Chapter 6: Side Effec (1/2)
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At this moment, my mother got to understand that her mother-in-law was helping her deal with the problem between her and her husband! She quickly pointed at my father's forehead. ”You heartless man! Mother is waiting for your reply. How dare you go to the soldier's home to play! ”
My father finally understood what was going on. As the azure and violet color on my body gradually darkened, my crying voice became louder and louder, he gritted his teeth, and kneeled on the ground, kowtowing to my grandmother before lowering his head and saying, ”Mom, your son will not gamble anymore. If I do it once more, I'll chop off both my hands!”
”Well,” my grandmother looked at my father and said, ”Go out into the yard and get some straw!”
Straw was common in the countryside, which was mainly used for lighting. Because dry firewood was not easy to light, people usually first lit straw and then put dry firewood in, and in this way, dry firewood can easily be set on fire.
My father ran out. When my grandmother saw he brought with a pile of straw in, she was quite shocked. “Are you going to set this house on fire?”
My father chuckled, ”I don't know what it's used for, so I just took more …”
My grandmother didn't say anything more. She took some straw, put them on the ground, struck a match, lit the straw. She muttered something when she was holding naked me and passed me over the fire. It was amazing that as soon as I got over the fire I stopped crying and the black marks on my body began to fade and soon disappeared.
It was a false alarm, and I finally came back to life.
I knew the story since I could remember. With this story, my family often teased my father about his gambling history. When I was young, I didn't think much of it, but when I grew up, I was actually quite moved. My grandmother used her grandson to teach her son, and when I was just born, she let my father know that he couldn't play as much as those young men did, that he had to sacrifice something for the family. My father really stopped gambling from then on. Although this kind of sacrifice was simple, I knew that it wasn't easy for him.
”What's wrong with that? Is it over? Could it be that our ancestor is always following me? He has his own house in the Underworld.” I looked at Yan, not really understanding why he mentioned this.
”Hmm, does he?” Yan looked at me, ”If it's not that your granny doesn't know, it's that she's intentionally hiding it from you guys. She should know that even if we walk on the small path at night, your great-grandfather would not come back with your father for no reason. He was so old, and you already said that it's good to stay at his place. It was not a Ghost Festival Day, and there was no protection from the extreme Yin’s barrier between Heaven and Earth. So why did he take the risk of being killed to see you, a great-grandson that he’d never seen.”
”So, what's that?” I had never thought about it this way before, and I didn’t blame myself for it. How do I know about the mysteries of yin and yang?
”And, has the black handprint on your body disappeared? There isn't a trace of it on your body? ”
”This...” I suddenly felt like I couldn't breathe. I swallowed a mouthful of saliva and subconsciously covered a part of my body. ”My mom told me that's a birthmark …”
Just as Yan was about to answer, the TV in front of me suddenly turned on automatically, showing a faint blue light with “no input signal” words. Yan looked at me strangely and asked, ”What are you looking for?”
”The remote control. I might accidentally touch the remote control and turn it on. The blue light makes me uncomfortable, so I'm going to turn it off …” I kept searching. The most magical thing in the world was that you couldn't find an item that was clearly a meter away from you.
”Stop it.” Yan said as he shook his head in the mirror. ”Your TV seems to not work. It has been turned on many times for no reason in recent days. I often get woken up by it. But anyway, the programs are really good.“
”Even ghosts have to sleep …” I muttered in a low voice. I found the remote control, and turned off the TV before continuing the conversation, ”About the birthmark on my body, my mom told me it’s on my body since I was a kid.”
”That's what your grandmother told your parents.” Yan stood up and looked at me, causing me to immediately retreat backwards. ”Do you want to know what actually happened that night?”
I looked at him and wanted to shake my head, but for some reason, I nodded out of nowhere.
”This is you who ask me to tell, thus you have to bear the consequences.” Yan looked at me and sighed, ”He's also a pitiful person.”
”That night, the one who came back with your father was not your great-grandfather at all, but your younger brother, the one who died before he was even born. When the twin babies were born, it was not certain who was who, and it was thought that your brother should reincarnate into your body, but by a coincidence, it turned out that you had reincarnated into your body. It was actually nothing. It was the first 7th night for your brother, and he originally wanted to return to the mortal world to have a look at you from afar. After all, your mother conceived you two for ten months, and he was your brother, so he wanted to do this before reincarnating.”
”In the end, on that night, who would know your father would rush back from the small path. At the same time, your brother was just there by your great-grandfather's grave. When he saw his biological father, who, after all, had given birth to him, he couldn't help but cry as he followed him. Your great-grandfather felt pity for his great-grandson, and was afraid that the strong wind would blow away your brother's soul, so he was protecting and pulling him along the way, but just like that, your brother came to your house with your father. When they entered, they were stunned. Your great-grandfather saw the family, his former son, his grandchildren, and his grandchildren's wife. All kinds of feelings welled up in his heart, and your brother hugged you when your great-grandfather did not notice it.”
”If it's someone else, it'll be fine. Newborns have their own protections so that external evils will not enter the extremely Yang bodies of newborns when they are younger than forty-nine days. However, you are an Imbedding Body, and furthermore, you are a so unique Imbedding Body. Your brother just wanted to give you a hug before returning, but in the end he directly drilled into your body! And the place where he inbedded you was right in your brain. As long as your brother's soul returns to the body, both of you will die. The bruises on your body were not so much caused by your great-grandfather holding on to you, but more like it was caused by your great-grandfather holding on to your brother, wanting to pull him out of your body … ”
”Unfortunately, it's been too late. No matter how hard he tried, a portion of your brother's soul still remained on your body, so there are still some bruises on your body. Rather than say it's a bruise or a birthmark, it's more accurate to say that it's a part of your brother's soul … ”
After Yan finished speaking, he looked at me in the mirror, as if he was waiting for me to speak.
I was already stunned at this time. No matter how much imagination I had, it was impossible for me to imagine that there would be such a thing, and for a moment, I didn't know what to say. Seeing I did not speak, Yan continued:
”Originally, the mark should be on your head, but your brother knew that this disaster was caused by him that he did not control himself well, so he knelt on the ground and begged me to move the birthmark to a different place. Otherwise, if there is a mark on your face in your entire life, you would be looked down upon and mocked by others. For this reason, he would like to not reincarnate in one hundred years and would atone for it in the Underworld.”
”Originally, everything was fine. But a while ago, I talked to you about something while I was working on taking a soul, and I found it interesting. After your brother found out about this, he asked me to come see you more.“
”Ahh, this is each single thing has its own destiny. How would I know that I would be like this because of meeting you and your younger brother.”
Yan looked at himself and laughed bitterly.