A Prophet - Chapter 21 (Part 4)

Chapter 4 - The Recovered Remains

The Third Pier Boss's guild hall was open for business once more.

One day, with the sunlight warm and the streets bustling with a continuous stream of carriages and horses, the Third Pier Boss was sitting upright at the storefront telling fortunes for people when suddenly a middle-aged man wearing a black felt hat walked over, casting glances left and right.

This person looked to the east, then to the west, seemingly searching for something.

The Third Pier Boss gave a subtle glance to the foot-soldier beside him: "Go out and take a look."

The foot-soldier stepped outside and patted the man on the shoulder: "Master, are you here to have your fortune told?"

The man smiled: "No, no, I'm looking for someone."

"Looking for whom?" the foot-soldier asked.

The man looked the foot-soldier up and down, shook his head, and said with a smile: "You're still young. I reckon you wouldn't know him."

Hearing this, the foot-soldier felt a twinge of displeasure inside, but as an Abao swindler, his mind was always brimming with ideas for pulling off a con. He immediately responded with sharp agility: "What you say is right, this humble one is only in his teens, with limited knowledge and shallow experience. However, you can let my master cast a divination for you, to calculate where the person you're looking for might be. Otherwise, in this massive Shanghai, how are you ever going to find them?"

The man's eyes lit up: "Is it accurate?"

"Whether it's accurate or not, you'll know the moment you try! Please come inside!" Using a mix of deception and coaxing, the foot-soldier "hooked" the man into the house.

The Third Pier Boss had listened clearly from inside the room and thought to himself: This little foot-soldier truly has a motherfucking bright future.

"Are you looking to find someone, sir?" the Third Pier Boss asked the man in the felt hat.

"Mm," the man nodded.

"Male or female?"

"Male."

"How old is he in nominal age?"

"Nominally forty-five."

"Mm," the Third Pier Boss nodded and said, "This person is an old acquaintance of yours, am I right?"

"Right, right, right!" the man said excitedly three times in a row.

The Third Pier Boss chuckled inwardly: Nonsense, of course he's an old acquaintance, otherwise why would you be looking for him? Heh heh, this gullible roe deer is so cute.

The Third Pier Boss continued: "This person did you a kindness..."

"Spot on!" The man was so excited he almost stood up.

The Third Pier Boss felt even more amused inside: It must have been a kindness. If it were a grudge, you wouldn't have walked in wearing that kind of expression.

Having fallen for the Third Pier Boss's trap and unable to hold back any longer, the man started speaking on his own accord: "This person is a fellow townsman of mine. I only knew he was in Shanghai, and it seems he practiced your line of work as well—also a grand master. A dozen years ago, he even returned to our hometown to pay respects at the ancestral graves. Later, when the Japanese devils invaded, there was never any news of him again..."

Hearing these few sentences made the Third Pier Boss break out in a cold sweat: A grand master? "Do you know what his name is?" the Third Pier Boss asked eagerly, unable to wait.

"His childhood nickname was Guansheng, his formal courtesy name was Chengming, and his compound surname is Shangguan..."

Covered entirely in cold sweat, the Third Pier Boss gave a signal to the foot-soldier, who hurriedly closed the parlor door. Then, the Third Pier Boss and the foot-soldier swarmed forward together and tied the man up.

The man was frightened out of his wits: "What are you doing? What are you doing?"

The Third Pier Boss pulled out a silk ribbon to gag his mouth and said to the foot-soldier, "Quickly go fetch Grandfather!"

Grandfather was sipping tea in his residence when the foot-soldier burst in haphazardly: "Grandfather, something's happened!"

Grandfather put down his teacup and followed the foot-soldier to the Third Pier Boss's storefront. The two looked around in all directions—no one was following them—then pushed the door open and walked inside.

"This is the man!" The Third Pier Boss pointed at the man in the felt hat and said.

Grandfather looked down closely, his body giving a slight quiver: "Daifu!"

Upon seeing Grandfather, the man burst into tears, struggling desperately and shouting aloud, but alas, with the silk ribbon stuffed in his mouth, no sound could come out.

"Quick! Quickly untie him!" Grandfather ordered.

The Third Pier Boss and the foot-soldier were somewhat bewildered: "Oh... Yes! Yes!"

Once untied, the man flung himself onto Grandfather's shoulder: "Older Brother Guansheng, I've finally found you!" Tears streamed down like a heavy rain.

Grandfather's eyes grew red: "Good brother, good brother, take your time and speak..."

The Third Pier Boss was somewhat at a loss. Grandfather said to him and the foot-soldier: "This is a fellow townsman who grew up with me since childhood, my brother Daifu. You are all to address him as Uncle Daifu!"

A silly roe deer had instantly transformed into an uncle, and the Third Pier Boss's mind had some trouble turning the corner: "Oh, Uncle... Daifu."

"Back then, when my entire family suffered a tragic fate, it was Daifu who helped me bury the remains of my grandfather, grandmother, mother, and eldest brother..." Grandfather added.

Upon hearing this, the Third Pier Boss and the foot-soldier immediately dropped to their knees, shouting in unison: "Uncle Daifu is above, please accept our junior's bow!"

Daifu had never witnessed such a spectacle and hastily said: "Don't! Don't! Masters... what is the meaning of this... Quickly... quickly get up!"

"Let's go home and talk." Grandfather patted Daifu on the shoulder, then looked at the Third Pier Boss and the foot-soldier, who were still kneeling on the ground. "Old Third, you come along as well."

"Yes, Grandfather."

Arriving at Grandfather's residence, Grandfather personally brewed tea for Daifu.

Daifu looked around at Grandfather's spacious and bright house, grinning foolishly: "Older Brother, your house is truly big, truly pretty."

At that moment, the housekeeper Wu Laoer brought out pastries and a fruit platter. Grandfather personally picked up a piece of osmanthus cake and handed it to Daifu: "Brother, eat this... don't be constrained..."

Daifu took it with embarrassment and pushed it back toward Grandfather: "Older Brother, you eat, you eat first."

Grandfather smiled and pushed it back to him, then grabbed another piece for himself: "Let's eat together!" He shoved it straight into his mouth in one bite.

The Third Pier Boss knew that under normal circumstances Grandfather never ate sweets, and these items were strictly for entertaining guests. Today, in order to make this bumpkin feel unconstrained, Grandfather had actually swallowed a whole piece of osmanthus cake in one bite—it seemed Grandfather and this country bumpkin shared an extraordinary bond!

"Old Third, come have some too!" Grandfather instructed.

"No, no, thank you, Grandfather." The Third Pier Boss thought to himself: What is so delicious about this stuff!

"Hmm?" Grandfather's eyes skewed sideways.

The Third Pier Boss instantly understood the hint: It wasn't enough for you to accompany him eating by yourself, you had to drag me into it as well. He had no choice but to step forward, grab a piece, and forcefully swallow it down.

Seeing that everyone else had eaten, Daifu was no longer restrained and began eating voraciously.

After eating for a while, Grandfather urged him to drink some tea. Daifu drank a few mouthfuls to rinse away the osmanthus cake stuck in his mouth, then swallowed it down with a gulp. The Third Pier Boss nearly threw up after watching him.

"Older Brother, where have you been all these years? A dozen years ago, when you returned to your hometown, you left me a note saying that if I had matters, I could come to Shanghai to find you using this address... The year before last, I came to Shanghai once, but as a result, there were Japanese devils everywhere, and I was so scared I fled without daring to enter the city. After the devils were driven away, I came again following the address on your note, but that place is now entirely cloth shops and people doing business... This is my fourth time coming to Shanghai to find you... The travel expenses were all pooled together by the townsfolk..." At this point, Daifu's eyes turned red, and he looked ready to cry again.

Grandfather let out a long sigh: "Brother, it's a long story. I haven't been in Shanghai all these years... Sigh, it's hard to put into words... What business brought Brother to find me? Speak freely!"

"Older Brother..." Daifu finally couldn't hold it back anymore, tears gushing out like a tidal wave. "Our hometown ancestral hall was blown up by the Japanese airplanes! The Shangguan family's ancestral hall is gone! A three-hundred-year-old old ancestral hall, completely blown to smithereens! And this year, there's a severe drought with not a single grain harvested. The elders all say this was caused by the destruction of the feng shui of our ancestors' ancestral hall. The ancestral spirit tablets and genealogy books were all blown away, and our lineage is doomed to have its posterity cut off..."

Hearing this, Grandfather felt as though his heart were being stabbed by knives, and remembering how his own ancestral graves had been vandalized by Liu Yongchan and others, waves of intense pain rippled through his heart.

"Older Brother, my coming here this time was entrusted by the townsfolk. Everyone says you have influence and standing in the city, and you're even a grand master—could you see... see if you can raise some funds... to rebuild the ancestral hall?..." Daifu said.

As soon as the Third Pier Boss heard this, he understood completely: This guy had come asking for money! Although Grandfather was the boss of the guild hall, the money had been earned by the brothers risking their lives. Furthermore, Grandfather's own parents' remains had long since been scattered; there was no need for him to help them build an ancestral hall!

Thinking of this, the Third Pier Boss mustered his courage and said a few words: "Sigh... Uncle Daifu, my Grandfather understands your feelings. In fact, my Grandfather's feelings are even worse than yours. Although your ancestral hall was bombed, each family's ancestral graves are still there, and your ancestors' remains are still there. As long as you rebuild the ancestral hall and set up the individual spirit tablets, everything can start over... Pity my Grandfather... The remains of our Old Patriarch and Old Matriarch are no longer around; what meaning is there in empty spirit tablets? Just thinking of it makes my heart ache for Grandfather..." The Third Pier Boss wiped away a tear and waited quietly for Grandfather to respond.

These words of the Third Pier Boss carried a double meaning: The first layer of meaning was to warn Grandfather not to use silver to participate in the construction of this ancestral hall; the second layer of meaning was to reproach Daifu and the other townsfolk, implying that they couldn't even guard Grandfather's graveyard properly, yet still had the nerve to come asking for money.

Grandfather glanced at the Third Pier Boss, then picked up his teacup, took a sip of tea, and said: "I am a person of the Shangguan family in life and a ghost of the Shangguan family in death. Without the bloodline of the Shangguan clan being passed down from generation to generation, how could there be today's body of Guansheng? My late father was originally born of a humble background, and only after abandoning the brush for a military career did our family circumstances gradually improve. No matter where a person goes or how well they are doing, they must never forget their roots... As for the scattering of my parents' remains, that too was predestined fate..."

Hearing this, Daifu suddenly interjected: "Older Brother, the remains of Uncle, Aunt, Grandfather, Grandmother, and Eldest Brother were not lost!"

Upon hearing this, Grandfather left his teacup suspended mid-air, staring blankly at Daifu. The Third Pier Boss was also stunned dumb, looking stupidly at Daifu.

"Didn't you know?" Daifu continued. "Sigh, and rightfully so, how could you possibly know! Didn't there used to be constant fighting a few years ago? All sorts of fighting, and we couldn't figure out who was fighting whom. In short, troops were always passing through our hometown. One moment the Central Army came, the next moment the Northeast Army came, then the Sichuan Army came, and then the Japanese devils came. There were good soldiers, but there were also bad soldiers. When good soldiers came, at most they asked for some food or drank some water, but if bad soldiers came, then trouble followed—plundering goods and seizing women. Even worse, some defeated soldiers who couldn't loot anything would set off thunder-charges to blow up graveyards and steal the burial items inside. Later on, the bailiff discussed it with several clan elders and secretly relocated the graveyards entirely. Every family's ancestral graves were stealthily moved to new locations where no burial mounds were raised, so no one could tell it was a graveyard; crops were still grown on top just like before. Meanwhile, the old graveyards remained in place, except underneath they were no longer the remains of the ancestors, but were stuffed with pig bones and sheep bones! If you didn't look closely, no one could tell!"

Grandfather's eyes lit up.

Daifu paused, scratched his head, and continued: "However, it was quite perilous too. That night when we dug up the graves to relocate them, I was pushing a small handcart, and just as I had wrapped up the remains of Uncle, Aunt, Grandfather, and Grandmother, I saw a dense crowd of people coming straight at us. Everyone was terrified. When they got closer, we saw it was a crowd of refugees. Those people thought our cart carried food, and they rushed up to snatch it. The townsfolk wouldn't let them touch it, so a fight broke out. I hugged Uncle and Aunt's remains for dear life, and they smashed me on the head with stones. Later on, the bailiff brought out a long-barreled gun—a hunting piece used in the countryside for shooting rabbits—and fired a shot into the air before they ran away!" At this point, Daifu lowered his head and removed his felt hat. "Older Brother, look, this is the scar from being smashed that night. The scalp was smashed away, and it's bald and won't grow hair anymore. Heh heh, that's why I wear a hat every day to hide the ugliness..."

Grandfather stood up, looked at the bald patch of scalp on Daifu's head, and embraced him tightly.

"You didn't want your life..." Grandfather patted Daifu on the back, holding back his tears so they wouldn't fall.

Daifu gave a foolish laugh: "Older Brother, you forgot, my whole family's lives were saved by Aunt! That year my father passed away and there was no money in the family to bury him, so we borrowed usurious loan-shark money from the eastern landlord. Later, with rolling interest, we couldn't pay it back. The landlord brought people to cause trouble at our house and even told people to go dig up my father's grave. My mother wanted to fight the landlord to the death, and the landlord broke her leg. Later... later it was Aunt who provided the money, and the landlord finally dropped the matter. Afterward, my mother told Aunt that this money probably couldn't be repaid anytime soon, and Aunt said to repay it whenever we had it, but... but before I could ever repay the money... Aunt... Aunt passed away..." At this point, Daifu couldn't help bursting into tears.

Grandfather could hold back no longer; thinking of his benevolent mother, tears streamed down his face.

Good is rewarded with good, and evil with evil—this is an eternal and unchanging law. Grandfather's mother had practiced benevolence during her lifetime, and her descendants were sheltered by her merit after her death. Originally, Grandfather had been completely in despair; in China, where clan consciousness is incomparably deep-rooted, if a man's ancestral graves are gone, he cannot hold his head high no matter where he goes. Daifu's arrival gave Grandfather a new lease on life.

This was tremendous news for the entire guild hall! The brothers saw a long-lost smile on Grandfather's face. The guild meeting also unanimously passed a resolution: bring out the silver to restore and build the ancestral hall.

On the day the new ancestral hall was completed, Grandfather personally composed six pairs of ancestral hall couplets, starting from both sides of the main entrance all the way to both sides of the genealogy records. They were:

First pair: A thousand branches trace back to a single trunk; ten thousand households share the exact same source.

Second pair: The Shangguan lineage remains unchanged for a hundred generations; the sacrificial offerings endure through eternity just like this.

Third pair: Ancestral virtue invigorates grand undertakings of a thousand autumns; ancestral achievement initiates a civilization of a hundred generations.

Fourth pair: Benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and trustworthiness; loyalty, filial piety, integrity, and moral conduct.

Fifth pair: Attaining the golden mean, the bloodline and source of the clan originate from the same root; knowing honor and disgrace, the backbone of the ancestral gate stems from a shared origin.

Final pair: Ancestral virtue and ancestral achievement endure for a hundred generations; parental kindness and filial piety last for ten thousand years.

Immediately following that, the sacrificial ceremony began. That day, Grandfather drank a great deal of wine.

When he returned to the old residence later, he fell asleep and dreamed of his loving mother smiling at him, dreaming of his mother once again telling him the stories from Liao Fan's Four Lessons.

Upon returning to Shanghai the next day, after a couple of days passed, Grandfather once again went out alone. This was a habit Grandfather had maintained for many years; sometimes when he went out, he never took foot-soldiers, nor pier bosses, not even his close personal bodyguard Little Liu. No one dared to ask where Grandfather was going, let alone ask what he was going to do.

Grandfather thought of a person—an old, honest, and loyal former pier boss of the guild hall, someone who had now devoted his body to the Buddhist gate: Dharma Master Qingfeng, Zhou Zhenlong.

Through the eight years of the War of Resistance, he didn't know if that small temple was still there, or if the people in the temple were still there. Sometimes, there were certain things Grandfather felt could only be spoken to someone who had left the secular world.

Grandfather finally saw that familiar figure once more.

"Has the Dharma Master been well?" Grandfather greeted him, pressing his palms together.

"Amitabha. Thank you for Grandfather's concern, this impoverished monk is doing well." Dharma Master Qingfeng looked at Grandfather. "Grandfather's glabella is glowing and radiating a colorful aura, it seems there are joyous events once again."

Grandfather smiled: "What a marvelous retribution of cause and effect." He then recounted the entire matter of his family's remains to Dharma Master Qingfeng.

Hearing this, Dharma Master Qingfeng nodded repeatedly: "All dharmas are empty, but cause and effect are not empty; karmic cause and effect follow one another like a shadow to its form."

Grandfather suddenly felt another wave of sorrow and involuntarily asked: "Speaking of this cause and effect, I am sometimes also confused. My late mother was kind-natured all her life and generous in giving to charity; how did she end up dying a tragic death at the hands of villains? The person who deserved to die should have been me..."

"Amitabha, Grandfather, pray listen to me. What you see is the retribution of a single lifetime; what this impoverished monk sees is the retribution of three lifetimes. Let me tell Grandfather a story: During the Song dynasty in Kaifeng, there was a man named Wang Jue. This man was born into a wealthy family, but unfortunately he was born blind. However, this person had an exceptionally kind heart and was fond of doing good and dispensing charity. When he was thirty, his parents passed away. After burying his parents, he took all the remaining money in his family to build a bridge for the local people. During the process of building the bridge, his legs were broken by falling stones. The townsfolk advised him to stop building and use the remaining money to recuperate from his injuries. He insisted on building it, and eventually the bridge was finally completed. Yet on the very day of its completion, dark clouds suddenly brought heavy rain. After a single clap of thunder, Wang Jue was struck down by lightning, lost consciousness, and quickly died. The common people were all furious, completely unable to bear it, and pointed at the heavens, cursing wildly: Is there still any justice left in heaven? He was already blind to begin with, and then his legs were broken while building a bridge, and right at the moment the bridge was finished he was struck dead by lightning—does heaven have eyes? Later, the matter grew bigger and bigger, reaching the ears of Bao Zheng. In order to appease the public grievance and anger, Bao Zheng personally went to the head of the bridge and erected a stone tablet with the inscription: The azure heavens have no eyes, but the human world has feeling. Yet deep in his heart, Bao Zheng also could not make sense of it. He sought out an eminent monk named Zhiyu to seek guidance. Master Zhiyu chuckled and told Bao Zheng: 'You should not grieve for Wang Jue; you should be happy for him. Because of karma from his past lives, this man was originally destined to suffer the hardships of three lifetimes: one lifetime as a blind man, one lifetime as a cripple, and one lifetime of being struck by lightning. But because his heart was single-mindedly set on goodness, heaven allowed him to endure the suffering of all three lifetimes in a single lifetime, so he could quickly hurry off to be reborn as a normal person!' Hearing this, Bao Zheng asked candidly: 'How do we know the Master is not deceiving me?' Zhiyu said: 'A monk does not dare utter false speech. Three days from now, twenty miles south of the Kaifeng Prefecture, there is a village called Baoshan Hall. A baby is about to be born with a birthmark on his back—the very scar left by that day's lightning strike. This child will be a talent of the Hanlin Academy in the future!' Three days later, Lord Bao personally led men to inspect Baoshan Hall Village. When Bao Zheng used a trembling hand to lift the infant's swaddling clothes, a thumb-sized birthmark came into view, and Bao Zheng could not help drawing a deep breath..."

Hearing this, Grandfather nodded repeatedly.

"Grandfather, although your late mother was harmed by wicked people, she nonetheless protected you, and the bloodline was inherited, enabling Grandfather to act on behalf of heaven and practice righteousness among mortals. This is a benevolent karmic affinity," Dharma Master Qingfeng said. "Otherwise, wouldn't Grandfather's entire family have perished at the hands of the villains? Moreover, Grandfather has personally experienced the karmic law that good is rewarded with good. If not for your late mother's charitable deeds during her lifetime, who would have risked their lives to rescue your family's remains?"

Grandfather nodded: "Indeed, what the Dharma Master says is entirely reasonable, but is what I am doing now a good deed?"

Dharma Master Qingfeng let out a long sigh: "It seems Grandfather has also sensed the drawbacks of the 'Jiangxiang School'."

"Dharma Master, what should I do?"

"Grandfather will naturally find a way, it's just that the predestined opportunity has not yet arrived..." At this point, Dharma Master Qingfeng paused slightly, gazed out at the hazy mountains outside the window, and leisurely chanted a Buddhist gatha:

A human body is hard to obtain, now already obtained;

The Buddha's Dharma is hard to hear, now already heard.

If this body is not liberated in this present lifetime,

In what other life shall we await to liberate this body?

This sounded as though it were spoken for Grandfather, yet also as though it were spoken for himself.

Grandfather nodded deeply.

From then on, Grandfather began plotting his grand acts of benevolence. Later on, he finally guided the "Jiangxiang School" onto the righteous path. Because of his single-minded dedication to goodness, he too broke through the shackles of destiny just like Mr. Yuan Liaofan. The fortune-telling Daoist had said he would not live past fifty and would have no sons or offspring, yet he did have a son, and moreover an outstanding military man. As for his lifespan, the surviving brothers all believed he lived to the age of fifty-two, but rumors swirled wildly in the pugilistic world without any definitive conclusion...