Chapter 43: Traveling

My master’s voice finally woke me up from the dreamlike state, and as I opened my eyes in confusion, it seemed that my eyes were still floating with fragments of broken memories.

Memory fragments, originally such abstract words, are now so real that they are broken in front of my eyes. Even when I am awake, I can see them scattered. This abstract experience is impossible to describe in detail to others, including my master.

My soul has now escaped the pain, but like a strong pain, there is always a slight pain that occasionally makes me feel bad.

But compared to the intense pain before I fainted, this occasional little pain is already considered happiness.

My consciousness gradually began to clear up. At this time, I thought I was seeing an illusion. I was stupid. This should be the memory of the Taoist boy. Why is the owner of those eyes always in his memory? Is it the woman named Wei Chaoyu?

Did he intentionally let me see this memory? Or was there some other meaning? And what was the place in the dream? The legendary fairy realm?

I couldn’t figure out these things, so I just stopped thinking about them. This life is full of trouble, and now I’m even more embarrassed. Who has the heart to worry about things from a past life? Besides, I’m still stuck with my master on the most mundane issue of money.

The smell of mold wafted from the tip of my nose. I saw my master’s concerned face, and the dusty background around me. The sun shone in obliquely, and I could still see the dust dancing in the sunlight…

“Master, where are we?” I spoke up. At least I could think and speak, and by doing so, I was sending a message to my master that I was fine.

“What just happened?” Master didn’t ask if I was okay, but instead asked what just happened to me. He had obviously received the message I was trying to convey. This was a kind of tacit understanding that didn’t need to be explicitly stated.

“If only I knew. It must be the aftereffects of the Taoist child appearing each time.” In fact, I’m not sure about this theory. Last time, at the bottom of the deep pool, it wasn’t because the Taoist child appeared, but… it was because I remembered Ru Xue.

I was in a trance again when I mentioned Ru Xue, and even when my master sighed beside me, I deliberately ignored it. I heard my master say that this matter should be handled properly, and I was afraid that I would have to discuss it with Uncle Chen, but I didn’t respond for a long time.

With a “pop,” my master hit me on the head again, as he was wont to do, to bring me back to my senses. He looked at me with concern and reproach, holding a pipe with no tobacco in it, and asked, “You’re not worried about your problem at all. What are you thinking about?”

“I don’t feel that my will from my previous life is in danger, so I don’t think I need to worry.” I didn’t answer my master what I was thinking, but I said this sentence very directly, which was indeed my inner feeling.

When the master heard me say this, his eyes flickered and he didn’t know what to think. After a while, he said to me, “I don’t know if we are lucky or unlucky. Don’t you see? This is an empty house with no one in it.”

“Ah?” I couldn’t help but let out a small gasp, but in this era, in the countryside, it is normal to see such empty houses. How many people are working outside, or even the whole family? Moreover, this remote place is not suitable for farming, judging by the terrain…

The reason I let out a small gasp was not because the house was empty, but because after walking in the mountains for so long, I really missed a hot meal and some hot food, plus I wanted to take care of myself. It was hard to ask for help, and I might even be rejected, but if there was no one, then wouldn’t all of this be ruined? Me and the master would have to make do with this.

“At first I was disappointed, but at that time I couldn’t think of anything else because you were in such pain that your face turned pale. However, later, your breathing and pulse gradually stabilized, and I knew that you were fine, so I looked around. I felt that the owner of this house must have left not long ago. Although there was nothing valuable in the house, there were some things that we urgently needed. “The master said slowly.

I smiled wryly. This is really embarrassing. My master and I broke into someone else’s house and took their things when they weren’t home. This is essentially the behavior of a thief. Is Yang Sheng forcing us to change from Taoist priests to thieves?

In the meantime, my master had already taken out two sets of somewhat damp, old-fashioned men’s clothes from behind him and placed them in front of me. He then said, “There is still some firewood piled up in the wood shed. It is damp. Let’s see if we can burn some hot water. But it will be a little late. At least let me see Yang Sheng’s car pass by here again.”

This is indeed what we need urgently, a bath and a change of clothes… I presume that the clothes that Master found were the owner’s, and I understood what Master meant. It was probably that Yang Sheng’s car went somewhere else, but it would always come back and pass here. Just in case, it was better not to make any noise now.

I naturally agreed with the master, and I noticed that there was a bed made up under me. I didn’t know if the master had made it up for me or not.

I was too lazy to think about how the master got into this empty house. The pain of the soul was exchanged for the exhaustion of the soul… this exhaustion quickly sent me into a deep sleep.

The next morning, at about 10 o’clock, Master and I left the empty house… We had already shaved our beards, and we found a knife in the room and sharpened it.

We finally managed to wash ourselves clean, despite having used up several large pots of hot water. The clothes we were wearing were left behind by the male owner of the house. We could only say that they would have to do, but they were short-sleeved and short-trousered on me, and a bit baggy on my master.

Fortunately, we are now the image of a villager in a remote rural area. I rolled up the cuffs of my pants, and it was passable.

We took turns sleeping last night to see if Yang Sheng and his group were deliberately looking for us in this generation… It turned out that this was really the case. In any case, the car would appear every few hours, and the time was not fixed.

To be on the safe side, my master and I deliberately waited until half an hour after their car left before we set off.

We walked from the lowland to the road, and then the two of us walked side by side on the edge of the road. This road is relatively remote, and there are really not many vehicles coming and going. My master and I planned to stop a car to leave here, and we could only wait while walking. If we were really unlucky and didn’t meet a car for a long time, we would have to estimate the time to go up the mountain to hide, in case we met Yang Sheng’s car again.

Can it be any more difficult? But that is only the worst case scenario. Although this road is remote, it is not so remote that there will be no cars for hours. We just have to calculate all the unlikely events as much as possible.

“Master, do you think that when the family returns, they will see our note and care about the things we left behind? They probably won’t believe the value of the powder, right?” Walking on the road was boring, and I was very hungry. To distract myself, I started chatting with Master about this.

“In short, we have taken other people’s things, used other people’s things, and lived in other people’s houses, which has already planted a cause of indebtedness. No matter whether we repay it or not, the result is so small that even if others don’t care, we still have to settle this result. Just like water droplets flowing into a river, one should not entangle too many causes and effects in one’s body. Sometimes, many small causes and effects will converge into a big entanglement… the impact will be far away.” Master walked with his hands behind his back, next to me, and his tone was also light.

Yes, when we left, Master left the snake medicine that Ding had given us in the empty room, and wrote a few words on the floor of the room with the burnt wood. The gist was to explain the situation, and then explain what was left behind and what it was used for.

I naturally agree with the master’s statement, and I also believe very much that small causes and effects accumulate into big entanglements. That is why the ancients said, “Do not do evil for the sake of small evil…” and “Do not feel that you owe others a trace of affection. A penny is not called owing, and some causes and effects of the world are related to human relationships, which are not subject to one’s own tempering. However, some evil causes and effects are really unnecessary. The best thing to do is to correct oneself.

As we walked along, we had been walking for twenty minutes without realizing it. We hadn’t seen a car, but my stomach was so hungry that I couldn’t stand it anymore… plus yesterday, we hadn’t eaten for almost a day.

I swallowed my saliva and said to the master, “I feel like I need two dollars right now, so I can buy four big steamed buns and be full.”

“When you have no money, even a penny is a luxury. You want two dollars?” Master said in a bad mood.

“If that doesn’t work, we’ll have to go back to the mountain and catch a rabbit or something to eat, but I hope I don’t die of starvation before we catch one.” My footsteps became heavy because of the hunger.

At this moment, the distinctive sound of a car came from far behind us…