Chapter 57: The Ancestor’s Agalloch Beads

Children forget quickly, so I forgot about all this as soon as I started school. But the thing I didn’t dare forget was my afternoon exercise. My school had classes from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Since the children who lived far away didn’t go home, they had a three-hour lunch break.

Old man Jiang had arranged it this way: half an hour for lunch, one and a half hours for a nap, and the remaining hour had to be spent practicing the Five Animal Play. I had no choice but to do it, because he had placed a spy, Liu Chunyan, next to me! Liu Chunyan didn’t sleep at noon, she studied, and it was convenient for her to “monitor” me. I thought that I could control the sky and the earth, but I couldn’t control Liu Chunyan’s mouth. How could I dare not be honest? As a result, I became a “celebrity” at school, because there was always a group of students watching me play the Five Animal Play. There were so many people that I had to play every day at noon.

The school is not big, just a two-story building and a bungalow, plus a large yard with a row of trees planted as a playground. I couldn’t even hide there, especially when it was close to class time, when students came to school and got up from their naps, resulting in more people than at noon watching me.

“Look, it looks like a monkey…” “Oh, that’s a tiger…” “Are you learning to imitate a pheasant?” I was so embarrassed that I could hardly breathe. Pheasant? It’s a bird, I’m imitating a bird.

But fortunately, people were innocent in those days. If I told someone I was a bird-shaped person in this day and age, they would probably laugh themselves silly. Anyway, I became a “celebrity” in this way. Everyone in this rural elementary school knew that there was a “fool” who didn’t sleep at noon and imitated various animals. I was a fool, but the old man Jiang wouldn’t let me explain. “Everyone thinks differently. Some people say it, some don’t. Even if you’re bigger than the sky, you can’t control what others think. Just do your own thing.” That was what the old man Jiang said.

That day at noon, I went to work as a celebrity again, but I was in a good mood. It was my birthday, and Old Jiang said he would let my whole family come to help me celebrate, and that I could also invite Su Rou.

I was so happy that I ran to the mountain with Su Rou. When I got there, I found my parents already waiting for me in the bamboo house. They were all smiling at me. I asked excitedly, “Mom, where is my sister?”

“Your master went down the mountain to pick them up and will be here soon. Come over and let me look at you. My third son is getting stronger and stronger.” My mother was overjoyed. No wonder, when I was little, I thought I couldn’t be raised, but I didn’t expect that I would grow up slowly and become tall and strong. The atmosphere at dinner was very warm. My master, who had always been lazy and took pride in his laziness, actually took care of all the food on this day. There was nothing else in the mountains except for wild game, and the dishes on the table were really mouth-watering.

The charcoal-grilled rabbit meat was torn into strips and mixed with chopped chili peppers. The carp caught in the fresh water pond was sliced into pieces and mixed with mushrooms. The pheasant was stewed in a pot of thick soup. The snow-white winter bamboo shoots were stir-fried tenderly. My parents also brought smoked sausages and some fresh seasonal vegetables. That table was not even comparable to the level of a normal person’s New Year’s Eve.

Old man Jiang also took out his treasured old wine and, exceptionally, poured a glass for each of the four children. The wine was so thick that it was almost like syrup, and it was sweet to the taste, but it only turned into a hot breath in the throat, burning the whole stomach. I only took a small sip and my whole face turned red.

My father, who drinks all year round, takes a long time to recover after a glass, but Old Jiang drank two glasses in a row without any problems. When I asked him what kind of wine it was, he wouldn’t say.

When the meal was almost over, Old Master Jiang said, “Sanwa, today I have a surprise for you. I dragged the people in the town to the big city to bring it back. It took some effort, but children sometimes can’t be wronged. It’s a novelty for you.”

Seeing that the old man was talking in a mysterious way, I didn’t know what it was. He went into his room and came out with a paper box a little later. When he opened it, the crispy meat shouted in surprise, “What is this? I’ve never seen it before. Can I eat it?” Inside the box was a round thing with a creamy white base and a few pink flowers on it, with a beautiful white border. It exuded a sweet smell that was fatal to children.

“Why can’t you eat it? This is a cream cake, which only a few children in the big city can eat on their birthday. Come, I’ll cut it for you.” The old man’s expression was very ordinary.

After eating this butter cake, I was completely enlightened. I thought to myself, “There are actually such delicious things in this world?” It was fragrant and sweet with a hint of milk, soft in the mouth, and there was also a layer of egg cake inside. I only knew about the yellow egg cake, but I never imagined that there was such an unprecedented thing as a butter cake!

After eating the cake, even my parents were immersed in an inexplicable sense of happiness at the novelty of the world. Only the old man said calmly, “The butter cake is not bad, but today I also want to give Sanwa a gift.” After saying that, the old man took out a string of black beads and handed them to me. When I took them in my hands, I noticed that they were not only black, but also had a shiny, oily sheen. They were heavy in my hands, and smelled of a mysterious and strange fragrance. They felt like wood, but were not wood. In short, they had a greasy feel.

“Master, what is this?” I asked, holding the beads in my hand.

“Agarwood, yes, it is a kind of incense. It is said to have the effect of expelling evil spirits and calming the liver. This is fine, because Taoism does not measure the value of things in terms of money. The precious thing is that my master, that is, your master, passed it down. He played with it for many years, and his mental power is in it. Now I pass it on to you. You must cherish it. Wear it at all times and don’t take it off. When you have time, play with it. When you are bored, you can read the Tao Te Ching against it. Do you understand?” Old Jiang said in a rare, serious tone.

“Master, is it true that this one cannot be taken off?” I didn’t understand what agarwood was, and I didn’t understand how valuable it was. I was just a little confused that this bead was a bit too big for me to wear, so I took out the tiger claw hanging around my neck and asked.

“Well, it can’t be taken off. You are the most sad. In these years, you have been given two merits, allowing you to spend your first nine years of life safely. But this kind of thing can’t be done too much. You can only let you raise some objects full of spiritual energy to ensure that you pass the 49th year smoothly.” Old man Jiang said.

My parents understood what he was saying, and their faces turned ugly. My two sisters also vaguely understood, but only I and Su Rou didn’t care, because I really didn’t feel anything, and Su Rou didn’t understand what the old man was saying at all. Everyone present, except for the old man Jiang, did not know how precious the incense was. After hearing what the old man Jiang said, I simply tied the string of incense beads and the tiger claw together and hung it around my neck. I will wear it when I grow up and it fits.

“It’s a pity that my master searched all over the world and couldn’t find the several kinds of agarwood recorded in ancient times. He could only find this kind of agarwood. Although the Taoist state of mind cannot be obsessed with material things and demand perfection and the best, but…” My master sighed and stopped talking.

At this time, my father suddenly became excited and stood up and said, “Master Jiang, you really have nothing to say about Sanwa. I am uneducated and don’t know what this agarwood is, but I know that it is definitely more precious than the tiger claw. Speaking of you as Sanwa’s master, but you are really more important to him than his parents. If Sanwa dares to be unfilial to you in the future, I will definitely beat him to death, or I will disown him.” My mother also nodded repeatedly to show her approval.

But old Jiang only said, “He has inherited my tradition, and to me, he is more important than a son. You don’t have to be like this.”

In short, on this ninth birthday, I received another gift from my master, a string of beads made of fragrant wood. At the end of the birthday, my master said to me once again that after I turned ten, he would tell me something and at that time he would formally pass on some things to me. I was very curious about this kind of explanation. When I turned ten, what would he tell me?