After a long while, my grandfather finally regained his composure and pointed at the stone fox, shouting, "You... why are you bullying us like this?"
"Just because you are a deity?"
"Just wait! The Chen family is not to be trifled with."
After throwing out this harsh remark, my grandfather staggered toward the temple's exit.
If there had been anyone else in the temple at that moment, they would have surely asked my grandfather, "What can a tanner like you do?"
The reason my grandfather dared to go to the Stone Fox Temple was because the stone fox had sworn in the past not to harm him.
When the stone fox acted without reason, the Chen family could only watch helplessly as it rampaged, obediently accepting its will.
When my grandfather returned home, the first thing he did was divide the family fortune in half and give it to my father, telling him to take my mother and leave, to live in hiding, and for us to sever all ties — never to interact with us again.
Of course, my father refused, but my grandfather insisted, saying that he wanted to play with my life. The Chen family couldn't all die together.
In the end, my father was left with no choice but to take my mother and leave for another place, far away.
Only after they left did my grandfather carry me into the ancestral home, lock the door, and remove the ancestor tablet.
In the world, there are 360 professions, and every craft has its ancestor. A craftsman who has not honored their ancestor cannot inherit the ancient techniques and cannot become a true master.
Our Chen family honored the ancestor of the tanners, "Shang Dynasty Prime Minister Bi Gan," and that's how the Chen family was able to hold the top position in the leatherwork trade for generations.
My grandfather held the ancestor tablet for a long time, then, gritting his teeth, he inserted it upside down into the base. He then picked up his skinning knife and sliced off the tip of his left index finger. Holding up the bloody finger, he bowed deeply to the tablet, saying, "Unworthy disciple Chen He, facing a great calamity today, has no choice but to pay respects to the ancestor again. I do not blame fate in times of adversity, nor do I harbor hatred in times of misfortune!"
After my grandfather bowed several times, a sudden burst of sparks flew from the bottom of the ancestor tablet, and in an instant, flames over a foot high erupted from the tablet.
My grandfather knelt straight in front of the tablet and stayed there, not moving, until the flames extinguished. Only then did he lift his head.
The ancestor tablet was destroyed, but the charcoal, still glowing with embers, remained standing on the altar.
Tears instantly streamed down my grandfather's face. He cried and continued bowing to the charcoal, even though his head was bleeding, he wouldn't stop: "Ancestor, the Chen family has honored you for generations. Now, I am the last descendant, please have mercy, please have mercy!"
Tanners actually have two ancestors: one righteous and one evil. The Chen family's ancestors had a clear rule: never honor an evil ancestor.
Now, the skills passed down from Bi Gan can only temporarily save my life but cannot save me in the long run. My grandfather had no choice but to honor the evil ancestor and gamble for my life.
By turning the ancestor tablet upside down, my grandfather was severing ties with his original master and seeking the help of another ancestor.
As a result, the ancestor did not show any signs of spiritual presence.
This was because the evil ancestor would not accept my grandfather!
My grandfather understood: if the stone fox could strip the skin from one member of the Chen family, it could do the same to another. What difference did it make if my parents changed their identities and lived in hiding? They couldn't sever their connection to the Chen family bloodline, and sooner or later, the stone fox would find them.
He couldn't save me, and if he failed, the Chen family's ancestral line would truly come to an end.
My grandfather didn't know how many times he had bowed, but by the time he collapsed from exhaustion, the ground was covered with his blood.
When he woke up, he took me up the mountain and stayed there for seven days.
During those days, anyone who saw my grandfather said he had gone mad. He somehow managed to attract all the foxes from the mountains, and whenever he caught one, he would strip its skin alive. The fox skins hung from a tree, and the dead foxes were thrown into the mountain stream, staining the water red.
At first, some villagers thought about trying to persuade my grandfather, but after seeing him madly slaughtering the foxes, no one dared to approach him.
During those days, besides knowing that my grandfather was skinning foxes, no one in the village knew exactly what else he had done. But when my grandfather brought me down from the mountain, my skin slowly began to grow back.
I don't know why, but my skin turned out to be even whiter than a woman's, yet it was unnaturally white, looking lifeless and dull. The villagers all said that the skin on my body wasn't really mine, but that my grandfather had draped a dead person's skin over me.
My grandfather always told me to make sure I carried an umbrella when going out, so the sun wouldn't touch me.
Once, I forgot to bring an umbrella, and before I had even walked very far, the skin exposed to the sunlight felt like it was being burned by fire, becoming swollen and painful for several days. After that, I never dared to go out without an umbrella again.
It was after that incident that I started to believe what the villagers said, and cautiously asked my grandfather, "Is the skin on my body really a dead person's skin?"
My grandfather told me that when he turned to the evil ancestor for help, for some reason, the evil ancestor refused to accept him. However, after my grandfather passed out, the ancestor told him that I could still be saved. But to save me, he would have to gamble with my life at least twice.
My grandfather followed the method taught by the ancestral master: he killed over a hundred foxes and used their heart blood to soften the stone fox's skin. Then, he carefully peeled off the innermost thin membrane of the stone fox's pelt and adhered it to my body.
If someone wasn't a master skinner, they wouldn't have been able to peel off that thin membrane. Even a single wrong cut would have made saving me impossible. And with my grandfather missing a finger, successfully peeling the skin required not just skill but sheer luck as well.
That was the first gamble with my life.
The second gamble came on my twelfth birthday.
The human skin the stone fox had stripped from me was undoubtedly still in its possession. On my twelfth birthday, it would come for me again.
At that time, if my grandfather could negotiate with the stone fox and retrieve my skin, my life's calamity would finally come to an end.
However, my grandfather was just a skinner and no match for the stone fox. At best, he could rely on the oath the stone fox had made long ago, which might give him a chance to speak with it.
But if the stone fox decided to act ruthlessly and kill me on the spot, there would be nothing my grandfather could do to stop it.
So, this second gamble was even more perilous.
If the stone fox refused to return my skin, it would come back when I turned sixteen.
Because if it didn't strip me of my skin again at sixteen, the fox skin would permanently fuse with my body. That would mean I had essentially exchanged my skin for its, one life for another, and the karmic debt between us would be settled.
But with the stone fox's nature, it wouldn't let me off so easily. My grandfather would have to take me through another gamble with fate.
However, the ancestral master didn't explain how the third gamble would be played.
He simply said: "If you and your grandson can't make it through the second ordeal, there's no point in telling you about what comes next!"
Hearing this, I couldn't help but blurt out, "Is our ancestral master afraid of that fox?"
My grandfather was so startled that he almost covered my mouth. "Don't say such things recklessly! Be careful not to anger the ancestral master!"
I didn't say anything more, but in my heart, I was convinced that the ancestral master must be afraid of that fox.
If he weren't afraid, why had he never shown himself to confront it?
My grandfather, however, fully believed in the ancestral master's words. By the time he told me all this, there were only a few days left until my twelfth birthday.
Anxiously, I waited for the day to arrive. On my birthday, my grandfather specially prepared a feast and even let me drink two glasses of wine.
That night, he adjusted the direction of my bed, lit a white candle at the headboard, and told me to sleep.
Logically, knowing that the fox was coming, how could I possibly fall asleep?
Yet, before long, I found myself drifting off into a drowsy slumber.