So What If You've Been Reborn?

C2. Confoundment

Today I have a long opening speech prepared, so you might want to have a seat first.

-About the chapter t.i.tle: The original t.i.tle of this chapter is 迷心症, which the original author used because they too had no idea how people in the old days referred to amnesia. Based on my own limited understanding of English and Chinese, I translated it as ‘confoundment’…Having looked it up in the dictionary, I now know full well that ‘confoundment’ is not an actual word in the English dictionary. Unfortunately, I have no better alternative.

-Terms used:

End of speech. Now, if you’ll kindly follow me down this way…

"Even ordinary people know not to keep the money they pick up, so how could you keep a child you picked up!"

The white-haired old man stomped about impatiently. The sight of s.h.i.+ Feng seated there without any reaction only angered him further, and he flung his sleeves back in a rage.

At that moment, a tender, pale hand grabbed him by the bottom hem of his robes.

"So you"re awake, child? Fear not, I"ll get him to send you back!" the old man declared, thumping one hand solidly against his bony chest.

"Are you the new steward?"

s.h.i.+ Feng opened his eyes. The people crouched in the corners exchanged glances, clearly at a loss for what to do.

"Ahem, I am not a steward; I am the master of Black Depths Valley, at the bottom of Sky-High Cliff. You know what that means, child? "Valley" is written with the same word as in "granary". This here is a valley." The old man stood with his chest pushed out, pressing on the three tufts of his neatly groomed beard, and gestured towards the valley with a grand flourish. "Yes, I am the—-”

"The steward in charge of this granary?" Chen He blinked.

"Pfft."

Chuckles could be heard from those hiding in the corners. Feeling humiliated, the Valley Master turned and hollered, "Who"s there?"

"If this place is a granary, we are but a winnowing pan-full of Chinese sorghum."

"Make that buckwheat! Buckwheat grows faster."

The old fellow glared at them angrily. He placed the dazed child on a cus.h.i.+on, and held up his little hand, shaking it gently. Pointing at the silver bell, he asked, "Since you"re from the Chen household of Yunzhou, who"s your father?"

"My father, he"s…Father," the child mumbled, his mouth puffing up.

"What trade does your family deal in?"

Unable to answer, the little lump lowered his head, beginning to play with the edges of his clothing.

Puzzled, the master of the valley cast a confused glance towards the other cultivators. This child was already six years old, too young to be a big child, but too old to be a small child; still, he should have at least begun to understand family matters. Why was he unable to answer these questions?

He cast a hateful glare at s.h.i.+ Feng, thinking that s.h.i.+ Feng must have frightened this child somehow.

After a great deal of rummaging, he took out an old, shrivelled fruit and handed it over, asking, "Why did you come out to the mountains instead of staying at home?"

"I didn"t come out to the mountains…I was at home, in the yard, by the pond," the child replied matter-of-factly, looking up.

Since when could a child fall into the Sky-High Cliff"s barrier just by playing next to the pond in the backyard?

Surely this child must have been knocked unconscious and kidnapped by some thug, then thrown off the cliff in the dead of the night!

The a.s.sembled cultivators exchanged puzzled looks - who would ever think of kidnapping a young child and racing into the mountains just to toss the child to the bottom of the valley? Just how big a grudge were they harbouring?

"s.h.i.+ Feng, what"s going on here?"

s.h.i.+ Feng gave no reply. Making his way over to Chen He, he wiped the sweat off Chen He"s forehead and threw away the dried-up fruit. Then he took out a basket of steaming hot meat buns from his magic pouch. The fragrance of the meat buns caused Chen He to stare at him unflinchingly.

"Wait, wait, where did you get those meat buns? Sky-High Cliff hasn"t had those for centuries!" The Valley Master was aghast as he stepped backwards.

Meat buns had not been the only thing s.h.i.+ Feng bought from outside the mountains. He had also obtained soft quilts, pillows made from embroidered satin, tiger-head shoes[1], and even belly wraps[2].

Why would he take in this child without any plans? s.h.i.+ Feng could not bring himself to be a jerk and simply leave the child alone after feeding him a pill to make him stop consuming mortal food[3].

Chen He swallowed his drool, only staring at the meat buns instead of grabbing one and eating it right away.

"This child does seem to be well-behaved," the old Valley Master mumbled.

s.h.i.+ Feng"s gaze grew colder as he reached out to touch the back of the boy"s head.

No child was born obedient and well-behaved. Children were all noisy; infants cried due to discomfort, and young children cried to test the people around them. If the people around them would not pay them any attention regardless of whether they laughed or cried, they would become slow and obtuse, yet on the outside they would look obedient and good.

After confirming the position of the clotted blood in Chen He"s brain again, s.h.i.+ Feng"s hand retreated slowly.

The blood had clotted for too long. Forcing it apart would damage the meridians, so he could only let it be and move on in this state. The best thing would be to let Chen He practice cultivation on his own and resolve this issue gradually.

It was difficult for anyone to imagine that this child, hardly fidgeting as he sat on the cus.h.i.+on, was mentally handicapped.

—-well, it had fooled everyone in Black Depths Valley.

Smiling slightly, s.h.i.+ Feng pressed the meat bun into Chen He"s hand - it had cooled down somewhat, and now its temperature was just right.

Hesitantly, he looked up at s.h.i.+ Feng, loosely hanging hair, wide sleeves, robe and all. He felt that this person was different from all the people in his memories. The Chen household"s servants smelled of sweat, the young maids smelled of rouge and powder, but this person before him was nothing of the sort. Instead, he was like the pure lotus water they made offerings to, and like the water, he carried a deep, refres.h.i.+ng fragrance.

Dumbly, Chen He lowered his head to check out the meat bun.

It smelled good.

And it was warm, like the hand that had been touching his hair.

After scanning his surroundings again, Chen He stepped behind s.h.i.+ Feng and carefully took a bite. The warm meat juices soothed his famished stomach.

"This child"s appearance—-”

An older Taoist priest noticed what was so unusual about the child, and held out his hand to perform some finger divination[4]. His long white brows, which dragged all the way down to his cheekbones, was quite the comical sight.

It amused the child, making him giggle non-stop.

The priest reached out a hand, wanting to a.s.sess the positions of Chen He"s bones for another divination[5], but s.h.i.+ Feng stepped forward and blocked him.

"You…?" He had a sudden realisation. "This child has the fate of three disasters and nine troubles, like yourself?"

s.h.i.+ Feng did not give any reply, instead pressing another meat bun into Chen He"s hands.

"So be it!" sighed the Valley Master, "This trouble"s all yours, we shan"t have anything to do with it!"

Having said so, he left, and the crowd of onlookers slipped away with him.

From outside the cave estate there came the soft, quiet sounds of people conversing.

"Valley Master, is this really alright?"

"What"s so bad about it? When s.h.i.+ Feng just came to Black Depths Valley, he was utterly disheartened and had all his hopes dashed, like someone who was already dead. Now that there"s a child around to disturb him, it could at least prevent him from going to line up in the underworld at such a young age, even before any of us do! You a.s.s, don"t you know that there aren"t many positions open for underworld officials these days?"

"Then, about this child"s family…"

"Since he has this sort of fate, it doesn"t matter if we don"t send him home." The Valley Master exhaled slowly. "If s.h.i.+ Feng"s taking pity on him, who"s to say we aren"t feeling the same way?"

~~~

Not long after saying this, the master of Black Depths Valley began to regret it.

At the bottom of Sky-High Cliff, every day was extremely boring, and everyone was tired of seeing each other. However, now that there was a young child around, everyone found it fascinating.

"Valley Master, that child"s really cute. He doesn"t cry or make a fuss, and he even giggles when you play with him."

Duh, all children are like that.

"Valley Master, that child"s so pale and tender; he"s even whiter than the lingzhi I"m growing at home."

If you want something white, just grow some ginseng, you idiot. Those are the whitest.

"Valley Master, s.h.i.+ Feng"s bringing out Nanhongzi"s tablet. Seems like he"s taking in a disciple in place of his instructor."

"Nothing strange about that," said the Valley Master, as he stroked his beard. "All of s.h.i.+ Feng"s disciples died. Although mortal diviners are not very wise and view the fate of three tribulations and nine troubles as a terrible fate that brings heavy misfortune, I believe s.h.i.+ Feng is very concerned about that. Placing that child under Nanhongzi and raising him as a junior brother would avoid similar troubles."

"It"s just a position. Anyhow, it"s difficult for the master and disciple to meet even once, and most people are taught the basics by their senior brothers," a cultivator said self-deprecatingly. "I"m much closer to my senior brother than my Master."

"If you"re envious, go take in a little child of your own instead of yakking about it to my face," the Valley Master retorted.

"Hah…well."

Everyone dispersed at once.

Not that they had no disciples or junior brothers, but…most cultivators were unwilling to take in such young children.

—-they knew how to attain immortality, but not how to care for a child.

Young children were still ignorant of the ways of the world. If they were to become cultivators before they had gathered enough experience in the mortal world, it could affect them in future, when the time came for them to cross over.

After considering this briefly, the Valley Master decided to go back and convince s.h.i.+ Feng to let one of the hunter families in the mountains raise the child until adulthood, and then they could bring him back here after that.

He had only just stepped into s.h.i.+ Feng"s cave estate when someone came up to him with a troubled expression, saying, "Valley Master, there"s something wrong with this child."

"How so?" The Valley Master was immediately on alert.

In the cave estate, swathed in his new quilt and fast asleep, the soft white lump of a child lay curled up by s.h.i.+ Feng"s feet. He was even snoring a little. This child slept rather well; there was little reason to worry about a child who kicked the blankets off or rolled around in his sleep.

Seeing the Valley Master come back again, s.h.i.+ Feng barely lifted his gaze. In order not to disturb Chen He, who was leaning against his leg, he had ceased to move, sitting completely still with his legs crossed.

"When s.h.i.+ Feng was wiping his face, we asked him how old he was, and he said—-" This cultivator had a look of great incredulity on his face, and the following information seemed to have shocked him more than news such as, for example, hearing about his own disciple returning to the secular life and taking four wives—-

"Three years old," Chen He had replied then, head tilted, and looked about dazedly, as if looking for proof. However, this was not the Chen family residence, and there were no servants and maids to scold him for speaking nonsense.

Well, he should have stayed within the family residence no matter how lost he got, so maybe the servants would find him if he just stayed here and took a nap.

The cultivators had finally realised something was amiss after seeing that Chen He"s behaviour did not match his age, and they cast their gazes towards s.h.i.+ Feng. He had waited patiently, gently patting Chen He"s back, until the boy was asleep - and then he nodded at them.

This caused an uproar. A child who was not quite right in the mind…He would be unable to understand the ways of the world, much less practice cultivation and strive to attain immortality!

But s.h.i.+ Feng did not mind.

After discovering that Chen He was mentally handicapped, he had been thinking of a way.

There were countless sects and schools out there, all with their own techniques. s.h.i.+ Feng had not mastered them all, but he did understand a little of each.

The Liquor-Wisdom Technique[6] was just right for Chen He.

Chen He fell into the barrier from Sky-High Cliff, and while he had been trapped in the barrier, his meridians and joints had been completely relaxed by the spiritual energy. This was a good opportunity to use the Liquor-Wisdom Technique.

The master of the Black Depths Valley was exceptionally shrewd; seeing the look of scheming in s.h.i.+ Feng"s eyes, he guessed what the man intended, and quickly interjected, "It is highly unadvisable; the child does not have a whole mind, and we do not yet know where the problem lies; it may be unsuitable for him if the Liquor-Wisdom Technique is used!"

s.h.i.+ Feng did not seem to hear him.

Fearing that s.h.i.+ Feng would insist on having his way, the Valley Master quickly lifted the child up in his arms, bringing him away from s.h.i.+ Feng.

The child, having been awakened, rubbed his eyes and looked about him dazedly.

"Now, now, don"t be scared," the Valley Master hushed at once, fearing that the child would be spooked and start to cry.

But Chen He blinked obliviously, and asked,

"Are you the new steward?"

"I"m the Valley Master! Eh?"

Sensing that something was amiss, he stopped, watching Chen He intently.

This made the child a little uncomfortable, and though he trembled slightly, he dared not struggle.

"Child, what is your name?"

"Chen…He," the lump of a child replied hesitantly.

This name was carved on the bell attached to the silver bangle, and everyone knew it. He could say his name, so it appeared he was not too much of a fool. Unfortunately, his relief was shattered in the next moment.

"What"s this place?"

The child chewed on his finger. His gaze swept briefly over s.h.i.+ Feng but did not pause at all; he studied his surroundings as if seeing a completely foreign world.

Remembering the earlier report about there being something wrong with this child, the Valley Master was startled, and immediately pressed, "Child, how old are you?"

"Three years old."

Oh, great, the exact same answer. d.a.m.nit, did this little whelp not realise he was much older than three?

"Why are you here instead of playing at home?"

"I don"t know, I was catching katydids by the pond." The boy tilted his head and thought for a moment. "Then I fell into the water. Mister Steward, where is this? Grandmother must be very angry. I won"t run away on my own again."

"You don"t recognise me?" The Valley Master was horrified. He carried the child to s.h.i.+ Feng, and pointed at him, asking, "You haven"t seen him either?"

The child gazed at him innocently, shaking his head.

This child was hardly a fool! He simply had confoundment!

"Whatever, you can use any techniques you like, be it the Liquor-Wisdom Technique or hypnosis." Defeated, the master of the Black Depths Valley handed the child back to s.h.i.+ Feng. "At any rate, you fed him those meat buns in the morning for nothing!

Sorry, today"s notes are pretty much a closing speech as well…Here:

[1]: Originally 虎头鞋; they have tiger heads attached to the front. It takes much effort to make a single pair, and there are a few symbolisms and origin stories surrounding tiger-head shoes. On an unrelated note, I couldn"t help but wonder why s.h.i.+ Feng chose to get these, since regular children"s shoes would have been just fine for a six-year-old…

[2]: Originally 肚兜. Man, this one is really hard to translate…I’d say ‘belly wrap’ is the most appropriate translation here.

[3]: I do not have a more concise name for the pill being described here, so I tried to describe what I believe the pill does to the consumer.

[4]: It"s a method of divination that involves touching your thumb to the phalanges of other fingers…I"m not sure if there is an actual translation for this. (Like "confoundment" *cringes at weird translation* it"ll pop up again.)

[5]: It was either this or "touch Chen He"s bones", and no, Sir Longbrows here is not a pervert. Apparently, some divination methods involve feeling for the bones of the person…? OTL Divination methods… (FYI, Longbrows is a placeholder nickname; desperately trying to figure out a proper t.i.tle)

[6] (LONG EXPLANATION) Originally 醍醐灌顶之术. The name Liquor-Wisdom Technique has been heavily condensed; the saying醍醐灌顶 means "receiving wisdom as if it has been poured over the head like ghee". Ghee (called 醍醐 once upon a time) is used in Buddhism as a metaphor for concepts like "ultimate truth". Following that line of thought, 醍醐灌顶 means to have an epiphany after receiving great wisdom from someone else…usually something that has a sobering effect on the person receiving the wisdom. It gives the feeling that the person had an "Eureka!" moment, or they"ve "seen the light" after hearing the wisdom.

"But what"s with the ghee? Didn"t you say liquor earlier??" See, the term 醍醐 can also refer to liquor, especially when used in poems. I opted to use it for the sake of my sanity, because…think about it. Liquor-Wisdom, compared to…"Ghee-Wisdom". (Pfft.) …I"m sorry, it just seems pretty hilarious to me. "Ghee-Wisdom". "Ghee-Wisdom Technique". OTL gHeE-WIsdOm (seriously, send some help, why is this so hilarious)