Records of Mysterious Things in the Southern Dynasties

Chapter 532 The Great General of the Universe

The waiters carried wooden platters laden with dishes through the tables, neither greeting newcomers with "Please come in, sir," nor making a point of serving food to those already seated. The dishes had long since gone cold, but no one seemed to care, and no one urged them to hurry.

After someone finishes their last bite, puts down their chopsticks, gets up, and leaves, a new customer silently fills the empty seat, repeating the same actions... The entire restaurant is like a sophisticated machine, running tirelessly, but without a trace of emotional warmth.

The shopkeeper leaned against the counter, his fingers unconsciously fiddling with the abacus, his eyes fixed on the gecko on the window, as if these diners had nothing to do with him.

Chen Baxian walked to the counter and tapped on the surface. After a long while, the shopkeeper slowly raised his head, staring at him as if he were invisible. He had no interest in asking questions, nor did he want to answer them…

"Shopkeeper, do you still recognize me?" Chen Baxian pointed to his face and shouted, "I am Chen Erlang!"

"Oh." The shopkeeper responded after a long silence, and then slowly lowered his head again.

"No, no, no!" Chen Baxian quickly stopped him and asked, "Don't you recognize me?"

After a long while... the shopkeeper slowly replied, "I remember."

"Then why are you ignoring me?" Chen Baxian asked.

"..." The shopkeeper paused for a long time before calmly asking, "Why should I bother with you?"

"Damn it..." Chen Baxian couldn't help but blurt out a curse. "We're old friends from the same hometown who haven't seen each other for years."

"So what?" The shopkeeper killed the conversation and continued with his calculations... adding from one to one hundred, and then subtracting from one hundred back to one.

"You're crazy." Chen Baxian, having been rebuffed, turned and left angrily.

But he was still not giving up, and stepped into the 'Zhang's Silk Shop' in the west of the city... the same shop where he had led Ren Yuan and A Yao to exorcise the Five Gods.

Inside the silk shop, several shop assistants were quietly working. Some were constantly sprinkling water on the floor, while others were repeatedly wiping the already gleaming floor. Some were carrying bolts of silk out of the storeroom and neatly arranging them on the counter according to their patterns. Others were carrying the freshly arranged silk back into the storeroom...

It went on and on, methodical yet utterly meaningless, but no one grew tired of it, no one felt dissatisfied, so it continued in this endless cycle…

Mr. Zhang, with his graying hair and beard, sat quietly behind the counter, staring blankly out the door in a daze.

The three approached the counter, and the light in front of them dimmed. He remained focused, neither telling them to move aside nor asking them what they wanted.

"Mr. Zhang, do you remember me?" It wasn't until Chen Baxian spoke that Mr. Zhang, who was over fifty years old, slowly looked up at him.

"I remember..."

"Then why are you ignoring me?"

Why should I pay attention to you?

Upon hearing this, Ren Yuan and Yang Zhong thought to themselves, 'Well, the words are exactly the same.'

"Because I saved your wife's life!" Chen Baxian finally had something to say.

"What does saving her life have to do with me?" Boss Zhang asked, not in a deliberately provocative way, but genuinely puzzled.

“You two are husband and wife, and you saved her life, so you owe me a debt of gratitude, you know that?” Chen Baxian said, his beard bristling and eyes wide.

“You can kill her and I won’t die, so how can you say we’re husband and wife?” Boss Zhang shook his head again and said, “She is her, and I am me. I don’t owe you any favors. You should go find her.”

"Is your wife behind you?" Chen Baxian asked anxiously, no longer caring who he was talking to.

“He died twenty years ago,” Boss Zhang replied slowly. “I’ll give you a piece of my mind…” Chen Baxian cursed vehemently.

Ren Yuan and Yang Zhong quickly pulled him away.

~~
"Are they all possessed by evil spirits?" Chen Baxian thought, feeling both frustrated and horrified.

“It really does seem like it.” Ren Yuan said softly, “When you were talking to Boss Zhang just now, I secretly used a divine technique to make him tell the truth… So, that’s what he really thinks, not a single lie.”

"Is this even human?!" Chen Baxian cursed again, frustrated.

“Everything has changed, everyone has changed. My fellow villagers are all living, breathing people, they wouldn’t be like this now, devoid of emotions, joy, anger, sorrow, and happiness, where is there any humanity left?”

"This must be the Huaxu Kingdom that Wuyang rebuilt?" Yang Zhong suddenly realized.

“That should be it.” Ren Yuan nodded, thinking about the Hua Xu people described by Wu Yang, and how they really did look seven or eight parts similar to the people of Changxing in front of him.

"So he succeeded?" Yang Zhong asked.

"Success my ass!" Chen Baxian spat. "You're all like wooden blocks, what's the difference between you and dead men?"

"How can you know the joy of fish if you are not a fish?" Yang Zhong retorted, as was his habit. "The bad thing about this place is that it lacks the vitality of life and the hustle and bustle of the world. But if people could live a peaceful life without quarrels, crimes, desires, or the exploitation of the people... such a peaceful life seems to be a blessing in this chaotic world."

"You're mistaking deathly silence for peace!" Chen Baxian snorted, completely disagreeing.

"Stop arguing." Ren Yuan looked at the county government office in the distance and said, "Let's go and find out what year it is tonight."

As they spoke, they arrived at the wall outside the yamen (government office) and saw a prominent notice posted there to reassure the people, which read:

'A letter from Hou Jing, Grand General of the Universe and Minister of the Imperial Secretariat, to the subjects of Wu Commandery:'

'The ways of Heaven are constant, and the mandate of Heaven rests upon us. Emperor Xiao Yan, old and senile, abdicated in favor of his son, Crown Prince Xiao Gang. The new emperor ascended the throne and decreed that I, as the Grand General of the Universe, should oversee all within and outside the capital, purge the wicked, and restore order to the world…'

Ren Yuan sighed softly and said, "I know what time it is now."

~~
The explosive announcement left Ren Yuan and his two companions speechless, but it failed to attract the attention of the people of Changxing. They continued with their own affairs, completely undisturbed by the outside world.

"Holy crap, the Great General of the Universe? What an impressive title!" Chen Baxian exclaimed, dumbfounded. "Just who is he? How could he have crippled Xiao Yan so easily?"

"That name sounds familiar." Yang Zhong stroked his chin and said, "I remember that the General of the Palace Guard under Erzhu Rong was named Hou Jing, but it shouldn't be him, right?"

“It’s probably just a coincidence of names.” Chen Baxian didn’t believe it either: “Even if he came from the Northern Dynasty, without roots or foundation, living under someone else’s roof, how could he possibly be so mournful?”

“It’s him.” Ren Yuan shook his head and said slowly, “We have probably arrived twenty years in the future. Twenty years is enough time for many incredible changes to happen.”

"That's true." The two agreed wholeheartedly. "The world has changed, let alone human affairs."

"Damn, Xiao Yan is really living a long life. He must be over eighty by now."

"It's a good thing that Xiao Yan is alive. No one understands the Treasure Mirror of Light better than him."

"Then we must hurry to Jiankang, for we don't know how long Hou Jing can keep him here."

(End of this chapter)