Late autumn dusk, and the sunset cast its slanting rays.
The young n in the ox cart were laughing and jesting, writing on each other’s dusty faces.
After the laughter and noise, the Princely Heir sat on the ox cart and looked towards Chen Ji, "Not many have been able to outsmart my father over the years. Half a year ago, during the floods in Henan Province, he went south to levy grains. The local scholars banded together to underreport their land acreage to dodge taxes. Each household donated grain like they were dispensing alms to a beggar, only ten stones each, and on the very sa day, they hosted guests on the Qinhuai River, pouring a hundred jars of fine wine into the river, claiming it was an invitation for ’all under heaven to drink together.’
"And then what?" Liu Quxing perked up—they rarely heard such interesting anecdotes about court and politics.
The Princely Heir laughed heartily, "My father didn’t get angry with them, but instead had craftsn transport a stone stele over ten feet tall and had it erected squarely in front of the Jinling Prefecture governnt office. Etched clearly on it were all the scholars’ nas and the amount of grain they donated, ostensibly to extol the virtues of these scholars’ charitable deeds, but in truth, it let the common people see the true faces of these scholars. At that ti, even the storytellers in the tea houses started making up tales to ridicule how these scholars talked loftily of benevolence and morality but were actually unkind and extrely hypocritical when rich."
Chen Ji appeared thoughtful, "The stories told by the storytellers, were they orchestrated by the Prince?"
The Princely Heir widened his eyes, "How do you know?"
"What happened afterward?"
"Not half a month later, the scholars couldn’t afford to lose face and obediently donated the grain."
Liu Quxing praised, "The Prince sure is skilled at using clever strategies to achieve great ends."
The Princely Heir looked at Chen Ji, giving him a thumbs up, "You kid being able to outsmart my father makes you quite a character!"
However, Chen Ji couldn’t be happy about it.
Seeing his furrowed brow, the Princely Heir asked curiously, "Why aren’t you happy? If I managed to outsmart him once, I could boast for ten years!"
Chen Ji sighed, "Your father isn’t soone to suffer losses for no reason. I feel like he’s about to outsmart in return any mont now."
The Princely Heir murmured in agreent, "That’s true..."
Liu Quxing looked over, "Chen Ji, how did you learn about the inverted fla kiln? You’ve never ntioned it before."
"An Immortal visited in a dream," Chen Ji said, sitting cross-legged in the ox cart, closing his eyes to rest.
Liu Quxing curled his lip, "You must be kidding. If there really were Immortals visiting people in dreams, how co only you got visited and not ?"
Yet, the Princely Heir suddenly voiced, "There really is such a thing as Immortals visiting in dreams. Ordinary folks might not know this, but the Huangshan Daoist Leader Apostle is capable of summoning deities from the Forty-nine Heavens."
"Hm?"
Chen Ji, who had been resting his eyes, suddenly opened them, fixing a fiery gaze on the Princely Heir, yet asked in an offhand manner, "Forty-nine Heavens?"
At last.
Chen Ji had finally heard soone ntion the Forty-nine Heavens.
He asked his master, who hadn’t heard of it.
He asked Xuanyuan, who also hadn’t heard of it.
Once in a while, Chen Ji would vaguely think that everything that had happened in Qingshan ntal Hospital was just a dream conjured up as he lay on the brink of death.
Li Qingniao, the Forty-nine Heavens, Brother Pao, Er Dao, and even himself, were all nonexistent.
And now, the dream was finally rging with reality.
The Princely Heir sat up straight, pointing mysteriously at the colorful twilight sky, "You don’t know about the Forty-nine Heavens, do you? It’s said to be where the immortals live. My father said, the reason why the Huangshan Daoist Sect is so formidable is that they can summon gods to possess them from the Forty-nine Heavens. It is said that the Daoist Leader Apostle, when fighting with the Jing Dynasty’s experts, once brought down the Five-star Lord from the Forty-nine Heavens to the mortal realm."
Chen Ji leaned forward slightly, "The Forty-nine Heavens is where the Immortals live?"
The Princely Heir recounted, "My father ntioned it casually; all the deities and Buddhas reside in the Forty-nine Heavens. Places like Wuji Mountain, Yujing Mountain, Liren Heaven, Mount Suru, Penglai, Fang Zhang, Northern Continent, Southern Zhanzhou, are the nas of each layer of heaven. But that’s all I know. My father ntioned it seldomly, as if there was sothing he needed to avoid."
Having said that, he lifted half his posterior and leaned into the crowd, saying in a hushed tone, "My father once said that from ti to ti, there are immortals from the Forty-nine Heavens who reincarnate and hide among the common people in the marketplaces. Perhaps we’ve all t an Immortal before, but we don’t even know it."
Chen Ji shifted slightly back, as if without a care, "Do Immortals have any distinguishing features? How should we know who might be an Immortal?"
The Princely Heir shrugged, "That I don’t know."
Chen Ji let out a slight sigh of relief.
But then he heard Liu Quxing, curious, "Princely Heir, have you seen an Immortal from the Forty-nine Heavens?"
The Princely Heir shook his head, "Don’t know. Maybe I have, maybe I haven’t."
Liu Quxing asked again, "Do Immortals from the Forty-nine Heavens need to poop?"
She Dengke laughed, "If they eat, they’ve got to poop, right?"
Liu Quxing stubbornly replied, "But what if they don’t need to eat?"
She Dengke, also stubbornly retorting, "How would they live without eating? They must poop a lot!"
Chen Ji’s expression beca complex.
He changed the subject, "Princely Heir, in the history of the Ning Dynasty, have there been any known Immortals from the Forty-nine Heavens?"
"There have been."
Everyone looked towards the source of the voice, seeing Liang Gou’er lounging at the end of the plank cart, lifting the straw hat from his face and saying, "My ancestors once t one—a man who claid he ca from the Forty-nine Heavens to cultivate the Daoist Yang God on earth, hoping to achieve unity with the Dao by this ans. Even in the night, the Yang God shone like the blazing sun."
"Did he eventually beco one with the Dao?"
Liang Gou’er sneered, "No, this man was designed by the Jing Dynasty Martial Temple and ambushed in the Ning Dynasty border army. He died and his Dao vanished. It should have been two hundred years ago; I don’t know the specifics."
Chen Ji fell into deep thought.
Li Qingniao once told him, "The Forty-nine Heavens cannot hold you back, go where you belong." He was certain he ca from the Forty-nine Heavens, but where he lived had nothing to do with the abode of immortals, and he certainly was not an immortal himself.
However, regardless, Chen Ji finally grasped so clues about the Forty-nine Heavens, like a drifting boat finally casting its own anchor to the seabed.
...
...
In the orange glow of the setting sun, a slow-moving ox cart entered from the south of the city. Liu Quxing suddenly said, "Look, there are so many people in front of the Imperial Examination Hall."
Everyone turned to look.
Under the afterglow of dusk, hundreds of people gathered at the gate of the Imperial Examination Hall: spirited youths, frustrated middle-aged n, and numb old n with hanging heads.
"It’s the Autumn Imperial Examination candidates," the Princely Heir said in a low voice. "I’ve seen that old man before. I heard he has been taking exams his whole life, sold all his farmland, and even with his wife and children scattered, he hasn’t given up."
In front of the Imperial Examination Hall, each candidate carried a bamboo basket with their bedding and enough provisions for three days.
Before entering the hall, an Outer Curtain Official would open each basket to check its contents, and search the candidates thoroughly to prevent cheating.
As the ox cart passed in front of the Imperial Examination Hall, the unkempt Princely Heir quickly bowed his head, saying, "Quick, quick, low your heads, I see many acquaintances!"
But it was already too late.
Soone glanced at the ox cart unintentionally, with a doubtful question, "Eh, the Princely Heir?"
Autumn Imperial Examination candidates all turned their heads toward the ox cart. At the gate of the Imperial Examination Hall, Chen Wenzong, Chen Wenxiao, and Lin Chaojing also turned around.
"The Princely Heir?"
"The disheveled person on the ox cart is the Princely Heir?"
On the cart, the Princely Heir buried his head in his chest while lifting his whip to hit the ox, muttering, "Move faster, Brother Ox, this is so embarrassing!"
But the old yellow ox walked at its own steady pace, completely ignoring him, instead flicking its tail and dropping a pile of grassy dung.
By the cart, people followed, craning their necks to confirm the identity of the Princely Heir.
Suddenly, soone exclaid in amazent, "It really is the Princely Heir? Princely Heir, how did you end up looking like this?"
The Princely Heir lifted his head and stopped the ox cart, saying with an awkward smile, "I’ve been working."
Chen Ji turned his head and saw his two brothers, Chen Wenzong and Chen Wenxiao, standing on the steps of the Imperial Examination Hall looking back. Disappointnt and regret filled Chen Wenzong’s eyes.
The three brothers looked at each other from afar, the sunset casting a glow over the front of the Imperial Examination Hall where Chen Wenzong and Chen Wenxiao stood as if they were illuminated with radiance.
At that mont, the crowd slowly dispersed, and Lin Chaojing stepped forward, earnestly saying, "I rember, the Princely Heir once said in Donglin Academy that he would join us in the Autumn Imperial Examination to see if he could pass on his own rits. Yet today, we’ve seen no sign of him."
The Princely Heir’s expression cald, and he only smiled, saying, "You all are great talents, I am not your match, so I simply did not co to embarrass myself. I wish all my classmates success in the examination and your nas in golden letters."
Lin Chaojing bowed in gratitude, smiling as he said, "Thank you for your kind words, Princely Heir. There is one piece of advice I wish to give, if I may."
The Princely Heir replied casually, "Please speak."
Lin Chaoqing said, "The Princely Heir is a descendant of Prince Jing, who is now diligent in governnt and beloved by the people. I hope the Princely Heir can put away his playful heart, cultivate himself well, and not disappoint the reputation of Prince Jing Mansion."
The Princely Heir also stood up to return the bow, "Thank you for the reminder. We won’t disturb you all any longer; we’ll take our leave."
After speaking, he sat back down, his expression calm as he shook the reins, and the ox cart slowly moved away.
From behind, soone was heard saying softly, "The Princely Heir is wayward; it’s a pity considering Prince Jing’s diligent and caring governance..."
On the cart, Liu Quxing heard those comnts, hanging his head and saying, "Only because Prince Jing is kind, do they dare to talk like this. If it were Prince Fu, King Qi, or Prince An, would they dare to scoff? They’d have their chickens and dogs slaughtered!"
Chen Ji silently turned to look but saw the Princely Heir with a composed face, showing neither joy nor anger.
Yet, when the sun completely set behind the world, the light in the Princely Heir’s eyes also gradually faded.
The Princely Heir muttered softly, "Why didn’t my father have another son?"
Chen Ji asked with a smile, "To have another compete with you for the position of Prince Jing?"
The Princely Heir looked aside, "If he wants to compete, then let him. I don’t want anything, I’ll give it all to him."
The next mont, Chen Ji tightened the reins of the ox cart, forcefully pulling the head of the ox and turning the cart around.
The Princely Heir turned back, surprised, "Eh? What are you doing?"
Chen Ji laughed out loud, "It’s about pride! Let’s not go back yet; we’ll stay in the kiln factory until we’ve produced cent. If we never manage to produce it, then we’ll never go back!"
The Princely Heir laughed, "Why must you make cent?"
"To leave a na in history!"
Reviews
All reviews (0)