The Angel's Descent Chapter 2

Thirty days later, Mason learned the technique of double eyelid surgery and realized that the shop owner's wife's double eyelids were natural. Double eyelids that are cut will show the scars when the eyes are closed, while natural double eyelids will be smooth when the eyes are closed.

The shop owner's wife had clear eyes, always with her eyes wide open. It was a rare opportunity for Mason to see her eyes closed. That noon, the shop owner was sitting at the door waiting for patients to come. He could not help but doze off and suddenly fell to the ground. Mason helped the shop owner to the bedroom in the inner room.

The lady was taking a nap in bed, her closed eyelids like a lotus leaf, a complete piece. Mason wanted to wake the lady up, but the owner waved at him, went to bed, snuggled up to the lady, and fell asleep in a moment.

Mason left the bedroom, feeling quite emotional. The way they slept was the most vivid portrayal of the phrase "living together". In the days that followed, the shop owner would often doze off and fall to the ground. Mason thought it was because men's energy declined after entering middle age.

On an afternoon when there were no patients, Mason said to the shop owner, "The main reason you had the lustful demon barrier in the mountains was that you didn't practice breathing. Adjusting your breathing can overcome the internal heat caused by vegetarianism." The shop owner murmured, "Ziyun Pavilion is very conservative. They said they would test me for three years before teaching me this."

Mason: "I do understand. This method can refresh the mind. Do you want to learn it?" The shop owner glanced at Mason and didn't show any yearning. But the shop owner still learned from Mason. Every morning, they went to the West Lake, sat on a stone bench facing the lake, exhaling the old and inhaling the new. Mason seemed to have returned to the days in the mountains, but the shop owner didn't pay much attention and often fell asleep after sitting for a while.

The shop owner curled up on the stone bench, sleeping like a child, so innocent that Mason couldn't bear to disturb him. But Mason quickly woke him up every time, because the coldness of the stone bench was like the cold air in the mountains, enough to penetrate into the human body.

There was a bamboo forest next to them. When the wind blew, the sound of the bamboo leaves was as gentle as the breathing of a sleeping person. One day, Mason woke the shop owner up and said to him: "The reason why children can grow up is because they are one with nature. As people grow older, there is less and less nature in them, so they become sick and old. But breathing is the code installed by nature in the human body. Listening to breathing is to get close to nature. I hope you practice seriously and you will definitely be able to cure your fainting problem."

The shop owner looked at Mason in a daze and said, "You are a good person. But my fainting is not caused by illness but poison."

The owner is 15 years older than his wife, and a year ago, their relationship had become unhappy, so he started drinking a herbal medicine called "Black Rot Taro" that was said to stimulate male potency.

Three months ago, he started to have headaches and sometimes lost his sight for a moment. He visited Logan, a famous doctor in West Lake, and was diagnosed with only six months to live.

Mason was shocked and said hurriedly: "You can't drink black taro anymore!" The owner smiled calmly and turned to look at the West Lake, where the water waves came and went. The owner said: "In fact, I also know your method of listening to breathing, but I won't practice it because I came down the mountain for lust."

At this time, the bamboo forest was blown by the wind, rustling like a man crying. The owner said: "Running up and down the mountain has made me realize a truth - in fact, becoming an immortal is meaningless. Instead of living a boring life for thousands of years, it is better to spend a night happily."

Mason became silent and worked tirelessly to run the clinic. He no longer let his wife cook, and he was responsible for three meals a day. He worked like a slave until the owner passed away six months later.

According to the will, the owner's funeral was very simple, and he only asked for a seven-day vigil. During the seven days, his wife fainted from crying several times, and Mason carried her back to the bedroom. Seeing her beautiful double eyelids turn black, Mason always felt a little heartbroken.

In the past six months, Mason wanted to tell her the truth several times, believing that she would stop the owner from taking the medicine. But the owner chose his own fate, and he had no right to interfere. He could only comfort himself that when he showed up, the tragedy had already happened, and all he could do was watch the tragedy complete.

After the wake, his wife took the child back to his hometown in Zhejiang, and Mason continued to run the medical clinic business, sending his wife ten silver dollars every month. He felt that he would stay here forever, and becoming a monk had become an absurd old dream, because he had to support a woman and a child.

Ten years later, the child will grow up and be able to support his mother. And he will still send ten yuan every month. This is his life mission. Well, he will stay here forever.

Mason's grand plan was to give all the people in Hangzhou double eyelids, but he never had the time to implement it. Three months later, his wife returned to Hangzhou and married the famous doctor Logan. Then his wife sold the property of the "Men's Clinic" and Mason was kicked out.

The only thing he took away was the old Taoist robe. The robe was rolled up and wrapped in a newspaper. Mason walked aimlessly with it in his hand, and suddenly heard the sound of bamboo.

This was the place where he and the owner practiced their breathing exercises. Mason stroked the stone bench and sat down. The ripples on the lake in front of him were as natural as his wife's double eyelids.

There might be poison mixed in the black taro, and Logan and his wife might have committed adultery long ago. Thinking of this, Mason suddenly felt extremely sleepy. He fell on the stone bench, curled up and fell asleep, just like the owner.

But he knew that no one would wake him up, and the coldness of the stone bench had already penetrated into his internal organs.

Moon watching at West Lake is a world-famous scene, but Hangzhou residents actually don't watch the moon. They leave at 5pm and return home at 7pm, avoiding the moon as if it were an enemy.

Tourists from other places and officials with prostitutes gathered on the shore. There was also a group of young rogues, singing tuneless songs, moving back and forth among the crowd, shouting and pretending to be drunk. When the moon was full, the shore of West Lake was always quite unbearable.

Only on the lake, there are still people admiring the moon. They book a small boat, gather around the clean tea table and stove, make tea and chat, watch the bright moon in the sky, look at the beauties around them, and continue the romantic style of ancient scholars. Logan is a famous person in Hangzhou. At this moment, he is sitting on a small boat, drifting to the depths of West Lake.

Next to him was a beautiful woman wearing a crimson cheongsam, with her fair neck exposed. She was the shop owner's wife. She was in her best years as a woman, with the vitality of youth and the charm that a young girl did not have.

Logan had a goatee and high eyebrows, and looked like an ancient man. Such a face could convince patients and intimidate women. The lady's eyes wandered and she slowly leaned over. Feeling the coolness of her skin, Logan thought of the tower boats used by the ancients to cruise the West Lake.

Ah, moonlight, beauty, a boat must be built. Possessing a woman on the river - there is nothing more pleasant than this. Thinking of building a house on a boat, the wisdom of the ancients is admirable.

Logan held his wife's waist, which was smooth and slippery, and the boatman at the stern seemed even more redundant. Logan glanced at the stern and stood up suddenly.

The boatman disappeared, and the nearest boat was two kilometers away. Logan suddenly felt a chill on his feet, and when he looked down, he saw that the deck was flooded with river water...

The crowd watching the moon by the lake started a commotion because a man suddenly emerged from the water, dripping wet, and ran through the crowd towards the Yuewang Temple. The lake was cold in winter, and swimming at this time was tantamount to suicide, so the crowd followed him curiously.

The man ran to the Yuewang Temple, facing the dark temple, and sat cross-legged on the ground. The water on his body froze into ice, and his clothes stood out at right angles.

Maybe he was wrong. Without evidence, he had determined Logan and his wife's guilt based on his intuition. I wonder if they can swim? Mason closed his eyes and prayed to the Yuewang Temple: Great Yuewang, I hope you will judge justice. If they are innocent, let them swim to the shore...

Mason prayed until he was exhausted, but he still didn't dare to open his eyes, because he was afraid that Yue Wang would not show his spirit. After an unknown amount of time, his body was tense to the limit, and suddenly he relaxed and his eyelids opened.

There was a cry of surprise in his ears, and Mason's vision cleared up after two seconds. He saw a large group of people standing ten meters away from him, all with awe on their faces. A monk in black came over, leading a horse, bowed humbly, and said, "Master Dao!" Then he squatted down and massaged Mason's shoulders and legs.

Mason: "What's wrong with me?" The black-robed monk said: "You have been in meditation here for ten days, which has caused a sensation in Hangzhou. Elder Rusong doesn't want you to disturb the people, so he asked me to take you to Lingyin Temple."

With the help of the black-robed monk, He An got up and mounted his horse. Ten days of meditation had left him with limp muscles, and he collapsed on the horse, unable to straighten his back.

It took forty minutes to reach Lingyin Temple. People knelt down and worshipped from time to time along the way, and more than thirty onlookers from Yuewang Temple followed. Elder Rusong's residence was in the deepest courtyard of Lingyin Temple. When Mason was helped into the meditation room, he was sitting on the bed, writing on a small table.

Mason was placed on the bed. To prevent him from falling, the monk in black took the quilt from the bed and used it to cushion Mason's lower back. Rusong licked the brush head and said, "I have been copying the Heart Sutra seven times a day since I was sixteen, for fifty-three years. I am still short of one last stroke for this one. Can you help me?"

Rusong handed over the brush. Mason took the brush and leaned over to the small table on the kang. He saw some beautiful small characters written on a piece of yellow rough paper.

Mason trembled as he wrote a stroke on the paper. This stroke was thick and heavy, destroying the harmony of the entire calligraphy. Looking at his own stroke, Mason's eyes widened and he cried out "wow". Rusong: "Child, what's wrong with you?" Mason: "I wrote it badly."

Rusong: "It's okay. You can write again." Rusong crumpled up the paper, took out another piece of paper from under the table, and spread it on the table. Mason leaned over the table, and was about to write, but he raised his head, his pupils were as black as hell.

Mason: "Has there been any murder on West Lake?" Rusong: "Nine days ago, Logan, a famous doctor in Hangzhou, and his newlywed wife died in the middle of the lake. After the boat sank, they grabbed a piece of wood, but the lake was cold and they were frozen to death."

Mason's pupils turned a pale grey, extinguishing all expression. Rusong sighed, placed a scroll of scriptures on the table, and said, "Copy it." Mason immediately leaned over and began to copy it.

Rusong got out of bed, walked out of the house, and closed the door. The courtyard was full of people following him. Rusong put his hands together and said in a voice as heavy as a thousand-pound bronze bell: "Amitabha. There is only suffering in the world, so what is there to see? Go away."

Mason copied the Heart Sutra in Rusong's meditation room for 49 days. When he walked out of the meditation room, it was New Year's Eve. Hangzhou people had the custom of going to Lingyin Temple to listen to the New Year's bell, and Rusong's secluded courtyard was also disturbed by the noise.

Mason stood in the courtyard, looking up at the sky. Hangzhou was brightly lit tonight, dyeing the bottom of the sky pink. A voice sounded in Mason's ears, "It seems that the sky will not get dark tonight."

It was Elder Rushong.

Rusong was wearing a yellow robe, probably made of top-grade silk. His hair had just been shaved, shining brightly, and he looked brand new. Rusong said, "It's New Year after all. Go to the abbot's hall and get some new clothes." Mason said, "I want to formally become a monk and never leave the temple again."

Rusong said: "Stand in the moonlight, let me see you." Mason took two steps and faced the moonlight, thinking that he must be haggard. Rusong's eyes flashed, then dimmed, and said: "You still have a lot of fun in the world, now is not the time to become a monk."

Mason: "How should I live? I know many secrets of cultivation, but I don't have the ability to earn a single cent from the human world." Rusong laughed loudly, making Mason's hair stand on end.

Rusong: "You entered into a state of meditation in Yuewang Temple for ten days. Ordinary people think you are a deity. I guarantee that as long as you leave Lingyin, the wealthy businessmen and bureaucrats in Hangzhou will chase you around." Mason: "I don't want this kind of life." Rusong: "But you showed miracles in Yuewang Temple, which triggered the good and bad karma you have accumulated in many lifetimes. There must be a conclusion, right?"

At this moment, the sound of the bells was so deep that it could penetrate into one's heart. Mason bowed to Rusong, turned around, opened the door of the courtyard, and walked out.

Fifteen days later, Mason accepted funding from a wealthy businessman and built a two-story building by the West Lake to open a pharmacy. The pharmacy was crowded with people who often came to ask about good and bad luck. Mason always said: "I am just a pharmacist, I don't know anything else."

He did the same to the rich businessman who funded him. After half a year, the rich businessman finally got tired of him and just urged him to pay back the debt. A year later, Mason paid back the money and cut off contact with the rich businessman.

However, there is still a small group of people in Hangzhou who regard him as a deity. There are various rumors that he walks out of the pharmacy every night and practices in a bamboo forest by the lake. Some curious people sneaked into the bamboo forest in the middle of the night and saw him sitting with his eyes closed and tears on his face.

There is also a rumor that he would row a small boat to the center of West Lake every full moon night and drink until dawn. After each drink, he would pour a glass into the lake, as if drinking with the water god.

Mason had accumulated two thousand silver dollars, a fortune he had never had before. What should he do next? Eat and drink like an ordinary person, get married and have children? He kept thinking about Elder Rusong's words, waiting for his good or bad fate. What exactly would that be?

His medicine shop was next to the water. When he was at the Longjing Mountain Taoist Temple, he knew that one could not practice by the water because the body would be weak during meditation and could not withstand the coldness of the water. The main reason he chose this place was that it was close to the bamboo forest and he could worship the owner's soul.

He had been in Hangzhou for two years and his only friend was the shop owner. After dinner that day, he went for a walk in the bamboo forest as usual, but found dense footprints on the ground. Some of the footprints went one inch into the ground and stretched out three feet long, which was very strange.

Mason squatted down and put his fingers into these strange footprints. The soil in the footprints was very soft, and his fingers easily inserted into the ground two inches deep. Mason brushed off the dust on his fingers and looked up to see a crow standing on a bamboo branch, staring at him blankly.

Is this my good or bad fate?

The next morning, Mason came to the bamboo forest and saw a man in a green jacket practicing Tai Chi in the bamboo forest. The Tai Chi he practiced was different from the popular ones in society. He frequently exerted force and looked very strong. Mason stared at him in the shadow of the bamboo leaves, and he continued to practice without being disturbed until he raised his hands up and put them on his abdomen, then stopped and let out a low hum from his chest, which was melodious and deep, and very pleasant to hear.

Mason had seen Taoists practicing boxing at the Longjing Mountain Taoist temple. He knew that this worldly boxer was much better than the Taoists, so he wanted to make friends with him. He walked up to him and bowed. The man rolled his eyes, rubbed his belly, ignored Mason,   and turned away.

People with strange personalities must have extraordinary skills and abilities. Mason recognized this point and went to the bamboo forest to watch boxing every morning. After the boxer left, Mason practiced based on his memory. A month later, the boxer came to Mason and said, "You are so bad at practicing! Let me teach you."

The practitioner is Jasper Zhao, the last disciple of Tai Chi master Nolan, who is famous for his Tai Chi Push Hands. Tai Chi Push Hands is a practice where two people put their hands together, entangle and twist, and practice using the enemy's strength to attack the enemy. Cultural people have a very high opinion of Push Hands, and believe that it is a unique skill in Chinese martial arts with deep philosophy.

Nolan Peng could push people away just by putting his hands together, but when teaching Jasper, he said: "Pushing hands is just mechanics, not kung fu. I use it to show off in the secular world, and you are my disciple who keeps up appearances, so you don't need to learn this." The so-called keeping up appearances means that when someone challenges you, you fight on behalf of the master.

Jasper competed on behalf of Nolan for 37 times and won every time. However, Nolan became increasingly indifferent to him and later even withheld Jasper's salary for teaching students at the Peng family martial arts school. Jasper was puzzled as to why the kind and generous master had become mean and stingy.

Later, an uncle told him: "You have aroused the master's jealousy. When the master sees that his disciple's kung fu is better than his, he will attack the disciple and destroy his kung fu. Your master has been very merciful by not taking any action against you. You should leave now."

So Jasper came to Jiangnan from Beijing, thinking that he should have no difficulty in making a living with his martial arts skills, and any martial arts school would hire him with a high salary. However, Nolan issued a statement in Beijing, expelling Jasper from the school. No martial arts school dared to hire him. Jasper was down and out for a long time, and only a month ago, through a relative's relationship, he became a physical education teacher in a primary school in Hangzhou.

Jasper was bored with teaching some little kids all day, so he went to the West Lake to practice boxing, mainly to relieve his mood. Mason: "You have left your master, why is he still so heartless?" Jasper sighed: "I learned the skills of my master. If I set up another school, my master would have no food to eat."

Mason said that he could hire him to teach boxing for three silver dollars a month. Jasper was very happy. When he came the next morning, he changed into new clothes and taught every move very seriously.

Fifteen days later, Jasper came to Zhulin in a rickshaw and asked Mason to pay for the fare. After practicing boxing, he asked Mason to accompany him to have breakfast, which was also paid for by Mason. Mason thought about it and raised the monthly tuition to five silver dollars. However, Jasper still asked Mason to pay for the fare and breakfast every day, and no longer taught the principles of boxing, but only taught the movements.

Mason learned more than 80 moves, but he always forgot what he had learned. One day, he finally realized that he was not training in martial arts, but in memory. So he stopped going to the bamboo forest in the morning and stopped paying tuition to Jasper. Jasper once came to him and said, "I do this to avoid the situation between me and my master from happening to us."

Mason: "If you don't teach me real things, what else can I learn?" Jasper shook his head and left. He never saw Mason again. Mason kept the habit of taking a walk in the bamboo forest every night. He always felt emotional when he saw the footprints left by Jasper in the morning.

Summer came in a blink of an eye, and it rained for ten consecutive days. Thinking of Jasper living alone in the elementary school dormitory, Mason bought two bottles of Huadiao wine and prepared to send them to him in the evening.

The moon rose, and Mason walked out of the pharmacy. When he turned around to lock the door, he saw a shadow on the door. Mason turned his head and saw a fat figure standing ten meters away with his back to the moonlight. He couldn't see his face clearly. The man spoke in a Beijing accent with a strong erhua sound: "Did Jasper teach you?"

A name popped up in Mason's mind --- Nolan. Mason suddenly felt dry mouth and his eyelids were so heavy that he almost fell asleep. He just wanted to jump into the West Lake and drown forever.

There is a road fifty meters away from the pharmacy. There are pedestrians and vehicles on the road. It is a safe area.

Mason resisted the urge to sleep and walked towards the road, carrying the bottle of Huadiao wine. But as if hypnotized, after taking seven or eight steps, he was surprised to find that he was getting closer and closer to the man.

The man raised his arms and faced him like a ghost. Fight? Mason bit his lip, and the pain made his whole body vibrate. His brain became much clearer, and then he swung the bottle and smashed it hard on the man's huge head.

The Huadiao porcelain broke into pieces and flowed all over the ground.

Mason flew out like a kite with a broken string and crashed into the door of a pharmacy ten meters away.

The man sneered: "That kid didn't teach you anything." Then he walked onto the road with his hands behind his back, heading towards Hangzhou Primary School.

Mason felt that his entire spine was dislocated, and his throat seemed to be blocked by a large mouthful of sticky phlegm, making it difficult to breathe. He lay on the ground, tumbling a few times like a fish on a chopping board, and finally sat up, then stood up with the help of the wall and stumbled towards the elementary school.

In the elementary school dormitory building, the lights in Jasper's room were on, but he was not there. When he found the basketball court, Mason saw two shadows flash quickly, and then one of them stood still and suddenly collapsed. The other shadow disappeared.

Mason ran over and saw that the person lying on the ground was the fat man who attacked him. Mason looked around and could not see Jasper. Suddenly, he found that his shadow had an extra leg. Looking at the three-legged shadow, Mason stopped moving and said, "Master Zhao."

A "hmm" sounded in my ears, and Jasper walked out from behind He An. Jasper knelt on the ground, lifted up Nolan's upper body, and pressed his hand deeply on his chest. Nolan cried "wa" like a newborn baby, his voice was extremely childish.

After crying seven or eight times, Nolan suddenly opened his eyes wide, jumped up, and said to Jasper fiercely: "You can do it!" Then he ran out of the campus at a very fast speed.