Chapter 693: Hanjiang

Along the banks of the Liujiang River, mountains mirrored the waters, the scenery as picturesque as a painting.

From time to time, a bright mountain song would echo among the peaks, its origin uncertain. Was it coming from deep in the mountains, or drifting over the river?

A Daoist sat cross-legged beneath a tree by the riverbank. In front of him, a small stove was set up, with a fire crackling inside. A young girl crouched by the water, washing rice.

“When your injuries are healed, should I still send you to Mount Ding on my white crane?”

“There’s no need to hurry. My wounds will be fully healed before long.”

The Daoist fed dry firewood into the stove. Lady Calico had already broken the sticks into short pieces, and were just the right length for the little stone stove. All he had to do was toss them in, no effort required. “We can walk there slowly... and come back slowly as well.”

“Not in a hurry,

meow

?”

“That’s right...”

Song You continued tossing sticks into the fire.

In his mind, of all the matters that still remained from the past twenty years, all tied to the mortal realm below the mountains, there was now only one left: asking the Celestial Emperor to abdicate.

But the current Celestial Emperor had already lost all usable power in the heavens, and the strength of that virtue-less god had long since been spent. This was no longer a difficult matter.

As for what came after, it either did not belong to these twenty years, or did not belong to the mortal realm. Whether it was monitoring divine interference in the human world, or observing and subtly guiding history when the time was right, Song You could do all of it after returning to Hidden Dragon Temple, on the slopes of Yin-Yang Mountain.

Those tasks would consume the rest of his long life.

“Don’t move. Don’t feed the fire. Don’t do anything. Just let me handle it!”

Lady Calico came back carrying a small pot, half-filled with rice and water. She glanced at the fire in the stove, then at the Daoist dropping twigs into it.

“You can’t cook as well as me!”

When the girl said this, her face was deadly serious. Yet somehow, she couldn’t help but turn her head, looking toward the distance behind them.

And what was behind them?

This time, they had come from Yizhou, flying by crane to Xuzhou. Nineteen years ago, they had also come from Yizhou, but back then, they had walked to Xuzhou. Along the way, the Daoist had taught her the art of fire, showing her how to tend a flame, telling her to seek the spirit of fire and the essence of fire magic through cooking. At first, she had been clumsy, and the flames often died out, or filled the air with black smoke, stubbornly ignoring her commands.

Now, looking back across the rolling mountains, it seemed one of them might be the very same peak from before... and she felt as though she could see the past itself.

“Of course I can’t compare to you, Lady Calico.”

“...”

Lady Calico set the pot on the stove, scratched her head, said nothing, and picked up a strip of cured meat and a handful of Swallow Beans from the side. Then she headed back toward the river.

This was a new recipe the Daoist had taught her, Swallow Beans and cured meat braised rice. He said it was called

konggan

rice.

Lady Calico didn’t know why it had such a name, but she had secretly tried it with cured rat meat once at night, and it was delicious. Today, she was making it again with cured pork for the Daoist.

Farmhouse-cured meat, once prepared, would be hung from the kitchen rafters. Daily cooking smoke would coat it with a thick layer of soot, which had to be scrubbed off before eating.

And so, the sound of scrubbing drifted once more along the riverbank.

Lady Calico’s arms were slender, but her strength was great; she scrubbed with all her might.

Scrub, scrub, scrub...

In her opinion, it was only some pitch-black soot, which was much cleaner than dust or mud from the ground. It wouldn’t squeak if bitten, and even if swallowed, it wouldn’t cause any trouble in the stomach. But this Daoist was so fussy, and if it wasn’t done his way, he simply wouldn’t eat it.

She had no choice but to humor him.

“It’s not tiring... And it’s not cold either...”

The faint fatigue in her arms and the bone-piercing cold of the winter river were quickly dispelled.

But as she scrubbed, her movements suddenly stopped. She lifted her head and looked out over the river.

The water was still a deep green. With no wind, its surface was calm, breathing only the faintest chill, reflecting the strange and varied mountains on both banks. Yet, from a spot upstream, a wooden basin was drifting with the current, slowly making its way toward her.

“Hm?”

Lady Calico stared straight at it, sniffing the air.

At that moment, a sound rose over the river. It was the cry of a child.

“

Waaah...

”

Her expression tightened, and she set down the cured meat in her hands.

Flap, flap, flap...

A swallow swooped past. Moments later, the wooden basin, as if responding to her silent invitation, floated right up to her. Inside lay a small infant.

The girl immediately turned to look at the Daoist. “It’s a little person!”

The Daoist had already risen, leaning on his staff as he walked over. Reaching the bank, he bent down and lifted the child from the basin.

“

Waaah...

”

The infant continued to cry loudly. The Daoist examined her carefully, while Lady Calico kept her eyes fixed on him.

The child was already teething, likely over half a year old, not yet one. She was still an infant, and she was probably weaned. She was wrapped in clothes and rough cloth scraps. Other than that, there was nothing else in the basin. In this winter chill, her face had turned a purplish hue from the cold.

“She’s a girl,” the Daoist said to the unusually concerned young Lady Calico.

“A girl!” Lady Calico’s expression was both serious and confused. “Why would a girl be in the river?”

“

Waaah...

”

“Don’t cry...” The Daoist gently touched the baby girl’s face, his tone soft.

The child seemed to understand, for she fell silent at once.

“She was likely abandoned.”

“Abandoned? Not wanted anymore?”

“That’s my guess...”

“Her mother didn’t want her,

meow

?”

“Perhaps...”

“Why wouldn’t someone want their own child? Even cats don’t abandon their kittens.”

“Who can say...”

Song You lowered his head, gazing at the baby girl.

Abandoning infant girls was not uncommon in the human world; it happened below Yunding Mountain, on Mirror Island Lake, and now, with the troubled state of the world, such cases might be even more frequent.

The cloth of the garments and scraps wrapped around this child was plain, showing she came from a family of modest means. She was no newborn; she was already old enough to have weaned. Unlike many who would simply toss a baby girl into the river to drown, someone had placed her in a wooden basin and let her drift with the current, perhaps holding on to a small glimmer of hope.

Whatever the rest of her family’s situation, the child’s mother must have been at least somewhat reluctant, and deeply helpless.

The Daoist examined her more carefully, and curiously enough, this baby’s innate bones and talent were rather good.

It almost seemed fated.

“Meeting you here is destiny. Since you came from the river, your surname shall be

Jiang

. Today is a day of heavy snow, and the winter air is bone-chilling. We’ll call you

Jiang Han

[1].”

“...!” Lady Calico looked at them seriously.

Cats, by nature, respected the old and cherished the young; and Lady Calico, being full of compassion and empathy, could not take her eyes off the baby.

“Shall we take her in,

meow

?”

“Haven’t you already taken her in?”

“I mean... take her with us?”

“It is fate,” the Daoist said. “She has lost her mother. If we don’t take her, she will soon die.”

“Shall we bring her back to Yin-Yang Mountain?”

“What do you think?”

“I thinks she’s very pitiful!” Lady Calico said, looking at the baby. “Just like a kitten without a mother...”

“Then let us follow fate.”

The Daoist told her, “From now on, you will no longer be the youngest.”

“...!” The girl’s expression froze.

“Since she was found by you, I’ll have to trouble you to care for her from now on,” the Daoist continued. “Let’s start by making porridge for lunch instead.”

“Porridge,

meow

?”

“Make it a bit thinner.”

“Okay!!”

Lady Calico stood on tiptoe again, looking up at the baby girl in the Daoist’s arms. She quickly picked up the wooden basin from the river and got back to work, this time with extra energy.

Not only that, she kept turning her head to look behind her from time to time.

In the end, the

konggan rice

turned into fish porridge. Lady Calico first took out the small square blanket she had bought in the Western Regions to serve as bedding for the baby, then took the Daoist’s wool blanket to wrap her in. She quite naturally shouldered the responsibility of a big cat and being the finder and the elder. She fed her spoonful by spoonful, cooling each one with a blow before bringing it to her lips.

She even forgot to eat herself.

And she didn’t feel tired at all; on the contrary, she seemed to find it great fun, taking joy in every moment.

“She’s not screaming anymore!”

“That was crying...”

“She’s not crying anymore!”

“She cried because she was afraid, without anyone to rely on, cold and hungry, and to seek comfort. Now she sees people, isn’t afraid, and is no longer cold or hungry. Naturally, she stops crying.”

“You make sense...”

Lady Calico lifted her head to stare at him, then lowered it again to look at the baby girl. “Your name is Jiang Han. I am Lady Calico.”

Smack...

The baby girl smacked her lips.

Swish!

Lady Calico lifted her head again and looked at the Daoist.

“But she doesn’t talk.”

“She’s too little. She hasn’t learned to speak yet.”

“

Meow

?” Lady Calico widened her eyes, puzzled. “Isn’t she a little person,

meow

? How can a little person not talk?”

“Lady Calico, you weren't born knowing how to talk either.”

“I’m a cat. This is human speech, of course Lady Calico couldn’t speak human words at birth.” She spoke with perfect logic. “She is human, so she should be born knowing how to speak human words.”

“Humans aren’t born knowing how to speak either.”

“But kittens are born knowing how to meow.”

“Even that has to be learned.”

“Hmm...” The young girl stared at him seriously. She didn’t quite believe it, but since he didn’t seem to be lying, she could only admit, “I don't remember.”

“This little one is probably close to a year old. At this stage of normal human growth, it’s about the time to start learning to talk.” The Daoist sat beneath the tree with a bowl in his hands. “If you want to hear her speak, you could try teaching her some simple words and teach her to talk.”

“Teach her some simple words!”

“For example:

eat

,

hungry

,

Lady Calico

,” the Daoist said softly. “When every person is young, their parents or elders teach them like this. I’ve heard that when cats are young, big cats also teach them to meow, one call at a time. Now that she has no parents, and I’m still recovering, we can only rely on you, Lady Calico.”

He paused, shook his head, and said with a faint smile, “Without realizing it, you’ve become a great big cat, and you’re now able to act as a teacher and elder.”

“No problem!”

Lady Calico’s voice was firm, though in her heart she kept repeating the words

great big cat

and

teacher, elder

.

The Daoist smiled faintly and closed his eyes. If all went well, this baby girl might become the next successor of Hidden Dragon Temple. By tradition, the lineage of Yin-Yang Mountain’s Hidden Dragon Temple alternated between male and female generations, and she was a perfect fit.

The tree shielded them from the wind. In the winter afternoon, after a meal, drowsiness set in, which was perfect for a nap to restore his strength.

In his half-sleep, he heard a voice beside him:

“Rat... This is

rat

... Say it!

Rat

!”

“...”

The Daoist opened his eyes slightly.

The Daoist saw the baby girl wrapped in a wool blanket and lying on a cloth mat, and her dark eyes were as black as the night as they unblinkingly stared at the young girl in front of her.

Lady Calico, wearing a deadly serious expression, held in her hand what looked like a not-fully-grown rat, waving it back and forth in front of the infant.

“...” The Daoist fell silent for a moment, an ominous feeling creeping over him.

***

Half a month passed by the riverside, the cold growing ever sharper. The Daoist finally got to eat

konggan rice

.

The cured meat, with alternating layers of fat and lean, had been cut into tiny cubes. The lean part was a tempting red, and the fat was almost translucent. Swallow Beans, also diced into small pieces, were a pale yellow. Mixed among the perfectly distinct grains of rice, the three ingredients had fused under heat and oil into a simple yet delicious harmony.

Lady Calico still made fish porridge for the baby girl, but while feeding her, she couldn’t resist secretly slipping her bits of cured meat, Swallow Beans, and

konggan

rice, claiming it was just to let her have a little treat..

As she fed, she watched closely, to see if the child would survive the feedings.

At first, Song You had indeed been a little worried. But the baby seemed unusually sturdy and experienced not the slightest problem, and she was soon crawling around on the wool mat, mumbling indistinctly, “Rat... Rat...”

The Daoist’s face was expressionless, but his heart felt heavy.

Meanwhile, the young girl sat properly with her bowl and spoon, sneaking glances at her Daoist out of the corner of her eye, hoping to hear him praise her or express surprise at this turn of events.

The Daoist Master, intent on enjoying his meal, noticed nothing.

1. 江 (Jiāng) means “river.” It’s a common surname. 寒 (Hán) means “cold” or “chill.” To me, 江寒 can suggest a person who is cool, composed, and perhaps distant, like a cold river in winter, who is beautiful but untouchable. ☜