Chapter 2: Observing the Nameless Sect – The entire sect is full of charlatans, all swindlers…
Lin Jianyu was born in a production brigade in a rural area of Shandong Province. Her mother was an educated youth sent to the countryside and became pregnant out of wedlock. According to her mother before she died, her father was also an educated youth.
In 1973, her father's family was exonerated, and with the help of his family, he abandoned her mother and returned to the city alone.
When she left, her mother was unaware that she was pregnant.
By the time her mother found out she was pregnant, her father was nowhere to be found, enjoying himself. He wouldn't reply to her letters or reach her by phone. It wasn't realistic to travel a long distance to find him. To make matters worse, at that time, there was a crackdown on promiscuity, and lifestyle issues were strictly regulated. Getting pregnant out of wedlock was like walking on the edge of death; a slight misstep could lead to utter ruin.
In order to avoid falling into an abyss, her mother decisively found a "babysitter" for her unborn child.
The man who took her in was her later husband.
The other party was the youngest son of the brigade leader of the village where she was sent to work. From the day she arrived in their brigade, he had been very fond of her.
She found an excuse to meet him alone and meticulously planned a drunken sexual encounter, not only portraying herself as the victim but also making him mistakenly believe that the child in her womb was his.
The man truly loved her. After marriage, he gave her whatever she wanted. Even when she refused to share a bed with him, he had no complaints. After learning that she was pregnant, he spoiled her rotten.
Under that man's doting love, her mother spent some of the most enjoyable months of her life.
With her due date approaching, she planned a "premature birth" for herself.
At first, everything went smoothly. The man and his family had no doubt that she was going into premature labor. But unfortunately, she had a bad pregnancy and had a difficult delivery.
The man was worried about her and the baby's safety, so he took her to the town hospital immediately.
After arriving at the hospital, the baby was born smoothly, but prematurely, a full-term baby. Those who know, know.
Because of the urgency of the situation, when her mother was taken to the hospital, many people from the team went to help. As the saying goes, good news doesn't travel far, but bad news travels fast. In less than a day, the matter had become the talk of the village.
The man and his family lost all face, especially the man himself.
People in the brigade used to say he was hardworking, capable, and a loving husband. But after this incident, people in the brigade now call him a bastard.
His family advised him to divorce his mother and find someone else, but even though he was deceived, he still loved his mother and was unwilling to divorce her. It was impossible for him to continue to pamper his mother as before, so he began to drink heavily every day and had relations with her despite her wishes.
Her mother's life in their family went from heaven to hell. The good feelings she had developed for that man over the past few months vanished after he forced himself on her for the first time. But she didn't have the confidence to divorce him.
In 1977, the college entrance examination was reinstated, and her mother saw hope of returning to the city and wanted to take the exam. The man knew that if she passed the exam, she would never come back, so he used his father's position to prevent her from taking the exam.
The long-awaited hope of returning to the city was shattered, and her mother couldn't bear the blow, falling seriously ill.
That illness never got better.
On her deathbed, her mother told her a lot, including some things about her father. She told her to go to the capital to find her father, but she didn't tell her his address in the capital, or even his name.
She didn't remind her either, because she didn't want to find her father at all, nor did she want to know his name; she simply pretended that he didn't exist.
When her mother passed away, she showed neither grief nor joy. Perhaps she was still young and did not understand what life and death separation meant, or perhaps she was cold-hearted by nature.
Her feelings toward her mother were actually quite complex.
Her mother probably had mixed feelings of love and hate towards her.
When he loved her, he treated her very well, which was the main reason she wasn't abandoned or even drowned after birth. When he hated her, he wished he could kill her with his own hands. She would never forget the hideous and twisted face of him choking her and trying to kill her. That was the first time she experienced the pain of suffocation, and the closest she ever came to death.
In 1978, with the reform and opening up, several lazy men from their brigade hitched a ride on a train to South Vietnam to make a living. After making a fortune, they returned home in glory.
Many people in the brigade were envious when they saw this and wanted to learn from them and hitch a ride on a train to South Vietnam. She was one of them; she was only seven years old that year.
At seven years old, she had no concept of making big money. She just wanted to have enough to eat. When she heard that gold was everywhere in southern Vietnam and that anyone could make a lot of money as long as they were willing to work hard, she became interested in it.
After her mother left, the man's family became even less tolerant of her. She was often hungry and cold, which was bad enough, but she had been like that since birth and was used to it. They had no obligation to support her. What she couldn't tolerate was that his family would beat her at the drop of a hat. Adults beat her, children beat her, and even the man would beat her when he was drunk, saying that she was the one who ruined his and her mother's originally happy life.
She was completely innocent, and there was no reasoning with a drunkard; she could only stay as far away as possible.
But you can run away from one thing for a while, but not the other. She could avoid him, but not his family. She had a feeling that if she continued to stay in that house, her fate would be terrible.
To survive and to have enough to eat and wear, at the tender age of seven, she stole a few sweet potatoes from the man's house and, all alone, resolutely embarked on the journey to southern Vietnam.
Not to mention the hardships along the way, after arriving in Nanyue, she realized that Nanyue, which the brigade had described as a land of gold, was not much better than the countryside for a seven-year-old child like her.
After eating all the sweet potatoes she stole from home, she had no choice but to beg and even resort to petty theft to survive.
Two years passed in the blink of an eye, and it was 1982.
At nine years old, she is smaller than a typical six-year-old child. She is thin and small, and dirty, like a rat that crawled out of a ditch.
When Lin Jinshui learned that she was nine years old, he didn't believe it. He thought she was at most six. He asked her what year she was born, and she told him that she was born in 1974. He calculated that she was indeed nine years old in 1974, according to the traditional Chinese age reckoning.
Compared to her hardships, Lin Jinshui, who was seven years older than her, was much luckier.
He was taken in by his master when he was still an infant and lived in the Taoist temple for more than ten years. Although he was far from the secular world and his life was a bit boring, his fellow disciples loved him very much and never let him suffer.
This was the first time he had ever come down the mountain in his life. He traveled all the way from Nanzhao to Nanyue, and everything he saw seemed strange. Even a little beggar lying on the verge of death in a corner made him want to pick him up. But when he arrived, the little beggar was not completely dead yet, and whether or not to save him became a problem.
In the end, he still managed to save her, using a forbidden technique.
After recounting their respective backgrounds, Lin Jinshui then spoke of their respective sects.
Their sect is called Wuyai Temple, located in a remote corner of Cangshan Mountain in Nanzhao. Due to its remote location and the impact of national policies in earlier years, its incense offerings have long since died out, and the sect members have to travel around to make a living.
Currently, only five people remain in the temple: his senior brother and his senior brother's four disciples.
Besides the master and disciple, there were also his second and third senior brothers, as well as their respective four disciples.
The entire sect is full of charlatans who make a living by swindling and cheating.
This is Lin Jianyu's own understanding.
Lin Jinshui's original words were: "Everyone in my sect is proficient in Yin-Yang numerology and makes a living by exorcising ghosts, capturing demons, and consulting feng shui."
As a staunch materialist, Lin Jianyu did not believe in any ghosts or spirits, and naturally did not believe in yin-yang numerology, exorcism, or feng shui. He regarded them as a group of swindlers.
In the past two years, she has gone astray in order to survive, and has done a lot of petty theft. She doesn't care about being with a group of swindlers. As long as she has food to eat, she would be happy to be a swindler or even a fool.
Back in the rural areas of Shandong, she envied a simpleton in her brigade. Although he was simple-minded, his family doted on him. He didn't have to do any work and was well-fed and clothed. Compared to her, who worked herself to the bone every day and still couldn't get enough to eat or wear, he was a true winner in life.
After finishing his small talk, Lin Jinshui took out a small box from his bag. A bright yellow talisman was pasted on the box, and inside were his favorite dried fish.
When Lin Jianyu saw him take out a small box with a talisman on it, she thought he was going to show her some treasure. But it turned out to be filled with golden and crispy fried dried fish. A big question mark appeared on her little head.
"You said you were full." Lin Jinshui frowned when he saw her staring at the dried fish in his box, his tone carrying a hint of barely perceptible grievance.
Lin Jianyu was already confused by his act of sticking talismans on the box of dried fish. After hearing his inexplicable words, her expression became even more bewildered. However, this did not stop her from staring at the dried fish in the box. It wasn't that she was hungry, but rather that she was craving them.
Even those who don't have a bit of oil in their stomach will find their mouths watering when they suddenly see a box of golden, crispy fried dried fish.
Seeing that her gaze was fixed on the dried fish in the box, and he couldn't pry it off, Lin Jinshui reluctantly picked out two of the smallest dried fish he thought were from the box and handed them to her.
After she took it, he didn't say anything. He turned his back and covered the box of dried fish with his body before picking up the dried fish and counting them as he ate them.
Lin Jianyu didn't realize until he turned his back that he had two small dried fish in his hand.
Looking at the golden and crispy fried dried fish, she ignored Lin Jinshui's bewildering behavior, carefully picked one up and put it in her mouth. She chewed it slowly, and found it salty, fragrant and crispy, more delicious than any food she had ever eaten in her life. Even the instant noodles that had recently given her a hearty meal paled in comparison. This was probably the unique charm of fried food.
After finishing one, she quickly put the other one into her mouth and chewed it.
Although she felt a little reluctant and wanted to stay and savor the food slowly, her years of experience with food theft told her that food is only truly safe once it's in your stomach.
In fact, if it weren't for the two packs of instant noodles that Lin Jinshui gave her enough sense of security, she would have quickly stuffed them into her mouth the moment Lin Jinshui placed the dried fish in her palm.
After finishing the dried fish, she looked at Lin Jinshui again and suddenly understood why he had turned his back to eat.
A note from the author:
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My upcoming novel, "Lying Down in a Historical Fiction [Quick Transmigration]," is available for pre-order in this column. Please add it to your favorites.
Gu Bai made a wish: to become a powerful woman in a historical novel.
Then she put it on.
Transmigrating into the body of an educated youth in the 1960s, she was ready to make a name for herself, but as soon as she arrived in the countryside, she was targeted by a rough-looking man in the village.
She transmigrated into the body of a top student in the 1970s and prepared to develop in all aspects of morality, intelligence, physical fitness, aesthetics and labor, but she was crushed by her deskmate in every way.
She transmigrates into the body of a widow from the 1980s, ready to roll up her sleeves and make a fortune, only to find her husband, who drowned at sea, returning with a huge sum of money.
She grew up to be a little dumpling in the 1990s, ready to take her short legs and win at the starting line, but as soon as she came of age, her childhood sweetheart took her home.
...
Becoming a strong woman is too difficult; she should just lie down and let herself be ridiculed!
Lu Qingxing: "Are you sure you want to lie down and let me do whatever I want?"
Gu Bai: "Confirmed."
Lu Qingxing: "Then I won't stand on ceremony." He then began to undress.
Gu Bai: "???"
Before Transmigrating into the Book
Gu Bai: "Goodbye, Lu Qingxing. Dad is setting sail tonight."
Lu Qingxing: "Gu Bai..." I'll go too.
Gu Bai: "Goodbye!"
After Transmigrating into the Book
Gu Bai: "What happened to the goodbye? Why are you in the book too!"
Lu Qingxing: "I'm talking about Gu Bai, gù bái, Gu Bai."
Gu Bai: "..."
My upcoming novel, "Enjoying Life in a Historical Fiction [Quick Transmigration]," is available for pre-order in this column. Please add it to your favorites.
Shim Ji-eun made a wish: to experience the allure of uniforms from period dramas.
Then she put it on.
In the 1960s, the People's Liberation Army said, "You protect the country, and I will protect you."
Doctors in the 1970s, you save lives and heal the wounded, and I'll wash my hands and cook for you.
Police officers in the 1980s: You serve the people, and I serve you.
Pilots of the 1990s, you soared in the blue sky, while I stood guard beneath it.
Lu Yan: "You don't like me at all. You're only after the uniform I'm wearing."
Shim Ji-eun: "Nonsense, I clearly like you just the way you look, even when you're not wearing my clothes."
Lu Yan: "..."
Let me clarify:
Nanyue, also known as Nanyue, is an ancient place name, encompassing the area of present-day Guangdong and Guangxi.
Guangdong is also known as Nanyue (南粤). I used Nanyue to unify the name with Minyue (闽越), and it has nothing to do with Vietnam. Please don't try to provoke me. Thank you everyone.
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