Notes on Longevity

Chapter 1: Snowflakes Fly Overnight, Thieves Near a Dilapidated Temple

"What is this?" He Yichen sat on the stone bench, lifting his gaze from the laptop screen filled with words. He looked at the young man in the blue Taoist robe in front of him with a puzzled expression.

"I hope this will be helpful to you." The man in the Taoist robe glanced at an old-fashioned diary on the stone table and smiled slightly at He Yichen.

"Can I take a look?" He Yichen asked tentatively, after all, even if someone else gave him such a private thing, he couldn't accept it.

"It was originally a gift for you, so consider it a return gift."

After speaking, the man in the Taoist robe got up and went back to the bamboo hut surrounded by several tall bamboo stalks. Soon, he took out several identical diaries…

He Yichen watched him walk in, then pushed up his glasses, not caring what he was doing there. He simply frowned, took a deep breath, picked up a notebook from the stone table, and opened it to the first page…

"In the late 27th year of the Wanbao era of the Yan Dynasty, at the end of the year, on the eve of the Jiazi cycle, the weather was cold."

The candlelight illuminated the face of the young Taoist priest who was bent over the table, writing with a brush.

That handsome face, with its hint of determination, seemed to reveal a touch of sadness in the candlelight.

"Master Ping An, please have some hot water!"

An elderly woman carrying a bowl of hot water slowly approached him. Upon hearing this, Ping An immediately put down his pen, stood up, and respectfully took the steaming water from the woman, saying, "Thank you, ma'am."

"You're too kind, you're too kind." The old woman, her body hunched over, waved to Ping An with her back to him and walked out the door, muttering to herself, "The Taoists are the most heartless. I really feel sorry for that child."

Upon hearing this, Ping An put down the water he had taken from the old woman and followed her out.

"May I ask why you say that, ma'am?"

Ping An bowed to the old woman and asked softly.

"You've been gone for fifty-two years!"

Ping An was taken aback by what he heard, and a mix of emotions welled up inside him as memories of the past surfaced in his mind...

"Tonight I stay in the old wooden house and the broken table of my former friend, reflecting on my more than seventy years of life, a life spent seeking the Dao; walking the world, meeting thousands of people, witnessing all kinds of warmth and coldness; visiting famous mountains, studying the Dao with fellow Daoists, discussing the heavens and the earth. I encountered mountain gods, demons, or spirits. At the age of twenty-six, I had an opportunity to enter Penglai, meet the immortal, and finally obtain my destiny."

"A day in the fairyland is a year in the mortal world. Fifty-two days have passed since I left the fairy mountain. So many years have passed, and the old friends of the past have all passed away, but my appearance remains unchanged."

"Today, outside the wooden cabin, I reminisce with old friends about the past. The bygone years surge in like the tides of the sea. So I picked up my pen and wrote in an old notebook, thus recording these notes..."

"In the ninth year of the Wen Shang era, treacherous officials misled the king, plunging the world into chaos. The neighboring Wu Kingdom launched an attack, and war broke out everywhere. In addition, there was extreme cold and drought, and no grain was harvested. People even exchanged their own children to eat, suffering unspeakable misery. I was born in the midst of the drought, and I was destined to become someone else's food. Fortunately, I met a Taoist priest. The priest took pity on me and exchanged his own food for my life. Afterwards, he named me Ping An (Peace).

"In the nineteenth year of Wen Shang's reign, at the end of early winter, I was ten years old. I traveled with my master to all corners of the land, seeking immortals and the way to longevity. After years of travel, my master's body had become frail and sickly. Today, I was going to Fuyang to find the abbot of Zouma Temple and wish to stay there. But on that snowy night, in a dilapidated temple in the forest, we encountered thieves..."

Snowflakes fell heavily, the moonlight was cold, and several burly, masked bandits, wielding large knives, were rummaging through a cart in a dilapidated temple, searching for something. One of the bandits was carrying a child who looked about eight or nine years old on his shoulder, standing near the altar.

The child cried and desperately pounded on the thief carrying him, crying, "Let me go! Master!"

The haggard-looking old Taoist priest clung tightly to the thief's leg and said weakly, "Please, release my disciple. I'll give you anything you want."

The thief turned around and looked at the group of people standing by the cart, shouting, "Did you find anything valuable?"

“No, boss!” one of them replied.

The thief looked down at the old Taoist priest at his feet, kicked him aside, and cursed, "Damn it! You bunch of Taoist priests, aren't you supposed to be favored by the emperor? How come you can't even find a penny?"

"Let's go! Strip this little bull-nose out of his clothes and sell him for money!"

The thief was about to leave with Ping An on his back, but just as he turned around, Ping An bit his neck hard.

"what!"

The thief threw Ping An away.

He landed headfirst on the ground, and although he didn't bleed, he had already fainted.

Seeing this, the old Taoist priest, his face filled with terror, struggled to his feet and stumbled toward Ping An. But before he could take a few steps, the thief kicked him against the wall.

"Damn it! Strip him naked!" The thief muttered, touching his neck where Ping An had bitten him. "That little thing has such sharp teeth!"

"Boss, strip him naked, what will he wear?" Hearing this, the others immediately picked up the unconscious Ping An. Just as they were about to start, they realized that stripping Ping An would leave him naked. They couldn't let him go naked in the snow! What if he died? This whole trip would be for nothing. "Then strip his Taoist robe and wrap him up. We can't let that old woman nag us anymore!"

The thief spoke as he walked out of the dilapidated temple.

The old Taoist priest, leaning against the wall and barely alive, looked at Ping An being wrapped up. He wanted to speak but couldn't, and he couldn't muster the strength to get up. In the end, he could only watch helplessly as Ping An was abducted.

Following the pre-arranged route, the group changed clothes, boarded a decorated boat, and headed upstream along the river.

Although it was a snowy day, there were still quite a few flower boats on the river, and the number of people coming and going on the riverbank was no less than usual.

The group sailed their boat down the river into the city, found a quiet spot, extinguished the lanterns, and, carrying Ping An, wandered along the riverside path, turning and twisting their way into a small alley.

They stopped in a secluded spot, looked around, and then knocked on the door of a dwelling.

Soon, the people inside heard the knocking and quickly came out. The door opened, revealing a middle-aged woman. Several burly middle-aged men then hurried inside.

One of the bearded men, looking at the middle-aged woman who opened the door, gave her a triumphant thumbs-up, pointed to Ping An who was being carried behind him, and laughed, "Old woman, I've caught something good for you this time. According to our previous bet, you have to give me a hundred taels of silver. No cheating allowed."

The middle-aged woman rolled her eyes at him and didn't speak to him. Instead, she pointed at the person carrying Ping An and said, "Come on, put him down so I can take a look."

Upon hearing this, the man carrying Ping An immediately placed Ping An in front of the woman. The woman looked Ping An over and nodded in satisfaction: "Not bad, not bad, quite pretty."

As she spoke, she didn't forget to pinch Ping An's cheek with her hand, "It's quite tender, some officials just like this kind."

"wrong!"

Seeing the woman's satisfaction, the men thought they were guaranteed a hundred taels of silver this time. Just as they were fantasizing about where they would go to have fun with the money, they heard the woman's angry voice.

"What's wrong, old woman? What's wrong?" the middle-aged man asked.

"Look for yourself, what did you bring back for me?"

The woman stormed to the side, and before the man could react, she launched into a tirade of abuse at the group: "You sons of bitches, didn't you even look before you kidnapped him? You kidnapped a Taoist priest? You don't want to live anymore, so don't drag me down with you!"

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man immediately looked at Ping An, only to see that the cloth covering Ping An had been untied. Removing his white inner shirt, his blue trousers shone brightly under the courtyard lights.

"Damn it!" The man rubbed his fists together and cursed at the others, "Didn't I tell you to strip him naked? What's this?"

The men were too terrified to retaliate, but the woman beside them gritted her teeth and grabbed the man's ear, demanding, "What did you just say? Strip him naked? Did you kidnap this man on purpose?"

"Old woman, what are you doing? He's just a little Taoist priest! What are you afraid of?"

The man pushed the woman's hand away and kept rubbing his ear.

“Zhang Chungui, you have no idea how favored these Taoist priests are by the emperor these days. You all know what happened ten years ago! Anyway, I have no intention of taking this young Taoist priest!”

"What about our one hundred taels?"

One of the men behind Zhang Chungui asked in a low voice.

Before the woman could speak, Zhang Chungui turned around and kicked him, saying, "Damn it, I told you to take off your clothes, and you actually did."

"You, take him out and throw him away." Zhang Chungui pointed at someone at random, and the person, upon hearing this, quickly grabbed Ping An, opened the door, and left.

"Can't you do me a good job?" The woman pointed at Zhang Chungui, her face full of anger.

"Oh dear, old woman, next time, next time."

"It's always like this..."

"Damn it, I'll definitely bring you something better next time."

"You! Go get some wine!"

"Yes."

(End of this chapter)