Chapter 97: Putting on a Big Act
Very soon, the small boat was filled with the enticing aroma of cooked fish…
“The fish is ready~”
Xu Boqing, following the scent, lifted the lid of the pot, waved his hand to disperse the rising steam, and after extinguishing the charcoal fire, took out two pairs of chopsticks and called out, “Sister-in-law, come and taste my cooking.”
Ao Lan’s eyebrows knitted slightly, but as if recalling something, she nodded and accepted the chopsticks, sitting down with him on either side of the pot.
Looking at the simply steamed perch inside the pot, not even garnished with scallion threads, she picked up a small piece, placed it in her mouth, and tasted it carefully, her brow never quite relaxing.
It wasn’t that the flavor was particularly good; in fact, it was rather ordinary…
Though she was exalted as a Dragon King and had little desire for food, she would occasionally savor the delicacies of the mortal world to prevent her existence from becoming too monotonous.
She had tasted wild beasts from the mountains, wild geese from the clouds, cattle and sheep from the land, and fresh offerings from rivers and lakes—every dish she’d sampled was a feast for the senses.
This simply steamed perch, aside from its freshness, was hardly unique, yet eating it did bring about a peculiar sense of enjoyment…
Xu Boqing watched her intently, and seeing her take a bite, quickly asked, “Sister-in-law, how do you find my skills?”
“Ordinary…”
“……”
Seeing his face stiffen, Ao Lan couldn’t help but smile, picking up another piece and saying with a laugh, “Your skills may not be enough for a restaurant, but as you said, there’s a unique pleasure to it…”
“Hahaha…”
Xu Boqing laughed heartily, then grabbed some fish himself. After a single taste, he too furrowed his brow and said, “The flavor really is quite average…”
“Hehehe…”
Ao Lan chuckled and, without another word, resumed eating.
A chance meeting between a man and a dragon, their conversation as calm and unremarkable as still water…
For a time, Xu Boqing didn’t know what else to say. Remembering her earlier mention of a “late husband and a rebellious son,” he casually asked, “Forgive my boldness, but how old is your son?”
“Uh…”
Hearing him mention her son and thinking of the identity she was currently masquerading under, Ao Lan could only reply awkwardly, “He’s still young… still young…”
Xu Boqing nodded thoughtfully. “Is he disobedient?”
“Yes… you could say that.”
“That won’t do! A child must be taught while young.”
“……”
“Sister-in-law, if you’ll allow me,” Xu Boqing clicked his tongue, “since my brother is gone, you’re now the head of the household. You must show your authority! If you want to raise a good child, first he must fear you! And above all, you mustn’t indulge him!”
“……”
Ao Lan blinked and replied awkwardly, “I do spoil him a bit, but he… is quite afraid of me.”
“Fear isn’t enough—he must obey. If he doesn’t, then discipline him!”
Xu Boqing set down his chopsticks and declared solemnly, “Raising a child is like tending a tree. You must prune it while it’s young. If you wait until it’s grown crooked, it’s too late to correct it.”
“Ah…”
Ao Lan’s expression became serious, her brows tightly knit as she asked, “Is it really that severe?”
“Severe? That’s putting it mildly…”
Xu Boqing paused, clicking his tongue. “I once saw two young men who hadn’t been properly disciplined. One wandered into another’s territory. The other found him, exchanged a few words, then a quarrel broke out. Guess what happened?”
“The two of them fought—seriously. One of them died, and his tendons were even torn out. The other, called to account, took his own life.”
“……”
Ao Lan drew in a sharp breath…
For some reason, upon hearing this little tale, she couldn’t help but feel a shudder of apprehension, as though it were her own son’s dragon sinews being drawn out…
How terrifying…
“There’s an old saying where I’m from: ‘A filial child is raised beneath the rod.’”
Xu Boqing waved his hand. “How can you not discipline them? If a child is disobedient, you must punish him! Beat him until he remembers, until he learns his lesson, until the next time he’s tempted to make the same mistake, he’s afraid to act!”
“I am enlightened… truly enlightened…”
Ao Lan repeated her thanks. Thinking of her own rebellious son, who feared her but was still disobedient, a steely glint flashed in her eyes…
Meanwhile…
Somewhere beneath the river, in the Dragon Palace, a flamboyantly dressed, rakish young man sat before a furnace tinkering with magical instruments. For no apparent reason, he suddenly sneezed…
He looked around blankly, found nothing amiss, muttered, “How odd,” and resumed his work at the furnace…
……
After a moment’s thought, Ao Lan said, “May I ask a rather bold question?”
“Ask away, sister-in-law.”
“I may be a country woman, but even I can see you don’t carry yourself like an ordinary man. Where have you been cultivating?”
“Cultivating?” Xu Boqing paused, though his face showed not the slightest surprise. He only shook his head with a sigh. “There is no such blessed land. I’ve simply struggled through the dust and mire of the mortal world.”
“The mortal world?” Ao Lan echoed, raising her brows. “Is it truly possible for someone like you to cultivate here in the mortal world?”
“Why not?” Xu Boqing shook his head. Recalling what Zhu Sisi had said about cultivators regarding the mortal world as poison, he replied, half in jest and half in earnest, “I once read a theory in a book called ‘one substance, two forms,’ and found it quite convincing…
Cultivators see the mortal world as a poison, even forbidding disciples of unsteady temperament from entering it. I can understand, but I do not agree.”
“Oh?”
Ao Lan voiced her surprise. “Why is that?”
“Sister-in-law, look here…”
Xu Boqing pointed to the river water alongside the boat.
He casually scooped a bowl of water from the Qianling River and held it still in his hand. “Let’s say this bowl represents the world we live in. The turbid river water inside is us.”
Because the bowl was kept still, the suspended particles and silt gradually began to settle…
Before long, the impurities had sunk to the bottom, and the water above turned clear.
“This process of separation is the emergence of order.”
“At first, this world is chaotic and turbid. As time passes, order forms, and gradually the upper part becomes clear, the lower part turbid…”
“As more time passes, the clear stream above starts to disdain the muddy dregs below, unwilling to associate with them. It seems as if the clear and the turbid have nothing to do with each other. But is that really so?”
He paused…
With a flick of his finger, he tapped the edge of the bowl, causing it to ripple…
The silt at the bottom rose again, churning and clouding the water once more.
“You see, the slightest external disturbance, whether to the clear or the turbid, and everything returns to chaos.”
Ao Lan stared blankly at the bowl in his hand, brows furrowed as if pondering something deeply…
“Isn’t our world just the same?” Xu Boqing sighed, drawing on insights from his readings. “The great void is the limitless, from the limitless comes the supreme ultimate, from the supreme ultimate the dual forces…
Just as the world transforms from nothing into something…
The mortal world is like this silt at the bottom—though rife with desire and sin, it is still part of the world’s transformation.
For me, cultivation is not about escaping the world, nor hiding from it, nor shunning it—it is about entering into it!
Immersing oneself in the great, ever-turning world of mortals!
Tempering oneself in this world, encountering all living things, understanding the seven emotions and six desires, experiencing the vicissitudes of life, comprehending the evolution of the heavenly way…”
He paused again, his tone profoundly enigmatic. “After all, if you never enter the world, how can you ever transcend it?”
“If you never enter the world, how can you transcend it… never… enter the world… how… transcend… the world…” Ao Lan murmured to herself, staring in confusion at the bowl of river water, now again settling into layers, and asked uncertainly, “Then, doesn’t that mean the water must always be entangled together?”
“Not so,” Xu Boqing replied with a smile and a shake of his head.
He took out an empty bowl, placed it beside the first, and carefully poured the clear upper layer into the new bowl, then shook both bowls gently.
No matter how he shook them…
One bowl remained clear, the other turbid.
With a glimmer in his eyes and a tone both subtle and profound, he said softly, “If one establishes another world to accept and separate the ‘clear stream,’ it becomes as you see: clear remains clear, turbid remains turbid…”
“Hiss…”