Chapter 99: Yet with the xiansheng's closed jade coffin (X)

Tu Laoyao bought a train ticket, and went north with Li Shiyi, coming to the boundary of Anhui without stopping for rest. According Tu Laoyao's words, he'd seen her around Xuejiagang on the periphery of Anqing, a matter of a good number of days ago. Anqing was a large city, its markets flourishing, the streets bustling with endless streams of horses and carriages. Li Shiyi had rented a rickshaw, and it followed along the great streets in all directions, and then swept through the small alleys, yet they were left empty-handed.

After leaving the city, Li Shiyi and Tu Laoyao followed along the river course, the shores still muddied with frozen mud shards, the river having withstood a winter, running cheerfully, fragmentary spring flowers in mixtures of yellow and purple had blossomed on either bank, frail and light, yet they were the vanguard of waving flags and battle cries that the spring had sent out.

Li Shiyi, in the midst of the beginnings of spring, suddenly felt, in hindsight, a sense of failure and impatience. She'd once assumed that this matter of searching could be, not necessarily, hurried; from the great blue skies to the Yellow Springs,^[1] she could always find Song Shijiu.

But, when she looked at this rushing river, the striving wild flowers, like the clock's warning of the passing of time, she began to obstinately feel that, with she herself as an onlooker, taking in all the changes of the world, there ought to be standing Song Shijiu.

If she wasn't there, then she was absent.

The green sprouts broke the ground, the winter snow a recent blanket; she didn't want to make Song Shijiu miss her own experiences of every season.

In the periphery of her vision, Tu Laoyao, crouching at the side, pulled up the cuffs of his suit pants, bunching in wrinkles on his thighs, the seams on his buttocks pulled taut and nearly bursting; he still slightly used his feet as cushions, swaying his buttocks back and forth, gazing, lost in thought, at the river. He thought for a moment, and extended a hand to pull up a stalk of foxtail grass.^[2]

Li Shiyi lowered her eyes, looking at him, asking a question with her gaze.

Tu Laoyao's lower teeth grasped his upper lip, and her ground them in a grimace, only then saying, "When I was at home, I was always thinking of you. Now, having found you, I'm thinking of my wife again." He spat out the fine sand in his mouth, and asked, "Do I have some sickness?"

Li Shiyi smiled, not disdaining him, nor sneering.

This matter of "absence" was truly regret; as a result, people would always yearn for a reunion. When one was most estranged from another had to be after they'd finished speaking their own experiences and entirely lost their voices; speaking more, not even that would be a match for the three characters of "you're not here".

Li Shiyi gazed at the mountains in the distance, narrowing her eyes, and grasped the Shentu command at her waist, taking it off with a movement of her hand, tossing it up, and called out softly, "Mulan."

The wind around her ears rushed from all sides; the tip of Li Shiyi's tongue turned in her mouth, yet she held out a hand and grabbed the Shentu command. "Nevermind."

She still wanted to search herself.

Her love had been born from the common world, without any world-shaking strength; nor did it need a multitude of troops to be mustered.

Having put the Shentu command away, Li Shiyi crouched down and took a few paper figures out of her bag, and, with a tap of her hand, made them flip over and fall to the ground; she put dead leaves on their heads as hats for them, and then said in a low voice, "Go to the nearby mountain god temple and ask about, thank you for the trouble." The paper figures chattered in answer, dispersing in all directions like scattered beans.

In the mist of the whistling wind, Li Shiyi and Tu Laoyao sat by the riverside, waiting; Tu Laoyao took out a couple Bozhou beef bun he'd bought at the town from out of his bag, and two crisp Dangshan pears, and the two, taking a mouthful of solid bun and drinking a mouthful of Anhui wine,^[3] eating with relish; yet Li Shiyi ate as if she were chewing wax, and only ate half of a bun, and drank wine as she thought.

Because this magic had the restriction of distance, the figures couldn't go too far, and after not even half a shichen, and then returned, one after another, reporting back in a lively, overlapping chatter, all shaking their heads; the paper figure who'd run furthest away, fearing Li Shiyi wouldn't be happy, even offered a blossom it had plucked along the way. Li Shiyi obediently took it, brushing off the dust on it, and then pressed it between the pages of a book once more to rest.

Li Shiyi counted them one by one; there were still two missing; paper figures were, in the end, fragile, and perhaps a mishap had happened along the way; she packed up her bag and rose, about to leave. But, she'd only just turned around when she heard a thin, frail voice behind her. "Shiyi."

She turned her head, and saw a paper figure, muddied head to toe, carefully avoiding the puddles, striving to come over. It walked with a limp, its right leg having wicked up water, withered and paralysed, and there was a hole the size of half a fingernail on its waist, as if it had been burnt by a spark. Li Shiyi came over in a few steps and crouched down, taking it up in her palm; it sat on Li Shiyi's finger, and, gasping, said, "Found, found him."

The flame in Li Shiyi's heart suddenly lit, and she asked, "Where?"

The paper figure replied, "In the mountain god temple in the southeast, that old mountain god seems to have seen her."

Li Shiyi was about to speak, but she heard it say, "But he wasn't willing to tell me in detail, only told you to come over." Its voice rose in a shout, and it said, "He thinks you're beneath him."^[4]

Looking at it, it looked incredible aggrieved. The great boulder in Li Shiyi's heart fell, and a minute smiling expression was held in by the corners of her mouth; her thumb wiped away the mud droplets on it, and then with a warm voice, she gave a few words of pacification, and put it back in her bag and exchanged a glance with Tu Laoyao, and the two headed towards the mountain god temple.

The two's pace was quick; according to what the little paper figure had said, they arrived before the temple in less than half an incense's time; this temple had been erected at the base of the mountain, hidden from view by a few large trees, reaching for the sky; the walls were mottled with broken bricks and old tiles, as if it hadn't been repaired in a long time. The outer portion of the wall had half collapsed, and become the home fo wild grasses; the incense burner in the middle of the courtyard was wet, mired in mud, covered in a few layers of fresh spiderwebs.

Dilapidation also had its own benefits; for example, this room didn't have candle flames, but the shambling roof let in sunlight, and actually lit the inside up quite brightly.

This wasn't any proper mountain god temple; it seemed to be only have been built carelessly by the villagers from the town, and at either side dust-covered offering tables, a clay platform half a person's hight before them, on top which there was a wood-carved mountain god. The colour on the idol's body had almost entirely peeled off, and the red shawl that had been draped over its shoulders had also rotted halfway, and its features were naturally indistinguishable, its head askew, lacking the presence of a mountain god, yet quite a bit comedic. Li Shiyi stood erect before the prayer mat, gaze sweeping beneath the offering tables; there was a square empty space in the dirt that had piled up there, as if someone had straightened a table that had originally been knocked over.

It was Shijiu, her mind shifted, her chest suddenly leaping. Unable to pay it much attention, she pressed her lips together, and asked the seat of honour, "Just now, my puppet said, the mountain god met a woman wearing a white qipao." The paper figure had presumably related the physical characteristics; Li Shiyi didn't repeat them.

With a creaking sound, the mountain god's wooden body shifted slightly, the dust streaming down, as if a bag of rice flour that had been overturned. Although he was a minor immortal, he was still an immortal; even without extravagance, he still had put on appearances.

Only once the dust had been shaken clean he speak; he cleared his throat first, opening up a path in for the throat that hadn't been used in many years. He asked in a drawl, "That woman, what is she to you?"

His voice emerged from within the wood, and naturally carried a degree of droning echo; there was also a scent like burnt rice straw, and his voice was completely haughty; though his features weren't distinguishable, some disdain for the common people he looked down on still rose.

Li Shiyi didn't have any other thoughts, and only paused, and then said softly, "She's my wife."

Oh. Tu Laoyao looked askance at her.

The mountain god's head shifted slightly, and he also looked askance at her. "You're a woman."

"Yes." Li Shiyi was very polite. "I'll still request you tell me her whereabouts."

Having sat on the mountain for a few centuries, he'd seen many strange matters; the mountain god, having asked a couple phrases, lost interest, and tiredly replied, "This matter of looking for your wife, you ought to ask a matchmaker."

"Ai!" Tu Laoyao couldn't look any longer, and rubbed his hands along his sleeves, about to argue. "If you don't know, what did you call us to come for?"

The mountain god wasn't very pleased. "It was just that, seeing your doll was made in an interesting manner, I wanted the two of you to talk with me."

"That's to say, you didn't meet?" Li Shiyi furrowed her brows.

The mountain god scoffed, not speaking.

Tu Laoyao pressed, "Whether you've met her or not, why don't you give a proper answer?"

The mountain god coughed a couple loud coughs, clearly angered; two impudent infants, on meeting him, they didn't bend nor kowtow, nor did they even use the polite "you"; it was clear that they'd taken unfair advantage of his dire straits. So, he sneered, and reproved, "What sort of rude children! Whether this lord knows or not, what business of yours is that!"

Yet Tu Laoyao smiled, two fingers pointing at Li Shiyi, and asked, "Do you know who this is?"

Saying it would startle you to death.

The mountain god closed his eyes, unwilling to acknowledge him. Tu Laoyao said faintly, "She's called Ling Heng."

In a flash, the temple became quiet; even the whistle of the wind hid away; the cape on the mountain god's shoulders shifted, and only after a while did he speak, yet he was laughing. "Ling Heng?" He didn't look at Li Shiyi directly as he took measure of her, only let out a slight sigh, hiding away all his contempt and arrogance. He was very tired, and was just about to rest for a bit, yet he saw the airborn dust hovering, the sound of the wind suddenly rising, and a wooden token the size of a hand suddenly rose before him, three fingers away from the centre of his brows, turning slowly.

Li Shiyi gazed at the dregs of dirt on the ground, not making a sound. Raising her hand again, she drew the Shentu command back, yet a great boom was heard; that mountain god's unsteady head had actually tumbled and fallen down, bouncing a few times and rolling before her feet.

Tu Laoyao was startled to jumping, and raised a hand to cover his nose, blinking a couple times. "There's no need…" To give great obeisance.

The elder's sound came from the ground. "Greetings to Fujun-daren." His head hadn't been solid from the start; it had only been through great effort that it had stayed atop.

Li Shiyi picked his head up, and set it back upright on the wooden body, and, along the way, dust off the dirt atop it. The mountain god said hurriedly, "This one doesn't deserve the favour, this one doesn't deserve the favour." Although he didn't know why Fujun-daren had taken on this appearance, seeing that Li Shiyi's complexion wasn't too good, he hurried to make up for his impropriety just then, and when Li Shiyi drew her hands back, took the initiative to speak. "A few days ago, my head fell off, and it was also a woman who put it in place for me—precisely that young lady wearing a white qipao."

Li Shiyi's eyes suddenly rose, and she gazed at him. "You've truly met her?"

"I met her, I met her; she brought along a young girl who was covering her face. The young girl had tired from walking, and rested her feet in the courtyard and ate fruit; that woman walked in and spoke with me for a while."

Hearing news about her from someone else's mouth, this feeling was truly too strange; it caused a feeling like a river rising between Li Shiyi's ribs, both gentle and painful, as if, at the moment, Song Shijiu's figure were layered over her, and she was also standing beneath this afternoon sun in the middle of this temple, raising her head and looking at the mountain god. The fingers which had just then raised the mountain god's head began to itch; she didn't know whether she'd touched the same spots as Shijiu, and even the thought caused one's heart to thunder.

"What did she say?" Li Shiyi's voice grew soft, the end slightly hoarse, as if having been plastered with a layer of sand.

The mountain god thought a moment. "She asked me what I usually blessed, and whether it was efficacious or not. Seeing that she was adorable, I asked whether or not she had any requests. She said," the mountain god remembered Song Shijiu's tone, and shook his head. "She didn't have anything to request." The mountain god didn't believe it; seeing worry hung between her brows, what was that an expression of no desires or requests? "That woman thought it over, and asked me whether I knew how magic to make one forget. I asked her what was wrong, and she said, at that moment, she utterly missed someone, yet didn't know whether or not that person missed her the same."

A droplet of water fell in the middle of the lake in Li Shiyi's heart; she curled her fingers, looking at the mountain god with clear, swelling waves rising in her eyes.

The mountain god said, "I understood instantly; fearing she'd suffered emotional injuries, I asked her, what had she done that she wanted to forget? She said, in the past, she'd been a foolish woman, and every thought and desire had been that person; what that person said, she'd utterly comply with without even needing to think. But, afterwards, she was no longer foolish, but became greedy; before, she'd wanted a tiny bit of love, which became a great deal of love, and in the end, she'd wanted love to fill all her heart and thoughts. She started to thinking of wanting to reciprocate, wanting equality, wanting uncountable assurance and forgiveness."

She'd started to feel aggrieved, and also understood that the grievance had its origins in calculation. Calculating with how much love Li Shiyi had expended, calculating whether or not she'd inadvertently shown rejection or contempt, calculating even the smallest differences.

The mountain god sighed. "The infatuation and heartlessness in the world, the majority is like this. I understood immediately, and asked whether or not she wanted to forget that heartless person."

Li Shiyi's heart contracted, and she pressed her lips together, breathing halting and pale.

"But she said no. She said, she wanted to forget herself, and return to that foolish woman."

There was a droning sound, as if a bell being struck in the distance, and also as if it had its origin in Li Shiyi's quivering heart. She wanted to curl her lips in a smile, but also felt a haze in her eyes, causing the smiling expression she'd just released to unconsciously press against the corners of her lips, unable to rise in the slightest curve.

Tu Laoyao sighed, and swept a gaze over the table Song Shijiu had moved.

Only after a long while did Li Shiyi speak. "Is there more?"

"There is. She said, she knew in her heart that person would come looking for her, and perhaps come into this mountain god temple like she had, and come asking me."

Li Shiyi whetted her parched lips. "And then?"

The mountain god thought for a while, and said, "And then she said, the words that she'd spoken just then…absolutely couldn't be told to you."

The final character's rising end seemed to be a fleeting rest; the mountain god's hands couldn't move, but if they could, Tu Laoyao felt that he might immediately cover his own mouth. Tu Laoyao shook his head, frustrated he had failed to meet his expectations, frowning as he examined himself; even having been a mountain god so long, his mind wasn't sharp; it was clear that a person who lived once ought to study and learn industriously, and only then could avoid becoming a fool.

Asking a few more questions, the mountain god remembered that Song Shijiu had headed towards the Hejia village; Li Shiyi gave thanks, and was about to leave with Tu Laoyao. When she was about to step out the door, she turned around and looked once more at the mountain god's worn, dilapidated appearance; just then, when she'd picked the head up, the straw tongue within had been rotted; no wonder when he spoke there was the scent of decay; no wonder, having spoken for barely a while, his expression had been dispirited and his speech had been unclear. Even those critical words of Song Shijiu's, he'd only remembered them at the end.

Li Shiyi pondered for a moment, and said, "When I find her, I'll make a new body for you."

The mountain god once more said he didn't deserve the favour, and only then said, "That's truly not necessary." In the past, he'd also been a serious, rarely speaking immortal; only now, knowing he couldn't maintain it for long, did he like to talk. He laughed, and said, "Now, it's foreign schools; the city of Anqing even has built churches, and there aren't many people who come to this mountain god temple of mine. A few more years, and I fear it'll be destroyed." He glanced at Tu Laoyao's clothes; Western clothes with a high collar, looking spirited no matter how one looked.

Li Shiyi let out a pensive hum, and bade him goodbye, crossing over the threshold to the outside.

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Translator's notes:

[1]: The line used in the raws is 上穷碧落下黄泉 (shang qiong biluo xia huangquan), from the Tang dynasty poet Bai Juyi's poem Song of Everlasing Regret (白居易《长恨歌》, Chang Hen Ge), about the love story of the Tang dynasty emperor Xuanzong and the consort Yang Guifei. You can read a bilingual Chinese-English version of the poem here.

[2]: It's called 狗尾草 (gou wei cao, dogtail grass, 狗尾巴草 in the raws, same meaning) in Chinese, but in English it's better known as foxtail grass. Fun fact is that it's actually related to the domestic foxtail millet, and millet was a historical staple crop in China prior to the spread of rice.

[3]: 皖 (Wan), an antiquated short form of Anhui.

[4]: 瞧不起 (qiao bu qi), literally "can't look on (someone)".