Ten Thousand Lives, Ten Thousand Changes

A Bowl?

I have one!

Zhang Laifu had a Bowl right in his bundle.

But that Bowl was for growing a train. Once he grew one, he could return to the Outer Province.

Back in the Outer Province, he could finish his studies. With luck, he might even find a job. If he couldn't, he could always go back to the film studio and keep working there...

Zhang Laifu carefully compared life in the Outer Province with life in Wansheng Province and realized he didn't necessarily have to grow a train.

For an ordinary person, life in the Outer Province was clearly better. At least he wouldn't have to struggle as hard as that wonton seller.

For a Craftsman, though, it was another story. Craftsmen in Wansheng Province lived far more comfortably than ordinary people in the Outer Province.

"What kind of Bowl can grow a Craftsman?"

"Any Bowl will do. The Bowl is the root. Without one, you can't grow anything, because there's no way to awaken its Animus."

"Soil is the foundation. Without soil, you can't open the Bowl, and the seed won't receive any nourishment."

"The seed is the soul. Whatever you hope to harvest is inside it."

Zhang Laifu thought for a moment. He seemed to understand. "So it's much like growing flowers in a pot."

Li Yunsheng nodded. "You could put it that way, but flowerpots aren't so picky. Add some good soil and you can grow flowers."

"Bowls in Wansheng Province are much fussier. You have to find the right soil before the Bowl responds. That process is called opening the Bowl."

This was exactly what Zhang Laifu had been waiting to hear. "What counts as the right soil?"

Li Yunsheng looked troubled. "That's hard to say. You can only judge by experience. Sometimes a Bowl has an obvious connection to its soil. If a wooden bucket is the Bowl, for instance, its soil might well be sawdust. But that's only a common-sense guess."

"By common sense, wooden buckets and sawdust are closely connected, and sawdust does look somewhat like soil.

"But I once saw a wooden-bucket Bowl whose soil was Sheep Offal. I couldn't tell you why."

Could Sheep Offal be used as soil?

Zhang Laifu remembered what had happened to him at Hunlong Stronghold. It seemed they had captured him to open a Bowl. "Can a person be soil too?"

"Yes." Li Yunsheng nodded. "There's a kind of jade in the southwest called Blood Jade. A Bowl made from it requires a person as its soil. Different kinds of Blood Jade call for people with different temperaments. They say Blood Jade Bowls can grow Craft Roots."

Zhang Laifu froze. "Do you have to eat a Craft Root to become a Craftsman?"

If that was true, becoming a Craftsman would be far too difficult.

Li Yunsheng shook his head. "Craft Roots raise your level. They're extraordinarily rare treasures. You don't need one to become a Craftsman. Eating a Craft Spirit is enough."

"A Craft Spirit..." Delight appeared on Zhang Laifu's face. "I've seen one! It came out of a Craftsman's corpse and looked like a clump of willow fluff."

Lin Shaocong had killed Old Liang and taken that clump of willow fluff. Zhang Laifu had seen the whole thing with his own eyes.

"A clump of willow fluff... The Craftsman you're talking about was a Willow Weaver, wasn't he?"

"Yes, a Willow Weaver!"

"That wasn't a Craft Spirit. It was a Craft Essence."

Zhang Laifu suspected he had missed something important. "Can someone become a Craftsman by eating a Craft Essence?"

Li Yunsheng thought it over. "People have tried, but I've never heard of anyone succeeding. A Craft Essence is the concentrated essence a Craftsman cultivates, already fused with his soul. If someone eats it, the incompatibility can cause a disaster."

"What kind of disaster?"

"You could die. Or you could fall onto the Chaos Path."

"What's the Chaos Path?"

"The Chaos Path is the demonic path. Falling onto it is serious business. You'd become an enemy of all Wansheng Province."

That serious?

Zhang Laifu couldn't imagine what sort of person could become an enemy of an entire province. But that wasn't what mattered right now. He had no Craft Essence, only a Bowl.

"Brother Li, let's get back to the Bowl."

Li Yunsheng set down his teacup. "We are talking about the Bowl. If you want to become a Craftsman, you can plant a Craft Essence in a Bowl as the seed and grow it into a Craft Spirit. Eating a Craft Spirit is the proper way to become a Craftsman."

He had missed his chance at the Craft Essence. Lin Shaocong had taken it, which meant Zhang Laifu had no seed for now.

But there had been nothing he could do. At the time, he could only choose between the Craft Essence and the Bowl.

Had he chosen wrong?

"Which is worth more, a Bowl or a Craft Essence?"

"That's hard to compare. It depends on the Bowl's type and quality."

"Are there many kinds of bowls?"

"A cooking pot, a water jar, an ear-cleaning spoon, a basket for carrying dirt—all of them can be Bowls. With enough skill and painstaking care in their making, they can all be used to grow things."

"So Wansheng Province is littered with bowls?" Zhang Laifu began to doubt his Bowl's value. He felt as though he had gotten the worse end of the deal.

Li Yunsheng shook his head slightly. "I wouldn't say they're everywhere, but there are plenty of good bowls. Still, even if you put one right in front of people, perhaps not one in ten thousand would recognize it.

"Some people spend their entire fortunes and still can't buy a good bowl. Some artisans make a good bowl without even realizing it, then casually sell it for a pittance.

"And someone with a keen eye might stroll down the street and buy a good bowl for a few coppers. Bowl Appraisal takes real skill. It all depends on your ability."

Zhang Laifu had no such ability. Getting his hands on a good bowl had to count as a gain.

Besides, that Willow Weaver's Craft Essence might not even have been a good thing. Zhang Laifu didn't want to weave baskets. He thought selling wontons sounded much better!

Perhaps there were Craftsman trades better than selling wontons, too.

"Brother Li, how many kinds of Craftsmen are there?"

Li Yunsheng opened his fan. "Clothing, food, shelter, travel, and leisure; farming, industry, education, medicine, and miscellaneous trades. Wansheng has three hundred and sixty trades, and every trade has its Craftsmen."

Zhang Laifu's eyes widened. "There are three hundred and sixty kinds of Craftsmen?"

"More than that, actually. Some Trade Circles aren't considered respectable enough to count among the three hundred and sixty, but they have Craftsmen too."

Zhang Laifu grew excited. "Brother Li, which of those three hundred and sixty trades offers the easiest life?"

"That's impossible to say. Reaching the level of Craftsman in any Trade Circle is a blessing."

"Which Trade Circle do you think would suit me best?"

"What I think doesn't matter! It's entirely up to luck."

"Entirely up to luck?" Zhang Laifu felt he might not have explained himself clearly. "If I use a Willow Weaver's Craft Essence to grow a Willow Weaver's Craft Spirit, won't I become a Willow Weaver? Where does luck come into it?"

Li Yunsheng kept shaking his head. "Not necessarily. It depends on the bowl you use. Someone once used an iron pot as a bowl, iron filings as soil, and planted a blacksmith's Craft Essence. What grew was a Roasted Sweet Potato Craft Spirit. So nobody can say for sure."

An iron pot, iron filings, a blacksmith, roasted sweet potatoes...

Where was the logic in that?

"Brother Li, surely that was an exception?"

"It wasn't an exception. Ten thousand lives, ten thousand changes—that's the rule!" Li Yunsheng pointed to the shop sign in the courtyard. "I originally wanted to practice Western Medicine, and I studied it seriously. I used an Instrument Tray from an operating room as my bowl, antibiotics as my soil, and a Western Medicine practitioner's Craft Essence to grow a Craft Spirit. In the end, I became a Zhu You Practice doctor."

There really was no pattern at all?

"Brother Li, since you liked Western Medicine so much, didn't you think about changing trades?"

"Changing trades? You mean moving to another line of work?" Li Yunsheng gave a rueful smile. "I wouldn't dare entertain that lightly. It's no small matter. One careless step and you could fall onto the demonic path."

Zhang Laifu stared. "Changing trades can turn you into a demon too?"

"That's how unpredictable ten thousand lives and ten thousand changes are. Besides, Brother Zhang, aren't you getting a little ahead of yourself?" Li Yunsheng said no more, but his meaning was clear. It was too early for Zhang Laifu to worry about that when his life still hung on a knife's edge.

Zhang Laifu knew the danger he was in. After eating two tea cakes, he rose to leave. Li Yunsheng refused to accept any money, but Zhang Laifu insisted on leaving three copper dollars.

"You've taught me so much. I know this isn't nearly enough. If I make it back to Heishakou alive, I'll bring you a proper thank-you gift."

Li Yunsheng shook the three Copper Dollars in his palm, then opened his hand to look. They were still faceup.

He smiled.

This Big Tree was sincere!

Zhang Laifu's sincerity told him the divination had been right.

He took out two coins and pressed them into Zhang Laifu's hand. "I'll keep just one. Brother Laifu, take care on the road."

After seeing Zhang Laifu off, Li Yunsheng held two Copper Dollars and toyed with them for a moment.

He tossed both Copper Dollars into the air. They landed one after the other on the tea table.

Clatter-clatter-clatter—clang!

The two Copper Dollars spun a few times and came to rest on the table. Li Yunsheng stared at them for a long while.

Now that was strange. Why were they faceup again?

Where had these two Copper Coins come from?

P.S. Why were there two Copper Coins? Hadn't Li Yunsheng kept only one Copper Coin?