Thirteenth: New Rain and Old Rain
Qingming Festival is here.
The air had been damp since last night, and when Mingjin woke up this morning, the sky was still overcast at sunrise, with raindrops still falling. After getting up, changing his clothes and washing up, Mingjin went to the south wing.
Five memorial tablets were placed on the table near the entrance of the side room, arranged in two rows. The first row, from right to left, was inscribed with the names of Lu Yingding, Ming Dong, and Ming Liang. The second row was inscribed with the names of Shao Zhezhiwei and Ming Shiyuxiuyu. Ming Jin quietly lit three incense sticks, silently bowed to the tablets, placed the incense in the incense burner, and, carrying the offerings prepared the night before, went out to meet Yan Junyou and Pang Ming.
Qingming Festival, Double Ninth Festival, and the anniversary of their deaths are the days for ancestor worship at Kongyun Mountain. Ming Jin's father, Ming Shiyu, was a beggar boy picked up by the Ming brothers while they were hunting ghosts. Therefore, he took their surnames. However, neither of them married or had children, leaving no descendants. They also had no disciples. Although Ming Shiyu had intended to become a disciple of his younger brother, Ming Liang, both brothers died before Ming Shiyu could formally become his disciple. Ming Jin never met his two elders, but Ming Shiyu always kept their memorial tablets at home. So, after his father's death, Ming Jin continued the old practice of defeating the two. Shao Zhe and Ming Shiyu also had no disciples. Apart from Shao Jieyuan offering a few sacrifices at the Juxia Gathering, only Ming Jin and Yan Junyou frequently visited their graves at Kongyun Mountain.
Of Lu Ying's nearly ten disciples, only Yan Junyou is still hunting ghosts. More than half of the others died before Lu Ying, and the rest have left this world and are no longer involved. Although Yan Junyou is not very close to Shao Zhe, he was still well taken care of by Shao Zhe when he first joined the sect. In addition, after Shao Zhe and Ming Shiyu got married, his and his senior sister's houses were only two alleys apart, very close, so they still had some close interactions on a daily basis.
Mingjin went to Yan Junyou's house first. When she returned yesterday, Yan Junyou's wife, Yu Hong, came to find Mingjin and asked her to come to their house for breakfast early the next morning. Sure enough, as soon as Mingjin turned into the alley where their house was located, their two children, six-year-old son Yan Wei and three-year-old daughter Yan Zao, were already looking out the door to see if Sister Ming had arrived.
"Sister Ming." Seeing Ming Jin's figure, Yan Zao walked forward step by step, but the ground was slippery due to the rain, so Yan Wei quickly took her sister's hand, and Ming Jin also quickened her pace.
"Why are you all up so early today?" Mingjin said, pulling Yanzao's other hand as the three of them walked into the courtyard.
Yan Junyou sat under the eaves, half his body hidden behind an oil-paper umbrella, frowning as he repaired the umbrella stand that had been broken during the children's play. Hearing the voices of several people, Yan Junyou, busy with his hands, didn't peek out. He gestured for Mingjin to come inside. Just then, Yu Hong walked past the kitchen and dining table with steamed buns. Seeing this, Mingjin had Yan Wei hold Yan Zao's hand while she followed Yu Hong to the kitchen to help. Children's attention shifts quickly; as soon as Yan Zao saw Yan Junyou repairing the umbrella, he ran to his father and started chattering.
Yan Zao chattered on and on until everyone finished breakfast. Hearing a knock at the door, Yan Junyou guessed it might be Pang Ming, so he told Yan Zao, who wasn't eating properly, to hold the umbrella he had repaired and go open the door for Pang Ming. The rain had lessened a bit; standing under the open sky, you couldn't even see the raindrops, only that the ground felt slightly damp.
As soon as the door opened, Pang Ming saw the canopy of an umbrella, which at first glance looked like a large mushroom. Yan Zao started speaking, and Pang Ming squatted down, took the umbrella handle from her hand, and led her inside. Yan Junyou and Ming Jin had finished eating and helped Yu Hong clear away the dishes. Each with an umbrella, Ming Jin carrying two baskets, and Yan Junyou and Pang Ming each holding a hoe, they headed towards the back of the mountain.
On the way up the mountain during Qingming Festival, one might encounter many old neighbors. Mingjin, Zhou Wei, and Pang Ming grew up together in Changhe Town. However, unlike Mingjin, whose parents were both cultivators and busy traveling, Mingjin often stayed at home or went up the mountain to be cared for by the elders. Before deciding to study at Menggu Academy, Zhou Wei and Pang Ming spent their days wandering around the alleys of Changhe, knowing every corner of the town intimately. But while Zhou Wei had gone out to cultivate with Xiang Wan for several years, Pang Ming, who had always stayed in Changhe, was a child watched by everyone in Changhe. Therefore, when the villagers who had gotten up early to worship and were now coming down the mountain saw the three of them, they would greet Pang Ming first.
For the residents of the nearby town to pay their respects, the graves, though not placed on their fields, were located in the mountains closest to the town. Because the monks often traveled further, everyone's graves were situated higher up. With fewer people walking, the paving stones weren't as evenly laid; large and small stones were pulled out to create a path. However, wearing ill-fitting shoes or stepping on the wrong spot would cause painful stabs from the uneven stones. As the three walked uphill, each of them had their soles pricked by stones, grumbling about the difficult path, as they passed through the leafy forest and entered the more familiar pine forest.
Pang Ming was the first cultivator in his family, so no one in the family was buried here. His primary purpose in coming here was actually to pay respects to Xiang Wan on behalf of Zhou Wei. Yan Junyou and Ming Jin had the same purpose, so after arriving at the place, the three of them split into two groups. Although the spring rain was welcome, the water would wash away the graves, and weeds would grow everywhere. Ming Jin and Yan Junyou worked for quite a while at Lu Ying's grave, finally clearing away the weeds that appeared every year. Although it had been raining down the mountain since last night, the ground on the mountain was not so wet and the soil quickly dried on their palms.
After weeding, Yan Junyou began to gather and mound the soil around the grave. Mingjin washed her hands in the small pond nearby and then wiped the dust off Lu Ying's tombstone with a cloth. The inscription on the tombstone was similar to that on Mingjin's own grave, reading "Tomb of Lu Ying, Dinghui," but the stone had inevitably eroded from wind and sun. Lu Ying had passed away from illness when Mingjin was seventeen, and five years had passed since then. During these five years, Mingjin had visited the grave three times a year without fail, and was very familiar with Lu Ying's new home. However, compared to the first two years, when she couldn't help but shed tears upon visiting, she could now hold back, though her heart still ached.
As time passes after a loved one's death, the pain shifts from the death itself to the realization, when the living share their stories, that the deceased no longer recognize the other people in those stories. From her parents to Lu Ying, Mingjin increasingly understands that the three most important elders in her life have all stopped at a certain point in time, unable to move forward any further.
Yan Junyou tapped the grave with his iron shovel, finishing his tidying up. Slightly out of breath, he wiped the thin layer of sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. Mingjin finished as well, taking out the fruits and incense burner he had prepared earlier. Mingjin took the incense, Yan Junyou lit it, and the two knelt before the grave, bowing to Lu Ying.
“Master, all is well with my family and Tianguang. You can rest assured and need not worry too much. I am incompetent. Although my disciple has reached the time to graduate and his cultivation is flawless, I still feel that he is impetuous and may cause misfortune. I hope that you, Master, will bless him to calm down and think before he acts, so that he will suffer less harm.”
"Grandfather, your grandson Mingjin bows respectfully. What I have experienced recently is nothing but fleeting and ordinary, not worth troubling you. Only Master Mu Ningwupeng, a novice teacher, is teaching with truly rigorous methods. Master Mu is indeed kind and benevolent, but I follow him in my daily practice, and I often fear that my strength will wane and I will not be able to continue. Alas, when will I return? I learned from Uncle Pei that you, Grandfather, once had a partial teacher-student relationship with Master Mu, who guided him in his magical practice. I pray that if you are watching over me from heaven, you will send Master Mu your teaching experience in a dream. I beg you."
Thinking it over, the two of them bowed deeply.
Afterwards, the three of them, as before, cleaned the graves of Shao Zhe, Ming Shiyu, and the Ming brothers. However, these four had passed away much earlier, and it took the three of them quite a while to clean them. Although the rain on the mountain wasn't heavy, the raindrops were getting bigger, and after they finished, because they had been running around in the mud for so long, their feet were covered in a layer of mud.
"You've come too."
A pond had been built at the entrance to the mountain road. As the three of them washed the mud off their bodies, they ran into Pei Xuanzhen and Ji Zhen, who were also there. Since everyone was usually in a hurry and rarely saw each other unless there was an emergency, the three decided to stay a little longer and head down the mountain together.
After Ji Zhen became the sect leader of the Medicine Sect, he obtained Pei Xuanzhen's permission to move Cheng Zhilin's tomb from Weixiang to Kongyun Mountain and bury him near Jingtang. Pei Xuanzhen was the disciple of the former sect leader Jingyu and the senior brother of Ming Shiyu. In addition to paying respects to the two, he also paid respects to his uncle, Elder Jingmao Qian Mian, who had taken care of him as a child.
Today, during the Qingming Festival, many people are still shrouded in the pain of the past. However, a light rain is falling from the sky, and the scent of freshly pulled grass adds a refreshing touch to the air, making it easy to breathe.
"The weather is fine today," Mingjin said, taking a deep breath as they prepared to descend the mountain.
“Yes,” Pei Xuanzhen smiled, “it is spring rain after all. It’s a rare good day in the year, so it’s a good time for everyone to get together again.”
"Then no one is allowed to be busy today. No paperwork or ghost hunting. Let's enjoy this rare rain." As Ji Zhen spoke, he pulled Ming Jin ahead, while the other three followed behind. The steps were slippery from the rain, and the umbrellas were quite large. Ming Jin held the umbrella for her and Ji Zhen, while Pei Xuanzhen stood in the middle behind, holding the umbrella over all three of them.
"Yuanbei, why didn't Shihe come along?" Yan Junyou asked.
“He went to his parents’ place first today, and will come back to pay his respects to Elder Jingyu after he returns,” Pang Ming replied.
"Where's Changqi? Why didn't he come with Tianguang and Yuanbei?" Pei Xuanzhen was reminded by Yan Junyou's words. "That silly child might still be in the back mountain, too scared to come down."
"Sect Leader, Changqi's grandmother passed away two months ago and was buried in their hometown. He is still there with his father and brother. They have asked the two of us to offer incense to the Elders." Pang Ming replied.
“My son told me that Changqi and that girl named Juxia are engaged,” Yan Junyou asked.
"Really? I didn't know?" Ji Zhen was quite surprised after hearing this. After all, in her memory, Zhou Wei had always been working behind Huang Jing, and she was very moved by his diligence.
“Indeed,” Mingjin replied, “the wedding date hasn’t been finalized yet, but it’s confirmed to be in July.”
"Did you two go together too?" Pei Xuanzhen asked curiously.
“We’ve been to both places. Both families are willing, but the girl’s parents are still a little unhappy because she was injured in the previous incident and because she’s marrying someone from a rather far away,” Pang Ming replied.
The group chatted as they walked, and soon reached the foot of the mountain. Under Pei Xuanzhen's repeated instructions to rest, they returned home in relatively relaxed moods.
Shortly after the Qingming Festival, Di Huan, who had been fighting abroad, returned to the capital with his army. Although the battle was won, both sides suffered heavy losses, and even the victors were overjoyed. The rogue cultivators of Kongyun Mountain, who were away from the battlefield, were performing a purification ritual and relayed the news to Ji Zhen. Ji Zhen had already planned to go to the capital to prepare wedding gifts for his younger relatives who were about to get married, so he calculated the dates and, a month after Qingming, took Huang Jing, who had the same plans, with him to the capital.
The steward recognized Di Huan's handwriting and had heard that Di Huan had been seriously injured and rescued by a Taoist priest practicing in the mountains. He immediately assumed the man before him was Di Huan's savior and quickly led the master and disciple inside. Di Huan's injuries hadn't fully healed, so he hadn't left the house for a month, spending his time at home with his wife and son enjoying the spring scenery. However, staying indoors for so long, surrounded by medicine stoves, was getting a bit boring. Today, their son was at school when he heard the news that Ji Zhen and his disciple had arrived. Both Di Huan and his wife found this intriguing and hurriedly invited them in.
At this time, the imperial physician who had treated Di Huan was still in the courtyard. After Huang Jing greeted Ji Zhen and the couple, Ji Zhen, knowing Huang Jing's thoughts, mentioned to Di Huan that he wanted his disciple to study under the imperial physician. Di Huan thought there was nothing wrong with it, so he asked his steward to take Huang Jing over to see him.
"I wonder what important matter brings you down the mountain today?" The lady's maternal family was in the capital, and she hadn't traveled far after getting married. Therefore, although the scenery she had seen throughout her life was wonderful, it was all the same. So when she saw Ji Zhen, she felt that she had met someone extraordinary. Although her reasons for being happy were different from Di Huan's, her joy was no less.
"My first thought was to visit General Di, and then, a younger member of my family is getting married, so I came to the city to prepare some congratulatory gifts."
"Is it a boy or a girl?" the lady asked, thinking to herself what gifts she could give each of them.
"There are two marriages, one for a boy and one for a girl. I have met the girl before, she is the one who came with me last time. She is my disciple, so I am particularly concerned about her marriage."
"That's a good thing!" Di Huan said happily.
The lady summoned the steward and asked him to fetch something she had placed somewhere. She presented it to Ji Zhen, who opened it to find a fist-sized stone, translucent with the light of the sky: "I've heard Zheng Nan tell stories of his adventures with the various Taoist masters, and I know that they use spiritual stones to craft magical artifacts. This is something I found recently, brought back from the sea by a traveling merchant. Because the capital has always favored jade, this stone isn't worth much. I hope the Taoist master will accept it, so I can express my gratitude."
Ji Zhen quickly stood up and took the box from the steward. Everyone has their own preferences, and Ji Zhen, who was also out on business, knew that this thing was indeed not worth much money, but since the lady was willing to keep it, it was truly out of kindness, so after sincerely expressing his gratitude, he accepted it.
Outside, Huang Jing was still discussing the efficacy of the medicine with the imperial physician. He casually pulled out a medical book and discussed it with the physician, who had been practicing medicine for forty years. Before they finished, Ji Zhen and the other two came out together. Huang Jing realized that he had been there for almost half an hour, so he stopped what he was doing, thanked the imperial physician for his guidance, and then took his leave with Ji Zhen. After they left, they first went to visit Yu Qiao. It was only then that Yu Qiao learned of the happy news of the marriage, so she and the master and apprentice went to the city to choose some good things.
The two matters of being a wandering cultivator and a shopkeeper occupied Yu Qiao's energy, so she only returned to Kongyun Mountain once, on her wedding day, spending the rest of her time outside. Because her father had difficulty walking, the task of collecting good items fell to Yu Qiao after her return. Yu Qiao liked both magical artifacts and traveling around, and she also enjoyed discovering ornaments and paintings she had never seen before, so she thought being a wandering cultivator wasn't so bad.
While traveling around, she exchanged information with independent cultivators who stayed in various places. She was the only independent cultivator who stayed permanently in the capital, along with some from Huicheng and Juxia, but Yu Qiao only exchanged nodding acquaintances with them. Besides the capital, Baicheng was another city Yu Qiao frequently visited where independent cultivators stayed.
Baicheng is located south of the capital. In spring, pear trees bloom everywhere in the villages outside the city, captivating visitors who are amazed and exclaim in wonder, a sight known as "spring snow." Inside the city, apricot blossoms are abundant. Even those without apricot trees at home will find an apricot branch to adorn their vases and headwear. Thus, the city, both inside and out, is awash in white, hence the name "Baicheng" (White City). The area is known for its fine wines and dried fruits, its mild climate, and the presence of many literati who have left behind numerous calligraphic works. Merchants from all over often stop here.
The rogue cultivator who stayed here was almost harmed by evil spirits while living a leisurely life, but he couldn't bear to leave his family members behind, so he devoted himself to practicing magic and thus became a rogue cultivator.
"Missing?" Yu Qiao arrived in Baicheng that very night. The next day, after getting up, she went to the tavern and chatted with the owner, Kang Jiu, while listening to him talk about the case.
"Four people have already gone missing. The people first reported it to the government, but even though the government sent many people to search, they still couldn't find out the truth, which wasted a lot of time. The families of the missing people are heartbroken. Because I felt something was amiss, I kept an eye on things and went there myself. I sensed ghostly energy on the route the second person disappeared along. Although it might be an accident, we still have to be careful. My cultivation is too shallow, so I can only investigate the surrounding area and dare not go too far, so I dare not linger. I drew a map, which shows the places the four people might have passed through on the day they disappeared, as well as the places where I sensed ghostly energy."
Unfortunately, Yu Qiao wasn't a cultivator skilled in combat. After going there herself, she sensed that the ghostly energy in the vicinity was spreading, so she used magic to send a message to Kongyun Mountain. Upon receiving the message, Fu Nai decided to entrust the matter to Mu Ning and Ming Jin.
Early in the morning, after the usual practice session, Mu Ning brought up the matter with Ming Jin.
"This matter is neither major nor minor; we can't see anything yet. Tianguang, you've been training with me for two years, so I'll leave this to you. Investigate carefully first, and proceed with caution in all matters. By your standards, being overly cautious is perfectly acceptable. If you discover anything and are unsure what to do, send me a message."
Mingjin also felt this was a good opportunity to test his abilities, so he gladly accepted the task and resolutely went to eat at Hegengtang with the map.
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