Jinxia smirked and whispered, “Taoist Xiao Lan, you’ve been reading forbidden books, do you know that you’ve caused trouble? Do you know who we are?”
“Seeing that this lady here has a free spirit and is generous, whereas this young master displays authority all over his face, I assume you both are government officials.” Lan Daoxing said calmly.
Being praised in such a way, Jinxia turned to Lu Yi, smiled and asked, “Do you also feel that I am a free spirited person?”
Lu Yi thought for a moment, “It’s more accurate to call you shameless.”
“……”
Jinxia gritted her teeth, but Lu Yi stretched out his hand and patted her head, easily calming her down.
“Taoist Xiao Lan, try to predict my fate, will I be lucky in the future?” She turned and asked Lan Daoxing, “I want to know when I will get promoted and earn more money.”
Lan Daoxing laughed and nodded his head.
“Wait…Qimen Dunjia, Ziwei Doushum, which one is cheaper?” Jinxia asked in worry.
“Just write a word, it’s only five coins.”
Hearing that it was only five coins, Jinxia was immediately excited, but said in suspicion, “Since it’s cheap, will the reading be bad?”
“Cheap but good, I won’t deceive the young or old.” Lan Daoxing laughed.
After asking the servant for paper and pen, Jinxia held the pen and hesitated for a long time. Thinking about her status as a constable in LiuShanment, she wrote on the paper the word ‘bǔ’*.
*[捕 (bǔ) = arrest, TN]
She pushed the paper towards Lan Daoxing.
“Arrest.” Lan Daoxing stared at the word and thought about it, “Arrest, the left stroke* is ‘shǒu’, the right stroke is ‘fǔ’*…”
*[甫 (fǔ) = only; just, TN]
*[手 (shǒu) = hand, TN]
*[strokes = when you write any chinese word, there is a certain order to consider. Strokes go in the order of top to bottom, left to right, TN]
“What? Will I be promoted this year?”
Jinxia’s face was very serious. Lu Yi, who was beside her, couldn’t help but find it a bit amusing.
“The left stroke is shǒu (hand), indicating people who use their hands, for example, fist fighting. Everything you do involves fighting using fists and kicks. On the right is…” Lan Daoxing looked at up her, then continued, “If you add another stroke, it would become ‘pǔ’*, which means being on the edge of the river, also means near water. If you are near water, then you can get promoted.”
*[浦 (pǔ) = riverside, TN]
“Wait, wait!” Jinxia didn’t understand, “Why do I need to add more strokes and not other kinds of strokes?”
Lan Daoxing laughed while pointing at the edge of her hand; she looked down and saw that it was a cup of tea that she used earlier.
“Because it relates to your question regarding promotion: first you have to use your hands and fists to fight, second, you have to be close to the water.” Lan Daoxing continued.
“Close to the water? That’s too general… Do you mean lake water, well water, river water or the ocean?”
“Pǔ indicates that it should be river water that flows into the sea.”
Jinxia thought, ‘This trip to the edge of the coast, doesn’t this mean we’re close to water? Then there is hope to be promoted this year.’ As soon as she thought about this, her heart was filled with joy.
Looking at her expression, how could Lu Yi not know what she was thinking? He leaned his face closer to her ear, “It seems like you’re going to take the palace exam soon, congratulations.”
Jinxia was in a good mood, she didn’t care about his jokes, urging him, “Monks are smart people, their predictions are very precise. Daren, you should also try.”
“Me…”
While he was hesitating, Lan Daoxing already pushed the pen and paper in front of him, signaling him to write a word.
“Alright, but just to accompany you.” Lu Yi smiled, took the pen and drew a few strokes.
Jinxia looked at the paper, surprisingly he’d also written ‘bǔ’. His intention was more or less on purpose to make it difficult for Lan Daoxing, it seemed that he was still thinking he was a fraud.
Lan Daoxing studied his writing, neither panicking or relaxing too much; his face remained happy and asked, “Young Master, what is your question?”
Lu Yi couldn’t think of anything for a moment, then met his eyes and slowly said, “An ambition needs to be fulfilled.”
Lan Daoxing nodded, bowed his head and read the word, “Left stroke is shǒu (hand), the right one is fǔ (only; just); very sharp strokes… Judging from the sharpness, Young Master, a person will act according to how he is told, saying what he has to say; everything must be done with caution and full consideration.”
Lu Yi laughed dryly, “Although what you’ve said is true, but it’s still a little vague, these words can be used on anyone.”
“Young master, don’t be in a hurry, let’s take a look at the stroke of the word fǔ, there is chē (vehicle), meaning you’re in lack of vehicles…”
“Wait!” Jinxia said in surprise, “Earlier you said my fǔ was added with water strokes because there is water near me. Why is his a chē stroke? There’s nothing beside him…”
Lan Daoxing laughed, “This young master is not the same as you, he belongs to the palace, which means working for the Emperor of the palace, assigned to help the poor, therefore he must have ‘chē’, this is why his ambition has not been fulfilled.*”
*[As someone who had witnessed fortune-telling but by cards. As I’ve seen even though two different people pull the same cards, obviously their fortune will be different, same as this, even though they wrote the same word, depending whoever wrote it and their ‘energy’, their fortunes will be different, TN]
Lu Yi suddenly noticed the underlying meaning of his words. His expression slowly became serious. He asked, “What kind of vehicle?”
“Straightforward and fast, that can fight against others, lastly…” Lan Daoxing paused for a moment, then slowly laughed, “that can be thrown away to protect something big.*”
*[Notice he’s not talking about vehicles as cars or carriage, but chē means literal vehicles. Anyways, he’s talking about his behaviour and personality, the last sentence indicate he needs someone who can sacrifice for small matters to protect something big, TN]
Jinxia, who heard the conversation between the two people, felt confused, noting that the expressions of the two of them were now different.
After a long while, Lu Yi said, “Can I presumptuously ask where you are from?”
Lan Daoxing stared at him, continuing to laugh, “Fanchun Mountain in Lingtai, Xieyue cave in Sanxing.”
Jinxia was dumbfounded… Xieyue cave in Sanxing, wasn’t the place where Sun Wukong went to practice in ‘Journey To The West’? This Taoist was reading a forbidden book, now even in front of Lu Yi, he decided to joke about this. Jinxia was afraid Lu Yi wouldn’t let this go.
Hearing this, Lu Yi wasn’t angry but kept asking, “Who did you learn from?”
Lan Daoxing did not answer but asked back, “Let’s say, there is no water in Liusha River but only sand and there lives a general*, isn’t that strange?”
*[General is the position of the Taoist in ‘Journey To The West’ because he started traveling and become a buddist, TN]
Upon listening to his words, Lu Yi looked at him closely, then said, “It seems like he’s an expert, it’s a shame I don’t know him.”
Lan Daoxing laughed, then knocked on the edge of the teacup several times. Afterward, he stopped saying those strange things, and reached out his hand to pick up the two papers with the word ‘arrest’. After examining them, he turned to look at Jinxia and said, “Miss, you’re not young anymore, do you not want to ask about marriage?”
“Yes, I do.”
Jinxia suddenly thought of something important, taking Lu Yi’s paper and pushing it toward Lan Daoxing. She then leaned forward and asked in a low voice, “Taoist Xiao Lan, can you take a look at this again, who will be his wife? Will he have any concubines? How many concubines will he have?”
Just as she spoke, Lu Yi pulled her shoulders and pinned them against the chair.
“You’re thinking too far.” He was angry but also amused.
“Of course, I have to ask about this clearly.” Jinxia muttered, “In case you want to have three or four wives…”
“What three or four wives? Since when have I ever thought about…” Lu Yi said in annoyance.
“You two, the two of you,” Lan Daoxing hurriedly broke the ice, “I can see that this Young Master is not that type of man who likes beautiful women, Miss, don’t worry. Apart from making predictions based on your writing, I will give you a marriage fate stone, how about that?” As he was saying that, he took out from the bundle beside him a small stone with a beautiful ornate carving tied with a red thread.
Because this was a gift, Jinxia received it with a wide smile. After examining it, she felt that this stone was very ordinary in appearance. Lu Yi took it and twirled it around, not knowing whether to accept it or not.
“What is this for?” Jinxia asked.
“Don’t judge it by its appearance; this stone has been blessed in the mastery of the god of marriage from Songcheng Yuelao Temple.” Lan Daoxing laughed and continued, “It can protect couples who are getting married.”
Jinxia looked at Lu Yi; he also gave her a quick glance.
“The Taoist said this is a good thing, so keep it. Why are you looking at me?” Lu Yi said.
“Well, my mother often said whether there is luck, hit it three times* then you will know whether it works or not. I will just accept this, who knows, it may work.” Jinxia looked at Lan Daoxing and said, “Thank you, Taoist Xiao Lan.” From her pocket, she took out five coins, feeling sad as she passed them over to Lan Daoxing.
*[hit it three times = when given an opportunity, you should at least try it once, even with failure, you know you’ve tried. If you don’t try, there is no success, TN]
At this time, the servant brought all of Lan Daoxing’s wrapped orders for the trip. After receiving the five coins, he tied up his bundle of clothes, got up and bid farewell to Lu Yi and Jinxia.
Lu Yi looked at the figure that slowly disappeared in the crowd of people, his gaze remained in the same direction…
“What’s wrong? Do you find him weird?” Jinxia asked.
“What about you?” He asked back.
Jinxia carefully tried to recall, “His Taoist robe is old and half-worn, his shoes are worn out, his hair is tied up properly with a few messy strands. He is indeed a real monk, or at least good at pretending to be one. Otherwise, the clothes and shoes might not fit his body so well, but the way he speaks and what he does is very strange.” After saying this, she also told Lu Yi about what happened last night, how Lan Daoxing was fishing with no bait, only an empty thread in the river.
Hearing this, Lu Yi thought about it again, suddenly hearing Jinxia who seemed to have realized something and said ‘Ah!’
“I know! Xieyue cave in Sanxing, the ‘xin’ he uses means heart, it turns out that he is a scholar of Xinxue, no wonder he behaves differently from others.” Jinxia said clearly. Xinxue was a Confucian school that studied thoughts and minds; the place was founded by Wang Shouren of the Ming Dynasty. It was the opposite of Neo-Confucian Lixue of the Song Dynasty, which had focused on teaching about the logic theory and practice of truth*.
*[Xinxue basically can be referred to as Psychology school whereas Lixue is logical/nature school, TN]
“You know people in Xinxue?” Lu Yi asked.
“I don’t know any of them. I’ve only heard that Tang Daren and Xu Daren have a relationship with Xinxue people. There is another thing that often happens in the Capital, every time someone runs naked in the street and is caught by Yamen, they will definitely say they are Xinxue students, wanting to follow some conscience. It’s hard to logically talk to those people. We can only punish them with a few hits.” Jinxia shook her head and sighed.
Lu Yi held his head. A few moments later, he asked her, “You met Lan Daoxing last night? Did you tell the others?”
Jinxia shook her head, “No.”
“Good. Everything related to him, don’t tell anyone else, including YangYue.” Lu Yi said in a deep voice, looking straight into her eyes that were full of question marks, “Don’t ask me why, when everything is clear, I will explain.”
Since he said that, Jinxia didn’t want to ask the reason anymore, only nodded her head.
“I just want to ask about one thing,” She raised her tone a bit and anxiously said, “Can I keep this stone or not?”
Lu Yi slightly smiled, “Of course you can.”
Jinxia smilingly tucked the stone in her belt but turned to see that Lu Yi kept it in his inner clothes.
“Aren’t you afraid of being seen?” She teased him, “A fourth-rank dignified JinYiWei with a marriage stone, aren’t you afraid people will talk?”
Lu Yi straightened his robe and said, “I’m just afraid it might break when fighting with people.”
“……”
She was not expecting him to cherish the item, but since he valued the marriage stone, it only meant he treasured their relationship. Jinxia suddenly felt shy and let out a low laugh, then she nicely tucked the stone away.
At night time, everyone had fallen asleep. Nothing seemed about to happen.
At around three in the morning, Lu Yi gently opened the window and jumped out, flying into the darkness of the night. Following the shadow of the mountains high and low, along the way, he ran, flew and walked at a fast pace, finally arriving at the riverbank below the mountain foot of the Xuanyin Guan.
The moon shined down over a man in a blue robe, holding the fishing line, with his back facing him.
Lu Yi stepped forward slowly and, without saying a word, stared at the water stream.
After a long while, the man in the blue robe turned his head, it was Lan Daoxing. He smiled at Lu Yi, “Lu Daren, how did you know I was here?”
“You tapped your cup three times, which meant you wanted to tell me to come here at around three in the morning, right?” Lu Yi said slowly, “Jinxia told me, you like to fish with an empty rod, which would mostly be at a riverbank in the water stream, not by the well.”
After listening to his explanation, Lan Daoxing smiled for a moment. After that, he instinctively changed his attitude to respect, tidying his clothes and hair. Then he faced Lu Yi and saluted: “I received a secret order from He Xinyin, to come here to help Daren. Here is the letter.” He took out a sealed letter from his pocket and gave it to Lu Yi.
It was indeed He Xinyin. There was no water in Liusha River, but there lived a general. The word ‘river’ took away the ‘water’ stroke and added in a single ‘person’ stroke, forming the word ‘He’. Actually, Lu Yi had already guessed a little but he was unsure. He opened the letter and, after reading it, he looked at Lan Daoxing again.
*[河 (hé) = this is the word for river. Based on what Lu Yi said, add the ‘person’ stroke, which 亻(rén), take away ‘water’ stroke, which is 水 (shuǐ), it would become 何 (Hé) = a person’s last name, TN]
“Did you know He Xinyin sent you to see me?” He asked.
Lan Daoxing said, “Of course, that’s why I’m here. Naturally, I’ve been practicing buddhism since I was a child, I don’t have any parents, so there is no need to worry about me causing troubles, nor will I involve the people around me.”
Lu Yi thought for a moment, “It will take a bit of time to arrange for you to enter the palace, but the Emperor may be suspicious, so you have to wait for someone to make up something.”
“This Taoist will patiently wait for the arrangement.”
“You… Previously you said about vehicles, do you mean yourself?” He recalled what Lan Daoxing said earlier.
Lan Daoxing laughed. He did not answer but instead asked back, “Do you think this Taoist is capable of it?”
Lu Yi didn’t answer right away. He just stared at the river and let out a long sigh, “Since you are willing to become my vehicle, one against ten, I will do my best to protect you.”
“Lu Daren’s words are too strong.” Lan Daoxing interrupted him in a serious manner, “If we want this to go smoothly, no one else can be involved, otherwise it would be difficult to catch Yan Shifan. Daren must not lose sight of big things.”
His words, of course Lu Yi understood them. He remained silent for a while, then said slowly, “If you can think like that, it’s very good.”
Lan Daoxing bent over to lift up his fishing rod, then threw it in the water. They heard the sound of the rod hitting the water, then everything went back to its quietness and only the soft murmur of the river flowing was disturbing the silence of the night.
Jinxia smirked and whispered, “Taoist Xiao Lan, you’ve been reading forbidden books, do you know that you’ve caused trouble? Do you know who we are?”
“Seeing that this lady here has a free spirit and is generous, whereas this young master displays authority all over his face, I assume you both are government officials.” Lan Daoxing said calmly.
Being praised in such a way, Jinxia turned to Lu Yi, smiled and asked, “Do you also feel that I am a free spirited person?”
Lu Yi thought for a moment, “It’s more accurate to call you shameless.”
“……”
Jinxia gritted her teeth, but Lu Yi stretched out his hand and patted her head, easily calming her down.
“Taoist Xiao Lan, try to predict my fate, will I be lucky in the future?” She turned and asked Lan Daoxing, “I want to know when I will get promoted and earn more money.”
Lan Daoxing laughed and nodded his head.
“Wait…Qimen Dunjia, Ziwei Doushum, which one is cheaper?” Jinxia asked in worry.
“Just write a word, it’s only five coins.”
Hearing that it was only five coins, Jinxia was immediately excited, but said in suspicion, “Since it’s cheap, will the reading be bad?”
“Cheap but good, I won’t deceive the young or old.” Lan Daoxing laughed.
After asking the servant for paper and pen, Jinxia held the pen and hesitated for a long time. Thinking about her status as a constable in LiuShanment, she wrote on the paper the word ‘bǔ’*.
*[捕 (bǔ) = arrest, TN]
She pushed the paper towards Lan Daoxing.
“Arrest.” Lan Daoxing stared at the word and thought about it, “Arrest, the left stroke* is ‘shǒu’, the right stroke is ‘fǔ’*…”
*[甫 (fǔ) = only; just, TN]
*[手 (shǒu) = hand, TN]
*[strokes = when you write any chinese word, there is a certain order to consider. Strokes go in the order of top to bottom, left to right, TN]
“What? Will I be promoted this year?”
Jinxia’s face was very serious. Lu Yi, who was beside her, couldn’t help but find it a bit amusing.
“The left stroke is shǒu (hand), indicating people who use their hands, for example, fist fighting. Everything you do involves fighting using fists and kicks. On the right is…” Lan Daoxing looked at up her, then continued, “If you add another stroke, it would become ‘pǔ’*, which means being on the edge of the river, also means near water. If you are near water, then you can get promoted.”
*[浦 (pǔ) = riverside, TN]
“Wait, wait!” Jinxia didn’t understand, “Why do I need to add more strokes and not other kinds of strokes?”
Lan Daoxing laughed while pointing at the edge of her hand; she looked down and saw that it was a cup of tea that she used earlier.
“Because it relates to your question regarding promotion: first you have to use your hands and fists to fight, second, you have to be close to the water.” Lan Daoxing continued.
“Close to the water? That’s too general… Do you mean lake water, well water, river water or the ocean?”
“Pǔ indicates that it should be river water that flows into the sea.”
Jinxia thought, ‘This trip to the edge of the coast, doesn’t this mean we’re close to water? Then there is hope to be promoted this year.’ As soon as she thought about this, her heart was filled with joy.
Looking at her expression, how could Lu Yi not know what she was thinking? He leaned his face closer to her ear, “It seems like you’re going to take the palace exam soon, congratulations.”
Jinxia was in a good mood, she didn’t care about his jokes, urging him, “Monks are smart people, their predictions are very precise. Daren, you should also try.”
“Me…”
While he was hesitating, Lan Daoxing already pushed the pen and paper in front of him, signaling him to write a word.
“Alright, but just to accompany you.” Lu Yi smiled, took the pen and drew a few strokes.
Jinxia looked at the paper, surprisingly he’d also written ‘bǔ’. His intention was more or less on purpose to make it difficult for Lan Daoxing, it seemed that he was still thinking he was a fraud.
Lan Daoxing studied his writing, neither panicking or relaxing too much; his face remained happy and asked, “Young Master, what is your question?”
Lu Yi couldn’t think of anything for a moment, then met his eyes and slowly said, “An ambition needs to be fulfilled.”
Lan Daoxing nodded, bowed his head and read the word, “Left stroke is shǒu (hand), the right one is fǔ (only; just); very sharp strokes… Judging from the sharpness, Young Master, a person will act according to how he is told, saying what he has to say; everything must be done with caution and full consideration.”
Lu Yi laughed dryly, “Although what you’ve said is true, but it’s still a little vague, these words can be used on anyone.”
“Young master, don’t be in a hurry, let’s take a look at the stroke of the word fǔ, there is chē (vehicle), meaning you’re in lack of vehicles…”
“Wait!” Jinxia said in surprise, “Earlier you said my fǔ was added with water strokes because there is water near me. Why is his a chē stroke? There’s nothing beside him…”
Lan Daoxing laughed, “This young master is not the same as you, he belongs to the palace, which means working for the Emperor of the palace, assigned to help the poor, therefore he must have ‘chē’, this is why his ambition has not been fulfilled.*”
*[As someone who had witnessed fortune-telling but by cards. As I’ve seen even though two different people pull the same cards, obviously their fortune will be different, same as this, even though they wrote the same word, depending whoever wrote it and their ‘energy’, their fortunes will be different, TN]
Lu Yi suddenly noticed the underlying meaning of his words. His expression slowly became serious. He asked, “What kind of vehicle?”
“Straightforward and fast, that can fight against others, lastly…” Lan Daoxing paused for a moment, then slowly laughed, “that can be thrown away to protect something big.*”
*[Notice he’s not talking about vehicles as cars or carriage, but chē means literal vehicles. Anyways, he’s talking about his behaviour and personality, the last sentence indicate he needs someone who can sacrifice for small matters to protect something big, TN]
Jinxia, who heard the conversation between the two people, felt confused, noting that the expressions of the two of them were now different.
After a long while, Lu Yi said, “Can I presumptuously ask where you are from?”
Lan Daoxing stared at him, continuing to laugh, “Fanchun Mountain in Lingtai, Xieyue cave in Sanxing.”
Jinxia was dumbfounded… Xieyue cave in Sanxing, wasn’t the place where Sun Wukong went to practice in ‘Journey To The West’? This Taoist was reading a forbidden book, now even in front of Lu Yi, he decided to joke about this. Jinxia was afraid Lu Yi wouldn’t let this go.
Hearing this, Lu Yi wasn’t angry but kept asking, “Who did you learn from?”
Lan Daoxing did not answer but asked back, “Let’s say, there is no water in Liusha River but only sand and there lives a general*, isn’t that strange?”
*[General is the position of the Taoist in ‘Journey To The West’ because he started traveling and become a buddist, TN]
Upon listening to his words, Lu Yi looked at him closely, then said, “It seems like he’s an expert, it’s a shame I don’t know him.”
Lan Daoxing laughed, then knocked on the edge of the teacup several times. Afterward, he stopped saying those strange things, and reached out his hand to pick up the two papers with the word ‘arrest’. After examining them, he turned to look at Jinxia and said, “Miss, you’re not young anymore, do you not want to ask about marriage?”
“Yes, I do.”
Jinxia suddenly thought of something important, taking Lu Yi’s paper and pushing it toward Lan Daoxing. She then leaned forward and asked in a low voice, “Taoist Xiao Lan, can you take a look at this again, who will be his wife? Will he have any concubines? How many concubines will he have?”
Just as she spoke, Lu Yi pulled her shoulders and pinned them against the chair.
“You’re thinking too far.” He was angry but also amused.
“Of course, I have to ask about this clearly.” Jinxia muttered, “In case you want to have three or four wives…”
“What three or four wives? Since when have I ever thought about…” Lu Yi said in annoyance.
“You two, the two of you,” Lan Daoxing hurriedly broke the ice, “I can see that this Young Master is not that type of man who likes beautiful women, Miss, don’t worry. Apart from making predictions based on your writing, I will give you a marriage fate stone, how about that?” As he was saying that, he took out from the bundle beside him a small stone with a beautiful ornate carving tied with a red thread.
Because this was a gift, Jinxia received it with a wide smile. After examining it, she felt that this stone was very ordinary in appearance. Lu Yi took it and twirled it around, not knowing whether to accept it or not.
“What is this for?” Jinxia asked.
“Don’t judge it by its appearance; this stone has been blessed in the mastery of the god of marriage from Songcheng Yuelao Temple.” Lan Daoxing laughed and continued, “It can protect couples who are getting married.”
Jinxia looked at Lu Yi; he also gave her a quick glance.
“The Taoist said this is a good thing, so keep it. Why are you looking at me?” Lu Yi said.
“Well, my mother often said whether there is luck, hit it three times* then you will know whether it works or not. I will just accept this, who knows, it may work.” Jinxia looked at Lan Daoxing and said, “Thank you, Taoist Xiao Lan.” From her pocket, she took out five coins, feeling sad as she passed them over to Lan Daoxing.
*[hit it three times = when given an opportunity, you should at least try it once, even with failure, you know you’ve tried. If you don’t try, there is no success, TN]
At this time, the servant brought all of Lan Daoxing’s wrapped orders for the trip. After receiving the five coins, he tied up his bundle of clothes, got up and bid farewell to Lu Yi and Jinxia.
Lu Yi looked at the figure that slowly disappeared in the crowd of people, his gaze remained in the same direction…
“What’s wrong? Do you find him weird?” Jinxia asked.
“What about you?” He asked back.
Jinxia carefully tried to recall, “His Taoist robe is old and half-worn, his shoes are worn out, his hair is tied up properly with a few messy strands. He is indeed a real monk, or at least good at pretending to be one. Otherwise, the clothes and shoes might not fit his body so well, but the way he speaks and what he does is very strange.” After saying this, she also told Lu Yi about what happened last night, how Lan Daoxing was fishing with no bait, only an empty thread in the river.
Hearing this, Lu Yi thought about it again, suddenly hearing Jinxia who seemed to have realized something and said ‘Ah!’
“I know! Xieyue cave in Sanxing, the ‘xin’ he uses means heart, it turns out that he is a scholar of Xinxue, no wonder he behaves differently from others.” Jinxia said clearly. Xinxue was a Confucian school that studied thoughts and minds; the place was founded by Wang Shouren of the Ming Dynasty. It was the opposite of Neo-Confucian Lixue of the Song Dynasty, which had focused on teaching about the logic theory and practice of truth*.
*[Xinxue basically can be referred to as Psychology school whereas Lixue is logical/nature school, TN]
“You know people in Xinxue?” Lu Yi asked.
“I don’t know any of them. I’ve only heard that Tang Daren and Xu Daren have a relationship with Xinxue people. There is another thing that often happens in the Capital, every time someone runs naked in the street and is caught by Yamen, they will definitely say they are Xinxue students, wanting to follow some conscience. It’s hard to logically talk to those people. We can only punish them with a few hits.” Jinxia shook her head and sighed.
Lu Yi held his head. A few moments later, he asked her, “You met Lan Daoxing last night? Did you tell the others?”
Jinxia shook her head, “No.”
“Good. Everything related to him, don’t tell anyone else, including YangYue.” Lu Yi said in a deep voice, looking straight into her eyes that were full of question marks, “Don’t ask me why, when everything is clear, I will explain.”
Since he said that, Jinxia didn’t want to ask the reason anymore, only nodded her head.
“I just want to ask about one thing,” She raised her tone a bit and anxiously said, “Can I keep this stone or not?”
Lu Yi slightly smiled, “Of course you can.”
Jinxia smilingly tucked the stone in her belt but turned to see that Lu Yi kept it in his inner clothes.
“Aren’t you afraid of being seen?” She teased him, “A fourth-rank dignified JinYiWei with a marriage stone, aren’t you afraid people will talk?”
Lu Yi straightened his robe and said, “I’m just afraid it might break when fighting with people.”
“……”
She was not expecting him to cherish the item, but since he valued the marriage stone, it only meant he treasured their relationship. Jinxia suddenly felt shy and let out a low laugh, then she nicely tucked the stone away.
At night time, everyone had fallen asleep. Nothing seemed about to happen.
At around three in the morning, Lu Yi gently opened the window and jumped out, flying into the darkness of the night. Following the shadow of the mountains high and low, along the way, he ran, flew and walked at a fast pace, finally arriving at the riverbank below the mountain foot of the Xuanyin Guan.
The moon shined down over a man in a blue robe, holding the fishing line, with his back facing him.
Lu Yi stepped forward slowly and, without saying a word, stared at the water stream.
After a long while, the man in the blue robe turned his head, it was Lan Daoxing. He smiled at Lu Yi, “Lu Daren, how did you know I was here?”
“You tapped your cup three times, which meant you wanted to tell me to come here at around three in the morning, right?” Lu Yi said slowly, “Jinxia told me, you like to fish with an empty rod, which would mostly be at a riverbank in the water stream, not by the well.”
After listening to his explanation, Lan Daoxing smiled for a moment. After that, he instinctively changed his attitude to respect, tidying his clothes and hair. Then he faced Lu Yi and saluted: “I received a secret order from He Xinyin, to come here to help Daren. Here is the letter.” He took out a sealed letter from his pocket and gave it to Lu Yi.
It was indeed He Xinyin. There was no water in Liusha River, but there lived a general. The word ‘river’ took away the ‘water’ stroke and added in a single ‘person’ stroke, forming the word ‘He’. Actually, Lu Yi had already guessed a little but he was unsure. He opened the letter and, after reading it, he looked at Lan Daoxing again.
*[河 (hé) = this is the word for river. Based on what Lu Yi said, add the ‘person’ stroke, which 亻(rén), take away ‘water’ stroke, which is 水 (shuǐ), it would become 何 (Hé) = a person’s last name, TN]
“Did you know He Xinyin sent you to see me?” He asked.
Lan Daoxing said, “Of course, that’s why I’m here. Naturally, I’ve been practicing buddhism since I was a child, I don’t have any parents, so there is no need to worry about me causing troubles, nor will I involve the people around me.”
Lu Yi thought for a moment, “It will take a bit of time to arrange for you to enter the palace, but the Emperor may be suspicious, so you have to wait for someone to make up something.”
“This Taoist will patiently wait for the arrangement.”
“You… Previously you said about vehicles, do you mean yourself?” He recalled what Lan Daoxing said earlier.
Lan Daoxing laughed. He did not answer but instead asked back, “Do you think this Taoist is capable of it?”
Lu Yi didn’t answer right away. He just stared at the river and let out a long sigh, “Since you are willing to become my vehicle, one against ten, I will do my best to protect you.”
“Lu Daren’s words are too strong.” Lan Daoxing interrupted him in a serious manner, “If we want this to go smoothly, no one else can be involved, otherwise it would be difficult to catch Yan Shifan. Daren must not lose sight of big things.”
His words, of course Lu Yi understood them. He remained silent for a while, then said slowly, “If you can think like that, it’s very good.”
Lan Daoxing bent over to lift up his fishing rod, then threw it in the water. They heard the sound of the rod hitting the water, then everything went back to its quietness and only the soft murmur of the river flowing was disturbing the silence of the night.
