After my grandfather passed away, my childhood aspiration to become a good "Yin-Yang" Cultivator was crushed. My third uncle instructed all members of the Zhang family to abandon the "Yin-Yang" profession, so my father repeatedly reminded me to focus on my studies and learn from my cousin, Zhang Fuhong.
The small flag I had found at my grandfather's grave, I kept it a secret, never telling anyone in the family. After all, it was the only thing that survived from my grandfather's belongings. He had been the one who cared for me most, and this small flag was my way of remembering him and keeping his memory alive.
Back at my school in the provincial capital, I made a firm decision to study hard. I planned to ask my cousin, Zhang Fuhong, to tutor me, but every time he saw me at school, he acted like he didn't recognize me, which made me feel embarrassed more than once. In fact, most of our classmates didn't even know we were cousins.
I was in Class 2 of the first year, and our class advisor was a young man who had just graduated from university. I would occasionally see him near the female teachers but otherwise, he was hardly ever present. The students' academic performance wasn't something he concerned himself with. Some of my classmates said he was the son of the school principal.
Without much guidance, I tried my best to focus in class, stopped sleeping during lessons, and stopped skipping classes. Every time I sat down to study, I would take out the small flag and hold it in my hand, feeling as though my grandfather was watching over me. Over the course of the year, my grades improved significantly. I rose from the bottom of the class to the tenth from the bottom, which was quite an achievement in a key school. I got used to the joy of solving problems, and the flag, always in my left hand, became my constant companion.
Since I was a student with poor academic performance, I didn't have many friends in class, and my classmates didn't pay much attention to me. After school, I returned to my third uncle's house, where I couldn't disturb my cousin, Zhang Fuhong, with his studies. So, I kept my troubles to myself and would talk to the small flag, treating it like my closest friend. I even slept with it under my pillow, never letting it leave my side.
That summer vacation, in late July 1998, I returned to my hometown, Jiushi Zhang, for a few days. The news was full of reports about the floods affecting major rivers like the Yangtze, Songhua, Pearl, and Min Rivers. Floodwaters were devastating the Jiangxi and Ganxi areas, and the worst flooding disaster of the century was taking place. Moreover, the Yellow River's upper reaches were about to experience a heavy rainstorm.
A few days later, a black cloud hung ominously over Jiushi Zhang. The sky was dark, and it felt like a storm was brewing.
During these days, I couldn't shake the feeling that the small flag in my hands was unusually excited, like a hungry wolf sensing food. I thought about the flagpole at the center of Jiushi Zhang and suddenly realized that the flag in my possession was the very same one that had once been hung on the birch flagpole before a storm.
At that time, I found it amusing and said to the flag, "What are you in such a hurry for? There's no longer the birch flagpole to hang you on." After I sighed, for a moment, I could have sworn the flag shook a little, almost as if it understood me.
Several days later, a storm finally arrived in Jiushi Zhang. For days, it rained heavily, and hail as large as thumbs battered the fields, ruining the crops. The elderly people sighed, saying, "How nice it would be if that flag, which protected Jiushi Zhang, were still here!"
I heard their words and thought deeply. That night, with thunder and lightning still raging, I quietly slipped on a raincoat and made my way to the birch flagpole at the center of Jiushi Zhang. I thought to try hanging the small flag there to see what would happen. Before I could act, a bolt of lightning struck the flagpole, splitting it in half and setting it ablaze.
At that moment, a deep roar echoed from the sky, like the cry of a wild beast. Everyone in Jiushi Zhang was startled, some even saying that it was the roar of a dragon. People living near the center of Jiushi Zhang noticed the fire on the flagpole, but because of the heavy rain, no one paid attention to it, and no one noticed me standing next to the burning flagpole.
As the roar rang out, the small flag suddenly slipped from my hand and flew toward the sky. I stood there in a daze, gazing up at the sky, unsure of what to do.
The sky was split by blinding flashes of lightning, and the rain pelted my face, stinging with pain. I had never seen such a terrifying storm before.
The flag shot into the air like a firework, glowing red as it soared toward the lightning. The lightning flashed violently, one bolt after another, striking at the flag.
Although I couldn't see how high the flag flew, I could feel its position clearly in my mind. It was as though the flag had become an extension of my own hand. Now, this "hand" was about to be struck by lightning. Strangely, I didn't feel scared at all. On the contrary, I felt a surge of excitement inside me.
"Come on, lightning! Strike me with all your might!" I shouted toward the sky.
At that moment, I had no idea what I was thinking. My voice seemed to come from both the flag and myself. It was as though my blood was boiling, and I was filled with boundless energy. I opened my arms, connecting my soul to the flag in the sky, waiting for the lightning's strike.
In that instant, time, space, and the entire world seemed to stop. The lightning raced toward the flag, and the torrential rain fell as though it would drown me. The scene was so overwhelming that I felt as if I were about to die from the sheer intensity.
The distortion of time, space, and sensation twisted my soul.
"Boom...!"
"Roar...!"
"Whoosh! Whoosh!"
The sounds of thunder, wind, and rain mixed together—many voices all at once...
When the lightning struck the flag, I felt an electric shock coursing through my body, but my mind was clearer than ever. I thought to myself, "It would be great if I died right now." The pain I felt was indescribable, as though I were about to explode or go mad.
I couldn't hold it in any longer and let out a scream, "Ah... Oh...!" I suddenly tasted something salty in my mouth. I knew I had started bleeding from my nose.
I released the pent-up frustration inside me, letting it all out...
But at the same time, I inexplicably felt the thunder, lightning, and rain enter my body. More precisely, it felt as though they had entered my mind and my perception.