Chapter Nine: Meeting Afule Again

For over ten days after that, the Duke of Anle's estate remained entirely peaceful. Just as everyone was about to put the matter behind them, someone knocked on the front door of the mansion that evening.

Though it was called evening, the sky had already turned pitch black. The moon had risen into the eastern sky, leaving only about two double-hours before the curfew. At this hour, visitors never came. Wang Qi, the gatekeeper, had already laid out his bedding and was yawning, preparing to drift off to sleep.

Suddenly, a series of heavy, forceful thuds echoed from the heavy doors, sounding much like a water ghost hammering the bottom of a boat in the riverbed.

Wang Qi hastily threw on a coat, lit a lantern, and went out to check, only to be frightened out of his wits.

The person standing before the door not only had unkempt hair and a beggar's face, but also looked as though he had rolled around in a muddy pit several times. He was caked in filth and emitted a faint odor of blood and decay. In one hand, he held the reins of a tall, mottled horse; in the other, he cradled a blood-stained bundle. At his waist hung a rusted sword resembling a strip of iron. He looked precisely like an evil spirit that had crawled up straight from the depths ofes hell.

Most terrifying of all, the man seemed rather pleased with himself. He grinned with utter confidence, revealing a row of snow-white teeth, and asked, "Is this where Liu Xian lives?"

The voice was exceptionally youthful. Recognizing that the speaker could not be very old, Wang Qi finally regained his composure. Then, filled with lingering doubt, he asked, "May I ask who you are..."

"Oh!" Afules said. "I am a horse seller. The horse I'm holding is the one Liu Xian took a fancy to. Just mention this to him, and he will know immediately."

"A horse seller?" At that moment, Liu Xian was in his chambers wiping the Zhaowu Sword. Hearing these words, he could not help but laugh and say, "Has this young fellow finally come?"

"Who are you talking about?" A Luo was lighting incense nearby. Hearing this, she raised her head and asked.

"The very guest I mentioned earlier—the eccentric one we've waited for several days."

Without another word, Liu Xian sheathed his sword, walked out to welcome the visitor, and burst into delighted laughter upon seeing Afules's filthy appearance. In a familiar tone, he asked, "Afules, you're actually still alive!"

The Jie-Hu youth looked into Liu Xian's face. "Ah, don't mention it. I've finally seen you." He smiled easily as well. "What you said before, does it still count?"

"I said many things that day. Which sentence are you referring to?"

"The last one, of course." Afules put on an exaggerated air and mimicked the tone: "My home is still very welcoming to guests."

When Liu Xian had spoken those words originally, he had done so with calm detachment. Yet, as Afules recounted them, they seemed affected and overly dramatic. To top it off, the imitation was uncannily accurate. Everyone present, including Wang Qi, was amused.

"Of course it still counts." Liu Xian stepped aside to clear the path, smiling as he said, "No matter how modest my home is, there is at least a guest room to spare."

"That won't be enough."

"What won't be enough?"

Afules said with a deadpan expression, "You are a man of reputation; you must have poise and make your guests feel at home."

Trying to fleece me again? Liu Xian found himself amused. Yet, for reasons unknown, facing such a blunt request phrased like a joke, he felt no annoyance. Instead, pretending not to understand, he asked, "What does feeling at home mean?"

Afules replied, "Naturally, it means a full meal, a tub of hot water, a set of new clothes, and a tub of grain for my brother!" With that, he patted Fanyu standing beside him. Comprehending human nature, the steed threw back its head and let out a long neigh.

"Fine! Fine! Fine! You certainly know how to live!" Laughing heartily, Liu Xian ushered him inside and instructed Wang Qi, "Do just as he says! Wang Qi, go ask Zhu Fu how much grain is left in the store and feed it all to this horse."

Then Liu Xian told A Chun to boil water and prepare food, while he himself went to the wardrobe and retrieved a set of silk garments for Afules to wash up and change into.

Two double-hours later, Afules had finished washing. When he emerged wearing Liu Xian's clothes, he cut a striking figure:

Although Afules had already appeared extraordinary in bearing, once properly cleaned and dressed, he looked like an entirely different person. He possessed a well-proportioned physique and a valiant countenance. Particularly striking were his flying sabre-like brows, which accentuated his deep-set eyes, rendering them sharp and piercing enough to seemingly see right through a person's heart.

However, he felt rather unaccustomed to silk. As he walked, he shrugged his shoulders and rubbed his waist, complaining uncomfortably, "These clothes of you noble folk are truly strange. Wearing them feels like being smeared in snot."

Liu Xian sat by the lake before a spread of food, laughing as he scolded, "Such waste! Shall I get you a hempen set instead?"

"No, no, no!" The Jie-Hu youth hurried over to take his seat at the table, turning serious. "I will get used to it first. Before ten years pass, I'll own a hundred rolls of brocade and silk. Right now, I am merely lying low, waiting for my metamorphosis."

He looked quite earnest while speaking, but the moment he began to eat, he reverted instantly to the likeness of a starved ghost. Liu Xian had prepared three sesame flatbreads, a bowl of chicken soup, and a bowl of ham and egg custard for him. Afules swept through them like a gale scattering autumn leaves, leaving Liu Xian to wonder if he had even bothered to chew.

Yet Afules still wore a dissatisfied expression. Licking the bowl clean, he asked with lingering appetite, "That's only half a full stomach. Is there any more food?"

"There are only steamed buns left. If you don't mind, there are plenty more."

"Plenty is fine! I'm a child of a poor family and I'm not picky. Bring me five!"

After a short while, the steamed buns were brought out. This time, Afules ate a bit more slowly, giving Liu Xian the chance to ask about his experiences over the past few days:

"You went to track them down at the horse market. Did you find anything?"

Afules choked slightly, quickly drank a cup of water to soothe his throat, and then said, "There were results. That day, I saw someone selling my horse and hurried over to check. But the people selling the horse weren't the robbers from that night."

"They weren't?"

"Indeed they weren't. There were only a dozen or so people in that group. Their leader was absurdly fat—scarcely looking human—and reeked of coming from a wealthy household. He couldn't even hold a sword steady; there's no way he could have pulled off a robbery."

"Then these past few days..." Liu Xian immediately guessed his actions. "Ah, you've been shadowing and investigating them all this time?"

"Yes." Afules glanced at him and continued, "Although these people weren't the robbers, they are definitely connected to them. I staked out their vicinity to see who they interacted with."

"For the first five days, those people did nothing but sell horses with no other moves. It wasn't until the fourth day, when some horses simply wouldn't sell, that they unloaded them cheaply and left. There really were too many people at the horse market; I almost lost them. Fortunately, the leader was easy to recognize, so I managed to track them again."

"Did you find the robbers then?"

"Not quite, but close enough." Lowering his voice, Afules said mysteriously, "I watched this group head all the way northwest, thinking I was about to stumble into some bandit lair. After walking for ages, we reached a massive estate—frightfully luxurious!"

A luxurious estate in the northwest of Luoyang? Hearing this, a bad premonition flashed through Liu Xian's mind.

Afules continued, "I don't know if you've seen it, but you must have heard of it. The outer perimeter of that estate is planted with dozens of li of ginkgo and poplar trees—terrifyingly many. I hid Fanyu inside and walked deeper in, taking a solid three double-hours just to come out the other side."

"When I looked inside, there were lotus ponds, rockeries, small towers, high platforms, and stone pavilions. Although the people I was following vanished inside, where else could they have gone? They must be inside the gardens."

Hearing this, the stone in Liu Xian's heart dropped into place. It really was the Jingu Garden! Could it be that Shi Chong was the mastermind behind the robbers? This was no trivial matter.

Pondering this, he continued to question Afules: "Are you certain? Without evidence, there's still the possibility of a misjudgment. Offending the wrong person carries extremely severe consequences."

"Of course I know." Afules rolled his eyes, leaned back, and rubbed his stomach. "So afterwards, I staked out this garden for another six or seven days. The place is truly massive. I had already prepared myself to chew grass roots and endure a month here just to figure out if there was anything fishy going on. And sure enough, after a couple of days, I bumped right into it!"

"You saw the robbers?"

"I didn't see them, but I found something else!" Excitedly, Afules picked up his blood-stained bundle, placed it on the table, and said with fervor, "I found the pit where they buried the corpses! It's in the ginkgo grove on the outer edge of the estate!"

He opened the bundle to reveal its contents. A foul stench hit the air—it was shockingly a human head, eyes wide open in unresigned death! Liu Xian frowned as he examined it, vaguely recognizing the high nose and deep-set eyes characteristic of a Hu person.

"Is this your companion?"

Afules nodded, wrapped the head back up, and said, "You didn't see it. That grove is simply a mass grave. There must be at least several hundred people buried there, and thousands wouldn't be surprising. I didn't do anything else these past few days except turn over the soil there, and in the end, I only found about a dozen people I recognized."

"You were digging dirt there and didn't get caught?"

"Thanks to the fact that they just haphazardly dumped bodies everywhere, there were half-dug pits and unfilled trenches all over the place. Otherwise, it would have been really hard for me to manage or hide."

Afules shook his head with a trace of regret, then leaned closer to whisper, "Speaking of which, today they even buried two women inside. How utterly bizarre. Do they rob women too?"

A bitter smile could not help but form on Liu Xian's face. Of course they weren't robbing them; they were simply slaughtering women for sheer sport. The image of the maid A Qing's method of death flashed instantly before his eyes. Was she buried there too? Immediately afterward, he thought of Lady Lüzhu—her doll-like docility and her moonlight-melancholic beauty.

Liu Xian quickly shook these distracting thoughts away. The inside story of the Jingu Garden that Afules had just described was already horrifying enough. When Liu Xian had previously visited the Jingu Garden, he had inwardly criticized Shi Chong for killing people with the bravado of turning rivers red with blood, yet the reality was already a mountain of corpses! And this was right in the imperial capital, committing murder and pillaging!

This also happened to solve a puzzle in Liu Xian's mind: How had Shi Chong's wealth reached unimaginable heights? It turned out he secretly kept a band of loyal partisans dedicated to waylaying passing merchants. Getting something for nothing like this—how could he not suddenly grow immensely rich?

Yet one could hardly blame him for being so arrogant; the state's Eight Deliberations system permitted such actions. Shi Chong was neither the first nor the only one to do so.

Li Mi had previously told Liu Xian that before taking office in Wen County, it was common practice for Sima clan princes to abduct commoners to serve as slaves. Compared to them, Shi Chong only stood out as the most persistent and financially astute among them.

For reasons unknown, Liu Xian's mind once again conjured Lüzhu's clear, indifferent, and lifeless gaze. Living within such a death-haunted Jingu Garden, could one truly feel happy even amidst luxury and fine food?

Seeing Liu Xian's expression flicker between light and shadow, Afules was uncertain of the Duke of Anle Heir's thoughts. But this time, in coming to find Liu Xian and repeatedly probing him along the way, he had already made up his mind.

He patted Liu Xian's shoulder and asked, "Hey, do you know something insider? Your expression is so ugly."

Liu Xian snapped out of his reverie, forced a smile, and said, "The family behind this estate has a terrifyingly large background—not someone you can afford to provoke. Are you certain you still want revenge?"

"How large?"

"The estate you saw—I've been there. It's called the Jingu Garden, the finest garden in the realm. The owner of that garden is former Governor of Jingzhou, Shi Chong. His father was Shi Bao, Duke of Leiling Commandery, which means the entire Shi clan supports him from behind. Do you understand?"

Afules thought for a moment, shook his head, and said, "I don't understand. I'm just the son of a minor chieftain and can't read. What does it matter how high his official rank is? To me, the Emperor and the magistrate are no different."

What an unfilial, rebellious scion! Yet brewing within him was boundless courage that stirred undeniable admiration in Liu Xian.

Liu Xian smiled and said, "As far as revenge goes, a magistrate and a commandery duke are vastly different. You probably can't kill him. Even if you somehow did, you certainly wouldn't survive."

"Can't kill him?" Afules nodded, seeming to trust Liu Xian's judgment, and added, "Then we won't kill him. But what if I want to make his life miserable?"

"That might leave a sliver of opportunity, though the chance remains exceedingly slim."

"As long as there's a chance!"

Afules laughed heartily. His expression was so full of life that his future seemed smooth, with any hardship merely a stray pebble on the path—so much so that Liu Xian could not resist knocking him down a peg: "Yet for someone like you right now, there is still no chance at all."

"No chance? Why?"

"Because you are alone. No matter how hard a single person tries, what they can accomplish is very limited."

Afules's eyes widened in utter dismay as he asked, "Wait, aren't we partners?"

"..."

For a moment, Liu Xian did not know what expression to make.

Afules continued, "You've let me eat, let me stay, given me clothes to wear, and even helped feed my horse. Good brother—no, you're practically my own father! Can you truly bear to watch me go do this alone?"

"Get lost!" Liu Xian laughed and scolded. "You're trying to fleece me just because I gave you two meals! My entire family is right here. If I get mixed up with you in this, when things blow up later, we won't even have a place to flee! The Shi family holds one of the founding Eight Dukes estates—they are stronger than our family by who knows how many times!"

"Aren't you a descendant of Liu Bei?" Afules said as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "No matter how powerful the Shi clan is, they're merely foxes exploiting a tiger's might. No matter how fallen your family is, aren't you still the descendants of heroes? Foxes are destined to lose to dragons."

"Where did you pick up such flawed logic? Power is power; it doesn't change based on who wields it." Liu Xian looked at Afules with utmost seriousness, yet in his heart, he was moved.

Helping him wasn't entirely out of the question, Liu Xian thought.

Rising to his feet, Liu Xian paced back and forth for a moment, looked up at the waning moon in the sky, and recalled his encounter at the Jingu Garden that day. Reaching a swift decision, he turned to the Jie-Hu youth and said, "How about this? I'll give you a test. If you pass it, I'll join you."

"A test?"

"Just as I said, a single person can never accomplish this, and two people are far from enough. But if you can secretly rally a hundred men under your command, I think giving it a try wouldn't hurt."

"A hundred men?" Afules stood up in astonishment. After pondering for a moment, the smile that had faded returned, and he quickly nodded: "Very well, it's a deal!"

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