Chapter 4: Fate and Predestination

  I saw that my second uncle's face was not good, with an expression of impending anger, and I knew in my heart to be afraid, so I didn't bother saying anything, and pulled Dog Egg out of Yang Lao Er's courtyard.

  On the road, Dog Egg still had some complaints about me and said: "Third Brother, we haven't seen anything fun yet, why did you run out?"

  "You silly fool, can't you see that my second uncle is getting a bit angry? If I weren't so clever, we'd have to wait and get scolded if we didn't leave now." I said disdainfully, while also showing off my own cleverness.

  To be honest, I've always been a bit intimidated by my uncle since I was young. I feel like he's always mysterious and scary to look at. And every time I misbehave, my grandma would say: "If you don't behave yourself, I'll get your uncle to take away your soul and turn you into an idiot."

  Every time I finish saying this, I don't dare to show off anymore, but instead become like a little cat, shrinking away. Being obedient is really not worth mentioning, eating on time, peeing on time, sleeping on time.

  Why this sentence has such great power is mainly because there is also a fool in our village, who is from the Wang family.

  Old Wang's family has two children, both boys. The older one is 15 years old, and the younger one is about my size, which is seven years old. And the fool I'm talking about is Old Wang's eldest son, whom we usually call Big Fool.

  He can't tell good from bad, whatever you give him, he dares to take it. I remember another time in the village, a rogue actually used an iron rake to scoop up a cow's freshly dropped dung and put it in front of him, saying that if he picked it up, he would give him a piece of candy.

  Everyone was just watching with a look of amusement, but when Wang heard there was sugar, he didn't care about the stench and actually picked it up. Everyone who saw this burst out laughing, and Big Fool also laughed along with them.

  Then, Big Fool said a sentence to that scoundrel: "Where is my sugar?"

  In the end, of course, the scoundrel didn't get any candy. It was all just to tease him for fun. After laughing, they left with their tails held high, while the fool went home in tears without getting any candy.

  In the end, Wang's family found that rascal and had a big fight. At the same time, Wang's family also made it clear that if anyone in the village dared to play tricks on them again, they would not easily let it go.

  And I'm afraid that I'll become just like the big fool in Old Wang's family, where others will take a handful of cow dung and say, "Come grab some, I'll give you sugar to eat," and I'll stupidly really grab it.

  Thinking of that scene, my little heart was like I had gone through an ice water challenge, cold and piercing from head to toe. So every time I heard grandma's words, I would quietly squint and not dare to continue being arrogant.

  And when I got home, I rushed to the kang and warmed up. My grandmother was sitting on the kang with her old glasses, holding a shoe sole in her hand and sewing it one stitch at a time. And of course, she still had that big tobacco pipe in her mouth.

  This big pipe is very strong, and I have a deep understanding of it. My grandmother asked me to go to the stove to help her light the pipe. I took it, knelt on the ground, put the pipe into the stove, used fire to ignite the tobacco inside, took three or five puffs, and then gave it back to my grandmother.

  But just as I sat down on the kang, there was a thud, and I fell onto the kang without knowing what happened. Because the tobacco pipe rod inside was full of the smoke oil that my grandmother had accumulated over the years, I suddenly inhaled several mouthfuls, and was directly dazed by the smoke.

  I remember I slept for most of the day and only woke up afterwards, from then on I kept a respectful distance from my grandmother's pipe and didn't dare to touch it again.

  As I entered the house, my grandmother glanced at me and then continued with her work, asking casually: "Grandson, where did you go crazy today?"

  "It's still warm on the kang, didn't go anywhere, Yang Ershu's wife seems to have gone crazy, Dog Egg and I went to watch the excitement, and we even met Second Master on the way. Later, Second Master wouldn't let us watch, so Dog Egg and I went back home."

  Then she chatted with me for a while, my grandmother saw that I wasn't very spirited, probably because I was sleepy, so she said: "Come on, get up, grandma will cover you with the quilt, take off your clothes and sleep."

  I yawned continuously, struggling to stand up to the edge of the bed. After my mother had fluffed up all the quilts and blankets, she patted them once, turned around and said to me: "Alright, take off your clothes and go to sleep in the quilt."

  Just as I had quickly taken off my clothes and was drowsily sleeping in bed, I suddenly heard a loud shout from outside that was like a summer thunderclap.

  "Get out of here, you little brat!"

  No mistake, my dad came, holding a fire poker in his hand, with a force like a knife seeing blood, he rushed into the house, and also brought in a gust of cold wind from outside, blowing me who was already dizzy, and when I saw my dad's murderous expression, it seemed that I would be beaten to death.

  All I heard was a loud, hoarse cry from me.

  "Ah..."

  I burst into tears, and what my grandmother hated most was me crying. As soon as I cried, the old lady's heart was like being cut by a knife. She glared at my dad with a frown.

  "What are you yelling about in the middle of the night? Are you looking for a beating? You're still holding onto that broken stick, what do you think you're doing, you little scamp?" My grandmother furiously questioned my dad.

  After scolding my dad, I turned around and looked at him, and I might have cried a bit pitifully. My grandma got angry again and suddenly shouted: "You're getting more and more capable of enduring! You know how to scold people now. Let me ask you, if San is a little rascal, what are you? Are you an old rascal?"

  As soon as I heard my grandmother say this, my dad was also speechless. It seemed like your old lady had just scolded me too, but how dare my dad ask back?

  So he had no choice but to honestly say: "Oh my god, you don't know, this guy only knows how to stir up trouble all day, do you know what happened today?

  "What big trouble did he stir up tonight?"

  My grandmother looked confused and didn't know what was going on, so she gestured to my dad to continue. My dad saw that my grandmother wasn't saying anything, so he brought up the name of my second uncle.

  "Tonight, my second brother came to my place. He told me that this little rabbit, along with Dog Egg, actually kicked a yellow-skinned monster that had become a spirit. Although they did manage to rescue Yang Lao Er's wife, they also provoked the yellow-skinned monster. If I don't teach him a lesson today, if he really causes some big trouble in the future, what can we do?!" My dad finished speaking and was about to drag me down to the ground for a good scolding, but my grandma knew that this was how things were, yet she couldn't bear to watch me get beaten up by my dad.

  Then he stood in front of me, pushed my dad to the back and said: "You go stand aside, tell me what's going on, I'll listen."

  As soon as my dad saw my grandma's protective attitude towards me, he knew that I wouldn't be scolded today. My dad is a well-known filial son who always listens to and obeys my grandma, fearing her anger. Whenever my grandma frowns at anything, my dad will immediately stop whatever he's doing and listen to her.

  After I told my grandmother what my second uncle had said, she also started to worry a little. If that yellow-skinned boy really became a spirit, he would definitely come back for revenge in the future.

  After thinking for a while, my grandmother said to my father: "You go to your second brother's house and tell him that I want him to come over. I'll talk to him about this matter, we can't just wait like this. Let me teach him a lesson later, you hurry up and find your second brother."

  At this time, my mother finally caught up from behind, panting heavily and shouting: "You old cow, if you dare to move the child a little bit, I'll never end with you."

  And my dad listened to my grandmother's words and turned around and left, just facing my mom head-on, my dad pushed my mom away with his hand and didn't say a word, he just went out the door.

  My mom saw my dad walk out with a look of dissatisfaction, and she wondered in her heart, but remembering that I hadn't been beaten, she didn't care about it anymore and just rushed into the house.

  Seeing tears streaming down behind my grandmother, I knew she was just scared, but didn't let my dad get his way. So I opened my mouth and asked my grandmother: "Mom, where did he go?"

  "I told him to call your second brother over, and I'll talk to him about this matter. This time, Sanzi is really muddled, why did he have to provoke that yellow-skinned person? Alas, that yellow-skinned person has a bad temper, if things go wrong, it will lead to disastrous consequences for three generations." My grandmother sighed and said.

  My mom also thought of it this time, knowing that I was worried about being beaten by my dad earlier and didn't think carefully. After hearing my grandmother's words, her face changed, and she sighed anxiously: "Mom, if the yellow skin really comes, what to do? This little brat is indeed not wrong for his father to be angry, it's just that he's looking for a beating."

  "You two are thinking of beating the child. This is fate, his grandfather told me before he died that Sanzi's life would be full of ups and downs, and calamities would not end. If we can get through all this, then everything will be fine, otherwise...". My grandmother didn't finish her sentence, but I already knew what she meant.

  Otherwise, it would be a return to the Yellow Springs and a return to the Netherworld.

  But I've never heard of this before, and even my mom just found out about it, so I curiously asked: "Mom, what's the deal with San having a calamity, how come I didn't know?"