PCA Chapter 154

At noon, people from the big mansion specially delivered chicken, duck, fish, and meat, as if they were truly treating Su Cen as an honored guest. However, Su Cen had lost his appetite and barely ate anything, leaving the rest to be divided between Qu Ling’er and Lu Xiaojiu.

 

After lunch, the entire village returned to silence. Lu Xiaojiu used the silver pieces Su Cen had given him to collect fruits under the tree, while the old woman moved a stool to sit by the door, staring blankly at the dappled shadows on the ground.

 

Unchanging days, a predictable life to the end – nothing changed despite two strangers suddenly appearing in their home. Though they were alive, they lived as if they were on the verge of death.

 

Perhaps because the room was too dark and cramped, Su Cen felt suffocated. He called for Qu Ling’er, wanting to take a walk around the village.

 

Lu Xiaojiu, who was collecting fruits under the tree, looked up at the two of them, hesitated for a long time but still didn’t dare to follow. He only watched them leave, then stared after them reluctantly for quite a while before lowering his head again.

 

Lu Xiaojiu’s home was located in the southeast of the village. Su Cen and his companion proceeded westward, examining each house. Sure enough, every household had its gate tightly closed, and each had a peeling red coffin placed at the entrance. The entire village had a deathly atmosphere, as if it had fallen into a deep slumber.

 

Continuing westward, they came to a fork in the road. The east-west oriented houses suddenly disappeared. One path led due south, while the other angled northwest.

 

Qu Ling’er softly exclaimed “Eh?” and said, “Brother Su, these houses are so strange.”

 

Su Cen nodded, standing at the fork and thoughtfully gazing at the two rows of oddly arranged houses.

 

Qu Ling’er asked: “Which way should we go?”

 

After pondering for a moment, Su Cen turned toward the path angling northwest.

 

Qu Ling’er quickly followed, saying as they walked: “I’ve never seen such strange houses before. Aren’t ordinary homes usually built facing south? What’s the significance of these houses facing northwest?”

 

Su Cen couldn’t figure it out either and could only shake his head.

 

These angled houses extended for a full li. As they walked deeper, the two discovered that there were houses facing south, north, east, and west. Though seemingly chaotic, there appeared to be some underlying pattern.

 

Only the rows of red-lacquered coffins with peeling paint were aligned in perfect straight lines, as if measured with a ruler.

 

At the end of the northwest-angled houses stood a high wall, blocking their path.

 

“No way forward?” Qu Ling’er stood beneath the high wall, looking up. The wall was about ten feet tall, nearly level with the surrounding rooftops. It was built with polished stone and seemed impregnable.

 

“I’ll go up and take a look.” Qu Ling’er tiptoed, using the wall for a slight push-off before leaping up to the top. After looking around, he exclaimed in amazement: “Brother Su, come up quickly and see this!”

 

 

Su Cen rolled his eyes from below: “How am I supposed to get up there?”

 

“I forgot, you don’t know martial arts,” Qu Ling’er laughed sheepishly. “Then I’ll tell you what I see. It’s so big in here, probably half the size of Xingqing Palace. Lots of houses, lots of trees, and lots of people… Wait, isn’t that… Oh shit!”

 

Qu Ling’er suddenly flipped down from the wall. Almost simultaneously, two hidden weapons grazed his scalp and embedded themselves in the wall, gleaming coldly.

 

“What happened?” Su Cen hurriedly stepped forward.

 

Qu Ling’er was still shaken, “He saw me!”

 

Su Cen frowned: “Who?”

 

“That man in white who was at Lu Xiaojiu’s home this morning!” Qu Ling’er frowned. “He was so far away from me, how did he know I was there?”

 

Su Cen looked Qu Ling’er up and down, “Are you hurt?”

 

Qu Ling’er shook his head, then suddenly remembered something: “Oh right, when I went up just now, I took a glance at those houses we passed, and they looked strange… like some kind of pattern.”

 

“A pattern?” Su Cen pondered. Just as he was about to ask further, a corner door in the side of the high wall suddenly opened, and out came a person – it was the man in white from this morning.

 

The man in white smiled upon seeing Su Cen and cupped his hands in greeting: “Brother Li, we meet again.”

 

Su Cen returned the greeting: “Being new to your esteemed village, I wanted to walk around. I didn’t expect to find no way forward here, so my young brother thought to go up and scout the path. If we’ve caused any offense, please forgive us.”

 

“Brother Li, you’re being too formal,” the man in white laughed magnanimously. “Our village is different from others; it’s easy to get lost if you wander around. If you want to look around again, I can find someone to guide you.”

 

Su Cen’s tone was cold: “That won’t be necessary.”

 

The man in white could see that Su Cen didn’t want to engage with him, so he cupped his hands and smiled, “Then Brother Li, please do as you wish.”

 

Unexpectedly, Su Cen called out to him from behind, “May I ask, what are those coffins in the village for?”

 

After being momentarily taken aback, the man in white turned his head and replied: “Coffins are naturally for holding corpses.”

 

“But these coffins are all empty, aren’t they?”

 

“They’re empty now,” the man in white suddenly smiled meaningfully, “but they won’t be in the future.”

 

Su Cen’s brows slowly furrowed, his gaze cold: “What does that mean?”

 

“It means exactly what I said. People experience birth, aging, illness, and death. Every person will die sooner or later.” The man in white smiled at Su Cen with a raised lip. “Excuse me.”

 

After taking just two steps, he heard Su Cen suddenly say from behind: “A few days ago, villagers discovered a cave on Mount Mang. Inside, they dug out more than two hundred corpses, but they still haven’t found where the bodies came from. I presume they’ll track them to this place soon.”

 

The man in white paused slightly, then entered the corner door, slamming it shut with a “bang.” Through the door crack that hadn’t fully closed, Su Cen glimpsed a vine-covered path. The vine trellis was ancient and imposing, with vibrant trumpet creeper flowers extending deep into the courtyard, in stark contrast to the lifeless village.

 

“Brother Su,” Qu Ling’er said softly after the man left, “Won’t this alarm them? Will he cause trouble for us?”

 

“It’s like beating the grass to startle the snake. They need to know that Great Zhou’s laws still apply here.” Su Cen withdrew his gaze, his lips pressed into a thin line. After a while, he turned around, “Let’s go.”

 

The two returned to Lu Xiaojiu’s home along the same path. A full half hour had passed, and the patches of light filtering through the tree branches had moved from the base of the wall to the wall itself. Yet the two people in the courtyard remained unchanged – Lu Xiaojiu was still collecting fruits, and the grandmother was still staring at the spots of light on the ground, her gaze barely shifting.

 

After returning, Su Cen went into the room, laid out paper and ground ink on the old small dining table, up to something unknown. Qu Ling’er didn’t dare disturb him and, having nothing else to do, went out to join Lu Xiaojiu in collecting fruits.

 

Even until the sun slanted westward, Su Cen hadn’t come out again. As dinner time approached, Lu Xiaojiu busied himself with preparing the meal. Qu Ling’er, bored after playing by himself for a while, was about to check on what Su Cen was doing. Passing by the door, he heard the old woman muttering something, so he listened carefully.

 

When Su Cen finished his work and came out of the room, he saw Qu Ling’er crouched by the old woman’s legs, like a filial son enjoying his elder’s company.

 

Seeing Su Cen emerge, Qu Ling’er’s eyes lit up, and he quickly beckoned Su Cen to join him.

 

Su Cen had intended to ignore him and go straight out, but Qu Ling’er grabbed the hem of his clothes: “Brother Su, listen, this grandmother seems to be saying something about ‘bad people’?”

 

Su Cen paused, then crouched down alongside Qu Ling’er.

 

After listening for a while, Su Cen shook his head, “Not ‘bad people,’ it seems to be… ‘lord’?”

 

Qu Ling’er immediately tensed up, lowering his voice to a whisper: “Has our identity been exposed? Did she recognize you?”

 

Su Cen pursed his lips in thought, then shook his head lightly, “I’ve hidden everything that could prove our identity. She can’t know. The ‘lord’ she’s referring to must be someone else.”

 

“Someone else?” Qu Ling’er whispered. “Are there other officials here?”

 

When Lu Xiaojiu came out of the firewood room, he saw the two of them huddled beside his grandmother, heads lowered, whispering to each other. He leaned over, “What are you doing?”

 

Qu Ling’er was startled, nearly sitting on the ground, and glared at Lu Xiaojiu: “Why are you being so sneaky? How do you walk without making any sound?”

 

Lu Xiaojiu pouted dejectedly, “You’re the ones being sneaky.”

 

Su Cen stood up and said: “We heard your grandmother speaking and were concerned she might have some instructions, so we moved closer to listen.”

 

Lu Xiaojiu waved his hand, “Oh, that? Don’t worry, she often talks to herself. Sometimes she calls out ‘lord,’ sometimes she says things like ‘little meat, run quickly.’ You don’t need to pay attention to her.”

 

In a way that Lu Xiaojiu didn’t notice, Su Cen narrowed his eyes slightly, a glint of cold light flashing through them.

 

After dinner, Lu Xiaojiu specially cleaned up the main room for Su Cen and Qu Ling’er to stay in, while he moved to his grandmother’s small room to make do for the night. Su Cen felt bad about this, but Lu Xiaojiu insisted that the bed was larger here and left with his bedding without further discussion.

 

Because Lu Family Village had strict schedules, the lights in Lu Xiaojiu and his grandmother’s room were extinguished early.

 

Su Cen sat at the bedside and handed Qu Ling’er a piece of paper, “Take a look, is this the pattern you saw this afternoon?”

 

Qu Ling’er unfolded the paper and was startled when he saw it clearly: “Brother Su, how did you manage this?”

 

The drawing showed a square framework with smaller frames inside, with various curved paths extending from the corners, ultimately connecting the large and small frames together.

 

Su Cen’s handsome features brightened in the faint candlelight, “I originally just wanted to try mapping out the places we walked. Later it looked familiar, so I completed it symmetrically based on what we saw, and it turned out like this.”

 

“It looks exactly like this,” Qu Ling’er nodded seriously, then frowned as he examined the drawing. “But what is it? A box?”

 

“It’s a game board,” Su Cen took the paper back from Qu Ling’er’s hands. “This is a liubo chess board.”

 

Qu Ling’er tilted his head: “What’s liubo chess?”

 

Su Cen explained: “Liubo is an ancient game, and the prototype for many chess variants. The term ‘boyi’ refers specifically to liubo. It originated in the Shang Dynasty, flourished during the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, continued through Qin and Han, but after several modifications, it was essentially lost by the Eastern Han Dynasty. I only learned a bit about it from an unofficial history. I recognized it because I once spent some idle time studying this chess form and its rules, so I still have some impression of it.”

 

“The entire Lu Family Village looks like a giant chess board from above? The high wall we saw this afternoon must be this small frame in the middle?” Qu Ling’er looked at the drawing in disbelief. “How would one play on such a large board?”

 

Su Cen shook his head, “Legend has it that liubo was designed based on the Taiji and Eight Trigrams diagram. Taiji produces the Two Polarities,” Su Cen pointed to the small frame in the center of the drawing, “meaning this place is water, with black and white fish inside. The Two Polarities produce the Four Symbols, which are the four circles on the board, and the Four Symbols produce the Eight Trigrams, corresponding to the eight directions around the board. This game seems ancient, but its principles are quite complex, even used for military deployment and strategy.”

 

Qu Ling’er shook his head blankly: “I don’t understand anymore.”

 

Su Cen smiled lightly, tapping the edge of the table with his index finger knuckle as he pondered, “Villagers who hide away, coffins at the doorways, and now this giant chess board – this village is becoming increasingly interesting.”

 

Before he finished speaking, a hollow knocking sound suddenly came from the courtyard.

 

Knock, knock, knock…

 

One by one, gradually accelerating, building to the intensity of a rainstorm.

 

 

---

 

(advanced chapters available on kofi)