Chapter 6 (1/2)
”Cheng Qian”
Cheng Qian wasn't sure why, but his mater always called Han Yuan ”Xiao-Yuan”, while he called Cheng Qian by full name He couldn’t tell whether his master favored him or not from his voice, but there was stress in each syllable
Bewildered, Cheng Qian lifted his head, folding his hands in the sleeves into fists
”Come” Muchun Zhenren looked him up and down But presently he seemed to realize he was too smileless He dropped his eyelids a bit and turned back to the benign weasel Then he said with his voice softening a little, ”Come here”
As he spoke, he raised his hand onto Cheng Qian’s head The faint teradually per Qian’s body
That didn’t help as a co Qian remained in a fluster
He was running hisanxiously, ”What will Master say about me?”
In a fleetinglife flashed through his head He tried to pick out his own shortco preach
He started reflecting in his heart, ”Will he say I'm narrow-minded? Or unkind? Unfriendly?”
However, Muchun Zhenren didn’t point out his shortcos as he did in Han Yuan’s case The sect leader even hesitated for so the appropriate wording
Cheng Qian waited anxiously an unconscionable time until Muchun said solemnly, word by word for emphasis, ”As for you, you knoell in your heart So I'll corant you 'Free and Easy' as your precept”
The preach was so si Qian frowned, all his ht at last But his tension didn't ease, and conversely, strengthened
”Master, what’s 'Free and Easy'?” Cheng Qian blurted out
But soon he regretted that he had asked, for he didn’t want to appear as stupid as Han Yuan
Cheng Qian pulled hiled to work out a far-fetched explanation and asked in a probing tone, ”Does it hts and focus on cultivation?”
After a pause, instead of giving a specific explanation, Muchun nodded and said vaguely, ”For now… you could say so”
For now? What about in the future?
And as ”you could say so”?
Hearing the answer, Cheng Qian was even host of uncertain future from Muchun Zhenren's words And he could also tell that hisinto details Due to his tactfulness form precocity, he barely sed his doubts and”Yes, Master Thanks for your edification”
Muchun Zhenren sighed noiselessly Though he looked like a man in the prime of his life, he was actually so old as to have very rich experience And of course he could see things — even though Cheng Qian behaved with so good manners that he even called the Taoist child who took care of his living ”Brother”, yet evidently it wasn’t because he reckoned others to be respectful, but because he refused to dae the redundant ”refinements” in front of ”OTHERS”
As the proverb goes, ”Propriety is the attenuated forood faith, and is also the coht and exceptional talents, his nature was poles apart Great Tao Andto others… although in view of his haughtiness, assuhtest
Muchun took his hand off Cheng Qian’s head, with the worry that he o astray someday
He overturned the three-legged table and called Han Yuan and Cheng Qian over
The reverse side of the wooden table was bestreith thousands of woraps of these holes were inscribed thickly dotted characters
”This is what I aonna teach you at your initiation — the rules of Fuyao Sect You two must memorize them word for word, and from today on, write them down from memory once a day, for a total of forty-nine days” Said Muchun
In face of soQian finally revealed moderate astonishment — he never felt it was proper to inscribe so sacred sect rules on the back of a rotten table
…let alone a three-legged wooden table
Han Yuan was in the identical astonishment with him
The little beggar craned his neck and turned pale in shock ”My goodness, what the hell are these? Master, these characters may know me, but I definitely don’t know them!” He shouted
Cheng Qian, ”…”
A master as likely a weasel spirit, a preach that didn’t make sense, a set of rules that was inscribed on the back of a rotten table, and a senior brother as effear junior brother as illiterate… what good results could Cheng Qian expect when the starting point of his cultivation career was so extraordinary?
Cheng Qian predicted a bleak future
But when he returned to his dwelling in the evening, his spirits lifted at the knowledge that he actually had a study There was not only an i brushes prepared by Xueqing
Cheng Qian had never written on paper — add his natural parents' learning up and they couldn’t necessarily write from one to ten And naturally there wasn't any stationary in their house These years, by virtue of his photographic mesheng secretly He stored theround He had been drea brush, ink stick, ink slab, paper)
Cheng Qian got addicted to writing, so he didn’t follow his master's instruction — his master only required him to write the rules once a day Whereas he was already writing the fifth when Xueqing can of stopping
The writing brush made from weasel hair was totally different fro Qin's first time to use a brush and paper, the characters he wrote were naturally intolerable to the eye But it could be seen that he was intentionally i of the rules carved on the table — in addition to the rules themselves, he even committed every stroke of those characters to memory
Xueqing discovered that every ti what he failed to write well last time He was so absorbed that he sat there fora break He even didn’t notice Xueqing enter the room
While Cheng Qian had a good sleep the first night, he was too excited to fall asleep this evening As long as he closed his eyes, the soreness from his wrist would attack, and those characters and strokes would jam his mind
The sect rules 'an Dwelling Soand turning restlessly in bed The tablet apart, the shabby wooden table looked as if it was going to break in a few years Fro since the sect rules was inscribed
Whose handwriting could it be? Master's?