"Master, there's a ghost on your head."
With a "smack," Xiang Wan slapped her little apprentice on the forehead and said irritably, "How many times have I told you to call him A Piao? Stop calling him ghost all the time. It's broad daylight, and you'll make a ghost out of nowhere."
"But Master, aren't we supposed to be exorcising ghosts? If there are no ghosts, where are we supposed to spread our teachings and carry on the legacy of our patriarch?"
"That's backwards. First, one must inherit the mantle of the patriarch, and only then can one promote the Taoist tradition, revive Taoism, recruit disciples, and bring glory to the family..."
"Anyway, it's just the two of us now, so it doesn't matter whether we tell or not."
The young apprentice rolled his eyes, looking smug and showing no sense of responsibility as a disciple.
Without thinking, Xiang Wan reached out and pinched his ear, twisting it 180 degrees, and wouldn't stop until her little apprentice begged for mercy.
The two bickered and argued all the way, and for a moment they forgot about the ghost hanging over their heads.
When Xiang Wan first transmigrated into this body, and was born a man, she was already quite calm. What she couldn't accept was that the original owner had actually tricked and deceived a child into becoming her disciple, namely a five-year-old boy named Tu Hongye who showed absolutely no respect for his teacher.
Actually, the original owner was just a seventeen or eighteen-year-old lad, fresh out of school, who had only just begun to understand the basics of exorcising ghosts and warding off evil spirits when that unreliable old Taoist master kicked him off the mountain, claiming it was because he hadn't yet left the mortal world behind and needed to go down the mountain for training. In reality, the Taoist temple was short of salt, oil, and rice, and couldn't afford to feed him, so they found an excuse to make him fend for himself.
At the time, the old Taoist priest spoke very kindly, saying that he was the hope of Taoism, and that the millennia-old tradition could not be lost in his hands. He wanted the original owner to go out, save the world, rescue the common people, exorcise evil spirits, and revive Taoism.
The original owner had only learned a little bit, and upon hearing the old Taoist's praise, he immediately felt that he was the best in the world and that he would definitely become a Taoist master in the future. Society couldn't do without him, so he enthusiastically agreed. Before leaving, he even put the old Taoist's compass and the tattered peach wood sword into his bag.
Suddenly, the old Taoist's dry eyes filled with tears. Without saying a word, he kicked the original owner out the door and neatly bolted it shut.
The old Taoist priest was heartbroken. He had given away everything in the entire temple that could be exchanged for grain, leaving only the compass and peach wood sword left by the ancestor. He had intended to keep them as a memento, but his disciple had managed to steal them all.
Not content with copying this, those darting eyes then set their sights on his Taoist robe. How could the old Taoist not be furious? He couldn't very well leave his disciple with only his underwear hanging limply at his crotch. If word got out, where would he put his old face?
The old Taoist priest had bolted the door shut, and no matter how much the original owner cried out in anguish, he stubbornly blocked the bolt and didn't budge. Did he not know his apprentice's petty nature? He was afraid that if he let him in again, the entire Taoist temple would be torn down and taken away by him.
The original owner was indeed a little reluctant to part with the old Taoist priest. After all, the old Taoist priest was old, and if something happened to him, he would not be able to come back in time. Wouldn't the Taoist temple be torn down and burned for firewood?
The old Taoist priest wouldn't open the door, and the original owner cried a lot, as if she were seeing the old Taoist priest off in advance. With a long face, she went down the mountain, secretly thinking about what else she could take away from the Taoist temple.
As he pondered, he actually came up with something. Just as he was about to turn around and get it, he saw a ragged little radish-headed boy shouting at him, "There's a ghost on your head!"
The original owner thought about it and realized that the kid was quite capable, having inherited some of his skills. So he grabbed the kid by the neck and made him kowtow three times in front of him, thus accepting him as his disciple.
This little apprentice had no other skills, but he ate just as much as the original owner. With two gluttons, one big and one small, feeding themselves was a challenge. So, the original owner had his apprentice shout that well-dressed people were haunted by ghosts, while he, pretending to be a reclusive master, would carry a compass and a peach wood sword, earnestly performing exorcisms. And surprisingly, when he encountered those with guilty consciences, not only did he get a full meal, but the reward afterward was also substantial.
When doing this kind of thing, some people believe, and naturally, some don't. If you encounter someone who disrespects ghosts and gods, you're lucky if they aren't arrested and beaten up.
Therefore, the master and his apprentice lived a life of alternating hunger and fullness.
To encourage his young apprentice, the original owner gave him the name Tu Hongye, which means to achieve great things and not forget the family business.
The apprentice complained, "Such a prestigious job should be done by the master, why am I the only one doing it?"
The original owner explained that he, as the master, gave him this name and called him that. Need I say more about it being a spur to others? Who would call themselves that and tell others to work hard for them?
The apprentice thought about it and realized that it made sense, but something still seemed off.
The original owner patted him on the shoulder and solved the problem with a meat bun. By the time the little apprentice realized what was happening, the matter was already a done deal.
Therefore, the apprentice would often say that there was a ghost on the head of the original owner's master.
At first, seeing how seriously his apprentice spoke, the original owner felt a little uneasy and performed an exorcism ritual on himself.
But when the original owner heard Tu Hongye say this again the second and third time, he didn't believe it. It didn't make sense that he hadn't done anything, yet he was attracting ghosts all the time.
So, the original owner deliberately pretended to be a ghost in the middle of the night to scare his little apprentice. Unexpectedly, Tu Hongye was not afraid at all. His two black eyes stared straight at the top of his head, and he said in a serious tone, "There is a ghost on your head."
The original owner was so angry that his heart trembled with fear. His little apprentice's composure and courage far surpassed even that of his master. He found a pretext and gave his little apprentice a severe beating.
Unfortunately, Xiang Wan transmigrated shortly after that.
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