The wet nurse was a servant born in their master's house, recently she offended the old lady's personal maidservant, thus she was sent to Peng Hao* Courtyard. She had quite a lot of connections, so she was very well-informed on stories and news. Seeing the two young maids staring at herself with a curious shine in their eyes, momentarily, her chronic illness of chattiness once again appeared. She covered the door, said in a low voice, "There's no need to say, young master really has a hidden disease!"
Hidden disease? Why don't I know? You Shu* was shocked into a daze, two small hands groping his own body. Vision is normal, hearing normal, intelligence normal, moreover have no missing arms or legs, how can there be a hidden illness? Can it be that the internal organs have a disease? Congenital heart disease or neonatal pneumonia? But why is it that he doesn't even feel a little discomfort?
His over-developed brain began to think at the speed of light, listing all the congenital diseases one by one, and finding out the corresponding symptoms and treatment. Because his head had been crammed with a clutter of information, a surprised expression had appeared on his face for only an instant, then his previous dazed, frozen, silly foolishness was recovered.
Two young maids glanced at the baby inside cradle. Screwing their brow, they said, "Could it be that the young master is a fool?"
You Shu was still thinking about the problem of treating congenital heart disease, so he did not hear them, had he heard he also wouldn't care. He had always been indifferent, besides eating enough, sleeping well, working hard to live on, towards any other matters he had totally no passion. Whether the people beside him treat him well or badly, if it's like or loathing, had never been within the boundaries of his considerations.
"Looking at this appearance it seems pretty like it," the nurse also went to the side of the cradle to size him up, then following that, shook her head and said, ��but this is not much of a hindrance, whether the young master is clever or crazy and foolish, Master doesn't care at all. It's his fate that has a problem."
Fate? Could it be that I'm an Evil Solitary Star*? You Shu quickly withdrew his thoughts from the myriad of illnesses and began to recall Ba Gua*, Liu Yao*, destiny, yin and yang, and other esoteric metaphysical knowledge. The expression which had originally been wooden appeared even duller.
"Could it be that Eldest Young Master is an Evil Solitary Star?"
"Also not that." The wet-nurse waved her hands, letting everyone bring their head over, saying softly, "Regarding this, there's a certain story. According to sayings, the day Eldest Young Master was born, the Master had a dream. In his dream, his former colleague came to his door for a visit, saying that the forty-two silvers Master owed him had not been returned, as such, he specially came today to collect the debt. Just as Master woke up, Eldest Young Master was born, while that colleague had long since passed away five years ago. Therefore, the Lord firmly believes that the young master is that colleague's reincarnation, come to claim his debt from him. So he was immensely dissatisfied with the eldest young master, scolding, again and again, Debt-Collector Ghost, even giving to Lady forty-two silvers, saying that eldest young master's eating, wearing, using, will all be deducted from inside. Once deducted gone, Eldest Young Master should leave, from the beginning, he was even not the Wang Family's people. "
"So, so there is actually such a thing?" The two little maidservants shivered, but not from the cold. They looked at You Shu's face again and felt it was extremely terrifying.
You Shu's face was dull. No matter what, he still couldn't imagine that there was even this kind of inside story. He was obviously You Shu, when did he become a debt-collecting colleague? This family didn't owe him money ah! Moreover, how long can forty-two silvers be spent for? Once it's all spent, this family will really drive himself out? His thoughts very quickly shifted from karma and fatalism to the prices of goods in various dynasties, rather worried about his future life.
"Because of this Lady cried for several nights, worried about young master's matters. Only after did she have him thrown far away to Peng Hao Courtyard, out of sight out of mind. The heavens above play with people, a month later, Concubine Lin gave birth to Second Young Masters. At the moment he fell to earth, the sound of Sheng* pipes rang constantly, bells and drums filled the heavens, rays of light were endless and lofty, being immensely auspicious. Doesn't it make Eldest Young Master that Debt-collector Ghost, a foil that's even harder to endure? Now ah, Second Young Master is Master's heart-flesh and treasure, but Eldest Young Master is a Funeral Star. This Peng Hao courtyard of ours is actually a place more shabby than a rural village." The nurse's face was depressed, hating that she could not immediately be on her way.
"Forty-two silvers are enough to be spent for how long? How are our monthly silvers going to be solved? Our bonus? Bonus is also gone?" The little maidservant was quickly about to cry, her days in this grand family, it appears that she did not expect them to be this 'wonderful'.
A series of numbers appeared in You Shu's head. He had taken the goods prices of each and every dynasty in history and deduced a little. He discovered that under normal circumstances, a twelve silver can allow an ordinary person's family from a year and a half to two years of spending. And he is only one person, logically speaking, it should be able to support him for a longer period of time, but considering that the Wang Family is a wealthy and large household, extent of eating and wearing is far, far higher than the outside world, even if he saves on clothes and shrinks meals, it could only sustain for another four or five years at most.
Four or five years later when the money has been all spent, would the Wang Family truly hurry him out? He was, after all, their close life, bones and flesh*, is this to say that they do not care or remember even a little about blood-bound familial feelings? However, the ancients were very superstitious. You Shu did not dare to pin his hopes on uncertain factors. He wanted live on, so from now on he had to plan well. Firstly, how these forty-two silvers should be used; he had to work out a plan.
"Our monthly silver is not counted, I heard that those forty-two silvers could only be spent on the young master, for example, what he eats, what he wears, what he uses." The nurse curled her mouth, laughing. "You're still thinking of a bonus? Hold up and go wait to drink northwest wind!*"
Once the old woman and two little maidservants heard this heaven-shocking secret news, they were afraid and also disappointed, and no had the heart to drink tea and chat about life. One by one they found an excuse to leave. Since then they seldom stepped into the young master's room. The wet-nurse suddenly felt a stream of cold wind lingering overhead, hugging her shoulders she shivered, and also backside bolting, urine flowing, ran away.
The room quieted down, You Shu had his budget plan stored inside his brain. Implementing it in detail will still require following the current prices to undergo adjustments. All in all, he must rely on these forty-two silvers to grow until he is of age. Even if he cannot last that long, it was fine as long as he passed twelve or thirteen years of age.
Super-brain ability users were famous war residues, blood thin, skin crispy, thoroughly could not fight, but that was only in regards to zombies. If it was against ordinary people, You Shu could completely defeat them. Four or five years old may be a bit far, but twelve or thirteen-year-olds were already independent enough. Thinking of it like this, You Shu's eyelids drooped and drooped, about to enter sleep.
Suddenly, a stream of chilly air blew onto his face, as if there was a person he could not see, currently coming extremely close to size him up. You Shu as a mental ability user was very sensitive to the outside world. He knew, there was still one person in the room, and towards You Shu, he had vicious intentions deep in his heart. There were a thousand returns and hundred revolutions inside You Shu. His face, however, was silly and foolish. At the corner of his mouth hung a string of transparent and bright saliva.
Who was the other party? Or perhaps he should say——what was it? He thought of the day he was born, the shapeless cold current that had been fighting with himself for the body; then he thought of the already deceased colleague, who had come previously to collect the debt. Faintly, vaguely, he had a guess. Seems like, that dream was real, the so-called 'Debt-collecting Ghost' also genuinely existed, and it was not himself, but that cold current. He wanted to snatch this body so that he could get the family to return the silver.
However, the other side never imagined, that for a newborn baby, his soul strength was actually that tough, abruptly shattering his grand body-snatching plan. But it seems that his grudge is very deep, he absolutely won't leave easily. Presently, the people who owed him a debt had already taken out the money due, but it was all spent on You Shu himself, instead of being returned to the creditor. How could he be satisfied, he will definitely still wait for an opportunity to snatch the body.
You Shu's heart was sombre, but his face had no expression. Regardless of what happens, he will not give it to other people and let this chance of rebirth be in vain. This body and this entirely new life, he has already booked.
That cold flow circled around You Shu and lingered for a while then slowly dissipated; it totally was not like that time when he was born – tyrannical, and carelessly, unconcernedly, worming into this skin sack. You Shu completely had reason to believe, while it had been fighting with him for the body, it had suffered a great injury, and is now in a period of weakness, temporarily posing no threat to himself. But the question is, will it maintain this harmless attitude forever?
You Shu has not seen a ghost before, but he had once studied the theory of yin and yang. In certain theories of the yin and yang school of thought, some ghosts will dissipate with the passage of time, some ghosts will, however, become more and more powerful, until they condense into corporeal form; for example, a demon. The plaything in his own room was a Debt-collector Ghost. It could probably be classified as a demon. If the resentment does not disperse after a long time, it may gradually become powerful, and hence carry out possession once again.
You Shu was not an optimistic person, before doing something, he would always consider the worst outcome. He didn't hope that this ghost would take the initiative to leave and did not believe it would slowly dissipate. In other words, he now faces not only the problem of being abandoned by his family but also the persecution of the evil spirit. However, he was currently only a newborn little baby. Even an ant he could not pinch to death, how would he be able to defeat the evil spirit? Although his spiritual power was still present, its strength had already been greatly weakened due to the reincarnation. It was by far, less than one-tenth of his previous life's, and could not be placed externally. Unless the demon squeezes into his mind – only then will the demon suffer from his passive attacks.
Fortunately, this ghost's resentment was not heavy, power was also not strong, thus it fell into a disadvantageous position during the possession. Therefore, besides saving on clothes, shrinking meals, and quickly growing up, You Shu had an even more urgent task, and that was cultivating his spiritual strength. If the demon's strength grew day by day, while he continued standing at his original spot, sooner or later it would be hard to escape death.
However, how could spiritual cultivation be that easy. In the absence of the nucleus of the zombies, he could only rely on meditation. The speed of cultivating through meditation was extremely slow. Often, it's difficult to rise by a rank even after a good several years. You Shu could ensure that he would not be possessed now, but it was hard to ensure that he will not be possessed in the future and the only lasting solution would be to kill this ghost.
How should ghosts be killed? Do a ritual? Splash dog blood? Paste yellow talismans? Use a peach-wood sword to stab? These methods, a little baby completely could not do. So, he still had to grow up quickly ah! Thinking of it this way, You Shu held his thumb in his mouth as he deeply fell asleep.
The cold air that had just dissipated condensed anew, lingering over the cradle for a while, trying to get close several times, yet it was all bounced away by the little baby's strong life-force. It seemed a little tired now. Blowing past a watermelon seed shell, it wormed out from a gap in the window.
Not long had passed, before another luxuriously dressed woman secretly came to the courtyard. Discovering that the female servants were all entirely absent, her face revealed a scowl, but she quickly restrained herself. She told her personal maidservant not to make a sound, crept to the doorway, and looked across the door curtain. The baby was sleeping soundly, pink mouth holding a thumb. Not only pouting his mouth, he was also making a sucking action, appearance beyond cute. The woman looked and looked, then shed two lines of flowing tears. the maidservant pulled to stop her once more, and only then did she miserably leave.
*Forty-thousand: is 四十千 in Chinese. 四十(forty) is read as sìshí, thus it is homonyms with the Chinese word for 'die', 死 (sǐ). The author is making a pun on those words, implying that 四十 (sishi; forty) is 死死 (sisi; die die). Hence, 四十千 (forty thousand) = 死死千 (dying thousand times).
*You Shu: You Shu (有姝) is the name of both the main character and the story. It also means 'have beauty' or 'there's a beauty'. Click Here for the reason why I didn't translate it as You Shu.
*Peng Hao: 蓬蒿
The stem and leaves of a Crown Daisy Chrysanthemum. Not very pretty is it? From the name, you can already see that Peng Hao courtyard is probably a 'leftover' courtyard.
*Bagua: 'The Bagua or Pa Kua are eight symbols used in Taoist cosmology to represent the fundamental principles of reality, seen as a range of eight interrelated concepts. Each consists of three lines, each line either "broken" or "unbroken", respectively representing yin or yang. Due to their tripartite structure, they are often referred to as "trigrams" in English' – Wikipedia
*Liu Yao: A divination method the ancient Chinese used to observe the laws of nature that govern the process of everything.
*Evil Solitary Star: An type of 'fate' derived from your date of birth and the celestial signs or circumstances of celestial objects (i.e. sun, moon, stars, etc) during it. It is derived using Chinese astrology. 'People with this destiny will always bring a series of bad luck to relatives, friends and relatives around. Mostly, most of their families will suffer unlucky deaths.' – translated from Baidu.
*Sheng: A type of reed pipe. Click Here for more information.
*close life, bones and flesh: Close life = 'qinsheng', which can mean 'close life', 'blood relative' or 'personally conceived.' I chose 'close life' because it was the literal translation. Using either of ones left would make the phrase too specific. Blood relative is a noun, 'personally conceived' is an adjective here, while 'qinsheng' is both an adjective and a noun. So I went for the literal translation, close life.
*drink northwest wind: Basically to drink air. The wet-nurse was implying that by waiting for a non-existing bonus, the maidservant was waiting to drink air(air = bonus, since bonus is immaterial/cannot be grasped/is not there like air).