Wufeng County. The county yamen.
A dozen or so yamen runners in blue clothes and black robes left the yamen together, laughing and chatting. They had received their wages today, and their purses were especially full. Tomorrow was also a rare day of rest; if they did not go to Chunxiang Pavilion in the west of the city tonight and enjoy themselves properly, it would be hard to justify.
“Little Meng, are you coming with us to Chunxiang Pavilion today? If you go, I’ll pay for your share tonight!”
As the head runner of the Wufeng County yamen, Wang Hai very naturally draped his left hand over Meng Xihong’s shoulder, declaring with great generosity that as long as Meng Xihong went with him to Chunxiang Pavilion tonight, all of Meng Xihong’s expenses would be on him.
To this,
Meng Xihong cupped his hands apologetically toward Wang Hai. “No need to trouble the head runner to spend money. My wife is due to give birth soon, so I have to hurry home and spend more time with her. Another day—another day, I’ll definitely have my wife prepare a whole table of good dishes and invite the head runner and everyone to our home as guests.”
Seeing that Meng Xihong had put it that way, everyone found it dull and, crowding around Wang Hai, gradually walked off into the distance.
[One divination a day. Today’s hexagram: Auspicious to remain at home;
Inauspicious for long journeys and amusement.]
Meng Xihong looked at the hexagram panel that only he could see.
Meng Xihong was a transmigrator, and the hexagram panel before him was the golden finger he had brought with him when he transmigrated. Relying on this panel, which could divine his fortune and misfortune each day, Meng Xihong had struggled his way up from an orphan in a village to his current position as a yamen runner and constable in the county.
Meng Xihong felt that he was probably among the worst-off tier of transmigrators.
But Meng Xihong was already quite content with this.
A year ago, when he had just turned eighteen and come of age, he had married. Through the introduction of Granny Wang next door, he had taken a wife who was not only very good-looking but also had an excellent temperament. Now she was about to give birth, and he would soon have a child of his own.
Thinking of this, when Meng Xihong passed by a fish stall in the market that was about to close, he spent money to buy two crucian carp and carried them in his hand, planning to make crucian carp soup for his wife when he got home.
When he arrived home and pushed open the door, Meng Xihong immediately saw his wife, Lady Bai, sitting in the courtyard and concentrating on embroidery. Lady Bai also heard the sound of the door opening. She turned and met Meng Xihong’s eyes, then immediately put down the embroidery in her hands and, with her large belly, rose somewhat slowly.
Meng Xihong hurried forward to help Lady Bai up, then once again reminded her not to sit in the courtyard waiting for him in the future, otherwise she might easily catch a chill.
Lady Bai raised her head and looked at Meng Xihong, her eyes shining as she listened quietly.
Meng Xihong deliberately asked in an angry tone, “Do you understand?”
Lady Bai shrank her neck and nodded aggrievedly.
Seeing his wife put on such a pitiful, wronged expression, Meng Xihong smiled helplessly. After helping her into the inner room to sit down, he turned and carried the two crucian carp into the kitchen, starting a fire to make soup.
At night, as usual, Meng Xihong stroked Lady Bai’s big belly again and again, feeling the movements of the child within. At the same time, the two chatted idly, one sentence here and there. At some unknown point, both of them fell into a deep sleep.
The next day.
Although today was a rare day of rest and he did not need to go to the yamen for duty, Meng Xihong still got up early as usual. He prepared breakfast for two, then covered it with a bamboo lid to keep it from cooling too quickly.
As for himself, he went into the courtyard and began practicing boxing to warm up his body.
After the two finished breakfast, the clear weather suddenly changed for the worse. In no time at all, a torrential downpour came crashing down.
Lady Bai nestled in Meng Xihong’s arms, and the two sat beneath the eaves, quietly enjoying the rain.
Time passed like a white colt flashing past a crack; in the blink of an eye, three days went by.
That day, just as Meng Xihong was about to leave home for duty at the yamen, Lady Bai’s water broke without the slightest warning.
Seeing this, Meng Xihong hurriedly helped Lady Bai back to the bed first, then asked Granny Wang next door to look after her while he rushed off to invite the well-known Midwife Sun of the county to come over.
In order to prevent Midwife Sun from being invited away by another family, Meng Xihong had long since spent two months’ wages to reserve her services.
So when Meng Xihong came to invite Midwife Sun, no mishap occurred.
Midwife Sun brought two female disciples into the inner room and began calmly guiding Lady Bai through labor.
“Push.”
“Ah!”
“Take a breath and rest for a moment. I can already see the head.”
“…”
Meng Xihong had been driven out of the inner room by Midwife Sun and was anxiously keeping watch outside. Listening to Lady Bai’s agonized cries from within, his heart clenched along with them.
Meng Xihong glanced at today’s hexagram: [All matters are auspicious.]
Seeing this hexagram, Meng Xihong secretly let out a slight breath of relief. “Huu.”
But Lady Bai’s heart-rending cries still continued by his ears. Even though Meng Xihong had lived two lives, he still could not help breaking into a cold sweat for his wife.
After an unknown length of time,
a loud infant’s cry suddenly rang out from inside the room.
Immediately after came Midwife Sun’s delighted voice. “Mother and son are safe, mother and son are safe.”
Hearing this, Meng Xihong, whose heart had been hanging all this time, could finally let it down.
Entering the room, Meng Xihong immediately checked on Lady Bai, who was lying on the bed with disheveled hair and a weak expression. After confirming that Lady Bai was unharmed, he finally let out a heavy breath of turbid air.
Lady Bai’s weak voice came to his ears. “Husband, the child…”
Meng Xihong turned his head and looked at the baby, who was obediently being held in Midwife Sun’s arms, with a slightly wrinkled forehead and tightly shut eyes, neither crying nor fussing.
Just as Meng Xihong carefully took the child from Midwife Sun’s hands,
a golden ancient book suddenly appeared before Meng Xihong’s eyes. On the cover were two enormous characters engraved in bold relief: “Clan Register.” The clan register flipped open without wind.
On the first page appeared Meng Xihong’s name. Immediately after, on the second page was his wife, Lady Bai. Then on the third page, under Meng Xihong’s own eyes, the image of the baby in his arms appeared upon it. At the same time, the panel before Meng Xihong’s eyes also changed:
[A descendant has been born into the household, continuing the family incense. Clan Mode activated. Talent entry obtained: Martial Dao Aptitude.]
Meng Xihong froze for a moment, but he quickly returned to normal.
Meng Xihong did not first inspect the new talent entry. After personally and carefully carrying the child to his wife Lady Bai’s bedside, he then sent Midwife Sun and the others out the door. Before they left, he did not forget to take out the reward money he had prepared long ago from his sleeve.
Granny Wang also received a share of the reward money.
After everything was settled, Meng Xihong stayed beside his child and wife. Seeing that both of them had already fallen into a deep sleep, only then did he have time to inspect the newly obtained talent entry: Martial Dao Aptitude.
[Martial Dao Aptitude: The one who equips this entry possesses an excellent foundation for cultivating the Martial Dao. Cultivating the Martial Dao yields twice the result with half the effort. The entry’s effect may be shared with a blood relative of the clan. (Limited to one person.)]
Martial Dao.
When he saw that equipping this entry would grant an excellent foundation for cultivating the Martial Dao, and that cultivating the Martial Dao would even yield twice the result with half the effort, Meng Xihong’s eyes immediately lit up.
In the years since Meng Xihong transmigrated to this world, he had long since figured out the basic situation of this world.
This was a world where immortals and martial artists coexisted. There were martial artists who disrupted the law through force, and there were also immortals who could cultivate for hundreds or thousands of years before attaining the Dao and ascending.
But unlike martial artists, to become a part of the world of immortal cultivation, one not only had to possess an excellent foundation for cultivating immortality, but also tremendous fortune and opportunity. Only when the two complemented each other could one find the path to immortal cultivation; otherwise, one would be unable to touch the threshold of cultivation for an entire lifetime.