The night grew deep.
The Qingxu Guan, which had been somewhat noisy during the day, was now completely silent.
Since Master left, this silence felt particularly heavy, pressing down on one's heart.
The ever-burning lamp on the offering table flickered, the wick forming a small flower. The dim yellow halo illuminated the worn ledger in Chen Yuanchu's hands, and the letter pressed beneath it.
The boy sat cross-legged on the prayer mat, accompanied by the occasional chirping of insects outside the window and the sound of mountain wind brushing through the leaves, turning the pages one by one.
[Zhao the Butcher from East Ridge: Sent eight catties of pork belly on the Winter Solstice...]
[Huichun Hall in West Town: Angelica, Rehmannia, White Peony, Sichuan Lovage, Poria...]
Flipping further back, the records became even more trivial.
[Carpenter Zhang: Repaired two thresholds in the main hall...]
[Mason Old Sun: Replaced over thirty leaking tiles in the backyard...]
Chen Yuanchu recognized most of these names; they were neighbors from the villages at the foot of the mountain. The accounts mostly recorded trivial matters.
Flipping further back, money transactions appeared.
[July 16, 2013, borrowed 6,000 yuan from Xiang Kun]
Though the purpose wasn't stated, Chen Yuanchu knew it clearly in his heart—that year in July, torrential rains caused the western wall of the Taoist temple, long in disrepair, to collapse with a crash. A few days after the rain stopped, a new wall was erected.
[...]
[March 6, 2018, borrowed 8,000 yuan from Lin Ming]
This account was more recent. Chen Yuanchu remembered clearly; that spring, the tattered scriptures and stationery in the temple were almost entirely replaced with new ones.
Every financial transaction was recorded clearly. Though the usage wasn't written, Chen Yuanchu could state with closed eyes where every penny went.
As for the lenders, Chen Yuanchu didn't know most of them. Fortunately, addresses and phone numbers were left on the accounts, so there would be a place to repay them in the future.
Companions for eighteen years, morning and evening, yet he never expected that behind this old codger of a Master lay so many connections he didn't know. Presumably, they were all old ties from years past.
In Chen Yuanchu's heart, Master had always been a stubborn and obstinate old thing. Now, thinking carefully about this ledger, this old man's life might not have been so simple after all.
Flipping to the end, the dates reached the present time.
[August 9, 2023]
That was just last week.
[Borrowed one university spot from Lin Ming, tuition and fees for two years totaling 8,000 yuan]
Chen Yuanchu didn't know Lin Ming, but seeing this entry, he vaguely guessed this Lin Ming's identity.
He stared blankly for a long time, his heart filled with mixed emotions.
Master, oh Master! You went on this long journey and didn't return, yet you arranged everything, big and small, flawlessly!
A thick ledger, containing everything, almost entirely for Chen Yuanchu and this dilapidated Taoist temple. You carried so many worries; can your cloud carriage in the afterlife still bear the weight...
Chen Yuanchu stood up to add some oil to the ever-burning lamp, sat back down, and picked up the last letter Master left him.
The hand holding the envelope trembled slightly; for a moment, he couldn't bear to open it, as if reading this letter would mean the old man had truly and completely left him.
Just as he hesitated, a soft call suddenly came from outside the hall.
"Meow."
It was the old black cat from the temple. Usually as lazy as Master, often disappearing for three or five days, but now it climbed up his Taoist robe and nestled into his arms.
Master wasn't a proper monk, and this cat wasn't a proper cat either. Pitch black, gluttonous and fat, looking just like a piece of coal that had gained sentience.
Chen Yuanchu was picked up by Master, and so was this cat.
Its name also carried the character 'Shi' (to pick up), named 'Xuanmo'.
Chen Yuanchu wondered privately if Master had a special fondness for the character 'Shi', or perhaps the old man just didn't have much ink in his belly and couldn't think of any brilliant words.
In terms of age, the cat was a few years older than Chen Yuanchu. Chen Yuanchu didn't know the exact age; he only knew that he and the cat were brought up the mountain by Master in the same year—only at that time, he was still an infant in swaddling clothes, while the cat could already catch mice.
Chen Yuanchu scratched the black cat's chin, and the cat purred in its throat, squinting its amber eyes comfortably.
He stroked the fur on the cat's back; it was stained with pine needles and grass chaff. It must have gone to the back mountain to frolic again.
"Did you go steal offerings again?"
"Meow."
"Xuanmo, oh Xuanmo, now it's just the two of us relying on each other. In a few days, I have to go down the mountain to study. Will you come with me?"
"..."
The black cat ignored him, just curling its tail around his wrist, its big eyes staring at the unopened letter in his hand.
Chen Yuanchu took a deep breath and opened the envelope.
The letter paper was slightly yellowed. The handwriting was done with a brush, the ink bleeding at the edges. The flowery language was obviously written by this old man with little education, racking his brains for words.
[Yuanchu, my disciple, seeing these words is like seeing me. I rose this morning and saw the clouds heading west; I know my end is near. I am now riding the crane west, but there are still some things I must make clear to you...]
The letter was long, yet seemed short.
Chen Yuanchu read it very slowly. Unknowingly, he had already read it three times.
Master's final instructions boiled down to just a few things:
First, do not let the incense in the temple be extinguished, even if you are the only one offering it;
Second, if you have the ability, you may repair the halls, but you must not demolish and rebuild them;
Third, go down the mountain and walk around, see the great world. It's best to get some education. Our Taoists in the new era must understand both metaphysics and science;
Fourth, if there's nothing wrong, don't disturb Master's cultivation in heaven;
Fifth, remember to repay the money the temple has owed over these years;
[Yuanchu, my disciple, what I am most at ease about is you, and what I am most uneasy about is also you.]
[This time into the vast mortal world, do not forget your original intention. Go, go!]
Suddenly, there seemed to be the sound of rain beating on plantains outside the window. The black cat looked back, but there was no sign of rain outside the hall, only moonlight like water.
Looking up again, the boy's eyes were red, and large tears rolled down, smashing onto the letter paper in his hand.
"You old thing, you don't know many big characters yet you learn to be sentimental like others. I, Chen Yuanchu, am the disciple who inherited ninety-nine percent of your true teachings! What is there to be so fussy and worried about?... You win... You win!"
Chen Yuanchu carefully folded the letter and, together with the ledger, placed it under his pillow.
Master was gone. From now on, he would have to be the master of his own days.
For a moment, his heart felt empty, somewhat at a loss.
But soon, Chen Yuanchu's thoughts cleared up.
The first priority was to inherit this Qingxu Guan.
In the afternoon, the association clerk had specifically reminded him that to inherit the Taoist temple legally and compliantly, he still lacked a diploma.
The old man raised and taught him all this time, wasn't it just so that one day he could inherit the mantle? No matter how dilapidated the Qingxu Guan was, it was the place where the two of them settled their lives; how could they let an outsider take advantage of it?
Since he had to go down the mountain to travel the mortal world anyway, he might as well take the opportunity to take the university entrance exam.
How hard could studying be?
It was just something to do on the side while traveling.
Next were the accounts.
From the classification in the Master's ledger, it could be seen that the usually stubborn old man was extremely clear about these debts.
Goods accounts were goods accounts, financial accounts were financial accounts. It wasn't that there were no favors; every single entry was a favor.
Chen Yuanchu did a rough calculation. The debt accumulated over the years was about one hundred and eight thousand yuan. It didn't look like a huge sum, but for him who had never had the concept of earning money, it was truly a heavy amount.
Although in all these years, he never saw Master properly repay money...
But Master was right; one can repay slowly, repay with a plan, but one must not not repay!