An Ordinary Taoist

Chen Shi'an went to bed early and woke early too.

At the first faint light of dawn, he slowly opened his eyes.

He had no habit of lingering in bed. Once awake, he pulled aside the sheet draped lightly over him and sat up.

Today was a slight exception, though. After sitting up, he spent a while staring blankly around the bed. This rented room was nothing like the room he had lived in at the Taoist temple, and in his half-awake haze, he wasn't quite sure where he was.

The sun had yet to rise. The vast city hung between light and darkness, looking as much like dusk as dawn.

Pale light spilled through the window, casting a long, narrow strip across the floor. Chen Shi'an stared up at the ceiling. The plaster surface was as flat as a freshly skimmed coat of putty, its straight edges cutting across his vision. It was nothing like the wooden beams of the mountain temple, which retained the natural curves of trees, their growth rings faintly visible in the shadows.

The room was strangely quiet, yet so noisy that it made him uneasy.

Quiet, because there were no insects chirping or birds singing. Mornings in the mountains were never silent. At first light, a hwamei would offer a couple of tentative calls, then the cooing of turtledoves would drift out of the bamboo grove. Finally, all the birds on the mountain behind the temple would wake and erupt into a chorus of chirps. Even the bronze bells beneath the temple's eaves would sway along, their tinkling mingling with the birdsong like sugar cubes submerged in water, slowly dissolving into the breeze.

But the sounds here were muffled. There was the faint growl of passing cars in the distance, indistinct voices downstairs, and a constant hum hidden within the walls-only later did Chen Shi'an learn that it came from the outdoor air-conditioning unit. These sounds crowded into the enclosed space, struck the tiled floor and glass windows, and bounced back distorted, clinging stickily to his skin like sweat that had yet to dry.

"Mm... didn't sleep well..."

Chen Shi'an rubbed his temples hard, finally shaking himself out of the morning's disorientation.

The surroundings and habits ingrained in him over eighteen years had changed overnight. Adjusting so quickly was no easy matter.

This discomfort had nothing to do with his cultivation or spiritual attainment. It was simply a natural bodily response from a living, breathing person, no different from needing food when hungry.

Fortunately, a lazy meow gave Chen Shi'an something familiar from the mountains to hold on to.

"Awake, Fat Ink?"

"..."

"How'd you sleep last night?"

"Meow."

Compared with Chen Shi'an, Black Cat seemed much more at home.

Chen Shi'an disliked the mattress beneath him for being too soft; he slept more soundly on the temple's hard bedboards. Shi Mo, on the other hand, loved a soft mattress like this, rolling onto his back and exposing his little belly in utter contentment.

"If you're awake, stop lying around, lazy cat!"

Chen Shi'an got out of bed and tossed the sheet over the cat. By the time Black Cat wriggled out of it like an earthworm emerging from the soil, he had already opened the door and left. The cat hopped nimbly off the bed and followed him out.

The clock in the living room ticked away. Chen Shi'an glanced at it. It was only five in the morning.

The apartment was quiet. The clothes washed last night hung on the balcony, swaying gently in the breeze;

Li Wanyin's bedroom door was shut. She probably hadn't woken yet.

Chen Shi'an had never lived in the city, but he knew most people didn't wake as early as he did.

So he kept quiet as he moved around the apartment.

First he brushed his teeth and washed his face, then went to the kitchen to make a simple breakfast.

He had bought noodles and eggs yesterday. Noodles would do for breakfast.

It was his first time using a gas stove. He turned the knob for a while, but no flame appeared. After puzzling over it, he realized he needed to press down as he turned it to ignite the gas.

[Click-click-]

He deliberately lifted the pan away to see how the fire started. A spark arced from the needlepoint, followed by a soft whoomp, and blue flames began to dance.

"So electricity starts the fire..."

Chen Shi'an found that interesting and tried again. This time, he deliberately released the gas without triggering the spark. He pointed a finger, and with another whoomp, blue flames leaped up from the burner again.

"Looks like magical fire can light it too..."

The young Taoist's expression remained calm, but anyone else who witnessed this would have had their eyes popping out of their head!

There was clearly no source of ignition, so where had the fire come from? Was this scientific? What the hell was he experimenting with?!

Such a fuss over a little trick...

Chen Shi'an stopped playing with fire. He had spotted the conspicuous orange-yellow "Danger Warning" sticker on the gas meter, so he obediently lit the stove again and started frying eggs and cooking noodles.

His senses far surpassed those of ordinary people. He could smell that the gas he was using now seemed to be a different substance from the bottled gas the villagers at the foot of the mountain commonly used. As for its exact composition, he had no idea.

As the flame burned, he watched the gas meter. Every so often, the last digit advanced by one. Like the water city residents used, gas was delivered to each household through pipes and billed by the meter.

That was much more convenient than using gas cylinders.

Once the pan was hot, he poured in oil and deftly cracked two eggs into it. When one side had set, he flipped them steadily with the spatula and fried the other side until both were golden, without scorching or burning them.

He added an appropriate amount of water. Once it boiled, he put in the noodle block, then fetched some seasonings to give it a little flavor.

Only after the noodles were cooked did he notice that he had forgotten to turn on the range hood above the stove...

No wonder there was so much cooking smoke. City life really was a nuisance...

Chen Shi'an was a good cook. Back on the mountain, cooking had been the first thing his master taught him. Once he grew tall enough to reach the stove, his lazy master never cooked another meal.

Still, however good his cooking was, a simple bowl of egg noodles could hardly compare with gourmet delicacies. It merely filled his stomach.

He had intended to make a portion for Li Wanyin too-it was hardly any extra effort-but she wasn't awake yet, and noodles would clump together if left too long. It would have to wait until next time.

Chen Shi'an carried his noodles to the dining table and sat down. Catching the scent, the cat came running over from the sofa.

"Oh, right. Want some cat food, Fat Ink? I bought you some. Let me give you a little to try."

"Meow?"

Chen Shi'an fetched a bowl, opened the chicken-flavored cat food he had bought last night, and poured some in.

Black Cat ran over, looking every bit the fussy eater, inspecting and sniffing it. These little bean-like things didn't look appetizing at all.

"Don't just stare. Give it a try."

"Meow."

Black Cat refused to eat.

"I spent

money on this."

"..."

Black Cat finally ate one piece, reluctantly.

One piece was too little to get much of a taste;

Another piece, then. So-so. Not as good as mice.

"What does it taste like...?"

Seeing that Shi Mo couldn't seem to decide whether it tasted good or bad, Chen Shi'an picked up a piece of cat food himself, tossed it into his mouth, and chewed.

It was fishy and hard, like chewing wood chips...

Chen Shi'an's expression shifted slightly. He wanted to spit it out, but Black Cat was staring at him without blinking, so he steeled himself and swallowed the whole thing. If he spat it out in front of Shi Mo, Shi Mo would absolutely refuse to eat any more. The cat was terribly prickly!

"I think it's all right... just a little dry..."

"Meow?"

You scoundrel! Trying to fool a cat?!

Black Cat gave him a disdainful look. Still, as far as the cat was concerned, the stuff wasn't tasty, but it wasn't particularly awful either.

After picking through the cat food and eating a few mouthfuls, the cat moved over to share Chen Shi'an's noodles.

As for the cat food left in the bowl, that could wait until hunger struck...

There weren't as many mice here as in the mountains. Even Shi Mo could barely stomach sewer rats. Just as many people liked fish but wouldn't eat African catfish, how could Shi Mo compare garbage-eating sewer rats with the fruit-eating mice of the mountains?

After breakfast, Chen Shi'an washed the dishes and tidied the kitchen.

School required him to be in the classroom for morning reading at six thirty. It was only five thirty now.

Going to class was like going to perform a ritual on an ordinary day: Chen Shi'an had no habit of arriving early.

He didn't idle away the remaining time either. He had brought some textbooks home yesterday, so this was a good chance to look through them.

They were all first-year high school textbooks. Chen Shi'an opened the Chinese textbook first.

Reading posed no difficulty at all. He read quickly, turning almost straight from one page to the next, but he wasn't merely skimming. He committed all the content to memory, slowing only when he encountered something difficult to understand.

The placement test had also shown that Chen Shi'an had a solid foundation in Chinese. All he lacked were some standardized exam-taking techniques.

Unfortunately, he had no Chinese test papers to practice with at the moment. Still, after reading through the textbook, he had a rough idea of what they studied in Chinese class.

Math, English, physics, chemistry, and biology were much harder going. Without the three years of middle-school foundations, he faced enormous gaps in his knowledge even with first-year high school textbooks.

He couldn't understand them.

But he didn't put them down.

If I can't understand it, I'll memorize it first!

It was just like learning Taoist arts, reading the classics, and studying Taoist teachings as a child. If he didn't understand, he memorized! He needed at least some initial impression of the concepts.

As a child, if he couldn't recite his lessons, his master would strike his palms with a ruler.

Now there was no one to strike his palms.

Even with Chen Shi'an's excellent memory, memorizing entire passages of completely unfamiliar material he didn't understand was no easy task. Yet even without anyone supervising him, he concentrated on reading and memorizing just the same.

There was no other reason. His struggles with studying now were all penance for arrogantly dropping out back then...

"It looks like memorization alone won't get me through high school math, physics, chemistry, and biology..."

"Meow."

Black Cat didn't understand. The cat wasn't the one who needed to get into university, anyway. Nothing felt better than sleeping on Chen Shi'an's books while he studied hard. It made for an even sweeter sleep than the sofa.

"One step at a time..."

Chen Shi'an closed the book and checked the time. It was already six oh eight.

Time to get ready for school.

He went to the balcony and reached out to feel the school uniform he had washed yesterday evening.

It wasn't dry. The fabric was still damp.

Yet Chen Shi'an took it down as usual and gave it a gentle shake, as though shaking out dry clothes.

With a puff, a great cloud of mist burst from the damp uniform. When he touched it again, it was already completely dry.

At his level of spiritual attainment, talismans and ritual implements were merely aids. Extraordinary feats like this, resembling "magic tricks" beyond an ordinary person's understanding, already came as easily to Chen Shi'an as lifting a hand.

Of course, things like moving mountains, filling seas, flying through the sky, or burrowing through the earth were far too fantastical. Those were merely mythical portrayals found in stories and films, far removed from reality.

As a child, Chen Shi'an had thought his master could do such things. Later, he discovered that his master was merely an "ordinary" Taoist like himself.

His master, too, grew tired, sleepy, thirsty, and hungry. His master had worries, fell ill, grew old, and would one day lose the struggle against time.

If asked what made them special, Chen Shi'an thought it was probably knowing a few things ordinary people didn't. With a higher perspective, they simply saw many things more clearly.

["Dwell on the abstract, and you forget to eat; contemplate clarity, and you lose the present. A person's existence lies in balance. Favor one side, and you lose yourself."]

["Master, I know. Unity of knowledge and action, right?"]

["Hmph. You know everything, but you never do any of it!"]

"I'm doing it. I'm doing it."

Muttering to himself, Chen Shi'an returned to his room and changed into the fresh, dry summer uniform.

"Fat Ink, I'm off. Watch the place, and don't go wandering."

"..."

The cat lifted his head to glance at him. When he turned to look beyond the balcony, the sun had already risen.