old..." Qiu Zhiheng replied very solemnly, "Because he's old, his body needs nourishing even more. Caoye, dry your tears and lend me those two cart-pulling donkeys of yours." *** At noon, Qiu's wife brought a bowl of lean meat congee to the entrance and handed it to Yu Heshun. "This is for you. Eat up." Yu Heshun took the congee, glanced at it, and asked with a sour, mournful scowl, "Did you poison the congee?" She frowned. "What kind of talk is that?" "What did I say? What did I say, huh? I was just asking if there's poison! What are you getting angry for? Guilty conscience?" Once Yu Heshun opened his mouth, words fired off like a machine gun, endless and relentless. She turned and walked away. Yu Heshun lifted the bowl and gulped it down greedily, muttering all the while: "This congee is too watery, nothing but broth, all fluff and no substance. One look tells you this isn't a generous household! How could a family like this ever succeed in business? Can't even bear to put some real ingredients into a bowl of congee—a family like this deserves to stay poor forever!" As he ate, Yu Heshun kept tasting the seasonings in the congee; he was afraid of poison too. Yet she truly hadn't poisoned it. She was a high-tier Food Cultivator with extraordinary culinary skill, and the congee had been prepared with great care. Yu Heshun licked the bowl clean and then smashed it to pieces on the ground. "Didn't even give me enough to fill my belly! One look tells me you harbor malicious intentions!" Yu Heshun even spat on the ground. A passerby asked, "You didn't give them any money, yet they gave you something to eat. Why are you cursing at them?" "What cursing? What did I curse?" Yu Heshun shouted loudly. "I didn't get full in the first place! Did I say anything wrong?" There was no arguing with him; every additional word exchanged was a losing battle. An assistant from the medicine shop came out to dump some dust and swept soil, leading two donkeys over to Yu Heshun's side while he was at it. Yu Heshun said with a long, gloomy face, "What's this for? Are you blind? Can't you see a person sitting here? What are you leading beasts over here for?" The assistant ignored him and turned back into the shop. Yu Heshun didn't budge either, remaining seated right beside the donkeys. *Think bringing two donkeys will drive me away? What a fantasy.* Qiu Zhiheng walked up behind Yu Heshun and tapped him lightly. Yu Heshun turned his head and cursed, "I'm telling you, don't touch me! Touch me again and your whole family will die horrible deaths!" This was called Mournful Words, one of a Mourning Cultivator's techniques. If Qiu Zhiheng touched him again, his family might not die, but they would certainly suffer misfortune. Qiu Zhiheng raised his hands and shook his head. "I won't touch you. I just wanted to give you some money so you'd move to another spot." "Not going! I'm not going anywhere! I like it right here, what can you do about it?" Qiu Zhiheng nodded. This had been his final chance for Yu Heshun. There was indeed no poison in his wife's congee, only potent tonics. But when paired with Qiu Zhiheng's techniques, it was an entirely different story. Sitting by the doorway, Yu Heshun smoked another bowl of dry tobacco. Suddenly, he heard a donkey bray in his ear. *Hee-haw!* Strange... why did that donkey's bray sound so melodious? Yu Heshun glanced up at the donkey, then lowered his head again. *Hee-haw!* The donkey brayed once more. Yu Heshun's face grew slightly flushed. It really did sound pleasant. The donkey brayed a third time. Yu Heshun didn't raise his head, yet it seemed... something else had perked up. The donkey let out several more brays in succession. Yu Heshun stood up. *What's happening?* Yu Heshun felt as though something terrible was about to occur. *No, absolutely not...* He wanted to leave. *Hee-haw!* The donkey brayed again. Someone, unbeknownst to him, had untied the donkeys' reins, and the donkey began walking toward the mouth of Paifang Street. Yu Heshun moved. He followed after the donkey. Right now, the only thing in his eyes was the donkey! Once they reached a crowded area, Yu Heshun lost control. The donkeys lost control as well. He went behind one donkey and had his way with it. The other donkey went behind him and had its way with him. Every passerby stood dumbfounded. This was a street intersection! These were donkeys! Even the journalists from the Yaowanggou newspaper office were utterly flabbergasted. Li Banfeng urged from the side, "What are you standing there for? Take photos! Film it!" "Ah... right..." The journalist snapped to attention, recording while already racking his brain over how to write the headline.