Chapter 22: Talismans (Part 1)
“Tomb raiders? Those bastards still dare come to our village?”
Hearing the words “tomb raiders,” the old village chief immediately darkened his face. “Good thing they ran fast. Otherwise, Little Ma was right inside. Take them to the station and investigate them, and we'd know for sure.”
The Little Ma the old village chief mentioned was the deputy director of the local police station. As a model village for public security in the area, the old village chief had sent them an invitation, so they had to show him some respect and come over to celebrate.
“Sixth Grandpa, you're still as much of a hater of evil as ever.”
Seeing the old village chief's expression, Su Xiaofan smiled and shook his head.
After spending several years out in society, Su Xiaofan understood one thing: society wasn't quite the way he had once imagined it.
Take the antique market, for example. Every vendor selling antiques at a stall wished they could claim that the things on their stall had been used by the emperor himself. The older the supposed age, the better. At the very least, the items had to be from before the Qing Dynasty, all in hopes of selling them at a high price.
Strictly speaking, they were indeed deceiving people, but most adults with any ability to analyze things wouldn't fall for it. If there really was one or two suckers who did, that was simply their bad luck.
They actually posed little harm to society. How much could things at a street stall sell for? At most, a thousand or two thousand yuan, basically not enough to even qualify for a criminal case. Besides, there really were good things among the street-stall goods, otherwise there wouldn't be so many stories about “finding hidden treasures.”
But those seemingly unscrupulous street vendors were also husbands and fathers, supporting one family after another with their glib tongues. They were all people at the very bottom of society. They weren't stealing or robbing; they relied on their own hard work, getting up early and working until late, to earn enough to support their families.
Of course, Su Xiaofan was also extremely disgusted by tomb raiders, those people who made a living off the dead and profited from their ancestors.
But Su Xiaofan wasn't from any relevant department, nor did he have evidence proving that those people actually worked in that trade, so he wouldn't become furious at the sight of them like the old village chief did.
“You don't understand. If it weren't for those people back then, our village wouldn't have lost…”
The old village chief stopped halfway through his sentence, suddenly shutting his mouth. “Why am I telling you all this? Xiaofan, you're hungry too. Go inside and eat something. I'll stay here and greet the guests.”
“Hm? Our village was robbed by them?”
Su Xiaofan caught the implication in the old village chief's words.
“That was decades ago. Old history. I'll tell you about it another time.”
The old village chief waved his hand, clearly unwilling to say more.
“Sixth Grandpa, is this cauldron in our village an antique? It's been here for as long as I can remember.”
Su Xiaofan looked at the King of Han Cauldron at the village entrance and casually brought it up.
“Not just as long as you can remember. It's been here for as long as I can remember too.”
The old village chief chuckled and said, “Maybe it was a replica made during the Republic of China period. An expert came to look at it and said it wasn't old enough, so it could stay here. Otherwise, it would've been sent to a museum long ago.”
“What kind of eyes did that expert have? Republic of China period? It's more like Qin Dynasty.”
Su Xiaofan silently grumbled to himself. Such a genuine antique had been left here exposed to wind and sun, yet no one could tell what it was.
After greeting Zheng Dagang, Su Xiaofan entered the village.
He had arrived at the village early in the morning to help out, and by now Su Xiaofan was so hungry his stomach was practically stuck to his back. He found a table where people from his own village were sitting and quickly started eating.
The celebratory banquet for passing the entrance exams that the old village chief had arranged was held in batches, with a lunch session and an evening session. The lunch session didn't end until after three in the afternoon, and the catering crew then began preparing the evening's flowing banquet.
……
……
It wasn't until after nine that night that the celebratory banquet was finally over. Su Xiaofan brought Zheng Dagang to his family's ancestral home.
Su Xiaofan's family's ancestral home was considered rather run-down in Su Family Village. Mainly because Su Xiaofan and his younger sister hadn't lived here in recent years, they hadn't rebuilt it.
“Xiaofan? We're staying here tonight?”
Looking at the drafty windows, Zheng Dagang couldn't help but smile bitterly. It wasn't that he couldn't endure hardship, but there were already mosquitoes in this weather, and the windows of the house were broken, allowing mosquitoes to get in from everywhere. It had only been a few minutes since he entered the room, and Zheng Dagang had already been bitten several times.
“Sixth Grandpa said we should leave tomorrow. If we leave tonight, wouldn't that be a little inappropriate?”
Su Xiaofan was also wearing a bitter smile as he looked at the mosquitoes that had only been landing on his arms. He had rarely returned to the village over the past two years, and whenever he did, he basically came in the morning and left in the afternoon. He hadn't really stayed in the old house, so he hadn't noticed that the ancestral home had become this dilapidated.
“Bro, if we sleep here for a night, won't we just be feeding the mosquitoes? Let's go back. It's only a little over an hour's drive anyway.”
Su Xiaoxiao held a magazine and kept fanning herself all around. At this moment, she especially missed their home in the city.
“You say that as if you haven't been bitten before. You've only been in the city for a few days and already gotten so delicate?”
Su Xiaofan curled his lips. When they were kids, didn't they sleep in the cornfield in the middle of summer? They weren't afraid of mosquito bites back then. People really did find it easy to go from frugality to luxury, but hard to go from luxury back to frugality.
“Brother Gang, you and Xiaoxiao sit here for a while.”
Su Xiaofan thought for a moment and said, “I'll go to the little shop and buy a few coils of mosquito repellent. I'll also talk to Sixth Grandpa about the flowing banquet…”
“What is there to discuss about the flowing banquet?”
Before Su Xiaofan could finish speaking, Sixth Grandpa's voice came from the doorway.
“Sixth Grandpa, you've been busy all day. I should be the one going to find you.”
Su Xiaofan hurriedly went over to greet him. Setting aside the inexplicable conflict between the old village chief and his father, when it came to the old village chief's character, there wasn't a single person, including Su Xiaofan, who didn't admire him.
After inviting Sixth Grandpa into the room to sit down, Su Xiaofan said, “Sixth Grandpa, how much did today's flowing banquet cost in total? Give me the figure.”
Su Xiaofan had grown up in the countryside, so naturally he knew that for this kind of flowing banquet, the host family would definitely lose money. Most people who came to eat would only give ten or twenty yuan as a gift, but would bring their whole family to eat, so there was no way to break even.
“Why should I give you the figure?”
Sixth Grandpa glared at him. “Didn't I already say before that this entrance-exam banquet was being paid for by the village? Didn't you hear me? Don't worry about how much was spent, and don't worry about how much was collected either. It's all from the village.”
“Your grandpa and I are brothers. There are so few people in your branch of the family, just you, your dad, and Xiaoxiao. If I don't look after you, who will?”
Sixth Grandpa sighed and pointed at Su Xiaofan. “You kid never lets people rest easy. If only you'd studied for another year. All of you went to college, and then I'd have the face to go see your grandpa.”
“Sixth Grandpa, I'll listen to you.”
With things having reached this point, Su Xiaofan didn't say anything more. Actually, his grandpa and Sixth Grandpa were cousins rather than biological brothers, and by his generation they were already quite distantly related. Sixth Grandpa looking after him was an expression of affection; not looking after him would also have been perfectly reasonable. No one could say anything about it.
“Sixth Grandpa, we want to go back today.”
Su Xiaoxiao was much closer to Sixth Grandpa than Su Xiaofan was. She immediately linked her arm through his. “Sixth Grandpa, look, there are so many mosquitoes. I've already been bitten several times.”
“Isn't it normal for there to be mosquitoes in the countryside? Stay one night and go back tomorrow. The road isn't easy to travel at night.”
Sixth Grandpa rubbed Su Xiaoxiao's head. “You're already the literary star of the family, and you're still afraid of mosquito bites? I'll have someone bring you a few mosquito coils later.”
“Sixth Grandpa, the road is pretty good now. I can drive without any problem.”
Zheng Dagang couldn't hold back any longer. He had type O blood and was especially attractive to mosquitoes. By now, his arms and legs were already covered in several bites.
“That's right, Sixth Grandpa. I know these roads well. I used to ride a bicycle along them all the time. Nothing will happen.”
Su Xiaofan also spoke from the side. When he was attending high school in the city, he often took a ride to the town and then borrowed a bicycle to ride back to the village. When he attended middle school in the town, he had to ride home every day after evening self-study.
“What do you know? If I say the road isn't easy to travel, then it isn't easy to travel.”
Sixth Grandpa had always treated Su Xiaofan and his sister like his own children, but Zheng Dagang was ultimately a guest, and he felt that he had sounded a little too harsh. After pausing, Sixth Grandpa said, “If you really want to leave, that's fine. Wait a moment. I'll go get something for you to take along.”
Watching Sixth Grandpa leave the house, Su Xiaofan and his sister looked at each other, not knowing what he had gone to get.
Sixth Grandpa returned quickly, in only about ten minutes. Once back in the room, he handed a large red envelope to Su Xiaofan.
“Take this. I'll have someone transfer Xiaoxiao's tuition to her bank account later.”
“Sixth Grandpa, what is this? Why are you giving me a red envelope? It's not like I'm the one going to college!”
Su Xiaofan shook his head and didn't reach out to take it. He glanced at the envelope. It was flat, so there probably wasn't much money inside.
“It's not money. I put a talisman in there for you. Take it with you on the road to keep you safe!”
Sixth Grandpa placed the envelope in Su Xiaofan's hand and said, “Don't fold the talisman. When you get home, stick the house-protecting talisman on the door. It'll work too.”
“A talisman? What kind of talisman?”
Su Xiaofan was left with a head full of question marks. Sixth Grandpa was a veteran Party member in the village, so when had he started dabbling in feudal superstition?
“Just take it. If you keep talking, you aren't leaving today.”
Sixth Grandpa turned and walked toward the door. “Let's go. I'll see you off. The earlier you leave, the earlier you'll get home.”
“Okay, let's go. Xiaofan, keep up.”
Zheng Dagang hurriedly stood up and followed him. If he stayed here and got bitten by mosquitoes all night, it would really be the death of him.
“This…”
Su Xiaofan was somewhat speechless as he held the red envelope, then casually hoisted the backpack he had brought onto his back.
“Su Xiaofan, let me see what kind of talisman Sixth Grandpa gave you.”
Su Xiaoxiao snatched the red envelope from her brother's hand.
“Su Xiaoxiao, you've gotten carried away again, haven't you? Call me Bro!”
Su Xiaofan didn't fight her for it. He wasn't unfamiliar with rural talismans either. In the past, during festivals, every household would put up things like peach-wood charms.
“This is just a peace talisman.”
Su Xiaoxiao was quick-handed. She opened the red envelope and took out a yellow sheet of talisman paper.
“This is a Che Gong Talisman!”
Zheng Dagang leaned over to take a look and said, “See, there's a character for ‘vehicle’ in the middle, with ‘safe travels’ and ‘ward off disasters and bring good fortune’ on both sides. This kind of talisman is sold in the market. Every year when the New Year approaches, lots of car owners buy them.”
“A Che Gong Talisman?”
Su Xiaofan also looked at the talisman paper, but the moment he did, a line of information suddenly appeared in his mind.
【Repair Value: 3 points!】
【Che Gong Talisman, low-grade incomplete talisman, repairable. One point of Repair Value is required to repair it. Repair?】
“There are low-grade magical artifacts, and now there are low-grade talismans too?”
Seeing the information in his mind, Su Xiaofan was momentarily stunned. Ever since the Repair Value had appeared in his mind, what had appeared had been either magical artifacts or talismans, and all of these things were beyond his understanding.
(End of Chapter)
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