Speciesism is not Allowed - Chapter 6

Chapter 6: Each generation couldn’t compare to the previous

In the train station bustling with activity, there were fashionably dressed young people as well as middle-aged people carrying bags of all sizes. Their pace was hurried, as if isolated from the surrounding people yet still a member of the dense crowd.

People of all walks of life could often be found in train stations. Although they were managed extremely strictly now, and cameras could be found everywhere, there still existed people who sought to obtain ill-gotten wealth through their ‘daring skills’.

The train had just arrived at the station when an elderly man asked loudly if anyone had seen his carry bag. The passengers moved hastily; some left without even looking back while others glanced at him with pity, though they too did not stop for him.

The elderly man’s skin was dark, and his face was lined with wrinkles left by years of hardship. The clothes he was wearing had been washed so often that the color had been washed out and the edges of the fabric had roughened. One could tell that his life was not a prosperous one. The sounds of his cries attracted the attention of the train station’s security guard. Fearing that the elderly man would collapse from anger, the security guard helped him to a seat at the side. Amidst the busy crowd, someone passed a paper napkin over while another handed a bottle of water to him. Their footsteps continued to remain hurried, unable to find the time to take a few more looks back.

An idle person stood a distance away, watching the excitement. Turning, the person prepared to follow the stream of people out. However, he hadn’t even managed to take two steps when someone clapped his shoulder. A tremble shook through the person’s body, and the person ran forward without a single look back.

“What are you running for?” A man in a suit and tie aimed a kick at the person’s ankle, causing the person to bang into the wall uncontrollably. A few wallets and handphones fell out.

Seeing that he had been exposed, the person forgot about crying out in pain and instead scrambled frantically in a bid to escape the scene. But this handsome, elite-looking man with neatly combed hair who had popped out from nowhere actually used a single leg to press him down, preventing him from even crawling up.

“Daring to steal even an old man’s money, aren’t you afraid of losing hidden virtue[1]?” Zhuang Qing hauled the thief up and passed him, along with the wallets and handphones on the ground, to the security guard who had rushed over. A small plastic bag amidst the bunch was especially eye-catching. Zhuang Qing patted the dust off him before walking to the elderly man.

“Daye[2], does this belong to you?”

The elderly man took the plastic bag and opened it, trembling. Other than a few negative invoices, the rest were ten or single dollar bills. They formed a large pile, but in truth, the money was not much.

“Thank you, thank you!” Moved, the elderly man thanked Zhuang Qing continuously. Even the passersby applauded in excitement.

Zhuang Qing squeezed out of the crowd watching the excitement, shook the branded suit he was wearing, and then walked to the lobby of the train station.

“Boss, need a taxi?”

“No.”

“Handsome, you’re going to Dongcheng? That’ll be seventy-five yuan. I’ll send you to the doorstep of your house.”

“Not going.”

Zhuang Qi ignored the numerous drivers who were soliciting customers. His gaze swept through the place before he headed towards a black car. With a knock on the car window, the window opened, and a bald head stretched out. “Boss, you’re finally back.”

“The train was a bit late,” Zhuang Qing threw his luggage into the back of the car before pulling open the car door and sitting down. Immediately, his brows furrowed. “How can cultivators seek enjoyment? Switch off the air-conditioner.”

Baldy turned around and looked at Zhuang Qing hesitantly. “Boss, it’s almost the end of the month. Our department’s transportation expenses for this month haven’t been used up yet, is there a need to be so stingy?”

“What does this have to do with being stingy?” Zhuang Qing’s expression was solemn. “Cultivators do not fear the cold or the heat, that is the great Dao!”

“But I’m just a heat-fearing fish…”

All of a sudden, a frightening pressure barreled towards him. Swallowing, Baldy switched off the air-conditioner. “You’re right, I need to overcome my natural instincts in order to become a strong cultivator.”

“En[3],” Zhuang Qing closed his eyes and leaned against the backseat. His handsome features resembled that of a god cast in metal, so perfect that not a single flaw could be picked out.

They ran into a traffic jam halfway. In the almost-forty degrees heat, not a single bit of sweat could be seen on the two people inside the car, as if the sun hanging in the sky was merely a light bulb that emitted no heat.

“Has the evil yao you reported to me a few days ago been captured?”

“Yes,” Chu Yu had a mild disposition, so he didn’t have much of a reaction despite the traffic jam. “That youngster Zhang Ke caught it, reportedly with the help of an expert. The yao-beating whip is still binding that evil yao. Our cultivation isn’t high enough; we didn’t dare to move him rashly, so we waited for you to return.”

Chu Yu couldn’t help asking at this point, “Boss, why did you take the train back?”

“There wasn’t a direct flight from that place.”

“Then you could’ve transferred to a plane after reaching the Ocean City.” Chu Yu then offered him a tiny bit of flattery, “If not for all the radar and surveillance cameras, given Boss’ cultivation, flying back from overseas can be done in a blink of an eye.”

The car was quiet for a moment. Zhuang Qing opened his mouth leisurely, “There’s no reimbursement for plane tickets from the Ocean City.”

Chu Yu, “…”

In the hospital, Peng Hang watched Fu Li simply and crudely throw a weird-colored object into a cup. He casually poked it twice with a spoon, poured water in, and then prepared to give it to the patient in the hospital room. Shocked, Peng Hang stopped Fu Li. “Little comrade, you’ll be sent to jail if something happens after feeding someone cheap counterfeit medicine.”

“But this is real medicine,” Fu Li shrugged off Peng Hang’s hand. “A gentleman’s promise weighs more than a thousand catties; I never go back on the promises I make.”

Was this young man not right in the head?

“There’s a malignant tumor in his stomach. It can’t be cured with any flower or plant,” Peng Hang caught up to him and pulled on the corner of Fu Li’s clothes. “Brother, stop joking around. Let us police handle this matter. I’ve already called the station; we’ll help contact her household members, charities, and apply for a special financial assistance fund. Don’t behave foolishly, you won’t be able to bear the responsibility if anything happens.”

Fu Li hesitated. He had practically zero contact with humans the past few years and had only occasionally ventured into human society in recent years. Moreover, he had mainly gone to human houses so that he could steal a few peeks at <News Broadcast>. If there had been a change in the human constitution, it was possible that the medicine might not have an effect.

But suddenly, the door to the tearoom banged open. The dark, skinny woman who had been ready to jump off the building caught sight of the cup giving off a medicinal scent in Fu Li’s hands and snatched it at one go before turning and running in the direction of the hospital room.

“Ai, wait!” Anxiety was about to overwhelm Peng Hang. He wanted to stop the woman but was held back himself.

“Don’t be so anxious, it might be effective.”

“There is no ‘might’ when it comes to human life!” Peng Hang roared in anger and irritation. “The person lying on the hospital bed is just a child!” He pushed Fu Li aside and rushed ahead in large strides.

Fu Li glanced down at his hand that had been fiercely pushed aside. He had seen the bailiffs in the human world before, did all those bailiffs have such guts?

The strength of a mother in despair could not be underestimated. By the time Peng Hang reached the hospital room, half the medicine had already been consumed by the child. He didn’t know if it was his misperception, but he felt that the fake medicine did indeed smell quite fragrant. Perhaps some flavoring that was detrimental to the body had been added to it.

Faced with the woman’s expectant gaze, Peng Hang was unable to say that the medicine was fake. He turned and gestured to his colleague to call a doctor over. In case anything happened, they would still be in time to rescue the child.

The principal doctor received quite a bit of shock upon hearing that someone had fed a patient unknown medicine. Immediately, the doctor threw away the bento box that he had only managed to eat two mouths of and raced towards the hospital room. It wasn’t that they were making a fuss over nothing. In the past, the relatives of a patient had heard about the effectiveness of some home remedy and brought it over for the patient to try. In the end, the patient couldn’t be rescued in time and lost their life.

The principal doctor reached the entrance to the hospital room while panting. Leaning against the doorframe, he hadn’t even wheezed out a breath when he heard the nine-year-old patient say something.

“Mummy, my stomach doesn’t seem so painful anymore.”

The principal doctor thought, could the medicine have painkilling effects? The drug swindlers nowadays really weren’t anything good; everything they did was full of evil. He panted twice and then walked over to the bed to give the child patient a basic check-up. There were no abnormalities in the child’s heart, pulse, or pupils. When he pressed lightly on the patient’s abdominal area, the patient didn’t reveal a pained look either.

“What did you feed the child?” The principal doctor looked at the skinny and small woman. The woman shook her head blankly. She looked out the door yet didn’t see the youth from just now.

Where was he?

“Boss!” Driver Chu Yu’s expression changed abruptly. He asked the man seated behind, “Did you smell that?”

His original form was that of a fish, so his sense of smell wasn’t very impressive. But he wouldn’t be able to ignore such a rich meat lingzhi[4] scent even if he wanted to.

Zhuang Qing, who was resting with his eyes closed, slowly opened his eyes. Turning, his gaze fixed on the hospital at the side. He uttered in a low voice, “Taisui…”

Meat Lingzhi ripened once every thousand years and could cure any illness. Unfortunately, most humans and yao could not enjoy it. Among those who consumed it, the less severe cases were stricken with serious illness while the more severe cases resulted in death. As time passed, a rumor spread in the human world – someone with bad fortune would be teased for having offended Taisui[5].

However, the Taisui that he was smelling had a very strange scent. There was no resentment, balefulness, or even karma in it.

The cultivation world was in decline now and every generation of cultivators could not compare to the previous. Anyone who had this sort of Taisui that didn’t carry any karma[6] would definitely be chased by innumerable people. Yet, why was it taken out so easily?

The scent of the Taisui dissipated very quickly. No trace of it could be found in a matter of a few whiffs.

Zhuang Qing wasn’t someone who had never seen good stuff, so he very quickly lost interest in such a thing.

“Ai, our yao comrades don’t have it easy now either,” Chu Yu snapped out of the shock and pointed at the young man near the hospital entrance who was picking up plastic water bottles. “They’ve even fallen to the point where they need to pick up plastic bottles in exchange for money.”

Zhuang Qing looked up and saw a youth wearing a t-shirt picking up plastic water bottles and throwing them into a plastic bag he was carrying.

“If you don’t cultivate well and end up being expelled from the bureau, you’ll have to compete with him for work.”

The scent of dragon?

Fu Li looked up at the blisteringly hot sun. In the past, when dragons passed by and found that the weather was hot, they would still summon a few droplets of rain and give the common people a good period of rain. The dragons now were becoming more and more stingy.

Even an intrinsic characteristic like being able to call down rain had been forgotten by the dragons.

Each generation truly couldn’t compare to the previous.

[1] Virtue is a key concept in Chinese philosophy and can be understood as integrity, morality, ethics etc. There are two types of virtue – hidden/Yin virtue, and Yang virtue. Hidden virtue refers to virtue derived from acts of kindness that are not known by the recipient while Yang virtue is virtue derived from acts of kindness known by the recipient. The amount of virtue accumulated throughout one’s life is said to affect what one would reincarnate as in the next life.

[2] Term of respect for an older man.

[3] Sound of agreement.

[4] Meat lingzhi is also known as Taisui and is a much rarer version of the lingzhi mushroom. The lingzhi mushroom is made of a single fungus, while the meat lingzhi is made of multiple fungi, thus making it much rarer in nature. The meat lingzhi has very strong regenerative powers and can regrow parts that have been cut off. Unlike the lingzhi mushroom that has a hard surface and mushroom-like appearance, the meat lingzhi looks and feels like meat. The meat lingzhi is said to be capable of treating illness and maintaining health. There are legends surrounding it that claim it can make one immortal.

[5] Taisui is an alternate name for meat lingzhi but in Chinese astrology, Tai Sui is also known as the Grand Duke Jupiter of the Year. Tai Sui is the god in command of a person’s fortune, including one’s health, wealth, marriage, and career. It is believed that if one’s zodiac sign clashes with the Tai Sui, misfortune and bad luck will follow.

[6] Karma refers to cosmic merit or demerit accumulated through one’s life based on their deeds. It then determines what the individual will reincarnate as in their next life.