Chapter 4
Su Si was up before the cockcrow. The Suzhou night hadn't yet faded, and the faint morning light was filtering through. He handed over his coachman's hand and knocked on the door to call Li Rong. The horse, still tired from its early rise, stopped in front of the inn, groaning softly and being scolded by the coachman.
Li Rong responded, got off the bed, straightened his clothes and hairband, and then, carrying his bookcase and luggage, helped himself to the sedan chair. The gentle clatter of horse hooves was insufficient to disturb the people in the city, and the lights on the pleasure boats by the lake had finally gone out. Li Rong lifted the curtain from the carriage and looked out. The distant maple forest was reflected in the setting moonlight, giving a faint glimpse of the night. In its quietest hour, Gusu welcomed the passage of time. Drops of water from the clepsydra fell on a plate, and a new day, much like the past, would pass.
He closed his eyes and continued to rest, his fatigue from last night's tossing and turning having failed to fully ease him. Su Si, however, couldn't sit still, leaning out to chat with the coachman, the noise not being disturbing. From Gusu to Jinling, he was indeed heading north, but he still clung to the unresolved feelings that had plagued him last night, hoping to glimpse some clues as he traveled throughout Jiangnan.
The road was inevitably bumpy. Li Rong helped the tilted bookcase and bag over. The wind blew aside the thin silk curtains, and they were already outside Gusu. He could see red maple leaves swaying in the daylight, as if tinging the thin clouds above them with crimson. He could also clearly feel himself getting further and further away from Gusu. If he hadn't walked there before, he wouldn't even recognize the hazy red as the maple forests that the people of Gusu used to cultivate.
In the early morning, the traffic was sparse. The wheels of the carriage rolled over the frost-covered ground non-stop all the way to Jinling. Li Rong fell asleep in a trance, and when he woke up again, it was almost noon. Su Si came in at some point. "There seems to be a post station ahead. The driver will stop for a drink of water soon. Would you like to get off and take a walk?"
Perhaps he caught a cold last night, Li Rong felt his face slightly hot. He waved his hand and asked Su Si to follow the coachman down to get a bowl of ginger tea for him. He remained lying in the carriage to rest for a while.
"Sir, are you suffering from a fever? There is no doctor in the surrounding area. I would have stopped you no matter what if I had known this." Su Si replied and waited until he got to the vicinity of the post station. He spent some small money to ask the store owner to make a bowl of ginger tea and put it in the kettle.
Li Rong did not want to reply, but just drank the warm ginger tea and tied the curtains on the side of the car. He felt better after sweating during the rest of the journey.
They stopped and started all the way, and when he lifted the curtain and looked out, he could see the gates of Jinling. The Qinhuai River, with its water flowing through the city, seemed anything but desolate in the autumn south of the Yangtze River. The endless stream of pedestrians was even more crowded than in Suzhou. The driver reluctantly pulled the reins, and the horses' hooves stopped clattering, only to be replaced by a sharp neigh.
Sure enough, Su Si lifted the curtain in front of the carriage and explained the current situation to him, "Young Master, you have to get off the ground early. With the caravan ahead and the people in the city, I'm afraid the carriage won't be able to enter the city gate for a while."
Li Rong responded softly, and he and Su Si each carried their bookcases and luggage, paid the driver their wages, and then got off the chariot and followed the crowd towards Jinling. The Qinhuai River stretches ten miles, and the towers are a hundred feet high[1]. The redwood-carved pavilions and terraces are even more red than the maple leaves outside Gusu City.
"Sir, remember to find an inn to rest first. I will go find a doctor after entering the city. Otherwise, it will cost a lot of money to ask the doctor to prescribe medicine at night." Su Si was worried about Li Rong's cold that had not yet healed. He could hear faint coughs through the curtains of the carriage as he drove all the way here today. It seemed that his young master could not sleep well either.
Li Rong didn't think anything of it, squeezing through the crowd and slowly entering the city. Autumn rains are common in the south of the Yangtze River, so they didn't take the water route from Gusu to Jinling. Unlike Gusu, where a river runs through the city, Jinling rises alongside the water, and the river, rippling around the city walls, can only be seen from a distance.
It was a shame to miss the sunset at Yanji. With the setting sun, Li Rong pointed to the nearest inn and left Su Si to search for a doctor while he went to book two upper rooms. While it wasn't an epidemic, it was understandable to avoid people. Passing the infection on to Su Si would only delay the trip, and it would also relieve his servant from the constant nagging. It wasn't A-niang, but it was somehow better than A-niang.
He ordered a pot of hot tea, then stood up and opened the window facing the street. This was a great spot for a view. Directly across the street was a singing house, the sounds of soliciting customers mingling with the clamor of the crowds. The faint scent of cosmetics was carried in by the autumn breeze, less of the damp air of Jiangnan and more of the unique aroma of alcohol from Jinling.
Li Rong tried to pick out a couple of lines from a bamboo scroll he'd read before, but was dismissed because it focused solely on the famous passages about the virtues of a gentleman and the timeliness of all things. His father had always been a strict disciplinarian, and most of the storybooks he allowed were limited to the women in the family for entertainment. When they talked to him, he often used metaphors from officialdom, a clear sign of his high hopes for his son.
This trip to study was a long one, from Jinling to Xuzhou and Linyi, and then back to Chang'an. He planned to go out tomorrow with Su Si to buy two or three local chronicles to read about the place he was leaving in a hurry. Although he couldn't use the song and dance of prosperity to describe the Gusu of the past or the Jinling of today, he could barely cite a passage from Zilu: "Ran You said: 'It is already populous, what more can be done?' He replied: 'Enrich it.'"
Jiangnan was undoubtedly the most prosperous region, and Nanjing was the wealthiest region of all. He opened the window, letting the moonlit twilight and the nearby lights linger in the room. Calculating the time, it was almost time for Su Si to return.
Just after a quarter of an hour had passed, the expected sound came from outside the door. He greeted Su Si and the doctor, rolled up his sleeves, and let the doctor take his pulse. The fever wasn't as pronounced as it had been during the day, and he naturally dismissed the remaining chest tightness. As usual, the doctor wrote a prescription that was almost identical to the previous one, and Su Si hurried to the pharmacy to get a few days' worth of medicine to boil immediately.
The brewed Chinese medicine had a slightly more sour and astringent taste than before, lingering in his mouth. Su Si helped him pour out the dregs and sat at the table, preparing to fan himself with hot tea. Li Rongfen sat across from him. The noise outside the window grew more chaotic, indeed lively. Night enveloped Jinling City, its oil lamps and fireworks circling the city instead of the daytime sun.
The music of the singing pavilion opposite had stopped. Looking up from here, one could see the thin red gauze and the dancing girls. As more and more people poured into the singing pavilion, it was rare to see students in blue robes drinking tea together. All one could see was the leisurely rain and clouds between the railings, and the feasts with the red makeup in full bloom.[2]
He averted his eyes, unwilling to participate in such a chaotic night. As the lingering taste of the medicine in the cup faded, Li Rong silently felt a sense of peace and security in a remote corner. The nights of Jinling, and even the nights of Jiangnan, reflected the flowing rivers and lakes, creating a gentle and long-lasting romantic atmosphere. Story-telling can write about such romantic stories and miscellaneous notes, and songs and dances can repeatedly depict the pleasure boats drifting across the river, but they always lack the sense of painting after the fact[3], so they are rarely seen in the neatly arranged bamboo scrolls.
He had Su Si close the windows and refill the lamp, then sent his servant to rest next door. Su Si, dusty from a long day's work, needed time to tidy up. Li Rong then took out the bamboo scrolls from the bookcase, inspected them for damage, and neatly stacked them back inside, leaving only one to review.
They wouldn't stay in Jinling for many days; before heading north, they'd have to take most of their books and scrolls back with the caravan from their family's shop. They'd have to plan these things ahead of time when they toured the city tomorrow. Seeking teachers and visiting friends, Li Rong remembered the importance of traveling and studying, but for the past half month in Jiangnan, most of these tasks would have to be put on hold.
He could quietly enjoy the charm of Jiangnan, fanning himself to the music and enjoying the pleasure boats and singing pavilions. However, his father had never been fond of such customs, and he, in turn, preferred the northern lands described in the bamboo scrolls. Perhaps, by traveling day and night, he could reach Chang'an and witness his first snowfall, the first snow of the year in the capital.
Li Rong finished reading the volume, untied his clothes, shoes, and socks, and lay down on the bed. The sounds outside the window began to intermittently pick up, and the sound of dripping water seeped through the window paper. This was the moisture of Jiangnan, a familiar feeling to him.
Tonight, the first rain of autumn fell in Jinling City. It wasn't the incessant spring rain, but rather a gentle trickle down the railings, wetting the redwood through the carved windows. He closed his eyes, listening over and over to the sound of the raindrops. Perhaps it wasn't a sound, just a hint of dampness, a familiar dampness he'd grown accustomed to.
The lights of Jinling would not go out in the rain, but their glow dimmed beneath the curtain of rain. Pedestrians held up paper umbrellas, avoiding each other as they stood along the long street. The tunes from the singing halls began to play again, the thin notes of the piano accompanying the paused dance. Even the closed doors and windows could not conceal the scent of cosmetics and the alluring aroma.
Brewing tea and listening to the rain is the ultimate state of mind, he thought. Just hearing the sound of rain was enough to immerse him in peace. The bamboo slips lay beside him, and this kind of peace suited him best. The moisture swept away the fatigue brought on by the recent cold, and he lay flat on his back, falling asleep to the sound of rain.
It was as if I'd been transported back to the years in Luzhou. As a child, I'd watch my father entertain guests in the courtyard, raindrops pouring down from the eaves. I'd stand there, half-dazed, reciting my teacher's assignments. My mother would hold an oil-paper umbrella and lead the servants out for walks along the long street, bringing back bags of sweet cakes for me and Su Si. As I got older, I'd go along with my mother, giving her jade hairpins and wooden combs. Su Si would follow, always begging for sweets. This gluttonous habit has remained with me to this day, a familiar sight for everyone in the family.
When the rain got heavy enough, my father would finally take a break and step into his study to accompany me through the rows of bamboo scrolls. He would always remember the ways of being an official and teach me about the world's troubles. He would never allow me to touch the accounts or anything else, and he was dedicated to teaching me the teachings of the sages and ancient scholars. As my father wished, he left Luzhou when he reached adulthood, first traveling to the south of the Yangtze River and then to Chang'an.
Li Rong fell asleep, immersed in the peace of the past and the present. He would practice the gentleman's virtues learned from books, and would also travel across the mountains and rivers that were not depicted in the bamboo slips, to seek the light wind and heavy rain, to taste all things in the world. If he gained something, he would not be ashamed of his father, himself, the virtues he had learned in the past, and the sages of heaven and earth.
[1] Adapted from Jinling Fu
[2] Excerpted from Li Shutong’s poem “The Sixteenth Floor” in Jinling Miscellaneous Notes
[3] From the Analects of Confucius, “Simple and simple, yet elegant.”
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