"Cao Chong? Why does that name sound so familiar?"
Liu Laoliu said disdainfully, "You didn't even graduate from elementary school, did you? You haven't even learned 'Cao Chong Giving Up the Pear'?"
Cao Chong frowned and said, "That's Kong Rong—"
Liu Laoliu and I stared at each other, dumbfounded. We exchanged a glance, then simultaneously pulled out cigarettes and offered them to each other, chuckling dryly, "Have a smoke, have a smoke. Hehe..."
As I smoked my cigarette, I said, "You know about the recent incident involving the Eight Heavenly Kings, right? What's the story?"
Liu Laoliu said with a solemn expression, "I only just found out myself. 'The higher-ups' are very unhappy about this, and I've been busy cleaning up the mess lately."
I asked, puzzled, "How come there are things you don't know?"
Liu Laoliu said profoundly, "Even the divine realm isn't omnipotent as you think. We also have to develop according to certain laws. Old Li calls this the Dao, and you call it the Law. If we could truly know five hundred years in the past and future, wouldn't we have already predicted the Book of Life and Death would be in trouble? Would we still need you? This involves a philosophical question..."
"Stop the nonsense, let's get down to business. How did the Eight Heavenly Kings come about? Do you know how unhappy my readers are about this? If they're unhappy, they won't subscribe, and if they don't subscribe, Zhang Xiaohua has no motivation to write..." (Uh, this part is a stream of consciousness; Xiaoqiang didn't say it out loud.)
Liu Laoliu said, shuffling his feet, "Now I can tell you that the Eight Heavenly Kings are indeed the Eight Heavenly Kings who fought against Liangshan, but those people are not those people."
I became more and more confused: "What do you mean?"
"The Eight Heavenly Kings are Wang Yin, Deng Yuanjue, and eight others, but their current names are Wang Shuangcheng and Bao Jin. Wang Shuangcheng was born in 1973 and works as a truck driver. Bao Jin is 32 years old this year and works at Shenguang Machinery Factory."
I started to understand and said, "Is there really such a thing as reincarnation?"
"Reincarnation is nothing unusual. What is unusual is that Wang Shuangcheng and Bao Jin, who have barely read 'Water Margin,' suddenly jumped out to oppose the heroes, and their kung fu is not weak. In short, it doesn't matter who these people were in their previous lives. They were all living their own lives. But after what happened a few days ago, it means that they have abandoned their current identities and become Wang Yin and Deng Yuanjue again."
I said, "How does that happen? Can memories from a person's past life really be carried over to the next life?"
Liu Laoliu shook his head seriously, saying, "Absolutely impossible. After drinking the Meng Po soup, at least 99% of your memories from your previous life will be gone."
"Isn't there still a 0.1% residue?"
“That’s within the normal range.” Liu Laoliu suddenly asked me, “Do you ever dream about places or scenes that seem familiar, and then feel a sense of loss after waking up?”
I clapped my hands: "Yeah, yeah, for a while I kept dreaming of a bunch of naked girls taking a bath in front of me, and when I woke up I was either hard or felt completely lost."
Liu Laoliu thought for a moment and said, "Well, in your past life you were either Dong Yong or a woman who ran a women's bathhouse."
Cao Chong suddenly raised his little head and asked, "Why is it erect?" It seems this child is indeed smarter than most children his age; he doesn't ask what, he asks why…
Liu Laoliu and I said in unison, "You'll understand when you grow up!"
I asked Liu Laoliu, "According to what you said, is it possible for a person to remember what they did in their past life from a dream?"
Liu Laoliu said, "I told you it's impossible. Some people may be special, but they definitely don't reach this level."
I asked, "Who are the special cases?"
“Celebrities, powerful people, people who are remembered by people. After they die, they usually have a strong sense of nostalgia for their past life. We call this emotion ‘the strong person’s thought.’ The stronger the strong person’s thought, the greater its influence on reincarnation. In addition, there are subtle fluctuations in people’s nostalgia for these people after their death. As a result, powerful people are somewhat different from ordinary people after reincarnation. But I have never seen an example of someone who still remembers who they were before.”
I quickly stopped him, and said excitedly, "No! I can feel that I must have been Zhao Yun in my past life!"
"That's a hallucination."
"...That's possible. Please continue."
Liu Laoliu glared at me and continued, "The biggest impact of a strong person's rebirth is that when that person grows up, they will consciously or unconsciously retain certain temperaments or habits from their previous life."
I asked again, "Will it affect my appearance?"
Liu Laoliu nodded: "Yes, and the chances are very high. We might even deliberately transform the strongman's thought into the inheritance of appearance, because among the things that can be inherited, appearance has the least impact on the environment. History doesn't need two King Zhous, but it doesn't matter if someone who looks exactly like King Zhou appears hundreds or thousands of years later."
I couldn't help but steal a glance at Baozi. I wonder how strong the mantra she endured before being reincarnated was; I can't even imagine what she looked like in her past life…
I got back to the point: "You've said so many impossible things, how do you explain the two workers turning back into the Eight Heavenly Kings?"
Liu Laoliu said angrily, "Someone is up to no good!"
I asked in surprise, "Who is it? So powerful that they dare to go against your Heavenly Court?"
Liu Laoliu said, "This person used to be a deity, but he was banished to the mortal realm for violating heavenly rules, which means he was reborn as a human. But none of us expected that because he used to work in the underworld and had a good personal relationship with Meng Po, he would often ask for a few bowls of Meng Po's soup to drink, so he became immune to it. After he came to the mortal realm, he never forgot who he was from the moment he was born, and he was always preparing to retaliate and cause trouble for the Heavenly Court."
I scoffed, "A Marshal Tianpeng with deep-seated hatred. But since he's already been demoted, what ability does he have to retaliate? The organization can't be lenient with traitors."
Old Liu sighed, "It's not that simple. Immortals aren't as glamorous as you think. There are many taboos when we use magic in the mortal realm. If immortals could do whatever they wanted, do you think this world would still be so peaceful?"
I sighed along with her, "So being a god isn't all that great after all; you can't even bully people."
"Because he was familiar with the ingredients of Meng Po soup, he had already developed an antidote. Once this medicine was taken, a person would fully regain their memories of their past life. That's why Wang Shuang became Wang Yin, and Bao Jin became Deng Yuanjue."
"But what's the point of him doing this?"
"I don't know how he found out about the Book of Life and Death incident, so he specially developed this drug in large quantities. His purpose is to deliberately mess things up in your area to achieve the effect of turning the world upside down. That way, we will all be punished by heaven."
I couldn't help but burst out laughing. I'd always heard about being punished by heaven, and now I'd seen it for real.
I asked him, "Have you thought of a solution?"
Liu Laoliu chuckled confidently, "Of course!"
"What method?"
"You deal with him!"
I was listening with a smile on my face, but now that expression froze on my face...
"Damn it, you want me to take on a retired god?"