On the second day of the second month, the dragon raises its head. On the third day of the third month, we pay our respects to Xuanyuan. March 3, 2009, this was the third day of the third month in the traditional Chinese calendar of that year.
Huazhuang (Village), Xinzheng (County), Henan (Province), just a few years ago almost every family here still maintained the tradition of honouring and paying tribute to the mythical ancestor Xuanyuan. But as more of the younger generation left to find work in the bigger cities, the majority of people left in the village were the young and elderly. Certain traditions were simplified and the festive atmosphere slowly dwindled.
Some families still maintained certain formalities, placing offerings and having a more plentiful supper; their way of celebrating the Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan's birthday. The majority of other families were simpler, with the elders of the family leading the children and simply offering a quick prayer. Some families had even completely gotten rid of this tradition.
The Huang family was a different story. They payed tribute to Xuanyuan every year without fail. Even when there was only an old man and his grandson left in the family, the old man never chose to compromise.
After cleaning up the ceremonial incense burner, the old man lit the incense and offered his prayer with a distressed tone, "Venerable Yellow Emperor, bless my grandson Xu'er with good health…cough cough cough…"
"Grandpa! Time to eat." A young man carrying a dish of food walked into the room and promptly cleared up the table.
The old man coughed as he sat down and looked at his grandson with worry. He asked, "Xu'er, what did Dr. Liang say about your condition this morning?"
The young man smiled, answering, "Dr. Liang said my emotions are stable and that I'm fine now."
The old man nodded his head. Looking at his cheerful grandson, the worried expression on his face slowly retreated. They began eating lunch together, the grandfather constantly giving food to his grandson as he watched with eyes full of love and pain.
The child had a hard life. He had been born with a problem with his brain and his eyes were also naturally different. He had a lot of white spots in his pupils that connected together to form a ring, it looked like he had a smaller pupil within a bigger pupil. For a very long time he was unable to speak and he always had a blank look in his eyes. Despite this, a fortune teller kept giving him praise, saying stuff like; he was born with twin pupils, his success lies not in the present but in the future, and that he was born to be a saint.
The old man believed him and so never took the child to go see a doctor. It was only when he still couldn't speak at the age of four that his family finally panicked and took him to a doctor. In the end, the results were that he had an IQ of only 50…a mild intellectual disability, someone who was mentally slow. Not only that, he didn't have twin pupils in his eyes or anything like that. What he had were congenital cataracts; his eyesight was terrible at only 0.2 per eye and he had astigmatism.
Burdened with so many disabilities from birth, the old man's heart ached deeply for his grandson. Even worse, both of these disabilities were incurable. On the other hand, having an intellectual disability didn't mean he was an idiot, especially only a mild ID. He merely had problems focusing his attention, poor memory, poor critical thinking skills, and poor language abilities.
When Xu'er was five years old, his parents had gotten into an accident while out working. There was a car explosion that had killed both parents together. That year was the first time Xu'er said the words father and mother. Unfortunately, his parents would never be able to hear these words. Even though they'd received hefty compensation, the child lived a hard, solitary life without his parents and only his grandfather to raise him.
After that incident there was a clear improvement with his intellectual disability. He had learned to speak, and even though he was very bad at expressing himself, he was still able to understand other people. He just appeared particularly slow.
Ever since learning how to speak, he would always go on about being able to see and sense these strange or extremely complicated things; but he was unable to explain himself properly, it was like he was seeing ghosts. As time went on, rumours spread in the village that his twin pupils were able to see evil spirits. The old man was very sensitive about these rumours. Whenever the child mentioned it he would hit him and yell, "There's no such thing! Don't spout nonsense!"
With this, Xu'er stopped talking about what he saw.
After the age of seven there were no more special schools to attend, he had to attend regular classes at public schools. While his grades were bad and he was always a lot slower at learning the material, at the very least he was now able to communicate with other people.
This all changed when he went to junior secondary school. The learning was much more fast paced and he couldn't keep up with his schoolwork at all. The teacher disliked him and his classmates all called him stupid. He wanted to spend more time studying to make up for his disability, but whenever he used his brain for too long he would feel excruciating pain. His head would feel like it was about to split open and sometimes he would even faint. Especially at night, the moment he looked up at the stars in the sky his head would hurt and he would have to bite his lips, quivering without letting out a sound. Even worse, when he saw the moon he would immediately lose conscious.
His grandfather couldn't stand seeing him like this, and with the persuasion of his teacher he ultimately had Xu'er give up on the High School Entrance Examination, taking him home to have him help out with the farm.
June of 2008 was when he had given up on the High School Entrance Examination. It had been half-a-year since then and he'd gotten pretty good at all of the farming labour like ploughing, harvesting, and threshing. Everyday he carried water and cooked, everything about him seemed normal; except for in his spare time when he would sit at the edge of the fields and space out, or stare blankly at a talking person, or even just watch tv for an entire day. Only during these moments was he like the big idiot of the Huang family everyone was familiar with.
But life continued on without stopping. The old man thought to himself that living out the rest of his life in peace like this wouldn't be too bad either. The only thing that troubled him was that Xu'er probably wouldn't ever be able to get a wife like this. Even more so he worried about his own physical condition. The old man had always had a problem with his lungs. As he grew older his condition only grew worse. He coughed all day long and his throat was always filled with phlegm, blocking his airway and making him feel suffocated. His arms and legs also grew weaker by the day. What would his grandson do without him?
"Dr. Liang! Dr. Liang!" While they were taking care of the dishes after finishing their meal, the village chief's voice rang outside of the yard.
The old man walked over the yard and opened the door asking, "What's wrong?"
"Ol' Huang, is Dr. Liang at your place?" the village chief asked.
The old man shook his head saying, "She's not here. Xu'er is a lot better now, every morning I have him go by himself to Dr. Liang's clinic for a checkup. No need to trouble Dr. Liang to come over anymore."
The village chief furrowed his brow, "The morning? Dr. Liang's been missing since early morning. It's already night time now and she still hasn't returned. The clinic's door isn't locked either. Something seemed off to me which is why I came over to check if she was at your place."
Due to Xu'er's intermittent fainting, Dr. Liang regularly came over to help check up on him. Sometimes she would also stay for dinner. Just last week Xu'er had fainted again, and when he woke up he ran into the yard staring at the moon, the expression on his face extremely pale.
Even though by some miracle he no longer fainted after looking at the moon, he would always start shaking for no reason while spouting some sort of nonsense. This caused the old man to invite Dr. Liang over for a number of days in a row. Thus with Dr. Liang having gone missing, the Huang household became the village chiefs first stop.
"Dr. Liang's been missing since early morning? Xu'er!" The old man turned his head around staring at Xu.
Xu'er came forward and said honestly, "Sorry Grandpa, I lied to you. I didn't go see Dr. Liang this morning."
"You've learned to lie now!" The old man flew into a rage. His grandson had never lied to anybody before, to think that he'd learned to lie to him now!
Xu'er apologized, "I'm sorry Grandpa, but there's really nothing wrong with me anymore, I'm perfectly fine now. Dr. Liang is very busy, she's got a lot of stress and worries on her mind. I shouldn't trouble her every day."
"How are you not sick! Dr. Liang said you have a men… In any case, it's not up to you to say whether or not you're sick, that's up to the doctor! It's all my fault for trusting that swindler and not taking you to a doctor earlier!" The old man exclaimed. As he finished speaking a wave of guilt washed over him.
In reality, Xu'er's disabilities were all congenital and incurable. In fact, the reason for his fainting hadn't even been found yet. Going to a doctor earlier wouldn't have made a difference, but the old man just felt like it was all his fault. This was further exacerbated last week when Dr. Liang told him in private that the child had a mental illness… Feeling even guiltier, he thought that he had failed in raising his grandson, to the point of him developing a mental illness.
Xu'er just smiled and went along with the old man's words, promptly helping his grandfather sit down. As an old man with a respiratory disease, he was having trouble breathing right now from his anger.
Xu'er said, "Grandpa, you stay at home and rest. I'll accompany the chief to go look for Dr. Liang. I may be stupid but I can provide manpower."
The old man sat on the stool, catching his breath and nodding his head, "Go on, Dr. Liang's taken care of you so many times, you've got to pay her back. Ol' Fan, let my grandson follow you. Order him around as you see fit, he's not that stupid. Hopefully Dr. Liang is okay..."
The village chief nodded his head and then rushed off with the young man.
Leaving the house, they followed the road talking to every household along the path. After talking to numerous families they still had no information. A living person had vanished into thin air..
The locals also felt that something was wrong, "Did you try calling her?"
"I tried, her phone's off." the village chief answered.
"Could she have gone back home?" someone suggested.
The village chief shook his head. Dr. Liang was a graduate from Capital Medical University. Even though he didn't know why she came to work at this remote village, she was a kind person and her medical skill was undoubtable. She treated everyone well and anyone who got sick would come to her. Her life was very well structured, they always knew where to find her. Not to mention going missing for a day like this without even closing the clinic, that was even more unlikely. That's why everyone thought something must have happened.
"Uncle!" Suddenly, a young cop riding a scooter rushed over. He was a cop from the local police post, Huazhuang's village chief was his uncle.
The village chief asked seriously, "Wang Meng, why is it just you?"
"Dr. Liang's only been missing for a couple hours, and she's an adult, we can't establish a case. Maybe she went out to have fun?" the cop Wang Meng answered helplessly.
"Impossible, Dr. Liang wouldn't have gone out without even locking the door. Something must have happened to her." the village chief said adamantly.
Wang Meng replied, "That's why I'm here to help, right?"
"Hm? Huang Ji, you don't faint anymore when you go out at night?" he asked casually after seeing the young man at the side. He was surprised to see the kid who would always faint after looking at the moon standing around.
Xu'er shook his head saying, "I'm fine now. I don't faint anymore after seeing the moon."
"Seriously? That's great!" Wang Meng said with a smile.
The older people in the village all called the young man Xu'er. Most of the young people called him idiot while the friendlier ones called him Huang Ji. Huang Ji was the young man's legal name and it was the name registered on his id card. Xu'er was just his nickname.
He was born on March 25, 1993, which was also the third day of the third month in the traditional Chinese calendar of that year. Born before dawn, the mother and baby were already out of the hospital by the afternoon. The old man was overjoyed while carrying his grandson. Since it was the third day of the third month, he offered a prayer to Xuanyuan and then picked a name for his grandson.
"Xinzheng was Huangdi's old capital, Xuanyuan Zhi Xu (The Ruins(Xu) of Xuanyuan). Our family name is Huang but it would be impudent to give him such a grand name. I'll just take a step back and call him 'Xu'."
The old man's thoughts were simple. The child was born on the third day of the third month and Xinzheng also happened to be the Ruins of Xuanyuan. Plus his family name was Huang, Everything from the place to the time to the person had all come together, the child's name had to be related to the good ol' Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan.
He didn't dare to use the words Xuanyuan so he called him Xu. Even just being related was fine, so his name would be Huang Xu. His nickname would be Xu'er, meaning the child of the Ruins of Xuanyuan.
In their village, the people usually looked for the most educated person in the family to come up with a name. Or they were named by the eldest person in the family. The whole lot of elders were talking back and forth amongst themselves, yet somehow the child's father had no say in the matter.
The child's father was very displeased with the name Huang Xu. Even a lowly name was better than such an unlucky name. The meaning of Xu was abandoned ruins, it could even mean grave or tomb. Of course, he did not object to the name on the spot and just went along with the old man. In the end, naming the child really was none of his business. But he had an idea, because in the end it was he the father who would have to go register the child's information.
Thus he let the elders of the family say what they wanted, and when it came time for him to register the child's information, he secretly switched to a different name, 'Huang Ji'. There wasn't any deep meaning to it, he just hoped the child would make great achievements in his life.
This was kept hidden until the child still couldn't speak at the age of four and was discovered when the old man took him to the hospital. Obviously the name on the household registry and his id card was his legal name. Even at school this was the name that was used. But the old man still stubbornly called him Xu'er and everyone had already gotten used to calling him Xu'er. The nickname rolled off the tongue and so all of the elderly people in the village continued using the name.
Wang Meng was once a soldier. After returning home he became a local cop. Whenever Huang Ji fainted in junior secondary school, he was always the one to find him a ride back to the village. Wang Meng had always been very kind to the little boy from his hometown and regularly gave him food and snacks. He was truly happy for him upon knowing that Huang Ji no longer fainted from looking at the moon. But right now finding Dr. Liang was the number one priority.
Wang Meng continued accompanying the village chief, going door to door asking questions. And yet, even after asking the entire village, there was not a single person who had seen Dr. Liang today. In regards to this, the village chief wanted to go look for her at her house and even wanted to break the door lock if it was locked.
But Wang Meng stopped him saying, "You can't do that. We still don't know if Dr. Liang is actually missing. We can't break the lock and enter her house."
"How is she not missing? A living, breathing person is gone, nowhere to be seen! Who knows what's happened to her, maybe she's been kidnapped!" The village chief yelled back.
Wang Meng was troubled, "There's no witness and she's only been missing for a short period of time. Maybe she really had something urgent pop up and went back to the city? I can't let you break her house lock, a graduate from a top university like Dr. Liang values her privacy a lot."
While speaking, the three of them and numerous other kind-hearted neighbors had already arrived at the clinic's entrance. Dr. Liang's residence was right by the side. Even though Dr. Liang's house was locked, the clinic wasn't. Everybody was inside searching to see if Dr. Liang had left a message or anything behind.
Huang Ji did not follow them inside. Instead he stood at the door, staring at the cement road in front of the entrance. Afterwards his eyes seemed to follow some kind of pattern, looking all the way to the end of the road.
"Five people...Wang Zhen, Hu Feng, Lu Zongmin, Lin Yong...and Liang Yuan, Dr. Liang..." Huang Ji muttered with a voice only he could hear. He could see what normal people couldn't see, and sense what normal people couldn't sense. He was a person with an intellectual disability, yet he knew far more than other people could possibly imagine...
After scanning the scene he looked towards the old tree near the road and muttered, "And one more...Li Fan, a witness."
At this moment Wang Meng walked out of the clinic empty handed. Seeing Huang Ji standing at the roadside spacing out he couldn't help smiling. He was used to Huang Ji constantly spacing out like this and went up to him saying, "Go back earlier and rest. I'm a cop now, leave this to me. I promise Dr. Liang will be fine."
Wang Meng knew Huang Ji had a very good relationship with Dr. Liang, but he didn't expect Huang Ji to be able to help in any way. Right now he was talking to him like talking to a child, hoping to get him to go home.
However, Huang Ji raised his head saying, "Someone saw."
......
Thanks for the chapter!
ReplyDeleteSeems interesting. Yori Shasha was here.
ReplyDelete