Chapter 22

Chapter 22

Aunt Qin laughed, her voice clear as silver bells.

“You little rascal. Give you a pole and you climb right up it. You changed how you addressed me without the slightest hesitation.”

I rose with a grin and rubbed my hands. “Oh, Master, we’ve known each other so long. I’ve already called you Master countless times in my heart.”

I wondered whether becoming a disciple required some formal ceremony, with my parents bringing gifts and completing the proper rituals.

That was how television dramas and Hong Kong movies portrayed it.

Hong Kong films were enormously popular in 1999.

I had watched many old ones broadcast on television at the general store by the village entrance. For villagers in those days, they were a kind of window onto the outside world.

But when I mentioned it, Aunt Qin–no, my Master–shook her head.

“There’s no need. My school follows the heart and lets the Dao follow nature. We place little importance on rigid conventions, so none of that is necessary.”

“I see!” I nodded like a pecking chick.

She continued, “But Little Wu, I must tell you this: by taking me as your Master, you’ve chosen a different life. Sooner or later, you’ll enter the esoteric world. My lineage isn’t particularly well liked there…”

“Mm-hmm!” I continued nodding like a pecking chick.

I did not care about any of it.

As long as I could learn from her and resist my third life tribulation, nothing else mattered. At least, it could wait until later!

Besides, Master was a wonderful person. How could anyone in the esoteric arts dislike her? The other esoteric practitioners had to be at fault!

In short, my initiation was remarkably simple.

I knocked my head against the ground, Master agreed, and it was done!

“Now that I have a disciple, it’s time to end this practice of self-defilement. Little Wu, go home and explain matters to your parents. From now on, aside from attending school and sleeping at home, you must spend all your time with me.”

“All right!”

I was ecstatic and nodded vigorously. The thought of staying with Master all the time–Master in her normal state, no less–filled me with happiness.

“And let me repeat one thing. You will have no time to review lessons or complete homework, but you must place first in your entire grade on every examination.”

“No problem!”

I pounded my chest hard enough to make it thunder.

Inside, however, I felt nervous.

I had been lucky enough to enter the key middle school in town. As a child from a remote mountain village, taking first place every time without reviewing lessons or doing homework after class would be extremely difficult.

But if Master demanded it, I had to succeed!

“Master, I’m going home now!”

I turned and ran, shouting over my shoulder, eager to tell my parents the good news. Surely they would be delighted too?

Even after I had covered some distance, her voice sounded beside my ear.

“Starting today, I’ll eat ordinary food again. Remember to bring me meals every day and eat with me.”

“Mm!”

I nodded hard.

…

Back home, I told my parents that I had become her disciple.

The response was not the universal joy I had imagined. My father smiled and nodded repeatedly, while my mother looked hesitant and conflicted, brow furrowed as though she wanted to speak but could not.

I was puzzled.

“Mom, what’s wrong? Shouldn’t you be happy that Aunt Qin accepted me? You’re always calling her the Immortal Lady so warmly. She saved the village, Second Uncle, and me.”

My mother tried to say something but did not seem to know how.

My father understood her. He sighed and stroked my head. “Baby, don’t you know your mother’s temperament? She’s cautious. Of course she thinks the Immortal Lady is powerful, far more accomplished than any folk Taoist master for many villages around. But that line of work isn’t only difficult and exhausting. It’s extremely dangerous too.”

“Exactly!” my mother finally said. “Your bazi is already light, and you attract uncanny, unclean things. If you follow the Immortal Lady, aren’t you walking toward them on purpose? And you’re a good student. You need to study. Our family has waited so long for the hope of sending someone to university…”
So that was her concern!

“Oh, Mom.” I took her hand. “As the saying goes, if it’s fortune, it won’t be disaster; if it’s disaster, you can’t avoid it. Since life tribulations are part of my fate, I have to face them when I can’t hide.”

“Good!”

“Well said!”

My father applauded beside me, pride all over his face. “That’s a son of Wu Yunfei! How can a cowardly, indecisive person become a real man?”

My mother glared at him. He scratched his head awkwardly.

“Mom, don’t worry about school. I don’t know why, but Master cares enormously about my grades. She said she won’t teach me unless I always place first in the entire grade.”

“What?”

Both my parents stared blankly.

In most people’s minds, a folk Taoist master had nothing whatsoever to do with studying or attending university. Yet the Immortal Lady demanded such academic excellence!

“See, Mom? None of your worries are problems.”

Only then did she smile and nod repeatedly. She wanted to bring gifts to the Immortal Lady and formally acknowledge the apprenticeship while expressing our gratitude.

I told her it was unnecessary. Master said our lineage did not require empty formalities, especially when everyone knew each other so well. She could simply prepare a rich dinner for me to carry over that evening.

At dusk, the sun sank westward.

I carried the meal toward Master’s ruined house. Before reaching the edge of the village, I heard an enormous commotion. More than half the villagers had gathered there.

“What’s happening? That’s where Master lives… Did something serious happen?”

My heart tightened, and I began jogging.

When I arrived, I discovered the village chief leading a large group in clearing weeds and cleaning Master’s ruined yard. Others were carrying furniture inside.

I was even more confused.

“Grandpa Village Chief, what are you doing? If you change everything like this, my Master–the Immortal Lady, as you call her–will be angry.”

“Ha-ha-ha!”

The village chief laughed. “Little Wu, the Immortal Lady said she accepted you as her disciple. Congratulations! Don’t worry about the ruined house. She came to me herself and asked everyone to help clean it. Otherwise, how would I dare touch anything?”

So that was it!

I asked where Master had gone.

He pointed beyond the village. “The Immortal Lady went to the river.”

Uh…

I looked at the heavy containers of food in my hands. Carrying them to the river would be inconvenient, so I went to Second Uncle’s nearby house to wait.

Since Master had asked the village chief to clean her home, she would probably start eating normally in the main room, wouldn’t she?

Second Uncle was delighted to hear I had become the Immortal Lady’s disciple. He cooked his best piece of bacon, sliced it, and packed it with the rest of the meal for me to take later.

After sunset, when darkness was approaching, groups of adults passed Second Uncle’s house, chatting and laughing. When I asked, they said the Immortal Lady’s house was finally clean.

I gathered the food warming on the stove and ran toward Master’s house again.

Many hands made light work. After dozens of people labored for half a day, the place no longer resembled a house abandoned for years.

A new fence stood outside, while flowers and plants filled the yard. Having just been transplanted, they looked slightly wilted.

New doors and windows had been installed too. The house finally looked respectable.

“Master? Master, are you home?”

I called from the gate.

An answer soon came from inside.

“Come in.”

I pushed through the gate, crossed the newly paved yard, and entered the main room through a half-open door.

By the light of an incandescent bulb, I saw a young woman seated on a bench beside the dining table.

She looked eighteen or nineteen. Lustrous black hair fell to her shoulders. She wore a loose cotton dress in black and red embroidered with flowers, and a string of crystalline blue beads encircled one wrist.

She was beautiful!

I stared, transfixed.

Looking around curiously, I asked, “Pretty Sister, who are you? Why are you in my Master’s house? Where is Master? I just heard her voice.”