Courtyard Houses: From Bronze Compasses to Global Reach

Chapter 150 Birthday Invitation and Ancient Book Archiving

Chapter 153: Birthday Invitation and Archiving of Ancient Books

The sword flashed silently into the tranquil night of Laurel Manor. Lin Yan had just stepped onto the lawn when the main building door opened, and Charles, wearing only an overcoat, strode out, his face showing his usual respect and concern: "Young Master, you're back. You must be tired from your journey. Would you like Yuling to prepare some late-night snacks for you?"

His suggestion reminded Lin Yan that he hadn't had dinner in San Francisco and was indeed a bit hungry. "Alright, let's make something simple," he nodded in agreement. Little Qi, standing at his feet, immediately barked, "Brother, me too! Me too!" It rubbed its head against his trouser leg, trying to make its presence known, afraid of being forgotten. Lin Yan added with a smile, "And there's also a portion for our Little Qi, so prepare plenty of spirit beast meat."

He glanced at his watch; it was 10 PM. He quickly calculated the time difference—it should be around 1 PM in Hong Kong. Perfect timing.

"Lin Gang, connect me to the Hong Kong phone and ask for either Li Wenbin or Zheng Jiaming."

"Yes, young master."

In this day and age, making a phone call from the United States to Hong Kong is no easy feat. Lin Gang requested an international call transfer through a Los Angeles operator, specifying that he wanted to be connected to a Hong Kong number. This process required waiting, as the operator manually transferred the call through a complex network.

After waiting for about half an hour, the call finally connected. Lin Gang picked up the phone, confirmed that the other party was Li Wenbin, and then handed the phone to Lin Yan.

"Hey? Wenbin? It's me, Lin Yan!" Lin Yan said into the receiver, his voice unconsciously rising a little. He knew that the signal for these overseas calls was extremely unstable.

Li Wenbin's voice came from the other end of the phone, but it sounded very weak, as if coming from a great distance, mixed with crackling electrical noise and a noticeable delay: "Ah... Yan? Is it really... you? You... your voice... is too soft... I can't hear you..." His voice was intermittent, tinged with complaint, "You've been gone... for more than half a year... without a word... It's rare that you still remember... that I exist? Where... are you... calling me?"

Lin Yan had to repeat himself louder, almost shouting, "I'm in America! Los Angeles! The signal's bad, but you'll have to make do!" He explained briefly, "Coming here was a last-minute decision; I didn't have time to tell everyone. To make a long story short, my birthday is in December, and I'm planning to have it here. Are you and Jiaming free to fly to America for a visit?"

He quickly outlined his enticing plan: "Once we get here, we'll go watch an NBA basketball game together! It's the top professional basketball league in the US, it's really exciting! We can also go skiing at Lake Tahoe or Aspen! After Christmas, we'll go back to Hong Kong together for the Lunar New Year, how about that?"

There was a few seconds of silence on the other end of the phone, as if processing the sudden invitation and the somewhat unclear message. Then, Li Wenbin responded, his voice rising an octave, still tinged with static but brimming with excitement: "Go...to America? To watch a game...skiing?...That sounds...good! I...should be fine! That kid Jiaming...I'll...go and get him later!...You wait...we'll...book the tickets as soon as possible!"

Hearing his friend's affirmative reply, Lin Yan smiled despite the terrible call quality. "Okay! Let me know when you've confirmed the itinerary! The signal here is too bad, so I won't say more. See you in Hong Kong... no, I mean, see you in America!"

"I understand! See you in America!"

The call ended with a buzzing static and a faint farewell. Lin Yan put down the receiver, his ears ringing slightly, but he was in a good mood. His old friend was about to reunite, and a lively birthday party and winter sports awaited them, filling him with anticipation for the days to come.

Lin Yan contacted Lin Yi through the space seal, asking him to send someone to Li Wenbin's house with his Los Angeles address, help them with visa processing and booking plane tickets, and tell him the specific arrival time of the flight in Los Angeles.

With nothing else to do, Lin Yan took Xiao Qi back to the small courtyard in his spatial dimension. Standing in the vast, invisibly expanding space within the dimension, Lin Yan was surrounded by mountains of books. More than two thousand Foundation Establishment and Golden Core cultivators were already in their positions, awaiting his instructions. With a slight thought, the millions of books that had swept in from Japan's four major document institutions began to circulate slowly in the air, gathering into different areas according to the categories he had set in his divine sense.

Lin Yan's primary focus was on medical classics. He was well aware that Japan had acquired a large number of rare Chinese medical texts through plunder and acquisition.

As the only Ming Dynasty copy of "Miscellaneous Writings on Medicine" passed by, Lin Yan noticed the dense Japanese annotations on the pages, indicating that Japanese scholars had conducted in-depth research on it.

Several precious versions of Zhang Zhongjing's "Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases" from the Eastern Han Dynasty have also been discovered, including some Song and Yuan Dynasty woodblock prints that had long been lost in China. The research findings of renowned Japanese Kampo medicine masters such as Otsuka Keisetsu are based on these classics.

The cultivators also cataloged over two thousand ancient Chinese medical texts, covering categories such as febrile diseases, acupuncture, herbal medicine, and prescriptions. The return of these classic texts signifies that Lin Yan has mastered the most core original documents and wisdom of traditional Chinese medicine.

Next, local gazetteers were compiled. Japan has always attached great importance to the collection of Chinese local gazetteers, acquiring them through various channels both during wartime and peacetime.

The book "A Study on the Spread of Chinese Local Chronicles to Japan" records in detail that Japan has a large number of high-quality Chinese local chronicles in its collection.

At this moment, Lin Yan had gathered 2641 kinds of local gazetteers, totaling 25682 volumes. Among them were woodblock books and a part of the provincial gazetteers that were stored in Xinghua County, northern Jiangsu Province, by the Jiangsu Provincial Library of Chinese Studies but were burned by the Japanese army during the war. Now they were seeing the light of day again in the space.

These local gazetteers record in detail the history, geography, products, customs, and notable figures of various regions, making them a valuable resource for studying Chinese history and social evolution.

Religious documents, especially the Dunhuang manuscripts, constitute another enormous cultural heritage.

In the early 20th century, most of the Dunhuang manuscripts, about 3.5 pieces, were looted by Western explorers. Many of them ended up in Japan and are now housed in various museums and libraries.

Today, these Dunhuang manuscripts, which have been scattered abroad—precious scrolls covering almost all aspects of medieval society, including mathematics, geography, astronomy, history, philosophy, religion, military affairs, ethnicity, folklore, literature, language, art, and medicine—are also gathered here.

Together with Buddhist and Taoist classics recovered from Japan, these constitute a treasure trove of documents for studying the exchange of civilizations and the spread of religions across Eurasia.

Lin Yan paid special attention to rare and valuable books from the Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties.

Many classic texts that have been lost in China are preserved in Japan. For example, the Song Dynasty edition of "Liu Mengde's Collected Works" is listed as a Japanese National Treasure. Only nine Yuan Dynasty editions of "Records of the Grand Historian" exist in the world, and all of them in my country are incomplete, while Japan has a complete 130-volume edition. The works recorded in "Zhao Zhi's Collected Works" are not included in "Complete Tang Poems" or "Lost Complete Tang Poems".

During their inventory, the monks also discovered a large number of Ming and Qing dynasty printed novels and operas, including many unique copies. The return of these rare and valuable books will greatly enrich my country's literary and historical collections.

Lin Yan also noticed classic works on science and agriculture.

This collection includes ancient Chinese works on astronomy, calendrical calculations, mathematics, agricultural technology (such as early editions of the *Complete Treatise on Agriculture*), and documents on water conservancy projects. It also contains valuable foreign-language scientific journals and reports, such as the complete first edition of the German *Yearbook of Chemistry and Pharmacy* and the *China Report* published in Hong Kong from 1832 to 1851. These documents reflect the exchange and development of science and technology between China and other countries.

The work also included archives and academic manuscripts created in modern times.

This includes the catalogues of looted books compiled by the Japanese "Committee for the Reception of Books and Documents in the Occupied Areas of Central China," such as the "Catalogue of Publications of the National Economic Committee of the Nationalist Government" and the "Catalogue of Data on China's Economic, Financial and Financial Relations." It's as if the evidence of the looters' crimes has been confiscated instead.

There are also books lost by universities such as Tsinghua University, Beiping Pingguo College, and Fu Jen Catholic University during the Japanese occupation, as well as a large number of unpublished academic manuscripts and research notes by Chinese scholars. These are an important part of the history of modern Chinese scholarship.

Finally, the monks also sorted out a large number of art catalogs, rubbings of inscriptions on metal and stone, works on calligraphy and painting theory, as well as precious documents related to the languages ​​and histories of China's ethnic minorities. These materials are testament to the diversity and unity of Chinese civilization.

With the efficient and precise collaboration of over two thousand cultivators, this cultural mountain range, comprised of millions of books (88 were looted from Nanjing alone, while the total number of books lost by China during the War of Resistance was in the tens of millions), was meticulously organized. Lin Yan's divine sense swept over these treasures, encompassing many fields of Chinese civilization and even human knowledge. He felt not only a sense of satisfaction at possessing civilization, but also a profound historical responsibility to bring these cultural heritages, scattered overseas, "home" in another form. He specifically instructed that medical classics and local chronicles be specially preserved in a separate area, as these would directly benefit his future endeavors (such as medicine) and his deeper understanding of this land.

A week passed in the blink of an eye.

On November 6th, the sky over Los Angeles was clear and sunny, with the characteristic warmth of California. According to Lin Yi's message, the Pan Am flight carrying Li Wenbin and Zheng Jiaming was scheduled to land at Los Angeles International Airport at 2:20 PM that afternoon.

Lin Yan glanced at his watch and instructed, "Charles, get the car ready. Lin Gang, you're coming with me."

"Yes, young master," Lin Gang replied in a deep voice.

Soon, two sleek, imposing black sedans drove out of Laurel Manor. Lin Yan sat in the back seat of the Cadillac Series 62 in front, driven by Lin Gang. A Lincoln Continental followed behind, carrying two servant monks who were responsible for transporting luggage and also acting as guards.

The convoy drove along the increasingly busy highway toward the airport. Los Angeles International Airport of this era was already quite large, brimming with the modernity and hustle and bustle of the "jet age." After the vehicles came to a stop near the arrivals area, Lin Yan didn't stay in the car, but leaned against the gleaming hood of the Cadillac, his gaze fixed on the passenger exits. Lin Gang stood silently half a step behind him, like a most loyal shadow.

Finally, the announcement came over the loudspeaker that the flight from Japan had arrived safely. Lin Yan's spirits lifted slightly, and his divine sense, like invisible tentacles, had already spread out, easily locking onto those two familiar auras in the bustling crowd.

After waiting for about half an hour, passengers from this flight began to emerge at the exit. Soon, two young Eastern men, dressed in fashionable clothes that stood out from the Western faces around them, appeared.

Li Wenbin spotted Lin Yan standing out from the crowd at a glance, and his face instantly broke into a bright, unreserved smile. Lin Yan was wearing a beige trench coat and a plaid scarf, his hair was slicked back, and he was carrying a suitcase in one hand while waving the other hand high in the air.

"Ah Yan! Lin Yan! Here! We're here!" He practically shouted in Cantonese, completely ignoring the curious glances from those around him, and jogged over, dragging his suitcase.

Upon reaching him, Li Wenbin, without saying a word, released the handle of his suitcase, opened his arms, and gave Lin Yan a tight hug, patting his back forcefully.

"Good heavens! I've finally found you! This place is really far, my back and waist are killing me!" Li Wenbin's voice carried the fatigue of the journey, but even more so, excitement and exhilaration. "Wow! Your car is amazing! A Cadillac! Is it as common in America as taking a taxi is in Hong Kong?"

He chattered away like a happy sparrow, making no attempt to hide his curiosity and joy at the reunion.

In contrast, Zheng Jiaming appeared much more composed. He wore a well-tailored dark suit with a high-quality wool coat over it, walking steadily behind Lin Yan with a gentle and reserved smile on his face. He first politely nodded to Lin Gang, who was standing behind Lin Yan, before walking up to Lin Yan.

"Ayan, long time no see." Zheng Jiaming's voice was calm, with a hint of barely perceptible concern. Unlike Li Wenbin, he didn't use any enthusiastic gestures; instead, he extended his hand.

Lin Yan understood and reached out to shake his hand tightly. He could feel the increased pressure in Zheng Jiaming's hand, and the sincere joy beneath the calmness in his eyes.

"Jiaming, Wenbin, you must be tired from your journey." Lin Yan replied with a smile, his gaze sweeping over his two friends. "I'm relieved to see that you both look to be in good spirits."

"It's been hard work, but the thought of coming to America for fun, especially with you hosting, makes it all worth it!" Li Wenbin replied eagerly, then looked around impatiently. "This is Los Angeles! The sun is shining so brightly! Where are we going now? Straight to your... Laurel Estate?"

"That's right," Lin Yan nodded, gesturing for Lin Gang and the servants behind them to come forward and take their luggage. "The car is ready. Wenbin and Jiaming, you two sit in the back. Lin Gang, you sit in the Lincoln in the back. We'll head back now. You can rest in the car for a bit, and we'll have a proper chat when we get to the manor."

"Great! I want to ride in your car!" Li Wenbin excitedly climbed into the back seat of the Cadillac, curiously touching the luxurious interior.

Zheng Jiaming nodded slightly to Lin Yan again, his tone steady: "When in Rome, do as the Romans do. I'm sorry to have troubled you, Yan." After saying that, he turned around gracefully and sat down in the back seat under the guidance of the guards.

Lin Gang closed the car door for Lin Yan, and the two black sedans started smoothly, merging into the afternoon traffic of Los Angeles, heading towards Laurel Estate in Beverly Hills. Inside the car, Li Wenbin was still asking all sorts of questions about the NBA and skiing. Lin Yan saw Zheng Jiaming leaning back quietly in his seat, perhaps admiring the foreign scenery outside the window, or perhaps resting with his eyes closed.

The arrival of two friends with very different personalities made Lin Yan feel that this winter in America suddenly became lively and full of anticipation.