Chapter 17: Zhao Zhao Li Li

Xiaoju watched Jiaoran's graceful figure slip through the doorway. "When he sits in deep thought, he's so wooden and silent, like a stone. But when he moves, he's like a light amaranth petal. What a pity."

Jiaoran walked out from behind the screen and saw that the young master had already fallen asleep. She walked lightly and turned to leave.

Didn't the young master say he was looking for her? She went to bed so soon.

The fragrance of grass and trees attracted his eyes. "What did you bring back?"

Jiao Ran turned around and asked, "Master, you are not asleep?"

He sat up against the pillows, "Not yet. What was that?"

"Oh, this is Chucao. I wanted to bring it back for you to play with, but if you want to take a nap, I'll go play with Sister Xiaoju and the others first, and come back when you wake up."

He frowned, "Hmm."

After spending a few months together, Jiaoran could already tell his moods, when he was truly happy, when he was pretending to be happy, when he was angry, and when he was tired. Jiaoran walked closer and nudged him, "Sir, are you really going to sleep?"

"Um."

"What do you mean, sleep or not?"

He turned to look at her, "What do you think?"

"That means you haven't slept yet." She moved over a stool she usually sat on. When he was sick, she would sit on this stool while serving him medicine and keeping watch over him.

Jiaoran showed him the Chu grass and asked, "Sir, do you want to play this with me?"

"How do you play?" He propped up his shoulders with one arm and looked at the handful of grass in her hand.

Jiaoran talked about the rules.

To use Chu grass for divination, first take fifty pieces of Chu grass, then take out one and leave it unused, symbolizing the number of Dayan, the mystery of heaven and earth.

"Do you have fifty?"

"Just right, I counted them," she said.

Then he randomly separated the remaining forty-nine strands of Chu grass and held them in his left and right hands respectively.

The left hand symbolizes heaven and the right hand symbolizes earth.

Take one out from the right hand and hold it between the little finger and ring finger of the left hand, symbolizing people.

Jiaoran asked him to pick up one.

"Could this be some kind of witchcraft?" He refused to do as he was told.

"Alas, it's just a little game of divination. Why are you so timid, young master?"

"Where did you learn that?"

"A... friend, from the Nanzhao Kingdom. She's been learning some unorthodox techniques since she was young. This is just a little game. We've played it many times before, so don't worry."

Jiaoran asked him to continue following.

Put down the Chu grass in your right hand and use your right hand to count the Chu grass in your left hand, counting four at a time, symbolizing the four seasons.

Finally, four or fewer fingers are left, sandwiched between the ring finger and middle finger of the left hand, symbolizing the leap month.

Then use your left hand to count the Chu grass that you just put down from your right hand, also counting every four pieces. Finally, hold the remaining four or less pieces between your middle finger and index finger.

The one held between the little finger of the left hand and the remaining Chu grass counted on the left and right hands must total nine or five.

The above is the first change.

"Is this the end?"

Jiao Ran shook his head. "It's not that simple. You've only just completed the first transformation."

Mu Jin smiled, "How many more changes are there?"

"Just do it."

Remove the remaining nine or five pieces of Chu grass from the first exercise, and then use forty or forty-four pieces of Chu grass, following the method of the first variation, and hold them in your left and right hands at random.

Following the above method, take out one from your right hand and hold it between the little finger and ring finger of your left hand.

Then count the Chu grass in your left and right hands respectively, counting every four pieces.

Then add the remaining Chu grass on both hands and the one between the little fingers, and there must be eight or four in total. The above is the second change.

"Well, it's done."

Finally, remove eight or four pieces of Chu grass, and use the remaining thirty-two or thirty-six pieces of Chu grass according to the first change method. The total number of remaining Chu grass must be eight or four.

This is the third change.

No matter what she said, Mu Jin did it.

The three changes had to be repeated five times, and he completed them without getting tired of it.

When everything was over, he asked, "Did you see anything?"

Jiaoran quickly went over the three-fold number in his mind, "Nine, four, four, nine, eight, four, nine, eight, eight, five, eight, four, five, four, four."

"Death, prison, betrayal and something else...it seems there is also love." She was shocked and did not say it out loud.

"How is it, is it bad?"

Jiao Ran shook his head. "No, I was just slow at calculating, but now I've figured it out."

"I want to know your calculations, so don't use the excuse that the secrets can't be revealed."

"Uh... it's good fate and freedom, with wind in it, so the young master may leave this place at some point in the future and go to a wider world." she said.

"What about fate?"

"That was an unexpected encounter. You will meet an unexpected woman who completely meets your expectations."

"What kind of person is she?"

"I can't see that."

"Forget it, you must be kidding me, I'm not that lucky." He sighed.

"I didn't lie." I just didn't tell the whole story.

"real?"

"Yes, of course."

Jiaoran remembered Xu Mengchou playing with her on the carriage. Her stick of grass had become dry and hard, and looked like it had been used many times.

They played it several times, but Xu Mengchou only said good things.

She said Jiaoran would have a new life, completely different from before, the fog that had obscured her eyes would dissipate, and she would find her true self.

So is there really no surprise in her fortune?

Xu Mengchou said that Chu Cao can only be played by two people. If only one person plays it, it will not be accurate. Moreover, Chu Cao only fits the destiny for the first time. It will not be accurate any more times in the future.

"Then you try it too." Mu Jin said.

Jiao Ran shook his head. "It won't work if you play with it before. I brought it back specifically for you to play with."

"For us?"

"Well, I happened to see it, so I picked some back." Jiaoran said.

Could it be that her fate was also very dangerous, but Xu Mengchou didn't tell her?

Jiaoran racked his brains to recall his three-digit number, but he could only remember the first few digits and not the whole number.

She was a little upset, "Sir, go to sleep. You still have to study in the afternoon."

He nodded and said nothing more.

Jiaoran quietly moved the stool away and was about to go out.

"Jiao Ran, could you please bring me a pen and some paper?"

"what are you up to?"

"Nothing, I just want to write a few words."

"good."

Jiaoran held the paper and said, "Sir, please write in my hand, otherwise it will get all over the quilt."

He looked at her and said hello.

Jiao Ran didn't know the Yin-Yang and Eight Trigrams, "What kind of trigram is this?"

"The lower part is connected with the upper part, which is called 卬."

"What do you mean?" Jiaoran asked.

He thought about the image of destruction, injury, destruction before reconstruction, and death before rebirth.

"Sir?" she asked again.

"Nothing, I just drew something when I suddenly thought of it," he said.

The number fifteen on the yarrow stalk corresponds to the hexagram. Jiaoran probably didn't know the method of using yarrow to draw hexagrams. What she saw was a conclusion drawn from another direction, but he brought it into the Book of Changes.

He handed her the pen and stopped writing. He said, "I will write in the afternoon. Come over and write again what I wrote yesterday."

"Written yesterday?"

"You can't remember?"

"Oh, 'bright as the sun and moon, distant as the stars' movement,' are these the words?"

"What else?"

"...These are just fourteen words. How could I remember the others?" Jiaoran said.

"And a little poem?"

“…”

"Hey, remember to come over in the afternoon."

"Yes." Jiaoran responded reluctantly.