Chapter 6: Buddha's Hand

  A big and rough-looking man with a dark face came out from inside, saw us, was stunned for a moment, then suddenly knelt down on the ground. I was so frightened that I took a big step back, almost falling to the ground, but Mr. Bai quickly supported me with his hand.

  The Bai family's gift for meeting is a bit too grand!

  "Mr. Bai, thank you so much for coming." The dark-faced man bowed to Mr. Bai, it turned out that he was respectful of Mr. Bai. Mr. Bai nodded slightly, and only then did he stand up, trying to get close to me, "You're Yanhe, right? You look even more beautiful than in the photos, you've grown into a big girl. Come here, Uncle will give you a hug..." He said as he rushed towards me. I quickly dodged back, and at the same time, Mr. Bai stretched out his hand to block him, saying coldly, "Bai Shaoyu, let's go inside first."

  My grandfather chuckled a few times, repeatedly saying "good good good", and as he led us into the house, he glanced at me. This gaze was all too familiar to me, I had seen it countless times in my dreams. It was a longing that could never be fulfilled.

  I'm his own niece, how could he have thoughts about me! It's really outrageous!

  Grandma's house is a three-story building, with a small corridor in front and a large courtyard behind. The eldest uncle and his wife live on the second floor, while the two sons live on the third floor, but it has been empty since they both work outside. Grandma lives on the first floor, leaning against the kitchen to the left and the yard to the back.

  I hadn't even approached Grandma's room when I smelled the strong smell of Chinese medicine. Pushing open the door, there was only about ten square meters inside, and it was pitch black. Turning on the light made it slightly clearer. The room wasn't messy, with just a bed and a cabinet, and on top of the cabinet was an earthen pot with some dark medicinal residue inside; on the bed lay a frail old lady, who saw us come in and opened her cloudy eyes, trying to get up, but her body was too weak, and she could only barely lift her head for a second or two before falling back onto the pillow. The pillow made a dull thud sound, and I guessed it was filled with Job's tears. Old people liked using Job's tears instead of silk or cotton as filling for pillows, saying that sleeping on them could relieve emotions and cure insomnia.

  Great Uncle walked two steps to the bedside and knelt down on both knees: "Mom, your precious granddaughter has come to see you."

  I got a chill, and my uncle is really kneeling down to talk without hurting his waist. And darling! Can't you come see me for 15 years? Don't you even know what I look like?

  The white-haired boss gently pushed me: "Cover her yintang with your hand."

  "I won't!" I glared at him and stood still. My uncle turned around, staring at me tightly, and I chuckled, "I'm only doing this because of my grandmother's face, sending three talismans to save her life for three days, don't think about having any ideas about me."

  The sound of footsteps came from the doorway, and a loud female voice shouted: "Hey, little girl, aren't you afraid of losing your good fortune by saying that?" I turned my head to look, and a woman with short hair, around fifty years old, walked in. She was holding a chamber pot, and as she passed by me, she deliberately rubbed the chamber pot against my clothes, making me feel disgusted.

  The woman put the chamber pot under grandma's bed and turned back to me, "Are you a relative? Are you surnamed Bai?"

  I pursed my lips and didn't say anything.

  She knelt down in front of the bed, just like her elder brother, grasped her grandmother's hand and suddenly burst into earth-shattering sobs. "Mother! I've been married to Bai Shaoyu for over thirty years, suffered so much hardship, eaten so much bitterness... now I still have to watch this little girl's every move... what sin has our Bai family committed? Our children are all unfilial, Mother is almost dying and she's still putting on airs! The Bai family has many sons and daughters, but not one of them has come back to visit their mother. It's been us taking care of Mother for the past half year since she fell ill... Heaven, please open your eyes and take a look!" I swallowed my saliva, so this woman was actually my aunt. For over ten years, they had never thought of me, but now they were acting as if I was the one who had run away from home.

  I turned my head to look at Old White, and saw that his handsome face was covered with a bitter expression, which made me feel that the scene was somewhat comical.

  "Alright, stop crying!" I took a step forward.

  As soon as she heard this, she wailed even louder, saying that I was ignoring her as an elder and had no manners at all. My uncle yelled at her, "Lazy wife, stop yelling! In all these years, what injustice has the Bai family done to you? Quickly move aside and let Yanhe take a look at Mother's illness." My aunt sobbed and moved out of the way.

  I'm not going to cure the illness or anything, I just followed Director Bai's instructions and walked over to the bed, putting my right hand on Grandma's forehead. Her forehead was very cool, like she had just taken a cold shower. Grandma stared at me with her eyes wide open, wanting to say something, but her mouth opened and closed without making a sound. After sticking there for a few seconds, I was about to get up when Director Bai pressed down on my shoulder and said, "Not enough, continue."

  "Oh." I did as I was told and placed my hand on Grandma's forehead.

  Maybe my hand can make grandma feel better, grandma is being haunted by a paper fetus ghost, my hand can drive away evil spirits.

  That sentence just now, no matter whether grandma lives or dies, is at most just a moment of anger. This life's first time being so intimate with grandma, there are some emotions that can't be expressed. As the ancients said: Blood is thicker than water. She has always been my own grandma, and I am after all a member of the Bai family.

  Like this with his hand stuck to his forehead for about a moment, Old White finally said okay.

  I stood up straight and took a step forward, but fell flat on my butt. My legs are numb!

  Grandfather and grandmother hurriedly knelt down beside the bed, holding grandma's hand and asking if she was feeling any better. Old White stretched out his hand to me, and I pulled him up with a grasp of his hand.

  They say a family that doesn't enter together can't leave together, but this couple is really something! When they need me, they're all smiles and ask for my help, now look at them, they don't even care if I fall to the ground.

  "I asked Old White: 'Is that all? Don't need to burn any more talismans at night? When are we going back?' Old White was taken aback, with a hint of amusement in his eyes. 'Your hands can only make evil spirits fearful, they're not miracle-working holy hands. Burn one more talisman tonight and we'll talk about it tomorrow.' Then he turned around and walked out of the house, I quickly followed him: 'If my hands can't drive away the paper fetus ghost on her body and save her life, why are you still making me do this?'"

  "Control your breath."

  "Whose fault is it? The paper boat still has air?"

  "People have souls, which are made of energy. The paper fetus ghost dares not to remove it, what you want to prevent is..."

  Old White said to this point, suddenly from grandma's room came the sound of Big Aunt weeping loudly: "Mom! How could you leave at such a young age? I haven't even had a chance to take care of you yet!"

  Then came the loud scolding voice of Eldest Uncle in a lowered tone: "Lazy hag! What filial piety do you have? Your mother was driven to death by you!"

  "White Shaoyu, you heartless thing," Great Aunt retorted in a low voice, "how could I have driven your mother to death?"

  "Is that so? You can't bear the thought of mom dying, it's because mom has a pension of 1,700 yuan every month. If not, mom would have been killed by you long ago."

  "Keep your voice down, that girl is still outside the door, don't let her hear you. I want those pension funds, don't you? You don't want them, yet you're trying every means to cure mom? Now it looks like mom only has two days left, and you still haven't called Zhongyu and Zhongshan, isn't that because you're afraid they'll come back and divide up the death compensation?"

  "Whatever, whatever, I'm not going to bother with you anymore. My mom is already dead, what can we do about it?"

  "What can be done? We're all going to die, tell the brothers to come back!" The elder aunt finished speaking in a low voice and then resumed her loud tone, "Ma... my poor mother... waaahhh..."

  I exchanged a glance with Old White, stood for a moment, then pushed open the door and entered.

  The old master stepped forward, placed his hand on Grandma's wrist, and flipped open her eyelids. Only then did he say, "It's nothing, just a faint sleep." He instructed me, "Every night, burn an incantation, remember to fill in her birthdate and eight characters, I'll go into town to buy some things." As he walked out of the house, I pulled his arm, "I want to go with you." He shook his head, "If she wakes up, just cover your forehead with your hand, otherwise, wait for me to come back."

  I stood still, watching Mr. Bai walk away, and couldn't help feeling a chill in my heart.

  Compared with these few relatives, Boss Bai is more like a relative of mine. How to say it? Being with him makes me feel safer.

  Although my uncle is my own uncle, his eyes always look at me strangely; and also my aunt, who pretends to be one way in front of people, but turns her face around in an instant.

  I thought and thought, but at our first meeting, I didn't know what to say, so I just stood there in a daze, awkwardly passing the time until evening. We casually ate something, and before we knew it, it was already 10 o'clock at night. Boss Bai still hadn't returned, and after waiting another hour, he still wasn't back. I was left here, like an abandoned little dog, worried and anxious.

  My aunt had already gone to sleep, and my uncle quietly went downstairs: "Yihe, are you tired? Uncle has cleaned up the third floor for you, go take a nap, when Old White returns I'll come back up to call you." I was really too tired, usually going to bed after 8 o'clock, so I agreed and followed Uncle upstairs.

  The room is quite clean, with a white and blue striped sheet on the bed.

  Thank you, Uncle. I opened the quilt and prepared to take off my shoes and sleep. Turning my head, I saw that Uncle's eyes were shining brightly as he stared at me. My heart tightened, and I pretended to have a reason to walk over to the window.

  If Uncle dared to have any evil intentions, I could wake up Aunt with just one shout.

  The old man chuckled and showed his yellow teeth: "That, Jihuo, you go to sleep first, I'm leaving."

  "Wait a minute, Uncle." I called out to him and opened the package, taking out the symbol that my grandmother had given me. "I'm not familiar with Grandma's birth eight characters, can you help fill them in?"

  The elder uncle seemed a bit disappointed, but quickly filled out the form and handed it to me. He took three steps back, turned his head and walked out. I hurriedly closed the door and locked the latch, then moved a computer desk in front of the door to block it.