By the time Wen Yan’an, who had been sitting cross-legged nearby keeping him company, had eaten and drunk his fill, Yu Qing had also finished listing out the names of all the small towns he needed to check against the map.
The entire Ningzhou had nearly eight or nine hundred small towns. He had screened out two or three hundred of them according to the map, and based on the clues Yunxi had originally provided, he filtered out the towns near rivers one by one. If none of the river-adjacent small towns in all of Ningzhou had a place called Shiji Bay, then it would prove Yunxi had indeed been lying, and there would be no need to investigate the other towns.
Of course, the geography from three thousand years ago could indeed have undergone massive changes. Seas could turn into mulberry fields, and rivers could change course entirely.
However, the purpose of finding Shiji Bay was to find that river which served as an important clue. He needed to follow its flow to find the location where Yunxi had emerged from the mountains. If the river had truly changed course and been lost to the passage of time, then there would really be no point in continuing the search.
The relevant towns had been listed, but verifying them one by one would indeed take time, so Yu Qing had no choice but to recruit Wen Yan’an to help.
Wen Yan’an was happy to assist. Spending the long night with the Tanhua in the Wen Shu Pavilion, with books as their world, was quite a fine tale in itself.
It still was not enough. At Yu Qing’s urging, Wen Yan’an also found two youths from within the Wen Shu Pavilion to come and help.
As for Old Wen, who guarded the Wen Shu Pavilion, Wen Yan’an waved his hand, indicating that Yu Qing should not count on him. He did not say exactly why, nor could he really explain it clearly. He only knew that even his grandfather had to treat that man with courtesy, and it was not someone he could be rude to.
Yu Qing did not press the matter. He immediately divided the list by region, distributed it to the three of them, and had each person search through written records to find the former names of each place and write them down beside the entries.
He also took a copy of the list himself, found the relevant prefectural and county gazetteers, and checked each place name one by one.
After understanding what needed to be done, Wen Yan’an was surprised again. He found that this man’s scholarly attitude was far too meticulous and thorough. In order to understand Ningzhou, he would not even miss the former names of every single place.
The oil lamp dimmed and was trimmed bright again. This happened repeatedly, and before they knew it, it was late into the night.
Wen Yan’an did not have Yu Qing’s vigorous vitality. He had long been yawning continuously, and later truly could not endure it any longer. He had no choice but to advise again, “Brother Shiheng, it is already very late. Go back and rest. The Wen Shu Pavilion is always open to you. It would not be too late to come back and read tomorrow. Tell them not to tidy up this place, so you can continue tomorrow.”
Yu Qing: “I am not tired. If I do not figure this out, I cannot sleep either. I might as well continue. If you are tired, go back and rest first.”
Wen Yan’an was speechless. He felt embarrassed to abandon his honoured guest, so he forced himself to stay awake a while longer. By the latter half of the night, he was truly too drowsy, dozing off from time to time, and had lost all efficiency in searching. He had no choice but to take his leave first.
Yu Qing did not see him off. He watched him leave briefly, then looked at the two youths again. Seeing that they showed no signs of fatigue despite staying up until now, their eyes still bright and clear, he suddenly understood. These two youths were actually cultivating as well.
All the way until the Yin hour, when there was still about one more hour until dawn, the two youths finally helped him finish everything. They handed him the list with the ancient place names attached, cleaned up the leftover dishes from Wen Yan’an’s meal, and then left.
Yu Qing gathered all the lists and began to examine them carefully one by one. In the end, he let them fall from his hands in dejection. Still sitting cross-legged on the floor, he leaned his back against the bookshelf.
He had not found it. Even after looking through it three times, he had not seen the ancient place name “Shiji Bay” among the names of any small town.
The documents and various undated local gazetteers here were already the most complete collection in all of Ningzhou. If even here it could not be found, then it truly did not exist.
Thinking of this, Yu Qing felt a faint surge of anger. As expected, he had been deceived by that woman Yunxi.
The most foolish part was that even though they knew that neither-human-nor-ghost woman might be deceiving them, the three of them, master and brothers, still could not resist their greed and came running here. For this, they had actually worked as servants in the Wen clan for over a month. It was simply laughable. They deserved it.
He was truly filled with regret now. What he regretted most was entering the Wen clan in the first place.
Beside the bookshelf, a figure arrived silently. It was Old Wen, the guardian of the Wen Shu Pavilion. The two youths had gone back to rest. After asking about the situation, he had come over.
In the silence, he stared at Yu Qing and observed him for a while, then suddenly spoke, “Are you looking for something?”
In fact, he had come by twice before. Seeing that the group was busy searching through things, he had not disturbed them.
When Yu Qing saw it was him, he quickly stood up and saluted.
Wen Yan’an had said that no one knew this man’s name. Because he guarded the Wen Shu Pavilion, everyone called him Old Wen. He basically lived in seclusion in the courtyard of the Wen Shu Pavilion and never went out. Even the Wen clan’s own descendants rarely saw him.
Wen Yan’an had said that the clan’s elders had heard from the previous generation that Old Wen had been in the Wen Shu Pavilion since childhood, just like those two youths. Later, when the youth became a young man, he left the Wen Shu Pavilion and also left the Wen clan. Decades later, he returned, and since then had lived in seclusion in the Wen Shu Pavilion without coming out.
This was the kind of person whose depth one could not fathom. Added to that, Yu Qing had discovered that the two youths were also cultivating. He dared not be disrespectful. Seeing that his actions could not be hidden from a discerning eye, and that Old Wen had already seen he was looking for something, he replied, “Yes.”
Old Wen: “You have been busy all night. Judging by your appearance, could it be that you did not find it?”
Yu Qing smiled bitterly and shook his head. “I truly did not find it. Perhaps it simply does not exist.”
Old Wen: “Can you tell me what you are looking for? I have stayed in the Wen Shu Pavilion for many years. When I have nothing to do, I flip through books to pass the time. I have read many of the books here. Even if I cannot remember everything, I might have some impression. Perhaps I can offer you some advice.”
Yu Qing hesitated somewhat. The truth was that a three-character place name was not something he could easily tell someone who knew his identity. It could easily bring danger. Otherwise, the three of them, master and brothers, would not have gone to such trouble. They would have long been shouting about it everywhere, openly asking a crowd of people to help them inquire.
However, upon second thought, there was a ninety percent chance he had been deceived by Yunxi. It probably did not exist at all. He relaxed and sighed, “I am looking for an ancient place name called ‘Shiji Bay.'”
“Shiji Bay… an ancient place name…” Old Wen fell into thought, muttering to himself for a while, then asked again, “You spent the whole night searching, and you could not find it anywhere in all of Ningzhou?”
Yu Qing thought for a moment and nodded. “More or less.”
Old Wen did not ask him why he was looking for this place. “Then perhaps you could search outside of Ningzhou?”
Yu Qing was stunned and smiled bitterly. “Old Wen, if the place I am looking for exists, it is within Ningzhou.”
Old Wen: “Since it is an ancient place name from long ago, it may not necessarily still be within Ningzhou’s borders. In history, some regions were incorporated into Ningzhou, and some regions were carved out and given to other prefectures. This kind of expansion and contraction happened repeatedly many times. Did you not notice this when you flipped through the prefectural gazetteer?”
“Uh…” Yu Qing was stunned. Now that he mentioned it, Yu Qing had only been focused on targeted searches against the map. He had not read through the entire prefectural gazetteer completely from beginning to end. After being awakened by someone else’s words, hope surged in his heart again. He hurriedly said, “Old Wen is right. This junior was foolish. May I ask, Old Wen, do you have maps of the prefectures neighbouring Ningzhou?”
Old Wen: “Yes, we have maps of the entire Jin Kingdom. The general geographical conditions can all be found recorded here. This row of bookshelves in this area covers the general situation of one prefecture. Ningzhou borders the sea on one side, and has one neighbour behind it and one on each side. Among the rows of bookshelves opposite you, there should be maps of those three. Honoured guest, please do not make a mess while flipping through them. I will call the lads to help you find them.” With that, he turned and disappeared into the darkness.
“Yes.” Yu Qing cupped his hands in thanks.
Very soon, those two refined, fair-complexioned youths came again. After asking about the situation, they immediately found all the detailed maps of the three neighbouring prefectures, including overview maps of the entire prefectures and detailed maps of each prefecture.
After handing the maps to Yu Qing, the two did not leave this time. Following Old Wen’s instructions, they stayed to accompany him. Whenever something was needed, they would help find it. At the same time, each took a prefecture’s map to help examine.
They fussed about until dawn, when one of the youths suddenly spoke, “Is the place the honoured guest is looking for called Shiji Bay?”
Yu Qing looked up in surprise. “Yes.”
The youth pointed at the map and said, “There is a place called ‘Shiji Bay’ within Aozhou. I do not know if it is the Shiji Bay the honoured guest is looking for.”
The other youth immediately stretched his neck to look. Yu Qing, who had been sitting cross-legged, also quickly put down his map and crawled over to the other side. Following the spot the youth was pointing at with his finger, he looked. Indeed, beside the river bend on the map, the three characters “Shiji Bay” were clearly written.
Looking again, it really was within a prefecture adjacent to Ningzhou.
Yu Qing looked up excitedly. “The Aozhou Gazetteer, please help me find it.”
He needed to determine whether this Shiji Bay had been reassigned from Ningzhou.
The other youth quickly got up to search, and soon found a thick volume of the Aozhou Gazetteer and handed it to Yu Qing.
Yu Qing had a clear target. He directly flipped to the relevant prefecture and county to consult, and in the end truly found the relevant records.
Approximately thirteen hundred years ago, due to the wars and territorial divisions among competing powers, that large region fell from Ningzhou into Aozhou’s hands. All the way until the early period of the current Jin Kingdom dynasty, it had once been placed under Ningzhou’s administration again. Later, due to various reasons, not long after, that region was reassigned back to Aozhou.
According to the local gazetteer’s records, that place had truly gone through many twists and turns.
And the place name “Shiji Bay” had not undergone any changes in the records. That is to say, it had been used from ancient times until the present.
More importantly, at least regarding the place name, Yunxi had not been talking nonsense. Three thousand years ago, Ningzhou had indeed had a small town called “Shiji Bay.”
For such a small town to have survived all this time, and to have never changed its name, indicated that its terrain or geographical location was rather special.
In any case, he had finally found it. Yu Qing was both excited and sighing with emotion. If he had known earlier that “Shiji Bay” had never changed its name, and if he had possessed Old Wen’s knowledge, he could have simply hugged a bunch of maps and checked through them once. Why go through all this trouble of running to the Wen residence.
Amid his joy, there was also hidden worry. He had exposed his destination to others. He only hoped that no complications would arise.
However, there was no other way. If Old Wen had not known, he would probably have given up already, and likely would never have found Shiji Bay.
Having found his destination, Yu Qing did not linger. He found Old Wen to bid farewell, and then left the Wen Shu Pavilion.
The sun had already leapt above the horizon.
Returning to the guest room in the main courtyard, Yu Qing gathered all his things, wrote a farewell letter and hid it in his bosom, then found Wen Kui and asked for a carriage, saying he wanted to go out for a stroll. He would not even eat breakfast, saying he would find something fresh to eat in the city.
After getting into the carriage, he did not directly leave the residence. Instead, he had the carriage drive to the West Miscellaneous Courtyard, called a servant to go find Nan Zhu and Mu Aotie, and had them come over.