In the old days, there was a dense forest in the vicinity of Mount Yishan; if anyone settled here, it was mostly the inhabitants of the plain. A young man nicknamed Yan Wu - Yan the Fifth - came to those parts. There is a smile in the eyebrows and eyes, an open face, it is immediately obvious that the young man has an honest, kind heart. Previously, he and his mother lived near the Yellow River, the house stood right next to the water, but there was a flood. Yang Wu and his mother barely escaped with only one rocker and made it to Yishan. They built a house from branches and sticks. Good or bad, there are several rooms in it. So they stayed to live here.
Yan Wu replaced the oars with an axe, and began carrying brushwood on his back instead of fishing nets. Every day I went into the forest to cut brushwood, but I couldn’t get out of the whole forest. Autumn has come, the heat has subsided. The needles on the pine trees are green, the leaves on the cork oaks have already turned red, the poplars are dressed in a golden outfit. Ian is walking through the forest, chopping brushwood; he didn’t notice how he wandered into a place where you rarely see a person. He looks - a whole forest of persimmons is growing. It is past noon, and the sun is clear, bright, as if early in the morning. And it is not the sun that makes the leaves red, but the sun that makes the leaves red. Between the red leaves, ripe fruits hang in pairs and sparkle. Yang Wu was clever, he instantly climbed a tree, picked sweet fruits, and returned home.
As soon as I entered the gate, let's shout:
- Mother! Rejoice! We will have wine for the New Year. The mother saw that her son had come cheerfully and began to smile. That year, Yang Wu actually infused wine with persimmon, thick and aromatic. If you remove the lid from the vat, the wine spirit spreads far. On New Year's Eve, the mother says to her son:
“We don’t have enough vegetables, son, we don’t have any butter at all, and even less so any other food.” Bring a pot of wine, heat it up and drink.
Yan Wu folded the branches, lit a fire, streams of white fragrant steam rose from the kettle and began to spread in all directions. As soon as the young man poured a glass, the door opened slightly and the young man entered; his face is dark red, his eyes sparkle, he looks handsome and dressed up. Mother and son stared at him, as if they had met him somewhere, but they didn’t remember where. The young man sat down at the table, laughing, it was immediately obvious that he wanted to drink wine. Mother and son think: “It’s better to celebrate the New Year with guests.”
Mother says:
- If you don’t mind, stay, we’ll celebrate the New Year together.
Yang Wu brought a glass to the guest.
The young man began to praise the wine:
- It smells so good! What a scent!
Yang Wu was delighted and said:
- The smell is good, but the taste is even better.
The young man took the glass with both hands, raised it to his lips, drank and again praised:
- Good wine, strong wine!
When Yang Wu heard this, he was even more happy than before. The guest drank a glass, Yan Wu poured him a second; The guest drank the second, Yan Wu poured the third. While drinking, having fun and talking, they didn’t notice how dawn broke. The young man caught himself and said:
“Tomorrow at midnight, brother, light the lantern, I’ll be there in a moment.”
He said so and ran out of the gate faster than the wind.
The mother and son remembered the young man’s words, and the next day, as soon as the time approached midnight, Yang Wu said to the mother:
- Mother! Let's light the lantern!
“There’s no oil, everything burned out at night, light a pine branch.”
Yang Wu lit a pine branch and went out the gate. It’s not for nothing that they say: you can see fire from inches away at a hundred paces. It became light on the road outside the gate. Yang Wu looks, can’t believe his eyes, maybe it’s because of the fire that he imagined: in front of the gate there was all sorts of food, grain, a heap of cloth. Here yesterday’s guest jumped out, waved his hand, and greeted Yan Wu. Yang Wu is both happy and amazed.
“Brother,” he says, “I don’t know where all this goodness suddenly appeared at my gate.”
Then the mother ran out of the house and asked:
- What kind of miracle is this, son?
“Mother,” the young guest answers her, “I brought everything to you.” I also have a gift for my younger brother. “He said this, pulled out from his belt a golden plate the size of a cow’s tongue, or even larger, gave it to Yang Wu and said:
- Take it, brother. This is gold from the Evil Dragon Mountain, it is all golden, this mountain. An evil dragon guards the mountain. You can't even approach her.
Yang Wu looked at the gold, it sparkles in the fire, it hurts his eyes. The young guest says:
“I’ll go, I have some work to do, we’ll have some fun some other time.”
Yang Wu really didn’t want to part with this extraordinary kind young man, but what can you do! And Yang Wu says:
- Since you have business, go, but how can we meet with you again?
The young man answers:
“Nothing could be simpler: you go into the forest, walk a hundred steps, turn around to the west and shout three times: “Gege is the elder brother!” I'll be there in a moment.
The mother and son saw off the young man, and soon the fifteenth day of the New Year arrived. My mother cooked some choice rice and prepared various vegetables. Yang Wu made two red paper lanterns, and he thought: “Today is a holiday, and people don’t do business on holidays. I'll go call him. It’s more fun to celebrate the holiday together.”
Yan Wu took the rocker, hung the lanterns on it, and went into the forest. There are trees ahead, the trees cast a shadow on the ground, and the snow creaks with your feet. Yan Wu walks, counting his steps, neither more nor less - he walked exactly one hundred steps. He stopped, turned to the west, and shouted loudly three times. As soon as the echo died down, the young man was already standing in front of Yang Wu. They saw each other and were so happy that it’s hard to tell.
They returned home together, by that time the mother had made lanterns from soy flour, as is customary, lit them, and at the same moment the grain stall, the clay vats, the stone slabs, the gates - lights ran and sparkled everywhere. The three of them ate and drank wine. Here the mother says:
“I heard that in Yangzhou, every year on the fifteenth day of the first month, people with colorful lanterns go out for a walk. Maybe they're telling the truth, maybe they're lying.
Answers Yang Wu's mother:
“They’re not lying one bit, I heard that there are no better colored lanterns than in Yangzhou.”
Here the guest intervened in the conversation:
- So, you say, the lanterns in Yangzhou are beautiful. Well, you need to take a look. It seems like we have nothing to do, so we’ll leave this evening.
Mother says:
“Even if that city is only a few hundred miles away, you won’t be able to get there in one evening, but I don’t know how many thousands of miles away it will be.”
The guest laughed and answered:
“We’ll reach Yangzhou in no time.” Sit on my back, brother. Let's go quickly, come back early, and still have time to sleep.
The guest put Yang Wu on his back, walked a few steps away from the house, and disappeared from sight. By the time the mother left the gate, both young men were already far away, several hundred li away. There is white snow on the ground, the moon is shining in the sky, on the snow-white ground the lights of the lanterns curl like a red ribbon, in the dark sky the stars sparkle and shimmer.
Instantly the young men found themselves in Yangzhou. We saw the river - a smooth, clean mirror, we saw old houses, tall and beautiful. On the big streets, on the bridges, there are indeed patterned lanterns of different colors. From the lanterns and from the moon it is lighter than during a white day. The moon and lanterns are reflected in the water, red rays argue with silver ones. Lanterns are swinging and sparkling everywhere, gold shimmers and glitters everywhere. And so many people stare at the lanterns that, as they say, you could stack a mountain and dam the sea. There is something to look at and admire here. One lantern is a formidable lion, another is a delicate lotus, the third is a red plum; golden cicadas, goldfish, butterflies, pomegranates - there is something for every taste. The young men looked to the east, turned to the west, and did not notice how they reached a bridge made of white jade. And there are crowds of people, pushing each other away, apparently looking at some curiosity. The young men squeezed closer and looked: two lanterns were hanging - two lovebirds, flowers were embroidered on the lanterns - just a sight for sore eyes, drawings - you couldn’t take your eyes off them. Everything rejoices, everything comes to life under the red light of their rays.
Yang Wu looks at the lanterns and thinks: “They were made with deft hands.”
The people around are talking about the same thing. Yang Wu listened to what people were saying, and learned that these lanterns were made by the young lady Tsui-tsui, the daughter of Mr. Li, a long-time resident of Yangzhou. “Since the girl’s hands are so dexterous,” thinks Yang Wu, “that means she’s got a lot of brains and ingenuity.” Yang Wu admired the lanterns for a long time until his friend took him by the hand and they both got out of the crowd.
The young man walks ahead, Yang Wu follows him. They approached a place where there were few people, and then the young man said quietly:
“I’ll take you to see the young lady, the one who embroidered ducks on lanterns.”
Yang Wu even stopped and shook his head:
- Is it possible? They won’t let us into the house, and we’re ashamed in front of the young lady, because we’re strangers to her!
The young man answers:
- Listen to me and don’t be afraid of anything.
He took Yang Wu by the hand, led him to the large gate, then gave him a branch with two green leaves and said:
- This is an invisible branch, hold it - no one will see you.
They entered the large gate, then the small one, no one noticed them - neither the gatekeeper, nor the girl who was carrying tea. They didn’t go to the front rooms, they didn’t go to the big hall, but they found a house in a secluded place in a large courtyard, small but ok. They went up the stairs, went inside, looked - large and small mirrors were hung, large and small drawers were arranged. The young lady is sitting on the bed. Tsui-tsui, of course. Who else should be here? When Yang Wu saw her, he almost screamed, she was so beautiful.
And Tsui-tsui is really pretty. A girl sits, crying, tears sparkle in her big eyes, roll down her cheeks, her small mouth is tightly compressed, but she still seems beautiful. The girl slowly turned her head, looked at the window paper, in which the red flame of the candle was reflected, slightly opened her mouth and said:
“Oh, father, you repeat endlessly: a suitable couple, a decent house, but you don’t know anything about your daughter’s thoughts, you don’t know who you want to give your daughter to.”
Here the young man says:
“Don’t be sad, sister, don’t worry, I came to woo you.”
Tsui-tsui searched the whole room, what a miracle, she thinks, to hear a voice, but not see a person! The girl was not afraid and calmly asked:
- Who are you: an evil spirit or an immortal saint?
The young man answers:
- Not an evil spirit, not an immortal saint - I brought a handsome young man to you.
He said this, took the invisible branch from Yan Wu’s hands, the young lady looked at him: he really did well in front of her. “It would be nice, he thinks, to marry him, to calm his heart. I liked him. Will my father and mother and my elder brother and daughter-in-law agree to give me up for this young man?” And the girl rejoices, and she is sad, and she is afraid, and sad. She asks Ian:
- How did you get here? Where is your home and what is your name?
Yang Wu told her everything as it was, he didn’t hide anything, the girl wanted to ask something else, but she heard footsteps on the stairs. Yang Wu got scared, turned to the young man, and he disappeared to God knows where. Well, the invisible branch remained on the table, Yang Wu just grabbed it, and the maid had already opened the door and entered the room. He looks - the young lady is alone, there is no one else.
So Yang Wu stayed with Tsui-tsui that night.
The next day the maid Tsui-tsui brought breakfast. Yan Wu holds a branch in his hand, sat down at the table, ate and drank together with the young lady. Only they weren’t full—breakfast had been prepared for one young lady.
Tsui-tsui says to the maid:
“I liked the food today, next time bring more.”
The maid nodded her head and brought the throne portion for lunch. Tsui-tsui and Yang Wu finished everything off without leaving a trace - they hadn’t eaten enough in the morning. The maid wonders: “The young lady always eats very little, what happened to her today?” Everything was eaten at dinner too.
This went on for several days in a row. Now it’s not just the maid - and the old mistress is amazed. She began to think: “Why is it that before my daughter has time to eat, she immediately locks the doors? In three days I never went downstairs.” The old lady quietly went up the stairs, stood at the door, and suddenly heard a man talking in the room. As soon as she screamed, she ordered the door to be opened immediately. She came in and looked - no one was there, only her daughter. The lady got angry and interrogated her daughter. And Tsui-tsui answers:
“There’s no one here, mother, it’s just your imagination.”
The mother didn’t believe it, she started looking, searched everything, but didn’t find anyone. I didn’t believe it again. I went downstairs, let's interrogate the maid with all severity. She knew what she knew and told about it. In the evening the old lady told her husband about everything. Mr. Li heard this and jumped up, as they say, blazing with fire three zhang high, screaming, yelling, alive, saying, I’ll bury Tsui-tsui in the ground. But the mother does not agree, she feels sorry for her daughter. A husband and wife got into an argument, shouting, making noise, and then more. The eldest son heard that his mother and father were quarreling, stood at the door, found out everything he needed, returned, told his wife and said, and so evilly:
- You need to kill her, that’s all!
The daughter-in-law pursed her lips, pointed a finger at her husband and answered:
- What are your parents up to? It’s not for nothing that they say: they don’t take their dirty linen out of doors. To bury a person alive would only surprise the sky and shake the earth. Opening your mouth and wagging your tongue - and even more so there is nothing to do. Let’s get into her house, set it on fire, and then say that the heavenly fire burned her. We’ll bury it and everything’s covered.
The wife’s elder brother listened and began to wait for the dark night to commit the crime.
In the middle of the night, Yang Wu and Tsui-tsui smelled acrid smoke, woke up, opened the door a crack, looked - the whole staircase was burnt out, the fire, just look, would spread into the room. Here Yang Wu remembered his young friend and shouted:
- Brother, brother, save us quickly!
As soon as he shouted, a huge bird appeared out of nowhere, several zhangs long, folded its wings, entered the door, they did not think or reason, they sat on its back, the bird flapped its wings and rose into the sky.
Then smoke and fire poured out of the windows.
The bird brought them straight to Mount Yishan and landed at the gate of Yang Wu’s house. As soon as they climbed down to the ground, the bird flapped its wings and the young man turned around.
Yang Wu marveled and said:
- Brother, is that you?
The young man answers:
“I spent many days in Yangzhou for you, but it’s time for me to go home and see what’s going on there.”
He said so and disappeared into the dense forest.
And the mother was at home waiting impatiently for her son, she saw that he had returned and even brought his wife with him - she began to cry with joy. The second day of the second month has arrived. On this day, all insects awaken from hibernation. Soon the spring thunder will rumble, the rain will pour, the snow will melt, the ice will melt. As soon as the rain passed and the clouds cleared, Yang Wu went into the forest to get firewood. The poplars are washed by rain, the green leaves on the branches are visible, and the apricots have red-pink branches. Yan Wu climbed up an oak tree to cut dry branches, but didn’t cut down a single one; the wind blew, tore off the dry leaves, those that had been hanging on the tree all winter, and threw them to the ground. Yang Wu grabbed the thick branches tightly so that the hurricane would not carry him away. As soon as the hurricane passed, black clouds flew in from the northeast, a black dragon fell to the ground from them and waved its tail. Thunder rumbled, lightning flashed. Here the young man saw a dragon rush under a large pine tree. The young man looked under the pine tree, it would have been better not to have looked, but then he was shocked - he saw that same young man under the pine tree. The young man took off his clothes, waved once, then waved again, and as soon as he waved, the lightning went out. The black dragon flashed and rushed at the young man. The lightning will go out, then it will sparkle, then it will go out, then it will sparkle - and so ten times the smallest thing gets closer and closer to the young man. She finally got there, she’s just jumping and jumping. Yang Wu saw this, and when he threw the ax with all his might at the black dragon, he cut it in half. A black dragon hid here, thrashing around, and meanwhile the young man waved his clothes, pressed the dragon’s head to the ground, raised his tail up, threw it on the ground - and killed it.
Yang Wu jumped out of the tree, ran up to the young man, and he said:
“It was an evil dragon from Mount Erlongshan, you helped me, brother, you saved my life.” I realized that I had not yet learned how to fight properly. Farewell, brother, I’ll go wander among the four seas, comprehend science.
Yang Wu really didn’t want to part with the young man, and he finally says to him:
“I’ve known you for a long time, elder brother, but I still don’t understand who you are: a man or an immortal saint?” Tell me goodbye!
The young man said only four phrases in response:
Yan Wu grew up kind,
Made friends with the immortal fox,
I went to Yangzhou to look at the lanterns,
It took me a thousand years to find a wife.
Translated from Russian · original on wisdomlib.ru