It came to pass that Li Tongyan and Li Yunping slipped into the reeds, parting layer upon layer of withered grass to peer ahead. The bluish-gray ancient mirror glimmered with a faint, warm light. Yunping glanced at the direction and whispered:
"That's the way to Yingyue Lake. Follow the Guyun Road for half an hour and you'll reach it."
Li Tongyan shook his head. "The Guyun Road won't do. We'll cut straight through the reed marsh."
Yunping gave a low acknowledgment and followed his elder brother, ducking low as they pressed forward.
Lu Chenyuan felt the pull growing ever stronger. The deeper they ventured into the marsh, the brighter his mind's eye became, and a hazy image materialized before him—a cool, transparent lake, and a dozen white gulls standing on one leg along the shore, resting.
As Yunping pressed on, the bluish-gray mirror in his hand grew hotter and hotter, making his heart sink with unease. He glanced up at his second brother, but Tongyan only kept a cold face and said nothing, though his eyes were filled with worry.
"The secrets of the immortals are not for mortal eyes to glimpse..." Yunping murmured, caressing the mirror, oblivious to its scalding heat.
"Good mirror, dear mirror, we'll be there soon." He cradled the bluish-gray treasure and muttered to himself.
Before long, the two pushed through the dense reed marsh and emerged. The glittering waters of Yingyue Lake sprang into view, along with a startled flock of gulls taking flight.
Lu Chenyuan's consciousness fixed upon a jumbled sandbar in the lake. wedged tight between moss-covered rocks, a piece of spirit jade pulsed with white light, stuck fast in a crevice.
The searing bluish-gray mirror erupted with a shaft of pale moonlight. Li Tongyan and Li Yunping's vision blurred, and before them materialized the faint outline of that sandbar, and the spirit jade glowing white between the stone cracks.
Yunping and Tongyan exchanged glances. Both saw surprise and joy in each other's eyes. Yunping nodded vigorously, stripped off his clothes, and was about to wade into the lake.
"Wait!" Tongyan seized his arm and shook his head.
"I'll go get it. You stay on the bank with the mirror. If the moon shifts to that position—" he pointed to a spot in the sky—"and I'm not back yet, hide the mirror in the reed marsh and run for the Guyun Road. Don't go home."
Tongyan gazed at his brother with grave intensity. "Wait until the sun is high overhead before you come back to see what's happened."
"Yes..." Yunping's voice trembled with the threat of tears. He wiped his eyes and watched his second brother.
Tongyan laughed it off with a derisive snort, stripped off his garments, revealed his sturdy arms, and turned to swim into the lake, leaving Yunping hiding in the reeds, gazing blankly at his brother's retreating figure.
He had visited Yingyue Lake with Father and his brothers in years past, swimming back and forth countless times. He knew the waters well and swiftly made his way to the center of the lake.
Carefully probing the many stone crevices, in the span of an incense stick's burning he had searched the entire sandbar.
"Nothing." Tongyan furrowed his brow and searched again, meticulously, while casually scooping out half a dozen tiny hiding crabs.
Sure enough, he felt a cool touch between his fingers—something smooth. He pinched hard and pulled out a piece of spirit jade about two fingers wide.
The spirit jade was elongated, its surface carved with a few characters. Tongyan held it up to the moonlight and tried to make them out:
"Tai... Yue... Qi... Yang Lun..." He could barely recognize a few characters. Tongyan had learned to read under the village tutor in his youth and could recognize most characters, but the markings on this spirit jade were intricate and the script so archaic and peculiar that he simply could not decipher them.
Calmly he glanced toward the shore. He gripped the spirit jade and swam back toward land.
"Third brother!"
He climbed onto the bank and called softly into the reeds. Yunping immediately leaned forward. Tongyan was just about to show him the jade when, the moment he opened his hand, the spirit jade dissolved into a streak of white light and, with a whoosh, shot into the mirror.
The two were jolted by the sudden change. They watched as white light surged across the mirror's surface and the moonlight from the sky transformed into one halo after another, all pouring into the mirror.
Lu Chenyuan felt as though struck by thunder. A shaft of white light slammed directly into him. A vast ocean of knowledge surged furiously into his mind. He let out a cry of agony and, with a sense of exhilaration, lost consciousness.
Li Tongyan and Li Yunping watched as the ancient mirror, after gulping down the spirit jade, gradually settled. The white light faded and dimmed.
Golden-red morning clouds climbed the sky, falling upon Li Tongyan's bare upper body, outlining his skin in golden gleam. He lowered his gaze and said to his brother:
"Let's go home first."
————
Li Gengye sat beside the red-lacquered wooden table, listening as his two sons recounted the whole story from beginning to end. He nodded and said to Li Tongyan:
"Well done."
He and Li Changhe had tossed and turned all night, unable to sleep. Now that the two boys had returned safe and sound, the knot in his heart finally loosened.
"Our house has a decent front yard and back courtyard. The back courtyard backs right onto the rear mountain, and there are two plots of melon fields out front. I was thinking we should tear them up and build two more houses, one on each side, linked together to form one grand compound. Once the front gate is shut, no one can peek in."
Li Gengye spoke at a leisurely pace. He'd had this idea for years. His children were growing up day by day and would soon need to split into separate households.
The Li family, thanks to his savings, could be considered a prominent household in the village. When Li Gengye returned from military service, he purchased over ten mu of paddy fields, and with the five-odd mu of good land inherited from his father, the total came to nearly twenty mu.
Lixi Village was blessed with fertile soil and abundant water. The reed marshes and tidal flats were all treasures that sustained life.
Barring labor costs, twenty mu of land in a bumper year could easily feed more than a dozen mouths. The Li family had long been at the level where they could shut the gates and live like landlords.
It was precisely because the Li family had grain and fields that his four children could afford to study reading and writing. Li Gengye had always despised idle rich families, which was why he insisted his children study and work the fields every single day, so that after they eventually split the household, each would have the means to live well.
"Now the family cannot be divided anymore. For wives too, we must find people who are truly on our side."
Li Gengye thought of the grand households he had seen in the city—great compounds where the clan dwelt together, studying for officials, training in martial arts, commanding troops. How splendid and magnificent it all was! By contrast, poor farming families split apart completely—neither side helping the other.
"It's settled!"
Li Gengye's eyes lit up. He called to his two sons:
"Go to the fields and call your eldest brother back. He can start leveling the ground. The fields can be left to the tenant farmers to handle. Your fourth brother doesn't need to go pick mulberries this afternoon. From now on he'll study at the tutor's place for the whole day."
"On it!" Yunping, having been awake all night, was still energetic. At his words, he darted out the door.
Li Tongyan gazed at his father and pondered for a moment before speaking:
"Father, are you planning to follow the clan codes from the books—establish an ancestral hall, open a family academy, pursue scholarly careers, and train in martial arts?"
"Our Li family has been saving for two hundred years. The time has come."
Li Gengye laughed and waved his hand.
"As for studying and martial training—the Guyun Road is treacherous beyond measure. To come and go from Cangwu Mountain is nine deaths in ten chances. Studying and martial training won't fetch you an audience with the Yue Kingdom emperor. It's simply a way to preserve the family estate and ensure self-protection..."
Li Tongyan nodded. He lowered his voice and said:
"There may be something even better than studying and martial training."
"Don't talk nonsense here."
Li Gengye burst out laughing, slapped Li Tongyan on the shoulder, and walked out with his hands clasped behind his back.