Chapter 5

Daily Life

Another morning, seemingly no different from any other.

Nan Shi opened his eyes and discovered he wasn’t face-to-face with any terrifying thing. He cautiously sat up and looked around, noticing the room was completely quiet today. The incense on the long table had burned out, breaking into segments of ash that lay quietly on the lotus-shaped incense burner, as if no one had come in even halfway through.

Qinglan hadn’t emerged to pull any more of her tricks, causing his heart to repeatedly leap. Nan Shi instantly lay back down, content, and pulled the quilt over his head, deeply enjoying a consolidated sleep.

It wasn’t until the sun reached its zenith that Nan Shi was called up by Qinglan, saying that Chi You wanted him to come to the study.

Nan Shi’s face was filled with deep bitterness and resentment. He hadn’t slept well at all during that consolidated sleep; he had had a dream.

To be honest, the dream was quite simple, just that little dot he had drawn in his shixiong’s room the day before. However, that dot had become countless ‘dots’, covering the entire room. The floor, walls, and windows were all covered in sheets of paper, each with only a single dot.

Chi You stood behind him, one hand on his shoulder, saying with a tone so calm it made people’s spines tingle, “Come, analyze your dot a bit. Describe what mental state Chen would have when seeing this dot, and what emotions it expresses?”

Nan Shi stammered through his explanation. Then his Shixiong pulled away the piece of paper in front of him. Pointing at the second sheet of paper, he told Nan Shi to continue his analysis. When it came to the third sheet of paper, Nan Shi no longer knew how to speak at all. Just as he was about to turn around and plead with his Shixiong, he heard him say: “Forget it, you’re beyond saving. You have not a single talent. You might as well go die.”

Terrified out of his wits, Nan Shi could only muddle through with nonsense. His Shixiong laughed just like that, or perhaps in a slightly different manner—anyway, it was exactly the kind of laugh that made Nan Shi’s scalp tingle and every hair on his body stood up. And he would intersperse it with lines like “I’ll send you back to reincarnate” or the like, terrifying Nan Shi so much that countless millions of his brain cells died. By the time he finally finished analyzing all the sheets of paper in the room, his Shixiong placed the first sheet back in front of Nan Shi and asked him: “Explain your analysis of this stroke, and describe the emotions you hold towards it?”

Nan Shi was finally forced to the point where he was about to tear off his mask and blurt out: If I’m gonna die, I might as well have done it! At the time, I was fucking clueless, alright?!—Then Qinglan woke him up.

Dreaming of my third year of high school.

—No! My third year of high school wasn’t even this terrifying! After all, if you can’t handle the third year, you can always hit rock bottom and repeat a year; if one year isn’t enough, two will do, and if that’s not working, you can just settle for a third-rate college or vocational school. You don’t need to reincarnate and start over from scratch!

He suspected solemnly that perhaps he hadn’t actually dreamed yesterday, but rather, Chi You had used some means to enter his dream to teach him a lesson.

No doubt he did something again that made his shixiong unhappy yesterday—could it be that he discovered the matter of Nan Shi bringing back the leftover meat and bones to give to his shixiong to eat?

Nan Shi cursed inwardly, but on the surface, he still washed up obediently and went over to report as usual.

“Shixiong?” Nan Shi knocked three times on the door. The echo of the third knock had not yet dissipated when the intricately carved door silently swung open, revealing Chi You sitting at a table with his eyes closed, taking a brief rest.

Chi You opened his eyes and looked at Nan Shi. “Enter.”

“Yes.” Nan Shi walked to the table. Before he could say anything, he saw Chi You casually point to a chair, hinting for him to sit down and talk.

When Chi You was silent and motionless, he was like an exquisite statue. Beautiful as it may be, it lacked any spiritual quality. But when his eyes moved, it was as if blood and flesh had been infused into the statue, making him become indescribably lively—although still somewhat resembling a statue.

What use is a statue, no matter how lively it may seem? It’s still dead. Having a life force is the most important thing.

Chi You just didn’t have that thing.

Nan Shi looked at the gaze coming his way, his scalp tingling slightly against his will—it was nothing more than a nightmare aftereffect. He now felt that as soon as he sat down, his Senior Brother would pull out a piece of paper and ask him about the thoughts and feelings expressed here. “Senior… brother, did you seek me for something?”

“Does one need a reason to seek you out?” Chi You rested his chin on his hand and tilted his head back slightly as he looked at Nan Shi. “Sit.”

“Yes, Senior Brother,” Nan Shi sat down, trembling. Chi You raised his hand, gesturing for the servants to bring the dishes. Before long, the table was filled with pots and plates. Nan Shi had slept until now and was indeed hungry. Without wasting any words, he obediently became someone who eats.

After they had eaten their fill, Chi You and Nan Shi walked into a side room. Their two maids, one on the left and one on the right, served them by washing their hands and faces. Chi You tossed the towel back into the basin. Seeing that everything was done, Nan Shi was about to say goodbye when he saw Chi You casually point to a sandalwood box placed on a nearby table and say: “Take these to play with. They’re cheap things, you can dispose of them as you wish.”

Nan Shi took a glance, then bowed his head and thanked him: “Many thanks, Senior Brother.”

“Mm.” Chi You responded lightly, waving his hand to indicate he could leave, then suddenly added: “Have you memorized the Yi I told you to?”

“…Memorized,” Nan Shi paused before responding.

Only then did Chi You nod in satisfaction: “I thought so too… Mr. Nan, if people found out you can’t even memorize the Yi, would you want to keep your reputation?”

“Yes,” Nan Shi said, holding the wooden box and hurrying to take his leave lest Chi You think of anything else to torment him!

No wonder he had such a dream last night! It was clearly a prophetic dream!

Yi is the Yi Jing.

As a classic of divination, the Yi occupies a position similar to gravity in physics or the Memorial of Departure in literature—how could it be left unlearned?

However, what his shixiong called “memorizing homework” wasn’t something that let you start from the beginning and recite one by one. Instead, he would randomly toss out a hexagram and ask Nan Shi to explain it. Not only did he have to recite the corresponding scriptural meaning of the hexagram, but also interpret the hexagram.

Nan Shi’s skills in character analysis and destiny judgment could be considered quite good. While not necessarily world-class, he could still understand with just a bit of prompting. Yet when it came to the most fundamental Zhouyi hexagrams, he just couldn’t grasp them. As if he held a grudge against the Yi, he would frequently overlook things, and whenever tested on this, he would inevitably receive a few slaps from his shixiong.

He was just the type who relied entirely on talent: Don’t ask me why he could understand everything else without knowing Yi; there’s no reason, he just understood! As for why he understood everything else, but couldn’t understand Yi Jing, which is the foundation of everything? How would I know?!

Yi was precisely what must be studied, what must be memorized.

The agreement between Nan Shi and Chi You was that within fifteen years, Nan Shi would learn everything Chi You had studied in his lifetime, and inherit the position of Mountain Lord of Zhaoyao Mountain.

Zhaoyao Mountain was a great ancient sect of mathematics. The last generation of Mountain Lord, Chi You, meaning his shixiong, did something or other, and the entire sect faced extinction. Not even a single branch was left; everyone was buried in the tomb together, cutting off the inheritance of incense offerings clean and clear.

Who knows what his shixiong was thinking. Anyway, he suddenly wanted a successor to continue the lineage, and happened to encounter Nan Shi, who had mistakenly entered his tomb. So, in accordance with reason, he accepted Nan Shi as his successor.

At the time, Nan Shi was frightened out of his wits. Whatever his shixiong said was law, and being able to cling to this life of his was already not bad.

As for why it was shixiong and not a teacher, Nan Shi had asked Chi You before. Chi You said he wanted to do it, so he did it. Taking on a disciple in place of a teacher was his pleasure.

At that time, Nan Shi said nothing, but secretly felt that there must have been some ancient injustice or other such thing, leading to the extermination of the Zhaoyao Mountain sect. His shixiong felt he had let down the senior members above, with no face to use his own name to accept disciples. Thus, he took on the role of master in place of his teacher.

However, this was ultimately just speculation; he didn’t know the specific truth.

Come to think of it, back then, Nan Shi had naively thought he had activated some kind of “golden finger,” and from then on, he would become a male lead from Qidian, soaring to fame and fortune like a dragon on the rise. In thirty years, fortunes would shift like rivers flowing eastward for one generation and westward for another, never underestimating the potential of youth amidst poverty. Little did he know that while his golden finger was activated, it came with a whole entourage of old geezers – his shixiong immediately took all the disciples with him back to S City, along the way using some unknown means to become the owner of a notorious haunted mansion. Then he hauled Nan Shi in to live there as well.

And so, Nan Shi began this life where he saw his ‘good brothers’ whether his eyes were open or closed.

It was really too suffocating. Could he just take back this golden finger? He didn’t want it anymore!

Thinking this, Nan Shi couldn’t help but let out a big sigh, then clutching the box, hastily made a run for it, as if fleeing home right now would make all this disappear like a dream.

Seeing Nan Shi running like a rabbit, Chi You couldn’t help but let out a scornful laugh, then with a flick of his long sleeve, several carved doors closed layer by layer, simultaneously shutting out the light and warmth.

With the sun high in the sky, it was time for him to rest.

After all the trouble today, Nan Shi had arrived at the shop late. He saw that many shopkeepers had already finished their lunches, with cats sunbathing outside their doors.

However, today was a weekday, and it wasn’t peak tourist season either. The pedestrian street hadn’t seen a large influx of people. Nan Shi glanced at the flow of pedestrians and decided that since he was already late, he might as well take a stroll down the back street.

This pedestrian street was quite interesting. In fact, the former old street that preceded it was a full seven miles long. However, the treatment received by these seven miles was entirely different. The front two miles were uniformly renovated by the local government into a late Qing style, which is the current commercial pedestrian street. The remaining five miles at the back, on the other hand, maintained the appearance left by time, mostly still residential areas, with occasional vegetable markets and such along the way.

Most special of all was that the last mile, adjacent to the pedestrian street, had at some unknown point become a gathering place for peddlers of antiques—so-called peddlers being those small merchants without storefronts, who would simply spread out a cloth on the spot to create a small stall.

According to the shopkeeper at the front, there are actually quite a few brokers here, specializing in acting as intermediaries for the antiques trade. Some of these brokers have overstepped their bounds, venturing up mountains and down into villages to collect old items, then selling them in various places.

Because many of these items have unsavory origins, even if the brokers have large sums of money, it’s not easy for them to open proper shops. These people who handle things on a case-by-case basis, making a profit whenever they can, tend to have the best goods in their hands.

Of course, this place is a mix of good and bad, so what you can buy depends entirely on your discerning eye.

Nan Shi is very clear about his own abilities. He’s just barely touched the threshold of the antique world, so calling himself a shopkeeper of antiques would be insulting to the community. At best, he’s just a crafts store owner. Naturally, he wouldn’t spend big money here, at most he’d spend a hundred or two to buy some items that fancy him to enjoy for a bit and that’s it.

When he gets tired of playing with them later, he’ll dust them off and put them on the display shelf in his store. Using them to impress customers isn’t losing money either.

If someone with the same fancy as him takes a fancy to one at first glance, he’ll make a little profit, and that would be even better.

As he passed by his own shop, Nan Shi hesitated for a moment. He still planned to go in and change into a regular coat, and while he was at it, put away the wooden box. To wear the long robe all the way over there was basically no different from writing on his face ‘I am a fat sheep’.

Unexpectedly, just as he entered the door, he saw a brocade box about half a foot square pressed down on the glass display case at the entrance. The embroidered velvet covering the brocade box looked somewhat dull, like an object that had seen some years. Upon opening it, he saw that there was indeed a letter on top. The letter read ‘For Nan Shi, Esq.’.

Don’t get me wrong, this handwriting was pleasing to the eye at first glance. The script was graceful and carefree, with a hint of reckless irreverence. The ink splashed onto the page, captivating him with a single glance.

By this point, Nan Shi had already suspected who the sender might be. Sure enough, when he opened it, it was from that Old Chen fellow. He basically was saying that he indeed found the seal in the flood prevention pipe under the lake. Now that his wish was fulfilled, he was off to reincarnate. The items in the box were things he had carved in his leisure time over these years after his death, not worth much, and now being given to Nan Shi for fun.

Below is inscribed Old Mister Chen’s name: Chen Xuanwei.

This brocade box is packed with approximately thirty stamps that fit snugly together. The stone material appears to be entirely Shoushan stone. As a southerner, Shi Nan isn’t particularly knowledgeable about stone types; it’s already impressive that he can identify it as Shoushan stone.

However, he does know that Shoushan stone is quite valuable.

These stamps are all different from each other. Some are white on all sides, with no ornamentation; others are carved with dragons and phoenixes, decorated with ornate grass script, showcasing extreme beauty. They are all tightly packed together, as if their owner doesn’t care about any potential wear and tear. This suggests that Old Chen wasn’t joking when he said they were made casually for fun.

Shi Nan casually picks up one to look at, and sees that on the lower side of the stamp, two characters are engraved in relief: Xuan Wei.

This is Old Mister Chen’s alias.

He doesn’t know why, but it looks somewhat familiar.

Shi Nan thought for a while, but can’t recall where he’s seen it before. These two characters are also commonly used in Taoist classics, so it’s normal for them to look familiar, and he doesn’t think much more of it. At this moment, he’s also too lazy to clean up, so he put the stamp back the same way it was, set it on the shelf, locked the door, and went out to stroll.

The sunlight on this winter day may be especially capable of making people lazy. Today, there’s almost nothing to be heard of the usually overlapping vendor shouts that can be heard in the freezing weather.

Nan Shi, although he ate a meal at home, sniffed the osmanthus fragrance drifting with the wind and bought a bowl of osmanthus sweet red bean small round balls, eating while walking. In no time, he crossed the boundary between the pedestrian street and the old street, reaching the antique market.

The weather is good, so the people who came out to set up stalls are also many.

Quite a few vendors are lazily dozing off behind their stalls, idly covering their faces with books or clothes, completely unafraid of having goods snatched right under their noses. How comfortable it is!

Nan Shi looks enviously—he’s just a copy catter trying to make some working money, not someone who can live a carefree life away from work.

Bitter is but a word, he’ll only say it once.

Nan Shi circled around once, and immediately fell in love with the first item—a copper incense burner in the shape of a bowl.

To be blunt, this thing is similar to the incense tools on Taobao that cost thirty-nine yuan with free shipping, and even less exquisite than them, but Nan Shi fell in love with this copper incense burner’s… rust spots.

Yes, it’s precisely the rust spots.

This patina is quite distinctive; whether the copper incense burner is a fake or has truly been polished by time, it is entirely black. Through the sunlight, one can occasionally glimpse the dark yellow base color, while the patina is a fine, fragmented gray. The dark yellow base color envelops the edges of the patina, at first glance resembling a fiery sunset, and upon closer inspection, it does indeed seem quite interesting.

Nan Shi stepped forward and asked, “Excuse me, sir, may I take a closer look at that incense burner?”

Without even removing the clothes covering his head, the shopkeeper waved his hand carelessly and said, “Go ahead and take it. Just don’t drop it.”

Nan Shi didn’t hesitate, leaning down to pick up the incense burner. It wasn’t large, easily held in one hand. He shook it a bit, finding it quite heavy, a solid piece indeed.

Nan Shi had initially priced this incense burner at around thirty yuan. However, scrap copper alone fetches twenty yuan per kilogram, and the incense burner weighed more than a kilogram. Adding the cost of labor, the shopkeeper’s minimum price had to be at least eighty yuan.

This exceeded Nan Shi’s mental expectation somewhat, but he looked at it from different angles, growing more fond of it with each glance. He truly was a bit reluctant to put it down. Gritting his teeth, he asked, “Sir, what’s the price of this incense burner?”

Only then did the shopkeeper lift the clothes covering his head, glanced at it, and said with apparent carelessness, “What a coincidence. It’s from the Ming dynasty’s Xuande period, eighty thousand.”

“Eighty, will you sell?” Nan Shi didn’t even listen to his nonsense, starting directly with his offer.

At this, the shopkeeper’s eyelid twitched. “Eighty, are you joking? With this quality! This style! How could it be acquired for eighty? Tell me where I can get it for eighty, and I’ll go snatch it for over a hundred!”

Unmoved, Nan Shi knew that the shopkeeper’s reaction meant he had hit rock bottom. “Then ninety?”

“If you’re not serious about business, then just put it down!” The shopkeeper also realized that Nan Shi wasn’t easy to fob off—upon closer inspection, he looked somewhat familiar, likely someone who often came to browse. Suddenly, his interest vanished.

In their neighborhood, anyone who frequently came to browse was no pushover. Especially this young man before him, whose bargaining was so precise—it was clear he couldn’t be intimidated.

This wasn’t an era where one spoke based on age. Sometimes these twenty-something youths were even harder to satisfy than the old-timers in their forties and fifties. If they were convinced something wasn’t real, it was useless to try and persuade them otherwise, no matter how hard you tried.

Nan Shi hesitated for a moment, then stated his bottom line: “A hundred, I’ll take it for a hundred. Shopkeeper, have you opened shop today? Think about it—as a red start to the day! Here’s a red bill for you!”

Most people in business had some superstitions, especially those in their line of work, who were even more influenced by ancient folk beliefs.

Don’t say it, sometimes you can’t help but believe — even Nan Shi had experienced this deep sense: oftentimes, after making the first deal of the day right after opening, subsequent deals would promptly follow, and the more smoothly the first deal, the easier it would be to make subsequent deals.

The boss carefully thought about it, and reluctantly said, “Okay! Want cash though!”

“Got it!” Nan Shi cheerfully pulled out a hundred-yuan bill from his pocket and handed it to the other party. The boss took it, looked at it against the light, then flicked it before putting it away. He then took a plastic bag and packed the incense burner inside, handing it to Nan Shi.

Having successfully obtained the item he wanted, Nan Shi wasn’t stingy either, and said some flattering words: “Wishing you a thriving business today, Boss! May customers flock like clouds!”

Hearing these good words, the boss’s expression also improved somewhat. He followed ancient customs, cupping his hands towards Nan Shi and chanting, “Thank you for the auspicious words—!”

Nan Shi nodded, turned and walked away, still nodding and listening to that tune, wanting to soak up some auspiciousness. When he returned to open for business later, he hoped it would go as smoothly as this.

After all, when doing business, the buyer thinks they’re getting a great deal, but the seller definitely isn’t losing out either. It’s just a matter of how much they’re winning or losing.

Nan Shi wasn’t greedy; winning or losing was winning as long as he made a profit!

Nan Shi walked from the street head to the street tail, then from the street tail back to the street head, and it was about time to go back. He was no longer picky, and at a stand selling copper coins, he spent fifty dollars to buy a few dozen five emperors coins, and planned to go back and open up to do business.

Hm… Incense burner one hundred, copper coins fifty, just now ten for small red bean balls, the two hundred dollars of pocket money he budgeted just happened to leave forty dollars remaining. On the way back, he’d buy one cup of milk tea and one portion of egg waffles, a perfect day was about to start from a perfect afternoon tea!

Nan Shi and that milk tea egg waffle shop often did business together. The two shops were right across from each other diagonally, both having become familiar faces. As soon as the shop assistant saw him approach, they asked, “Usual order?”

“Yes, the usual order! Today it must be green tea tapioca pudding with tapioca balls! Seven parts sweet, hot!”

“OK! Once it’s done, I’ll deliver it over!”

Nan Shi nodded, made a thanksgiving gesture, turned around, and unlocked the brass lock of his own shop. The exquisite Chinese-style carved window inside revealed itself, attracting quite a few tourist gazes.

He had gotten used to it, and with a flip of his hand, he closed the door, then opened the window to let in some air.

Taking out the incense burner from the plastic bag, Nan Shi didn’t dare to wipe it with alcohol. If he accidentally wiped off the patina, the hundred dollars would be wasted. He only roughly wiped it with a dry cloth, saw there wasn’t much dirt inside, and directly moved the incense burner on the reception table down. He lit a stick of clean fragrance incense within.

As the familiar scent of sandalwood diffused, Nan Shi changed into a long robe and took a deep breath—ahh, satisfying!

Only then did he open the door, officially beginning his business.

Five Emperor coins still piled on the counter, Nan Shi found a set of half-finished Chinese knots, waiting to have some free time to braid them into corded strands. A single strand could sell for tens, it wasn’t a scarce item, but it also wasn’t lacking in sales; just enough to earn some bubble tea money.

Soon, tourists entered the shop to look around, but Nan Shi paid them no mind, focusing on his own tasks. Only when they called out did he go over to help.

The fan pendant given by Old Chen yesterday was still in his pocket. He took it out and placed it next to the Five Emperor coins, planning to braid a new cord for it later. Once summer arrived, he’d attach it to his fan to pretend to be fashionable or whatever…

After some thought, he took the most exquisite stamp from the box Old Chen had given him, found a rather nice small wooden base, and placed it on the display stand. The blood-red Shoushan stone against the black sandalwood base looked quite presentable.

Not that he would sell it, just for appearances.

“Boss, take this bracelet out for me to see!”

“Sure, please wait a moment.” Nan Shi raised a polite, professional smile and walked towards the counter.