Wu Sidao, the lame adviser in Tian Wenjing's residence, sensed disaster looming. He stopped hiding and went straight to Governor Tian Wenjing, laying out a bill for five thousand taels in unpaid wages. It was a declaration of open hostility, and a way to force him to pay up and let him go.
Afraid of damaging his reputation as an “honest official,” Tian Wenjing gritted his teeth and tossed over a bank draft. His words were icy: “Take the money! With your sickly body, the mountains are high and the roads treacherous. You'd better... take care of yourself!”
With the money in hand, Wu Sidao fled that very night with his maid, Ruyue. Like two shadows, they slipped out of the residence, climbed aboard a little black-canopied boat, and disappeared into the remote mountains of Jiangnan. Behind them lay Tian Wenjing's murderous intent and a whirlpool there was no returning from.
The emperor sent no one after them. When Nian Gengyao died, no one informed Wu Sidao, and his former student Li Wei never came looking for him. Prince Yi, the Thirteenth Prince, tried to persuade the emperor to invite Master Wu back to help him out of his predicament. The emperor only replied coldly, “Once something is broken, gluing it back together won't make it what it was.”
Life in the mountains was hard. They had a few thatched cottages and a courtyard enclosed by a bamboo fence. Dragging his unreliable leg, Wu Sidao taught a handful of village children at the foot of the mountain to read. Ruyue shouldered a bamboo basket, climbed the mountains and crossed streams to learn about plants and gather herbs, and treated the villagers' headaches and fevers as well.
People said the deep wisdom in Master Wu's heart must have been blown away by the mountain wind. Only Ruyue knew that late at night, when all was quiet, he often sat alone before an oil lamp, staring at a half-finished game of Go. His fingertips would stroke a discarded stone, and every so often a glimmer of light would flash through his eyes, unnoticed by anyone.
The greatest events in the outside world reached this remote mountain hollow as no more than a few bits of gossip from hunters. They lived on a little coarse rice, a basket of herbs, and a few old books, listening to the stream and watching the clouds gather and drift from beneath the eaves of their thatched cottage. And so the teacher and the herb gatherer settled in among these green mountains and put down roots.
The writing is delicate and the plot is ups and downs, reshaping Wu Sidao and bringing a new reading experience. "Mr. Wu", the man who planned every plan in the Yongzheng Dynasty, ended up as a herb collector in the mountains? The novel skillfully captures the blank space in history and describes the life of Wu Sidao and Ru Yue after they disappeared completely. The wisdom that stirred up the storm in the past has turned into the indifference of understanding the human feelings in the mountains and wilds. The stormy waves finally end in still water. In the process of collecting herbs, cooking smoke and staying in tacit understanding, we explore what true letting go and perfection are. Hear the thunder in the silent place, and see the profound in the ordinary.
The writing is good. I like this kind of text. After seeing the protagonist and idol, I decided to finish this novel. The author has a good writing style. He should be sharp and sharp, sharp and sharp, soft and gentle 👍, it is worth finishing.