Translator: Dj22031
Editor: Dj22031
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Liu Haixin had been somewhat neurotic since waking up early this morning, tidying up here and there, touching this and that until seven o’clock, when Da Bao’s voice came from the room: “Mom, I’m awake! Where are my clothes?”
Liu Haixin, feeling uneasy, took the bag of clothes inside and put Da Bao in his fluffy onesie.
It was a leaf-green frog-shaped onesie; today was Children’s Day, and Da Bao and Xiao Bao’s school had an event, so she had specially bought the outfits for them, and they had been looking forward to wearing them.
Da Bao, hands on his hips, said, “Mom, my hand hurt again last night.”
Liu Haixin snapped out of her reverie and rubbed his hand. “It doesn’t hurt now, does it? Next time you wake Mom, I’ll give you a warm compress. Hey, your godfather said your hand won’t completely stop hurting until you’re twelve.”
One of her Da Bao’s hands had occasionally hurt since he was little, and it wasn’t as dexterous as his other hand. The hospital couldn’t find anything wrong, and it was only after telling Da Bao’s godfather that he said the pain would stop when he turned twelve.
Liu Haixin trusted the child’s godfather, a highly accomplished senior disciple of the abbot of Baoyang Temple. Because he and the children got along so well, he became their godparents, and their families maintained close ties.
As they were getting dressed, Xiao Bao woke up at the sound of their voices. He struggled to crawl to the bedside, his head drooping off the edge, still sleepy, and said, “I… I’m awake too, I want to get dressed too…”
Liu Haixin helped Xiao Bao put on his frog costume and carefully asked if he felt uncomfortable.
“No,” Xiao Bao mumbled sleepily.
Liu Haixin’s unease today stemmed from a fortune teller she had accompanied a friend a few days prior. The fortune teller had given them a divination, telling Liu Haixin that her youngest son would face a calamity today. Liu Haixin had never mentioned her family situation, and hearing that he knew she had a young son made her uneasy.
The fortune teller also said that this calamity was bloody, and if things went wrong, it could leave her son disabled. He advised her to buy a talisman from him, burn it, and mix it with water to drink.
Liu Haixin immediately called the child’s godfather, who said there was no problem, no danger, and not to drink that stuff.
Liu Haixin naturally chose not to buy it. Before leaving, the fortune teller, with his mystical air, gave her a warning, making her feel uneasy.
Although she trusted the child’s godfather, the fortune teller’s mysterious expression saying “You’ll regret this later” left her with a lingering fear.
Regardless, Liu Haixin decided to be careful today. Usually, the child’s father took the child to school, but thinking he was rather careless, she took a day off to accompany them herself.
Liu Haixin only momentarily lost focus, and when she looked back, Da Bao was squealing and plopped down on Xiao Bao.
“Shang Dabao! Don’t bully your little brother!” Liu Haixin shouted.
Her husband’s surname was Shang, so she often called the children by their surname plus their nickname. Xiao Bao, on the other hand, took her surname and was usually called by his nickname at home. When they decided Xiao Bao would take her surname, his godfather had a strange smile on his face, saying it was a good match, a matter of fate.
Little boys of similar age were always quite boisterous together, something Liu Haixin had long noticed. She would try to reason with the children, but they would forget, so she resorted to a threat: “How did you manage to squeeze your little brother like that? I’ll have Aunt Sisi squeeze him back to his original shape later.”
Da Bao immediately stopped.
Sisi was the children’s godfather’s sister, a few years older than them, but according to seniority, she should be called aunt. After the godparents were formally recognized, the distinction became clearer.
It was time to leave, so after getting ready, Liu Haixin took the two children out, placing them in their child seats in the back.
Liu Haixin was very careful on the way, driving quite slowly.
There were two tunnels on the way to school, one of which was quite long, taking about several tens of seconds to cross.
As soon as the car darkened, Da Bao reached out and pulled Xiao Bao’s hair.
Xiao Bao cried, and the two started pushing and shoving each other.
Liu Haixin felt uneasy and didn’t have time to stop the two children. Then she saw a large truck overtake them, and suddenly it started swerving, and the steel beams that were originally fixed to the truck slid down, one of them heading straight for Liu Haixin’s car.
“Ah!” In the nick of time, Liu Haixin quickly swerved the steering wheel, trying to avoid it.
In that instant, Liu Haixin seemed to see a tall figure appear, grabbing the steel beam. Then, in the blink of an eye, it was gone. After braking, Liu Haixin turned her head and saw that the truck had stopped. The steel beam was only ten centimeters from the rear window; any closer and it would have pierced Xiao Bao in the back seat.
The two children were jolted violently, not understanding what had happened, and looked innocently at Liu Haixin.
Liu Haixin felt a cold sweat run down her back.
….
Even at school, Liu Haixin was still thinking about the near-accident. Given her health, she didn’t believe it was just her imagination; if it weren’t for that dark figure…
The children, innocent as they were, didn’t know what their mother was thinking and went off to rehearse their performance.
The school had a half-day activity for Children’s Day, followed by a half-day holiday.
After the activity, Liu Haixin said, “I’ll take you to find your godfather.”
Da Bao and Xiao Bao immediately jumped up happily and eagerly climbed into the car.
Liu Haixin made a phone call first, then headed straight for Baoyang Temple, leading the two children inside. There, she saw a handsome young man sitting in the main hall; his smile made his eye bags even more prominent, making him look very approachable.
Xie Lingya tilted his head and asked, “Whose chance is it today?”
“Me! Me! Me!” Xiao Bao dashed out with his short legs and jumped into Xie Lingya’s arms.
Xie Lingya picked him up, then looked at Da Bao, who squatted down and jumped over, croaking, to sit in front of Xie Lingya. “Guess what I am?”
Xiao Bao wanted to answer quickly, “A frog.”
Xie Lingya also squatted down. “I think you’re cute.”
Da Bao buried his head in his arms. “You guessed it!”
Xiao Bao was confused. “…Are we dressed as cute?”
Da Bao stuck his tongue out at him. “I am, you’re not.”
Xiao Bao: ??
“Hahahaha.” Xie Lingya picked them both up, easily carrying them on either side, and called to Liu Haixin, “Let’s go, cousin.”
Liu Haixin didn’t want to talk about that in front of the children, so she followed him for now.
“I’ll take you to the mountains this afternoon, to soak in the hot springs and pet foxes, okay?” Xie Lingya asked.
Liu Haixin sweated and said, “Brother Lingya, forget it, it’s just Children’s Day, no need.”
Xie Lingya was so good to her son that sometimes she felt a little embarrassed.
But Da Bao and Xiao Bao seemed very excited when they heard about foxes.
“It’s fine, they’re all free coupons, might as well use them,” Xie Lingya said, then muttered to himself, “I already owe them anyway…”
Liu Haixin: “What?”
“No, I said Sisi is back too.” Xie Lingya called out, telling Sisi that Da Bao and Xiao Bao had arrived.
Sisi immediately rushed downstairs, picking them up one by one like radishes for a while, “Come on, I’ll take you to play with the snake!!”
Although she knew the snake was Xie Lingya’s pet, Liu Haixin was still a little embarrassed. After Sisi took the two children away, she said, “Brother Lingya, I want to buy some paper money and ingots that have been chanted. Today, when we went through the tunnel, something almost happened…”
She told him what she had seen, thinking that the fortune teller had probably only predicted the calamity, not the way to avert it, so the result was different from Xie Lingya’s.
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