Young Zhuiyue (Part 2)
My relationship with Zhuiyue was different to my other siblings because it wasn’t Shifu who brought him back but me. On that rainy day, my eight year old self carried rice thirty kilometres up to Emei, saw a hot ch-, three year old kid gazing at the moon. I thought he was the child of a farmer on Emei.
Since I had been carrying rice all day for training, I was afraid I’d accidentally knock him over, so I circled around him, but a hot chick – I didn’t know she was Matriarch Zi – stole my attention, resulting in me tripping. Thanks to my Yijin Jing training, I was able to release the sack of rice and leverage my centre of gravity to spin to safety.
“Impressive!” Matriarch Zi voiced.
“Thanks!” I gave Matriarch Zi a hold-fist salute.
“I meant you’re impressively ruthless, chucking a sack of rice at a child. Who’s your scumbag teacher?”
“Hmm?”
Only then did my attention bring me to the sight of the kid stuck in the dung pit next door – a result of the rice sack crashing into him. I may have only been eight, but I was wise enough to know that smashing a kid into a dung pit was no joking matter.
I took the kid to Emei’s best doctor, only to make the doctor see his dinner a second time. Luckily, Shifu was able to quickly save the kid with a few needles. Once he was done, Shifu told me, “Go fetch Tianshan snow lotus, ginseng that’s a thousand years old, lingzhi that’s a century old, snowclam paste and a hen…”
“Shifu, is he in critical condition?”
“He’s fine. He’ll be once he has some porridge and tofu dregs. The herbs are for me.”
“What happened? Have you overtrained?”
“I’m not tired. My nose is just irritated.”
Daoist Jinguan, being the gentle and kind man he was, picked up the child and rubbed his back. “Are you feeling better?”
The kid was terrified – mainly due to risk of suffocation. He opened his mouth a little but didn’t speak.
Shifu advised, “Jinguan, put him down. You shouldn’t hold onto him.”
“Brother Ming, you may be strong, but you need to work on your heart. Have some sympathy.”
“I just finished opening his accupoints. He…” And Shifu stopped himself because he was too busy ogling Matriarch Zi as she strolled by.
“Don’t worry, child. We are not bad people. What’s your name? Where are your parents?” Daoist Jinguan queried.
As soon as he opened his mouth, the kid vomited all over Daoist Jinguan’s face.
Shifu finally returned to the scene to say, “He’s prone to vomit, so stay away from him.”
Daoist Jinguan slowly wiped his face. I couldn’t tell how he was feeling because… his face was smothered in vomit. I swear he was reciting hundreds of lines, though, to calm himself. Whether that was “Amitabha” or “You motherflipping…” was something I never found out.
Just when Daoist Jinguan calmed down and went to speak, the kid, from overhead, let out a waterfall from his mouth. I developed a newfound respect for the kid from that moment.
My Shifu poked back in again to caution, “He might puke particularly badly, so stay alert.”
Daoist Jinguan went into seclusion for three years thereafter, passing on his patriarch role. Emei added the question, “Have you eaten crap before?” to their interview questions. Any potential disciple who had would never be accepted.
When we helped the kid search for his family, he told us that his parents were hoping Emei would take him in when they abandoned him outside Emei. While I don’t really know why he was rejected, I’d say it was better that he was rejected. Imagine trying to live under someone you vomited on and around his disciples.
Guilt ridden, I pleaded, “Shifu, take him in. His potential is unlimited. Think about it, he stomped Daoist Jinguan in his first vomit contest; Daoist Jinguan didn’t even have an answer.”
“The flip you expect when he puked all over Jinguan’s face?”
“Shifu, he may very well be the one who holds our sect together in the future.”
Zhuiyue was too young to remember the event, but his legacy lived on atop Emei. People forget to credit me for taking him in. Without me, there’d be no Moon Chaser Swordsman. He, nonetheless, always appreciated me because I often “inadvertently” reminded him thousands of times that I adopted him.
“Good boy.” I thumped Zhuiyue on the shoulder.
Zhuiyue might’ve had the same face as when he was a kid; however, he had grown noticeably taller and had a different aura about him. He was kind, considerate, a skilled fighter, a skilled swordsman, clean, well-groomed, handsome and received 20% off discounts wherever he ate. Tell me he wasn’t my spitting image. His only glaring flaw was that he was always serious – too serious.
Still genuflected, Zhuiyue said, “First Brother, I was so worried when I had not heard from you all these years. I was elated to receive Second Brother’s order to assemble. I have been looking forward to seeing you again, but why are you here? Are you here to rescue me?”
“He touched our King’s chest!” the prison guard behind me voiced.
That’s “accidentally” touched for you! Stop vilifying me!
As soon as I saw wrinkles surface between Zhuiyue’s nose, I covered my ears and stepped back.
Zhuiyue got up and grabbed my arm. “First Brother, do you know how many martial artists revere our sect? Do you know how many people admire us because of our first patriarch, second patriarch, third patriarch, fourth patriarch… Grandmaster and Shifu? People always give a thumbs up when they mention Mount Daluo.”
I’m pretty sure they flip two birds when they mention Shifu…
“We cannot ruin our predecessors’ hard work. I have always reminded myself to be conscious of how I carry myself regardless of where I have been. Whether I was by the poplar in Xihua, the shore of Yellow River or the horizon of Changjiang, whether lake water splashed my face, wet my shoes or rose up to my waist, Mount Daluo’s future was always my priority.”
“Stop! Stop! Stop!”
Water up to your waist? I bet a hundred taels you fell into the lake. I keep telling you not to lean on the rail to act like a scholar, but no!
“First Brother! Even if I am at the end of the world, my heart is at Mount Daluo. I have always made sure to not blaspheme Mount Daluo’s name. I have spent these years punishing evil, helping the kind, fixing bridges, roads and tutoring people to protect Mount Daluo’s reputation. You should not ruin the Great Wall for fleeting joy! You are twenty-eight, yet you are not married. How do you expect to have kids? Among the three most unfilial things one can commit, not producing offspring is the worst. You are the only one carrying on the Ming surname. How can you just watch it die?”
Eight thousand words that came after were deleted.
Glossary
Great Wall reference – If the Great Wall of China fell, there’d be serious issue in town, which emphasises how serious Lian Zhuiyue is about Mount Daluo (comparing the sect to the Central Plain)
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