Old Scores

"You wretched traitor, you think I won't really cut you down?" The gramophone raised the longsword high. Hong Ying extended her spearhead, motionless. "Do it. Make it quick." "You feel no remorse at all?" the gramophone demanded in fury. Hong Ying chuckled. "There's nothing to regret. Given the choice again, I'd still kill you!" "You vile wretch!" The gramophone struck Hong Ying with the hilt, sending her stumbling. Steadying herself, Hong Ying spoke slowly. "I am no wretch. The most wretched thing I ever did in my life was putting my faith in you. From the day we met, I obeyed your every word. Even after being thrown onto death row and taking a stroll through the Gates of Hell, even after walking back out and marching onto the battlefield, I still obeyed you. That was until you insisted on marching on the Yansha Plains. That was when I knew I couldn't listen to you anymore. The peddler and that mad artisan were both waiting there. You were leading us straight to our deaths!" "I told you, I could have won!" Hong Ying let out a bitter laugh. "Even if you won, so what? Cong Shixiang had an imperial decree in his hands, spelling it out clear as day: if you lost, he would force us all to die in battle. Even if you won, he would immediately read the decree, drag the two of us back to the capital, throw us into the condemned cells, and await execution!" "Who told you that?" "That word came from Prince Chun himself! He saw the decree with his own eyes! We were dead either way—do you understand now? If it were you telling me to lay down my life, I wouldn't have blinked. But throwing away our lives for them? I couldn't do it! I'm not that shameless! Zhao Xiaowan, I am no wretch—the most contemptible wretch here is you! Even after walking out of death row, you showed not a shred of remorse. I pleaded with you with all my might, yet you refused to turn back. A wretch like you deserved to die!" The gramophone steadied her temper slightly and asked, "What were you planning to do back then? Kill me, so you wouldn't have to die?" Hong Ying nodded her spearhead. "That's right. Once I killed you, I meant to surrender to the peddler immediately. I wouldn't have to die, and the soldiers wouldn't have been marched to their graves! It's a shame you were so hard to deal with. Taking your life cost me mine, and in the end, I failed to save them." The gramophone scoffed. "Do you realize how stupid you were? I was an actress by trade; once I die, that's the end of it. But if you killed me and surrendered, what about your family back in the capital? What would have become of them?" Hong Ying replied bitterly, "Things had reached that point—did you think I could still look after them?" "You didn't care about your own kin, and you didn't care about the soldiers' families either?" the gramophone pressed. Hong Ying answered calmly, "I couldn't look after them. That was the limit of my ability." "You had no ability, yet you dared take such massive matters into your own hands!" The gramophone brandished the longsword and battered Hong Ying with the hilt once more, knocking her off balance. "I marched on the Yansha Plains because I had already uncovered intelligence: the peddler was taking his troops through Tiemang Valley! Once we reached the Yansha Plains, we wouldn't have encountered the enemy at all!" Hong Ying froze. "Impossible. The peddler had already resolved to fight the decisive battle against you at the Yansha Plains. That was confirmed by the scouts!" "That was a feint leaked by the peddler! His target was the capital; he had no desire to waste his strength grinding against us on the Yansha Plains. Tiemang Valley is treacherous, but it's a shortcut. He had planned on circumventing us all along, but feared we would intercept him in the valley. The peddler spread false rumors, and your scouts fell for it. But I saw through it because I had an informant at his side! The very day you killed me, the peddler had already set out for Tiemang Valley. If you hadn't struck me down, I would have led you to the Yansha Plains, where we would have arrived to find nothing. We could have chalked it up to a command blunder on my part. I would have kept the army stationed on the plains, dragging things out no matter how many imperial decrees came down. And if Cong Shixiang dared make a move against me, I would have slaughtered him on the spot!" Hong Ying stared in shock. "You knew Cong Shixiang was going to act against you?" The gramophone sneered. "You think I couldn't tell what sort of dog he was? You think I didn't know Yao Xin was egged on by him? My plan was that once we reached the Yansha Plains, our part in the war would be over. The peddler would cross Tiemang Valley and strike straight at the capital. Whether he could take it would be up to his own skill. If he won, it wouldn't have been too late for you all to surrender. If he lost, the entire blame would fall upon me; when the court came down to punish me, I would have fled for my life immediately, at least preserving every single one of you! Instead, you wretched traitor colluded with the other officers to strike me down first. Not only did you forfeit your own life, you handed the entire army right into Cong Shixiang's clutches! Every drop of that blood is on your hands! Now tell me—are you the wretched one, or am I?" Hong Ying fell silent for a long time, shaking her head repeatedly. "You're lying to me. You never mentioned any of this beforehand." "The entire army was crawling with Cong Shixiang's spies! Your every move was watched. How could I have mentioned it to you? If word leaked out in advance, could any of it have succeeded?" "I... I don't believe you..." Hong Ying's voice trembled faintly. The gramophone snapped furiously, "It doesn't matter if you don't believe me! You've been deaf and blind all these years, knowing nothing. There are still plenty of survivors—go and ask them which path the peddler ultimately took!" "I... I can't leave this place. I can't ask them..." Hong Ying shivered violently from head to toe. "You don't need to leave. Just ask our house! Ask which path the peddler took back then!" A heavy silence descended over the Portable Abode. After a prolonged wait, an ancient voice finally sounded: "I remember this. It was Tiemang Valley." With a thud, Hong Ying collapsed onto the floor. She tried to push herself up, but failed; every joint throughout her form shook uncontrollably. "Kill me," she said, holding her spearhead out toward the gramophone. "Take pity on me and kill me." The gramophone snorted coldly. "You think chopping off a spearhead counts as killing you?" "Can't you devour souls? Devour my soul," Hong Ying pleaded, groping blindly toward the gramophone. "Eat me. Eat me right now." "Can't bear to live? You think wanting to die means you get to die?" The gramophone sneered. "Nothing in this world comes that cheap. Hold out your hand!" Hong Ying did not know what the gramophone intended, but she extended her hand anyway. At worst, it was just death. How she died no longer mattered to her. The gramophone pierced Hong Ying's palm with her stylus, gathered a few drops of blood, and let them drip onto the seed Li Banfeng had just brought back. *** Out in the desolate wilderness, Li Banfeng looked down at a lizard covered in wounds and said with a chuckle, "Are you willing to work for me now?" The lizard panted for a long while before gasping, "Hero, at least tell me what you want me to do first! Stop beating me senseless..." Li Banfeng produced a covenant deed. "Do you know the person named on this?" "I do! That's Diao Nengsou. He's a monkey. I know where he lives—I'll take you to him!" The lizard led Li Banfeng to a pond, where they found an old, white-furred monkey living beside the water. "You're Diao Nengsou? Do you recognize this?" Li Banfeng asked. He waved the covenant deed in front of Diao Nengsou. It was the deed the monkey had signed with the local spirit, so naturally he recognized it. Diao Nengsou asked, "How did that end up in your hands?" "Bei Wushuang sold you to Meng Yuchun. You need to move and live somewhere else." Diao Nengsou nodded. "All right." *He agreed just like that? You're not even going to resist?* "Did you not understand what I said? Your local spirit sold you out. You have to sign another covenant deed and take a new master." "Where is the deed? I'll press my handprint right away." Diao Nengsou was already preparing to cut his palm. *Why is this going so smoothly?* Li Banfeng had assumed he would have to fight. He pulled out a deed he had drafted himself and handed it to Diao Nengsou. The document didn't even specify the local spirit's name. Li Banfeng expected Diao Nengsou to ask a question or two, but the monkey said nothing and pressed his bloody thumbprint onto it on the spot. Li Banfeng then produced another covenant deed left behind by Bei Wushuang. "Do you know this person?" Diao Nengsou nodded. "I do. I'll take you to him." "Will he be willing to switch masters?" "He probably will. I'll help you persuade him." "Can he fight? If he refuses, I'll have to use force." "He's not much of a fighter. I'll help you beat him up." *Isn't he being a bit too eager? Does he have hidden motives?* As it turned out, Diao Nengsou harbored no hidden motives at all. With his assistance, Li Banfeng brought more than thirty anomalies back to his own territory in succession. He couldn't take too many at once; taking too many would be hard to explain, as Bei Wushuang wouldn't conceivably sell off all the anomalies under his command in one go. Yet some clever people didn't need elaborate explanations, and Diao Nengsou was indeed a clever fellow. Through a day of observation, Li Banfeng found him to be pragmatic and highly capable. Li Banfeng fetched two Xuanchi Pills and handed them to Diao Nengsou. "I still have quite a few covenant deeds here—all sold to Miss Meng by Bei Wushuang. I don't feel like handling this chore myself. If I leave it to you, can you manage it?" "Rest assured, sir. Leave it all to me." "Do a good job. When it's done, there will be further rewards!" Li Banfeng handed Diao Nengsou a hundred covenant deeds to gauge his efficiency first. Diao Nengsou took the deeds and followed Li Banfeng's instructions, steadily escorting the anomalies from Bei Wushuang's territory to Li Banfeng's domain at a rate of twenty to thirty per day. With that business handled, Li Banfeng prepared to head back to Qiu Luoye's domain to construct the station. He first stopped by home to inform his wife of his itinerary so she could prepare. His wife produced a seed. "My darling husband, plant this seed. There's no rush to leave until it bears fruit." Hong Ying, who was seated before the mirror combing her hair, dropped her comb to the floor with a clatter. Li Banfeng inspected the seed and asked, "Wife, what's so special about this seed?" The gramophone chuckled. "You'll know once it grows. It will yield a useful person." Li Banfeng raised his eyebrows, picked up a spade, and headed outside to do some planting. Hong Ying turned around, looking at the gramophone. "Xiaowan, are you trying to..." The gramophone gave a cold snort. "I'm merely testing the seed. Don't go overthinking it." *** Li Banfeng planted the seed, added the medicinal drops, and watered it thoroughly. Before long, the seed sprouted, putting forth branches and leaves. It grew slower than the cabbage. Zhang Wanlong had added an outer shell to the seed, making it resemble a pitch-black bean, so Li Banfeng had no idea what kind of fruit it would ultimately bear. After two hours of waiting, the fruit finally matured: a fragrant melon, pale white with a subtle hint of green. Fragrant—it was wonderfully fragrant. The enticing aroma tempted Li Banfeng to step forward and take a bite. The melon grew whiter and whiter until, fully ripe, it burst open. Out stepped a woman dressed in flowing white. The Tang dao slipped out from his waist, looking her over closely. The projector popped out from his chest, adjusting its focus. The glove poked out of Li Banfeng's pocket, all five fingers wriggling together. "Boss, she's drop-dead gorgeous!"