WHOOSH... WHOOSH... WHOOSH...
A cold wind blew in from the small window on the wall.
Second Lady was sitting right in the draft.
Zheng Xiu frowned and grumbled, "Why are you sitting in the draft?"
A corner of Second Lady's mouth curled up, but she didn't answer.
Zheng Xiu grumbled again, "You don't think this cell is bad luck, do you? Is that why you won't come in and wait? I'm not afraid, so what are you afraid of?"
Hearing this, the Prison Guard on duty panicked. 'Oh no,' he thought, 'this is a huge misunderstanding.'
Anyone with eyes could see that from her position, Second Lady had a perfect view of Master Zheng's handsome profile as he slept.
The Prison Guard didn't know how to explain, stammering by the side, afraid of angering the wealthy master.
"I was afraid of disturbing you, Master. It's not their fault. Besides, any place the Master is, even here, is like a hundred flowers in bloom, brimming with the life of spring. How could there be any bad luck?"
Second Lady replied breezily. The Prison Guard nodded quickly, opened the cell door, and let her inside.
Second Lady opened a food container on the table. It opened layer by layer, revealing exquisite dishes and pastries, all specialties from the Fragrant Pavilion, still steaming hot.
"While you were asleep, Master, Sixth Brother wanted to bring you a meal, but I thanked him and sent him away."
"Sixth Brother is a good man."
Zheng Xiu mumbled, his mouth full of delicacies.
"By the way, have you eaten?"
Second Lady shook her head.
"Then let's eat together," Zheng Xiu invited her to join him.
The Prison Guard proactively brought a stool from outside into the cell.
Second Lady sat down and casually slipped him a bag of silver.
The Prison Guard's face lit up. He was a sharp one. He quickly left, leaving the cell door wide open.
As they ate heartily, Zheng Xiu suddenly remembered something and couldn't help but smile. "How long has it been since the two of us have eaten a meal alone?"
Second Lady's expression froze for a moment. For a second, she truly couldn't answer.
"I remember when I was young, I had just used the Zheng Family's savings to buy the land for the Fragrant Pavilion. We were immediately suppressed by the other teahouses and restaurants. They bullied me, thinking I was young and naive. Business at the Fragrant Pavilion was abysmal. We couldn't even pay the servants' monthly wages and had to dismiss them all. It was just the two of us left, all alone, facing an empty house every day. Back then, you were the one who cooked for me, Second Lady."
"And our parents' spirit tablets. It wasn't completely empty," Second Lady said with a purse of her lips. Talking about their childhood brought out a bit of her own childishness, and she replied mischievously.
Zheng Xiu was taken aback, then smiled and nodded. "Yes, the two elders were watching over us too."
"You should thank the two elders for their blessing, Master. That's how the Zheng Family has its fortune today."
Zheng Xiu pouted and argued weakly, "Blessing? The wealth I, Zheng Xiu, have today was built on hard work, struggle, and perseverance."
"Yes, yes, whatever you say, Master." Second Lady didn't argue with him. Remembering the hardships Zheng Xiu faced when he started from scratch, her eyes glazed over slightly with emotion. "I remember, later, Master, you pulled some strings and actually found a connection in the palace. You signed a life-and-death contract and borrowed five hundred thousand taels of silver from the former Minister of the Ministry of Revenue."
"That was a high-interest loan. Five hundred thousand taels, to be paid back as one million in three months. The collateral was my Zheng Clan's ancestral home and the deed to the Fragrant Pavilion. Whether I could ultimately repay the five hundred thousand or not, that Minister of the Ministry of Revenue had ill intentions. He claimed he was only lending it out of respect for my late father's memory, but he was clearly after the last foundation of my Zheng Clan."
"But later, Master, you used that five hundred thousand taels to poach all the famous chefs from the top ten restaurants and teahouses in the Imperial City, revitalizing the Fragrant Pavilion in one fell swoop."
"They were ruthless, so I was unscrupulous. That's all."
"By the way, Master, what happened to that previous Minister of the Ministry of Revenue?"
"Perhaps he felt guilty, his conscience got the better of him, and he voluntarily resigned to go be a farmer," Zheng Xiu said, half-joking, with a wink.
As they reminisced, the lunch came to an end.
Second Lady began to report the news she had gathered, one piece at a time.
First was the recent boom in business.
Zheng Xiu nodded.
Then came the news about Shi Wentong's cause of death. Zheng Erniang struggled to hold back her laughter.
Master Zheng looked stunned. It took him a long while to accept this "truth." "How utterly preposterous!"
Next, Second Lady told Zheng Xiu the great news that his name would soon be cleared of the tax evasion charge, and he would be free.
Upon hearing this, Master Zheng's mood instantly soured.
'He didn't actually want to leave this prison so badly.'
'At the very least, not until I've cleared the Baili Village Ghostly Realm.'
'Maybe once I clear Baili Village, I'll attain some supreme divine power and be able to roam freely between Heaven and Earth?'
Finally, the topic turned to Baili Village.
"Master, could you have remembered the village name incorrectly? I had someone check, and there is indeed a small village on the southern coast named 'Baili Village'."
"You're sure you didn't check the wrong one?"
Second Lady shook her head. "If it were a true Hidden World village, it would have been impossible to find any record of it. But the name 'Baili Village' is truly rare. This southern Baili Village has a legend. It's said that in ancient times, there was a skilled fisherman who, one day, cast his net into the river and pulled up a whole net of red and green carp all by himself. When he counted them, there were exactly one hundred, no more, no less, half red and half green. The local villagers considered this an auspicious omen and renamed the village 'Baili Village' to pray for successful fishing and bountiful harvests year after year."
'Red carp and green carp?'
'Then that's not it.'
Zheng Xiu had also thought the name "Baili Village" was odd. Village names usually followed a pattern: named after a surname, a mountain or river, or something auspicious, generally embodying some kind of wish for peace and security.
"Should I continue looking into this Baili Village?"
Zheng Xiu wasn't even sure if Baili Village was in this world anymore. That Wang Cangyun's title was also strange. Imperial Sword Guard?
'Something like that doesn't exist in Daqian.'
Zheng Xiu suspected the Baili Village he had entered was another parallel universe.
He actually found this theory quite plausible. For a transmigrator, what's a second time after the first? Perhaps it was a coincidence that the style of clothing Wang Cangyun and the others wore was similar to that of Daqian.
So, Zheng Xiu shook his head and said there was no need for now.
Finally, taking advantage of them being alone, Second Lady took out the hollow tube and handed it to the Master.
Master Zheng didn't try to hide it from Second Lady and opened it right in front of her. Since her Master wasn't being secretive, she was also curious about what it was.
She looked and saw it was covered in characters: East, South, West, North, Center, Fortune, White.
'Mahjong tiles?' Second Lady's expression was odd. There were a few such tables in the Treasure Basin; it was something the Master had cooked up a few years ago and had quickly become a sensation throughout the city.
Second Lady stared, leaned in closer, and lowered her voice. "This strange message... this is what you had Qing Shisan deliver?"
Zheng Xiu didn't answer.
He rested his chin in his hand, thinking for a long, long time.
'A man may have no intention of harming a tiger, but a tiger always has its heart set on mauling a man.'
'Second Lady knows about Qing Pi?'
Master Zheng was affectionately using Qing Shisan's nickname in his mind. It seemed Qing Shisan must have proactively revealed his identity to Second Lady.
Understanding the situation, Zheng Xiu also leaned closer to Zheng Erniang to whisper to her.
He casually tapped the silk cloth three times, telling Second Lady to remember the spots. At the same time, Master Zheng instructed her to go to the bank, withdraw three hundred thousand taels in silver notes, and give them to Qing Shisan without asking any questions. Finally, with a grave expression, Master Zheng added a final instruction:
"Just tell Qing Shisan to 'pick these three crooked melons,' and make sure 'they're ripe'."
Second Lady committed it to memory and didn't ask any more questions. She was just curious what a coachman would do with three hundred thousand taels.
Before she left, Zheng Xiu thought for a moment and still gave Second Lady a small task to handle personally: altering the account books.
Her doubts about "picking melons" were not yet resolved, and the order to alter the account books stunned Second Lady even more. She thought her master had lost his mind. She confirmed it several times, then pinched her own cheek to make sure she wasn't dreaming, and finally accepted his outrageous instructions.
As she was leaving, Second Lady tipped the Prison Guards with the loose silver she had on her. Amidst the farewells of the guards, she stepped out of the Prison Camp. Qing Shisan was waiting, picking at his feet and smoking a long-stemmed pipe, as if he had decided to be Second Lady's exclusive driver for the day.
"Brother Qing, we're going to the bank. Thank you for your trouble."
"Hey! You're too kind, Shopkeeper!"
Once she was in the carriage, Qing Shisan set off at a steady pace. Just as Second Lady was hesitating on how to begin, Qing Shisan, with his back to her, took the initiative to ask, "Did the Master have any instructions?"
Second Lady quietly relayed the message about the designated Mahjong characters to Qing Shisan. At the end, she repeated Zheng Xiu's words verbatim: "The Master said to 'pick these three crooked melons,' and 'make sure they're ripe'."
"Oho? Time to go work the fields, is it?" Qing Shisan's driving was steady, and his laughter was hearty. After saying this, he didn't speak another word for the rest of the journey.
It wasn't until Zheng Erniang, following Zheng Xiu's instructions, withdrew three hundred thousand taels in silver notes and handed them personally to Qing Shisan.
Qing Shisan, who had been squatting to the side looking like an inconspicuous Wandering traveler, finally broke into a wide grin, his squinting eyes opening a little wider. "The Master is generous! These melons, I'll guarantee they're ripe!"
...
Never mind Qing Shisan preparing to "pick melons" for now.
Back on Zheng Xiu's end.
He never would have thought that you could actually go AFK in this Ghostly Realm!
He took a moment to peek inside and saw he was still lying on the ground, perfectly fine. Nothing had happened; all was well.
'It seems that as long as the Incarnation isn't dead, when my consciousness withdraws, the Incarnation will remain in a static state within the Ghostly Realm.'
'The body can't move, but what about progress?'
Zheng Xiu thought for a moment and conducted a simple experiment.
He lit the oil lamp.
After a while, he went back in. The wick was shorter.
'Great. Progress can be made.'
Zheng Xiu recalled the "Rulebook." The Rules didn't mention anything about traveling between the two worlds; they were mostly related to dice rolls.
Having figured out another hidden rule, Zheng Xiu was in a good mood.
"The atmosphere is quite peaceful."
Inside the Ghostly Realm, Zheng Xiu turned over in the village house, then popped back out to continue being AFK.
After his consciousness left.
Time passed.
The oil lamp inside the house swayed, though there was no wind.
The stout man in the house lay motionless on the floor, his breathing faint, as if in a deep sleep.
The next second, the lamp went out.
POP~
A finger as thick as a wooden stick poked through the paper window.
A blood-red eyeball, accompanied by the sound of heavy breathing, abruptly moved behind the torn hole.
"HUUUUFF—"
A foul, turbid air blew into the house.