Chapter 719: Extra Chapter 7 (I) Lady Calico’s Modern Travelogue (Part Two)

Half a month later, at Xu Family Mansion in Fuyao City of Yuzhou...

Yuzhou truly had few famous sights, and Fuyao only had a scattered little hill. Yet here stood Yuzhou’s only A-grade[1] tourist attraction: the Xu Family Mansion.

The weather was perfect that day. In the morning, soft beige sunlight fell across white walls and blue-gray tiles, tall courtyards rose in quiet dignity, and at the entrance, people came and went in a steady stream with tickets in hand as they filed inside.

A beautiful long-haired calico cat lay lazily by the gate. Sunlight passed through the treetops, reflected off the eaves, and painted a clear line on the white wall and the cat, emphasizing its laziness. Even its eyes were half-closed.

Nearby stood a young couple holding a local specialty dried rat.

“The guidebook says it’s best to hire a guide for Xu Family Mansion, but lots of tour groups come daily. Just wait for one and follow along,” the girl said, nibbling on a dried rat.

“Isn’t it too early now?”

“Not really. The first groups are probably already inside. They’re like special forces travelers, they wake up earlier than roosters.”

“Then we should wait...”

“Hey, look! A cat! So pretty!” The girl’s eyes lit up at the sight of the calico cat. She quickly crouched and offered her dried rat.

“It’s too salty for it,” her boyfriend reminded her, so she withdrew her hand.

The calico opened its amber-bright eyes and glanced at her expressionlessly before it lay back down to sunbathe.

Almost simultaneously, a large group of people arrived from the street corner. Leading them was a young woman wearing a bright red sunhat and holding a microphone, waving a small triangular flag, followed by everyone in white sunhats.

“They’re here!” her boyfriend whispered.

They exchanged a mischievous, delighted look.

As the group approached, the guide’s voice reached them. “Standing before you is Yuzhou’s only A-grade scenic area, the Xu Family Mansion. Those who have studied history may know that Fuyao County was the birthplace of the previous dynasty. The founding emperor raised his army here, and the first prime minister, Xu Qiuyue, also came from here, a true land of feng shui. Please line up orderly; after entering, gather on the right side of the courtyard.”

Everyone lined up to enter, and the young couple followed the tour group inside.

The guide continued, “The Xu Family Mansion was originally built in the early Great Yan dynasty, slightly expanded during the Yu dynasty, but still retains the classic Great Yan-style architecture. To this day, it is the largest and most complete Great Yan-era structure preserved in the country.

“So, when you walk through this gate, you are stepping back into the Great Yan dynasty hundreds of years ago.”

Hearing this, the calico cat at the gate twitched its ears, lifted its head, and turned back to watch the incoming tourists. Its eyes glimmered as if moved.

After a brief hesitation, she stood up as well, leaving the sun behind. With a casual shake of her body, she followed them inside.

“Hey hey! Let me check your ticket!” the young ticket attendant called out.

The calico cat gave her a look, as if it understood this was just the sort of silly affection people these days liked to shower on small animals. Then, without paying her any more attention, it slipped under the turnstile and wandered inside.

Inside, it was quiet and serene, and birds chirped softly. Looking around, the architecture radiated an ancient charm and looked eerily familiar.

The tour group gathered on a side courtyard, the couple pretended to take photos under a covered walkway, occasionally exchanging mischievous smiles.

“The late Great Yan dynasty saw an increase in tales of monsters and spirits. Outside Pingzhou, Yuzhou had the most, and Fuyao the most of all. Legends say that everywhere in Fuyao was haunted by spirits, especially here. The Xu family often suffered from such disturbances, not knowing why, but speculating it might be a land of extraordinary feng shui.

“Later, a fox caused havoc on the streets. Among them was a strange fox called the wind fox, claiming this was the land where the dragon rises, that the Great Yan dynasty would fall, and a future emperor would be born here.

“Isn’t that amazing? Of course, these are just stories. Every founding emperor of a dynasty has unusual omens at birth.

“Let’s head inside...”

The guide’s voice seemed to pull the calico cat back hundreds of years. Xu Family Mansion, the noisy spirits of night, the foxes roaming the streets, the extraordinary down-and-out scholar, and that mad wind fox...

“The deeds of Xu Qiuyue, the founding prime minister of the Yu dynasty, are surely well-known, probably seen on television. The courtyard on your left is said to be where Xu Qiuyue lived. Early records of Xu Qiuyue are sparse; initially, it seems he wasn’t highly regarded in the Xu household

“Everyone see this well? This is an old well once used by the Xu household, later abandoned. It’s been here for six or seven hundred years. Modern instruments have detected strong metal reactions inside. Historians speculate that back when Emperor Yu founded his dynasty, before he raised his army, he might have used it to hide iron or weapons and armor.

“And perhaps that was the very reason why the Xu family abandoned it later and dug a new well beside it.

“...”

The calico cat yawned.

Part of history’s allure lay in its absences and the impossibility of seeing it clearly. Yet, if anyone truly understood history, it could only be those who actually lived through that time. And perhaps... a cat.

For people today, those events were unknown pasts; at best, they could glean faint traces from the terse words left behind by the ancients. But for them, it was lived experience, scenes once vivid, now fading into hazy memories of a bygone age.

The farther they walked into the compound, the more familiar the courtyard seemed. Just as the guide had said: step through this gate, and it was as if one had returned to Great Yan, hundreds of years ago.

So many feelings welled up inside her, too many to count...

The sun climbed higher, the warmth grew stronger.

The calico cat followed them on their tour, then turned back once more to glance at the grand residence. The characters “Xu Family Mansion” above the gate gleamed in the sunlight. Stretching lazily, the cat left the place behind.

***

Half a month later, at a certain restaurant in Changjing...

A young girl arrived with an old-fashioned brocade pouch slung over her arm. Her steps made no sound as she picked a seat in the corner.

“What would you like to eat?” asked a matronly woman, clearly the proprietor. “Miss.”

“A bowl of century egg and lean pork congee, a plate of braised chicken, one order of lamb flatbread.” Lady Calico stared at the menu expressionlessly, then after a pause added, “And an order of cherry flatbread.”

“Our congee isn’t sold by the bowl, it’s only served in large portions.”

“Then I’ll get one, please.”

“You won’t be able to finish that much by yourself.”

“Then, pack it up for me to go, please."

Her voice was soft yet firm. Only after the owner turned away did she pull out her phone.

Lady Calico: Did you get the local specialties I mailed from Yuzhou?

Bzzz bzzz!

Old Daoist: Got them

Lady Calico: Try some

Old Daoist: No

Lady Calico: They’re properly produced, famous brand

Old Daoist: No

Lady Calico: ...

Lady Calico: Then give them to the fox and Mr. Chen

Old Daoist: That’s fine

“...”

This old Daoist definitely had a problematic temperament. The young girl then put away her phone with a blank face.

The proprietress quickly began serving the dishes.

A pot of century egg and lean pork congee arrived, bubbling hot in its clay pot. The translucent dark-green eggs and the pale-pink minced pork gave off an appetizing color, much like she remembered, though perhaps with more generous ingredients. A plate of braised chicken, chopped into pieces, half a bird by the looks of it, fragrant and rich. Two plates of freshly fried flatbread were set down before her; they were golden and lightly crisped, and tiny bubbles of oil were still sizzling on the surface, with steam rising in thin curls. There was also a set of bowls and chopsticks.

Lady Calico, by habit, pushed aside the utensils brought by the proprietress. Instead, she lowered her head and drew from her brocade pouch an exquisitely delicate little fine blue-and-white porcelain bowl and a pair of wooden chopsticks. After a casual glance inside the bowl to check for dust, she picked up the spoon and began ladling the congee.

Strangely enough, the brocade pouch had seemed flat and empty at first. It looked like nothing more than two pieces of cloth, giving no sign at all that a bowl was hidden inside.

Once the congee was served and the chopsticks set, she took out her phone.

She snapped two photos and sent them to her Daoist, telling him that she had returned to Changjing, back again near Willow Street, and had ordered century egg and lean pork congee, braised chicken, and fried flatbread, especially the odd cherry flatbread he had once eaten, before finally starting to eat.

She picked up a piece of braised chicken and slipped it into her mouth. Her face unchanged, and she judged inwardly,

It’s not authentic at all.

Bzzz bzzz!

Old Daoist: Tasty?

Lady Calico: Delicious!

Lady Calico was, of course, an honest cat. She only told little lies on occasion.

Though it wasn’t mealtime yet, another table of guests was present in the restaurant, chatting about past and present.

This area was now designated as Changjing’s Old City District, preserving many buildings from hundreds or even over a thousand years ago. It was filled with classical gardens, museums, protected sites, and aging work units. Besides locals, there were always swarms of tourists, historians, and literary workers. Talking about history was the most natural thing in the world here.

“Why was the excavation of that ancient divine tomb suddenly halted not long ago? I heard the tomb owner might be Chen Ziyi, the legendary Imperial Guardian Duke of Great Yan. If that’s true, what a discovery that would be.”

“Ah, don’t ask about that...”

“What happened?”

“Don’t ask, don’t ask. Best not to say.” An old man with a goatee waved his hand, then shifted the subject by turning to another beside him. “But I did hear that in Pingzhou they discovered an ancient painting, possibly the legendary

Mount Cang Painting

? And the family in whose house it was found may very well be descendants of Master Dou?”

“That’s true.” An elderly man with glasses nodded.

“Could it be the very ‘Greatest Painting of the Ages’ recorded in the

Mingde Great Encyclopedia

?” someone nearby couldn’t help blurting out.

“Supposedly, yes.”

“And is the

Mingde Great Encyclopedia

reliable?”

“The

Mingde Great Encyclopedia

may be eclectic, but based on our research, its records are reliable,” said the bespectacled elder. “At the very least, it proves that at that time there truly existed a painting called

Mount Cang Painting

, created by Master Dou, honored as the ‘Greatest Painting of the Ages.’ It was indisputable back then. We just don’t know whether the one discovered now is that very piece. In fact, without the

Mingde Great Encyclopedia

, we wouldn’t even know such a painting once existed.”

“Thank goodness the

Mingde Great Encyclopedia

was preserved! Otherwise, how many things would we have lost?”

“Indeed...”

Everyone couldn’t help but sigh.

“Those people of the past had foresight. Imagine placing a copy of such a monumental work so far away from Changjing, in a Daoist temple in Yizhou. Otherwise, it too would have been destroyed in the wars and upheavals that followed. The loss to history would have been beyond measure...”

“And also thanks to that Daoist temple. For centuries, through generation after generation of abbots, it was never lost, nor handed over to rulers, until it finally surfaced in modern times.”

“Indeed...”

Lady Calico leaned close to her bowl, scooping congee as she listened quietly.

She picked up a piece of lamb flatbread, chewed it, and thought the flavor far inferior to the lamb once found in the poplar forests of the western deserts.

She picked up a cherry flatbread, bit into it, then spat it back onto the plate.

“But doesn’t the

Mingde Great Encyclopedia

also record a rumor, that the

Mount Cang Painting

was once taken away by a Daoist priest, and from then on was no longer in the Dou family’s hands? Could it be that this painting also resurfaced from a Daoist temple? Or was that rumor false?”

“Hard to say...”

1. This is referring to a National 5A Tourist Attraction, a rating standard for tourist sites in the People’s Republic of China, established by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in accordance with the national standard

“Classification and Evaluation of Quality Levels of Tourist Attractions.”

The standard sets out twelve conditions that must be met for a site to qualify as a 5A-level tourist attraction: transportation, sightseeing, tourism safety, sanitation, postal and telecommunications services, shopping facilities, management and operations, protection of resources and the environment, attractiveness of tourism resources, market appeal, annual visitor volume, and visitor satisfaction rate based on sampling surveys. Sites are evaluated and accredited by the National Tourist Attraction Quality Grade Assessment Committee. ☜