Chapter 62: Becoming a Disciple (Part 1)
The program had only finished recording, and there were still two weeks before it would be broadcast.
However, Beijing TV was quite generous.
The 60,000 yuan appearance fee they had agreed upon was transferred into Su Xiaofan's account the very next day after the recording was completed.
With the transaction settled, Su Xiaofan also felt it would be inappropriate to continue staying at the hotel arranged by Beijing TV, so he moved out that very day.
Now that there was money in his account, Su Xiaofan naturally had no need to hurry back to Luochuan.
The shop he and Zheng Dagang were preparing to open was still completely lacking in funds and inventory, so Su Xiaofan planned to hunt for some antiques in the capital and bring them back with him.
However, his treasure-hunting plans would have to wait, because early the next morning, Jing Shizhen took Su Xiaofan to a certain place.
“Uncle Jing, with your wealth, I imagine you're probably no less wealthy than that Old Master Wang, right?”
Looking at Jing Shizhen's house in the Central Villa District, Su Xiaofan couldn't help clicking his tongue in amazement.
Some time ago, when chatting with his younger sister, he had mentioned buying a house in Yanjing. Whenever he had nothing to do, Su Xiaofan had also looked up property prices in Yanjing online.
This Central Villa District could be considered one of the most expensive areas in Yanjing.
The villa in front of him occupied a full five mu of land.
According to the prices he had seen on a real-estate app, this villa was worth at least 200 million yuan.
The villa had no surrounding walls, but the trees planted around it formed a natural barrier, providing excellent privacy.
“Money is something meant to serve people. If you have money, naturally you should make yourself live a little more comfortably.”
Jing Shizhen led Su Xiaofan into the villa.
Although Jing Shizhen was quite old, his villa was very modern.
The interior was decorated in a traditional Chinese style, while all the appliances were smart devices.
As soon as the two entered, the tall floor-to-ceiling curtains automatically opened, and the lights brightened according to the amount of light inside the room.
“Uncle Jing, do you live here alone?”
Looking at the enormous living room with a high ceiling, which was easily one or two hundred square meters, Su Xiaofan felt that the place was lacking a bit of human warmth.
“Mm. Normally, I have a professional property-management company come here to take care of everything.”
Jing Shizhen nodded, then waved for Su Xiaofan to follow him downstairs into the basement.
The basement was built in a sunken style, with sunlight coming in from two sides, giving it excellent natural lighting. Jing Shizhen walked over to a wall decorated with cloud-and-dragon patterns and stopped.
Su Xiaofan saw Jing Shizhen place his palm against a protruding dragon pearl. After about three seconds, the wall silently split apart from the middle, sliding toward both sides.
“A secret room?”
Su Xiaofan couldn't help asking.
“Yes. Actually, most of the old residences in Yanjing have secret rooms like this.”
Jing Shizhen nodded and explained, “There's a term in Yanjing's antique circle called ‘digging out old residences.’ It refers to the secret rooms or cellars that used to exist in old courtyard houses.”
Su Xiaofan knew about this. It wasn't only Yanjing; there were also many similar old residences in Daxi Province.
Before Liberation, wars were constantly breaking out, so some wealthy families would dig very deep cellars to hide people or valuables.
After Liberation, however, many of the people who moved into these old residences were not their original owners.
Therefore, they had no idea that those cellars existed. Whenever one was accidentally discovered, it would often attract many antique dealers and collectors.
During the 1970s and 1980s, the value of antiques was very low.
The items found in a cellar could be sold as a whole lot for only a few hundred yuan.
Of course, a few hundred yuan was still a considerable amount of money at the time, and ordinary people generally couldn't afford to buy them either.
The secret room Jing Shizhen had opened was about twenty square meters in size.
Three of its walls were lined with antique display shelves. There weren't many objects on them, only about seven or eight pieces in total.
“Uncle Jing, are all the things you keep here magical artifacts?”
Su Xiaofan immediately spotted the string of Vajra Bodhi beads he had sold to Jing Shizhen. They were sitting on a wooden tray on one of the antique shelves.
He glanced around the room, and Su Xiaofan immediately understood the purpose of this secret chamber.
【Repair Value: 106 points!】
【Vajra Bodhi Bracelet: Low-grade magical artifact, cannot be repaired!】
【Han Dynasty Cloud Banner: Low-grade incomplete magical artifact, can be repaired and cultivated!】
【Han Dynasty Coin Sword: Low-grade incomplete magical artifact, can be repaired and cultivated!】
【White Jade Gourd: Mid-grade magical artifact, cannot be repaired, can be cultivated!】
【Celestial Master's Talisman Seal: High-grade incomplete magical artifact, can be repaired and cultivated!】
【Ming Dynasty Turtle-and-Crane Incense Burner: High-grade incomplete magical artifact, can be repaired and cultivated!】
【Song Dynasty Three Pure Ones Bell: High-grade incomplete magical artifact, can be repaired and cultivated!】
Seeing the information appear in his mind, Su Xiaofan couldn't help sucking in a breath of cold air.
He really hadn't expected Uncle Jing to have so many magical artifacts hidden here.
Aside from one complete mid-grade magical artifact, several of the others were actually high-grade magical artifacts.
Although most of the magical artifacts were incomplete, this was still the largest number of magical artifacts Su Xiaofan had ever seen in one place.
“That white jade gourd is a mid-grade magical artifact that can be cultivated?”
Looking at the information in his mind, Su Xiaofan secretly muttered to himself, wondering whether it could become a high-grade magical artifact after being cultivated.
“Kid, what are you spacing out for?”
Jing Shizhen's voice snapped Su Xiaofan back to reality. He had originally wanted to see how much Repair Value it would take to cultivate that gourd.
“Uncle Jing, seeing so many magical artifacts at once scared me.”
“Aren't you naturally fearless? You actually know how to be afraid?”
Jing Shizhen walked over to a chair beside one of the antique shelves and sat down.
“Su Xiaofan, I brought you here because I want to take you as my personal disciple. I wonder if you're willing?”
“I am willing.”
The matter of becoming his disciple had already been discussed several days ago, so Su Xiaofan naturally wasn't going to go back on his word. However, he still wanted to learn a few more things.
“Uncle Jing, what sect do we belong to? Are there many rules?”
“I can only tell you after you become my disciple.”
Jing Shizhen shook his head.
“There aren't many rules. As long as you don't violate the laws currently in force, no one will interfere with you.”
“Okay, Uncle Jing. I'll become your disciple!”
Su Xiaofan nodded. Regardless of which sect Jing Shizhen belonged to, becoming his disciple could only benefit Su Xiaofan and had no real downside.
“Good. Kneel down and kowtow twelve times!” Jing Shizhen couldn't help showing a pleased expression when he heard this.
With a thump, Su Xiaofan dropped to his knees. Of course, becoming someone's disciple meant kowtowing; Su Xiaofan had already been mentally prepared for that.
“Don't kneel to me yet. Kneel to the Patriarch first!”
Jing Shizhen pressed something somewhere, and an image suddenly appeared on the wall directly opposite the door.
“Uncle Jing, our... our sect's Patriarch isn't supposed to be the God of Wealth, is he?”
Looking at the figure on the wall, Su Xiaofan was instantly stunned.
The figure on the wall had a full, rounded face, a head that rose high at the top, and long white eyebrows drooping downward. His expression was benevolent, but his sharp eyes gave off an invisible sense of awe.
“What God of Wealth? Stop talking nonsense.” Jing Shizhen scolded Su Xiaofan.
“Then... is that the Antarctic Immortal Elder?”
Su Xiaofan guessed. Aside from the missing crane and staff, the figure looked very similar to the image of the Antarctic Immortal Elder he had seen on television.
“Shut up! That's Laozi!”
“Uncle Jing, is that you? He doesn't look like you.”
“I said Laozi—Lao Dan—not ‘me’!”
Jing Shizhen was almost driven mad by Su Xiaofan. He felt that sooner or later, this disciple of his was going to annoy him to death.
“Oh, it's Li Er. Uncle Jing, you should've said that earlier. Then I would've known.”
Hearing the name come out of Uncle Jing's mouth, Su Xiaofan immediately understood.
However, this image of Laozi was different from the ones he had seen in some books before. In those books, Laozi was usually depicted wearing a Daoist robe and sitting on a green ox.
“Kowtow. Nine times!”
Jing Shizhen didn't continue arguing with Su Xiaofan.
“Then kowtow to your master three times. After that, you'll officially become a disciple of the sect.”
“Okay!”
Su Xiaofan didn't say anything else and immediately knocked his forehead against the floor nine times.
After kowtowing to the figure on the wall, Su Xiaofan turned around and kowtowed three times to Jing Shizhen, who was sitting in the chair.
“Master, aren't you going to prepare some tea? Don't blame me for being discourteous if there isn't any. On television, they always have tea for this...”
Su Xiaofan looked around. He couldn't exactly conjure up a teacup out of thin air, so there was no ceremonial tea for him to offer his master.
“We don't do that. Kowtowing is enough.”
Jing Shizhen waved his hand. In truth, he had forgotten about this part as well. After all, this was his first time taking a disciple, so he lacked experience.
When Jing Shizhen himself had become a disciple, he had only been six years old and had long since forgotten what the ceremony involved.
The only thing Jing Shizhen remembered was that his master had given him a dzi bead. He had worn that dzi bead around his neck for sixty or seventy years already.
“Master, this is my gift to you!”
Su Xiaofan took a large red envelope from his pocket. Inside was 9,999 yuan.
Su Xiaofan had deliberately gone to an ATM to withdraw it the previous night. Although Uncle Jing hadn't mentioned anything about it, becoming someone's disciple naturally meant giving a disciple's gift to one's master.
“Mm, at least you know the rules. Get up.”
Jing Shizhen nodded, took the red envelope, and placed it on the long side table nearby.
“Master, what about... don't you have a welcoming gift for me? They always give one on television...”
Su Xiaofan stared blankly at Uncle Jing. A good master and disciple should give and take from each other. If only one side gives and the other only receives, that's a pixiu.
“I...”
The reprimand Uncle Jing had just been preparing to deliver was immediately choked back by Su Xiaofan.
“Go pick one yourself.”
Jing Shizhen glared at Su Xiaofan irritably.
“That Vajra Bodhi bracelet. Consider it your master's welcoming gift to you!”
“Master, can I have that seal instead?”
Su Xiaofan's eyes were fixed on the Celestial Master's Talisman Seal. It was a high-grade magical artifact. Who would still care about that Vajra bracelet?
Moreover, Su Xiaofan had secretly checked it just now. Putting the Celestial Master's Talisman Seal into the cultivation pool would only require twenty points of Repair Value.
The cultivation time was somewhat long, though—it would take ten days. But being able to obtain a complete high-grade magical artifact in ten days was absolutely worth it to Su Xiaofan.
“No.”
Jing Shizhen shook his head. Apparently afraid that Su Xiaofan might misunderstand, he immediately explained,
“You don't have any spiritual power at all, so you can't use a top-grade magical artifact. That string of Vajra Bodhi beads is just right for you.”
“Top-grade magical artifact?”
Su Xiaofan heard a new term. In the terminology used by the Repair Value system, this should be called a high-grade magical artifact.
“All right, Master. What exactly are magical artifacts? And what is spiritual power? Also, what sect do we actually belong to?”
The whole reason Su Xiaofan had become Jing Shizhen's disciple was to get answers to these questions. Now, he could finally ask them.
(End of Chapter)
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