The matter of restoring the Golden Bamboo, as it was called, took up half the day.
By the time the workers finished reattaching it, it was already dusk.
But it had to be said that the moment the Golden Bamboo was back in place, it felt as if a warm breeze swept through the entire Drunken Flower Pavilion, dispelling the previous oppressive atmosphere of deathly stillness.
The Drunken Flower Pavilion had previously been gloomy, with an air of foreboding, but now with the Golden Bamboo restored and the three lines complete, the feng shui formation was as it should be, bringing a renewed sense of vitality to the place. Everyone’s mood improved considerably.
Everyone, that is, except for the Sun family.
Although the Sun family also felt the change in the Drunken Flower Pavilion, the thought of their actions over the past half month filled them with shame.
Zhu Shanzao asked Sun Zhipeng, "You said earlier you collected a large bowl of the Golden Bamboo Dew. Did you drink it?"
Sun Zhipeng chuckled, "Why would I drink that stuff?"
"It seems you did," Zhu Shanzao mercilessly pierced through Sun Zhipeng's fragile facade.
Sun Zhipeng felt a pang of emptiness. In fact, he not only drank it, but he drank the most. Furthermore, Sun Hao, his father, had even saved his own portion for Sun Zhipeng to drink.
Yan Shouyi sighed and said, "That's why I say, don't be superstitious. In the future, keep your eyes open. Don't worship every temple you see or kneel before every Buddha. You need to discern carefully. It's fortunate it was just a Golden Bamboo today. If tomorrow a poisonous mushroom grows in your backyard, will you lick that too? Even the gods couldn't save you then."
The Sun family members turned red in the face, overcome with shame. Truthfully, they wished a poisonous mushroom would grow in their backyard and kill them on the spot, saving them from this humiliating torture.
Fortunately, only the Sun family knew about this. They decided to never speak of it again. If the other residents of the Drunken Flower Pavilion were to find out, the Sun family would probably have to move out with their entire clan.
With the feng shui formations of the Drunken Flower Pavilion and the Liu family restored, Yan Shouyi finally felt a weight lifted from his heart.
He said to Sun Zhipeng, "I'm heading back to the Liu family. If anything strange happens again in the Drunken Flower Pavilion, you can come to the Liu family to find me anytime."
Sun Zhipeng quickly asked, "Have the strange occurrences at the Liu family been resolved?"
"We've only caught Zhu Shanzao and dealt with some feng shui issues. The mastermind behind it all hasn't been caught, so I can't guarantee that strange things won't happen again in the Drunken Flower Pavilion," Yan Shouyi informed him truthfully.
Upon hearing this, Sun Zhipeng's face, which had just relaxed, immediately fell again.
Later, after thinking it over, he realized it was indeed the mastermind who had thrown the Golden Bamboo into their backyard. In that case, their greatest enemy should be the mastermind who carelessly discarded the Golden Bamboo!
So, Sun Zhipeng said indignantly, "Great Master, please rest assured, I will inform you immediately of any stir or disturbance in the Drunken Flower Pavilion!"
"Good. You're paving the way for yourself," Yan Shouyi said, patting Sun Zhipeng on the shoulder.
Although Sun Zhipeng had been quite a bully before, Yan Shouyi was not one to dwell on such matters. Since Sun Zhipeng had received his due punishment and was now showing him sufficient respect, Yan Shouyi would treat him equally.
The Sun family, embarrassed to linger at the entrance, soon dispersed and returned home. Yan Shouyi, along with Zhu Shanzao, went back to Villa Number One in the Drunken Flower Pavilion.
As soon as he reached the entrance of the Liu family's residence, he saw many members of the Liu family waiting for him. It seemed that with the restoration of the feng shui, their illnesses had also instantly healed.
Liu Zong, Liu Yiren's father, was also present. However, the elderly patriarch, Liu Mingzhi, due to his advanced age, still needed bed rest and a lot of recovery.
Liu Zong warmly grasped Yan Shouyi's hand, "Younger Brother, you've saved our Liu family once again! I truly don't know how to express my gratitude!"
Yan Shouyi waved his hand, "Patriarch Liu and my grandfather were old friends. Naturally, I couldn't just stand by. Is the Liu family safe now? Have there been any other unusual occurrences?"
Liu Zong glanced back and said,
"Except for my father and Yiren, all other members of the Liu family are here. There shouldn't be any problems!"
Mentioning Liu Yiren, Yan Shouyi's heart suddenly tightened.
It seemed the scarred man with the burn marks had initially targeted Liu Yiren. While Yan Shouyi was busy deciphering various curses and dark arts after going up the mountain, he hadn't even seen Liu Yiren once.
Now that the feng shui formation was broken and the Liu family's strange illnesses had been resolved, Liu Yiren should have appeared.
Her continued absence indicated that something must have gone wrong…
Without a word, Yan Shouyi grabbed Zhu Shanzao and rushed towards Liu Yiren's separate courtyard.
Zhu Shanzao couldn't help but exclaim, "In front of outsiders, at least leave me some dignity! Otherwise, how will I be able to mix in Guling in the future?"
Yan Shouyi sneered, "Letting a tiger return to the mountain is not my style. If I let you go back, what if you bully people again?"
Zhu Shanzao's expression changed, "You didn't say that before!"
"Didn't your godfather teach you not to trust handsome humans so easily?"
"My godfather taught me not to trust any humans carelessly…"
"Your godfather is right."
Yan Shouyi asked, "During your stay at the Liu family's, did you not see Liu Yiren?"
Zhu Shanzao replied weakly, "The last time I teased Liu Yiren, you beat me up badly. So, this time I didn't provoke her."
"Tell the truth." Yan Shouyi patted Zhu Shanzao's pig-like head.
He didn't believe Zhu Shanzao's nonsense. Since this fellow dared to eat and drink at the Liu family's, why would he be afraid of provoking Liu Yiren?
Knowing he couldn't deceive Yan Shouyi, Zhu Shanzao honestly confessed, "Actually, I did think about teasing Liu Yiren. But that night, as soon as I stepped into Liu Yiren's courtyard, the paper effigy A Gong, who was wearing a mask, appeared and beat me up severely, warning me not to touch Liu Yiren. So, from then on, I never went looking for Liu Yiren again."
Yan Shouyi's footsteps halted.
A paper effigy protecting Liu Yiren?
This… this was too strange.
A Gong was making trouble for the Sun family, and A Gong was also protecting Liu Yiren. Wasn't that a contradiction?
However, this did confirm a suspicion in Yan Shouyi's mind: the paper effigy A Gong was indeed the mental patient harassing the Liu family.
Because the Liu family didn't acknowledge his relationship with Liu Yiren, A Gong harbored resentment and tried to retaliate against the Liu family. But towards Liu Yiren, he acted protectively, perhaps not wanting to lose his wife.
But Liu Yiren herself had explicitly stated that she didn't know this A Gong!
At this moment, Yan Shouyi and Zhu Shanzao arrived at Liu Yiren's separate courtyard. Yan Shouyi pushed open the side door and saw the swing set in the courtyard.
Last time, he and Liu Yiren had chatted and gotten to know each other on this swing.
Liu Yiren's courtyard should have been home to many cats, and those cats were quite fond of Yan Shouyi. But now the courtyard was empty, not a single cat in sight.
Yan Shouyi didn't bother with pleasantries, pushing open the villa door and heading straight for the second and third floors, calling Liu Yiren's name.
Upon reaching the third floor, Yan Shouyi suddenly heard a faint singing.
Although he couldn't make out what the voice was singing, Yan Shouyi recognized it as Liu Yiren's.
What was going on? After Liu Yiren's illness was cured, she wasn't coming out to greet him but was hiding in her bedroom singing?
Just the thought of it was filled with an eerie sense of the uncanny.
Yan Shouyi approached Liu Yiren's bedroom door on the third floor. Seeing that the door was ajar, he gently knocked and identified himself.
But Liu Yiren's singing didn't stop, nor was it affected by Yan Shouyi in the slightest.
Yan Shouyi frowned and said, "I'm coming in. Is it convenient for you?"
After waiting for a moment, Liu Yiren still didn't respond. Yan Shouyi pushed the door open.
He saw that on the expensive wool carpet in front of the floor-to-ceiling window of the bedroom, Liu Yiren, wrapped in a quilt, was singing with her back to Yan Shouyi.
Yan Shouyi walked over and called out, "Niece, are you alright?"
However, the moment his hand touched Liu Yiren's shoulder, Liu Yiren rolled to the ground like a log. With a turn, she revealed a pale, ghastly face!
Yan Shouyi was startled by the suddenness of it, but after regaining his composure, he realized that the person lying on the ground was not Liu Yiren, but a paper effigy that looked remarkably like Liu Yiren. At first glance, there was no difference between it and Liu Yiren.
Moreover, this paper effigy's mouth was open, and it was intermittently emitting Liu Yiren's voice.
If one were to see this scene in the middle of the night, it would likely drive them mad.
Needless to say, this was definitely the work of the paper effigy craftsman.
Zhu Shanzao called from outside the room, "How is that little girl?"
Yan Shouyi didn't bother to answer Zhu Shanzao, simply telling him to come in himself.
Zhu Shanzao was also startled by Liu Yiren's paper effigy. Angered, he was about to rush forward and tear the paper effigy to shreds when Yan Shouyi stopped him:
"If you destroy A Gong's paper effigy, he will definitely be alerted. Isn't this like beating the grass to startle the snake?"
Zhu Shanzao thought about it and felt it made sense, but he then said, "But you've already restored the Liu family's feng shui and caused such a commotion. Won't A Gong know?"
Yan Shouyi: "...That also makes sense."
A Gong leaving the paper effigy was likely intended to frighten the Liu family. As for the real Liu Yiren, she had undoubtedly fallen into A Gong's hands. Whether she was safe at the moment, Yan Shouyi wasn't sure.
With a somber expression, he began to search Liu Yiren's room, looking for any clues.
At the same time, he asked Zhu Shanzao to sniff the air in the room, trying to find the scent of A Gong's wherewithal to locate where A Gong had taken Liu Yiren.
Zhu Shanzao sniffed his nose and suddenly let out a howl, "No! A Gong sprinkled sulfur in this room. It's too pungent! I can't smell anything!"
Yan Shouyi was not very surprised by this. He had long realized that A Gong was not simple and was likely skilled at cleaning up traces. If he left any clues, it would more likely be a trap to lure Yan Shouyi in.
Since they couldn't approach it from A Gong's direction, they had to see if Liu Yiren had left any clues.
Yan Shouyi focused his attention, observing Liu Yiren's boudoir.
He suddenly noticed a small wooden bead on the windowsill.
Yan Shouyi picked up the wooden bead. With a single glance, he recognized it as being made of Hainan Huangtan wood, and moreover, it was crafted by his own hands.
When Yan Shouyi first met Liu Yiren, he had given her a bracelet with "poop" charms, which was made of Hainan Huangtan wood. Now, this wooden bead scattered on the windowsill must be a clue left by Liu Yiren for Yan Shouyi!
"Zhu Shanzao!" Yan Shouyi called out, "Come here."
Zhu Shanzao was extremely uncomfortable due to the sulfur, shaking his head and blowing his nose, causing his snot to fly everywhere.
He swaggered over to Yan Shouyi and asked, "What is it?"
"Remember the scent of this wooden bead and try to find any other wooden beads nearby."
Zhu Shanzao exclaimed angrily, "Are you treating me like a dog?"
"Enough nonsense, hurry up."
Although he complained verbally, Zhu Shanzao's body was very obedient. He picked up the wooden bead and jumped onto the windowsill, finding a well-ventilated spot, and sniffed the bead carefully.
Then, he looked around and raised his front pig trotters, pointing in a direction and saying, "There's a scent, alright. It should be in that direction."
"Let's go and see."
Just as Yan Shouyi was about to head downstairs, he felt something was wrong.
The paper effigy that Zhu Shanzao had kicked down earlier had, without their notice, quietly sat up.
Yan Shouyi pretended not to see it and led Zhu Shanzao out of the bedroom.
After a three-second silence, Yan Shouyi suddenly rushed back into the bedroom!
And the paper effigy that had been sitting in the corner had actually stood up and walked to the windowsill on its own!
Zhu Shanzao, despite being a monster himself, was still a little intimidated by this living paper effigy.
"This thing isn't an ordinary paper effigy. It's going to report to A Gong!"
Yan Shouyi let out a cold snort, his feet moving like wind. He instantly appeared in front of the paper effigy and punched its face, smashing it.
But paper effigies have no life. Even with its head smashed, it still had the ability to move.
The paper effigy took two steps back, swayed, and then, ignoring Yan Shouyi, tried to escape from the windowsill.
Yan Shouyi immediately turned around, summoned his Zanpakuto, and easily severed the paper effigy's legs.
The paper effigy, having lost its legs, staggered and fell to the ground. It even tried to crawl using its hands.
Yan Shouyi realized that although this paper effigy had the ability to move, it had no thinking capacity; it could only execute simple tasks.
A Gong's command to this paper effigy was surveillance. If anyone entered Liu Yiren's room, the paper effigy would immediately report it.
It seemed A Gong's cultivation was not very deep. Otherwise, he wouldn't have created such a single-minded paper effigy.
Yan Shouyi had seen powerful paper effigy craftsmen who could make them run, jump, and talk with a mere flick of their wrists, appearing as if they were truly living beings with thoughts.
The paper effigy before him still refused to give up. Yan Shouyi sighed slightly, took out a lighter from his pocket, and with a flick of his wrist, set the paper effigy ablaze, turning it into ashes.
Now, there would be no paper effigy to report to A Gong.
"Now A Gong probably knows you're going to trouble him," Zhu Shanzao reminded him.
Yan Shouyi said calmly, "So what if he knows? We already have a lead, and finding him is only a matter of time. We'll have to spar eventually. Continue leading the way following the scent."
Zhu Shanzao nodded, leading Yan Shouyi out of Liu Yiren's separate courtyard. Outside the outer wall of the Drunken Flower Pavilion residential area, the two found another wooden bead.
This further confirmed for Yan Shouyi that the wooden beads were clues left by Liu Yiren to guide him. By following the wooden beads, he was certain he would find Liu Yiren and A Gong!