After a while, the room went dark, presumably he had taken the lamp and left.
As I was drifting off to sleep, I thought I heard someone whisper something in the dark room, but my eyelids were too heavy, and I fell asleep.
When I woke up the next day, I realized that autumn had turned into deep winter, and a chill crept into my bones.
I stretched my limbs and went outside the boat. In just one night, the riverbank had turned into a desert, sparsely populated, with a scene reminiscent of "the cries of monkeys on both banks never ceasing."
Lou Xiyue, impeccably dressed, sat cross-legged on the deck of the boat, playing chess with Yan Bai.
I think they are both talented singers and dancers, so I always feel a bit out of their league. Their words can easily make me feel like I'm floating on clouds, soaring through the fog, only to find out in the end that I didn't understand them.
Of the three arts—music, chess, calligraphy, and painting—my skills are relatively average compared to others, but chess is definitely the one talent that allows me to communicate with other talented people.
I said, "You guys are playing chess? I can play a little bit too, haha."
Yan Bai glanced at me, a look of admiration in his eyes. He praised Lou Xiyue, "As expected of Young Master Lou's sister, she is indeed both talented and beautiful. I wonder if I, Yan, would have the honor of playing a game with your sister?"
I shuddered, then humbly replied, "I only know a little bit about it."
Lou Xiyue expressed disbelief to me, and said to Yan Bai, "She's joking."
I demonstrated my "talent and good looks" with my actions, and said to Yan Bai with a smile, "Master Yan, you flatter me. I am not very talented, and it is an honor to have the opportunity to play a game with you."
Lou Xiyue stood up leisurely, tilted her head and looked me up and down, and said slowly, "Well, I was playing 'Liubo' with Lord Yan, but now we're going to play 'Dabo', where the one who kills the scoundrel wins."
After I sat down, I looked at the square wooden board in front of me and the twelve red and twelve black bone stones on it. I seemed to understand something: this is not a Go board where the white stones are highlighted in red.
My hope of engaging in dialogue with talented individuals on the same level has once again crumbled.
I quickly swept the chessboard, picked up a red piece, casually placed it on a spot, and calmly said, "Then I'll make the first move."
Lord Yan seemed to be taken aback for a moment.
Lou Xiyue coughed, handed over a die, and said calmly, "Before you leave, you should roll the die."
I said, "Do you know that besides the 'big bet' you play in 'Liubo', there's also a 'small bet'? 'Small bet' doesn't involve rolling dice."
Lou Xiyue was silent for a moment, then said, "Just now, Lord Yan and I were playing 'Small Bo'... It seems that we also had to roll dice..."
I looked at Lou Xiyue and suddenly realized, “Ah, I remembered wrong. Do you know a game called ‘Qibo’? It has more than 300 pieces, divided into black and white. The moves are very complicated. The board is square and still, but the pieces are round and moving. It contains the principles of the Five Elements and the Eight Trigrams, which ordinary people cannot understand. This ‘Qibo’ does not use dice.”
Lou Xiyue turned her face away, propping her forehead up with her hand, and said, "What you're talking about... is it Go...?"
Upon reaching Tanlu, the boat stopped by the river to replenish some dry rations.
Lou Xiyue and I went to Tanlu to buy some winter clothes.
Tanlu is a village of moderate size, where villagers set up their stalls near a thatched pavilion, bustling about and doing business.
Lou Xiyue and I strolled around and looked around. Although we didn't see any vendors selling winter clothes, there were many jewelry and tassel stalls along the street.
I picked up a silk purse with a crimson pattern of magpies entwined around plum blossoms, and asked the stall owner for a price with a smile.
Lou Xiyue waved her fan, took a few coins, bought the purse, and squinted at me, saying, "You're going to give this purse to me?"
I snatched it from his hand, glanced at him, and said, "I think this purse is embroidered quite beautifully, and I'd like to give it to my sister."
Lou Xiyue hesitated slightly. "You have a younger sister?"
[38] Silver Fur Coat (Part 1)
As I tidied the dangling purse, I said to him, "You're allowed to have eight brothers and sisters, but I'm not allowed to have a sister?"
Lou Xiyue asked nonchalantly, "Then where is she now?"
I thought for a moment and said, "I don't know."
He turned to the side, tilting his head to give me a serious once-over.
I said, "It's just a younger sister, not an heir. Can't you accept that?"
Lou Xiyue remained silent for a while, then tapped my forehead with her fan and chuckled, "Let's go to the village and see if we can find some warm clothes to keep warm in winter."
Lou Xiyue and I walked along the path a little further in. The trees along the path were gradually becoming bare, and the fallen leaves crunched underfoot. In less than the time it takes to drink half a cup of tea, the village came into view, with wisps of smoke rising from the chimneys. Scattered around the village were a few earthen houses, each surrounded by a low wall made of small stones.
The women in the village wore narrow-sleeved, front-buttoned blouses with fur coats over them, and dried meat was drying on the raised railings.
As the morning sun began to set, the birdsong was sparse, and the scene presented a picture of men tilling the fields and women weaving.
We found a family and asked them for some winter clothes.
I stepped forward and asked, "Sister, do you have any fur coats you can sell us?"
The woman was fiddling with fine hemp by the house. Hearing the sound, she stopped and said to me with a smile, "Yes, the master hunted down two deer the other day and made some deer fur coats."
I exclaimed in surprise, "Do the men here hunt for a living?"
She laughed and said, "Yes, there are many wild animals in the forest."
Lou Xiyue and I entered the earthen house. Some animal skins were hanging on the chairs, one of which was a flawless snow color and felt soft and delicate to the touch.
The woman laughed and said, "Young lady, you've taken a fancy to this fox pelt? Hehe, this pelt isn't for sale. In over twenty years, this is the only nine-tailed fox we've ever hunted down in the village."
My heart skipped a beat, and I asked her, "Are there nine-tailed foxes in the mountains behind this village?"
The woman replied, “Go a little further north, where the snow is thicker, and sometimes you can see these foxes. When my husband was young, he hunted one. Nine-tailed foxes are not like ordinary foxes; they are extremely cunning.”
She frowned and lowered her voice, saying, "The nine-tailed fox is a fox demon. Ever since we killed this fox, we've been hearing women crying at night."