Grandpa remained unaware of my encounter with Wang, the two stinging slaps, and the potential connection they held to the current crisis.
Perhaps my scream had startled the donkey, causing Wang's fatal fall.
Maybe his vengeful spirit, unable to find peace, latched onto me, seeking retribution.
Whatever the reason, one thing was clear—I was in grave danger, facing the most perilous situation of my nine short years.
My parents, finally roused from their deathly slumber, joined the growing chorus of worry.
Like me and Grandpa, they had been ensnared by Wang's potent death aura, sinking into an unnaturally deep sleep back at the hospital.
Now, my entire family surrounded me, their faces etched with concern as they implored Granny Liu for a solution.
But she had never encountered anything like this before.
How could a recently deceased man wield such power, possessing me with such ferocity?
The way I was deteriorating…
I wouldn't survive till daybreak.
The weight of this third trial pressed down on us, suffocating all hope.
"Sister, he's just a child! We can't just let him die! You have to do something, save our son!" Grandpa's voice cracked, his eyes red-rimmed and desperate.
"He's like my own grandson. If there's even a sliver of a chance, I'll seize it! But… I've never seen anything this potent. What was Wang doing? To possess Xiao Jie with such force immediately after death… He won't last the night at this rate," Granny Liu lamented, her voice heavy with despair.
"Wang was a lifelong bachelor, never married, no children. He was a simple man, really. Why would he cling toXiao Jie like this?" Dad added, confusion lacing his voice.
"What was that? Wang never married?" Granny Liu interrupted, suddenly alert, a spark of hope flickering in her eyes.
"Yes, everyone in the village knows that. His family was dirt poor, couldn't afford a wife even if they wanted to. They barely had enough to feed themselves. Why? What does that have to do with anything?"
"Brother Wu, do you happen to remember Wang's birthdate? His full name as well?" Granny Liu's voice was tight with anticipation.
Grandpa, having shared a childhood with Wang, readily supplied the information.
A deep furrow appeared between Granny Liu's brows as she muttered the details to herself.
"Years ago, a wandering Taoist taught me some techniques - Yin Yang, Purple Star divination... I never really used them. But… I need to see something. I need to calculate Wang's fate."
With that, she began her calculations, using Wang's birthdate as a guide.
The room fell silent as she traced invisible patterns in the air.
A sharp gasp. "Yes…yes, I knew it! There's something very peculiar about Wang."
"What is it, Granny Liu? What's going on?" My father's voice was strained.
Granny Liu took a deep breath.
"Wang wasn't a simple man, not entirely…. The year, month, day, even the hour of his birth… all Yang. This is exceptionally rare—what they call a 'Four Yang Destiny.' His fate… it's pure Yang… a 'Breaking Wolf' fate."
She paused, gauging their reactions.
"People like that… their lives are tumultuous, filled with both great fortune and misfortune. But it's in death that their true nature manifests. All their unfulfilled desires, their regrets, their anger… it becomes a heavy burden, amplified tenfold if they die with unfinished business."
"Normally, there's a balance - Yin and Yang. Marriage, children... these things harmonize a person's energy. Wang, living a solitary life, never achieved that balance. His Yang energy remained pure, untamed. And in death… that energy has become volatile, dangerous. That's why Xiao Jie is caught in this predicament. His pure Yang energy is naturally attractive to a spirit like Wang's."
"But what about Chubby? He was in the same room; why is he alright?" Grandpa questioned.
"We can't be sure he's truly unharmed. But today… today is Xiao Jie's third trial. It wouldn't be unusual for a spirit like Wang to be drawn to him now,"
Granny Liu explained, her voice laced with concern. "There's something… different aboutXiao Jie. I tried to calculate his fate… but it's clouded, obscured. My abilities aren't strong enough to penetrate the veil."
"You said… you said Xiao Jie would die within a day if Wang clung to him. Is there truly nothing we can do?" Desperation dripped from Dad's words.
Granny Liu let out a weary sigh.
"There might be… a way. But my powers are insignificant against a force like this. Wang's Yang energy… it devours everything in its path. Even my protective spirit is powerless, and the spirit within Xiao Jie… it's being suppressed, barely clinging on."
A heavy silence fell upon us.
Hope seemed to wither and die in the face of Granny Liu's grim prognosis.
As she'd warned, this third trial was the most formidable challenge I'd ever face.
Its outcome would determine whether I lived or died.
Her words landed like stones in our stomachs, heavy and cold.
My mother sobbed by my bedside, her tears falling onto my burning skin.
My grandpa and father, their faces etched with helplessness, could only sigh, their usual optimism extinguished.
Granny Liu, unable to bear the suffocating grief that permeated the room, stepped outside.
She lit a cigarette, seeking solace in the cool night air.
A casual glance upwards, and her eyes widened in horror.
The moon, a thin crescent just hours ago, was now bathed in an eerie, blood-red light.
The stars of the Big Dipper blazed with unusual intensity, the North Star flickering ominously.
But it was the sight on our rooftop that truly chilled her to the bone.
A sea of yellow weasels and foxes had congregated, their small forms illuminated by the blood moon, their movements synchronized as they bowed low.
Yellow spirits paying homage to a blood moon…
Granny Liu had never witnessed something so ominous, so blatantly supernatural.
An old saying echoed in her mind:
"When the celestial bodies weep, and animals behave as men, expect great upheaval."
Something was deeply, terribly wrong.
My condition worsened.
The fever raged on, my words became delirious whispers.
An old man's cough rattled in my chest.
Sleep evaded my family and Granny Liu as they kept vigil through the night.
Midnight was fast approaching—the deadline that loomed over me like a death sentence.
Yet, at midday, a glimmer of the unexpected pierced through the darkness.
Our sleepy village, usually quiet and unremarkable, was suddenly teeming with activity.
Cars, a rare sight in our small corner of the world, arrived one after the other.