a journey into immortal cultivation

Chapter Six: Self-Serving Hearts

Tiezhu kept silent. At his side, Wang Zhuo sneered. “I said from the start he didn’t have the makings. Now look—went up there just to make a fool of himself. I was accepted on the very first test. Didn’t bother watching his later ones, but I heard he failed all three. He should’ve listened to me and stayed home. I’d wager even Fourth Uncle’s Huzi would’ve done better.”

Tiezhu’s Fourth Uncle knit his brows and snapped, “Wang Zhuo, even if you do become an immortal, don’t get presumptuous in front of me. Whether my Huzi has the makings is none of your damn business. Show some respect.”

A cold glint flashed in Wang Zhuo’s eyes; he gave a few chilly laughs and held his tongue.

Tiezhu’s father seemed to age ten years in an instant and sank into his chair. His mother, stunned, as if unable to believe, asked, “Tiezhu… is… is it true?”

Biting his lip till blood ran, Tiezhu dropped to his knees with a thud and kowtowed heavily several times. In a low voice he said, “Father, Mother… I was not taken in by the immortals. I’m sorry… I… I will repay your kindness in the next life.”

Hearing the despair in his voice, Mother rushed to lift him up, sobbing. “Child, it’s all right—don’t grieve. So you weren’t chosen—next year we’ll go sit the county exam; it’s the same. Whatever you do, don’t do anything foolish. Think it through. Your father and I are counting on you to see us off in our old age.”

Father, too, came back to himself. Seeing the look in his son’s eyes, his heart lurched; he hurried over and held Tiezhu tight. “Don’t you dare do anything rash. You have me. We’ll go home, read our books, and take next year’s exam. It will be fine.”

All around, the relatives’ faces changed with unseemly speed. One by one they drifted away from Tiezhu’s parents, wearing the idle look of those watching a spectacle; whispers rose, comments multiplied.

“I never thought much of the boy,” said Father’s sixth younger brother with a curl of the lip. “How could he compare to Big Brother’s Wang Zhuo? This is a disgrace, through and through.”

“Exactly,” sniffed Third Uncle. “If we’d known it would come to this, we wouldn’t have made it look as if he’d truly been admitted. How shameful. Old Second, you’re no youngster—how do you still do such foolish things? No wonder your father didn’t leave you a share back then.”

“If you ask me, all that ‘clever since childhood’ talk was nine-tenths hot air,” said Fifth Uncle, who minutes before had been fawning by Father’s side. “Old Second hasn’t amounted to much and so puffed up his boy. Now look—exposed, isn’t he?”

“Three youngsters went to be tested, and only he failed. Tiezhu’s the worst of the lot—a shame to the Wang clan.” A woman among the kinsfolk gave a sharp laugh. “Second Sister-in-law, just now I said you’d live in ease with Second Brother. Seeing this, you’ll be like this your whole life—no such fortune.”

“Didn’t I say so?” chimed in Fifth Uncle’s wife. “I saw him in the village a few days back—looked simple as a calf. How could he compare with Wang Zhuo and Wang Hao? Of course he wouldn’t make it.”

“I’ve long seen there’s nothing to the boy,” said another of the women. “Look at his father and mother—what fine son could they raise? In this Wang clan, it’s only Big Brother’s and Third’s lads who’ll go far. ‘Tiezhu’—pah! The name itself sounds simple-minded.”

“I must’ve been blind, talking of marrying my girl into that. Thank heavens he wasn’t chosen—else she’d hate me for life. Second Sister-in-law, let’s drop the talk of in-laws. Since your boy can’t be an immortal, who would give a daughter to him? Toads lusting after swan’s flesh!”

In a blink nearly all the relatives showed their snobbish faces; harsher and harsher words hammered at the family without mercy. Compared to the flattery of moments earlier, it was a different world. Some even tore the mask away entirely and demanded back the gifts they had brought. Father and Mother turned ashen. Wang Lin clenched his fists; the hurt in his heart grew more acute—he felt as if he might die, the air around him thick with mockery.

Wang Zhuo’s father chuckled inwardly and said lazily, “Old Second, I told you—immortals choose by fate, and the conditions are strict. Unless one is outstanding like my son, there’s hardly a chance. But you—you made a great show of it. Now the boy’s in despair and can’t go on. What was the point?”

Father could bear no more. He swung around, eyes blazing. “Wang Tianshan, hold your tongue! When Father lay dying he left me a share, and you scraped and schemed with the kin to seize it away. And now you stand here jeering? Do you take me, Wang Tianshui, for a man without blood in his veins?

“And the rest of you—just now fawning, and now sneering. My boy is already like this, and you still throw stones at a man in a well—have you no shred of humanity?”

Wang Tianshan’s breath caught; then he barked, “What use dragging up the past? Your boy simply hasn’t the knack. I spoke for your good; instead of thanks, you flare at me. Hmph—when the beam is crooked, the rafters are skewed: with a father like you, the son won’t be any better!”

The scorn and snickers fell in Wang Lin’s ears like barbed thorns driven into his heart. He swallowed the tearing pain and looked on coldly, fixing in memory every face and every mouth.

“You—! I’ll fight you!” Father snatched up a stool and lunged. Fourth Uncle leapt forward, barred his way, and whispered, “Second Brother, don’t be rash. The eldest’s household has many servants—you’ll come off worse. Leave it to me.”

He rounded on Wang Tianshan, eyes hard. “Big Brother, is this how you speak? I, the fourth, won’t listen to it. If you dare insult Second Brother again in front of me, don’t blame me for forgetting brotherhood. The Wang clan may be large, but I’ve made no few friends on the rivers and lakes these years. Take care your fine house isn’t burned to the ground in one night.”

Wang Tianshan muttered a few words, clearly wary of this fourth brother with his wide circle.

“Fourth,” came the reproof of the eldest of the elders, Third Grand-uncle, “that won’t do. The boy from Second’s house lacks the gift—that’s plain enough. Are we elders not allowed to speak the truth? The child falls short, and we cannot say so? That’s hardly reasonable.”