The Jade

Now, Li Tongya and Li Xiangping had entered the reed marshes. Parting the dense layers of reeds, they leaned in close to look. The grayish-green mirror was pleasantly warm, flashing with white light. Li Xiangping glanced in the direction it indicated and said in a low voice, "That's toward Lake Wangyue. We can reach it in half an hour if we follow Guli Road." Li Tongya shook his head. "We can't take Guli Road. We cut straight through the reeds." Li Xiangping gave a quiet assent and bent low with his brother, pressing forward through the marsh. Lu Jiangxian felt the pulling sensation growing stronger and stronger. The moment they entered the reed marshes, his vision brightened as a hazy scene unfolded before him—a clear, cool lake where a dozen white gulls and egrets rested on one leg along the shore. As Li Xiangping pushed on, the grayish-green mirror in his hands grew hotter and hotter, filling him with unease. He looked up at his second brother; Li Tongya also kept a grim face, silent, his eyes full of worry. "Can mortals truly touch an immortal fate...?" Li Xiangping touched the mirror, so engrossed that he hardly noticed the heat against his skin. "Good mirror, obedient mirror, we're almost there," he murmured, cradling the grayish-green treasure. Before long, the two slipped out of the dense reeds. The shimmering waters of Lake Wangyue and a flock of startled gulls and egrets taking flight leapt into view. Lu Jiangxian stared straight at a sandbar of jagged rocks out in the lake. Among the moss-covered boulders, a piece of jade glowing with white light was wedged tightly in a crevice. The burning grayish-green mirror surged with a stream of pale white moon essence. Before the eyes of Li Tongya and Li Xiangping, a hazy vision appeared: the sandbar, and the white-glowing jade caught between the rocks. Li Xiangping and Li Tongya exchanged a glance, both seeing wonder and delight in the other's eyes. Li Xiangping nodded vigorously, stripped off his clothes, and was just about to wade into the lake. "Hold on!" Li Tongya caught him and shook his head. "I'll go get it. Keep the mirror and wait on the bank. If the moon moves to that spot and I'm not back yet—" He pointed to a position in the night sky. "—hide the mirror in the reeds and run along Guli Road. Don't go home," Li Tongya said solemnly, looking at his younger brother. "Wait until the sun is high in the sky before you come back to check." "Alright..." Li Xiangping choked up despite himself, wiping away tears as he looked at his second brother. Li Tongya chuckled dryly as he stripped off his clothes, revealing lean, sturdy shoulders and arms, then turned and swam into the lake. Li Xiangping remained hidden in the reeds, staring blankly after his brother. Years earlier, Li Tongya had visited Lake Wangyue with his father and brothers, swimming back and forth more times than he could count. He reached the center of the lake with familiar ease. Carefully probing the numerous crevices, he searched the sandbar from end to end in the time it took an incense stick to burn. "Nothing." Li Tongya frowned. He searched thoroughly once more, fishing out five or six small river crabs. Then, just as expected, a faint coolness brushed his fingertips. He touched something smooth. Pinching his fingers tight, he pulled out a piece of jade about two fingers wide. It was an elongated strip of jade, its surface engraved with characters and patterns. Li Tongya held it up to the moonlight, trying to decipher them: "Tai... Moon... Qi... Nourish... Wheel..." He could only roughly make out a few words. As a child, Li Tongya had learned to read under a teacher and recognized most common characters, but the patterns on this jade were intricate and the script was archaic and peculiar, making it exceedingly difficult to identify. Calmly glancing toward the shore, he clenched the jade in his fist and swam back. "Third Brother!" Reaching the shore, he called softly into the reeds, and Li Xiangping popped his head out. Li Tongya was just about to show him the jade, but the moment he opened his hand, the jade dissolved into a streak of white light and whooshed straight into the mirror. The sudden turn of events made both boys flinch. They watched as white light surged across the mirror's surface, and the moonlight overhead transformed into rings of lunar halos, plunging one after another into the glass. Lu Jiangxian felt as though struck by lightning. A streak of white light crashed head-on into him, and a vast sea of knowledge flooded his mind at dizzying speed. He cried out in agony and promptly blacked out. Li Tongya and Li Xiangping watched as the mirror, having swallowed the jade in a single gulp, gradually settled down, its white radiance dimming. The golden-red morning glow crept across the sky, casting its light over Li Tongya's bare upper torso and highlighting his golden-tinted contours. He looked down at his brother. "Let's go home first." *** Li Mutian sat by the red-lacquered wooden table. Having listened to his two sons explain the whole sequence of events, he nodded at Li Tongya. "Well done." He and Li Changhu had tossed and turned all night without catching a wink of sleep. Seeing both boys return safe and sound finally set his anxious heart at rest. "Our front entrance and backyard aren't small, and the backyard backs right up against the mountain behind us," Li Mutian said unhurriedly. "I'm thinking of digging up the two melon patches out front to build two wings, flanking the sides to join into one grand courtyard. Once the front gate is shut, we won't need to worry about prying eyes." He had entertained this thought years ago. His sons were growing up day by day, and the time to divide the household was fast approaching. With Li Mutian's savings, the Li family could be considered prominent and well-off in the village. After returning from the military, he had bought over ten mu of paddy fields, which, combined with the five-plus mu of fertile land inherited from his father, came to nearly twenty mu in total. Lijing Village was blessed with soil and waters that sustained its people; the reed marshes and mudflats were all treasures for making a living. Discounting labor, twenty mu of land in a good year could easily feed a dozen mouths. Behind closed doors, the Lis were already on par with landlords. It was precisely because the family owned grain and land that all four of his sons had been able to learn to read and write. Li Mutian had always despised idle, shiftless wealthy folk, so he insisted that his sons study and farm every single day, ensuring that whenever they eventually divided the family, each could eat well and live comfortably. "Now, dividing the family is out of the question. And when we take in daughters-in-law, they must be trusted insiders." Li Mutian recalled what he had seen of prominent families in the city: a grand compound holding one close-knit lineage, studying to become officials and training in martial arts to lead soldiers—what glory that was! In contrast, poor peasant families divided everything down to the bare bone, neither side willing to help or burden the other. "That's how we'll do it!" Li Mutian's eyes brightened, and he gave instructions to the two boys. "Go to the fields and call your eldest brother back to level the ground for the foundation. The farmland can be left to the tenants to tend. Your fourth brother doesn't need to pick mulberry leaves this afternoon either; from now on, he will study full-time with the teacher." "Right away!" Despite being on the move all night, Li Xiangping was brimming with energy. At the command, he dashed out the door. Li Tongya looked at his father, pondered for a moment, and said, "Does Father intend to follow the clan institutions in the books—erecting an ancestral hall, establishing a family manor, studying to enter officialdom, and training in martial arts to command soldiers?" "Our Li family has accumulated strength for two hundred years. It is about time." Li Mutian chuckled and waved his hand. "As for studying and martial arts—Guli Road is fraught with perils, and traveling into or out of Mount Dali offers nine chances of death to one of life. Even with learning and martial skill, one could hardly sell their services to the Emperor of Yue. It is nothing more than seeking to pass down our family estate and protect ourselves..." Li Tongya nodded and remarked in a low voice, "Perhaps there are things far more wondrous than studying and martial arts." "Stop talking nonsense!" Li Mutian roared with laughter. He patted Li Tongya on the shoulder, held his head high, clasped his hands behind his back, and walked out.