When Qi Wen returned from fetching water to the top of the mountain, he was surprised to see that Taoist Qingsong was awake. He inford him that he had been sleeping for almost five days, and that if he hadn’t woken up, he would have personally carried his master down the mountain to find a doctor, even if Mr. Ji tried to stop him.
At his words, Taoist Qingsong was stunned. Ji Yuan found it funny. Fortunately, Qi Wen had believed in him, and in his estimate of “three to five days” that he had given that day.
However, what puzzled the two Taoists was the fact that, although Taoist Qingsong had been sleeping for several days, apart from being thirsty, he was not very hungry, despite his excellent appetite at lunch that day.
. . .
One afternoon over ten days later, Taoist Qingsong was practicing his health-improving exercises in the Taoist temple. Ji Yuan had dragged out a cushion from the main hall of the temple, and sat cross-legged at the door of the hall, reading “Imperial Discourse.”
Qi Wen had gone down the mountain with a bucket carrying dozens of copper coins. He wanted to buy so at from a village near the base of the mountain, as the Taoist temple’s stock had been completely consud.
Their at selection mainly consisted of cured ats and pickled goods that were easy to preserve in the mountains, as well as so fresh at. As for vegetables, there was no shortage of them, and there was even quite a bit of rice.
Although Ji Yuan was reading his book, he also carefully observed Taoist Qingsong. After seeing Qi Xuan finish a few rounds of his health-improving cultivation exercises, he glanced at the incense burner outside, smiled, and asked a question.
“Master Qingsong, your incense sales here at Cloud Mountain Temple are not doing that well. I have been here for a few days, and apart from Qi Wen, who lights three incense sticks in the morning, I have not seen any pilgrims outside.”
Taoist Qingsong answered Ji Yuan only after finishing his final posture in the exercise sequence.
“Mr. Ji, you must be joking. Our Taoist temple does not have any statues. What would the common people at the foot of the mountain co up to pray for? Occasionally, a wealthy family will co to ask for a na for their descendants and offer so sacrifices to heaven and earth. This Taoist temple is quite prosperous, by that tric.”
After Qi Xuan finished saying this, he added another sentence.
“Otherwise, why would I always be going down the mountain to tell fortunes? Isn’t it just to make money to maintain the temple?”
“Oh… the Taoist priest is quite principled!”
Ji Yuan gave a aningful “Oh,” making Taoist Qingsong feel slightly embarrassed.
“Sotis it’s a bit impulsive, only sotis…”
Ji Yuan did not push further on this subject, but continued the serious discussion with Qi Xuan.
“Taoist Master, there are no statues of gods in your temple. Logically speaking, there is therefore no need to burn incense all the ti. What is the incense for? This sandalwood also costs money.”
“What is it for… Naturally, it is for all the stars in the sky and all of heaven and earth in this world.”
Taoist Qingsong thought about it for a mont. He had been traveling with his own master, just as Qi Wen now did, since he was a child. He had lit incense sticks in any number of temples and Buddhist monasteries. So Taoist temples that he had encountered even enshrined statues of gods. If he truly had to pinpoint what, or who, Cloud Mountain Temple, which had no statues of gods, was burning incense for, then the answer would naturally be all of heaven and earth.
“But this world doesn’t accept your incense.”
Ji Yuan looked up. As opposed to Qi Xuan’s mortal eyes, he could see the true “incense”.
“Ah? Heaven and earth do not accept it?”
Taoist Qingsong was stunned for a mont. He wanted to say sothing, but didn’t know where to start. After all, the person sitting in front of the hall was Mr. Ji. However, he was surprised for a brief mont.
“If they don’t accept it, then they simply don’t accept it. Even if heaven and earth do not accept the incense, we can’t be disrespectful!”
“The Taoist priest is right!”
Ji Yuan closed his book and bowed with cupped hands to Taoist Qingsong. Qi Xuan smiled brightly and quickly returned the salute.
. . .
Qi Wen traveled down the mountain with the basket on his back, walking along the mountain trail that the master and disciple often used to pass through Yun Mountain. He crossed the mountain stream, and walked along the ridge. With his swift pace, he left Yun Mountain in just half an hour.
The nearest village at the foot of the mountain was called Yunkou Village, which was often frequented by Taoists from Cloud Mountain Temple. Sotis, when the village held a wedding or a funeral, or when they needed the help of a fortune-teller or spiritual expert, they would seek help from the Taoists of Cloud Mountain Temple. The two parties were quite familiar with each other.
As soon as he arrived at the village gate, soone greeted Qi Wen.
“Young Taoist Priest Qi Wen, is it just you coming down the mountain? Is Taoist Qingsong not here today?”
“Yeah, Master is still on the mountain. I ca to the village to buy so food.”
“Oh… My wife will soon be giving birth again, I would like to ask Taoist Qingsong to calculate their fortune please.”
“Alright!”
Qi Wen greeted the man briefly and entered the village, following the loud sound of chickens and dogs. So familiar older individuals also greeted Qi Wen. So of the younger people who had played with Qi Wen when they were young enthusiastically said hello.
As usual, he visited the village chief’s house, along with a few villagers’ houses that he knew well. Like this, he could buy quite a lot with just a few coins.
At an old farr’s house, a young village girl ca over to give Qi Wen a few eggs and other miscellaneous items, making Qi Wen blush bright red, very embarrassed.
“Hahahaha… Young Taoist Qi Wen, I heard that you Taoists can get married?”
The old farr who was helping Qi Wen slaughter a chicken laughed, and asked the little Taoist priest with a smile.
Qi Wen had grown up by now, and his face was quite handso. While practicing his health-preserving exercises, he had also been traveling with his master all year round. He had also been beaten by unruly custors from ti to ti, so his body was very robust.1 He was quite popular with country ladies.
“Pro-probably, yes…”
“Hahaha, hey, little Taoist priest, if you can return to secular life and marry into another family, with your strength and looks, there are plenty of excellent girls in the village!”
There were also a few girls secretly peeking at Qi Wen and giggling from outside the fence of the old farr’s house. Qi Wen blushed harder.
“Done!”
After thoroughly plucking the feathers and cleaning the guts, the old farr wrapped the chicken and tossed it into the basket on the ground.
“Thank you, Uncle Shen. Here are the coins!”
Qi Wen handed over ten coins. It was much cheaper to buy chicken in the village here than in the county town. Moreover, chicken, duck, and the like was rely considered lesser ats in many places around Dazhen, while beef, mutton, and pigs were the superior ats. Naturally, unless a worker ox died of old age or so kind of accident, beef was hard to co by.
Just as the old man took the copper coins and was about to reply to Qi Wen, a voice ca from outside the yard.
“Hey, hey… that’s him, that’s Taoist Qi Wen from Cloud Mountain Temple.”
“Oh, thank you so much!”
“You’re welco, you’re welco!”
The voice outside attracted Qi Wen’s attention. He saw two n, followed by four people who were clearly their servants, hurriedly walking into the old farr’s yard from outside.
Qi Wen recognized one of the n: he was the one who had gotten very angry when he had asked his master to interpret his fortune the other day.
‘Oh my goodness, did he co here to fight ? ’
Qi Wen’s scalp went numb, and he glanced left and right. This was Yunkou Village. If he were beaten, the nearby villagers would probably help him out.
Fortunately, the visitor imdiately stated the purpose of his visit.
“Young Taoist Priest, my na is Huang Xingye, this is my friend Li Mian. I haven’t seen your stall you set up in the county these past few days, so I ca here to ask about the location of Cloud Mountain Temple. It’s great to see you! Is your master on the mountain? Thanks to your master’s reminder that day, I was able to surpass a difficult experience. I asked so vendors in front of the City God Temple, and they all said that you are Taoist priests from Yun Mountain, but they didn’t know where your temple was on that mountain. I ca to this village here at the foot of the mountain to try my luck…”
The visitor said a lot in one breath. Qi Wen breathed a sigh of relief when he heard his words. He was glad the man was not here to start trouble.
“Naturally, Master is in Cloud Mountain Temple. Uh, Sir Pilgrim,2 do you need to ask the Master to co down the mountain to see you?”
“No, no, we’ll just go to your temple to pay a visit. How can we trouble you to co down the mountain? I also brought so small gifts with , we can take it up the mountain with us!”
It was only then that Qi Wen realized that the group of people were carrying two large loads on their shoulders. He had not noticed until just now due to his nervousness.
“Then… visiting pilgrims, please follow up the mountain!”
Qi Wen had no choice but to bid farewell to the villagers, then guide the group of people up the mountain. It was rare for Cloud Mountain Temple to see such country gentlen bringing things up the mountain.
On the way, the man spoke with Qi Wen about the specific reasons for his visit.
It turned out that Mr. Huang was considered the head of one of the wealthier families in Dongle County. He had recently experienced a setback and almost lost his life, but fortunately he had found Taoist Qingsong, who had interpreted his fortune in front of Dongle County’s City God Temple that day.
Although he had been very angry that ti, Taoist Qingsong at the very least had succeeded in making the man more vigilant to things around him, particularly when the Taoist had ntioned “n’s hidden intentions.”3 Combined with his fortune, it at least proved the accuracy of the man’s suspicions.
In addition, to honor the seemingly perfunctory words of reminding him to do good deeds to avert disaster, the man simply did a good deed after arriving in the town. He paid the remainder of the funds missing in order to be able to renovate the Land God Temple in one go, and even personally purchased and delivered an incense burner.
To be clear, most incense burners were made of copper, and copper was what money was made out of, which made it very valuable. These two sums of money could greatly accelerate and improve the renovation of the Land God Temple.
During that period of ti, the man was even more cautious in his every action than before, but even so, he almost didn’t survive when disaster struck.
I didn’t expect the other party to be so desperate that he would dare set fire to his friend’s house while he was staying there overnight.
Strangely enough, that night, when Huang Xingye and his friend who knew martial arts were sharing a room at the friend’s farm, a servant had been standing guard outside. In the middle of the night, a teapot on the table suddenly fell to the ground, waking both Huang Xingye and his friend.
At that mont, they could sll smoke coming from outside. When the two rushed out, they found that the fire had already started. One of the Huang family’s servants was unconscious outside of the house, and the other had disappeared.
The two n imdiately woke their friends and family mbers, carried the Huang family’s servant out, and then found soone to put out the fire. In the end, although the fire had not been extinguished, at least no one had been hurt.
Afterwards, Huang Xingye and his friend reported the case to the police. Because they had a clear account, and with the help of their family wealth, the county governnt made great efforts to solve the case, stirring up a lot of excitent, from Dongle County’s capital all the way to Maoqian Town.
Although Huang Xingye didn’t realize it at first, after the fire, he grew more and more certain that the broken teapot had been a life-saving signal. The more he thought about it, the more mysterious it seed. His friend ‘s family was not poor, and all the tables and chairs in the room were stable. The teapot would not have fallen for no reason, so he could only believe that it was the aid of ghosts or gods.
He also believed that it just happened to be in response to his donation to the Land God Temple.
Today, Huang Xingye ca to express his gratitude, but that did not an the problem had been solved. On the contrary, there were still so odd and difficult points. That was why he had thought of looking for the Taoist who had interpreted his fortune that day.
Before coming here, Huang Xingye had inquired about the fortune-teller in Dongle County. In the end, he found that although this fortune-teller was sotis disliked, and even beaten due to his fortune-telling, his predictions were truly accurate. Even those who had beaten him had no choice but to admit it in the end.
Strangely enough, although this Taoist had been beaten several tis, he still enjoyed setting up a stall. This seed a bit unusual to an intelligent man like Huang Xingye. A skilled Taoist who behaved so strangely… Could he be so hidden master?
T/n: LOL The word used to refer to the man roughly translates to “this believer” 心中 (xīnzhōng): central point/in one’s thoughts/in one’s heart, 方向 (fāngxiàng) direction/orientation. A more literal translation would be “the direction of one’s heart,” but it refers vaguely to the implicit understanding that you can never know other people’s hearts.
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