In the ward, Chen Dawei, whose soul had just returned, was leaning against his pillow with a sallow complexion, staring blankly.
After all, he had been in a coma for a full week. It was normal to feel absent-minded or have difficulty concentrating as he recovered from a serious illness.
Yan Shouyi sat by Chen Dawei's bedside. Chen Dawei didn't react until Yan Shouyi took the initiative to greet him, which startled him awake.
"Ah, Shouyi."
Yan Shouyi looked at Chen Dawei, then reached out to massage his arm. "Uncle Chen, you've been in a coma for a week. Your blood and qi circulation in your limbs and body have been poor. You'll need to get massages frequently afterward to avoid any long-term complications."
Chen Dawei looked at Yan Shouyi and gave a kind smile. "It's been so many years since we last met. In the blink of an eye, that little brat who loved to play with feces has grown so big."
Yan Shouyi paused in his movements and forced an awkward smile. "Uncle Chen, heroes don't talk about their past glories."
"You were quite brave back then, weren't you? Setting off firecrackers in the outhouse, peeking at the widow bathing, kicking tombstones – whatever was most wicked, you did it. I find it quite incredible that you managed to grow up safe and sound..."
Yan Shouyi: "..."
They hadn't seen each other for many years, but the moment they started talking, countless memories flooded back, as if they were transported back to over a decade ago, to that time in Chenjia Village.
As they chatted, Yan Shouyi lost track of time. While massaging Chen Dawei's calf, he noticed the scar on his leg.
Back then, after Chen Dawei's son died in a car accident, Chen Dawei broke his leg while visiting his son's grave due to excessive grief. That's why he was still lame.
"Uncle Chen, your leg... alas, it is we who have wronged you."
The two fell into a long silence.
Finally, Chen Dawei let out a long sigh and turned his head to look at the setting sun outside the window.
He murmured to himself, "During my coma, I had a dream, a very long dream. In the dream, I returned to Chenjia Village. My son, that rascal, had successfully graduated from university and drove his BMW back to the village to visit me. I took him to my house for a meal. Your grandfather was sitting in the courtyard, puffing on his water pipe, and your father slaughtered the most spirited rooster in the village. You, with tears in your eyes, gnawed on a chicken leg and said it was delicious..."
"The life in the dream was too beautiful, so beautiful that I didn't dare to believe it was real, didn't dare to linger, didn't dare to hope... I used to hate your father deeply, but in the years since leaving Chenjia Village, I've gradually come to understand many things. Although there's a big age gap between your father and me, we share one common identity – father. If it were me, I would have done those things for you too. Moreover, everything that happened was what I owed him. Strictly speaking, my son's death was ultimately my fault."
Yan Shouyi stood frozen, as if struck by lightning.
He couldn't understand what Chen Dawei was saying.
Everything his father did back then, which caused Uncle Chen such great pain and the loss of his beloved son, was for *me*?!
He asked with a trembling voice, "Uncle Chen, you're saying my father..."
"You don't know these things yet?" Chen Dawei said in surprise. "Since you don't know what happened in the past, why do you feel guilty towards me?"
"I truly don't know what happened," Yan Shouyi said. "Grandpa never mentioned it to me, and my father went to prison shortly after you left and hasn't been released yet."
"I see."
Chen Dawei sighed lightly. "They were probably worried about you carrying psychological pressure. Then why have you come to find me now?"
Long Feicheng had told Chen Dawei everything Yan Shouyi had done.
Yan Shouyi said, "My grandfather passed away recently. His only dying wish was for me to find you in Rongcheng. Grandpa said that only you can resolve the life-and-death tribulation upon me."
"It seems you already know about the life-and-death tribulation," Chen Dawei's eyes showed a hint of sadness.
Yan Shouyi nodded silently.
The Lu Ban Shu was a "short law" (duan fa). After mastering it, one was destined to suffer five disadvantages and three shortcomings (wu bi san que). Furthermore, every three generations, a Lu Ban successor would face a life-and-death tribulation!
The power of such a life-and-death tribulation was far beyond that of Xia Zhi's fate tribulation. Xia Zhi might have been killed by a mere car accident, an accident, or a coincidence. But the Lu Ban successors might face an earthquake, a tsunami, or an earth-shattering change!
For a Lu Ban successor, this was almost a certain death situation!
This was perhaps Heaven's punishment for the Lu Ban successors, and because of this, the number of Lu Ban successors was so small, even mistaken for being extinct in recent years.
According to Yan Shouyi's grandfather, Yan Shouyi's life-and-death tribulation would arrive when he was twenty-three years old. If he couldn't find a way to break it before then, he would surely die!
Now, Yan Shouyi was already twenty years old. In three years, the life-and-death tribulation would arrive.
Therefore, after his grandfather's death, Yan Shouyi came to Rongcheng alone to find Chen Dawei, specifically to seek a method to break the life-and-death tribulation!
"Shouyi, since your grandfather sent you to find me, it means you have gained his approval. He believes you can handle things independently. Therefore, prepare yourself psychologically. I will tell you everything that happened back then."
"Okay."
Chen Dawei took a deep breath and said,
"When your grandfather and your father came to Chenjia Village back then, you were still an infant in swaddling clothes. Because your grandfather was a carpenter and a kind and honest person, the villagers welcomed your arrival very much. Later, one time, the shoemaker's daughter in the village fell ill with a strange sickness. A tumor grew on her neck, and it kept getting bigger, looking like a human face. Eventually, the tumor actually grew facial features and could even speak and eat. The villagers were so terrified that they thought the shoemaker's daughter was a monster and wanted to throw her into the river as an offering to the Dragon King. Fortunately, your grandfather stopped them in time, saying she was possessed by an evil spirit and that he had a way to get rid of this monster."
"The villagers didn't believe your grandfather at first. But your grandfather paid them no mind. He carried over a hundred kinds of herbs from the mountain and fed them one by one into the tumor's mouth. The tumor accepted them all, but when it ate one particular herb, it closed its mouth and refused to open it. Your grandfather knew then that the evil spirit feared precisely this herb. So, under the cover of darkness when the tumor was asleep, he poured the medicine into its mouth. The next day, the tumor was poisoned to death. A week later, the tumor disappeared, and the shoemaker's daughter returned to normal."
"From then on, the villagers knew that your grandfather could perform magic. But your grandfather never mentioned that he was a Lu Ban successor, only continuing to work as a carpenter and occasionally helping villagers when they encountered unclean things. However, our two families were neighbors and became closer. Out of curiosity, I often climbed the wall to peek at your grandfather and your father. Your grandfather often taught your father strange knowledge, and I listened raptly, filled with longing. Inevitably, I was discovered by your grandfather. He then told me to come down from the wall and that there was no need to hide, as I could watch openly. Later, I realized that your grandfather was teaching your father the contents of the Lu Ban Shu. And since I was not a Lu Ban successor, even if I listened the whole time, I could only learn the superficial aspects. Things like the Xiao Liu Ren Shen Shu (Six Stars Divine Art) were absolutely impossible to learn."
"When you were three years old, my son went to the county town to watch a movie and didn't return all night. The next morning, our whole village went out to look for him. My father and I found my son at a gravesite in the mountains. By then, my son had stopped breathing. Your father said he was captured by nearby wandering spirits to be a substitute victim. He said it wasn't impossible to save him, but even if he were rescued, his fate would have been altered, and he would have died from another accident sooner or later."
"Your father advised me not to forcibly alter my son's fate, as the consequences would be unimaginable. But how could I think of anything else then? I only begged your father to help. After much deliberation, your father decided to help and managed to pull my son back from the brink of death. That same evening, you accidentally fell into a water vat and almost drowned. After being rescued, you fell gravely ill and took half a year to recover. Later, I realized that saving someone also incurs retribution. Your father's forceful intervention to save my son caused you to suffer and nearly lose your life."
"But after that incident, your father and I shared a common secret. Since we had both altered fate, your father began to secretly teach me the Xiao Liu Ren Shen Shu and warned me of the consequences of learning it. I was obsessed with this path, and remembering that my son would eventually die from an accident, I insisted on learning the Xiao Liu Ren Shen Shu, regardless of your father's warnings, all for the sake of my son's safety. However... fate is a cruel mistress!"
"That year, my son had just been admitted to university. I was overjoyed and held a grand banquet, drinking with your father until the early hours. We were both quite tipsy. But at that moment, your father suddenly knelt before me and begged me to use the Xiao Liu Ren Shen Shu to calculate your fortune. This calculation concerned your life and death. He also told me that I would face retribution for performing this calculation, but with the deep friendship we shared for so many years, like brothers, how could I refuse? So, fueled by the alcohol, I calculated your fortune. Who knew that the next morning, I received the news of my son's death... Neither your father nor I had anticipated that the retribution for calculating your fortune would be my son's life!"
"At that time, even though your father kept apologizing, it was too late for anything. I was disheartened. After burying my son, I left Chenjia Village. Apart from annual memorial rites, I never wished to return to that sorrowful place again. Ten years have passed in the blink of an eye. Looking back at those past events now, it all seems like destiny's arrangement. What you sow, you shall reap. Every event is interlinked, and inescapable in its calamity..."