Chapter 2 Suwen
“In ancient times, people would easily live past a hundred, and their movements wouldn’t even become weak or frail.” Ye Fan closed the Yellow Emperor’s Internal Canon. The Suwen text on ancient times floated through his mind.
There were no accurate and thorough writings on the history of ancient times. That era was covered by a dense fog of mystery for the present people, allowing people to have many fanciful thoughts.
A gentle breeze blew. In the courtyard, several Chinese parasol trees gently swayed. The lush leaves and branches rustled, and a fresh breath of air blew through his window.
Ye Fan enjoyed these kinds of ‘wondrous and surprising’ novels. Steeping a cup of light green tea, he began to continue browsing the ancient text in his hand.
“Ordinary people would all live past a hundred years of age, and their mobility would not deteriorate with age. Just what kind of mysterious time was this ancient era…?”
The Suwen text’s writings about ancient people were something that modern people would have difficulty believing. However, he was curious about how the people from this ‘ancient era’ seemed to be veiled in obscurity. Apparently, this period was covered in an endless fog, and the civilization of this time had disappeared from the flow of history.
Is it possible that there really was an ancient history that no one knows about? After some fanciful thoughts, he continued to read.
In terms of ancient historical knowledge, the Yellow Emperor’s Internal Canon was an absolute treasure. The book was published thousands of years ago and had become the number one book out of China’s ‘Three Masterpieces’. Of course, the book’s text couldn’t be completely trusted, but as a whole, it was still extremely precious.
“Hold heaven and earth, grasp Yin and Yang, breathe in Qi essence, guard the sole spirit, and move the muscles as one. In this manner one can live a long life, defeat heaven and earth, never have an end, and find their life’s Dao.”
The Suwen text often brought up the ancient times. By understanding the changes of heaven and earth, as well as refining and nurturing Qi essence, one could become an immortal with a long life. Of course, modern man would have difficulty believing this.
Without him being aware, the red sun slowly dropped westwards. The sunset spilled out onto the lawn outside the window, and the parasol trees were covered by a faint red glow.
Ye Fan put down the Yellow Emperor’s Internal Canon and prepared to join an important class reunion.
It had already been three years since he had graduated from university. After he graduated, Ye Fan continued to stay within the same city. Recalling his past, he felt like his innocent times as a student were now long gone.
Three years could not be considered long or short. His fellow classmates had long since left to go in various directions, each living out their own unique lives.
His cell phone’s ringtone broke his train of thought. It was from his fellow classmate Lin Jia, an extremely smart and beautiful woman. In a neighboring city, she had used her exceptional skills at her job to surpass others, and a year ago she had already been promoted to department manager.
After answering the phone, the sound of Lin Jia’s teasing came out. At university she had displayed exceptional communication skills which had made it very easy for her to make good relationships.
“What, do you miss me?” Ye Fan lightly countered.
A sweet and pleasant laughter came out. “I’m not too clear on the party’s location. Let’s go together.”
After setting up a place to meet up, Ye Fan got into his car and left. In university, he had once tried to woo Lin Jia, but he had been tactfully denied and told that the two of them weren’t compatible.
Lin Jia was an extremely beautiful and inspiring woman. Moreover, her intelligence and shrewdness were even more exceptional than her beauty. She was extremely clear on what she needed and she did what she needed to do to get it.
Ten minutes before the agreed upon time, Ye Fan arrived at the Parkson shopping mall and found a parking spot. Getting out of the car, he waited beside the road for Lin Jia.
The entire city was bathed in the afterglow of the setting sun and many buildings were covered with a golden light. On the roads, people and vehicles went back and forth in an unending flow.
Seven or eight minutes later, a Toyota arrived and parked beside the road. The passenger door opened to reveal the beautiful Lin Jia.
Ye Fan smiled and teased, “You even have special taxis for yourself, huh.”
“Stop being so sarcastic. I don’t have any personal taxis. That’s our classmate Liu Yunzhi’s car.”
Although he had kept in touch with his friends over these three years, he had only met up with them once in the last two years. Lin Jia was just as youthful and beautiful as she had been. She continued to wear whatever she wanted; today she was wearing skin-tight jeans and a purple T-shirt that accentuated her curves and made her look more slender.
“We haven’t seen each other in two years. How are you?” Lin Jia’s gentle black hair fell to her shoulders, the light reflecting off it. She had been born with red phoenix eyes¹ which complimented her long eyelashes, giving her a unique and natural charming air.
“I’m well,” said Ye Fan. He continued to tease her, saying, “Lin Jia, with your natural looks and beauty, it seems like such a letdown that you didn’t go into show business.”
“It’s a real shame, right?” Lin Jia’s laugh was extremely moving and she appeared very lovely. Her red phoenix eyes slanted, and in the sunset, her red lips appeared to be exceptionally sensual.
At this moment, the parked car’s window rolled down to reveal a familiar face in the driver seat - Liu Yunzhi.
Similar to Ye Fan, he continued to stay in this city after graduating. He had started a business with the help of one of his more powerful relatives. Although its scope couldn’t be considered large, he was still considered as someone with quite a bit of success amongst his classmates.
Although they continued to live in the same city, the two of them didn’t have much contact. The main reason for this was because they had had a bit of conflict during their university days.
Liu Yunzhi didn’t get out of the car. He unenthusiastically laughed and said, “Long time no see.”
“Yeah, when we have time we should hang out together.” Seeing that he didn’t even get out of the car, Ye Fan also simply returned a basic greeting.
“Did you take a taxi?” Liu Yunzhi asked him coolly.
Ye Fan was too lazy to bother with this kind of obvious contempt and he merely shrugged.
Lin Jia was a considerably astute and clever woman. Naturally, she sensed the atmosphere and smiled towards Ye Fan. “This time I’ve rushed over and called all our fellow classmates who have stayed in this city for a get-together. How about we all take Liu Yunzhi’s car to the party?”
Before Ye Fan could even respond, Liu Yunzhi opened his mouth and said in a somewhat apologetic tone, “I’m sorry, I already agreed to pick up two other old classmates who are waiting just at that intersection so there aren’t enough seats.”
“It doesn’t matter. You go first and I’ll follow you.” After saying this, Ye Fan turned and smiled towards Lin Jia. “Are you coming with me or…”
In the brief moment that Lin Jia hesitated, Liu Yunzhi urged, “Oh beautiful Lin Jia, you should go in my car. Otherwise, I’d worry that you’d drown in someone else’s saliva.”
After standing beside the road for a couple seconds, Lin Jia apologized to Ye Fan. Under Liu Yunzhi’s urging, she got into his Toyota.
While the car window was rolling up, Ye Fan indistinctly heard Liu Yunzhi disdainfully muttering, “Right now it’s rush hour as people are getting off work. It’ll take forever to wait for a taxi!” After this, the Toyota sped off, leaving a trail of dust.
In the past, Ye Fan could have been considered a pretty influential person on the university campus. But now he had been assumed to be taking a taxi. Compared to Liu Yunzhi, he appeared somewhat down and out.
Ye Fan would generally ignore people who acted like Liu Yunzhi. However, Lin Jia’s behavior did cause him to feel somewhat disappointed.
But each person had their own way of conducting themselves. In reality, it was naturally impossible for people to avoid things like vanity, pride, etc., and all in all, Ye Fan was not entirely against it.
The red sun was already falling below the horizon. The horizon that appeared to have been dyed a blood-red color gradually turning dark. The entire city appeared to be draped by a thick, dusky cloth as the curtain of night was on the edge of arriving.
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At this very moment, nine titanic dragon corpses pulling a bronze coffin were lying in the pitch-black and ice-cold universe. This shocking scene appeared to be eternally frozen in time.
Inside the International Space Station, the astronauts had already sent back this earth-shattering information down to Earth and were waiting for their next instructions.
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¹Red phoenix eyes refers to eyes whose outer corners incline upwards.
Translator Notes:
China has “Three Masterpieces (上古三大奇书)” from ancient times: The I Ching/Yijing, known as the Classic of Changes (易); the Shan-hai Ching, known as the Classic of Mountains and Seas (山海经); and the Huangdi Neijing, known as the Yellow Emperor’s Internal Canon (黄帝内经). The Yellow Emperor’s Internal Canon is an ancient medical text. The Suwen text (素问) means ‘Basic Questions’, or plain questions. The Yellow Emperor’s Internal Canon is split into two texts, of which the Suwen is the more important.
Parkson shopping malls (百盛) are a popular chain of malls in China.