Great Tang Idyll

Among the surrounding people, there was more than this one person who was worried--others were worried too. If too much was added to their backpacks, they wouldn't be able to carry it. It would take them about half a month to travel the arranged distance, so no matter how they packed their bags, it would not be enough.

"I brought it, but the shovel is useless. The wild vegetables can't be eaten anymore; chewing on them is like chewing wood." The person who had spoken earlier nodded quickly and took out the shovel, which was inspired by Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan, from his backpack. They each had one now.

"That's good. Don't worry about anything else. Did all of you bring salt?" Li Xun asked about another item.

Everyone nodded together. Blankets, salt, shovel, bowls, lime power, fire ignitor, rope, and extendable poles have become their must-have items. They still brought all of these items with them even if it meant that they had to sacrifice some of the food they carried. If they didn't, it would be easy for accidents to occur. They also brought a spare pair of shoes that had small bumps on the bottom side.

"Then there's no need to be afraid. I have brought a little more than everyone else this time--- I have a small canister of vegetable oil. When the time comes, I can share some with everyone. Don't blame yourself though, you didn't know about this beforehand." Li Xun only told them that they had to bring the items, but he didn't tell them what the items were used for.

Everyone really wanted to know, but they didn't dare to ask, so they could only keep these words in their mind and wait until the time came. They added water to the dried noodles and Li Xun and the others continued their journey after eating. They didn't wait for others at all.

When the other people saw that the Emperor's nephew had left, they followed suit. Fortunately, what they ate could be held in their hands and they didn't need to squat down in an area to eat.

*

Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan changed out of their pretty but cumbersome clothing. Under the protection of a few people, they climbed up a nearby mountain.

They had no idea what the place was like before arriving. After they made a few turns, they saw the built pavilion on the small path and a small observational tower. Only then did they realize that quite a few scholars were there. Perhaps, people's inspiration for poetry was in full swing during autumn and anyone who arrived at the pavilion and tower left behind poems.

When there was no place left to write, people deliberately hung pieces of white paper there to allow people to write more. Some people even had their brush dipped in ink before realizing that the paper was occupied by another person so they had no choice but to wait.

"Xiao'bao, look, this poem is well written. Today is late autumn, I'm here to climb the mountain. The poultry is also climbing, ducks idling on a cliff. This person must sing very well, e i e i o1."

Wang Juan looked at the chicken scratch writing and said to Zhang Xiao'bao with a flushed face.

"Mmm, not bad. It's a good poem." Zhang Xiao'bao also praised it.

"So this Young Master and Young Miss also think that I, Mister Wang, have written a good poem? I really feel grateful."

As soon as Zhang Xiao'bao's finished speaking, a person next to him who was about to write a poem replied to them. The two of them were surprised to actually encounter the writer of the poem.

Wang Juan's mouth moved, "Xiao'bao, remember to remind me in the future to write my last name upside down. I don't want to be like him."

"Alright. I'm lucky though. If he had the surname Zhang, then I would have to split up my last name and write them separately, with the ‘Zh' on top and ‘ang' at the bottom.2 " Zhang Xiaobao expressed his sympathy.

After this person finished saying his sentence, it seemed like he wanted to say more. He stopped and said, "Then do you two know what my poem means?"

He didn't belittle the two children because of their young age and treated them as someone who he could speak on the same level with.

Wang Juan looked at Zhang Xiao'bao and gave him a meaningful look. Zhang Xiao'bao curled his lips and said, "According to my guess, this is a poem that shows concerns about the world. From the last line, ‘a duck idling on a cliff', one can tell that when a duck stands on the edge of a cliff, one would worry about it falling off. If even a duck is treated this way, then how about a person? "

"That's not right. My poem is about reminiscing about the past. This young miss here, you explain it." This person didn't intend to let Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan go that easily. He shook his head and looked at Wang Juan with anticipation.

Wang Juan had no choice but to force herself to come up with an answer. She stared at the top of the ‘poem', trying to make up an explanation related to nostalgia.

"Oh~! I know, there must be ducks in your house. During autumn, you miss your home so you climbed up the mountain, and you happened to encounter other people's ducks so you thought of how your home is at the edge of the ocean, while you are near the cliff. You have ducks at home, and there are ducks here too, so you feel nostalgic, right?"

Wang Juan held back for a while, and finally said her words.

The man nodded, "Mmm, although you're not correct, you are not far from the answer. When I saw the ducks, I thought, ‘why aren't you a wild duck? That way, you can fly farther away. Could it be that you want to jump off the cliff and then then fly up? If I I had wings, I would fly home to have a look'."

"Wait. Based on my observation of you two, you two seem to be quite good, so how could you not express any sentimental statements? For example, something about your past. Whether it was last year or this year. How about you leave some writing behind for people to read later on?"

This person stopped Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan again, and insisted on getting them to write something sentimental.

"Juan'juan, write something. There's really no other way. Just write something down so that we can leave." Zhang Xiao'bao let Wang Juan come forward this time. His writing ability was better than this person, but he didn't practice enough.

"O... okay." Wang Juan ran over to this person to take his brush. She spread the paper on the stone table, but when she was about to write, she said, "I don't know how to write poems, so I'll just write something funny but sentimental, absolutely sentimental."

While Wang Juan was talking, she wrote in willow style3. The strength of her wrist hadn't been developed yet, so her brush strokes were a little too soft. After writing, she threw the brush aside and pulled Zhang Xiao'bao and ran away.

After the two people left, this man smiled and went over to see what Wang Juan wrote, ‘La la la, you are the wind, I am sand.'

"Hehe, the little child is indeed a little child, her writing is so fun." This person laughed aloud when he saw the first few words, and the person next to him came over curiously and read it aloud, "La la la, you are the wind, I am sand. Blowing across a layer of lily pads, occasionally smiling, flowers falling."

The person next to him looked at the words written on the paper, then looked at the person surnamed Wang, then laughed twice. He didn't say anything, and just left.

"Young Master Wang, I wonder if you can give this piece of paper to me?" Just as Wang was pondering what Wang Juan had written, a person who had just arrived came closer, glanced at the words, and spoke to him.

"This……."

"Young Master Wang, I have a hundred coins here; I can use it to exchange for the writing in your hands. How about I give you another one hundred coins for the one you're about to write?" The man immediately added in.

"Okay." Wang didn't try to negotiate. Seeing that he was going to earn 200 coins, he wrote another one and he even wrote down another copy of Wang Juan's poem and he sold it to this person.

This person took the paper, turned around and walked away in a hurry. After walking a short distance, he instructed the person that he encountered. "Go, send this to my lord quickly and tell him this was written by the Wang manor's little girl."

The other person agreed, carefully putting the writing away. He then turned and ran off. The person took out Wang's writing, glanced at it, and cursed to himself, "Meaningless dog fart."

He crumpled the paper, and tossed it into the mouth of a toad carved from wood that was actually just a trash can.

A man on the road carried a basket on his back and held a broom in his hand as he swept the branches and pebbles on the ground. He glanced at this person, then glanced at the direction the other person left in. He swept the ground under his feet at a comfortable pace, then he turned to walk in a different direction. Right after the turn, he suddenly accelerated his pace.

*

"It's too scary. Later, we should make a detour so that we don't encounter him again. I now know not to talk nonsense again." Wang Juan, who ran all the way to the top of the mountain with Zhang Xiaobao, said with lingering fear in her heart.

"Mmm, he's too persistent. I hope that he is not taking the imperial examination for the Jin'shi subject. His calligraphy is terrible. Hmm, standing here and looking down, it really is a nice open space, but the place has not been repaired, and there is only a platform without any fences. If someone falls, that would be horrible."

Zhang Xiao'bao opened his arms, feeling the blowing wind. He looked at the scenery below, and said happily.

Wang Juan replied, "Yes, once the fence is finished, we also need to add two nets underneath. I'm afraid that someone will stand on the fence to experience the exhilarating feelings of being up high. Unfortunately, there aren't good steel cables here, otherwise we can make a zipline. That would be so fun."

"Okay, let's go. Let's leave the mountain and get rid of the people tailing us. Let's see how the lake is being made." Zhang Xiao'bao whispered. He pulled Wang Juan down another road, and the people protecting them continued to follow behind.

Descending the mountain took a longer time since there were no large roads, and was bumpy. The stairs were carved out from the mountain, and there was only a rope as a safety precaution.

When they arrived at the bottom of the mountain, there were three carriages parked side by side waiting to escort passengers. The guards first surrounded the three carriages and waited for Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan to get in, and then they quickly escorted one of the carriage to the Administrative office.

As soon as the carriage left, two people climbed into the second carriage, and ordered the coachman to go to the same place.

Once the second carriage left, the remaining carriage turned around, the horse trotted away towards a lake over there.

After about a quarter of an hour, the third carriage stopped and the carriage door opened. Zhang Xiao'bao and Wang Juan came out from the inside. There was water in the lake already and they were still building the surrounding dam. Holding each other's hands, they ran over there together.

"Good. Once the dam is completed, they can dig a canal to connect it to Little Luo'shui. It will be much easier to come here next summer." Wang Juan was standing in the pavilion by the lake as she made plans.

"Mmm, yes. There are no springs on the mountain though, otherwise, we could have connected it to a small river, so that the gifted scholars and beautiful maidens can hold a winding stream party4." Zhang Xiao'bao felt that it was a slight pity.

Translator's Notes

1. A duck idling on a cliff, e i e i o 一鸭一崖悠 (yi ya yi ya you)， 咿呀咿呀哟 (yi ya yi ya you)

In Chinese, "a duck idling on a cliff" is pronounced similar to "yi ya yi ya you", which is the Chinese equivalent of "e i e i o" in the nursery rhyme, Old MacDonald Had A Farm.

2. The surnames Wang and Zhang

The joke here is that when Wang Juan's surname 王 is written upside down, it would look the same. This doesn't work for Zhang Xiao'bao's surname, 张， so Xiao'bao suggests splitting the character into two: 弓 (meaning bow) and 长 （meaning grow), and then placing 弓 on top of 长 to form a non-existent character.

3. Willow style calligraphy 柳体

This is a calligraphy style that appeared during late Tang Dynasty. It is characterized by having brush strokes that are thin, clean and stiff.

4. Winding stream party 曲水流觞

This is an old Chinese custom in which the participants wait by a winding stream and compose poems before their cups full of rice wine float down to reach them (Wiki)