368 Chronicles of the Building of Pines and Cranes II (1/2)

Ning Que sneered at his words, and as a disciple of the Second floor of the Academy and enjoying equal popularity with Chen Pipi, he was becoming more and more determined that he was a genius.

Because he was tall, the old man had been sitting in the chair with increasing discomfort, but he finally found a comfortable position after several changes in posture. Half-leaning on the back of the chair, he held his lower jaw and looked at Ning Que and asked, ”Kill someone when you're unhappy? Have you killed someone before?”

Ning Que put the empty urn made from spring clay beside his feet and replied, ”I won't tell you how many people I've killed because it is against the law of the Tang Empire, but you can just think about it.”

The old man shook his urn, which was already empty, and then muttered a few words, asking the manager downstairs to bring another two urns. Then he stared at Ning Que and asked, ”Why do you want to kill people?”

After silently thinking for a while, Ning Que shook his head and answered, ”Though I'm about to get drunk and you're already drunk, I still can't tell you about this.”

The manager trotted up to the veranda and put two urns of wine beside the old man with respect. He then bowed to him and backed off, without even uttering one more word, let alone did he urge him to settle the account.

He had no idea who this old man was, nor did the Big Owner of the Building of Pines and Cranes, a high official of the imperial court, know anything about him. It was merely that the Building of Pines and Cranes had been keeping a portrait for years and following a simple rule.

The rule was that if there was an old man with an appearance like the one in the portrait that came to the Building of Pines and Cranes, every worker there should respect the old man like an ancestor. They should meanwhile leave him alone as if they were treating a personal enemy, for fear that the old man would become bothered and unhappy.

There would be no harm to the Building of Pines and Cranes even if he was not the old man in the portrait. They would only lose some taels of silver or have some face loss. However, if the real ancestor were to come and receive inattentive treatment, then how could the Building of Pines and Cranes continue to stay in Chang'an any longer?

The old man swatted open the spring clay urn, then joyfully had a drink and said, ”When I was the same age as you, I also desired to kill people.”

Ning Que looked at his face and was not sure about the old man's age. But it seemed that he was quite old, so how many years ago was he referring to?

”Who did you want to kill back then?” Ning Que asked curiously.

The old man put the urn on the small table beside the chair, looked at the bare winter branches in front of the veranda, and said, ”My mother was the third concubine of my father. When my father died three years after my birth, my mother and I were not accommodated by the clan. So my mother took me away from the old house and wandered from place to place. We had a hard time and suffered a lot of humiliation.”

”So, once I got the ability to kill, the first thing I wanted to do was to go back to my hometown and kill all the old biddies and relatives who had bullied me and my mother. Then I would go back to dig up my father's grave and turn his remains into ashes.”

The old man was talking about the most sinister things like killing, arson, and family extermination, but he showed a calm and gentle expression. He was now more like a naughty child lying down on a haystack than an aged man who had gone through the vicissitudes of life, telling tales of the bygone days from long ago with a childlike face.

Ning Que stared at the old man, and then frowned and asked him, ”So, did you kill them then?”

With his slender index finger, the old man lightly knocked the clay urn on the table. It made a clear and vigorous sound, which was just like a memorial tablet falling from a sequestered ancestral hall in an old house that had undergone a hundred generations.

He looked at Ning Que and said with a smile, ”I won't tell you.”

Ning Que was speechless and wondered about his stinginess and small-mindedness.

”The man that I want to kill... he has murdered a lot of innocent men. Of course, I am not a Sage. The man ruined the most beautiful part of my life and killed my beloved parents. I swore to get revenge out of a personal grudge just like you had done in the old days. The only difference between us is that the men in your clan were relatively easy to kill.”

After a while of silence, he continued, ”While the man that I want to kill is powerful, with not only a high position, but also a background that is difficult for even me to handle.”

The old man stared at him, then frowned and said, ”I imagine that you are also a big shot.”

Ning Que smiled and replied, ”You have truly gone through the mortal world and known countless people with your insightful observations. To be honest with you, I am a decent man, because my teacher is a prominent figure.”

The old man said sullenly, ”You're talking nonsense. Your teacher, of course... even if he is prominent, that's nothing to do with you.”

Ning Que ignored him and continued, ”I'm now evenly matched with the big shot whom I want to kill.”

The old man sneered, ”Then what are you still depressed about? You can just seek the opportunity to kill him.”

Ning Que fell into silence for quite a long time and had a helpless expression on his face. Then he sighed and said, ”But my position comes from my teacher, who is actually very rigid. In appearance, he would like to see his disciples stay flexible, yet he is very rational and always says to us that the law of the Tang Empire shall prevail. So, what do you think? Contradictory, right?”

Hearing these words, the old man got embarrassed and reprimanded him. ”Nonsense, does stay flexible have anything to do with the law of the Tang Empire? Can't you kill without using dishonest methods?”

Ning Que did not notice the expression of the old man and staggered toward him. He actively picked up a new wine urn and opened the cover to dump the wine into his mouth, and said, ”If the law of the Tang Empire shall prevail, then I shall find the evidence to engage in a lawsuit. But the question is, where to find the evidence? If I don't use dishonest methods, then how can I kill my enemy? Does that mean that I should show up in front of him and directly tell him that I want to kill him and then get knocked out?”

The night breeze was flickering, and the old man sat up straight and stared at Ning Que. He became angrier at Ning Que for his imbecility and confusion. With his thin and lengthy palms grasping the chair, he was about to slap Ning Que's face at any moment.

Ning Que was already drunk and, of course, did not notice the rage of the old man. He was, on the one hand, drinking the tasteful wine and, on the other hand, sighing with emotions about revenge, unwillingness, and the moon. Those sighs then got more and more repetitive and boring and were lingering on certain keywords. But he still blocked his innermost thoughts subconsciously and, even after he was drunk, he did not speak of his identity or the name Xia Hou.

”Old man, I used bank notes to knock open the Building of Pines and Cranes before. And what about you? How did you get in here?”