Chapter 7: Jueyuan and 299 yuan

Early on a Saturday morning, I had just returned from my morning exercise when I received a call from An Yu. His tone was quite relaxed on the phone. After all, the office building was much cleaner, and he had put down a lot of his heaviest burdens. He no longer sounded like he had the other day, when he would open his mouth and say “help me,” looking like he had suffered a great injustice.

Of course, he called me to ask me to perform a ritual. In his opinion, the sooner everything was settled, the more relieved he would be.

So, he, who usually goes out partying every night, woke up early in the morning to call me and urge me to hurry.

I wiped the sweat off my brow and told him not to be in such a hurry, and to ask the Taoist priest he had brought to prepare a ritual altar. In addition, the site of the ritual was strictly forbidden to be disturbed by outsiders, so he was asked to make sure that all the relevant people were cleaned up and the main door was closed.

I looked at the time and told him that I would probably only arrive in the afternoon.

This time is actually very important, avoiding the time when yang energy is strong and also avoiding the extremely yin time of noon. It is because I have not really collected those baby spirits, but only temporarily subdued them. I have to give them a salvation, although it is more troublesome.

After breakfast, I was supposed to practice the qigong that is unique to our school. This is something that needs to be done on a long-term basis, but unfortunately, the crispy meat came early in the morning.

As soon as he entered the house, he was rude. He took a bowl and went to the kitchen to pour the rest of the congee into it. While he was slurping the congee, he was throwing steamed buns into his mouth one by one, and he didn’t forget to take a few chopsticks of shredded radish in between.

I sat lazily on the sofa, lit a cigarette, and watched him eat. From the moment he came in, we hadn’t said a word to each other. It was as if we were ignoring each other. There was no way around it. We had known each other for so many years, and we couldn’t help but ignore each other. Only in the air are people most comfortable.

Finally, after eating seven steamed buns, Su Rou wiped his mouth, still with something in his mouth, and said to me in a vague voice, “Sanwa, you dog, you’re not being honest. You didn’t tell me about the ceremony today.”

In fact, there was no danger in this ceremony, and I didn’t care if Su Rou went or not. I stretched and said, “How do you know if I finished the buns? There are seven of them. Are you going to develop to 200 pounds?”

“Hey, I went to ask the lady who sells buns at the entrance of your community. She said that you came to buy buns today. I know how lazy you are. You buy several baskets at a time and put the leftovers in the refrigerator so that you don’t have to go out and buy them again next time. What’s 200 kg? I’m a big guy at 1.78 meters tall. 200 kg is not that fat.” Su Rou answered me with a strong argument.

I was too lazy to argue with this kid, so I told him, “You can do whatever you want. If you want to eat all the food in the refrigerator, that’s fine. I’m only going to do the funeral in the afternoon, and I have to wait for someone to come. Now I’m going to practice kung fu, so you can have fun on your own.”

While eating the crispy pork, he waved his chopsticks at me, meaning that I should hurry up.

When practicing, there is no concept of time, because you must be fully immersed in a state of emptiness, with only the breath in your mind.

I don’t have the same level of concentration as my master, but I can naturally hold my breath for 1.5 minutes during meditation.

This level of progress is considered very good among people in the circle today. If you put it in the Ming Dynasty, when Taoism was at its peak, it would be a shame. In that era, people like me who had an orthodox heritage and started practicing from a young age could at least achieve true fasting for more than ten days and approach the realm of small turtle breath.

The environment is declining, Taoism is also declining, and it is extremely difficult for cultivators.

When I slowly finished my practice, it was exactly four hours later. Over the years, the habit of practicing has become second nature, and this time has become a deliberate habit. Of course, when I am particularly busy, I will limit it to two hours.

When I finished practicing and walked out of the house, Su Rou was playing the game “Football Economy” on my computer. Next to him was a bald guy yelling, “No, the striker is more important. You should buy Ronaldo first with money…”

I smiled and walked over to say hello, “Jueyuan, how long have you been here?”

“Not long, early flight, just arrived more than an hour ago, your phone is off, I guess you are practicing, so I called Su Rou directly, he picked up the phone and I was here.” Yes, this bald monk is Jueyuan. We met in the Miao village of Heiyan, and later he was one of the teachers that Master Hui appointed for Hui Gen.

Five years have passed, and now Hui Gen mainly studies with Master Hui Ming, but Jueyuan still teaches him about Buddhism, although less frequently. This doesn’t affect the growing friendship between Jueyuan and me, after all, we are ‘kindred spirits’.

“Do you still have the plane ticket?” I asked Jueyuan.

“Of course. You said someone would be paying for it, so how could I not keep it? Oh, because it was a free flight, I took first class.” Jueyuan had a gentle smile on his face, and he was gentle and refined, but I could tell that he was a bit of a fox.

I laughed a few times and grabbed Jueyuan, saying, “There’s still a balance of 20,000 yuan to be paid later, so you can take it.”

Jueyuan pushed me away and carefully adjusted his fashionable jacket, saying, “Don’t hold me. This is a brand-name jacket, Bonway. What if it gets wrinkled?”

I looked at Jueyuan speechlessly. Although I don’t care about clothes, is Bonway a famous brand? Maybe, in 1999.

When the three of us arrived at the office building, it was about 3:00 p.m. At this time, the office building was closed, and a cloth was hung on the door like a curtain. An Yu strictly implemented my requirements, causing the three of us to be stopped at the door by several construction workers he had invited. We almost couldn’t get in. Later, Su Rou dialed An Yu’s phone and asked An Yu to come and pick us up.

“Chengyi, you’re finally here. The people I invited have been waiting for a long time. I feel uneasy if this thing isn’t done properly. Hey, who is this brother? He looks like a young and promising university professor?” An Yu noticed Jueyuan.

Jueyuan immediately looked serious, like a calm and gentle monk, and did not forget to neatly arrange his often-worn, beautiful, handsome Bangwei jacket.

I laughed to myself. Although Jueyuan was a great monk, he was extremely concerned about his appearance. He once said that the more obsessive he was, the more he had to face. When one day he could wear all kinds of beautiful clothes and his heart was just casual, his state of mind would be perfect.

Unfortunately, this kid doesn’t have much money to dress up, because his money supports at least 10 poor students.

So I introduced An Yu to Jueyuan, saying, “This is my friend, Jueyuan, who is responsible for the exorcism this time. It’s also a way for you to do some good deeds, so that some… cough… souls don’t fly apart because of you, and it’s not necessarily a good thing to bear this kind of karma.”

An Yu seemed to understand, nodding as he listened, “So it’s Master Jueyuan. It’s a pleasure to meet you. At first glance, Master Jueyuan looks like a high-level monk.”

Upon hearing this, Jueyuan looked even more relaxed and carefree. After greeting Jueyuan seriously, An Yu said to me, “Chengyi, I don’t understand anything. Anyway, I’ll do whatever you say. If you say you’re going to help, then I’ll help.”

I thought to myself helplessly, you really don’t understand, you’re only worried about your own safety. But I can’t help it, because I can’t ask a person to put kindness above selfishness. Even I myself can’t do great love! As long as it’s related to the important people around me!

When I was talking to An Yu, Jueyuan coughed. An Yu looked at Jueyuan with some confusion and asked, “Master Jueyuan? Do you have any requests?”

“Amitabha, I just want to tell the donor that I don’t like to wear a monk’s robe very much during the week, and it is inconvenient to walk around the world in this way. How does the donor feel about me wearing this robe to help the dead? Will it make the donor uneasy?” Jueyuan’s expression became even more “slick,” but his eyes were fixed on An Yu.

The chewing gum in his mouth was suddenly spit out, his neck suddenly swelled up, his face turned red, and he kept coughing.

I pinched my palm hard and kept saying to myself, “Jueyuan is a high monk, Jueyuan is a high monk, don’t laugh, don’t laugh.”

Only An Yu, the two-meter-tall monk, was confused. He didn’t understand why I and Su Rou had such a big reaction, and even more so why Jue Yuan suddenly said this to him. I’m a Taoist, and I’m not wearing a Taoist robe. Is it strange for a monk not to wear a monk’s robe? Why bring this up?

Su Rou covered his mouth and said, “I’m going to the bathroom.”

After a while, the sound of Su Rou laughing wildly came from the toilet, and Jueyuan seemed to have no intention of letting An Yu go. His gaze was already almost “expecting” An Yu.

I endured it and walked to a worker friend and whispered a few words.

Then the worker walked over to Jueyuan and said, “Brother, your clothes are so cool, they look much better than a monk’s robe. Where did you buy them? They must have cost a hundred yuan. I’m so jealous.”

In the meantime, I gave An Yu a quick wink. An Yu is a smart guy, and he immediately reacted, saying, “Oh, I didn’t notice it until you mentioned it, but Master Jueyuan looks so elegant in this outfit.”

Jueyuan’s expression immediately relaxed, and he held a Buddhist ritual and said, “Amitabha, the patrons are wrong to praise it. This shirt is only 299 yuan. I just bought it to keep me dry.”

Fuck, I finally couldn’t help but run out, leaning against the door and laughing wildly.