Green Mountain-Chapter 730 - 584: Paths Walked and Delicacies Tasted

The seventh day of the ninth month, two days before the Double Ninth Festival.

Before dawn, Chen Ji lay awake, contemplating the events of the previous day. He couldn't understand why Bai Li had gone to the City God Temple, nor what had occurred there, only that when Bai Li emerged, she seemed like a different person.

Chen Ji then heard a grand copper bell ringing in the distance.

Accompanying the bell was the chanting of dozens of monks, enveloping him in a dream-like state, as if a Buddhist kingdom had descended.

Perplexed, Chen Ji got up, dressed, and stepped out of the small courtyard.

He stood at the entrance of Shaojiu Alley, looking outwards. In the morning mist, he saw a procession of monks carrying a solemn statue of the Buddha, moving along the street by the Jade River in the dawn's light.

Eighty-one monks, dressed in gray robes with one shoulder exposed, carried the enormous Sumeru Base. Beside the base, one monk held a copper bell in his left hand and incense in his right.

The scene felt familiar to Chen Ji… When he first arrived in the Ning Dynasty, it was also the eve of the Double Ninth Festival, and a Bodhisattva had once paraded through the city past the Taiping Medical Hall on Anxi Street.

Back then, he had not yet met the Commandery Princess and the Princely Heir, nor had anyone sewn six golden melon seeds into his sleeve. At that time, Yun Yang and Jiao Tu were plotting to kill him, his life hanging by a thread. Liu Quxing was still competing with him in medical skills, and She Dengke was secretly in love with Chunhua.

It turned out that he had been in the Ning Dynasty for a whole year.

Footsteps sounded behind Chen Ji.

He turned around and saw Bai Li, who had changed out of her Daoist robe into a white dress, with the red jade pendant still at her collar.

Just then, the procession outside Shaojiu Alley passed by. The monks leading the way struck their hands together, incense and copper bells clashing to produce brilliant sparks and a crisp sound, the bell's echo lingering, sparks shooting skyward.

Eighty-one monks lowered their eyes, reciting: "…all dharmas are void of intrinsic existence, neither arising nor ceasing, neither defiled nor pure, neither increasing nor decreasing, thus in voidness, there is no form, no sensation, thought, action, or consciousness…"

Amidst the grand chanting, Chen Ji felt momentarily disoriented, as if the sound carried him back in time, to when he saw the girl sitting atop the wall.

Bai Li walked closer, waving a hand in front of him: "What, don't recognize me?"

Chen Ji snapped back to reality, smiling: "You suit this attire better, the Daoist robe was too plain for you."

Bai Li looked down at herself, spinning once in front of Chen Ji: "Xiao Man had never seen me before, yet the clothes she prepared are almost identical to my past ones, not even the size is off… Did you instruct her?"

After a moment of silence, Chen Ji changed the subject: "Are we going to Tianqiao again today?"

Bai Li grabbed his wrist and started walking out: "Yes, to Tianqiao, to see if they perform the blindfolded flying knife act today."

Chen Ji let Bai Li lead him south, not questioning why she would retrace her steps from the day before.

...

...

Zhengyang Gate Street was exceptionally lively today.

Baskets selling Cornelian lined up closely, strings of red Cornelian fruits were inserted in straw targets. Purchasers pinned them to their lapels for good fortune.

The alcohol ban was lifted as well.

Under gray-tiled eaves, crowds gathered around the chrysanthemum wine stalls. An old man with a big ladle scooped pale yellow wine from a vat into the wine gourds of customers. The aroma wafted far, enticing passersby to sniff.

Near Tianqiao, crowds swelled; with the Double Ninth Festival approaching, the streets were bustling with festival-goers, shoulder to shoulder.

When Master Zhou, the flying knife performer, saw Bai Li again, he widened his eyes, pointing at her in exasperation: "You… you little girl, how dare you show your face here again?" 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Yet Bai Li stood righteously among the crowd, as if she weren't the one who took back the silver yesterday and ran: "I've come to see if you'll perform the blindfolded flying knife today."

Master Zhou, in front of the audience, couldn't say more, so he greeted the elders and villagers, procedurally starting the Nine Stars Surrounding the Moon act.

Near the end, he repeated his old trick, collecting money while blindfolded. But after receiving the money, he unabashedly began the Nine Stars Surrounding the Moon act again.

This time, Bai Li's eyes gleamed with mischief as she clasped and unclasped her hands behind her back.

When Master Zhou's knife flew, it circled in mid-air without landing.

The audience cheered, thinking they'd finally seen a true Tianqiao skill, but Master Zhou broke into a cold sweat, fearing the knife might land wrongly.

He quickly addressed the crowd, saying, "I apologize for my lack of awareness, not recognizing the presence of a master. As a newcomer to this valued place, I've already paid respects to the Three Mountains Association, I hope you'll spare me and not tease me further."

As his words fell, the knife struck the wooden target, and Bai Li, with a triumphant expression, pulled Chen Ji's wrist and left: "Serves him right for cheating people every day!"

She then took Chen Ji to watch a magic show, where an old man, under everyone's gaze, made three apples disappear, then reappear under the same watchful eyes. He made them vanish again, only for them to come back as three pears.

The audience cheered repeatedly at the back-and-forth performance.

After the old man finished, he instructed his apprentice to collect money with a copper gong, loudly promising to reveal the trick once enough money was gathered.

Bai Li tossed a broken silver piece in eagerly, but after the money was collected, the old man brazenly performed the same trick without mentioning the explanation.

Bai Li pursed her lips and whispered to Chen Ji, "Why are all the performances at Tianqiao full of tricks to deceive people?"

Chen Ji laughed: "These are their skills for earning a living. If they explained everything every day, they'd soon have nothing left to live on."

Bai Li complained: "But people won't always be fooled by them."

Chen Ji explained: "Tianqiao is always bustling with people who haven't seen the tricks before."

When the old man performed the magic again, Bai Li clasped and unclasped her hand, and the apples that had vanished wouldn't reappear.