Chapter 8: Fairy Linjiang
The twenty-ninth day of the first lunar month, at the hour of Chen.
The gangplank was removed, and the boatmen began to pull the boat. Shen Kuo found the boatman to add a cabin, and Xiao Ping and Jin Er also came out to meet him, which surprised the boatman. He didn't know when these two came up.
It was easy to negotiate for an extra cabin. Xiao Ping only took out two taels of silver, and the boatman was already smiling and nodding like crazy. Xiao Ping was such a pretty prostitute, and she had seen the world in Tokyo, so she would have a lot of valuables in her private collection.
Xiao Ping and Jin Er hid in the cabin for the whole day without showing their faces. Shen Kuo brought them food. None of the people pulling the boat or sailing knew about the two.
Late at night, Shen Kuo calculated the time in his cabin. It was the 30th day of the first lunar month in the Jiawu year, and in a moment it would be the first day of the second lunar month. He was still about a hundred miles away from Tokyo, and he didn't know whether he could make it in time for the solar eclipse at 9:00 p.m. the next day.
After worrying all night, he came to the deck in the morning with a heavy heart, only to see Xiaoping and Jin'er already at the stern watching the coastal scenery. It seemed that they were no longer worried about being captured by that unreasonable family.
The two of them also moved a table, placed the zither on it, and burned a burner of incense on the table.
Shen Kuo walked over from behind, wanting to say hello. Xiao Ping had already started playing and singing, so he stopped and listened quietly.
The song played was a short two-tone song called "Linjiangxian".
For a moment, the song was melodious and graceful, matching the sadness in Xiao Ping's lyrics:
Late at night I dreamed of returning to the tower and seeing the locked red door. After the drunkenness wore off, I saw the curtains were hung low.
When the hatred of last year's spring comes to mind, people stand alone among the falling petals, and swallows fly in pairs in the breeze and drizzle.
I remember the first time I met Xiao Ping, she was wearing a double heart-shaped dress scented with fragrance. The pipa played softly, telling me how much I missed her. The bright moon is still there, shining on her colorful cloud-like figure as she returned.
It was the first time that Shen Kuo heard this poem, and he was actually moved by the faint sadness in it. Interestingly, Xiaoping's name was mentioned in the poem, as if this poem was written specifically for her by a very affectionate person.
Shen Kuo could not help but change his mind, remembering what Xiao Ping had mentioned the day before, that his unscrupulous parents-in-law actually suspected that she had secretly hooked up with her old lover in the capital, and that the exchange of poems and lyrics had angered her husband to death. Perhaps this false accusation was not without evidence? But in any case, saving them, master and servant, was a good deed.
At this moment, he only saw Xiaoping's profile, but saw a line of tears falling from her face.
"Ah, it's really like traveling on the river in early spring. All I see is the flowers and grasses weeping, and the orioles and swallows crying!"
"Girl, it's winter now, where are the flowers, plants, and birds?" Jin'er said mischievously.
"You silly girl, are you laughing at me for pretending to be sad when writing lyrics?"
" I dare not. I know what the girl is thinking. Flowers and plants are not a big deal. It's just that Yan Yan is worried. Do you think I don't understand the hidden meaning of this?"
"You keep talking nonsense. I'll tear your mouth off."
"Even if I tear it apart, I will still say it. Yingying and Yanyan are so sad and wailing. What a shameless woman."
As they were bickering, a sharp whistle came from the sky. The two stopped playing and looked up. A small eagle was circling in the sky. Jin'er seemed to recognize the eagle and whispered a few words in Xiaoping's ear. Xiaoping's face suddenly became happy.
"Girl, those Yingying and Yanyan are here."
The two men hurriedly got up and were about to leave, and when they turned around they saw Shen Kuo behind them.
"Sir, I am honored to be here."
Xiao Ping stood up and walked to the side of the boat, looking at the streets along the canal, while Jin Er picked up the zither and hurried back to the cabin.
"Sir, do you know where we are?" Xiao Ping asked.
"Oh, we have left Suzhou and are now in Songzhou. If we hurry, we will reach the capital tomorrow."
"Songzhou? It seems to be as prosperous as Tokyo?"
"Songzhou is located along the Bian River and is naturally bustling because of the water transport. We arrived at Songcheng Wharf at noon, and it was even more prosperous there."
"Is there any interesting place to go?"
"There are some places..." Shen Kuo frowned and thought, wanting to show off some knowledge from his stomach. "Yes, yes, there is one place. It is recorded in the "Continuation of Ghost Records" written by Tang people: There was a scholar named Wei Gu under a laurel tree here. He ran into Yuexia Lao Ren who was looking through the marriage book, so he asked him to help him to make a marriage that he could not reach. Yuexia Lao Ren tied a red string around his feet and tied the other end to the feet of the governor's daughter whom he loved. Thirteen years later, this marriage was made. Later, someone built a Yue Lao Temple at the place where the laurel tree was. The laurel tree is still there today. People who want to make a marriage happen can donate some incense money, and then tie a red string to the branch, write their name on one end, and write..."
"What a weird and boring story..." Xiao Ping burst into laughter. "Where on earth can you get such a good deal? And where in heaven are there such boring gods who care about such mundane matters?"
“Although the legend is absurd, it is also a humanistic anecdote.”
"In my opinion, it's probably the priest from Yue Lao Temple who is trying to cheat people out of the money for incense. It's a pity that there are people in this world who are in love with someone and they deserve to be cheated."
For some reason, Shen Kuo really liked Xiao Ping's slightly sarcastic clarity, as if she was a prostitute he had seen and tasted in brothels in the capital.
There was another whistling sound from the sky, and the eagle was still circling overhead.
"Oh, by the way, big sister, the poem you just sang was so gentle and moving, and I am so ignorant that I have never seen it before."
"The benefactor is a good man. If you don't go to that place of pleasure, you won't know. This poem has just been circulated in the brothel this year. I copied it from a letter from a sister in the capital. The letter did not mention the author's name, so I'm afraid it was written by a frivolous person."
Her words seemed to be veiled, because she did not explain why her name was mentioned in the poems circulating in the capital when she was a widow in Suzhou. Shen Kuo naturally did not ask further.
At noon, the boat arrived at the pier outside Songcheng. The trackers also wanted to rest and eat, so the boatman set up a gangway for passengers to go ashore freely. They agreed to set sail at 3:15 pm and would not wait for passengers after that time.
When Shen Kuo reached the deck, the circling eagle had long disappeared. He saw Jin'er changed into men's clothes and quietly got off the boat among other merchants, carrying the wrapped zither on her back. She was petite and disappeared into the crowd. Shen Kuo thought: Maybe she didn't have enough money and went to a cashier to pawn it?
Xiaoping was nowhere to be seen. Perhaps she was hiding in the cabin and was afraid to get off the ship. Although it was two or three hundred miles away from Suzhou, there was no way to say whether there was any danger in such a busy place.
Feeling hungry, he also went down to the shore and wandered through the market to see if there was anything he could eat to fill his stomach.
This place is indeed as he said, a prosperous place that takes advantage of the canal transportation. There are all kinds of shops selling all kinds of goods, and there are also many restaurants.
After walking along the avenue for a while, he chose a big noodle and rice shop on the street, went up to the second floor and found a seat by the window overlooking the street, and asked the waiter to order a portion of fried fish and rice, a portion of fried assorted dishes, and two Hu pancakes. Hu pancakes have always been his favorite. When he was a child, he went to the capital with his father and ate the yokan and Hu pancakes made by the monks in front of the Daxiangguo Temple. Unfortunately, he could not find that taste after returning to the south.
While waiting for his meal, he recalled the taste. It was said that the meat dishes made by the monks of Daxiangguo Temple were excellent. This time he went there, he must try the pig's head and cooked mutton offal again.
After the food was served, he looked out the window. There was a constant stream of pedestrians and shops on both sides of the street. He suddenly remembered that the Yue Lao Temple mentioned in his show of knowledge should be on the mountain near the city gate, but he had only seen it on a tree and didn't know where it was, so he looked around to find it. He originally wanted to burn some incense and look at the tree, but he just heard Xiao Ping say that these stories were made up by the temple priests to deceive unrequited love, so he hesitated. Although those words were harsh, they were the truth.
When he was young, he was very interested in the notes of Qixie Zhiguai, and he also vowed to learn magic from the immortal mountain. However, he later met a monk in Bianliang who taught him: There is no chaos in the universe, and all things follow their own way. The so-called Tao, whether tangible or intangible, must be traceable, calculable, and repeatable, just like water gradually flowing down and the sun rising in the east, which has never been broken for thousands of years. This is the Tao. If it is broken, it is a false Tao.
This sentence changed his life, and from then on he no longer believed in those absurd stories that had no patterns to explore.
The reason he went to Beijing this time was because of a letter from the Imperial Astronomical Observatory asking him to arrive in Beijing before tomorrow, which would be the second day of February when the solar eclipse occurs. Unfortunately, today is already the first day of February, and there are still dozens of miles to go. No matter how hard he tries, it will be too late, right?
After searching around for a while, he finally saw a temple on a hill not far away, with smoke curling around it. He thought it was the Yue Lao Temple. He looked there with all his strength, but saw a familiar figure in a white dress on the steps. From the back, it was Xiao Ping.
"You are such a smart and insightful elder sister, but you are so hypocritical that you even go to this place to cheat people for incense money? You didn't expect that I would see you."
Shen Kuo secretly laughed as he watched Xiao Ping walk straight into the mountain gate and stand outside the Yue Lao Temple to pray. She stood there for a short while , which showed that her wish was very sincere.
Shen Kuo chewed the biscuit and thought to himself, what kind of man could attract such a woman with such a pair of eyes that could see through the secular world? Was she actually in love with him behind her words that she saw through the secular world?
Xiao Ping prayed for a long time and donated some money, then was led by the temple priest to the osmanthus tree in the backyard. It seemed that not everyone could tie the red string under the osmanthus tree in the Yue Lao Temple, and one had to pay money first.
The temple keeper took out a red thread, paper and pen and placed them on the table under the tree, then left. Xiao Ping sat down and wrote her name.
"Okay, I'll ask you about this when we get back to the boat and see how you answer."
He had a bad idea and wanted to tease Xiao Ping. While eating, he was thinking about how to lure her into a trap by playing hard to get. It would be pretty nice to see Xiao Ping blushing.
As he thought of his proud moment, a smile appeared on his face, but he caught a glimpse of a hunchbacked figure flashing outside the temple.
He had a good memory and could remember clearly the appearance and figure of a person even if he had only met him once. It was clearly the old man who chased Xiaoping that night.
