Part-Time Taoist Priest 6

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Repairing the Roof Tiles

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When exorcising, many Taoist priests would try non-violent means first. If the spirits were successfully encouraged to leave, great, if not, they could still use force to deal with them. This economized the effort they needed to spend.

Xie Lingya, on the other hand, didn’t even try negotiating—he steamrolled the Guest Spirits without any warning. A family of seven was violently murdered overnight, oh, what a scene of carnage.

Shi Changxuan gave Uncle He a brief explanation of what had happened, then began to silently prepare the ceremony to welcome the guardian gods back in the house. Just, whenever his gaze fell on Xie Lingya, the look in his eyes was extremely complicated.

The He couple did not think much of the incident. Didn’t Teacher Xie Lingya stay back exactly to help? In fact, they were happy with this outcome. When Shi Daozhang said he would persuade the spirits to leave, they were worried they would come back later. However, it turned out Teacher Xie had directly obliterated them—wasn’t it great?

Meanwhile, Xie Lingya inspected his sword. He felt there would be no need to use it again tonight and carefully put it away. He had no idea that he had left a savage impression in the hearts of the people present. Everything happened the way it did because he was just an amateur and his control wasn’t precise, which resulted in the simple and brutal massacre.

He Zun came up to him. “…Teacher Xie, didn’t you say that it was Sword of Compassion, ‘compassion of motherly love’?”

When he heard that, he had thought it was meant to gently redeem the spirits, not to exterminate them in one move!

Xie Lingya closed the wooden box. He said, not batting an eyelid, “It’s indeed compassion—compassion of motherly love. Haven’t you heard love makes people brave? I was quite brave a moment ago, ergo, I was loving, ergo, I was compassionate. Wasn’t I?”

He Zun: “…I-I guess?”

He had little knowledge of Taoism. When Xie Lingya said his sword was called the Three Treasures Sword, he thought it was referring to Dao [道] – following the Way, Shi [师] – respecting the Teacher, and Jing [经] – respecting the Scriptures, the three concepts used to explain Taoist religion to laymen.

Actually, the Three Treasures here meant basic virtues in Taoism: “compassion,” “frugality,” and “humility,” first mentioned in Tao Te Ching, a fundamental text of Taoist religion:

“Here are my three treasures. Guard and keep them! The first is pity; the second, frugality; the third, refusal to be ‘foremost of all things under heaven.’”

These virtues inspired the long-ago master of Baoyang Temple to create the Three Treasures Sword and were its essence.

But for some reason, when Xie Lingya explained it this way, He Zun still felt speechless…

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By the time Shi Changxuan finished the ceremony to welcome the guardian gods back, it was already midnight.

Since it was so late, Uncle He asked them to stay the night, but Shi Changxuan wasn’t willing to. Initially, Xie Lingya was going to accept the offer, but after Shi Changxuan refused, he remembered that early in the morning, he always opened the temple doors for the people who came to fetch water, so he also said he would go back.

Uncle He had no choice but to say, “Then let me drive you back.”

Meanwhile, Aunt He handed both Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan a thin red envelope.

He Zun would stay with his relatives for the night, so only Xie Lingya and Shi Changxuan headed outside.

They had to wait for Uncle He to retrieve his car. Xie Lingya was pondering how he would convince Shi Changxuan to leave behind his contact information when suddenly, the man said, “I saw you in Taihe Temple.”

Xie Lingya looked up in surprise. “I did attend the Rain Invoking Ceremony, but how did Shi Daozhang notice me?”

Don’t tell me, my genius has already overcome the boundary of physicality—my excellence is drawing everyone’s eyes?

Shi Changxuan: “…You were staring at me.”

Xie Lingya: “………”

Xie Lingya: “Well… I did, but come on, everyone was staring at you!”

Shi Changxuan sank into silence again. 

Xie Lingya, feeling baffled and a bit awkward, changed the topic: “Actually, I have a question… I assure you I’m not malicious, and I don’t mean anything by it, but—is Master Chen all right?”

Shi Changxuan looked at him with a frown.

“Something really did happen?” Xie Lingya was surprised to see his reaction.

Actually, he was just guessing randomly. This whole situation reminded him of some of his uncle’s stories where a practitioner suffered from a backlash after failing to break a curse. Master Chen unexpectedly didn’t appear at the rain invoking ritual though he was supposed to lead it, and President Wang said that Fang Zhenxing, who found the money with Uncle He, suddenly fell seriously ill.

Xie Lingya had a flash of intuition: could these two things be connected? Perhaps, Fang Zhenxing asked Master Chen to help him, but the priest, either due to being careless or some other reason, failed and suffered the backlash as a result? This would explain why President Wang was able to invite Shi Changxuan (since, apparently, it was usually very difficult) and why Shi Changxuan knew about the windfall.

Shi Changxuan might’ve agreed to come because Uncle He was also involved in this incident.

“I just made a wild guess—I’ve never even seen Master Chen. I had nothing to do with this, don’t worry,” Xie Lingya said.

Shi Chang stared at him for a few seconds as if to judge the authenticity of his words, then slowly looked away.

What does this mean? Do you believe me or not? Xie Lingya was at a bit of a loss. Why was Shi Changxuan always acting so cryptic? He couldn’t read minds. This man was so difficult to get along with!

A moment later, Shi Changxuan handed him the red envelope he received from Aunt He.

Xie Lingya: “……”

Noticing him staring at himself, Shi Changxuan said, “Here, you can have it.”

Hey, wait, does this mean he believes me? Inexplicably, Xie Lingya seemed to have begun to understand the logic of Shi Changxuan’s actions.

I take back what I just thought—Shi Changxuan is a nice guy!

Xie Lingya’s hand automatically extended to take the red envelope. I’m not taking it for myself, he justified, this is for the venerable patriarch.

“Well, then I won’t be polite. Thank you.” After opening it, the contents were the same as his: a cheque. Both of them added up to fifty thousand yuan.

Before, He Zun said his uncle was going to pay according to the market price, but this amount was much higher than what Xie Lingya heard the market price was—after all, it had been divided between two people. It was probably due to Shi Changxuan’s reputation; usually, a house blessing (not counting the exorcism) would cost less than ten thousand yuan.

Xie Lingya put away the red envelopes. Feeling Shi Changxuan was much more pleasing to the eye, he gave him a friendly smile, which made the plump lower lid of his eyes become more obvious, and his eyes look brighter. “I heard that Shi Daozhang comes from a long line of Taoists? No wonder you are so powerful. Can we exchange contact information so I can ask you for advice in the future?”

Shi Changxuan stared at him for a long moment again but complied with his request.

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Just then, Uncle He arrived in his car. Xie Lingya got into the back, expecting Shi Changxuan to take the passenger seat, but the man actually followed him. 

Xie Lingya peered at Uncle He, but he seemed to be fine with the arrangement, and even said, “Shi Daozhang, Teacher Xie, I’ve heard that it’s good to hang a charm in the car, but I didn’t pay attention because I used not to believe in such things. What do you think I should hang?”

Shi Changxuan didn’t seem interested in speaking. Xie Lingya chatted with Uncle He, but very briefly—it was better he concentrated on driving, especially at night.

He wanted to talk with Shi Changxuan again, to get to know more about him, but the other man leaned against the back of the seat, closing his eyes so, disappointed, he busied himself with his phone instead. Fortunately, he had already got his contact information.

Uncle He headed to Taihe Temple first, to drop off Shi Changxuan who was staying there. Unlike Baoyang, Taihe Temple was situated far from the city center and due to the road being under construction, the ride was very bumpy.

The car jolted suddenly. Xie Lingya, who was playing on his phone, was caught unaware, and he fell right onto Shi Changxuan.

“Are you okay back there?” Uncle He asked.

“I’m fine. Sorry, Shi Daozhang,” Xie Lingya apologized, then noticed that Shi Changxuan’s eyes were still closed.

This didn’t wake him up?

Xie Lingya saw that Uncle He was not paying attention to the back, so when he was straightening, he discreetly put his hands on Shi Changxuan’s chest. Earlier, he used physiognomy to assess his talent, but he could only observe his facial features; he also needed to touch his bones, in particular, those on the chest.

Although the chances were nil, but who knew—maybe he, like Xie Lingya, also had celestial bone?

However, he didn’t feel anything out of ordinary, except for muscles. Huh, unexpectedly, Shi Changxuan is the type who looks slender when dressed but is actually quite muscular, Xie Lingya thought.

He inadvertently glanced up and found that at some moment, Shi Changxuan opened his eyes and was now staring at him.

Xie Lingya: “………”

Dude, really? You didn’t even twitch when I fell on you but woke up when I lightly touched your chest?

Fortunately, Xie Lingya had always been thick-skinned. He moved his hands away as if nothing had happened and calmly met Shi Changxuan’s gaze. “Sorry, I lost my balance. Haha, look, we are almost at Taihe Temple.”

“…” Shi Changxuan scrutinized Xie Lingya, but the other young man had an extremely innocent expression on his face and kept it up despite being stared at for a long time. Finally, he looked away, a trace of self-doubt in his normally calm eyes.

When the car stopped at Taihe’s gates, Xie Lingya enthusiastically waved his farewell, not embarrassed at all: “Bye-bye, let’s keep in touch!”ヾ( ̄▽ ̄)”

Shi Changxuan: “…”

As Shi Changxuan’s silhouette faded into the night, Uncle He sighed with emotion: “Teacher Xie and Shi Daozhang really hit it off immediately! Today was their first meeting, but they already seem to be friends!”

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The statue of Spirit Official Wang in Baoyang was two meters and seventy centimeters tall. After inquiring, Xie Lingya found that, if he neither cut corners nor used fancy materials, the repair would cost about ten thousand yuan.

Thankfully, the statue was relatively modest—the main gods of many temples had the statues made from either gold or bronze.

Fortunately, Shi Changxuan gave Xie Lingya his share of the commission. Xie Lingya calculated that the money left after restoring the statue would be enough to repair the tiles on the roof.

Much of the temple required fixing or refurbishing, but right now, there weren’t enough funds. In the end, Xie Lingya gave priority to the cost and urgency.

However, the day he contacted the craftsman, he dreamed of Spirit Official Wang again.

The god still glared at him menacingly, sticking out his middle finger.

At first, Xie Lingya was happy because he thought that Spirit Official Wang appeared to praise him. However, the next night, he had the same dream again and went from happy to depressed. Just what was wrong?

Xie Lingya gave it a long hard thought and consulted the notes again. Finally, he found something called “throwing poe.” It was a traditional divination method in which the divination seeker dropped two little pieces, called jiaobei, moon blocks, or poe, on the floor and got the answer by their positions. It allowed one to read the omens and communicate with the gods.

Baoyang Temple’s jiaobei were made of copper and shaped like a half-moon, with one side flat (known as the yang side) and the other curved (known as the yin side).

The answer would be determined based on the question asked, but generally: if the jiaobei both landed on the flat side, it was called ‘xiao bei,’ which meant either ‘no’ or that the god laughed at the question; if both landed on the round side, it was ‘yin bei,’ a negative answer, and the god being displeased; one piece on the flat side and the other on the round meant ‘sheng bei’ and was a sign of the god’s approval; if both pieces stood erect with the corners of the crescent pointing upwards, it was ‘dun gua,’ which meant a very bad omen, or the god being angry.

Xie Lingya got in front of Spirit Official Wang’s statue and asked silently: Are you telling me I should find another craftsman? Is the one I hired untrustworthy?

The result was xiao bei. I guess that’s not it.

Xie Lingya kept at it until he understood the venerable founder’s message: he had this shabby statue for too long and thought it was time for an upgrade—how about, say, a statue made of pure gold?

Xie Lingya: “……”

He would’ve never expected the venerable founder to know the first rule of haggling: start with the highest price.

Xie Lingya shook his head: Pure gold is out of the question—I wouldn’t have that much money even if I sold the whole Baoyang Temple, me included. Gold-plating—no chance either. You can, however, get brass.

Xie Lingya threw the jiaobei again, only to see them roll to their sides, the corners pointing upward, and held his breath: Could it be dun gua? Is the patriarch really furious?

The two pieces tottered uncertainly and finally fell, as if unreconciled, to form sheng bei.

Xie Lingya exhaled, relieved. He wiped the sweat off his forehead. That last throw… He could almost see the venerable founder getting angry at him dropping the price so drastically, thinking it over and again, and in the end, reluctantly agreeing.

But this was the best Xie Lingya could do. Originally, he wanted to say the statue could be painted gold, but considering Spirit Official really was a bit too miserable, he changed his mind. If his statue was too shabby, the venerable founder might decide to recover his lost dignity by giving a tangible manifestation of his anger!

However, if he were to get a brass statue for the Spirit Official Wang, then at least the statues of the Three Pure Ones and the Jade Emperor had to be upgraded as well. A brass statue more than two meters tall would cost no less than twenty-eight thousand.

As such, the money that Xie Lingya just earned was far from enough. He had to keep working hard.

The Spirit Official’s statue had to have the priority though, as the current one was in quite a sorry state due to the flaking paint. Since the situation was urgent, the other gods probably wouldn’t mind waiting a bit. The roof had to be fixed too, or the rest of the statues might also get damaged.

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Mind made up, Xie Lingya contacted the craftsmen again to discuss the change of material. However, though he searched through the stuff his uncle left behind, Xie Lingya wasn’t able to find any contact with a roof tiler.

In this day and age, there were almost no houses with roofs covered with clay roof tiles, especially in cities. In the past, there was a profession called “roof shingler.” They would climb on the roof to replace the old and damaged tiles.

Moreover, the main hall of Baoyang was very old. The old-fashioned tiles on the roof were not made anymore, unlike the modern tiles that Taihe Temple had after the renovation. As such, some random repair worker wouldn’t be able to deal with the job.

Xie Lingya asked his father to check for roof shinglers in the old villages near Niuyang City. In the end, his father did find one and asked him to come to Baoyang.

Due to the area and severity of damage to the temple’s roof, the tiling would cost at least eight to nine thousand yuan. The price would’ve been higher, but luckily, the shingler was still able to find a match for the old tiles, so there was no need to replace the entire roof.

Old craftsmen like this were much more attentive to traditional customs than Xie Lingya—he only started to work after consulting the almanac for an auspicious day with warm and sunny weather.

Xie Lingya was reading a book while boiling water in the front yard when He Zun arrived, bringing several young men over to burn incense. They were his roommates, the ones who encountered the ghost on the streets nearby with him. Fortunately, at that time, He Zun had Xie Lingya’s talisman with him, and they all came through the ordeal intact.

Due to that encounter, while they were curious about Xie Lingya, they were also respectful. Moreover, He Zun didn’t mention that Xie Lingya was so good-looking—even as the same sex, they secretly appreciated his appearance. Perhaps they were prejudiced by what they had heard, but his cold white skin seemed to give him an especially mysterious air!

“You want to burn incense? Come on, then.” Xie Lingya put down his book and led them to the back.

He Zun looked at what he was reading and exclaimed in surprise, “Damn, Teacher Xie, you were serious about the postgraduate studies?”

Baffled by his reaction, Xie Lingya glanced at a reference book for the Postgraduate Admission Test and replied: “What are you yelling about? Haven’t I told you this already?”

He Zun: “…I thought you were pranking me.”

Xie Lingya: “………”

He Zun’s roommates were confused too. One of them said, “I’ve heard of Taoist colleges, but there are even postgraduate studies? How many years for that?”

Xie Lingya: “………”

“I’m not a priest,” Xie Lingya explained, feeling helpless. “Well, to quote He Zun, you can think of me as the sweeping monk here.”

Roommates: “???”

He Zun:: “………”

Work was underway at the Spirit Official Hall, so Xie Lingya led them to the Hall of The Three Purities. Since it was their first time, he showed them how, explaining that the distance between the three incense sticks should not be more than one inch, in accordance with the customs.

He Zun’s roommates then donated some money, but since they were all students, the amount was symbolic, only to show their respect.

“Teacher Xie,” He Zun’s roommate said, following He Zun’s example in addressing Xie Lingya. “Last time, He Zun gave me one of your talismans. Do you perhaps have more? Or maybe some charms to protect residences? I would like to place one at home.”

This flustered Xie Lingya a bit. He had been drawing talismans for the past few days, but they were catered to the temple’s most frequent visitors: senior citizens. In order to convert this demographic into Baoyang’s worshipers, Xie Lingya had gone for the “health & well-being” type of talismans.

Thinking frantically, he looked around. Then, an idea came to him. He walked out of the hall and called to the craftsman on the roof, “Uncle Liu, do you have any extra tiles?”

The man looked down. “Yes. Why?”

“I want to gift a few to people,” Xie Lingya replied.

The roof shingler signaled for him to go ahead, not asking for a reason.

Under the students’ curious gazes, Xie Lingya grabbed a few tiles, swept the dust off them, and offered them up. “Put them in a dry and clean place,” he said.

He Zun’s roommates were somewhat dubious. “Um… What do you use them for…?”

They saw Xie Lingya took those from the pile of tiles with their own eyes—the only thing he did was to brush off the dirt. What good was it for?

“These are old tiles made the traditional way. The tiles and eaves were inventions of Shennong. They contain the harmonious cycle of the Five Elements: Earth mined with Metal, then mixed with Water to get the clay, baked in Fire, and put on Wood. The face of the tile is yang, the back is yin, and together they complete each other. These tiles also count as charms and can be used to protect residences,” Xie Lingya explained.

It was common knowledge that the carpenter’s tools, such as Luban ruler and carpenter’s ink line were used to protect residences and ward off evil. In fact, the same was true for the tools of butcher and roof tiler—the former because they were used for slaughter, the latter due to the combination of yin and yang, and the Five Elements in the tiles. This was especially true of the old tiles made by traditional methods.

After the group heard this, they accepted the tiles with a peace of mind and thanked Xie Lingya. Since it was such a simple charm, giving the cost price was sufficient.

“We invited other students too, but they refused to come. They said we were superstitious,” He Zun complained to Xie Lingya.

He Zun was basically the number one follower of Baoyang now. He worked hard to help Xie Lingya promote the temple, but sadly, the effect seemed to be limited.

Xie Lingya knew how hard it was to attract visitors, so he comforted, “Everyone has their own views. If they don’t believe, you shouldn’t force them to come to worship, there is no point.”

Now that was an attitude befitting a man of superior attainments, He Zun’s roommates thought in their hearts. Xie Lingya was truly a cold and noble Taoist master, just as he looked!

Xie Lingya then continued, “Next time asked them to come over for tea and snacks instead.”

Everyone: “…………”

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Translator’s Notes:

1. Luban ruler [魯班尺] – a tool used by Chinese craftsmen to determine the dimensions of furniture and also for the construction of various buildings like temples and houses. It measures about 46 cm in length (~18 inches) and is divided into multiple sections with specific measurements; each segment is deemed as either auspicious or inauspicious. It is believed that the Lu Ban ruler was first used in ancient China for calculating auspicious dimensions for furniture that is used for religious purposes such as altar tables. Additionally, it was also used for constructing a “lucky” door with auspicious dimensions, the key to the overall well being of the house occupants. Furniture, as well as structures like doorframes and windows made to the specifications of auspicious dimensions, are said to bring prosperity to the user. (Source 1, Source 2)
2. Carpenter’s ink line [墨斗] – a tool similar to chalk line. (Baidu)

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Translator: Velvet
TL Checker & Editor: Eques
Proofreader: Bet

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Eques:

Hey guys!
I have the pleasure to announce that Velvet is taking over translating PTTP! 🎉 I will be editing (and Bet proofing, nothing important, no need to even mention her). As such, chapters should be released regularly from now on – we’ll set the exact schedule later.