It was perhaps for this reason that he looked upon the Second Crown Prince and found his usually frosty and indifferent countenance slightly softened.
Clutching the corner of a wooden plaque, the Second Crown Prince gazed into Lin Suqing's eyes. All of a sudden, the plaque, inscribed with his name and the precise time of his birth, burned to ashes in the Second Crown Prince's hand, and in the brilliance of the sunlight, it merged into a stream of golden talisman script and flew into Lin Suqing's forehead, concealing itself within his body.
Lin Suqing, feeling his forehead and not understanding the significance, pressed it, but couldn't feel anything. Why was this?
As he pondered, the Second Crown Prince rose from his desk and walked past him. Seemingly nonchalant, the Second Crown Prince tapped the top of his head with his folding fan and began to explain.
"A name, to the creatures of this world, is a form of bondage, and in this world, it's the shortest talisman. Whoever knows your name can exert control, cast a curse or bewitch you. They can harm you through your name if they intend to. Do you understand?"
Gouzi came forward and interjected, "Just now, my lord placed a seal upon your name and zodiacal birth time, preventing anyone from using these to harm you in the future." It nudged Lin Suqing with a paw, "You should quickly thank my lord."
Lin Suqing had an epiphany and immediately kowtowed to express his gratitude, "Thank you for the guidance, Crown Prince."
This gratitude, he deliberately aimed at the instructions the Second Crown Prince had just given him.
The Second Crown Prince glanced at him, seemingly catching the hint in his words suggesting a desire for mentorship.
Gouzi, naive as ever, did not pick up on Lin Suqing's underlying meaning. It just glanced sidelong at Lin Suqing and said with disdain, "You've already pledged yourself, and should address him as 'my lord', just like I do."
Lin Suqing quickly corrected himself, "Thank you, my lord!"
The Second Crown Prince clearly understood his intent, but he didn't comprehend why, despite being willing to teach, he would not acknowledge a master-disciple relationship.
So for now, to be a servant would have to suffice, thinking of it as a period of proverbial "lying on straw and tasting gall," in preparation for the future.
To stay alive, to one day return. To begin anew in a new world, in a new life.
Gouzi stepped up and told him, "From now on, you just follow my lord's orders; all else is none of your concern."
Lin Suqing made a mental note, so even if the king of heaven himself commanded him, he could ignore it.
"What should I say if someone asks about me?"
Describing oneself as a servant doesn't sound quite pleasant," Gouzi considered the Second Crown Prince and after a moment of thought, suggested, "Hmm... just say – you are the trusted aide of Master Ziyin from Danxue Mountain. Yes, trusted aide is correct."
"Master Ziyin..." Lin Suqing murmured, was this the Crown Prince's name?
He memorized it quietly, feeling an odd sense of familiarity with it, yet quickly he dismissed his suspicion. Being new to this world, it was their first encounter; it was impossible that he had heard of it before.
...
Outside the door, a white egret landed soundlessly, transforming into a soldier clad in silver helmeted armor, who stood respectfully outside and reported, "Your Highness, the Elders have been waiting in the Golden Throne Palace for quite some time."
The Golden Throne Palace? It must be where political affairs were discussed. Lin Suqing thought of the historical palaces in the ancient world, such as the Golden Throne Palace, the Great Harmony Palace, the Weiyang Palace, and the Yangxin Palace, all named in a multitude of fashions. Who would have thought that divine beings would be so spontaneous with naming?
The Second Crown Prince glanced sideways at Lin Suqing and said, "Rise," and with those words, he gracefully departed.
Gouzi sat up and watched the Second Crown Prince leave, mumbling, "My lord is attending to political matters now."
Only when the Second Crown Prince had gone far away did Gouzi turn to Lin Suqing and say, "You may get up now."
Lin Suqing's legs felt as limp as dough, incapable of supporting him; instead of attempting to stand, he simply lifted his hips a little and scooted out his legs, sitting on the ground like Gouzi.
As he rubbed his legs and feet, he asked Gouzi, "Actually, I didn't understand two things just now. What exactly did my lord mean by 'Four Pillars of Yang Fate' and... 'Child Fate'?"
Gouzi lifted an eyelid and spared him a look of contempt out of the corner of its eye, said, "You might as well be a fool."
It turned and lay down in the sunlight, stretching out lazily to bask in the sun and explained indifferently, "Born in a Yang year, Yang month, Yang day, and Yang hour, that's the Four Pillars of Yang Fate. As for Child Fate, it appears you were born in the summer. Using the terms Dizhi and Shichen, if you've got any of the Mao, Wei, or Chen characters in your birth hour or day, then you have a Child Fate."
Shortly after, it continued, "I just saw that you not only have a complete set, but you also brought the 'Two Palaces and Seven Kills' with you."
Lin Suqing was utterly confused and asked blankly, "Are the 'Four Pillars of Yang Fate' and the 'Fate of a Young Child' considered good or bad? Is there any particular significance to them?"
The dog gave him a sideways glance, indolently responding, "There's no particular significance, there's good and bad to each."
"What is the bad, and what is the good?" These concepts were all too foreign to Lin Suqing, having never come into contact with them before.
The dog lifted its paw and scratched behind its ear, saying carelessly, "If you insist on the negatives... it's nothing more than unfortunate karma. Hmm... But you should have quite a lot of romantic encounters."
Upon hearing this, Lin Suqing's spirits immediately lifted, pleasantly surprised, "Really? I have romantic luck?" Back in his original world, he had lived for over twenty years without blooming a single 'peach blossom'!
"Yep, with the 'Four Pillars of Yang Fate', you tend to attract female demons."
"..."
Maybe it would be better if those 'peach blossoms' never bloomed.
Out of the corner of its eye, the dog observed Lin Suqing. People with the 'Four Pillars of Yang Fate' had a Yang energy most coveted by demons. It was fortunate that his lord was willing to take him in, otherwise he might have already become demon fodder.
"Oh! I think I understand why our master took you in!" The dog suddenly rolled over and sat up, as if struck by a revelation, "So that's it!"
"So that's it? What do you mean 'so that's it'? Why did our master take me in?" Lin Suqing, clueless, asked repeatedly.
The dog's surprise acted like a catalyst for his curiosity, even giving him a bit of anxiety, because by the looks of its actions, it seemed like the master might not have the best reasons.
However, the dog simply gave him another disdainful glance: "Not telling you~"
"..."
Thus, the man and the dog each lounged leisurely in the study of the second prince.
The evening glow bathed the dog's red fur, making it look like a blazing fire as it lazily thumped its tail on the ground, basking in the slanting rays of the setting sun.
Lin Suqing rubbed his legs for a while, feeling about sixty to seventy percent recovered. Suddenly remembering the female demon from earlier, he asked, "Ah, that's right, what kind of demon was that woman I encountered earlier? Why was she so ugly? Aren't demons supposed to be stunningly beautiful?"
"That was one of the Malignant Spirits," the dog yawned, stood up, and shook its fur, "Strictly speaking, she's a Mountain Spirit, not exactly a demon. She's formed from the essence of mountains, rocky crags, wild beasts, and such; originally just a shadow. But because of this, she's particularly good at hiding her presence."
"Are Mountain Spirits common? Do they eat people?" Lin Suqing worried about how he would handle an encounter in the future.
"They don't go as far as eating people. However, if she wants to maintain her independent form, she needs to continuously absorb vital essence. Hmm... That's also why other demons and immortals don't like to be near her."
"With such harmful spirits around, don't you send someone to deal with them?" Lin Suqing grumbled to himself, offended that he'd been bullied by such an ugly Mountain Spirit.
The dog gave him a sideways look and said, "As I said, she's like a shadow, not so easy to catch." With that, it sashayed out the door, not forgetting to turn its head and instruct him, "Don't forget to prepare dinner."
"I thought immortals don't eat mundane food?" Lin Suqing complained, feeling weak and feeble, wondering how he was supposed to get up and prepare dinner, utterly at a loss for words.
But the dog snapped at him fiercely, "Can't I eat for fun? Since when can a servant talk back?"
...
By the time the night draped down, swallowing the sunset and the evening glow, the Crown Prince had not yet returned, and the dog was nowhere in sight.
After an afternoon of massages and rubbing, Lin Suqing finally regained some strength. Although his legs still felt soft and feeble when trying to run, he was thankful to be able to walk a little.
God knows how panicked he was throughout the afternoon, fearing that he would be paralyzed from that point on, and this world didn't seem like a place where one could find a wheelchair.
If he had to rely on crutches in the future, he feared that when encountering any kind of demon or spirit, he wouldn't even be able to escape.