Chapter 401: Little Master Uncle and Little Girl
(Happy National Day~)
The old scholar returned the travel permit to the young man named Chen Ping'an.
This Confucian academy instructor held a very favorable impression of him.
The old gentleman looked at Chen Ping'an once more—the sword and book chest on his back were quite pleasing to the eye.
Traveling with a book chest on one's back and a sword at one's side, journeying ten thousand miles for study—this was precisely what we scholars did, and did best.
Chen Ping'an asked, "Sir, do you know a little girl named Li Baoping? She likes to wear a red cotton-padded jacket and a red skirt."
The old gentleman laughed heartily. "Who in our academy doesn't know that girl? Not just everyone here, but I'd wager she's even roamed all over the Great Sui capital. Every day she's brimming with vitality, making us old fogies who can barely walk envious. Just today, she skipped class and sneaked out of the academy again. If you'd come half an hour earlier, you might have bumped into Little Baoping."
Chen Ping'an asked, "Did she leave the academy alone?"
The old gentleman nodded. "Every time it's the same."
Seeing Chen Ping'an's worried expression, the old gentleman smiled. "Don't worry. That little girl has gone out many times and never caused any trouble. She's an academy disciple after all, and besides, our Great Sui capital has always been peaceful with simple folk. What's more, the Minister of Rites is also the academy's mountain master, and he often comes to Little East Mountain to drink tea with the deputy mountain masters. Nothing will happen."
Only then did Chen Ping'an relax a little.
The old gentleman asked, "What's this? You're visiting Cliff Academy to look for Little Baoping? Judging by your travel permit, you're also from Great Li's Longquan County. Are you not just a fellow townsman but also a relative?"
Chen Ping'an smiled. "Just a fellow townsman, not a relative. A few years ago, I came to the Great Sui capital with Baoping and the others, but I didn't climb the mountain and enter the academy back then."
The old gentleman was a bit puzzled. Back then, when that group of Longquan County children came to study at New Cliff Academy, elite cavalry had been dispatched to escort them to the border, and even the Emperor himself had graced the academy with his presence, bestowing gifts upon all the traveling children. This young man named Chen Ping'an, from Great Li, should have been spotted at least once by the old gentleman, even if he hadn't entered the academy.
The old gentleman asked, "Are you planning to wait here for Li Baoping to return to the academy?"
Chen Ping'an nodded.
Of course, he hoped that the first person he saw at Cliff Academy would be Little Baoping.
Li Huai, Lin Shouyi, Yu Lu, and Xie Xie—Chen Ping'an certainly wanted to see them too, especially Li Huai, the youngest.
But none of them could compare to that little girl who wore a red cotton-padded jacket in autumn, winter, and spring, and only a red skirt in summer. Chen Ping'an never denied his partiality. He was closest to Little Baoping. That was true during the journey to Great Sui, and later when he went alone to Daoxuan Mountain, he only sent letters to Li Baoping, asking her, as his little master uncle, to pass on the other letters for him. Even the painting by the painter Fan at the summit of Osmanthus Island—he had only sent one to Li Baoping, not to Li Huai or the others.
This distinction between close and distant was something Lin Shouyi, Yu Lu, and Xie Xie certainly understood, but they probably didn't care. Lin Shouyi was a jade-like talent for cultivation, while Yu Lu and Xie Xie were important figures in the Lu Dynasty.
As for Li Huai, who was a master at bullying those close to him, he probably still felt that both Chen Ping'an and A Liang were closest to him.
The old gentleman waved his hand and laughed. "I suggest you go into the academy guest house first and put your things away. Every time Li Baoping sneaks out, even if she leaves early in the morning, she won't return until dusk at the earliest. There are no exceptions. If you wait for her here at the gate, you'll have to wait at least three more hours. There's no need."
Chen Ping'an thought for a moment, then turned to look at Pei Qian and the other two. If it were just him, he wouldn't mind waiting here.
He turned and looked toward the end of the street.
Zhu Lian had been sizing up the academy buildings behind the mountain gate. Built against the mountain, though newly constructed by the Great Sui Ministry of Works, it was extremely meticulous, exuding an air of simple elegance and ancient simplicity.
This Cliff Academy, relocated from Great Li to the Great Sui capital, had once been one of the seventy-two Confucian academies under the Heaven's Equal continent.
A place where sages lectured, where the sound of reading resonated, with a reputation spreading across the world.
When Cliff Academy was first established in Great Li, its first mountain master had proposed a clear and systematic sequence for learning, advocating that the four elements of learning, questioning, deliberation, and discernment must be realized in the single word "action."
While Zhu Lian surveyed the academy, Shi Rou didn't even dare to breathe loudly.
Although Shi Rou resided in an immortal's discarded shell, which could resist the formless righteous aura, her instinct as a ghostly yin creature still filled her with terror.
Pei Qian remained silent the whole time, appearing even more nervous than Shi Rou.
When they disembarked at Old Dragon City, Pei Qian had boasted to herself that she would confront Li Baoping. But by the time they reached the gate of the Great Sui capital, she had started to lose her nerve.
Now, at the mountain gate of Cliff Academy, she was even more intimidated.
Chen Ping'an asked with a smile, "May I ask, sir, if we enter the academy and stay in the guest house, and wish to visit Mountain Master Mao, do we need to send someone to announce us and wait for a reply?"
The old gentleman chuckled. "Actually, sending a notice isn't very useful. Mainly because our Mountain Master Mao doesn't like receiving guests. In recent years, he has declined almost all visits and social engagements. Even when the Minister arrives at the academy, he may not get to see Mountain Master Mao. But since you, young master Chen, have come from afar and are from Longquan County, a simple greeting might suffice. Though our Mountain Master Mao is rigorous in his scholarship, he's actually quite easy to talk to. It's just that the famous scholars of Great Sui have always valued lofty metaphysical discussions, so they never hit it off with Mountain Master Mao."
Chen Ping'an still didn't immediately step into the academy. He asked, "If I remember correctly, the bureau responsible for public order in the Great Sui capital is the Infantry Command Office, right?"
The old gentleman understood—he was still worried about Li Baoping—and laughed. "That's right. And the young son of that office's chief official is currently studying at the academy."
Chen Ping'an breathed another sigh of relief.
Chen Ping'an asked a few more trivial questions about Li Baoping, then took his leave of the old gentleman and entered the academy.
Pei Qian walked heavily, especially after passing through the gate. On a gently sloping mountain path, she walked as if wading through a river or trudging through deep snow.
The academy had guest houses specifically for the relatives and elders of students. Back then, Li Er, his wife, and their daughter Li Liu had stayed in the guest houses.
The academy charged only a symbolic amount of copper coins—ten coins per day per guest room. Upon learning that few guest rooms were currently occupied, Chen Ping'an immediately rented four adjacent rooms.
After they each deposited their luggage, Pei Qian went to Chen Ping'an's room to copy books.
Chen Ping'an took off his bamboo chest, and even removed the sword-nurturing gourd at his waist and the half-immortal sword "Sword Immortal."
Zhu Lian came to ask if they wanted to tour the academy together. Chen Ping'an said not for now, and Pei Qian, busy copying books, wouldn't pay Zhu Lian any attention.
Zhu Lian went to knock on Shi Rou's door. Shi Rou, feeling ill at ease, was in a bad mood. Zhu Lian started spouting refined yet bawdy nonsense from outside, so Shi Rou rewarded him with a single word: "Scram."
Zhu Lian had to wander the academy alone.
——
Li Baoping might have known this capital city better than the natives who had lived there all their lives.
She had been to the southern Tianchang Gate, nicknamed "Grain Gate" by the common folk. Grain brought in via the canals was stored there after inspection by Ministry of Revenue officials—it was a gathering point for grain from all directions. She had once crouched at the dock there for half a day, watching the busy officials and clerks, and the sweating porters. She also knew about a Fox Immortal Shrine there that was bustling with incense. It wasn't an orthodox shrine recognized by the Ministry of Rites, nor was it an illicit shrine. Its origins were strange; it enshrined a fox tail that was glossy and fresh-looking as new. There were mad, mysterious old women selling talisman water, and a bone-reading fortune teller said to be from west of the Great Sui passes—an old man and an old woman who often quarreled.
She had been to the Changfu Temple fair, where crowds were immense. She had coveted a kind of horn snake made from ox horn. There were many wealthy people there, and even the servants and attendants, who seemed more arrogant than the children of nobles, liked to wear coats made from dyed mountain rat fur, passing them off as marten fur.
Li Baoping had also been to the edge of the imperial city, spending many afternoons crouching there. She learned that there were many sedan-chair bearers and embroiderers—people not from the palace—who could still enter and exit the imperial city, as long as they carried identification tags. Among them was the Wenhua Hall, which compiled the histories of successive dynasties and edited historical records, and which hired many external copyists and papermakers.
She would then circle around to the northern back gate of the imperial city, called Dijiu Gate. Li Baoping went there more often because it was livelier. Once, at a miscellaneous silver shop, she witnessed a noisy commotion—soldiers catching a thief, all bluster and fury. Later, when she asked the shopkeeper, she learned that this shop, which dealt in shady business but made a fortune daily, was a fence for stolen goods. The items sold were mostly imperial articles stolen from the Great Sui palace—secretly hidden pouches and sachets, and even tin sheets from palace canal repairs were stolen. Leftover scraps from the annual imperial repairs were also coveted by merchants outside the palace. Many reports of lost or damaged items from the imperial workshops were highly profitable, especially from the gold and jade workshop and the mounting and framing workshop, where items were easily smuggled out of the palace and turned into real gold and silver.
At the time, Li Baoping didn't understand how anyone dared to steal from the Emperor right under his nose. The old shopkeeper, who had grown familiar with her, laughed and said, "That's business you'd risk your head for, but no one does business that loses money."
Li Baoping had also been to Xiuyi Bridge, not far from Dijiu Gate. There was a large lake there, but it was blocked off by the walls of various princely mansions and high-ranking officials' residences. The Infantry Command Office was located on a street called Diaomao Alley. Li Baoping walked back and forth a few times while eating pastries, because a classmate she didn't particularly like always boasted that his father was the highest-ranking official in that office, saying he could even ride the stone lions there and piss on them without anyone daring to stop him.
Li Baoping had also been to Zhongguan Lane in the southern part of the city, a place where many aged eunuchs and white-haired palace maids retired from the palace. There were many temples and Taoist shrines there, all small. Those eunuchs and maids were often devoted donors, incredibly pious.
So Li Baoping often saw hunched old men, supported by servants or walking alone with canes, going to burn incense.
After wandering around many times, Li Baoping learned that the most senior palace maids were called "Inner Court Grandmothers," senior female officials who served the Emperor and Empress. Among them, the old palace maid who combed the Emperor's hair every dawn held the most esteemed position; some were even granted the title "Lady."
In the eastern part of the capital was the largest market in Great Sui, with countless shops, carriages and horses coming and going. Where people flowed, money flowed. Among them was a bookshop that Li Baoping loved to browse. Some daring bookshop owners would secretly sell books that, according to imperial law, couldn't be taken out of the passes or abroad. Envoys from various tributary states often sent servants to buy them privately, but if they were unlucky and encountered market inspectors, they'd be hauled off to the yamen for punishment.
In these three years.
Whether in her cotton-padded jacket or her clothes, always a flash of bright red, the little girl had helped many tottering old people going to burn incense, had helped crying children standing under trees get their kites down from the branches, had pushed oxcarts loaded with charcoal stuck in the snowy mud alongside ragged old men, had watched old men playing chess at street corners, had stood on tiptoe in antique shops asking the prices of desk ornaments, had sat on the steps under the Tianqiao bridge listening to storytellers' tales, had brushed past countless vendors carrying shoulder poles and shouting their wares in the streets and alleys, and had even broken up fights between children rolling on the ground...
The little girl had heard the melodious sound of pigeon whistles over the capital's sky, had seen beautiful, swaying kites, had eaten what she thought were the best wontons in the world, had taken shelter from the rain under eaves, had hidden from the blazing sun under trees, and had walked through wind and snow, warming herself with her own breath...
Today, Li Baoping had gone to browse the bookshops again. On the way there, she had lunch at an inexpensive and delicious little restaurant. On the way back, she stopped at a noodle shop in an alley that had been a family business for generations. The old shopkeeper and his wife knew her well, often saying they'd give her a discount or even not charge her at all. But Li Baoping never agreed, saying she might take them up on it next time. But "next time" never came, and over time, the two shops just took it as the little girl being polite, not wanting them to lose a few coins on their small business. But they both wanted to laugh—meeting such a lovely and considerate customer, even if they didn't make much profit, they wouldn't begrudge that bit of money.
In the twilight.
Li Baoping's running figure appeared on the street outside the mountain gate of Cliff Academy.
The little girl felt that what the books said about time flying like a shuttle or a white horse flashing past a gap—it didn't seem right. Why did it move so slowly for her, worrying her to death?
A little girl in a red skirt, whose eyes seemed to see only the distance, quickly greeted the old gentleman at the gate and dashed through without stopping.
The old gentleman, who had been dozing, suddenly remembered something and called after her retreating figure, "Little Baoping, come back!"
Li Baoping didn't stop. She waved her hands, jogged in place, turned her head to look at the old gentleman beckoning her, and then ran backward—surprisingly fast...
Li Baoping ran backward back to the gate, stopped, and asked, "Mr. Liang, is something the matter?"
The old gentleman surnamed Liang asked curiously, "Didn't you run into an acquaintance on the way?"
Li Baoping's eyes widened as she shook her head. "No."
The old gentleman smiled and asked, "So today you didn't turn in from Baimao Street?"
Li Baoping nodded. "Yeah, why?"
The old gentleman asked with a sly grin, "Baoping, before I answer your question, you answer mine first. Do you think my scholarship is great or not?"
Li Baoping thought for a moment. "A bit less than Mountain Master Mao's."
The old gentleman was immediately choked speechless by this honest little girl.
But looking at it from another angle, the little girl was comparing him to a Confucian sage who was an academy mountain master—that was still a compliment, wasn't it?
So the old gentleman was in a fairly good mood and told Li Baoping that a young man had come to the academy looking for her. He had stood at the gate for quite a while, then went to the guest house to drop off his luggage, came back twice, and the last time was half an hour ago—he had come and not left.
The old gentleman laughed. "I told him not to worry, that our Little Baoping knew the capital as well as her own home, that she definitely wouldn't get lost. But that man kept pacing up and down this street. In the end, I got anxious for him and told him that you usually turn in from Baimao Street. He probably went to Baimao Street to wait for you, and when he didn't see you, he walked a bit further, hoping to spot your figure sooner. That's how you two missed each other. It's no big deal. You wait here—he'll be back soon for sure."
Li Baoping whirled around, about to dash off.
The old gentleman called out worriedly, "Little Baoping, are you going to Baimao Street to look for him? But what if he's wandered far from Baimao Street looking for you? And if he doesn't come back the same way, won't you miss each other again? What, are you two playing hide-and-seek?"
Li Baoping was as anxious as an ant in a hot pot, spinning in circles.
It was a sight the academy instructors had never seen before.
Li Baoping, on the verge of tears, suddenly shouted, "Little Master Uncle!"
The old gentleman's heart trembled. He narrowed his eyes, his entire demeanor shifting abruptly, and looked toward the end of the street.
A figure in white, like a white rainbow, came into view from Baimao Street, then sped up in a flash, arriving in an instant.
When that young man alighted gracefully, his two large white sleeves still fluttered and swirled, like a banished immortal of elegant grace.
He stood before the little girl in red, his smile radiant. He said softly, "Your little master uncle is here."