A baffling object like this, how could Wu Yinyu treat it gently? She jabbed hard at the Prayer Wheel several times. The Prayer Wheel was heavy; it took considerable effort just to make it turn with a clatter.
“You… soaked it in Charm Water?” Yu Zezhi’s arm, braced against the edge of the bed, bent slightly. She leaned in even closer. Her deep, dark eyes held a hint of faint shock.
Wu Yinyu leaned forward, propping her chin on her hand, leisurely appreciating the other’s expression. That expression seemed genuine.
“Mhm,” she hummed. “I did. I thought this thing was uncanny, so I suspected it was hiding something malicious.”
Yu Zezhi’s expression flickered through several changes. She seemed about to speak, then hesitated, and finally, her brow relaxed. She let out a very soft sigh.
“You recognize this thing?” Wu Yinyu narrowed her eyes.
Yu Zezhi was silent. It seemed as if, in that split second, all her reservations and doubts had dissipated like smoke, leaving only a faint, detached aloofness in her brows.
After a long while, she said, “Sort of.”
“How do you know it?” Wu Yinyu asked.
“I’ve seen something similar before,” Yu Zezhi said. “In a place I used to live.”
Wu Yinyu still propped her chin on her hand, her fingers tapping lightly against her cheek. “Sometimes, it feels like you know everything.”
“You flatter me,” Yu Zezhi let out a low, mirthless laugh. Then she asked, “May I touch it?”
“Go ahead,” Wu Yinyu jutted her chin.
Yu Zezhi picked up the Prayer Wheel and examined it closely. Saying she “recognized” it was one thing, but in practice, she still had to touch and pinch it all over, no different from when Wu Yinyu first saw it.
“It’s heavy,” she observed.
“At the hospital entrance, when you said I was heavy, you were really talking about this thing,” Wu Yinyu said, unwilling to be misunderstood.
An ordinary object of this size would have a limit to how heavy it could be, but this Prayer Wheel was heavier than a brick.
The longer Yu Zezhi looked, the deeper the furrow between her brows became.
Wu Yinyu asked airily, “Is there something inside?”
“Most likely,” Yu Zezhi grasped the long handle, as if intending to give it a spin, only to find the cylinder was completely jammed.
She made no further attempt. Looking down at Wu Yinyu, she asked, “Did you try to open it?”
“I did. Couldn’t find the switch.” Wu Yinyu shrugged slightly, fishing for her pipe. “I’ve asked someone. He said he’s never seen a Prayer Wheel like this before. Just what is it?”
“A container,” Yu Zezhi said.
Wu Yinyu stifled a laugh. “You might as well say it’s just a ‘thing.'”
“A container for imprisoning Soul Spirits,” Yu Zezhi added. A world-weary melancholy seemed hidden deep within her indifferent eyes.
“Imprisoning?” Wu Yinyu stared blankly, then froze, her heart thundering like a drum. “It wasn’t this heavy at first.”
Yu Zezhi was so calm that it seemed she understood everything as soon as she heard it. “Any other abnormalities?” she asked.
Wu Yinyu played idly with the red tassel on her smoking pipe, gauging the other’s expression. “Sometimes sounds come from inside. It’s so noisy I can’t sleep at night. That’s why I thought it was hiding something malicious.”
“What kind of sounds?” Yu Zezhi pressed.
Wu Yinyu raised a finger to her lips, hushing very gently.
Seeing this, Yu Zezhi lifted the Prayer Wheel and held it to her ear, waiting quietly. But after a long time, she heard no strange sounds. Instead, she heard Wu Yinyu snort with laughter.
Wu Yinyu was already weak; now, laughing made her eyes redden, her gaze glistening as she looked over. “Boss Yu, this thing isn’t voice-activated.”
She explained further, “It always rings very suddenly, seemingly without reason. Maybe the next moment, maybe the moment after.”
“What kind of sounds?” Having been toyed with once, Yu Zezhi wasn’t annoyed.
The mirth in Wu Yinyu’s eyes swiftly withdrew. With a serious expression, she said, “Shouts.”
“Shouts?” Yu Zezhi frowned.
Wu Yinyu’s gaze flicked upward. Slowly, she said, “Many voices, all mixed together. Men and women, old and young. Sometimes calls for help, sometimes panicked screams. Crying too.”
Such a description sounded somewhat like the Two-World Sea. When crossing the Lone Log, wasn’t it possible to hear all sorts of crying and shouting from the depths?
“You said this is a container for imprisoning Soul Spirits,” Wu Yinyu hedged, not daring to state it too definitively. “I suspect there really might be quite a few Souls trapped inside.”
“It would indeed grow heavier and heavier,” Yu Zezhi said lightly.
Wu Yinyu idly fiddled with the red tassel on her pipe. “There are too many voices, I can’t distinguish them. I wonder if the missing people from the Five Gates are inside too.”
“Why did Madam Song give it to you?” Yu Zezhi’s exhaled breath carried a softness that was completely at odds with her usual manner—a thousand turns of tenderness.
Warm, soft.
Wu Yinyu pushed herself up, actually leaning in closer again. “She said it’s my possession.”
Her watery, glistening gaze swept boldly across Yu Zezhi’s face. “But I have absolutely no memory of it,” she added.
Yu Zezhi was still utterly unruffled. Her breath remained steady, but when her lips moved, what came out was: “Then it’s not your possession.”
“Not mine?” Wu Yinyu was stunned. Her eyelids fluttered as she blinked several times. “Does Boss Yu recognize the script on it?”
“I do. I can recognize some of it.” Yu Zezhi was done hiding things. Flatly, she said, “It has the meaning of peace, health, and auspiciousness. However, these glyphs are carved in reverse.”
“In what way reverse?” Wu Yinyu frowned.
“Mirrored,” Yu Zezhi stated.
Wu Yinyu believed it. After all, back in the Wu family basement, hadn’t Yu Zezhi used similar script to test her?
Meaningfully, she asked, “Where did Boss Yu learn this? From some ancient book?”
“I was born knowing it. Would you believe that?” Yu Zezhi pressed on. “How did Madam Song acquire it?”
Wu Yinyu said, “She said it was something I suddenly started playing with as a child. No one knows where it came from. It was like it just fell from the sky.”
She even used an onomatopoeia. “‘Whoosh!’ It was suddenly in my hands.”
By normal reasoning, wasn’t that just a tall tale? Either Wu Yinyu was making it up, or Song Youzhi had told a tall tale.
“I cannot hear the voices of the Soul Spirits inside. I don’t know how to open it and release them.” Yu Zezhi set the Prayer Wheel back onto the bed. Straightening, she said, “Put it away safely. Let’s go out for dinner first.”
Wu Yinyu simply propped herself up, put the Prayer Wheel back inside her bag, and glanced at the Devil Buddhas covering the walls. “After dinner, how about dropping me back at the hotel along the way?”
“Finish dinner, then come back here to rest.” Yu Zezhi offered a faint, sardonic smile. “With so many guests at the hotel, aren’t you afraid of bringing harm to them?”
That actually made quite a bit of sense, Wu Yinyu thought.
As they left, Yu Zezhi specifically locked the door to that guest room, just in case anyone else unintentionally entered.
Yu Suhan had been waiting downstairs for quite a while, Mengmeng curled up right by her leg.
The dog’s upper body looked rather listless, but its tail wagged with enough enthusiasm to make up for it.
Wu Yinyu descended the stairs step by careful step, afraid that if her legs went weak, she’d collapse to the ground again. She couldn’t afford to lose face like that.
Seeing the people coming down from upstairs, Yu Suhan, clutching her plushie, ran to the door, impatient to go eat.
Mengmeng followed behind her. Just like when it was attached to the paper figure, it circled around the legs of the people nearby.
They went to eat at the Shengxian Treasure Shop. Although that place was quite a distance from the Yu residence, they didn’t hit any red lights along the way, so the drive was practically unimpeded.
Wu Yinyu recalled that the last time, Yu Zezhi had indeed arranged to meet her at the Shengxian Treasure Shop. The initial plan was to eat together, but after they talked, Yu Zezhi left, and Wu Yinyu ended up having that whole table of dishes to herself.
The Shengxian Treasure Shop was quiet and refined enough—truly the perfect spot for discussing matters.
After ordering, Yu Zezhi didn’t avoid the girl beside her, clutching the rabbit. As she began rinsing the tea set at hand, she said, “I tried contacting Elder Lu and Elder Feng just now, but communications there seem to have broken down. The phone calls wouldn’t connect.”
Wu Yinyu instinctively felt that people like Lu Dongqing and Feng Pengqi had also run into trouble.
“When Elder Lu called in the morning, he said too many people were missing at Ivory Mast Beach, that over half the Souls in the Underworld Register couldn’t be found. We still can’t say for sure if those Souls are inside that thing.” Yu Zezhi glanced meaningfully at Wu Yinyu, using tongs to pick up a heated teacup and place it before her.
Wu Yinyu slanted a look at Yu Suhan. Considering the little girl was present, she didn’t dare speak too bluntly. “The Gaozu Generation wanted to harm the Five Gates. Maybe it was from that generation that our ancestors forbade their descendants from going near Ivory Mast Beach. Now, disaster strikes there, and people from both the Five Gates and Ivory Mast Beach are going missing one after another. Tell me, could the Prayer Wheel actually be saving them?”
“That’s why I want to go below and ask the Judge again what exactly is going on with the missing persons at Ivory Mast Beach.” Yu Zezhi finished brewing the tea, pouring it into the cup before the other.
Wu Yinyu lifted the teacup and swirled it. “I’ll go. You look after Suhan.”
“Fine.” Yu Zezhi didn’t hesitate, showing no trace of worry, as if handing the task over with ease.
Once the food arrived, the tea tray was moved aside.
Wu Yinyu was hungry, but she didn’t eat much. Still no appetite. During this period, she practically threw up whatever she ate, and didn’t want to torment her stomach further.
While eating, Yu Zezhi glanced at her several times. Finally, she simply asked the server for a bowl of thin congee.
Wu Yinyu looked at the bland bowl of congee before her, her appetite even more suppressed. Glancing sideways at the person beside her, she said, “You’re practically torturing me.”
“Real torture wouldn’t be like this,” Yu Zezhi said, scooping a spoonful of congee and raising it to her lips.
Wu Yinyu stared fixedly at the person beside her, testing the temperature with the tip of her tongue before taking the congee into her mouth. Swallowing, she said, “Such attentive service… am I the first to receive such treatment?”
“Others couldn’t even ask for it.” Yu Zezhi scooped another spoonful of congee. “If you feel truly awful at night, try sleeping while holding that Jade.”
“Hmm?” Wu Yinyu licked the spoon’s edge clean with deliberate intent.
“It has calming properties,” Yu Zezhi said without changing her expression.
The Red Jade had been in her possession for a while now, but Wu Yinyu had never known it possessed such a wonderful function.
Only Yu Suhan ate and drank heartily. The little girl looked thin and small, but her stomach could hold even more than Wu Yinyu’s or Yu Zezhi’s. After finishing, she even tugged on Yu Zezhi’s sleeve, looking insatiable.
Yu Zezhi understood. “Your pudding is coming. They’ll bring it soon.”
