A bowl?
*I have one!*
Zhang Laifu did have a bowl; it was sitting right in his bundle.
Yet that bowl was meant for growing a train. Once he grew a train, he could return to the Outer Prefecture.
Once back in the Outer Prefecture, he could finish his studies. With any luck, he might find a job, and even if he couldn't, he could always go back to the film studio backlot and work odd jobs...
Zhang Laifu carefully weighed life in the Outer Prefecture against life in Wansheng Prefecture, and realized he didn't necessarily have to grow a train.
If he was only going to be an ordinary person, life in the Outer Prefecture was visibly better—at the very least, he wouldn't have to toil as bitterly as that wonton vendor.
If he could become a craftsman, however, that was another matter entirely. Craftsmen in Wansheng Prefecture lived far more comfortably than ordinary people in the Outer Prefecture.
"What kind of bowl can grow a craftsman?"
"Any bowl will do. The bowl is the root; without a bowl, you can't grow anything, because spirituality cannot be awakened.
"The soil is the basis; without soil, the bowl cannot be opened, and the seed can receive no nourishment.
"The seed is the soul; everything you hope to harvest lies within the seed."
Zhang Laifu thought for a moment, appearing to grasp it. "It's pretty much like planting flowers in a flowerpot."
Li Yunsheng nodded. "You can think of it that way, but flowerpots aren't nearly so finicky. Put in some good soil and you can plant flowers.
"Bowls in Wansheng Prefecture are far more particular. You must find the matching soil before resonance can occur. This process is called opening the bowl."
Zhang Laifu had been waiting for this. "What kind of soil counts as matching soil?"
Li Yunsheng looked troubled. "There's no telling for certain—one can only judge by experience. Some bowls have an obvious connection to their soil. For instance, if a wooden tub serves as the bowl, the matching soil is likely sawdust. But that's only judging by common sense.
"By common sense, there is indeed a close connection between a wooden tub and sawdust, and sawdust does have the characteristics of soil.
"Yet I once saw a wooden tub bowl whose matching soil was sheep offal. What logic lies behind that, I can't say."
Sheep offal could serve as soil?
Zhang Laifu recalled his ordeal at Hunlong Stronghold. It seemed he had been captured and taken there precisely to open a bowl. "Can a person serve as soil too?"
"Yes." Li Yunsheng nodded. "In the southwest, there is a kind of jade called blood jade. Bowls carved from this jade must use humans as soil. Different types of blood jade require people of different temperaments. It is said that blood jade bowls can grow craft roots."
Zhang Laifu was taken aback. "Does someone have to consume a craft root to become a craftsman?"
If that were truly the case, becoming a craftsman would be far too difficult.
Li Yunsheng shook his head. "Craft roots are used to elevate one's realm. They're exceedingly rare treasures. To become a craftsman, you don't need to consume a craft root; consuming a craft spirit is enough."
"A craft spirit..." Zhang Laifu's face lit up. "I've seen one! It came out of a craftsman's corpse, looking just like a clump of willow catkins."
Lin Shaocong had killed Lao Liang and taken that clump of willow catkins—Zhang Laifu had indeed witnessed the entire process with his own eyes.
"A clump of willow catkins... The craftsman you mentioned was a willow-weaver, wasn't he?"
"Yes, a willow-weaver!"
"That wasn't a craft spirit. That is called craft essence."
Zhang Laifu suspected he had missed out on something vital. "If someone consumes craft essence, can they become a craftsman?"
Li Yunsheng pondered carefully. "People have tried, but I've never heard of anyone succeeding. Craft essence is the concentrated essence cultivated by a craftsman, already fused with their soul. If someone consumes it and their affinities clash, disaster strikes."
"What kind of disaster?"
"Death. Or falling into the Chaotic Dao."
"What is the Chaotic Dao?"
"The Chaotic Dao is the Demonic Dao. Falling into the Demonic Dao is an extremely grave matter—you would become the enemy of all Wansheng Prefecture."
*That serious?*
Zhang Laifu couldn't fathom what kind of person could become the enemy of all Wansheng Prefecture, but that wasn't his primary concern right now anyway. He didn't have any craft essence in hand; he only had a bowl.
"Brother Li, let's get back to the bowl."
Li Yunsheng set down his teacup. "We are talking about the bowl. If you want to become a craftsman, you can take craft essence as a seed and plant it in the bowl to turn it into a craft spirit. Consuming a craft spirit is the proper path to becoming a craftsman."
The craft essence was already gone, taken by Lin Shaocong, which meant Zhang Laifu currently had no seed.
Yet there had been no helping it. Back then, Zhang Laifu could only choose between the craft essence and the bowl.
Could he have made the wrong choice at the time?
"Which is more valuable, a bowl or craft essence?"
"That's hard to compare. It depends on what type of bowl it is and its quality."
"Are there many kinds of bowls?"
"A cooking pot, a water vat, an ear-cleaning spoon, a basket for dumping dirt—all of these can be bowls. So long as sufficient craftsmanship and heart's blood have been poured into them, any of them can be used to grow things."
"In that case, are bowls lying around everywhere in Wansheng Prefecture?" Zhang Laifu began to doubt the bowl's value, suspecting he had gotten the short end of the stick.
Li Yunsheng shook his head slightly. "I wouldn't say they're everywhere, but good bowls are certainly not few. Even if one were set right before you, out of ten thousand people, not even one might recognize it.
"How many people exhaust immense fortunes and still can't buy a good bowl? Some artisans craft a fine bowl without even realizing it, selling it off cheaply as ordinary goods.
"Then there are discerning eyes strolling the streets who can pick up a fine bowl for a few dazi. Appraising bowls is a tough discipline; it all comes down to skill."
Zhang Laifu had no such skill, so acquiring a good bowl had undoubtedly been a gain.
Besides, that willow-weaver's craft essence might not have been all that great anyway. Zhang Laifu had no desire to be a basket-weaving willow-weaver; he felt selling wontons was far better than weaving baskets!
Perhaps there were even better craftsmen than wonton vendors.
"Brother Li, how many kinds of craftsmen are there in all?"
Li Yunsheng snapped his folding fan open. "Clothing, food, shelter, travel, delight; farming, building, teaching, healing, and odd trades. In Wansheng there are three hundred and sixty walks of life, and every walk has its craftsmen."
Zhang Laifu's eyes widened. "There are three hundred and sixty kinds of craftsmen?"
"Actually, even more than that. Some trades aren't considered respectable and aren't counted among the three hundred and sixty trades, but those trades have craftsmen too."
Zhang Laifu grew rather excited. "Brother Li, out of those three hundred and sixty trades, which brings the best life?"
"There's no saying. In any trade, reaching the level of a craftsman brings good fortune."
"Which trade do you think suits me best?"
"What I think doesn't matter! It all comes down to luck."
"All down to luck?" Zhang Laifu wondered if he hadn't made himself clear. "If I used a willow-weaver's craft essence to grow a willow-weaver's craft spirit, wouldn't I become a willow-weaver? What luck is involved in that?"
Li Yunsheng shook his head repeatedly. "Not necessarily. It depends on what bowl you use. Someone once used an iron wok as a bowl and iron filings as soil, planting a blacksmith's craft essence—and ended up growing the craft spirit of a sweet-potato roaster. So no one can say for sure."
An iron wok, iron filings, a blacksmith, a sweet-potato roaster...
Was there any logic to that?
"Brother Li, you must be talking about an exception, right?"
"It's no exception. That is the established rule of Wansheng's boundless flux!" Li Yunsheng pointed toward the trade sign hanging in the courtyard. "Originally, I wanted to practice Western medicine, and I studied it earnestly. I used a surgical instrument tray from an operating room as my bowl, antibiotics as soil, and planted the craft essence of a Western doctor to grow a craft spirit—and I ended up as a doctor of the Zhuyou branch."
There was actually no pattern to it at all?
"Brother Li, since you loved Western medicine so much, didn't you ever think of switching trades?"
"Switching trades? You mean changing to another line of work?" Li Yunsheng gave a wry smile. "Don't even dare entertain such reckless thoughts. Switching trades is no trivial matter. One misstep, and you'll fall into the Demonic Dao."
Zhang Laifu froze. "Switching trades can make you turn demonic too?"
"The boundless flux of all life is just that unpredictable. Besides, Brother Zhang, aren't you getting a bit ahead of yourself thinking about all this now?" Li Yunsheng didn't elaborate further, but his meaning was clear: it was far too early for Zhang Laifu to worry about these things when his life was still hanging by a thread.
Zhang Laifu knew his situation as well. After eating two tea pastries, he rose to take his leave. Li Yunsheng persistently refused payment, but Zhang Laifu insisted on leaving three copper yuan.
"You've taught me so much, and I know this bit of money isn't nearly enough. If I make it back to Heishakou alive, I'll bring you a proper token of thanks."
Li Yunsheng shook the three copper yuan in his palm and opened his hand to look; they were still heads up.
He smiled.
This great tree was very sincere!
Judging by Zhang Laifu's sincerity alone, he knew the divination omen had not lied.
Taking out two coins, he thrust them back to Zhang Laifu. "One is enough for me. Brother Laifu, take care on the road."
Having seen Zhang Laifu off, Li Yunsheng held the two copper yuan, turning them over in his hands for a moment.
He tossed both copper yuan into the air. One after the other, they landed on the tea table.
*Clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter, clatter—clink!*
The two copper yuan spun several times before coming to rest on the table. Li Yunsheng stared at the tabletop, stunned for a long while.
This was truly bizarre. Why were they still heads up?
Where had these two copper coins come from?
P.S. Why were there two copper coins? Hadn't Li Yunsheng only kept one?
Chapter 17