Chapter 46: Shui Miao’s Origins

There were several rooms upstairs, each person having their own, and Shui Miao stayed in the same room as last time.

After taking a shower and lying on the bed for a while, Shui Miao found it hard to fall asleep due to the hot weather. Suddenly, he remembered the luggage he had hastily brought home today, which included a shoe box his grandfather had kept in the bedside cabinet.

So, Shui Miao got up and opened his suitcase. He took the box out and opened it. Inside was a thick notebook, at least five centimeters thick. However, it wasn’t old at all—it looked quite new, obviously a memoir written by his grandfather in recent years. On top of the notebook was a note saying, “Read two pages a day; reading more is not beneficial.” Underneath the notebook was an old, seemingly ordinary compass.

Shui Miao picked up the compass first. While it might be useful for ordinary feng shui practitioners, it was of no use to someone like him who could directly open his yin-yang eyes to observe energy. It seemed his grandfather, who couldn’t use it either, had simply passed it on to him. Shui Miao carefully put the compass away. Though useless to his grandfather, it might still be useful to him. After all, he was young, and if he claimed to have the yin-yang eyes, few would believe him.

With the compass, he could at least pretend to impress people.

Inside his suitcase, Shui Miao also had a metal box, about ten centimeters thick. It was a gift box given to Xiong Ying over a decade ago by a wealthy person, though she didn’t eat sweets and had given it to Shui Miao instead. It became the first gift he had ever received. Although the sweets inside had long been eaten, Shui Miao had kept the box. Inside were the jade trigrams Master Wang had given him earlier. He placed the compass inside, separating it with foam padding.

Then, Shui Miao picked up the notebook and started reading…

He flipped through it roughly without paying much attention, only to find it was indeed a memoir. The first page described events over fifty years ago—back during the Great Leap Forward and the People’s Commune era, before the Cultural Revolution even began. At that time, his grandfather was just a child.

What would his grandfather have been like as a kid?

Shui Miao became deeply interested and continued reading…

The notebook recorded that when Xiong Ying was very young, he suffered from a strange illness and remained very weak. At six years old, his family, fearing he might not survive, sent him to a nearby Taoist temple for a while. He stayed there for half a year under the care of an elderly Taoist priest surnamed Zhang. Later, his health improved, and he returned home. However, at thirteen, he nearly died from illness again, and Zhang Daozhang took him back to the temple for half a year, after which his health gradually recovered.

Because of his constant illnesses, Xiong Ying’s body remained very thin and weak.

At eighteen, in the year 1960, Xiong Ying fell ill again, and his parents sent him back to the temple. At that time, Master Zhang was already one hundred years old. Strangely, as soon as Xiong Ying entered the temple, his illness disappeared, his cough stopped, and he became full of energy.

Xiong Ying’s parents were simple-minded and slow to understand. It wasn’t until their son’s third stay at the temple that they finally asked Master Zhang why he always got sick at home but recovered quickly at the temple.

Master Zhang, in a serious tone, explained that Xiong Ying’s bones were different from ordinary people’s, his eyes bright, and his breathing irregular. He must have been a Taoist priest cultivating energy in his previous life. This life, born into the Xiong family, still carried some ailments from his past cultivation. His illness was due to his extreme sensitivity to energy—he would fall ill upon inhaling bad energy. However, the temple’s feng shui was excellent, so as soon as Xiong Ying stayed there, his illness naturally disappeared.

Xiong Ying’s parents were half-convinced and asked why Master Zhang hadn’t spoken earlier. Master Zhang smiled bitterly and replied that first, the Xiong family had never asked, so he hadn’t spoken. Second, the Xiong family had only one child, and he didn’t want to take him into the Taoist order and cut off their family line. He had hoped that as Xiong Ying grew older, his body might adapt, so he had kept silent.

After hearing the Daoist priest’s explanation, the Xiong family finally understood. For their son’s life, they decided to leave him at the temple.

Xiong Ying was very smart. After entering the temple, he always had endless questions. Once, he asked Master Zhang if he had offended the Grand Duke of Jupiter (Tai Sui).

Master Zhang was greatly surprised, realizing that Xiong Ying had figured it out on his own.

It turned out that near Xiong Ying’s home was an earthen hill where he occasionally played. But every time he went there, he felt unwell. After several visits, his body couldn’t handle it anymore. While at the temple, from his senior brothers, he learned about Tai Sui and concluded that he must have been poisoned by the toxic gas emitted by the Tai Sui, causing his illness. As for why Master Zhang had told his parents that he had inherited some ailment from his past life, Xiong Ying believed it was just a trick for Master Zhang to take him as a disciple.

Seeing how clever Xiong Ying was, Master Zhang realized he couldn’t hide the truth anymore and told him honestly that his illness was indeed caused by the poison of the Tai Sui.

Tai Sui, also known as Ruling Zhi (spirit fungus), was the legendary elixir of immortality sought by Emperor Qin Shi Huang. Li Shizhen also recorded Ruling Zhi in his Compendium of Materia Medica, listing it under the “vegetable” category as a type of mushroom, edible and medicinal, regarded as a top-grade herb with effects of “prolonged consumption making one light and immortal, prolonging life and attaining immortality.”

However, Tai Sui came in many types.

Not all types of Tai Sui were easy to deal with. Most could emit toxic gas, which could be deadly to humans.

There was an old saying: “Daring to dig on the head of Tai Sui—don’t want to live anymore?”

This saying meant that the underground Tai Sui, when disturbed by construction on the surface, would be frightened and release a toxic gas. People inhaling this gas would experience symptoms ranging from dizziness to severe cases of bleeding from seven orifices, even death. Therefore, Tai Sui was not something to be trifled with. Don’t think eating Tai Sui would make you immortal—that was just a beautiful legend.

According to scientific research, the surface of Tai Sui hosts thousands of bacterial species. Anyone with a death wish could try eating it.

Master Zhang originally thought that telling Xiong Ying the truth would make him leave the temple.

But to his surprise, Xiong Ying not only stayed but became even more determined. He constantly followed Master Zhang, asking about astronomy, geography, strange stories, and unusual events. Master Zhang realized that Xiong Ying had no interest in Taoist spells or talismans but was deeply curious about feng shui and divination. So, Master Zhang taught him everything he knew about feng shui according to Xiong Ying’s interests.

Unfortunately, Master Zhang was too old and passed away a few months later.

Then came the Cultural Revolution, with the slogan “Smash all cow ghosts and snake spirits” echoing across China. Temples were destroyed, and Xiong Ying bid farewell to his senior brothers and returned home.

From then on, Xiong Ying lived a peaceful life. He never went back to the earthen hill again, so he never got sick.

After learning about his grandfather’s past, Shui Miao felt it was incredible—his grandfather had been a Taoist priest in a previous life? And even a Taoist priest who practiced energy cultivation?

Continuing to read, the notebook then described some trivial family matters. When he found parts that weren’t interesting, Shui Miao realized he had already read over ten pages unconsciously.

He felt guilty for not keeping his promise to himself.

He decided not to read for five days and would only continue after accumulating ten pages. This notebook’s story was fascinating, so Shui Miao decided to keep it safely in the metal box and take out the old compass—it wasn’t valuable anyway, no need to keep it in the box.

Opening the box, since the notebook was thick, Shui Miao opened it from the middle and placed it inside. However, upon opening it, he saw only a short paragraph on one page. Curious, he glanced at it casually, but that single glance sent a shock through him!

“Child, by now you should have matured in mindset. There’s something Grandpa must tell you. Eighteen years ago, by chance, I met a middle-aged woman. In our conversation, I learned she was the trafficker who sold you to Chen Jianguo. She lives in Qili Village, Haikou Township, Haimen County. Her name is Liao Jifen. If you ever want to know your true identity, go find her.”

This passage immediately stirred Shui Miao’s heart.

How could an orphan not want to know who his real parents were?

Before, there had been no clues, so Shui Miao hadn’t held much hope. But now that there were clues, his heart could no longer remain calm.

“Grandpa! Why didn’t you tell me earlier?”

Shui Miao hurriedly flipped through the nearby pages but found nothing else related to his origins.

That night, Shui Miao couldn’t sleep.

His mind kept flashing images of various faces—imagining what his parents might look like, whether he had an older brother, a younger brother, an older sister, or a younger sister. Were they living well? Had they missed him all these years?

Shui Miao thought endlessly, becoming more and more excited, more and more thrilled.

At dawn, Shui Miao opened the door and woke everyone up, preparing to pack and leave.

Wang Yong was still sleeping soundly. He had originally planned to send Shui Miao and the others to catch a ride at seven or eight o’clock, but he never expected Shui Miao to get up at five.

“Why so early? There aren’t even buses yet!” Wang Yong mumbled, half-asleep, as he opened the door and saw Shui Miao with a backpack and suitcase, his face filled with excitement: “Dad, don’t bother seeing us off. Keep sleeping. I know the way. I can handle this small matter myself. I’ll call you when I get to Zhonghai. Goodbye, Dad!”

Without waiting for Wang Yong’s response, Shui Miao turned and went downstairs with his belongings.

“Hey hey, Shui Miao, wait! Eat something first. I’ll cook breakfast for you…”

“No need. We’ll buy food on the way.”

Shui Miao went downstairs, handed the lighter suitcase to Xiaoxiang, and took the two heavier ones that Wang Yong had prepared. The three of them directly went to the roadside and hailed a minivan. They asked the driver how much it would cost to go to Qili Village, Haikou Township, Haimen County. Since it was the driver’s first business of the morning and he didn’t want to miss the opportunity, he calculated and gave a moderate price—400 yuan.

“I’ll give you 500. Just get us there as quickly as possible.”

Shui Miao directly handed the 500 yuan to the driver.

“Great! I guarantee we’ll arrive around noon.”

The driver’s eyes lit up with joy, accepted the money, and immediately started driving off.