“I’ll check tomorrow to see if there are any more job notices that I can accept. If there’s one available, I’ll bring it back,” Heroine Wu said. “If we accept a new job before the reward for the previous one is given, the county official will surely be shocked. Haha...”
“Do you need me to accompany you?”
“It’s up to you...” Heroine Wu thought for a moment and then continued, “You earn money for your brains, I earn money for hard work. You handle the methods, I handle the information. You do your part, I do mine. I usually pass by the city gate often. If you'll only feel at ease by seeing it for yourself, or if you'd feel awkward not going with me, you're welcome to come along with me.”
“Sorry for the trouble, Heroine Wu.”
“Not at all. I’m naturally restless,” Heroine Wu replied. “But it’s good if you come with me. That way we can discuss and decide on the spot, so we don’t lose out to someone else.”
“I can accept any job.”
“You’re impressive...”
“I heard the apricot blossoms outside the city have bloomed recently?”
“Yes, but it’s outside the east gate. You can go see for yourself; there should be many people there, just follow the crowd,” Heroine Wu said. “I’m too busy, and flowers and plants don’t interest me much.”
“Then I’ll go check it out.”
“Clang, clang, clang...” The sound of the curfew gong echoed in the air.
Unlike the Eastern District, the Western District wasn’t as bustling, and the people there weren’t as leisurely. Everyone was tired from the day and went home early to rest, so the streets were already deserted.
The Daoist and the heroine, who had been chatting while cooling off at the door, also got up and took their stools inside.
“By the way!” Heroine Wu suddenly stopped. “That day, didn’t I find two or three job notices? Today, we’ve only dealt with one out of the two. I remember there was another one about a mountain outside the city where mountain demons have been causing trouble, attacking passersby and merchants, and consuming quite a few people. I’ll check tomorrow to see if anyone has accepted it.”
“Thank you for your hard work.”
“If it hasn’t been accepted, should I take it on?”
“Just mountain demons?”
“Yes, mountain demons. They’re not hard to deal with, but the mountain is very large, and they can hide well, so they’re hard to find. Soldiers, hunters, and people from the jianghu have all tried to hunt them down, but they’re quite clever.” Heroine Wu glanced at him. “Do you have any ability to sniff out demons by their scent?”
“No.”
“Then...”
“Maybe we can try other methods.”
“Alright! It’s settled then!”
“If there’s nothing available, choose another one, preferably a challenging one.”
“Get some rest.”
Heroine Wu picked up her stool and went inside.
As the sound of the curfew gong faded, the city was locked up tight. Song You, unhurried, prepared some flour and kneaded a dough, then he started a fire and cooked a pan of pancakes to eat.
***
His dinner was just this pan of pancakes, and breakfast would be the same.
Although he had slept from morning until dusk and went to bed very late the night before, the Daoist was in good spirits. He kept the door open, ate his pancakes, and watched the people coming and going on the street.
The calico cat came down from upstairs again. “Daoist priest, are you going outside the city to see the apricot dossoms today?”
“Apricot blossoms.”
“Apricot blossoms!”
“Yes.”
“I will go with you.” The calico cat jumped up onto the table and stared at him.
“I naturally would like to have you accompany me,” Song You said, making eye contact with her as he ate his pancakes. “But since you’ve been out at night and resting during the day ever since you started catching mice in the Eastern District, your routine has... Well, I’m not sure if it’s reversed or just returned to normal. In any case, you must have stayed up all night, right?”
The mountain with the best apricot blossoms was named Mount Chang, and it was the highest mountain seen from the city gate. The distance from Changjing to Mount Chang was over twenty li.
People who left the city early to enjoy the spring and the flowers would leisurely walk to Mount Chang, setting up a picnic on a patch of grass at noon and having a meal. They would admire the flowers while reciting poetry. By the afternoon, they would return to Changjing, enjoying a beautiful day of the era.
Because the literati and scholars of Changjing all loved to go to Mount Chang to view the flowers, the previous dynasty had allocated funds to build steps, long corridors, and pavilions on Mount Chang to make it easier for everyone to climb and rest.
As the Daoist walked, he saw countless flowers and plants, and the surrounding slopes were filled with peach and apricot blossoms. But when he reached the foot of Mount Chang and looked up, he realized that the apricot blossoms he had seen before were sparse and ordinary in comparison, and understood why so many people from Changjing traveled such a distance to see them.
“Have we arrived?” The cat's voice was very soft, as if afraid of being overheard.
“We’re here.”
“Let me down.”
“Aren’t you tired?”
“I want to see the flowers too!”
“Alright.”
The Daoist set the cat down. It seemed that either from being tired or from curling up in the bag for so long, the cat wobbled a few steps after touching the ground.
The Daoist shook his head and smiled, then continued up the mountain.
Mount Chang was steep and perilous, forming a natural barrier for Changjing. Beyond this mountain, troops were stationed on the mountains behind. The mountain was so steep that only monkeys might manage to climb it.
The rocky cliffs were exposed, yet the mountain peaks were covered in blooming apricot flowers despite their danger. There were so many flowers, in clusters after clusters, turning the rolling mountain ranges into a sea of white and pink.
It was hard for those who had never seen it to imagine this scenery.
Throughout history, countless soldiers had fought and fallen here in wars, many of whom had tumbled down the cliffs. Yet, on this land tainted with blood and countless buried bones, such beautiful flowers had bloomed.
A long corridor wound from the base of the mountain up to its midsection and descended from another side.
Along the path, people were admiring the flowers, composing poetry, painting, drinking, and chatting. Some were carrying baskets of cooked food, tirelessly moving up and down the mountain to sell to those who were simply strolling around.
People came here, and so did demons.
Some people played with the calico cat, while others invited the Daoist to drink. And some tried to stop him to ask him to tell fortunes.
The calico cat was incredibly sleepy, yawning as it walked, swaying unsteadily but still stubbornly trying to stay awake.
***
In a pavilion halfway up the mountain, someone was preparing to paint.
The woman holding the brush was wearing a veil, which served both to cover her face and to protect her from the sun. Many wealthy young ladies traveling outside did the same. With a maid and a retinue by her side, she had spread out her drawing paper on a stone table in the pavilion, and had already prepared ink, inkstone, and paints.
She initially intended to paint the nearby scene—the pavilion's columns and eaves, along with a protruding apricot blossom, which would have been lovely. However, an inadvertent glance led her eyes to something else—a young Daoist and a calico cat.
The calico cat had a thin red string around its neck with a small wooden ornament hanging from it, making it look particularly well-behaved.
The Daoist walked slowly, seemingly to accommodate the cat beside him. The cat, appearing still half-asleep, wobbled unsteadily and swayed with every step. It yawned frequently, yet it followed the Daoist closely.
Whenever the Daoist moved, the cat moved with him. When the Daoist stopped to admire the flowers, the cat squatted down as well, looking up with him.
The pair—one man and one cat—walked past the edge of the pavilion and continued farther away. It was unclear what the people there might have said to them, perhaps advising them to rest a bit.
Thus, without much fuss, the Daoist and the cat sat down on the stone steps of the mountain right under a protruding apricot branch. They had their backs to the pavilion, and not too close.
From the woman's vantage point, she could only see their backs.
The Daoist wore an old Daoist robe, but old clothes suited him well, making him appear most natural. The calico cat sat upright next to him, its tail wrapped around his feet. Although there was a slight distance between them, the cat could not help but lean against the Daoist with its body leaning to one side as it was overcome by sleepiness.
A breeze blew, causing petals to fall. The cat was alternately attracted by the bees, gazing up at the flower petals drifting down from the sky, and then nuzzling against the Daoist’s side.
To anyone observing, it all appeared naturally harmonious. The woman holding the brush fell silent, in awe of the scene before her.