Yama Reborn-Chapter 403 - 400 【The Whole Village Full of Jiang Family’s Followers】
Chapter Four Hundred: The Whole Village is Full of Jiang’s Apprentices
Cross Village Slope.
Underneath the mountain gate of Qingyun Sect.
A tractor chugged its way down to the slope. The stone path repaired by the village had already begun to crack and deteriorate in many places. All the way there, Chen Nuo and Old Jiang were jostled about quite a bit.
Old Jiang and Chen Nuo sat in the back of the tractor, fanning away the dust and coughing.
When the tractor stopped and they got off, Old Jiang went over with a smile to pat the driver on the back, thanking him in the local dialect, and fished out a pack of cigarettes from his pocket to press into the man’s hand.
"No need, no need!" The driver resisted a little. "Teacher Jiang, you used to be a teacher in our village. I can’t take your cigarettes; my fourth and fifth sons were both taught by you..."
Old Jiang insisted and stuffed the cigarettes into the man’s pocket before turning to glance at Chen Nuo, who had jumped off the tractor holding a backpack.
As the tractor drove away, Old Jiang waved goodbye and then turned to gaze at the wild tea and peach trees on the hillside, his eyes distant and seemingly filled with reminiscence.
"Did you used to teach here?" Chen Nuo asked.
"How else would I have ended up taking that little rascal Wu Daodao as my apprentice?" Old Jiang waved his hand dismissively, sighing.
Thinking about his own sect, he really felt like he had committed a sin...
All the apprentices from the Inner Gate were exceptional beings. And Wu Daodao, the Outer Gate’s named disciple, was someone he hadn’t even looked at with any satisfaction back in the day—but when compared to the devils and demons of the Inner Gate, he was practically a good Samaritan!
In reality, Old Jiang had always entrusted Song Qiaoyun, Chen Nuo’s master’s wife, to the care of Qingyun Sect. This was something Chen Nuo only found out just before setting off with Old Jiang on this trip.
...Which was good.
Although Wu Daodao was a bit sneaky, his whole family was capable. Song Qiaoyun would be well protected by them here. Of course, it wasn’t about relying on Wu Daodao—who couldn’t even win a fight against his own apprentice. It was about Wu Daodao’s wife, that woman with more whites than sclera in her eyes. Her skill with the whip was such that she could keep Chen Nuo on the run all over the mountain in their earlier fights.
***
Before departing, Old Jiang was actually very anxious and restless, but upon truly arriving at Cross Village, he instead seemed to calm down. Hands clasped behind his back, he made no offer to help Chen Nuo with the luggage and walked ahead with an air of ease.
Chen Nuo didn’t mind—he would carry the luggage if it needed carrying.
After all, it was his master.
No matter if their skills were great or small, the master-apprentice relationship remained. Tang Sanzang might be useless in a fight, but on the road, aren’t Zhu Bajie and Sha Wujing still leading the horse and carrying the load? And all the while, Sun Wukong is the one who goes to beg for food or pick fruit and serves it up to them.
As Old Jiang and Chen Nuo made their way up the mountain, Old Jiang couldn’t help but start to talk incessantly.
Teacher Jiang had actually spent quite a few years in this place.
In his early days, he was a local of Jinling. However, having lost his parents at a young age, he was adopted by Song Qiaoyun’s father.
Song Qiaoyun’s father grew up in Cross Village Slope. Later, Old Song went to Jinling City to make a living doing small trades, like pushing a bike to sell ice pops in summer or sugar-coated haws and cotton candy in winter. For a couple of years, he even pushed a clay stove, making popcorn as he walked through the streets and alleys. He had mended things with steel, repaired the bottoms of pots, sharpened scissors, and honed kitchen knives.
In fact, Song Qiaoyun’s father was quite learned—having ancestors who were officials, and practicing martial arts, which in itself represented a kind of family heritage—practicing advanced martial arts was impossible without literacy. Otherwise, if an ancient martial arts tome was passed down to you and you were illiterate, wouldn’t that leave you at a loss? Plus, one needed to know some medical and pharmacological knowledge.
But the misfortune lay in the fact that in those times, class status was everything. Old Song’s class status was poor; he couldn’t work in a factory or become a member of the glorious working class, so he had to make do as a street vendor.
By the way, few young people nowadays know what "class status" means. In another twenty years, if Chen Yanluo were to return to the era before his rebirth, hardly any young people would know this term anymore.
—Through various street and alley enterprises, Old Song managed to feed Song Qiaoyun and support her schooling all the way. Old Jiang was particularly studious, having steadily attended school up to high school. In that era, that was a remarkable level of education.
Then, the Cultural Revolution happened.
During the Cultural Revolution, Old Jiang’s troubles began.
As an "educated youth."
During his first year of high school, Old Jiang, following state policy, was sent to the countryside—there was no choice in the matter, and besides, the schools had shut down in the fervor of the Cultural Movement. Various Red Guards were active everywhere. Old Jiang had an honest and kind personality and couldn’t engage in the ideological and physical battles that involved dragging one’s own teachers to the schoolyard to be spat upon.
So, the young Old Jiang went to the countryside.
At this point, Old Song made an extremely crucial move. Going to great lengths, Old Song cashed in favors and pulled strings until he managed to arrange something very specific. He managed to direct Little Jiang’s rural placement back to—Cross Village.
So, leaving behind the little house in Jinling where they had lived for many years, they locked the door. Then Old Song, along with the teenage Little Jiang and Song Qiaoyun, returned to Cross Village Slope.
Many years later, reflecting on this Chapter of his past, Old Jiang was profoundly grateful for everything his master had done for him!
Those years were actually quite chaotic. All sorts of educated youth went to the mountains and the countryside, and many of them lived very miserably—this is not pleasant to detail.
But returning to Cross Village was different. As Old Song was a local who had left, returning was like coming home, and the villagers, being his fellow townsfolk, all helped look after him.
Especially Little Jiang, who had heard that classmates from his school who went to the mountains and countryside elsewhere were living in thatched mud huts, working every day to reform their thoughts—those herding did herding, those farming did farming. The food was poor, and quite a few educated youths, for a bite to eat, even resorted to stealing chickens and dogs, resulting in conflicts with the local villagers, and some were beaten badly.
Hearing of these, and then looking at his own days in Cross Village. Indeed, it was like heaven on one side and hell on the other.
They were allocated a good, large house—with roof leaks and beam repairs all taken care of by a group of young men from the village clan. Things like quilts were either borrowed from the Zhang family or given by the Li family. The bricks for the stove were contributed by more than twenty households in the village.
According to the rules, Little Jiang, as an educated youth sent to the countryside, was also supposed to work—of course, not for free, as he would earn wages. Back then, this was called work points. The amount of work you did equated to how many work points you earned, and then a certain number of points could be exchanged for a certain amount of food rations.
Look, isn’t this the credit system? As you can see, the credit system had deep roots in Huaxia...
But the local people, considering Old Song’s family as their own returning home, were all willing to take care of them.
And Old Song had made up his mind!
"The country is a bit chaotic right now—but such a vast Huaxia cannot be in chaos forever. Sooner or later, order will be restored. Throughout history, regardless of which country or dynasty, as long as the society is stable, culture is what makes one sought after! Therefore, not studying is not an option!"
Thus, Old Song set the path for Little Jiang: to study at home!
When they returned from Jinling City to Cross Village, Old Song actually brought very little of their household belongings. But Old Song made sure to bring back every single one of Little Jiang’s textbooks from school, not even leaving behind a single sheet of paper!
And that wasn’t all! Using his skills from collecting scrap in the city before, Old Song traveled through alleys and streets, gathering a few high school textbooks—as at that time, many educated youths went to the mountains and countryside, and many sold their books as scrap. Old Song took the opportunity to collect several sets and brought them all back to Cross Village.
So, during those years that Little Jiang was sent to the countryside as an educated youth, many of the jobs that required earning work points were actually done by Old Song in his stead. Little Jiang, on the other hand, was confined to his home by Old Song and studied hard by himself behind closed doors.
During those years, the situation in the city was tumultuous with the Cultural Revolution, but in these small villages far from the city, it was actually not too bad. There were fewer movements. It was just that there were more directives from the town authorities, more organized study sessions, and the village loudspeaker broadcasting the reading of the Little Red Book at regular times each day. Other than that, it was not too bad.
And so, the family of three, in Cross Village, lived for several years in a bittersweet existence.
Little Jiang, relying on self-study, completed his high school education in Cross Village.
Then, Old Song had another idea and consulted with the village chief and other village elders and the party secretary.
The village school had to continue! He used the same argument that had convinced the villagers to educate Little Jiang.
After that, at seventeen, Little Jiang became a primary school teacher in Cross Village Slope. Well, saying he was a primary school teacher is not exactly accurate, as the village school wasn’t so rigorous—it actually taught both primary and junior high school courses. Study as much as you can, learn as much as you can.
At first, it wasn’t so smooth-going. The conditions in the countryside were special, and getting children to attend school was not an easy endeavor. Forget those years; even now, it’s challenging to get children to school in some impoverished areas.
Little Jiang went from house to house, persuading each family. Helping the Zhang family with farm work, helping the Li family with hulling rice, helping the Zhao family with firewood, helping the Sun family with bricklaying. One by one, he gathered all the village children into the little village school, giving them the chance to follow along with the textbooks: "Spring has arrived, the wild geese fly south..."
Let’s put it this way: from the late sixties to the seventies, for over ten years, an entire generation in Cross Village Slope, from as young as five or six to as old as fourteen or fifteen. This generation from Cross Village, whether they studied for a short or long period, all attended the village school—some for as little as ten days or half a month before quitting, others for two to three years or even longer. No matter how much, everyone in this generation from Cross Village, no matter who you were, when you saw Teacher Jiang, you had to respectfully call out, "Teacher Jiang."
As a result, Teacher Jiang’s prestige in Cross Village nearly rivaled that of Old Song!
At the height of his fame, just how esteemed was he? Teacher Jiang just had to stroll around the village with his hands behind his back, walk straight into any house without knocking, and the homeowners would not only not mind but also smile and offer a seat and insistently invite him to stay for a meal. For any significant or minor village event, a wedding or a funeral, Teacher Jiang had to be invited as a guest of honor, to sit at the main table. When young couples married or had children, it was essential to have Teacher Jiang as the wedding officiant. If Teacher Jiang could give a name to a newborn, that was considered most proper!
Teacher Jiang stayed in Cross Village until he was twenty-three when the Cultural Revolution ended.
Actually, before the Cultural Revolution ended, Old Song’s health was already failing. At home, inside and out, it was Teacher Jiang who took charge.
At twenty-five, when the national college entrance examination was resumed, Teacher Jiang, following Old Song’s instructions, participated in that test. Thanks to not neglecting his high school studies through ten years of the Cultural Revolution, and his years of teaching in the village, dealing with textbooks daily, he became one of the first batch of university students when the college entrance examination was restored.
Yes, he took the college entrance examination at twenty-five. In those days, just after order had been restored, there weren’t only twenty-five-year-old examinees, but even forty-year-olds!
He didn’t get into any famous institution, just a Normal University.
However, before he went off to report to university, Little Jiang held his wedding at Cross Village Slope. He married Song Qiaoyun.
The wedding day was a village-wide effort; though it wasn’t luxurious, it was extraordinarily lively. During the toasting at the wedding feast, all the older children of Cross Village, ranging from five or six to fourteen or fifteen years old, counted one by one, a total of two hundred and forty-three people, all queued up and stood in front of Teacher Jiang, neatly shouting, "We wish Teacher Jiang and Teacher Mrs. Song a hundred years of harmony and an early birth of a precious child!"
Oh, and some of those kids still had snot on their faces.
That scene...
Old Song, who was already in poor health at that time, teared up and grabbed Little Jiang. "You’ve not lived in vain your whole life in Cross Village! In the future, no matter what troubles you face, you can always come back at the hardest times. With this sentiment, as long as you don’t commit a monstrous crime against the state, all the villagers, young and old, will be willing to protect you."
Right then, Little Jiang, his hand grasped by Old Song, was filled with emotion and couldn’t utter a word.
It was also that summer when Old Song didn’t make it through and died in Cross Village. On the brink of death, he was no longer lucid, and his last words were, "...where did I put the key to the front door of our house in Jinling City?"
The key had been lost for some time.
At that moment, Little Jiang hurriedly ran out and picked out a key that looked similar from the local locksmith, rushed back, and thrust it into his master’s and father-in-law’s hand. "Patriarch, the key is here, here it is!"
Old Song, holding that key and feeling it for a while, finally passed away at ease.
***
After graduating from university, Little Jiang was assigned back to No. 8 Middle School as a teacher. Well, at that time, Jiangning District, where No. 8 Middle School was located, was technically Jiangning County, though it was often considered part of the greater Jinling City area. It really wasn’t a desirable placement—those with connections all tried to get placed in the city proper.
Little Jiang wasn’t picky.
To him, going to Jiangning County was great since it was close to Jinling City—it roughly counted as coming home.
Thus, he bid farewell to Cross Village and took Song Qiaoyun back to Jinling.
On the day they left Cross Village...
The whole village came to see them off!
***
Standing at the bottom of the slope, Old Jiang seemed a bit nostalgic as he touched a persimmon tree by the road. Most of the persimmons were ripe, but there were few left on the branches, presumably picked clean by the nearby kids.
"This tree, I planted it with my own hands."
Old Jiang sighed.
Chen Nuo wasn’t in a hurry, just standing there quietly, watching.
"Chen Nuo..."
"What is it, Old Jiang?" Chen Nuo chuckled.
Old Jiang sighed. "Actually, I should be saying this to Lin Sheng, he’s the senior disciple... but he’s not here, so telling you is the same." He paused, then slowly said, "I have no children of my own. When I’m old and gone, it will be up to you, my disciples, to take care of things. After I die, I want to go back to Cross Village—to be buried on the back mountain."
Chen Nuo hurriedly threw away the cigarette in his hand. "No way! Old Jiang, please don’t jinx yourself like this."
"Eh, it’s a matter of sooner or later," Old Jiang said with a philosophical wave of his hand.
Halfway up the slope, from a distance, they saw the mountain gate of Qingyun Sect.
Chen Nuo took a closer look...
Wow? That’s a lot more impressive!
The gate had been rebuilt, using fine wood, and even the threshold stones were new, gleaming with polished stone. The door frames and panels were clearly coated with enough tung oil, with corners and handles wrapped in copper. Above the gate, a brass Yin-Yang Bagua Mirror was even hung to suppress the feng shui.
It really had the air of a "sect."
Old Jiang and Chen Nuo stood under the mountain gate, looking for a while. Old Jiang smiled. "Your Eldest Martial Brother has skills in this area; this gate is much more impressive than before..."
Chen Nuo chuckled twice without saying anything.
How could it not be impressive? This gate, and even the statues and golden bodies of the ancestors inside... The money was all frickin’ donated by me last time! But Wu Daodao and his entire household of disciples are reliable. Old Jiang had even brought Song Qiaoyun back to live here, yet Wu Daodao’s family hadn’t revealed my identity to Old Jiang. Yeah, reliable!
"...Last time I brought your master’s wife back, I heard from Wu Daodao that the money to rebuild the gate was conned out of a rich sucker."
Chen Nuo: "..."
A rich sucker? Damn it! Tonight, I’m going to dismantle this gate!
***
Just as they reached halfway up the mountain, a youngster burst out from the path ahead. He was a strapping teenage boy who looked a few years younger than Chen Nuo, with a sturdy frame dressed in the short jacket commonly worn by villagers for rough work, an axe hanging from his waist, and carrying two bundles of rope in his hand.
Chen Nuo recognized him at a glance. It was Wu Daodao’s eldest disciple, what was his name? Tiezhu, that’s right. Oh right, alias: Nangong Yin.
Seeing Old Jiang and Chen Nuo, the master and disciple, the boy was first startled, then his face lit up with joy. "Grandmaster’s here!"
He approached and respectfully greeted Old Jiang, then glanced at Chen Nuo. "Is the great benefactor Chen here too?"
Old Jiang turned to Chen Nuo with surprise.
Chen Nuo: "..."
Nope, just breaking down their gate isn’t enough. I’ll have to break one of his legs to vent my anger!
However, the boy’s attitude was brimming with enthusiasm, and he quickly turned on his heel to go back and make a report.
Chen Nuo and Old Jiang exchanged a look, with Old Jiang’s face full of puzzlement. "Great benefactor?"
"Uh..."
Old Jiang snorted and started walking up the mountain.
***
Inside Qingyun Sect’s courtyard, the door to the ancestral hall in the left wing-room suddenly EXPLODED!
Amongst the flying splinters of wood, a little fat boy who was sitting cross-legged on the veranda writing calligraphy with a brush jumped in shock—this was Wu Daodao’s third disciple, Ouyang Shanhe, also known as San Pangzi, the chubby one.
San Pangzi jolted to his feet and leapt up from the ground. With an agile palm push, he swatted away a shard of wood flying toward his head and darted behind a wooden pillar, then yelled out, "Run for it, Granny’s having an episode again!!"
WHOOSH! Out sprang Situ Beixuan from the adjacent room, clutching a little girl with pigtails in her arms—the youngest disciple in the family, Si Yatou.
Landing with a somersault, Situ Beixuan tossed Si Yatou to San Pangzi. "Take her out of the courtyard!" 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢
From the ancestral hall, a gray figure burst out!
With disheveled hair, clad in a gray long robe, a round face, and sallow skin—it was none other than Song Qiaoyun. In her left hand, she held a blue-rimmed large noodle bowl, and in her right hand, a pair of chopsticks, which she wielded as if casting a sword spell between her fingers.
Her eyes swept around and locked onto Situ Beixuan.
"THUD!! The mercy of Buddha! The Buddha endowed me with a golden bowl, to capture all demons in the world!"
Situ Beixuan pushed San Pangzi away and formed a hand seal. "Master!!! Call Mistress here, quick!!"
Wu Daodao had already run out of the kitchen, a stone pestle for grinding medicine still in hand. Catching sight of the scene, his soul nearly fled his body. He threw the pestle away and turned to run.
"Disciple, you hold on for a bit! I’ll go to the back mountain to find your Mistress!"
"You’re the master and you run off, leaving me to hold the fort?" Situ Beixuan glared. As Song Qiaoyun approached, Situ Beixuan, feeling helpless, turned her head and formed a hand seal. "My apologies, Granny! Seal!"
An invisible force of Qi instantly pressed down upon Song Qiaoyun.
Situ Beixuan’s figure flickered past, her fingers pointing toward Song Qiaoyun’s forehead.
"Clear!!"
Her finger poked Song Qiaoyun’s brow, and her turbid eyes suddenly cleared for a moment. Situ Beixuan sighed in relief, but in the next instant, the clarity in Song Qiaoyun’s eyes vanished, and they became even more turbid. Song Qiaoyun raised her hand, and Situ Beixuan yelped, tumbling backward as she shouted, "Calm Mind Talisman! GO!!"
Two yellow talismans flew out from her sleeve and landed on Song Qiaoyun’s head.
Just as Situ Beixuan hit the ground, she saw Song Qiaoyun tearing off the talismans and crushing them between her fingers into powder.
She looked back at Mistress Song, who had lifted her noodle bowl high in the air!
"Hmph! Petty tricks, you dare show off your meager skills before a true expert! Great Majestic Heavenly Dragon!"
Situ Beixuan: "..."
The girl, scared out of her wits, tucked her head and ran like the wind!!
As she ran, she shouted, "San Pangzi! You bastard! Who let you sneakily show Granny that Hong Kong video the other day!! Granny’s turned into Fahai!!"
San Pangzi, already hiding behind a sweet osmanthus tree in the courtyard with Si Yatou, cried out at the accusation, "Count your blessings! We just got a Fahai! The other day I also played ’Dragon Ball’ for her!"
***
Chen Nuo and Old Jiang had made it to the mountain gate at the top of the slope, just about to step over the threshold, when they suddenly heard a familiar shout from inside the courtyard.
"Great Majestic Heavenly Dragon! The Great Law Mantra! All Buddhas Prajna! Prajna Parorum BOOM!!"
The elder and the younger turned to look at each other, both exclaiming, "Not good!" before racing through the gate.
As they entered the courtyard, they saw Song Qiaoyun standing under the eaves, pointing at Situ Beixuan on the roof, who was clutching a roof tile.
"Bai Suzhen! Come down!!"
Situ Beixuan: "...I’m not Bai Suzhen!"
"Then who are you!"
"I...I am Sun Wukong!" Situ Beixuan hoped against hope. "I’m The Victorious Fighting Buddha, Fahai! We’re on the same side! Don’t hit, don’t hit!"
"Nonsense! What Sun Wukong! You’re clearly the Six-Eared Macaque!!"
Song Qiaoyun glared, and with a flick of her wrist, she hurled the noodle bowl into the air!
Situ Beixuan, seeing it all clearly, threw a tile and knocked the bowl aside.
As both the tile and the bowl shattered on the ground, Song Qiaoyun flew into a rage!
"You demon! You dared to ruin the holy relic bestowed by the Buddha!!"
Situ Beixuan ran across the rooftops, shouting as she fled, "What holy relic! I bought it at the village store! Three yuan for a pair! Buy two pairs and get a pair of chopsticks free! The ones you’re holding in your hand!!"
