Chapter 17: Nonsense
“Get out. I don’t want to see you for a single second, especially you, Du Yu.” This time she didn’t even address him as Daoist, calling him directly by his name. Du Yu thought to himself that her change in attitude was truly undisguised. From the initial “slave family” to the current “Du Yu,” he really couldn’t understand what she was thinking.
Du Yu and his Junior Sister, along with the foolishly grinning Sister He, were kicked out of the rice shop. The siblings looked at each other until Sister He shouted at the top of his lungs, “I want Mommy!” They had no choice but to take the fool back home.
“It seems Sister He isn’t the person she’s looking for,” Du Yu said helplessly. In order to find Sister He, he had even been poisoned halfway, but it turned out to be a waste of effort.
Gongsun Ruo had been holding back her anger towards Li Qingya. “Brother Yu, why don’t we just quit? Li Qingya is full of lies and doesn’t trust us at all. She won’t tell us his height, appearance, or name, forbids us from asking her family, and won’t let us make it public. She won’t even let you treat her illness. What kind of nonsense is this?”
Du Yu walked with her on the road, not replying, still pondering Li Qingya’s motives. To be honest, Sister He was already the person he could find who best fit Li Qingya’s conditions. If even he wasn’t the one, then her fiancé had probably really left Luo County.
“We can’t. The Boundless Sect has never voluntarily given up on a request from a townsperson. No matter how difficult the task, it must be completed.” Du Yu looked back at the angry Gongsun Ruo and stroked her smooth hair like soothing a puppy. “One year in the past, Master and I were looking for a lost dog named Wangcai for a helpless old woman. Her Wangcai had run into the mountains and hadn’t been home for a week.”
“Think about it. The mountains are so big. We’ve lived on Mount Seeking Immortals for so many years and haven’t explored every corner. How easy is it to find a timid dog hiding in the mountains?”
Sure enough, Gongsun Ruo calmed down like a small animal. “So did you and Master find it in the end?”
“We found it, and we didn’t,” Du Yu said. “With the help of Master Little White, we found Wangcai’s body. It had died in the mountains long ago, not hiding on purpose.”
“That old woman is so pitiful…”
“Yes. In the end, Master and I went to the county town, bought a local dog that looked ninety percent like Wangcai, and gave it to the old woman. Just finding a local dog that looked ninety percent alike was already harder than any previous step.” Du Yu smiled. “At that time, I also told Master, ‘It’s impossible, let’s give up.’ Master lectured me, saying that if giving up is seen as a way out, I will never have the courage to make the next choice in the future.”
“Eww. You made up these pedantic words, Brother Yu. Master wouldn’t say that. Master would say, ‘So tired, can we go back to sleep?'” Gongsun Ruo said with a laugh.
Du Yu also laughed. “I did make it up.”
“You’re so annoying, haha…”
The two frolicked for a while and finally returned to Lotus Seed Town before sunset. When they arrived, the pedestrians on the street were already sparse, and the newsboy selling evening papers had packed up and was counting today’s earnings.
Du Yu’s eyes flickered.
This world was very big, so big that ordinary people might never leave a county town or a province in their lifetime. This world was also very small, so small that ordinary people might never leave a county town or a province in their lifetime.
Li Qingya’s fiancé might have left, but he was just a man from a small town after all. How far could he run?
Maybe he had opened a small shop in the county town at this moment, married another wife, had children, and started a family, leaving Li Qingya behind long ago.
With this thought, Du Yu approached the newsboy counting copper coins. The newsboy vigilantly covered his bag. “Who?”
“It’s me.”
“Ah, it’s the Daoist from the Boundless Sect.” The newsboy breathed a sigh of relief. “You walk without sound, like a ghost. It’s scary, you know.”
“Do you have any newspapers from the county town?” Du Yu asked. Newspapers were also divided by factions. In this era, productivity was limited, and newspaper printing wasn’t unlimited. A newsboy in a town could only get three or four batches of newspapers at most. To ensure sufficient supply, they would use some less popular tabloids to make up the numbers, such as county papers or even smaller township papers.
“Just happened to have one left over today. I’ll give it to you.” The newsboy handed over the last crumpled newspaper from his bag.
Du Yu opened the newspaper and saw the four big characters “Luo County Official Gazette” printed in poor quality ink, densely packed with various news. Du Yu glanced at it roughly; it was all trivial family matters. It seemed that both Lotus Seed Town and Luo County were equally peaceful.
“Brother Yu, what are you looking at?”
“I’m checking if there’s any fresh news in the county town.”
Gongsun Ruo pulled at Du Yu’s hand. “Lower it a bit, I can’t see!”
Du Yu could only squat by the roadside with his Junior Sister to read the paper together. Gongsun Ruo liked to read aloud as she read: “Old brand jelly introduces new flavors, century-old shop guarantees reputation. Brother Yu, have you eaten this jelly? Is it really that delicious?”
“Silly Ruo’er, this is an advertisement. Don’t believe a word it says.”
“County Magistrate Chen Shuhua and Yu Liang of Baihua Town joined hands to eradicate Luo County’s largest underground bank… Where is Baihua Town?”
“It’s northeast of Luo County, very far from here. This Yu Liang is a local tyrant in Baihua Town. The Yu family’s status in Baihua Town is similar to the Du family’s in Lotus Seed Town. They run a bank themselves.”
“Then why did he join hands with the magistrate to eradicate an underground bank? Isn’t that hitting himself?”
“Who knows.”
“Shocking! The world’s number one demon appears in Luo County, eyewitnesses actually say this…” Gongsun Ruo’s eyes widened. “Brother Yu, the world’s number one demon is Ye Lengxing, right? She came to Luo County?!”
“You’d be a fool to believe it.”
“But look, it’s written so detailed… Yamen Chief Instructor Lin Biao warned that Ye Lengxing’s whereabouts are erratic all year round. This is the first time Luo County has collected accurate information on Ye Lengxing. We hope all martial artists in Luo County will contact the government immediately if they encounter her and avoid alerting the enemy.”
“The following is the collected information: Ye Lengxing is tall in stature, several heads taller than ordinary women, and taller than average men. Ye Lengxing loves to wear plain clothes, especially white clothes. She was dressed in white robes during both sightings.” Gongsun Ruo suddenly stopped reading and looked at Du Yu in surprise.
Du Yu’s heart also skipped a beat. He continued reading: “Ye Lengxing has high martial arts skills. She tortured and killed a family of farmers in the outskirts of the county town. When we arrived at the scene, only corpses were left on the ground. According to the survivor’s description, Ye Lengxing has an unrestrained personality and is moody. If encountered, do not provoke her; prioritize saving your life.”
“Brother Yu, something’s not right.” Gongsun Ruo swallowed. “This newspaper is indeed made up; not a single sentence is credible.”
This piece of information wasn’t very long, but except for the killing part, every point seemed to be describing Master… Du Yu finally saw a line of small print under this news, and his heart went cold: “Reliable sources say that Ye Lengxing’s motive for killing was to seek revenge for a person surnamed Du. Anyone with information please contact Chief Instructor Lin Biao as soon as possible! Reward offered!”
He snapped the newspaper shut. “Simply nonsense.”
