Chapter 244: Chapter 244: The Work of the Heavenly Dao, the General’s Fated End
The queue for divination wasn’t short. It stretched on and on.
Patience had never been its forte.
Thus, it pondered seriously for this reason.
Right now, it was a cat.
Not a dignified girl.
It could afford to lack manners.
After all... what was lost was Cui Yun’s face.
Having grasped this point, it dashed without concern to cut in line, swaggering to the very front.
The bruiser who was next in line: ...
If it had been someone else cutting his line, he would have thrown a punch long ago, but it was just a cat. A completely white cat at that, holding its head high, earnestly holding a divination stick in its mouth.
The bruiser couldn’t help but crack a smile, giving his nose a rub and taking a step back.
The Taoist about to interpret the stick fell silent. He bent down to receive the stick. Just as he was about to interpret it under Xue Tuan’s expectant gaze, someone strolled over.
Cui Yun, dressed as a noble son with an extraordinary bearing, arrived.
"Excuse the intrusion."
He said indifferently, "This cat doesn’t understand rules and insists on being naughty."
Looking at Xue Tuan, he held a divination stick: "This is the one you actually shook out."
"After all, I’ve raised you with care, you should be somewhat reasonable outside."
Xue Tuan looked up and there it was, the ominous stick it had discarded.
Frustrated, it turned its back on Cui Yun, airing its discontent.
Sanqing Taoist, who had come with Cui Yun, laughed and said, "Cui, it’s been half a year since we last played chess. Why not let me see if your chess skills have become more refined?"
Cui Yun agreed.
After settling matters with Cui Xuan, he followed Sanqing Taoist to a bamboo grove.
In the middle of the bamboo grove, there was a chessboard set up. As the two sat down, Xue Tuan’s gaze fell upon the paper and brush nearby, as well as the prepared ink.
Laid out on a bluestone stair, seemingly waiting for its performance.
Its heart thumping, it glanced at Cui Yun and then scurried over like a thief, without any politeness.
Xue Tuan cocked its head, chose not to pick the cumbersome brush, allowed its fluffy paw pad to soak up the ink, and painstakingly began to write on the paper, stroke by stroke.
It simply could no longer care for so much.
Soon, it presented the paper to Cui Yun’s hands like holding a treasure.
"Mew."
Take a look.
Cui Yun placed a white piece on the board, and then glanced down. His gaze flitted over briefly, then lightly fell on Xue Tuan’s expectant round eyes.
"You want to play with paper dragonflies again? I’ll have Ji Xin fold some for you later."
Xue Tuan was bewildered.
"Mew!"
It let out a plaintive cry, and in the next instant, its plump body became unusually stiff.
The Xuan paper it had filled with writing, sometime unknown, had all its ink erased.
Clean as new, without a trace.
Only its paw pad was still stained black, carrying the lingering scent of ink, reminding it that all of this was real.
"Cui."
Sanqing Taoist finally spoke up. He reached for the divination slip set aside by Cui Yun.
"I have a fate with her, may I do the interpretation for this slip?"
Sanqing Taoist was highly regarded and respected. When the New Emperor was being crowned, there was the intention to invite him to conduct a ceremony. However, he left Shengjing and started wandering around the day before the New Emperor personally knocked on his door.
His whereabouts have been unpredictable for years.
Today, however, he had returned to the Daoist School.
It seemed as though he came for Xue Tuan.
Cui Yun narrowed his eyes. He subconsciously fiddled with the prayer beads on his wrist.
"Xue Tuan is fortunate."
"Then trouble Cui to fetch some water."
Fetching water was just a ruse, sending him away was the real intent.
However, it is indeed time for Xue Tuan’s paws to be washed. Cui Yun had no guard against the Sanqing Taoist, otherwise, she would not have worn the bracelet he gifted her for many years.
At that moment, she lazily got up.
She watched as Cui Yun walked away. Without waiting for the Sanqing Taoist to speak again, Xue Tuan quickly covered its own ears.
It refuses to listen!
It wasn’t what it shook!
Don’t reason with it!
Yet, the Sanqing Taoist half bent down.
"This divination lot, young friend, is most likely not sought for oneself."
Xue Tuan looked up incredulously, all of a sudden.
Sanqing Taoist: "In this world, how many can receive protection, turning bad luck into good? What the Heavenly Dao decrees, the General’s fate is sealed, no one can change that. You are, and so am I."
"Look at the clouds in the sky, clusters upon clusters, stained as if dyed with rouge or blood."
"Shan City has fallen, Chi City—"
He said in a hoarse voice: "Can no longer be defended."
————
Cui Yun noticed that after Xue Tuan set off to return, its mood visibly darkened.
The same was true for Cui Xuan.
The lot drawn by Cui Xuan was also very inauspicious. She couldn’t help but feel choked.
One person and one cat, Cui Yun truly did not know how to comfort them.
But for some reason, on the way back, it was as if bad luck clung to them.
The clouds were densely packed, and the sky was pressed down by brooding black clouds.
Suddenly, a torrential downpour arrived, covering the sky and earth. Bean-sized raindrops pelted down with a clatter. As they hit the ground, they splashed everywhere, like curls of white smoke.
In the suddenness, thunder ripped through the air.
The mountain road was muddy, impossible to traverse, forcing all to halt their journey mid-way. There was no village ahead nor grounds behind, fortunately, there was a household not far away.
Cui Yun led everyone to take shelter from the rain.
The old woman who opened the door did not refuse after listening, and hurriedly invited everyone in. She suffered from an eye disease, walking with the aid of a cane.
"Our home is poor, do not take offense."
Xue Tuan’s round eyes surveyed the surroundings.
Indeed, it was poor.
Not to mention how cramped it was, the home was bare and empty. Even the coarse clothing on the old woman’s body was washed white and full of patches.
Cui Xuan asked softly: "Old madam, forgive our intrusion."
"I am glad."
The old woman said tremblingly: "The youngest in the family has died, the old ones too have gone, only leaving me behind, perhaps it’s been a long while since people’s presence was felt."
She gave a weathered smile, then spoke with an apologetic tone.
"It’s time for dinner, and guests are honored. If there was rice in the rice jar, I would definitely have asked you to eat."
Cui Yun looked down: "A few days ago, after the official summoned merchants from everywhere, he issued an edict, allowing those who were extremely poor, sick, and without support to register at the government office. After an investigation to confirm their situation, they could get a peck of rice every month. One person could receive it for more than a year. Are you aware of this?"
Of course, the silver for this came from the merchants.
It’s considered a grand gesture.
The merchants obtained handwritten inscriptions from Emperor He in return. These could be enshrined in their family temples to be commemorated for generations.
The old woman’s smile paused.
With a bitter murmur: "The government?"
"Hearing your voice, young master, I can tell you are young. This talk of getting rice is just fooling people."
Cui Yun’s brow knitted.
"What do you mean by this?"
The old woman chuckled bitterly: "If the government says you can get rice, even those dressed in gold and silver can get it. If the government says no, those starving to death won’t get a single grain regardless; it all depends on their whims."
"There are too many poor people in the world, even if such an edict was truly issued, what difference would it make if it was a peck per person, a hundred pecks for a hundred people? Those officials, oblivious to the sufferings of the people, would hoard it away. Selling it off could make them a fortune."
Cui Yun’s eyes flashed with a sharp glint.
After a long pause, he let out a scoff.
No wonder brother renounced scholarship for martial prowess, once saying these words.
"Weizhen, you do not know, the demons and spirits of this world always assume the heart of a Bodhisattva, intending to sympathize with all under heaven. The harmonious age you think you live in is only what you think it is, you are still young; you will understand in time."