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"Exactly."

At Wang Guan's prompt, Murong Guang also snapped back to attention and immediately laughed, "Elder, forgive us for asking, but might we borrow your kitchen? We will, of course, compensate you."

"Compensation, schmom-pensation."

The old man possessed a certain generosity and waved his hand dismissively. "If you are in my home, you are my guests. It is only right that I treat you well. Besides, you’ve brought your own food, which is even better. You bring the meat, I’ll bring the wine—now that’s fair!"

"Wine?"

One person licked his lips; the call of the spirits had struck him.

"Indeed, I have wine. Homemade rice wine," the old man chuckled. "It's not the very best, not too harsh, quite clear, but it packs quite a kick..."

"Elder, please stop talking. If you say another word, I’ll start drooling," the man laughed, then eagerly urged everyone forward, hurrying toward the old man’s house.

Upon arriving, the elder immediately called over a few villagers to help. They fetched firewood to boil water and set about skinning and plucking the pheasants and wild rabbits, keeping thoroughly busy. The others stood by watching the spectacle. It wasn't that they didn't want to help, but seeing how skillfully the villagers moved, their interference would have only caused more trouble.

Regardless, the villagers methodically processed the pheasant, rabbit, and birds, swiftly chopping them into pieces and stir-frying them in the hot wok. Soon, a delicious aroma began to waft out.

At that moment, Wang Guan noticed the old man walking out carrying several large gourds and was immediately surprised. "Elder, dinner is almost ready. Where are you off to?"

"Fetching wine," the old man said, shaking the gourds with a smile. "I’m going up to the mountain wine cellar."

"A wine cellar?" Yu Feibai was quite taken aback, even amazed. "Elder, you are truly something else, to have dug out such a large cellar for brewing!"

"That wasn't my doing. It’s something passed down from ancestors long ago," the old man replied with a smile, slowly heading up the mountain path.

"Let’s go take a look!" Yu Feibai’s curiosity flared, and he immediately beckoned Wang Guan to follow. Seeing the old man offer no objection, Wang Guan trailed behind. Before long, they arrived beside a sheer cliff face.

Wang Guan glanced over and immediately spotted a bamboo and wood archway set into the rock. The archway wasn't locked, merely secured with a simple wooden pin. The elder casually pulled the pin free and pushed the door open.

At that moment, Wang Guan and Yu Feibai leaned closer, and with the light spilling in, they could clearly see the interior. It was an enormous cavern, and in the center of the cave, there was a wide pool. However, the pool was empty, devoid of anything.

Seeing this, Yu Feibai stepped inside, his curiosity piqued. "Elder, what is this pool for?"

In a corner of the cave, a row of large jars was lined up. The old man now removed the lid from one of the massive jars, and a wave of clear, fragrant wine aroma drifted out. As he used a ladle to scoop out the wine, he looked back and laughed, "That’s the wine pool."

"A wine pool?"

Yu Feibai was even more astonished, and Wang Guan was no exception. After all, the allusion to a 'pool of wine and heap of meat' was something they had certainly heard of—a symbol of ancient emperors’ decadence and misrule. They never imagined such a thing as a wine pool existing in a mountain village. Furthermore, judging by the scale of the pool, filling it would require at least ten metric tons of wine!

Just thinking about it—the village only had just over twenty households. How long would it take them to drink that much wine?

To Wang Guan's unspoken question, the old man laughed and sighed softly, explaining, "Don't mind that our village is small now. A long time ago, this place was a major stronghold, perhaps five or six hundred households, with a population even exceeding ten thousand."

"Over ten thousand people?"

Wang Guan and Yu Feibai exchanged a look of doubt, wondering if the old man was exaggerating. After all, for a population to settle, the carrying capacity of the land was the first consideration. In ancient times with undeveloped technology, a city reaching a million people would have been an incredible feat, worthy of being recorded in history.

Looking across five thousand years of Chinese history, only after the Sui and Tang dynasties, when agriculture, industry, and commerce had developed considerably, and during periods of strong national power, could such large cities emerge. Such conditions were certainly absent in a mountain village.

City dwellers, even if they didn't farm, could satisfy their needs through the trade of grain. But arable land in the mountains was limited—how could a large stronghold of over ten thousand people solve its food supply issues?

"Wine," the old man said with a slight smile. "Legend has it, our former village... no, it should be called a great stronghold. The name of the stronghold, I think, was Wine Stronghold. The fine wine brewed here was famous near and far. People traveled thousands of miles to buy our wine, and some was even offered as tribute to the Emperor. There were so many buyers that the villagers simply opened up this massive wine pool. The stronghold became quite a bustling hub of commerce."

"But the good times didn't last..."

As he spoke, the old man's face was filled with regret. "For some reason, perhaps due to warfare, or maybe the technique for brewing the fine wine was coveted—whatever the cause, the great stronghold gradually declined, becoming the small village you see today. The wine pool dried up, the art of brewing the fine wine was lost, and all that remains is an empty cellar."

Sensing the elder’s sadness, Wang Guan and Yu Feibai also fell into a moment of quiet reflection. Such is the way of the world; time passes, and the landscape changes utterly.

In retrospect, this mountain village was rather fortunate; at least the large wine pool remained as proof of a past prosperity. But in the desolate deserts, rolling yellow sands have buried countless ancient cities.

The states of the Western Regions back then—Kucha, Loulan, Shule, Gaochang, and so on—none remain today, annihilated directly in the river of history, with few people even able to pinpoint their exact locations.

However, perhaps it is precisely because these ancient kingdoms vanished that so many poignant legends remain. Distance breeds beauty, after all; people tend to project richer, beautiful fantasies onto things that no longer exist. Like the Utopia spoken of in foreign lands, or the 'Three Dynasties of Order' so often cited by ancient Chinese scholars.

Moreover, the great stronghold the elder mentioned might not have fallen due to conflict or covetousness. There is an even greater possibility. Perhaps as the population grew, it simply exceeded the stronghold's natural carrying capacity, leading to a natural migration.

During such a migration, dissatisfaction would inevitably arise, leading to internal strife. In such infighting, the downfall of the great stronghold would be a natural consequence. This conjecture is somewhat grim, but one cannot deny it's the most probable scenario, for it is human nature; some unpleasant situations always arise in the pursuit of survival and development.

Of course, one must also concede that it is often through these various base actions that nations and peoples have managed to continue existing. Throughout history, both at home and abroad, this pattern holds true, suggesting it is universally applicable.

As Wang Guan was musing, he suddenly saw Yu Feibai jump into the pool and peer around as if searching for something.

"Feibai, what are you doing?"

Wang Guan was curious and couldn't help but frown. "Don't make the elder's pool dirty."

The pool had been abandoned for ages and was already covered in dust; his words naturally carried a subtle implication. Of course, Wang Guan said it deliberately to hint to Yu Feibai not to make a mess on someone else’s property.

"I’m checking to see if there’s any yeast here," Yu Feibai said casually. "It’s said that in very old wine cellars, the sediment at the bottom of where the wine was stored accumulates a large amount of microorganisms that can be used to brew good wine."

"Where did you hear such nonsense?"

"What nonsense? Don't you know about Lao Jiao wine?" Yu Feibai shot him a look. "Look it up. Which famous brand of liquor doesn't rely on researching the microorganisms in the old cellar mud to develop special yeast strains, which are then used for brewing? The flavor is far more mellow than ordinary wine."

"That does sound plausible," Wang Guan admitted after a moment's thought; he had indeed heard something to that effect.

"Plausible? This is fact, alright!"

As he spoke, Yu Feibai shook his head. "But it's a shame. This wine pool has clearly been unused for ages; the bottom is dried and hardened. No matter how many microbes were here, they wouldn't survive."

"Good that you know, so stop wasting your effort," Wang Guan said. Nevertheless, he lightly leaped into the pool, casually looking around, and even stomped on the bottom. As expected, it felt quite hard. Pushing aside the dust, he saw it was actually a layer of flagstones.

Seeing this, Wang Guan immediately laughed. "There you go, it's all flagstones underneath. There’s definitely none of that old cellar mud you were talking about. You can give up hope now."

"I wasn't really expecting much anyway..." Yu Feibai muttered, then suddenly felt something hard press against his foot, as if he had stepped on a stone. He shifted his foot and saw a small stone, which he casually kicked away.

With a soft gulu, the object rolled near Wang Guan, causing him to instinctively look down. At that moment, sunlight slanted in from outside the archway, and the object flashed slightly, refracting a sheen of light. Seeing this, Wang Guan’s curiosity was piqued, and he nudged it with his toe, feeling that it was a smooth, rounded pebble.

Perhaps due to some instinct, Wang Guan couldn't quite articulate why, but he bent down and casually picked up the smooth stone. Before he could examine it closely, he heard Yu Feibai call out, "The wine is ready; let's head back."

"Oh."

Wang Guan responded, followed Yu Feibai out, and helped the old man secure the archway.

After fastening the wooden pin, Wang Guan walked back toward the village, slowly opening his palm to examine the stone. It was midday, the sun bright, allowing him to see clearly. The rounded stone did look like a river pebble, but its color was peculiar—a certain shade of pure white, emitting a faint, soft glow.

"It doesn't look like stone; it looks more like jade..."

With this thought in mind, Wang Guan didn't toss the small stone away but slipped it into his pouch. He then turned, beaming, and headed toward the delicious meal from which the savory aroma was drifting.

At that moment, thanks to the deft hands of the villagers, the pheasants and wild rabbits had been transformed into steaming platters of delicacies. Strictly speaking, the culinary skills couldn't compare to those of a master chef in a grand hotel, but the intense, fresh flavor made up for it—and that was enough...

(To be continued)