Yang Jianjun had pharyngitis, so the family often kept watermelon frost at home. Like a sweet-toothed ant, Yang Jiabo couldn’t resist and secretly ate all of his dad’s watermelon frost. When Li Guizhen came home and saw Yang Jiabo’s flushed face, she panicked and rushed him to the hospital. In the end, nothing serious happened, but he was teased about it for a long time. Even when he was already an adult, people still brought it up. Yang Jiabo felt indignant, who didn’t have embarrassing childhood stories? Who didn’t have their share of silly mistakes?
On New Year’s Eve, the family gathered for a lavish reunion dinner. Yang Jiabo found himself missing Wei Jing. Wei Jing and Wei Feng had gone to their grandfather’s house for the holidays and wouldn’t be back until school started. He wondered how they were doing. If only they had cell phones, it would be so much easier to stay in touch. But the reality was that his family didn’t even have a landline, let alone a cell phone. Dreaming was faster.
Wei Jing had written him a letter, but Yang Jiabo didn’t reply. By the time his response arrived, Wei Jing might already be back. During moments like these, Yang Jiabo particularly missed the internet era.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year, Yang Jianjun and Li Guizhen took Yang Jiabo to visit relatives. The entire Li family gathered at Eldest aunt’s house. The adults played cards, chess, and chatted, while a large group of children received their New Year’s money and bought various fireworks to set off by the roadside. Naturally, Yang Jiabo went along with the crowd, blending in seamlessly. In reality, Yang Jiabo was nostalgic for the mischievous antics of setting off firecrackers in his childhood and was ready to show off.
Yang Jiabo held a fuse in one hand and a firecracker in the other. After lighting it, he quickly threw it into the roadside ditch and ran away. The kids following him weren’t so lucky, they got splattered with stinky mud.
“ Brother Jiajia is so cool!” The kids didn’t mind at all and instead looked at Yang Jiabo, the little troublemaker, with admiration.
“Of course,” Yang Jiabo said proudly, not realizing he was becoming addicted to bullying kids. Since he had a pile of embarrassing childhood stories that he couldn’t wash away, he figured he might as well create some for those around him.
“I’ll try too!” Third cousin Zhang Qiang, not wanting to be outdone, was determined to earn the admiration of his younger siblings. He stepped forward, holding a skyrocket. His initial pose was quite impressive, but he was too slow to let go, and the skyrocket didn’t shoot into the sky. Instead, it sprayed all over his face, turning him into a little black-faced figure straight out of a comedy skit.
“Ahahahaha…” Yang Jiabo didn’t hold back his laughter, finding the situation hilarious. This was a joke he could tease Zhang Qiang about for the rest of his life.
The little ones were initially scared, but after hearing Yang Jiabo’s laughter and seeing that their cousin was fine, they burst into laughter too. Zhou Lingling, who had been playing with Tian Tian, ran over to scold them. “You shouldn’t copy them. That’s really dangerous!”
Yang Jiabo found Zhou Lingling annoying, but she wasn’t wrong, he and Zhang Qiang had indeed set a bad example. He didn’t argue but also didn’t take the scolding seriously. His lively eyes wandered around until they landed on a terrifying sight.
Little Tian Tian had lit a “little bee” firework, but it flew under the eaves of someone else’s house and stuck to a wooden beam, flickering ominously. The silly girl just blinked and stared at it, not even calling for help.
Yang Jiabo, with his short legs, ran into the house and shouted, “Tian Tian’s firework flew onto someone else’s roof beam! Hurry, go put out the fire!”
Chaos erupted. Everyone grabbed pots, bowls, and basins filled with water and rushed outside. Fortunately, they reacted quickly, and no fire broke out. The neighbor’s roof beam was only slightly blackened, with no major damage. Most importantly, the neighbors were not at home.
On the second day of the New Year, the Li family gathered at Uncle’s house. Uncle’s place was a bit far from the city, so Fifth Uncle-in-law drove a bus to pick everyone up. However, this New Year was destined to be unlucky. That night, after Yang Jianjun and Fourth Uncle-in-law rode their bikes back, the rest of the family got on the bus, including Yang Jiabo and Li Guizhen.
Not long after the bus started moving, it caught fire—yes, it caught fire. Yang Jiabo was utterly dumbfounded. This year, the Li family was definitely cursed with fire. The children screamed and cried, and the adults quickly carried them off the bus before trying to put out the fire.
Leather jackets, cotton coats, and even baby blankets were used to smother the flames. The scene was chaotic, filled with screams, cries, and shouts. The winter night was freezing, and Yang Jiabo tightened his coat. This New Year was truly “prosperous and fiery.”
In the end, the fire was put out. The children were only frightened and unharmed, but the adults were a mess. Their clothes were dirty, and many had minor burns. Fifth Uncle-in-law and Third Uncle even lost their eyebrows. Fifth Aunt’s hand was bleeding, her nail had broken and injured her finger. No one was seriously hurt, so they decided to just apply some ointment at home instead of going to the hospital.
Yang Jianjun and Fourth Uncle-in-law, who had been riding their bikes, arrived later and were unharmed. Yang Jianjun stayed to help, while Li Guizhen took Yang Jiabo home on her bike. What happened afterward, Yang Jiabo didn’t know, but it seemed nothing major occurred.
The Li family was a bit superstitious. They believed that a bad start to the year would lead to a year of bad luck. So, the next day, eldest aunt invited a monk from the temple to chant sutras. Yang Jiabo received a protective talisman.
Wait a minute, something seems off. Why is a monk from a Buddhist temple giving out a Taoist talisman?
Although Yang Jiabo was young, he wasn’t easily fooled. Taking advantage of his age and the fact that “children’s words carry no taboos,” he couldn’t help but ask.
[童言无忌 (tóng yán wú jì): lit. Children’s words carry no taboos; fig. Children can say whatever they want without consequences because they’re innocent]
The monk smiled mysteriously and slowly explained, “Nowadays, the three teachings have merged into one.”
[三教合一 (sān jiào hé yī): lit. The unity of the three teachings (Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism); fig. The blending or harmonization of different philosophies or beliefs]
Yang Jiabo nodded, pretending to understand. Seeing the adults’ matter-of-fact expressions, he felt like he really needed to read more books.
No comments:
Post a Comment