Chapter 25: Little Sister

Learn Tao? The little girl obviously didn’t react. After hearing what I said, she couldn’t help but ask, “What did you say? What Tao?”

I took a deep breath and asked the little girl seriously, “What’s your name?”

“Yuanxi, my name is Yuanxi.” Although she didn’t understand why I suddenly asked this question, Yuanxi still answered my question very seriously.

Yuanxi? Yuanyi would give her daughter this name, does it mean that she carries the Yuan family’s hopes? For a moment, I was more determined in my heart, I asked, “Yuanxi, I’m not much older than you, you can call me brother in the future. Here, I’m going to tell you something, and then you can make a decision, okay? By the way, how old are you? Senior high school, should be 16, 7 years old, right?

When I asked this, I was thinking, is it too late to learn Taoism at 16 or 17? I was also planning something.

Yuanxi saw my serious expression and said very seriously, “Are you going to tell me something about my father? Don’t worry, I’m not a child anymore. I’m already 16 years old. You can tell me. I can handle it.”

Did Yuanxi know something? I asked with some doubt, “Do you also know about your father? What do you know?”

“I don’t know anything about my father, but since I was five years old, I have always felt that my father has been hiding a lot of things from me, unlike the fathers of other classmates. Are you going to tell me something today?” Yuanxi asked with anticipation.

I gestured for us to go outside, and then Yuanxi and I went to the living room. I took out a cigarette and lit it. This time, Yuanxi didn’t say anything, but waited patiently for me to tell her about it.

Taking a deep breath, I said, “This has to start with your grandfather…”

I began to tell Yuanxi everything, from Yuanyi’s grandfather, to Yuanyi’s father, to Yuanyi’s various things, to the incident with the old village chief that we solved together, to Yuanyi’s final fall…

Some of this was something that Yuan Yi and I experienced together, and a lot of it was something that Qin Huai told me when we talked later. He was very concerned, and asked a lot of questions about Yuan Yi in the department. He was afraid that Yuan Yi would have an accident, and that his daughter would not know anything in the future.

Yuanxi is only 16 years old. I don’t know if it’s right or wrong to tell her these secret, fantastic things. I also don’t know if she can keep some things a secret at such a young age. This is obviously not something a rational person can do.

But I can’t control that much. Since I was a child, my master has said that I am too sentimental and do things in a muddle-headed way. In the face of various emotions, I also act on emotions rather than reason. So, this is who I am, and this is how I do things. I don’t want to change.

Since Yuan Yi is now like a vegetable, and the thing he cared about most in his life was the reputation of his family, I have to give a reputation for his daughter to inherit. This is my restoration.

In this way, I kept talking, and when I got to the sad parts, I kept smoking. Yuanxi didn’t say anything, just listening quietly. After more than an hour, I finally finished telling her everything.

Then there was silence. After a full five minutes of silence, Yuanxi said, “If this is my father’s lifelong hope, I am willing to learn Taoism, even if I have to give up my studies. But how will my father take care of him?”

Obviously, Yuanxi was a very sensible child. The first thing she thought of was Yuanyi. She didn’t ask me if it was true or not. Maybe after living with Yuanyi for so many years, she had already guessed. Maybe she had also heard something about her great-grandfather. Anyway, she just acted so calmly, not at all like a child.

But I had already considered this. I said to Yuanxi, “I don’t know the Yuan family’s Taoist teachings, and it’s not suitable for a girl to practice the mountain character lineage. How about the character lineage? I have a younger sister in the character lineage. I think it’s easier for girls to communicate with each other. If you’re willing, I’ll contact my younger sister. Then, we can discuss Yuan Ge’s situation again. Don’t worry, I won’t let you separate from him until he’s cured.”

Yuan Xi nodded and said, “As long as it is a way of learning, and it can be carried forward and not tarnish the reputation of my great-grandfather, I am willing.”

Yuanxi and I reached an agreement almost like a child’s play, but who could have predicted that this child’s play agreement might be fate? Yuanxi and I took this child’s play agreement so seriously, but we didn’t expect that many people would follow us in taking it seriously.

In the following days, I stayed in this small town in Heilongjiang. I first contacted my junior apprentice. Of course, she could not make a decision on her own, so she told my proposal to my junior apprentice.

But I didn’t expect that two days later I would receive a call from Master Li. When I went to look for him, he wasn’t in Beijing. How did he come back?

The master said to me, “Chengyi, we all had a regret when we were young, and that was losing a little sister. I think you know that vaguely. Yuanyi saved you, which is like a benefactor of our lineage. Otherwise, the Shan lineage would have been cut off. Let the little girl come to Beijing and be your little sister. First, it will fulfill our regret from our youth, and second, it will repay the favor. Let her come to Beijing, and we old guys will take turns teaching her. When your master returns, she can also study. Yuan Yi can also take care of her in Beijing. She won’t have to neglect her studies. I’ll find a school for her in Beijing.

This was the decision of the great master.

I told Yuanxi about this decision, and she was undoubtedly very supportive. From beginning to end, she behaved like a little adult, and I was made to look like a child.

Originally, my uncle was going to send a car to pick us up, but Yuanxi resolutely refused. She said to me, “Chengyi, I think my uncles and aunts have been very good to me. If you don’t mind the trouble, don’t bother. Would you like to take the train to Beijing with me?”

I naturally didn’t refuse, but I sensed that Yuanxi, in addition to being straightforward, had something else in her, which was an unusual strength, almost to the point of being harsh on herself.

Isn’t this a portrayal of Yuan Yi?

Three days later, Yuanxi packed up everything in the house, and then packed her luggage. We were about to leave. Before we left, I looked at the books in the room and said to Yuanxi, “The heritage of your great-grandfather must be in these books. When you have laid a good foundation, come back and pick some books to study.”

“I believe my father will wake up,” Yuanxi said to me very firmly.

I nodded, believing that he would definitely wake up. If he didn’t, I would change his fate against the heavens and forcefully awaken his soul.

On that day, it was still snowing in the small town as usual. Yuanxi, no, my little junior sister, was carrying a simple bag of luggage, and I was carrying Yuanyi, who was unconscious, on my back. We left here, stepping on the slippery ground covered with some snow, and went to Beijing.

Fate is always like this, one link after another. In the distant past, the little sister that the master and his friends lost, and in the days that passed, Yuan Yi, who fell before me, all condensed into today, becoming the fate of a new little sister, Yuan Xi, who was carrying her luggage and walking with me in the snow.

On the train, Yuan Yi was still asleep, and Yuan Xi was very quiet, reading a book she had picked out of her home library. It was a book about what a sermon was and what metaphysics was, and it was probably Yuan Yi’s private collection, which could not be bought on the market.

She is really hardworking and ambitious. From now on, she is determined to lay a solid foundation.

I went out of the soft sleeper compartment because I wanted to smoke, and sat in a position on the outside veranda, looking out the window, and I felt the itch in my shoulder area start again.

I don’t know when it started, but my shoulder has been itchy for a long time. But apart from the itch, there’s nothing else. But it’s so uncomfortable. When it’s really itchy, I almost scratch my skin to pieces.

Could it be that I have been bitten by a parasite? I thought to myself, but then I realized that this was nonsense. I was a little sensitive, but it was just an itch.

Looking out the window, the train rumbled past, and all the scenery quickly receded. After this trip back to Beijing, I should have no reason to stay, and I will go to Xiangxi with Qin Huai and the crispy meat.