Chapter 9 I am not worthy to be compared to him.
Half an hour later, Lin Jinshui, now dressed in a Taoist robe, continued drawing talismans.
With red-rimmed eyes, Lin Jianyu sat obediently beside him, practicing the two people's names.
She was not only talented in drawing talismans, but also in writing. However, as a beginner, she couldn't grasp the key points of exerting force, and her writing was always unsatisfactory. But as she wrote more, she gradually mastered some skills, and her writing became more and more like the writing Lin Jinshui showed her.
After an afternoon, she learned to draw talismans and to write her and Lin Jinshui's names.
In comparison, Lin Jinshui's progress was very slow. In one afternoon, he drew about ten talismans, which was less than what she drew on rice paper.
"Master, you are really slow at drawing talismans."
"Drawing talismans requires patience and meticulous work; haste makes waste," Lin Jinshui said.
"Are the others in our sect also this slow at drawing talismans?" Lin Jianyu saw that his talisman paper was selling well these past two days and thought that their sect could get rich with this technique. But if the others were as slow at drawing talismans as he was, then let alone getting rich, they would have trouble even making ends meet.
After all, talismans aren't hard currency, and they can't always have the same kind of coincidence as yesterday. Most of the time, they're still being treated as charlatans and scammed out of money.
"No, not at all," Lin Jinshui replied.
"You're not the only one drawing this slowly, are you?" Lin Jianyu looked at him with an ambiguous expression.
Lin Jinshui hesitated between lying and telling the truth, and ultimately chose to remain silent.
Well, lying is wrong, but telling the truth is a bit unbecoming of a teacher.
Lin Jianyu could tell from his appearance that he was an exception in their sect.
"Who is the fastest at drawing talismans?" she asked.
"Your second senior uncle."
"How fast."
"I can't see clearly."
Lin Jianyu: "..."
There's no harm in comparison.
Lin Jinshui himself was not harmed. He has always been one to let others be strong, and besides, he is not weak either. He is just slightly inferior in the art of talismanic arts. Well, more than slightly.
"As a sword cultivator, I mainly rely on swordsmanship in combat and rarely use talismans. It's normal that I'm not proficient in talisman techniques."
"Does my second senior uncle practice the art of talismans?" Lin Jianyu asked.
"No, he's an exception. He's proficient in everything. Don't compare me to him; I'm not worthy." His second senior brother is undoubtedly the number one in their sect, second only to their master. He's proficient in all kinds of Yin-Yang numerology and has a deep understanding of swordsmanship. Anyway, he can't beat him.
"Then who is Master worthy of being compared to?"
Lin Jinshui thought of his two other senior brothers, one of whom had eaten more salt than he had eaten rice, and the other of whom had crossed more bridges than he had walked roads. He felt that he was just a key maker.
"As a teacher, I don't compare myself with others; I only compare myself with myself yesterday."
"You didn't draw any faster than yesterday!" Lin Jianyu complained.
Lin Jinshui: "..."
Lin Jinshui suddenly disliked the child.
Are there any other words you'd like to learn?
Lin Jianyu didn't want to learn any specific characters, but he did want to learn... well, he wasn't sure if it was poetry or literature: "I want to learn 'The Peach Blossom Spring'." He had mentioned that both of their names came from "The Peach Blossom Spring," and now that they had learned their names, they could learn "The Peach Blossom Spring."
As an unreliable master, Lin Jinshui taught her whatever she wanted to learn, regardless of whether it was difficult or not for a beginner like her.
He first told her the translation of "The Peach Blossom Spring" as a story to give her a concept of it, and then wrote the four characters "The Peach Blossom Spring" on rice paper for her to learn.
Lin Jianyu didn't rush to write because she was slurping up instant noodles.
In order to draw more talismans, they didn't go out to eat tonight, but just ate a few bites at the guesthouse. She ate instant noodles, and Lin Jinshui ate dried shrimp.
Dried shrimp is a specialty of the port city. Each small piece is tempting in color. When you put it in your mouth and chew it slowly, you can taste its salty, savory and sweet flavor, making you feel as if you are on the vast ocean. It is full of seafood flavor and you can't stop eating it.
Lin Jinshui liked it after trying it, so he bought a big bag of it to use as their winter food reserves. He and Lin Jianyu would eat a couple of them together whenever they had a spare moment.
Lin Jianyu has been taken care of by Lin Jinshui for a while now, and she is no longer the little beggar who would quickly stuff any food she got into her mouth. Now she eats much slower and can chat with Lin Jinshui while she eats.
"Why did Grandmaster use 'The Peach Blossom Spring' to name Master?"
"There are two reasons. One is that I have already told you. When he found me, he cast a divination for me. The divination meant that I was born in the forest and died in the water. The other is that he found me deep in the peach grove after he accidentally wandered into it," Lin Jinshui explained.
When Lin Jianyu heard him mention the fortune telling his master had done for him for the second time, he still felt uncomfortable, fearing that his master was also a jinx like him.
"Are all the people in the sect adopted?"
"Yes." Lin Jinshui nodded. "Except for you, they were all picked up by my master."
Lin Jianyu counted the total number of people in their sect. Great. She didn't know if her grandmaster had any other skills, but her ability to find people was exceptionally strong.
"Will he pick up more later?" Her three senior uncles all had four disciples, and she was afraid that he would take on more disciples, and that the money she had worked so hard to save would benefit others.
"Won't."
How do you know you won't?
He has passed away.
"仙逝" means to pass away; thank goodness.
"You're so happy that my master has passed away?" Lin Jinshui looked at her wildly upturned lips with a cold expression.
"That's not true," Lin Jianyu denied.
"Could you please stop smiling when you say that?"
Lin Jianyu manually pulled down the corners of her mouth that were turned up.
"I'm really not happy."
"Then what are you laughing at?" Lin Jinshui asked.
"A smile... makes you look ten years younger." Lin Jianyu made up a story.
"When others smile, they look ten years younger; when you smile, you look like you've been reborn." What a little brat.
"Then I won't laugh anymore, I'll cry, okay?" she said, pouting her little lips as if she was about to burst into tears.
Lin Jinshui was so frightened that he quickly spoke up to stop him.
"Don't cry." His Taoist robe, which he had just washed not long ago, wasn't even dry yet!
Lin Jianyu was just putting on an act and didn't really mean to cry. When he told her not to cry, she stopped acting and asked the question she cared about most: "Will Master take on more disciples in the future?"
"No," Lin Jinshui answered without hesitation.
"Why not? Don't my senior uncles all have four disciples?" She thought it was a tradition in their sect that everyone should have four disciples, after all, her grandmaster and her three senior uncles all had four disciples.
"Don't ask, the only answer is that you eat too much, and your master can't afford to feed you." Yes, he absolutely refuses to admit that he is less capable than his three senior brothers.
Lin Jianyu glanced at the instant noodles in the bowl, the dried shrimp in his hand, and the dozen or so talismans he had painstakingly drawn all afternoon. He thought that it wasn't entirely a bad thing that she ate a lot and her master earned little.
"I'm still a child."
"Will you stop eating so much when you grow up?" Lin Jinshui asked.
"No." Lin Jianyu shook her head. "They'll eat even more when they grow up." So, forget about developing a second, third, or fourth relationship; she's prepared to rely on him for the rest of her life.
Lin Jinshui: "..."
Lin Jinshui said "Fuck".
After eating and drinking their fill, Lin Jianyu continued learning to write, while Lin Jinshui continued drawing talismans.
Lin Jianyu got a little sleepy after studying until after nine o'clock, so he went to bed first. Lin Jinshui continued drawing talismans until dawn the next day, when Lin Jianyu got up and he stopped.
The master and apprentice ate a simple meal at the guesthouse, then took the talismans to the market where they had previously sold them and continued to sell them.
Lin Jianyu originally thought that as time went by, their talisman business would become increasingly bleak, and there was even a risk that people would come to their door to return the talismans. Unexpectedly, after another day, their talisman business not only did not become increasingly bleak, but became even more prosperous.
The business was so booming that even before they arrived, people were already waiting at the place where they had sold talismans two days prior.
There are two reasons for this phenomenon.
One is Lin Jinshui, who is known for his jinxing. He reads people's faces, and while it's hard to say whether he's accurate in predicting good or bad fortune, he's incredibly accurate in predicting bad fortune. Many people have been fooled by him, and then these people spread the word, and business comes to them.
Another one is that he only sells talismans, and he offers face readings for free.
The word "free" has a fatal attraction for many people, especially the elderly. The same is true for the people of this place, especially the elderly, due to the combination of feudal superstition. Even if they don't have to travel a long way, many people still come because of its reputation. Some people who live nearby or are just coming here also join the queue with the spirit of "since we're here" and "why not take advantage of it".
In short, the dozens of talismans that Lin Jinshui painstakingly drew for most of the day were all sold out in less than a morning, with most of the time spent reading people's faces.
After selling the talismans, the master and apprentice ate something nearby before returning to the guesthouse to pack their luggage.
Because they had stocked up on food for the winter, the couple's luggage increased exponentially. Lin Jinshui's trunk was no longer enough to hold everything, so he had to buy a basket to carry it all.
The basket was for Lin Jianyu to carry. She was not strong, so it was filled with light items. The heavy items were put in the trunk that Lin Jinshui carried. When necessary, he would also carry Lin Jianyu and the basket she was carrying together.
Lin Jinshui was mainly responsible for packing the luggage, with Lin Jianyu assisting him.
Before she could strike, she took out their savings and started calculating them one by one.
I calculated it three times and got three different numbers.
Unconvinced by the superstition, she started calculating a fourth time.
After Lin Jinshui finished packing his luggage, he saw her still counting money and tickets and casually said, "If you like money and tickets so much, then you can keep them."
"Aren't you afraid I'll run off with the money and tickets?" She's done plenty of petty theft before. As the saying goes, a leopard can't change its spots... Pshaw, as the saying goes, it's easier to change mountains and rivers than to change one's roots... Roots... Never mind, it doesn't matter. Anyway, it's not that easy to change.
"Are you that stupid?" Lin Jinshui asked instead of answering.
"No." Anyone with a brain wouldn't do something so foolish as to pick up a sesame seed and lose a watermelon, especially since this sesame seed is practically hers in a sense.
"That settles it then." She's not stupid; what's there to be afraid of about him? Even if she were stupid, she'd be the one who suffers.
Lin Jianyu thought about it and agreed, so he didn't continue the topic.
"Master, when will you teach me arithmetic?" She calculated four times, and the answers she got were completely different.
“Once we’re in the mountains, you can learn whenever you want.” Lin Jinshui slung his trunk over his shoulder, indicating that she could leave.
"Okay." Lin Jianyu carefully put the money and tickets into the basket on her back, then slung the basket over her shoulder and left the guesthouse with him.
Before leaving the town, the two bought a large bag of dried shrimp, and then ate them as they walked into the mountains.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com