My Taoist Career Chapter 1

As for my

profession, I was a Taoist, which used to sound more decent. In contrast to the

present era, people once liked to call us “the godlike”.

But sometimes I

felt somewhat helpless; after all, it is ‘metaphysics”, the legacy of our

ancestors. Besides the fact that few people can truly comprehend it, due to

some taboos, the honored masters generally don’t serve the ordinary people.

Therefore, once people

encountered enough cheaters and charlatans who flaunted themselves as Taoists,

the title of “the godlike” for the profession was generally adopted by the

masses.

To be frank, in

recent years I have made 37 deals in total, but the people I served were either

the rich or the noble. However, there were two exceptions.

But presently I

don’t do any business since I just want to enjoy life. Of course, everyone

likes money; well, it is well-known that the destiny arranged by heaven should

be divulged lightly, if one leaks too much of heaven’s mystery to common

people, he may incur extremely evil fortunes. Considering this, how can I

continue in that career without reservations?

However, people

tend to get bored with long-time idleness. Recalling what I have gone through during

the over forty years in my life, my only regret is my guilt towards my Master,

since the aspiration he embraced throughout his whole life were nothing other

than carrying forward the true and erecting a good

reputation for true Taoists.

So, is it easy to

make a fortune as a Taoist? In contemporary society, the profession is full of

hardships. Actually, our national leaders attach importance to ,

and place great value on the masters in the profession.

But the profession

involves issues which cannot be revealed to common people. Do not ask me for

the reason, just trust me.

All I can do is

put down on paper what I have experienced during these years, in order to let

people understand what a true Taoist is like, what the true “metaphysics” are like.

Of course, I

cannot write down the specific skills. If everyone got access to and mastered them,

they would not have been in danger of dying out. Besides, I don't intend to

mislead anyone or let the curious ones be mocked.

As for whether my

writing is true or not, I just want to declare that you can compare it with

your own life.

Ok, let’s get down

to our business. The following are my experiences, which I selected and put

down on paper. For various reasons, artistic license was used in some key

points.

Text:

I am from Sichuan

province, born in an impoverished village in the southwest of Sichuan in the

winter of 1967. On account of my profession's taboos, I won't reveal my

detailed birth date and my eight horoscope characters, only my birth time - exactly

12 o'clock sharp at noon - which would help me explain my following stories.

Perhaps someone

will pose a question here. The birth time sounds so incredible! Is it true? Nobody

would be able to prove it was right at 12 o'clock, not one second more or less,

even if my father had held a watch in hand at that time.

Well, your doubt

makes sense!

So I should

clarify that the time was calculated by my master based on my eight horoscope

characters.

I have never

doubted my master, and later the facts proved that what he forecasted for me

invariably became true.

So what is so special

about a person born at 12 o'clock, sharp? This will be answered later.

However, please do

not be nervous if you are one of the persons who were born at the same time.

Actually, however, there are few people who are born at this time.

Let’s continue.

The winter when I

was born was unusually chilly, and nowadays my parents can still recall it

vividly.

Regarding that

winter, my father described it: “it was so chilly that our old hens moved on their

tiptoes in our courtyard.”

I cannot imagine

how amusing it must look when a hen walks on its tiptoes. It was really impressive

that it got so cold in my hometown, where it barely ever snow. Compared with

the north, where it snows, the South’s winter, with clammy and gloomy chills

penetrating people’s bones, was more unbearable.

That’s the winter

when I was born. When I was born, my parents almost didn’t believe I could

survive it, particularly in that abnormal time.

There were three

reasons:

First, when I was

born, I looked excessively tiny and feeble, like a baby cat, giving out only a

short cry.

Second, my crying

sounded fairly feeble, as if something was stuck in my throat. The seasoned

rural midwife, thinking I had swallowed amniotic fluid, patted my back a few

times, but it didn’t work.

Third, while bathing

me, my father and the found a birthmark on

the back of my head. Actually, birthmarks are very common, but mine looked like

blood at first glance, and when they observed it carefully it seemed like an

eye.

The country folks

were superstitious. The midwife became frightened, saying: “The birthmark looks

like an eye, and it even seemed like it was staring at me. Your baby is so

feeble, and he has such a birthmark. Would you like to ask someone to check

whether your baby has some problem or not?”

My parents,

illiterate, were shocked and rattled by what the midwife suggested.

Particularly my

mother, faint after giving birth, just slumped down in the bed. My father appeared

calmer, asking the midwife: “Granny Liu, what is wrong with my baby, in your

opinion? So whom shall I ask for help? Do I go to the township clinic to ask

for a doctor?”

The villagers were

poor, and medical conditions were outdated. In my parents’ eyes, the seasoned

midwife was certainly the most well-informed person whom they could rely on.

Upon hearing my

father’s question, Granny Liu whispered to my father after she glanced around

secretly, “something often sticks to a feeble new-born, do you know that? It

would leave marks on the babies. For example, if it grabs a baby, it would

leave some black fingerprint-like marks; if it kicks one, it would leave a

footprint on the baby’s body. The ones who were pulled down to drown by water

ghosts, if you ever saw them, mostly had handprints on the corpses.

As soon as she

finished her words, my father couldn’t help but shudder, feeling scared, and began

to understand what the midwife meant. My father would have treated her story as

nonsense if she hadn’t added the section of the water ghosts, but my father had

to believe, since he had once seen one drowned corpse with black marks.

It happened in

summer, over a decade earlier, when my father was a teenager. The rural

children often went swimming in the river.

As usual, my

father joined several buddies to go swimming after he completed his farm work. His

friends included twin brothers, who were called Da Shuang and Xiao Shuang, and

the accident happened to them.

My father hadn’t

witnessed the whole event. All he could recall was that while he was playing

some mud games with a boy on the bank of the river, he heard Xiao Shuang

screaming: “My brother is sinking, hurry up, help, help me!”

Upon hearing this,

my father was startled and turned back, seeing that Da Shuang’s body was

sinking in the center of the river, only his head above the water. But strangely,

he wasn’t struggling to float up.

Xiao Shuang was

swimming hurriedly towards his brother, and another two boys were following him.

My father also

promptly swam to Da Shuang without any hesitation. Soon, Xiao Shuang grasped

his brother’s head. No sooner than he took a breath, he shouted: “shit, he is

so heavy, puppy Wang, hurry up and help me.”

Puppy Wang, who

was the nearest to Xiao Shuang, sped up to approach him, and grasped his struggling

hands above the water.

“Hold my brother,

I can’t go on anymore," Xiao Shuang could barely breathe, exhausting

himself by pulling his brother onto the bank.

Besides the five

or six boys, there were several adults who also ran there after hearing the screaming.

The twins were finally rescued by their effort.

When Da Shuang was

pulled up onto the bank, he had lost consciousness. After swallowing too much

water, his belly was swollen. Xiao Shuang’s face turned livid, and he trembled

slightly in the sticky summer. Everyone thought he was frightened as they were

too busy with tending to Da Shang.

Luckily the people

living there all had knowledge of first aid measures for drowning. Da Shuang

finally opened his eyes after a quarter of an hour.

As he opened his

empty eyes, he seemed astonished that he was still alive. Fourth Uncle cursed Da

Shuang, giving him a slap, “you naughty boy, why were you swimming to the

middle of the river? You just don’t care about your safety.”

The reproach was

out of sincere concern. The people were simple at that time, and the villagers all

knew each other and had good relationships, so even if others’ children had had

an accident, they would also be concerned about the child.

Da Shuang did not

retort. My father knew he hadn’t fully regained consciousness. But the trembling

Xiao Shuang near them recalled: “Fourth Uncle, I don’t think that it was my

brother's intention to swim to the middle. but he seemed to have been pulled by

something there. What I said was true.”

Though Xiao Shuang

kept a low voice, a hush fell over the crowd, and Fourth Uncle also held his

breath.

The country folks

all heard of some ghost or such weird tales. And what Xiao Shuang described

just proved the water ghost was seeking a victim! Even after hearing and

gossiping much about this, they just didn’t totally believe it was true.

“You are the

little ignorant boy speaking nonsense because you are afraid of being beaten by

your father, aren’t you? Do not make up lies, it will cause panic.” looked solemn. To the country folk, making up ghost stories to

escape punishment was sure to incur evil fortunes.

“I didn’t lie” Xiao

Shuang jumped up and screamed, “I saw my brother swimming, then he stopped moving

all of a sudden and began to sink towards the center, like he was being pulled

by something, and, and ….”

“And what?” Uncle

Li’s countenance turned more and more grave. He could feel the kid wasn’t lying,

but the whole matter just sounded so weird.

“While I was

rescuing my brother, I felt his body was strangely heavy, like something was

also pulling him down. In addition, I felt so cold. As soon as I grabbed my

brother, I felt chilly all over,” said Xiao Shuang. People began to believe Xiao

Shuang’s words, noticing he had been shivering ever since he came up to the riverbank.

My father also

helped drag Da Shuang out of the river, he had also felt Da Shuang’s frosty

body. But to his surprise, he and the other kids seemed unaffected. When they

recalled this, they figured that maybe they were very strong, with intense Yang

Qi (according to Taoism, all the objects exist with both Yang Qi and Yin Qi, literally,

male and female properties), so the evil thing had to give up, otherwise, it would

have been impossible for the person possessed by evil to be rescued.

At the same time, Da

Shuang managed to speak: “I saw some fish beneath the water, so I plunged into

the river, but then felt my ankles being grabbed by someone, and I instantly felt

so icy that I couldn’t move at all.”

Da Shuang was

speaking with his dull eyes and scared face. When he sub-consciously looked at Da

Shuang’s ankles, my father saw 3 clear thumb marks. The dark thumb marks looked

so weird and spooky. That was a moment my father could never forget in his

whole life.

“Well, boy, then you

are lucky,” Uncle Li only remarked this and again fell into silence, like everyone

else.

The weird

experience of my father’s childhood ended there. Recalling the scary experience,

he got more anxious, since he had been looking forward to having a boy,

following the birth of two daughters. He could not bear to lose the one he just

received.

“Granny Liu,

please let me know what is wrong with my baby. I just don’t know what I should

do,” my father asked anxiously.

“This mark looks

like an eye. I am afraid this is perhaps why your baby is chosen” Granny Liu

lowered her voice and guessed.

“Just please let

me know what to do?” my father deeply believed her guess. The old saying, ‘A

drowning man will clutch at a straw at the bank’, can exactly represent his

mood at that time.

“What to do? I am

afraid you have to ask for…” after taking a swift glance around, Granny Liu

lowered her voice: “Widow Zhou to come and check what the problem is.”

“Ah, Widow Zhou?” My

father couldn’t help but sigh, knitting his brows. Apparently, Granny Liu’s

suggestion placed him in a dilemma.

“Widow Zhou?” my

mother struggled to sit up, disagreeing strongly: “no, no, days ago a meeting

held by the village committee advocated for cracking down on all sorts of bad

guys and destroying the Four Olds. We can’t engage in superstitious activities.”

Granny Liu just

rose up: “Chen, I made the suggestion for the sake of your family, thinking of

you finally have a son after so many years. As for my advice, it is up to you

both. I am leaving now.”

Giving my mother

an accusing glare, my father hastened to rise up to see off Granny Liu. Approaching

the gate, my father captured one young chicken and insisted that Granny Liu

receive it, saying: “Granny Liu, I always bear in mind others’ favors and help

for me, and I will never do anything treacherous. Trust me, when my son is

grown up, I will visit you and bring some bacon.”

“Ok, we are all

fellow villagers, but we are not as close as before. Actually, no one hopes

other families will live a bad life, but consider the morals of the present era….”

Granny Liu only slightly grumbled, having understood my father’s attitude

toward this, and left.

Of course, my

mother was not to blame. She was only a timid housewife. My father and Granny

Liu had to talk in a cautious way due to that special period in 1967. Everyone knows

what had happened.

My father just wanted

to show that he meant no harm to Granny Liu and that he wouldn’t be a blabbermouth,

while Granny Liu sighed about the morals at that time, people being wary of each

other for fear of being reported to the local government for activities against

its policy.

Compared with the turmoil

in other places, our impoverished village was a haven of peace and happiness. At

least the people there retained some humanity and goodwill, compared to the

outside world where people had engaged crazily in political campaigns.

After seeing off

Granny Liu, my father entered the room with a grim face and found that my two

sisters, who had avoided the occasion earlier, had already entered.

The children could

not be present where women were giving birth. This was our local custom.

My father saw the two

sisters bending over the bed and watching me curiously with great care. My

eldest sister, aged 5, instructed the younger 3-year- old sister: “do not touch

our brother, he looks so delicate.”

Her words touched

my father’s heartstrings. He scooped my younger sister up and fondled my eldest

sister’s hair, looking at me with knitted brows.

“Chen, will you go

to fetch Zhou? Are you serious?” as soon as my father had entered, my mother

inquired of him.

With a cough, my

father interrupted my mother, and put down my sister. He said to my sisters: “Sister,

take your sister to the kitchen to check the chicken soup. If it is boiled dry,

you will have no chicken for supper.”

At that time, my father

was competent and my mother was industrious. We lived a better life compared to

others in our village. At least my mother could have nourishing old hen soup

after giving birth. The leftover chicken my mother hadn’t eaten up would be given

to my sisters.

On hearing about

eating chicken, my sisters became excited. With a quick answer to my father,

they ran to the kitchen and kept watching the pot.

“You cannot talk

about this in the face of our children, in case they let other people know. They

do not understand the consequences of such an affair.”

“I am just

worried. Look at our son, so thin and short, and I do not have breast milk now.

Besides, this winter gets so cold. I…” my mother could not bear to continue, hugging

me tightly as if I would leave her in a moment.

“Widow Zhou is a

bad person with a bad reputation. Though the village head and the villagers

protect her with kindness, the high-level cadres all keep a close eye on her,

expecting to find some pretext to earn rewards through denouncing her behavior

against the Party’s policy.

“So what can we

do?” my mother grumbled: “will we disobey the policy?”

My father felt a

bit annoyed but also tried to resist the temptation to laugh at my mother. My mother

was just an ordinary housewife. Apart from my father, the government was what she

mostly believed in.

“Because the government

wouldn’t know what happened to our son if she, so great a person, would consent

to save our child. Do not bother yourself with this; let’s take him to the township

clinic tomorrow. If the doctor cannot help, we will turn to Widow Zhou.” After

pacifying my mother, he heaved a sigh of fear that Widow Zhou would not offer

help.”