Chapter 936
An Extraordinary Path
As night deepened, the village became so quiet that only the croaking of frogs and the chirping of insects could be heard.
Chu Yang was lying in bed, about to fall asleep, when he suddenly heard a sound of tossing and turning next to him.
He opened his eyes and looked in the moonlight. He saw that Pigsy was tossing and turning in bed, unable to fall asleep.
"Bajie, what are you doing?" Chu Yang asked in a low voice.
Pigsy rolled over, facing Chu Yang, his small eyes sparkling in the moonlight.
"Brother Chu Yang, I have something to tell you, but please don't laugh at me."
"you say."
Pigsy rubbed his hands together, fidgeting for a while before finally speaking, "What do you think of... that Miss Cui'er?"
Chu Yang sighed inwardly, "They've come after all."
"What do you mean by 'how'?" he asked deliberately.
Pigsy chuckled twice: "So... is it good-looking or not?"
Chu Yang paused for a moment, then said, "Bajie, you've only met him once, why are you asking about this?"
Pigsy sat up abruptly, scratching his head, and said, "I don't know what's wrong. I just think that Miss Cui'er's smile is especially beautiful. Not the kind of fairy-like beauty that makes you afraid, but the kind... that makes you feel warm and cozy inside."
"She's incredibly efficient at her work. I peeked at her sorting mulberry leaves from the doorway; her movements were quick and steady, it was a pleasure to watch."
"And her voice, so clear and melodious, like a mountain stream."
Chu Yang sat up, leaned against the wall, and looked at Zhu Bajie's absent-minded appearance.
"Pigsy, don't forget, you're on your way to the Western Paradise to retrieve the Buddhist scriptures."
Pigsy was silent for a moment, then muttered, "I know... I was just saying..."
Chu Yang didn't say anything more and lay down again.
But he knew things weren't that simple.
……
The following morning, a thin mist enveloped Liuxi Village.
A layer of milky white mist rose from the river, and fine dewdrops condensed on the willow branches, shimmering in the rising sun.
Several gray cranes skimmed across the river, emitting clear calls, and drew graceful arcs in the mist.
Chu Yang got up early and washed his face by the small river in front of the village.
The river water was icy cold, instantly chasing away all his sleepiness.
He was about to go back to make breakfast when he suddenly saw that Pigsy had gotten up at some point and was squatting on the opposite bank of the river, pretending to wash his face, but actually his eyes were glancing towards the silkworm house.
The silkworm rearing room is located next to a bamboo grove on the east side of the village, consisting of several low thatched huts lined up in a row. It was still early, but people were already busy inside.
Through the half-open window, you could vaguely see a figure in a light green dress moving around inside.
It's Chen Cuier.
Chu Yang shook his head, walked across the stone bridge, and came to Zhu Bajie's side.
"Pigsy, you're up before dawn? Has the sun risen in the west?"
Pigsy was startled and quickly tried to cover it up, saying, "I...I was woken up by mosquito bites and couldn't fall back asleep, so I came out for some fresh air."
Chu Yang said calmly, "The air is seeping into the silkworm house?"
Pigsy blushed and stammered, unable to utter a word.
Chu Yang sighed, "Bajie, let's go back. I'll make breakfast; we should set off after we eat."
Pigsy opened his mouth, but hesitated to speak.
"Brother Chu Yang... could we stay here for another day?" he said softly. "I'm exhausted from traveling yesterday and want to rest more."
Chu Yang looked at him meaningfully and said, "Do you want to rest more, or do you want to see Miss Cui'er more?"
Pigsy's face turned as red as a boiled shrimp, and after a long pause, he managed to stammer, "I guess...I guess so."
Chu Yang thought for a moment and nodded.
"Okay, staying one more day won't hurt. But it can only be one day; I have to leave first thing tomorrow morning."
Pigsy was overjoyed and nodded repeatedly, "Alright, alright! One day is fine! Thank you, Brother Chuyang!"
Chu Yang watched his cheerful figure run back, his brows furrowing slightly.
He had a bad feeling.
This pig's problem probably can't be fixed in a day.
Sure enough, for the rest of the day, Pigsy was like a completely different person.
He changed his usual lazy ways and went to help Old Chen chop wood and carry water early in the morning. His movements were so nimble that even Sun Wukong was dumbfounded.
"Did this idiot take the wrong medicine today?" Sun Wukong squatted on the jujube tree, looking at Zhu Bajie carrying two large buckets of water across the yard with great speed and disbelief.
Chu Yang sat on a stone bench, holding a bowl of porridge, and said indifferently, "He didn't take the wrong medicine; he's just putting on a show."
Sun Wukong scratched his head: "Perform? For whom?"
Chu Yang gestured towards the silkworm rearing room with his lip.
Sun Wukong followed his gaze and saw Chen Cuier carrying a bamboo basket as she came out of the silkworm house. Zhu Bajie immediately went up to her and said something to her ingratiatingly.
Sun Wukong suddenly realized what was happening, and then he was left speechless, not knowing whether to laugh or cry.
"That idiot, he's done his old tricks again!"
Chu Yang took a sip of porridge but didn't say anything.
At noon, Pigsy somehow got hold of a large bunch of wildflowers and secretly put them in the vase in front of Old Chen's house when no one was looking.
Just then, Chen Cuier noticed the flowers while eating and casually remarked, "These flowers are really beautiful."
Pigsy was so happy that his mouth was practically stretched to his ears.
In the afternoon, things got even worse. Chen Cuier said there was a hole in the roof of the silkworm house, and it would leak when it rained. Without saying a word, Zhu Bajie grabbed his rake and rushed over, fixing the roof in no time.
Chen Cuier gratefully said "thank you," and Zhu Bajie was so excited that he could hardly speak.
"No...no need to thank me, it's nothing, just a small favor, not...not worth mentioning."
Sun Wukong couldn't stand it any longer and pulled Chu Yang aside.
“Brother Chu Yang, you need to keep an eye on that fool. The way he's acting, it's obvious he's fallen for worldly desires.”
Chu Yang sighed: "I know."
"You know this and you still don't care?" Sun Wukong exclaimed anxiously, "If that fool stays here and refuses to leave, how will we get the scriptures?"
Chu Yang said, "Brother Monkey, don't worry. I'll talk to him tonight. You can't force things; he needs to figure some things out for himself."
Sun Wukong looked at him with a skeptical expression: "Are you sure you can do it?"
Chu Yang smiled slightly: "Don't worry, I have a way."
……
That night, the moonlight was as clear as if it had been washed, and the silvery moonlight shone through the window and into the room, casting dappled shadows on the floor.
The jujube trees in the courtyard rustled in the breeze, and the occasional bark of a dog could be heard in the distance. Chu Yang sat at the stone table, with a pot of wine and two bowls in front of him.
He poured two bowls of wine and waited.
Not long after, Pigsy sneaked back from outside.
Chu Yang knew without guessing where he went—he must have been wandering around the silkworm house.
"Bajie, come on, have a bowl." Chu Yang beckoned to him.
Pigsy paused for a moment, then walked over, sat down, picked up the wine bowl, and took a big gulp.
"Why aren't you asleep yet?" he asked.
Chu Yang said, "I'm waiting for you."
Pigsy paused slightly, put down his wine bowl, and remained silent for a moment.
"Brother Chu Yang, are you trying to persuade me?"
Chu Yang looked at him and said frankly, "Do you want me to persuade you?"
Pigsy sighed, buried his head in his hands, and muttered, "I know what you're going to say. You're going to say that the journey to the West is the most important thing, and we can't let a woman delay the important mission. That's what Brother Monkey is going to say too. If Master knew, he would definitely say the same thing."
"You're all right, I know all that. But I just..."
He paused, his voice becoming somewhat hoarse.
"I just can't control myself."
Chu Yang didn't rush to speak, but poured him another bowl of wine.
Pigsy took it and tilted his head back to gulp it down.
"Brother Chu Yang, you don't know, when I was Marshal Tianpeng in Heaven, I fell in love with Sister Chang'e. And what happened? I was banished to the mortal realm by the Jade Emperor, mistakenly reincarnated as a pig, and ended up looking like this now."
"Later, in Gao Village, I married into Gao Taigong's family and was married to Cuilan for three years. But what happened? Gao Taigong disliked me, thinking I was a monster, so he hired the Monkey King to beat me up and drove me away."
"Every time I thought I could finally live a peaceful life, it all came to nothing."
He lowered his head, and the moonlight shone on his rugged, pig-like face, revealing a hint of loneliness.
“Miss Cui’er is different,” he said softly. “She doesn’t mind that I’m ugly. This afternoon, when I was helping her fix the roof, she handed me a bowl of water and said, ‘Brother, you’ve worked hard.’”
"Do you know how sweet that bowl of water was? I, Old Pig, have never drunk such sweet water in my entire life."
Chu Yang listened quietly without interrupting him.
Under the moonlight, a rare tenderness appeared on Pigsy's rugged face. His usually darting little eyes were now quiet, reflecting a cool crescent moon.
After a long while, Chu Yang finally spoke.
"Bajie, I have a question for you. Answer me truthfully."
"Go ahead and ask."
Chu Yang asked, "Do you like Cui'er because of who she is, or because of the feeling she gives you?"
Pigsy was stunned: "What do you mean?"
Chu Yang slowly said, "When you were in Heaven, you liked Chang'e; when you were in Gao Village, you liked Cuilan; and now in Liuxi Village, you like Cui'er. Bajie, have you ever thought about whether you like a specific person, or just the feeling of being treated gently?"
Pigsy opened his mouth, but couldn't utter a word.
Chu Yang continued, "Cui'er is a good girl—hardworking, kind, and cheerful. But ask yourself honestly, do you really understand her? Do you know what she likes and dislikes, or what worries she has? You've only exchanged less than ten words."
Pigsy fell silent.
Chu Yang's voice was not loud, but every word was clear.
"You don't like Cui'er, Bajie. You like someone smiling at you, someone handing you water, someone not disliking you. That feeling is indeed nice, but that's not liking a person."
Pigsy lowered his head, his hands gripping the wine bowl tightly, his knuckles turning white.
After a long silence, he said in a muffled voice, "So what? Even if I like that feeling, it's real. I just want that feeling. What's so good about the pilgrimage? Enduring wind and rain, fighting and killing, working ourselves to the bone, and in the end, who knows if we'll even get some damn scriptures."
"But staying here is different. Farming, raising silkworms, and seeing Cui'er smile every day—life is so peaceful and comfortable."
Chu Yang picked up his wine bowl, took a sip, and gazed at the night sky.
The stars twinkled, and the Milky Way stretched across the sky like a shimmering ribbon.
"Bajie, do you know what Miss Cui'er said to me this afternoon?"
Pigsy suddenly looked up: "What did she say to you?"
Chu Yang said, "She said her fiancé went to work in a neighboring county last autumn and hasn't returned yet. She's been waiting for him."
Pigsy's face froze.
"Not...fiancé?"
Chu Yang nodded: "He's the son of a carpenter from the next village, what's his name again...right, Zhao Dazhu. The two families were betrothed since childhood, and they were supposed to get married last winter, but Zhao Dazhu went to a neighboring county to take on a big job and hasn't returned yet."
Pigsy sat there blankly, not saying a word for a long time.
The moonlight cast a silvery-gray halo on his face, making his pig-like face look particularly dejected.
“She… has a fiancé…” he murmured to himself, his voice filled with disappointment.
Chu Yang looked at him, his tone calm and sincere.
"Bajie, even if Cui'er doesn't have a fiancé, have you thought about whether you can really stay?"
Pigsy looked at him blankly.
Chu Yang said, "You are the reincarnation of Marshal Tianpeng, and you have demonic energy about you. You stayed in Gao Village for three years, but you were eventually driven away. Even if Cui'er doesn't despise you, what about the rest of the village? Can they tolerate a pig demon living in their village?"
"If you help people fix their roofs or fetch water, they'll be grateful. But after three months, six months, or a year, they'll start to fear you. They'll talk about you behind your back, avoid you, and even try to get rid of you."
"Then, just like in Gao Lao Zhuang, you'll go from being a VIP to a rat crossing the street. Do you want to experience that again?"
Pigsy's body trembled slightly.
Chu Yang knew he had touched a nerve, but if he didn't explain things clearly, this pig would never understand.
He softened his tone and continued, "Bajie, I don't mean to hurt your feelings. I just want you to see one thing clearly—someone like you can't live an ordinary life."
"You are Marshal Tianpeng, your nine-toothed rake was forged by Laozi himself, and your thirty-six transformations are legitimate immortal techniques. You were not born to farm and raise silkworms."
"You are destined to walk an extraordinary path."
Pigsy slowly loosened his grip on the wine bowl.
He looked up at the dazzling Milky Way in the night sky.
Heavenly Court...
That place he once stayed in is high above, unreachable.
“Brother Chu Yang…” His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper rubbing against a wooden board, “Sometimes I’m really tired.”
"I know I'm Marshal Tianpeng, I know I'm capable. But all I want is a few days of peace and quiet. Is that so difficult?"
Chu Yang was silent for a moment, then said softly, "It's not difficult. After we finish the journey, you can live whatever kind of life you want."
Pigsy was stunned for a moment.
Chu Yang said, "Bajie, the journey to the West is, in essence, just a long errand. Once you've completed it, you'll be free. You can farm if you want, raise silkworms if you want, and marry a girl if you want. With your merits, not only a village, but even a city, won't dare to drive you away." (End of Chapter)