Chapter 2033 – Pasting Peach Talismans
“Ah?” Several overseas students stood frozen, holding two peach wood boards. On the peach wood boards were painted two divine statues, along with two couplets with strokes so deep they seemed carved into the wood, written in a vigorous calligraphy. The peach wood boards had been pasted onto the Ghost Ship, and the rotten wood had already decayed.
The deck, where everyone had been singing and dancing just moments before, was now covered in barnacles and seaweed, a dilapidated and decaying deck. The lion dance team stepped onto it and directly broke through a plank, falling through.
“Quickly remove the peach talismans! You’ll sink the Ghost Ship!” I shouted. What were they thinking, pasting peach talismans on a Ghost Ship?
Mr. Zhang reacted faster, using Qinggong to leap up, grab the two peach talismans, and jump off the ship. The Undead Sailors scattered in fear.
The Ghost Ship finally returned to normal, no longer trembling. After a few more seconds, it reverted to its previous sleek and shiny warship appearance.
But everyone still couldn’t forget the rotten, eerie deck from just now, and the pirates who had momentarily turned back into those with severed hands and missing legs, or even just skeletons, even though they had changed back now.
They were bound to the Ghost Ship. When the Ghost Ship reverted to its original form, they were also freed from their disguise and turned back into Undead Sailors. When the Ghost Ship transformed again, they reappeared as well-dressed crew members.
Moreover, because the Ghost Ship’s transformation had been so drastic, with the space on board being greatly distorted when it reverted from a warship to a Ghost Ship, some people fell. The celebratory food was scattered all over the place. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured during the inspection.
“You few idiots! You don’t report anything before you do something, you don’t ask for permission, you have no discipline!” a captain in a black shirt sternly reprimanded the young overseas students who had pasted the peach talismans.
“We, we didn’t know it would be like this. We just wanted good luck and put up the evil-warding peach talismans. Besides, don’t people always paste peach talismans during the New Year?” one overseas student mumbled.
“Utterly foolish! Why would you ward off evil? Didn’t you hear what the master said? Even if the appearance changes, the essence doesn’t! This is a Ghost Ship, are we warding off evil from ourselves? And can the celebrations of foreigners be the same as our New Year?!” the captain scolded in anger.
Peach talismans, also known as taofu, are a custom of carving two deities, Shen Tu and Yu Lu, who ward off evil, onto peach wood boards and then pasting them on doors. Originating in the Former Qin, they are usually accompanied by two lines of inscriptions to bless people with smooth sailing for the year.
In my previous life, this was the origin of Spring Couplets and Door Gods. Because carving was too much trouble and peach wood boards were hard to find, commoners simply wrote and drew the Door Gods and couplets on red paper and pasted them on their doors.
However, in this world, Demons and Monsters truly exist, so evil-warding peach wood is indispensable, and thus the custom of pasting peach talismans is still popular.
They probably thought that celebrating the Western New Year was still a celebration, so changing the talismans for the New Year would be correct. Thus, they carved two peach talismans to adorn the ship, and the incident happened.
“Is this an Eastern evil-warding item? It’s quite effective,” Karina said with a wry smile.
I stood up and walked towards the captain. “Forget it, they meant well. It’s a festival today, so let’s not scold them. These peach talismans should be pasted on the outside of the door.”
“Master, we can’t just let this go so easily. Their actions are disorderly and undisciplined. If every member of the navy acts as arbitrarily as they do in the future, how can we fight a good war?” The captain showed some respect towards me.
“Then tomorrow, they will be punished separately by repairing the dock and such. Let’s forget about it today; it’ll dampen everyone’s spirits. Look, I have guests here, don’t let outsiders see our embarrassment.” I pointed to Karina’s group and the other Glutton believers.
“Then, alright. You few, you will all help the master repair the port tomorrow! Remember this lesson from now on!” The captain finally remembered that this was not their own port, nor their own warship; they were merely guest troops.
Furthermore, the traditional idea of not airing dirty laundry in public was deeply ingrained in him. If only their own people were present, he would have gladly scolded them to his heart’s content. Now, with Undead and Glutton believers watching, he felt it was too embarrassing to scold.
The overseas students looked at me gratefully. If I hadn’t interceded for them, the punishment would have been harsher, and they might have even been driven away.
“It seems we need to refine the rules on the ship. I didn’t know before that we should list items that might affect the Ghost Ship and prohibit bringing them aboard,” I said, learning from my mistakes. Making a mistake for the first time is not scary; what’s scary is not learning from it and causing problems at a crucial moment.
“Understood. I will consult Immortal Master Li immediately and then present you with a list for your review!” The captain bowed and left. He must have understood the critical nature of the matter.
“Brother Deng is from the Foochow Naval Academy. He came to receive the new ship back to the country. He’s already a non-commissioned officer, so he’s quite serious. Please don’t blame him, Master,” Mr. Zhang said.
“Not at all. Such a serious attitude is the foundation of military discipline. He is a rare talent. Let him be the captain of the Victory Goddess Exclamation Mark. If possible, he could even be in charge of the entire fleet,” I said with admiration.
He is meticulous and serious, an outstanding talent suitable to be an admiral. Unfortunately, even with such serious and responsible warriors, if the weapons are shoddy or the officials are corrupt, victory cannot be achieved.
I had modified the five Ghost Ships with modern technology. The result was that the original captains were no longer familiar with how to operate them and were currently learning in a state of confusion.
However, these overseas students knew a little. Firstly, they were all young and quick-witted. Secondly, they had received some professional education and understood a little about how to operate modern ships.
These past few days, everyone has been training: the Ghost Sailors, the Glutton believers, and the overseas students are all drilling on the ship. But there is still a very core issue: who will command?
Are they the pirate captains with unconventional backgrounds but extensive experience and familiarity with the North Sea, or the systematically trained overseas students with formal naval education? Both seem somewhat lacking.
Upon seeing that naval captain, I felt I had a choice. Perhaps he could do it. After further assessing his abilities, he could be appointed as the overall commander.
Ultimately, my intention in involving these overseas students in this operation was to give them some practical combat training. Whether they participated or not was not that important; what mattered was what they learned.
“Alright, the matter has been resolved. Let the music play and let’s continue to dance! It’s the New Year, don’t overthink things!” I shouted.
So, the music started again. The ceremonial guard among the Undead crew played the music, and the Glutton believers had already finished all the food that had fallen on the ground. New food had been placed on the tables, and it was all Central Plains cuisine stir-fried by Qing Empire chefs. This could be considered a kind of East-meets-West fusion to some degree.
