Chapter 25 – Rebellious Third Uncle (1)
If Chinese Tunic's appearance gave me the key to the door of metaphysics, then Grandpa's story of his past undoubtedly opened a window for me. I had a clearer understanding of the strange powers of metaphysics.
A Moongazing Eel born from a coffin could turn into a dragon after asking for a title?
An ugly craftsman could make an upside-down coffin and resurrect the dead?
A town could be a burial ground and filled with walking paper people at night?
Paper people could steer paper horses and pull a coffin down a path not for the living?
"Grandpa," I said. "Since you know that Old Blindman is the Blind Liu from Jiangnan that Chinese Tunic mentioned—half-mad, half-demonic, half-godly—why didn't you admit it when he asked? He said that his master knew Blind Liu. If you have this relationship with him, he might not have taken Kunlun away."
Of course, I also had my personal reason. Chinese Tunic was my idol. If I could have a closer relationship with him, I would have a deeper connection too.
"Child, do you think that Chinese Tunic wouldn't be able to guess just because we didn't admit it?" Grandpa asked. "Things aren't as simple as you think. When I invited him to our home, I purposely let him see this pipe. One reason is because I wanted to use Old Blindman's name to make him help. The other was to find out his background. Unfortunately, he didn't reveal anything. Even now, I don't know if it was right or wrong to let him know about this."
I couldn't really understand what Grandpa meant.
Grandpa patted my head. "You're still young. You don't know the dangers of the world. I know that you worship Chinese Tunic, but you must remember. Even if he helps you survive the Life and Death Trial when you're 23, you still have to be careful. You can't have thoughts of hurting others, but you must have thoughts of guarding against others."
"Yes." I nodded at Grandpa.
"You must remember everything I said today. These things contain some answers regarding you, but you have to promise that you won't tell anyone else, including Chinese Tunic." Grandpa looked at me solemnly.
"Okay, I got it," I said. "I won't tell anyone."
After that, Grandpa walked slowly into the house, but I was still confused. I'd just treated what Grandpa told me as a story. He told me to be careful about Chinese Tunic and said that answers for me were hidden in the story. This confused me greatly. I could only memorize the story well and hope that I'd be able to find the answer in the future.
After that, I had some peaceful days. Other than going to school, I spent all my time in Grandpa's library, working on those books that he'd collected. I learned a lot from them too. I spent a year like this.
Earlier, I'd mentioned my Third Uncle, Lin Pojun. He was like a demon in the village and had a bad relationship with Grandpa. The reason was simple. Grandpa worried that if Third Uncle kept living like this, he'd have a bad ending. He wanted Third Uncle to walk down the right path, but Third Uncle was a wild and unrestrained person. He ignored Grandpa's admonishes. In the end, he got so annoyed that he decided to just stay with his shady friends and never go home.
This time, Third Uncle disappeared for three months straight. No one knew where he'd gone. His friends didn't know either. The villagers gossiped that he must have been chopped up by his rivals and left to die somewhere. They didn't say it, but from how they talked about this happily, it was obvious that they would be very happy about this monster's death.