Si Teng (Rattan) – Five Years Later – CH02

Yu Datong said, “Great-grandfather’s master—it’s a bit awkward to pronounce, so let’s just call him Grandmaster.”

When Grandmaster led Qiu Shan and his great-grandfather into the dense forest, the black and yellow smoke was so thick they couldn’t see the road beyond three or five steps. The three of them held lanterns, each covered their mouths and noses with a linen scarf, and, one leading the other, they walked, stopping and starting, stumbling along.

When they reached the large pit, Grandmaster, who was leading the way, couldn’t stop, and the three of them slid down like grasshoppers on a string, falling all at once. They were completely dizzy. In a panic, they picked up their lanterns to shed light. They were in a large pit about a foot deep. The surrounding soil was scorched black, and even through the linen scarf, they could smell the fumes of smoke. They shone the lantern toward the center, revealing a fist-sized iron lump in the middle. It made a crisp, resonant sound when they tapped it.

Grandmaster, having seen a lot of the world, said it was a meteorite, a fallen star from the sky. It was very rare.

Just how rare it was, the ancestor himself couldn’t quite articulate. Perhaps he’d picked it up simply for the novelty; after all, it was an alien artifact. He tore off half the hem of his shirt, wrapped it up, and took it home. He initially considered placing it in his treasure chest but then felt its appearance was too ordinary, unworthy of its neighbors, the fine porcelain of Jingdezhen and the purple clay of Yixing. After a moment’s deliberation, he instructed Qiu Shan to place the meteorite in a bonsai of a gnarled pine tree at the door, as if it were a reflection of the tree.

Qiu Shan did as he was told, and on a whim, he even watered the bonsai thoroughly before heading back to his room. He’d taken two steps when he heard a crackling sound behind him, like smoke.

Looking back, the stone was truly emitting white smoke, bubbles bubbling around it like boiling water. The salt, like a lump of salt, was melting smaller and smaller in contact with water, the dissolved water soaking the pine roots. Qiu Shan panicked, fearing he’d lost the precious treasure his master had painstakingly found. Without giving it much thought, he quickly reached out to retrieve it, rubbing and rubbing it against his clothes. Strangely enough, the stone dried up and stopped changing, remaining only the size of an egg.

Qiu Shan cried out inwardly, “Oh no!” He held the iron egg in his palm, wondering how to explain it to his master when he heard the crack of a clay basin breaking. Looking up, he was stunned and screamed in shock.

The twisted pine tree, long twisted into a miniature landscape, was now growing at a visible pace. The crackling sound of the clay pot had just occurred as its roots burst through the pot. Its twisted branches straightened, its needles densely erected, and it trembled with all its might.

The ancestor, upon hearing the sound, was stunned for a moment. Yu Datong’s great-grandfather was terrified, shouting, “Monster! Monster!”

Back then, people were ignorant, and thunder and lightning were attributed to the God of Thunder and the Goddess of Lightning. Weren’t all strange things blamed on demons and monsters?

Yu Datong said it was difficult to describe the scene in words. It felt like only a moment, and the tree had grown and withered countless times before their eyes, faster than the sped-up footage on TV. Then, at some point, a human appeared, a child of seven or eight. He landed and scurried around, panicking and running wildly. He bumped into Qiu Shan, his brows furious, frightening him so much that he fell flat on his face.

If this wasn’t a monster, what was it?

Fortunately, this was a Taoist temple, with all sorts of magical instruments within easy reach. The ancestor was quite powerful, so that little demon wasn’t worth mentioning.

Qin Fang had been listening quietly until this moment, when he asked Yu Datong, “What happened next?”

Yu Datong gulped down a beer, wiped the foam from the corner of his mouth with his sleeve, and extended his hand, making a series of slicing gestures in the air. “Of course, it was chopped into a pulp.”

The hens under the table were startled by the noise and began to frantically try to survive.

A trace of pity crossed Qin Fang’s face. Yu Datong described it vividly. “Later, he took a lamp and shone it carefully. The ground was covered with pine wood chips.”

After saying this, he took another sip of wine, chewing peanuts with a crunch. Qin Fang pondered and said, “So, according to you, the remaining meteorite was the magic weapon that Qiu Shan later transformed?”

Yu Datong burst into laughter and said, “Brother, do you really believe it?”

Qin Fang remained calm. “You told me that, and you don’t believe it yourself?”

“Oh, how could that be? I’m in this business, and I don’t believe it either,” Yu Datong said angrily. “It’s probably my great-grandfather who made it up…”

He spread his hands again and said, “Well, that’s all I’ve heard about Qiu Shan, about my great-grandfather’s generation. Qiu Shan passed away, the Grandmaster died, and then there was a war. Japanese planes dropped bombs, and boom, the Taoist temple was completely destroyed, leaving only a crater.”

At this point, a sudden flash of inspiration struck him. He leaned closer to Qin Fang, looking mysterious. “Tell me, could that meteorite also have been a bomb dropped by an airplane? There were airplanes back then, right? When were they invented?”

Yan Furui felt like he was listening to a fairy tale. Qin Fang asked him, “Do you understand?”

He seemed to understand, but then he seemed even more confused: Did Qiu Shan take the remaining meteorite? Was Miss Si Teng’s transformation actually due to that meteorite? But what did this have to do with Qin Fang’s obsession with finding Miss Si Teng?

Qin Fang laughed. “You still don’t understand. Professor Bai Jin’s explanation makes the most sense.”

Professor Bai Jin? Such a familiar name.

Yan Furui suddenly became excited. He had experienced a period of ups and downs in his life. During those years, Master Cang Hong, Taoist Master Ma Qiuyang, Chen Yindeng, and all sorts of other people were inescapable topics of conversation.

Speaking of Professor Bai Jin…

Yan Furui sighed with emotion. “The first time I met Professor Bai Jin, he made a short film. Taoist Wang Qiankun said it was called a PowerPoint presentation, and it even included an English word…”

In a flash, a thought struck him. “Qin Fang, back then, Professor Bai Jin said it was… evolution…”

Qin Fang nodded. “Yes, evolution.”

Professor Bai Jin had his own opinions on demons. When discussing them with Qin Fang, he still held to his original view: “If the earliest life forms in the world were single-celled organisms, and from them evolved millions of species of plants and animals, including humans, and if humans are the most advanced life form on Earth, then do you believe that different paths lead to the same end, and that animals and plants can also evolve into humans?”

He grew increasingly excited as he spoke. Furthermore, this kind of evolution would likely be a disaster for humanity, because plants and animals tend to retain their inherent natures when they evolve. Take, for example, Miss Si Teng. After her transformation, she possessed all the characteristics of a vine, while Chen Yindeng had exploited the power of the Amanita muscaria to its fullest potential. Compared to them, humans were simply too vulnerable.

So, if Earth had chosen humans as its rulers, nature wouldn’t have allowed the widespread transformation of plants and animals. However, there were always exceptions and contingencies; just as humans in the mortal world might see ghosts, meteorites from the sky might suddenly fall to Earth.

Professor Bai Jin speculated that the meteorite that the ancestor accidentally found and landed in Zhaohe County might be composed of a substance not found on Earth that reacted with water, accelerating the evolutionary process known in Taoism as “spiritual transformation.”

Qin Fang smiled at Yan Furui. “Don’t you understand? Ancient Chinese vernacular novels often speak of rare treasures falling from the sky. If Professor Bai Jin’s speculation is correct, then there’s no such thing as a magic spell that aids transformation, nor any reusable magical weapon. Qiu Shan was simply using the remaining half of a meteorite.”

Yan Furui suddenly understood. “You mean the meteorite is gone?”

Yes, that must be the case. The meteorite they first saw was the size of a fist, but after Qiu Shan’s initial misstep, only the size of an egg remained—the meteorite was consumed quickly. Miss Si Teng must have used up all the meteorite during her transformation.

Yan Furui’s heart sank, and he looked at Qin Fang with an almost painful expression. If that were the case, Qin Fang would never find a way to help Miss Si Teng transform again. Just as there were so many trees in the world, but no two leaves were exactly alike, the chances of meteorites falling from the sky were so rare, how could two identical ones fall?

Sure enough, Qin Fang whispered, “After that day, I stopped looking. I don’t think I’ll find her.”

Yan Furui felt so uncomfortable he wanted to cry, his nose sniffling. Qin Fang looked up at him in confusion, then smiled. “Yan Furui, why are you being so sentimental? I’ve let it go. Actually, this might not be a bad thing—Si Teng’s own choice. Maybe she doesn’t want me to bother her.”

It was great that Qin Fang thought that way. Yan Furui nodded quickly, hesitated, and then asked again, “It’s been five years, Qin Fang. Haven’t you met any… suitable girls?”

“It’s not like I’m wandering around the world looking for a girlfriend.”

Yan Furui groaned, feeling frustrated. But Qin Fang added, “I have.”

Yan Furui’s eyes lit up like little lightbulbs, and every look he gave was filled with the thought, “What happened next?”

Qin Fang smiled. “So what if I met her? I don’t know how long I can live, or when I’ll die—there are so many unknowns, why bother with anyone? It’s fine just like this. It’s pleasant and peaceful, with no worries.”

“Yan Furui, try your best. Live a few more years. I’ll have another person I can talk to in this world. If you die early, I tell you, I won’t be offering you incense.”

Yan Furui kept saying, “Pah. Pah. Pah.” Qin Fang laughed and stood up, throwing his coat over his shoulders. “Rest first. I have other things to do. I’ll see you later.”

He walked to the door, reached for the lock, and for some reason, subconsciously said, “Actually…”

Yan Furui heard him, stunned, waiting for the rest of his sentence. Strangely, Qin Fang didn’t say anything else, didn’t even look back, and simply opened the door and walked out.

There were many people waiting to go downstairs at the elevator entrance. Qin Fang pushed open the door to the nearby stairwell and walked down alone.

The stairwell was so quiet, with a faint smell of soda. Modern people are truly getting lazier. Even though it was only two flights, they’d rather complain and jump to squeeze into the elevator than take the extra two steps.

Qin Fang heard his own footsteps, hollow and resonant.

In fact, at the time, Professor Bai Jin had suggested another possibility.

He said that if Miss Si Teng had transformed into a spirit in this way, then she would have already evolved into a human form long ago. Unlike other monsters, her starting point was different. Even if she had been severely injured and returned to her original form, she should have been able to transform quickly.

Was that so? Really? Si Teng, who had already transformed into a spirit, why didn’t she come to him?

The wind started to pick up. It had rained last night, and the ground was covered with a layer of wet fallen leaves. Qin Fang stood by the roadside for a while until a city SUV pulled up beside him.

The window rolled down. The driver was a woman in her early twenties, with long chestnut hair and a pale face that bore a maturity that belied her age. Her expression remained cold and indifferent but only softened when she saw Qin Fang.

She asked Qin Fang, “Did you see your friend?”

“Yes.”