One divination a day, a trainee celestial master

The central night market street in Qiyun County was bustling with activity.

In an open-air food stall by the street, a broken electric fan was spinning loudly.

Jiang Shou and his father sat on cheap red plastic stools. On the table were a pitcher of beer, a plate of peanuts and mutton soup, and sizzling, oily lamb skewers.

"Boss! Add ten more skewers of mutton and five skewers of pork kidneys, the fatty kind!" Jiang Shouhao shouted at the top of his lungs.

Jiang Shou ate his meal with great confidence. With 1,800 yuan of "windfall" in his pocket, he didn't even bother to look at the prices when ordering food.

Sitting across from him, Jiang Huaiyuan was biting open a bottle of chilled Snow Beer with his teeth. Seeing this, he raised an eyebrow: "Oh, you've been delivering food for a year and now you're a big boss?"

"Please eat as much as you like, Mr. Jiang. Today, the entire bill is on Mr. Jiang." Jiang Shou took a bite of edamame, raised his bottle, and clinked it against his father's.

"Cheers." Jiang's father raised his chilled beer. "Let's go." Jiang Shou clinked glasses, tilted his head back and took a big gulp. He let out a long, comfortable sigh after the cold beer went down his throat.

"Dad, I've made up my mind." Jiang Shou wiped the beer foam from his mouth. "I'm moving up the mountain tomorrow, and I'll take over Shouyi Temple."

Jiang Huaiyuan paused for a moment, his chopsticks holding a peanut, but he didn't seem too surprised. He tossed the peanut into his mouth, chewing it with a crunching sound: "Whatever. Your grandfather said before he left that if you suffer a loss outside, you'll have to come back sooner or later. That dilapidated Taoist temple may be drafty, but at least it's a quiet place."

Jiang's father tilted his head back and took a swig of wine, his gaze drifting into the distance: "Actually, your grandfather was a very capable man when he was young. People from all around would come to him if they were building a house, looking at the foundation, or encountering any strange occurrences. It's a pity, though, that he didn't save any money in his life; he spent it all on that temple."

Jiang Shou nodded perfunctorily, his mind filled with the glowing wooden plaque bearing the inscription "Suihan" (meaning "Yearning for Winter"). It wasn't just skillful; it was practically cheating!

Jiang's father sighed, then suddenly changed the subject: "I have no problem with you living on the mountain, but there's one condition. Don't just stay in the Taoist temple all day without moving around. You're twenty-four or twenty-five; it's time to find a girlfriend. Don't really turn yourself into a celibate Taoist priest. Our Jiang family is counting on you to carry on the family line."

"Don't worry about that," Jiang Shou said casually, popping a peanut into his mouth. "You old fool, you should worry about yourself more. My mother passed away early, and you've made a lot of money from aquaculture these past few years. Why don't you find someone else? Haven't you spotted any pretty widows when you deliver goods to the market? You can't possibly spend all your savings at those foot massage parlors in the south of the city, can you?"

"You brat, how dare you!" Jiang Huaiyuan's face flushed red, and he grabbed a few peanut shells from the table, throwing them at Jiang Shou. "I went to a legitimate foot massage parlor for a back massage! A legitimate back massage, don't you know that?!"

The father and son were chatting idly when a burst of laughter suddenly came from the next table. Several shirtless burly men were drinking heavily, their faces flushed and their voices extremely loud.

"Hey, have you heard? That Section Chief Chen from the Water Resources Bureau made a huge fool of himself last month!" A fat man slapped his thigh and laughed wildly.

"What's wrong? What happened?"

"Didn't he go out socializing every night? That day he came home early after drinking too much, and lo and behold, when he pushed open the bedroom door, he caught his younger brother and his wife in bed! Tsk tsk tsk, the scene was so bad that his brother didn't even have time to put on his underwear before jumping off the second-floor balcony. I heard he broke his leg!"

"Holy crap, that's exciting! Even rabbits don't eat the grass near their burrows!" The group at the table erupted in deafening laughter.

"There's something else," another skinny man said in a low voice, mysteriously. "That haunted house over at Jinshui Bay in the south of the city, the villa where a family of three died in a car accident, I heard it's been sold!"

"Really? That house has been empty for almost eight years, hasn't it? I heard you can often hear a girl laughing at night, it's really creepy. Who would be so bold as to buy it?"

"I heard it was a middle-aged couple from the provincial capital who came to do business there. They were greedy and bought it for over 800,000 yuan less than the market price. I reckon they'll cause some trouble within three months of moving in..."

Jiang Shou munched on edamame while listening intently to the gossip at the next table.

……

At nine o'clock in the evening, the father and son, having eaten and drunk their fill, strolled back to their old house.

As soon as he entered the house, Jiang's father carefully took out a tin biscuit box from the top of the cabinet in his room and placed it in front of Jiang Shou.

"Here you go." Jiang's father patted the box.

"What kind of hidden debt is this?" Jiang Shou took a step back warily.

"Bullshit! Your grandfather instructed that if you decide to stay in the temple and not run away, then I will give you the contents of this box."

Jiang Shou approached suspiciously and lifted the somewhat rusty metal lid.

At the very top was a bright red book. Jiang Shou picked it up and his eyes lit up instantly: "Real Estate Ownership Certificate".

Turning to the inner pages, it was clearly stated that the land and building rights for Shouyi Temple had been changed to Jiang Shou's name.

"The old man is quite reliable." Jiang Shou put the property certificate into his pocket with satisfaction.

At the bottom of the box were two thread-bound handwritten books, a folded letter, and a small notebook with a red background and gold lettering.

Jiang Shou curiously picked up the small red book, the cover of which was printed with the words: [Taoist Clergy Certificate (Ordination Certificate)].

"Holy crap, I'm a regular soldier with a formal position?" Jiang Shou exclaimed in surprise as he opened his notebook.

However, when he saw the photo and name pasted inside, the smile on his face instantly froze.

The photo shows a five-year-old boy with a buzz cut, chubby like a New Year's picture doll, and a very conspicuous red dot between his eyebrows, looking at the camera with a silly grin.

Beside the photo, written neatly in calligraphy: Name: Jiang Shou, Buddhist Name: Jiang Yuanyuan, Affiliation: Shouyi Temple

Jiang Shou's lips began to twitch violently. "Jiang... Yuanyuan?!" Jiang Shou looked at his father with utter despair.

"Wait... what kind of respectable Taoist priest has the name Yuanyuan?!" Jiang Shou felt his dignity had been greatly insulted. If he were to go out and greet his fellow Taoists with "This humble Taoist is Jiang Yuanyuan"... the image was too beautiful to bear.

Jiang Huaiyuan coughed twice, suppressing a laugh as he turned to make tea: "Ahem... well, your grandfather said, 'The round one guards the one, meaning perfection.'"

Jiang Shou, his face dark, shoved the shameful degree certificate to the bottom, pretending it didn't exist.

There were two thread-bound handwritten books and an unsealed kraft paper envelope left in the box.

I picked up the letter and unfolded it. On the letter was my grandfather's familiar calligraphy in running script:

Xiao Shou: If you are willing to remain steadfast in your poverty, then it is fate.

Now that you've taken on this responsibility, there are three things you must keep in mind:

First, those who uphold the One must first guard their mind. If the mind is unsettled, all things will be disturbed; if the mind is clear, then Yin and Yang can be discerned.

Secondly, your constitution is different from ordinary people. When you were five years old, you contracted a strange illness with a persistent high fever. I had no other choice but to guide a stream of the "True Fire of Guarding Oneness" passed down from successive abbots into your body. As long as this true fire is not extinguished, the [Winter Decree] will recognize you as its master. Since you can see this letter, you must have already witnessed the extraordinary nature of the Winter Decree.

Upon seeing this, Jiang Shou subconsciously touched his right index finger. It seemed that the brass barbs pricking his finger and sucking blood when he opened the wooden box during the day weren't some kind of anti-theft mechanism, but rather a ritual to activate the "True Fire of Guardianship" within his body, allowing the wooden plaque to recognize its owner!

He continued reading.

Thirdly, now that you have become the next abbot of Shouyi Temple, you must diligently study the three arts taught in the temple. Although the Cold Winter Decree can help you turn misfortune into good fortune and even quickly master the basics, there is one thing you must remember: the Cold Winter Decree involves extremely serious matters, and you must never reveal it to outsiders, otherwise you will surely suffer a terrible disaster!

Finally, if you encounter any difficulties you don't understand, you can ask Gian for help. Although Gian has a bad temper, he will never harm you. Oh, by the way, Gian is the orange cat in the temple.

"Fat Tiger?" Jiang Shou recalled the fat orange cat from earlier that day, along with its disdainful look that was three parts mockery and four parts indifference.

Seeking advice?

A cat...?