Speciesism is not Allowed - Chapter 7

Chapter 7: Changing jobs

Zhuang Qing didn’t return home; he got Chu Yu to drive directly to the Bureau.

Upon hearing that their boss was returning, the bureau’s people put away the tables and shifted the stools. The disorderly documents fluttered in the air, very quickly becoming neat and tidy. The workers who were sprawled over their tables all sat up straight as if they were soldiers waiting for an inspection by a senior official.

Tap tap tap.

As the sound of footsteps grew louder and louder, the expressions on everyone’s faces became more and more serious. The moment Zhuang Qing appeared, everyone called out ‘Hello, Captain’ in unison.

Zhuang Qing’s gaze swept across everyone. Only a while later did he open his mouth lazily. “All of you know how to be scared now?”

Everyone lowered their heads in shame. Quite a few people had died this time in the chaos caused by the evil yao. Ultimately, it was their fault for not having cultivated well enough. The nation was vast and there was a great number of people, but that didn’t mean they could be treated as rations for yao.

Chu Yu thought about the girl whose heart had been eaten and how she had only been twenty over years old. After that girl’s mishap, her family members had nearly fainted from crying. Thinking of this, Chu Yu felt exceedingly distressed.

“I’ll go see this ancient yao,” Compared to when he was scolding people, Zhuang Qing was even scarier when he showed no emotion. There was not a single person in the management teams who breathed loudly. Hearing that Zhuang Qing was going to interrogate the Zhuyan, Old Huang hurriedly revealed a fawning smile and walked in front, leading the way.

There was a spirit lock formation in the basement of the bureau that was specially meant for imprisoning cultivators who had broken the law. This formation was drawn using Zhuang Qing’s blood and talismans that suppressed yao qi were also placed at all four corners. Yao who had poor cultivation would feel discomfort all over even if they entered this place, much less enter the spirit lock formation.

The Zhuyan had been locked in this place for quite a few days, but his arrogant attitude hadn’t diminished. Seeing people enter, he proceeded to mock, “Incompetent humans and yao.”

Zhuang Qing took off his blazer that was suffused with the scent of the elite and handed it to Chu Yu, who was behind him. “Hold it properly, don’t let blood get onto it.”

Chu Yu was very obedient. Carrying the blazer, he took multiple steps back. Fortunately, a barrier had been set up in front, thereby guaranteeing that no dirt would land on this branded suit.

“Zhuyan,” Zhuang Qing stepped into the spirit lock formation, looking at the Zhuyan who couldn’t maintain his human form nor move a single finger. “Ancient yao.”

“Even the dragon clan’s younger generation dares to show off their claws in front of this king,” The Zhuyan glanced at him from the corner of his eyes, contempt emanating from him. “All you ignorant young ones have truly caused the might of my yao clan to degenerate.”

Zhuang Qing turned a deaf ear to his nonsense and stretched out a hand, tugging on the yao-beating whip. The whip fell off the Zhuyan’s body. Seeing that the thing binding him had been released, the Zhuyan’s body morphed into a ray of light, about to fly out of the spirit lock formation. The Zhuyan had always been very confident in his speed. During those years when ancient yao were as numerous as dogs, he had relied on his exceptional escape ability to survive to this day.

Yet, he miscalculated. Just as he was about to fly out of the door, golden light flashed past, locking him heavily back into the spirit lock formation as if his entire body had been struck by a thunderbolt.

“Did I say you could leave?” Zhuang Qing’s arms were crossed across his chest as he towered over the Zhuyan. “According to the new law of the yao world’s management bureau, you have committed a huge offence by consuming humans as food.”

The Zhuyan lay slumped on the ground. The single attack just now was too powerful; he still hadn’t fully regained his senses. The Zhuyan was a yao with plenty of tact; whenever he encountered an opponent he really couldn’t defeat, he would always choose one of two choices – kneel and acknowledge the opponent as king or turn and flee.

Now that he couldn’t flee, he could only very tactfully concede defeat.

He no longer side-eyed Zhuang Qing, the icy smile on his face disappeared, and he obediently laid curled up on the ground and pretended to be an ordinary ape, albeit one whose appearance was a little strange.

“Who is the yao emperor?” Seeing that the Zhuyan had become well-behaved, Zhuang Qing patted the leg of his pants, his mood taking a turn for the better.

The Zhuyan’s eyes met Zhuang Qing’s eyes before evading his gaze somewhat guiltily. “Act- Actually, I haven’t seen that yao either.”

Chu Yu spoke from the corner, “Boss, he’s lying to you. Before you came back, he was still harping about how his emperor had returned. How could he have never seen this emperor before?”

Bang.

The Zhuyan slammed into the wall before landing heavily on his original spot. Somebody who didn’t know what was going on would even assume that Zhuang Qing was playing a game of boomerang.

Heavens’ Justice, how was the dragon clan cultivating now, why was their cultivation so profound? The Zhuyan spat out a mouthful of blood. Fearing that Zhuang Qing would continue to hit him, he said hastily, “I didn’t lie, I really haven’t seen the yao emperor before. I’ve only heard of the rumors surrounding him.”

“Speak.”

“A long time ago, the Zhongdiao[1] and Zheng[2] didn’t get along and got into a fight at the Wei River. Unexpectedly, they enraged the yao emperor, and in one move, the yao emperor stripped the two yao kings of their near ten thousand years’ worth of cultivation. From that moment onwards, these two yao kings vanished without a trace, never appearing again in the human world. It is rumored that the yao emperor has profound cultivation and an unstable mood. Nobody has ever seen his original form, but those who have either lost their lives or didn’t dare to mention a single word related to it. To express our reverence towards him, our yao world addresses him as emperor. A thousand years ago, a rumor spread in the yao world that a thousand years later, the fate[3] of the country on this land will prosper and the yao emperor will reappear.”

“This rumor… why have I not heard of it?” Old Huang retorted.

“Hehe,” The Zhuyan side-eyed him. “What does a tiny youngster like you know?”

Old Huang stroked his beard and smiled mildly. “Boss, I don’t think he’s saying the truth. Give him another beating.”

“Everything I said was the truth!” The Zhuyan looked down on Old Huang, but feared Zhuang Qing very much. “Oh right, I remembered something else. Two thousand years ago, there was a dragon who went down south and caused countless rainstorms. At that time, he didn’t know the yao emperor was nearby. He flooded the local lands and even the yao emperor’s immortal residence. Subsequently, the yao emperor broke the ends of that dragon’s horns and scraped off his dragon scales. After that, multiple people from the dragon clan went to seek revenge for him. In the end…”

He shot a glance at Zhuang Qing. Thinking that he was also of the dragon clan, he chose to phrase his words more tactfully, “In the end, they suffered quite a few losses.”

How could it just be a few losses? The dragon clan had practically been subjected to extraordinary shame and humiliation. It was said that the dragons who went to fight with the yao emperor came back bald and didn’t have the nerves to come out of the sea[4] even after a hundred years had passed.

In the Nurturing and Relaxation Club for Elderly, Fu Li was seated beside the not-new-yet-not-old wooden table with a bag on his back as he watched a few elderly men and women play mahjong. These elderly men and women were the cultivation world’s retirees. When they played, they even resorted to pinching their fingers together to tell the future[5] and using the Heaven and Earth Great Shift[6].

“Little Fu,” Wang Cuihua was in a good mood from completing a winning hand. Ever since Fu Li sat beside her, she felt that her luck had become quite good, so she gave a melon seed to Fu Li. “I heard you don’t want to work at the construction site anymore?”

“En,” Fu Li nodded. “I used medicine from the mountain and helped cure a human child of illness. I’m scared it’ll invite trouble, so I resigned.”

Wang Cuihua suddenly understood. It was very normal for countryside yao who lived deep in the mountains to have some good medicine like ginseng, but it was indeed inconvenient to be asked about it. She picked up a few good tiles consecutively and said, “One of my clan’s younger ones is a manager at a large supermarket. I’ll help you ask if he has any good job openings there.”

She glanced at Fu Li. “You’re good looking; finding a job shouldn’t be very difficult.”

“Zhao ge said that yao like me who don’t even have a high school certificate will have difficulty making a living,” Fu Li recalled how Zhao Sanxiang had asked him to return to the countryside when he left the construction site, and felt that he had been looked down on.

“You have good looks; you can go learn from those little yao and be…” Wang Cuihua suddenly paused and lay down the tiles in her hand. “Same suit.”

Amidst the complaints of the people at the same table, Wang Cuihua was a little delighted. She pressed the money she had won under the tablecloth and turned, continuing to speak to Fu Li, “It’s said that those internet celebrity things can earn quite a bit. All you yao have lived for at least a few hundred years and should know some of the four arts[7]. Even if you’re no good at them, you can still identify antiques. That’s also a way to make a livelihood.”

Fu Li shook his head. “In the past, there were some yaoguai around me who knew those, but I don’t know them.”

Wang Cuihua stared blankly for a while. She sighed meaningfully. “Young yao should learn a few different skills. As the saying goes, more skills will never hold one back; one will be able to live well no matter where one lives. You can’t continue like this.”

Fu Li pressed a hand to his face in distress, his large eyes staring straight at Wang Cuihua. His obedience didn’t allow her to say a single angry word.

“You can’t be blamed for that either. Perhaps the place you lived at was an old forest deep in the mountains. You didn’t have the opportunity to come into contact with such things, yes?” Wang Cuihua patted Fu Li’s shoulder. “Leave the job-finding to me, I’ll get someone to open the back door for you.”

“Thank you, cultivator Wang,” Fu Li glanced at the table and smiled broadly. “I hope you’ll win every day for the next few days.”

“A piece of cake, a piece of cake,” Wang Cuihua’s smile became even more kindly. After growing older, she couldn’t stand seeing these good-looking and obedient youngsters being wronged. It was no wonder that there were sayings of ‘yao-like enchanters’ in ancient texts. Even she, an old lady in her seventies, had no resistance against them.

The news of a child patient with a malignant tumor in the stomach making a full recovery after consuming some unknown medicine started to circulate within the hospital. However, anyone who had even a bit of understanding of medicine knew that such a thing was impossible. There was a probability of eight or nine tenths that there had been an error in the hospital’s check-up, and they were now intentionally releasing this sort of news to deceive the common people so that they could retain the hospital’s dignity.

The doctors from other hospitals secretly cursed this hospital for its lack of moral principles. Coming up with such a lie just for fame; they didn’t have any medical ethics nor moral standing!

Peng Hang also nearly believed that the youth had fed the child some mysterious spiritual medicine. But when he went to the construction site in search of him, he realized that the youth had already slipped away. Moreover, after the explanation a doctor-friend gave him, he too felt that this was just a coincidence.

Perhaps the real reason was that the damned hospital had made an error in its examination, while that youth was aware that he had cheated others, so he fled out of guilt. If that medicine was truly so magical, why would he run off? He could casually take out a bunch to sell and he would become a millionaire, why would he still need to do manual labor?

Wang Cuihua deserved to be called a senior of the cultivation world. Within two days, she helped Fu Li find a new job as a security guard at a hotel set up by one of the cultivation world’s younger generations. Because the cultivation world had a policy of assisting job-finding yaoguai from the countryside, Fu Li’s salary was the same as the other security guards despite not having a high school graduation certificate.

On the first day of work, Fu Li put on his uniform and stood in the lobby of the hotel. Immediately, the security guard opposite him looked like a pumpkin in contrast.

[1] Zhongdiao: A man-eating mythological beast that looks somewhat like a cross between a bird and a leopard. Its cries sound like that of an infant.

[2] Zheng: A mythological creature. Its appearance is like that of a red leopard, but with five tails and one horn.

[3] 国运: Translated literally as national fate i.e. the fate of a country. National fate is also said to be a country’s future prospects, which is why it can be described as prosperous or dark and gloomy.

[4] Unlike the fire-breathing dragons that are commonly seen in the west, the Chinese dragons are traditionally associated with water, and are said to have control over watery phenomena like rain and floods. They are said to live at the bottom of seas, rivers, lakes, or anywhere with water. They are most commonly depicted as snake-like with four legs. In Chinese culture, dragons are perceived as symbols of luck and power .

[5] An action using the hand that is commonly associated with telling the future. In this case, they are attempting to calculate what tiles they would get in the future.

[6] One of the martial arts skills of Zhang Wuji, the protagonist of the wuxia novel ‘The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber’ by Jin Yong.

[7] The four arts are the Zither, Go, calligraphy, and painting.