Raising a Rebel - 2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2:

“It is time for us to roll,” Hua Cheng tells his husband as he pulls out his Distance Shortening Array Dice. These magical dice allow its wielder the ability to traverse great distances by rolling a precise amount. They do not expend much spiritual energy, unlike a standard spell, and warn their wielder if the endpoint of the transit is dangerous. As such, there will be very little to trace from any Di mage or priest with knowledge of spiritual energy.

Xie Lian holds the hand of the monkey child tightly, speaking to him, “We will be traveling very far away from here now. Hold onto my hand.”

The monkey child nods and holds tightly to its benefactor. In his short life, the monkey had not met anyone like these men. He thought they must be the heavenly gods.

A portal appears in the form of a door and they step through. On the opposite side of the portal, they find themselves near a lush hillside. A large humble cottage with a hay rooftop stood opposite them, welcoming the owners with the smell of Jasmine and Chrysanthemum.

After placing the magical dice back into a concealed pocket within his robe, Hua Cheng stares at the sight of the monkey child clinging onto his husband. An idea came to him, despite knowing the desperate and pitiful state of the child. Xie had fostered a child before, Lan Ying, which ended with heartbreak for Xie Lian. While the possibility of fostering or adopting a child had come up over the centuries, Hua was hesitant to allow Xie to feel such pain and betrayal again. He knew this monkey child was different but did it harbor a cruel character or was it too innocent to be around them?

With his decision made, Hua Cheng strides and grabs Xie Lian’s other hand, then speaks to the monkey child, “There are several fruit trees to your left and a running freshwater river nearby.”

The monkey child shakes his head, then answers, “I want to stay here with you.”

Hua Cheng transforms himself into his appearance as a youth, the same appearance that Xie Lian recalled from their first meeting saving Hua Cheng from a fall. Hua tugs on Xie’s hand as if he were a child of nine or ten years rather than a three-thousand-year-old immortal.

“Gege, I don’t want to share you with him. There is not enough room in our house and I am not giving up our bed!”

Xie Lian knew his husband was acting childish and unreasonable. However, he usually doesn’t act out his jealousy. Xie knew there was more to this situation, but he allowed his husband to continue. Despite what most Heavenly officials of the past and present may think of him, Hua was a good person behind his cruel and manipulative mask. Xie has slowly opened Hua up to being kinder over the years, maybe Hua cannot be as selfless as him, but Hua is not scaring the child away with one of his ghost faces.

Xie gently replies, “San Lang, he has nowhere else to go. He is also not an ordinary animal, so he cannot be let loose in the wild.”

The monkey child nodded at Xie’s logic. Then, He removes his hand from Xie’s arm and took the hand of the little boy next to him. The monkey child was curious at the transformation that he had just witnessed by Hua Cheng from an adult human into a child, no older than himself. He had dreamed of one day being human and accepted into their society as an equal. Perhaps, he thought, he can show me.

“That was amazing, San Lang. Can you teach me how to transform into a boy?”

Hua Cheng did not expect the monkey child to respond like that, since no one except his husband Xie can call him San Lang, just as no one except for him can call his husband Xie Lian, Gege. These nicknames were ones they gave each other upon their first official introduction during Xie’s third ascension to heaven. At first, they were merely used to mask their true identities or show his secret affection for Xie, but over time, they became their true names for each other. Hua was not pleased with being called that name by this child, but it could work in his favor if his test works out.

“Never call me San Lang, again, or I’ll rip your tongue out and use your monkey pelt as a rug!” Hua yells at the child, frightening it, “We have rescued you from your slaver, there is food and water nearby. Go get some food and drink some water.”

The monkey child left the two gods in a frenzied motion toward the direction where he was told there would be fruit plants. He was saddened by the reproach of the gods, whom he thought would treat him kindly, but it seemed to the monkey child, that these human gods were not so different from the cruel slave master. After a few minutes, he reached a large grove of peach trees. There was enough food here to feed a thousand beings like him for years. However, all the trees were six feet tall, compared to his height of 3 feet. He tried jumping to the lowest fruit-bearing branch, but his jumps could never bridge the gap. He tried to climb the tree, but there was nothing to hold onto. The monkey surveyed his surroundings, wondering what he could use to reach this height. As he stared at his feet, an idea came into his mind to use the dirt around him. He used his hands to pile up a mound of dirt next to one of the peach trees until the mound was roughly his height. He climbed the mound and reached the peaches.

Since he hadn’t eaten for days, he grabbed the closest fruit from a branch and finished it in seconds. He did the same with the second, and third. He only stopped at the seventh, when his stomach roared with fulfillment. His face and hands were sticky from the juice, so he next sought out the freshwater river nearby to cleanse himself.

The monkey child found the river and dipped his head into the refreshing water for a drink. It was cool and refreshing, so he continued to drink until his thirst was fully quenched. Then he wanted to take a bath. He had seen humans bathe in rivers like these with cloth and scented flowers, but his former cruel master would deny him that luxury, instead forcing a human slave to comb his fur with coarse metal spikes, so he could be gawked at for his novelty. He went about gathering the ingredients for a proper bath. He knew what he needed based on his keen sense of smell and memory of how boys and girls bathed in similar bodies of water. He found fragrant lavender and lotus flowers, which smelled like the paste some of them used on their bodies. Knowing that they needed to be transformed into a paste, he ground these flowers with a stone and added water to form a paste. With enough of the flower paste, he lathered his fur from head to toe with his concoction, smelling like a spring garden.

The monkey child splashed the water all over his body as humans did. He could see the years of grime on his fur dissolving, while his skin had loosened beneath his fur as if all the tension was leaving his body. The monkey considered what he should do now, he was free but he had no direction or home to return to. The day was nearing its end and he needed to find shelter soon.

Then seeing how slow this process was, he thought it would be faster to immerse himself in the river. He recalled seeing several boys dive into the water during their baths. If he could finish bathing, he could seek shelter sooner. The monkey child did not know that he needs to learn how to swim before going into the deep water. Also, the small calm stream that the children he saw bathing in is very different from the rushing waters of this river.

Luckily, unbeknownst to the monkey child, Hua Cheng and Xie Lian were watching in the guise of green and blue peacocks. Hua had never said he was casting the child out, merely he wanted the child to grab food and drink. While his mock tantrum did shock Xie into indignant threats that he will be sleeping alone for a century, Hua explained himself. They have been keeping an eye on the child, being thoroughly impressed by his ingenuity and ability to adapt to each situation.

As their impressions of the child’s ability grew, something unexpected occurred. The monkey child went into the rushing river with a splash, then after several seconds, he flailed his arms in panic as the current carried him away from the shallows and into deeper waters.

“Please help me, the water is too strong, I cannot stop.”

Before Xie could react, Hua Cheng had already swooped to the rescue of the monkey child. Changing himself from a small green peacock to his full adult human form, he jumped into the water and rescued the wayward child.

The monkey child was coughing up water and shivering with fear as Xie Lian approached the sight of his drenched husband. Xie quickly summoned fire to help them dry off.

Hua Cheng in a mocking tone asks the monkey child, “Have you no sense of danger child? I told you there was a “running” river nearby.”

The monkey child glanced down at his feet, “Please don’t be angry at me, I didn’t know what that meant. I obeyed you and left for the peach trees and river as you said. It was getting dark and I had no home to return to. I thought it would be faster if I immersed my body in the water, then I could look for a new shelter. I don’t mean to cause you more trouble.”

Hua Cheng smirked, “Now, you owe us your life for a second time. I want you to remember this lesson for the rest of your life. What words a person doesn’t say are usually far more important than the words they do say. Now, let’s get back to the cottage and get new clothes on.”

The monkey was perplexed by this contradictory god, who spoke of crueler deeds than his old master and acted with such courage and honor. However, Xie understood his husband’s behavior, and Hua Cheng was trying to observe the boy and learn what type of character he held. Hua was a cautious man by nature and did not trust strangers, no matter what circumstance they come into their lives. If the monkey child was merely pretending to be innocent, then Hua would have dealt with him swiftly and silently without his husband’s notice. If the monkey child was truly needy and weak, Hua would do his best to find a suitable place for the creature. As they journeyed often and wander into danger, it was better for an innocent being to find a better home. Perhaps, the monkey child could live among one of the wealthy immortals that owe him great debts from their gambling losses over the eons. However, witnessing the ingenuity and integrity of the monkey child, Hua was impressed and he knew Xie would likely want to take this child on as an apprentice. He could survive and thrive despite the dangerous pursuits they may be engaged in.

When they reached the cottage, Xie Lian dressed the monkey child in one of his old white robes, which was too big for the monkey. Xie tried his hand at reducing the size of the robe by unwinding the threads, but it caused one of the sleeves to come off, leaving the monkey with a miss-sized robe without one sleeve. Still, the monkey child was happy to have new clothing and Xie’s attention to his well-being. After getting dressed, Xie Lian gave the monkey child a metal puzzle box with a copper coin. There was an outer box that can be moved up or down, while the inner box would move in the opposite direction to limit the outer box’s motions. Each box had an identical slit at the top, barely big enough for a coin. He challenged the monkey child to figure out a way to retrieve the coin without breaking the box as a game to preoccupy the child. It was a toy that Hua and he picked up in the western lands of Parthia, Hua and Xie had figured out the simple trick of sliding the boxes into perpendicular positions to catch the coin with the inner box, before re-aligning the outer box to free it. The monkey child spent hours trying to obtain the coin until dinner was prepared.

During their evening meal, which consisted of rice with steamed peach, onions, and fish, the monkey child desperately tried to hide his dislike for the food, but after the meal was consumed, he just couldn’t keep quiet. Despite the hunger and desperation, the monkey child was not tasteless. Assuming the meal was created by Hua Cheng as yet another lesson for him, the monkey child asked.

“Sir, I do not know how to address you, but why are you torturing me with food? You know I have been starving for days and have just had my first bite of real food earlier today. I have longed to taste fish, onion, and rice, but why must you make it so difficult for me to ingest.”

Hua Cheng laughed at the upfront response from the monkey child at Xie’s famously bad cooking, which he had become accustomed to over the eons of their courtship and marriage. In truth, several major gods and goddesses have argued about making it a heavenly edict that Xie Lian not be allowed near a kitchen for fear that he would conjure some new kind of immortal poison from his cooking. Even Yin Yu, when he lived with them in his old manor in the underworld, would make excuses to visit his much-hated shidi¹, Quan Yizhen, the former God of the West before Quan fell with the rise of Xiwangmu², the current goddess of the west and wife of the Jade Emperor. After that, Yin Yu had no choice but to enjoy the hospitality of his friend, Xie Lian.

For his part, Xie knew his cooking was poor, but Hua Cheng never minded and they had worked out a routine, where they alternated cooking for one another. Xie had not taken into account that the monkey child would be unaccustomed to his cooking when he continued his routine of cooking. Hua Cheng could have warned him, but the trickster in him wanted to see what the monkey child would do when confronted with cooking that offended even the immortal gods. For his part, the child behaved himself better than anyone could have hoped, eating every bite of the foul concoction. He was not ungrateful for the meal, just disgusted with the taste.

As his husband’s laughter subsided, Xie apologized to the child, “I’m sorry. My bad cooking is famous, I do not feel offended by your words. San Lang is a far better cook than I.”

The monkey child’s face grew pale, “Oh I am sorry, I am grateful…”

Hua Cheng cuts him off, “Enough niceties child, you spoke the truth earlier and you should never be afraid to speak the truth in front of us. We’re older than the current immortal gods in the heavens and the administrators of the underworld. A bad food review will not tarnish such reputations.”

The monkey child’s eyebrows rise with Hua’s response and he launches into a dozen questions.

“Then, are you more powerful than the gods? Can you teach me magic? Why have you not stopped Fu Jian or freed all the slaves? Why have you not stopped all the killings between the rival nations? Why…”

Hua cuts him off again “People have asked some of those questions, since the start of time. Human malice, suffering, and tragedy were created by human beings, not the gods or us. We cannot cure the human spirit of these things with magic, only they can do that for themselves. Magic is like any kind of knowledge, it’s just merely a tool. A lot of people have learned to use it, but few have good reasons to use it.”

Xie adds “We do aid living beings, when we can. We defend the innocent when they are unable to extricate themselves. We punish the wicked when they are too strong to be fought. When demonic entities rise, we rise to meet the challenge. However, sometimes the best way to handle things is through our inaction because inaction itself is an action. It is thus through inaction that harmony can be reached, it’s what we call “Wu Wei”³”.

The monkey child scratched his head, “I do not understand what you just said. It makes no sense to have so much power, but to do nothing with it.”

To approach this subject from a different angle, Xie Lian changes the subject to make it more comprehensible for a child.

Xie asks the monkey a simple question, “What is your name child?”

“Huh, I have no name, my old master just called me “monkey”. What is your name? Why are we talking about names?”

“Names are the first way we find meaning in things. My former human name was Xie Lian, meaning “Thanks” and “Pity”. I spent many years of my immortality as a beggar and scrap collector, so some may have thought it foreshadowed my life as being miserable. However, I was also referred to as Taizi, meaning “Crowned Prince”, and Dianxia, meaning “Your Majesty” before I was a god, which meant I had all the luxuries of the world at my command and stood above others. You know my husband calls me Gege, meaning “Intimate Brother” denoting our bonds,” Xie blushes thinking of an intimate moment with his beloved, then quickly pushes the image away to continue the lesson, “Before you knew these facts, you knew me as just a god with vast and infinite potential, but when you define me by a perspective, I am just a prince, a husband, or a poor unfortunate man. That’s connected with why inaction sometimes is better than action, your actions or inactions must be weighed against the context of the meaning.”

The monkey child’s interest grew, “Can you give me a name?”

Xie Lian smiles as he replies, “I think your name should be based on what others perceive of you and what you will learn going forward. Others see you as a monkey, so the ancient name for monkey is Sun. What I will teach you among other things is the “Wu Wei” concept in the Tao, essentially to understand the importance of inaction and emptiness. Once you have achieved this, you will be Wukong, awakened to the emptiness. So, I offer you the name Sun Wukong. If you accept it, I will also have a new name. It will be used between you and me only, because you will be calling me Sifu, meaning master/teacher. You will be todai, meaning disciple.”

As Sun Wukong shook his head in agreement, Hua Cheng interjects.

“He’ll teach you to master philosophy and understand the mysteries of the universe, I’ll teach you how to fight, gamble, drink, and live. Yin and Yang, you can’t have one half without the other. Just call me Baba, it means daddy.”

Xie was shocked at his husband, “San Lang! He’s a child.”

“What we’re adopting him, aren’t we?”