The West Market of Chang'an was like an overturned palette; Persian glazed cups reflected Spice Land spice sacks, and the camel bells of Hu merchants mingled with the clicking of Han merchant abacuses. Zhang Yifan squatted on the bluestone pavement before Huyu Workshop, using abacus beads to lay out the Big Dipper formation on the ground. Seven "Cyan Ox Seven" seeds were embedded in the formation's focal points, while right in the center sat the Wooden Ox and Gliding Horse model given to him by Huwa—the bell inside the ox's mouth, tied with a red cord embroidered by Xiaoxiu, chimed as it swayed with the passing crowd.
"Come take a look!" the youth shouted at the top of his lungs, deliberately putting on an official dialect tinged with the accent of Cyan Ox Village. "Divine seeds straight from the Tianshan Mountains! Plant them and they sprout in three days, grow into grain in a hundred days, fatten up the cattle when used as feed, and give off a fragrance when boiled into rice!" A passing Persian merchant raised an eyebrow, his thick beard twitching. "Little rascal is blowing hot air. What seeds are ever fragrant?"
Zhang Yifan suddenly flashed a mischievous smile, produced a bamboo tube, and shook it. Three Spring-Guiding Insects crawled out, going "chirp, chirp" as they danced the "Big Dipper stride" around the seeds. The surrounding onlookers gasped in astonishment as they watched the insect shells beside the red seeds suddenly grow damp; the seeds actually pushed aside the abacus beads and poked out tender shoots an inch high! In truth, he had simply buried cotton wool soaked in warm water beneath the abacus beads beforehand. "See that?" he rattled his abacus. "This is the 'Earth Energy Sprouting Technique'! If you grand merchants buy seven seeds, I'll throw in half a scroll of the Essential Techniques for the Peasantry!"
The Persian merchant was just about to haggle when, with a crisp *clang*, the tail of the wooden ox model flicked out an abacus bead that struck the money pouch at his waist right on target. "Little thief!" the merchant raged, only for Zhang Yifan to spread his hands. "Misunderstanding, a complete misunderstanding! This wooden ox recognizes its master and gets excited whenever it sees someone prosperous—look at this tail here, I specifically carved a cyan ox pattern on it, which gathers wealth and fortune." The onlookers burst into laughter. Stroking his money pouch, the Persian merchant was left between tears and laughter, and ultimately forked over five strings of coins to buy two seeds, one red and one gold.
The midday sun baked the bluestone flags until they were scalding hot. Zhang Yifan was hiding under a veranda nibbling on sweet-scented osmanthus sugar cake when he suddenly caught sight of three youths in brocade strolling over, their waist jade pendants carved with the family crest of the Chang'an Mi family. "I hear you have a contraption that can automatically peel chestnuts?" The foremost youth kicked the wooden ox model. "My family's chef has tender hands and can't shell hard husks."
The youth wiped his mouth and pulled a miniature wooden ox out of a bamboo basket. Where the ox's mouth opened, bamboo gears were fitted inside. "This is the 'Iron-Eating Ox'. Pop chestnuts inside and give it three shakes, and you'll get the meat right out—except..." He abruptly lowered his voice, "You have to pair it with the 'Itchy Powder' from my Cyan Ox Village. Otherwise, if the gears jam, you'll get a face full of medicinal powder."
The brocade-clad youth refused to believe it, grabbed a chestnut, and shoved it into the ox's mouth. After just two shakes, the wooden ox let out a strange "moo," and light green powder spewed from between the gears—none other than Zhang Yifan's insect-repellent powder mixed with mint and mugwort. "You!" the youth sneered as he sneezed, only for Zhang Yifan to hand over a sachet. "Don't be upset, my young lord. This powder keeps woodboring beetles away. If your silk shop uses it, I guarantee your fabrics won't see a single bug for ten years."
The surrounding onlookers laughed uproariously, and the young Mi scion tossed his sleeve and stalked off with a blushing face, though he quietly left behind a manservant to ask about the price. Seizing the opportunity, Zhang Yifan pulled out the Classic of Hundred Insects and pointed to the page illustrating the Granary-Guard Beetle. "Five cash per insect shell, and the repellent effect is three times stronger than camphor. Sew this into the corner of your fabrics as an anti-counterfeiting mark, and your esteemed house's silk can sell for twenty percent more."
At the third quarter of the Youshi hour, as the West Market was about to close, Zhang Yifan was packing up his stall when he suddenly spotted a gray-clad figure in a bamboo hat drawing near, a taiji pattern flashing on his sleeve. "From Cyan Ox Village?" the man asked in a low voice. "Before the Grand Helm Leader passed away, he left this message: 'When Taichu appears, the mercantile alliance prospers; beneath Huyu Workshop, green cash lies buried.'" He tossed a copper coin onto the ground, the square hole carved with half a cyan ox.
Zhang Yifan's heart skipped a beat as he recalled the Chang'an Market Map his master had given him; the Big Dipper pattern beneath Huyu Workshop was precisely the "open door" direction. He suddenly rattled his abacus, arranging the beads into the character "three"—this was the prearranged code of Cyan Ox Village. The gray-clad man nodded and vanished into the dusk, leaving behind the parting words: "At the third quarter of the Zishi hour, meet me at Vermilion Bird Bridge."
When night fell, Zhang Yifan squatted in the corner of Huyu Workshop's wall, pulled out the sheepskin map his master had given him, and dripped water into the brick seams. The pattern on the "Taichu" jade pendant suddenly lit up, and an arrow pointing to the southwest corner emerged on the brick surface. Just as he was about to pry up the bricks, he heard a cold laugh from overhead. "A little thief trying to poach the workshop master's property?" Looking up, he saw the Persian merchant brandishing a scimitar, followed by several thugs.
"A misunderstanding!" Zhang Yifan took half a step back, his hand resting on his abacus. "What I am looking for is a family token buried by my ancestors, which has nothing to do with your esteemed workshop." Refusing to listen, the merchant swung his blade down, only for the youth to flick out three abacus beads that struck the opponent's wrist, knee, and waist at their respective "laughter pressure points." The thugs suddenly broke into silly grins, and the Persian merchant was so startled that his scimitar dropped to the ground. "You—are you using the Cyan Ox Thirteen Calculations of the Taiji Mercantile Alliance?"
Seizing the moment, Zhang Yifan flashed his jade pendant. "Indeed. If your esteemed merchants wish to cooperate, you may come to my stall tomorrow to discuss it in detail. These 'Cyan Ox Seven' seeds of mine can take root in the Western Regions' Gobi Desert and are worth far more than your glazed cups." Gazing at his subordinates who were rolling around laughing in a heap, the merchant cupped his fists in helpless surrender. "The young lord has formidable skills. I shall certainly pay a visit tomorrow."
A light snow drifted over the midnight Vermilion Bird Bridge as Zhang Yifan felt around the brick crevices for the bronze casket he had dug out. The cyan ox pattern on the casket lid matched his jade pendant with absolute precision. The gray-clad man materialized out of nowhere and handed over half a sheepskin scroll. "The mercantile alliance's secret chamber is located on Mount Zhongnan. You need both pendants united to enter. What the Grand Helm Leader left behind back then wasn't just wealth, but also the detailed map of the Tea Horse Road monopolized by the Hu merchants."
As snowflakes settled on his abacus, Zhang Yifan stared at the map inside the casket, suddenly thinking of Cyan Ox Village's Wooden Ox Pestle and bamboo-tube irrigation channels, of Xiaoxiu's red head cord and Huwa's wooden ox model. The lights of Chang'an reflected the glow in his eyes, and he suddenly felt that this journey through the Mortal World was far more interesting than the snowy tracks of Cyan Ox Ridge. After all, the days that allowed him to leave Hu merchants scratching their heads, high-born scions eating humble pie, and abacus beads turning into instruments of trade supremacy—those were the true "Way" of Zhang Yifan.
When the night watchman struck the third watch, the lanterns of the West Market extinguished one by one, save for the wooden ox model before Huyu Workshop, which was still swaying gently. The mica flakes in the ox's eyes mirrored the moonlight, looking remarkably like the stars in the old locust tree of Cyan Ox Village. And somewhere, a story about mercantile routes and heritage was opening a new chapter amidst the prosperity of this Tang dynasty night, carried forward by a youth clutching an abacus and seeds.