Thousand Dusts Ferry Me - Chapter 41

Jiang Baiyu walked rapidly with a gloomy face and no particular destination. As he was walking, he suddenly heard people talking ahead.

Chu Yanchuan and Chu Yanhe were standing beside a pomegranate tree. The tree was laden with pomegranates, weighing down the branches, the fire-red fruits reflecting on their slightly flushed faces from drinking.

Chu Yanchuan was telling Chu Yanhe about Jiang Baiyu’s situation, and after finishing, he sighed regretfully.

Chu Yanhe pursed her lips and responded with an “Oh.” She naturally wasn’t happy that someone didn’t like her, but she merely felt indignant.

Jiang Baiyu was indeed very handsome, but she and he had barely exchanged a few words and weren’t familiar with each other, let alone understood each other. She wouldn’t be desperate over a handsome man—she wasn’t suffering from some love-struck madness.

Chu Yanhe said, “If he doesn’t like me, so be it. It’s not like I must have him. There are more men in the world than fish in the river.”

Chu Yanchuan then asked, “What do you think of Suiyan? He’s from the capital, though I don’t know if he’d be willing to live in Linglong City after marriage.”

“Him? He won’t do,” Chu Yanhe rejected without even thinking.

“Why not? I think he’s talented, speaks well, and would be a good match for you.”

“He carries such a large sword,” Chu Yanhe said while spreading her arms to demonstrate, “which shows he has tremendous strength. If I married him, I definitely couldn’t beat him in a fight.”

Chu Yanchuan was torn between laughing and crying. “My dear sister, who gets married with the intention of fighting their spouse?”

“Anyway, he won’t do,” Chu Yanhe continued, then suddenly her eyes brightened, “Ai Ge, what do you think of Sister Yun Qing?”

“Huh?”

Chu Yanhe clapped her hands once, “If you married Sister Yun Qing, wouldn’t I get to see her every day?”

“Little sister, don’t speak nonsense. Though she’s a cultivator, she’s still a woman. We shouldn’t damage her reputation.”

“Well, Ai Ge, do you like her or not?”

“I—” Just as Chu Yanchuan was about to speak, he suddenly saw Jiang Baiyu.

Jiang Baiyu approached with a stern face and large strides.

Chu Yanchuan felt puzzled. Just earlier when they had parted, he was fine, but now his expression was terrible.

The siblings thought Jiang Baiyu had something to say, or would at least greet them, but he didn’t.

He looked straight ahead, not even glancing at the siblings, as if he didn’t know them.

The siblings’ gazes followed him as they watched him walk past in silence, as if he were merely passing by.

When he walked beside Chu Yanchuan, Chu Yanchuan couldn’t help but call out to him. “Baiyu.”

Jiang Baiyu suddenly raised his hand, startling Chu Yanchuan, who thought Baiyu was going to hit him.

But Jiang Baiyu merely raised his hand to grip the trunk of the pomegranate tree beside Chu Yanchuan.

The trunk was slightly thicker than a bowl, and Jiang Baiyu’s hand couldn’t completely close around it, grasping about two-thirds.

The siblings stared at him, bewildered.

Jiang Baiyu gripped the trunk with one hand, and the fruits on the tree shook as if frightened. Then came the rustling sound of soil moving as the roots of the pomegranate tree began to rise.

Then came the cracking sounds of tree roots being forcibly torn apart.

A pomegranate tree thicker than a bowl was thus uprooted by his single hand.

The Chu siblings watched in shock and disbelief.

After uprooting the tree, Jiang Baiyu, expressionless, held it with one hand and slammed it heavily to the ground.

Then he strode away.

Both Chu Yanchuan and Chu Yanhe were so frightened their shoulders trembled.

Chu Yanhe, wide-eyed, looked at the shattered pomegranate tree on the ground, then at Jiang Baiyu’s retreating figure, and said to her brother in a dreamy voice:

“Is he sick in the head?”

****

Yun Qing was a bit regretful.

Had she known Jiang Baiyu disliked such jokes, she definitely wouldn’t have made them.

Now he was angry and had run off, and she didn’t know how to start consoling him.

If it were Fu Xue, giving her some good food or toys would basically make her smile, but she didn’t know what Jiang Baiyu liked.

Chu Yanhe came running to tell her that Jiang Baiyu had suddenly gone mad, uprooted a tree, and ran off.

Yun Qing was startled, “He ran off carrying the tree?” She imagined the scene and found it a bit creepy.

“No, he threw the tree down, and pomegranates were smashed all over the ground.”

Yun Qing sighed in relief. Good, he wasn’t that crazy after all.

…….

It wasn’t until dusk that Jiang Baiyu appeared again.

By then, the sun was setting in the west, casting shadows under the eaves.

Yun Qing stood in the shadows, looking at the reeds by the water in the distance. The large patches of white reeds were tinged with a thin layer of golden-red by the setting sun, like smoke, like mist, like pale golden snow.

Two white egrets stood quietly by the reeds, then suddenly, startled by something, they spread their wings and dove into the reed marsh.

It was at this moment that Jiang Baiyu appeared in Yun Qing’s line of sight.

He walked toward her with his hands behind his back, draped in the afterglow of dusk, and said, “Yun Qing, I’m sorry.”

Yun Qing was somewhat surprised.

Jiang Baiyu continued, “I was wrong this afternoon. I had some alcohol, was upset, and lost my temper.”

Yun Qing shook her head, “Not at all. I was wrong to make such jokes.”

Jiang Baiyu gazed at her quietly.

Yun Qing asked again. “Where did you go? I was worried for a long time.”

Jiang Baiyu smiled, his thick eyelashes lightly moving. He extended his hand in front of her.

Yun Qing looked carefully and saw a white jade hairpin lying in his palm.

She was stunned, “For me?”

“Yes, to apologize.”

Yun Qing took the hairpin.

It was fine white jade, carved into a blooming lotus flower. The lotus was small, with a small round leaf beside it. The edges of the petals, the stamens, and the leaf veins were all gilded, emphasizing their shape.

It was both gentle and magnificent, elegant and delicate, with a touch of understated nobility.

Yun Qing held the hairpin and smiled, “Thank you, I like it very much.”

****

The next day, they didn’t go out. Yun Qing taught Chu Yanhe sword techniques, and afterward asked Chu Yanhe to do something: get the birth dates and eight characters of brides from previous years for her to examine.

This wasn’t difficult to obtain. Chu Yanhe simply sent someone to get a record from the Chongshen Society.

The Chongshen Society’s people were truly shrewd. Not knowing what she intended to do, they couldn’t refuse, and with the wedding procession imminent, they feared this young lady might cause trouble. So they provided the register of past brides while also sending someone to inform Chu Yanzhang.

Yun Qing sat in a pavilion and calculated the birth data of mountain god brides from the past twenty years.

Fu Xue and Chu Yanhe stood at the steps of the pavilion, crumbling flower petals to tease the koi fish.

Cheng Suiyan sat beside Yun Qing watching her calculations and learning, holding a thin brush and a clean white booklet, trying to look professional.

Chu Yanchuan sat across from them, sipping tea and listening to their discussion. Though he didn’t quite understand, he wore a faint smile.

Jiang Baiyu stood behind Yun Qing, also watching her.

Seeing the hairpin inserted in her black hair, a hint of a smile appeared in his eyes.

Yun Qing calculated while explaining some things to Cheng Suiyan. Though divination wasn’t one hundred percent accurate, the general direction was more or less correct.

After calculating twenty in a row, she closed the book.

Fu Xue and Chu Yanhe, seeing she had finished, discarded the flower petals and walked up to the pavilion.

Yun Qing slowly exhaled and announced her conclusion. “These women all have one thing in common—they all possess merit.”

Cheng Suiyan found this conclusion very strange and looked at her skeptically, asking, “Those with merit would still be married to the mountain god? Is being the mountain god’s wife really a good thing?”

The Chu siblings exchanged glances, also full of confusion.

Yun Qing shook her head, “There’s no necessary connection between merit and fate. It’s like the saying ‘good people have good fortune,’ but there’s also the saying ‘good people die young.’

In reality, good people’s fates can be good or bad, and bad people’s fates can also be good or bad. The Heavenly Way is merciless—it doesn’t care whether you are god or demon, good person or bad person.”

These words were almost heartless, overturning Cheng Suiyan’s understanding. He was stunned for quite a while, then thought of something and said with a bitter smile:

“You’re right. Some people do terrible things, yet they live well, in wealth and luxury, surrounded by concubines…”

He suddenly seemed confused and murmured to himself, “If that’s the case, what’s the use of merit? Is it just to prove to the world that the Heavenly Way is merciless?”

Yun Qing explained, “Merit can make people more enlightened and more likely to attain the Dao. In simple terms, those with merit have a greater chance of becoming immortals through cultivation.

If they haven’t entered the path of cultivation, these people, as ordinary individuals, are often more intelligent and more able to comprehend the principles of all things. Many sages in the human world are people who possess merit.”

“I see. Then what does it mean that the mountain god selects these women with merit as brides?”

Yun Qing sighed slightly, lowering her head to stroke a teacup beside her hand. Suddenly she seemed reluctant to speak.

Jiang Baiyu lightly pressed her shoulder, then said to Cheng Suiyan, “According to our speculation, these women were most likely eaten.”

“What?!” Cheng Suiyan’s shock was no small matter; the brush in his hand slipped onto the small booklet, creating a blot of ink.

The Chu siblings also changed expression.

Cheng Suiyan stammered. “E-eaten?”

“Yes.”

“Like the way I understand it?”

“Yes, just like how you eat peony buns.”

“Don’t say it like that.” Cheng Suiyan painfully covered his stomach, desperately suppressing the urge to vomit. He probably would never be able to eat peony buns again.

Jiang Baiyu continued. “People with merit not only have advantages in their own cultivation, but in the eyes of some evil cultivators, they are also excellent supplements—eating them aids cultivation.”

“I understand.” Cheng Suiyan didn’t have the courage to hear more. “Say no more.”

Chu Yanhe’s face was deathly pale as she said in a daze, “They’ve been sending brides for several hundred years, which means several hundred innocent girls have been eaten?”

“Yes.” Yun Qing nodded, her clear eyes narrowing slightly. “On the fifteenth of the eighth month, we’ll go meet this mountain god.”

Suddenly a voice came, “You cannot go.”