CHAPTER 437: CHAPTER 197: RED WOODEN CABIN

"You want to help me with a character divination?" Li Xiu looked at Baye with some surprise.

"Divining auspiciousness or misfortune might be of some help to you," Baye said.

Li Xiu thought for a moment and said, "Even if your divination is accurate, knowing a bad result will only make me feel uneasy and won’t change anything. If the result is good, knowing in advance reduces surprises, so I don’t need the divination."

Baye laughed, "You’re overestimating me. I don’t have the ability to predict the future, just a guess at potential issues, a random divination."

Li Xiu thought for a moment, then drew a "灵" (spirit) character on the ground with a bamboo stick, a character written by the previous mistress here for the Eternal Heaven.

Li Xiu wasn’t truly seeking fortune or misfortune but wanted to know what Baye would say.

He must know more than what he has revealed about the red and blue cabins, so rather than divination, Baye might have the chance to tell him something about the cabins.

What Baye said earlier seemed to implicitly convey this meaning to Li Xiu.

Baye stood inside the door, carefully scrutinized the character "灵" Li Xiu wrote, and said with a somewhat grave expression: "Your journey may be fraught with danger; at worst, it poses a mortal threat, at best a risk of grave illness."

"Why do you say this?" Li Xiu asked.

"The character ’灵’ (spirit) has a mountain above and fire below. The mountain collapses, fire erupts from below, causing landslides and volcanic eruptions—what perilous circumstances, life is bound to have grave worries. The ’灵’ character you wrote is in simplified form. The ancient ’灵’ had rain above, three mouths in the middle, and a witch below, symbolizing a shaman praying to the heavens for rain and obtaining it, signifying a divine spirit. It was originally a character of great fortune. But you didn’t use the ancient form, choosing the simplified, essentially abandoning the divine spirit’s protection—your journey will surely be ill-fated."

Baye turned to the other side of the door frame and continued examining the character "灵" Li Xiu wrote: "Following the earlier thought process, if you enter the cabin of extreme Yang, catastrophe is certain; entering the cabin of extreme Yin also won’t bode well. Looking at the ’灵’ character you wrote—usually people write it with small mountains and large fire, yet you wrote it with large mountains and small fire, which is a bit odd."

"What’s odd about it? It’s just different personal writing habits," Chujun, who had been listening to Baye speak about misfortune and bad luck, was already a bit annoyed.

"Mountain represents the real, fire the virtual; mountain symbolizes Yang, fire Yin. Yin fire tempers Yang mountain, making it increasingly solid, indicating one’s vitality and spirit grow better. But your Yang mountain is too large, Yin fire too small, the mountain crushes, fire extinguished. They say ’a lone Yang doesn’t thrive, a solitary Yin doesn’t grow,’—mountain crushes fire extinguished, a lone Yang unbirth: this should be a fatal situation, but..." Baye pondered without finishing.

"Baye, could you please finish your sentence? We still have things to do," Chujun said with a sneer.

Baye smiled, "It’s not that I don’t want to finish; the character divination is rather peculiar, even I find it hard to see through."

"Then tell us exactly what you can’t comprehend," Chujun said.

"Mountain collapses, fire above torments—a most inauspicious sign, yet a lone Yang doesn’t thrive—a severe omen. Theoretically, the character written here and now signifies a fatal situation. But it’s strange—the stand-alone interpretation indeed seems that way; yet when merging the two character interpretations, the situation changes."

Baye pondered, "Mountain collapses, extinguishes fire, so no need for torment above; though a lone Yang doesn’t thrive, extreme Yang can generate Yin, a single mountain collapse heralds ’All Things Born.’ A standard writing of this character, although not auspicious, wouldn’t signify severe misfortune. Your writing circulates both severe misfortune and great fortune—how can severities coexist? I am somewhat confused."

"Since you’re confused, there’s no need to look further. I’ll go fetch what you need from the cabin, and upon my return, please keep your promise to give me the pearl from your room," Li Xiu said, picking up the gemstone box and walking toward the red cabin.

"Li Xiu, maybe we should each go to a cabin. Despite Baye’s words being unreliable, I have an uneasy feeling," Chujun stopped Li Xiu.

"If we both go inside, what happens if something goes wrong? You stay outside, in case something happens, not everything will be caught here. You will still be able to devise strategies outside. This place belongs to the Chu Family; what you can accomplish, I cannot, and methods you can employ, I cannot, so it’s only useful to keep you outside."

"Be careful." Hearing Li Xiu, Chujun finally let go but still worriedly reminded.

"Don’t worry." Li Xiu knocked on the door, yet no one responded from inside the red cabin.

"Anyone inside?" Li Xiu shouted while knocking.

"No need to shout; the people inside can’t hear, even if they could, they won’t answer you, just push the door and go in," the voice of Baye from the middle cabin said.

Upon hearing this, Li Xiu didn’t say more. He tried pushing the door; surprisingly, it wasn’t locked and opened easily.

Everything inside the red cabin was red: red walls, red tables, red chairs—everything visible was red.

Directly across from the door was a red bead curtain. Behind it was the inner room, through which he could vaguely see a woman dressed in red, her face covered with a red veil, seated on an embroidered couch behind a low table. On the table sat a white jade vase with three flowers—one white, one red, one black—inserted into it.