[T/n: note on chapter title]¹

“Boss, this… should be thrown away?”

The shop assistant sniffed the scent of the bottle, grabbed it, and asked hesitantly.

As a result, the shopkeeper snatched the wine jar from his hand and picked up the cork from the table.

He shook the bottle, then looked at the inside against the light. There were some wine stains, but no wine. He sniffed the fragrance again; it was still there. He put the cork back in the jar and the scent disappeared immediately. After a moment, all lingering traces had vanished.

Shopkeeper Zhuo sniffed the jar again, and found that no scent was leaking out. While he was investigating, several shop assistants had gathered around, watching him curiously.

“Boss, why is this bottle so fragrant. What did it contain?”

Shopkeeper Zhuo carefully looked at the couple of dents on the side of the bottle. No matter how he looked at it, it appeared to be an ordinary wine jar, but he instinctively felt that the bottle was unusual. When he heard the assistant’s question, he answered with a casual sentence, despite carrying a vaguely strange premonition in his heart.

“Maybe it was used to store some kind of spice…”

As he spoke, Shopkeeper Zhuo glanced at the door again. He had the impression that he had witnessed the scene just now sometime before. Once this thought entered his mind, it refused to leave.

This style of wine bottle, the strange guest, it all seemed to overlap with events of a previous year somehow.

“Maybe it really was used to hold spices. No wonder that man didn’t use this bottle to drink wine anymore.”

“So are you going to throw this bottle away?”

“What else would I do with it aside from throw it away? Wash it and put in more wine? There’s no shortage of bottles in this shop.”

“What are we having for lunch today? I’m getting hungry just smelling the delicious food!”

…

The shop clerk at the counter chatted all chatted with each other. In any case, there weren’t too many rules in Yuanzipu restricting what employees could do in their spare time.

However, after he had heard one of his shop assistants mention to “wash it and put in more wine,” Shopkeeper Zhuo felt an inexplicable urge.

“Alright, alright, everyone disperse. It’s almost noon. You guys can go to the restaurant outside to order some food. You two, go to the pastry shop across the street and buy some fried millet pancakes.”²

“We’re not going to make them ourselves today?”

Shopkeeper Zhuo glared in annoyance at the man asking the question.

“You have objections to having a good meal? Then let’s make it ourselves!”

“No, no, don’t, Boss, I was just joking!”

“Yeah, hey, were you looking for a fight?”

“Then why don’t you go now?”

“We’ll go immediately!”

“Of course, we will!”

…

The group of shop assistants hurriedly set off. Since the shopkeeper was footing the bill, they could order food from Yuanzipu without even having to queue up. The restaurants would definitely prepare it for them as soon as possible. As for the wine, of course, there was no need for them to buy any.

He sent the group of shop assistants away, turned around, and took out a jar of Qianrichun from under the cabinet behind him. Then, he pulled the cork out of the old wine bottle. The fragrance once more filled the air. He quickly pulled out a funnel, scooped up half of the Qianrichun, about a quarter of a catty’s worth, and carefully poured it into the old wine bottle.

Something miraculous happened. The moment the wine entered the jug, the original aroma suddenly disappeared, as if it had been sucked back into the bottle.

After pouring half a bottle of wine, Shopkeeper Zhuo took off the funnel, brought the mouth of the jar close to his nose, and sniffed carefully. The aroma of the Qianrichun inside the wine jar seemed to be much stronger than the ordinary wine from the new bottle, but it was far from comparable to the refreshing fragrance that had filled the air just now.

He shook the bottle, listening to the sound of the wine sloshing about inside, then smelling it again. The fragrance of Qianrichun seemed to be a little stronger.

Shopkeeper Zhuo took a glass, hesitated for a long time, before finally pouring out the wine to drink it.

When he smelled the fragrance of this wine, and recalled the aroma from just before, he really wanted to try a glass, but had restrained himself due to his rationality.

After hesitating for a while, shop assistants had begun to return to Yuanzipu one after another. Shopkeeper Zhuo put the cork back in the old wine jar and temporarily hid it under the counter.

Later, those who had gone to order from the restaurants came back with food boxes, and the group ate lunch together at the table in the garden. Once they had finished cleaning up, business started up again in the afternoon, and everyone became busy moving wine, transporting crates, and collecting money.

In the evening, when Yuanzipu was about to close, the shop assistants were cleaning up shop, and Shopkeeper Zhuo was settling his last accounting of the day.

“Hey, Boss, did your cough go away?”

The shop assistant who spoke was the one helping Shopkeeper Zhuo clean the purple ceramic teapot containing the medicinal liquid. As such, when he picked up the teapot, he found that it was still heavy. When he opened the lid, he saw that most of the medicinal liquid was still there. There would have been very little left had it been a couple days ago.

At the shop assistant’s question, Zhuo Tao suddenly realized that he hadn’t coughed for quite a while.

“That’s right, I didn’t hear the shopkeeper cough all afternoon.”

“Hey, that’s true. I asked the Boss to see the doctor in the morning, how could he be fine in the afternoon?”

Shopkeeper Zhuo was also surprised. Thinking back carefully, it seemed that the last time he had coughed was after he had finished settling the account books in the morning, and then…

Zhuo Tao glanced at the old wine jar hidden under the counter. He had been feeling a little distracted all afternoon, but now his heartbeat quickened slightly, and the vague premonition became more and more intense.

‘This isn’t a treasure, is it?’³

. . .

When the sky grew darker once again, Ji Yuan returned to the Chunmu River south of the city. Sure enough, the Old Turtle was still waiting at the bottom of the river, using a water-controlling method to protect the fishing rod and ensure that the green bamboo did not get wet.

There were no passersby at the river bank at this hour, so the Old Turtle floated to the surface with no hesitation. He put his feet together in the water and greeted him.

“I greet Mr. Ji!”

“Ah, thank you very much!”

Ji Yuan thanked him and stretched out his hand. The fishing fishing rod on the turtle’s back returned to his grasp.

The Old Turtle saw that the red fox was not by Mr. Ji’s side, and assumed that Mr. Ji was about to leave soon, but then he watched him sit down in the same place where he had sat the night before. saw that he sat down again at the place he sat last night.

At this moment, the big black carp was not by the shore, and Hu Yun had been allowed to go to the academy to have one last chat with Yin Qing before departing. It was only Ji Yuan and the Old Turtle by the willows that arched across the river. The Old Turtle was somewhat nervous.

Ji Yuan looked at a hole in one of the willow trees that was much bigger than a basketball. It was from their first night on this visit to Chunhui Prefecture, when the Old Turtle had bit into it with hatred. He couldn’t help but smile, and then looked at the Old Turtle on the river.

“The other day, you asked Hu Yun about the content of ‘Xiaoyao You’?”

Ji Yuan’s question was calm and peaceful, without any anger in his voice, but when the Old Turtle heard it, he suddenly panicked, and felt extremely uneasy for a moment.

“Yes…”

He wanted to explain himself in a few words, but felt that this would be like whining, so in the end he could only dare to respond with one word.

But after waiting for a long time, and hearing no rebukes or harsher words from Mr. Ji, a sense of anticipation began to rise in his heart, growing ever stronger.

Ji Yuan appeared to be waiting in order to observe the changes in the Old Turtle’s expression. It was quite interesting to watch the changes in the facial features of the turtle’s enormous face. However, eventually the Old Turtle mustered up the courage to look him in the eyes, not avoiding his gaze.

“Would you like to listen to ‘Xiaoyao You’?”

Sure enough, the words that the Old Turtle wanted to year most came out of Ji Yuan’s mouth. The emotions that he had tried hard to control could no longer be suppressed, and he continuously bowed, bending over and kowtowing amidst the splashing of water.

“I would like to listen! This Old Turtle definitely would! Please teach me, Sir! Please teach me!”

Because he was in the water, he was able to swing his body as much as an ordinary person could bend when they bowed, but the movement on the water surface was much larger and much louder.

“Well, if you keep bowing like this, you’ll attract all the ships in the distance.”

It was not yet completely dark, and although there was no one around, there were still cruise ships on the river. The churning of the water might indeed attract people to come over.

The old turtle immediately stopped moving. He floated quietly on the water and waited, simultaneously afraid that Ji Yuan would say something like, “you may want to listen, but I don’t want to speak.” He really couldn’t believe his good fortune.

After a moment of complete silence.

“There is a fish in the North Sea, named Kun. Kun so large that no one can see where the thousands of miles of its length ends. He changes into a bird, named Peng…”

Ji Yuan didn’t advise him to prepare himself, but spoke directly in a quiet voice. The Old Turtle on the river had been extremely alert since the beginning, not daring to miss even a single word or pause.

As Ji Yuan’s words carried, the surroundings were also affected by the mental world formed by Ji Yuan’s Transformation of Heaven and Earth. The atmosphere felt blurry, deep like an abyss. The Old Turtle felt as if he were being led by Mr. Ji to become a giant, an enormous turtle that could look down upon all the mountains and rivers of the world. It was like that Kun-Peng whose thousands of miles in length were immeasurable, from the blue sky all the way down into the underworld…

Even at this moment, the Old Turtle did not forget to memorize every word, despite his mind being strongly shaken.

The speed of Ji Yuan’s speech seemed to conflict with the time. His spoken pace was normal, but when he finished the last two paragraphs of “Xiaoyao You” — “Things that are harmless are of no use, so why should we be troubled?” — and the Old Turtle woke up, the sky was already dark. It was late at night.⁴

At this point, Mr. Ji stopped talking. However, the Old Turtle was still in a state of shock, and couldn’t speak.

Ji Yuan looked at the Old Turtle in this state, and felt that this method of expressing his inner world was quite good. It was indeed effective to use in lectures.⁵

In theory, the effect this time should be even better than that time on the promontory on Niu Kui Mountain. However, Lu Shan Jun was also considered to be one of the best at comprehension of the monsters. Judging from the sounds of the Tao that night, his comprehension might be no worse than that of the Old Turtle at this moment.

“You have been too obsessive for too long a time. In fact, this “Xiaoyao You” is really quite suitable for you. I won’t say any more about the rest. Return here and listen to a book with Biqing when you have time.”

After Ji Yuan finished speaking, he stood up, fishing rod in hand, and moved his body away like a dragon shrinking the land into the distance.

When the Old Turtle suddenly returned to his senses, he could only see Ji Yuan’s retreating back far away. He quickly climbed ashore and stood up, repeatedly thanking the figure in the distance: “Thank you, Sir, for your teachings, thank you, Sir, for your teachings! Thank you…”

The first few exclamations were filled with joy and gratitude, but once Ji Yuan could not longer be seen in the distance, the voice was filled with more complex emotions.

“I, this Old Turtle… finally, I have waited for the day when my luck would turn…”

1. 时来运转 (shíláiyùnzhuǎn): “the time comes, fortune turns” (idiom) –> to have a lucky break/things changing for the better
2. Fried Millet Pancake – kind of like fried rice crackers, pretty dry
3. T/n: LOL right thought process, wrong conclusions. … … Unless…
4. I don’t know if I linked this before, but this reddit post has a fantastic interpretation of Xiaoyao You if you’re curious
5. T/n: Turtle: … *catatonic*

   JY: man that was pretty neat, let’s go again!

   JY, please stop casually breaking people’s conception of reality XD…

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by Aunomay Read