Chapter 59: Mystical Past Events (1)

I was immediately startled. Not just my master? Could it be that our lineage was actually flourishing? Why had I never seen anyone else besides my master?

Seeing my expression, my master knew I was full of questions again. He said, “Do not ask. I will tell you slowly. Go make two cups of tea.”

I quickly nodded and busied myself for a while before bringing over two cups of clear tea.

In the rising steam of the hot tea, my master unfolded the mysterious scroll of the past of our lineage for me.

My master was born in 1912, in Hunan. As for exactly which part of Hunan, even he did not know, because in those chaotic times the country was in great turmoil, life was extremely hard, and there were many orphans with no parents or relatives. My master was one of them.

Without parents, and not even knowing who his relatives were, he was abandoned in a small village at birth. This kind of situation was very common at the time. Fortunately, he was picked up and taken in by an old man who herded cattle in the village.

That old man was completely alone, the kind who had only himself to feed and no family ties at all. Taking in my master as an adopted son was actually quite suitable for him.

Life was very hard. The old man was extremely poor, and the only thing he could feed my master was rice gruel. Yet my master still managed to survive stubbornly. The two depended on each other, and although poor, they lived in relative peace.

But misfortune struck. When my master was eight years old, the old cattle herder died, and he died miserably, beaten to death alive, all because his cow accidentally ate a mouthful of vegetables from someone else’s field.

Originally, it was a small matter. The old man had already driven the cow away quickly. But fate had already decided that this calamity would befall him, and because of it he was beaten to death. Even his only old yellow cow was stolen.

The reason was that the field belonged to the village tyrant Liu San.

And this entire scene just happened to be witnessed by Liu San.

Liu San was a thug, lazy and vicious, surviving every day by loafing, stealing chickens, and petty scams. Later, because he could no longer get by in that small village, he simply went out into the world to make his way.

No one in the village knew what happened to him outside. They only knew that when he returned, he had become disabled. Normally, that would have inspired sympathy, but Liu San did not need sympathy. He returned in glory.

Because he was escorted back by a military unit. In those days there were bandits everywhere, warlords everywhere, and ordinary people could not distinguish between different armed forces. They only knew to fear them.

So returning with a military escort made Liu San seem like someone who had returned in triumph.

It was said that he had become disabled because he saved an important person in the military and was rewarded in return.

After he came back, the soldiers gave notice to the entire village that Liu San was one of theirs. Anyone who dared to disrespect him would be shot. They also forcibly seized a great deal of land from the villagers and took the house of a minor landlord and gave it to Liu San.

They further ordered those whose land had been taken to work for Liu San. Using this, Liu San transformed from a small-time thug into the tyrant of the village. Not only that, he also gained the reputation of a local notable and was even said to have connections with important figures in town.

Who in the village would dare provoke such a person? Faced with Liu San’s tyranny, everyone could only swallow their anger.

The old cattle herder was just a poor old man living alone. How could he stand against Liu San?

After he accidentally let the cow eat a bit of vegetables, he apologized repeatedly, bowing and scraping, even begging for forgiveness and compensation. Liu San was obsessed with money. If someone took even a single blade of grass from him, he would demand an entire cart of firewood in return.

But Liu San did not accept the old man’s submission. He had no sympathy, and even less respect for the elderly. He set his eyes on the old man’s cow and demanded that it be used as compensation.

There was no reasoning with such a person. And now he had a pretext.

The old cattle herder lived by raising cattle for the villagers. That cow was his only possession. How could he bear to give it up?

Moreover, he had lived with that old cow for seven years, and they were deeply bonded. During busy farming seasons, when he led the cow out to help with work and saw it exhausted, he would even cry from heartache.

For Liu San to seize that cow was like taking his life.

Begging was useless. Kneeling was useless. Even a clay man has three points of anger. The old man finally erupted and said, “You already have so much money. Why do you still want to take my only cow?”

That was his only resistance in life. And because of that single sentence, he paid with his life.

Liu San was used to dominating the village. When had anyone ever spoken to him like that? Especially a lonely old man with only one other person in his household?

So Liu San’s henchmen moved in and beat the old man viciously. In the end, Liu San himself was still unsatisfied. He stomped heavily on the old man’s chest several times. Those kicks crushed the old man to death.

Seeing that someone had been beaten to death, his subordinates were somewhat frightened. But Liu San acted as if nothing had happened and shouted, “What are you afraid of? I have seen plenty of dead people in the army. Leave him there. Someone will clean up the body. Take the cow back.”

And indeed, someone did come to collect the body. That person was my master.

When villagers came to tell him what had happened, my master could hardly believe it. The old man had been so honest, yet he was beaten to death by Liu San. That was the only relative he had left in this world.

The villagers sympathized with my master. They helped arrange a simple coffin for the burial and also handed the cattle herding work to him so that he would have a way to survive.

But a seed of hatred had already been planted in his heart.

During this time, another thing worth mentioning also happened. The cow that Liu San took back, on the very day it was brought home, broke out of the cattle pen, injured three people, and trampled one to death.

Strangely enough, all those people were the ones who had beaten the old man that day.

In the end, Liu San ordered the cow to be slaughtered. The meat was eaten, and whatever could not be finished was sold in town.

After handling the old man’s funeral, my master secretly went to the back gate of Liu San’s courtyard. He cried for the cow and burned some spirit money. People always say animals are just animals, but even animals have feelings. Some humans are not even as good as animals. Liu San was such a person.

Two more years passed in this dull, unchanging way. My master’s life remained poor and laborious. The only change was that his hatred for Liu San grew deeper and deeper.

My master swore that when he grew up, he would take revenge. But in those two years, Liu San’s life only became more prosperous. His power grew stronger, even spreading harm to neighboring villages.

Was it really true that good people do not live long while evil lives forever?

My master began to question the world itself. He thought that when he turned eighteen and had greater strength, he would find an opportunity to perish together with Liu San.

The old man had been extremely kind to him. How could such a debt not be repaid?

My master had planned the rest of his life only up to the age of eighteen.

If things had followed the normal course of history, his best possible ending would have been to die together with Liu San. But what makes history fascinating is often its unpredictability.

A year later, one day, several people arrived in the village, and my master’s major turning point in life arrived.

To be precise, three people came that day: two young men and an old man. They had been invited by another respectable family in the village. That family had once produced a provincial graduate scholar.

Because of this, they were considered an influential family in the village.

Unlike Liu San, this family could be considered scholarly and respectable. They had some wealth and status but were not arrogant. They did not bully villagers and would occasionally help others. They had even been the largest financial contributor to the old man’s burial.

Yet despite being such a good family, strange events kept happening in their household, throwing everything into chaos. In contrast, Liu San continued to live freely and unchecked. This was another reason my master had developed such a bitter and cynical outlook at the time.