Chapter 1616 — The Source of Edification
The Herdsman of the Wasteland · Page 2 of 5
Shen Mu rubbed his big head, and at once Long Qilin could not help himself: his tail swished twice, and his heart was wholly content. Shen Mu made a circuit of the divine city, and went again to the vegetable market, the lanes and wards, the primary school, the great school, to look them over; his divine sense spread out and took in every conversation of the people of that whole divine city, so that he might examine the temper of the folk.
"This divine city is very good.
There is squalor in it, but on the whole it rises.
" Shen Mu said suddenly: "I have seen the divine city. But how has it fared below?
" He came to the edge of the city and looked down at the land beneath, where there were many villages and towns as well.
Long Qilin followed him down onto the land. Shen Mu walked through the countryside and came to a town, and asked: "Do your children all have names?
" Long Qilin said: "They all have names.
My surname is Long, Yan'er's is Zhu; the boys among these little ones take my surname, the girls take hers.
The eldest was born early, a boy, named Changli; the second girl is Hongyu; the third is quick of tongue, named Tanxuan.
. .
" Shen Mu walked among the towns, and saw that they were mostly old people, with a few children in tow, but very few young and able-bodied folk; he could not help frowning. He went again to the town's primary school and sat through several classes, and his brow knit tighter still. The clothing of the people in this town was far less bright and fine than that of the folk in the divine city; their daily living was much poorer than in the divine city, and so was their food.
More frightening still were the primary school and the great school: the teachers who instructed the children were all quite ordinary divine ability users, with few of outstanding talent among them, and they taught the children in a perfunctory, muddling way — even the teachers themselves understood but half of what they taught. He went to question the elders of the town, and an old man said: "The young folk have all gone to the divine city, or to the mines and the manufactories, and some crossed the mountains and ridges to Xiajing.
In a whole year you may not see them once or twice.
" "Then the primary schools and great schools of the countryside. .
. " "With fewer people, the schools cannot keep going; some closed down long ago.
Our town is rather large, so we can still keep ours open. Those families with a little money send their children to the city to study; those without can only stay behind and learn a little skill or other, enough that they need not starve.
" Shen Mu stood blankly in the ruined school, somewhat dazed, and murmured: "It has only been a hundred-odd years, only a hundred-odd years.
. . " Long Qilin said cautiously: "Cult Master, their lives are in truth better than a hundred years ago by a measure past knowing.
" Shen Mu shook his head and said: "This is not what I wanted.
Let us go on; let us look ahead.
" He came to a village in the countryside, which looked even more ruined.
Shen Mu did not linger long, but asked straightaway where the village school was. "It closed down more than ten years ago.
" Someone led him to the ruins of the village school.
Shen Mu walked on with Long Qilin, threading through the fields and wilds; overhead was the bright and splendid divine city, prosperous beyond measure, and below were the ruined towns and villages, with only the old and the young left in them. He passed through many cities and villages of Jingping, and his brow never once smoothed.
The night deepened.
Shen Mu halted, and Long Qilin led his household's little ones in building a campfire, and they all sat by the fire.