Chapter 239
Chapter 239
An urban village was the kind of place that sat close to the city, yet had been cut away from its original way of life.
The people who lived here couldn’t keep up with the city’s rapid development, and they had lost the farmland they used to depend on. In truth, they had long since fallen out of step with the times, struggling at the very bottom day after day.
Even the peaceful, quiet streets late at night revealed an air of decay.
The Blind Old Man walked out of the alley. Once he stopped, he sensed that the person closest to him was right there by his side.
He reached out with both hands, feeling around, and at last he touched the child who had kept him company for eight months.
Strictly speaking, people couldn’t touch ghosts. But ghosts could affect the human brain and make people feel touch. It was a phantom sensation created by an illusion.
The Blind Old Man touched Rat. A smile spread across his face, but tears began to fall.
Only one of his eyes could still shed tears. The other had lost that right in the fire.
Rat gave him a few parting words, telling him to take good care of himself. Then he knelt on the ground and kowtowed three times.
Those three kowtows carried his gratitude for being taken in. They were also for the last bit of warmth Rat had felt in this world after being abandoned by his parents. He had never had the chance to repay the person who had given him that warmth, so all he could offer the old man were three resounding bows.
“Rat, Grandpa is happy for you. Now you can go live a good life.”
“Eighteen years from now, you’ll be a fine young man again.”
“Grandpa won’t see you off. Have a safe journey, Rat.”
The old man stroked Rat’s head and waved at him. “Go on. Look ahead. Don’t worry about me. There’s nothing to worry about. I’ve made it through all these decades already.”
Rat stood up and walked toward us, then attached himself to a jade pendant in Seventh Master’s hand.
This was the most stifled I had ever felt.
Even when I was dealing with Ding Ruoning and her daughter, I hadn’t felt this weighed down. Back then, what I felt more than anything was anger.
But this time, we hadn’t even run into any real danger, and yet the heaviness in my chest was almost unbearable.
The three of them… none of them really had a good ending. Sometimes, even when you wanted to help, you didn’t know how. All you could do was try your best.
For people who struggled at the bottom every moment of every day, if life truly had reincarnation, then perhaps death really was a kind of release…
I walked over to the Blind Old Man and said, “Sir, you should go back and get some rest.”
The old man nodded. Tears were still hanging on half of his face, but he smiled and asked, “Has Rat gone?”
I said he had. In truth, he hadn’t.
Rat still had one last wish: to go to an amusement park with Xiao Xuan.
It definitely wasn’t happening tonight. It would have to be tomorrow night.
Since Rat had already said goodbye to the old man, I decided to tell him he had left, so the old man wouldn’t keep worrying about him.
“Good. It’s good that he’s gone.”
The old man smiled and said, “When I was young, my mother took me to a temple to pray for blessings. I asked the senior monk there whether people had another life after they died. The senior monk told me everyone had a next life, and that if you accumulated virtue and did good deeds, you’d live better in the next one. If someone had a bad life this time around, it had to be because they’d done too much evil in their past life.”
“Rat was such a pitiful child. If he was paying for sins, then he’s paid them off now. He’ll definitely live a good life in his next incarnation. Don’t you think so, young man?”
I said yes. “Rat won’t have to suffer anymore in his next life. That’s something to be happy about. Please don’t dwell on it too much.”
After that, I left to catch up with Seventh Master and the others.
When I looked back, I saw that the old man was still standing there, gazing up at the sky, silently shedding tears.
By the time I caught up with Seventh Master and the others, I heard Seventh Master sighing with emotion.
“There are too many people with miserable lives in this world. You can’t help them all. If you happen to see one, you just do what you can.”
“Some people’s fates are simply like that. Fate is fixed, and there isn’t much you can do to change it. If you insist on changing it by force, you’ll end up shouldering far too much of their karma.”
Song Xiaotian didn’t understand. “Once I’m done helping, I leave. What karma could I possibly shoulder?”
Seventh Master smiled. “Helping within your means is harmless enough, but in truth, karma has already been created. While you’re helping him, the things you do and the consequences those things bring about-that is karma. If you interfere too much, say, if you were to adopt that child named Xiao Xuan and try to use your family’s circumstances to ensure he never wants for food or clothing for the rest of his life, then that karma would be enormous.”
“At the very least, for this lifetime, you and he would be tied together in countless ways. Whether he becomes a good person or a bad one in the future, your life would be affected by him. He would become part of it. If his fate contains a calamity, that calamity might also spill over onto you. That is what we call a greater karmic burden.”
I sighed. “Some people are born in Rome, while others are born as beasts of burden. They say the debts of this life come from the sins of the last, but how many people even know about things like good, evil, and karma? And how many believe in them?”
“Since rules like that exist, Heavenly God should have made sure everyone knew. Wouldn’t there be fewer people committing sins then? Wouldn’t the world have been at peace long ago?”
Seventh Master shook his head and chuckled. “The universe has its own laws of operation, and human society has its own laws of survival. Some are explicit rules, and some are hidden rules. The so-called explicit rules are laws and regulations, propriety, honor, shame, and moral standards. The hidden rules are karmic retribution for good and evil, rules related to the metaphysical.”
“In ancient times, people followed the hidden rules more. They believed there were gods three feet above their heads. They believed everything in this world was bestowed by the divine, so they revered ghosts and gods while keeping their distance, and they emphasized moral cultivation. That is why there were so many elaborate rites and formalities in ancient times.”
“Modern people place more importance on explicit rules. Everything is measured by laws and regulations, and hidden rules have become feudal superstition. That is a necessity of the times. We should take explicit rules as our standard. After all, we live in modern society. Using the divine way to establish teachings and rule over subjects was a method used by ancient kings.”
Seventh Master sighed. “But if people ignore the hidden rules too much, or even treat it as an either-or matter and brand them all as feudal superstition, it easily leads to human beings losing their sense of awe. Modern people no longer care much about propriety, honor, or shame. Some don’t even possess basic humanity.”
“Heavenly God taught people both sets of rules. It’s just that people themselves don’t know how to use them.”
I had to admit, Seventh Master really knew a lot. He had broadened our horizons again.
“I’m this poor in this life… Could it be because I did too much evil in my last life?” Anning began to look thoughtful.
Song Xiaotian burst out laughing. “You probably committed plenty of sins in your last life. Seventh Master said so.”
In truth, that wasn’t what Seventh Master had said. Back then, when Anning and Du Yuwei’s parents went to the Daoist Temple, it was the Daoist Priest there who said it. That was why Anning’s parents sent her to an orphanage.
Anning raised her head and glared at Song Xiaotian.
With his hands behind his back, Seventh Master said, “Actually, what happened in the last life is all in the past. It belonged to a previous lifetime. The real truth is that people should live this life well. If you fail to live this life properly, your next life will still be a tragedy.”
“People must always look ahead.”