Tao Ling immediately came back to his senses. He turned to the window and continued blindly, “The most dominant consciousness in Daoism is the immortal consciousness, and behind it is the longevity consciousness. Or you could also say that the two have always been merged as a whole. In fact, the thirst for longevity is how Daoism sees and perceives life. The idea of longevity runs throughout Daoism, which means that it has run through the entire consciousness of life.”
“Perhaps what is helping Daoism assimilate is exactly this sort of life consciousness. But speaking from another angle, when Daoism was assimilating with the belief systems of people, it also kept on strengthening its own life consciousness. And under such influence, at the end of the day, people turn to Daoist immortals only for the sake of the present human life. Thus, this is exactly the main purpose of religion I mentioned before.”
After finishing his words, before Yun Nan could say anything, he said, “The stuff I said may not be true. Plus, it’s only a very small point which makes it sound biased. Just make sure to keep the curiosity alive to explore it yourself and put full effort when looking for evidence.”
Yun Nan asked again with her eyes wide opened, “But teacher, does it make sense to use the theories of foreign religious studies to explain China’s native religion? And also, is this the same as comparative studies? What is the difference?”
Hearing these, Tao Ling smiled. “You really hit the nail with this question…”
Just as he spoke, Kuo Huai beckoned to Tao Ling at the door. “Tao Ling! What are you doing?”
Yun Nan rushed to bow to him. “Sorry, teacher. I have disturbed you.”
“No worries; let’s talk again next time,” Tao Ling replied, then turned around and walked towards the meeting room.
These past two years have been hectic. But even though the business dinner after the meeting was canceled, teachers who were familiar with each other still arranged a meal for themselves. These can be considered private meals that do not require expense reports.
Kuo Huai made arrangements with several teachers from S-Da, and because Tao Ling was his shidi and the host – although the long meetings of the day had left him completely drained out – he could not escape at all. So in the end, he took them to the north gate for a meal.
Amidst the chatting, someone praised Tao Ling for his academic thinking. Tao Ling simply responded out of courtesy. Kuo Hua on the other hand helped him reply as he said, “My shidi is bad at interacting with people; he can’t talk.”
A teacher sighed. “That’s perfectly normal. I mean, weren’t we also the same upon finishing school?”
Tao Ling smiled.
By the time he finished taking the other party to the inn next to the school, the bright sky had already darkened completely
Tao Ling walked through the school. When he was nearing the school administrative building, however, he suddenly made a turn and entered the soccer field, walking slowly around it.
One circle, two circles, three circles, and four circles.
How many stars are exactly in the sky?
Earlier, he drank several glasses of beer. And after walking for a while, the alcohol scent had brought up faint tiredness to him, leaving an intuition of “I’m going to have a goodnight’s sleep tonight.”
Tao Ling is always deceived by such intuitions. But whenever he senses tiredness coming to him, he will always be alarmed about it, being afraid to lose this opportunity to truly fall asleep.
So he left the stadium.
His watch showed that it was currently ten-thirty at night. With his hands inside his pockets, he took a shortcut behind the Tibetan studies hall, then saw an affectionate couple snuggling together inside the pavilion he had to pass by. Fearing that he might disturb them, he was left with no choice but to take another turn.
In the end, he still walked on the main street he had hoped to avoid.
When exiting the west gate, the only thing he could think of was that bouquet of lisianthus flowers. And little did he know, he was now in front of the flower shop. The shop has not closed yet. Or more precisely, it still hasn’t finished closing yet.
The flower stands outside were empty. The lights inside the shop, however, were still turned on. The glass door has been covered, though only one-third of the roll-up sheet was rolled down. Tao Ling looked over, and saw that there were various types of flowers and plants spread out on the floor. However, he also noticed that there was no one inside the shop.
He stood for a while and prepared to leave. But right when he turned around, he suddenly bumped into someone.
A burst of pain rolled in on his forehead. Tao Ling took a step back, then saw Wen Qingying standing in front of him while covering his nose.
The crash that happened just now was too strong. Using the light emitted from the shop, Tao Ling was able to see that the corners of his eyes were welled up with physiological tears, thus creating a pair of glittering eyes that shone very brightly at him.
After watching for a moment, Tao Ling let out a pfft and laughed out loud.
Wen Qingying rubbed his nose and smiled as well. He made a welcoming gesture to Tao Ling and directly arrived at the door. When his hands pushed up, the roll-up sheet was rolled up to the top.
It was only after Tao Ling entered the shop that he noticed that Wen Qingying was holding an apple in his hand.
The latter signaled him to sit down before heading to the back of the shop to get both his hands and the apple washed. Tao Ling turned his head, and saw that there were several flower vases behind the stand with dry flowers.
Soon after he got up to look at the flower vases, Wen Qingying walked up to his side, passing the other half of the peeled apple to him.
Tao Ling took a look at his own hand, and Wen Qingying smiled gently, pointing towards the restroom. After Tao Ling finished washing his hands, the two of them sat down in front of each other as they gnawed at the apple in silence.
Sitting in a row, eating fruit, you have one half, I have one half…
Screw this “Sitting in a Row.”
[It’s a toddler’s song lol.]
Wen Qingying pushed his phone over: “Mister, I thought you weren’t going to go in this direction today.”
“I had a meeting today and went for a meal with the teachers.”
Reading his reply, Wen Qingying blinked his eyes with a meek face. He pondered for a moment before typing again: “Did I say anything bad last week that made mister unhappy?”
Tao Ling furrowed his eyebrows. Wen Qingying on the other hand appeared to be a little nervous. His long slender fingers pressed on the screen, slowly withdrawing the phone away as his so-straight back curves all of the sudden.
“No, I’m not.” Tao Ling shook his head.
He furrowed his eyebrows because he was slightly annoyed. Not at Wen Qingying, but himself. However, he didn’t know how to explain it to him. Wen Qingying’s personality was too good, making Tao Ling feel nothing but misery when he turns around to look at himself.
After finishing the apple, he finally typed: “Nothing of the sort. Sorry, it was my fault for making you misunderstand it. Every year during this time, I… My mood is always bad.”
Wen Qingying read it and smiled afterward. He asked again: “Will looking at flowers improve your mood?”
Tao Ling’s lips raised slightly. “The Chinese roses you gave me last time are still alive.”
In that instant, Wen Qingying became overjoyed, making Tao Ling feel that he will stuff him with another flower pot later. The two of them exchanged a few more sentences. Seeing that Wen Qingying didn’t have the intention to do so, he let out a quiet sigh.
It was too late right now. Tao Ling told him that he was leaving, so Wen Qingying got up to close the shop
Just like last time, they walked side-by-side to Tao Ling’s apartment. Upon waving goodbye to each other, Wen Qingying continued walking ahead.
When he crossed the empty, quiet intersection, Wen Qingying took a glance back. He could no longer find anyone at the neighborhood gate.
After standing for a while, he turned around and walked back the original way they took.
The night breeze stuck around. Wen Qingying bypassed Tao Ling’s neighborhood, then walked through the back alley before arriving at the street. He moved his feet towards the street with the flower shop, which he’d opened himself, and headed to the other direction at the crossing.
The direction where he was supposed to part ways with Tao Ling long ago.
Within the blink of an eye, the second half of the semester was already in front of him. Tao Ling’s lecture will be starting this Friday. In fact, it’s a class with “culture” as the main subject that could likely talk about anything too. All first-year postgraduate students are required to take it, and each semester will be taught by different teachers.
That previous post about Tao Ling had already sunk down. But now that he was going to start teaching soon, the post was again vigorously pushed to the top by someone. In the end, however, it was deleted within the span of one night by some other person that got too sick of it.
The next day, however, more posts appeared. Someone wailed loudly as to how much care people spent on the old post, saying that the moderators must be secretly in love with Tao Ling for abandoning their moral values. There was also someone who jumped on him for being two-faced and doing things behind people’s backs instead of being open and direct about it. Another user publicized collected information to continue discussing who his fiancée was.
Fortunately, as if they were all scattered, every post at this point was no longer getting as much attention as before.
On thursday Tao Ling got off work. And like always, he first went to the corridor behind the religious studies hall to take a deep breath.
Barely a few minutes had passed when he saw Wen Qingying coming out with a pot in his hand, leaning over to water the flowers at the doorway. Soon afterward, two girls came over, picking out flowers in front of the flower stands for a long time with no intention of leaving.
Tao Ling watched for a moment and somehow felt slightly impatient. He felt for his phone and opened the school forum and looked for any posts talking about Wen Qingying.
When he scrolled down, he indeed came across one. And of course, the title was undeniably eye-catching: “Bad news! A thunder has struck out of the blue! The boss gege of the flower shop in front of the west gate has a girlfriend already!”
Author’s Note:
[Note] The most dominant consciousness in Daoism is the immortal consciousness: since this is a general standpoint within the studies of Daoism, I didn’t find a specific source for it. The theory here is still from Mr. Zhan Chuangshi’s studies in the previous chapter. The summary about “life consciousness” in foreign religious studies is mine, although I’m not sure if there are similar interpretations for other areas.
Tao Ling immediately came back to his senses. He turned to the window and continued blindly, “The most dominant consciousness in Daoism is the immortal consciousness, and behind it is the longevity consciousness. Or you could also say that the two have always been merged as a whole. In fact, the thirst for longevity is how Daoism sees and perceives life. The idea of longevity runs throughout Daoism, which means that it has run through the entire consciousness of life.”
“Perhaps what is helping Daoism assimilate is exactly this sort of life consciousness. But speaking from another angle, when Daoism was assimilating with the belief systems of people, it also kept on strengthening its own life consciousness. And under such influence, at the end of the day, people turn to Daoist immortals only for the sake of the present human life. Thus, this is exactly the main purpose of religion I mentioned before.”
After finishing his words, before Yun Nan could say anything, he said, “The stuff I said may not be true. Plus, it’s only a very small point which makes it sound biased. Just make sure to keep the curiosity alive to explore it yourself and put full effort when looking for evidence.”
Yun Nan asked again with her eyes wide opened, “But teacher, does it make sense to use the theories of foreign religious studies to explain China’s native religion? And also, is this the same as comparative studies? What is the difference?”
Hearing these, Tao Ling smiled. “You really hit the nail with this question…”
Just as he spoke, Kuo Huai beckoned to Tao Ling at the door. “Tao Ling! What are you doing?”
Yun Nan rushed to bow to him. “Sorry, teacher. I have disturbed you.”
“No worries; let’s talk again next time,” Tao Ling replied, then turned around and walked towards the meeting room.
These past two years have been hectic. But even though the business dinner after the meeting was canceled, teachers who were familiar with each other still arranged a meal for themselves. These can be considered private meals that do not require expense reports.
Kuo Huai made arrangements with several teachers from S-Da, and because Tao Ling was his shidi and the host – although the long meetings of the day had left him completely drained out – he could not escape at all. So in the end, he took them to the north gate for a meal.
Amidst the chatting, someone praised Tao Ling for his academic thinking. Tao Ling simply responded out of courtesy. Kuo Hua on the other hand helped him reply as he said, “My shidi is bad at interacting with people; he can’t talk.”
A teacher sighed. “That’s perfectly normal. I mean, weren’t we also the same upon finishing school?”
Tao Ling smiled.
By the time he finished taking the other party to the inn next to the school, the bright sky had already darkened completely
Tao Ling walked through the school. When he was nearing the school administrative building, however, he suddenly made a turn and entered the soccer field, walking slowly around it.
One circle, two circles, three circles, and four circles.
How many stars are exactly in the sky?
Earlier, he drank several glasses of beer. And after walking for a while, the alcohol scent had brought up faint tiredness to him, leaving an intuition of “I’m going to have a goodnight’s sleep tonight.”
Tao Ling is always deceived by such intuitions. But whenever he senses tiredness coming to him, he will always be alarmed about it, being afraid to lose this opportunity to truly fall asleep.
So he left the stadium.
His watch showed that it was currently ten-thirty at night. With his hands inside his pockets, he took a shortcut behind the Tibetan studies hall, then saw an affectionate couple snuggling together inside the pavilion he had to pass by. Fearing that he might disturb them, he was left with no choice but to take another turn.
In the end, he still walked on the main street he had hoped to avoid.
When exiting the west gate, the only thing he could think of was that bouquet of lisianthus flowers. And little did he know, he was now in front of the flower shop. The shop has not closed yet. Or more precisely, it still hasn’t finished closing yet.
The flower stands outside were empty. The lights inside the shop, however, were still turned on. The glass door has been covered, though only one-third of the roll-up sheet was rolled down. Tao Ling looked over, and saw that there were various types of flowers and plants spread out on the floor. However, he also noticed that there was no one inside the shop.
He stood for a while and prepared to leave. But right when he turned around, he suddenly bumped into someone.
A burst of pain rolled in on his forehead. Tao Ling took a step back, then saw Wen Qingying standing in front of him while covering his nose.
The crash that happened just now was too strong. Using the light emitted from the shop, Tao Ling was able to see that the corners of his eyes were welled up with physiological tears, thus creating a pair of glittering eyes that shone very brightly at him.
After watching for a moment, Tao Ling let out a pfft and laughed out loud.
Wen Qingying rubbed his nose and smiled as well. He made a welcoming gesture to Tao Ling and directly arrived at the door. When his hands pushed up, the roll-up sheet was rolled up to the top.
It was only after Tao Ling entered the shop that he noticed that Wen Qingying was holding an apple in his hand.
The latter signaled him to sit down before heading to the back of the shop to get both his hands and the apple washed. Tao Ling turned his head, and saw that there were several flower vases behind the stand with dry flowers.
Soon after he got up to look at the flower vases, Wen Qingying walked up to his side, passing the other half of the peeled apple to him.
Tao Ling took a look at his own hand, and Wen Qingying smiled gently, pointing towards the restroom. After Tao Ling finished washing his hands, the two of them sat down in front of each other as they gnawed at the apple in silence.
Sitting in a row, eating fruit, you have one half, I have one half…
Screw this “Sitting in a Row.”
[It’s a toddler’s song lol.]
Wen Qingying pushed his phone over: “Mister, I thought you weren’t going to go in this direction today.”
“I had a meeting today and went for a meal with the teachers.”
Reading his reply, Wen Qingying blinked his eyes with a meek face. He pondered for a moment before typing again: “Did I say anything bad last week that made mister unhappy?”
Tao Ling furrowed his eyebrows. Wen Qingying on the other hand appeared to be a little nervous. His long slender fingers pressed on the screen, slowly withdrawing the phone away as his so-straight back curves all of the sudden.
“No, I’m not.” Tao Ling shook his head.
He furrowed his eyebrows because he was slightly annoyed. Not at Wen Qingying, but himself. However, he didn’t know how to explain it to him. Wen Qingying’s personality was too good, making Tao Ling feel nothing but misery when he turns around to look at himself.
After finishing the apple, he finally typed: “Nothing of the sort. Sorry, it was my fault for making you misunderstand it. Every year during this time, I… My mood is always bad.”
Wen Qingying read it and smiled afterward. He asked again: “Will looking at flowers improve your mood?”
Tao Ling’s lips raised slightly. “The Chinese roses you gave me last time are still alive.”
In that instant, Wen Qingying became overjoyed, making Tao Ling feel that he will stuff him with another flower pot later. The two of them exchanged a few more sentences. Seeing that Wen Qingying didn’t have the intention to do so, he let out a quiet sigh.
It was too late right now. Tao Ling told him that he was leaving, so Wen Qingying got up to close the shop
Just like last time, they walked side-by-side to Tao Ling’s apartment. Upon waving goodbye to each other, Wen Qingying continued walking ahead.
When he crossed the empty, quiet intersection, Wen Qingying took a glance back. He could no longer find anyone at the neighborhood gate.
After standing for a while, he turned around and walked back the original way they took.
The night breeze stuck around. Wen Qingying bypassed Tao Ling’s neighborhood, then walked through the back alley before arriving at the street. He moved his feet towards the street with the flower shop, which he’d opened himself, and headed to the other direction at the crossing.
The direction where he was supposed to part ways with Tao Ling long ago.
Within the blink of an eye, the second half of the semester was already in front of him. Tao Ling’s lecture will be starting this Friday. In fact, it’s a class with “culture” as the main subject that could likely talk about anything too. All first-year postgraduate students are required to take it, and each semester will be taught by different teachers.
That previous post about Tao Ling had already sunk down. But now that he was going to start teaching soon, the post was again vigorously pushed to the top by someone. In the end, however, it was deleted within the span of one night by some other person that got too sick of it.
The next day, however, more posts appeared. Someone wailed loudly as to how much care people spent on the old post, saying that the moderators must be secretly in love with Tao Ling for abandoning their moral values. There was also someone who jumped on him for being two-faced and doing things behind people’s backs instead of being open and direct about it. Another user publicized collected information to continue discussing who his fiancée was.
Fortunately, as if they were all scattered, every post at this point was no longer getting as much attention as before.
On thursday Tao Ling got off work. And like always, he first went to the corridor behind the religious studies hall to take a deep breath.
Barely a few minutes had passed when he saw Wen Qingying coming out with a pot in his hand, leaning over to water the flowers at the doorway. Soon afterward, two girls came over, picking out flowers in front of the flower stands for a long time with no intention of leaving.
Tao Ling watched for a moment and somehow felt slightly impatient. He felt for his phone and opened the school forum and looked for any posts talking about Wen Qingying.
When he scrolled down, he indeed came across one. And of course, the title was undeniably eye-catching: “Bad news! A thunder has struck out of the blue! The boss gege of the flower shop in front of the west gate has a girlfriend already!”
Author’s Note:
[Note] The most dominant consciousness in Daoism is the immortal consciousness: since this is a general standpoint within the studies of Daoism, I didn’t find a specific source for it. The theory here is still from Mr. Zhan Chuangshi’s studies in the previous chapter. The summary about “life consciousness” in foreign religious studies is mine, although I’m not sure if there are similar interpretations for other areas.
