Chuyun stood outside the tent, her gaze drifting toward the people filing out of it one by one. She could only tell that some looked excited, some embarrassed, and some both excited and embarrassed, casting occasional downcast glances at the little girl beside them.
The little girl stood right next to her, not even half her height, her clothes clean and neat. Her eyeballs darted everywhere, eyeing the crowd of humans, the novelties, and the sources of sound. Yet her face lacked the rich expressions typical of normal people. Perhaps she had only recently transformed into a human and had not yet learned the full capacity for human facial expressions; when encountering something astonishing, the most she would do was widen her eyes slightly.
Swish.
The tent flap was lifted, and a group of Daoists walked out.
Chuyun could not help but size up everyone's expressions.
Walking right at the front was Senior Brother Song. This senior brother's expression had been the same from beginning to end; it seemed nothing horrifying could horrify him, and nothing disgusting could disgust him—nothing out of the ordinary.
By contrast, the senior generations and fellow apprentices behind him wore expressions somewhat different from before.
The senior generations wore an extra fraction of awkwardness and embarrassment on their faces, while the fellow apprentices were beet-red. Some were still muttering under their breath, saying things like "unfit for the eyes" or "should have asked before going in."
Both the Daoist and the cat were filled with curiosity.
Three Flower Lady tilted her body, craned her neck, and opened her eyes wide, peeking inside through the lifted curtain.
Chuyun walked over to Yingfeng and asked, "Senior brother, what on earth is inside this tent?"
Yingfeng's face flushed a few shades redder in an instant.
"N—nothing..."
"Why that expression?"
"Don't ask."
"What on earth is it? So strange! Your look like this just makes me want to know even more!"
Yingfeng stammered, still unable to answer.
Even though Daoist practitioners were free and easy, in this day and age, how could he possibly bring himself to talk about those things in front of a junior sister?
They only heard Chuyun's master scold, "What else could it be? Aren't they all those unseemly things! Pestering with questions over and over! What is there to ask?"
"Oh..."
Chuyun could not help shrinking her neck back.
Recalling the things in those previous tents—mummified corpses with a stench, and strangely twisted human bodies—she still felt a bit nauseated.
Song You merely smiled instead, and said to Chuyun:
"Dao follows nature; why linger on the surface?"
As he spoke, he caught sight of Three Flower Lady trying to wriggle her way inside.
Swish!
Song You grabbed the back collar of her clothes in one motion, hauled her back, and then glanced at the others, cupping his hands. "Fellow Daoists, the hour is late."
"We should also return to Qingxiao Temple."
"Then let us part ways here."
"May we meet again later."
"Until we meet again."
Even Three Flower Lady imitated Song You's words, making a decent-sounding farewell in her milky, spoiled voice. If the back collar of her clothes had not been held firmly in someone's grip, one would imagine it might have had a bit more formality.
The two parties were not heading the same way, so they separated right there.
Chuyun withdrew her gaze, feeling somewhat regretful and reluctant:
"Senior Brother Song's self-control is truly the strongest."
The middle-aged Daoist stood in a daze, his brow furrowed in deep thought for a moment.
Touring through tonight, Daoist Brother Song had indeed been far more at ease than them. He was not only more composed than the juniors, but even more so than those of them who had seen such things before. At first, they had not thought much of it, but upon recalling it now, it was brimming with cultivation. That remark—Dao follows nature; why linger on the surface—which had seemingly been spoken only to Chuyun and the few other juniors, was actually intended to preserve the dignity of elders like themselves.
After a long while, his brow finally unfurled.
"Sigh..."
"Why is Master sighing? Are you harboring sorrow?"
"It is not sorrow, but sudden enlightenment."
"Enlightened to what?"
"I merely feel that we pore bitterly over Daoist Scripture and contemplate Daoist techniques, indulging in them all day long, yet we forgot the principle of Dao follows nature. In the end, we actually had to rely on Daoist Brother Song for a hint of enlightenment."
"How so?"
"In this world and all its things, the Great Dao is contained everywhere. If one uses a pair of discerning eyes to look, there are gains to be harvested everywhere. If one limits their vision only to Daoist Scripture, and bitterly ponders only its profound meanings while ignoring everything outside of it, only lingering on the surface when looking at the myriad things of the world without deep reflection, aren't they falling to a lower tier?"
The various Daoists were not obtuse individuals; they had already sensed something previously, and through this explanation, their minds instantly cleared. Following that, they felt an overwhelming sense of shame and hurriedly cupped their hands toward the direction Song You had departed.
A single point of guidance like this could save a dull-witted person ten years of bitter contemplation.
"So what on earth was inside there?"
When Chuyun lowered her hands, she still could not help asking.
"Merely mortal desires."
"Desires?"
Three Flower Lady did not quite understand the word.
"It is much like how when Three Flower Lady is hungry, she wants to eat. When she is thirsty, she wants to drink water. When she is bored and has boundless energy left over, she wants to run everywhere. When she sees a rat scuttling past her or an insect flying before her eyes, she finds it hard to resist reaching out to catch them," Song You explained patiently. "Desires are much like these; they are the most normal things in existence. If you can find a way to eliminate them, you enjoy total ease; if you cannot eliminate them, you experience all kinds of suffering akin to hunger and thirst. How you treat your desires is the very thing that best reflects your cultivation."
"I don't understand."
"Then never mind."
"Was it a lot of fun in there?"
"Why do you ask that?"
"After you came out, you seemed very happy."
"Three Flower Lady possesses a pair of discerning eyes."
"Was it really fun?"
"It is the joy of harvest."
"What joy?"
Song You did not answer, however, instead coming to a halt.
After parting ways with the Daoists of Fuqing Palace, they had unconsciously wandered back to the busiest part of the temple fair. Aside from the daytime performers, sleight-of-hand tricksters, and scallion pancake vendors, there were now troupes performing plays and singing ditties, stilt-walkers, dragon and lion dancers, and iron-flower throwers.
Molten iron at a temperature of sixteen hundred degrees, resembling magma, was loaded into a wooden scoop, and then a bare-chested stalwart man struck it forcefully.
Crack!
A sky full of flying stars and shattering fireflies scattered like shooting stars.
Such peerless, breathtaking beauty was difficult for the fireworks of later generations to match.
Song You was momentarily dazed in spite of himself.
After lingering in the same spot for a long time—as tree after tree of iron flowers was set off—he finally lowered his head and stroked the brow of Three Flower Lady beside him, who had likewise widened her eyes and looked on in spellbound fascination. He said:
"It is much like seeing these silver flowers fall in the night; one has feelings and gains within their heart, and naturally feels joy."
It's like stars falling down~
"Indeed."
"Will there still be this tomorrow?"
"I don't know."
"Three Flower Lady wants to come and see it again tomorrow!"
"Very well."
"And I want to see the monkey show!"
"Very well."
"Can you buy me some rat poison?"
"Why?"
"I'll wipe out all the rats, and then take them to eat. That way I won't have to catch them myself."
"We'll talk about it."
The two figures, one tall and one small, slowly walked away as well.
Upon returning to the courtyard, there was unexpectedly another pleasant surprise.
The winter plum blossoms in the yard were in bloom.
As he pushed open the door and entered the courtyard, a dark fragrance drifted over with the night, ethereally permeating and refreshing the soul. Moreover, illusory human figures wandered and sang beneath the trees, their voices equally ethereal and possessing a cold clarity akin to the winter plum blossoms. With the two complementing each other, for a moment there was a kind of transcendent, otherworldly beauty rarely encountered in the mortal realm.
Three Flower Lady's voice was tiny:
"The flowers have bloomed."
Song You only looked straight ahead and answered softly:
"Indeed."
"The flowers are yellow."
"Indeed."
"The ones you painted were red."
"You still remember."
"I am very smart."
"Yes."
"Why did you paint them red?"
"Painted them on a whim."
At these words, with a soft poof, the ghostly figures vanished.
Song You could only shake his head with regret.
Wonderful things in this world never last long.
Right after, he went to fetch an oil lamp, intending to hold it and view the flowers by night.
In truth, the winter plum was the lamei of his past life. Originally named huangmei, some said that Su Dongpo and Huang Shangu saw that the winter plum's petals resembled beeswax, and thereupon named it lamei. Others said that Huang Tingjian felt the petals of the winter plum looked as though they had been pinched from wax by a woman's hands, which was why it was later renamed lamei. Regardless, it was because its petals were translucent and crystal-clear, looking exquisitely beautiful like wax, that it acquired this name.
Because it blossomed during the twelfth lunar month, it was later frequently written as winter plum.
The winter plum and the plum blossom were not the same thing; winter plums mostly bloomed in the bitter cold of the twelfth lunar month and were usually yellow, while plum blossoms mostly bloomed in spring and were mostly red. According to the classification of later generations, one belonged to the Calycanthaceae family, and the other to the Rosaceae family. Later generations found it hard to know whether the plums in the poetry of ancients were winter plums or plum blossoms, and which was which. Song You had not yet encountered a man of letters; if he were to meet one and listen to him compose a poem, he would at least be able to glean a line of insight.
In truth, Song You had rarely seen plum blossoms in his past life, but he had frequently seen winter plums and often smelled their fragrance.
The fragrance of winter plums held profound memories for the people of his hometown in the past life—
The gardenias of spring, the michelia of summer, the sweet osmanthus of autumn, and the winter plums of winter were the scents that could be smelled routinely every year. Even in the city one did not need to worry; once the season arrived, many elderly folk would either carry bamboo baskets or push carts to peddle floral fragrances all over the streets.
The finest fragrance of all was this winter plum scent.
It was a sweet fragrance, yet also a cool fragrance; sweeter than sweet osmanthus, yet lacking its cloying nature. Refreshing and pleasing to the spirit, it was the scent of distant memories, the scent of his homeland.
Song You was truly overjoyed, unable to bear stepping into the room.
He could not resist plucking a blossom to tuck behind Three Flower Lady's head. He could not resist plucking another to place beneath the tip of his nose, inhaling its scent with meticulous appreciation. He could not resist standing for a long time beneath the winter plum tree, holding the oil lamp up to view it in detail. If not for the inconvenient transport and mail delivery of this era, he ought to have broken off a branch and sent it to the old Daoist at the temple to convey his yearning. Yet since it was inconvenient, he had no choice but to let it remain upon the branches, unwilling as he was to snap it off.
The oil lamp illuminating the waxen flowers possessed a distinct, unconventional aesthetic.
And the deeper the night grew, the colder the courtyard became, causing the waxen flowers all over the tree to burst into bloom one by one amid the chill, growing increasingly clear and beautiful.
Song You's heart was wonderfully tranquil, and for a moment he was unwilling to leave.
If anyone happened to pass by outside, they too could enjoy the fragrance currently lingering in the courtyard; and if they were willing to pause their steps, they could hear the faint sound of conversation drifting from within.
"It's getting colder and colder, Daoist."
"Yes."
"Why aren't you going to sleep?"
"I can't bear to leave."
"Snap off a branch to take back and look at."
"I can't bear to do that either."
"..."
"..."
"Why aren't you speaking?"
"Three Flower Lady isn't speaking either."
"Three Flower Lady is looking at you."
"I am looking at the flowers."
"What are you thinking about?"
"Thinking of some old friends."
"Thinking of your master?"
"How does Three Flower Lady know?"
"I am very smart."
"Naturally."
What Song You was thinking of at this moment was far more than just his master.
Since this floral fragrance came from the depths of memory, it naturally and inevitably stirred up things from the depths of memory as well. The ancients had the tradition of sending plum blossoms to express yearnings, yet even if Song You broke off a plum blossom, he did not know where to send it.
Fortunately, he had Three Flower Lady to keep him company.
It dispelled a great deal of solitude.
Before you continue