Chapter 23

Chapter 23: I’ll Burn High Incense for the Deity

Song Jiang Prefecture Yamen was in town. The messenger hadn’t been gone long when voices approached before footsteps even reached the door.

A slightly plump figure walked in, moving fast for his build.

Song Jiang’s county magistrate: Li Zhou Quan.

He’d rushed over as soon as he got word, eager to see what this was about.

When he entered, the first person his eyes found was Xiong Jiu Shan, the escort leader.

Li Zhou Quan wore a smile so considerate it looked practiced in a mirror. He even paused to straighten his robe before he spoke warmly. “There was trouble in town today. Thank goodness Official Xiong brought men to help. I’m deeply grateful!”

Xiong Jiu Shan clasped his hands in a modest salute. “Official Li flatters me. My ability is limited. It was the official who held the field and directed things well.”

Xiong Jiu Shan knew Li Zhou Quan wasn’t here for him. Once the polite exchange was over, he turned the conversation toward Xie Yu Chuan.

Li Zhou Quan knew of Xie Yu Chuan.

More than that—he knew exactly who the Xie family was.

Ordinary people? Hardly. A whole household of commanders, merits famous across Great Liang.

To be honest, Li Zhou Quan respected the old duke who’d spent his life on the battlefield. He didn’t dare treat Xie Yu Chuan with open disrespect, even now. But Li Zhou Quan wasn’t high-ranked. He was a small official with a small hat, and he had no intention of sticking his neck into a mess.

Earlier that evening, when Xiong Jiu Shan reported at the yamen, Li Zhou Quan hadn’t even bothered to appear. He’d sent his deputy magistrate to “make things convenient.”

Paperwork. Stamps. A formality.

He’d already heard that the exile convoy included the Xie family.

Rumors ran through the streets like mice. Curiosity wasn’t the problem. Survival was.

An aide had warned him: the Xie family had fallen out of favor with the Son of Heaven. That was why they’d been exiled. If Your Excellency didn’t want to get stained, keep your distance—don’t let their mud splash onto you.

Li Zhou Quan had agreed. In his heart, he’d been wishing the convoy would hurry up and leave the city.

Then the town erupted into chaos.

Li Zhou Quan went out, handled matters, and returned—only to find Xiong Jiu Shan hauling people into his yamen and dragging bound men across the floor like it was a storage shed.

Li Zhou Quan’s mood could be summarized as: of course this is happening to me.

Xiong Jiu Shan tried to report. Li Zhou Quan waved him off. He didn’t want details, didn’t want motives, didn’t want a single sentence he could later be held responsible for.

He’d survived as an official in Song Jiang for ten years by being smooth and cautious. He understood the rule: if you can pretend you’re blind, pretend harder.

Then a report came in: Xie Yu Chuan wanted to use the yamen to summon the god and burn incense.

Li Zhou Quan sat bolt upright.

Summon the god?

Xie Yu Chuan?

Hadn’t the Xie family destroyed their legendary shrine?

Li Zhou Quan only hesitated in his study for a breath before he got up and hurried over.

A chance like this didn’t come twice. If the Xie family’s deity was real, he wanted to see it with his own eyes.

On the way, a servant repeated the old doctor’s assessment.

“The doctor said that man can’t be saved.”

Li Zhou Quan frowned. “Are you sure he said the man will die?”

“Yes. I even stopped him outside and asked carefully.”

That only made Li Zhou Quan more interested.

Rumors had drifted from the capital that the Xie family was finished—but who knew what was true?

When he entered the room, he forced himself to look at Xu Su despite the blood and the smell.

Tu Hua stood at the bedside. Li Zhou Quan glanced her way, but to him she was nothing—because he didn’t realize there was another “person” present at all.

He turned to Xie Yu Chuan. “I heard you want to summon the god?”

Xie Yu Chuan dipped his head. “I ask the official to grant convenience.”

Li Zhou Quan’s eyes rolled slightly with calculation. “I’ve heard about the Xie family’s deity. How does this official grant convenience?”

“Please allow me three sticks of incense.”

“Three sticks is enough?” Li Zhou Quan asked, eager. “No other offerings?”

“It may not work,” Xie Yu Chuan replied calmly. “But three sticks of incense is already a great kindness.”

Li Zhou Quan felt oddly pleased by that. He didn’t make things difficult and immediately had someone bring three incense sticks. Even though Xie Yu Chuan said no offerings were needed, Li Zhou Quan was too curious to hold back. He also ordered a simple set—clear wine and fruit. His household had plenty of worship supplies.

Li Zhou Quan’s mother worshiped in the family shrine every day, but after years of incense and prayers, Li Zhou Quan’s rank hadn’t risen and his line still lacked heirs.

Growing up in that atmosphere, Li Zhou Quan believed—at least a little—in gods and luck.

Soon, the incense and offerings arrived.

Xie Yu Chuan had already communicated with the Household God and understood that Tu Hua needed privacy to treat Xu Su.

So he used “the deity prefers quiet” as an excuse and cleared the room of all unnecessary people.

Xiong Jiu Shan wasn’t happy about it. He watched Xie Yu Chuan like a hawk.

But Xie Yu Chuan’s attitude was firm. Li Zhou Quan, worried that any resistance might ruin the whole “summon the god” spectacle, insisted that Xiong Jiu Shan’s men wait in the adjoining space too.

The rooms were connected, but from where they stood, they could only see a corner. Xu Su himself remained out of sight.

In his mind, Xie Yu Chuan said, “Household God, please do as you wish. There’s no need to worry.”

Tu Hua replied silently, “If he stabilizes, I’ll tell you. Stall as long as you can.”

She had no idea how long she’d need, given Xu Su’s condition and her limited tools.

Next door, Xie Yu Chuan set the offerings with careful hands and lit the incense.

Li Zhou Quan, Xiong Jiu Shan, and the others fell quiet.

A ritual was a ritual. Showing respect never cost anything—unless you offended something.

Xiong Jiu Shan was a blunt soldier. He didn’t truly believe in the Xie family’s mystical matters, but in Great Liang, people were generally respectful toward deities. It was the sort of thing everyone pretended they didn’t care about—until lightning struck someone else’s roof.

Li Zhou Quan, meanwhile, was practically vibrating with excitement.

He watched every movement: the order, the gestures, even the way Xie Yu Chuan handled the bowl of water. He tried to catch any prayer, any special invocation, anything that looked like a “secret method.”

The more he watched, the more jealous he felt.

So this was how a noble house worshiped.

No wonder his mother’s endless cycle of incense and kowtows never produced results. Look at the Xie family—every step looked meaningful.

When he noticed Xie Yu Chuan’s way of lighting incense, he stared even harder, already thinking about copying it in his own shrine later.

Maybe this was the correct ritual.

Xie Yu Chuan knew this was an emergency cover—an excuse to hide the Household God’s work.

Even so, he refused to treat honoring a deity as a joke.

Since childhood, he’d lit incense and bowed countless times in the Xie Ancestral Hall. He’d never once seen a sign of the deity.

And yet, when the Xie family was at its lowest…

The Household God came.

Such a kindness could never be repaid.

Since escaping the prison, he hadn’t even burned one proper stick of incense for her, or offered a cup of wine.

Tonight, the offerings were simple.

But his heart was not.