Chapter 24: Disaster Strikes from Heaven

  Feng Shiyu's family lived on the edge of a public land in the center of the village. They were not considered one of the richest families in Chengguan Village, at most they were just a wealthy peasant. They had dozens of acres of land and employed three long-term workers and an old servant named Wang Shoulin. Their life was relatively affluent.

  That morning, Feng Shiyu, as usual, instructed the old servant to take his son to school in the county town and told him to take good care of his son. He also repeatedly warned him to be careful on the way and not to linger on the road after school, but to hurry back home.

  The old servant found that his master was acting strangely today, talking endlessly as if something big was going to happen. This puzzled him. For the past two years, young Master Feng had been attending school in the county town, and it was usually he who took him there every morning, had lunch at the school, and sometimes even took him to a restaurant across from the school for a snack, all as instructed by Old Master Feng, with the money provided by Old Master Feng. In the afternoons, when school let out, he would pick up young Master Feng and they would return home together. Nothing unusual had ever happened before.

  Although the world has been chaotic in recent years, with wars and bandits rampant everywhere. However, this side of Dazhu is still relatively peaceful, and there have been few cases of soldiers and bandits harming local villagers. So, people are not too worried about public safety. Every day, many people from Chengguan Village go to the county town to do business, mostly leaving in the morning and returning in the evening. Nothing has ever happened on this road that is very close to the county town.

  Of course, the old servant did not understand. Feng Shiyu was not like that. This morning when he got up, he felt his right eyelid jumping non-stop. The most superstitious of him believed in the folk saying: Left eye jumps, wealth and treasure come. Right eye jumps, disaster comes. This early morning, the right eyelid jumped, it seemed not a good omen.

  Waiting for his wife to finish making breakfast, the whole family ate and it was time to send their son Feng Dengke to school in the county town. The old servant Wang Shoulin prepared the horse as usual, packed the study supplies into the saddle bag on the horse's back, and helped the young master onto the horse. Just as they were about to leave, Feng Shiyu suddenly felt a pang of anxiety in his heart. It was like an empty leather ball, feeling hollow and uncomfortable.

  Seeing his servant Wang Shoulin leading the horse as usual, sending his son into the city, he was like a nagging old woman, constantly reminding the old servant Wang Shoulin to take good care of his son and come back early.

  Until Wang Shoulin guaranteed with his hoarse voice that he would safely send his son to the city and bring him back, Feng Shuyou finally put down his heart and returned home.

  It's no wonder he is so careful, Feng Dengke is his only son and also the child of his later years. He naturally regards his son as his treasure, not tolerating any mistakes. When he was young, his daughter-in-law had poor health and did not give birth for a long time, until she was over 40, she gave birth to such an intelligent and lovely son, like a precious gold, how could he not be delighted?

  After his son left, for the whole morning, Feng Shiyu felt that his right eyelid kept twitching. This annoyed him, so he found a slightly larger Sichuan pepper and pressed it against his eyelid, supposedly this would stop the twitching.

  His wife saw that Feng Shiyu was restless and asked: "Dear husband, what's wrong with you? Is there anything uncomfortable?"

  "Hey, I don't know what's going on, but today my eyelid has been twitching a lot and I feel anxious in my heart. Hopefully nothing bad will happen." Feng Shiyu said to his wife.

  "Your eyelid is twitching, that's because you didn't sleep well and were thinking nonsense. Nothing will happen to our family. Go take a nap, it'll be fine." His wife said to him.

  "I couldn't sleep, and I'm still sleeping, but my heart is racing with anxiety. I just worry that the child will go to the county town and something will happen." Feng Shiyu said.

  "Don't worry about what might happen to our daughter, everything will be fine. You're just thinking too much. Come on, I'll go sleep with you for a while." The wife pushed and pulled Feng Shiyu back into the inner room.

  The day passed quickly, and by the time it was late at night, the sky had darkened, but still no sign of the old servant and son returning. Feng Shiyu couldn't sit still anymore, so he said to his wife: "It's so late, Guan Lin and Deng Ke haven't come back yet. What's going on?"

  The wife looked up at the sky, furrowed her brow, and with a solemn expression on her face, said to Feng Shiyu: "Old man, go take a look. That's right, usually they would have returned early today. What's going on?"

  Feng Shiyu paced out of the courtyard, came to the village entrance, and anxiously looked around for a long time, but didn't see the old servant Wang Shoulin and his son Feng Dengke's figure. The villagers who went to the city to do business in the morning all returned one after another. Looking at it, there were fewer people on the main road leading to the county town from the village. Feng Shiyu became more worried about his son.

  "What's going on, what kind of ghost are you playing with? It's so late and you still haven't come back, the sky is already dark. You, Wang Shoulin, where have you run off to? Wait till I deal with you tonight." Feng Shiyong scolded his old servant Wang Shoulin, and asked the people returning to the village if they had seen them on the road, but they all shook their heads and said they hadn't seen them.

  Feng Shiyu waited anxiously at the village entrance for a long time, but didn't see the two figures, so he could only dejectedly return home.

  As soon as he entered the courtyard, his wife came up to him: "Are you back?" she asked anxiously.

  "Come back to a ghost. This Wang Shoulin, what the hell is he doing, taking the kid there, it's so late and still not back, just wait until he gets back, I'll scold him to death." Feng Shiyu said with a huff.

  The couple sat by the kerosene lamp, waiting for two hours, but still didn't see their son return home. Feng Shiyu got up and carried the kerosene lamp outside, walked to the gate of the courtyard, stretched out his hand to open the door, lowered his head, and found a white object on the ground. He bent down to pick it up, and under the light of the kerosene lamp in his hands, he saw that it was a letter written with a brush pen. The envelope read: "To be delivered to Mr. Feng of Chengguan Village". There was no signature.

  Feng Shiyu felt puzzled, he looked around and didn't see the messenger's shadow, so he stood at the gate, opened the letter, and read it under the kerosene lamp.

  The letter was written like this.

  "Respectfully for Mr. Feng Lao's inspection:"

  We are bandits from Mount Huashan, passing through your village and short of funds. We specially ask you to lend us 50 silver dollars. Hope the esteemed elder gentleman won't be stingy and quickly gather the 50 silver dollars, pack them up, and before the first watch, put them under an old elm tree near the bamboo forest at the south end of the village.

  Your son is in our hands. If you want to keep your son's life, don't report to the authorities and don't send anyone to follow or spy on us. If you don't comply with these conditions, tomorrow morning, go to the rice fields outside the village to collect your son's corpse. We are men of our word, do as we say and we guarantee not to harm your son's life, tomorrow morning, your son will return home safely.

  If you want your son's life, hurry up and do what we say.

  The letter ended abruptly without a signature.

  After reading this letter, Feng Shiyu shouted; "My Deng Kuo's daughter." Suddenly he fainted and fell down at the door, dying.

  "Old man, what's wrong with you? What happened? Old man, wake up!" Hearing the noise at the door, Feng Shiyu's wife rushed to the entrance, looked down and saw Feng Shiyu lying on the ground, the kerosene lamp in his hand also fell to the ground. Not knowing what had happened, she hurriedly called out to the people in the house: "Quickly come and see, the old man has fainted!"

  In the Feng family courtyard, there were still three long workers living in their house. That evening, the long workers had just returned from the fields and were preparing to eat dinner when they heard the voice of the master's wife at the gate, unaware of what had happened, put down the rice bowls in their hands, and ran out from the back yard.

  "What's wrong with Master? What's wrong with Master?" The three long workers asked, surrounding Old Master.

  "I don't know either. Your old master just came out and fell to the ground. Waaahhhh..." The wife started crying.

  An older, experienced long worker came forward to help Feng Shuyou up. He pinched the acupoint and rubbed the temples, and before long, Feng Shuyou took a deep breath and woke up. As soon as he opened his eyes, he stretched out his hands and cried out: "My son! My son!"

  "What's happened to our son?" Feng Youcai's wife stopped crying and hastily asked, embracing him.

  Feng Youcai shook the letter in his hand and cried out: "He's been taken by bandits. My son!"

  His wife heard this and her body went limp, collapsing onto the ground.

  The workers helped, supporting the old couple into the house, and they sat on the armchairs for a long time before catching their breath.

  Three fellow workers took turns persuading the old couple, and the old couple finally calmed down a bit.

  Feng Youcai took the letter in his hand and read it again to his wife and three long workers. Several people were at a loss.

  The older farm worker listened to the letter and thought for a moment before saying, "Master, it's still better to think of a way to raise the silver dollars. First, let's ransom back your son and then talk about other things. Those bandits are all ruthless and merciless. You only have this one son. If you lose him, what use is having more money? Let's just follow what the letter says, give them the silver dollars, and get your son back safely."

  Feng Shiyu nodded and said: "It's the only way to do it. I hope those damned bandits, after taking our silver dollars, won't harm my child."

  Earlier, Feng Shiyu followed the requirements written by Ma Fei and gathered 50 silver dollars. He personally came to the old elm tree at the south edge of the village, where he put a cloth bag containing 50 silver coins under the tree.