COPPER COINS

Chapter 11: Empty Millstone (II)

This person had uncannily black eyes that betrayed not the tiniest glint of light, giving him a highly haunted look. Beneath his eyes were two shadowy circles, the darkness of which set off his deathly pale skin. The chilling appearance was enough to paralyse someone with fear. An ordinary person, faced with such a thing right behind them, would have jumped so high with fright that they might have shot through the roof.
Of course, Xuanmin and Xue Xian were not ordinary people.
Of the two of them, one’s courage came from his arrogance, and the other was a creature mightier than the eight winds [a] who, in all his life, had probably never even bothered to learn the characters for the word ‘afraid’.
Thus, the ice pillar bald donkey and the niezhang tucked into the pouch by his hip both wore completely unfazed expressions as they stared back at this newcomer.

The newcomer looked behind him, panicked, then brought a hand to his heart. "Why did you turn around so suddenly? Scared me to death."
Xuanmin: “...”
Xue Xian: “...” Yep, this bookworm has definitely been turned stupid by all his books.

The man standing behind them was none other than Jiang Shining.
When Xue Xian had spotted him, his first thought had been one of worry: If this bookworm heard what Liu-shiye said, he would surely roll up his sleeves and go into the hall to start a brawl. Though I don't know if this reed would actually be able to win against those two old guys.
But, from Jiang Shining’s tone, it was clear that Jiang Shining had not overheard what Liu-shiye had been saying about his late parents.
Xue Xian was rather glad: At least I don't have to worry about the bookworm knocking on death's door. Leaning out of Xuanmin's pouch, Xue Xian waved at Jiang Shining with disdain. "Time to leave. Let's go, let's go."

"Why are we in such a hurry?" Although Jiang Shining often bickered with Xue Xian, he was actually of weak spirit –– or else he would never have allowed Xue Xian to order him about these past few days. Not only had he suffered through Xue Xian's company, he’d had to buy Xue Xian food, too.
So although his mouth was saying ‘Why?’, his body was already obeying Xue Xian's words. He swiftly turned around and stepped out of the hall’s back door. Despite having no idea what was going on, he did not waste any time.

Seeing this, Xuanmin, who had just lifted his hand, now dropped it. Xue Xian asked, "Bald donkey, why did you lift your hand? Did you finally get enough of the bookworm’s stupidity and decide to beat him up?"
Xuanmin: “...” Based on that logic, Xue Xian was the one who deserved to get beat up first.
“...” Jiang Shining asked, "What did I do? Why do you want to hit me?"
"Shut up and walk," Xue Xian said.
Xuanmin: “...”
This restless one had the gall to complain about other people speaking too much!

Xue Xian wasn’t wrong. Jiang Shining was a rogue ghost, and Xue Xian had helped anchor his soul to a physical object –– in this case, paper –– in order to take on a human form. But such a form was maintained entirely through pockets of yin energy. At the crook of his neck, around three cun down from the back of his head, he had a mingmen pressure point. [b] Were Xuanmin to strike the mingmen using the side of his hand like a knife, that strike would force out all the yin energy gathered in that spot, and Jiang Shining would revert to his original paper form.
Xuanmin had feared that Jiang Shining would accidentally destroy their escape plan, so had intended to turn him back into a paper man and make him easier to handle. Xuanmin already had a half-paralysed rascal [c] to worry about; having to deal with an able-bodied one as well would be even more chaotic.
It turned out that this one was actually obedient. Xuanmin found him tolerable. So he dropped his hand again. Now, Xuanmin briskly followed Jiang Shining out of the door.

Xuanmin reached out and grabbed Jiang Shining by the collar, then turned on his heels and concealed them both behind the wall that separated the front hall and the corridor. When Xuanmin didn't want to make any noise, he really could be totally silent: not a single step of his could be heard. His religious robes were light and airy. As he walked, the white cloth swept past the branches of a nearby tree, then settled again once he arrived at the foot of the wall –– yet the robes did not pick up a single fleck of dirt, nor did it graze the branches of that tree.
Xue Xian looked at those undisturbed branches, and looked at the copper coin pendant that hung by Xuanmin’s hip. This is one mysterious bald donkey, he thought.

Xuanmin had picked the right moment to hide. Just as the corner of his white robe settled, Liu-shiye and his old friend came out of the hall’s back door. Perhaps because their age meant that their ears were no longer as sensitive, these two men seemed really not to have noticed anything amiss.
From behind the wall, Jiang Shining saw Liu-shiye's silhouette. Although he was unhappy to see the man, he was also confused –– Why did Xuanmin hide when he saw the shiye? He seemed not to want to deal with the issue at all.
Thankfully, Jiang Shining had a mortal fear of creating hassle for others: he never spoke out of turn, nor did he act rashly, nor did he ever do anything that might be inconvenient for anyone else. Thus, he pushed all his questions down into his stomach and obediently cowered behind the wall, watching as Liu-shiye and the stranger traversed the courtyard, ambling toward the main hall.

Just as Liu-shiye made to cross into the main hall, a whimpering voice suddenly shouted, "Dad?"
Xue Xian deadpanned, "Great. Now the real fool [d] is here. He's picked the right time for sure."

Indeed, it was unclear how Liu Chong had made his way here, but there he stood, beneath the eaves of the corridor, calling Liu-shiye: "Dad."
The first thing Xue Xian did was take a look at his overcoat. The ‘Liu Chong’ they'd run into at the death door earlier had been wearing a dusty red robe, but the one in the corridor now was wearing a bluish-gray overcoat –– the same outfit he’d been wearing before they’d gotten trapped in this array.

Xuanmin stepped out from behind the wall. Moving so quickly that Liu-shiye could barely take notice, Xuanmin strided over to Liu Chong in big, sweeping steps, and grabbed him. Before Liu Chong could yelp in surprise, Xuanmin began to drag Liu Chong away with him to the narrow door. Thankfully, this middle courtyard was quite small, so all this happened in the blink of an eye.
Liu-shoye, who had been standing shocked by the main hall, came back to his senses. His face went slack, and he began to march toward them.
It was a good thing that Xuanmin had reacted so quickly. He was already through the door.

Guang––
The narrow door was slammed shut by the monk, and Jiang Shining instinctively bolted the door behind them.
But then Jiang Shining raised his head to take a look at the confused Liu Chong, [d] and he suddenly exclaimed, "Huh?”

Xuanmin had let go of Liu Chong as soon as they’d gone through the door. Xue Xian looked up at him and thought, This bald donkey looks skinny, but his grip is so fucking strong. Liu Chong isn't made of paper like Jiang Shining, and his reflexes are slow, so it’s hard to get him to cooperate properly. But Xuanmin had still managed to tow him all the way here. How strong is he?

Xuanmin didn't need to look down: even from his peripheral vision, he could see the niezhang looking up and staring at him. What was that one thinking about now?
In any case, he was definitely up to no good.

Without betraying a hint of emotion on his face, Xuanmin moved his hand to his hip and covered up that ugly ‘sight for sore eyes’, but then Xue Xian used both of his little hands to fight him off.
What the fuck? thought Xue Xian. Who allowed you to touch a dragon's head? How dare you?
   
"H-his mole has switched places!" Jiang Shining shouted, pointing at Liu Chong. But then he suddenly felt rude about pointing directly at others. Embarrassed, he put his hand away and looked over awkwardly at Xuanmin.
Xuanmin’s hand that had been fighting with Xue Xian now froze.
In a small voice, Jiang Shining asked, "Wasn't it on the left side before? Why is it on the right side now?"

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[a] Musuli uses the phrase “doesn’t move even when being blown by eight winds” or “cannot be knocked down by the force of eight winds”. This was hard to express succinctly in English, so I went for a more literal phrasing about Xue Xian’s dragonhood, while keeping the ‘eight winds’ imagery.
[b] Mingmen 命门 (ming4 men2), literally “life/destiny door/gate”, is a pressure point in the human body. It is located around the small of someone’s back/waist.
[c] Musuli uses the chengyu 无法无天 (wu2 fa3 wu2 tian1), literally “no laws, no heaven”, to describe Xue Xian’s undisciplined, uncontrollable nature.
[d] Musuli uses 傻子 (sha3 zi), which means “idiot”. Sometimes when I use this footnote, she is using 傻 by itself, which is an adjective rather than a noun, meaning “idiotic”.