Chapter 8

My mother no longer tried to stop me, after all, the chicken and the snake were provided by others, so we had to show enough sincerity. If we were going to get some eels, we might as well get some eels.

That day, it wasn't until midnight that my father returned, covered in mud. He had indeed managed to catch about 20 eels.

My mother, worried about my father, quickly prepared hot water for him to wash. My father was still complaining, "If it were summer, I could have caught several pounds of eels by now! I would have let Master Jiang eat to his heart's content!"

"Alright, alright, we need to get up early tomorrow, so don't get so excited," my mother scolded, not understanding why my father was so excited.

How could she understand the pressure a man bears? These days, my father had been hoping to cure me, but he was suffering inside, as if a heavy stone was pressing on his heart. The appearance of Old Man Jiang gave my father a sense of relief from his pressure.

Everything was prepared for the next day.

The next day, at around 11:30 AM, Old Man Jiang arrived as scheduled.

He still looked disheveled, giving off a lazy vibe. He walked into our house with his hands behind his back, acting as if he were very familiar with the place. My parents, who were eager to welcome him, and a table full of dishes greeted him, along with my two sisters, who were staring at the table and drooling.

After entering the house, Old Man Jiang didn't look at the table full of dishes. Instead, he walked around our rooms, looking as if he were just casually visiting. My parents, who didn't dare to be negligent, followed closely behind him.

After walking around, Old Man Jiang shook his head and said mysteriously, "Pretty ordinary, not very wealthy."

My parents almost fell over when they heard this. What did Old Man Jiang mean? Was he here to visit our house?

Old Man Jiang didn't explain further. How could he explain to my parents that there was nothing wrong with the layout of our house? He just brushed it off.

"Let's eat," he said and headed straight for the dining table.

He sat down at the head of the table without hesitation. Looking at the dishes on the table, he couldn't help but swallow a couple of times.

The centerpiece was the wild chicken stewed with snake, with fresh and crisp winter bamboo shoots added. The broth was perfectly cooked, and the rising aroma was irresistible even to the gods.

Next to it were several large porcelain bowls: one with shiny and transparent cured meat, one with stir-fried pork, and another with stir-fried eels. There was also a bowl of steaming, spicy fish with bean paste.

These were authentic Sichuan peasant dishes, prepared in the peasant style, as fresh as they could be. Just looking at the spicy dishes, with their bright red Sichuan peppers and green scallions, was enough to make one's mouth water.

To prevent Old Man Jiang from getting bored, my mother also prepared a dish of pickled radish and a plate of pickles.

My father didn't waste any time and brought out the best rice wine, which he had exchanged for from the best rice wine maker in the village.

Old Man Jiang didn't hesitate. After my father poured him a drink, he grabbed his chopsticks and started eating. He hadn't even finished swallowing the food when he took another sip of wine, eating like a whirlwind, but he was also spitting out his tongue from the spiciness.

My father noticed something and asked directly, "Master Jiang, are you not from Sichuan?" For a Sichuanese, the spiciness would be spicy, but not enough to make him spit out his tongue.

Old Man Jiang didn't answer, still busy eating.

My father smiled awkwardly and didn't press further. He knew that if Old Man Jiang didn't want to answer, it was best to avoid the question.

At the dinner table, no matter how my parents tried to start a conversation, Old Man Jiang just kept eating and drinking.

After nearly an hour, Old Man Jiang finally finished his meal. He put down his chopsticks, placed his cup, and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. Without waiting for my parents to say anything, he said, "Bring your son over for me to see."

A god, a real god! My parents were overjoyed. Without a word, my mother took my two sisters out, and my father went to carry me over.

But it wasn't as magical as my parents thought. Years later, my master told me that his fortune-telling skills were far inferior to one person. Meeting my father on the mountain was a true coincidence, and although his face-reading skills weren't his forte, he could still tell that my father had a request.

During the meal, my master carefully examined my parents' faces and deduced that there was a problem with their children. My two sisters were at the table, and he found no issues with them, so the problem must be with me.

There were only so many households in the village, and my master often wandered around. He knew which families had children, and he had seen me on the big bed when he walked around the house.

That was the entire process.

But fate is like this. My master had predicted that he would have a disciple in this area, and due to some special and historical reasons, he came to this region and stayed for several years without deliberately seeking one. Daoism emphasizes naturalness; if it was truly his disciple, they would eventually meet by chance, and fate would not let them escape.

In less than a minute, my father carried me to Old Man Jiang. He examined me carefully, furrowing his brow and letting out a slight "hmm."

Before my master could speak, my father, anxious, quickly turned me around and pointed to the birthmark on the back of my head, saying, "Master Jiang, is there a problem with this?"

After saying that, my father added mysteriously, "I heard it's a mark of being targeted by something."

My father's words seemed to bring Old Man Jiang back to his senses. He shouted, "Nonsense! Tell me the child's birth date and time!"

"Yes, yes..." My father quickly told him my birth date and time.

Old Man Jiang stood up, walked back and forth, and muttered words that my father couldn't understand: "1967, Heavenly River... Day branch... This time, tsk... How could it be so coincidental?"

In the end, Old Man Jiang even spoke in a Beijing accent, showing how deeply he was focused.

"No, no... That's just a superficial view..." In the end, Old Man Jiang asked my father to bring me over again and carefully examined my face, paying special attention to my eyebrows and nose.

Finally, he wasn't satisfied and grabbed my hand to examine it, then carefully felt my arms and legs.

After this thorough examination, he couldn't take his eyes off me. He stared at me for a while and then said seriously to my father, "This child has a true child's destiny, and even a Daoist child's destiny! He is destined to have little connection with his parents. Can you bear it?"

"What do you mean, is my son going to die?" My father didn't understand what "destiny" meant. Hearing that his son would have little connection with his parents, he was very anxious.

"No, with me here, he won't... There are some things I'll explain later. Now I have a question for you. Think carefully before you answer."

"What question, Master Jiang, just ask." My father, reassured that I wouldn't die with him around, was more willing to answer.

"Was your son born exactly at 12:00 PM?"

"This? How do you calculate that?" My father was confused. How could you determine the exact moment of birth, when the head appeared, or when the whole body was out? It was a bit hard to define.

"The moment the fetus is fully out of the mother's body is the birth time," my master said very seriously, speaking in a more formal manner.

"Master Jiang, I really don't know. I can't be sure if it was exactly 12:00 PM. Is this important?" My father asked cautiously.

Old Man Jiang had expected this. He waved his hand, not paying attention to my father, and started walking back and forth with his hands behind his back.

Sometimes, to deduce something, you don't need to use divination. It's like solving a math problem; sometimes you can solve it with the necessary conditions, not every problem requires a formula.

My situation had given Old Man Jiang sufficient and satisfactory conditions. After a moment of contemplation, he said, "I have deduced it. Your son was born exactly at 12:00 PM. The problem lies in his child's destiny and the fact that he was born at the exact moment."

"12:00 PM? Master Jiang, that's broad daylight, the brightest time of the day. How could he be targeted by something?" My father's thinking was simple. He believed that, according to folklore, this was the most yang time, and it couldn't possibly attract those things.

Old Man Jiang didn't say anything. He went outside, picked up a branch, and started drawing. My mother had just taken my two sisters to play and saw this.

My parents thought Old Man Jiang would draw some profound array, but he quickly drew a Taiji diagram.

"Master Jiang, what is this?" my father asked.

"Is noon the brightest time? Who told you that? Noon is the time of the heaviest yin! The most yang time is just before dawn, when the rooster crows for the first time," Old Man Jiang said calmly.

"Why?" My mother couldn't understand this either. How could noon be the time of the heaviest yin?

"Even if I explain in detail, you won't understand. Let me put it simply. Look at this diagram, the two yin-yang fish..." Old Man Jiang pointed to the intersection of the yin and yang fish in the Taiji diagram, which was the two sharpest points.

"What I want to tell you is not about the union of yin and yang, but about the principle that when something reaches its peak, it will decline. Any matter, when it reaches its extreme, will turn in the opposite direction. The yin-yang fish also contain this meaning. 12:00 PM is the extreme, the moment when the yang of the day suddenly turns to yin. Is it yin or not? It turns without a process. Those who are born at this turning point are born at the most yin moment." Old Man Jiang tried to explain in simple terms. His explanation was astonishing, at least to my parents, who had never heard such a theory.

Old Man Jiang didn't insist on making them believe. He threw the branch away, clapped his hands, and said, "Who says ghosts only come out at night? They can also come out at noon, especially during that time, which is the only time they can move during the day. They were once people, so they naturally prefer the daytime."

Old Man Jiang's words made my parents feel a chill. My mother also remembered that she often felt drowsy during her midday naps, which made sense now.