Chapter 119: A Letter from the Capital City

Since Chen Xian invited him, Shi Linheng naturally could not, and did not dare, refuse.

The qigong craze that had swept the nation in the late 1980s did not gradually fade until the early 1990s, that is, the past couple of years. It faded under public media scrutiny, exposés by some experts, and the strong crackdown by the Official Authorities. One by one, fake Great Masters and their so-called supernatural abilities were exposed. They fell miserably from their high pedestals of glory and public admiration, becoming like rats scurrying across the street that everyone wanted to beat.

So nowadays, calling someone a “Great Master” in private might still be a sign of respect. But if you called someone a “Great Master” in public, you might get an angry response: “You’re the Great Master, your whole family are Great Masters…”

An old saying goes, “False things cannot become true, and true things cannot become false.”

But under such circumstances, within the budding and restless Jianghu of Esoteric Arts, the Occultists who possessed remarkable skills had no choice but to keep a low profile in both their personal and professional lives.

Yet, coincidentally, this situation fit a saying well—to store up strength over time for a sudden rise!

Unconsciously, the season had entered early winter.

Afternoon.

Su Chunfeng arrived early in the classroom and was reviewing his lessons. Huang Yiyu, who had become the Class Monitor, walked into the classroom and said, “Su Chunfeng, there’s a letter for you at the guard room. Go get it.”

“Hey, thanks.” Su Chunfeng replied with a smile and stood up to walk out.

He figured it should be a letter from Zhang Lifei.

It was kind of funny. Even though communication was much more convenient now, and Zhang Lifei often called him on weekends, and the two villages were not far apart—they could meet quickly by bike—writing letters… still seemed like a fascinating way to communicate.

Because it felt private and full of anticipation.

When he got the letter from the guard room, Su Chunfeng looked at the return address on the envelope and felt surprised—a certain university in the Capital City!

In this lifetime, he shouldn’t know anyone from the Capital City yet, right?

Full of doubts, he was about to tear open the envelope to see who sent it when the Pager hanging on his waist vibrated. Su Chunfeng took off the Pager and looked at it. A very short message was displayed: “Met again for a chat, very pleasant. You came up during the talk. Shi seemed interested in taking you as his disciple.”

Seeing this message, Su Chunfeng couldn’t help but sigh lightly, a helpless wry smile appearing on his face.

The message was from Chen Xian.

Over the past half month, Chen Xian had met and chatted with Shi Linheng several times. However, every weekend, Chen Xian would also call Su Chunfeng and roughly tell him what topics were discussed with Shi Linheng. It was nothing really important, just topics related to the Zhouyi, Eight Trigrams, Feng Shui, Physiognomy, and such—Chen Xian was full of curiosity and a desire to learn about esoteric studies. For ordinary people, what they could access about esoteric studies could only be knowledge about Feng Shui, fortune-telling, Eight Trigrams divination, and the like. So he really found the right person in Shi Linheng.

However, Chen Xian was well aware of Su Chunfeng’s reservations. So even though Su Chunfeng did not oppose his contact with Shi Linheng, Chen Xian still often informed him about their conversations in a casual, chatty manner.

Back and forth, Chen Xian and Shi Linheng gradually became acquainted.

Su Chunfeng was quite satisfied with this situation—with just a little scheme, he had successfully diverted Shi Linheng’s attention and suspicion. He figured that Shi Linheng now must feel both helpless and somewhat lucky?

Shi Linheng was helpless because he was pestered by a figure like Chen Xian asking for knowledge, and he couldn’t easily refuse. He was lucky because becoming acquainted with Chen Xian would be a great help for his future reputation and career development. Who knows, if he ever ran into trouble, Chen Xian might be able to help.

However, Shi Linheng would never imagine that all of this was casually orchestrated behind the scenes by a half-grown kid like Su Chunfeng, effortlessly achieved with a move like Tai Chi push-hands.

But Su Chunfeng had overlooked one thing—he was like a firefly in the dark night, too conspicuous.

Shi Linheng wanted to take him as a disciple!

Su Chunfeng certainly could not agree to this, but the problem was, how should he refuse?

Ask Chen Xian to relay a message?

That wasn’t very appropriate.

Because in Shi Linheng’s current impression, Chen Xian was just a retired old man extremely passionate about the Zhouyi, esoteric studies, Feng Shui, and Physiognomy. When Shi Linheng brought up wanting to take Su Chunfeng as a disciple, Chen Xian should appear happy and supportive, not come up with various reasons to refuse.

“When soldiers attack, use shields to block; when water floods, use earth to dam… I’ll just play it by ear and handle it as the situation arises.”

Su Chunfeng sighed lightly and walked back towards the classroom.

Class One was already full of students.

Like in their first year of high school, after the class division in their second year, these outstanding students with excellent academic performance still maintained their diligent and progressive habits. They tried to spend as much time as possible studying every day, unwilling to waste time. Even Wang Haifei, who everyone knew was dating Su Chunfeng, was no exception.

However, in Su Chunfeng’s view, such youthful campus life, to some extent, also felt a bit like wasting time.

Returning to his desk and sitting down, Su Chunfeng tore open the envelope, pulled out a folded letter paper, and unfolded it. On it, line after line of neat and elegant small regular script in fountain pen ink covered the page:

Chunfeng:

It’s been a long time since we last contacted. How have you been lately?

I had been wanting to write to you all along, but over the past year or so, studies have been busy. Sometimes I picked up the pen but didn’t know what to say, so I delayed until now without contacting you. Please forgive me.

Tonight, studying until midnight, I suddenly recalled the time when I taught at Dongwangzhuang Township Middle School. I felt how time flies like a shuttle, and couldn’t help but feel a bit melancholy. Then I thought of you, my student, my friend. Me, as a teacher, pretending to be mature and acting knowledgeable in front of you, teaching you, deliberately posing problems to challenge you… and all those past events, including you stepping up like a hero when your teacher was in trouble. Thinking about it now, it’s quite amusing.

After we parted, I am no longer a teacher. Like you, I am now sitting in a classroom as a student.

My academic performance is pretty good. How about yours?

I believe you are still as outstanding—this might sound like a pointless statement, but being able to get into Class One at No.1 High School of Jinzhou County is enough to prove your grades.

By the way, when I was at the No.1 High School back then, I was also a student in Class One.

…

A letter spanning several hundred words, signed: Xiao Qian.

Truly, seeing the letter was like seeing the person.

While reading the letter, Su Chunfeng thought of Xiao Qian. He thought of that moving, gradually maturing youthful figure. He thought of Xiao Qian’s beautiful face—sometimes pretending to be mature and serious, other times showing a girlish playfulness, a little mischief, even a touch of coquettishness.

In the blink of an eye, more than a year had passed since they last met. A feeling of warmth and nostalgia rose in Su Chunfeng’s heart. Smiling, he folded the letter paper, tucked it back into the envelope, and put it into his schoolbag.

“Whose letter was that?” Huang Yiyu asked with a smile, turning her head. “You looked quite happy reading it.”

“Mmm, a friend,” Su Chunfeng said casually.

Wang Haifei also turned her head. “Was it from Lifei?”

Su Chunfeng shook his head and laughed. “You would never guess who it was… haha.”

“Who?” Wang Haifei asked with a hint of playful annoyance.

“Teacher Xiao Qian, remember her?”

“Teacher Xiao?” Wang Haifei said, somewhat surprised. “Why would she write to you?”

Su Chunfeng said without any reservation, “Teacher Xiao and I are good friends. Oh, and Teacher Xiao is studying in Beijing now, just like us, also a student.”

“Oh.” Wang Haifei didn’t think much of it and nodded with a full smile.

Hearing Su Chunfeng’s matter-of-fact words, Huang Yiyu immediately said with disbelief, “You and your teacher… are good friends?”

“Yes,” Su Chunfeng nodded.

“A female teacher?”

“Mm-hmm.”

“Oh my…” Huang Yiyu lightly patted her forehead. “I really can’t understand it.”

Su Chunfeng was both amused and exasperated. “What’s so hard to understand?”

“Alright, you’re just popular.” Huang Yiyu shrugged, turned around with a helpless expression, and started talking quietly with Wang Haifei: “Haifei, is Xiao Qian your junior high school teacher? How old is she? Is she pretty? Why did she go to study in Beijing? Why is Su Chunfeng so close with Teacher Xiao…”

The two girls soon started chattering enthusiastically in whispers.

Su Chunfeng curled his lip. He thought that this gossipy nature of girls was indeed innate. But he couldn’t join in. He got up, went out to buy letter paper, an envelope, and a stamp. Before class started, he picked up his pen and wrote the reply letter. Then he went to the school guard room and dropped the letter into the mailbox.

Xiao Qian’s letter made Su Chunfeng feel warmth and nostalgia, but it also made him think of Wang Qimin.

This master from his previous life had left home for over a year now, and there had been no news from him since. He wondered where Wang Qimin was now and how he was living.

Qian Ming was still waiting over there, very persistently going to Dongwangzhuang Village every single weekend.

His sincerity in wanting to become a disciple and learn the arts was truly evident.

After school ended in the afternoon, Su Chunfeng went alone to a public phone booth outside the school and dialed Chen Xian’s home number. “Grandpa, why did Shi Linheng suddenly bring me up?”

Chen Xian said, “We were just casually chatting about people’s facial features. When he needed an example, he specifically mentioned that your facial features are unique, that you have the appearance of a ‘Divinely Blessed Aspect.’ He said if you were willing to learn Physiognomy, you would surely achieve great things in the future… so he wanted to take you as his disciple. But I didn’t say anything about it.”

“Oh, if he brings it up again, you can say something about my family circumstances, that I absolutely cannot learn things like Physiognomy or esoteric studies. No need to say more than that,” Su Chunfeng instructed.

“Okay,” Chen Xian agreed. Then he added, “Oh, right. Shi Linheng also said you have the appearance of ‘Twin Souls Merged.’ I asked him what ‘Twin Souls Merged’ meant. He just smiled, didn’t answer, and changed the subject.”

Su Chunfeng felt a chill. “Don’t pay it any mind. When you interact with him, act as if I don’t exist at all.”

“I understand.”

Hanging up the phone, Su Chunfeng frowned as he walked back towards the campus. His mind was filled with countless thoughts and some confusion—actually, he had never heard of the term “Twin Souls Merged.” It was just that the world of esoteric schools and sects was diverse and complex. He naturally wouldn’t understand the terminology used by Occultists who practiced other schools of Esoteric Techniques.

The problem was, the surface meaning of the term “Twin Souls Merged” was very easy to understand.

This made Su Chunfeng worry—could it be that even his rebirth could be seen from his facial features? Then, could Shi Linheng actually know some earth-shattering secret that shouldn’t be known?