Chapter 24: White Monk
That night, the three men burned for half an hour. Some of Great-Grandfather's bones had broken, others had softened, but the body remained intact. The guide and the servant removed Great-Grandfather from the charcoal, then moved on to Great-Grandfather. The fire burned the black earth, igniting branches in the distance, sending sparks flying through the sky. Meng Xiao said, "Great-Grandfather Meng Yinyang has a strong fire, my father said so." The wood exploded in the flames, splashing onto the men's faces and bodies, carrying the ancestor's fury. "He has a bad temper," Meng Xiao said. His eyes reddened as he spoke, and he was about to burst into tears. The servant hurriedly pulled him away from the fire. Meng Xiao cried as he chopped and gathered dry branches, and in the second half, he fell asleep with his head resting on the servant's legs. At dawn, the guide, his eyes red, told him that the body was complete and the seven ancestors' bones had been packed. Meng Xiao lifted Great-Grandfather's bag, weighed it, and declared, "It's light." He then carried four of the bones and gave the servant three more. The two of them walked with the guide for half a day and finally found a path out of the forest.
At the end of September, Meng Xiao returned to Baisha Town and invited monks from Dasheng Temple to preside over the relocation ceremony. The three ancestors and their wives were buried in the tomb, along with his parents. Four white jade stele tablets were erected in front of the tomb. The bones in the tomb were burned with banyan charcoal until they turned to ashes and placed in four-cornered camphorwood boxes with gold-plated corners. Two boxes contained a coffin for each of the three ancestors and their wives. The coffins were also made of high-quality pine wood, lacquered inside and out with the four characters for "Dian," "Xiao," "Fu," and "Shou." As the coffins were lowered into the ground, Taoist priests from Jinyun Mountain burned talismans and chanted sutras, while the mourning procession of thirty people wailed, their voices piercing the clouds and cracking the rocks. The funeral was so solemn that it attracted the Baisha natives, who praised Meng Lang as a truly filial son. However, Meng Xiao and his servant maintained a stern expression, as if they were burying not their own ancestors but enemies. The natives, unaware of their fear, praised their steadiness. Only the two of them knew that none of the ancestors being buried had complete bones. On the way back, they accidentally broke a bundle, and when they were packing it again, they found three fibulas and sixteen ribs in it. When they opened the other bundles, they realized that all the bones of the ancestors had been mixed together by the guide. In order to make it easier to carry, the two simply put all the bones of the ancestors into one package. After bringing them back to Baisha, they divided them into seven parts, and stipulated which bones belonged to which ancestor before they went to find a monk to burn them. Meng Xiao kept saying "unfilial sons and unfilial grandsons" all the way, and he wanted to kneel down and kowtow to the bones every mile he walked, occasionally cursing the porter and the guide for not having a burial place. The book boy didn't say a word. When they returned to Baisha, Meng Xiao looked at the book boy with dark circles under his eyes and asked him why he didn't speak. The book boy said, "Your great-grandfather told me in a dream last night that the one with the black jaw was his head."
From then until the first month of the Gengyin year, Meng Xiao renovated the tombs of his great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather twice. According to the people of Baisha, one incident was due to water seeping into the tomb. The great-grandfather appeared in a dream to his servant, saying the water had accumulated to a depth of one foot. Another incident was when his brothers in Chengdu, after hearing a dream from his great-grandfather, heard that Meng Yin requested to be buried with his concubine, Chu. So, they sent Chu's remains to him. Meng Xiao dispatched a worker named Zhu to open the tomb and place Chu in Meng Yin's tomb. In the first month of the Gengyin year, Meng Xiao left Baisha. The locals, behind closed doors, further claimed that the person buried in Meng Yin's tomb was not his concubine, Chu, but a Taoist priest. The story behind this lies in Meng Xiao's arrival in Baisha Town.
Meng Xiao is a fugitive who committed economic crimes and is still wanted in Yizhou Road. However, no yamen officials came to arrest him. In order to move the grave, he went back to Chengdu once, but was not caught by yamen officials on the way. There must be something strange about this matter. The locals have different opinions about the strangeness. The people of Baisha said that Meng Xiao was closely related to the yamen at all levels in Yizhou Road. The officials at all levels of Yizhou Road were afraid that he would confess his bribes to them after being arrested, so they pretended that the criminal had escaped and deliberately did not catch him if they could. The people of Chengdu said that the people of Baisha were shallow-minded. Although the yamen at all levels in Yizhou Road had conflicts of interest, not all of them were corrupt and broke the law. Whether to arrest this robber or not must be based on the law. How can it be decided by a few local officials? However, the silver debt owed by Meng's money shop has not been paid off. The key to not arresting him is that the silver debt is like something that has been thrown out and has not been settled. If this tyrant merchant were arrested and executed on a later date, it would be like burying the silver debt in the mud and letting it dissolve in the water. The creditors of Meng's bank would surely be dissatisfied. If Meng Xiao was not brought to justice, the silver debt would remain in the air and would not be settled for a while, and the creditors would not be able to vent their grievances to the government.
Meng Quan said that people in Chengdu like to talk about official laws and conspiracies. It is obvious that the Taoist in black is dead, and Mr. Wu’s last will has not been found. Who knows what the will is? If Meng Xiao is allowed to continue to enter and leave Chengdu, who can guarantee that he will not be reported to the emperor? The Wu family wants to get rid of Meng Xiao, but they can’t let the people in Chengdu know. First, the silver debt of Meng’s money bank is as high as more than 5 million strings. Second, "all the disputes and disturbances in Shu must be avoided" - who among the prefects of Chengdu doesn’t know this? That’s why there was such a punishment: first punish him for a serious crime, and then let the Wu family take action to get rid of his head, but they can’t do it in the open. You ask if the Wu family took action? They did, but they didn’t succeed.
According to Xiao He, a resident of Tang Village, since Meng Xiao came to Baisha Town, three groups of outsiders have visited the thatched hut outside Dasheng Temple. The first two groups were open, and the last group was secret. The first group wore official uniforms and claimed to be from the Wuxin Army Jiedu Yamen, asking Meng Xiao to go with them. Meng Xiao went, and came back the next day, saying that the three people changed their minds on the way and didn't want him to go. The second group came early in the morning and left late at night. The third group was thieves, who were caught by Meng Xiao and sent to the Jiangjin Yamen. Bai Wenfeng, a lay Buddhist in a turban at Dasheng Temple, said that it was not that simple. The first group came with three Yamen officials, the second group was two Wuzu, and the third group was a Taoist priest. In fact, only the first group left Baisha Town. If you want to know what happened, you have to ask my junior brother, Monk Bai. He tells you that it can be said. If it is not said, it is unspeakable.
Meng Quan didn't find the White Monk. He said that meeting the White Monk was harder than meeting the emperor. However, brothers naturally have a tacit understanding. Meng Quan dug up the grave of the Meng family's ancestors and found no trace of water, nor the remains of his concubine, Chu, but the bones of eleven people.
Meng Xiao is more than just a powerful merchant. Meng Quan said that Meng Xiao is not that filial. The so-called relocation of the grave is to go back and test the attitude of Chengdu Prefecture. After the test, he knew that Chengdu Prefecture had no attitude, and he also understood what the attitude of the Wu family was. Perhaps it is safer to walk on the way than to end up in the town. He killed the people sent by the Wu family to silence him, and even Xiao He and the book boy who served him didn't know. The only person who smelled the smell of blood on him should be Zhu Tugong's wife Gu. According to Gu, late one night, a big man in red came to find her man. When Zhu Tugong and the big man left the courtyard, they were carrying three swords passed down from the Zhu family. Zhu Tugong never came back, and a few days later he asked his apprentice to bring back two hundred coins. The big man in red described by Gu was very similar to Meng Xiao in appearance and accent.
At this point, Meng Quan laughed. He said, "He pretends to be a god, then kills the enemy when it gets dark. Who knows what the half-human, half-god White Monk taught him over those ten years?"
The people of Baisha all claimed that they were not familiar with Meng Xiao. When the people of Baisha talked about Meng Xiao, they only mentioned two or three things about his mother Qiao Fengzi. After learning that Meng Xiao was wanted from Yizhou Road, the people of Baisha simply didn't recognize Qiao Fengzi anymore. The county government office was closed for business, and the officials walked past the Dasheng Temple with their heads tucked into their elbows. In the first month of the Gengyin Tiger Year, Monk Bai returned from his tour of the four counties. He got off the boat at the Shuiyi and walked into the town road in front of the Wenzhong Temple. Seeing those who covered their faces with their hands and the officials who tucked their heads into their elbows, he also covered his face with his bamboo hat. A local sage named Jia stepped forward to stop him and asked him if he had contracted smallpox from drinking poisonous water in the remote area of Xiazhou. Monk Bai said: "I met a master by chance in Xiushan County. Fortunately, he gave me a pair of Dharma eyes. Now I can see through your past and future lives and see that you are not human."
Jia Xiangxian asked, "What do you think I am?"
The White Monk lifted his bamboo hat, suddenly widened his eyes, and shouted, "Pig!" Passersby were startled by the shout and looked over, only to see Jia Xiangxian shudder and fall to the ground, twitching uncontrollably. From then on, the story of "Jia Xiangxian turning into a pig" confirmed the rumors that the White Monk was a demon monk.
People in Baisha say that the White Monk would not come back for no reason. It has been ten years since Meng Xiao left Baisha Town. During these ten years, no one has seen the White Monk. He must have come back this time to see his apprentice Meng Xiao. Perhaps Meng Xiao returned here from Chengdu Prefecture to seek refuge with his master. The lay Buddhist Bai Wenfeng confirmed this statement. Bai Wenfeng said that Daonah left Baisha Town to go to Chengdu to recognize his relatives because of his master, the White Monk. Daonah left the secular world because of the death of a cat. The cat was originally raised by the village book Lao Hu. It ran to the temple when it was in heat. Lao Hu went to ask for it back, but was chased back by the monks. The monks said to the village book Lao Hu, your cat has a connection with Daonah. Daonah can understand cat language. You should fulfill your cat's wish and never come again. Lao Hu did not dare to offend the monk and never asked for it again. The cat accompanied Daona every day, but it no longer showed signs of horny. It was said that the white monk had its eggs removed and that it had become a monk cat. The same year Daona left Baisha, the cat died outside the temple. Daona left only after the cat died. As long as the cat was alive, Daona would not leave. After the cat died, Daona buried his beloved cat with his own hands, and then asked his master, "When will I die?" The white monk said, "It's still early. You should go see the world. In Chengdu, you will be wrapped in silk, brocade, and other expensive things, and you will eat birds, mice, and beasts. You will be able to perform magic tricks such as lies and deception. Within ten years, you will be defeated. When you feel that you are about to die, return here, and I will show you the right path."
Daona asked, "Which road?"
The White Monk said, "When all directions are burning hot, the path will appear."
Now Meng Xiao is back, more than half a year earlier than the "ten years" mentioned by Monk Bai. However, judging from the fact that Monk Bai returned to Baisha in the first month of the Gengyin Year of the Tiger, Meng Xiao's return date is still within his master's expectations. After learning that his master had returned, Meng Xiao went to the monk's house in Jinli and turned back into the old Dao Na. Dao Na asked his master, where should I go? The master said: "The blisters, cracks and clenched teeth are within reach, do you see? Because you have offended the Wu family, Bashu is no longer your place. I will give you an idea to save your life. Go west and go to Tongshi Mansion to find Gao Yanben. When you go to his mansion, say that you are my apprentice. He will recommend you to Doctor Zhao. Now Doctor Zhao is the only one who can save you from a serious crime."
Daona asked, "Who is Doctor Zhao?"
Monk Bai said, "I met him once many years ago. Back then, he was a member of the Illuminati. I went to Fahui Temple in Lin'an City to visit the ascetic monk Pan Fahui, and I met him there. He asked if I would like to become a resident of Xiatianzhu Temple and be supported by officials and wealthy businessmen. I said that I was mediocre in talent, and that none of my masters belonged to any sect. If I ever accepted a disciple, I would definitely ask him for his guidance. He readily agreed, and I think he must remember his promise today. But if you don't go to Prince Gao and go directly to him, I'm afraid something is missing."
Monk Bai continued, "As far as I know, Prince Gao has an enemy. This time, you must go find him and ask for seven thousand strings of cash, which you will then give to Doctor Zhao as ransom. You must avenge Prince Gao and remove the hatred from his heart. If you avenge him, you won't have to pay back the money. Otherwise, I'm afraid you'll become his next enemy, and even I, your teacher, won't be able to protect you."
Meng Xiao asked, "How do I get there?"
The white monk pointed out the window and said, "The plank road is a thousand miles long and leads to everything."
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