Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 201 Returning Sister's Delay
The rain continued incessantly.

Lu Xingzhou huddled in a mountain cave, lit a fire, and roasted sweet potatoes with A Nuo.

Ye Tinglan leaned against the cave wall, closed her eyes to rest, and ignored everything else.

Ah Nu sniffled and muttered, "Not as good as Ah Yi. She can at least help a little."

Lu Xingzhou shushed him, and Anuo covered her mouth.

Older women are not to be offended.

Putting everything else aside, if it weren't for the old woman, everyone would have been fighting a bloody battle all the way after leaving the capital.

While in the capital, things seemed safe because the Huo family or the Prince of Jin dared not cause trouble for fear of public criticism; they were essentially dancing with their heads on their shoulders. Once they left the capital, the world was in turmoil, and no one cared how they died.

One of the main reasons Lu Xingzhou was willing to leave so quietly was to avoid being targeted. Since he wasn't yet a third-rank cultivator and couldn't fly, and was still traveling in a wheelchair at a very slow speed, he was an easy target for assassination.

The Lady Ye in my heart is a first-rank official, but the other side's power is several first-rank officials combined.

Moreover, Madam Ye's suicide by assassins in the previous battle lowered Lu Xingzhou's opinion of her. It seems she still has the old problem of being a pill alchemist: she looks strong, but she's not good enough in actual combat...

Even if it's not top-tier, it's still a first-rank official. If you don't want to be hacked to death by a bunch of axemen, you'd better obediently flatter them.

We passed through a town on the way, and I wanted to go in and find an inn to stay overnight, but the old woman refused, saying we should hurry on our journey. So I had no choice but to continue flying in my wheelchair. As a result, it started raining heavily at night, and the visibility ahead was too low to travel at night. So I had to land in the mountains and find a cave to spend the night.

They could have stayed at an inn before... Ah Nuo's face was almost overflowing with resentment.

If we hadn't brought some sweet potatoes with us, we wouldn't have anything to eat right now.

"Ahem." Lu Xingzhou took a roasted sweet potato and brought it to Ye Tinglan's side: "Would you like some, sir? It'll have to do with what you have."

Ye Tinglan didn't even open her eyes: "I don't need to eat."

“I can also go without food for many days… but as a human being, I still have basic habits, and my appetite is still there.” Lu Xingzhou was trying to get information out of this gentleman to find out how old he was.

Shen Tang and Pei Chuyun both entered the third rank by his side, and afterwards they still ate as usual. Pei Chuyun even fought with A Nuo for a steamed bun.

Only through long enough cultivation can one gradually lose these human habits... This gentleman is very likely over a hundred years old.

Ye Tinglan did not answer, but said, "There are only a few sweet potatoes, you and Anuo can eat them by yourselves."

"Don't you think it smells delicious?"

"It doesn't smell like a medicinal pill," Ye Tinglan said. "You have time to roast sweet potatoes, so you might as well refine a pill."

What a boring old woman.

Lu Xingzhou was supposed to be cultivating during this time anyway, so he didn't need her to tell him. But people are strange creatures; even if they wanted to cultivate themselves, they wouldn't want to if their teacher sternly ordered them to.

Lu Xingzhou sat down next to her, peeling sweet potatoes and eating them with relish, letting out satisfied sighs.

Ye Tinglan opened her eyes, both amused and exasperated: "Aren't you childish?"

"Let's chat," Lu Xingzhou said. "The master only told me to go west, but he hasn't said where he plans to go yet."

"I also need to perform divination and determine the location. Anyway, the direction is west, which is good for you, isn't it? Don't you yourself yearn to return to Danxia Mountain?"

“Yes. I’ve been away for four months and I’m very curious about the sect.” Lu Xingzhou said, “Although you always regard me as the King of Hell, my sect is actually the Heavenly Sword Sect. I hope you will change your mind in the future.”

“What guest retainer has this sense of belonging? If you had a formal position, outsiders would perceive you differently. So why doesn’t Shen Tang give you a formal position?”

Lu Xingzhou laughed and said, "I'm still their landlord, why would I need a job? Let's just consider me a partner. Shouldn't partners feel a sense of belonging?"

The reason for not giving them formal positions is, of course, to avoid clearly establishing a "superior-subordinate relationship," which would be objectionable to those who are more traditional when it comes to dating. The current system is much better; it allows for a "superior-subordinate" dynamic, but it's not a true superior-subordinate relationship that's easy to explain to others. If the sect leader and the landlord get together, who cares?

However, Ah Tang's academic performance was too good, so there was no joke.

"Partner..." Ye Tinglan's expression turned somewhat strange.

If Shen Tang's goal is the throne, do you know the value of a partner?
Back then, the partners of the Gu family's ancestors were from the Tianyao Holy Land.

Lu Xingzhou has always had a high mindset... not at all like what outsiders think, joining the Heavenly Sword Sect.

“Here…” Lu Xingzhou still picked off a small piece of sweet potato and held it to Ye Tinglan’s lips.

It really smells delicious...

Wearing a veil, Ye Tinglan looked at the sweet potato so close to her, and hesitated slightly.

“Sir, you’re worrying too much.” Lu Xingzhou sighed. “Can’t you be a decent human being?”

Why did you say something so nice but sound so off? Ye Tinglan took the sweet potato with a annoyance: "You're the one who doesn't know how to behave."

As she spoke, she lifted a corner of her veil and quickly stuffed a sweet potato into her red lips.

I've seen her red lips before when I've seen her drink water, but seeing them flash by now makes them look especially alluring.

Perhaps it was because of the torrential rain outside, while the campfire inside the cave was warm and the beautiful woman was as lovely as jade. Ye Tinglan never expected that this guy could be so distracted by eating, and quickly said with a straight face: "Alright, you've finished eating. Go do what you need to do. I'll do some divination."

Lu Xingzhou tilted his head and looked at her for a while. "Actually, you really want to be a human being, don't you..."

What makes you feel so repressed when you're showing off?
He didn't say much, but stood up and laughed, "Then I'll go cultivate. Speaking of which, you could also teach Ah Nuo how to divine."

Ye Tinglan said with a straight face, "I am just a teacher at the Pill Academy, mentoring alchemy apprentices. I am not a real master. Other skills are irrelevant to me."

Ah Nu hugged her knees and said, "I don't like learning it yet. Master's divination skills are definitely not very good, at least not as good as alchemy."

"?" Ye Tinglan chuckled: "Goading won't work, little thing."

It wasn't a provocation; you can't even tell you're going to be a concubine. A'nuo turned to look at Ye Tinglan again, but unfortunately, she was covered up too much and couldn't see anything.

"Trying to divine my fate again?" Ye Tinglan laughed. "How about this, you divine the fortunes of our trip, and I'll see just how good your divination skills really are."

You said that reverse psychology doesn't work, so what are you doing now?
Ah Nuo thought to herself, reached out and grabbed a handful of copper coins, tossed them aside, looked at the hexagrams on the ground and did some calculations with her fingers, then her little face suddenly looked a bit unpleasant.

Ye Tinglan laughed and said, "What, have you figured it out?"

“Zhen above, Dui below, the Gui Mei hexagram.” Anuo felt a chill in her heart. On the surface, the Gui Mei hexagram is related to marriage, but in reality, it can refer to many things. If interpreted from the perspective of “the fortune or misfortune of this journey,” it is an ominous hexagram.

Gui Mei: An expedition will bring misfortune; nothing will be gained.

When heaven and earth do not interact, all things will not flourish.

Compared to the "Gradual Progress" hexagram, which is also related to marriage, the auspiciousness is much worse. "Wild geese gradually approaching the land" sounds nice, but this one talks about "returning maiden," yet everything fails to thrive.

Ye Tinglan glanced at it, but didn't care, and smiled, "We can do another hexagram divination."

Ah Nuo carefully calculated for a long time, then scratched her head: "The ninth day."

The ninth day. A younger sister is married off to her brother; a lame woman can walk; an expedition is auspicious.

Suddenly it turned into an auspicious hexagram!

So what's the point of fortune telling? Good and bad fortune keep changing, and there's always a reason behind it.

This divination would have been quite appropriate a few months ago; even a lame person could walk, which would have been perfect for the Master. Now that the Master is no longer lame, what does this divination mean?
And the character 娣 has two interpretations. It can mean a concubine, or it can mean someone who brings their younger sister as part of their dowry.

What does it mean to be placed here...? What about the good or bad omens I calculated?
Ye Tinglan said coldly, "What nonsense are you spouting? When you were doing your divination, were you thinking about good or bad fortune, or were you just daydreaming about other things?"

Ah Nuo was still scratching her head, unsure.

"Forget it," Ye Tinglan said. "You're not really suited for divination... It's not that you lack talent, but rather that your mind is restless and insincere, too impulsive. Learning it for fun is fine, but if you study it seriously, you might get scammed."

Ah Nuo said, "I was just playing around with it. My master doesn't like this, so I'm too lazy to learn it."

Ye Tinglan glanced at Lu Xingzhou but said nothing. Many cultivators disliked divination, which she understood, but divination was not the opportunistic, seductive, and self-destructive practice that its opponents perceived it to be.

In many cases, it's just a guide or hint for a confused mind, or simply psychological comfort.

She secretly did the math herself.

This hexagram is a bit strange... it seems to be constantly changing, or perhaps many of the hexagram lines match up.

Such a changeable hexagram shouldn't normally appear on the Gui Mei hexagram, which should be quite stable... It's Lu Xingzhou who has some issues; the hexagrams involving him are often ambiguous and subject to many changes, making them difficult for ordinary people to interpret.

For example, Ah Nuo's calculation of the ninth day was not wrong... it meant that someone would help, so it was auspicious.

As for taking a concubine? Bringing a younger sister as part of the dowry? That's ridiculous.

The six lines rotate, eventually settling on the fourth line (94).

The maiden's return is delayed; her late return may be inevitable.

The will to break the deadline must be carried out in due course.

That's right... In terms of predicting fortune, this is guidance not to be impatient, but to wait for the right opportunity. Although it may cause delays, the right opportunity will still come. This aligns perfectly with the goals and predictions of this trip, and the guidance not to be impatient is the value of divination.

It seems my original plan to return in January was too early; the timeframe might have to be extended...

It's not about marriage. An old woman doesn't get married; she waits until she's old just to find the right man.

Who calculated this?

Lu Xingzhou watched for a long time, but still couldn't understand this mess, so he asked, "Sir, what do you think?"

“Of course it’s an auspicious hexagram.” Ye Tinglan explained roughly: “You are also a Daoist cultivator, so you can’t be completely ignorant of hexagrams. This divination isn’t very in-depth; it’s just a basic one. You can learn it too, at least you should understand the concept.”

"I understand the basic concepts." Lu Xingzhou looked at the mess and thought to himself that it was too troublesome. He knew a similar divination text that was concise and easy to understand: "A withered poplar blossoms."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

P.S.: The new volume is also released on the last day of this month. Does everyone still have any monthly passes left?
(End of this chapter)