My dreaded New Year's celebration is finally here. We closed the shop 2 days ago and have spent time at home. Stepmother didn't waste the time to find faults with me but I ignored her. I have other things that I need to take care of.
Grandfather went to the main house to celebrate the new year with us. Secretary Choi was with him as he has no family. I still haven't found out who his child is.
I've told Seth that I wanted to stay at grandfather's house for the rest of the winter break because I don't want to listen to stepmother's nagging anymore. Seth agreed and told grandfather about it secretly. Our things are already packed and we will go with grandfather when he goes home tonight.
"How was your studies Arthur?" Grandfather asked.
Arthur, Seth's youngest brother, came back home for the new year. He's currently studying mechanical engineering in Hydra City.
"They're fine, grandfather. Don't worry." Arthur answered.
"Father, Arthur's dorm fee is increasing again. I'm afraid we don't have enough money at home. Can you help us pay for the dorm?" Stepmother asked.
"And where will I get the money? If the dorm fee is too expensive then you should find a cheaper place." Grandfather replied.
"But what will Arthur's classmate say if he goes to a cheaper dorm?" Stepmother asked pitifully.
"What do you mean what will they say? Did Arthur go there to show off? If that's all he went there for then he better stay here and help in the factory." Grandfather said.
"Grandfather, I heard you've helped my brother buy a car. Help me with my dorm too." Arthur whined.
"I've already done it when I told your mother to buy you a small unit but you didn't want it. You wanted to rent that expensive place to show off to your classmates." Grandfather retorted.
"But…" Arthur whined some more.
"Enough! It's new years! Do you really have to talk about this now?" Father scolded stepmother and Arthur.
The room regained its peace and quiet. I ate to my heart's content and ignored the glare that I kept receiving from Stepmother. Once the new year's dinner was done, grandfather decided to go home. He doesn't really like staying here in the main house because of Stepmother.
He told father that he would bring us with him as it would be quiet in his home. Father reluctantly agreed while Stepmother vehemently disagreed which earned her another scolding from Father and Grandfather.
When we arrived, Grandfather invited Seth and Secretary Choi for a drink while I settled the children in the rooms available for grandfather. We gathered in grandfather's little backyard when it's midnight and lit some fireworks, ate some more food, and when the celebration's over, I herded the children back to sleep. Seth helped me as he was already tipsy.
"Seth, can you not sleep yet?" I asked when we're done sending all the children to sleep.
I checked grandfather and Secretary Choi to make sure they were still drinking. The setting was so uncanny that the hairs on my arms stood up.
"Why?" Seth asked sleepily.
He seemed to have drunk quite a lot.
"Do you remember that dream I had about grandfather?" I asked and Seth nodded with half eyes closed.
"The dreams look a lot like this. It has an uncanny resemblance." I told Seth but Seth wasn't listening at all.
"Do you want some coffee or tea?" I asked him in hopes that he will be less sleepy if he drinks some.
I saw him nodding so I went out and prepared some tea for him while also keeping an eye out for grandfather and Secretary Choi's movement.
Should I just go to his bedroom and get the incense burner? I should have probably brought another one to exchange but I'm not sure if it's already inside or he put it when he lit up the incense.
Should I offer to light it up myself but what good would that do? Should I use the new skill to recognize herbs? But what use is there if Secretary Choi already lit up the incense? It's not like I can create an antidote in time plus I don't even know if it's poison or what.
I don't really know what exactly caused it. I mean I saw Secretary Choi taking the incense burner so I guess it has something to do with it. Should I go to grandfather's bedroom and check the incense? But what if they caught me sneaking there?
Why is this so hard? You know what, maybe we'll get lucky that Secretary Choi would change his mind and not do it. I sighed and again then suddenly an inspiration came to me. Right, luck! Maybe, I can use the luck talisman but how? Would writing save grandfather enough? I also would need to know at least an estimated time it will occur, the luck talisman is only effective for an hour or should I write it every hour? That's too much of a waste of resources.
"Madam, is something wrong?" Secretary Choi suddenly came behind me and asked.
I almost dropped the cup I was holding when I heard his voice.
"I'm sorry if I scared you but the water had been boiling. You seemed to be deep in thought and did not notice it." He said and I looked at the water I was boiling and it was already boiling.
"Thank you, Secretary Choi. I was just a little bit tired and didn't realize it was boiling." I said and turned off the stove.
Secretary Choi excused himself after that. I continued making the tea and looked at where grandfather and Secretary Choi were but they weren't there anymore. I looked around the house and realized that grandfather must have been in his room already.
I immediately went back to our room and saw Seth already sleeping. I hurriedly woke him up and asked him to check on grandfather but he seemed to drink more than what I imagined as it was not easy to wake him up.
I took the luck talisman and wrote 'save grandfather'. I don't know if it will be very effective as it only increases our luck by 30% but I have to try right? Surely, our luck is not that bad and the luck talisman would be very effective, right?
Anyway, I got back on waking up Seth and told him that something seems wrong with grandfather and that seemed to wake him up a little.
"What did you say?" Seth asked me groggily.
"Please check on grandfather. I have a bad feeling about tonight." I begged him and even dragged him off the bed.
Seth who was half awake and still probably drunk walked, no, not walked, was dragged by me to grandfather's bedroom. I got Seth to knock and when there was no answer, I opened the door, only to see grandfather was already having a seizure.
Seeing grandfather like that, immediately woke up Seth and he ran to grandfather. I froze for a moment before going to the window and opening it. I took the incense from the burner and poured water to turn them off. I checked the incense burner but there was nothing there but ash.
"Athena, stay here with grandfather. I'm going to call Doctor Le." Seth said as he ran out of the room.
Grandfather still hasn't stopped seizing. After what felt like an hour Seth came back running together with a man that looked like in his mid-50s. He didn't waste time and took a look at grandfather before giving him something and grandfather stopped seizing and woke up after a while.
"Grandfather, are you alright?" Seth asked when we saw him woke up.
"Thank you." He said in a small voice.
"It'll be better to send Uncle Zhang to the hospital." Doctor Le suggested.
"I don't… want." Grandfather said breathlessly.
"Does grandfather really need to go to the hospital?" I asked the doctor.
"Yes. We'll need to run some tests to determine what caused the seizure." The doctor explained.
I looked at grandfather but he kept on shaking his head.
"How about this? I'll take some blood and urine samples first. I'll run some tests on those to the hospital but if there's another seizure he needs to go to the hospital immediately." Doctor Le warned.
Doctor Le checked grandfather some more first before getting the things he needed and left us there but before he came out, I gave him one of the incense that was lit in the room and told him that grandfather doesn't normally light incense but tonight there was incense lit.
Grandfather has rested already so I told Seth he can rest first and I'll watch over grandfather. Once he left, I took the rest of the incense that was lit and hid them in one of grandfather's cabinets.
That morning I was awoken with an angry shout.
"What are you doing here! Did you kill Captain Zhang?" Secretary Choi shouted.