Chapter 74 (1/2)

That Year’s Spring, I Cut the Peach Blossoms (Part 3)

Because of a bitter childhood, Ning Que was very good at controlling his state of mind – or perhaps very good at pitifully controlling his own inner heart, transforming the dark night into sunlight on his face, and very rarely would the sadness of the changing seasons flash on the scenery of that world. However, today in the examination hall of the Academy entrance exam, looking at those peaches and apricots outside the window and listening to the rising sounds of various integrated fields of math and the like, with difficulty he thought of those hot and cold periods of a career of incessant study of both arts and sciences.

But it was exactly fortunate for that bitter forced career of studying, that the question on the scroll was not difficult to him in any way. After his mind quickly flashed with an answer, he couldn’t help but to whisper in a low voice, “This question is too d.a.m.n stupid* right?”

*二 ‘èr’ means two, but is also Beijing slang for stupid.

Indeed it was quite stupid, because the answer was exactly two.

Ning Que moved his wrist and dipped the brush into the inkstone, and very carefully wrote down his answer. “Master drank two jugs of wine, and cut all the peach blossoms of the mountain.”

……

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At a distant path away from a pavilion, that Daoist looked at the black and white of a chessboard. His right hand outstretched in the air, incessantly plucking, as though he was playing with an instrument or playing with the spring wind. Suddenly his index finger slightly paused; then with this motion, a black piece jumped from the piece holder beside the chessboard in a streak of light, and with a snap it fell onto the chessboard, exactly in a spot where the horizontal and vertical lines intersected.

As the Leader of the Southern Gate of the Clear Sky Way, and the Tang Empire’s State Master, Li QingShan freely and calmly played like this naturally and unsurprisingly. Strange at the moment was, his brows were knitted extremely aggressively, as though he was a bit afraid of the monk on the other side.

That monk called himself Huang Yang. Lately he was stationed in ChangAn’s South City’s Ten Thousand Wild Geese PaG.o.da Temple. Rumor had it that this person once visited a wasteland of some unknowable place, and was able to use unsurpa.s.sed cultivating Buddhist arts. Many years ago, he met the current Tang Empire’s Emperor by a chance coincidence, and they became bound as brothers – since then he became known as the Tang Imperial Prince. The monks pursue ascetic practice, and ordinarily he would be sitting in Ten Thousand Wild Geese PaG.o.da chanting sutras and translating books, and very rarely would he come into contact with outsiders of the Temple.

The monk Huang Yang calmly looked at the pieces on the chessboard. His eyes slowly blinked, and a white chess piece slowly rose from the piece holder, slowly arriving above the chessboard, and slowly fell down without creating the slightest sound, extremely softly. The white piece sealed some air hole, and without seeing him doing any kind of motion, with only his gaze gently moving a black piece that had been taken to the side of the board – that place already had 7 or 8 pieces.

The Tang Empire’s State Master and the Imperial Younger Brother playing chess – naturally no one dared to go forward and bother them. Those little monks and little Daoists all left by themselves extremely far away from the path on the bank with no chance of them seeing the two experts play, or else if they were allowed to see such a marvelous scene, they definitely would give big praise.

Li QingShan watched the black and white pieces on the chessboard, and shook his head. Turning he said, “When His Majesty is in the Palace, he leaves one person. When His Majesty leaves the Palace, then two have to await Him, since when did this become a rule? In a time like this, who would dare to do a mishap towards the Tang Emperor? Not to mention today when His Majesty went to the Academy, could there still be someone that dares to make trouble at the Academy?”

Huang Yang faintly smiled, and looking at him he said, “I don’t know.”

Li QingShan said with frustration, “You’ve already heard about the incident with Chao XiaoShu right? Truly a pity, if back then he could’ve entered the Fate-seeker realm, then as for us two fellows, we’d still be bodyguards following His Majesty every day.”

Huang Yang shook his head and replied, “Without these years of correspondence with the JiangHu, and acquiring this change in comprehension by observing the lake in the Palace, even for a talented person, who would dare say that they would enter the Fate-seeker realm?”

Li QingShan shook his head and said, “Back then you should’ve still been at that place watching over the firewood and fires of the temple, so I don’t know the specific circ.u.mstances. Chao XiaoShu at first had a chance to test into the Academy, just that he couldn’t get into the second floor. If he could enter the second floor, he would have the fortune of speaking with Master personally – how could needing to enter Fate-seeker be something hard?”

Huang Yang was silent for a long time, and then softly answered, “If he could enter the Academy and get Master’s enlightenment, that would indeed be a blessing.”

Li QingShan looked at his clean face, and suddenly with a self-mocking smile said, “The Court and people all say that we QingShan and Huang Yang don’t see each other, how would they know that because of the Academy we truly can’t meet?”

Of the two people, the Daoist and the Monk in the pavilion, one was the guardian of the Buddhist Sect’s orthodox monastery, and the other was the leader of the Clear Sky Way’s South Gate. No matter what they thought inside, their status and position destined them to be unable to take half a step into the Academy. Just like how today the Tang Emperor led a flock of ministers to partic.i.p.ate in the great opening ceremony of the Academy – these were the most powerful people beyond the Tang Empire that were most honored, and yet they could only quietly and calmly play chess far away.

“When did Master leave?”

“After school starts he will leave ChangAn.”

“Master has it hard.”

Huang Yang the Monk calmly said to State Master Li QingShan, “I really want to know just how high Master has gone.”

After a long silence Li QingShan said, “My first teacher once said, Master is as many as several floors high.”

Huang Yang the Monk hesitated slightly, and slowly a sincere smile arose on his face, then immediately after his lips parted with a sigh – a sigh like the spring breeze pa.s.sing a willow, with an indefinite meaning. “The second floor is already very high. For Master to actually be several floors high…….that is truly high.”

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