A Grand Vision Drawn on a Map

Chapter Thirty-One: A Grand Vision Drawn on a Map

For the next two or three days, the old man was dragged off by Zhuzi every morning to search for jade. After returning, he would dig out a copy of the Jade Sutra from who knew where and bury himself in study. Yan Wu Shi laughed and said, "Big brother, are you planning to take the imperial exam? Look at how hard you're studying."

Zi Jian smiled and shook his head without answering. Though he could read, he hadn't looked at books much in years, so he found it quite a struggle. But seeing everyone else find jade made him envious. He had never liked falling behind. The others had been jade workers for generations, while he was only a carpenter and bricklayer, born at a disadvantage when it came to finding jade. Every time he saw someone else find some, he could only watch from behind, envious. After enough of that, he felt deeply unwilling to accept it.

"Dad, just think of it as going up the mountain for fun. We're not short on money anyway," Zi Bofeng advised. He really didn't think much of a few pieces of jade.

If he'd said that before, Zi Bofeng wouldn't have had much confidence in it. But after the Prefect gave them that money last time, at least his family wouldn't have to worry about food and drink for several years. Zi Jian didn't need to work so hard.

Besides, there was a whole pile of jade beneath Blue Stone's backside.

"Go on, you little rascal. Why are you sticking your nose into everything? Go play by yourself." Zi Jian put on a stern face. Zi Bofeng had earned more on one trip than he had in several years, which wounded his pride.

Zi Bofeng rubbed his nose and left helplessly. He'd been planning to help his father study the Jade Sutra, but since his father wanted to torture himself, he could chew through it on his own.

He figured the jade-seeking team would find more over the next few days, and his father would probably have some luck within three to five days. Many of the village's facilities had fallen into disrepair, so he was going to find Yan Lao Wu and discuss fixing them up.

It didn't actually cost much to build things in the village. Everyone just had to contribute their labor and effort. The first thing Zi Bofeng wanted to repair was the mountain shelters. He remembered that Exploitation of the Works of Nature had once said: "Jade is born from the moon's essence, reflecting its light. Thus, those who search for jade along rivers often do so in autumn. On bright moonlit nights, they watch the river, and where jade roughs are piled, the moonlight shines all the brighter." This world had no Exploitation of the Works of Nature, but the Jade Sutra described the process by which jade formed: "On the night of a full moon, if it gleams and glimmers, then jade is congealing."

The jade in this world was like dew, formed from condensed spiritual energy. On moonlit nights, as jade formed, it gave off a shimmering glow. The brighter the moonlight, the brighter that glow. So the best time to search for jade was at night.

But at night, all kinds of wild beasts came out, making it extremely dangerous. Mountain shelters were essential.

Back when Lower Yan Village had flourished, there had been dozens of jade-seekers' huts in the mountains, covering thirty or forty li of mountain trails. The villagers had built these huts with tremendous effort.

Zi Bofeng returned to his room and fetched a map. He had copied it from the map on the Porcelain Shard. Though there were some small inaccuracies, it was probably many times more precise than the crude map the village had used before.

Zi Bofeng planned to mount the map and hang it in his study, like a great leader surveying the realm and directing its course. Too bad his study wasn't bigger, or he could have made a relief map. That would have been even more satisfying.

On the map, Zi Bofeng had already marked more than ten huts within the village's bounds, as well as over twenty deeper in Bird-Mouse Mountain. Those places were already outside the village's territory, and the Porcelain Shard couldn't show him what they looked like. But he didn't need to worry about those. Jade was reborn because Blue Stone guarded the earth's veins, and the area it guarded was also Zi Bofeng's territory. Beyond that land, there probably wasn't any jade at all.

To find those ten-odd mountain huts, Zi Bofeng had nearly searched his eyes blind. He'd spent a mountain of spiritual energy, but in the process, he'd discovered another benefit of the Porcelain Shard: he could label any target in its bird's-eye view with a name. He stole a glance now and saw a black dot marked with Yan Lao Wu's name standing outside the Ancestral Hall.

A quick glance like that consumed very little spiritual energy. Zi Bofeng had gradually gotten into the habit of taking a look before doing anything. That feeling of looking down on everything was truly addictive.

With the map tucked under his arm, Zi Bofeng saw that the sun hadn't yet set and hurried out, heading straight for the Ancestral Hall. He called out a greeting from afar, then walked over to Yan Lao Wu and asked in surprise, "What are you looking at?"

"The ancestors have shown their favor. Lower Yan Village has finally seen jade again." Yan Lao Wu pointed his chin at the dark Ancestral Hall before him, then glanced sideways at Zi Bofeng. "I was just wondering whether we should repair the Ancestral Hall. The last major renovation was when I was young..." Yan Lao Wu rambled on, reminiscing about the grand ancestor-worship ceremonies of years gone by. Their Lower Yan Village might have split off from Yan Village, he said, but it had been the liveliest, most prosperous, and wealthiest of them all. They'd even hired an opera troupe to perform for three days, drawing people from all the villages for miles around. He went on and on.

Right, the Ancestral Hall needed repairs too. But Zi Bofeng's attention was elsewhere.

Zi Bofeng took out a little notebook and a pencil, found a fresh page, and wrote "Culture and Faith" at the top. Below it, he listed the Ancestral Shrine. He was gradually developing a few ideas for improving Lower Yan Village, and had decided to jot them down as they came to him. They would surely come in handy someday.

He'd bought the notebook and pencil from Brush and Ink Pavilion, a shop specializing in the four treasures of the study across from the academy in Meng City, when he'd gone there two days earlier. He'd never noticed before that this world had pencils too. This pencil differed somewhat from the ones in his previous life. It looked like a hairpin, with a slightly pointed end. A cylindrical piece of processed graphite could be inserted inside, and it came with a sleeve to protect it. It looked quite refined, and cost a pretty penny. This was the legendary Hairpin Brush, commonly used by clerks. It could be stuck in the hair like a hairpin, ready for taking notes at any moment. Zi Bofeng just didn't like its hairpin design and didn't want to stick it in his head. Besides, it wasn't as comfortable to write with as a pencil from his previous life. It always felt a little loose, like using a broken pencil. Zi Bofeng was trying to figure out how to modify it and design a shape he liked, so he wouldn't have to grind ink whenever he wanted to jot something down.

Yan Lao Wu leaned over to take a look, but couldn't make sense of it. He pursed his lips helplessly.

"Elder, the Ancestral Shrine does need repairs, but the mountain huts are the most urgent."

"Exactly." Yan Lao Wu nodded at that. "I was thinking I'd go into the mountains in a day or two and check on those huts. A lot of the younger folks don't even know where they are anymore..."

Actually, if Zi Bofeng hadn't worked out the village's accounts, he wouldn't have known those mountain huts existed either. They were among the village's few shared assets... though, of course, they couldn't be sold.

"Elder, take a look." Zi Bofeng unfolded the large map in his hands, only to find it completely blocked from view. He quickly asked Yan Lao Wu to help, and the two of them spread it open. Yan Lao Wu took one look and froze. "This is..."

Yan Lao Wu had drawn maps by hand himself, and still treasured them in a cabinet at home. But compared with the map before him, they were laughable. Next to Yan Lao Wu's scribbled sketches, this map was practically a satellite image.

"This is a map of Lower Yan Village. I've marked the mountain huts."

"You've marked them?" Yan Lao Wu didn't believe him. He stared at it for a long while, then asked in confusion, "How do you know where those huts are? Did Zhuzi tell you? No, that can't be right. He doesn't know more than a few..."

"A sage has his ways!" Zi Bofeng enjoyed Yan Lao Wu's shock for a moment, then said, "I suggest we start by repairing these, these...these four mountain huts and leave the others for later. What do you think, Elder?"

Yan Lao Wu looked a little deflated. "Do whatever you say, Xiucai..."

Seeing that he'd truly rattled the old man, Zi Bofeng hurriedly said, "Come on, don't be like that. I'm only running my mouth. You should decide how they're repaired. I don't know a thing about building huts."

"You don't, but your father does." The old man still wasn't pleased. Zi Bofeng tried every way he could to persuade him, and only then did Yan Lao Wu finally agree to rally and organize the villagers to repair the mountain huts.

"Elder, I've got a few other plans here..." Zi Bofeng pointed at the map. "I want to build an archway outside the village, repair the road from the village to the main road, then build a water-powered mill beside the Meng River south of the village. We could also build a few waterwheels to irrigate the fields. And here, I want to ask the Prefect to establish a relay station in Lower Yan Village, with at least three horses and a carriage..."

After hearing that string of plans, Yan Lao Wu was dumbfounded.

After a long pause, Yan Lao Wu rubbed Zi Bofeng's head. "You don't have a fever. So why are you talking nonsense?"

He shook his head and sighed as he left.

"You're the one with a fever, your whole family has a fever!" Zi Bofeng stood there for a long moment, then could only mutter viciously to himself.

He'd painstakingly worked out those plans over a long time, and Yan Lao Wu had judged them like that. How could he not feel hurt?

Still, Zi Bofeng knew you couldn't get fat in one bite. For now, all they could do was repair the mountain huts. The rest would have to wait until the village was earning more. Then everyone would need to contribute money and effort, which would take plenty of work to arrange.

But no matter what, life was full of hope, and seemed to be giving everyone more and more to look forward to.

Dusk gradually fell. Zi Bofeng stood outside the Ancestral Hall and looked back.

The red sun had sunk behind the mountains, gilding their peaks with a golden Buddha-light.

The fading sunlight lingered over Lower Yan Village, illuminating the cooking smoke slowly rising from the rooftops.

He reached out, and golden-red rays slipped through his fingers, leaving five shadows across his face.

He slowly clenched his hand, as if to grasp his own fate and future.

No one would take this anticipation and joy from my hands.

No one.