"What me? Like father, like son, the dragon begets a dragon, the phoenix a phoenix; a rat's son knows how to dig a hole! Your son learned that from you," Wang Guihua declared, hands planted firmly on her hips.

"Learned what from me... I'm an honest man..."

"Aren't you ashamed, aren't you! You're honest? Back then, I was the one you spun around with sweet talk, and by some strange turn of fate, I agreed to spend a lifetime with you, you slob!" Wang Guihua spoke without holding back.

"You... you really know how to bring up the sore subject!" Liu Laoshi felt embarrassed to the core. Wang Guihua turned and went inside, handing a package filled with joss paper and incense candles to Liu Dashao, "Gou Shao, do you want Mother to accompany you?"

"No need, it's broad daylight, and besides, I know the way." Liu Dashao didn't want anyone else involved; he still needed to beg his ancestors for protection against lingering evil spirits!

"Alright then, Mother won't keep you company. Remember to take good care of my future daughter-in-law! You need to coax girls gently..." Wang Guihua relentlessly imparted her life experience to Liu Dashao.

"Enough, I know, I know." Liu Dashao waved his hand impatiently, grasped the supplies, and stepped out the door, leaving behind a mess. His mood was foul; he didn't know if those things would come looking for him again, nor did he know how Tian Guoqiang and the others were faring. After burning the paper, he needed to visit their homes first, check the situation, and then deliberate together.

"Oh, right, Gou Shao!" Just as Liu Dashao was frowning and walking gloomily out of the courtyard, Wang Guihua's reminder called out from behind.

"Good heavens, what now?"

"Remember there’s a willow tree near our ancestral graves, don't mistake the spot and burn the offerings at someone else's grave..."

"Ahem..." Liu Dashao felt an urge to choke himself to death with his own saliva. He nodded briskly, then followed the mountain path, taking the narrow trail that branched off toward the sprawling graveyard.

Wang Guihua was indeed right; the burial mounds were piled up one after another. Over time, the wind and rain had faded the inscriptions on the tombstones, making them hard to find. But with the little willow tree as a reference point, Liu Dashao finally located the graves belonging to his own forefathers among all the mounds.

The sunlight was bright, occasionally brushed by a gentle, soft breeze that felt like a woman massaging his back—exceptionally comfortable. Thus, even though Liu Dashao was alone in the desolate graveyard, he didn't feel much dread.

He pulled out his tinder box, blew a sharp breath onto it, and lit the yellow paper spread before the markers. The flame grew higher and larger, searing his face uncomfortably. Sheet after sheet of burning paper slowly curled up, then transformed into scattered black butterflies, fluttering away into the distance.

Liu Dashao took out several respectable-looking gold ingots from the package and tossed them into the fire. Mimicking the monks he’d seen in plays, he put his hands together in prayer and bowed once for every phrase he uttered.

"Ancestors, esteemed elders, your grandson is having bad luck; I've been chased by ghosts. I beg your great mercy to ensure that from this day forward, I have nothing more to do with those things—may neither side ever see the other. You keep these large ingots; use them in the underworld to buy some braised pork. If your old fighting spirit hasn't faded, perhaps buy a few young ladies to serve you."

"But we must make the terms clear: if you take the money but fail to protect me, allowing those ghosts to harm me, then the Old Liu family, passed down through only one direct line, will end up without heirs. From then on, you can forget about anyone ever bringing you offerings!" After voicing these words with a tone half-pleading and half-threatening, Liu Dashao finally plopped down onto the ground to catch his breath, taking in his surroundings.

"They say that when a family produces a top scholar, the ancestral graves emit auspicious smoke. If a scoundrel comes from a family, the graves emit black smoke. Look, although our ancestral graves haven't emitted green smoke, they haven't emitted black smoke either. It seems I'm still quite a pure and good person!" Looking up at the sky, Liu Dashao was lost in self-admiration.

Saying that might have been fine, but speaking it aloud seemed to have actually stirred up trouble. Suddenly, Liu Dashao noticed his vision go pitch black. Glancing down, he saw three columns of black smoke rising simultaneously from his three ancestral graves, as if in response to his very words.

"Momma! Grandfathers, your grandson was wrong!" Liu Dashao jumped three feet high and scrambled down the slope.

It turned out, he truly was beyond redemption as a bad influence...

As for that saying about good brothers sticking together through thick and thin—which damned fool first said that?—Liu Dashao couldn't quite recall at the moment. If he could remember clearly, he might just have choked that fellow who spoke so glibly to death.

No other reason mattered; he had spent the entire day in terror and fear, while Tian Guoqiang and Gou Dan seemed perfectly relaxed, as if they were deities, currently playing Chinese chess at the edge of the village. This made Liu Dashao desperately want to confront them and lay down the law; naturally, he did just that.

"Fine! You three rascals, running off and leaving me alone, is there any justice left in the world!" Liu Dashao swept all the chess pieces off the stone table, sending them crashing to the ground.

"Brother, brother, don't get agitated! Let's talk this out calmly," Tian Guoqiang rushed forward to mediate when he saw Liu Dashao’s distressed state.

"Don't grab me! I'm not into gay stuff!" Liu Dashao cursed irritably.

"And you, Tian Guoqiang! I risked my life to drag you out of that cursed temple where you were bewitched by ghosts, and what do you do? You slip away from them immediately! Is this how you repay me? Is this what brotherhood means?"

"Look, it was a misunderstanding, a complete misunderstanding! It was dark, and those things were right behind us. What choice did we have but to flee? Besides, we got separated while running. Fortunately, the four of us are blessed with great fortune; it's good that everyone is safe!" Tian Guoqiang explained.

"Don't try to gloss over the important part," Liu Dashao sneered. "Even if that's true, once you were safe, you didn't even come looking for me, or check if I had returned?"

"Oh, how wronged I am! We did look! Your father said you were sleeping at home, so we didn't dare disturb you. And honestly, none of us felt great either; we were all choked up inside," Tian Guoqiang said.

"Forget it, forget it. Besides the four of us, does anyone else know what happened last night?" Liu Dashao lowered his voice and asked.

"That..." Tian Guoqiang frowned. "No, none of us dared to say anything."

"That’s good. Let's all keep things low-key for the next few days, and don't go out late at night. The village hasn't been peaceful lately."

"Buddy, do you even need to say that? After what we went through last night, even if you lent me a hundred times my usual courage, I wouldn't dare walk the roads at night now!" Tian Guoqiang said with a mournful face, as if he'd just been thoroughly roughed up by a pack of minor demons.

"Well, let's go check out the general store. My treat!" Liu Dashao didn't want to pursue the issue further and thumped his chest. The moment these words left his mouth, he was met with immediate cheers.

This wasn't like today, where supermarkets were overflowing with everything from Shanghaojia to Kabiike, Sprite, milk tea, and so on; back then, the best they had were salt-roasted sunflower seeds, honey candies, and small biscuits. Even these seemingly insignificant items were considered quite luxurious snacks.

Looking back at the three gazes fixed on him, glowing almost green with longing, Liu Dashao felt a fleeting illusion of walking into a wolf's den. After wincing internally over the expense, he gritted his teeth and stamped his foot, deciding to buy four packs of sunflower seeds and a small bag of candies.

"Oh my, little fellow, did you strike it rich or something? Usually, you'd haggle over buying just one bag of seeds, but look at you now, buying so much at once. Did you hit the jackpot?" The shopkeeper, Chen Danaitou, grabbed four plainly packaged small bags from under the counter and weighed out some candy, glancing at Liu Dashao and the others with a teasing grin.

"You actually guessed right this time, I won a little bit, just for fun, right? Besides, this young master doesn't really care about that little bit of money. So, taking advantage of this fine, breezy weather, I’m treating a few brothers to a meal out." Liu Dashao was naturally someone who liked to show off, and having this chance, he certainly wasn't going to let it pass.