At dawn, the purple hue spread in the sky.
The workers in the port of Hejin were already busy.
"Hey Fan'er come help me lift this crate up"
At the sound of the voice, a boy, adolescent in age and of slightly taller than average height turned around and went towards the man who had spoken.
Without speaking he began helping the bald and rough faced middle-aged man lift the crate upon the ship.
The man named Cang Chen looked at Li Xiaofan and said chuckling:
"A man of few words as always. When I was your age I was a happy go lucky kid making my parents worry all day."
"Look at you now though, already working and earning your keep. Lao Deng must be really proud having a son like you, uh"
Li Xiaofan didn't bother to reply and they were soon finished with bringing the cargo on the ship.
As the sun had come to shine they were already done with their work, as Xiaofan started to make his way back home, a hand gripped his shoulder.
As he turned around a pair of worried and inquisitive eyes met his gaze.
"Fan'er, Luo'er told me that you will soon leave to embark on a journey toward mount Wudang, is it true?"
Cang Luo, the son of Cang Chen, was a childhood friend of Li Xiaofan. He had witnessed the once childish Xiaofan suddenly turn aloof and unperturbed six years ago.
Even though Xiaofan had changed they still maintained their friendship.
"Yes, it true." Calmly answered Li Xiaofan.
"But why? I just can't understand? Have you truly worked the past three years just so that you could afford to go to Mount Wudang?"
"What will you even do there?"
To the barrage of questions of Cang Chen, Li Xiaofan waited composed and answered without rushing.
"That is all true as well. As to why I'm going there? It is to become a martial artist naturally."
Finding lying and scheming beneath him due to his previous life, Li Xiaofan wasn't fond of being crafty, so he told the truth, albeit slightly altered.
The real reason he wanted to go to Wudang and nowhere else was due to Taoism and not martial arts.
He couldn't say so though as that would worry everybody close to him.
*sigh
Cang Chen shot him one last glance before taking his hand off his shoulder.
"We all know you, we know that once you put your mind to something, nobody can stop you. So even though I don't understand the reason I will not question you any longer."
After nodding off Cang Chen, Xiaofan started making his way back home.
He came to the small courtyard and opened the front door. He noticed his mother who was getting ready to leave for a day's work and greeted her. Making his way into his room, he opened and the closed the door, finally standing alone.
He had begun to spare money for three years. All those years of work so that he could afford the trip to Wudang.
After sitting down on his bed he began contemplating about the when and how of the trip.
He had the money, the hard earned money. He also had come up with various scenarios for the trip. The best hypothesis would be to hire an escort troupe to accompany him safely on a carriage all they way to Wudang, but he obviously didn't have the money for hiring an escort troupe.
He had thought about a carriage but it was costly and he knew he didn't have the strength to protect it from bandits, so that left an horse or a donkey as a mount and nothing else.
He decided he would soon head to a farmer and buy an old horse or a donkey.
In the meantime he would have to decide when he should make the trip. It was now spring and it was the ideal time to depart, ithe weather would be much better than the cold seasons or summer.
He foresaw that in the best of outcomes, when considering all variables like terrain, rest and other possible delays, it would take about six weeks to go from Fujian to Wudang in hubei.
After mulling over the short term future, Xiaofan stood up from bed and changed into more appropriate clothes. He got out of the house and headed towards old man's Jang house, where the elderly man was used to give his teachings.
On the way he stopped by his friend's house, Cang Luo the son of Cang Chen, to pick him up and go to school together as they always did.
*knock knock
As Li Xiaofan knocked on the door of a modest and unremarkable house, the face of a middle-aged lady marred by wrinkles and grey hair appeared in front of him as the door opened.
"Good morning Fan'er, I will tell Luo'er to hurry up and get ready for school. That child is never on time, I swear"
It was lady Cang, the mother of Cang Luo and the best seamstress in their neighbourhood.
"Luo'er, Xiaofan is here, how come you are always late!get up you lazy child or you will both be late to old Man Jang's lessons."
Xiaofan waited outside as lady Cang scolded her child.
After oddly five minutes Cang Luo came rushing out.
"hey Fan, you ready? Let's go!"
Li Xiaofan arched an eyebrow at Cang Luo's nonchalant shameless behaviour and thought with affection and mock contempt, sigh, what a punishment to be surrounded by bothersome people in this life.
They made their way up the street, chatting while they headed towards old man Jang's well cared for house.
Old man Jang being a retired scholar from Hebei could afford a lavish house for his retirement, one with a fenced courtyard spacious enough to allow him to teach a bunch of unruly kids and an interior space where a family of five could comfortably live together where his retainers and himself resided in.
As the house which stood in contrast in size with the rest of the habitations came into view from afar, they could clearly see the courtyard packed with children.
"Xiaofan, we are late! Old man Jang's gonna scold us to death, get a move on!"
The startled Cang Luo, noticing their delay, stopped his chattering and urged Xiaofan while beginning to unsightfully run towards the house in the distance.
As Cang Luo had chatted the whole travel distance as he oft did, he had let time slip by and ended up late together with the unbothered Li Xiaofan, whom knew of their delay but strolled leisurely as though it had nothing to do with him.
After two minutes, he too had managed his way to old man Jang's dwelling.
He looked around, spotted the place where Cang Luo had sat in the courtyard and made his way to it.
While walking he noticed old Man Jang, who had momentarily interrupted his lecture due to the new arrivals,flash him a smile.
"Now, where was I, oh right, the book of filial piety. Ahem…"
An unanimous groan was heard as old man Jang restarted his lecture.
This old man has nothing to teach me.
Deadpanned an irritated Li Xiaofan as he picked his itchy ear.
In all honesty, these lectures were a waste of time for him, who in his previous life had been both a Monk and a renowned scholar and had read enough scriptures to reach the heavens if piled up. His wisdom unmatched in all the monasteries of shaolin and scholar manors in the central plains.
The only reason he attended these lectures was purely for appearances sake. Also to enrich his knowledge about mundane matters in subjects such as architecture, math, etc… the likes of which he had deemed beneath him in his previous life, poisonous worldly knowledge which could contaminate him even. He had focused purely on rhetoric, existential matters and whatever could help him ascend like observation, introspection, meditation etc… This life would be different from his last though, so both to draw a separate trajectory for this life and to actually acquire precious knowledge he would perhaps need one day, he begrudgingly attended.
As the time flew by, late afternoon came and the lecture ended. Everybody stood up to leave or to play with each other in old man Jang's courtyard, a playground for the local kids after the lectures ended, a generous concession from the elderly scholar.
As the usual end of lectures chaos ensued, Xiaofan dusted his robes and stood up, walking to the napping Cang Luo.
After he shook the dazed Cang Luo, he turned around and was about to head out of the manor when he heard the voice of old man Jang calling to him.
"Xiaofan, are you going away?"
To which Li Xiaofan simply nodded.
"I meant, away from your hometown…"
The elderly Jang pressed on, his thin and dry skinned index finger twirling around his long white beard as he had a playful, I know it all, smirk.
Mildly surprised inside, but still expressionless outside Xiaofan wondered if Cang Luo had spilled the beans.
Probably not. He thought.
"So how did you know Lao Jang?"
Li Xiaofan calmly sized up the old man while waiting for an answer.
"Oh-oh. A dragon cannot stay in a little pond his whole life after all. Sooner or later it was bound to happen, so go! Go and SPREAD YOUR WINGS HIGH IN THE SKY"
At the theatrics of the old man, Li Xiaofan almost broke down as a vein popped on his forehead.
"We aren't in a staged play and I'm not the protagonist of a book, so enough of your semantics old man, grow up and know shame." Said Xiaofan as he scoffed at the over emphatic street-performance like act of the old man.
*TCHHH
"Can't even let an old man enjoy himself, uh. You insufferable brat."
At this playful banter both felt warm inside as old man Jang smiled and a smirk tugged at the corner of Li Xiaofan's lips.
"Whatever you do and wherever you may go, I look forward to hearing your heroic tales spread." Continued old man Jang.
"Thanks, I will endeavour in epic adventures, just so that you have a reason to live, and not kick the bucket, by bragging around and about to your old fossils friends that 'thou were thee master' ahah". Replied Xiaofan, putting particular drama in his quote, by striking a scenographic pose and speaking majestically.
Now it was old man Jang's turn to fume as a deep scowl appeared on his face.
The two were bickering like old time friends who had known each other for a lifetime.
Eventually though, came the time to bid goodbye as the sun started to come down.
"hey Li Xiaofan, hurry up and come here in under ten seconds or I will call you a donkey for the rest of your life". From outside the courtyard they heard the hollering of Cang Luo and finally shot each other a knowing look.
"I sincerely pray for your success."
Li Xiaofan felt a tinge of emotion rise up from within his insides.
"Thank you, truly, for having taught me all this time Lao Jang".
They smiled at each other and turned around, both to continue with their lives. A true farewell, one between taught men, who knew that farewell held weight and gravity only depending on how they affected you. Such was the deep meaning behind it, solemn, decisive, without regrets and lingering emotions, a farewell which promised to be a "see you again" rather than a "goodbye", a mere fleeting moment in their non-linear lives, setting the base for the continuing of their rapport once they met again.
With a weight off his shoulder, Li Xiaofan strolled towards Cang Luo and then they both normally went home together.
I hold the expectations of all the people dear to me, I will not fail.
With feral determination and obsession in his eyes Li Xiaofan was steadily heading towards the end of his days in Hejin.