Zi Bofeng and the others had spent three days in Meng City. It wasn't until the fourth day that they returned to the village. They were exhausted from the journey, so Zi Bofeng told everyone else to head home, then hurried the rest of the way himself.
When he reached his front gate, he saw Uncle Zhuzi coming down from the mountain with a skinny mother hunting dog, all skin and bones. Her belly hung low beneath her, clearly swollen from having just given birth.
"Uncle Zhuzi," Zi Bofeng called out. He hadn't expected a reply, but Uncle Zhuzi seemed to be in a good mood today. To Zi Bofeng's surprise, he nodded in greeting.
Zi Jian had guessed that Zi Bofeng would be back soon and had been waiting at home. He hadn't expected Uncle Zhuzi to come in with Zi Bofeng.
As soon as they stepped inside, Uncle Zhuzi cried out, unable to contain his excitement, "Big Brother, look what I found on the mountain!"
Zi Bofeng sneaked a glance at the broad, sturdy palm Uncle Zhuzi held out. A pure-white stone, crystal-clear and perfectly rounded, lay quietly in it.
"Is that... jade?" Zi Jian took one look and cried out in delight. "Where did you find it?"
He took the jade from Uncle Zhuzi and examined it closely. He wasn't a jade worker, but after living in Lower Yan Village all those years, he knew a thing or two. Zi Jian turned it over and over for a moment, then said, "This... looks like a piece of fine jade!"
"Right? I haven't seen jade this fine since my father passed away." Uncle Zhuzi could barely contain his excitement. "I was setting snares on the mountain when Xitui found it beneath a big rock."
As he spoke, he bent down and vigorously rubbed the head of the bony old dog at his feet.
Most of the dogs in the village weren't hunting dogs. They were Jade-Seeking Dogs, bred and trained over dozens of generations, with an inborn sensitivity to jade. But there had been no use for them in recent years, so they'd had to moonlight as hunting dogs.
"Let me see." Zi Bofeng took the jade from his father and turned it over in his hands. Uncle Zhuzi didn't mind. Though he didn't like Zi Bofeng, he trusted him.
The moment Zi Bofeng got his hands on the jade, he was startled.
To Zi Bofeng, the stone before him differed ever so slightly from the jade he'd known in his previous life. One side was flat, the other rounded, like a dewdrop condensed on a leaf at dawn. Its shape was remarkably regular. But most importantly, Zi Bofeng could see the spiritual energy contained within it.
This jade didn't seem like a mineral at all. It was more like... a crystallization of spiritual energy!
The Jade Sutra, passed down through generations in Lower Yan Village, had once said: "Jade is the essence of the earth's veins. When the veins are full, jade appears; when they run dry, jade vanishes." Jade wasn't a mineral or a gemstone, but something more like a special kind of living thing. Like bamboo shoots after the rain or lingzhi beneath the snow, it grew.
As he caressed the fine jade, Zi Bofeng seemed to see spiritual energy flowing like water from the crevices in the earth's veins, then condensing in the dead of night into flawless jade.
Over the past hundred years, the villagers of Lower Yan Village had found less and less jade with every passing year. In the last decade, almost no one had found any at all. The jade seekers of old had now become hunters, farmers, and artisans.
But the people of Lower Yan Village carried their devotion to jade in their bones. Zi Bofeng couldn't understand the depth of their passion and joy.
"I'll take it to Grandpa Five to have a look." Clutching the jade, Uncle Zhuzi left in high spirits. Finding jade again was enormously significant for the village. If they could find more in the future, it would mean the earth's veins were beginning to recover—and that Lower Yan Village's former glory might return.
Uncle Zhuzi left, but the old mother dog didn't follow him. Instead, she stepped on her long, slender legs and went straight into the side room. Zi Bofeng was still wondering what she was up to when he heard Little Stone cry out from inside, "Brother! Brother, come look!"
Zi Bofeng had been wondering where the little rascal had gone. He went into the side room and saw Little Stone crouched beside a large wooden chest, waving frantically at him. The old mother dog sniffed Little Stone, then stepped into the chest and carefully lay down.
Zi Bofeng looked inside. Seven or eight pink little bundles of fur squirmed against the mother dog. Their eyes were still shut, and their tiny pink bodies nuzzled against their mother's belly, searching for her teats with their little red noses.
Zi Jian came in carrying a bowl of thin congee and set it beside the chest. The old mother dog nudged his trouser leg with her nose to thank him, then lowered her head and lapped it up.
"Uncle Zhuzi said he'd give me one. Which one do you think I should pick, Brother?" Little Stone gazed at the puppies with shining eyes, then looked up expectantly. "Brother, can I give one to Qiu'er?"
Zi Bofeng laughed at that. Little Stone really did know how to look out for his future wife.
Zi Jian explained, "The day you left, Uncle Zhuzi's Xitui gave birth to a litter. There was no one at his house to look after them, so he brought them here."
"Big Brother! Big Brother!" Uncle Zhuzi's voice rang out again from outside. Zi Jian went out and saw him untying a pheasant from his waist. "Big Brother, stew this pheasant for yourselves. Just save the bones for Xitui."
"Take it home and give it to your mother to help her regain her strength," Zi Jian said, declining the offer.
"I got three. This big one's for my mother, and this one's for Grandpa Five," Uncle Zhuzi said. Then his voice faded away, and Zi Bofeng heard Zi Jian sharpening a knife outside. He smiled. They'd be eating well today. Zi Jian wasn't much of a hunter, and game had been scarce on the mountain in past years. Zi Bofeng had only eaten pheasant a handful of times.
"Looks like I have you to thank for this," Zi Bofeng said, reaching out to stroke Xitui's bony head. Her fur was rough and sparse. Uncle Zhuzi's family had nothing left to their name. Even he couldn't get enough to eat, let alone Xitui.
As the saying went, a son never scorned his mother for being ugly, and a dog never scorned its master for being poor. Uncle Zhuzi was devoted to his mother, and his dog was just as loyal to him.
The seven or eight little bundles of fur suckled beneath Xitui, leaving her weak and listless. The thin congee she'd drunk probably amounted to less than the milk the puppies had taken from her. Zi Bofeng felt sorry for her. He rubbed Xitui's back and activated the Monster Raising Art, tracing gentle lines over her bony frame with his fingers. "A merchant from the Western River had a hundred bushels of pearls; his dog on the boat was always fed meat." Since she couldn't have meat, he'd comfort her with a couplet.
As the spiritual energy and vitality of the Monster Raising Art entered her body, Xitui immediately sensed something different. She arched her back and gently licked the back of Zi Bofeng's hand, gazing at him with her clear, watery eyes. They said dogs understood people. Though they couldn't speak, their intelligence was much like a child's. She could tell that Zi Bofeng was doing something for her, but she didn't know what. All she could do was offer a vague expression of thanks.
After he traced the lines three or four times, Xitui seemed much livelier. She lowered her head and licked each of the puppies in turn. The more Zi Bofeng looked at the fluffy little things, the more he liked them. He called out, "Dad, let's keep one too."
"Mm, I was thinking of picking one as well. It'll be good to have a dog watching the house." Livestock had been getting attacked and killed around the village lately, and the Zi Family lived close to Bird-Mouse Mountain. Zi Jian was worried that wild beasts might get into their home.
"I want this one..." Little Stone reached out to touch a puppy, but Zi Bofeng smacked his hand away. "They're too little to touch!"
Little Stone could only stand to the side, sulking and drooling as he watched. After a while, he asked, "Brother, when will the puppies open their eyes?"
"Probably in another ten days or so," Zi Bofeng replied.
"That's so long..." Little Stone couldn't wait. He quietly reached out to touch a puppy again, but this time Xitui nudged him away with her nose.
"I'm going to take a puppy up the mountain to look for jade too..." Little Stone gazed skyward, brimming with hope.
Before long, the aroma of pheasant stew wafted in from outside, and Little Stone was immediately drawn away. Zi Bofeng held out a finger and traced invisible strokes over the puppies. Eight "grow" characters, no more and no less. He hoped they'd stay healthy and grow quickly.
He didn't know if it would help, but at least he'd done what he could to put his mind at ease.
Zi Bofeng hadn't even had a bite of the pheasant when he heard Yan Lao Wu shouting for him outside. He went out and saw the old man standing cheerfully at the gate, one hand on his hip and his old leather jacket draped over his shoulders, baring his bronze chest. The moment he spotted Zi Bofeng, he grabbed him and said, "Bofeng, hurry up! Everyone's waiting!"
"Waiting? Waiting for what?" Zi Bofeng asked, baffled.
"For you, of course..." Yan Lao Wu dragged Zi Bofeng away, then went inside and pulled Zi Jian along too. "Both of you, father and son, come along. Hurry up, hurry up. Don't dawdle."
"Little Stone, go tell your mother to keep an eye on the pot..." Zi Jian hadn't finished his instructions before Yan Lao Wu hauled him away.
Yan Lao Wu's house was abuzz with people. Zi Bofeng looked closely and saw that everyone who had just returned from Meng City was there, along with several village elders. Uncle Zhuzi didn't have a say in the matter; he was being ordered to crouch in a corner and clean pheasants. Several dishes had already been laid out on the table, and the wine had been warmed. Yan Lao Wu waved a broad hand. "The scholar, take the seat of honor!"
"You flatter me too much!" Zi Bofeng quickly declined. Never mind anything else—his own father was there. How could he take the seat of honor? After much back-and-forth, Yan Lao Wu took the seat, and Zi Bofeng and Zi Jian sat on either side of him. The two of them were now honored men in Lower Yan Village, treated far better than before.
"Zhuzi, take these dishes to your mother. Once you've delivered them, come back and drink with us until we're all dead drunk! Come on, bottoms up! Top Scholar, are you looking down on me, Yan Lao Wu? Drink up! That's it, finish it!" Yan Lao Wu was making a great racket over there.
Zi Bofeng had no idea how much he drank. He was in a good mood, so he drained every cup. At some point he grew woozy and couldn't remember what he'd done or said. The next time he was aware of anything, it was the middle of the night.
The nest of puppies was near the window. Xitui curled up in the wooden chest, encircling them with her body, but now she lifted her head and let out a low growl.
Zi Bofeng's heart stirred. Had some beast come outside?
He was just about to climb out of bed when he heard a soft click outside. The window had actually been opened from the outside.
Record of Raising Monsters
Before you continue