noveltune Chapter 50: The Faucet
Chapter 50: The Faucet
When Cheng Xiaojin returned to Tieguai Li's studio, it was already past 2 p.m. He took off his cotton-padded coat and threw it on the cot, his undershirt underneath was soaked with sweat.
Tieguai Li was squatting in front of the workbench, tightening a nut on a pulley. He looked up when he saw him come in.
"What did Master Ma say?"
"I've said a lot, and I can't finish talking about it all in a short time. I'll wash my face first."
Cheng Xiaojin walked to the stainless steel sink in the corner and turned on the faucet.
The water came out.
Gray.
Its dark gray color with a metallic sheen is exactly the same as the color of the well water in Panjiayuan that changes color.
Cheng Xiaojin's hand remained motionless beneath the flowing water.
The water was ice-cold.
The tap water pipes were exposed to the sun all day in July, so the water coming out should be warm.
The water temperature is the same as the bottom of the well.
"Old Li."
Tieguai Li noticed something was wrong with his voice, so he stood up, leaning on his worktable, and walked over. He glanced down at the water in the sink, and his expression changed.
"When did the water become like this?"
"I was fine when I went out this morning. I washed my hands before you came back."
Tieguai Li reached out and turned off the tap, then turned it on again to try.
It's still gray.
"The basement water pipes run through the same main pipe as the ones upstairs. What if the water quality in the main pipe changes..."
"Stop using it, turn off all the water pipes."
Tieguai Li turned off the water valves one by one—the ones in the sink, the mop sink, and the one connected to the water heater in the corner—and tightened them all.
Cheng Xiaojin brought over two bottles of mineral water from the corner, unscrewed one, poured it into his hands, rubbed it, and rinsed off the gray water stains that had gotten on his fingertips.
"What did you see at Master Ma's?"
"We'll talk about it later. First, can you help me try something out?"
Cheng Xiaojin glanced at the worktable and pointed to a small iron box that Tieguai Li had placed on it.
"Are there any copper coins in there?"
Tieguai Li opened the iron box, rummaged through it, and took out a Qianlong Tongbao coin, which he then tossed to him.
Cheng Xiaojin caught it, pinched the edge of the coin with his right thumb and forefinger, and slowly rubbed it with his fingertips.
He used to be able to do this with his eyes closed. Within a second, his fingers could tell him the texture of the copper and the thickness of the patina. He could tell the difference between bronze cast in the Qing Dynasty's official furnaces and privately cast bronze just by touching it.
He rubbed it once now, but felt nothing.
After rubbing it a second time, a slightly blurry tactile sensation returned, but it was very faint, as if there was a layer of plastic wrap between my fingers and the coin.
After rubbing it a third time, he could tell that the patina on the coin was thin and the edges were worn, so it was most likely a heirloom rather than a hoarded item.
But he wasn't sure if what he felt was the right one.
He was certain before.
He's unsure now.
Tieguai Li stood beside him, looking at his fingers without saying a word.
Cheng Xiaojin placed the copper coin on the table.
"There's something wrong with my hand."
"How big of a problem?"
"What used to take a second to figure out now takes five seconds; what used to be a 100% certain judgment is now only 60-70% certain."
Tieguai Li remained silent for a while.
"Can it be restored?"
"have no idea."
Cheng Xiaojin opened and closed his fingers repeatedly.
"Tang Wanqing said that the consumption of Xin metal is depleted from one's fate and is irreversible. I don't know if the sense of touch in the fingers counts in this."
Tieguai Li tapped his hexagonal wrench on the workbench.
"Ask Zhou Banxian, he knows about these things."
"Don't rush, there's something even bigger going on."
Cheng Xiaojin briefly recounted what he had seen at Master Ma's place about the map and the inscription on the well wall.
After listening, Tieguai Li leaned against the worktable and remained silent for a long time.
"Nine stake positions. Your father found them twenty years ago, and then he died."
"right."
"Your grandfather wrote 'This stake has been moved' next to the seventh stake, and then that was it."
"right."
"Now that you've pulled out the third Zhenhai Iron pillar from the whole city, the well water has changed color, the ground has cracked, and the security guards are having nightmares. You've risked your life to ward off evil spirits."
"right."
"Then you tell me that the person who bought bamboo paper in Liulichang was standing on the seventh pile."
"right."
Tieguai Li slammed the hexagonal wrench onto the table.
"Cheng Xiaojin, have you ever considered that three generations of your Cheng family have been ruined by these nine stakes?"
Cheng Xiaojin did not respond.
There was a knock on the studio door.
Tieguai Li walked over and opened the door. Zhao Defa was standing outside, covered in sweat, his shirt soaked through, and the expression on his face wasn't from the heat.
"Xiao Jin, are you there?"
"Come in and speak."
Zhao Defa entered the room, his eyes darting around, his voice kept low.
"My wife is in an accident."
"What is it?"
"Around 3 a.m. last night, I was half asleep when I heard a noise from the bathroom. When I went to check, I saw my wife squatting in front of the toilet, staring straight at the water in the toilet bowl, not moving at all."
"How long did you squat?"
"I glanced at the clock, it was 3:15. By the time I woke her up it was already 5:10, almost two hours later."
Cheng Xiaojin and Tieguai Li exchanged a glance.
Did she say anything while she was squatting?
Zhao Defa's face turned even uglier.
"Counting."
"What are you counting?"
"She just counts, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, counting from one to over one hundred, and then starting over again, repeating the count. Her voice is very soft, and I have to put my ear right next to her mouth to hear her clearly."
"How many times?"
"I didn't count them all, but I heard her pause when she reached one hundred and thirty-something, and then start from the beginning again."
Tieguai Li gripped the wrench tightly in his hand.
One hundred and thirty-five.
Did she respond when you called her?
"No, she wouldn't respond to anything I called, and I couldn't move her at all. She was like she was frozen in place. Later, I don't know how she woke up on her own. When I asked her, she didn't remember anything and said she had been sleeping the whole time and hadn't gotten up."
Cheng Xiaojin leaned against the sink, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Brother Zhao, did your wife ever have a sleepwalking problem?"
Never.
How's your sleep lately?
"I haven't been feeling well these past few days. I keep having dreams where the house is flooded and water is pouring in through the cracks in the door until it reaches my feet, then I wake up."
"When did it start?"
Zhao Defa thought for a moment.
"About four or five days ago, after the water in those wells in the market changed color."
Cheng Xiaojin remained silent for two seconds.
"Brother Zhao, when you get back, empty all the water containers in the house—water tanks, buckets, vases, fish tanks, everything. Before you go to bed tonight, lock the bathroom door from the inside and don't let your wife touch anything with water."
Why?
"Don't ask why, just do it."
Zhao Defa opened his mouth as if to ask more questions, but seeing Cheng Xiaojin's expression, he swallowed his words, nodded, and left.
After the door closed, Tieguai Li threw the wrench onto the table.
"Count to one hundred and thirty-five, which is the same as the total number of Zhenhai Iron."
"Exactly the same, without the slightest difference."
Cheng Xiaojin unscrewed the mineral water bottle and took a sip.
"After the pile was removed, the negative energy of Yin water rose up. First, the well water changed color, then the security guard had nightmares, and now it's starting to affect the residents."
"Didn't you redirect the evil energy away?"
"What was diverted was the stagnant energy accumulated underground in Panjiayuan, but the water outlet is still leaking. The piles haven't been put back in place, so the water outlet can't be sealed, and new yin energy is still surging upwards."
Tieguai Li cursed.
"So all that effort you put up for forty minutes last night was for nothing?"
"It's like... stopping the bleeding once, but not stitching up the wound."
Cheng Xiaojin put down the bottled water, walked to the sink, and looked down at it.
There was a layer of gray water stains left at the bottom of the sink. It hadn't been rinsed clean after the tap was turned off, and the water stains were a thin layer clinging to the curved surface of the stainless steel.
His face was reflected in the gray water stains.
The facial features were blurry in the reflection, and the outlines were somewhat distorted due to the uneven water stains.
But he noticed something was wrong.
His mouth is moving in the reflection.
Cheng Xiaojin didn't open his mouth; his jaw was clenched, his lips were closed, and he didn't say a word.
But the face reflected in the water had lips that were opening and closing slowly and softly, as if counting something.