Six Agarwood Records · Part Five: The Six-Colored Tongues

Six Agarwood Records · Part Five: The Six-Colored Tongues

1 · [Capital · Modern Era]

Late at night, a strange fragrance awakened Liu Qiqiang. The scent seeped from deep within his bones—not thick, but like a gentle needle, embedding itself deep in his nostrils. He sat up and found Wang Wanshu also awake, standing by the window, her fingers unconsciously touching the broken edge of the "Record" incense seal.

— Do you smell it too? she asked.

— The yellow fragrance, Liu Qiqiang nodded. — And the black one too... they're crying out at the same time. The cry of fragrance—a resonance crossing time and space among the six notes. The last time it appeared with such intensity was in the Yuanyou era, when one of the Liu family ancestors recorded it in Bianliang.

Wen Yi's call came at three in the morning: — The Quanzhou shipwreck museum just confirmed that the yellow Nha Trang disc recovered from the water is authentic. At the same time, news came from Mexico: black Nha Trang was found in Mayan ruins on the Yucatán Peninsula. And—he paused. — Interpol says Cole has already crossed the border, with green Nha Trang. Four notes in one city. Liu Qiqiang's knuckles whitened on his phone. If Nha Trang in Shosoin, Nara, were added, all five notes would cry out, and every pulse of fragrance under heaven would tremble.

— Kiyoko is tightening the net, said Wang Wanshu.

2 · [Capital · Modern Era · Liu Family Agarwood and Sandalwood Shop]

At dawn, Liu Qiqiang pushed open the shop door and found Liu Shengjingma already seated inside. He wore a gray-white kimono, and before him was a blue-gray porcelain censer. There was no fire in the censer, yet a thread of very pale smoke rose—this was the "test fragrance" he had brought, a kind of incense enhancer tuned by Kiyoko's secrets, capable of temporarily suppressing the cry of fragrance.

— Mr. Liu, good morning. Liu Shengjingma bowed slightly. — I've come on Kiyoko's behalf, to discuss cooperation. Liu Qiqiang sat opposite him and did not touch the fragrance in the censer. — Kiyoko's cooperation usually means the other party hands over everything. — This time is different. Liu Shengjingma drew from his sleeve a roll of yellowed silk and unrolled it—a surviving page of the "Record of the Six Notes," in Huang Tingjian's own hand. — Look at this passage. *Six notes in one censer: its flame is like daylight; it illuminates the ancient ages, and burns them all. If gathered, it is the Great Unity; if separated, each lives on its own. But when the Great Unity comes, there remains in the world no difference, nor memory. Shennong separated the notes not because he could not bear to gather them, but because he feared the gathering.*

Liu Qiqiang's pupils contracted slightly. This passage—in the Liu family's preserved copy, had been obliterated with ink. He had never seen it.

— When Shennong separated the six notes, he did not fear their misuse. Liu Shengjingma's voice was very low. — He feared their gathering. If all six notes were gathered, the world would return to the Great Unity—that is true. But the price is that once ignited, there remains in the world no difference and no memory. All people become of one consciousness, one world of fragrance. You, and I, and she—we all become the same thing. Liu Qiqiang was silent for a long time. — And yet you still want to gather them? — My sister died in Kosovo. For the first time a crack appeared in Liu Shengjingma's gaze. — If the world returned to the Great Unity, there would be no wars. No Kosovo, no Kiyoko, no you and me. Is that not better?

3 · [Capital · Modern Era · National Museum]

Zhou Huaisha's office was piled with Chu bamboo slips and silk manuscripts. He was examining through a magnifying glass a bamboo fragment unearthed from the Baoshan Chu tomb; on it was the word "orchid," beside it a symbol of sanctification.

— Kiyoko's men came to me. He did not raise his head. — Liu Shengjingma. Liu Qiqiang and Wang Wanshu exchanged a glance. — And what did he say to them? — He said Shennong is the earth god of Chu, and the people of Chu revere the orchid, and therefore Nha Trang is the mother fragrance. That is true. Zhou Huaisha put down the magnifying glass and stood. — But he omitted one thing—the people of Chu revere the orchid in order to honor the gods separately. In the "Nine Songs," the invocations are to Donghuang Taiyi, Lord of the East; Yunzhong Jun, Lord amid the Clouds; Xiang Jun, Lord of the Xiang River; Xiang Furen, Lady of the Xiang River; Da Siming, Master of the Great Fates; Shao Siming, Master of the Lesser Fates... each god different, each invocation different. Qu Yuan did not want a world all "the same." He walked to the window and watched the cars racing on Chang'an Avenue. — Kiyoko reveres the chrysanthemum and wants to gather it to extinguish all difference. They think the "Great Unity" means all people become one. But the "Great Unity" of the Chu people is that each one is different, and each honors the gods from his own place. When Shennong separated the notes, he did not separate fragrance, but place. *The orchid bears six colors; the flame has six portions. Separation for reverence; gathering for stagnation.*

Zhou Huaisha wrote the phrase on a piece of paper and handed it to Liu Qiqiang. — I extracted it from the "Songs of Chu." Pass it to Kiyoko. And tell him: Qu Yuan did not want a Lord of Xiang without his Lady.

4 · [Northern Song Dynasty · Bianliang · Weng's Agarwood and Medicine Shop]

Yuanyou era, third year. Autumn.

Huang Tingjian sat in the back hall of Weng's Agarwood and Medicine Shop, the manuscript of the "Record of the Six Notes" spread before him. Wen Nuan brought a cup of tea; he waved his hand, and pointed to the passage he had just written.

— Merchant Weng, look at this line. Wen Nuan approached and saw what was written on the paper: *Six notes in one censer: its flame is like daylight; it illuminates the ancient ages, and burns them all. If gathered, it is the Great Unity; if separated, each lives on its own. But when the Great Unity comes, there remains in the world no difference, nor memory. Shennong separated the notes not because he could not bear to gather them, but because he feared the gathering.*

— Mr. Huang, are not the two words "feared the gathering" very heavy? asked Wen Nuan.

Huang Tingjian shook his head. — Not heavy. I have turned over every ancient slip from the land of Chu; the original text of Shennong's testament is "we keep the portion and do not gather"—but after it there is another half sentence, torn away by a Liu family ancestor. I spent three months piecing it together, and what I recovered was: "If gathered, there remains in the world no difference; if the fragrance is exhausted, all things are forgotten." He put down the brush and looked out the window. — The Liu family has preserved the six notes for centuries, but they did not preserve fragrance; they preserved "difference." When people differ, there is memory. And with memory, there is fragrance. Wen Nuan was silent. She remembered Wen An, her younger brother who worked as a servant in the Liu household; whenever he lit incense he closed his eyes and said: "In fragrance there are people."

— Then how should the "Record of the Six Notes" be concluded? she asked.

Huang Tingjian took up the brush and added a line at the end: "O you who come after me: better for you to separate than to gather. Gathering destroys fragrance; separation gives it life."

5 · [Capital · Modern Era · Night of the Cry of Fragrance]

On the first night that four notes stood in one city, the whole capital smelled that strange fragrance. Some said it was agarwood, some said sandalwood, some said a scent they had never known. Liu Qiqiang stood on the roof of the agarwood and sandalwood shop, watching a faint glow gathering in the eastern sky—the light of the cry of fragrance, unseen by the eye, yet smelled.

— The second reading Liu Shengjingma mentioned may be correct. Wang Wanshu stood beside him. — If all six notes are gathered, the world returns to the Great Unity. But the price is... that we all forget who we are. — Are you afraid? asked Liu Qiqiang.

— I am afraid. She extended her hand; the broken edge of the "Record" seal glowed faintly in the night. — But what I fear more is that my father discovered this very thing one day—and for that he was silenced. Liu Qiqiang took her hand. The "Preserve" seal and the "Record" seal came together and were complete.

— When Shennong separated the notes, he did not separate fragrance, but place. He was repeating Zhou Huaisha's words. — Kiyoko wants the Great Unity, and the Chu people wanted reverence through separation. The Liu family has preserved this "difference" for twenty-one generations. He raised his head and smelled the cry of fragrance thickening in the air. The mother fragrance of Nha Trang trembled in Nara, the yellow in Quanzhou, the black in Yucatán, the green in Cole's hand. Four notes crying out together, like four mirrors reflecting one another, echoing every difference in the world.

— Liu Shengjingma wants cooperation, said Liu Qiqiang, — but the condition is—that he first acknowledge that Qu Yuan did not want a Lord of Xiang without his Lady.

6 · [Capital · Modern Era · Liu Shengjingma's Choice]

The next day, Liu Shengjingma returned to the agarwood and sandalwood shop. This time, he brought the green Nha Trang disc with him.

— I have stopped Cole. He placed the fragrance on the table. — The green is here. The yellow is in Quanzhou, the black in Mexico, and Nha Trang in Nara. Four notes and one mother fragrance—all in our hands. Liu Qiqiang looked at the green fragrance disc and did not reach out. — Have you made up your mind? — I thought all night. Liu Shengjingma's voice was very calm. — You are right. After the Great Unity, there is no Lady of Xiang, and no sister of mine. She died in Kosovo, but she was herself precisely because she was utterly different from others. If the world returned to the Great Unity, she would not exist. He paused a moment. — But there is still one thing I want to verify. When Shennong separated the notes long ago, was it "could not bear" or was it "feared"? If he feared, then what did he fear? If he feared that "gathering erases difference in the world," then we must preserve our portions. And if he feared something else... — If he feared something else, Liu Qiqiang finished his sentence, — then the judgment is ours. He took the green Nha Trang and placed it beside the censer. — In the "Record of the Six Notes," Huang Tingjian wrote a statement: "O you who come after me: better for you to separate than to gather. Gathering destroys fragrance; separation gives it life." He was a man of the Northern Song. He never passed through Kosovo, but he knew—in fragrance there are people. If gathered, the people are gone. Liu Shengjingma was silent for a long time. — Then... cooperation? — Cooperation. Liu Qiqiang nodded. — But on one condition: you and I together will separate the four notes. The yellow returns to Quanzhou, the black to Mexico, the green to the Middle East, and Nha Trang stays in Nara. Each to its place, each preserving its portion.

Liu Shengjingma extended his hand. — Agreed. And in the moment their hands clasped