Lanke Chess Edge
Chapter 216: A Desolate Waystation On a Rainy Night

Ji Yuan left the bed and sniffed at the fragrance of the flowers that floated in the courtyard. It was fresh and elegant. Although it was not particularly supernatural, it nonetheless could calm the mind and soothe the spirit. At the very least, it made the people of Tian Niu Lane sleep soundly at night, and Ji Yuan was no exception. Otherwise, how could he have had such a peaceful dream for the past six months? The first half of his dream had mainly been concerned with cultivating the mind, while the second half was so vague that he couldn’t be certain whether he had been cultivating.

However, he felt good after getting up, so it could be considered quite effective.

He rolled up his sleeves and took a look at his arms. Although he had lost a little weight, it wasn’t too exaggerated. Although the circulation of the five elements in his body was still nothing more than a trickle, they were spiritually perfect, balanced and endlessly regenerating. As he breathed spiritual energy in and out in his sleep, he could replenish the five element energy and nourish his whole body. At the very least, now he wouldn’t easily starve to death.

He tied his loose long hair into a bun, took the black jade hairpin from the head of his bed, and inserted it into the bun. Two locks of hair hung over his temples, giving the look its own charm. He mused that many people in his previous life didn’t understand the value in the craft of hairstyles.

If one took a closer look at this black jade hairpin, it would become clear that the jade had become much more transparent, and the quality had dramatically increased. Even the merchant who had sold it to Ji Yuan would likely not even recognize that this was once that inferior-quality jade hairpin.

Perhaps it was due to the influence of his Immaculate Body, or perhaps his Immaculate Body was conceived due to some fundamental change in himself; Ji Yuan didn’t think too much about it. He just focused on the advantage of being able to save the trouble of washing, and his belongings were also much stronger and more durable — his three sts of clothes, the white, gray, and blue robes, had never been torn.

After putting on his over-robe and taking out the brocade bag containing the paper crane and stuffing it in his sleeves, Ji Yuan walked to the door. The Green Vine Sword floated up and followed him.

He opened the door, and the bright sunlight came streaming in. He looked up at the flowering jujube tree outside. Swarms bees flew among the branches, collecting the extraordinary pollen.

Just because Ji Yuan was able to eat less, didn’t mean that he disliked eating. Likewise, that didn’t mean that he wouldn’t feel hungry. Although the feeling of hunger could be weakened or even eliminated, eating was one Ji Yuan’s great pleasures in life, and he would not give it up.

For example, although the jujube honey brewed from the jujube tree in his own yard could not be said to be the best in the world, it definitely had a unique flavor. There were not many beekeepers near Ning’an County, and it was probably due to the wild bees.

“I wonder where the beehive is?”

Hearing this, the paper crane in the brocade bag in his sleeve poked its head out of the bag, tilting it to look up at its master. Ji Yuan looked down at it.

“Do you know?”

He subconsciously asked. The paper crane’s gestures increased in intensity, and with a few movements it skillfully crawled out of the brocade bag, spread its wings, and flew up into the sky.

“Hey, hey, hey! Stop! Stop!”

Ji Yuan looked at the little paper crane who was eagerly acting as his guide and didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.

“The jujube flowers have only just bloomed. It will take time to make honey. Let’s wait until next time!”

In truth, Ji Yuan could also find the hive by following the route the bees took back. He had just voiced this question casually.

The courtyard gate of Ju’an Pavilion had not been opened for half a year. People in the county probably thought that Ji Yuan was not home. Considering that the second baby of the Yin family was about to be born, Master Yin must certainly have written him a letter. That letter was most likely kept in the county’s government office.

Ji Yuan went straight to pay a visit to the county government office. As he expected, he found three letters waiting for him there: two were from Yin Qing, and one was from Yin Zhaoxian.

After having a meal outside and returning home, Ji Yuan sat in the courtyard of Ju’an Pavilion and opened the three letters.

The former’s first letter not only talked about university life, but also mentioned his unborn sibling in a few sentences in the second half. His words showed his complicated feelings on the topic. He also asked Ji Yuan whether he was going to Wan Province, and if he was, when he might be leaving.

The second letter had been written almost two months ago. It was probably written to a friend in the county when he had learned that Ji Yuan was “off on a long journey,” writing to inform Ji Yuan that he had gone to Wan Province to study with three good friends of him from the academy, and that he hoped Mr. Ji would come too.

Yin Zhaoxian’s letter directly invited his good friend Ji Yuan to Wan Province, and invited him to attend either the Full-Month Banquet, or the Hundred Days Banquet.¹ It Ji Yuan came earlier, they would hold a Full-Month Banquet; if he came later, they would hold a Hundred Days Banquet. His desire for Ji Yuan to come visit could not be more obvious.

“Hoooh… Master Yin won’t break off his friendship with me if I don’t go, will he?”

Yin Zhaoxian was a man of great integrity, and his wife, who lived beside him day and night, would not have any unstable energies that might harm the fetus. The baby would definitely be born at full term after ten months of pregnancy.² Ji Yuan used his fingers to calculate a divination, and found that there was about a month left.

Since that was the case, Ji Yuan didn’t waste any more time. He went into his house to pack his things. He didn’t have much to bring with him, aside from his books, brushes, ink, paper, and two other sets of clothes.

His efforts these past few years had not been in vain. At the very least, he had figured out some clues about the art of Dimensional Storage in his sleeves. Although he didn’t know when he would be able to achieve the envisioned level of “storing items and weaving concealment around them, displaying their thousands of changes, devouring all things and return them to their original state,” he had, at the very least, understood some of the principles of “change.” It referred to a change of body, as well as a change of location — it was very different from the ordinary art of Dimensional Storage, that simply stored things away by weaving an illusion around them.

Naturally, as his spiritual practice progressed, the amount of things that he could accommodate would increase. For now, he could still squeeze in some space to accommodate his current possessions.

Afterwards, he didn’t drop the paper crane off at home, but left the small pavilion directly. This time, he simply didn’t tell Hu Yun and Lu Shanjun about his departure. In any case, the two of them were cultivating fairly peacefully in the mountains.

. . .

According to “Reflections on the Governance of the Hundred Prefectures,” Lishun Prefecture in Wan Province had beautiful scenery and rich commerce. The Wan Province silk weaving industry in particular was reputed to be the best in the world. At the time when the book was written, it was aid to be a place with stable governance and a harmonious people.

However, in today’s era, if this passage had been recounted by a storyteller, they would have added the words “once upon a time,” as the opening stage of Wan Province’s past.

The huge profits of the silk industry in Wan Province had greatly boosted its economy, but over time had also brought huge problems. These could be summed up in two words: greed and profit.

Wealthy merchants colluded with some officials to annex land and plant mulberry trees for profit.³ However, this did not bring any benefits to the farmers who lost their land, leading to complaints from the people in many parts of Wan Province. Resentment gradually accumulated, leading to a troubled period of time, and giving rise of evil spirits. This was one of the origins and proofs of the saying, “evil spirits work in troubled times.”

On this day, four scholars walked along the mountain road with book packs on their backs. They wore scarves over their heads, and their blue robes were stained with a little mud. These were the four students from Huiyuan Academy: Yin Qing, Lin Xinjie, Lei Yusheng, and Mo Xiu.

To be able to attend Lord Yin’s of Ji Province’s newborn banquet was a very prestigious opportunity in all respects, so Yin Qing just had just given them a polite invitation when the other three immediately agreed.

Naturally, it was impossible for the headmaster and the teachers of the academy to refuse this kind of petition for a study trip, so the group of friends embarked on the journey together.

“Oh, this path is really difficult to walk down. Mo Xiu, you really lived up to your name when you chose this road!”⁴

Lin Xinjie complained for the umpteenth time.

The man he had called out was so embarrassed that he couldn’t help but retort.

“When I suggested climbing Datong Mountain, weren’t you the one who agreed the most enthusiastically? What was it you said? Right, you wanted to enjoy the spring flowers in the forest and go hiking in the mountains. And now it’s all my fault?”

“Hey, alright, alright, everyone agreed at the time, we all just wanted to be greedy and take shortcuts.”

Lin Xinjie immediately changed the direction of his attack.

“Yusheng, you still have the guts to say that? If you hadn’t insisted to asking the driver to change our route and visit the inkstone workshop, we wouldn’t have taken such a long detour and wasted so much time, and we wouldn’t have been forced to come through here!”

“That’s right. It wasn’t me that suggested taking this route; if we didn’t take this route, it would have taken us more than a month to get to Lishun Prefecture!”

“You…”

Lei Yusheng was rendered speechless at the two men’s accusations. Yin Qing hurried to ease out the atmosphere.

“Stop talking, don’t say any more. This is not what any of us wanted. Who could have known that a section of the mountain road on Datong Mountain would collapse, making it impossible for carriages to pass? In any other case, it would have been wonderful to see the inkstone workshop and enjoy the mountains and flowers!”

“That’s right, that’s right!”

Lei Yusheng quickly agreed.

“Ah… This was a natural disaster, no one could have predicted it.”

“Yeah, it’s not like it’s a war crime or anything…”

Yin Qing shook his head and smiled.

“Let’s go, let’s go, stop sighing. If you talk too much, you’ll lose the energy to keep going. We’ve prepared plenty, we just need to hold on until we get out of Datong Mountain, and we’ll be fine. It’ll only take about seven or eight days to walk along the mountain path.”

Although Datong Mountain was barren, there was still a narrow mountain path. This was once the golden road of commerce at the start of Wan Province’s weaving industry. However, nowadays, silk and other goods were mostly transported by water or by other roads for more convenient mass shipment. This once-golden road gradually became deserted, and fewer and fewer people traveled along it.

But the road was still there, and they wouldn’t get lost following it. There were also some deserted outposts and waystations along the side of Datong Mountain along the way. Although most were not inhabited, they could still provide travelers with a place to rest.

The four of them walked, they finally saw a deserted waystation, half embedded in the hillside in front of them. There was a wisp of smoke coming out from it, as if someone was lighting a fire.

“Hurry up, let’s walk! I’m so tired, we’ll sleep there tonight!”

“Let’s go, let’s go, it seems that there are people there, let’s see if we can ask for a bowl of hot water!”

“Yeah!”

The four of them including Yin Qing were all energized at the sight and walked forward quickly. They soon seemed to hear footsteps and voices. Two men with axes slung behind their backs walked out of the gate of the deserted outpost. They glanced at the newcomers vigilantly. When they saw that it was just four scholars, they relaxed a bit and went back inside the deserted outpost.

Although there were still some tables and chairs in the deserted waystation, it was still relatively empty. The room was about five square-zhang, roughly equivalent to 200 square meters in Ji Yuan’s past life. There were more than a dozen people inside. In one corner were some large packs covered in straw raincoats and hats. Judging from their attire, these people were likely traveling merchants.

“Uncle Lu, there are four scholars outside. They are wearing long coats and carrying a book packs. They are red-lipped and white-toothed, they should genuinely be good scholars.”⁵

The two people who had just returned inside reported.

“Alright, take a seat.”

It didn’t take long for Yin Qing and the other three to enter the deserted waystation. They walked in to see that there were more than a dozen people inside, and that almost everyone had a hatchet at hand. The merchants greeted the four of them, and the latter immediately felt nervous.

Yin Qing glanced at his friends, and had to step forward himself.

“We are scholars who have come on a study trip. The mountain road is difficult to travel. We would like to take shelter here and rest. Could we please ask to share some conveniences?”

An elderly man with gray hair looked Yin Qing over, and then said.

“This waystation is spacious. Our dozen or so traveling merchants won’t take up much space. Please make yourselves at home, sirs!”

“Thank you!”

Yin Qing bowed with cupped hands, and the three people beside him hurriedly followed.

“Thank you!”

“Thank you very much!”

“Boom…”

Suddenly, there was a loud crack of thunder outside, which frightened the two scholars on the edge of the group so much that they cried out, making some of the merchants laugh.

“It’s going to rain…”

The elder merchant took the lead and spoke.

1. The Hundred Days Banquet is similar to the Full Month Banquet, except instead of holding a feast to celebrate the baby’s 1 month survival, it’s 100 days survival.
2. “But Mango,” you might say, “pregnancies are 9 months!” Yes, you are correct. This is a traditional Chinese way of referring to full-term pregnancy. It’s equivalent to the Western 9 months.
3. Mulberry trees are fast-growing trees that are used to cultivate silkworms.
4. 莫 (mò): do not, 休 (xiū): rest –> LOL his name literally means “do not rest,” so they’re making a pun. The literal translation of the sentence was something like “Mo Xiu, you really made sure we Mo Xiu when you chose this road”
5. Note that a lot of character judgements are tied to people’s appearance — this is one example. You can think of it like a confirmation that they are wealthy enough to not have to work in the fields, hence the white non-tanned skin and lack of chapped lips, and get enough vitamins to have their lips not be discolored. You could also take it as confirmation that they’re not ghosts