Chapter 5: Public Uproar-O Guardião da Vila e a Esposa no Caixão(Irmão Xuan Yi)

"Butcher Liao is right! Why should our child be sacrificed to save theirs? Is their child the only one that counts as a child?"

The villagers shouted in indignation.

Seeing this, the village chief raised his hands and said, "Enough with the bickering! No one is saying your children must be sacrificed for others. Crazy Zhao just said the boy needs to be brought here. If we don't handle this child properly now, our village will be shrouded in darkness forever. And if the darkness never ends, forget about people—can the crops even survive?"

"If the crops die, what are you going to eat?"

Upon hearing this, the crowd quieted down significantly.

However, their eyes remained fixed on my grandfather’s arms, filled with such malice that they looked as if they wanted to slaughter me themselves.

My grandfather stood there in silence. He reached out and touched my forehead.

"The child is burning with fever!"

Hearing this, the village chief walked over. He touched my forehead as well and exclaimed, "He's so hot! We have to bring his temperature down, or he’ll be burned into an idiot!"

My grandfather grew frantic. He looked around, searching for something to cool me down.

At that moment, a woman in the crowd who also had a child spoke up: "Chief, didn't you just say that as long as the child becomes an idiot, our village will return to normal?"

The village chief was stunned. He widened his eyes and asked, "What do you mean?"

The woman pushed through the crowd and said, "What do I mean? This child is the reason our village has ended up like this. Since Crazy Zhao said the village would be back to normal once he's an idiot, then let him burn until he is one! Our crops will be saved, and all of us won't have to starve, right?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the people around them immediately reacted.

"That's right! The menace is already running a fever, isn't he? Why not just let him burn into an idiot!"

"Yes! Let him burn until he's simple-minded!"

"Only when this menace is an idiot can we be saved!"

Meanwhile, my grandfather, desperate to save his grandson, had already found a spring water outlet in a corner.

When the village ancestral hall was being built, they had accidentally discovered a spring eye while digging the foundation. It was pure mountain spring water, the kind that could be consumed directly. The villagers took it as a good omen. Water represents wealth, and since it was discovered while building the ancestral hall, they believed the ancestors were helping the whole village prosper. Consequently, they left the spring eye open and built a well right there in the northeast corner of the hall.

The water was ice-cold, and because the southeast corner was considered an "yin" position—where anything placed there would be imbued with the earth's energy—it made the water even more chilling, as effective as a block of ice.

Seeing this, my grandfather smiled and said, "Heaven is helping my grandson! The ancestors are manifesting!"

With that, he held me in one arm and began to draw water with the other.

He worked the pump handle. Just as the ice-cold spring water was about to gush out, the woman from earlier shrieked, "Stop that old fool! He’s trying to cool the menace down!"

At this piercing cry, the villagers immediately snapped to attention and rushed toward my grandfather in the southeast corner.

My grandfather had drawn the water and said to me, my face flushed red from the fever, "Grandpa is going to cool you down now. Look at this little face, burning up so..."

*Thwack!*

A hand ruthlessly knocked over the ladle of water. Then, someone shoved my grandfather aside.

"You old fool, are you trying to make this whole village starve to death with you?"

My grandfather was taken aback and shouted angrily, "That’s not how it is! You’ve misunderstood! I’m trying to bring his temperature down. If this fever gets any worse, it’s not just a matter of him becoming an idiot—it’s a matter of life and death!"

To his surprise, the woman shoved him again. "Death would be better! It’s all because of this godforsaken menace that our crops can't grow! How are we supposed to survive from here on out?"

My grandfather finally flared up. He pushed back, shouting, "Er-Po, let me tell you, my grandson is a once-in-a-millennium prodigy! We can handle this once Crazy Zhao arrives. Don't you dare stir up trouble, or I'll make you pay!"

Seeing my grandfather ready to resort to force, Butcher Liao, standing nearby with his belly protruding and a vicious look on his face, grabbed my grandfather and pulled him away from the well.

"What's this? You old fool, you want to get rough with us?"

My grandfather was over seventy years old and a frail man; he was no match for a butcher who spent his days slaughtering pigs and sheep. He could only say helplessly, "This is a child sent by the Yin-Cang! My grandson is a scholar of top rank! Sealing his intelligence is a last resort, not burning him into an idiot! Once that happens, he can never recover!"

"To hell with your scholars and rank! You're blocking our way to survival, and that's not happening!"

Butcher Liao shoved my grandfather again. My grandfather stumbled and nearly fell. In his arms, I suddenly began to wail.

"Waa! Waa! Waa!"

By now, my entire body was flushed red, as if stained with blood. My small frame radiated scorching heat. My eyes were tightly shut, and I was drooling, wracked with tremors.

My grandfather hurriedly clutched me tighter. "Grandson, be good. Grandpa will cool you down right away. You, you just wait for Grandpa!"

"Grandpa will cool you down!"

My grandfather steeled himself and charged toward the well. "Get out of my way!"

His bark was louder than his bite. Though his shout was thunderous, the moment he charged forward, *Thump!* Butcher Liao kicked him, sending him sprawling to the ground.

"You old fool, trying to play tough with me?" the butcher spat. "Take one more step, and I’ll chop both of you up, the old and the young!"

My grandfather, lying on the ground, looked at me wailing in his arms, then at Butcher Liao's looming, hulking figure. Tears streamed down his face.

"My Han family descendant... my Han family is destined for greatness! I must protect him. My dear grandson, wait, Grandpa is coming again!"

He struggled to get his frail body up and charged at Butcher Liao once more.

"To hell with you!" Butcher Liao kicked him again.

My grandfather fell once more, the pain in his abdomen making his legs tremble. Yet, he seemed possessed, struggling to rise while muttering, "My grandson must live... must live..."

His weak frame stood up again, only to be kicked back down to the ground. He simply could not reach the well.

The villagers had by now surrounded the well, standing in a solid, impenetrable line. They glared at my grandfather and began to chant:

"Eliminate the menace! Save the crops!"

They felt no sympathy for an old man trying to save his grandson; they only stared at him with venom.

My grandfather cried as he crawled toward the edge of the crowd. There, he spotted a bucket of water he had managed to draw earlier. With that spring water, his grandson might live. He crawled, shielding me in his arms, inching closer and closer.

Just as his trembling hand was about to reach the rim of the bucket, *Splash!* Butcher Liao kicked the bucket over, spilling all the spring water onto the dirt.

"The water! The water to save my grandson! Water! Water!!!"

I cannot imagine the despair my grandfather felt at that moment. He began scooping up the mud-soaked spring water from the ground with his hands, but it was all in vain. He managed to let only a few tiny drops fall onto my forehead.

"My dear grandson, the water is here. Do you feel better? Grandpa is useless... Grandpa is useless, he can't protect his golden grandson... Grandpa is so useless..."

He wept as he desperately dripped the water onto my forehead. Under his efforts, I finally let out a sound.

"Grand... pa... don't... don't... cry..."