A Bedtime Song

Li Banfeng had the coachman drive out to a desolate stretch of Waigou to unload the goods. Chunsheng had paid the fare in full beforehand, so the driver didn't ask questions. He unloaded the cart full of items at the edge of the woods and drove off. Li Banfeng looked around to confirm nobody was in sight, then strained his muscles and hoisted the four-poster wooden bed onto his shoulder. Credit where it was due, a journey cultivator's carrying capacity was truly impressive. Even with such a massive wooden bed on his shoulders, he still had a free hand to fish out his key. This solid wood bed was genuinely heavy. That clerk Chunsheng had managed to haul it onto the carriage all by himself; clearly, he was no ordinary mortal either. Li Banfeng carried the bed into the Portable Abode. The abode itself wasn't large—only six or seven square meters. Adding a five-foot-wide bed made the space a bit cramped. Next, he brought in the gramophone, wondering where to place it. Opposite the bed, so he could listen while lying down? Enjoying the lovely melody while watching the steam puff out did sound quite pleasant. However, once a record finished, he'd have to get out of bed to swap it. Once the two cups of water boiled off, he'd have to get out of bed to refill them. Constantly hopping out of bed while listening to music rather spoiled the mood. Li Banfeng set the gramophone right beside the bed. Lying there, he could simply reach out to change records, add water, extinguish the fire, or wind the crank—no need to get up at all. A fine plan. Settled, then. With the gramophone in place, he made the bed with the quilt and mattress, dusted everything with a feather duster, and folded the clothes from the shopkeeper neatly, setting them beside his backpack for now. There was still so much to furnish: he needed a wardrobe, a storage cabinet, a table, and chairs... His eyelids felt heavy; drowsiness was creeping in. After coming down the mountain, he and Xiaopang had rested at an inn for a day before returning to Ligou today. Dusk had only just settled, and night was barely falling. By rights, Li Banfeng shouldn't have felt this exhausted. Could some lingering poison still be in his system? That shouldn't be! Weren't Dwelling Cultivators supposed to have the fastest recovery rate? No matter how weary he felt, he still needed to see Xiaopang. In all the time he'd spent here, if anyone counted as Li Banfeng's friend, it was Qin Xiaopang. When he reached the steamed bun shop at the street corner, Qin Xiaopang was still gorging himself, steamer baskets stacked high beside his table. "What took you so long?" Xiaopang mumbled around a mouth full of buns. "Negotiating the price with Shopkeeper Feng." Li Banfeng pulled up a chair, sat down, and called out to the shopkeeper for two more baskets of buns. The bun shop was small, but the buns were exquisitely made. Filled with beef, a gentle bite and a slurp yielded a mouthful of savory broth. Paired with crushed garlic, it was authentic comfort food—simple and pure. Li Banfeng ordered a jug of wine. He didn't know what was good here, having never heard of any of the local brands, so he simply told the waiter to bring their best. Qin Xiaopang looked slightly pained. He hadn't sold his pills yet, so even wine from a bun shop felt like an extravagance to him. "Brother Qin, don't worry. This meal is on me." Li Banfeng poured a cup and took a sip. The liquor was fiery; he swirled it in his mouth for a good while before swallowing. Seeing Li Banfeng being so generous, Qin Xiaopang lowered his voice and asked, "What price did you let them go for?" Li Banfeng made a gesture. "Six thousand." There was no need to hide this from Qin Xiaopang. If he wanted to sell his goods to Shopkeeper Feng in the future, he'd likely get the same price. Hearing that, Qin Xiaopang shook his head repeatedly. "Brother Li, not to criticize, but you sold too low! These aren't ordinary goods. You really don't understand how things work around here." "How do they work?" With night fallen and no other customers in the shop, Qin Xiaopang dropped his voice to an absolute whisper. "Earlier, I ran into an acquaintance right here in this shop and probed him on the market rates. I actually managed to get the real scoop. "The wealthy families of Puluo Province buy pills by the hundreds and thousands every year. When year's end rolls around, they hand them out as rewards to clan juniors who've earned merits. "The members of those big clans bust their tails all year, all scrambling to grab a few more pills to advance their cultivation. But what if someone has no merits to their name? They have to pay top dollar to buy them on the open market. "Market prices are completely different from medicine shops. A medicine shop might sell them for ten thousand, but on the market, you won't find them for less than twelve thousand. Fifteen thousand, eighteen thousand, even twenty thousand isn't unheard of. Selling at six thousand was a flat-out loss!" Li Banfeng shook his head. "As long as they sell, they're cash. If they don't, what use are they sitting with me? I'm not missing a few days of cultivation, nor do I know any wealthy scions." Qin Xiaopang took a sip of wine. "How about this: once we rest up for a couple of days, I'll show you around Yaowanggou. We can't climb up to the outrageously rich, but I know plenty of young masters from moderately well-off households." Li Banfeng ate a bun and smiled. "I appreciate the thought, but tomorrow I'm heading back to Yuezhou." "Yuezhou?" Qin Xiaopang had never heard the name. "Yuezhou is a place in the Outer States. That's where I came from." "You're heading back? So soon?" Xiaopang looked a little downcast, but after eating two more buns, he seemed to come to terms with it. "Fair enough. You're from the Outer States, a man of the world. Of course you'd look down on a place like Puluo Province. "Someday, I want to go see the Outer States too. Such a great place—if I go my whole life without seeing it, I'll have lived for nothing." Such a great place? Was Yuezhou a great place? Li Banfeng did think Yuezhou was fine, but if pressed to explain what made it so good, he couldn't quite put it into words. They ate until the bun shop closed, and there they parted ways. Qin Xiaopang said, "You know where I live. Next time you come to Puluo Province, you'd better look me up." As the alcohol took effect, combined with the heavy exhaustion weighing on his body, Li Banfeng lay down on the bed, ready to sleep. Yet lying there, he felt like he'd left something undone. Hadn't he walked twenty li today? He had. Then what was left to do? Li Banfeng propped himself up, fetched the crank, slotted it into the gramophone, and wound it tight. So that was what was missing: some bedtime music. He carefully chose a record, which came in a cardstock sleeve printed with a colorful cover. On the cover was a spray of red and yellow blossoms, with an elegantly dancing woman in a long gown at their center. Li Banfeng slid out the vinyl, placed it on the turntable, and flipped the switch. Amidst a crackle of background noise, a lovely melody rang out: *The south wind brings a cool breeze!* *The nightingale sings a tender tune!* *Beneath the moon, all flowers dream,* *Only the night-blooming jasmine breathes its perfume!* *Night-Blooming Jasmine*! He had heard the song before, but never had he liked it as much as tonight. Before the track even finished, Li Banfeng had drifted off into dreamland. He had chosen the wind-up spring rather than the steam engine because he knew he might fall asleep at any second. A spring didn't require worrying about putting out a fire, allowing Li Banfeng to fall asleep without a care in the world. *"I sing for you, I yearn for you, night-blooming jasmine—"* The song ended. The needle reached the inner groove. The mainspring wound down completely, and the gramophone fell silent. Inside the pitch-black Portable Abode, nothing could be heard except Li Banfeng's steady, deep breathing. *Splish, splash...* A faint trickle of water came from the gramophone, as though someone were pouring water into its horn. *Ssscch!* A match was struck, lighting the candle wick inside the fuel tank. *Chhh... chhh... chhh...* Puffs of white steam billowed from the small horn on the right, and the turntable slowly began to revolve once more. The needle was shifted back to the start. Amidst the hiss and crackle of the background, song poured from the gramophone once again: *"To the ends of the earth, to the edge of the sea,* *Seeking, searching for a soulmate to be.* *The maiden sings while the lad plays the tune,* *Our hearts beat as one beneath the bright moon!"* The sweet singing echoed softly through the Portable Abode. *Hiss... hiss...* The bronze lotus slowly unfurled its petals, and a miniature whirlwind stirred from within its core. The gust swept past the gramophone, causing the song to warble slightly out of tune. After a dozen seconds or so, the singing smoothed out and regained its steady pitch. The petals of the bronze lotus quivered a few times, then folded back shut. The gramophone continued to sing its sweet, melodic tune: *"In this life of ours, who doesn't hold youth dear?* *The maiden is the thread, the lad is the needle sheer,* *Stitched together forever, never to sever!"* Cradled by the music, Li Banfeng slept deeply, a faint, contented smile gracing his face.