radicalducati Chapter 263 Asking the Way of Mountains and Rivers
Chapter 263 Asking the Way of Mountains and Rivers
Beijing at the end of June was very hot and humid, with cicadas chirping louder and louder, making people feel uneasy.
That afternoon, Lin Yan was strolling around the backyard in his cloth shoes, fanning himself with a palm leaf fan, when he suddenly beckoned Lin San to his side.
"Lin San, I need to talk to you about something." He casually plucked a green grape from the trellis. "This summer vacation is at least two months long, and I'm thinking it's not good to just stay cooped up in Beijing all the time."
Lin San quickly bowed: "Young Master, would you like to go for a walk?"
"Hmm." Lin Yan popped a green grape into his mouth, his eyes squinting from the sourness. "Could you go and ask me if I can get a press pass—the kind that lets me go around doing fieldwork? I was thinking I could take this opportunity to see different places and write something."
He dusted off his clothes and said casually, "Our motherland is so big, I have to go and see it with my own eyes to feel at ease."
Lin San pondered for a moment: "The press pass is easy to discuss, but this reason..."
"I'll just say I want to immerse myself in life and create art," Lin Yan said with a smile. "Isn't everyone advocating that artists should connect with the masses these days? I'm actively responding to that call."
He closed his folding fan and gently tapped his palm: "Besides, I helped them so much the other day, this little request isn't unreasonable, is it? Just tell them that I promise to follow the rules and absolutely won't go to places I shouldn't go."
Lin San smiled knowingly: "Understood, I'll take care of it right away. But young master, you should be prepared for going out in this sweltering heat."
"What's there to be afraid of? I have so many people all over the country, what can't I handle!" Lin Yan gazed at the sky above the four corners of the courtyard wall, his eyes distant. "Reading ten thousand books is not as good as traveling ten thousand miles. In these three months, I'm going to visit all the famous mountains and rivers mentioned in my textbooks."
He turned and walked into the house, then turned back as if remembering something: "Oh right, remember to get one that's valid nationwide. In case I want to go to the Northwest to see the desert, or to visit the water towns of Jiangnan, I don't want to get stuck halfway there."
"Don't worry," Lin San bowed and agreed, "I'll take care of it perfectly for you."
Lin Yan nodded, humming a tuneless little tune as he strolled into the study. The cicadas outside the window were still chirping noisily, but his mind had already soared to distant mountains and rivers.
Somehow, the news reached Mr. Xiangyu.
He was reviewing documents when he heard his subordinates' report. His hand holding the pen paused for a moment, then he shook his head and chuckled, a few shallow lines appearing at the corners of his eyes.
"This little guy, he just couldn't stand being cooped up in the city anymore, he wanted to flap his wings and fly out." He took off his glasses, rubbed his temples, and spoke with a hint of helplessness, yet also a knowing "I knew it would happen" in his tone: "Come to think of it, I was the one who brought him back from outside. To keep such a lively young man confined to this city every day seems... a bit heartless, doesn't it?"
Sister Deng smiled and handed over freshly brewed tea.
Mr. Xiangyu took the teacup, blew away the foam, and when he looked up again, his smile had deepened, carrying the tolerance of an elder towards a younger person: "Alright, if he wants to go and see, let him go. It's a good thing for young people to travel and see more. In any case... nothing serious will happen."
With that one sentence from him, everything that followed went remarkably smoothly.
On the afternoon of the third day, the sun began to set and the heat subsided slightly.
Lin San walked briskly across the courtyard and into the study, gently placing a brand-new, dark blue booklet with a bright red seal on the pages Lin Yan was reading.
Lin San smiled with a hint of relief, "Young Master, the documents are in order. They're valid nationwide and can be used without any problems."
Lin Yan picked up the press card, which still smelled of fresh ink, and ran his fingertips along the raised lettering on the cover, a relaxed smile slowly spreading across his lips.
The next day, the morning light was just right in the courtyard. Lin Yan came out of the house and saw Lin Gang carrying a bucket of water to water the flowers, while Yu Ling was peeking out of the kitchen window.
"Lin Gang, Yu Ling," he walked over with light steps, "I'm going out for a stroll today. You two don't need to come with me. Find some fun for yourselves at home."
Lin Gang put down the bucket, his brow furrowing slightly. "Young Master, at least let Yuling come along, right? Someone needs to take care of her meals along the way..."
Yu Ling nodded repeatedly from inside the window, rushing out without even taking off her apron: "I just braised beef this morning and also made some dough. Young master, please take me with you; I promise you won't go hungry!"
Lin Yan smiled and waved his hand, taking out a steaming bun from his spatial storage and taking a bite: "Look, I've prepared them all. You can make more delicious food and store it in your spatial storage. I can take it whenever I want to eat it, which is more convenient than making it fresh."
He finished the steamed bun in a few bites, clapped the flour off his hands, and said, "Let's go!"
Before the words were finished, a flash of green light appeared. Lin Gang and Yu Ling felt a blur before their eyes. When they looked up again, they saw a figure in the sky getting smaller and smaller until it disappeared into the clouds in the blink of an eye.
Yu Ling opened her mouth, but in the end only muttered, "This young master... I haven't even packed the freshly steamed red bean buns yet!"
The July wind carries the dry heat unique to the Loess Plateau, making people's clothes flutter.
Lin Yan stood atop the clouds, the Star Sword beneath his feet transforming into a streak of light, his aura merging seamlessly with the light and shadow of the sky and clouds. He concentrated his energy and headed upstream along the Yellow River.
The further west you travel, the thicker the moisture in the air becomes. Before you can see it, you can hear it—a deep, continuous rumble, like a heartbeat coming from the depths of the earth.
Flying over the Jin-Shaanxi Grand Canyon, the sight before him gave him a jolt.
The Yellow River, as if cascading from the heavens, is abruptly constricted at Hukou Waterfall, crashing into a stone trough tens of meters deep. The turbid, yellowish-brown waves roar and churn, stirring up a mist that, under the blazing sun, creates a faint, shimmering rainbow. The water, carrying millions of pounds of loess, rushes downstream with unstoppable force; its thick, earthy yellow color seems like the very lifeblood flowing from the earth.
He hovered in the air, contemplating the moment.
"Water, it turns out, is not only a gentle, silent nourishment, but also a force capable of transforming the world." In his eyes, the surging torrents transformed into countless flowing water runes, each drop containing the power to tear the earth apart. And the loess cliffs on both sides, constantly eroded and stripped away, allowed him to touch a corner of "soil"—before the might of water, even the thick soil seemed so fragile, constantly eroding, yet eternally giving.
He continued eastward along the river, but the scenery gradually became strange.
The riverbed, which should have grown ever wider and more turbulent, gradually shrank before my eyes. Beyond a certain point, the roaring Yellow River seemed to be choked by an invisible giant hand, its flow drastically reduced. Further downstream, large sections of the riverbed were exposed, the cracked silt resembling the scales of a dead python, gleaming grayish-white under the blazing sun. In some sections, only a thin, turbid stream remained, meandering weakly, almost unrecognizable as the "Mother River."
Across the Sanmenxia Gorge, the downstream flow has dried up, while the upstream flow remains abundant. This extraordinary spectacle, a result of the interplay between human effort and nature, left Lin Yan speechless.
Downstream, some farmers were struggling to dig deep pits on the hard, dry riverbed, trying to get a little life-saving water out. The dramatic change from abundant to dry created a powerful, evocative atmosphere.
"So, even depletion itself is part of the essence of water..."
He seemed to understand something. The forms of nature are never singular. Extreme abundance and extreme drought together constitute the complete cycle of the great way of "water". And the soil, as the bearer of water, also reveals its thirsty and cracked side after the water recedes.
He hovered in the air, above him the still-roaring, turbid dragon, below him the dying ley lines. Amidst this contradiction and unity, a yellowish-brown light appeared around the phantom in his sea of consciousness—heavy, all-encompassing, the essence of earth—the beginning! The blue, watery light, as if nourished, also expanded outwards.