Chapter 31: The Old Taoist

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Old Ghost was an old Daoist priest.

The kind who had his own temple.

Only, the Daoist had long since died, the temple had collapsed, and the statues of the Three Pure Ones had been broken open, becoming nests for snakes and rats.

Yet the old priest still refused to leave. In this desolate, uninhabited place, he continued guarding his ruined temple.

The old priest believed that he had cultivated himself into a ghost immortal and attained perfect freedom.

Yu Youcai, however, was thoroughly disdainful of that claim.

He was merely an ordinary old ghost. If that counted as becoming a ghost immortal, then there would be countless such immortals under heaven.

That was only what Yu Youcai thought in his heart. In truth, he still held the old priest in great respect.

For one thing, although the old priest was eccentric and fond of muttering mysterious nonsense, he truly possessed vast knowledge and experience.

For another, the old priest was something of an elder to Yu Youcai. When Yu Youcai had still been very young, his grandfather had taken him to visit the old Daoist. The two had been close friends, and the old priest had always been very fond of him.

The old priest was not without ability, either. After experiencing the countless rises and falls of human life, he had still managed to live for an extraordinarily long time. He did not die until Shen Jianjun was born, by which time he had reached the age of one hundred and thirty-five.

Shen Jianjun was already over fifty, which meant the old priest had remained in the human world for nearly two centuries.

That was why Yu Youcai called him Old Ghost.

When Yu Youcai found him, the old priest was sitting cross-legged beneath a bodhi tree, meditating and contemplating the Dao. Behind him stood his temple, reduced to broken walls and crumbling ruins.

No one knew why he still guarded the place and refused to leave.

The sight of Yu Youcai surprised the old priest as well.

“You haven’t come to visit me in a very long time. What brings you here now? Have you finally let go of the obsession in your heart and decided to depart?”

Yu Youcai shook his head. “No. There’s something I’d like to ask you about, Old Daoist.”

“Oh? You’re already dead, yet you still have something to ask me?”

The old priest rose to his feet. His body seemed to float on empty air as he drifted lightly onto the bodhi tree. With his white hair, long beard, and wide sleeves billowing in the wind, he looked extraordinarily impressive. Beneath the moonlight, he truly resembled an immortal descended from the heavens.

Only after striking a sufficiently grand pose did the old priest speak again.

“Go on, then. What is it you wish to ask me? Let us see whether I can resolve your doubts.”

Yu Youcai seemed accustomed to this manner of his, and so he said, “It concerns my grandnephew. I encountered him on the road today, and he was actually able to see me.”

“Oh?”

The old priest was startled. He drifted lightly down from the bodhi tree.

“He couldn’t see you before?”

Yu Youcai nodded.

“Are you certain you didn’t make a mistake?”

“How could I have? It wasn’t the first time I’d seen him since my death. A few years ago, I even went to visit him and stayed at his home for several days…”

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“So, you’re saying he suddenly became able to see you?” The old priest knitted his brows tightly.

Yu Youcai nodded again. “I’m worried that something may be wrong with his health. He’s still young. He hasn’t even married yet.”

His face was filled with concern, all of it born from his care for Shen Siyuan.

“He has either encountered some extraordinary opportunity, or his life is nearing its end,” the old priest murmured.

When the body was deteriorating and death was close, the three vital flames would begin to go out. Under such circumstances, a person might be able to see ghosts—or even sense in advance that death was approaching.

“That is precisely what worries me. Besides, I couldn’t see any of the three flames on him. Yet his vital essence was abundant, and he didn’t look like someone who was about to die.”

The old priest was even more astonished when he heard this. With a sweep of his broad sleeve, he floated forward.

“Come. Take me to see him.”

Yu Youcai hurried after him.

Watching the old Daoist racing ahead beneath the moonlight, his great sleeves fluttering in the wind, Yu Youcai began to wonder whether the man had truly achieved something through his cultivation and become a ghost immortal.

The old priest had not looked like this before his death. Back then, he had been just like Yu Youcai was now: frail, aged, and nearing the end of his life.

But now his back was straight, his movements free and effortless, and not the slightest trace of old age could be seen in him. He was like a cicada that had shed its former shell.

Yu Youcai also knew the saying that one’s appearance arose from one’s heart. He had seen many ghosts who, because of the bonds of their karmic burdens, could not suppress the desires within them and had consequently become grotesque and misshapen.

He did not know whether the old priest was in a similar state. But while those others had changed for the worse, how had the old priest managed to change for the better?

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Shen Siyuan naturally knew nothing of this. He had already returned home, eaten dinner, and was chatting with his father.

He could not ask directly about his granduncle, so he made his inquiries indirectly.

“Dad, I went back to the Yu family village today and walked around. I passed by the place where Granduncle used to live. The house has fallen into ruin and is completely overgrown with weeds. Should we have it repaired?”

“What would be the point? Your granduncle had no children. After he died, that plot of land was taken back by the village,” Shen Jianjun said.

“Oh, I see.”

Huang Huijuan peeled a tangerine and handed him a segment. “What, do you want to move back to your ancestral home someday? If you really have such thoughts, live at Lin Family Slope. The house there won’t need to be rebuilt. Besides, after your grandmother passes away, that house of hers will certainly be left to you…”

“That’s not what I meant.” Shen Siyuan peeled another segment and popped it into his mouth. “I just happened to think of Granduncle.”

The couple fell silent at that. They were not ungrateful people, and they naturally remembered how kind Granduncle had been to them.

“Could you tell me about him?” Shen Siyuan asked. “I was very young back then, and I don’t remember many things.”

“He’s already dead. What use is there in talking about all that?” Shen Jianjun said.

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“I want to know,” Shen Siyuan said seriously.

“One must never forget one’s roots. Siyuan is right,” Huang Huijuan said.

Only then did Shen Jianjun begin telling Shen Siyuan about his granduncle.

“When your granduncle was young, he was an exceptionally capable man. He went into business, worked on boats, served in the army, and fought in wars…”

“In that respect, your father is very much like him. Neither of them could sit still. They both loved making a fuss and chasing after one thing or another,” Huang Huijuan added from the side.

Shen Jianjun did not deny it. He nodded and said, “They say a nephew often resembles his maternal uncle. That saying is absolutely true.”

“When I was little, your granduncle treated me very well. Conditions in the countryside were generally poor in those days, but he was always finding ways to obtain food so that your grandmother and I could eat our fill. He himself became skin and bones from hunger…”

“What about Grand-aunt? Why did she die so young?”

“She died in childbirth. Medical care was poor in those days, and both mother and child died. It was the greatest pain of your granduncle’s life. Later, no one wanted to mention it, so people simply said that Grand-aunt had died of an illness…”

As they spoke, Huang Huijuan got up and brought out an iron box from the bedroom. Large patches of paint had flaked off its surface.

“These are some of your granduncle’s belongings. After he died, we couldn’t bring ourselves to throw them away, so we kept them.”

Shen Siyuan took the box with great curiosity.

When he opened it, the first thing he saw was a neatly folded bundle of letters.

There were also badges bearing the portrait of the Chairman, several silver Yuan Shikai coins, a few bullets, a medal, and various other odds and ends.

“They’re all letters exchanged with his old comrades,” Shen Jianjun said after glancing inside.

But Huang Huijuan, standing beside him, said, “Not necessarily.”

“What do you mean?” Shen Siyuan asked, somewhat surprised.

Shen Jianjun looked at Huang Huijuan and said unhappily, “Why are you telling the child these things?”

Huang Huijuan paid no attention to his objection. “Siyuan is a grown man, not a child. Since he wants to know about his granduncle’s past, then tell him everything.”

She turned to Shen Siyuan.

“After your grand-aunt died, your granduncle did consider marrying again. Back then, there was a young woman who was very fond of him…”

“Then why didn’t he marry her?”

“Because of the difference in their generations. Your granduncle refused to give people anything to gossip about,” Shen Jianjun replied.

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