Chapter 65 Part 1
The most distinguishing feature of Jiangnan Gardens were its overlapping mountains and rivers and the changing of scenery. With each step, the scenery greatly varied. Canglang Pavilion had over 108 various ornamental open windows, winding corridors, and twisting waterways.1 Today was a workday, but there were still many tourists visiting the Canglang Pavilion. When Xi Jia and Ye Jingzhi walked into this ancient pavilion, there were three young people taking pictures next to them.
The two reached the pavilion and stopped before its lintel.
Canglang Pavilion was close to a part of the lotus pond. At this moment, it was already early autumn in September, and there was not a single lotus flower in the pond, only withered lotus leaves remained.
Along the way, Ye Jingzhi explained about the mad woman’s situation in detail. When they went to the garden today, the mad woman’s house door was tightly shut, so the two didn’t go in to disturb and immediately bought tickets to enter the garden.
Peach Blossom Island was located in the middle of Jingdu Lake. The yin energy of the lake water was strong, and the yin energy of the island was light. Xi Jia was able to easily sense these things. However, Canglang Pavilion was different. It was a pavilion in the hubbub of the ancient district. Everyday, there would be tourists visiting. Even if the yin energy used to be strong, there was enough human energy now, and the yin energy was also very light.
Ye Jingzhi circled around the pavilion several times before walking down from the pavilion and to the side of the river. He didn’t know what spell he had casted, but no one around could see him. Then, he leaned down and touched a lotus leaf in the pond.
The two of them stayed at Canglang Pavilion all morning. Xi Jia took some photos, and Ye Jingzhi came up from the pond.
Xi Jia asked, “Did you find anything unusual?”
Ye Jingzhi shook his head, “The yang energy here is very strong, but in places with more people, it is generally stronger in yang energy, so it isn’t unusual.”
This time, they were destined to return without any results. Brother Jia very much wanted to help, but he didn’t understand a word about the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams. He could only rely on his eyes to observe the level of yin energy at Canglang Pavilion. After they returned home at night, Ye Jingzhi only stayed for an hour before he went back to Peach Blossom Island to continue to help the group of masters experiment.
In the evening, Ziying returned from Peach Blossom Island. Xi Jia just happened to buy some fresh honey peaches. The two sat on the sofa, biting at the fruits. Xi Jia bit into the peach while scrolling through his phone, sending several photos that he had taken today for Chen Tao to see.
When Xi Jia was in college, he had applied for a garden pa.s.s. S City’s garden pa.s.s costs 120 yuan per year, and you could enjoy more than 20 gardens and other tourist attractions in S City for free. With Chen Tao egging him on, Xi Jia would purchase the garden pa.s.s every year. At the beginning of each year, Fatty Chen would happily make many travel plans for the year such as going to the Humble Administrator’s Garden in the spring, fishing at Lake Tai in the summer, going for an outing at Tianping Mountain in the autumn, and vacationing in the countryside in Xishan and Dongshan in the winter.2
The plan was beautiful; however, reality was cruel. Traveling was just stuff that was talked about. If you really wanted to go, you had to move your legs. For Chen Tao, air-conditioned rooms, ice cream, and frozen watermelon were his true pleasures.
Therefore, Xi Jia’s four garden cards were all invalidated. He himself was a native of S City. It didn’t matter if he went or not. However, Chen Tao was really lazy. He was from the Northeast, but he hadn’t gone to any of the gardens of S City during all four years of college. Now that Xi Jia had actually gone to Canglang Pavilion, he naturally sent the photos he had taken to his buddy for him to see and fulfill his regret of “not being able to see a single garden in this life.”
Chen Tao happened to be in T Province for a movie so his speed in replying was a bit slow. Xi Jia wasn’t in a rush. He took a lot of photos today, and he could slowly choose among them. Just as he selected 9 photos to send to Chen Tao, Ziying’s surprised voice sounded, “This house isn’t bad, Xi Jia, is this your hometown?”
Xi Jia took a closer look at the garden’s main house displayed on his phone’s screen. He said, “This is S City’s garden, a structure from ancient times. My hometown isn’t in S City.” Pausing for a bit, Xi Jia suddenly thought, “Eh, Ziying, have you never been to Jiangnan Gardens before?”
Ziying immediately asked, “Jiangnan Gardens?”
Only now did Xi Jia remember that S City was still called Wu County more than two thousand years ago. At that time, the south was humid, and the miasma was very strong. In theory, it wasn’t until the Tang Dynasty that there were landscape gardens. It wasn’t easy for Ziying to come out, and Xi Jia wanted to let the other party know more about the world, so he explained the gardens of Jiangnan to him, especially S City’s ancient gardens.
In the end, Xi Jia said, “In fact, it’s really nothing. I don’t have great taste. Ziying, what you said is right. It’s just a few houses. It’s not a big deal. Maybe you don’t even know where S City is, right?”
Ziying shook his head, “I know where S City is.”
Xi Jia was surprised, “You actually know S City?”
Ziying’s voice was calm, “In July of the first year, Xiang Liang and Xiang Yu revolted in Wu County. I just never thought that this place was actually Wu County.”
Xi Jia was stunned in his place and couldn’t speak.
Ziying didn’t say much and continued to quietly eat peaches. Brother Jia who was inadept in History (Liberal Arts) took out his cell phone and continued to look up S City’s history. Only then did he find out that Xiang Yu actually had an uprising in S City. At that time, Ziying had died because of Xiang Yu. Now that he was in S City, would he……recall unpleasant past memories?
Thinking of this, Xi Jia totally felt bad so he quickly changed the topic and chatted with Ziying.
It weighed on his mind, but Ziying didn’t show any abnormality. After chatting about physics for a while, Ziying actively asked, “That house isn’t bad, Xi Jia, do you have any other pictures?”
Since Ziying didn’t really care about it, Xi Jia naturally also stopped feeling remorseful. He turned on his phone, found his photo alb.u.m, and swiped through the photos of Canglang Pavilion for Ziying to see. Ziying didn’t quite understand the construction of these cla.s.sical gardens, but with Brother Jia reading the online encyclopedia, he had a general understanding. When he flipped to a picture of Canglang Pavilion and the lotus pond, Ziying’s gaze paused, and he pointed at the pavilion, “Where is this?”
Xi Jia took a glance, “This is the Canglang Pavilion. It’s the most famous thing in this garden.”
“Canglang Pavilion……,” Ziying glanced at it a few times with lowered eyes, whispering softly.
Xi Jia remembered, “You also saw the pavilion on Peach Blossom Island right? That was built by modern people and not this kind of ancient pavilion.”
Ziying didn’t respond, his gaze still tightly fixed on the pavilion. Xi Jia didn’t think too much and swiped to the next photo. This photo was taken more in full. The background covered the entire lotus pond with the Canglang Pavilion occupying a corner of the photo. Just as Xi Jia was about to turn to the next photo, Ziying grabbed his hand.
“Ziying?”
Ziying lowered his head, his gaze focused, staring at this photo. Suddenly, he looked up and asked, “Is there a problem here?”
Xi Jia didn’t react for a moment, “A problem?”
Ziying knew Xi Jia and Ye Jingzhi had gone to check Canglang Pavilion this morning and asked again, “Did you find any problems?”
Xi Jia frowned, “No.”
After a long time, Ziying raised his head and looked at Xi Jia, “I feel like there’s something not right there. Xi Jia, can we go and see it right now?”
As the sun set and the lanterns were first lit in the early evening, Xi Jia accompanied Ziying to Canglang Pavilion. At 7 at night, the garden was closed long ago. Xi Jia simply stood outside of the wall while Ziying pa.s.sed through the wall and entered the garden grandiosely. Xi Jia merely waited for 5 minutes when Ziying quickly flew out and said seriously, “Xi Jia, this place……also has a resemblance to the Palace of Eternal Life’s aura.”
Xi Jia, “Ah?!”
The next morning, Canglang Pavilion Tourism sent out a notification to all the tourists who had pre-ordered tickets that they needed to close the park and reschedule. The Celestial Masters of the Xuanxue world hadn’t finished studying the abnormality in the Fengshui arrangement of Peach Blossom Island when they encountered yet another equally strange Canglang Pavilion.
They divided into two groups. Zhuzhao-zhenren and others continued to stay on Peach Blossom Island to investigate its Fengshui layout. Cengxiu-zhenjun took Zhufeng-zhenren and other Celestial masters to Canglang Pavilion. Before they entered the garden, Cengxiu-zhenjun walked up to an alley not far away and knocked on an iron door.
The old lady who had opened the door saw Cengxiu-zhenjun was instantly stunned, “Eh, it’s you?”
Cengxiu-zhenjun nodded before pointing to Zhufeng-zhenren and Chequ-daoren to the side and said, “They are this poor daoist……they are my two doctor friends. After hearing of your daughter’s illness, they wanted to come together and take a look. Is it convenient?”
The old lady didn’t refuse. Her daughter had already gone mad for more than 30 years. Her family didn’t have anything valuable that they needed to be concerned about. Giving medicine to a dead horse, even if Cengxiu-zhenjun really wanted to cheat her of money, she didn’t have any money to give. If these people wanted to see her daughter, then let them see.
How could the old lady know that the people standing before her eyes were the great senior masters of the Xuanxue world?
Zhufeng-zhenren was the sect master of Tianji Sect, and his divination techniques were excellent and profound. Nothing needed to be said about Cengxiu-zhenjun since he’s the current leading figure of the Xuanxue world. Furthermore, Chequ-daoren was the sect master of Shennong Valley, one of the Four Great Sects.
The three pretended to be calm and walked into this small house.
Before entering, Chequ-daoren had muttered very indifferently, “Isn’t it just going mad? With this old man here, she wouldn’t be crazy even if she wanted to.” When he entered, he hadn’t been able to stand stably when a large stone came hurling straight toward his face.
Chequ-daoren who was startled hurriedly moved to the side, “!!!” If this were to hit this old man’s face, would you take responsibility?!!!
The old lady apparently didn’t expect her daughter to be awake, so she rushed to grab a hold of her and not let her go crazy. But how could that mad woman let the matter go? She bit the old lady’s hand, causing the old lady to cry out in pain. Fresh blood flowed. She seized the opportunity to struggle free from her mother’s restraint and frantically charged at Chequ-daoren.
“Ghost! You’re a ghost! Kill you, I’ll kill you!!!”
Cengxiu-zhenjun who had just entered the door, “……”
Zhufeng-zhenren who was watching the excitement from the side, “This daoist unexpectedly did not know that Fellow Daoist Chequ has already become a ghost. Not a problem. This daoist will go find Buxing right away and let him recite the Rebirth Incantation for you.”
Zhufeng-zhenren was so happy that he couldn’t hide his ear-to-ear grin, watching his old friend get beaten. Who would’ve expected that as soon as he had finished speaking, the mad woman, who was brandishing a brick, was about to hit Chequ-daoren when she suddenly saw him. She changed directions, running viciously toward him, “I’m going to kill you, you ghost!!!”
Zhufeng-zhenren, “……”
The three “ghosts,” “……”
The mad woman was quickly subdued.
Cengxiu-zhenjun finally realized that this mad woman wasn’t against him. She was implying that everyone present were ghosts.
“But, it’s also a bit strange. Why would she keep on saying that Fellow Daoists Zhufeng and Chequ, as well as this daoist are ghosts and not others? When this daoist came with Young Daoist Ye a few days ago, this girl didn’t aim at Young Daoist Ye, only at this daoist.”
Chequ-daoren really wanted to say, “That is because you’re ugly,” but he suddenly recalled that he himself was also a “ghost” and immediately withered.
Although being called a ghost, things still needed to be done. Cengxiu-zhenjun led the old lady away and let Chequ-daoren and Zhufeng-zhenren remain in the room. One person treated the mad woman while the other started to figure out if there was a relation between this mad woman and the abnormality of Canglang Pavilion.
Not long after, Chequ-daoren first left the room. He looked at Cengxiu-zhenjun.
The two looked at each other. Cengxiu-zhenjun knowingly went to the side, only to hear Chequ-daoren whisper, “Able to cure, but not necessary. This woman’s seven hun has been frightened until only two hun and six po remained. If we were here twenty years earlier, this old man could have helped her get her soul back. Right now, it is impossible. She has gone mad for thirty years, her consciousness abnormal, and her soul upside down. Moreover, her corporeal body is fabricated and cannot take spiritual pills and medicinal herbs to treat. We can only use my Shennong Valley’s “Suwen” to slowly nurse her back to health. To regain consciousness, it would require five years. If to completely recover, it would be at least ten years. However, she is already down a hun and a po. She can at most live for another 15 years.”
To treat the illness, it was very difficult. There were too many patients in the world, and Shennong Valley wasn’t obliged to expend so much effort on an ordinary mortal and include their most precious treasure “Suwen”. Besides, curing could only extend another five years; therefore, Chequ-daoren said it wasn’t necessary. If hypothetically cured, when she wakes up, she would find herself transformed from a youthful twenty-year-old to the elder woman now. What she herself would think, no one knew.
Chequ-daoren went up to the old lady. With a flip of his hand, he took out a small white porcelain bottle and said, “Take one pill on the first day of the year, and it will ease your anxiety and heart palpitations for an entire year.” Calmly spend the next several years.
The old lady merely thought this was medicine prescribed by an old traditional chinese medicine doctor for her daughter and gratefully gave thanks.
Translator’s Addition: The 3 ghosts are funny enough XDDDD
Translator’s Notes:
1 Decorative open windows 漏窗 – a open window in a wall. Some visuals here.↵
2 Xishan and Dongshan – literally Western and Eastern Mountains. Sadly no solo wiki pages for them.↵
3 A refresher on hunpo. There are three spiritual souls (hun) and seven corporeal souls (po). In her case, she has lost a portion of both types. ↵