Chapter 60: A Sincere Blessing Is Worth More Than Any Tool

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Chapter 60: A Sincere Blessing Is Worth More Than Any Tool

After listening to Li Xiaohua ramble on for quite a while, Chen Yuan had a pretty good idea of what was going on.

He asked to confirm, “So, you’re thinking of getting a pet to take the place of all these things you’re wearing?”

For now, he was simply asking Chen Yuan whether that would actually work.

“Yeah. And, well, I was already thinking about getting a pet anyway.” Li Xiaohua nodded, then lowered his voice somewhat sheepishly. “I was thinking that a lot of girls these days like animals, too. If I had a pet, maybe it’d make it easier to find a partner someday?”

That was one of those little thoughts he wouldn’t normally admit out loud. If he weren’t talking to an expert like Chen Yuan, he might not have said it at all.

Chen Yuan responded to Li Xiaohua’s thoughts with nothing more than a kindly smile.

Someone willing to say such things out loud probably wasn’t a bad person. Although Li Xiaohua’s idea of having an animal take the place of his protective objects couldn’t exactly be called a good one, it was understandable for someone who claimed to have studied metaphysics but had really only picked up bits and pieces of it through exposure.

Chen Yuan didn’t answer him directly. Instead, he asked a few questions.

“What’s the story behind the jade Guanyin pendant you’re wearing?”

The sudden change of subject caught Li Xiaohua off guard, but he understood that when someone like Chen Yuan asked a question, there was usually a deeper reason behind it.

He hooked a finger around the pendant and pulled the jade Guanyin out from inside his shirt. Chen Yuan only took one look. He didn’t know much about jade, but even he could tell that the Guanyin pendant was probably quite valuable.

“This? Well, didn’t my mom have my name entrusted to Guanyin when I was little? Later, when my condition improved, she still wasn’t completely reassured, so she asked someone to buy this jade Guanyin for me.

“She had my Bazi and name enshrined before Guanyin for a year, and only then had me wear the pendant. I’ve never taken it off all these years.”

“ Men wear Guanyin, women wear Buddha. ” This is one of the traditional conventions surrounding Buddhist protective ornaments.

People say it is meant to create some sort of balance, but Chen Yuan was never particularly sure whether there was any other reason behind it. If it were up to him, he generally avoided wearing anything associated with any religion. It was simply a matter of being cautious and planning ahead.

No matter how much these religions might portray themselves as benevolent and righteous, every religion has its own unsavory history as it grows and expands. Buddhism, for example, also has a number of relatively unorthodox sects. The Buddhas and Bodhisattvas worshipped by these sects are often not as compassionate as people imagine.

If someone happens to come across an object associated with one of these less savory traditions, an ordinary person should not expect it to protect them. Bad luck would be the least of their worries; in some cases, it could even lead to a catastrophe that tears a family apart.

That is why you have to pay attention to the origins of such objects. If you don’t know where one came from, it’s best to exercise some caution.

“What about the things on your wrists?” Chen Yuan continued.

“The prayer beads were something my grandmother used to wear. She gave them to me. And this talisman was something my family got for me from a Daoist temple. It’s made of silk, and I’ve been wearing it for a long time.” Li Xiaohua explained the origins of each item he was wearing.

Chen Yuan shook his head and sighed.

“All of these things have a history behind them. Is there really any need to raise a pet just to replace them and take them off?”

Whether prayer beads or talismans, in this day and age, who could really expect to find anything as miraculous as the legendary ritual tools of old?

To a large extent, these things existed as expressions of goodwill and blessings. Even when one of them really did seem to work, it was hard to say whether its effects came from the object itself.

People claimed all sorts of things had been consecrated, but this so-called “consecration” was nowhere near as important as the act of seeking the object out for someone.

By “seeking it out,” Chen Yuan meant having someone who wished you well, filled with love and blessings for you, go and obtain an object on your behalf. Such an object naturally became imbued with those blessings, allowing it to offer a person protection.

The jade Guanyin around Li Xiaohua’s neck was another matter for the moment, since there had been a whole process of having it enshrined first.

But the talisman and prayer beads Li Xiaohua wore were most likely effective because they carried his family’s blessings for him.

To casually take off objects filled with such blessings was not really a question of whether it would cause a person’s fortune to decline. It was a question of whether they were betraying the love and affection invested in those objects.

That was not a matter of metaphysics. It was a matter of morality.

Chen Yuan did not put it so bluntly to Li Xiaohua, however.

People often overlooked the love and care right in front of them, but sooner or later, they would come to understand how precious those things were. If he pointed out the problem too directly, it would only make him seem tactless.

“What about the clothes you’re wearing? What’s the story there?”

The black-and-white color scheme was clearly deliberate. From Chen Yuan’s perspective, it looked clean and crisp, but there was still something vaguely odd about it.

“Uh, well, another master once told me that my Bazi lacks Water and needs Metal to support it. Black represents Water, and white represents Metal, so I mostly wear clothes in those colors.” Li Xiaohua sounded a little embarrassed as he explained.

“Although I know it’s kind of weird to wear only these colors all the time. Actually, I was wondering, if I raise a pet, does that mean I won’t have to worry about things like the colors of my clothes anymore?”

So even in a world that had not suffered an excessively severe cultural rupture, there were still problems in certain areas. Chen Yuan found it rather amusing.

Considering all these questions, along with Li Xiaohua’s earlier claim that he had done some research into metaphysics, Chen Yuan suddenly wondered if by “research,” he meant reading things like astrology books.

“If you’re lacking something in your Bazi, you generally wouldn’t make up for it with the colors of your clothes.” He gave a brief explanation.

“So, basically, you can wear whatever you want now. You don’t have to dress like…”

The Black and White Impermanence.

He left the sentence unfinished, but Li Xiaohua already understood that dressing this way had been completely unnecessary.

He awkwardly turned his face aside and tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Chen Yuan changed the subject.

“Speaking of which, what kind of pet were you planning to get?”

Li Xiaohua answered honestly.

“Well, a large dog, a hawk or falcon, a cat, or maybe a leopard cat or something.”

Because of the same influence of the changing dynasties, keeping hunting birds such as hawks and falcons had become fashionable among many men in Huaxia. In particular, boys from relatively well-off families were practically expected to keep a hawk or falcon. Although nowadays there was only a small area designated by the state where people were allowed to hunt, having a hawk was still a matter of considerable prestige.

As for cats and leopard cats, women had loved them for generations, which tied back to Li Xiaohua’s earlier desire to attract a future partner.

Chen Yuan thought for a while before speaking again.

“Let me put it this way. I don’t know who this expert you mentioned is, but using a pet to ward off misfortune is indeed possible. However, it isn’t quite as simple as you think.

“Imagine this. You raise a dog, and he’s very good to you. Every day, you take him out for walks, and perhaps he even becomes a witness to the love between you and your future partner.”

Ever since realizing how this world viewed gender and relationships, Chen Yuan had been very careful with his wording. For example, here he said “future partner” rather than “wife.”

To be honest, this was largely because he couldn’t imagine how he would feel if other people regarded him as Yu Shenliu’s “girlfriend” or “wife.” The thought was simply too hard to accept.

“Years pass, and you come to regard him as a member of your family. But one day, some unexpected disaster strikes, perhaps you run into a group of robbers, and he sacrifices himself to save you. How would you feel?”

“Me? I’d be really sad,” Li Xiaohua answered honestly.

“That’s the problem. You raise a pet because you want a companion, a member of your family, or a tool to ward off misfortune?” Chen Yuan looked at Li Xiaohua and asked him very seriously.

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