translator: baumkuchen 

Even though it was still snowing heavily outside, Xuan Yu seemed to already be planning on leaving. Lu Qingjiu also knew that he had come here with other things in mind. He hadn't really come here for alms, rather, it seemed like he had come to notify Lu Qingjiu of something.

When he sent Xuan Yu to the door, Lu Qingjiu originally wanted to lend him an umbrella, but who knew that Xuan Yu would just smile and shake his head, and pull out a parasol that completely clashed with his style from his bag. That parasol looked to be a little old. On it was embroidered a big red peony. The embroidery was incredibly exquisite, but the bright and colourful parasol was vastly different from Xuan Yu's cold temperament.

However, strangely enough, Lu Qingjiu felt like this parasol looked a little familiar, as if he'd seen it somewhere before. His brows furrowed slightly. Just as he was about to ask about it, he heard Xuan Yu say in a warm voice, "Many years ago, on a day with heavy snow just like this, I came here to ask for alms. It was your elder who let me stay a night in this house."

When he said this, Lu Qingjiu instantly remembered. His grandma had had a red parasol that looked just like this one. He'd heard that it was part of the dowry his grandmother had brought with her when she was younger. The embroidery on the parasol was entirely personally st.i.tched by his grandmother herself. Lu Qingjiu had seen it before when he was younger, he'd just forgotten about it after he grew up.

Even though Xuan Yu looked young, his real age might have long since pa.s.sed what Lu Qingjiu had thought it had been.

"You knew my grandma?" Lu Qingjiu asked.

Xuan Yu said, "We've only had the fate of meeting once." As he said this, he opened the parasol and walked into the snow. His cold voice mixed in with the whistling wind, becoming a little m.u.f.fled. He said, "Benefactor Lu actually looks a little similar to your elder…"

Lu Qingjiu wanted to stop him, and ask him more about his grandma, but he didn't stop walking, and had already reached the courtyard gate. Before he pushed it open, he slowly turned back once more, and said his final line.

He said, Benefactor Lu, I remember that before your elder pa.s.sed on, she had prepared a birthday gift for you. I don't know if you've seen it?

Hearing this, however, Lu Qingjiu was utterly confused. He asked, "Birthday gift? What?"

But Xuan Yu just shook his head and, without elaborating more, pushed open the gate and left.

Seeeing this, Lu Qingjiu hurriedly chased after him, but by the time he went out, he couldn't see anything, only the heavy snow and the empty village. Xuan Yu's figure had long since disappeared.

Lu Qingjiu felt disappointed and frustrated, like he'd failed. He had the faint feeling that this young monk Xuan Yu before him and his grandma seemed to have some kind of relations.h.i.+p.

That year, when his grandmother had been suddenly stricken by illness, by the time Lu Qingjiu had rushed back him, it was already too late. He didn't even come in time to say his last words to his grandma. In the end, Lu Qingjiu, who'd lost all his family one after another in a short period of time, had had to organise a funeral for his grandma in a daze…

But from beginning to end, Lu Qingjiu had never seen the gift that Xuan Yu had spoken of. Lu Qingjiu, slightly disappointed, turned and went back home. When he came to the door, he stumbled over the threshold. This stumble, however, reminded him of something. He rushed into his bedroom and saw the black wooden box with a text lock on his bedside table.

This was the most unusual thing he had found in this house. Lu Qingjiu stroked the box's glossy surface, an idea forming in his mind… If what Xuan Yu had said was true, this really was a birthday gift his grandma had left for him, then he should try opening this box again on his birthday.

Perhaps whatever was inside the box, could give him some important answers.

After sending Xuan Yu off, Lu Qingjiu brought Yin Xun and the little guys into the living room. He looked them over, his brows furrowed. Xuan Yu had said that they would turn back in three days' time. For these next few days, they would probably maintain this form as straw people…

However, like this, wouldn't Yin Xun had no way of going home to replace his candle? Suddenly thinking of this, Lu Qingjiu instantly became worried. After thinking for a moment, he decided to go to Yin Xun's home and take a look, to see if he could help him replace his candle.

It was still snowing heavily outside. The wind swirled past the sky full of snowflakes. Lu Qingjiu, bringing an umbrella with him, set off towards Yin Xun's home. The wind was truly too strong, making it hard for people to walk through it. Lu Qingjiu had to keep his body very low in order to not be pushed back by the wind. Sheets after sheets of snowflakes were swept up by the wind and stuffed themselves down Lu Qingjiu's neck. The entire way there, he was s.h.i.+vering with cold, gritting his teeth and moving forwards step by step. It took him half an hour to walk a distance that would originally have taken a few minutes.

Since coming back here, Lu Qingjiu had practically never entered Yin Xun's home. The furthest he'd gone in was to his courtyard and sitting for a while in his living room. Usually, it was almost always Yin Xun coming over to Lu Qingjiu's. Yin Xun hadn't locked the gate to his courtyard, the door left wide open. His courtyard was utterly empty, with no trace of someone living here to be seen. Lu Qingjiu pulled out the key he'd gotten off of Yin Xun's body. Only after expending a lot of effort to pull open the door to his living room, and entering and closing the door behind him, did he finally have the chance to breathe.

The living room was furnished very simply. There was just a table and a few chairs, and there was no trace of incense. Lu Qingjiu decided to go into his bedroom to take a look. He stood up and brushed off the snowflakes on his pants. After turning on his flashlight, he walked through the corridor next to the guest room towards the bedroom.

Houses in farming villages were all self-built. Usually, there would be many rooms, and would form a 口, encircling a courtyard. The master bedrooms would always be on the right, the place the owners of the house would sleep.

There was a lock hanging off the bedroom door. After opening it with the key, Lu Qingjiu lightly stepped into the room.

Just that, after entering the room and getting a good look at what was inside, Lu Qingjiu felt a chill go down his spine. In this room that couldn't be considered very big, he saw densely packed memorial tablets, a different name on every one of them. In the most prominent position, a memorial tablet inscribed with the two words Yin Xun drew Lu Qingjiu's gaze.

In front of that memorial tablet was a candle. The candle was about to burn out, the red candle wax dripping down its length like tears, acc.u.mulating in layers below it. Lu Qingjiu hurriedly began searching through the room, but even after searching through the entire room, he didn't find any candles he could swap it with. The candle had already burned down to its very bottom. At the current rate of burning, it would probably go out in about half an hour.

Lu Qingjiu looked through all the other rooms, but didn't manage to find a candle. Out of helplessness, he could only call Bai Yuehu again, wanting to ask him about the candle.

"You're in Yin Xun's house right now?" After picking up the phone and finding out about Lu Qingjiu's current situation, that was what Bai Yuehu asked.

"Yeah," Lu Qingjiu said, "Hasn't he become a straw person now? I was thinking about whether his candle would go out, so as a result, I came over to look, and sure enough the candle's about to go out, but I can't find anything to swap it with…"

Bai Yuehu thought for a moment. "Wait, I'll be right there."

Lu Qingjiu said, "Okay, I'll wait for you, please hurry."

After hanging up, Lu Qingjiu then sat down by the door to wait for Bai Yuehu. He didn't know how Yin Xun, that guy, had gotten through there past few years. There wasn't a hint of someone living here in the house. Other than the place where he slept, everything was covered in dust, looking as if there hadn't been anyone living here for a long time.

As the candle slowly burned down, the flame became weaker and weaker. Sitting and waiting by the door, Lu Qingjiu suddenly heard a very strange sound. In the beginning, he thought that it was just his imagination, but soon, that sound became louder and louder.

Ga da ga da, ga da ga da. Lu Qingjiu turned around, and aimed his flashlight at the source of the sound. When he got a good look at what exactly it was that was making noise, his body froze in place. He saw that the memorial tablets filling the room had begun to shake. In the beginning, the shaking was very slight, but as the flame of the candle began dimmer and dimmer, the shaking began to become more violent… As if the memorial tablets were pressing something down, and now, that thing was about to push the memorial tablets down and crawl out from inside.

Even though Lu Qingjiu didn't know what was below the memorial tablets, he knew that it definitely wasn't anything good. If the candle was to go out…

Just at this critical moment, Bai Yuehu finally appeared at the door. After he appeared, he didn't say a thing to Lu Qingjiu, rather, he ran straight over to the candle, pulled out a sharp blade from his pocket and sliced open his wrist.

Red blood gushed out from his wrist, falling on the candle which had just been about to go out.

Lu Qingjiu watched on the sidelines with horror. He was truly afraid that the moment Bai Yuehu's blood splattered over the candle, the candle would go out. However, clearly, Bai Yuehu was very aware of what he was doing. The moment his blood touched the candle, it let out a sizzling noise. Following that, the candle which had originally been about to go out, actually rose back up, continuously merging with the blood, and became a brand new candle once more.

The memorial tablets which had been making noise fell silent once more, and this place returned to its original quiet.

"Yuehu, is your hand alright?" Seeing that the candle had been replaced, Lu Qingjiu hurried over and grabbed Bai Yuehu's wrist.

Bai Yuehu said, "It's fine."

Lu Qingjiu asked, "Does it hurt?"

Bai Yuehu looked at Lu Qingjiu, silent. He originally could have the wound heal right up, but faced with Lu Qingjiu's worried gaze, he actually felt slightly happy, so he nodded obediently and said frankly, "It hurts."

Looking at the ferocious-looking wound on Bai Yuehu's beautiful wrist, he said anxiously, "Such a big wound, how much blood do you have left? Let's kill a chicken tonight, so you can make it up…"

Bai Yuehu said, "We can't."

"Why?" Lu Qingjiu asked, finding it strange.

"They've all turned to straw," Bai Yuehu said.

Lu Qingjiu, "…" He'd completely forgotten about this. The chickens had been staying in the chicken pen all this time, and his attention had been on Yin Xun and the rest, so he naturally hadn't noticed his own family's chickens turning into straw people, just that those straw people were shaped like chickens… They wouldn't be able to eat them for the time being.

Bai Yuehu said, "Let's go, the candle's been continued, let's go back."

Lu Qingjiu said, "This candle is continued using blood? Then should we come back tomorrow… and Yin Xun…"

Bai Yuehu shook his head. "The mountain G.o.ds have their own way of continuing the candle. Without any incense to offer up, I could only use my blood to continue it. There's no need to come tomorrow, my blood can make the candle last for at least thirty days."

Hearing this, Lu Qingjiu let out a sigh of relief. Bai Yuehu's words had helped him answer two questions he'd been rather worried about. Since Yin Xun and Bai Yuehu both didn't need to bleed, that was naturally the best.