Chapter 6: Cultivation at the Public Gate

  Qian Yiqun's scalp felt numb, and he thought to himself: What's gotten into this lady today? I usually come back even later than this, but I've never seen anyone blocking the alley entrance and scolding people.

  "What a big girl you are, showing off in front of everyone and scolding your brother in the street?" Qian Yiqun retorted. This younger sister was two years his junior, but had already learned to manage household affairs. Their mother, a devout Taoist, was more than happy to let her daughter take charge of worldly matters.

  Qian Xiaoxiao saw Qian Yiqun being beaten, and her anger grew even more intense. Her eyes turned red as she shouted: "Father was beaten to the point of lying in bed unable to turn over, searching everywhere for you but couldn't find you, and didn't know who you went drinking with, not returning home for three days! Mother was so anxious that her mouth was covered in blisters, and yet you return as if nothing's wrong!"

  "Dad was beaten!?" Qian Yiqun's head buzzed loudly as he kicked into a run.

  The Qian family has become a wealthy household, and they have also accumulated some silver. When it came to Qian Datong's hands, he even bought more than 20 mu of good land, renovated the old house in the city, and had a glorious and ancestral flavor.

  This old house is near the end of the alley, with a dark-colored large gate and newly made stone drums. Qian Yiqun stepped over the threshold that had been trodden to shine, and at a glance saw his father's little servant, Ai Mei.

  "How is Lao Ye?" Qian Yiqun asked anxiously.

  "Has my son come back?" A voice came from the main room, it was Father Qian Da Tong's voice, although somewhat tired, but with a strong breath.

  Qian Yiqun finally felt at ease, and he put the fox by the door. He threw aside all thoughts of cultivating immortality with Bai Ze and such, and entered the house to see his father, saying: "Dad, who dares to hit you!"

  Qian Datong shook his head and said, "As a father, I'm also an old hand at this. Can't we just put on a show of being injured but not seriously hurt? It's all just for the county magistrate to see anyway." The art of public execution is no less than that of cultivating immortality, each with its own secrets and techniques. An experienced executioner can make it look like a brutal and bloody affair to an outsider, when in fact it's all just a show.

  "County Magistrate is out of his mind! He actually vented his anger on Father!" Qian Yiqun knew that Old Master was beaten by the County Magistrate, and he was filled with indignation but could do nothing about it.

  "Shut up!" Qian Xiaoxiao rushed in, giving her brother a cold face. "It's said that the county magistrate who destroyed his family and the prefectural governor who exterminated his gate are useless, only knowing how to say some ready-made words, what use is that?"

  Qian Yiqun was too lazy to argue with his sister and asked: "Where's Mother? Is she reciting scriptures in the inner room?"

  "Your daughter has gone to the Xuanmiao Temple to pray for your blessings!" Qian Xiaoxiao immediately changed her expression and coquettishly scolded her father, "Dad, you didn't even say anything about him!"

  Qian Datong sat in a rattan chair, with a thick cushion under his buttocks, and shifted slightly, saying: "My son has not returned home for two or three days, how can he not entrust someone to bring a message?" He felt a deep sense of guilt towards Qian Yiqun, precisely because he had not been willing to retire early and make arrangements, causing this talented son to have no chance in the imperial examination, and every time he thought about it, his heart was in agony.

  Qian Yiqun only then realized what his father and sister meant by "three days without return". He had clearly gone out in the morning, where did the three days come from? However, it was impossible for his father to follow his sister's nonsense, so the problem must have originated from that "Luan Xian Palace". Could it be that one day in heaven is equal to one year on earth?

  "This," Qian Yiqun thought for a moment and said frankly, "my son mistakenly entered the fairyland in Huqiu, only for a short period of time, but unexpectedly three days have passed in the mortal world!"

  Qian Dazhong was surprised, just about to ask what had happened, when he saw Qian Xiaoxiao jump up and shout: "He must have gone out drinking and having fun with those good-for-nothing friends of his! He's made up this lie, and you actually believe him, Father?"

  "There is a fox friend, right at the door." Qian Yiqun walked to the door and carried the fox in, "But there really isn't a dog friend." He poured out the dead fox from the backpack and said softly: "Fox Da Xian, please say something."

  Fox spirit thought: This little rascal is so reckless! If I were to speak human language, heaven knows how much trouble it would bring. Now the common people are ignorant and will definitely not recognize me as a auspicious sign, they will inevitably take me for a monster. When the time comes, they will skin and stretch my tendons, where can I go to cry injustice?

  It made up its mind, closed its mouth and hid its head in the fluffy big tail after a glance around.

  The fox had a bad reputation, and Qian Xiaoxiao took a step back in fright: "Where did you get this beast from? Are you trying to torment us to death?"

  "Good, good!" Qian Datong, who dreaded the word "death", exclaimed, "Your brother is...this is...not following the common trend! Others only raise cats and dogs, our family naturally has to raise something rare! Good, this old fox has a hint of immortality, just suitable for my son!"

  Qian Yiqun's mouth twitched, facing the family who had raised him for nineteen years, he was unwilling and didn't need to lie. However, the truth wasn't something everyone could accept, and he himself wasn't a god, the fox wouldn't speak up, so who would believe those ethereal words?

  "Partial... " Qian Xiaoxiao puffed out her chest and turned to her brother, "What have you been eating these past few days?" She didn't smell any alcohol on her brother's body, so he must have gone to gamble. Once these people start gambling, they don't even think about food anymore.

  "This... " Qian Yiqun was in a dilemma, he had only been out for one day. The food he ate in the morning hadn't even digested yet!

  "Look, you're going to gamble again, aren't you?" Qian Xiaoxiao said angrily. "Losing or winning is one thing, but don't you even know how to eat a meal?" She glanced at her father again, snorted and walked out.

  Qian Yiqun sat down beside his father and asked, "Father, what case is this?"

  "Alas..." Qian Datong sighed, feeling his buttocks burning, and shifted around a bit before recounting the case from start to finish.

  It's also a shameful thing in Wu County, I don't know where a flower thief came from, and actually stole the county magistrate's head. What's even more annoying is that this thief was caught red-handed by the county magistrate and turned into a puff of black smoke.

  Qian Datong, as the county's chief of police, was naturally held responsible and couldn't shirk his duties. Two or three days passed without cracking the case, and after missing the deadline, he was beaten with a board by the county magistrate. Fortunately, his family had been in the officialdom for two generations and had excellent connections, so although the beating was severe, it was just a show to fool outsiders, and he was able to get out of bed and move around on the same day. Now, after using their family's secret remedy, the wound has already scabbed over.

  "The county magistrate has seen the thief disappear into smoke with his own eyes, why is he still making such a fuss...” Qian Yiqun was indignant in his heart. Although officials and clerks are both government employees, officials do not consider clerks as human beings, they can beat them at will, without even giving them a chance to explain themselves."

  "What? How could County Magistrate admit this?" Qian Datong scolded his son for asking such a foolish question, and then said, "It's something that was passed down from inside."

  The imperial court of the Ming Dynasty had a rule that officials from outside the province could not hold office within 500 miles of their hometown, so even if the new official was very capable, they would inevitably be taken advantage of by local officials. The current county magistrate of Wu County is from Dongguan, Guangdong Province, how many family members can he bring with him to take office? Aren't they all just locally hired servants? These people naturally told everything to Captain Qian without reservation.

  Your attitude is much better than that fox which is still pretending to be dead.

  Qian Yiqun glanced at the fox on the ground and said, "Since that person has magical powers, why didn't he go to the monks or Taoist priests? Even if he didn't mention the green hat affair, couldn't he just say that his family's property was stolen?"

  "This can't be said!" Qian Datong was somewhat impatient, leaning forward, "My son has also read books and has never heard of: 'A child does not speak of strange powers and gods'? The county magistrate is a double-provincial scholar, a descendant of the imperial family, a guardian of the Way, how can he acknowledge those heretical and demonic arts?"

  Qian Yiqun suddenly realized that the green hat was a small matter, but the stance was a big deal! Once the county magistrate acknowledged the existence of this unscientific thing, his academic cultivation, scholarly reputation, and ideological purity would all be hit, and these were far more deadly than a green hat.

  "If it were in the hands of other captors," Qian Datong sighed, "before dawn breaks, they would have caught the culprit who stole the top jar and after a beating, he would confess to everything."

  Qian Yiqun's mouth twitched slightly, and he thought to himself: This is a bit too dark.

  "But our family doesn't dare to do such things. You don't know, your grandmother had five miscarriages and almost cut off the Money family's incense. Your grandfather knelt in front of the three large incense burners at the Xuanyue Temple and vowed never to do anything that would harm his yin virtue again, which is how you, my son, came to be born. That's why it says on the ancestral hall's training plaque: 'In public office, cultivate good deeds.' It means that in public office, evil thoughts are rampant, but if you can stop just one of them, you'll have less guilt and more merit. You must remember this!"

  Qian Yiqun nodded repeatedly, but in his heart he was thinking of another matter. He was glad that he had this strange encounter, otherwise he would not have believed in the kind of strange rumors like "turning into smoke and disappearing". Now he held a volume of "Bai Mei Tu" in his hand, hid a book fairy in his arms, and followed an ancient library... Although it was a bit cunning, could he still be suffocated by this "smoke"?

  "Father, I'll go down and think of a plan first." Qian Yiqun stood up, "Please forgive me, Father."

  "Go and rest well." Qian Datong saw his son walk two steps, suddenly asked: "Where did you go these past two days?"

  "Uh......this......" Qian Yiqun hesitated and found it hard to speak.

  Who is Qian Datong? He's been a gambler for most of his life! After losing money, he looks like he's about to collapse, how could he possibly have the energy of a young man? Not to mention this broken basket that even woodcutters wouldn't want, inside it there's something that looks like a domesticated fox...

  "My son won't do anything out of line, your mother and I are both aware of that," Qian Datong continued, "I just need to let the family know so they don't worry."

  "It's...!" Qian Yiqun's face flushed, his hands inserted into the fox's front leg armpits, tightly hugged it, and threw it into the backpack, quickly running out.

  Qian Datong raised his buttocks and stroked his beard with a sly smile: My son indeed has the demeanor of a famous scholar, I don't know where he got this fox spirit from, it's really interesting.