Yi Shuyuan felt puzzled and pleasantly surprised, but beyond that, his tension had eased. Wasn't this precisely the sort of mysterious wonder he had been hoping for?
With that thought, Yi Shuyuan smiled faintly, walked over to the table beside the old man, pulled out a stool, and sat down.
The three men opened their mouths. One managed a "Hey," before his companions tugged at him twice, silencing him. They stood together, watching Yi Shuyuan anxiously.
Yi Shuyuan smiled and shook his head, reassuring them.
"It's only a tea shelter offering travelers a little convenience. Sir, I'd like to try this tea. Would that be any trouble?"
"Why should it be?"
The old man turned over a cup among the tea things on the table, then lifted the teapot and unhurriedly poured Yi Shuyuan a cup. The tea was beautifully clear, its fragrance rich and mellow. A mere sniff refreshed his spirits.
Yi Shuyuan stood on no ceremony. He lifted the cup, blew gently a few times, and took a sip. A sweet warmth carrying a delicate fragrance washed over his tongue. Though he had never been a man of refined tastes in either of his lives and knew nothing of the art of tea, he still found it exquisite.
"Wonderful tea! Spring barely touches green peaks along a road of cloud and mist; rain veils Broad South Mountain in a faint haze. It truly deserves the name Pine Mist. Wonderful tea!"
Yi Shuyuan's improvised verse made the old man's eyes gradually brighten, and he burst into delighted laughter.
"Hahahahaha! What a gifted gentleman! Your words bring this old man great joy! Now, you three needn't stand in the wind beneath the eaves. Why not come and sit?"
Yi Shuyuan nodded slightly to the three as well.
They clearly hesitated, but after some awkward dithering, they came over and sat around the same table as Yi Shuyuan.
The old man poured tea for each of them. Seeing that Yi Shuyuan was perfectly fine, they tried it too, immediately exclaiming, "Wonderful tea!" Their praise kept the old man smiling.
Meanwhile, Yi Shuyuan's mind was piecing together a certain scenario. These three are actually quite easy to fool. If I were a monster in disguise too, wouldn't they have fallen straight into the trap?
Of course, no one else knew what was going through his mind.
The old man set the teapot on the table and returned to his work at the stove, while Yi Shuyuan and the other three introduced themselves.
As Yi Shuyuan had expected, the three scholars had come up the mountain for an outing.
The man in the white scholar's robe was called Chu Hang. He claimed to be half a Yuanjiang County native, but judging by his reaction, he probably hadn't heard the story about Yi Shuyuan. Perhaps he had only recently returned to Yuanjiang County, and the story's popularity in town had already faded.
The other two were Lu Min and Zhang Yutong. They had met Chu Hang in Moon City and come along with him. Happy to spare himself any trouble, Yi Shuyuan simply gave his name and said he was a local.
The three had also been unlucky. They had only recently finished struggling over the mountain ridges and were looking for somewhere to admire the scenery with their strength exhausted when the weather suddenly changed. That was why they had looked so utterly bedraggled to Yi Shuyuan.
Now, sipping clear tea and chatting, they grew familiar with one another. Once they stopped worrying about their situation, the atmosphere was no longer as awkward as before.
Off to one side, the old man went about his work at the stove. After adding firewood, he stood beneath the tea shelter's eaves and gazed into the distant mountains.
"This rain will be falling for quite a while!"
Once Chu Hang and the others relaxed, they paid little further attention to the old man. Yi Shuyuan, however, had been watching him all along. At his words, he immediately turned to look at him.
"Sir, when do you think the rain will stop?"
"Hehehe. Ordinarily, it would last another hour at most, but today is harder to say."
Lu Min joined in.
"Well, what do you mean by that? Does a tea seller like you know how to read the heavens too?"
The old man didn't answer Lu Min. Instead, he smiled and brought over the kettle to replenish their water. Looking at Yi Shuyuan as he poured into the teapot, he spoke at a leisurely pace.
"You are no ordinary gentleman. Would you care to hear an amusing little tale from this old man?"
"I'd be delighted to hear it!"
Naturally, Yi Shuyuan couldn't possibly refuse. He had been waiting for just this!
The old man nodded, filling the teapot to the brim. Then he put down what he was holding, pulled over a stool, and sat beside them. Looking out at the rain, he began his leisurely tale.
"There was a little child who spent every day playing by the water. With elders always keeping watch, nothing ever went wrong. One day, the child cried and made a fuss, shouting that someone had carried away the child's house..."
"You must be joking, tea seller. How could anyone carry away a house?"
The old man smiled and ignored Chu Hang entirely, continuing his story.
"Though the child was usually mischievous, when it was time to work hard, the child worked hard too. Given enough time, a little tinkering would always teach a few skills. The child couldn't lift a great weight as though it were light, but pushing a rolling stone a little farther was still possible. This rain is rather like the child's tears, crying on and on... Still, by tomorrow morning at the latest, the rain will certainly stop."
At this, Chu Hang and the other two chuckled, then returned to their own conversation and stopped paying attention. Yi Shuyuan, however, listened in a daze. In an instant, a scene came to mind: that day, when he had taken the yellow stone from the mountain stream to use as an inkstone, a "little loach" had darted away.
Yi Shuyuan was almost certain he wasn't simply reading too much into it. The old man was telling him about that very incident!
For a long while, Yi Shuyuan felt excitement, amusement, and a wealth of emotion all at once.
"So that's what happened. Taking away a child's house is truly reprehensible, though perhaps the person didn't do it deliberately. Oh, sir, if you happen to meet that child, sorry for the trouble, but please pass along a message: I believe the house will be back very soon."
The old man smiled, nodding and then shaking his head, but continued nonetheless.
"You needn't worry too much, sir. Though the crying child is pitiful, having lived in that house doesn't necessarily make it the child's. Heaven and earth bestowed it in the first place; whom it follows is up to heaven as well. Why don't you gentlemen make do here for the night?"
Yi Shuyuan smiled too. Hearing this, he naturally realized that the yellow stone he had been using as an inkstone was a treasure.
But Yi Shuyuan had never been a greedy, petty man. After experiencing the nighttime hearing of a wronged soul and witnessing how Lin Xiu had shouldered his responsibility in that moment, he felt all the more strongly that there were things a person should do and things a person should not. At least this particular treasure was not something he intended to keep.
It wasn't that Yi Shuyuan feared retaliation from some spirit of the mountain wilds. If it truly had the power to retaliate, why would it have waited so long?
"You jest, sir. I, Yi Shuyuan, am no sage, but neither would I steal something a child cherishes. Consider it borrowed for a little while. The next time I bring it here, I'll return it."
At these words, the old man stood and bowed to Yi Shuyuan with heartfelt sincerity.
"Your heart is open and upright, sir. You have this old man's admiration!"
"I don't deserve such praise!"
Yi Shuyuan hurriedly stood and solemnly returned the bow. The three scholars, who had been absorbed in their own conversation and paid no attention to this side of the table, were left utterly bewildered. They had no idea what had happened between the two men. Weren't they merely making small talk?
After an unknown amount of time, Yi Shuyuan groggily opened his eyes. He froze briefly, then immediately stood. Looking around, he found that the tea shelter, the old man, the tables, and the stools had all vanished. Beside him stood a thick-trunked ancient pine; when he looked up, its enormous crown spread overhead like a grand canopy.
The rain had stopped. The four of them were beneath the ancient pine, close to its trunk. Beyond the crown's reach, everything was wet, while an area a dozen or so feet across beneath the tree remained dry.
Yi Shuyuan found it incredible. First, he brushed the pine needles and dead grass off himself, then cupped his hands toward the ancient pine. Even if this was a monster, its heart wasn't bad.
At that moment, Yi Shuyuan felt some excitement, though not to any excessive degree. After all, he had already suspected much of what had happened, and he had seen a real ghost before.
After composing himself, Yi Shuyuan looked at the three still sleeping beneath the tree. Smiling, he bent down and shook them awake one by one.
"Brother Chu, Brother Lu, Brother Zhang, wake up! Wake up! The rain has stopped!"
"Ughhh..." "That was such a good sleep..."
"Ah, oh, Brother Yi, we..."
Chu Hang's voice broke off, for all three had noticed something was wrong.
"Hm?" "Huh?" "What!"
The three cried out in surprise together, yet somehow each made a different sound. Having anticipated this scene, Yi Shuyuan felt as though he were watching a play and found it especially amusing.
"Th-this... where's the tea shelter?" "Yes, where's the tea shelter? Was it a dream?"
"How could it be? Would we all have had the same dream?"
"Could it be..." "Don't tell me..." "Brother Yi, this..."
The three looked at Yi Shuyuan, who frowned and shook his head.
"Say no more. The rain has stopped. You should hurry down the mountain!"
"Yes, yes, yes! You're absolutely right, Brother Yi!" "Right, right! Down the mountain!"
The three hastily pushed themselves to their feet, brushing dust and dead grass off their clothes as they walked, looking as though they didn't want to stay a moment longer.
But after only a few steps, they suddenly realized something and turned back toward Yi Shuyuan.
"Brother Yi? Aren't you leaving?"
Yi Shuyuan smiled and shook his head.
"I came into the mountains on business in the first place. How could I leave straightaway? Please, go on ahead."
The three exchanged looks. Suddenly, one of them seemed to realize something and gave a violent shudder. Not daring to say anything more, he tugged hard at the other two and hurried away with them.
P.S. The cultivation side of things will only really begin from here on.
Before you continue