After saying these words, the middle-aged man took his leave. Chen Changshengstood on the mountain path, baffled at what had just occurred, and naturallyalso a bit angry. After a little time had passed, he realized that the man hadlast mentioned that someone in front of the mausoleum was looking for ChenChangsheng. Arriving at the mausoleum entrance, he saw the still closed stonedoors, which made him reminisce on the scene from last night of Xun Mei walkingout those doors. Just as he had begun to feel somewhat melancholy, he suddenlyheard somebody calling his name. He followed the voice to the side of the stone door and saw that there was asmall window set into the wall, through which Priest Xin was waving at him.Somewhat surprised, he paid his respects through the window then asked, “Whydid sir come?” Priest Xin passed some things through the stone window and replied, “HisEminence asked me to come and check on you.” Chen Changsheng received the things and replied, “All of our luggage is stillon the carriages. Yesterday they didn’t let us bring it in.” “Those are the rules of the Mausoleum of Books. After they’ve finishedchecking them, they will return it to you. It should probably all be done bythe end of the day.” Chen Changsheng thought about those sour-smelling stinky blankets back in thegrass hut and decided to ask, “Could I trouble sir to get us some cleanblankets?” Priest Xin was surprised, then replied, “That won’t be difficult.” “Since they will be returning our luggage to us, then I don’t think there’sanything else I need.” Chen Changsheng looked through the things Priest Xin had handed over andrealized that there was actually a bag of boiled chicken eggs. He could nothold back his curiosity and asked, “In the Mausoleum of Books, do we have tomanage all three meals by ourselves?” Priest Xin explained, “Every school and sect has made preparations so thatevery day they can have supplies delivered. As for the commoner students, theImperial Court will supply them with daily necessities, but they will be oflesser quality. Right now the Orthodox Academy still has many things that needto be done, so you and Tang Thirty-Six definitely would not have made anypreparations. Instead, His Excellency the Bishop has already taken care of yourpreparations, so there is no need to worry.” Holding a conversation through this tiny window, Chen Changsheng could not butfeel a little strange. It felt like he was a prisoner speaking with a visitor. Seeing his expression, Priest Xin guessed at what he was thinking. “TheMausoleum of Books is a holy ground, yet it is also a prison.” Chen Changsheng was a little surprised, but then he thought back to Xun Mei’sbitter experience. “That’s reasonable. Many thanks to sir for this warning.” “How could I be the one to have said such reasonable words? His Holiness thePope of the previous generation said them. His Eminence asked that I conveythose words to you.” “I understand.” Through the stone window, Priest Xin looked into his eyes. “You must remember,in one month’s time the Garden of Zhou will open. You must come out before thattime.” Chen Changsheng did not answer, but instead brought up the incident on themountain path with the arrogant Monolith Guardian. “How could this happen?” Priest Xin creased his brow. “To make it easier for their students to view themonoliths, those various schools and academies probably found some way to curryfavor with a few of the Monolith Guardians. Along with their special status,this would probably make some of them arrogant and aloof; but they have alloffered themselves to the Orthodoxy, so how would they dare offend you?” Chen Changsheng did not quite understand the logic behind these words. “Notdare offend me?” Seeing him so at a loss, Priest Xin smiled. “Right now the entire world knowsthat you are someone watched over by His Holiness and the His Eminence. Tooffend you is to offend the Orthodoxy.” When the Monolith Guardian had been lecturing, he had said that no matter howgreat Chen Changsheng’s background, the youth would still have to revere theMausoleum. Now that he had heard what Priest Xin had to say, Chen Changshenghad a newfound understanding of those words. Inwardly the youth guessed that itwas because of his background in the Orthodoxy that caused some of the MonolithGuardians to innately have some antipathy towards him. Pondering over these matters, Chen Changsheng walked back to the grass hut. Itwas completely empty. Those youths had all probably gone to the Mausoleum ofBooks to view the monoliths. The large pot of porridge he had cooked beforedawn had all been eaten up and all the dishes had already been washed. Even thewater jar had been refilled. Although he had not seen who had done it, for somereason he felt that it had been Gou Hanshi who had taken care of it all. Even though there would be new blankets, Chen Changsheng still took the threeblankets that Xun Mei left over and carefully washed them several times. Onlyafter making sure that the thirty-seven year’s worth of sweat and sour tastehad been completely washed away did he finally put them out to dry in thecourtyard. He then cut through the orange grove and came to a distant vegetablefield. It was the beginning of spring, when the yellow had not turned to green,so the vegetable field did not have much fresh produce to choose from. Thegreen that could be seen was onions, garlic, and leeks. He picked a few springonions and dug a few potatoes, then returned to the courtyard and began toprepare lunch. Once Chen Changsheng had brought the water in the pot to boil, he took some ofthe dried meat Priest Xin had given him, cut it in two, and threw it into thepot. On top of the meat, he began to cook the rice. Inside the rice he hadmixed in fingernail-sized potato pieces. He washed and diced the spring onions,then arranged them on the kitchen stove. He also took out the boiled eggs,ready to place them by the side of the pot at any time. Having finished, henodded his head in satisfaction and washed his hands. While it was true that salted fish and dried meat were tasty and paired wellwith rice, they were not very healthy; eating a lot would be bad for the body.Priest Xin said the archbishop had taken care of matters. The Mount Li SwordSect would probably also have sent someone to deliver supplies. He didn’t knowif he would be able to guarantee fresh meat and produce in the future. ChengShangsheng sat on the doorstep thinking about these sorts of things. Ifyesterday he played the tourist for the entire day, then today was he going toplay the cook? In the Mausoleum of Books,  rather than go view the monoliths tostrenuously ponder their secrets, he instead thought of these sorts of matters.If someone were able to see him sitting on the doorstep lost in thought, whoknows what their reaction would be? As Chen Changsheng sat on the doorstep, he looked out into the grass hut’scourtyard at the half-toppled fence and the not particularly good-looking treesin the orange grove. It was very peaceful, and for a very long time he did notmove an inch. Obviously, matters of food and drink did not need such a longtime to think about, and he had never been concerned about matters between menand women; so what was he pondering? Gazing at the toppled fence and the fog in the forest gradually beingdispersed by the sun, he was extraordinarily focused, to the extent that hedidn’t even realize that the luggage that they had left outside the mausoleumhad been delivered. The cries of birdsong finally caused him to awaken from his contemplation,upon which he finally saw the small mountain of luggage to his side. He walkedover and found his bag, then took a brush, ink, paper, and inkstone from it. Hethen resumed sitting on the doorstep, staring off at the fence and the trees,except this time his hand held a brush and inkstone with ink by his side. As time passed, the sun gradually rose higher, and the angle at which lightstruck the courtyard changed with it. The fence was very scant and, moreover, on the verge of the collapse. Amongstthe stakes, though, there were a few that were thicker than the rest. As the light changed, the shadows that those stakes cast also changed. Thetips of the branches of those trees in the grove also began to change. Thestakes began to grow shorter. Beside them the thin stalks of bamboo began togrow wider. Under the ever brighter sun, some of branch tips seemed ready todisappear; whereas others, because of the shadow cast by the light, grew moredistinct. Chen Changsheng quietly looked at this scene and its various transformations.He thought back to the early morning in front of the monolith hut. As the sunrose, the lines upon the surface of the monolith changed with red warmth of thesunrise, as if they had come to life. When the edges of the deep lines were litby the sun they seemed to grow thinner, while the shallow lines seemed to growwider. Those complex and ineffable lines: the Monolith Inscriptions. The inscriptionsthat had endured countless years of wind and rain and would never change. Butwere not they changing at this very moment? If the messages hidden within theMonolith Inscriptions were fixed, how is it that everyone that had read themfound different meanings? Yes, it was all because of these changes. Chen Changsheng dipped his brush in ink, opened his notebook, and began todraw. He didn’t use words to record his insights, instead capturing what was infront of his eyes as well as his inferences. He began to describe those lineson the Reflecting Monolith, the end of his brush traveling heavily across thepaper. After who knows how long had passed, Chen Changsheng’s brush stopped. He hadactually managed to draw the entirety of the lower right corner of theReflecting Monolith into the notebook. He then took out the book of rubbingsthat he had bought in one of stall outside the Mausoleum, turned to the pagewith the Reflecting Monolith and began to compare the two. He then realizedthat there was a large discrepancy between them; compared to the rubbings, thedrawing on his notebook was clearly much more vivid. If his strokes had beeneven more vigorous, perhaps those drawings would be even more vivid, as if theywere about to come to life. The fog in the forest had completely dissipated, and the bamboo in the fencehad become drier. The light shining on the courtyard was incredibly bright; itwas actually now noon. Chen Changsheng rubbed his aching eyes, then closed his eyes to rest them fora while. As he got up to prepare lunch, he realized that no one had come back.All around the grass hut was silence. Because the temperature had risen, eventhe birds in the trees did not feel like singing. He felt rather lonelystanding in front of the door by himself.. The rice had long ago been cooked, so he placed it on the side to cool. Thefragrant smell of the potatoes mixed with that of the dried meat, making for avery strange yet alluring smell. He took out one half of the dried meat fromthe pot, and after a moment’s thought sliced off only a small piece. He cutthis piece into even smaller pieces and poured them into the rice bowl. He alsopeeled a boiled egg. Along with a cup of mild tea, he hastily concluded hislunch. After the meal, he took a casual stroll around the courtyard, then he returnedto the hut and took a rest on the bed. He then returned to the doorstep,notebook in his left hand and brush in his right, and resumed being lost inthought while staring at the scenery. If the light was incessantly changingwith time, then he would have to incessantly examine it. As the sun gradually set, the rays of light that spilled over the courtyardgradually grew more intense. The stakes and bamboo stalks that made up thefence, the tree branches which splayed in every direction, they all changedwith the light. Chen Changsheng watched quietly for a very long time, thenfinally put his brush to the paper, attempting to commit all the changes thathe had observed in the afternoon. The changes were not very precise, onlyrepresenting a set of hastily executed lines. By dusk, he had drawn the majority of the inscriptions of the ReflectingMonolith. He knew that he was not far from understanding this set of MonolithInscriptions. At this time, the other people boarding at the grass hut returned to thecourtyard one by one. The first to arrive was Liang Banhu. Chen Changsheng nodded his head at him ingreeting, but Liang Banhu did not seem to notice. Liang Banhu headed straighttowards the kitchen and drank a ladle of water. Afterwards he headed out thecourtyard and stood on the collapsed portion of fence that Tang Thirty-Six hadlast night pushed over. He stared at the sun gradually setting below themountain, his face full of sadness and joy. Qi Jian followed soon after. The youth was rather dazed, but he didn’t forgetto greet Chen Changsheng. As Qi Jian entered the hut, he narrowly avoidedstriking his head against the door. After some time, he emerged from the hutand, for some reason, bowed his head and began to walk around the courtyard.His mouth constantly moved, but it was hard to know what he was saying.