Daoist Scriptures Were Nothing Compared to This

"Are you leaving already, sir? That seems awfully rushed. Have I, this old man, failed to entertain you properly?"

"What are you saying, Duke Liu? These past two days, you treated me with lavish gifts. I've eaten well and slept well here. Yesterday in particular, your warmth and the villagers' simplicity were things I've rarely seen in my life. Truth be told, I'd very much like to stay a few more days." Song You spoke earnestly to Old Official Liu. "It's just that I'm heading to Long Commandery to deliver a Family letter for an old gentleman. I've already delayed for two days, so it really wouldn't be convenient to stay any longer."

To keep him from overthinking it, Song You showed him the letter sealed inside a bamboo tube.

"Even so..."

Old Official Liu could not help sighing. He thumped his cane against the ground, but delivering the letter was an important matter, one involving trust and honor. He could not ask Song You to stay any longer, so he merely ordered someone to fetch silver, provisions, and dry rations.

"Sir, you drove away the vicious tiger that threatened our village and saved a great deal of property. Besides, even without you, if I had sent people to the county to hire someone, it would still have cost something. In terms of both sentiment and reason, I ought to give you a gift." Old Official Liu rose, leaning on his cane, and lifted a tray of silver toward Song You. "Giving you only some dry rations wouldn't be right. I've prepared a little silver for you as travel expenses."

Song You lowered his head and glanced at it. The tray held loose pieces of silver, likely twenty or thirty taels.

In these times, most people could not see so much silver all at once. Hiring someone from the county to drive away a tiger would not have cost anywhere near this much, either. Most of this money was a premium paid to a "master."

And there was no way Song You could accept it.

Quite apart from yesterday's insight, which was worth a fortune, the delicious food, fine drink, and treatment accorded to an honored guest over the past two days were enough to settle the matter of persuading the fierce tiger to leave.

That was simply how the world worked. One side did a favor casually, the other responded with generous gifts—there was no need for anything more. Even if they parted ways here, neither side would feel they had anything to be ashamed of.

Thus, he took only the dry rations and refused every coin of the silver.

Old Official Liu was helpless, but he also found this Young Mister even more remarkable. He was nothing like those wandering oddities and folk masters who possessed a little skill. So he leaned on his cane and personally escorted Song You to the door.

"Follow the main road to the right, sir. If you're a good walker, you'll reach the county in less than half a day. This county is called Nianping County. If you want to rest in the city or need any assistance, you can go to the county office and look for the secretary, Liu Hong Liu Yangsheng. He's my second son. If you'd rather not go there, you can take the water route to Long Commandery. It's easier than traveling by land. Prepare enough food and fodder, and the boat can carry your horse as well."

"The water route?"

"The water route is steadier and more comfortable than the land route. You may have come down the mountain to travel, sir, but you don't know this: Xuzhou is filled with layer upon layer of mountains and rivers. On the way to Long Commandery, the scenery is as beautiful as a painting, and you'll be traveling downstream. It's as comfortable as can be."

"What is this river called?"

"The Willow River. It runs all the way to Long Commandery."

"Mountains and rivers as beautiful as a painting..."

"That's exactly right! Others may not know, but I'll tell you, sir—the water route is the way to go!"

"How do I take the water route?"

Song You gradually grew interested.

In this era, whenever there was a water route for a long journey, it was certainly the better choice than traveling by land. He had previously wanted to appreciate the local scenery and customs more closely, so he had never sought out a water route. But since the old official before him had praised it so highly, Song You began considering traveling to Long Commandery by water.

The old official then explained everything to him in detail.

How to find the road, where the ferry was, how to board a boat, roughly how much it cost, and how to avoid being cheated—he explained it all very carefully.

"Farewell, Duke Liu!"

"Take care, sir."

The old man continued calling out from the doorway, leaning on his cane.

But the Daoist, the cat, and the horse had already gradually gone far away.

After half a day's journey, he reached Nianping County.

Another place in the world within his heart lit up.

Song You had heard it said that, in most people's hearts, the world and the realm beneath heaven were merely concepts, and even those concepts could be wildly inaccurate. Even if one had seen maps and paintings, even if one had heard someone describe a place in detail, it remained dim, flat, and unreal. Only after one visited that place and truly arrived there would it become substantial, be lit up, and transform in one's mind into a three-dimensional, tangible reality.

The more places that lit up, the more complete the world within one's breast became.

This was also Song You's first long journey.

The scenery here was beautiful, the waterfalls looked like paintings, and the rice noodles were delicious. It was somewhat warmer than Yi Capital and Lingquan County, where the Daoist temple stood.

After eating his rice noodles and passing through Nianping County, he stopped following the main road he had originally taken. Following Old Official Liu's directions, Song You walked for roughly twenty li before taking a road on the left toward Nianping Ferry. When he reached a gentle hillside, his view below suddenly opened wide.

Below lay a shallow river bend and an ancient stone ferry. Small boats drifted sparsely across the water, while the larger boats were tethered to rope after rope. At the other ends of those ropes were countless dark, short, wiry trackers, each leaning forward and straining with all his might. Seen from afar, their slanted figures looked almost like shadows cast by the afternoon sun slanting westward.

Faint voices drifted down from the air.

"Oh-ho, oh..."

"Eh-heh..."

"Yo-ho, oh..."

Most were syllables whose words could not be made out, as if they had never belonged to a language at all. No one knew how many mouths were shouting. Their voices merged into one mass, seeming to come from the distant riverbank below, yet also seeming to rise from some impossibly ancient past. Mixed with the wind above the river crossing, they sounded even more primordial than the Daoist Scripture.

They struck straight at the heart.

Song You stood in the mountain pass amid the wind and froze for a moment.

He felt that this was an echo of ancient history, the laborers' chant that had resounded at the Willow River ferry for hundreds and thousands of years, the imprint left by this age. After hearing only one line, it already echoed endlessly in his mind. After listening a while longer, though, it began to sound like wails torn from brutal labor, filling the heart with gloom and desolation.

"Daoist, what are you doing?"

"Nothing."

"Why aren't you moving?"

"I'm going now."

"What are they shouting?"

"I can't make it out, either."

Song You simply started walking down.

The Red date horse and the cat followed behind him.

Yesterday he had just witnessed the simple happiness of this era, and today he saw once again that it was also an age filled with hardship. Perhaps the two were not contradictory at all. The farmers who had laughed freely over wine at yesterday's feast and the boatmen and trackers laboring at today's ancient river crossing might well have been the very same people. Or perhaps contradiction was simply the normal state of a real world.

This was also scenery that could not be seen on Yin Yang Mountain.

He walked while looking around, gradually descending to the edge of the ferry.

Song You felt that his cloth shoes were too thin, and the stones were digging into his feet.

"Are there any boats going to Long Commandery?"

"I'm going to Long Commandery."

"Can you take a horse?"

"It's a melon-skin boat. It can't carry a horse."

"I can!"

Song You followed the voice and looked over.

A boat with a covered roof—not small, but not large either—sat perfectly in the shallow water without running aground. An old man stood at the bow, wearing a bamboo hat and a straw rain cape. Several people were already seated inside.

"How much?"

"Where are you headed, guest?"

"Lingbo County."

"You can't reach Lingbo County. You'll have to disembark at the nearest ferry. There are still nearly a hundred li of mountain roads beyond that." The old man shouted in a long, winding voice that sounded almost like singing. "It'll take six days. Two hundred coins per person. A horse counts as two people. You provide its fodder. As for meals, guest, if you don't mind the smell of river fish, the boat can provide those, too."

The Three Flower Cat at Song You's feet looked up at him.

Song You caught her gaze and understood at once.

"Does the cat not cost anything?"

"What would a cat need to pay for?"

"Five hundred coins in total. That's the price."

"Five hundred and fifty. We leave as soon as you board."

"Give it to Xiaoping."

"Please come aboard, guest."

Song You led the horse and the cat onto the boat.

Xiaoping referred to the common small copper coins.

A few years earlier, the court had introduced several large coins. Some were Five-valued, and some were Ten-valued. As their names suggested, one was worth five ordinary copper coins and the other ten. But a single Five-valued Treasure or Ten-valued Treasure did not weigh as much as five or ten ordinary coins. Although they had only recently been introduced and the Great Yan court was still powerful, they had not yet depreciated much. Even so, people's acceptance of them had gradually declined. In actual daily life, a single Ten-valued Treasure absolutely could not be used as ten coins; its value had to be reduced somewhat.

That was why the boatman had agreed so readily.

"Have the guest leave the horse at the bow. Don't tell me it's afraid of water?"

"It isn't."

"Good, then. As for its dung and urine, this old man will clean them up himself."

"It'll do its best to relieve itself in the river. If you're willing to pull over somewhere along the way, old sir, it can also get off to do its business."

"Your horse obeys you, guest, and you even use such refined wording. Hahaha..."

"May I ask when we'll set off?"

"Let's go!"

The boat drifted smoothly away from the bank, light and gentle.

Song You turned around and saw that four other people were seated inside the boat.

There was a scholar holding a book, as well as a family of three: a husband and wife with their young daughter. He did not know what had brought them on a distant journey.

He had no time to concern himself with them. He merely stood at the bow, watching the shallow ancient ferry grow farther and farther away and listening to the desolate, primordial work chant. His heart seemed to be pondering something, yet also seemed to hold nothing at all.

The scholar behind him noticed his Daoist robes, raised his head, and struck up a conversation.

"Are you a Daoist master?"

"I grew up in a Daoist temple."

"You've never seen a ferry crossing before?"

"This is my first time."

"Haha, it's novel the first time you see it, but after watching for long enough, it becomes nothing special!" The scholar was a talkative man. He warmly invited Song You, "The wind is strong outside. Why not come sit in the cabin? To tell you the truth, I'm also fond of Daoist Scriptures and spells. I even brought one with me. We still have several days before reaching Long Commandery. Wouldn't it be delightful for us to drink and chat together?"

Song You remained standing at the bow, merely revealing a smile.

The boatmen's chant grew farther and farther away, but strangely, the more distant it became, the more resonant and powerful it seemed.

The scholar did not know what Song You was thinking—

Daoist Scriptures were nothing compared to this.

I'm taking leave today, so there will only be one update. No update tonight. Bows deeply, bares chest.