When daylight fully broke, the Pingliang post station by the official road grew lively.
Two station runners stood by the gate, taking a courier pass from a man who had just entered. He was a traveling merchant who had somehow pulled some strings to obtain a pass, so every time he stopped by, he ate and drank for free. It wasn’t worth much, really, but to a merchant, any saving counted as a gain.
Since he was already a regular, the runners only glanced at the pass with a lazy yawn before waving him inside.
“Brother Dashan, didn’t sleep well?” the merchant greeted politely.
“Don’t mention it. A group came in the middle of the night – eating, drinking, and even wanting baths. I only managed to doze off a bit at dawn,” the courier runner replied.
“What kind of people make such a fuss?” the merchant said indignantly, though inwardly he thought: Well, this is exactly what a post station is for – travelers come day and night. What’s so hard about it?
“Womenfolk always have more demands,” another runner said, shooting Dashan a look. “And it’s not like you were kept busy for nothing.”
Dashan chuckled, unable to resist touching the fat purse hidden in his sleeve.
That’s the thing – only the rich can afford to wear others out.
The merchant had only just led his cart inside when a loud voice rang out behind him.
“Big news! Something big has happened!”
The shout made everyone in the station turn to look.
It was a burly man leading a donkey, hollering at the top of his lungs. The station runners checked his pass – he was a relative of a clerk from Panjiang County.
“What’s the matter? Yelling so early in the morning?” someone asked.
“Do you know Master Ningde?” the man cried.
Who in Panjiang hadn’t heard of Master Ningde? His reputation had spread across the neighboring counties too, and it was said that even the Prefect himself had once invited him as an honored guest.
“Has Master Ningde released another new scroll of blessings?”
“Oh, then we’d better hurry and get one – my mother’s been asking for it so many times…”
As the people on the scene began chattering, the man cleared his throat.
“Master Ningde was killed yesterday,” he continued.
The words fell like a thunderclap on a clear day, throwing the whole courtyard into chaos. Even the station runners crowded over in shock.
“You must be dreaming!”
“How could Master Ningde possibly be killed!”
But now the man fell silent, letting the noise and speculation in the courtyard grow louder and louder, until even the people inside came pouring out, packing the small post station to bursting.
The station master was alarmed as well; he stood on tiptoe with four or five others at the edge of the crowd to listen, when someone walked up behind him.
“What’s everyone looking at?” a girl’s voice asked.
The station master turned around and saw it was a lively young maid. At once, he plastered on a smile.
“Young lady, you’re awake. Is there anything you need?” he asked eagerly.
“I want to use your kitchen to cook,” Ban Qin said.
“Oh, but we’ve already prepared food,” the station master quickly replied.
“No need. My lady doesn’t eat outside food,” Ban Qin said.
So it really is a pampered young miss from a wealthy family… the station master muttered inwardly. Outwardly, his smile didn’t falter as he hurriedly urged one of the station runners beside him to lead the way.
“What are they talking about over there?” Ban Qin asked, turning back before leaving.
“Master Ningde is dead,” the station master quickly answered, then, realizing she was an outsider, hurried to explain who Master Ningde was. “They say he was killed… yesterday, when he was trying to stop the solar eclipse…”
Ban Qin let out a quiet oh.
“It wasn’t just that he was killed – it was the Vajra under the Bodhisattva’s seat who struck him down,” someone listening in up ahead suddenly turned around to correct. “And Ningde wasn’t really a master at all – he was a demon monk.”
The station master’s face flushed with embarrassment.
“Come now, what nonsense is that?” he waved it off, thinking such wild talk only made him feeling embarrassed in public.
“What nonsense? Yesterday’s eclipse – Ningde claimed he would pray to dispel it, but the Vajra declared he had brought the eclipse himself. With one stroke, he cut him down,” the man argued stubbornly.
The station master himself had received notice from the authorities beforehand about the eclipse and knew Ningde would attempt a ritual to avert it. When no eclipse appeared yesterday, he had assumed it was thanks to Ningde’s intervention.
And now – killed, and accused of being a demon monk!
“How – how could he just be killed like that?” he blurted in agitation.
“How else? The Bodhisattva descended to rid the world of demons,” the man replied.
The station master spat in disgust. Such nonsense might fool women and children, but not grown men.
Before he could ask further, a girl’s laugh sounded behind him.
They turned their heads and saw the little maid, who had been about to follow the runner away, stop in her tracks.
“He blocked the way and refused to move,” the girl said with a faint smile, then turned and walked off.
Blocked the way? Who’s she talking about?
The crowd was puzzled, but they had no time to dwell on it. They quickly turned back, eager to listen to the thrilling tale being told inside.
The commotion dragged on for a long while. More and more people from Panjiang County joined the debate, pushing the atmosphere higher and higher – the story grew ever more elaborate, ever more outrageous. By the time Master Han arrived with his men, there were already people swearing they had seen Guanyin Bodhisattva herself manifest at the scene.
“…You didn’t see it at the time – after the demon monk was struck down, when that lady sat calmly sipping her tea, behind her appeared the golden body of the Bodhisattva…”
“Wait, wait – how did it become a lady now? Wasn’t it the Vajra warrior?”
“Guanyin Bodhisattva has thirty-two manifestations. Can’t one of her Vajra guardians take the form of a young lady?”
“…Fine, don’t interrupt. What about the tea?”
“…That wasn’t tea. It was the Bodhisattva’s nectar, poured from the Jade Purity Vase. That’s what dispelled the calamity of the eclipse.”
Master Han could listen no longer. His brow furrowed, his face darkened, and he shook his head. The constables at his side stepped forward to disperse the crowd. Only then did people realize that government officials had arrived.
The station master, recognizing Master Han, quickly hurried over to greet him.
The moment the crowd heard the station master address him, those who had been about to scatter brightened again.
The county magistrate himself! Surely he would know the real truth! Someone couldn’t help but shout out questions, leaving Master Han deeply embarrassed. Fortunately, the constables shielded him as he followed the station master into the inner hall.
Standing inside the hall, watching the crowd in the courtyard who refused to disperse and even dared to question the constables, Master Han let out another sigh.
This time, Panjiang County had truly made a name for itself.
“My lord, whom are you looking for?” the station master asked respectfully.
Master Han turned around.
“Someone who stayed here last night. A lady, with a southern accent, but her attendants spoke with a capital accent. Likely traveling toward the capital as well. A young lady – very… very beautiful.”
The station master smiled. Just from that description, he already knew who was being asked about.
“Yes, yes, she arrived around midnight,” he said quickly, hurrying to lead the way. “She’s staying in the best chamber.”
But Master Han did not move.
“I’ll go myself,” he said.
The station master halted awkwardly.
Clearly, this must be someone of high standing. He nodded in agreement without further question.
Master Han lifted his foot to leave, but the station master couldn’t resist calling out to him.
“My lord, was Master Ningde really killed?” he asked.
Master Han glanced back at him and gave a curt “Mm.”
“Who killed him? Why? How did it end?” the station master blurted out in one breath.
Master Han shook his head, almost amused.
“Truly, the saying ‘not seeing what’s right under your nose’ couldn’t be more fitting,” he said.
“What?” The station master was baffled, waiting for him to elaborate.
But Master Han only strode off quickly without another word.
Because the commotion in the front courtyard had drawn everyone over, the back courtyard was very quiet. When Master Han arrived with his men, they were stopped by attendants standing under the corridor.
“This is our county magistrate, Master Han,” the constables quickly explained. At any other time, seeing their magistrate blocked like this, they would have reacted sharply. But faced with these people now, their manner unconsciously turned respectful.
After all, these were the very ones who had, in broad daylight and before all eyes, slain Master Ningde.
How much courage must it have taken to dare such a thing? Killing a man was not unusual – but to do so openly, before a crowd of witnesses, and those witnesses being believers, with the act carried out under the name of averting an eclipse? Any one of those three circumstances would have been enough to make most shrink back. To face all three at once – unthinkable.
Even the constables found themselves half believing what the common folk said: surely it must have been with a Vajra guardian at her back that she could strike down the demon monk so swiftly.
The door was quickly pulled open. A maid came out first, carrying a food box, then stepped aside and bowed to Master Han.
Stepping inside, he saw a woman seated, who lowered her head in greeting.
“Miss,” Master Han returned the courtesy, then took his seat and finally got a clear look at her face.
When he had seen her from afar on the city wall, her features had been indistinct. From her figure and bearing, and from the constables’ description, he had guessed she must be a beauty. Now, up close, she truly was one.
But such a beauty – smiling sweetly one moment, and the next striking off a man’s head, then sitting calmly before the corpse and its pool of blood, sipping tea – it was almost impossible to believe. If he hadn’t seen it with his own eyes, he would never have believed it…
Could she really be a Bodhisattva’s Vajra guardian in disguise?
“Shameful to admit,” Master Han sighed, “but I won’t say much else. I came this time for the sole purpose of thanking you for cutting off a future menace on our behalf.”
As he spoke, he clasped his hands and bowed.
Cheng Jiao-niang returned the gesture, her gaze settling on Master Han’s face, studying him intently.
Master Han felt puzzled under her look. She hadn’t spoken a word, yet her bearing was clearly poised and courteous… so why was she staring so directly, almost discourteously?
“Your surname is Han, my lord?” Cheng Jiao-niang finally asked. “Where are you from?”
Master Han froze for a moment, then still gave his answer.
“I am from Su-zhou,” he said.
At these words, the maid kneeling by the door gave a little gasp.
“Su-zhou! With the surname Han!” she exclaimed.
Does she know me? Master Han’s expression flickered with surprise.
“Miss, do you have kin in Su-zhou?” he asked cautiously.
Cheng Jiao-niang smiled and shook her head.
“My lord, there’s no need for such courtesy. That monk blocked my way, refused to let me pass, and even threatened me. It was not for your sake or anyone else’s. I dare not claim the thanks of your lordship,” she said. Then, with a faint smile, added, “Besides, if I hadn’t silenced him first, matters would have only become more troublesome. I simply dislike trouble, that’s all.”
She had sidestepped his question and returned instead to answer his very first words.
Silenced him first… simply disliked trouble…
Indeed, about the eclipse that never came – surely that old monk knew the truth as well. The words this lady had spoken to the crowd, the monk could just as easily have spoken. Only, he never got the chance.
It was easy to imagine: had this lady not suddenly cut down Master Ningde at that moment, if he had managed to say just a few more words, she might still be trapped in Panjiang County even now.
Resourceful and courageous, decisive in hand and foot – clearly not a child raised in an ordinary household.
Master Han nodded.
“In any case, I must still thank you,” he said with a bow. “Last night we conducted interrogations through the night and uncovered all the misdeeds of those monks. Truly, I am ashamed – as the magistrate, I have wronged the people. This time, I will see that the demon monk’s evil influence is uprooted completely, never to plague us again.”
Cheng Jiao-niang regarded him, thinking for a moment.
“My lord, did you come here only to offer thanks?” she asked.
The question caught Master Han off guard, then he quickly smiled.
This lady was sharp indeed.
Though he had not originally come solely for thanks, at this very moment he decided that was precisely his reason.
“Yes, only to give thanks – and to express my apologies, for letting you suffer such a fright within my Panjiang County,” he said.
Cheng Jiao-niang looked at him and smiled.
“So you really are a Han,” she said.
A Han? What does she mean by that?
Master Han was puzzled, but before he could ask, Cheng Jiao-niang spoke again.
“In that case, I will grant you an opportunity,” she said.
An opportunity?
Master Han was even more bewildered.
“Ban Qin, bring brush and ink,” Cheng Jiao-niang ordered.
“Yes, Miss,” Ban Qin answered.
Master Han started slightly.
Ban Qin? That name… I’ve heard it somewhere before… but where?
As he drifted into thought, Cheng Jiao-niang took up the brush and wrote a line upon the paper, letting it dry a moment.
“You may make good use of this chance. With it, I trust you will be able to put an end, once and for all, to the menace of those demon monks deceiving the people,” she said, pushing the sheet toward him.
Curious, Master Han took it – and at once his face changed to astonishment, as if unable to believe his own eyes.
Could this be real?
