Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 203: An Old Bottle

Ji Yuan remembered that, after attending the Dragon Lord’s birthday banquet, he had sailed along the Tongtian River in the severe winter, and had raced with the large ship of the Xiao family.

Unlike the Old Turtle, who directly bore the impact of the bad karma to his cultivation, the Xiao family members were merely struggling in the officialdom of the mortal world, and were not exposed to things like cultivation, immortals, or the supernatural. On the contrary: the family was significantly less impacted than the Old Turtle.

After all, officials were the sword of imperial power. Relatively speaking, the empire of Dazhen shouldered many evil deeds. Even such a major event as killing meritorious officials was deeply entangled in the politics of the court and the public opinion of the mortal world. Xiao Jing contracted many illnesses and lived a short life, but his afterlife would be much more painful.

Although the events described by the Old Turtle took place almost 170 to 180 years ago, if the Xiao family had been more capable at the time and had not suffered retaliation afterwards, they would still occupy a place in the imperial court, even after experiencing twists and turns of fortune.

Ji Yuan’s thoughts continued in this vein, but the Old Turtle went on.

“There were some rebellious individuals among those who had founded the country back then. The old emperor could suppress everyone while he was alive, but once he passed, the new emperor might not be able to control the court. In order to ensure the stability of the dynasty, the old emperor decided eliminate future problems.”

The Old Turtle looked up at Mr. Ji, who had a thoughtful look on his face. He paused and waited for Mr. Ji to look at him before continuing.

“In the end, I am just a monster hiding in the Chunmu River. I cannot possibly know everything that happens in the court. But I do know the cause of the incident. In the 32nd year since the establishment of the Yuan dynasty, at the behest of the old emperor, Xiao Jing set up a trap at the New Year’s Even farewell banquet in the palace. He made some of the rebellious military officials and the arrogant old ministers drink with the crown prince and the princes…”

“Even if some of the princes could hold their liquor, they had already been informed by the old emperor that there was no way for them to win. They could only lose. Some princes who were unaware of the situation thought that their father was afraid of hurting the old ministers’ reputations. The result was self-evident. All the royal children were defeated.¹ Officials from the Censorate deliberately ridiculed the old officials for not giving the princes due respect, which led to one of the old ministers making rude remarks during the annual banquet. Aside from some extremely talented and perceptive individuals, everyone else thought it was just a joke, but in fact it was the prelude to the tragedy…”

After that, the Old Turtle’s descriptions became more general. After all, he was not a member of the court, nor of the public. Later, even fewer people dared to talk about this matter, and naturally less news made it to the Chunmu River.

At this point, the Old Turtle had already known that the situation was not looking good, and he wanted to completely sever his ties with the Xiao family. He did not dare speculate on the current events. He only occasionally overheard some scholars having private meetings with close friends on some pleasure boats discuss the series of tragic events.

Over the next two or three years, the Old Turtle felt the force of evil karma reach its peak, before finally beginning to ease away. He knew the tragedy was coming to an end.

Sure enough, in the 36th year of the Yuan dynasty, the new emperor ascended the throne, “brought order our of chaos,”² and punished traitorous officials with sweeping force, bringing a belated justice to a handful of loyal officials. At the end of the year, the old emperor passed away.

“This incident made me hide away in a cave on a cliffside somewhere in the Chunmu River for many years, fearing that a single mistake would spell my doom. I dared not move an inch on rainy days, even when I could hear no thunder, and I didn’t even dare cultivate too diligently…”

The Old Turtle spoke with great regret. Ji Yuan also felt emotional at his story.

Many monsters might find the Old Turtle’s actions of hiding away too cowardly. In truth, most monsters who would eat people without batting an eye and do all kinds of evil deeds were not afraid of being struck by lightning. But Ji Yuan understood to a certain extent.

Because the Old Turtle had special talents, he looked far further into the future of his spiritual practice than ordinary monsters, and he would be more wary of some less-probable events. What he feared was the large terror inherent in those unlikely possibilities.

The story began at sunset and ended just before dawn. The morning sun seemed to be tinged in the red blood of the tale.

After the Old Turtle had finished speaking, he floated on the river surface in silence. The big black fish swam quietly beside him, and the red fox lay on the ground without saying a word. The latter was left with a deep impression of the terrifying battles in the court, and they were a little scared. He even began to be concerned about Yin Qing’s father, and worried that it would be dangerous for Yin Qing to become an official in the future.

It was now dawn, and the gates of Chunhui Prefecture’s capital were about to open. Merchants or farmers going to the market in the distance were already heading towards the gates, and a queue has begun to form in front of them.

Ji Yuan was silent for a while, then took in the sight and spoke.

“If you want to turn this story into a book, the storyteller wouldn’t be able to tell it without some revisions…”

Whether it was humans or monsters, in a marketplace or the imperial court, true harmony was difficult to achieve — nearly impossible.

Ji Yuan actually hoped to spread some meaningful stories through storytellers, ones that held meaning for humans, monsters, and other beings. In addition to sharing some entertainment with people who had very little of it in their lives, he also held a small, half-formed ideal.

After sighing, Ji Yuan looked at the three monsters around him, and finally looked at the Old Turtle Wu Chong.

“Your luck is indeed pretty bad, and it also shows that you should not use your supernatural power to perform any crooked acts. Over the years, you have suffered the consequences every time you have considered doing so. But there are still opportunities. Your path to enlightenment has not been cut off. Just live in peace in the future.”

“Mr. Ji is completely correct! Master River God also said something similar.”

“Haha.”

Ji Yuan smiled and spoke to the three monsters beside him.

“You don’t have to be too afraid of the hardships and obstacles of cultivation. Although it is extremely difficult to start from scratch as an animal, once you succeed in cultivation, at the very least you will have accumulated more advantages than those spirits born of transformed monsters.”

Ji Yuan stood up and picked up the fishing rod on the ground. Seeing that it was too long to put in his sleeve, and not convenient to carry around inside the city, he tossed it onto the Old Turtle’s back.

“Hold the fishing rod for me, I’ll come pick it up when I leave.”

The old turtle naturally agreed to the request. Once Ji Yuan was finished speaking, he started walking towards the city gate, ready to queue up there to enter the city.

Hu Yun quickly followed, doing his best to hide in Ji Yuan’s shadow, and asked him in a low voice.

“Mr. Ji, are we going to check out of the inn and get our luggage, then go back?”

Ji Yuan nodded, then shook his head.

“We will go check out of the inn and get our luggage, otherwise we will be billed for another day once it is past noon. Then I will go to Yuanzipu again.”

“Yuanzipu? What’s that?”

Ji Yuan took out an old wine bottle from his sleeve and raised it towards Hu Yun. This was the bottle he had bought with his first taste of Qianrichun. Later, he used it to hole some other wines of varying quality, and even Ambergris.

“A Thousand Days of Spring?”³

“Yes, it’s a place that specializes in brewing and selling Qianrichun. If you come across it, it’s from there.”

. . .

They lined up to enter the city, then Ji Yuan took Hu Yun to the inn to check out and collect the deposit. Then, they made their way around the city and arrived on the street where Yuanzipu was located before noon.

It was still the same store, with the same of furnishings, and it looked just as little like a business as it had before. The shop assistants sat and chatted in groups of three or four. They didn’t look very busy.

The busiest time for Yuanzipu was in spring, because that was when new wine was brewed. Autumn was relatively leisurely, especially now that it was close to noon. Wine deliveries rarely came by at this time.

The shopkeeper Zhuo Tao was calculating the accounts in front of a ledger. After finishing one of the items, he flicked his abacus back and forth, and then closed the account book with a smile on his face.

The Zhuo family had always adhered to the idea of brewing as its main business, and never sold wine outside of Chunhui Prefecture. They only charged for the first sale of the wine, and were not involved in the second or third re-sale. With the prefectural government’s support of Yuanzipu, business had been smooth sailing over the years.

“Cough…cough cough…cough cough cough…”

Shopkeeper Zhuo coughed a few times, and then began coughed uncontrollably for a while before stopping. He quickly picked up a small purple ceramic teapot on the counter beside him, drank a few sips from the spout, before the coughs finally subsided.

Some men nearby looked at him in concern.

“Boss, are you alright? Go see a doctor, you’ve been coughing for over a month!”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. I already went to see a doctor. It’s just a cold.”

Ji Yuan stepped into Yuanzipu. The man behind the counter was still the same shopkeeper, just a little bit older.

When they saw Ji Yuan come in, the people in the shop subconsciously glanced at him a few times. Because of his concealment technique, Ji Yuan’s eyes resembled those of an ordinary person, so he looked like a gentleman.

Shopkeeper Zhuo was just an ordinary person. Although Ji Yuan had initially left a deep impression, so many years had passed that he naturally couldn’t recognize him.

“Sir, are you here to purchase some wine?”

Generally, people who came to Yuanzipu placed large orders of wine, in jars or carts. Some also reserved wine for the coming year. Very few people came here for retail shopping. However, if they wished to buy, Yuanzipu would not refuse.

Ji Yuan didn’t reply at first. He walked to the counter and looked at Zhuo Tao. He was indeed simply suffering from a cold, with a buildup of cold air accumulated in his chest and lungs. If he warmed up his body for a month and a half, the cold air would dissipate.

Ji Yuan could also simply cure this disease. When he took out the wine bottle from his sleeve, he flicked his robe, and the cold air in Zhuo Tao’s chest and lungs was swept away.

However, no one else noticed this little gesture. Their attention was all drawn to the old wine jar that Ji Yuan had taken out.

“Shopkeeper, I have an old wine jar here. How much would it cost to fill it with new wine?”

Shopkeeper Zhuo took a closer look at the ceramic jar. Although it had not dulled in appearance, there were a few small nicks and bumps along the surface of the bottle, showing that it was used quite frequently. This style seemed to be an old product from a few years ago. The wine jars the cellars had changed since then.

In any case, seeing such an old jar and meeting someone who might be an longtime appreciator of Qianrichun made Manager Zhuo quite happy.

“The price hasn’t gone up. This is a one-catty jar. If you fill it up, it will cost 800 coins.”

Ji Yuan nodded and suddenly asked.

“Shopkeeper, do the one-catty wine jars each cost 800 coins? It was 200 coins at one point, how can it possibly be that huge of a difference?”

Shopkeeper Zhuo originally wanted to take a sip from the purple ceramic teapot to moisten his throat, but he didn’t feel like coughing even after some time had passed, so he withdrew his hand. He felt that that Ji Yuan’s bearing was extraordinary, and was interested in chatting more with him for a while.

“Actually, that still wasn’t the case back then. As you said, sir, a jar of wine cannot possibly be worth 200 coins.”

“Then, why?”

“Ah, there’s actually nothing I can say about this. In order to curry favor with a special customer, I deliberately sold aged fine wine at a low price, and also offered the one-catty wine jar itself for 200 coins. The shop assistants and some of my acquaintances all knew about this. After that, anyone who brought their own one-catty jar of wine to the shop was only charged 800 coins.”⁴

Ji Yuan smiled.

“Oh, does the shopkeeper treat everyone equally? That would be a big loss, since you are a businessman!”

The shopkeeper also laughed.

“I may not be a scholar, but I still have my pride. Besides, I am no nobleman. What ordinary person drinks Qianrichun every day? Even fewer people would come directly to this shop to buy wine… Besides, this arrangement isn’t advertised!”

“Hahahaha…”

Ji Yuan smiled in admiration, and took out two taels of silver from his sleeve.

“Shopkeeper, you are quite shrewd! Please bring me a new jar of wine. Here are two taels.”

This was a bit strange. Didn’t this person want to use the old bottle to buy wine?

But since the man himself said so, Zhuo Tao did as he was told. He took a new bottle of wine from the counter, weighed the silver, and handed it over to Ji Yuan.

Ji Yuan took the bottle and turned to leave. When he was about to step out of the shop, Zhuo Tao realized that the old bottle was still on the counter, and hurriedly called out to him.

“Sir, your old wine jar is still here!”

The white-robed customer in front of him waved his hand.

“I’m giving it to you!”

Zhuo Tao was dumbfounded as he looked down at the broken bottle. What did he need this wine jug for? This kind of thing was the least important factor in Yuanzipu.

But when he looked up again, the white-robed customer who had just walked to the door was nowhere to be seen.

‘How did he walk so fast?’

Zhuo Tao walked around the counter, went to the door, and looked around. The street was shrouded in shadows from beginning to end, and he couldn’t see where the man was. In the end, he had to go back behind the counter.

A shop assistant at the counter asked with a smile.

“Boss, what should I do with this bottle?”

“What else is there to do? Just throw it away.”

The shop assistant said “Oh,” and picked up the jar. He looked it up and down, then subconsciously pulled the cork. A faint fragrance with a hint of freshness wafted into the air, making everyone nearby feel refreshed at the scent.

1. In case it was unclear, the emperor got his sons drunk and embarrassed them in front of the court, so they could never be respected by the officials
2. 拨乱反正 (bōluànfǎnzhèng): bring order out of chaos/set to rights
3. Qianrichun translated. See ch. 77 for the translation breakdown
4. T/n: LOL it’s a “bring your own mug” discount. Smart