Volume Three: Dream of Three Lifetimes Beneath the Moon - Who Could Understand the Meaning Softly Murmured?

Hearing the Lord of the Clouds say, "All precious treasures beneath heaven possess a spirit," Xing Yan felt something stir within him and said:

"You speak truly, sir. I have learned something. As it happens, I have something here today that I would like to ask you about."

With that, Xing Yan presented the strange iron sword in his hand, still half wrapped in its scrap of hemp cloth, to the Lord of the Clouds and said:

"To tell you the truth, sir, I happened upon this sword last night on Horseshoe Mountain. There seems to be something strange about it. Please examine it with your discerning eyes and enlighten me!"

Seeing how seriously Xing Yan took the matter, the Lord of the Clouds narrowed his eyes and studied the sword closely. Under Xing Yan's expectant gaze, he finally murmured after a long while:

"This object appears to be a sword."

"Huh?" What sort of answer was that...? Still, he had better hear the rest.

"It appears to be one, yet also appears not to be. A sword is a sword, yet this sword is not a sword; seeming true yet not, it rests between the two possibilities-how strange! Even I cannot quite fathom this object. It seems it must be something out of the ordinary. Xing Yan, keep it safe. Perhaps it will prove of great use someday."

This vague appraisal from the Lord of the Clouds left Xing Yan feeling as though he were lost in clouds and mist high in the sky, quite unable to make head or tail of it. Still, at least he had learned that this sword was no ordinary object. Since even the Lord of the Clouds said so, he certainly had to treasure it!

But the Lord of the Clouds' next sigh of regret splashed a ladle of cold water over the delighted Xing Yan:

"No, no! What a pity, what a pity! Judging by how brightly its edge gleams, even if it is a divine weapon, it cannot be of the highest quality. You must understand that a divine object possesses a spirit and knows to conceal its own brilliance. With its sharpness so openly displayed, it can only be an ordinary sharp weapon..."

Hearing this sudden reversal, Xing Yan could not help feeling a little downcast. But on second thought, he accepted it, and even began to feel rather pleased:

Heh! There's something that doesn't quite hold together in what the old gentleman said. What other virtue could a sword have besides being sharp? Gleaming bright as snow, haha! Excellent, excellent! That suits me perfectly!

Leaving aside the youth's private satisfaction, once the Lord of the Clouds had finished his appraisal, he thrust the sword back into Xing Yan's hand, called out, "Off I go!" and drifted away just like that...

He had appeared in a flash and departed in a flash, with an air of unfettered grace, aloof from the dusty world and above all earthly things.

Yet behind his serene, carefree retreat, he left a long, flustered shout from the youth:

"Wait, sir! You forgot to tell me where you live! How am I supposed to return the flute?"

In fact, there was something else they truly had forgotten: the old man and the youth had been so absorbed in their pleasant conversation that neither had mentioned Ling Yier's name. The Lord of the Clouds had forgotten to tell him, and Xing Yan had forgotten to ask.

After bidding farewell to the Lord of the Clouds, Xing Yan continued on his way, making his leisurely progress toward Flower Moon House.

With nothing happening along the road, he kept recalling what that extraordinary man, the Lord of the Clouds, had just said. Though his boasts about attaining the Way and becoming an immortal followed a familiar pattern-to put it disrespectfully, they sounded rather like the old Daoist Qinghe's stale clichés-some of his other ideas were quite novel to Xing Yan and well worth pondering.

As he walked and thought, something suddenly occurred to Xing Yan. Inwardly crying that this was bad, he hastily pulled open the hemp cloth wrapped around the sword again:

Sure enough, just as the youth had feared, the precious sword that had been gleaming so brilliantly had now returned to its original state, becoming a dull, old ruler once more!

Worse still, no matter how earnestly Xing Yan called to it afterward, the sword refused to reveal its edge!

"Oh, forget it, forget it! Who would have thought this sword had such pride? I could at least have used it to chop bamboo, peel pears, and skin animals. Now look at it! From now on, I really can only wave it around like a stick!" Xing Yan lamented over and over.

"Ah, never mind. I found it for free anyway..." Comforting himself along the way, the youth returned to Flower Moon House before he knew it.

The days that followed were once again as placid as water.

Though Xing Yan had resolved to return the flute, the girl never came to ask for it again. Since he had also forgotten to ask the Lord of the Clouds where he lived, he could hardly call at his home. Still, perhaps this was just as well. His plain, honest upbringing in a farming family had taught Xing Yan from childhood that he must not take what belonged to someone else, and that was why he had made up his mind so firmly to return the flute. In truth, however, after spending so long with the jade flute Divine Snow, he really did feel reluctant to part with it now.

When busy, he came to play music; when free, he went out roaming. Thus the days drifted leisurely by.

Yet amid these tranquil, peaceful days, a wisp of shadow unknowingly took root in the heart of Xing Yan, who spent his days wandering at ease. It grew and spread, until at last it became like a bone lodged in his throat...

The matter had to be traced back to Ying'er. This lively little maid who attended Lady Rui at Flower Moon House could well be called Xing Yan's news relay. Though Xing Yan ordinarily paid little attention to the gossip circulating through Flower Moon House, somehow he knew every last detail, however trivial!

All this had to be credited to the little maid Ying'er. At the slightest rustle of wind or stir of grass in Flower Moon House, the excessively curious girl would make inquiries everywhere. Afterward, Xing Yan would invariably be the first person she sought out to share what she had learned!

In the past, Xing Yan would inevitably have found her pestering rather tiresome. But something the girl had mentioned in passing recently caught his attention.

Ying'er had told him that her mistress, Lady Rui, and her Young Master Hu Shi'an were now as close as honey blended with oil. It seemed they had reached the point of discussing marriage. Recently, Ying'er had discovered that Lady Rui had even begun giving Young Master Hu her own carefully saved private money to spend. Evidently, Lady Rui had made up her mind to leave her profession and follow him.

At first, Xing Yan paid little attention to this news. Everyone in Flower Moon House knew about the relationship between Lady Rui, the virtuous courtesan and most renowned of the Four Beauties of Flower Moon House, and Young Master Hu from Penglai in Shandong. Moreover, everyone called it a happy affair. Family standing carried great weight in those days, and few patrons were willing to redeem a courtesan and help her leave the profession.

This seemingly imminent marriage had become a much-celebrated romance in Flower Moon House, something all the other women admired and hoped to emulate.

When Xing Yan first heard these reports from Ying'er, he found them rather amusing. The little girl certainly could chatter, finding something to say even about what everyone already knew. But after hearing them several times, he began to take notice.

The youth, who had often received kindness from Lady Rui in the past, began to feel a faint unease...

For Xing Yan knew that, with almost all their earnings handed over to the madam, women in a pleasure house found it very difficult to save any private money. Those painstakingly accumulated savings were meant to protect them when they grew old and their beauty faded. Thus, unless matters reached a critical point, a courtesan would generally leave her private savings untouched.

To be sure, Lady Rui and Young Master Hu had already reached the stage of "invoking curses before the gods and pledging vows among the flowers." From her point of view, giving him her savings to spend was perfectly reasonable, with nothing improper about it.

Yet Xing Yan, who often wandered around the city, could not help feeling uneasy-

For recently he had often seen this young, wealthy, exceedingly refined Young Master Hu Shi'an going in and out of the Pleasure Casino!

As Xing Yan recalled what the little maid had told him and considered the words and actions he had himself observed from Hu Shi'an, the doubts in his heart grew ever greater.

Xing Yan ordinarily had little to keep him busy, and in his ample free time he could not help thinking the matter over again and again. The more he thought, the more suspicious it seemed.

Could it be... that this supposed scholar from Shandong, Hu Shi'an, is deceiving Lady Rui?

Cruel though this conclusion was, Xing Yan's intelligence, combined with everything he had seen and heard, left him little choice but to draw it. He was not as simple-minded as the little maid Ying'er. After all, he had spent so long mingling in the streets and markets, and had studied poetry and the classics at school. How could the ordinary women of Flower Moon House compare with his experience?

This was the reasoning Xing Yan turned over in his mind:

If Hu Shi'an, who had come to Raozhou to travel and study, truly intended to redeem Lady Rui, he would never have resorted to spending her private savings. By the look of things, Young Master Hu had already emptied the gold beside his bed and exhausted the coins in his traveling purse.

And this was not merely a question of money.

Throughout the Jin era, a scholar's son marrying a courtesan was a matter that touched on the family's dignity, and would seldom receive the approval of his elders. Even if Hu Shi'an's elders were open-minded enough to consent, judging by his present depleted funds, he would have to ask his family for money to redeem Lady Rui. Then there would be no concealing how he had squandered his funds in a pleasure house. Quite plainly, his parents and elders would decide that this courtesan had led their child astray, and their former "yes" would become a "no."

Surely Young Master Hu Shi'an, who had won Lady Rui's favor, could not be some dull-witted fool. How could he fail to understand such a crucial point?

Seeing how he still spent his days idling around Raozhou City and frequently visiting gambling houses, he plainly had no sincere intention of being with Lady Rui at all!

It truly bore out the old saying, "Beware of seeing too clearly." Once Xing Yan had understood this, it stuck like a bone in his throat and saddled him with an enormous worry. Remembering how kindly Lady Rui had treated him in the past, and imagining her still dreaming of leaving her profession-a dream as illusory as the moon in water or flowers in the air-Xing Yan felt as though a hundred claws were scratching at his heart!

With no pressing business to occupy his days, Xing Yan could never keep himself from dwelling on this distressing matter in his free time. He could scarcely eat or sleep in peace, nor sit or lie at ease.

After thinking it over and over, the youth, who hated wickedness as fiercely as an enemy, could bear it no longer. He began considering how to tell Lady Rui about this unsavory situation. But there was a difficulty: Lady Rui was so deeply infatuated that she had eyes only for her lover and scarcely ever left her room. He had no way to convey his warning.

Just as he was fretting, the little maid Ying'er came trotting over again to chat with him.

The moment he saw Ying'er, Xing Yan's eyes seemed to brighten as an idea suddenly struck him. He might have no way to tell Lady Rui himself, but he could have this little maid from her room carry a message for him!

Hmm... good as the idea is, having Ying'er deliver the message... might still be rather unwise.

Xing Yan glanced at the girl before him, who was talking without pause, and hesitated, weighing what might happen:

If I tell her the whole story exactly as it is, won't all of Flower Moon House be in an uproar? No, no! I'll have to find another way.

While listening to Ying'er's rambling chatter, Xing Yan's mind remained busy. He racked his brains for a way to convey the message that would serve both purposes...

Oh? I have it!

Lady Rui was the foremost of the Four Beauties of Flower Moon House, and from what he had heard, she was quite accomplished in letters. Why not compose a few lines of verse that Ying'er would not understand, and ask her to deliver them? Everyone in Flower Moon House knew that he had studied for several years under Master Ji and knew something of poetry and the classics. It would not seem particularly odd for him to seek Lady Rui's advice on a newly composed poem. And through the verse, he could also convey his regards. Ha! Two birds with one stone-wonderful, wonderful!

With a solution suddenly found to the problem that had troubled him for days, Xing Yan felt incomparably relieved!

After sending Ying'er off, Xing Yan hurried back to his room, found a sheet of the paper the old Daoist Qinghe used for drawing talismans, picked up Meng Tian's Meridian-Severing Barbarian-Driving Brush, and ground some pine-soot ink. He licked the tip of the brush, then held it poised as he pondered-

What should I write? Lady Rui, Lady Rui...

"I have it!"

The youth was quick-witted to begin with, and besides, this was merely a verse of warning, not something that required too much refinement. Before long, Xing Yan had thought up a few lines.

He swept his brush across the paper, its strokes racing like dragons and snakes, flowing like clouds and mist, and wrote four lines:

A word to the graceful lady among the flowers,

Whose beauty shines, whose gaze is clear and fair.

Thin gourd leaves cannot bear love's crossing;

Deliverance need not sail on mercy's boat.

Though Xing Yan had composed this verse in haste, it held considerable meaning.

The first two lines subtly alluded to Lady Rui's name and praised her fresh, lovely beauty. This also suited an indirect approach, making the admonition in the final two lines less abrupt.

The third line carried the crucial warning. Gourd leaves were thin and frail, and the word for "gourd" sounded much like "Hu." Given Lady Rui's talent and intelligence, she would surely understand. The final line, "Deliverance need not sail on mercy's boat," was adapted from the couplet outside Flower Moon House, familiar to everyone within:

"The same boat of mercy can deliver all; those in colored robes are those in white."

The youth had plucked the words at will, yet they suited his purpose rather well. Everything was ready. Next, he needed to ask Lady Rui's maid Ying'er to deliver it.

Watching the little maid before him, who seemed to be muttering something as she turned the verse over and examined it, Xing Yan broke into a nervous sweat, his palms damp:

This little Ying'er has never been able to keep her mouth shut. Whatever happens, she mustn't guess what I mean by these lines!

After looking for quite a while, the girl finally raised her head and asked Xing Yan:

"Xing Yan, you mustn't lie to me. This really isn't a love poem?"

Her tone sounded as though those words had been pickling in the waters of suspicion for years!

"Uh!..."

At Ying'er's words, Xing Yan seemed to choke. Collecting himself, he hurriedly protested,

"Ying'er, don't go imagining things! I only wanted to ask your Lady Rui for some advice..."

"All right, all right! No more explaining. I believe you!" The little maid cut short Xing Yan's solemn protestations:

"I've never seen you be so polite before. For that alone, I won't refuse!"

Though her words sounded a little odd, Xing Yan breathed a sigh of relief when he heard them.

Then the girl added:

"It really isn't a love poem? Xing Yan, don't take advantage of the fact that I can't read and trick me!"

"Hm?! Ha... how could I?"

After all that fuss, the little girl could not even read!

At once, Xing Yan's heart was set completely at ease.