As they walked along, Zhang Enpu said, “Well, you’ve already grasped the basics of Feng Shui; that’s great progress. Indeed, the situation of that family isn’t exactly ideal. To understand more deeply exactly what is wrong, you still need to thoroughly study the ‘Five Elements,’ the ‘Eight Trigrams,’ the ‘Nine Palaces,’ and other theoretical systems such as ‘Qi Men Dun Jia.’ There’s a lot to learn! I followed my father, the former Zhang Tian师, for more than twenty years before attaining even modest success. And Li Lishan Daoxiong, whom you briefly met, secluded himself within the Quanzhen Sect for half his life. So if you hope to achieve something truly significant, you still have a long way to go!”
Liu Dashao was startled and stuck out his tongue, “Sigh, forget it. I just want to accompany you and enjoy the scenery along the way. I never wanted to become a Feng Shui master. It’s too complicated—I don’t like it.”
Zhang Enpu asked, “What, are you looking down on Feng Shui practitioners?”
“No, not looking down on them. I genuinely dislike complicated things. Feng Shui requires knowledge of astronomy above and geography below. I just don’t have that intelligence.”
Zhang Enpu chuckled, “Hehe, I like your carefree attitude. Alright then, I won’t mention it anymore. Come on, let’s climb the mountain.”
Unconsciously, seven days had already passed.
During these seven days, whenever he had free time, Liu Dashao kept pondering one issue—the topic of “fate” and “injustice” that had come up during his journey back with Zhang Enpu. Although he disliked fate, he actually believed in it. Because life contains many injustices, Liu Dashao himself believed in fate.
This “fate,” described in non-superstitious terms, could be called “opportunity” or “luck.” Luck is random, not necessarily earned through effort, unpredictable in its appearance, and therefore inherently unfair. For instance, the biggest injustice in life is “birth.”
Every one of us living on this planet has no choice over where we are born, whether we are born male or female, or whether we become officials or businessmen. We passively accept all of this while still in our mothers’ wombs. If your parents are wealthy, congratulations—you’ve had good fortune and met the God of Wealth at birth. You can enjoy a better quality of life from childhood to adulthood without ever having to work. But if your parents are poor, congratulations too—you’ve had bad luck, and can become a poet or philosopher. Your entire life will be spent constantly pondering why there is so much sadness and unhappiness in life. You’ll keep hovering at the edges of existence, never understanding why you were so miserable until your dying day.
After the injustice of birth comes the injustice of “encounters.” Take Jiang Ziya, for example—he cultivated Daoism, but when he realized that even cultivation required food, he went to the street to sell flour. But ironically, whenever others sold flour, everything went smoothly. As soon as he arrived on the street, a strong wind would blow, rendering his excellent speaking skills useless. It’s like when the roof leaks, it rains all night; when you go fishing, waves come crashing. Accidentally planting a willow tree, it just grows lush. Jumping off a building, you might land on the Matchmaker’s head. After a breakup, you gamble and end up winning a brothel. You carefully walk on the main road, not falling or bumping into anyone. But suddenly, someone drunk from behind mistakes you for a turtle.
Tell me, where is the fairness in life? After thinking this through, I’ve reached a somewhat ambiguous conclusion: if you want to live a happy and carefree life, you must first accept that life is inherently unfair. Otherwise, your entire life will be spent in a state of busyness, blindness, and physical and mental exhaustion.
Liu Dashao himself was a man without much ambition. In the eyes of outsiders, he was the typical small-time hooligan, completely without prospects. Elders never considered offering him their daughters in marriage. Because even at a glance, both he and others could see that any woman who followed him would suffer a lifetime of misfortune.
Since the sudden deaths of Madam Fan and Master Wang, Liu Dashao had become even more firmly committed to his belief in non-action.
Life is too fleeting. The person living today cannot possibly imagine what will happen tomorrow. So why do we work so hard?
Liu Dashao could never understand why heaven so easily negates a person’s decades of hard work. They hadn’t even had time to enjoy the fruits of their labor! One can only say that life is impermanent. Therefore, rather than passively adapting to society, it’s better to actively wander according to one’s nature. Hehe, isn’t that right?
Sadness aside, the sun won’t stop rising and setting because of your sorrow. Life is just this realistic. Everything must continue as usual. That day, the event predicted by Zhang Enpu finally occurred exactly as foretold: the branch in the southeast corner of the big pine tree at the entrance suddenly withered overnight. Liu Dashao opened his eyes wide and looked again and again. Yes, it was definitely withered.
He hurriedly ran into Zhang Enpu’s room and shouted loudly at the still-sleeping old man, “Old man, the big pine tree—it’s withered! Hurry up and get up, it’s withered!”
Zhang Enpu turned over with a groan, clearly annoyed at Liu Dashao interrupting his sweet dream, “So what? If it’s withered, let it be. Why are you shouting so loudly? Confucius taught us not to talk while eating or sleeping. Have you forgotten? At my age, how many more peaceful sleeps do I have left?”
Liu Dashao gave him a sidelong glance, “Hmph, the sun’s already over your behind! Still ‘no talking while sleeping’? Do you even know what time Confucius got up in the morning? Six o’clock!”
Seeing Zhang Enpu show no reaction, Liu Dashao reluctantly walked out of the room and went to the Daoist hall. He dragged two chairs together, placed a green hat over his face, and lay down lazily to bask in the sun. Heh, you know what? The weather was pleasant, birds sang, flowers perfumed the air—it was actually quite enjoyable. Thank goodness the old man was still sleeping. Otherwise, missing this moment would be a real disservice to nature’s kindness.
But just as he was dozing off, imagining himself about to become Marshal Tianpeng, a sudden voice came from a corner of the house: “May I ask if Master Zhang lives here?”
Liu Dashao removed the green hat and irritably looked toward the source of the voice, asking, “Who are you?” At that moment, he finally understood exactly how painful Zhang Enpu must have felt inside. That feeling was truly painful—really, really painful. You have to experience it yourself to know just how painful it really is.
The stranger replied, “I’m here to invite Master Zhang to inspect a burial site. My father has passed away.”
“What? Inspect a burial site?” Liu Dashao quickly stood up from the chair. He saw a middle-aged man in his forties smiling at him.
The stranger repeated, “Yes, to inspect a burial site.”
“You don’t mean the southeast corner, do you?” Liu Dashao’s heart stirred as he hurriedly asked, “Are you from the southeast direction?”
The stranger smiled, “Yes, my home is indeed in that direction. I found my way here from the mountain pass below. I’ve heard that Master Zhang is very skilled, so I’ve come especially to find him.”
It must be him, Liu Dashao thought. He rushed back into Zhang Enpu’s room again. Zhang was still snoring. Without hesitation, Liu Dashao lifted Zhang’s pants and took a cold iron strip from the table, poking it against Zhang’s waist.
“Ahh, my mother!” Zhang Enpu’s snore turned into a scream, “What are you doing? Do you even care if I live or die?”
Liu Dashao said, “Old man, hurry up and get up. The person from the southeast direction has finally died. His son has come to ask us to inspect the burial site. He’s waiting outside now!”
“Really? So soon? I thought it would be around noon when I woke up. Where did my calculations go wrong?” Zhang Enpu jumped out of bed, forgetting even to tie his pants, and rushed outside, asking, “So, your old man passed away?”
The stranger smiled, “Yes. You must be Master Zhang. May I ask if you’re available now?”
Zhang Enpu replied, “Available? Not really, but helping others brings joy—I’ll try my best to squeeze some time out for you!” Zhang was actually bored out of his mind, yet still couldn’t help but add a bit of “face-saving” gold to his reputation. Liu Dashao, standing beside, was genuinely impressed.
The stranger happily said, “That’s great! Can we leave immediately?”
Zhang Enpu pretended to think for a moment before saying, “Alright, wait a moment. We’ll go inside to change clothes and get our things before we leave.”
Tai Sui Yellow Amulet Paper FuLu Taoist Love Talisman Traditional Chinese Spiritual Charm Attracting Love Protecting Marriage