Chapter 82: Johnny

The three immortals are enshrined in the tin house!

After entering the tin house, I turned around and saw an altar, and behind the altar were three standard portraits of the Three Pristine Ones.

So, before I could say anything to the middle-aged man, my first action was to pay my respects to the Three Pristine Ones, as is the Taoist custom. Everyone who followed me, as long as they were Taoists, all respectfully paid their respects to the Three Pristine Ones.

Taoism has fewer rules than other religions, but it is absolutely not acceptable to not pay respect to the founder.

After everyone had respectfully completed the ritual, the middle-aged man looked at us with a much kinder expression. At this point, he no longer spoke to us in English, but switched to a more standard Chinese than Wal-Mart, and asked us, “Are you also Taoists?” Then, looking even more surprised at Wal-Mart, he said, “Even you?”

“Of course,” said Walmar, with a proud expression on his face.

“I never thought that there would be a Taoist temple hidden in the slums of Laibow. I am really surprised.” I also expressed my surprise at the old man’s surprise.

But when I said that, he was even more puzzled. “Didn’t your elders tell you to come to India to find Johnny? Didn’t they tell you that Johnny is a Taoist? Are you surprised by that too?”

“Our elders did not say anything about it. They just said to come to India to find Johnny.” I was a little embarrassed when I answered this question. If a normal person were to suspect us, wouldn’t it be suspicious that we knew nothing about Johnny and didn’t even know what we were doing here?

But the middle-aged man didn’t show much concern. Instead, he took out a low table and threw out a few cushions in this relatively clean, well-lit and well-ventilated tin house and asked us to sit down.

We quickly sat around the low table in a circle, and Wal-Mart’s eyes were quickly attracted to the low table. He stared at the low table for a long time, and suddenly exclaimed, “This is a Chinese cultural relic. The wood is yellow pearwood. This… the workmanship should be Qing Dynasty official furniture, right? You can sell this low table and not live in a slum, right?”

In the face of Walma’s amazement, the middle-aged man did not react at all, but I did not doubt Walma’s professional vision at all. In fact, a very important part of their family business is about cultural relics, and the scope is worldwide! The reason Walma became a Taoist disciple was because his father was once obsessed with the opportunity brought by Chinese antiques.

In that case, this middle-aged man still has a lot of secrets? Thinking this way, I looked at him with a little more of an inquisitive look.

But the middle-aged man not only completely ignored Wal-Mart, but also completely ignored me. After we sat down, he just took the bottle of wine he hadn’t let go of and took a big sip, then sighed contentedly, “The taste of white wine, the taste of China! When it comes to wine that has both a strong and mellow taste, it’s only Chinese white wine.”

As he spoke, a look of nostalgia flashed in his eyes, and it was only after a long time that he said, “I really didn’t think you could get this wine. Maybe this means that I can’t escape my fate. No matter how suspicious you are, since you brought you in…” He paused here, and then said, “Go ahead, who is your elder? Can you meet Johnny? This is very important.”

As he spoke, he took another sip of wine, and his face still had that nostalgic and yearning look.

I had a hunch that I couldn’t hide anything from this guy, so I said to him, “Let’s go find your elders and ask for Jennifer.”

‘Pop’, as soon as I finished speaking, the middle-aged man who had just taken a sip of wine reacted unusually violently, spitting out all the wine in his mouth in one go, followed by a series of coughs.

We looked at each other again, was there a problem?

After coughing for a long time, the middle-aged man wiped his mouth and looked up and said, “You mean Jennifer. Which Jennifer? If this woman is not a Chinese woman, then you can forget it. If she is, please tell me her Chinese name.”

I naturally knew Jennifer’s Chinese name, and although the old man’s question was strange, I didn’t think twice about it and said solemnly, “Ling Xinyan.”

Cough… The middle-aged man coughed violently, but his expression was the kind that had long expected this. Why was the reaction still so violent?

We waited patiently until his coughing, which sounded like a windlass, stopped. Then I asked, “It seems that you know Jenny. Can we see Johnny now?”

I thought he would still go around in circles or ask us something, but I didn’t expect him to take a sip of wine and then say to us, “Okay, after you meet Johnny, you can ask us who you are.”

“Then shall we set out now?” Volma, the guy, was more anxious than we were, as if he could fulfill his Taoist dream of heroism in the next moment.

“No need to leave. I am Johnny.” As he spoke, the old man’s brows revealed a hint of bitterness, and he took another swig of wine.

“You… are Johnny?” I was filled with doubt because I had never thought that the old man would lie to me. His eyes made me believe that he was an honest man.

“Do you think I’m lying to you?” The old man glanced at me, then suddenly stood up and walked towards one of the walls of the tin house. This wall was hung with a black cloth, very clean. I was originally curious, but thinking that it belonged to someone else’s privacy, I didn’t ask any more.

As he walked over, the old man said, “Actually, I’m not Johnny, and I’m not lying to you. I have a very ordinary name now, called Singh. You can call me whatever you like, like the other people in the slums, Rotten Singh, Devil Singh… I don’t mind. The name Johnny was just a thing of the past.”

While he was talking, the old man took another sip of wine, which made me admire his ability to drink. He finished half a bottle of high-grade Wuliangye in one go, and while he was talking, his hand stopped at the black curtain, and he suddenly pulled back the corner of the black curtain.

Behind the curtain, however, were photographs, neatly arranged in a row.

The photos were black and white, and they looked like they were taken a long time ago. The subjects of the photos were all elegant, middle-aged relatives, dressed in gorgeous clothes, with a look of pride and vigor in their eyes.

Although things have changed, we can probably recognize the young man in the photo as the middle-aged man standing in front of us. However, the contrast is too strong, and for a moment we dare not recognize him. Instead, Wal-Mart exclaimed and couldn’t help but walk over and take a closer look at the photos.

The middle-aged man didn’t say anything, but stroked the photos with his knuckles and whispered, “This is me when I was young. At that time, my name was Sharma.”

“Sharma?” Walma, who was carefully observing the photos next to Johnny, was shocked and said, “I always said it looked familiar. Are you the Abhishek Sharma? Oh my God, the son of a noble god, with the purest Brahmin blood, the religious genius Sharma who is said to be closest to God?”

“Does it really matter?” Jonny replied vaguely.

“Only a Sharma can wear this level of sacrificial clothing! You must be!” Volma rambled on, then slapped his head and said, “No, no, how could it be? How old are you? But what does it matter how old you are? How old is my master? This cannot be viewed with a secular eye.”

Volma rambled on, but inadvertently revealed a secret: Johnny’s age might be beyond Volma’s ability to accept, which is why he was so surprised.

We watched this dramatic transformation and didn’t know what to say.

Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaishya… After spending some time in India, we have learned a little about the caste system in India and know that the Brahmin and Kshatriya are the higher castes, the aristocracy of India. Despite the fact that it has entered the modern world, this caste system still exists strongly in India.

The reason we don’t know what to say is that the most noble Brahmin, how could he end up in the slums, living such a life? Not to mention that he is also the so-called son of God! Or, is Jenny letting us listen to Johnny tell stories?

Facing Wal-Mart’s fuss, Johnny was much more calm. He just told Wal-Mart to calm down before saying, “What happened long ago is too distant for me to remember. This wall is the trace of my life. Take a look at it in your spare time! I just admire you, a young man, for knowing so much about history, even about someone like me who is just a fleeting figure in the long river of time.”

“How could I not know?” Volma said again, loudly. “Although I am a Taoist, I should at least respect you. I apologize for my previous words and actions.”

“That’s fine. Actually, the identity of Sharma is not worth much to me. The real happiness is the days when I was Johnny! Jenny still calls me Johnny, but in my heart, I know I’m not anymore.” As he spoke, Johnny pulled the black cloth a little further.

Behind the black cloth was a new photo, still in black and white, but much clearer than the previous ones.

The photo shows a mature and dignified Johnny, but the elegance is still there. He is wearing a sharp old-fashioned suit, and standing next to him is a beautiful Western girl!

With a ‘swish’, Johnny pulled the black cloth up and turned to us and said, “Okay, I’ve proven that I’m not lying to you. I’m Johnny. Yes, you’ve seen me. Then who are you? How are you related to Jennifer?”