After lunch at the Feng Residence, Chen Caozhi and his servants took their leave of Feng Mengxiong. They still had to hire tenant farmers at the West Market, and the Ding Clan villa was a long way back, so they could not linger. As a courtesy, Chen Caozhi made a special trip into the inner courtyard to bid farewell to Feng's wife, Sun Shi. She gave him many gifts in return and asked him to convey her regards to Mother Chen Lady Li, saying she would visit her again in a few days. She also sent a young maid to call Feng Lingbo out to say goodbye to Chen Caozhi. Feng Lingbo refused, merely dipping in a curtsey to him from behind the door curtain. Her green skirt flashed, and she fluttered away.
Feng's wife, Sun Shi, said with a smiling hint of reproach, "Girls are so shy. How can they compare with your refinement and good manners, Caozhi? Caozhi, come and visit more often. Our families have been friends for generations; we mustn't grow distant."
Touched by the warmth of Uncle Feng's family, Chen Caozhi left the Feng Residence with Lai Fu and his son. Having learned that Feng Mengxiong would find a way to register his family in the county household rolls, Lai Fu was deeply grateful, and his anxious heart was at ease for the moment.
When they reached a place in the West Market where tenant farmers were recruited, the two tenant households Lai Fu had selected the day before were already waiting. Chen Caozhi asked a few brief questions, then agreed to hire them, setting the rent per mu at 180 sheng of wheat at summer prices, against the usual rate of 200 sheng. Both households were delighted, feeling that such a landlord was not harsh, and agreed to move their entire families to Chen Family Cove after the Dragon Boat Festival.
Following the shopping list drawn up by the old mistress, Lai Fu also bought a pile of household sundries at the market, along with plowshares, sickles, and other farming tools. He planned to return to Chen Family Cove first the next day, then come back two days later to take Chen Caozhi and his nephew home.
The previous day, following Chen Caozhi's instructions, Lai De had searched all over the county town for a Go set, but had found none. Now he went off alone to look again. Lai De was rather blindly loyal: he would not give up until he bought a Go set, and if he could not buy one, that was his fault.
The West Market bustled with people coming and going, but a young man as handsome and as gentle and refined in bearing as Chen Caozhi was a rare sight. Women tending shop counters could not help staring blankly at him, while poor girls along the roadside kept glancing back-
This was an age that revered beauty to an extreme: the beauty of landscapes, architecture, music, painting, poetry... and, of course, physical beauty. In the early Eastern Jin, the handsome Wei Jie traveled from Yuzhang to Jiankang, where the women joined forces to surround him and stare their fill. As the Book of Songs said, "You gave me a quince; I repaid you with precious jade," so the women threw fruit at Wei Jie to express their love. Wei Jie was frail; after being surrounded, stared at, and pelted, he returned to his lodgings, fell ill, and never rose again. This was the origin of the famous allusion "Wei Jie Was Watched to Death"-
The women of Qiantang were not so unrestrained, of course, but their burning gazes still brought a slight sweat to Chen Caozhi's brow. To others, however, the handsome youth walked at an unhurried pace, his expression perfectly composed.
Lai Fu came up behind Chen Caozhi and said quietly, "Young master, look at those two standing against the wall, the old one and the young one. They were here when I came yesterday, too. Seeing that the old one had lost an arm, I went over and gave him ten Wuzhu coins in charity, but the boy threw them back at me."
Mother Chen Lady Li believed in Buddhism and delighted in good deeds. She had instructed Lai Fu to help those afflicted by disability or illness with a few coins whenever he could.
Chen Caozhi looked up. Both the old man and the boy were very large. The old man's left arm had been severed at the elbow, and he made no attempt to conceal it, leaving the stump exposed. His face was quite fearsome, too, its wrinkles mingled with scars, his gaze fierce. As for the younger one, judging by his face, he was only twelve or thirteen, but looking at his size, who would dare call him a child? He stood nearly seven chi tall, with unusually long arms and large hands. His arms hung at his sides, and his eyes darted about, still holding a child's innocence.
Chen Caozhi did not study them further. Only after leaving the West Market did he say, "Lai Fu, when you come to fetch those two tenant households after the Dragon Boat Festival, look here again. If no one has hired that old man and boy, take them back to Chen Family Cove."
Lai Fu said, "The old one has only one arm, and the young one is childish. Who would hire them? What would you hire them for, young master? To do a good deed?"
Chen Caozhi smiled faintly. "Let others do the good deed first. If no one does, then we'll hire the two of them."
Lai Fu could not understand, but he did not ask. Seeing that they had bought everything they needed, he was ready to return to the Ding Clan villa, yet Lai De was nowhere to be seen.
"That blockhead! If there are no Go sets, there are none. Can the shopkeepers conjure one out of thin air for you?"
Lai Fu shook his head, feeling that of his three sons, this youngest was the stupidest-even stupider than he himself had been back then. The boy had no idea how to adapt when doing things. Even after battering his head against the southern wall, he would not turn back; he had to knock a hole through it.
They waited a little longer. Seeing that the women and girls crowding around Chen Caozhi were steadily growing in number, almost blocking the ox cart's passage, Lai Fu said, "Young master, get into the cart for now. Let's go back first and leave that blockhead to walk on his own."
Chen Caozhi also felt that the situation did not bode well. He was just about to climb aboard when Lai De came running over, drenched in sweat, calling, "Young master, I found a Go set!"
Chen Caozhi saw that his hands were empty. The purse at his waist could not possibly hold a set of Go stones, let alone the board. He asked, "Not enough money?"
Lai De wiped his sweat with his sleeve, his face flushed red. "No, they just wouldn't sell it."
Lai De had searched every ward and lane in Qiantang County's town, going into every shop to ask. Infuriatingly, the shops seemed to have everything else, but no Go sets. One shopkeeper told him he would have to buy one at the commandery seat; a small county town like Qiantang had none. Lai De refused to give up and kept looking. By Little Stone Creek in the south of town, he saw two scholars playing beneath the shade of a tree. Wasn't that Go? Lai De offered to buy the set, making the two scholars laugh in exasperation. They did not scold him, merely saying that they would set an intricate problem: if Lai De could solve it, they would give him the set. The two scholars were certain he could not solve it. Sure enough, he did not dare answer and ran off like a wisp of smoke. They exchanged looks and laughed, then resumed their game.
Lai De said, "Young master, go solve that intricate problem and win a Go set to take home."
Chen Caozhi had been wanting to see what Go was like in this era. Surely they were not still using a seventeen-line board? That would be much less interesting. He had Lai De lead the way and rode the ox cart toward the south of town, leaving behind the crowd of wistfully sighing women and girls at the West Market.
Little Stone Creek was a small river running north to south through Qiantang County's town. Its bed was strewn with smooth, lustrous pebbles, hence its name. Willows grew thickly along its banks, and the scenery was quite lovely. The Go players beneath the willow shade had something of the air of figures in a painting.
Chen Caozhi got out of the cart and slowly approached. Four or five paces from the board, he stood watching with his hands behind his back, while Lai De craned his neck behind him.
The two scholars' game had reached its final stage, and they were filling in stones one by one. Both the large territories they had enclosed and the two eyes of their living groups had to be filled. This was the ancient stop-play rule: play stopped, the board was filled, and whoever had more stones won.
Chen Caozhi nodded inwardly, thinking, This is a nineteen-line board. Apart from the rules being slightly different from those of later ages, everything else is the same. It won't affect me at all. I have the playing strength of an amateur third dan. I wonder what rank I would place in this Eastern Jin?
The two scholars were preparing to count the stones carefully when Chen Caozhi glanced up at the setting sun and said, "Black wins by seven."
Both scholars turned to look at Chen Caozhi, their expressions disbelieving, then lowered their heads and continued counting. No more and no less, Black had seven more stones than White.
Behind Chen Caozhi, Lai De said, "My young master has come to solve the intricate problem."
"Oh," said the two scholars, looking Chen Caozhi over again. The black-bearded scholar on the left pushed aside the stones in the upper-left corner and swiftly arranged an intricate problem. Rising, he said, "If you solve it, we will give you the board and stones."
One glance told Chen Caozhi that it was merely a very common life-and-death problem. In later ages, anyone with the strength of an amateur first dan could solve it. The problem had an inelegant name: "Big Pig's Snout."
Certain of his answer, Chen Caozhi wore a faint smile. He stepped forward, taking black stones in his left hand and white stones in his right, and played them in turn. In moments, he had solved the problem. Stepping back, he said, "Big Pig's Snout: a hane, then a placement kills." With that, he turned and walked toward the ox cart.
Lai De hurried after him, opening his mouth to speak, but Chen Caozhi stopped him.
The two scholars stared at each other. Who knew how many people this intricate problem had stumped, yet the youth had broken it with a casual hand. Surely his Go ranking must be very high!
The black-bearded scholar called out, "Please wait a moment. We have lost this board and these stones to you."
Five zhang away, the youth waved his sleeve. "I couldn't accept. It was only a game. My mother forbids me to gamble."
The two scholars stood there for a long time, watching the youth of peerless grace recede farther and farther into the setting sun.
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