Three Kinds of Tea, the Rainbow Cloud Flute
"The Cave God Lady's husband?"
Chu Tianshu looked curiously at Cai Shanjun and saw that Old Yu and Little Huo also wore expressions of barely restrained curiosity.
Clearly, although the two of them were Cai Shanjun's guards, they knew nothing about the matter.
Cai Shanjun dismounted from the donkey and explained with a helpless look.
More than ten years ago, he and a group of friends had stumbled into Wu Clan Stronghold and found the people warm, hospitable, simple, and hearty. Hungry and exhausted from their trek through the mountains, they had stopped to rest there.
As it turned out, what they had taken for a festival over those few days was actually a ceremony being held in the stronghold to select the Cave God's husband.
Because of one friend's recklessness, they had been forced to put on painted wooden masks, play along with the mistake, and take part in the ceremony.
After a series of proceedings, Cai Shanjun, an outsider, had unexpectedly been chosen as the Cave God Lady's husband.
That, however, was no good thing.
The ceremony to select the Cave God's husband was meant to pray for blessings, ward off evil, and quell calamity.
Every ten years or few decades, the waterfall not far from Wu Clan Stronghold would run dry, exposing a cave beneath the cliff face, from which colorful clouds would burst forth.
When that happened, Wu Clan Stronghold had to hold a ceremony, select a husband for the Cave God Lady, and send him into the cave. Otherwise, even if they moved elsewhere, the entire clan would suffer calamities and face all manner of ill fortune.
Cai Shanjun's friends had refused to accept it, only to be detained. Cai Shanjun himself could be said to have been forced into the cave.
But after two days and two nights, he had managed to emerge from the labyrinthine cave, bringing with him the Rainbow Cloud Flute, which an ancestor of Wu Clan Stronghold had left deep inside.
He claimed that the Cave God Lady's guidance had allowed him to come out unharmed, and he returned the Rainbow Cloud Flute to Wu Clan Stronghold.
The people of Wu Clan Stronghold therefore believed he was especially favored by the Cave God Lady. They gave him generous gifts and saw him and all his companions out of the stronghold with due courtesy.
"...At the time, I was about to cast aside my writing brush and take up arms, but connections in officialdom and the army were tangled as tree roots and quite treacherous. Those generous gifts helped me a great deal when I was starting out."
At this point in Cai Shanjun's account, Chu Tianshu's expression turned a little peculiar.
That hardly sounded as if there had never been any bad blood between them. At best, it had been resolved.
Chu Tianshu looked toward the waterfall on the mountain. "They managed to send you into the cave back then. What if the waterfall on the mountain runs dry again while you're here this time?"
"It won't."
Cai Shanjun smiled mysteriously, then sighed. "After I left here, I actually gathered a great deal of local historical material and folklore. That was how I learned that, long ago, the story told here was that the Cave God took a wife."
"Whenever the waterfall ran dry and colorful clouds flew out, the stronghold's most gifted and lovely maiden would be chosen. Holding the stronghold's most precious Gu insect, she would be sent into the cave as a bride, to the sound of pipes and drums."
"Then, at some point, no one knows when, a maiden could no longer calm the Cave God's strange behavior, so they began choosing warriors from the stronghold instead. The Cave God taking a wife became the Cave God choosing a husband, but the result was the same: once sent in, none ever returned."
"If they could work together when the colorful clouds burst forth, gather more warriors and Gu women, and enter together, perhaps no one would need to die to quell a calamity."
Chu Tianshu pondered this. "But doing that might get even more people killed. They wouldn't dare change an old custom. What exactly is in the cave...?"
Cai Shanjun considered for a moment. "I'm not entirely sure myself. The cave is filled with stone pillars, rising from the ground and hanging from above. It reaches all the way underground and is immeasurably vast."
"Given our present circumstances, we'd better not go looking for what's in the cave without good reason. At least for the next few years, the waterfall won't run dry. Everyone still has time."
As he spoke, the Miao woman poled her bamboo raft back to the stronghold.
A continuous roll of drums soon sounded from within the stronghold.
From the stilt houses halfway up the mountain, able-bodied men and women came out of nearly every household.
Several hundred people poured down to the foot of the mountain in a great procession, beating drums in welcome from the opposite bank.
The women mostly wore headscarves and embroidered aprons. Some of the men wore animal hides, others cloth garments, and most looked rather plainly dressed.
Outsiders thought Miao mountain strongholds were full of silver ornaments, but in truth, apart from dressing up for festivals and grand celebrations, the people did not usually adorn themselves so elaborately.
Silver tarnished easily. If worn constantly during daily life and work, it would pick up all kinds of grime, and even washing and polishing it would scarcely restore its original appearance.
More than a dozen men, barehanded and barefoot, broke away from the crowd and poled five or six bamboo rafts across the river.
One of them was particularly eye-catching, standing a full two point two or two point three meters tall.
He had nothing but stubble on his head, a hemp cord tied around his forehead, a blunt, square face, and long arms and legs.
Poling across the river seemed to take him just three or four strokes, and the raft shot like an arrow to this bank.
"Brother Shanjun!"
"Wu Tugu!"
Cai Shanjun laughed. "If not for me back then, everyone in the stronghold thought he was the one who should have been sent into the cave."
Wu Tugu snorted, his voice rumbling and echoing as though muffled inside a great wooden barrel. "You stole my glory, but you walked out of the cave. I admire you!"
He suddenly sniffed and made a strange face. "How did you get so weak?"
Cai Shanjun said helplessly, "I should have been much stronger than I was back then."
Wu Tugu's gaze swept over the group. He wrinkled his nose again and grinned. "But the people with you are more dangerous than the ones back then."
Chu Tianshu asked curiously, "Brother, did you see that or smell it? Can you tell how strong someone is by their scent?"
"Bears can smell a crocodile, but foolish people can't."
Wu Tugu thumped his chest and said proudly, "No more than five people in the stronghold have a nose like this. I'm also the only one who stands highest and can smell the farthest."
The other bamboo rafts had also reached the bank by then.
A dark-skinned man with narrow eyes, a thick beard, and a short knife tucked into his belt called out.
"You don't stand the highest; you're the tallest. If it came to climbing a mountain to reach a high place, you couldn't beat me."
The man with the short knife stepped forward and performed a stronghold greeting. "Wu Zewa. I've come on the clan chief's orders to welcome our benefactor."
They called Cai Shanjun their benefactor not because he had gone into the cave in place of someone from their stronghold, but because he had recovered their ancestor's Rainbow Cloud Flute for them.
According to legend, it was a treasure that had once stood alongside the Barbarian King Drum and the Zhuge Zither, but later generations, whether from Wu Clan Stronghold's main family or its branch families, had all lost the method of making it.
The group was welcomed aboard the bamboo rafts, with even the donkey brought along.
Chu Tianshu looked back in the direction they had come.
A vast jungle stretched as far as the eye could see. In the distance, great mountains pressed down on the land like enormous overturned bowls.
At their feet, the mountains were a deep green, almost black, while from halfway up they gradually turned white. He could not tell whether the peaks were covered in snow or clouds and mist.
Looking at them like this, there was no sign of a passable road anywhere.
Cai Shanjun had guided them here with such practiced ease. The stronghold must have left a very deep impression on him, and he must have thought about it many times in private.
"It's rained for days on end, yet today we can see the sunset glow from the stronghold. The Cave God Lady must be happy today too."
The people waiting on the bank were clearly gathered around an old man.
His hair and beard were streaked with gray, his eyelids were somewhat puffy, and he had a slightly plump belly. A reddish-brown cloak hung down to his knees behind him. His voice was loud, and he seemed both imposing and enthusiastic.
"Today, the benefactor who recovered our ancestor's keepsake has come, and the husband chosen by the Cave God Lady has come."
"Light the bonfires and bring out the fine wine. Tonight, everyone can sing and dance to their hearts' content."
The crowd waiting by the bank broke into cheers.
A delicate-featured young woman stepped forward and placed a garland woven from supple twigs on the clan chief's head, then gave another to Cai Shanjun.
The wildflowers, with their yellow centers and white petals, lent both men a touch of rustic charm and made them seem more approachable.
Everyone seemed to grow closer in an instant. Chu Tianshu and his companions were also surrounded by people crowding around them and swept up the mountain.
Although the clan chief and the others spoke Chinese, it was only when Chu Tianshu was surrounded by the crowd on the way up the mountain that he realized there were many people whose words he could not understand.
But he could understand the lively, joyful feeling.
"Did the governor really leave such a deep impression on them?"
Little Huo was a little overwhelmed by the favor. "It's been more than ten years, and he's still so popular."
Zhong Jinqiu said calmly, "That first young woman recognized Governor Cai at a glance, so he really did leave a deep impression on her. As for these people, most are probably happier about tonight's singing, dancing, and fine wine."
Chu Tianshu thought so too.
But he liked this lively, joyful atmosphere, so he wore a radiant smile instead of keeping a stiff face like Uncle Zhong.
Yet when they actually approached the stilt houses, the crowd suddenly scattered.
Wu Zewa explained, "They've all gone to prepare firewood for tonight's bonfires, fish to roast, insect tea, flower tea, fragrant bamboo, and pickled greens."
"It takes a great deal of preparation to spend a joyful night."
Chu Tianshu nodded. He saw that they had been led to a spot on higher ground, apparently the council hall for the whole stronghold.
The other stilt houses were built of bamboo and wood, but the hall before them was constructed of nanmu wood, bricks, and tiles.
More than a dozen chairs stood inside the hall. In the middle of the floor was a six-legged black iron pot, stacked with unlit firewood.
The group had just taken their seats when the young woman who had first spotted Cai Shanjun approached, carrying a wooden tray in each hand.
"Would our guests like insect tea, oil tea, or flower tea?"
The young woman smiled, her eyes sparkling, and first held a tray out to Cai Shanjun. "I remember that the Cave God Lady's husband could only get used to flower tea."
The clan chief said, "This is A Bang. You helped her bore holes in a flute back then."
Recognition dawned on Cai Shanjun, and he smiled as he accepted a cup of flower tea.
The young woman passed in front of the group one by one, and each person took a cup.
Seeing that there were still many bowls of tea on the two trays, Chu Tianshu could not help asking, "Could I have one of each?"
A Bang smiled. "Of course."
Chu Tianshu took three bowls. The oil tea looked like flour soup and had a slightly savory aroma.
The flower tea looked as though it contained something like candied winter melon.
The insect tea, on the other hand, looked the most normal, just like water in which ordinary tea leaves had been steeped.
Chu Tianshu had expected to see insects like centipedes in it, and had rather wanted to try the experience.
Zhong Jinqiu, sitting beside him, leaned his head over and quietly reminded him, "Insect tea is made by drying what a kind of insect excretes after eating tea leaves."
Chu Tianshu's expression changed slightly. He would have been willing to try eating a centipede, but he would pass on this tea.
He asked Uncle Zhong a couple more questions.
Oil tea was made from things like broad beans, glutinous rice, and wheat flour, stir-fried and mixed with camellia seed oil. It could be stored for a long time, and when brewed for drinking, it was indeed very fragrant.
Flower tea, meanwhile, was made from things like winter melon and green pomelo peel, cut into finger-sized strips or slices and carved with floral and auspicious designs. They were soaked and processed in various ways to remove the bitterness, then preserved with sugar.
Chu Tianshu silently picked up the flower tea and gulped down two mouthfuls, then drank two mouthfuls of oil tea. Both were indeed quite good. His gaze could not help drifting toward the insect tea, but after a moment's thought, he looked away.
After a while, he saw Uncle Ma drinking the insect tea with evident enjoyment and could not help glancing at it again.
While he was studying the teas, Cai Shanjun had already exchanged a few pleasantries with the clan chief and come to the point.
"I came this time because I'd like to borrow the Rainbow Cloud Flute."
The clan chief, who had been smiling broadly and speaking in a hearty voice, fell silent in an instant.
"So that's what you came for."
The clan chief's face still retained a trace of a smile, but his voice became low and slow, as though he were weighing his words with great difficulty.
"Although you brought the Rainbow Cloud Flute out of the cave, you already took the generous gifts we gave you back then."
"Besides, the Rainbow Cloud Flute was dim back then. It seems to have recovered somewhat only after we kept it in the ancestral hall as an offering for the past ten-odd years..."