Notes on Longevity

Chapter 20: Cricket Fighting in the Brothel Courtyard, Two Men Composing Poems and Discussing the Great Dao

The sun was high in the sky, but Zuihualou was still not open at noon.

In a room on the second floor, Yang Youan was groggily sitting up from the bed.

He leaned against the headboard, feeling a headache coming on, which he thought was due to drinking too much the night before.

"Young master is awake?"

Yang Youan rubbed his head, and then heard a soft creak as someone walked in from outside the door.

He tilted his head and squinted, but the view was blurry and unclear. It wasn't until the woman got closer that he could see her clearly.

Her long, black hair was coiled at the back of her head, with a gold hairpin inserted horizontally into it, and a pair of emerald green pendants adorning her earlobes.

A pair of sharp, arched eyebrows rested above a pair of phoenix eyes, and beneath a high, upturned nose was a small, delicate red mouth, as soft as a cherry. She was also carrying a plate of food.

"Now that you're awake, young master, please have something to eat. I'll take my leave now."

After putting down what she was holding, the woman curtsied to Yang Youan and then prepared to leave.

Seeing that the woman was about to leave, Yang Youan quickly said, "Please wait a moment, young lady."

"Is there anything else, young master?" the woman asked with a smile, bowing her head.

"Last night, I drank too much. I hope I didn't embarrass myself in front of Brother Li," Yang Youan asked somewhat embarrassedly.

Last night, he thought he would only have a few drinks, but he didn't expect the wine in the Drunken Flower Pavilion to be so strong. After just two drinks, he was already dizzy.

After the dancing and music stopped in the middle of the night, I thought it was over and wanted to go back to rest, but Li Chengru pulled me out to drink again.

"Young master, your drinking manners are quite good. Apart from vomiting some filth, you haven't done anything embarrassing," the woman said with a smile.

"I vaguely remember that you took me back to my room last night. I feel like I offended you, please forgive me."

Upon hearing this, Yang Youan seemed to remember something. After vomiting last night, he had been making a fuss about wanting to go back to sleep, and Li Chengru had instructed the woman to escort him back to his room. Thus, only Li Chengru and the young woman remained in the room.

After returning to the room, the woman helped Yang Youan to the bedside, and his hands began to grope her body involuntarily, while he mumbled something unintelligible.

"Young master was just drunk and accidentally touched my body; nothing else happened. Besides, even if you wanted to do something to me, I am in a brothel and cannot resist. If there is nothing else, I will take my leave."

The woman smiled and spoke softly and slowly. There was nothing else to her words, only a sense of pity.

"Brother Li, are you still here?" Yang Youan asked again.

The woman replied, "Young Master Li is probably playing with crickets in the backyard right now."

"Please lead the way, young lady."

"Then, young master, please change your clothes first. I will wait outside the door."

After saying that, the woman turned and left, closing the door behind her and standing in the doorway.

After seeing her leave, Yang Youan slowly rose, changed his clothes, and followed the woman to the backyard. There, he saw Li Chengru sitting on a stone by the wall, holding a small bamboo basket. He was loudly reciting something to the basket:

"Having bid farewell to the world, I now sit by the deep window under a white candle. The young man holds his books and studies diligently, hoping to one day become the top scholar in the imperial examination."

Upon hearing this, Yang Youan walked over slowly and also spoke: "In the thatched hut in the mountains, a young child stands holding a knife. He has no parents at home and goes deep into the mountains with his uncle."

Hearing this, Li Chengru turned around, smiled at Yang Youan, and said, "What, you also like to write doggerel?"

"When Zhenghe was young, he often recited these doggerel poems with the village schoolteacher." Yang Youan smiled and bowed to Li Chengru.

"Why?" Li Chengru asked with a smile.

"The gentleman said that a casually composed doggerel can relieve three thousand worries. Although it is straightforward and cannot compare to those fine words and phrases, it can still touch people's hearts."

“Yes, yes, yes!” Li Chengru stood up, carrying a bamboo basket in one hand, and walked to Yang Youan’s side, smiling. “Studying is to understand the three views and six etiquettes, the five constant virtues and moral principles, but it also needs some fun. Doggerel is just what I want, just what I want.”

"Excuse my bluntness, but I wonder what's in Brother Li's bamboo basket?" Yang Youan looked at the bamboo basket in Li Chengru's hand with great curiosity, wondering what was inside. He could hear a sound coming from inside.

Li Chengru replied, "Cricket."

"Cricket?" Yang Youan asked, puzzled. "I wonder what Brother Li means by this?"

"Crickets are noisy, but when you see this thing jumping around, does it make any sound?" Li Chengru handed the bamboo basket to Yang Youan.

"No." Yang Youan looked carefully through the small hole in the bamboo basket at the cricket jumping around inside, and didn't see it make any other sounds.

"Have you ever read the Daoist Canon?" Li Chengru smiled, turned around and walked into the courtyard, with Yang Youan following closely behind.

Yang Youan replied, "I've read some."

Li Chengru took a few steps forward, then slowly turned around to look at Yang Youan. "Taoists say that all things originate from the Tao. But what is the Tao? There is a saying in a scripture: 'The Tao gives birth to one, one gives birth to two, two gives birth to three, and three gives birth to all things.' In fact, all things in heaven and earth are the Tao."

"It's just that the source of the Dao is the same, but the methods are different."

“I spoke to the cricket because we share the same origin; whether it understands or not is another matter.”

"Then why is he so quiet now?" Yang Youan's understanding was very vague. Although he had read some of the Taoist canon, he still did not understand it enough.

“Because I share the same laws as it,” Li Chengru laughed. “Just like the demon that brought disaster to the country a few years ago, it obtained the laws of the Great Dao and could transform into a human body. As for how it obtained the laws of the Dao, I don’t know, but I do know about this cricket.”

"Please enlighten me, Brother Li." Yang Youan looked at the bamboo cage in Li Chengru's hand and humbly asked for knowledge.

"The source is the same, but the methods are different. It's like going west to Kunlun or east to Penglai to seek the secrets of immortality and becoming an immortal by a reclusive immortal. No matter how many years you cultivate diligently in the mountains or in the mortal world, you can only see yourself growing old day by day and will never understand. But if you meet an immortal here and humbly ask for guidance, the immortal will give you a little pointer and you will know the secrets of immortality and becoming an immortal. You will have an instant enlightenment. I am the same as it."

"Even so, I still don't quite understand. I understand immortals enlightening mortals, after all, we can understand each other. But Brother Li talking to a cricket, I really don't understand." Yang Youan frowned, not understanding what Li Chengru was saying at all, and even felt that Li Chengru seemed to have gone mad.

"It seems you still don't understand. By the way, the imperial examination is just around the corner, so focus on your studies. Although you're young, I have high hopes for you." Li Chengru said casually after hearing Yang Youan's words, then turned and walked out, leaving Yang Youan alone in the courtyard.

(End of this chapter)