Chapter 13 Life Mentor
The third day of February, at the hour of Chen.
Shen Kuo woke up and found Xiao Ping curled up in his arms. He knew that if the two of them had not huddled together last night, she would have frozen to death. However, some of the Master's teachings were still echoing in his ears, so he quickly got up, but his heart was beating like a wild boar.
Xiaoping woke up with a yawn. She no longer had her hairpin, her hair was disheveled and messy, and her face was already quite dirty. She looked pitiful yet also somewhat cute.
Xiao Ping saw Shen Kuo staring at her blankly and suddenly smiled.
"Let the benefactor see this ugly appearance."
"What are you talking about? Not ugly at all. By the way, where would your maid Jin'er go if she couldn't find you?"
"They couldn't find me. They must have left by boat."
"You won't report it to the police?"
"That little stabbed man is definitely not that kind of person. He must have returned to Tokyo on his own."
Xiao Ping said indifferently.
"Sisters are really close. By the way, who else is in your family?"
"And my aunt and uncle."
"Oh, is there anyone else?"
"There are several cousins who hang out in brothels and casinos, doing some gambling and money lending."
"Anyone closer?"
"Someone closer?" Xiao Ping frowned and looked thoughtful. "My benefactor wants to ask if you have a biological sister?"
"I never thought so, please don't misunderstand me!" Shen Kuo blushed with embarrassment.
"Let me think about it..." Xiao Ping pretended to think, "It seems not."
There was no money for breakfast, so the two of them set out again. This time, Xiao Ping no longer cared about men and women, and she also sat on the donkey in front of Shen Kuo, with her back against his chest.
The donkey had not eaten for the whole day and only dug up some grass roots from the snow outside the temple to eat at night. It found that today was even worse than yesterday and it had to carry two people. It secretly groaned in pain and resisted angrily for a while, but finally had to accept its fate.
In the afternoon, we finally saw the city wall at the end of the Bian River in the distance. Tokyo Bianliang was already in front of us. The four iron bulls used to fix the floating bridge on the Bian River were still there.
Shen Kuo was staring into the distance in a daze and was noticed by Xiao Ping.
"My benefactor, are you recalling the time when you first came to Bianjing?"
"yes."
Xiao Ping picked a wild camellia from a nearby tree and put it on her temples, then recited a poem that fit the occasion:
“Mountain flowers bloom before spring returns, and when spring returns it’s just when the flowers are in full bloom.”
"This seems to be a poem by Mr. Nanfeng of this dynasty?" Shen Kuo said absentmindedly.
"It was this Mr. Nanfeng who wrote it for me."
Shen Kuo remembered that Xiaoping was originally a famous prostitute in Beijing, so it was reasonable for literati and scholars to write poems for her.
"My benefactor, what are you feeling sentimental about?"
"Reminded me of an old friend."
"What kind of old friend? Tell me about it."
"A great and virtuous monk."
"It sounds boring, so I won't talk about it."
Shen Kuo didn't say anything else, but just continued to walk slowly along the river, lost in his memories.
Memories took him back to that moment fourteen years ago. He was only ten years old at the time, standing in the crowd on the north bank of the Yellow River. There were not many boats on the river, because the Yellow River had just flooded and the water had receded, and the four iron bulls were not on the shore either, as they had just been washed into the river by the flood.
"Look, the holy monk is coming." someone in the crowd shouted.
The roaring crowd parted a path.
He came to the river wearing a white robe and riding a white horse, and the crowd was in an uproar.
"Is this Master Huai Bing?"
"Yes, what a handsome monk."
"What a talented person!"
"I heard that this monk is going to cast a spell to fish out the iron bull from the river?"
"How is this possible?"
Monk Huai Bing dismounted and walked up the hill. There, he spread out the blueprint and pointed out the details to the boatmen.
Everyone watched from afar for a while and then began to discuss. Everyone had seen the violent power of the Yellow River when it flooded, easily washing four iron bulls on each bank into the river. Now this monk was actually trying to fish them out. If he didn't have magic, how could it be possible?
After the monk finished his instructions, he stood on the small slope, put his hands behind his back and looked at the river.
Two wooden boats slowly set out. The two boats were placed side by side on a high frame, and the wooden boats had a deep draft because the cabins were filled with mud and river sand.
"But should we offer sacrifices to He Bo? Or should we offer sacrifices to the Dragon King?"
Everyone was puzzled because there were no offerings on the boat, not even a piece of paper to burn, only mud and sand.
Shen Kuo took advantage of his short stature to squeeze to the front row, but was unexpectedly seen by the monk.
"Master, do you want to borrow the land transportation spell?" he shouted.
The monk was stunned when he heard this, and suddenly laughed: "No, no, no, no magic is needed, just borrow a little levitation power."
"The power of levitation? I've never heard of it."
The big monk came over and looked at Shen Kuo for a while.
"Have you ever been to school?"
“Yes.”
"Have you ever heard of the story of Cao Chong weighing an elephant?"
"I've heard of this." Shen Kuo nodded seriously.
"I use the same strength. If a boat can carry an elephant, it can also carry an iron ox."
"But the elephant is on the boat and the cow is under the water?"
"Well, you are a very quick thinker," Huai Bing praised Shen Kuo for his sudden insight. "Since we know the cow is underwater, we should think in the opposite way. If we can think of a way to move it, then heaven and earth can work together."
After he finished speaking, he stood up, put his hands behind his back, walked to the small slope and held a yellow flag in his hand. The two boats in the river had already reached their position, and someone jumped into the river with a rope, probably to tie up the iron ox below. After a while, the diver came up again. The monk waved a small yellow flag to the people on the boat.
"Look, the Dragon King's flag is coming." someone shouted.
"He is a divine being who uses mud to command the Dragon King to obey his orders."
Some people on the shore have already knelt down to worship, probably thinking that He Bo or the Dragon King is right below.
Everyone on the boat used shovels to shovel the mud and sand in the boat into the river. For a while, the scene was quite lively. Shen Kuo watched intently, watching the two boats with deep draft gradually float up. After a while, the cabins were empty and the draft of the boats rose by seven or eight feet.
"Is this the art of moving with the help of the force of levitation?" Shen Kuo was stunned.
Bubbles appeared under the water, and everyone saw a bull's horn sticking out of the river. Thousands of people on both sides of the river cheered in unison, and the shouts shook the sky.
When the monk turned to leave with a smug look on his face, he saw Shen Kuo with his mouth wide open, so he walked over again.
"I said no magic is needed, just borrow the power of levitation."
"It turns out that the carrying capacity of mud and sand on the boat can be moved to the body of the cow underwater? It's really amazing." Shen Kuo exclaimed sincerely.
"All things in the universe move back and forth, all following their own path and conforming to their own principles," said the monk.
"In accordance with the Tao? What is the Tao?"
"The way I speak of is not the way of the most mysterious and profound."
"What kind of Tao is that?"
"The Tao... may be tangible or intangible, but there must be traces to be observed and principles to follow. Although its principles are profound, they can be verified, calculated, and then verified again; if they cannot be verified again, then they are false Tao."
Shen Kuo nodded and then shook his head, not quite understanding what was said.
"Just as water gradually flows down and the sun rises in the east, it never breaks through for eternity. This is the Tao."
After Huai Bing finished speaking, he turned around, walked down the slope, and went to the shore to greet the first iron bull that emerged from the water.
On the swaying donkey's back, Shen Kuo's thoughts gradually returned to the present, and Huai Bing's slender figure superimposed on reality and gradually disappeared.
"I wonder if the eminent monk who stayed there is still in Xiangguo Temple? Or maybe he has already traveled to another place."
"Still thinking about that great monk?"
"Yeah, if it weren't for him, my life would probably not be like this."
Xiaoping pulled the reins and led the donkey into the capital through Chenzhou Gate. She was very familiar with the place and only walked through the busy streets.
"Strange, why is the capital not as lively as before?" Xiaoping looked around.
"Empress Zhang has just passed away. The emperor is treating her with the same ceremony as the empress. The one-month mourning period has not yet expired."
Shen Kuo was already shocked by the bustle around him, but Xiao Ping still said it was not as good as before.
They walked along the busy street. Shen Kuo, who was riding on a donkey, felt something strange, but he couldn't tell what was wrong. It seemed that some ominous and restless atmosphere enveloped the crowd.
When they reached the Suzaku Gate, they suddenly heard a commotion downstairs in the city tower. A team of imperial guards rushed out and blocked the gate, preventing anyone from entering the inner city.
Shen Kuo happened to be at the city gate, unable to enter and blocked by the crowd. In fact, if he wanted to go to Yang Wei De's house, he didn't have to go into the inner city, he could just go through the city along the Bian River and go out of the west gate. However, he wanted to send Xiao Ping home first. Her home was in the largest wine shop in the capital, Fanlou, just outside the imperial city.
The old country donkeys they were riding had never been to a city, so they didn't dare to shout loudly when they saw so many people. However, they were too tired and frightened, so they moved to the side of the city wall and tried to use it to rub the two people down.
Shen Kuo's leg had recovered about 70% by then. Seeing that the donkey was difficult to control, the two men got off the donkey together and led it out of the crowd, only to hear someone in the crowd selling his experiences.
"Do you know why the city gates were closed so urgently?"
"Is it about the hat monster sucking away the pig's soul?" someone responded.
"Which almanac is this about?"
"That must be because of the solar eclipse yesterday. The Heavenly Dog Star Lord swallowed the sun first and then descended to the world, almost destroying the Sheji Round Hill. But why did they close the city gates?"
"The emperor is in a hurry to go to the inner city's Imperial Ancestral Temple to pay homage, so he closed the city gates to prevent you, a bunch of idlers, from entering the Vermillion Bird Gate and occupying the horse path in front of the Imperial Street, thus blocking the way to the Imperial Ancestral Temple."
"We are just ordinary people. You are smart and capable, but aren't you also blocked out?"
"I heard that the government went there to pray to the ancestors and issued an edict of repentance."
"An edict of repentance?"
"What the nursery rhyme said has come true everywhere. The heavens have sent the star god of disaster down to earth to overthrow the country. It must be that the government has failed in its moral conduct, so they have issued an edict of self-blame to appease the wrath of heaven."
"Can it be calmed down?"
"I don't know. I just have to see if the nursery rhyme comes true again. If it comes true again, I'm afraid..."
"There are so many people here, and if you want to talk nonsense, you don't have to worry about being caught by someone quick enough..."
Shen Kuo and Xiao Ping looked at each other, and Xiao Ping stuck out her tongue. She hadn't expected the capital to be in such a mess. They finally managed to get out of the crowd, and the food business was booming everywhere, but unfortunately they had no money to eat. Since yesterday, the two of them had not eaten anything for a day and a night, and only drank some mountain spring water on the way.
"If the city gates won't be opened, we might as well find a nearby donkey meat restaurant to sell the animal and get some money for a meal. I know a shop that sells fried lamb, and they often take donkeys and dogs as old lambs." Xiao Ping said.
"Didn't you promise the old man to treat this old donkey well?"
"You are too pedantic, young master. You are just talking. This donkey is old and stubborn, and it is of no use now."
"How can a gentleman be without faith?"
"Can a gentleman be eaten as food? I'll starve to death if I live with you."
