Setting Out
Mu Yu belched and stretched his back out. He placed his bowl and chopsticks down. “I’ll go chop the firewood now.”
Village Chief Bu was generous and kind, but Mu Yu couldn’t accept the former’s goodwill and just leech. That was the reason he chopped firewood daily for the village chief. Unexpectedly, the village chief stopped him today and chortled. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll take you to town later on. If you can become an immortal, I’d prostrate myself before you instead of asking you to chop firewood for me.”
“I’m pretty sure you only kowtow to the dead. Are you cursing me, Grandpa?!” joked Mu Yu. “I’ll cover your retirement. If anyone dares to bully you, I’ll pulverise the goon and curse him for life.”
“Don’t spout nonsense,” chided Village Chief Bu, waving to hide his consoled undertone. “I’m glad to hear that, but go back your luggage now.”
The only possession of his Mu Yu deemed valuable was the green stone – at least, that was what he evaluated it to be – around his neck due to its colour. He mistook it for jade until an erudite elder in the village told him it was actually stone. Either way, he cherished the item his mother left for him enough to always wear it. His clothing collection came from the kind villagers. Their colours had faded, but they still fitted him. He packed two sets of clothing and headed back. To his surprise, the villagers were waiting for him.
The villagers cheered on Mu Yu, who they took a liking to thanks to his approachable personality and gave him gifts they prepared, such as shoes a lady burned the midnight oil to prepare him. They wanted to see off the second individual from their village who could attend the academy. An offer to betroth a ten year old daughter still wet behind the ears had him thinking he was too young for marriage.
“Thank you Miss Wang, Uncle Chong and everyone else. I can’t take any more with me.”
Mu Yu’s expression read: “Who’s the genius who gave me the rooster? Are you being serious?”
The villagers shoved various things into Mu Yu’s arms, including clothing socks, fruit, eggs and a… a useless rooster in his right hand! Besides their kindness, the villagers wanted to ensure they were in his good graces because he was going to become an immortal’s disciple. In the end, he had to place them on Village Chief Bu’s table, or they would hit the ground. Helpless before the chaotic scene, he belted, “Everyone, please hear me out.”
“Quiet! Quiet! Let’s hear what our future immortal master has to say!” yelled Uncle Wang, in his renowned booming voice.
Mu Yu tugged up the corners of his lips. “I will never forget your kindness. I can’t take all of your gifts with me, so please take them back. Thank you once again.”
Mu Yu squeezed out of the crowd, albeit with quiet a struggle and made his way to the village exit with the village chief. The village chief hummed as he merrily strutted down the road, while Mu Yu wore a haggard expression as he followed behind.
There was a young individual carved onto a statue at the village entrance. Unfortunately, the nose and eyes were crooked enough to justify it being called hideous. The individual was the other child from the village besides Mu Yu to become an immortal in the last decade. For that reason, they erected a statue supposedly in his likeness and sang praise of his accomplishment ever since. What accomplishment? Mu Yu wasn’t privy to the details. All he knew was the immortal took his parents from the village with him and never stayed in contact with the other villagers. Yet, Village Chief Bu stopped to offer a bow and recited something. Mu Yu faintly heard, “Protect the village… immortal masters…”
“When someone in the village is accomplished, we will commemorate them. Once you become an immortal, I’ll erect a stone statue in your likeness and offer incense to you daily. What do you think?”
Besides picking up the strange comment at the end, Mu Yu shook his head. “Don’t jest, Grandpa. You will forever be my grandpa. A grandpa does not bow his head to his grandson.”
Village Chief Bu stroked his beard. “How about a portrait, then? I’ll hang it up and offer incense daily.”
There was something very wrong with the suggestion, but Mu Yu couldn’t put his finger on it.
From the village in the mountain to the town took half a day on feet. They took a safe main road, which they opened in conjunction with neighbouring villages, as the terrain was friendlier and they could avoid big wild beasts jumping them. Mu Yu had gone to the town in the past when hunters needed to take their catches to the town to sell, so the path wasn’t foreign to him. After making a turn, a middle-aged man adopting a hunched form emerged from behind trees to their side.
Bow armed and string pulled, the hunter known around the area as Old Zhang vigilantly questioned, “Village Chief, are you taking Mu Yu to the town?”
“Yeah, is something the matter? You went out to hunt early this morning, didn’t you? Shouldn’t you be hunting on the other mountain? What are you doing this way?” queried Village Chief Bu.
Old Zhang lowered his bow and explained, “We are chasing a grey bear. We impaled it with an arrow, but it managed to run this way. I don’t know where it is now. The Lang brothers have gone after it while I am here to warn others from taking this route.”
“I need to take Mu Yu to the academy, though. We can’t be late. We’d have to take a long detour if we take any other path.”
“I’ll escort you, then. I’ll be worried if I let you two go alone.”
“What happens if others come this way while you’re gone? Just stay here. We’ll be fine.”
“But…”
“But what? I was a skilled hunter during my early years, you know? I could take out two bears, let alone one,” contended Village Chief Bu, trusting his experience despite his long retirement.
“It’ll be fine, Uncle Zhang. I’ll look after him,” jovially stated Mu Yu, deeming his knowledge acquired from chatting to others to be sufficient in spite of never combatting wild beasts.
“All right, but be careful.”
“I’m the one looking after you! You’ve never gone hunting. Hunting takes skill. For instance, you need to be able to judge if a particular prey is a feasible target. The first thing you have to do is look into the window to its soul. You can pick up plenty of information from a wild beast’s gaze…”
The two didn’t run into any problems on their journey. Village Chief Bu gave Mu Yu a lecture on how to hunt, guard against bandits and fiends before somehow veering onto morals, not buying into claims without deliberation, taking into account the opinions of others and how men must know when to retreat and when to advance et cetera. It certainly wasn’t the first time Mu Yu heard the lectures; he could recite them backwards, as a matter of fact. Village Chief Bu often hosted wisdom talks in the village for children when he was bored. Mu Yu was a fan of the talks; rather, he was a fan of the free candy. As for what the talks were about… well… about that…
“In life, always resolve disputes with reason instead of violence wherever possible. If you must resort to violence, don’t talk. That’s the most important lesson to bear in mind.”
Mu Yu yawned, “When do I choose violence, and when do I choose reason?”
“That requires you to learn to draw judgement after examination of one’s mannerisms. If the opposition refuses to be reasonable, reasoning with him would be a waste of time and effort. Just punch his face in. Either w-”
Roar! A grey bear in the distance came charging toward the duo, rocking the earth with each stomp. The bear was twice Mu Yu’s size; its imposing hand was larger than his face. Mu Yu recognised the arrow stuck in its chest. Although bleeding, the bear considered the elder and child easy prey unlike the hunters, which was why it furiously chased them.
“Grandpa, I see an opposition refusing to be reasonable. Reasoning with him would be a waste of time and effort. Does that mean we’re going to fight him?” asked Mu Yu, burning for a fight.
“Get lost. It’s a tiny bear. I’ll finish him without breaking a sweat. I’m sure Second Lang shot the arrow. He’s piss weak. I’m going to have to lecture him when I get back!”
Village Chief Bu whipped out his cherished bow strapped to his back. He cherished the bow he personally made that he rarely took it out. Despite its small size, it was a lethal weapon.
Fingers gesturing, Mu Yu enthused, “Go for its eyes, Grandpa!”
Maybe it was because they left in a rush. Maybe it was because his mind was too occupied with joy. Whatever the case was, Village Chief Bu’s confidence left his face. “Shoot, my foot! Run for it! I forgot to bring arrows!”
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