Nightfall

The back of the Academy’s mountain.

Second Brother stood in front of the waterfall and listened to the water flowing sound like thunder. He looked at the water mist caused by the water splashing. His face was devoid of expression. After a long silence, he said, “I heard that his building collapsed.”

Eldest Brother stood beside him. He sighed and said, “He came to Chang’an, and this was his Lucky Chance. About this kind of thing, you should not envy him.”

Second Brother slightly raised his eyebrows and said, “Senior Brother, why do I need to envy him?”

Yanming Lake, Chang’an City.

There was a large urn on the table. Inside the urn was a milky white mutton giblets soup. The fresh and green caraway was smoked by the heat from the mutton giblets soup, and the fragrance spread throughout the whole room.

Ning Que took a pair of chopsticks and used their tips to break up the fermented bean curd in the dish. Sangsang was peeling the garlics beside him and mincing them thoroughly. The big black horse was in the garden and was looking inside the room through the door frame. Its eyes were opened widely and so were its nostrils, which were perfect circles. It wasn’t clear whether it was curious or greedy for the mutton giblets in the pot.

“I heard that the Taoist temple where Ye Su was staying collapsed this afternoon.”

Ning Que became silent for a second, he couldn’t help but smile. He said, “I heard… after Second Brother learned of that incident, he stood in front of the waterfall for half a day before he finally smashed his small courtyard.”

Sangsang looked up at him with a puzzled look. She went to the small courtyard in the back of the Academy’s mountain. At the thought of the quiet courtyard becoming ruins, she felt pity and asked, “Why?”

Ning Que shook his head and said, “For a person who has the same state as Second Brother and Ye Su, who knows what they are thinking? I often think that if someone can cultivate to their states, that person is basically crazy. After the little Taoist temple had collapsed, Ye Su seemed to understand something. As for Second Brother smashing his own small courtyard, perhaps he wanted to figure out something as well?”

Although now, Sangsang officially began to cultivate, she was still totally unable to understand the thinking mode of the Grand Cultivators who were at the Knowing Destiny State. She thought that young master was right, and they were a group of lunatics.

As the mutton giblets soup became cold, while the meat and the sauce on the plate gradually disappeared, Ye Hongyu finally returned to the shore of Yanming Lake. Sangsang went to clean clothes and Ning Que was left in the house alone.

Ning Que looked at her entering the door and said, “Why are you back so late? By the way, since you don’t pay the rent, shouldn’t you do more chores?”

Ye Hongyu looked at the leftovers on the table and said, “You have a maid and a steward.”

Ning Que said with a smile, “How can it be compared with the joy of being served by a Dao Addict? The Divine Priest of Light has worked in my shop. You can learn about the glorious traditions of the West-Hill Divine Palace. In the future this fact will be spread everywhere, and this will definitely be a legend of my family.”

Ye Hongyu’s eyebrows twisted more and more tightly, and she sat down without a word.

Ning Que looked at her face, and guessed that she was in a bad mood at this time, but he did not have any intention to stop triggering her. He continued to say, “Well, I thought your brother would at least treat you to a meal.”

Ye Hongyu looked at him peacefully and said, “It seems that you are considering a long-time plan for your life in Chang’an City, but have you ever wondered that this world cannot allow you to live like this?”

Ning Que smiled slightly and said, “I am one of the Tangs and a disciple of the Second floor of the Academy. I can’t imagine who will stupidly come to disturb my life.”

“What if you are the Son of Yama?”

Ye Hongyu looked at him. Her bright eyes, which were similar to that of the clear lake in autumn, gave off a mocking and cold look.

Ning Que was slightly stunned for a second.

A few days ago, Ye Hongyu had directly exposed the fact that he had joined the Devil in a conversation. And now, she had calmly mentioned this possible fact again, as though it was nothing important.

“I really don’t know what you’re talking about,”

he said.

Ye Hongyu said, “If you really are what the rumor said, that you are the son of the former Xuanwei General of the Tang Empire, then you are the shadow of Nightfall that the Divine Priest of Light saw that year. These days, only a few people remember that incident, but don’t you think that I would forget.”

“Do you believe it?” Ning Que looked at her eyes and asked seriously.

Ye Hongyu shook her head after meditating for a while.

Ning Que felt somewhat at ease, and said, “Why don’t you believe it?”

Ye Hongyu said, “Instinct.”

Ning Que raised his right hand’s thumb and sincerely praised her. He said, “Instinct is the most respectable. Come over, let me treat you to some mutton giblets soup. I still have some hidden in the kitchen, just to honor you.”

Ye Hongyu did not laugh. She looked at him and said, “I don’t believe it, but it doesn’t mean the Divine Palace doesn’t believe it… My brother is in Chang’an City now. He comes to witness the retirement of General Xia Hou, but I believe that he is actually coming to see you, too.”

Ning Que shook his head and said, “I have heard some things. Sangsang also learned some secrets from Wei Guangming. Since the West-Hill Divine Palace had forcibly stopped this matter and imprisoned Wei Guangming for more than ten years. This represented that Haotian Taoism also did not believe in the story about the Son of Yama.”

“Even if the Divine Hall does not believe it, it does not mean that Buddhism Sect does not believe it,”

Ye Hongyu said.

Ning Que remembered the two monks he met on the street of Chang’an, in the early morning of spring, as well as Master Daoshi, who was from the Xuankong temple in the Unknown Place. He could remember his dialogue with the stone Buddha in front of a solitary graveyard in the spiritual world, especially the secret part in the dialogue. His eyebrows twisted and kept silent.

“Don’t talk about these boring things. Have some mutton giblets soup first.”

He looked at Ye Hongyu and smiled. He said, “The mutton giblets must be eaten while they’re hot, so that you can enjoy the flavor at its best.”

Ye Hongyu frowned and said, “Now it’s not the Winter Solstice Festival. Why eat mutton giblets soup?”

“Who said that mutton giblets soup has to be eaten only at Winter Solstice Festival? Who said you can’t kill when your spear is blunt?”

Ning Que’s words seemed to be inexplicable, at least for Ye Hongyu. There were hidden meanings that only Ning Que himself could understand.

After a moment of silence, he said, “Besides, I may not have time during the Winter Solstice Festival.”

Although Ye Hongyu was forced to leave Peach Mountain, as the Grand Master of the Judicial Department, she still had the intelligence sources in Chang’an city. Therefore, when she heard Ning Que’s words. Her eyebrows could not help but twist; her eyes were full of doubts and shock.

The day of Winter Solstice Festival was also Xia Hou’s honorable retiring day.

As time went by, the aura of autumn faded.

In Chang’an, a little Taoist temple collapsed and the warmhearted neighbors helped the people from the Taoist temple to rebuild the houses. Then, they knew that there was a new enthusiastic person who liked to wear plain robes. No matter what happened to the neighborhood, they would get help from that person; the man did not seem to know what troublesome was.

At the back of the Academy’s mountain, a small yard also collapsed. With the sound of the waterfall as company, that man wore his ancient style hat and sat in the pool. He meditated for many days, nobody knows for how long. A fat man sighed and followed Sixth Brother, carrying stone, mud and wood. They were working on repairing the small courtyard.

The successor of the Zhishou Abbey, Ye Su, in the warm and secular world of Chang’an City, walked calmly and silently on the path to sainthood. Mr. Second, Jun Mo, was receiving a wet mist baptism before a deserted waterfall. His face became increasingly indifferent, and his eyebrows became progressively straighter.

General Xia Hou, who returned from the frontier fortress, was constantly accepting the imperial court’s rewards. He continued to have feasts at the various royal mansions. No one knew that he was still used to sit in the back garden of his General’s Mansion late at night, silently staring at the bare branches and falling snowflakes.

Ning Que kept coming and going to the back of the Academy’s mountain and Yanming Lake. He cultivated quietly and sometimes he fought with Ye Hongyu through their consciousness. For most of the time, he just silently stayed at the gradually withering lotus field.

Chang’an City was very silent, so it appeared to be peaceful. People in the city were silent, so they were calm. For most people, this silence and calm would at least continue until the 15th year’s winter of the Tianqi era. It seemed that no one could disturb this calmness.

The cold wind and heavy snow brought the winter and drove away the autumn. The day of the Winter Solstice Festival came.

On this day, General Xia Hou would submit his official retirement request to His Majesty in the Palace. His Majesty, the Emperor of the Tang Dynasty would reward him again for his meritorious service, and he would be given the honor of a royal feast. Then all the senior officials and officers would see him off from Chang’an City.

On this day, the little Taoist temple was finally rebuilt. Ye Su seriously combed his Taoist bun and stood behind the skinny Taoist like a secular usher in a countryside wedding. He gave thanks to the neighbors who came to attend the ceremony, before he carried the chickens and ducks given by the neighbors to the back kitchen.

On this day, in the old library at the back of the Academy’s mountain, the Third Sister, Yu Lian smiled and said something to Tang Xiaotang who was next to the short table near the east window. The iron house beside the Mirror Lake was full of steam. Seventh Sister embroidered in the mid-lake pavilion. Everything was calm as usual. However, under the waterfall, the high hat which was like a laundry bar could not be seen. Eldest Brother was not at the back of the mountain, but went to Chang’an City as a guest.

The Eldest Brother walked up to the stone steps and looked at Ye Su. He smiled and said, “Congratulations.”

Ye Su looked at a new Taoist temple behind him and the roofs of the neighbors repaired by him. He revealed a sincere smile and said, “Thank you, Mr. First.”

The people in the Yanming Lake House had also woken up.

Sangsang waited on Ning Que as he took a bath and changed into a new black Academy uniform. He fastened his hair carefully and put on a flat hat. These made him look more charming than before.

Sangsang also took a bath and then cut her hair short with scissors. She carefully made a small braid and painted her face against the bronze mirror.

“You look very good.”

Ning Que looked at the fresh and cool little girl in the mirror and said with a smile.

Sangsang stood up from the stool and turned to tidy the Academy uniform for him. She took off the thread on his shoulders and said, “Today is our big day, so no matter what, we should take it seriously.”

Walking out of the bedroom, Ning Que made a snap to call up the dark horse, who had boringly spent the night eating the wintersweet in the corner of the garden. He gently beat the horse’s butt and said, “Go back to the Academy on your own.”

The Big Black Horse slightly raised its head and felt confused. However, after all, he was not a human. Even if he had doubts, there was no way for him to express them. He had to run out of the house and go outside the city through the long street.

Ye Hongyu was not the Big Black Horse.

She stood under the tree in the garden gate, looking at Ning Que and Sangsang who wore new clothes. She suddenly pointed her fingers to the sky above the courtyard, and calmly said, “It will snow heavily today, and you are still going out?”

In the dark sky, dim clouds were floating. The clouds were looming with dense coloring, like mountains; it seemed that it might snow at any time.

Ning Que looked up at sky and said, “The rain can keep people, but not the snow.”