Futile Devices Scans

By the third month, the weather had begun to warm.

Tao Mo finally shed his heavy padded coat. His previous illness, which had lasted several days, had worried Old Tao and Hao Guozi half to death, and Tao Mo had suffered along with them. At the slightest hint of wind or disturbance, they would pile several extra layers of clothing onto him, until wherever he went, he looked like a ball of cotton rolling past.

After recuperating in bed for five or six days, he had then been “confined” within the county yamen for another five or six before Old Tao finally granted him permission to go out for some fresh air.

Without waiting for instructions, Hao Guozi cleverly prepared the carriage.

Tao Mo boarded, but instead of going to the Gu residence, he headed for the marketplace.

Hao Guozi thought that while Young Master had been ill, Gu She had visited twice, bringing tonics each time. Although they were not rare treasures, their combined value was no small sum. Young Master must be planning to return the courtesy. He only wondered whether the silver Old Tao had pressed into his hands before they left would be enough.

When they arrived, Tao Mo lifted the curtain and climbed down. Hao Guozi was about to follow, but Tao Mo waved him back.

After a while, Tao Mo emerged carrying a small paper parcel.

Hao Guozi muttered, “Wouldn’t giving Young Master Gu only that little be rather shabby?”

“Young Master Gu?” Tao Mo froze. “When did I say this was for him?”

Now it was Hao Guozi’s turn to stare. “Who else could it be for?”

“I am going to see Yi Yu.” Ever since Yi Yu’s last visit, Tao Mo had felt as though something were trapped inside his chest, leaving him constantly stifled. He needed to see Yi Yu with his own eyes and confirm something before he could feel at ease.

Hao Guozi disapproved. But Tao Mo had been ill for so long and had finally managed to come out, so he did not wish to dampen his spirits. He said, “Both Young Master Gu and Yi Yu visited you while you were ill. Why favor one and neglect the other? Why don’t we stop by the Gu residence and ask Young Master Gu to come with us?” As long as Gu She was present, Hao Guozi believed that no matter what schemes Yi Yu intended to employ, he would be unable to carry them out.

“Why go to so much trouble?” Tao Mo said. “I will visit Yi Yu first, then go to the Gu residence afterward.”

Hao Guozi pretended to inspect the sky. “Then we cannot arrive too late, or it will look as though we rushed over merely to cadge a meal.”

Tao Mo gave a quiet sound of agreement. Remembering how Gu She had visited him twice during his illness, speaking gently and occasionally telling amusing little stories to entertain him, Tao Mo’s heart became as sweet as though it had been coated in honey. Much of the tightness Yi Yu had left in his chest dissipated, and his mood lightened.

When they reached Yi Yu’s door, Hao Guozi climbed down and knocked.

He had never liked Yi Yu to begin with, so naturally, he did not knock gently. The rapid pounding made it sound almost as though a creditor had come to collect a debt.

The door rattled for a long time, yet no one inside came to answer.

Hao Guozi frowned. “Could they be away?” His face showed displeasure, but inwardly, he was delighted. He wished the people inside would remain away forever, so Young Master would no longer worry about them.

After standing behind him for a while, Tao Mo could not help walking toward one of the neighboring houses.

Hao Guozi called from behind him, “Young Master, no one is home!”

Tao Mo was just about to ask around when the owner of the neighboring house came outside. “Who are you looking for?”

“The young master who lived next door,” Tao Mo said. “Sir, do you know where they have gone?”

The man sighed. “I am the owner of that house. The young master was gravely ill and ultimately failed to pull through. He passed away several days ago. The pageboy with him hurriedly arranged the funeral, then disappeared. No one knows where he went.”

It felt as though someone had stirred a stick through Tao Mo’s head, leaving him dizzy all at once. “How… how many days ago?”

The man thought about it. “Around ten days, I suppose?”

Around ten days?

Tao Mo froze. Had it been after Yi Yu came to see him?

A young woman suddenly rushed out and stood within the doorway, spitting onto the ground. “What rotten luck! I thought we had rented the place to some scholarly young gentleman, only to discover he was a short-lived wretch. Wonderful. It will be difficult to rent the place again now!”

The owner frowned. “He died of illness. It was not as though he wished for it.”

Silenced by him, the woman snorted coldly, glared at Tao Mo, and turned away.

The owner smiled awkwardly. “My wife is ignorant and speaks without restraint.”

Tao Mo stared blankly at him for a long time before forcing out a question. “Where was he buried?”

“That, I do not know. But judging by how hastily that pageboy arranged the funeral, I doubt he found anywhere good. Most likely Ten Thousand Ghosts Mountain.”

“Ten Thousand Ghosts Mountain?” Tao Mo repeated.

“Yunlin Mountain.” The owner pointed toward the road before them, gesturing back and forth. “It is not far. Only five or six li outside the city. Since you have a carriage, the round trip will not take many hours.”

Tao Mo remained somewhat dazed.

The owner grew impatient. “Is there anything else?”

“Did he suffer when he died?” Tao Mo asked.

The question stumped the man. He flung his sleeve. “How would I know?! I am not his dutiful son, attending at his bedside and serving him medicine!”

Only when the door slammed shut from inside did Tao Mo return to himself.

Hao Guozi, who had watched from the side for quite some time, could not help approaching and calling softly, “Young Master.”

Tao Mo lowered his head and gripped the paper parcel.

It had originally been wrapped neatly and smoothly, but his fingers had crushed it until it was wrinkled and flattened.

“Young Master?” Hao Guozi called again worriedly.

Tao Mo raised his head. “Shall we go to Yunlin Mountain?”

Hao Guozi opened his mouth, then silently nodded.

Even now, he remained unwilling to forgive Yi Yu. Master Tao had been such a good person. Had it not been for Yi Yu, Master Tao would not have died. Hao Guozi could not bear to resent Tao Mo, so he could only resent Yi Yu instead. Even after Yi Yu’s death, he felt little sympathy or pity. Instead, he breathed a sigh of relief. The dark cloud hanging over Young Master’s head had finally vanished. From now on, there would be gentle winds and clear skies. How wonderful.

But he would never dare reveal such dark thoughts at a time like this.

Especially while Young Master was grieving.

By the time they reached Yunlin Mountain, the sky had already grown dark.

Looking at the mountain, which was even blacker than the night sky, Hao Guozi lost his nerve. He called toward the carriage compartment, “Young Master, it is too dark to see the path. Shall we return tomorrow?”

Tao Mo looked outside and remained silent for a long while. “All right.”

And so the carriage circled the foot of Yunlin Mountain, then turned back the way it had come.

According to Tao Mo’s original plans, they should have gone to the Gu residence next. But in his present state, how could he possibly be in the mood to dine and play Go with Gu She or discuss pleasant things? Hao Guozi took it upon himself to drive the carriage back to the county yamen.

Tao Mo climbed down without saying anything and drifted into the residence like a wandering cloud.

After parking the carriage, Hao Guozi was about to go comfort him when Old Tao, who had been lying in wait outside the room, dragged him aside.

“What happened?” Old Tao had no patience for preliminaries and came straight to the point.

Hao Guozi sighed. “Yi Yu is dead. They say he died of illness.”

Old Tao froze. Over the past several days, his thoughts had been entirely occupied by Prince Lingyang and Huang Guangde, so he had not sent anyone to keep watch on Yi Yu. Unexpectedly, something had happened. “Did he truly die of illness?”

“Well, I did not see it with my own eyes,” Hao Guozi said. “Most likely? Unless…” His eyes shifted, and a possibility that seemed more reasonable to him suddenly emerged. “Peng Xiang murdered him for his money?”

Old Tao glanced sideways at him. “What makes you say that?”

Hao Guozi found his own theory extremely convincing. “The landlord said Peng Xiang buried Yi Yu in a great hurry and then disappeared. Doesn’t that sound like a guilty conscience?”

Old Tao stared at him without saying anything.

Hao Guozi retreated half a step. “Did I say something wrong?”

“No. You are entirely correct.” Old Tao suddenly revealed a smile that Hao Guozi found extremely unsettling. “In fact, you could not be more correct.”

“…”

Hao Guozi felt a chill run down his back.

Tao Mo remained melancholy throughout the night. By morning, his mood had finally improved a little, allowing Old Tao and Hao Guozi, who had worried he would grieve himself ill, to breathe a sigh of relief.

Old Tao seized the opportunity to raise the matter he had pondered all night. “Does Young Master not find Yi Yu’s death extremely suspicious?”

“What do you mean?” Tao Mo asked.

Old Tao said, “When Yi Yu came to visit Young Master that day, his speech and behavior seemed perfectly natural, and his complexion looked rather good. How could he suddenly pass away without warning?”

Tao Mo recalled Yi Yu’s visit. His cheeks had indeed been rosy, but that had been the effect of rouge. His true complexion had been concealed beneath thick face powder, making it impossible to tell whether it had been healthy or poor. Yet the things Yi Yu had said that day had carried deep implications. Considered carefully, they had indeed contained the air of a farewell. Otherwise, Tao Mo would not have remained so troubled and unable to put his mind at ease afterward.

But all of this was merely his speculation. Apart from the two people involved, no one else knew the truth.

Old Tao said, “We knew Yi Yu, after all, and Young Master is the magistrate of this county. How can we allow him to die with an injustice left unredressed?”

Old Tao’s words moved Tao Mo. He did not even notice that Old Tao, who ordinarily detested Yi Yu as much as Hao Guozi did, had suddenly begun pleading for justice on his behalf. Tao Mo thought only that the matter ought indeed to be investigated thoroughly.

Moreover, Yi Yu had taken Huang Guangde’s possession, and Huang Guangde might also have killed Wan Feng. In that case, it was entirely possible that Yi Yu had been murdered.

“Very well! Tomorrow, I will send people up the mountain to locate Yi Yu’s body, then have the coroner examine it!” Tao Mo declared firmly.

The corner of Old Tao’s mouth lifted.

Finding Yi Yu’s body, however, was not so simple.

Yunlin Mountain was not vast, but many unclaimed dead had been buried there. Finding one particular corpse among all those lonely ghosts was by no means easy. Moreover, Cui Jiong was unwilling to exert himself, and the constables followed his lead, handling the task perfunctorily.

It took them a full three days to locate a perfectly ordinary corpse.

Both Tao Mo and Old Tao knew that the longer a body remained hidden, the fewer clues it would retain. In the end, Old Tao simply mobilized disciples of the Demon Sect. In less than an hour, the body was deposited in the yamen courtyard.

A terrible stench rose to the sky.

Tao Mo quickly had the coroner take the corpse away for examination.

Although it was removed almost immediately, the odor remained. No matter what methods they tried, it refused to disappear.

Gu She happened to visit just then. Smelling it, he frowned slightly and crooked a finger at Tao Mo, who stood awkwardly to one side. “Come stay at my residence for a while.”

Old Tao originally did not wish to go. Then he considered that if Tao Mo remained close by, he could still intervene if necessary. If Tao Mo stayed elsewhere, the emperor would be far away and the heavens high—Old Tao would see and hear nothing. After weighing the advantages and disadvantages, he followed along with Hao Guozi.

The courtyard Gu She had previously given Tao Mo remained available, with all its furnishings already in place, making it extremely easy to move back in.

In a daze, Tao Mo felt as though their days had returned to the way they had once been.

Yet some things were different now.

“…”

Old Tao had returned.

Mu Chun had left.

Yi Yu was gone.

Knowing that the county magistrate urgently awaited the result, the coroner stayed awake all night and examined Yi Yu’s body twice from head to toe, front and back. In the end, he declared with absolute certainty, “He died of illness.”

When Tao Mo learned this, he sighed, unsure whether he felt grief or relief.

The man was already dead. All that had happened before was now no more than drifting clouds.

Tao Mo asked Old Tao for some silver to arrange Yi Yu’s funeral. Yi Yu had never lived a peaceful life while alive, so Tao Mo hoped that in death, he might finally have a resting place that belonged to him.

This time, Old Tao agreed readily and took charge of the matter himself. In a single day, he selected a coffin, had a gravestone carved, and chose an auspicious date and hour for the burial.

A fine drizzle was falling that day.

Tao Mo crouched before the gravestone and placed six large plates filled with dates before it.

Hao Guozi stood behind him holding an umbrella.

Tao Mo said nothing. He could not read the characters carved upon the stone, but he knew what a gravestone was. Looking at that gray slab, the heart he had held suspended for so long finally sank.

Yi Yu was truly gone.

After an unknown length of time, the umbrella swayed, then steadied again.

It was being held much higher than before.

The wind blew, slanting the rain.

Tao Mo’s face was soon covered in wetness. From nearby, it looked as though countless tiny tears clung to his skin.

The umbrella suddenly lowered and moved closer.

Gu She’s deep voice came from behind him. “Everyone dies eventually.”

Tao Mo said blankly, “Why do they always die before me?”

Gu She did not answer immediately.

The wind continued to blow, and the rain continued to fall. Wind and rain intertwined, and the weather grew increasingly cold. The faint warmth that had only just arrived several days ago was thoroughly swept away by the storm.

“You will live a long life.”

Gu She suddenly said it without warning.

Tao Mo’s thoughts, which had been wandering across all corners of the world, were abruptly dragged back. His body swayed slightly.

A steady hand pressed against his shoulder.

Tao Mo turned his head, tears faintly glimmering in his eyes. “Xianzhi, another person has died.”

“People die every day in this world,” Gu She said.

“But I knew them,” Tao Mo said. “One was my father, and the other was…” What had Yi Yu been to him? Tao Mo could not explain.

The person in his heart? Certainly not anymore.

A lover? They had never been lovers.

A friend? Their relationship had gone astray from the very beginning, whether because of Yi Yu at first or Tao Mo later. The word friend seemed both too ordinary and too intimate for what they had been.

“…”

“An old acquaintance,” Gu She supplied.

Tao Mo looked at him gratefully.

Yes. An old acquaintance. Someone with whom he had once exchanged words, someone with whom he had shared certain experiences, someone with whom he had once possessed a common enemy…

There could hardly be a more fitting description than old acquaintance.

The hand Gu She had placed upon Tao Mo’s shoulder suddenly exerted force.

Tao Mo’s legs had already gone somewhat numb from crouching, and as expected, he toppled sideways.

His entire body abruptly stiffened. He quickly realized that he had fallen into Gu She’s embrace.

Should he struggle to rise, or continue pretending to lack the strength? Tao Mo did not spend much time debating before choosing the latter.

“I do not appear in court,” Gu She’s voice came from above his head.

Tao Mo moved his head with extreme caution. “I know.”

“That place decided my uncle’s future,” Gu She said calmly.

Even so, Tao Mo still heard a trace of sorrow.

Or perhaps it was not Gu She’s sorrow, but his own. Gazing at Yi Yu’s gravestone, Tao Mo finally felt some of the tension from leaning in Gu She’s embrace recede, though his ears remained burning hot.

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