The next few days passed as calmly as water. Lady Rui seemed unaware of what had happened that night. When she encountered Xing Yan, she was as solemn and dignified as ever. Only occasionally did she send her maid Ying'er over with fruit and pastries.
Although he had promised Ling Yier he would return the flute, Xing Yan was in no hurry. Another rather special day was only a few days away.
Before, apart from holidays and festivals, all days had been much the same to Xing Yan-except payday. Now, however, things seemed different. Ever since meeting Ju Ying over two months ago, he had felt that each month held another special day.
In a few more days, it would be two months since he had met Ju Ying. Xing Yan decided to return the flute then, and take another look at the Poyang Misty Waters that so often appeared in his dreams.
Whenever the thought occurred to him, Xing Yan found himself rather ridiculous:
Ha! Since when did I become so sentimental?
Though he had generously agreed that night to return the Jade Flute, Xing Yan still found it hard to part with it. After so much time together, the exquisite, lovely Divine Snow was no longer merely a tool for earning his living. The flute had become something like a friend.
Though the flute would soon be returned, he still needed to earn his bread at the Flower Moon House. Finding some free time, Xing Yan visited an instrument shop, picked through its wares, and spent a little silver on a reasonably good bamboo flute.
After so much practice, Xing Yan had become quite familiar with the instrument. He knew that choosing one meant more than examining the bamboo to see whether it had been specially seasoned for years. Often, he also had to roll it across a flat surface to check whether the tube was round and straight. Such details might seem insignificant, but to experts like Xing Yan, who earned their living with a flute, these tiny distinctions often determined whether an instrument was easy or difficult to play, and whether its tone was pleasing or unpleasant.
Apparently, Xing Yan had long since banished his former aspirations toward the Dao to far-off Java, and seemed ready to settle down as a musician for life.
That afternoon, after playing several pieces, Xing Yan finally prepared to return the flute to Ling Yier.
As usual, he asked Aunt Xia, the madam of the Flower Moon House, for leave, then tucked the Jade Flute Divine Snow into his waistband and prepared to set out. Naturally, he also took along all the wages he had saved.
This was not stinginess on his part. To the wealthy, that silver might hardly be worth mentioning, but to a poor boy like Xing Yan, three or four taels was a considerable sum. Thus, wherever he went wandering, he always carried those little pieces of silver with him, cherishing them with the utmost care.
Before the sun set, Xing Yan hurried on his way. He had brought everything-except the Iron Sword, which its owner alone had forgotten, leaving it leaning forlornly against the foot of his bedroom wall.
Not long after he set out, something happened that gave him quite a fright-
As Xing Yan hurried along with his head down, he discovered that the ground beneath his feet had suddenly begun to shake! His feet felt as though they were treading on heaps of cotton.
At first, Xing Yan thought he was imagining things. But after a few more steps, he realized that the dirt road beneath him really was trembling.
"Ah! An earthquake!"
The farther east he went, the more violently the ground seemed to shake, until Xing Yan felt as though someone were swaying his body against his will.
Strange! Why has the ground suddenly started shaking?
As far as Xing Yan remembered, he had never experienced an earthquake before. Once his initial surprise passed, he found it rather novel, and stood still to savor the strange sensation of moving without any wind.
Ha! This is rather fun!
Unfortunately, before he could enjoy it to his heart's content, the road stopped shaking. Reluctant to give up, Xing Yan waited a while longer-but there was not the slightest further movement.
Finding that the ground would no longer sway, Xing Yan felt rather disappointed and could only resume his journey.
Though Poyang Lake was quite far from Raozhou City, the boy now walked briskly. Without stopping along the way, he reached the lakeshore with little effort, just as the sun sank behind the western hills.
Once at Poyang Lake, Xing Yan did not immediately play his flute loudly to summon the girl who wanted it back.
Having finally made another trip to Poyang Lake, Xing Yan had plans of his own.
Ha! Every time I've seen the Lord of the Clouds' granddaughter, it's been at night. It's still early, so there's no hurry to find somewhere inhabited and disturb her with my flute.
With that thought, Xing Yan followed the winding shore of Poyang Lake toward the place where he and Ju Ying had once laughed and chatted so happily.
Only two months had passed, yet to the boy, those few days together seemed a lifetime ago.
A thousand mountains and ten thousand rivers might hide a living face, but they could not sever the longing buried deep within his heart.
Returning to that familiar place, the once simple-minded boy found himself awash in countless thoughts. Now Xing Yan finally understood what it meant to miss someone at the sight of familiar things. All along the way, chrysanthemums and fragrant herbs recalled her lovely face, while willows brought back her slender waist...
Reaching the lakeside rock again, Xing Yan gazed for a while at the unyielding stone against which Ju Ying had once leaned. He knew his station was lowly, and that with a thousand miles between them, they had almost no chance of meeting again. Yet after sharing life and death with her through that upheaval, he knew he could never forget that face, lovely in anger and in joy.
By tomorrow, this Divine Snow flute will no longer be mine. I should play it one last time.
Thinking this, Xing Yan drew the jade tube from his waistband, carefully wiped it a few times, raised it to his lips, and began to play.
A clear, soaring thread of flute music rose gracefully beside the waters of Poyang Lake.
By then, the sun had sunk beneath the western hills. A bright moon hung in the eastern sky, spilling its radiance for a thousand miles across Poyang Lake's vast, shimmering waters. Moonlight joined water and sky, making the heavens seem freshly washed and the luminous lake a mirror. Only a few wisps of cloud drifted through the pure night sky, while in the far west, streaks of russet sunset still glowed as vividly as dye.
An occasional breeze swept across the water, sending moonlit reflections surging like tides. A wisp of cloud curled around distant fishing sails returning late, where the flute's faint song could be heard...
The boy's flute song, carrying all his yearning and remembrance, swayed and drifted through the water, moonlight, mist, and sunset glow.
Having once played the wondrous Water Dragon's Chant, Xing Yan was no longer confined to a particular score or melody, a fixed note or tune. Before that vast expanse of lake, sky, cloud, and water, he simply played as his heart desired. Where his heart went, his music followed. Every note and beat sprang from his feelings, yet naturally accorded with musical harmony and possessed a charm all its own.
That clear melody, truly the voice of his heart, swept along the lakeshore and curled toward the cloud-crowned heights on the gentle evening breeze. In that moment, all the boy's unforgettable tenderness and faraway dreams, all his ethereal clarity and purity, soared and danced through Poyang Lake's silent night sky.
Indeed:
Autumn waters and endless skies gathered drifting sunset clouds into one painting; above bright sands and green shores flew the crystalline song of a frosty flute.
As the boy poured his entire body and soul into his flute song, he did not know that nearby, amid the rippling lake waters beneath the moonlight, a graceful, lovely girl in white was slowly rising from the cool autumn waters, bathed in lunar radiance.
This girl, who resembled an immortal maiden of the waters, was none other than Ling Yier, whom Xing Yan had encountered several times.
Treading upon the ripples, she came ashore. Then she stood quietly beside Xing Yan, listening in silence to the flute song he played with all his heart.
Xing Yan was wholly absorbed in the Jade Flute's melody. Though his extraordinary senses told him the girl had arrived, he had entered the music's realm and did not wish to stop playing.
The ethereal, lucid notes continued flowing like water from the Jade Flute Divine Snow's finger holes, drifting through the blue heavens, clouds, and waters before him.
Strangely, this girl, who usually raised a commotion the moment she saw Xing Yan, did not interrupt him now.
After listening a while longer, the girl, now dressed in an immaculate court gown, lightly waved her sleeves, ribbons drifting at either side, and walked slowly to the water's edge. Bowing her head, she murmured a few words, then beckoned with her fair hand. Several columns of water suddenly rose from the faintly shimmering lake, and beneath Ling Yier's whispered words, gradually formed a phoenix-headed konghou, complete with strings and pillars.
Beneath the moon's clear radiance, points of translucent light still flowed along the strings of this konghou shaped from autumn waters. It looked both real and unreal, like a dream, like mist.
Ling Yier gently held the Water Konghou, curved her delicate fingers like an orchid, and brushed its strings of autumn water. Clear, chiming notes rang out like a spring. This soft, gentle music tenderly answered the boy's clear, soaring flute, like an understanding girl soothing a boy whose sorrow would not disperse.
Music like the voices of immortals flowed through the clouds, sky, mist, and waters beside Poyang Lake.
After several changes of melody, the watery konghou in the girl's hands suddenly dissolved into countless droplets, dancing across the sky!
Surrounded by that shower of water, Ling Yier moved her lotus steps lightly onto the faintly rippling lake. Her loose sleeves unfurled, her ribbons fluttered, and to the rhythm of Xing Yan's Jade Flute, she performed the Lingering Wave Dance upon Poyang Lake...
As she moved to and fro, the wave-treading maiden parted her crimson lips, and her pearly voice trilled in song:
Graceful upon the waves, untouched by dust,
A jade-like maiden stood, an immortal of the waters.
Within the lotus chamber, feelings were locked too deep to show,
A hidden fragrance half released, as faint as mist.
Later, someone composed a poem in praise:
Mountains faded, the water's traces stilled,
Sparse and lonely stood Poyang's mist-veiled willows.
In the homeland of white clouds, a tender song arose,
A flute enchanted the wild ferry crossing,
A water dance graced the fragrant islet.
Deep amid clouds and waters, an orchid boat was moored.
In the bloom of youth,
Grace freely promised its charms.
Together they watched the moonlit lake in autumn.
The flute notes drifted, the song wound gently onward. When the last thread of flute music and singing vanished together into the night breeze over the lake, Xing Yan's thoughts seemed slowly to descend from those ethereal clouds back into the mortal world.
Having finished her song and dance, Ling Yier floated lightly over the water and returned to Xing Yan.
"You came so early, yet all you did was play your flute."
The girl who had just sung and danced so gently now sounded rather reproachful.
Xing Yan did not answer. He merely stared straight at Ling Yier and stammered:
"Are you... an immortal maiden from the waters?"
The dazed boy's head was filled with the sight of Ling Yier standing effortlessly upon the water, singing softly and dancing gracefully.
"No! I'm a monster from the water! I eat people!"
Seeing the usually quick-witted boy looking so dull and dazed, Ling Yier's mischievous streak stirred again, and she could not resist teasing him. She even pulled a face and brandished her hands like claws. Unfortunately, the girl was simply too lovely for her grimace to have much effect-
"Whew!"
At her words, the boy seemed to breathe a long sigh of relief.
"So water monsters are this pretty! Before I lunged at you that day, I really thought I was in for a fright. I expected a blue face, jutting fangs, and a mouth dripping with drool! Who would have thought..."
"Why, Xing Yan, you're still such a rascal! You dress your words up nicely, but you're secretly making fun of me!"
"Ha! I wouldn't dare. A monster like you certainly gives me a shock-but only a shock of beauty!"
Perhaps because he had witnessed so many strange and supernatural things lately, Xing Yan recovered from his initial astonishment and regained his easy tongue.
Though Ling Yier tried to frighten him by calling herself a monster, her radiant, exquisite appearance made it impossible for him to feel afraid. And somehow, despite her dazzling beauty, their several bouts of banter had left Xing Yan feeling neither inferior nor awkward before her. His words flowed as smoothly as ever.
"I-I'm a monster, you know!"
"If monsters are this beautiful, where does that leave the immortal maidens?"
"...You really are a rascal, with a mouth full of empty words. All you know is how to deceive me."
Though she said this, Ling Yier was truly pleased. The beauty of "Snow Flute Lingyi" was renowned across the four seas, yet few people seemed to mention it to her face. Given her status, hardly anyone dared joke freely with her. Moreover, everyone seemed to take her beauty so completely for granted that they often forgot to praise her looks.
Imperceptibly, Ling Yier had become rather unapproachable in the eyes of the other young people of the rivers, lakes, and seas. Her manner often struck them as peerlessly cold and proud. Though the "snow" in "Snow Flute Lingyi" referred to the Jade Flute Divine Snow, perhaps the young men who admired her secretly interpreted it as "coldly beautiful as snow"...
Had Xing Yan known that this willful girl, who pestered him so relentlessly, usually presented such an image, he would probably have found it even harder to accept than the notion that "old Daoist Qinghe possessed profound virtue and regarded money as dung"!
Yet somehow, when this snow-proud Ling Yier encountered a boy who knew nothing about her, all because of a flute, she felt unusually comfortable and relaxed. In her heart, her quarrels with this boy from the streets seemed a delight unlike anything she had ever experienced.
Without realizing it, she had gradually grown attached to that feeling. In fact, on that awkward evening, when the boy offered to return the flute at once, an inexplicable panic had stirred within her. And over the past few days, though the memory of being suddenly clasped tight in a young man's arms was truly embarrassing, it kept rising unbidden in Ling Yier's mind. Every time she thought of it, the lovely face of "Snow Flute Lingyi" flushed again and again!
The simple-hearted boy from the streets, however, seemed much slower to notice and felt nothing particularly unusual-though the girl's first few bouts of pestering had certainly caused him considerable trouble.
Knowing nothing of this, Xing Yan laughed off her reproach. Looking at the girl with her fluttering ribbons, he suddenly remembered the business that had brought him here tonight, and said:
"With such miraculous arts and such lovely looks, you must be an immortal maiden! Oh, right, I came tonight to return your flute. Please take it back now."
As he spoke, Xing Yan extended the Jade Flute Divine Snow toward Ling Yier for her to take.
But the girl did not reach for it-
"...Look at how I'm dressed. Where could I possibly put the flute? Keep it with you for now and look after it for me!"
"Huh?"
Xing Yan was astonished. Why had this little girl changed her nature lately? She seemed like a different person. Before, she had tried every possible means to seize the flute. Now that he had repeatedly offered it with both hands, she was no longer eager to reclaim it.
Ah! That saying really is true-a young girl's heart is the hardest thing to fathom!
While Xing Yan's thoughts wandered, Ling Yier exclaimed:
"Oh! That singing and dancing has tired me out! My stomach feels a little empty, too. Why don't we find somewhere to eat? We can rest our feet, and I can tell you whether I'm a monster!"
"All right. Where shall we go?"
Though Xing Yan remembered the few dry flatbreads tucked inside his robe, he did not spoil her enthusiasm.
"The Lakeview Tower!"
Apparently, the Lakeview Tower beside Poyang Lake really was renowned far and wide.
"Uh... I've eaten there before!"
Xing Yan had always been rather proud of having dined at the Lakeview Tower. Hearing the girl mention it, he could not resist bringing it up again.
Only... remembering the prices there made the boy frown:
"It's a fine place, but too expensive... Last time, last time someone else treated me!"
Before Ling Yier, Xing Yan did not find this admission embarrassing. For one thing, after their several troublesome encounters, he doubted she held a very impressive opinion of him anyway. For another, the Lakeview Tower truly was expensive, and he did not want to squander his hard-earned silver on so-called social obligations and appearances.
"What does expensive matter? Since I invited you, of course I'm paying!"
Ling Yier probably understood the boy's circumstances, for she did not mock him as she usually did. After speaking, however, she could not resist adding:
"Last time... was it that girl called Yingju or something who treated you?"
"Huh?"
At first, Xing Yan was startled. He had not expected the girl to be so well informed that she could even guess this. Then, on reflection, he relaxed. Most likely, her grandfather, the Lord of the Clouds, had told her.
Come to think of it, if the old Lord of the Clouds' granddaughter possessed such divine abilities, the man himself must surely be an adept of tremendous powers.
"Ha! Did your grandfather tell you? A girl did treat me, but her name wasn't Yingju-it was Ju Ying!"
"Hmph! I knew it was her! Who would have thought a rascal like you could have such luck in romance!"
"Don't talk nonsense! Say, have rich, generous girls become so plentiful these days?"
...And so, exchanging idle remarks back and forth, the two left the lonely, chilly lakeside rock and followed the winding path toward the Lakeview Tower in Poyang County.
Perhaps because the cold night was bleak, Xing Yan found few customers at the Lakeview Tower that evening. Upstairs, there were fewer still. He found the same elegant lakeside table where he had eaten with Ju Ying last time and invited Ling Yier to sit.
Since she was treating him, Xing Yan did not overstep. He summoned a waiter and let Ling Yier order. The girl first chose two or three fairly light dishes, mostly vegetables. Then she hesitated, unsure what else to order.
Looks like this girl doesn't often eat out.
Apparently, he would have to help her look through the menu. Remembering that Ling Yier had complained of hunger, Xing Yan recommended the Lakeview Tower's famous dish of dough balls-Fine-Rice-Crumb Tangyuan.
When Xing Yan had worked as a waiter at the Rice Fragrance House, he had often visited the Lakeview Tower and become quite familiar with its specialties. Fine-Rice-Crumb Tangyuan was one of them. Ordinary tangyuan sold in the streets usually mixed rice crumbs with starch. Though smooth to eat, they required considerable chewing. The Lakeview Tower's version used no added starch, only the finest rice crumbs. By some mysterious kitchen method, the tangyuan came out crystal clear and melted in the mouth.
Compared with the Lakeview Tower's other dishes, these Fine-Rice-Crumb Tangyuan were not expensive, so Xing Yan explained their merits to the girl in detail. Hearing his recommendation, Ling Yier naturally had no objection and added two portions.
The waiter attending them at Lakeview Tower happened to be the young fellow Xing Yan knew. He had already been astonished when Xing Yan brought Ju Ying last time. Seeing him now accompanied by another extraordinarily lovely girl left him even more amazed. He wondered how this boy had become so mysterious lately, knowing so many wonderful people.
While they ordered, the waiter did not dare stare at the dazzling girl, but kept glancing at Xing Yan, barely able to stop himself from asking questions.
Of course, despite his amazement at her beauty, his sense of duty ultimately kept the young waiter from doing anything rash. Once Xing Yan and Ling Yier had finished ordering, he called out his acknowledgment and left.
As soon as the waiter departed, Ling Yier could not resist asking Xing Yan:
"That Ju Ying girl who came here with you last time... was she pretty?"
Though her grandfather had already told her that Yingju-the "Ju Ying" Xing Yan spoke of-was extraordinarily graceful and lovely, like a tender shoot of an immortal flower, her girlish nature still compelled her to ask.
At the mention of Ju Ying, a jumble of feelings stirred in Xing Yan's heart. Turning toward the moonlit, misty waters beyond the window, he reflected for a moment and answered:
"Ju Ying is very beautiful. The way she looks..."
"Mountains met her brows and lost their color; waters encountered her eyes and ceased to shine."
Before you continue