Chapter 51: Faking It

On the way back to the village, there was not much conversation. After sending Su Rou home, Old Man Jiang and I went straight back to my house. Because of my mother’s deliberate promotion of the news, the villagers all knew within a day that Old Man Jiang had taken me as his godson. So it was no longer strange for him to come to our house often.

“Master Jiang, why did you come back with San Wa Er?” my mother asked in surprise when she saw us return. She could not understand how I had gone out to play and ended up meeting Old Man Jiang, who had gone out early in the morning.

“Xiuyun, are you feeling better?” Old Man Jiang did not rush to explain. Instead, he handed my mother a bundle of herbs. “I bought some medicinal herbs in town. Boil them and drink them.”

My mother was moved and took the herbs, not knowing how to thank him for a moment.

But Old Man Jiang seemed to see through her thoughts and waved his hand. “These herbs did not cost much effort or money. I know some people. Just boil them and drink. Has Second Sister woken up?”

“She has, she has. She woke up early,” my mother replied repeatedly.

Old Man Jiang nodded with a smile, genuinely pleased, and went to check on my Second Sister.

Dinner was eaten at my house. The whole family was lively and warm. I do not know when it started, but we had already begun to treat Old Man Jiang as family. At the dinner table I talked about the snake swarm, the snake spirit, and the underground stone gate, startling everyone in the house again and again.

Old Man Jiang did not mind. He simply drank cup after cup of sugarcane liquor. There was nothing my family did not already know about him, so he did not mind me speaking freely.

After I finished, he said, “Tonight I will go and guide the wandering souls there. Tomorrow I will find people in town and organize the villagers to relocate the graveyard. Even so, that place is still extremely unclean. Before the evil energy dissipates, only large structures can suppress it. So we must keep people away from there to prevent further trouble.”

“What is a large structure?” I asked after taking a bite of rice.

“A building with strong human presence, like a school. But we cannot take that risk. Let the evil energy disperse naturally,” Old Man Jiang said, clearly unwilling to talk much more about that place.

I originally wanted to ask about the hungry ghosts, but the thought of them eating people made me feel uneasy. Besides, I might not even encounter them, and I had my master protecting me, so I decided not to trouble myself further and simply did not ask.

After the meal, Old Man Jiang rested for a while. Soon after, several people came to the house. They were the soldiers from the small courtyard in town. Old Man Jiang said a few words about performing rites and guiding wandering souls, then prepared to leave with them.

I refused. He had promised to take me to guide the souls, so why was I not allowed to go now?

Old Man Jiang glared at me and said loudly, “Tomorrow you go to school properly. I almost forgot you still have school.”

With that, he turned and left. My whole family was left speechless. It turned out that after two days of following him around, he had genuinely forgotten I still had to go to school.

But that was fine. My parents visibly relaxed. No matter what storms existed outside, in their hearts knowledge was still something to be respected. Seeing my studies taken seriously was a good thing.

Besides, I had just become Old Man Jiang’s disciple and had not learned any real skills yet. In my parents’ eyes, things involving ghosts and spirits were beyond human control, and it was better if I stayed out of them for now.

Old Man Jiang stayed busy for a full week. I attended school in the market town, so I naturally heard what he was doing. He was helping the villagers relocate graves.

I did not know how he guided the wandering souls that night, but the next afternoon the town leaders announced that the graveyard area would be turned into a village hall, and villagers were asked to move the graves.

In short, leaders always had their way of calming public opinion. By the next afternoon, people had already started moving graves. Old Man Jiang helped throughout the entire process. Unclaimed solitary graves also had to be handled.

Since my school was nearby, I would run over after class every afternoon to find him. But he would not let me approach the grave relocation site.

“Master, I want to take a look,” I said. I did not know what was wrong with me. After encountering these things, I became extremely interested in anything related to them.

“Look at nothing. You already know you are prone to attracting those things.”

“But you already guided the wandering souls away, right?”

“Guiding them away is one thing. But some spirits cannot enter reincarnation just like that. Before that, they will still return to their yin dwelling for a period of time. You understand nothing. Do not go, do not go. There are too many things to consider in grave relocation. Stop causing trouble.”

Just like that, I was firmly excluded. I could only watch from afar, curious and frustrated, unable to see anything. It even made me lose interest in studying.

Another week passed. We had a math test in class. I scored 64 in math, and worse still, I came last in Chinese with 56. I broke out in a cold sweat. This time I was doomed. I would definitely face my father’s iron fist again.

I started thinking of countermeasures, but unexpectedly there was someone even more terrifying waiting for me than my father. That person was Old Man Jiang.

“San Wa Er, how about… you just do not tell your father about the exam?” Su Rou suggested.

This guy usually had average grades too, but this time he at least got two scores in the 80s. Even if he got scolded, he would not get beaten like me. It was easy for him to talk.

“Nonsense. You think your parents will not find out when your results come out? Even if you do not say anything, Liu Chunyan will. She got full marks in both subjects this time. Do you think her mother, that loudmouth, will not spread it? Within an hour the whole village will know,” I said irritably. Every time I thought of Liu Chunyan, I got angry. Half the times I got beaten, it was indirectly because of her.

Su Rou had no better ideas either. He sat with me by the roadside for a long time in silence. Then suddenly I thought of a plan and dragged him straight to the small supply and marketing cooperative in the market town.

I still had a few cents of pocket money now and then. Even as a rural kid, my capable father did not treat us badly. Occasionally I still got a bit of money.

But there was not much to buy in the market town. Even snack sellers carrying baskets only appeared once in a while. Somehow I had saved eight cents. Now it could be put to good use.

“San Wa Er, what are you doing?” Su Rou asked, confused.

“I borrowed my eldest sister’s fountain pen a couple of days ago and have not returned it. Now I am going to buy a bottle of red ink. All in,” I said as I walked quickly.

Su Rou knew me too well. He immediately guessed what I intended. His whole body started shaking with excitement.

When he was excited or scared, he always did that.

“San Wa Er, you mean you are going to change your score?” Su Rou asked uncertainly. He was probably shaking because the idea was too thrilling for him.

“Yeah. What else can we do?” I gritted my teeth.

Red ink cost five cents a bottle. I bought it. I cleaned out the blue ink from my sister’s pen, filled it with red ink, practiced for a long time, then finally, with trembling hands and a pounding heart, I altered my math score to 84. My Chinese score of 56 was harder to fix, so I simply added an 8 and made it 85.6.

Su Rou also joined in. He had originally scored 81 in math, but for some reason, maybe just for excitement, he insisted on changing his score to 87.

“Are you crazy?” I could not understand him. Why add exactly six points?

“Hey, brothers share the same fate,” he said with a silly grin.

And so I committed fraud, walking home with a nervous heart.

As soon as I entered the house, I saw my father standing there, looking serious.

“You had exams, right? Results are out, right? What did you score?” he asked.

My face twitched. “Dad, how did you know we had exams… and that results were already out?”

“Nonsense. Liu Chunyan got full marks in both subjects. Her mother already came to our house to brag. What about you?” my father said with an unfriendly expression, clearly provoked by her mother’s visit.