Journey to the West: Conquering the Demons

Wen Jiao had heard of Shakuntala before. The reason was simple: if you were to study the history of Oriental literature in college, you would have to read this representative work of the great Indian dramatist Kalidasa.

This story tells that King Dusyanta went out hunting and met the beautiful girl Shakuntala. The two secretly got married. Before leaving, Dusyanta left a ring as a token of love. After the king left, the girl was in a trance because of lovesickness and failed to properly entertain the old man. The king was cursed to lose his memory and could only recognize him when he saw the ring. After all kinds of twists and turns, the couple finally reunited and had a big fat son.

Wen Jiao glanced at Bharata. This young boy had a fine bone structure, a face that looked like a king, and a physique as strong as a semi-adult, but his bone age was only six years old.

This is not surprising. In places where humans, immortals and gods live together, there are often children with unusual features. The most typical feature is that they grow into an adult's physique at a young age. Such children are destined to become heroes praised by later generations - such as Gesar.

But this made one thing inconsistent - how could she remember that when Shakuntala went to recognize her husband, she was only pregnant but had not given birth yet?

In other words, his son was already six years old, but his father, Doushantuo, had not come to pick him up. His attitude was obviously not very good. And the immortal Ganpo raised his grandson until he was six years old, and suddenly sent his disciples to send the mother and son to Doushantuo to meet him. This attitude seemed to have reached the limit of his tolerance.

Shagong’s situation is probably even worse than what is written in the book.

It was already dusk, and they stopped at a forest to rest. The three practitioners lit a bonfire, and Shagong took out the pancakes from his luggage and roasted them over the fire until they were crispy and soft. He paired them with fresh wild fruits and presented them to Wen Jiao with both hands, then to the three practitioners, and finally to himself and his son. The mother and son ate while whispering, and if you listen carefully, they were all questions like "What does Dad look like?", "What is Xiangcheng like?", "Will Dad like me?"

About to face his father who has been absent since birth, Bharata is obviously nervous and even confused.

Shagong smiled and comforted his son softly, "Your father is a very handsome and powerful king... Mom has never been to Elephanta... Of course he will like you. My Bharata is so handsome, smart and strong, knows all kinds of scriptures, and can knock down a big white bull with his bare hands. Who wouldn't like him?"

Seeing Sha Gong's ignorant and expectant expression, Wen Jiao sighed inwardly and said, "You are going to meet your son with him. Do you have any token? Since your husband is from a high-ranking family, his relatives and officials are intertwined. If you want them to accept you and your son, you must have a token."

Look for the ring quickly. If it is lost, remember where you lost it to avoid being humiliated when you find out that the other person doesn’t recognize you at all after you go to their home.

Sha Gong was reminded by her and knew that the fairy had heard all the secrets between him and his son. He blushed and said, "No, no."

Wen Jiao frowned: "Would you like to think about it carefully?"

Sha Gong tried hard to recall and shook her head: "Fairy, there really isn't..." As she spoke, her expression turned gloomy, and it was obvious that she also realized that something was wrong.

What's the matter with the Dushantuo here? Is he even less reliable than the one in the book? Wen Jiao said solemnly: "How did you meet Bharata's father? Tell me in detail."

Sha Gong blushed and glanced at the three senior brothers beside him.

The three practitioners looked worried.

Wen Jiao also glanced over.

The three of them immediately tactfully walked away, sat cross-legged on the ground and entered a state of meditation, as if they were in a trance and oblivious to the noise of the world.

Shagong looked at Bharata again, and the young boy looked back at her with bright eyes. Shagong looked embarrassed, and just as she was about to coax Bharata to sleep, she saw the red lion nestled beside Wen Jiao speak: "Let him listen. The child has the right to know the truth about his parents' union."

Shagong thought Huo Ling'er was just a magical mount, and didn't expect her to speak suddenly. He was so scared that he patted his chest, smiled embarrassedly, and then told the story: "Seven years ago, my father, Ganpo Sage, took his disciples out to pick wild fruits, leaving me alone to look after the house at the Taoist temple. At that time, the king of Xiangcheng, Dushanda, who was also Bharata's father, was hunting and passed by the Taoist temple. He wanted to visit my father. I had no choice but to come forward to receive him."

At this point, a layer of sweet embarrassment appeared on her beautiful face. "As soon as he saw me, he asked about my life experience. He judged that my caste was not lower than that of a Kshatriya, so he proposed to me and asked me to marry him in the Gandharva way."

"What is the Kinder binding method?" Huo Linger asked.

Bharata replied, "The Manusmriti records eight ways of getting married, one of which is the Gandharani, which is the voluntary union of man and woman." He chuckled as he spoke, and it was obvious that he was both shy and curious about his parents' love affair, and there was also a hint of teasing in his heart.

Wen Jiao felt something was subtly wrong: "You nodded?"

As Shakun said, she and Dushantuo were complete strangers who had only exchanged a few words. How desperate must a stranger be to be so brazen as to ask a beauty he met by chance to marry him? And how open-minded must a girl be to be willing to accept the sexual advances of a man she met by chance?

The Kindergarten is not unreasonable, but it should only happen between a man and a woman who love each other. What is the difference between asking a strange beauty to do the Kindergarten with you and being a hooligan?

Shagong shook his head: "I...I said my father has not come back yet, please wait. When my father comes back, I will betroth me to him."

Bharata interrupted and said, "When the groom arrives at the house and gets his father's approval, he presents a pair of cows and marries the bride. This is called the Rishi ceremony. My grandfather is a Brahmin, so it is natural for him to use the Rishi ceremony. But this is only a provision of the Manu Dharma. If the groom is willing to give more cows as a gift, that is also fine. My father is the King of Elephanta, so he must have given my grandfather a lot of cows as a gift, right?" As he spoke, he looked at his mother with expectation and pride.

Shakun lowered his head and said, "He... he said he couldn't wait any longer. He is a Kshatriya and a king, so he doesn't want to use the Asura pose. The Gandharva and Rakshasa poses are both legal for a king. He and I are in love with each other. If I don't agree with the Gandharva pose, then he will use the Rakshasa pose."

Bharata seemed to have suffered a great humiliation. His face turned pale and he stood up suddenly, gnashing his teeth and saying, "Mom, you never told me that he was such a person!"

Wen Jiao looked into his angry eyes and said, "What exactly are the Asura style and the Rakshasa style? My friend and I are from foreign countries and don't understand local customs."

Bharata said bitterly: "The Asura style is to give money and property to marry a girl, and the Rakshasa style is to snatch the girl away from her parents' home regardless of her cries. Mom clearly told him that I was the adopted daughter of an immortal and that the immortal style should be used to marry her, but he deliberately distorted it into the Asura style and threatened mom that if she didn't get along with him, he would snatch her away directly!"