Chapter 204: Fortune Turns

“Boss, are we going to... throw this away?”

The shop assistant vigorously sniffed the bottle's opening, then, holding the wine bottle, he hesitantly asked.

The boss promptly snatched the bottle from his hand, picking up the cork from the table as well.

He shook the bottle, then held it up to the light, peering inside. There were some wine stains but no liquid. He sniffed the fragrance again; it was as strong as ever. But when he put the cork back, the scent instantly faded, disappearing completely moments later.

Shopkeeper Zhuo then vigorously sniffed the body of the bottle, finding no scent leaking out. As he examined it, several shop assistants gathered around, watching with curious expressions.

“Boss, why is this bottle so fragrant? What was in it?”

Shopkeeper Zhuo meticulously examined the slight indentations on the bottle's surface. It appeared to be an ordinary wine bottle, yet he instinctively felt it was extraordinary. Hearing the shop assistant's question, and with a vaguely strange sensation, Shopkeeper Zhuo casually replied:

“Perhaps it contained some kind of fragrance...”

As he spoke, Shopkeeper Zhuo glanced at the doorway again. He had a persistent feeling that he had seen the scene moments ago somewhere before, and once that thought took hold, he couldn't shake it.

This style of wine bottle, this peculiar customer—it all seemed to overlap with certain scenes from years past.

“Perhaps it really did contain fragrance; no wonder that person didn't use the bottle for wine anymore.”

“So, are we throwing this bottle away or not?”

“What else would we do with it if we don't throw it away? Wash it and fill it with wine? The shop certainly isn't short of bottles.”

“What are we having for lunch today? That smell just now made me quite hungry!”

The shop assistants by the counter chattered back and forth. After all, the Garden Shop usually had fewer rules during idle times.

Yet, hearing one of the shop assistants suggest “washing it and filling it with wine,” Shopkeeper Zhuo's heart inexplicably stirred once more.

“Alright, alright, everyone, off you go. It's almost noon. A few of you go to the restaurant outside and order some food, and you two, go to the pancake shop across the street and buy some fried cakes.”

“Are we not cooking ourselves today?”

Shopkeeper Zhuo glared irritably at the questioner.

“You're complaining about having a good meal? Fine, then we'll cook it ourselves!”

“No, no, no, no, Boss, I was just joking!” “Exactly, you're asking for trouble!”

“Well, what are you waiting for?” “Going, going!”

“Got it, got it!”

The shop assistants quickly set off in different directions. Since the boss was paying, and their Garden Shop was ordering, they didn't even need to wait in line. All the restaurants would prioritize their orders. As for alcohol, of course, they had no need to buy any.

After sending the shop assistants away, he turned and opened a jar of ‘Thousand-Day Spring’ from a cabinet behind him. He then pulled the cork from the old wine bottle, and that familiar fragrance wafted out once more. He quickly attached a funnel and carefully poured half a measure (about four liang) of ‘Thousand-Day Spring’ into the old bottle.

Something quite magical happened: the moment the wine entered the bottle, the original fragrance suddenly receded, as if it had been drawn back into the bottle itself.

After pouring that half-measure of wine, Shopkeeper Zhuo removed the funnel and brought the bottle's mouth close to his nose, sniffing carefully. The aroma of ‘Thousand-Day Spring’ inside seemed noticeably richer than ordinary new wine, yet it was still nowhere near the captivating fragrance he had experienced moments earlier.

He shook the bottle, listening to the liquid slosh inside, then sniffed again. The aroma of ‘Thousand-Day Spring’ seemed to intensify further.

Shopkeeper Zhuo took a cup, but after long hesitation, he still didn't pour out the wine to taste it.

Smelling the wine's aroma and recalling the previous intoxicating fragrance, he yearned to try a sip, but his rationality held that impulse in check.

After a moment of such indecision, shop assistants began to return to the Garden Shop. Shopkeeper Zhuo then corked the old wine bottle and temporarily hid it inside the counter.

Soon after, those who had gone to order from the restaurant returned with food boxes. The group ate lunch together at a table in the Garden Shop. Once they finished cleaning up, business started arriving in the afternoon: moving wine, transporting wine, settling accounts, collecting money—everyone became busy.

In the evening, as the Garden Shop was about to close, the shop assistants were tidying up while Shopkeeper Zhuo finalized the last of the day's accounts.

“Hey, Boss, has your cough gone away?”

The shop assistant who spoke had intended to take the purple clay pot containing medicine to wash it for Shopkeeper Zhuo. But as he picked it up, he found it surprisingly heavy. He opened the lid and saw that most of the medicine liquid was still inside, whereas in the past few days, there would have been very little left.

Hearing the shop assistant's question, Zhuo Tao also suddenly realized that he hadn't coughed for quite some time.

“Yeah, I haven't heard the boss cough all afternoon today.”

“Oh, you're absolutely right, now that you mention it. This morning I even told the boss to see a doctor, and he's recovered by this afternoon?”

Shopkeeper Zhuo was also inwardly surprised. He thought back carefully; it seemed the last time he coughed was after he finished settling the accounts that morning, and then...

Zhuo Tao glanced at the old wine pot hidden under the counter. He had felt somewhat distracted all afternoon, but now his heart pounded even faster, and that peculiar feeling grew increasingly intense.

‘This couldn't really be a treasure, could it!?’

When dusk fell once more, Ji Yuan returned to the Chunmu Riverbank outside the city's south gate. As expected, the old turtle was still waiting at the bottom of the river, using water manipulation to protect the fishing rod, keeping the green bamboo completely dry.

With no pedestrians remaining by the riverbank, the old turtle freely surfaced and, bringing its limbs together in the water, offered a respectful greeting.

“Greetings, Master Ji!”

“Good, thank you!”

Ji Yuan thanked him, then, with a wave of his hand, the fishing rod on the turtle's back returned to his grasp.

The old turtle noticed the red fox was not with Master Ji and assumed he was about to depart. However, he watched as Master Ji settled back down in the same spot where he had sat the previous night.

At that moment, the large green fish was not on the shore, and Hu Yun had been granted special permission by Ji Yuan to go to the academy for a final meeting with Yin Qing. Only Ji Yuan and the old turtle remained by the willows near the river, making the old turtle somewhat nervous.

Ji Yuan glanced at a hole in one of the willows, significantly larger than a basketball—the very spot the old turtle had bitten in its resentment on his first night in Chunhui Prefecture. He couldn't help but crack a faint smile, then looked towards the old turtle on the river's surface.

“That day, you asked Hu Yun about the content of ‘Free and Easy Wandering’?”

Ji Yuan's question was calm and tranquil, devoid of any anger, but the old turtle's heart suddenly seized with panic, leaving it deeply uneasy for a moment.

“Yes...”

He wanted to offer an explanation, but it felt too much like making excuses, so in the end, he only managed that single word.

But after waiting for a while and hearing no more severe words or reprimands from Master Ji, a faint sense of anticipation began to swell within his heart, growing increasingly intense.

Ji Yuan seemed to be waiting to observe the old turtle's changing expressions, finding the shifting features on the immense turtle's face quite amusing. This time, however, the old turtle mustered its courage and met his pale eyes without averting its gaze.

“Would you like to hear ‘Free and Easy Wandering’?”

Indeed, the words he most longed to hear came from Ji Yuan's mouth. The old turtle, who had been trying so hard to control his emotions, could no longer contain himself. Amidst the “splashing...” of water, he repeatedly bowed and prostrated himself.

“Yes, I want to hear it, this old turtle wants to hear it! Please, Master, impart your wisdom! Please, Master, impart your wisdom!”

Being in the water, this time it could sway its body with the same amplitude as a human bowing, though the commotion on the water's surface was considerably greater.

“Alright, if you keep prostrating yourself like that, you'll attract boats from afar.”

The sky hadn't completely darkened yet. Although there were no pedestrians nearby, pleasure boats were on the river. The constant splashing and churning of the water here could indeed attract attention.

The old turtle immediately ceased its movements, floating quietly on the water's surface, waiting. At the same time, it feared Ji Yuan might say, “You want to hear it, but I no longer wish to speak.” It truly found it hard to believe its own good fortune.

After a moment of complete silence.

“In the Northern Darkness there is a fish; its name is Kun. The Kun is so huge I don't know how many thousand li it measures. It transforms into a bird; its name is Peng...”

Ji Yuan offered no warnings, like ‘get ready.’ Instead, he spoke directly and serenely. The old turtle on the river's surface, meanwhile, had been on high alert since moments before, not daring to miss a single word or pause.

As Ji Yuan's voice resonated, the surroundings were also influenced by the profound aura generated by his reversal of heaven and earth, appearing indistinct yet abyssal. The old turtle felt as if Master Ji was leading it to transform into a giant, a colossal turtle supporting the sky, capable of surveying mountains and rivers, or like the Kunpeng of unknown thousands of li, covering a thousand li in an instant, able to ascend to the azure heavens and descend to the nine netherworlds...

Even at that moment, despite the profound shock to its mind, the old turtle did not forget to firmly grasp every single word.

Ji Yuan's speaking pace seemed to conflict with time; his delivery was normal, yet by the time the last two lines of ‘Free and Easy Wandering’—‘The spirit-man has no achievements; the sage has no name’—were uttered, and the old turtle jolted back to awareness, the sky had surprisingly fallen into deep night.

At this point, Master Ji stopped speaking, but the old turtle remained speechless, still in shock.

Ji Yuan observed the old turtle's state and felt that this method of manifesting a profound atmosphere was quite effective; at least for expounding the Dao, it certainly conveyed deep meaning.

The effect this time should theoretically have been even better than the last time, on the Moon Platform of Niukui Mountain. However, Lu Shanjun, among demons, also possessed exceptionally keen comprehension, so his understanding from the Dao sound that night might not have been inferior to the old turtle's current realization.

“You've been too fixated for a long time. In truth, this essay, ‘Free and Easy Wandering,’ is quite suitable for you. I won't say much else. When you have time, come listen to stories with Biqing.”

After speaking, Ji Yuan stood up with his fishing rod and, moving with the agility of a traveling dragon, departed as if shrinking the very distance itself.

When the old turtle suddenly snapped back to reality, he could only see Ji Yuan's distant retreating figure. He then hastily climbed ashore, stood upright, and repeatedly called out his thanks towards the distance: “Thank you, Master, for your enlightenment! Thank you, Master, for imparting the Dao! Thank you, Master, for your enlightenment! Thank you, Master, for imparting the Dao!”

His first few calls were filled with joy and gratitude, but once Ji Yuan was no longer visible, his voice became tinged with various complex emotions.

“This old turtle... has finally awaited the day his luck would turn...”