My family and Granny Liu were incredibly worried about me.
Mom cried so much she was almost dehydrated.
I was clueless about where all these people came from, but they all wanted to be my teacher.
One man, who seemed middle-aged, even wanted to marry his daughter off to me!
My family was thrilled, of course.
Choosing a teacher was basically like choosing a daughter-in-law for them.
But the minute this guy started talking, old Mr. Shen went ballistic.
His beard quivered, he pointed right at the middle-aged man, and yelled.
"Yang, you're the most shameless person I've ever met! Offering your daughter to get yourself a student? What kind of father are you?!"
Even the big monk was disgusted, "Tsk, you should be ashamed of yourself."
Yang just smirked and said, "The red moon's out, the Ziwei Star is descending—taking on this disciple means good fortune for our Fengshui lineage, the Yang family's. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance we can't pass up. My daughter won't lose out by marrying this boy— I'm just planning ahead. Sadly, you, monk, have no kids, let alone a daughter to offer. And you, old man Shen, your daughter's old enough to be his mother, what are you gonna do, marry her off to him too?"
Shen shot back, "Well, now that you mention it, while my daughter is a bit old, she has two granddaughters! They're young—maybe this boy can have his pick."
Jue Ming, the monk, rolled his eyes.
"You were just accusing someone of selling their daughter, and now you're offering your own granddaughters? Shameless doesn't even begin to describe you, Shen. Even I, a monk, am disgusted."
Right then, a bunch of cars started honking outside.
A whole other group of people marched into our courtyard.
This time, the leader was an elegant woman in a cheongsam, radiating this powerful air.
She was probably in her forties, but still a total stunner.
Behind her trailed a line of young women, all in their early twenties and gorgeous.
With a gentle smile, this woman walked right up to us, saying, "Everyone, please, there's no need to argue. This child is destined for greatness, but also for hardship. Taking him as a student won't be easy. You bigwigs have no idea how to care for someone—let him become my disciple. I'll treat him like my own son. And as for a wife, well, I have more female disciples than anyone, and I'm always taking in more. When he's grown, he can choose from any of them. Beats your offer, doesn't it?"
The men were stunned.
All those fighting words, and now they were speechless.
My father and grandfather exchanged a look, and my dad immediately said, "Yes, yes, that's perfect! A woman's touch—she'll take good care of our Xiao Jie."
Grandpa seemed to like the idea too and nodded along.
There were so many important guests crowding the courtyard you would forget there was even a sick person in the house!
It was like my whole family was out there picking out my future wife.
Granny Liu was stunned too.
But then it dawned on her: the spectacle last night, the fox worshipping the moon, the crimson moon, the bright Ziwei Star… those foxes had put on a show!
They were alerting these masters about me, summoning them to help.
My fate really was extraordinary; combined with the fox spirits' magic, it caused this whole crazy scene.
Outside, at least ten cars were parked. Our village was remote; we were lucky if a single car passed through every ten days.
And now there were so many, all fancy Mercedes-Benzes!
The whole village was in a tizzy, everyone gathered by the entrance to our place, dying to know what was up.
And those weren't even all of them.
Apparently, tons of other people came, peeked in, and left.
They were here to recruit disciples, too, but those four masters in our courtyard scared them off.
No one wanted to waste their time, so they'd just turned around and left.
The big monk, who'd gotten there first, glared at the others and boomed, "Let's be reasonable, people. We're all wanderers, so we have to play by the rules. I was here first, so I get first dibs. This disciple's mine."
Old man Shen jumped in, "Exactly, rules are rules! And the rule for taking on a disciple is that the family has to approve. Let them decide, and we won't argue."
"He's right. Got to respect the family," Yang chimed in, and then he shoved his daughter forward and told my dad, "Brother, looks like we're going to be family soon! Have a good look at my daughter – what do you think? Good enough to be your daughter-in-law?"
My dad did look.
The girl was, honestly, stunning–you wouldn't find anyone like her in our whole village.
She had big, bright eyes and a sweet smile, and she called my flustered father, "Uncle."
"Good... good girl..." stammered my father before turning to my grandfather with a pleading look.
He liked the girl, sure, but Grandpa had final say.
Problem was, Grandpa was just as flabbergasted and didn't know what to do.
The four men stared at my grandfather, practically raising their hands like schoolchildren.
"Pick me! Pick me! Come on, pick me!"
Just as my poor grandfather was about to lose it, an old man with a strong odor squeezed past the crowd at the entrance.
Compared to the others, he was quite plain.
He wore a tattered Taoist robe, had a messy bun held together by a wooden stick, and had on a pair of worn-out straw sandals.
The crowd parted like the Red Sea around him, mostly because of the smell.
It was as if he hadn't bathed in months.
"What's all this commotion? It's pointless," he announced in a booming voice once he reached the center of the courtyard. "The child is coming with me."
The other four masters in the yard were floored.
They stared at him, their faces slack with shock.
Madame Ma , the woman in the cheongsam, gasped, "Li Xuantong, the Fengshui King!"