Chapter Twelve: The Secret of Third Uncle

  Tonight, I found a little follower for Tongtong, and also gave Wu Litao's daughter Xiaomeng another kind of rebirth. For me, this is the best birthday gift.

  I returned to Zhang Village Chief's home very late, and Zhang Village Chief had not slept yet. Seeing me return, he hurriedly stood up and explained that he would go sweep the tomb tomorrow and hoped to borrow my motorcycle for use. I said no problem, there is plenty of oil, just be careful on the road while riding.

  The next morning, Zhang Village Chief and his family went to sweep the tomb. Later, Wang Researcher and Old Ding each carried a bag and left the house, leaving only me in the empty house.

  I woke up with a headache and got out of bed, wandering aimlessly in the village. Ye Fei Chui won't be back for many days, she knows that bringing Xiao Jianzi is considered work. Since I have to pay her salary, she can definitely stay at home and not waste time. Ye Fei Chui is such a person, greedy, timid, and loves to take advantage of small benefits.

  Most people in the village went to sweep their graves, and the whole village became much quieter. I wandered around the village without realizing that I had walked to the door of my third uncle's house. At this time, my third uncle was leisurely sunbathing at the door, sitting on a straw mat, holding a long pipe in his hand and smoking.

  I wanted to go and brag with him, but thinking that the language is not communicated and it's difficult to communicate, I gave up. I also stayed in the village for a while, although I couldn't speak the local dialect, I could barely hear it, and my third uncle might not understand my Hakka dialect.

  Just as I was about to leave and go elsewhere, Third Uncle called out to me. I asked him what he wanted with me. Seeing that I spoke Hakka, he also used Hakka to tell me to come over. I walked over, astonished, and asked him how he could speak Hakka too.

  Third Uncle shifted the cushion under his buttocks, put the long pipe in his mouth and took two puffs, then told me to sit next to him. I looked around but didn't see any stool beside Third Uncle, the ground was covered with chicken shit, where could I sit?

  My third uncle asked me why I was standing and not sitting down. I said I still like to stand, just got out of bed and exercising my muscles, young people can grow taller if they sit less.

  Third Uncle took another puff of smoke, then chuckled and said, "I'm not a simple person! I slept for a while and dreamed of the place where the two people who jumped into the river hid their bones." I scratched my head and smiled awkwardly, saying it was just like a blind cat bumping into a dead mouse. Third Uncle laughed and said that this blind cat was really useless, can't compare to young people anymore.

  I told him that the thing in the river that eats meat is actually sand, and I thought Third Uncle would be shocked to hear this, but unexpectedly he just said calmly, "There are many inexplicable things in the world", he's old and no longer cares about these things, seeing strange things as normal.

  Third Uncle asked me to stretch out my hand for him to take a look, so I stretched it out. Third Uncle grasped my hand as if he was fortune-telling. At first, his expression was natural, then he kept shaking his head, and after that, he kept nodding. After the nodding and shaking, he suddenly let out a startled jump.

  I hastily asked Third Uncle why he kept shaking his head and then nodding non-stop, and finally why he was startled.

  Third Uncle asked me if I was surnamed Li, from Guilin, Guangxi, and just turned fifteen. I said yes, Third Uncle, you're really accurate, it's like you're a living god.

  Third Uncle smiled again and said that his constant shaking of the head was because he had calculated that I had a very difficult and bitter childhood, with one parent dead and the other never seen before, and my siblings scattered all over. This time, I left home to come here in search of relatives.

  It's really too accurate, I couldn't help but want to give a thumbs up, no wonder Third Uncle kept shaking his head.

  Third Uncle continued to say that he kept nodding because he calculated that I had already turned my luck and it was a great fortune, recently there was a windfall from heaven, saying that I would definitely achieve something big in the future. Third Uncle said that many people can succeed because they met their own noble person in life, but although I couldn't meet a noble person, whoever I meet will become their noble person. Zhuge Liang of the Three Kingdoms and Liu Bowen of the Ming Dynasty were such people, Third Uncle said that I would also be his noble person.

  I thought it made sense, I'm a benefactor of Xiao Jianqiang, a benefactor of Ye Fei, a benefactor of Wu Litao and his daughter Xiao Mengkong... But thinking again, I feel it doesn't make sense, Zhang Shenpo is my benefactor, but I'm not hers, although it's hard to say, maybe the only one who can find her is me.

  Third Uncle said that he was startled because he calculated that I was raising a ghost, but there wasn't a hint of ghostly energy on my body, instead revealing a vital energy and a strong aura. Third Uncle said that people who raise ghosts, due to their long-term interactions with yin spirits, will have their bodies tainted with ghostly energy, just like how chefs have the smell of cooking oil on them and fishermen have the smell of fish on them.

  I asked Third Uncle if he could calculate where my sister was and when I would find her. Third Uncle shook his head, saying that fortune-telling couldn't reveal everything, otherwise it would be leaking heavenly secrets and would be struck by lightning, so he couldn't tell me where my sister was. However, he wanted to remind me that he had calculated that both my sister and I were born on the Qingming Festival, our fates were mutually destructive, and we could only meet after the age of 18; otherwise, one of us would definitely die young.

  Third Uncle's words were like a bucket of ice water, pouring over me from head to toe, dousing all my expectations and longing. Since the day my little sister was taken away when I was six years old, finding her again had become my life goal. Now that this life goal is about to be achieved, I still have to wait three more years.

  Third Uncle comforted, "Many things in life are predetermined. Forcing change will only bring about bad consequences. If you find your sister now, but she can only live until 30 years old, would you be willing?"

  I let out a long sigh, it's destined to be so, I can only accept it and there's no other way. However, I will find someone to help me search for her, then meet her again when I'm 18 years old.

  I asked Third Uncle, how come you can speak Hakka? Third Uncle said he must be able to speak Hakka because he is a Hakka person. Then he started talking about his past experiences.

  Third Uncle said he was originally a Hakka from the Xiangxi region and also a corpse driver. In 1926, at the age of 16, he followed his master to drive a corpse from Huaiji back to Hengyang, passing through this place. At that time, it was almost dawn, and corpse driving could only be done at night, so before dawn, they went up a mountain ridge and drove the corpse into a cave, planning to wait until evening to walk to the county seat of Dao County and take a boat to Hengyang.

  I immediately had a few more points of respect for Third Uncle when I heard that he was actually the "corpse driver" that Zhang the fortune teller had mentioned. So it's true that there really is such an occupation? A person has already died, how can their corpse walk on its own? Third Uncle chuckled and said that he had only followed his master for two years before his master met with an unexpected death in a mountain cave. Although his master left behind a book, after going blind he was unable to read the book or continue learning.

  Third Uncle continued, "It was in that cave where the accident happened. At the time, his master was sleeping and suddenly nine corpses lost control and ran wildly into the depths of the cave. He quickly woke up his master and together they chased after them with torches for a distance, but when the torches were about to go out, they still hadn't caught up, fearing an accident, they had no choice but to retreat."

  When they came out of the cave, a terrifying evil creature was standing at the entrance. The creature could speak human language and told them to leave their lives behind. With the creature in front and no way back, San Shu Gong's master could only take out his magic weapon to fight against it, but he didn't last for even a minute before the creature sucked away his three souls and seven spirits, taking over his body.

  That evil entity seized the body of Third Uncle Master and looked up at the sky, laughing maniacally. It said it had forgotten how long it had been asleep, but today it finally had a human body again.

  At the age of sixteen, San Shu Gong knew that his master had been brutally killed. The person standing in front of him was no longer his master. He was so scared that his legs went soft and he knelt on the ground. The evil creature said it could spare his life, but required him to stab out his own eyes and demanded that San Shu Gong never mention what he saw tonight to anyone, otherwise, he would not live past tomorrow.

  Third Uncle thought of his parents and younger siblings at home, and since he was in a foreign land, he couldn't die, so he stabbed out his own eyes, enduring the intense pain, stumbling out of the cave, crawling and rolling for a while before fainting.

  He fainted on a ridge, and by the time it was daylight, he was discovered by a villager from his village named Zhang Sanfeng, who took him home to be treated. Although Third Uncle had managed to survive, his blindness left him unable to...

  He returned home. In the 1920s, ordinary people basically relied on walking when going out, and it was very difficult to travel far without money. With money, there were many bandits, and he was also blind.

  Later, San Shu Gong made a living by fortune-telling in the town and raised money to return home as soon as possible. However, he encountered successive wars, warlord infighting, anti-Japanese war, liberation war, and shortly after the founding of the country, there was another Cultural Revolution, and he never had the opportunity or conditions to return home. After the end of the Cultural Revolution, he was almost 70 years old.

  I asked Third Uncle, what was that evil thing, and where did it go after occupying his master's body.

  Third Uncle said that after the evil object occupied his master's body, it walked into the depths of the mountain cave. As for what it was, it could not be known. It was only known that it was over one zhang tall, with thick black fog below its shoulders, and two bright red cow horns on top of its head, with only one eye growing in the middle of its forehead.

  Third Uncle sighed again and said that he had told me a secret that he had kept hidden for 65 years, and that he wouldn't live to see tomorrow morning.

  As soon as I heard it, I felt a pang in my heart and quickly asked him why he still wanted to tell me.

  Third Uncle said that after he went blind at the age of 16, his only wish in this life was to return home and find his family. He calculated a fortune-telling for himself and found out that I am his benefactor who can send him back home, so he told me about what happened that time.

  I couldn't help but shed tears, for this blind old man who has been wandering for 65 years, and also for the deep longing he holds for his loved ones and hometown. Time has passed for 65 years, San Shu Gong is now 81 years old, I'm afraid his parents have long passed away, the spiritual pillar that has supported San Shu Gong for 65 years is just going home.

  I asked San Shu Gong where his home was, and he said it was in Huanan Xiangxi at the junction of Chongqing and Huaxi County Ye Zhuping.