Chapter 328
Chapter 328
The meal was a lively affair.
It lasted nearly an hour.
After the banquet ended, Seventh Master, Meng Yifan, and I prepared to bid the old man farewell.
But Daoist Xiang stopped me alone. He called me aside and asked my name.
“Chen Mo.”
“Chen Mo?”
Daoist Xiang looked at me and smiled faintly. “A good name. Like the man himself, simple yet profound.”
I was puzzled. “You’ve never spent any time with me. How could you know what kind of person I am?”
Daoist Xiang said, “A full, well-proportioned face belongs to a person with a kind heart. Upright eyes reflect an upright heart. You are sincere and benevolent, but you carry many things inside you. They reveal themselves in your eyes.”
So this was physiognomy. The old Daoist Priest knew how to read faces as well.
“The truth is, I stopped you because I’m curious about something.”
Daoist Xiang asked, “Why are you so interested in Mohism? Are you also a Mohist descendant?”
I shook my head. “I’m not, but my Ancestral Master was.”
“Oh?” Daoist Xiang’s interest was immediately piqued. “May I ask your venerable master’s name?”
I answered honestly, “My Ancestral Master was named Tang Zhui. Have you heard of him?”
At the sound of that name, Daoist Xiang’s pupils dilated, and his expression fluctuated violently. He looked utterly shocked.
“You knew my Ancestral Master?”
“I… did. I heard of him. He was a senior of mine…”
Daoist Xiang composed himself, then suddenly stared at my neck. “What are you wearing?”
I hurriedly pulled out the jade pendant the Ancestral Master had given me and smiled. “This was his gift to me when we first met. I always wear it. Anything the Ancestral Master gave me must be more effective than a protective Talisman.”
For some reason, Daoist Xiang suddenly seized the pendant and stared at it intently. His expression was even more astonished than before.
I could not shake the feeling that he had some connection to my Ancestral Master and that he recognized the pendant.
“Sir, have you met my Ancestral Master before? Do you recognize this jade pendant?”
“No.”
Daoist Xiang returned the pendant to me. “This pendant is a treasure. Take good care of it.”
Then he looked at me and asked, “Your Ancestral Master must be very old. How did he give you the pendant?”
I lowered my voice. “You may not believe this, but my Ancestral Master passed away long ago. He gave it to me in a dream.”
Daoist Xiang stood stunned for a long while. Then a smile suddenly appeared on his face, and he patted my shoulder. “We will meet again if fate allows.”
When he turned to leave, I hurriedly called after him. “Sir, can you tell me whether Mozi, the Ancestral Master of Mohism, truly said that mysticism was science at its highest dimension?”
He turned and looked at me. “Is the answer important to you?”
I nodded. “Mozi lived more than two thousand years ago, yet he discovered the principles of the pinhole camera and conducted research into mechanics. He must have been an extraordinary man. Even more astonishingly, he proposed over two millennia ago that time and space were inseparable. He defined spacetime as both finite and infinite, an idea that lies at the heart of Einstein’s theory of relativity.”
“How did a man like that discover these things? If he really said that mysticism is science at its highest dimension, those words would overturn modern science. And I believe he was right.”
Daoist Xiang remained silent for a long time before shaking his head. “He never said those exact words. The word ‘science’ did not exist in that era. But that was the meaning he conveyed.”
With that, Daoist Xiang turned and walked away.
I watched his retreating figure thoughtfully.
Mysticism… was science at its highest dimension…
Meng Yifan came over to call me. It was time to say goodbye to Elder Song and Uncle Song.
Before leaving, we asked Elder Song whether he truly intended to bar Song Xiaotian from coming home.
After two seconds of silence, Elder Song said, “He will marry that young woman named Pan, so he will return. Whenever he marries her, he can come home.”
I could not help saying, “What he did was out of line, but forcing him to marry someone he doesn’t love… This is a decision that will affect his entire life.”
Elder Song laughed. “How do you know he doesn’t love her? You may be his friends and brothers, but I watched him grow up. No one understands him better than I do.”
“Everyone makes mistakes. Without mistakes, how could a person ever mature? But once a mistake has been made, it must be corrected, especially when that person is still immature.”
“As his elders, we are not forcing him to marry someone he doesn’t love. We are only making him shoulder the responsibility he must bear. If a man does not even know how to conduct himself as a human being, what can he possibly accomplish in this life?”
…
After leaving the Song Family residence, Meng Yifan and I returned to the storefront.
Song Xiaotian was there too, but he was in low spirits and had hidden himself in the office to play video games.
He was usually extremely talkative. No one in the entire storefront spoke more than he did. Yet over the next day or two, he barely said a word. It was as if he had fallen into depression.
Meng Yifan, meanwhile, was already enthusiastically discussing how large a cash gift we should give when Song Xiaotian married Pan Xiaorou.
The two of them were certain to marry. If they did not, Song Xiaotian would have to live as an orphan, so he would definitely compromise in the end.
Before long, the day of the industry conference arrived.
At five that afternoon, Pan Xiaorou even sent someone to pick us up.
Everyone was excited except Song Xiaotian. He acted like a bitter, endlessly complaining widow and had no intention of attending the conference.
But Pan Xiaorou had invited all of us and even sent a dedicated driver. Given such generous hospitality, it would have felt wrong not to bring Song Xiaotian along.
So I told him that regardless of whether he intended to be with Pan Xiaorou, he owed her an answer. He should settle things with her tonight.
In the end, Meng Yifan and I hauled him into the car by force.
The sheer grandeur of the conference venue dazzled us.
This was nothing like the industry conferences we had attended before. Those were filled with low-level salespeople like us. The people here today were industry elites and major business owners.
We could only attend because of Pan Xiaorou.
Outside the entrance, I had spotted Du Yunting speaking with two reporters. It did not look like an interview. He seemed to be instructing them to do something.
After we entered the banquet hall, Pan Xiaorou was the most important representative of the host. Yet instead of greeting the executives of the major companies, she came to welcome us first.
The instant Song Xiaotian saw her approaching, he headed straight for the restroom. I could not stop him.
After we exchanged pleasantries, I asked Pan Xiaorou, “President Pan, did you invite reporters today?”
Pan Xiaorou nodded. “Yes. Large business conferences like this always include an interview session.”
I said, “Then you should be careful. Du Yunting has bought off two reporters. He’s probably planning to target you.”