Twenty-two: The Crescent Moon Like a Hook - Part Four
The shop assistant rolled up ten sheets of toilet paper for her, introducing her to other types of paper in the shop as he did so. Mingjin overheard this while wandering the streets and alleys; apparently, because of the excessive rain this year, these papers might spoil if not sold quickly. As a result, many people had been coming to the owner to haggle, leaving behind many good items amidst the owner's heartbroken tears.
"What is this?" Mingjin stood in front of the counter, reaching out to steady a talisman that was spinning in the breeze. Mingjin didn't recognize the calligraphy and paintings on it, but it was rare to see such things displayed in calligraphy and painting shops, so he couldn't help but be curious.
“Young lady, you’re not from around here, are you?” The shopkeeper tied a neat knot on Mingjin’s paper. Hearing her question, he quickly brought out a wooden tray from behind the counter, gesturing and calling out, “This is a kind of talisman from our Juxia, specially used to ward off bad luck on rainy days. In Juxia, it rains heavily every year around this time. People are prone to slipping and falling when they go out, catching colds, and those at home may have leaky roofs. If the rain doesn’t stop, it’s hard to repair. If a bookstore like ours leaks in, oh dear, we can’t do business for a whole year. So we always hang this up, and when the rain stops, we go to the glazed pagoda on the south mountain to make a vow and pray that we won’t encounter bad luck next year.”
Seeing Mingjin pick one up and examine it carefully, the boss was delighted, thinking he could make another small profit.
"Hey girl, how about one? I'll give you a discount."
Then hold up your hand to show a number.
“Boss, I’ll buy a few more items, can you give me a discount?” Mingjin casually pressed down two more fingers. “I’ve been stuck in the city for several days because of this rain. Even if you’re not a local, you know that the rain won’t last much longer. Can you give me a discount? Consider it me clearing out your inventory.”
"Okay," the shopkeeper thought to himself, knowing he'd still make a small profit. "How much do you want?"
Seeing that the shopkeeper had agreed, Mingjin waved her hand, picked up a stack of items, and asked the shopkeeper to check the number. Seeing that Mingjin kept her word and actually bought several more items, the shopkeeper wrapped the items up for her and even gave her a wooden pendant, inviting her to come back more often.
"So you bought all of this?"
Zhang Xu, who was recovering quickly and able to walk, was chatting with Duan Shuxuan in his house when Ming Jin knocked on the door, carrying a stack of talismans. Knowing that she had just been buying and selling at the bookstore, Zhang Xu picked one up and played with it.
“I used to hang them up, but I found it really boring and stopped after they faded over time.”
"Senior Sister Ming, Senior Sister Ming, please hang a few more for me," Duan Shuxuan, lying on the bed, was clearly not thinking too much about it. He reached out and tugged at Ming Jin's wide sleeve. "I'm so unlucky. I need more talismans to protect me. When I get better, I will definitely go to the Glazed Pagoda and kneel down to God."
Mingjin originally planned to give one to each person, but seeing that Duan Shuxuan was injured and in pain, he hung a string of them by his bedside. Zhang Xu frowned when he saw it: "So many? You'll have to kneel from day to night."
"Once I'm fully recovered and feeling great, I can do whatever I want."
"Aren't you going to catch up on your studies?" Just then, Xi Xiangfeng walked in carrying medicine. Hearing Duan Shuxuan's words, he shut him up.
Helpless, Duan Shuxuan hid his pain from his injury and frowned as he swallowed the medicine in one gulp.
For the next two or three days, the incessant rain continued. Ming Jin, engrossed in drawing, didn't leave the clinic. Xi Xiangfeng gave Fu Xia's portrait to a painter in Juxia City, asking her to quickly create a copy to keep as a precaution for the Juxia cultivators. However, while Xi Xiangfeng was busy outside, Ming Jin's drawing of the area where those evil spirits were active remained unfinished.
Within two days, all ten sheets of paper had turned into ink-stained crumpled pieces. Mingjin felt his mind was completely blank, unable to think of how to proceed, so he lay down on the bed and fell asleep. The next day, before Mingjin even opened his eyes, he was blinded by the sunlight outside and realized it was a rare sunny day.
"The rainy days are finally over."
Xi Xiangfeng stood in the courtyard, moving all the flowerpots that had been stored under the eaves outside to get some more sun. Mingjin happened to see this when he came out of the house, so he ran over to help Xi Xiangfeng.
“The hot weather is over,” Xi Xiangfeng and Ming Jin said, each carrying a larger flowerpot on one side. “Sister Tianguang, you’re setting off back tomorrow, right? It really was a good day.”
“There is an elder in Kongyun Mountain who is in charge of stargazing and celestial observation. We may have asked for his opinion.”
Mu Ning was called back by Pei Xuanzhen the next day because of some trivial matters on the mountain, so Ming Jin didn't have a chance to ask for his opinion and could only guess.
Xi Xiangfeng adjusted the flowerpots slightly to ensure they were all standing in a straight line.
"Sister has been cooped up in the clinic for several days. Why don't you go out for a walk today and get rid of the dampness? It was raining when you came here, so take this opportunity to see Juxia properly."
"Yeah, I don't know if I'll have a chance to relax and have fun again."
After breakfast, Mingjin went out. Jizhen, having received Wanxia's permission, was allowed to visit the Juxia Inner City Medical Hall and exchange ideas with others. Chen Du and Mu Ning left one after the other, as Fu Nai was already overwhelmed with the matters on the mountain. Du Gewen, considering himself Zhou Wei's senior brother, didn't go too far, spending most of his time managing affairs at the medical hall.
Mingjin bought some vegetables and enough meat for one meal in the city, then went to the cloth shop she had visited before to buy a bolt of cloth, and went to her uncle's house. She hadn't visited her sister-in-law since she gave birth, and seeing the nice weather in the city today, she thought things would get better outside too. However, when she arrived at the door, she found her uncle, Shaojie, busy repairing the leaky roof with her two cousins. It was the two children in the house who noticed Mingjin first. Because their mother and grandmother were worried about their clothes getting dirty from the mud, they hadn't let them go out. Now that they saw Mingjin, they called out in the yard, making their two sisters-in-law, who were mending clothes inside, frown.
“This is a talisman to ward off bad luck,” Shao Mai said, holding the little gadget Ming Jin had given him in both hands and examining it closely in the sunlight. “What does it say on it?”
"Does it really work?" Shao Jin asked curiously.
"You came all this way, and you brought so much stuff with you."
My aunt was inside looking after the baby when she saw Shao Mai run in carrying something she didn't recognize, and then heard Shao Jie's voice coming from the roof. That's when she realized Ming Jin had arrived. Once things calmed down, everyone moved a few chairs into the yard and chatted about nothing more than ordinary, mundane things.
Because Mingjin had brought groceries, her aunt invited her to stay for a meal. Since the two children were left with nothing to do, Mingjin played with them for a while. After the meal, Mingjin prepared to leave, and Shaojie saw her to the village entrance, asking her what she was going to do next.
"Are you planning to go to that glass pagoda?"
"The Glazed Pagoda?" Shao Jie frowned and thought for a moment. "I think I've been there before, to fulfill a vow, right?"
"It's been raining these past few days, and everyone around me has had terrible luck. Whether it's useful or not, I'll still go and take a look."
"Be careful on the road," Shao Jie instructed. "I remember the mountain over there isn't very high, but the road is very steep. The rain only stopped this morning. If you really want to go today, remember to look for a paved road and be careful not to fall."
Mingjin had spent his childhood running around on Kongyun Mountain and had never taken mountain climbing seriously. Besides, from a distance, the mountain didn't seem very high, and the Glazed Pagoda was only halfway up. So, remembering Shao Jie's instructions, he decided to find a stone path to climb the mountain. The stone steps on Kongyun Mountain were old and broken, because no one had ever used them before. Some of the stones were even original ones. The elders on the mountain had built houses along the existing paths.
The people of Juxia love building roads. Not only because they are spacious and comfortable, but mainly because they believe that wooden clogs walking on the rocks create a unique and beautiful sound, so they pave the city and its surroundings with stone bricks and steps as much as possible. However, Mingjin looked at the road before him and sighed wearily and helplessly.
The hillside was steep enough, but the stone steps were all higher than Mingjin's knees, and the large stones paving the upward path made it difficult for her to walk. Normally, she could just use magic to fly up there, but this was Juxia, and there seemed to be a rule against using magic casually within the city. Since she had some free time today, she might as well try climbing up herself.
She pulled a long branch from a pile of grass by the roadside and used it as a support to continue walking.
There were few people on the mountain today, almost none at all. It wasn't until Mingjin struggled to reach the entrance of the glazed pagoda that he found three residents resting on the lowest steps. The only other people on the mountain were the masters preparing to consecrate talismans in front of the large incense burner.
The glazed pagoda is indeed beautiful. The lowest level is an octagonal throne, and above it is a nine-story pagoda. However, the interior is not very large. Apart from a large Buddha statue that I do not recognize, the remaining space is only enough for tables on both sides, two meditation cushions for monks, and two more cushions for worshippers to pray on.
Mingjin glanced at it and left, not caring much about these things. However, thinking that the road she came by was too bumpy, she decided to take a different route, so she took a gentler mountain path down the other side.
However, everything in the world has two sides, good and bad. Just like climbing a mountain, a steep path is probably faster, while a gentle slope is definitely slower. At first, Mingjin was particularly happy looking at the mountain scenery, but after the summer rain, the mountain was covered with tall green leaves, and there were hardly any flowers to be seen. Birds and beasts also kept their distance, and she could only hear a sound occasionally. As she walked, she felt very bored.
After walking about halfway, Mingjin spotted a flat stone bridge on the mountain. There was no water under the bridge, just a deep pit in the mountainside. But on the other side of the bridge, amidst the swaying shadows of the trees, there seemed to be a courtyard.
It wasn't that Mingjin had particularly good eyesight; it was just that the courtyard wasn't on flat ground. It was enclosed by a wall on a gentle slope, with the main gate on the ground and the back courtyard, also on higher ground, exposed to the outside. However, the courtyard looked quite old. Mingjin walked to the backyard and saw many spiderwebs washed down by the rain hanging on the pavilion. The patterns on the pavilion bore a striking resemblance to the glazed pagoda she had just seen, making it particularly eye-catching.
As she looked around, she walked down the courtyard wall. When she reached the gate, the gate suddenly opened, and a light-colored figure stepped out, flashing a glance at Mingjin, which startled her.
"Tian Guang, why did you come up the mountain?" Chai Wang wasn't startled, but he found it quite strange to see a figure suddenly appear near the usually deserted courtyard.
"It's you! You scared me to death," Mingjin breathed a sigh of relief, then briefly explained why he was there. "What are you doing here?"
"This is my yard. I saw that the rain had stopped today, so I came back to sweep the house. Come in and sit down, take a rest."
"That would be too much of a bother."
"It's okay, I'm home alone."
"You live alone in such a faraway place?"
Seeing this, Mingjin didn't intend to refuse and prepared to leave after taking a sip of water.
The courtyard of Chai Wang's family was even more astonishing than the entrance lawn of Ban Rui's family. Upon entering, there was a half-pond of lotus flowers, both red and white, which hadn't looked desolate despite the recent rains. Walking along the flowerbed, you entered the guest room, where you could sit and admire the lotus blossoms.
Chai Wang invited Mingjin to sit down, and went to the side to boil water and make tea.
“I heard from Jingxun that you live very close to each other.”
“I usually live in the city, and I only come back here to visit when I have time off.”
"Is the glazed pagoda up there also yours?" Mingjin asked curiously.
“The pagoda was designed and built by my grandfather at the request of the previous leaders of Juxia Sect,” Chai Wang said, opening a cabinet to find tea leaves and teacups. “This courtyard is the only ancestral home of our family. However, my grandparents and biological parents all passed away a few years ago, so I live here alone. This house was also built by my grandfather himself, which is why it looks so real. What kind of tea do you like?”
"A lighter flavor is fine."
Is the white tea harvested this March any good?
“Okay,” Mingjin said, watching Chai Wang rummaging through the cabinet. “How come you have so much tea here?”
"I've spent all the money I have on this."
There was already a pot of water boiling on it before he arrived, and it was now steaming. Seeing this, Chai poured some out to rinse the teacups he had just taken out, and then began to prepare the tea.
“I do that occasionally too, but I get scolded by my master for spending money recklessly. After a few months of restraint, I do it again and get scolded again.”
“My master doesn’t care about these things.”
Chai Wang's voice suddenly became softer and lower, and Ming Jin caught a trace of feigned innocence, so he decided not to continue the topic: "Didn't you ask me before if Master Mu still wanted disciples? I asked him, and he said he wasn't interested."
"It's nothing, I was just asking casually." As he spoke, Chai Wang brought over a cup of tea and placed it on the table in front of Ming Jin.
“However, there’s still a chance,” Mingjin said, touching the slightly hot teacup. Chai Wang came over with another cup of tea and sat down. “I studied under Elder Mu, not because Elder Mu wanted to, but because our Sect Leader Pei asked him to be my master. Otherwise, you could go to your master, Sect Leader Wan, and ask him if he would be willing to make a connection for you. For example, you could say that you admired Elder Mu’s martial arts skills that day during the rainstorm and want to study under him.”
"That's one way to do it."
Although Chai Wang said that, there was no joy on his face, and he didn't look at Ming Jin. Ming Jin didn't know what he was thinking, and for a moment he didn't know what he meant.
"What's wrong? Is there something wrong with this?"
“No, that’s not it,” Chai Wang realized that his behavior was somewhat inappropriate. “It’s just that Master’s affairs as the sect leader are already too complicated. Even my senior brothers are too busy to help him. I just want to graduate as soon as possible. Since Elder Mu is unwilling to accept disciples in the usual way, I don’t want to cause any more trouble.”
"You haven't finished your apprenticeship yet?" Mingjin asked without a joking tone, but out of curiosity as she recalled past events. "Aren't you two years older than Jingxun and Jingyun? They both said that if nothing serious happens, they'll be able to finish their apprenticeship in September."
“I have some special circumstances,” Chai Wang smiled helplessly. “My original master was just an obscure elder in Juxia City who died from severe injuries sustained during an exorcism. After that, I don’t know how I ended up under the sect leader’s tutelage. However, my master is very strict and doesn’t recognize my achievements under my original master. He made me start learning from scratch, which is why I graduated this year. I had previously suspected that I might have been assigned to Senior Brother Guo as his disciple, but it turned out to be a mistake.”
"Don't say that. Maybe Master Wan saw how good you are."
"When I first became an apprentice, I fell asleep in a tavern because I drank too much. Coincidentally, the sect leader and several other elders came out after finishing their meal, and they bumped into me. The waiter pulled me to a bench and made me lie down. My vision was blurry at the time, and I only remembered those faces. I couldn't remember who they were at all. Later, I remembered that I had been hiding from them in the city."
"Aren't you supposed to be able to drink a lot without getting drunk? How come you managed to fall asleep after drinking too much?"
“I wasn’t born immune to drinking,” Chai Wang chuckled. “But luckily, when I drink too much, I just fall into a deep sleep. Since I frequent that tavern, the waiter and I are quite familiar with each other. He told me that I didn’t throw up or talk nonsense when I was drunk. Fortunately, I didn’t cause any major trouble.”
"Even though Master Wan saw you were drunk, he was still willing to take you in, which means he's not that petty. You might as well go and ask him; there might be a whole new world out there for you to explore."
"Alright, I've taken your advice to heart. I'll ask my senior brother when I get back this afternoon. Have some tea."
Mingjin touched the teacup and felt that the tea temperature wasn't so hot anymore. He picked up the lid and took a small sip.
"Good tea, your money was well spent."
“Juxia also produces fine tea. If this matter can be accomplished, I will bring a basket of tea leaves to your door to express my gratitude one day.”
"Then I'm in for a treat."
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