Chapter 61.2
Editor: SimoB
The blind fortune teller’s surname was Zhang, so people called him Blind Zhang.
Of course he wasn’t really blind. He just wore sungla.s.ses and pretended to be blind so that customers would trust him more.
He grew up in the countryside. Although the scenery there was beautiful, the villagers were all poor. And since they also grew up there, the scenery that could only be enjoyed by the eyes and not the stomach was useless to them.
Then the area was developed into a tourist attraction, which allowed the villagers to earn a bit more.
Blind Zhang was an orphan and owned no land.
When he was young, he didn’t do this fortune telling business. He was just an ordinary laborer. One day, he worked too hard and spent many days bedridden. From then on he could no longer do jobs that were too tiring.
He had no choice, so he started searching for other ways to make a living.
He was indeed raised by a real blind man, and the real blind man was indeed a fortune teller, but he did not learn the trade from him. Now that it was his way of making a living, he just had to learn as he went along. During the day he set up his stall, and at night he read all kinds of fortune telling books.
Everyone in town knew that he has had a hard life. He was abandoned at a young age by his parents. Someone took him in, but they died when he was a teenager.
He was left alone to struggle to make a living. He later married and even treated his wife like a queen, but then she became ill and bedridden.
They didn’t have any children, so the medical expenses and the cost of hiring a caretaker fell on Blind Zhang.
Although not everyone liked him, most people wouldn’t say much when they saw him swindling people.
Blind Zhang wasn’t a professional by any means, but he had the basics down.
At ten dollars a session, he would basically cherry pick good things to say so that he didn’t cause any trouble.
For example, when a mother-in-law came to investigate her daughter-in-law, claiming that she seemed to attract misfortune to their family, he would say that the daughter-in-law was just an ordinary person.
If the parents of a sick child came to find him, he wouldn’t fool around at all. He would tell them that he wasn’t a doctor and that they should go to the hospital.
Because he had always been cautious with his words, nothing too bad had ever come of them.
If someone did start to suspect him, he would pretend to be blind and let his guide dog, w.a.n.g Cai, take him home. Most people didn’t want to bother with a blind man.
Making money was good and all, but you had to be alive to enjoy the fruits of your labour.
After setting up his stall all afternoon, counting the two just now, he’s only seen five customers and made 50 dollars.
Blind Zhang went home, and hugged w.a.n.g Cai and rubbed its head, “Good boy. You did good today. But next time when I call you Qing Long, you have to respond, okay? Qing Long sounds much more imposing than w.a.n.g Cai. Aiya, it’s also my fault. What was I thinking giving you a country b.u.mpkin name like w.a.n.g Cai when I brought you back?”
As a result, the dog only responded to w.a.n.g Cai now and not Qing Long.
The black coloured mutt had its tongue out and looked at him with a dopey smile.
“Forget it, why am I telling you this? It’s been more than ten years since I called you w.a.n.g Cai, so of course it’s not easy to change.”
Blind Zhang sighed and rubbed his temples. With a tired smile, he patted w.a.n.g Cai on the head again and started cooking.
He left the food out to cool and went to wash his face again. He wiped the wet spots on his back as well. Looking himself up and down in the mirror to make sure he didn’t have a tired look on his face, he went to clean up his wife, change her clothes and opened the windows to get some fresh air inside.
His wife couldn’t move much. She could only open her mouth to speak. When she saw him come in, she squeezed out a smile, “Are you…tired today?”
“Not at all.”
Blind Zhang was energetic as he wiped her down. He smiled as he told her. “Today was especially fun. There was a ten year old student, probably out traveling with his parents, who secretly came to me with money so I could tell him when he could stop going to school.”
“I asked him his age and what grade he’s in now, and then told him how old he would be when he graduates from college minus his current age. When the kid heard he still had ten more years to go, his little face went grey.”
His wife laughed weakly, “How do you encounter such funny things every day?”
“It’s ‘cause I’m lucky. I have the best luck in the whole town.”
Blind Zhang continued, “Two men holding hands also came over today to have their fortunes told. Times really have changed, they didn’t bother to hide it at all! But they were really good looking… Ai, good looking men stick together I guess.”
His wife just listened to her husband’s funny stories about the outside world with a smile, nodding her head throughout with some difficulty.
When Blind Zhang finished telling his stories, changing her clothes and airing out the house, the food that was left out had cooled.
He began to feed her.
As he fed her, he said, “w.a.n.g Cai is getting older, but he’s still as obedient as ever. Doesn’t he know how to catch fish in the river? He’s always done that when I’m at my stall. But he comes running back when I call for him. This dog’s smarter that we give him credit for. We raised him as a child, so maybe he sees us as his parents.”
His wife just laughed.
But laughing was exhausting too.
After laughing and laughing, she found it hard to keep her eyes open.
She couldn’t even eat anymore, so she said to her husband in a daze, “Dear, I think it’s time for me to go.”
“No no, how could that be? You’re only in your early forties! There’s plenty of time for you.”
“Not for me. I’m just a burden like this. We’ve been married for twenty years, but I’ve been dragging you down for ten. I can’t do this to you anymore. You could’ve set up your own stall and had a good life. It isn’t fair to make you dress up like this and act like a fool because of me. I know you have the skills to make it. It’s all because of me…”
“No! You’re not a burden!”
Blind Zhang sniffled. “People say I’m unlucky, but I know that I’m lucky.”
He touched his wife’s stiff fingers, ma.s.saging them little by little. “You see, I was an orphan. I was thrown away as a child, but my Shifu picked me up and raised me until I was a teenager before he left, just the age when I could earn my own living.”
“I lived alone until my early twenties, when I ran into you. Now I have a wife and a family. So tell me, how can I possibly be unlucky?”
He said a whole bunch of things, but his wife could barely hear them.
When a person was dying, their mental state deteriorated.
The middle-aged woman stared straight up at the ceiling and let out a long, long sigh, “I can’t do it dear. I can’t hold on much longer. I have to go. You have a good, good life on your own.”
“Don’t go! Don’t leave me!” Blind Zhang grabbed his wife’s hand and pulled the money out of his pocket, “Look, I’m making money! I’m making money, see?!”
“I won’t look… I can’t look…”
As if his wife found a reservoir of strength within, her hand suddenly moved and grabbed Blind Zhang’s.
“You’re the one I can’t let go of the most, ah!”
She stopped moving.
Blind Zhang stiffened, “Dear? Dear?!”
Trying to squeeze out a smile, he lifted the bowl again and delivered a spoonful of rice to his wife’s mouth, “Look, I stir-fried shredded potatoes today, isn’t that your favourite? I chopped it especially fine so you wouldn’t have any trouble eating it.”
“I didn’t put in any chilies because I know how much you hate them.”
“I ran into w.a.n.g Shuhua today, aren’t you on good terms with her? She ended up exposing me today. What a vicious woman!”
“Our w.a.n.g Cai was also strange today, he didn’t catch a single fish! He used to be very good at catching fish.”
“Come on dear, open your mouth and eat quickly. The food is getting cold.”
No one answered him.
He slowly buried his head on the edge of the bed and sobbed quietly.
From outside came w.a.n.g Cai’s fierce voice: “Woof woof woof!!!”
“Woof woof woof woof woof!!”
Unfortunately, his owner was so deep in his grief that he didn’t even think to come out and take a look.
“What a good dog, don’t you think?”
Shi Qing touched this dog’s head and turned to ask Meng Qing, “Do you think your Shifu will like it?”
Meng Qing hesitated.
“Shifu, he…doesn’t seem to like dogs.”
Shi Qing: “It’s fine, I think he’ll like it when he sees it.”
They went into the house together.
Inside, Blind Zhang had stopped crying and figured out what he had to do.
His only ties to this world were his wife and w.a.n.g Cai.
Now, when w.a.n.g Cai’s life was at an end, there would be no reason to go on.
He sobbed, and went to find a white shirt. He gently covered his wife’s face.
But he froze as soon as he saw his hand.
The hand that was holding the clothes were pale and swollen.
As soon as he reached Blind Zhang, w.a.n.g Cai wagged his tail and whined pitifully like a puppy.
Blind Zhang looked blankly at him before petting him.
w.a.n.g Cai rarely whined like this.
After growing up, this was only the second time he had heard it make such a noise.
The first time…
It was as if he had gone back to that rainy day.
He was walking on the bridge with w.a.n.g Cai when his foot slipped and his whole body slid down.
Technically speaking, he didn’t drown. He just hit his head on a rock in the river, and then floated down with the current.
w.a.n.g Cai jumped in after him and fished him out.
The dog had behaved then like he was now, calling out to him using a quiet, whimpering voice.
He remembered feeling his blood continue to flow and flow…
He had felt cold all over.
He’d wanted to sleep. He’d felt so tired.
But he couldn’t sleep. How could he sleep?
If he slept, then what would happen to his wife and his w.a.n.g Cai?
He couldn’t let go.
How could they survive with him gone?
Especially his wife. Without him, who would take care of her? Who would support her?
Who would turn her over? Who would help her change her clothes?
He opened his eyes slowly, sat up, and led w.a.n.g Cai back home.
When he got in front of a mirror, he wiped his face and grew more and more confused.
Strange… Why was he this soaked?
Dazed, Blind Zhang stood up. He turned around and saw his wife looking at him.
He couldn’t leave because he couldn’t let go of her.
She couldn’t leave because she couldn’t let go of him either.
The Underworld guide outside carefully poked his head in and said to Shi Qing, “D-Daren, it’s time for us to leave…”
Next to him, the lady in the colorful dress also poked her head in curiously. She clapped her hands when she saw the scene inside the house. “Aiya! Sister! Old Zhang! You’re both dead too! Quickly come and keep me company!”
Shi Qing asked Meng Qing, “Didn’t you notice that he’s a living corpse?”
The young cultivator shook his head with a bit of shame, “I didn’t expect it. This is my first time seeing a living corpse.”
“Living corpses usually have to have an obsession in order to maintain their normal appearance. His obsession happened to be his wife.”
The demon asked his righteous companion, “Seeing this scene, do you have anything to say?”
Meng Qing shook his head, “I don’t. Do you?”
“Yep.”
Shi Qing yawned and leaned against the cultivator as if he had no bones.
“A family needs to be neat and tidy.” he said, snapping his fingers. The black dog that had tragically lost both of its masters came running over.
The demon king pet its head, “You poor thing. They both died and left you here alone.”
“But don’t worry, I’ll make you the first dog that can cultivate.”
Meng Qing looked at his companion with bright eyes. “Living corpses can’t leave the Earth without someone to guide them, so their souls eventually dissipate. You came just to help them, right?”
“Don’t read too much into it.”
Shi Qing raised his eyebrows, his hand touching the dog’s head, “I just wanted this dog. This just happened to be along the way.”
Meng Qing didn’t call him out. He only blushed and crouched silently beside his companion.
“Let’s go see my Shifu.”
***
“No!!! Absolutely not!!!”
Meng Qing’s Shifu stroked his white beard in exasperation. “Meng Qing, come to your senses! How can you be with him! He’s a demon! A demon!!!”
“You! I have worked so hard to raise a good seedling with a righteous spirit! How can you let yourself be tainted by him!”
“I’m telling you, you can get married and have children, but you can never be with him!”
Meng Qing blushed and bowed his head, embarra.s.sed. “Shifu, Shi Qing and I are a fated pair. Our marriage is inevitable.”
Zheng Xing was so angry that he might vomit blood. “What?!!! Which son of a b.i.t.c.h said that!!!”
Meng Qing: “If that’s not the case, why haven’t you let me get the certificate yet Shifu?”
Zheng Xing: “…A cultivator’s certificate requires academic experience! You’ve followed me since you were a child and didn’t go to school, so how are you qualified!”
However, no matter how much blood he vomited or how red Meng Qing’s face was…
His voice might be quiet, but his demeanor remained resolute.
“I want to be with Shi Qing! I love him!”
“No! I will never allow it!”
Zheng Xing stood up sharply. “Even if he is a demon, I’m not afraid of him! I’ve been cultivating for 700 years! I’m not afraid of anything!”
He strode out majestically.
Meng Qing hurriedly chased after him, “Shifu!”
As soon as they went out, the pair saw Shi Qing, who was holding onto w.a.n.g Cai’s leash.
The young cultivator’s eyes were bright, and on his face was a smile of unstoppable joy.
As for Zheng Xing, he was staring at w.a.n.g Cai, and his entire body had stiffened.
Shi Qing: “I heard that you don’t approve of me being with Meng Qing, ah.”
Zheng Xing: “…Right, right! I can’t agree! I! Am! A! Righteous! Cultivator!!! I won’t agree even if you kill me!”
“Okay, cultivator. I might be a demon, but I respect you. Take this dog as a parting gift from Meng Qing and I. If you insist on breaking us up, you can have it.”
Meng Qing was stunned. He couldn’t help but clench his fists and take a step forward. “Shi Qing…”
The demon winked at him and let go of the leash in his hands.
w.a.n.g Cai happily ran over.
Zheng Xing: “…”
w.a.n.g Cai was in front of him.
Zheng Xing: “……”
w.a.n.g Cai had his tongue out and sniffed him.
Zheng Xing: “………”
Zheng Xing: “…………”
“Ahhhh dog!!!”
He collapsed to the ground and turned into a big fat field mouse.
It squeaked and ran away like the wind.
The next part will be something lighter and sweeter!