Chapter 9
Li Rong stood quietly before the wooden gate, as he had for the past few days, watching the man approach. The heavy rain, obscuring his vision, made his vision blurry, and the falling rain continued to soak through his clothes. He was far from as calm as he appeared. Su Si seemed to say something, but he didn't hear it clearly. He just saw the person approaching with a paper umbrella.
The man, dressed in white as white as snow, as radiant as a jade mountain, approached him at a steady pace. Li Rong seemed to have just noticed the bookcase he was carrying behind him, and a sense of dejection washed over him. Perhaps, like him, he was seeking a teacher. Water dripped from the edge of his umbrella. The man, seemingly puzzled, spoke slowly, "I see you standing here quietly. Are you looking for someone or waiting for someone?"
"I'm looking for a teacher, and I'm also waiting for the truth," Li Rong replied. Seeing the other party handing him an umbrella, Su Si took it, thanked him profusely, and held it over his head, temporarily shielding himself from the incessant rain. After a moment's hesitation, he continued, "I heard you ask, are you familiar with the master here?"
The man, still opening the wooden door, turned to answer. Raindrops dripped from his hair, soaking his white clothes and leaving faint stains on his body. "Mr. Cheng's surname was originally a relative of my uncle's, but he later retired here. He passed away in late summer. I've come here to fulfill his wishes and retrieve his books to be buried with him."
Su Sixian sighed deeply and leaned over to Li Rong's ear, whispering, "What a shame, old master, but..." Li Rong was also stunned for a moment before understanding the meaning. The heavy rain pounded against the umbrella. The master's passing was a tragedy, and his search for a teacher would be in vain. He was about to say goodbye and return to Linyi, bowing just as he heard the man's invitation.
"Brother, are you coming from Linyi? The heavy rain has blocked the roads, so it's quite inconvenient. If you have nowhere else to go, it wouldn't hurt to rest here for a night," he said, leading them inside. "It would also give you one more person to help organize the books. I've also taken the time to come here, and I'm bound to miss something if I'm alone."
Li Rong responded first, watching the other party lift the straw curtain and enter the hut. In just a moment, the rain had accumulated in the courtyard, soaking his shoes and socks. He and Su Si were new to the area, so the mountain path must have been difficult to navigate. "Thank you, Master, for taking me in."
The man's clothes were already stained with mud, but he put down the bookcase as if he didn't care. Su Si put away the paper umbrella and placed it in front of the hut. Li Rong bowed and thanked him before accepting the invitation to sit at the table with him.
"What's your name, brother?" Li Rong straightened his wet sleeves, trying to keep the dripping water away from the table, and responded, "I just came of age in the spring. My surname is Li, my given name is Rong, and my courtesy name is Ziqu. It means "to go all the way."
"There are five great virtues in the world, and three are the means to practice them. These three are the great virtues in the world, and one is the means to practice them. A gentleman finds his way. Brother Li's name is pleasant to the ear, and it is indeed a good name." The man smiled and gave his own name after quoting the scriptures. "I am one year younger than Brother Li, and I will come of age next spring. However, as a person travels through the world, I have no father, no mother, and no relatives. When I come of age, I have a surname of Xue, and my name is Xue Heng. My teacher passed away two years ago, so he gave me a name so early. It is difficult for me to be clever. Therefore, the name is Clumsy."
Li Rong thought about the names he had heard and felt that Heng had good intentions. "Wearing jade is a way to regulate one's behavior. [1] You also like names. Common people are bright, but I am dim; common people are clear-headed, but I am dull. My humbleness is also what Laozi admired."
Xue Heng smiled without saying anything, "If Brother Li doesn't mind, how about we call each other by our courtesy names?" He seemed to recite his own courtesy name silently before speaking aloud, "Zi Qu."
Since Li Rong took his given name, he had few roommates in Luzhou, so it was rare for him to hear the name his father had chosen for him. He felt a little unaccustomed to being addressed by Xue Heng in such a gentle manner, but he still responded, "You're absolutely right. Calling me by my name is fine."
Su Si interrupted, "Then it's up to the two gentlemen tonight. I'll go pick up some grass to start a fire, and you two can sit down and talk slowly." Li Rong also pointed at Su Si and showed it to Xue Heng, "This is the servant who has been with me since childhood. Su Si, si has the same number as four." Seeing Xue Heng nod, Su Si went about his business.
Li Rong twisted his wet sleeve between his fingers before finally finding the leisure to untie the headband he carried. Since his apprenticeship wasn't complete and the food wasn't enough, he might as well ask Su Si to cook some dried meat as a gift. If he hadn't lent him his umbrella, Xue Heng's white clothes wouldn't have been so wet. The wind and rain whipped through the straw curtains. As the sky darkened, Li Rong watched Xue Heng remove his headband and tie it back together. He thought to himself that the three of them were in such a mess, a coincidence and fate.
Xue Heng wiped his sleeves for a moment, but there was still moisture on his fingertips. He apologized, "When I came here, I didn't expect it would rain so heavily today. It's inevitable that I'm in a mess, but it's inconvenient to organize the books. I'm afraid it would be impolite, but fortunately Ziqu is in a mess like me, so why not take off your clothes and hang them to dry." He took off his white shirt and folded it.
Li Rong followed Xue Heng's advice. Jiangnan people were known for their restraint, but the situation was special, so if it was just to sort out the teacher's books, it wouldn't matter. He and Xue Heng slowly untied their outer robes, their inner garments clinging to their bodies, finally feeling less heavy. Just then, Su Si came in and lit a fire, so he took their thin robes and dried them by the fire to dry them faster.
The damp hay rustled occasionally. Li Rong and Xue Heng had sat across from each other before, and he had seen Xue Heng wipe the table with a handkerchief and carry out the bamboo slips and coarse cloths stored in the hut. He similarly reached for a half-dry white handkerchief from his bosom and carefully wiped the dusty bamboo slips. The ink had dried on them, and with so many books in his collection, some were inevitably moldy and worm-eaten. He shook his head and sighed, regretting it.
Though the master had passed away, the annotations he left behind were full of vigor and vitality, offering a glimpse of the scholar's spirit and the simplicity of the great truth. Xue Heng's movements were much faster, unmindful of his understanding, simply arranging them, stringing them together one by one. Li Rong, noticing the movement across from him, had to speed up his work, gently wiping the bamboo strips with a white handkerchief, then handing them over to Xue Heng to edit the scroll.
Su Si, at his master's behest, unpacked the dried meat from his stipend and used rainwater from under the eaves to boil it in a pot he had found. The half-wet grass only produced a small fire as he boredly stirred the broth. A mist-like vapor hung in the hut, and the stormy weather outside continued, making the place seem even quieter.
The faint aroma of meat wafted through the hut. Li Rong ignored his hunger as he and Xue Heng silently sorted through the books. Luckily, his wet clothes kept him awake, preventing him from falling asleep from the exhaustion he'd endured over the past few days. He coughed softly under his sleeve, feeling the heat and cold. Xue Heng seemed to have heard him and reached out to remove the bamboo slip from his fingers. "Zi Qu, why don't you eat first? I'll sort through the few remaining scrolls and put them in the bookcase, and we'll be done."
Li Rong had no choice but to comply, donning his nearly dried outer robe to ward off the cold. He also took off Xue Heng's white coat and draped it over his shoulders. Su Si glanced at the two of them, undeterred. He washed the chipped bowl and ladled out three portions of the nearly cooked broth, leaving the rest on the fire. However, he couldn't find chopsticks in the hut, so he simply chewed the raw bacon in his bowl, unconcerned.
Li Rong took the bowl and sat down at the table, holding it with both hands. Trapped by a lack of utensils, he simply sipped the hot soup. As the broth went down, he felt a warmth inside him, and the chill he felt was much lessened.
Xue Heng finally finished editing the scrolls and wiped the bookcase with a handkerchief, arranging the silk cloth and bamboo scrolls neatly inside. He then took his bowl, drank the soup in big gulps, and held the meat with his hands. "Zi Qu, are you from Jiangnan?"
Li Rong placed his bowl on the table and was about to add more soup, but the meat strips in the bowl remained untouched. "You came from Luzhou to study, how could I tell?"
"The people of Qi and Lu are simple and honest. Farmers enjoy drinking wine and eating meat without regard for etiquette. The customs of the south of the Yangtze River are quite different from those here." He added a bowl of meat and explained to Li Rong, "Since we meet in the rain, I don't care about worldly etiquette. Ziqu, why don't you fill your stomach and warm yourself up first?"
Su Si also echoed, "I have been searching for a long time and haven't found any other instruments. I can only let you down. My son has been standing for three days straight and has just recovered from a cold. I can't help but worry."
Li Rong saw Xue Heng looking at him with a smile in his eyes, and he took a bite of the dried meat, imitating the two of them, chewing it slowly and carefully as he usually did. The pickled meat was saltier than the Xuzhou variety, and the spicy flavor was not something he liked. However, when meeting friends in a foreign land, when the wind and rain had damaged the house, it did have a warming effect.
The three of them ate their fill with the meat soup. The dried meat cooked over low heat only heated up the soup, which was really hard to chew, but no one spoke up. They all ate it up in silence. Su Si then went to clean up the pots and bowls.
Li Rong stood up and looked around the hut. The sound of raindrops dripping from the eaves was much quieter than when he was about to return home. Xue Heng made the bed himself and said, "Sir, you live alone in this thatched hut. I'm afraid the three of you and I will have to squeeze together tonight."
Su Si heard this as soon as he came in and quickly refused, "The two gentlemen, just get some sleep. My young master hasn't slept a wink these past few days. I don't care. Sleeping on the table by the fire is just right to add more firewood."
Li Rong was about to speak when Su Si interrupted him. He was just a guest in the hut, so he could only invite Xue Heng, "Then I'd like to trouble you to stay with me tonight."
The three of them undressed, and Su Si placed their outer robes, shoes, and socks before the fire to dry. Li Rong and Xue Heng climbed onto the bed, their feet touching. The fatigue of days of standing, after eating and drinking, washed over him with sleepiness. Li Rong closed his eyes, about to fall asleep.
The wind and rain couldn't cool the still-burning fire in the hut. They covered themselves with straw mats, each with their backs to the other, and held their hair together to prevent it from getting tangled. The warmth of sleeping on the same bed also warmed their half-dried undergarments.
Li Rong, however, didn't have the energy to process the day's events. He closed his eyes in the warmth, ready to fall asleep. His body was still stiff from the aches and pains, but his mind was clearer than ever. He would have to think about all this tomorrow. Tonight was destined to be a dreamless night, and he fell asleep, unaware of Xue Heng tossing and turning beside him, and unaware of when the others had fallen asleep.
He was too tired, but his sadness and joy offset each other, and he slept very deeply, unlike any other time.
[1] Taken from Shuowen Jiezi.
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