Nightfall

Ye Su was saving himself by preaching in streets and alleys. He was leading folks to save themselves. The change might look tiny, considering how long Haotian Taoism had lasted in this world. However, it was revolutionary because the worship for Haotian had been replaced by the new doctrine, and the yearning for the Kingdom of God had been replaced by the love for living in the moment. That was what shocked Ning Que most.

Ye Su looked at Nin Que and said, “Preaching is the process of gathering the people’s will, and uniting their faith. I am still trying to figure out the details. You can go to the Book Hall in the West-Hill Palace, if you are interested. There are many examples in Haotian Taoism Classics.”

Ning Que settled in Linkang, and continued to discuss and study. The longer he stayed with Ye Su, the more he respected the man living in the shabby house. He was like a grindstone, round outside, but tough inside. He ground all the details from the scriptures into the tiniest powder, and made them his own.

During discussions of those days, Ye Su had kept silent on the character Ning Que wrote. Like at the beginning, he peacefully talked about the inspiration he had learned from his life and from traveling to all the countries. He had read many scriptures since he was young, so Ning Que learned the systemic theory of Haotian Taoism from him.

Ye Su put forward an interesting hypothesis during discussions, that if Haotian was the rule of the world, like the Headmaster once said, then how did the cold and impersonal rule gain life and strength? He thought it was possible that its life and strength came from the faith of people, which Ning Que found it reasonable. But when it came to the Everlasting Night which happened every ten thousand years, the hypothesis didn’t make any sense.

Aside from discussions, Ye Su taught the neighborhood children every day. He taught them woodworking, weaving and wine-making methods, and sometimes he told them stories from the scriptures.

Lingkang City was rainy in midsummer. The district was full of temporary buildings and dilapidated old houses, which were so vulnerable in the heavy rain, that some collapsed every day.

Ye Su saved people everywhere with the children, and fixed broken eaves. He even planned to fix the drainage system of the block after winter.

Disciples from the Sword Garret dropped by from time to time, so Ning Que seldom went outside the shabby house, and he didn’t help with those things, either. He was watching the process, and finally he learned something.

The rain had been pouring for three days, exhausting everyone. Just as they were about to lose all hope, the rain stopped, and the sky cleared up.

People in the soaked streets and alleys were cheering. Ye Su was worried about the plague after the rain because of increasing mosquitoes. So he carried his medical box and dropped by the neighborhood.

Ning Que poured away water in the three broken bowls before his bed; they were used to contain the leakage from the roof. He looked through the hole on the roof, and at the sun. Then he asked in silence, “Why did you stop crying?”

Ye Su was exhausted when he returned. He handed a bowl of green vegetables and rice to Ning Que, saying, “I’m not feeling well today. You may eat it alone.”

Ning Que looked at his pale and bony face, and thought that he seemed weaker than most ordinary people; if he persisted, he would die before he became a sage.

“I won’t eat it.” He looked at the piece of blue sky on the roof and said, “I’ve got to go.”

Ye Su said, “Of course, I have nothing left to teach you.”

Ning Que looked back at him and slightly frowned.

Ye Su then smiled, saying, “Don’t hesitate. Mercy was delicious but poison to you now. I won’t hate you for killing me.”

Ning Que thought it for a while and said, “I still feel it a pity.”

Ye Su said, “You’ll die if I spread the news that you’ve left Chang’an City, no matter how diligent you were.”

Ning Que said, “I hope you can live as much as you hope me to.”

Ye su asked, “Why would I?”

Ning Que said, “Because what you’re doing and what you’ll do are quite meaningful. And you’ll face obstacles in the future; you will need me then.”

Ye Su said nothing, and he smiled.

Ning Que looked at his eyes, and said, “You need Tang and the Academy.”

Ye Su didn’t answer him directly. He said, “If you don’t kill me, then you’ll have to pay the tuition fee before you go.”

Ning Que didn’t take it as a joke, he took out notes, and handed one of them to Ye Su.

Ye Su took it and found that it was 100 taels of silver. He smiled and said, “Rumor has it that you and that man are misers. It seems to be true.”

Ning Que said, “Other students paid you with vegetables and rice, why should I be accused for giving one hundred taels of silver?”

Ye Su said, “A bowl of vegetable and rice with fat dregs is more important to those children than 100 taels of silver to you, let alone that it was steamed rice.”

Ning Que thought for a moment, and he found it reasonable. So he said, “I’ll pay you more.”

Ye Su replied, “Just go and buy something for me.”

Ning Que came back from the market to the alley. He walked over the bricks soaked in waste water. Squeezing through the dense shacks, he arrived at the door of a house.

Several unkempt boys were eating sorghum rice from the bowls. Their mother was looking at the meat hanging on the stove, worrying because it was becoming thinner every day. Then the corner of the curtain was lifted up; a girl came in with her hands on her pants, saying, “Teacher said you should buy me a belt.”

Her mother said angrily, “Where’s the cloth belt I cut for you last night? Just keep playing on the street, and you’ll tear all the tough belts apart! Where should I buy you another one?”

Ning Que called the girl wearing the reluctant face, and handed her some things.

The girl was young and smart. She asked as she took over the things, “Who are you?”

Ning Que looked at her messy hair and said, “I’m a friend of your teacher. This is the belt he wanted me to buy for you, and this is the headdress flower he promised you long ago.”

…

…

The severe heat of midsummer arrived as soon as the rain stopped pouring. The air was so humid, and the accumulated waste water was giving out a terrible smell.

Ye Su sent Ning Que off. They stopped by a quiet place outside the alley. Ning Que looked at him and said, “The girl was so happy, and… are you sure you’re just making her happy, for nothing?”

“Her name is Huanzi. She’s just a little girl.” Said Ye Su.

Ning Que said, “Why so serious? I was joking.”

Ye Su said, “We’re not that close.”

Ning Que said, “But she and I were very close.”

Ye Su asked, “Who’s she?”

Ning Que said, “Your sister.”

Ye Su felt the two words familiar, then he realized Ning Que said the same two words when he asked him where he had learned the Dahe Sword, in the snowy Chang’an.

“People from the Academy can be really annoying sometimes.”

He looked at Ning Que and said, “I still don’t understand why you don’t want to kill me.”

“I hated you before, but now I can live with it. I never hesitate to kill, but only for proper reason or the mood.”

Ning Que told him what he did in Qing He County, then he said, “I let Wudao kill Zhong Dajun to help Guanhai solve the problem, to subdue Qinghe County and to release my anger. And most importantly, I want to bind the Buddhism Sect, or at least the Lanke Temple, with the Academy. But meeting you in Linkang made me come up with another possibility, that if you’re the future of Haotian Taoism, then why would I try to kill you?”

Ning Que hadn’t walked far before he heard children reading in the alley. Or to be specific, they were reciting the method of headdress flower weaving instead of reading books.

He turned back to see the alley, only seeing the mist rising at dusk. He heard the sound of children, and as he walked further, the terrible smell was gone. He could only see the picture, and it was beautiful, in its own way.

Ye Su had integrated theories from the Buddhist Sect and Haotian Taoism, and mixed it with his own experience in the small temple. Now he had his own view of the world, which betrayed Haotian.

He had betrayed Haotian before the Verdant Canyon, just like how the Abbey Dean had betrayed Haotian in Chang’an. For those who were really powerful, no matter how devout believers they used to be, they would definitely find their own way one day if they wouldn’t stop thinking.

“We’re all leaving you.”

Ning Que looked at the sky above Linkang, talking to her.

He hadn’t learned any wisdom directly from Ye Su in those days, but there was one thing that he had finally figured out, which was to never ask a Sage for the way to become a Sage.

…

…

Ning Que had never run into any other cities after he left Linkang. He walked in the mountains, and the whole journey was peaceful until he was about reach the West-Hill Divine Kingdom.

He made a bed with cloth tied between trees, and slept on it at night. Soon he slept soundly in the gentle summer breeze, on the swinging bed.

Suddenly, he was awakened by firecrackers. While rubbing his eyes, he saw the small village, laying at the foot of the mountain, setting firecrackers everywhere.

He was confused because there was no festival that day, and it was days away from the Light Sacrifice. Why were they setting off firecrackers? Did someone just die?

If someone had died, the firecrackers should only be set off by one family, the family of the dead. So why was it everywhere now?

Then the sound came from the ridge of the mountain, and that was when Ning Que realized something was happening, and he turned serious.

He suddenly noticed that the moon light in the forest was dimmer than usual. The difference was slight, which the ordinary might ignore, but not him; not one of the students who too often looked up at the moon and called the Headmaster’s names. The slight difference was obvious enough.

He looked up into the night sky, and then he couldn’t move his eyes from it.

The moon in the night sky was waning by a piece.