Chapter 182: Apology

In the wide valley, a massive stone statue stood tall before the temple gate. Sunlight poured down, and three large characters shimmered with brilliance: Yaowang Temple.

The ground was covered with a red carpet, a large stage stood in the center, and several rows of drummers and musicians dressed in red jackets and headscarves stood ready.

"Boom," the low sound of drums shook the mountains and wilderness, and with a "Woo—," the high-pitched and winding sound of a traditional Chinese oboe soared straight into the clouds.

Following that, the drums and music played in unison.

The host, dressed in Han Dynasty attire, stood on the stage, speaking with great emotion: "Prostrate before the Medicine Mountain, towering and majestic, a holy realm and immortal mountain, vast and imposing... We pay homage to the True Man, the Tang Dynasty Medicine King, a successful imperial examination candidate, with peerless writings... Versed in poetry and books, renowned for medical skills, curing tigers and treating dragons, with many miraculous prescriptions..."

Below the stage, there was a sea of people, shoulder to shoulder and heel to toe.

The second day of the second lunar month, offering sacrifices to the Medicine King before the Yaowang Temple.

It was only the twelfth lunar month, so the time had naturally not yet arrived. But last October (2007), the Yaowang Mountain Temple Fair in Yaozhou District, Tongchuan, had already entered the preliminary review stage for the "National Level Intangible Cultural Heritage Project." The relevant departments needed to conduct an on-site initial verification before the end of the year, so this year it was moved up a little.

If it passed the review, Tongchuan, and even Yaozhou District, would have two "National Level Intangible Cultural Heritage Projects." The local leadership attached great importance to this, and the higher-level departments also took it very seriously.

Although it was very cold, the review group requested an on-site observation, so many leaders from the city came and all accompanied them below the stage, providing one-on-one reception.

But halfway through the ceremony, while the ancient music ensemble on stage was chanting "Great Doctor Sincerity," Director Tian's cell phone vibrated with a "buzz."

He glanced at it; it was a call from Deputy Bureau Chief Song. Thinking it was a routine work report, Director Tian hung up out of habit.

But immediately, it "buzzed" again.

Tian Chengming frowned.

Everyone in the city knew that today the city was focusing on hosting the World Heritage Application review group from Beijing. Not only were the heads of all units present, but the city leaders were accompanying them the entire time. Yet Lao Song hadn't stopped after one call and had resolutely called a second time?

There must be something important to report, but the drums were deafening; let alone answering the phone, one couldn't even hear the person next to them speaking.

After thinking for a moment, he smiled at an Expert from the review group he was responsible for hosting, hung up again, and sent a text message: Lao Song, too noisy, text me if there's something.

It was as if Deputy Bureau Chief Song had already anticipated this; just as he clicked send, a text message came in.

Tian Chengming clicked it open, and then his eyes widened bit by bit, and a look of shock and anger appeared on his face.

The core technology is about to have its patent snatched by someone... Song Jingxian, what the hell are you doing?

And Meng Shufeng, who has been doing Artifact Research for over twenty years, how has he been researching?

Just as his anger was burning, the drums and music suddenly stopped, and the third part of the process began: the sacrifice of the three animals.

With his ears much clearer, Tian Chengming hurriedly found a corner and dialed back.

The more he listened, the angrier he became; the more he listened, the angrier he became. Song Jingxian wasn't right in front of him, otherwise, he would have pinned that son of a bitch down and beaten him up.

How could you all be so good at causing trouble: to poke such a hole at this critical juncture?

But the matter had already happened; even if he stabbed Song Jingxian, Du Liangzhi from the Porcelain Research Institute, and that Liu Dong a few times, what damn use would it be?

The point was how to remedy it.

Hanging up the phone and checking his watch, Tian Chengming took a few deep breaths and then returned to the front of the stage with a calm expression.

He even chatted and laughed with the Expert next to him...

The ceremony started at three o'clock, with bell music, speeches, music and dance, sacrifices... totaling five or six items, lasting about an hour.

At about four-thirty, the city leaders sent the review group to their cars, saying they invited the leaders and Experts to rest for a while, as a light banquet had been prepared at the City Hotel...

Just as the motorcade started, Director Tian hurriedly invited the Secretary, the Mayor, the Deputy Secretary, the Executive Vice Mayor, and the Vice Mayor in charge of industry to the scenic area office.

In a few words, concise and to the point, all five leaders were stunned: without knowing it, silently, the people below had poked a hole in the sky?

The most core technology of Yaozhou Porcelain had been patented by someone else? And someone was even preparing to use this technology to re-apply for World Heritage status?

Then what was the previous World Heritage Application for Yaozhou Porcelain, a joke?

What's more, this year happened to be the final review for the second batch of World Heritage Application projects and the time for the third batch of project declarations. There was no need to doubt that as soon as the application materials were submitted, it would still be these same people reviewing and these same people evaluating.

And then, what would happen?

To say it wouldn't affect the final review of the "Yaowang Mountain Temple Fair" World Heritage Application would be absolutely impossible.

Because the review group would first doubt the city's organizational, leadership, and supervisory capabilities, as well as the degree of importance attached to the subsequent protection and research and development of the World Heritage project.

They would even more doubt the professional and protective capabilities of the intangible heritage inheritor and the protection unit, namely Director Meng and the City Porcelain Research Institute he led:

You've been researching for over twenty years, yet the most core and representative craft was snatched by someone else; how have you been researching? How will you protect it in the future?

Therefore, it was not just a question of whether it would affect the second item's ability to pass the final review, but it also involved the first item, meaning whether Yaozhou Porcelain would be revoked.

What, impossible?

It's not like it hasn't been revoked before: just last year, in 2007, three National Level Intangible Cultural Heritage projects were removed from the heritage list due to failure to perform duties effectively, failure to take effective measures to carry out protection and inheritance work, and insufficient research capabilities.

Even more units had their inheritance and protection qualifications revoked or adjusted, a full twelve of them.

You think it's over just by being revoked?

For the organization, and even for individuals, this is a political accident: a note added to the file, a stain on the career record...

It wasn't enough to make their scalps tingle, but the faces of the several leaders were one darker than the other.

The more critical point was the cause and process of this matter: people kindly brought their own most needed technology for exchange, and you insisted on treating them like thieves?

If you didn't want to exchange, that would be one thing, but you even toyed with them like monkeys?

And the result? Stealing a chicken only to lose the rice, lifting a rock only to drop it on your own feet... that's not an exaggeration at all: if the qualifications are really revoked, and this news spreads, it would make the brother units laugh their teeth off:

Checking after copying materials, not allowing questions during observation and learning... after learning for twenty days, not only did they learn nothing, but they even had to pay all the expenses in full?

Xida is at least one of the top key engineering universities in the province (ranked fourth), yet you are so short-sighted and narrow-minded that you can't find a few such cases in the whole country...

Simply mother-fucking thieves?

The Mayor said with a dark face: "Lao Tian, what about that Liu Dong?"

Tian Chengming lowered his head: "I had people put him under control!"

"What's the use of you putting him under control? Having caused such a big disaster, is it over just by shrinking into a shell? Lao Tian, you go personally, go right now: take Song Jingxian and that Liu Dong to Xijing..."

The Mayor gritted his teeth and glared at him: "Tian Chengming, can you understand me?"

Tian Chengming nodded vigorously: "Mayor, I understand, I will contact Xida right now..."

"What are you contacting Xida for, what's the use of you fucking contacting them, do you think Xida is made of mud? Look at the bird-brained things your Porcelain Research Institute below has done... even a clay figure has three parts of Fire Qi, damn it?"

The Mayor is a veteran who transitioned to civilian life; he has held real guns and fought in real battles, and quite a few of them at that. Therefore, his temper is not just ordinarily explosive.

Hearing Tian Chengming say he wanted to contact Xida, a surge of rage instantly rushed to the Mayor's crown. He cursed on the spot, with a high frequency of profanity: "I told you to lead people there to apologize, goddammit!"

Having been scolded like this, Tian Chengming kept his head low, not daring to say a single extra word, just nodding incessantly: "Yes, Mayor, I understand..."

Is he being wronged? He is!

The Xida inspection team came to learn; although a Deputy Director came, they only contacted the Porcelain Research Institute and left that very same day. The person responsible for the specific coordination was merely a professor.

Therefore, had the rank been slightly higher or the Porcelain Research Institute paid even a little more attention, such a thing could never have happened.

But should he be held responsible?

He is the Bureau Chief, and the Porcelain Research Institute is a unit directly under the Industrial Bureau; he should be held responsible more than anyone!

Moreover, he couldn't even find a reason to quibble: checking materials after copying them, not allowing questions during observation and study... it's disgusting and underhanded; is this something a human being could actually do?

Tian Chengming wished he could mince that Liu Dong into meat paste.

He gritted his teeth in secret, yet his head kept nodding like a chick pecking at rice.

The Deputy Mayor felt like he was sitting on pins and needles; after a long while, he finally steadied himself: "Mayor, shall I lead the team?"

The Mayor glared at him: You are in charge of industry and scientific research, goddammit, if you don't go, who will?

Truly, if the Deputy Mayor had tried to play dumb and stay silent any longer, the Mayor would have started cursing...

Nodding, he turned his head again: "Secretary, how do you think we should arrange this?"

In the past, after the Mayor finished cursing, the Secretary would have eased the atmosphere and helped set the tone for the Mayor. But this time, he skipped the middle step entirely; his face was even darker than the Mayor's:

At a critical juncture like this, what kind of bird-brained things are these bird-brained people doing?

"Mayor Wang (Deputy Mayor), call Meng Shufeng and tell him to come back—come back today—and then you go together... At the same time, ask him: Is the City Porcelain Research Institute still a research institution under the leadership of the Municipal Committee and the City Government?"

With a "swish," sweat seeped out on Tian Chengming's forehead.

The Deputy Mayor's face changed abruptly, and he forced a smile onto his face: "Yes, Secretary..."

Did they think it would be over just by hiding in Beijing?

Impossible.

The leaders could guess with their toes: How did this matter, which was as strange as meeting a ghost and completely outrageous, come to pass?

The Industrial Bureau's control over the Porcelain Research Institute, or at least over this Artifact Research Center, is almost equal to zero...

With a cold face, the Secretary gave another instruction: "The one who tied the bell must be the one to untie it. Mayor Wang, I suggest that after you arrive in Xijing, you first visit that Teacher Lin, the one who is an excessively young inheritor. But you must prescribe the right medicine for the illness: before the visit, you must focus on understanding..."

Pausing slightly, the Secretary tapped the table again: "Mayor Wang, it is to understand, not to investigate; that is the first point. Second, spare no cost: as long as they can set conditions, you can negotiate with confidence... Do you understand?"

The person is from Xida, but the technology belongs to Lin Sicheng. As long as this person is handled, all difficulties will be solved easily...

The Deputy Mayor nodded heavily: "Secretary, I understand!"

"Good!" The Secretary revealed a hint of a smile, "Thank you for your hard work!"

The Mayor, however, let out a cold snort.

Spare no cost—in the end, how high a cost will that be?

If you had shown even a little respect at the beginning, how could it have come to this point?

It really is goddamn outrageous...

And the leaders did not yet know that Lin Sicheng, whom they were prepared to spare no cost to win over, was less than two hundred meters away from them.

The sun set behind the mountain peak, the gongs and drums were still deafening, and the crowd had not thinned; instead, it had grown larger.

Heads were bobbing, boundless and endless.

Red lanterns were hung on the temple eaves, the ox-horn bugles blew a low, mournful sound, and all kinds of fragrances drifted into their nostrils.

The folk performance procession wound its way along the temple wall. In the freezing weather of the third nine-day period, the lead drummer was bare-chested on one side. Following the drumbeats, his muscles gleamed like bronze, and the Red Silk wrapped around his waist snapped in the cold wind.

Qin Qiong stepped on stilts, suddenly stumbling, and the crowd erupted in short gasps. But in an instant, with a nimble twist of his ankle, he braced his other wooden leg behind him, the two wooden legs forming the character 'ren' (person), and his figure in golden armor folded into an 'iron plate bridge' pose.

After a brief silence, the cheers were earth-shattering...

No way... If he hadn't practiced this, Lin Sicheng would dare to chew those two wooden legs and eat them.

He held the dough flower in his mouth and clapped his hands vigorously.

Soon after, several small trucks drove over: the truck beds were fitted with bamboo and wood frames, decorated with animal-shaped lanterns made of rice paper, and little girls in Han Dynasty clothing stood on the animals' backs.

Tongchuan folk custom, Provincial Intangible Cultural Heritage: Yaowang Fire Pavilion.

Lin Sicheng clapped even more enthusiastically.

Shang Yan tilted her head and watched for a long time: "Is it that good?"

Li Zhen paused, then nodded: "It is quite good!"

That doesn't seem right... You are a southerner, can you really empathize with this?

Secretly suspicious, she looked again at the dough flower Lin Sicheng was nibbling on: Is it really that delicious?

It was just a piece of steamed bun molded into a few dough flowers and dyed, and it even looked like a funeral wreath. Yet Lin Sicheng was eating it with great relish, munching as he walked; before long, only a small half remained.

Li Zhen looked: "Lin Sicheng said this is Yintai dough flower (Yintai District, Tongchuan), it's quite delicious!"

Shang Yan squinted: "Then why don't you eat it?"

Li Zhen smiled, pursing her lips: "I'm not really used to eating it."

Shang Yan curled her lips: "Doesn't that just mean it's not delicious?"

Chatting and watching, once the folk performance troupe passed, the crowd suddenly thinned, revealing the exhibition stands and food stalls on both sides.

Yaozhou Paper Cutting, Yaozhou Clay Sculpture, Yaozhou Lantern, Yaozhou Steamed Dumpling, Yaozhou Wowo Noodles, Chenlu Vinegar (a town, belonging to Yaozhou District)... and of course, Yaozhou Porcelain could not be missing.

In terms of these folk heritages that have already applied for World Heritage status, Yaozhou's traditional cultural foundation is still quite profound.

The things are also quite delicious.

After finishing a piece of dough flower, Lin Sicheng ate another bowl of Wowo Noodles, and finally ordered a box of Steamed Dumplings.

The skin is thin and the filling is large; one bite and your mouth is full of meat.

Lin Sicheng walked while eating, his mouth glistening with oil.

As he walked, he stopped again.

The stall was quite large, with nine long tables arranged inside and out to form a square. Countless medicinal herbs were laid out on the tables, stacked in piles.

Seven or eight traditional Chinese medicine practitioners sat behind the tables, either taking pulses or examining tongues. Long lines had formed in front of each one.

In the middle, a dozen or so doctors were washing, cutting, pounding, or grinding. With all sorts of things going on, various medicinal scents drilled straight into the nose.

This was one of the features of the Yaowang Mountain Temple Fair: on-site diagnosis, on-site prescription, on-site preparation, and on-site brewing.

One can imagine what the smell was like on the spot.

Shang Yan sneezed, and Li Zhen covered her nose.

Lin Sicheng was completely oblivious; he scanned left and right, then walked up to a long table.

But he didn't go to line up, nor did he go to the doctors; instead, he stretched his neck over the long table to look inside.

There were two clay pots, one stir-frying medicine and one stewing chicken. There was also a very large casserole, stewing medicine and chicken together.

No, it should be called a sauce: the soup had thickened to the point of stringing, like a medicinal ointment.

It was hard to identify which herbs were put in, but one could recognize the crushed red goji berries and thin slices of ginger.

The medicinal scent was extremely heavy, yet it also carried a strange fragrance.

Finally, was salt added too?

Ge Xu couldn't quite understand it and stretched his neck: "Teacher Lin, is this medicine, ointment, or medicinal cuisine?"

"Medicine!"

After replying, seeing the old traditional Chinese medicine practitioner turn off the fire, Lin Sicheng hurriedly waved his hand: "Doctor, doctor, I want a portion!"

The old doctor glanced at him: "There are pre-portioned ones on the side being handed out, go line up first..."

"I don't want the free ones, I want this pot!" Lin Sicheng pointed, "I want the chicken and the medicine, all of it!"

The old traditional Chinese medicine practitioner was stunned: he did sell it, but he sold medicinal doses; this was the first time he had seen someone want the chicken too.

Besides, such a big pot, can you even finish it?

Lin Sicheng took out his wallet: "Doctor, don't worry, there are seven or eight of us!"

The group of people stared with wide eyes in unison: No... when did we ever say we wanted to drink traditional Chinese medicine?

While paying the doctor, Lin Sicheng looked at Ge Xu: "Brother Xu, this medicine is really quite good... it will definitely work for you if you drink it..."

Ge Xu opened his mouth blankly: with that look, and that "it will definitely work for you," what else could this little thief mean?

But what decent person has kidney deficiency, damn it?

He really wanted to spit in Lin Sicheng's face, but he held back, shook his head vigorously: "I don't need it!"

Lin Sicheng smiled eerily, "Brother Xu, this medicine is called Yaowang An-Shen Soup, originating from Sun Simiao's 'Thousand Golden Prescriptions'... Do you know why salt is added at the end? The prescription says: light salt guides the medicine into the kidneys..."

"Look, when the medicinal juice drips off the spoon, doesn't it look like pearls? This is called 'dripping medicine into pearls': it shows that the herbs were prepared strictly according to ancient methods, and the heat and efficacy are just right..."

Ge Xu was half-believing: "Really?"

"Trust me, you can't go wrong!" Lin Sicheng patted his chest and pointed at Sun Le, "Senior Brother Sun should have some too, watch fewer movies at night..."

Sun Le's face turned red, his eyes Floating.

Lin Sicheng looked at Shang Yan again: "Liver depression and spleen weakness, chest and flank distension, blocked Qi (from holding in anger for a long time)... Professor Shang should have some too."

Lin Sicheng pointed at Li Zhen again: "Heart Qi failing to sustain, mind in chaos and spirit lost, liver depression and lung deficiency, sorrow giving birth to grief..."

Halfway through, he suddenly stopped talking, lowered his head and paused: "Senior Sister Li should have some too!"

When he said she had liver depression and spleen weakness, Shang Yan didn't feel much, but when he mentioned Li Zhen, her eyelids twitched: isn't Li Zhen's state recently exactly heart Qi failing to sustain, mind in chaos and spirit lost?

In plain language: she doesn't have the life of Lin Daiyu, but she has the illness of Lin Daiyu.

But Lin Sicheng could tell the symptoms just by looking; isn't that the method of Watch Qi to judge people?

That time at the school gate, when he said Fang Jingxian was very difficult to deal with, wasn't it the same?

With an "Eh," the old traditional Chinese medicine practitioner's eyes lit up, and he looked him up and down, "A student from the Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, right? Your Watch Qi skills are so good? Who is your teacher?"

Where would there be a teacher?

"Doctor, I'm not..." Lin Sicheng smiled, "I study cultural relics and museology, I just followed my teacher and did some casual Artifact Research..."

The old traditional Chinese medicine practitioner was stunned: what the hell, cultural relics and museology... isn't that just doing archaeology?

But those two moves of Watch Qi and diagnosis just now, even half of the doctors at the Provincial Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital wouldn't know how to do them...

He stared at Lin Sicheng for a long time, looking at his face, looking at his hands, and then suddenly smiled: "You said so much, you're just greedy, right?"

Eh, this old man has a sharp eye?

Actually, Lin Sicheng just wanted to eat that chicken...

He smiled: "Old gentleman, please indulge me!"

It was indeed a sacrifice: the chicken had been stewed to the perfect heat today, and the old traditional Chinese medicine practitioner had originally planned to take it back to go with his wine.

"It's yours!"

The old traditional Chinese medicine practitioner waved his hand and smiled again: "Remember you owe me a chicken!"

Lin Sicheng paused: "What is the old gentleman's surname?"

"Surname Hou, Hou Jinquan!"

Lin Sicheng was stunned, and only after a long time did he say: "Thank you, Dean Hou!"

The old traditional Chinese medicine practitioner waved his hand again.

Several disciples came to help, packed the medicine and chicken in a few moments, and said goodbye to the old man.

After walking quite a distance, Ge Xu stopped abruptly: Hou Jinquan... the Dean Hou from the Air Force Medical University (ranked first in the province for the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine)?

You just remembered?

Lin Sicheng nodded.

"A National Medical Master, honorary dean of the Provincial Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, from Tongchuan. But he retired several years ago..."

Ge Xu looked at Lin Sicheng, then looked at the medicine in his hand.

And, that sentence Dean Ge said just now while looking at Lin Sicheng: Your Watch Qi skills are so good?

According to that, Lin Sicheng... can he really diagnose illnesses?

Lin Sicheng let out a "Heh": You still don't believe it even now?

He curled his lip again and lowered his voice: "Brother Xu, how often do you go home?"

Ge Xu was stunned.

It is no exaggeration at all: a man in his forties, his face turned red all the way to the roots of his neck in an instant.

Lin Sicheng sensed something was wrong and dodged a little further away...

Seeing this, Zhang Feng leaned in a bit and lowered his voice: "Teacher Lin, should I drink some too?"

"You don't need to, you'd just be wasting it!"

Lin Sicheng shook his head and looked him up and down, his gaze becoming stranger and stranger: "Brother Zhang, how many months old is your baby?"

How did you know it was "months" and not "years?"

Zhang Feng's eyelid twitched: "Ten and a half months!"

Lin Sicheng sighed, his voice still very low: "No... Brother Zhang, you're even snatching the baby's milk to drink?"

With a "whoosh," Zhang Feng's face turned even redder, the kind that turns purple.

"Damn it, the baby is weaning..."

He roared, clenched his fists, and Lin Sicheng dodged even further away.

Ge Xu, Shang Yan, Li Zhen, Xu Gaolan, and Sun Le were all stunned: Lin Sicheng's voice was very low, and if Zhang Feng hadn't roared, they wouldn't have known what the two were talking about.

But that wasn't the point; the point was, Lin Sicheng could even see this?

Just as they were shocked beyond belief, the phone went "ding-dong" a few times, and Lin Sicheng took it out to look: Wang Qi Zhi.

The call connected, and Wang Qi Zhi's voice came through, somewhat lazy, as if carrying a bit of contentment: "When are you all coming back?"

"Staying one night today, tomorrow?"

Listening to Wang Qi Zhi's slightly smug tone, Lin Sicheng thought for a moment: "Teacher, is there something going on?"

"Nothing much!" Wang Qi Zhi took a sip of tea and smacked his lips, "Tongchuan's reaction is very fast. You haven't even returned yet, and they have already chased after you to the school, saying they came specifically to apologize..."

Apologize?

That batch of Tea Dust Glaze should have only come out of the kiln at noon, right?

The reaction is indeed quite fast.

Just as he was thinking this, Wang Qi Zhi laughed again: "Everyone who should come has come: the deputy director of the Porcelain Research Institute, the director and deputy director of the Industrial Bureau... and they said that at the latest by tomorrow, Director Meng will also rush over from Beijing..."

After a slight pause, Wang Qi Zhi seemed to remember something else: "Oh right, the protocol is also quite high-level; the one leading the team is the deputy mayor..."

The protocol is indeed quite high-level.

But Lin Sicheng just listened quietly, from beginning to end, without saying a word.

Wang Qi Zhi suddenly understood: As expected, is Lin Sicheng still that same Lin Sicheng?

"I heard there is some temple fair being held over there, take advantage of the excitement and play for a few more days!" He laughed again, "Leave things here to me!"

Lin Sicheng let out a breath: "Thank you, Teacher!"

Wang Qi Zhi laughed again: "You've already called me Teacher, why bother with all these thanks?"