He tried cleaning up the mess of a house he was supposedly given as an abode for a 'monk' who has been wilderness without food and water for days.
Fixing the fixable, using the tiny bit knowledge about it just like:
How to repair broken walls;
Simple, Just cut out pieces of clothing to fit in the holes on the wall. The wall is fixed.
How to repair a broken exit;
Also, just do the same thing but the length and width will be longer and wider than the former to fit as a door post.
How to take care of the skeletons;
Not thought of it yet.
He bent at a corner studying the four skeletons, dried and somewhat, a bit broken, probably old. And the drum between them, it's shaped like a fountain. A flowing fountain with three different reflections. Heavenly water ran through the fountain's reflections. The body of the drum look very much new and blue. The wood looked fresh free from termites.
silver bells around its neck as a collar, a red ribbon tied around it's waist as belt, around the ribbon, a blue string shaped like water drops tied on it.
He stretched his hand towards the drum yielding to the mighty temptation boiling within him to beat the drum .
As soon his fingers caressed it's tip, the stagnant bells began to ring by themselves since all windows and holes were shut, no way breeze or wind could have made them jingle.
A soft tap on its head followed by another then a strong tap on it.
His fingers began to rhythmically beats the drum like it has been the one beating that very drum before. Like they have taken over his entire mind and body, he began to beat the drum. The sound the drum gave out was like a flowing fountain during spring; Cool and peaceful.
He closed his eyes to flow with the rhythm his fingers are making with the drum. Like a leaf floating with the spring breeze, gently dropping into the peaceful fountain. And as he opened it, he saw something beyond his imagination, Four people dressed in blue robes standing in front of him. The peaceful fountain stopped being peaceful swallowing the leave deep inside it
A man, a woman holding a child with her, they are probably married couples with their kids: Two girls who looked identical plus the ponytails on their head and the same somewhat creepy smile on their face. Though with a difference, one is scrawny and the other is chubby.
" Papa that uncle is beating our drum" The scrawny girl ran beside the man pulling the hem of his robe with her lips shoot out.
" Yes!" The chubby one added as she stamped her feet so many times while looking at the 'Disdained drummerboy' . " You?"
" Me" Shen zhufu pointed to himself with wide eyes to prove his innocence.
" Yes" The chubby girl moved closer " How dare you beat our drum?" Seeing that her papa didn't do anything about it, she decided to take it upon her.
' Why are children just.... ah Today is one of a kind'
" ...Is it a crime?" He asked with a tap of a finger on the drum " I can't beat it? Then I'm sorry" He bowed his head but he was still much very close to the drum and his fingers are still on it.
" Papaaa" She cried all the way up beside her father hiding behind him " He is not leaving the drum"
He smiled at the girl hiding behind the man ' Thought you were acting tough?'
" Eh?"
The man was on the ground with his face to the ground same with his wife.
" Girls pay respects to him now?" The man ordered almost immediately.
" But papaaa..." They both grumbled till they were both given a scolding look from their mother could they give heed to their father's words, though grudgely.
" Lord have mercy on my two daughters. Spare them! Don't take their souls." The father pleaded with all of his might.
" Haha....I ....get up get up" ' Fuck, I wasn't thinking anything like that' He waved his hands in an awkward manner with invisible sweat on his forehead.
' What the hell do they take you as ....poor godly character... tsk tsk'
" Lord my daughters were and will continue being ignorant.." with that he raised his head and looked the girls who immediately bowed their head in her of their father's hot stare " Forgive them, especially me, this unfilial devotee"
' Ok, good for you godly character.... you got a devotee'
" Well then, Will you all get up and take your sit"
None of them moved an inch from their position and it was already getting to his nerves as he was forced up from his sit to also plead with the man. Now who is pleading who?
" Oh, please don't say such!"
" Please you are making me feel bad"
" Oh, please I am not like that!"
" Please I am also on my knees begging"
He to was moved to his knees with his to the ground imitating the man and family. When the man saw this he raised his face but was afraid to get up, so he grabbed the chance to pull the man up by the hand forcefully, also pulling himself up.
That was when he found out their feet were not touching the ground and their shadows were not reflecting on the wall as his own was the only one standing tall on the wall thanks to the lighted table lamp not far from where they all stood.
' Wait a minute...' Something felt familiar about them so he took a quick glance at them and the four skeletons over and over again " Are you them?" he asked with wide eyes as he pointed towards the skeletons.
None of them could answer because their already ashen face become paler with purple veins showing on their forehead.
" We were" The man answered with his hands curled to a fist by his side " But not anymore" A small smile which appeared bitter appeared on his face.
' Eh, what happened?'
Shen zhufu stared at the man for a moment with different questions in mind. What could he do just sigh and shake away those thoughts from his head. " Have your sit and tell me everything" Giving them no reason to back off he brought out five handmade pillows from his bag and gave them each before taking his sit in front of them. At first they stared in awe at their sorted Lord and the pillows he gave them, since they had no choice but to be a good devotees and sit to talk.
" you can now talk. Starting with your names"
The man spoke first " I am....Shen. Shen tao, my wife; Shen mo and my two daughters; Shen yin and shen yang"
' Shen?'
" Devotees of Lord Shen"
" Ok, That child?" He gave the man a questioning look about the infant in the woman's arms that he tried to refuse to mention.
" My son"
He nods his head several times before letting a" Hmmm" His eyes met with little infant whose eyes had been on him ever since they appeared to him. ' Cute'
His eyes fixed on the staring cute child, he asked an off-head question which was supposedly meant for the child " how did you end up like this?"
It was the mother's time to reply " Two hundred years ago"
That made him tear his eyes off the child to the woman with a stupefied look on his face " W-What?? S-say that again"
' What the fuck?'
The woman face went bitter as she spoke looking directly at him with pain in her almost transparent eyes. He felt the pain, he could hear the screams, pleadings and the bloodshed through her eyes." It was two hundred years ago, when hell was scanty of followers and Chaos ravaged everywhere with fire and brimstone"
He understood it well, he doesn't need to be told what happened or what she meant or what they passed through. He saw it all on her face, which holds and tells a story of two centuries. A painful one.So he asked no further questions about it changing the topic.
" The drum.... I...." He got up from his sit and went towards the drum " You collected this from me?"
They all nod their head in response.
Their first name, the drums, and everything he saw merged together and made a meaningful sense. Before their death, they were once a faithful devotees, offering a lot of incense and sacrifices... including their lives.
they got the drum from the temple as a gift from him for being so faithful. They all kept the drum as a monument at their ancestral hall till the those sad days.
The woman still pregnant with their last and the man fighting hard to protect his family and the drum but, failed, all losing their lives trying to protect themselves and the drum.
" This makes sense" he mumbled to himself " Your souls were all preserve in this drum, right?"
They all nod their head in response again.
" So.... when I be..."
" Yes" The man interrupted him and helped him to solve the case " Because you are the only one that can beat the drum."
" Only I?"
" Yes" The man kept quiet as if he was thinking about something but never spoke out.
His lips shaped an ' Oh!' before he went back to sit but more closer than usual to the woman with his hands streched out.
The woman didn't understand his gesture as confusion was clearly written on her face.
He internally facepalmed and sighed" The baby"
The woman quickly let go of the child in her arms and gave it to him without asking any questions.
As soon the child got to his arms, it let out a little giggle and raised it's hands to his face.
' Sweet'
" What is his name?"
" We haven't named him yet"
' He is so cute, so small, so amazing and so lovely'
He smiled at the giggling child in his arms" Wei xiang" The child giggled as if to say it liked the name so much.
The parents were surprised and soon their faces were on the ground "We are unworthy of your kindness."
He rolled his eyes several times ' They have started again' " No he deserves it. Passing the Temple of Stored with great Fragrance."
The man and his wife exchanged a look with each other before bowing their head to the ground. Voices pleading " Lord help us raise him"
"Huh?" He stared at the pleading parent and the giggling child in his arms.
' Wei xiang Wei xiang, you are indeed a fragrance that attracted me like the sweet scent of a peony'
He immediately agreed with a smile to raise just a soul as his son without thinking twice.
"By any chance, do you want to join the cycle of incarnation?" It was just a matter of fact question, not a question to be taken seriously.
The family of four were all happy and danced around with joy while the one just blurted out those words even without thinking twice just stared at them with a tried look on his face.
" Today is a great day" The woman made a fist salute as others followed suite " We are grateful for your kindness"
Now it was his turn to follow suite;
" Oh, thank you to"
" I am grateful for that"
" Oh, really! Thank you so much"
He soon got stressed out from all this and that, continually heaving a deep sigh, his face were almost invisible stretch marks, his eyes were heavy with tears that they might soon burst and his mouth was aching from to much pleading or smiling or giving of thanks. So he just sat with a blank face and nod his head like a programmed response to whatever they said even if it's just a salute.
' They will all wear me out with all this, ah!'
This will be a long day for him.