The paperwork for my trip abroad was sorted out quickly. With a thick stack of English documents in hand, I set off on my journey to Singapore.
I had a layover in Shanghai.
The wait was a bit long, so I wandered around the airport, full of curiosity.
Suddenly!
Towards the back of a bookstore!
The slender old man in the blue robe... he was actually standing there!!!
I was so excited I couldn't contain myself. Without a second thought, I rushed straight toward him...
When I got to him, I suddenly realized—huh? I hadn't thought of what to say...
My mind was a complete blank... I stammered out, "Master."
The old man smiled smugly and replied, "Ah, my disciple."
Well, damn. He accepted the title of 'Master' so readily it caught me completely off guard. I was both shocked and delighted.
I was delighted because my countless questions could finally be answered. But I was shocked because... how had I suddenly become his disciple? I couldn't shake the feeling that he'd gotten the better of me.
But I couldn't worry about that for now.
"Master, are you a Daoist priest?"
"You got a problem with that?" Lao Dao raised his eyebrows.
"Of course not, of course not," I said with a sheepish grin. "It's just that last time we met, you were going on about Marx, Newton, and Einstein. You didn't exactly strike me as a Daoist priest."
Lao Dao retorted indignantly, "What, can't a Daoist be cultured? My formal education might not be as high as yours, but my knowledge is no less."
"Of course, of course," I said, seeing my chance and immediately playing along. "Master, look, the two of us are so fated to meet. And since we've already established our master-disciple relationship, shouldn't you be teaching me something?"
"Hmm, that makes sense," Lao Dao nodded, muttering to himself as he pondered. "I suppose I should teach you something."
I watched him, full of hope, my mind racing.
The art of immortality? The art of rejuvenation?
The art of summoning wind and rain? The art of turning stone to gold?
The art of duplication? The art of invisibility?
The art of riding clouds? The art of shrinking the earth?
The art of passing through walls? The art of summoning spirits?
I went through a whole cycle of wonderful daydreams, but Lao Dao still hadn't moved. His eyes were closed, as if he'd entered a deep meditative state.
"Master?" I couldn't hold back any longer and called out to him softly.
He suddenly snapped his eyes open, giving me a huge fright.
"Let's start by teaching you a bit of divination. For self-defense."
"Divination? For self-defense?" I repeated, a little dazed.
"Yes," Lao Dao's expression was now serious. "Your fortune lies to the south, but the direction of your partner does not align. You have a hurdle to overcome in your marriage. I'll teach you a trick to avoid falling into a pitfall."
"Don't scare me! Can it be resolved?"
"I'll first teach you how to calculate the direction of your partner. That way, you won't waste time on the wrong person."
"Oh..." I was so disappointed. I thought I was going to learn some kind of mystical art.
Lao Dao was Lao Dao, after all. One look at me and he knew I was disappointed.
"I've told you before: only that which can stand up to verification can be called science," Lao Dao said in a low, serious voice.
I was confused again. How did we get back to science? What does that have to do with divination?
This old man... his train of thought is all over the place.
"In this world, there is no person or event that cannot be accurately predicted," he said emphatically, enunciating every word.
Is this Daoist cultivation or immortal cultivation? Can it really be that badass?
As a straight-as-an-arrow STEM guy, I can't keep my thoughts to myself.
I asked in disbelief, "Even weather forecasts are wrong sometimes, let alone other things."
Lao Dao explained unhurriedly, "The principle of weather forecasting is to use air humidity and wind speed to predict where rain clouds will drift to at a future time to cause rainfall."
He paused, saw that I understood, and continued, "The reason for inaccuracies is the emergence of other factors. For example, a new external force changes the wind speed, and the clouds don't drift to the predicted location."
I interjected, "So, you're saying that when a weather forecast is wrong, it's not because the principle of prediction is flawed, but because there were omissions or changes in the known conditions." I voiced my understanding.
"Yes. Prediction is a form of mathematical deduction. As long as the conditions are listed correctly, the calculated answer will definitely be correct," Lao Dao said with great certainty.
"And as long as the logic is correct, there are ways to resolve it. Take the weather, for example. You can use interventions like cloud seeding or rain suppression to change the original outcome."
After he finished, he waited for me to absorb it.
"What seems like an inaccuracy is simply the result of an unintentional resolution," he added.
Lao Dao's words were like a ray of light, illuminating my mind and opening up a bright new world.
I couldn't wait to learn the art of marriage divination.
Proofreader: Peter Pan