Chapter 130
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“…Sweet buns with molten sugar filling, pan-crisp almond cakes—come take a look, good sirs and madams passing by, would you care for a taste?!”
“Flatbread—large and round, fresh off the griddle!”
“Candied hawthorn skewers…”
“Chamber pots! Chamber pots with elegant floral patterns—useless to you, perhaps, but perfect for planting flowers, a touch of charm and novelty!”
…..
It was early summer. After the last rainfall of late spring, the servant boy carrying a teapot weaved through the guests. From the open windows, the streets bustled with liveliness. Pedestrians thronged the damp stone paths, their steps echoing. Now and then, common folk who had labored since morning paused before steaming baskets of dim sum, spending two or three copper coins on a fragrant almond cake, wrapping it in oiled paper to take home and share with family.
Children holding pinwheels chased and tumbled through the street, darting beneath a banner inscribed with the characters “Calligraphy and Painting, Prosperous Dao.”
“Heehee, let me play with the pinwheel, won’t you?”
“No! I won’t give it to you!”
They crashed into the crowd, giggling and sticking out their tongues, then darted away once more.
On the bustling long street, a certain stall had already drawn quite a crowd of scholars and cultured folk. They stood admiring a portrait of a beautiful woman displayed at the most prominent spot, marveling aloud. Others gestured and commented on the surrounding calligraphy and scrolls.
“The strokes—like an ink dragon coiled! The brushwork blooms like iron trees and pear blossoms… exquisite!”
“The painting is stunning. Since when did Ning’an City have such a learned scholar?”
“Selling calligraphy and paintings on the street, what a pity.”
Among them, a man folded his paper fan and stepped forward, cupping his hands in greeting toward the scholar seated at the long table, brush dancing across silk. Judging by his bearing, the man too was learned—yet the scholar did not show the slightest air of arrogance, though his livelihood lay in ink and scroll.
“Good sir, has the painting I commissioned been completed?”
Behind the table, the scholar’s brush came to a final stop. Upon the scroll was a misty landscape in shades of ink: mountains stretching in greenish hue, a river flowing gently past. A lone boat rode the morning light, the boatman at the stern leaning into his pole with ease. If one looked closely, a faint smile played upon the boatman’s face. In the distant forested peaks, a monkey could be seen clambering through the trees.
“Marvelous… marvelous indeed…”
The man bent low to study the work, gently blowing upon the still-damp ink.
Lu Liangsheng smiled, wiping his hands clean. He placed the brush into a nearby water dish to soak. “Are you satisfied?” he asked.
“Satisfied! Very satisfied!”
The scholar carefully rolled up the scroll as though it were a precious treasure, then briskly took out his coin pouch, counted out one hundred and twenty wen, and placed them on the table.
“Brother, here’s the payment. I’ll take this to be mounted right away!”
“You’ve given twenty too many.”
Lu Liangsheng casually picked up exactly twenty copper coins and returned them to the scholar. Seeing the man’s startled expression, he offered a faint smile.
“The price we agreed upon is the price I’ll take. I won’t accept more than that.”
Since leaving Shunyuan County, Lu Liangsheng had chosen to avoid unnecessary trouble. Now that he had arrived in Chaoning Prefecture, not far from Mount Qi, he thought it best to lay low. Selling a few scrolls was enough to cover food and wine for the day, and that would suffice for continuing his journey in earnest.
He put away the hundred wen from today, then cupped his hands to the surrounding scholars and cultured onlookers. “No more painting today. Farewell.”
With those words, he ignored the customers still hoping to purchase his work. He swiftly dismantled his banner pole, table, stools, and hanging rack, placing everything into the back of the donkey cart. Leading the old donkey, he left the bustling street behind. Once he turned into a quieter alley with no one around, the cart, table, and chairs shimmered into points of starlight and vanished.
“Master, what would you like to eat later?”
Having tidied things up, Lu Liangsheng pulled the reins and led the donkey out once more, glancing back toward the little book nook built into the bookshelf.
“Steamed carp, or braised donkey meat?”
Ahem! Ahem!
The old donkey widened its eyes, letting out a long, panicked bray. Passersby nearby turned curiously, assuming this was some mad scholar chatting with his donkey.
Within the narrow compartment, the Toad Daoist folded up a small map and tucked it into the pack on his back. He pulled out a tiny booklet, flipped through a few pages, and let his rounded little webbed finger trail along the lines of text. He pondered for a moment, then said:
“We just had that yesterday. Let’s try something different today—buy some goose meat.”
“All right.”
Lu Liangsheng replied casually as he walked, turning the corner. Street vendors lined the road, and he approached one to order two geese—freshly slaughtered and roasted on the spot. The vendor wrapped them in lotus leaves and tied them with a string for easy carrying.
“It’s time to head for Mount Qi.”
The streets around them remained lively and chaotic, filled with the clamor of hawking vendors and bargaining customers. “Didn’t we agree on six wen? Why change it now?”
“Hey you! Don’t touch it if you’re not buying!”
“Come take a look—top-grade fabrics for sale!”
Dressed in a robe of light green gauze, the scholar led the old donkey, weaving through the bustling crowd as he passed through the noisy marketplace.
…….
After leaving Ning’an City, they followed the directions given by the townsfolk toward Mount Qi, entering the winding mountain paths. Nie Honglian, having donned her painted-skin disguise, walked cheerfully at the front, even hopping along with light, sprightly steps from time to time.
Atop the donkey’s rump was the bookshelf, its small compartment open. The Toad Daoist dangled his short little legs over the side, leaning against a stack of books as he hugged a goose wing, gazing contentedly at the mountainous scenery beyond the woods.
“How nostalgic…”
Gazing at the rolling mountain ridges, he couldn’t help but let out a sigh, then lowered his head to continue gnawing on the wing.
The scholar walking ahead of the donkey turned back to glance at him but said nothing. They were already drawing close to the Mount Qi spoken of by his master, and the nearer they came, the more carefully he compared the surrounding terrain to that on the map, lest they pass the place without realizing.
Before long, they left the borders of Chaoning Prefecture and headed west. After traveling another day, the mountains around them grew steeper. Greenery became sparse. Having grown used to the lush southern landscapes, this northwestern stretch of the Northern Zhou felt bleak and desolate by comparison.
“Master, we should be within the Mount Qi range now, right? Why would your cave-dwelling be in such a barren, forsaken place?”
Lu Liangsheng led the old donkey up the mountain ridge. Stretching before them was a vast sweep of brownish-yellow hills, winding like a massive earthen dragon vanishing into the ends of the earth. The occasional peak in the distance looked no more than a heap of soil, like a giant burial mound.
“You’re sure, Master, you didn’t misremember the location?”
The Toad Daoist jumped down from the bookshelf, his webbed feet patting against the ground as he clasped his hands behind his back and walked ahead of his disciple. Standing beneath a small tree, his bulging toad-eyes swept solemnly over the terrain.
“Would I, your teacher, forget the location of my own cave-dwelling?”
Honglian drifted over and perched lightly upon a nearby branch. She covered her mouth with a soft laugh. “Then why did we end up in Shunyuan before? We went quite far off track.”
The toad shot her a glare and gave a huff before turning away with his hands behind his back… Once this old man returns to his cave and regains his cultivation, we’ll see if you, little ghost girl, still dare to act so impudently!
Climbing back into the small compartment, he waved a webbed hand. “It’s not here—go a little farther ahead and have another look.”
The Mount Qi range was vast—failing to find the place immediately was nothing out of the ordinary. Lu Liangsheng felt no urge to complain. After resting for a while, he returned the second volume of the Classic of Mountains and Seas to the bookshelf and pressed on. Whether or not the book had further volumes, he no longer concerned himself. If fate permitted, he would encounter them again. To force such things would only spoil the harmony.
By afternoon, the slanting sunlight gilded the mountain peaks, casting a warm glow like a robe of rosy clouds over the undulating ridgelines.
“If the mountains were a little taller, a little greener, they’d almost resemble Mount Qixia.” Lu Liangsheng murmured softly as he gazed at the crimson-tinted scene.
Standing atop the donkey’s head, one webbed hand shading his eyes, the Toad Daoist suddenly froze. His wide toad mouth stretched into a grin before erupting in laughter.
“Haha! This old man sees it! I see it!”
Lu Liangsheng followed the direction indicated by that round, webbed finger. At the point where two of those “earth dragons”—those ridge-lines—crossed and merged stood a solitary peak. From afar, it resembled a dead tree jutting out from the brown-yellow hillside.
“Quick! Go there! Quickly!”
Spurred on by his master’s excited cries, Lu Liangsheng carefully guided the old donkey around jagged rocks and made his way down toward the base of the peak. Twisted, withered forest surrounded the area, bizarre and gnarled, with patches of speckled stone and silent boulders standing sentinel. As they drew closer, the mountain’s sheer height grew more imposing, though some specks of green had begun to pepper its slope.
At the foot of the mountain, the Toad Daoist leapt from the donkey’s head, his webbed feet slapping the ground as he bolted toward a natural path leading up the peak.
“Haha… This old man returns—”
Thwack!
His foot caught a loose stone. With a dramatic crash, he pitched forward flat on the ground, his long tongue flinging out and draping off the side of his mouth. Lu Liangsheng rushed over, but the Toad Daoist didn’t even seem to notice. He simply scrambled back up, dragging his tongue behind him like a scarf, and took off running again.
“Hahahaha!!”
“This old man has returned—!”
In moments, the short figure vanished into the trail leading up the mountain.
Lu Liangsheng chuckled and shook his head, drawing back his hand and continuing forward with the old donkey in tow. The overgrown path wound higher and higher, and from afar, the old toad’s exuberant laughter echoed through the hills.
Then—suddenly—the laughter stopped.
Lu Liangsheng frowned. He quickened his pace, brushing aside a curtain of low-hanging branches that hid the path ahead. The trail opened into a small, raised plateau.
“Master?”
In his line of sight, the toad stood there, back facing him, long tongue lolling to one side and dragging on the ground. He stood stock-still, staring dumbfoundedly at what lay before him.
The flat ground bore tufts of wild grass. Further ahead, the mountainside jutted out, and there, set into the cliff, a great stone door, mottled with moss and slanted askew, loomed in silence. The dark mouth of a cave yawned beneath it.
“Sure enough… It’s been looted.”
With a heavy plop, the Toad Daoist slumped down onto the ground.
