High School of Demon Hunting

Chapter 946: Chapter 8: Annual Festival

When it comes to the New Year, the first image that comes to mind is often the bustling and lively days around the end of the year and the New Year. But if one must pinpoint New Year to a specific time, it would have to be New Year’s Eve.

Apart from the customary New Year’s Eve dinner and the Spring Festival Gala, paying tribute to the ancestors is an indispensable custom on this day.

At eight o’clock in the morning, Zheng Qing was dragged out of bed by his father. Although the winter sun rose later, by this time, it was already bright outside.

After getting dressed and pushing open the door, Zheng Qing sniffled and sneezed lightly because from the living room to the balcony, a faint and persistent smoke filled the house.

Zheng Qing was very familiar with this scent.

Ever since he was a child, on the first and fifteenth of each lunar month, and during the New Year and other festivals, several incense sticks would be burned in the incense burners under the god statues and spirit tablets at home to offer to the gods. According to the rule, one stick before breakfast in the morning, one at noon, and one before dinner in the evening. It used to be Zheng Qing’s grandfather who took care of it, but now that grandfather was old, it was his father’s responsibility. As for Zheng Qing, even though he was already an adult, his role was only to kowtow before the god statues; he was not free to offer incense arbitrarily.

After the incense offering and breakfast, the men would start to post spring couplets and the character ”fu”.

As usual, Zheng Qing was in charge of gathering the old spring couplets, ”fu” characters, pine, and cypress branches, and putting them into a large trash bag, while the task of posting was still handled by his father. It took about an hour to finish the posting.

In the past, his father would go downstairs to wash the car and then stick spring couplets and ”fu” characters on the car; whereas Zheng Qing would stay in the study with his grandfather for a while—the old man would sit in the recliner to read the newspaper and books, while Zheng Qing practiced Talisman Scrolls at the desk.

But today, his father was not in a hurry to go downstairs.

”Now that you only stay at home for a few days a year, can you tidy up some of the Talisman paper and such that you left behind? We don’t feel right touching your things when you are not home,” his father said, then paused and rephrased, ”If you think those things are useful, just keep them there; they aren’t in the way.”

What his father was referring to were the Talisman papers and Magic Artifacts that Zheng Qing had left at home.

For example, hanging in the bookcase of his bedroom was a Peach Wood Sword, a roadside stall gift from Character Set Deng Xiaoxian during a visit to Hui Zi Ji. Although it wasn’t anything valuable, it was the best deterrent against evil spirits and malevolence; other examples were Yellow paper charms posted on the window sills and lintels, which were all sorts of Exorcism and Tranquility items; and he had secretly tinkered with a few incense burners at home, which under normal circumstances showed no signs of abnormality when incense was burned, but if something unclean entered the house, the incense in the burners would ignite, warning the family.

Because Zheng Qing had been studying under Mr. Wu since he was young, and in his family’s eyes, Mr. Wu was a very capable and highly skilled person. Therefore, the things Zheng Qing fiddled with at home had not been dealt with by his traditionally minded grandfather.

Over time, it had gradually become a custom—offering incense and worshiping gods during festivals remained in accordance with the old customs; but the Talisman paper posted by Zheng Qing by the windows and doors remained untouched by anyone.

It was as if the place where the Jing River and Wei River met, their different colors eventually converged into the same path.

After listening to his father’s words, Zheng Qing reassured him, ”It’s okay if you’ve moved them; they are not artifacts from a temple worship, so there aren’t that many details to mind. But since I am not home, you might as well leave those Talismans there... I’ll replace them with new ones later on.”

Professor Zheng, who had been silent while the father and son were talking, was just sitting by the window reading the newspaper with his reading glasses on.

Only after Zheng Qing’s father went downstairs did Professor Zheng look towards his grandson.

”Doesn’t your university require you to join the Party? A true Party member should believe in materialism and not indulge in superstitions like these,” he said as he took off his glasses, his gaze sharp upon Zheng Qing, ”Remember when I told you about Wang Yangming’s doctrines?”

Zheng Qing nodded obediently.

The Mr. Yangming Grandfather referred to was the great thinker of the Ming Dynasty, Wang Yangming. Mentioning Wang Yangming’s teachings now naturally reminded Zheng Qing to abide by the principle of ’unity of knowledge and action’ and not be hypocritical, espousing materialism while secretly praying to the Gods.

Zheng Qing quietly scoffed to himself. If Grandfather knew that this Mr. Yangming was a famous wizard in the Wizard World and was still bouncing around alive in the New World, he would definitely change his mind—of course, he wouldn’t blab about such things to Grandfather.

Although he couldn’t tell the truth, it didn’t mean Zheng Qing had no way to defend himself.

”You forgot, I studied at a university abroad.” He explained with a smile to the elder: ”Abroad, they don’t adhere to the same things as they do here... They actually have quite a belief in idealism.”

Professor Zheng was taken aback for a moment before he came to his senses.

”Oh,” he nodded and then shook his head, adjusting his reading glasses, ”I really don’t know what your parents were thinking, letting you go so far to study... While studying abroad, you must focus on maintaining firm beliefs and seeking truth from facts, not blindly following others or letting those sensational, messy ideas corrupt you.”

Zheng Qing rolled his eyes inwardly, but on the surface, he obediently nodded in agreement.

”And all that supernatural hocus-pocus,” Professor Zheng added, ”What you learned from Mr. Wu is fine, he is a ’True Person’ and knowledgeable... Don’t randomly learn other nonsensical stuff from the outside.”

Zheng Qing knew that Grandfather wasn’t specifically targeting anything with his criticism of the supernatural, but he still felt as though he’d been subtly hit by it. He quickly found an excuse to leave the study and headed to the kitchen to look for a cat.

The house, just like when he was a child, did not have any pets.

The cat Zheng Qing was looking for was the Yellow Flowered Cat from San You Bookstore, also known as the Flower Cat he called ’Brother Huang.’

Because Mr. Wu was out and no one was there to look after the shop, Professor Zheng specifically instructed Zheng Qing to bring the Yellow Flowered Cat home if he saw it at the bookstore, to help Mr. Wu take care of it for a while.

Whether Brother Huang needed looking after, Zheng Qing thought, was a no-brainer—plus, he was quite certain the Flower Cat would prefer to stay in the bookstore, munching on dried fish while watching cartoons about cats and mice, rather than coming home with him to be dazzled by the blaring noise of the Spring Festival Gala on TV amidst a crowd of people.

But contrary to his expectations,

When Zheng Qing left the bookstore, the Yellow Flowered Cat actually turned off its little TV and calmly followed him home.

”Don’t talk at home,” the Young Wizard cautioned the Yellow Flowered Cat in a low voice on their way back, ”My Grandfather has a weak heart. If you scare him into an accident, you’re fully responsible.”

The Yellow Flowered Cat glanced at him and said nothing.

”Also, if you want dried fish or beef jerky, just whisper it to me. If there are people around and it’s inconvenient to speak, tap me a few times with your paw or give me a look,” Zheng Qing continued, still not quite at ease, rambling on with instructions: ”Don’t even think about opening the fridge or any locked cabinets... Oh, when you touch me with your paw, remember to just use the pad, not the actual claws.”

The Yellow Flowered Cat gave a loud snort, still disdainful of the young man beside it.