Chapter Seven Two Stories

  Some doubts, I walked into this Buddhist hall and were resolved by the master; however, new knots emerged when I left the temple. I gently stroked the Buddhist beads, a faint fragrance wafted over, and upon closer inspection, they turned out to be intricately carved small purple sandalwood beads, which seemed to be quite valuable. As I walked along the road, I encountered several monks who passed by, and when they saw the Buddhist beads on my wrist, they all looked at me with astonished eyes. It seems that these beads are not only precious but also a personal item of Master Xujian. Even now, this wise and knowledgeable Buddhist master has left an indelible mark in my heart. To be honest, something that happened a long time ago once made me think about becoming a monk and living a carefree life.

  The only one who can hold onto my worldly ties is perhaps a group of brothers, but when it comes down to it, there's only her.

  Xiao Luqi

  Only her. Although she's dead, compared to all the people I've met before, she was the most genuine, real, unadorned and unpretentious one in front of me. She was like a mirror, looking at her, not only did my eyes feel deep joy, but my soul could also be completely empty, without a speck of dust.

  Thinking of her, I walked under the tree, picked up my bedding, and left the temple. Turning back, I took a deep look. In other people's eyes, I must have looked like a homeless vagrant.

  In this mortal world where right and wrong are intertwined, who isn't wandering around in lonely helplessness?

  I hailed a car and told the driver an address. He shook his head, saying he didn't know it. I looked at him - this was a city cab that had come from downtown, so maybe the address was just too out of the way for him to be familiar with.

  Helpless, I had to follow the alley, bit by bit searching for it, asking about it, and finally found a courtyard that looked extremely old and dilapidated, but unexpectedly, this old gentleman lived here.

  I knocked lightly on the door for a long time, but no one answered. Was I coming at an inopportune moment? Just as I was about to turn around and leave, an elderly gentleman with white hair and beard slowly walked over from the other end of the alley.

  My eyes lit up, this must be that old gentleman! I hastily stood aside and waited for him to walk over.

  The old man walked up to me, looked at me, looked at the door and said: "A bowl of food, a pot of drink, living in a humble alley, no sound of chickens and dogs. Young fellow, are you from Master Xujian's place?"

  I thought to myself that this old gentleman must be the one, since he came up with such a topic of "seven steps to become a poet", he must also be someone who is not easily moved. At this point, I blurted out: "Junior has met Master Yu, junior just came from Master Xujian's place, aren't you smelling the Buddhist incense on me?"

  The old man smiled slightly and said in a low voice: "Exactly. Very good. In that case, please come in."

  I wanted to describe the old man's residence to you all, but when I went in, I was really surprised and even frightened. However, I apologize that I had made a promise to him about his dwelling place, so I really can't say more. I'm afraid someone might follow my words and disturb the tranquility of the old man's home, please forgive me, dear readers.

  In fact, even the dialogue between me and the old man is not very convenient to talk about. However, for the integrity and coherence of this article, I will mention the key points here, that is, those two stories.

  Those two stories go like this:

  The first story:

  In the 28th year of Qin Shi Huang (219 BC), on the 35th day of the tenth month, a giant fish swam into the sea from the mouth of the Qinglong River in Kangcheng. The fish was stranded in the river and struggled to free itself. Its body was as long as seven rooms, and its roar was like that of an ox. It used its large forked tail to splash water and mud everywhere.

  The people of Wolongting gathered around the riverbank to watch, and those who saw the fish's dying struggles were terrified. Three days later, the fish was on the verge of death, but it was still too big for anyone to pull ashore. A butcher named Yu Renyu came up with a plan to use five oxen to pull the fish onto land.

  Yu Renyu asked another brave butcher, Gan Xiu, to dive into the water and tie the fish's tail to a wooden beam, which was then tied to an axle. The oxen were used to pull the axle, and the fish was slowly pulled ashore. Gan Xiu measured the fish's body and found it to be 9 zhang 3 chi 5 cun long and about 1 zhang 9 chi 1 cun high.

  As it happened, it was a time when salted fish were scarce, so people considered the giant fish a blessing from heaven. They urged Yu Renyu and Gan Xiu to slaughter the fish and share its meat with everyone. The two butchers quickly beheaded the fish and cut open its belly. They divided the meat among the crowd, who took it home and cooked it for dinner.

  The news of the giant fish soon reached the ears of the county officials and military officers in nearby Haixian County. They immediately sent their men to take some of the fish meat, but by the time they arrived, all the meat had been eaten, leaving only a skeleton behind. The officials were furious and accused Gan Xiu and Yu Renyu of hoarding weapons. They beheaded the two men at Wolongting's Cao Market and left their bodies on the roadside as a warning to others.

  The people who ate the fish meat praised its delicious taste, but they also whispered among themselves that the two butchers had been wrongly accused and executed.

  The second story:

  In the second year of Emperor Hui of Han (193 BC), a severe drought occurred from spring to summer, and the salt fields in the north of Kang City turned white. The crops withered, and the number of refugees increased daily. In mid-summer, a beautiful woman named Feng Ke'er gave birth to a male infant in Kang City's Wolongdun area. However, the child was unlike his mother - he had black hair all over his body, a face like a pot bottom, round eyes that shone like copper bells, sharp claws for fingers, and a tail at the end of his spine that wagged back and forth. A fortune teller predicted disaster. Coincidentally, the weather suddenly changed from clear skies to stormy weather, with torrential rains that lasted until deep autumn. The city was flooded, and people and animals could hardly find shelter. A sorcerer claimed that Feng Ke'er's "hairy child" was a demon causing trouble and forced her to sacrifice it by strangling it to death and placing its body on the Fish God altar as an offering. The poor little soul was innocent, but the heavens remained unyielding, and the rain continued unabated, yet somehow never reached the hairy child's corpse on the altar. The sorcerer then declared that Feng Ke'er would be sacrificed to the sea god. Strangely, after this, the rains stopped. Before people could even finish celebrating, a massive tsunami came crashing in, almost destroying the prosperous city of Kang! According to the "Kang City Huangting Guangji", several tens of thousands of people died in this disaster, which was an unprecedented terror.

  The first story, the so-called dragon fish, from its physical description and tail shape, is undoubtedly a whale. However, a whale was used to take two innocent lives, revealing the brutality of the Qin dynasty's rule, with corrupt officials oppressing the people and competing with them for food. When they couldn't get what they wanted, they even used false accusations and persecution to strike back, this kind of cruel governance has reached an unbearable level.

  The second story, the hairy child, is actually a human genetic disorder. The hairy child still exists today, and you can find out about it on Baidu, he's even become a popular singer and is doing very well. However, the child in this story was innocently put to death, and even his mother suffered the same fate. From this, we can see that superstition and various theories are not scary in themselves; what's scary is when they gain a large number of fanatical followers, blind people's eyes, and completely change their worldview, that will be a disaster.

  After hearing a lot of heavy things, I bid farewell to Mr. Yu's house and it was already 4 pm. The meal that the old man kept me for was really in line with his sentence "a bowl of food, a pot of drink" when he first saw me - all were vegetarian dishes, which made me bite my tongue. After leaving Mr. Yu's house, I bought a meat sandwich on the roadside and walked to the bank while eating.

  I arrived at the bank entrance, hesitated for a while, and finally walked in. I took out my black card, transferred 400,000 yuan to one of my own bank cards, and then changed the password to my mother's birthday. Next, I went to a nearby post office, asked for a registered envelope, put the bank card and a small piece of paper with my mother's birthday written on it inside, and filled in the address: No.***, Building***, Room***, Youth Road, Taishan District, Tai'an City, Shandong Province. I didn't write the recipient's name, and then handed it to the clerk. The young man at the counter stamped the envelope with a loud noise, each sound like a blow to my heart. When he casually threw the envelope into the mailbox, I was already tearful.

  I'm doing this because I already have a general idea of where Xishi's tomb is. Whether it's due to my previous promise to Mingying or my curiosity about the whole thing, I want to go and take a look for myself, dig it up with my own hands. But I also know that this matter is too risky, and one wrong move could be fatal.

  Dad, I'm unfilial. Consider these 400,000 yuan as buying accidental injury insurance for myself.

  Apart from these, what else can I do for my parents and leave behind?