After the meal, Li Chi’s group was escorted by the Carefree Kingdom’s soldiers toward the capital city — which in truth was a massive mountain stronghold with not even a wall around it. Here a house, there a house, built into the hillsides, yet without looking the least bit cluttered or disorderly.

Old Luo said the people here never quarreled over money. He wasn’t sure when this custom — or rather, this way of thinking — had first taken hold. In their view, to quarrel over money was a shameful thing. It made you an object of contempt for every person in the Carefree Kingdom.

Old Luo also told them that on their last visit they hadn’t known the customs of the place. One of his young helpers had spotted a craftsman with a stall, selling what he made — an exquisitely crafted peacock, no larger than a folding fan, so lifelike it was extraordinary, and worked with breathtaking skill.

The young helper asked the price. The craftsman said ten taels of silver. The helper liked it very much, but ten taels was a lot. On instinct he asked if the man would take less.

The craftsman smiled agreeably and said of course, how much would you like to pay? The helper, half joking, said one tael. The materials alone in that peacock were worth five or six taels, to say nothing of the labor — ten taels was an honest price, if anything quite generous.

But the craftsman nodded cheerfully and sold the peacock for one tael, without the slightest sign of regret.

When Old Luo found out, he was overcome with shame. Being here, it seemed, was enough to make even a fleeting unworthy thought feel unbearable — you wanted to die of it.

He scolded the young helper severely. Several of them pooled ten taels together and brought it to the craftsman, but the craftsman simply would not take it. He said the sale was complete — a transaction is a contract, and everyone must honor a contract.

Still feeling guilty, Old Luo’s group found a small silver knife and brought it as a gift. The craftsman was overjoyed. He felt that receiving a gift was something to be deeply proud of.

Every person here, when given a gift, was overjoyed — they believed that a gift was recognition of them as a person. And so the craftsman offered a gold hairpin in return.

Li Chi listened to Old Luo’s account and felt a profound awe. This Carefree Kingdom was truly carefree. Every person here had a depth of character that, in the outside world, would place them among the sages.

And yet — people like this, once they left the Carefree Kingdom and entered the world outside, would certainly be deceived, bullied, perhaps even killed. If the outside world ever learned where the Carefree Kingdom lay, there would be an endless stream of people wanting to come — and perhaps armies would be raised to seize it.

They were awed by the guileless goodness of the people here, by the quiet and peace, by the learning and courtesy.

Every person here could read and write. It was, apparently, a requirement held by every generation of Carefree Kings.

What surprised Li Chi’s group even more was that they had assumed it would be difficult to get an audience with the Carefree King — yet not long after entering the mountain settlement, they were summoned.

The one thing that didn’t surprise them was that the Carefree King was, indeed, enormously fat. Very, very fat. Seated there, he resembled the Buddha of legend.

He wore nothing remotely fine or costly — in fact his clothes were much the same as the soldiers they had first met: a loose, billowing long robe. He sat in a rattan chair, one hand holding a fan, the other holding a piece of fruit.

The moment he saw Old Luo, the Carefree King looked as though he were seeing a dear friend he had not seen in a very long time. He broke immediately into a smile — a smile as pure as a child’s.

“Old Luo.”

The Carefree King rose and came to welcome him, pulling him into an embrace.

“Why did you take so long to come back?”

The Carefree King held Old Luo’s hands and said: “When you left last year, you said you’d be back soon to see me. And then I waited a full year for you. You weren’t quite true to your word — but I know life out there must be hard. You must have had no choice. Otherwise you would never have broken a promise.”

It dawned on Li Chi — Old Luo’s parting words, *we’ll be back soon to see you*, had been nothing more than a conventional pleasantry of the outside world. But the people of the Carefree Kingdom took *soon* to mean soon.

“I even had someone prepare the kind of sweets you like.”

The Carefree King said: “But that sort of sweet only keeps for a few days before it spoils. I was afraid you’d come back and think I hadn’t prepared anything for you — so every time it spoiled I had a new batch made. I’ve been making it for a full year.”

He said with a smile: “I’ve finally got you back.”

Li Chi looked at Old Luo and saw that Old Luo’s face was a picture of shame.

In this moment Li Chi believed what Old Luo had told him on the road: when their group had first entered the Carefree Kingdom, they had come with plenty of underhanded intentions — thinking about what they might be able to steal, what they might be able to swindle. But after spending a dozen or so days in the Carefree Kingdom, not one of those thoughts had surfaced again.

They felt that in this place, even *entertaining* a dishonorable thought would fill you with shame enough to wish you could simply die of it.

Old Luo thanked him sincerely, then introduced Li Chi and the others.

They each bowed to the Carefree King in turn. The Carefree King was not fond of this kind of ceremony — he found it overly elaborate and a little hollow. But he still returned each bow with careful attention.

The Carefree King asked Old Luo: “Is it still the Chu kingdom out there?”

Old Luo said: “This friend of mine has come from the Chu kingdom. If Your Majesty is curious about the outside world, you may ask him.”

The Carefree King looked at Li Chi. Li Chi inclined his head slightly and said: “It is still the Chu kingdom out there. It has lasted several hundred years — but now the realm is in chaos, and it may be that Chu is heading toward its end.”

The Carefree King said with a sigh: “When our ancestors left the Central Plains, Chu had just been founded. To think that now Chu faces its end.”

He told Li Chi that war was something he had only ever seen in books. His ancestors had written of it and passed the record down, warning future generations that it was the most terrible thing in the world — that war could warp a human being into something savage, into a beast. And the reason wars existed was the greed within human nature.

From the very beginning, the founding leaders had decided together that they must teach their descendants never to be greedy, never to covet, never to fight.

“My ancestors said that war is the most terrifying thing in the world. A single war brings devastation, the dead beyond counting.”

The Carefree King looked at Li Chi. “You should all stay here. There is no war here. There is only peace, and quiet.”

Li Chi shook his head. “I cannot stay. Though I feel that this place is a true paradise — having seen the Carefree Kingdom, I must leave even more urgently. Everything here has given me a direction. It has shown me what I must struggle toward, fight for, strive to achieve.”

Li Chi said: “If one day I can make the people of the outside world more like the people of the Carefree Kingdom — fewer quarrels, less greed — then this journey to see the Carefree Kingdom will not have been wasted.”

The Carefree King looked at the people around him. Even they seemed moved.

“You are a warrior. A true warrior.”

The Carefree King beckoned. “Bring me my grandfather’s book.”

Someone immediately fetched the volume he had asked for. He opened it and looked carefully, his gaze settling on a particular page.

He said to Li Chi: “Each generation of my ancestors — each Carefree King — has left behind a book like this. You might call them meditations.”

He passed the book to Li Chi, pointing to the passage he had been reading.

“This was written by my grandfather. He wrote here that a person, if they are so moved by a place like the Carefree Kingdom that they choose to remain and become one of its people, that is the Carefree Kingdom’s achievement — it has awakened the true goodness in a human heart.”

“But if a person, because of the Carefree Kingdom’s existence, chooses instead to go out and change the world — to make everyone else live the kind of life the people of the Carefree Kingdom live — then that person is a warrior. A fearless, selfless warrior.”

The Carefree King said: “My grandfather told me that if someone from the Carefree Kingdom ever chose to walk out and help the people beyond our walls, it would mean a hero was about to appear — and we should support him, help him.”

He reached out and took Li Chi’s hand. He was so fat that his hand was correspondingly enormous. In his grip, Li Chi’s hand looked like a child’s.

The Carefree King said to Li Chi: “What help do you need me to give you?”

Yu Jiuling, sitting behind Li Chi, thought: the opportunity has fallen right into his lap, easily and naturally — so Li Chi will certainly ask for gold and silver.

But he could not have imagined that Li Chi’s answer was — books.

Li Chi asked the Carefree King: “May I have a copy made of each generation of Carefree Kings’ meditations? And I would also like to ask Your Majesty — are there still records of the Dong people’s old methods for training soldiers?”

“There are, but my ancestors sealed them away. They are things this place no longer needs.”

The Carefree King replied: “Since you want them, I will have a copy made for you. Since you want the Dong people’s methods for training soldiers, I will give you the original records — the people here have always loved to keep records. Perhaps they feel that what is written down is what truly exists. But the methods for training soldiers that you asked about — they are no longer needed here.”

The Carefree King said: “If you need any other help, say so freely. My grandfather told me that it took us several hundred years to make people here forget war — but this place is too small. So the dream was easy to fulfill. Out there, the world is too vast. The dream cannot be fulfilled. The person who strives toward a goal that cannot be fulfilled is a hero.”

He looked at Li Chi, and his gaze was the same as Li Chi’s when Li Chi looked at him — Li Chi’s eyes were full of respect, and so were the Carefree King’s.

“Do you need money?”

The Carefree King asked.

Li Chi nodded: “I do. But I do not need Your Majesty’s money.”

The Carefree King was taken aback. “Why?”

Li Chi said: “Your Majesty’s money was not made for killing.”

The Carefree King suddenly drew a long sigh and said: “Yet the money here was, at its origin, gathered through killing. Within this mountain there is the tomb of the first emperor of the Mongol Empire. It holds the countless treasures that empire plundered from countless places.”

He looked at Li Chi, and after a long silence finally said: “Neither I nor any of my ancestors have ever told our people this. Following in my ancestors’ way, I have told our people that this gold and silver is here because we are good and kind — a gift from heaven.”

He paused, and then said with a trace of anguish: “But that is a lie. And it troubles me.”

Li Chi was quiet for a moment, then said: “If it were not for the goodness of the Carefree Kingdom’s people, why would such gold and silver be here? Why would such a fortunate thing have happened to them? If another group of people had been wandering these mountains, would they have found this place? Your Majesty — if this is not a gift from heaven, then what is it?”

The Carefree King paused. He was clearly thinking it through. Then, all at once, he smiled.

“You’re right. You’re absolutely right. This is heaven’s reward for us.”

Li Chi smiled as well. “So it isn’t a lie.”

The Carefree King let out a long, slow breath. “It is not a lie… I have not lied. My ancestors did not lie either.”

He said to Li Chi: “You are also a good person — and a warrior as well. So this heaven-given treasure should have a share that belongs to you.”

This time Li Chi was the one who was taken aback.

The Carefree King said: “I will take you to the underground palace. Take whatever you want.”

—