Chapter 14 Mr. Wen (1/2)

Chapter 14 Mr. Wen

The woman pulled the youth’s arm with a helpless and impatient expression on her face. However, no matter how she pulled, he wouldn’t budge an inch. The young lad stubbornly remained crouched on the ground, sobbing, and refusing to go anywhere with the woman.

While he cried, he also screamed, “No…I don’t wanna move to the city!! I don’t wanna move to the city! I don’t want to go! I want to stay together with grandpa!”

“Son, why are you like this?!” reprimanded the young lad’s parents as they pulled him again. But it was to no avail, they weren’t able to drag him an inch.

His grandpa walked out at this moment, his face ashen and exceptionally gloomy. The moment he exited the door, he pointed at the young man and began scolding him angrily.

“What are you doing? What do you think you’re doing? Brat, are you trying to rebel? Your dad and mom take great pains to earn money so they can send you to school in the city, and yet you’re being rebellious?! Are you still even human?!”

The youth was shocked when he heard those words, then tears cascaded down incessantly.

“You’re crying? Why are you even crying? A man should act like a man, why are you shedding tears?!” His brows still furrowed, his grandpa scowled furiously. “You’re so useless! I don’t have a useless grandson like you! Hurry up and scram! Now!”

Finally, the youth left the village weeping, dragged away by his parents. His grandpa remained rooted to the ground in the yard, staring at the willow tree, his thoughts unfathomable.

“Old man, you were too harsh.”

The grandmother walked out from the house unhurriedly, her hands still holding onto half-sewn clothes.

“Our baby will attend school in the big city. That’s a wonderful thing for him.” mumbled grandpa, the number of emotions hidden in his words indiscernible. “We cannot allow our precious grandson to constantly think about us and neglect his studies. That won’t do at all.”

Memories that did not belong to me flowed into my mind like a stream. I watched on as the scenes unfolded one by one and suddenly felt disturbed by the fact that I was intruding on someone else’s privacy. At the same time, I was overcome by sorrow. I felt hollow inside, unable to cry even though I wanted to.

It was at this moment, those memories like a flickering carousel-lantern vanished into thin air. A dark empty void manifested right before my eyes. While I was puzzling deep down about what was happening, a weird sound suddenly rang out in my ears.

It was the sound of a bell. A distinctively sharp and clear bell rang in my ears. This sound seemed to be able to pierce through space as it beat against my heart, one chime at a time.

At this moment, I caught sight of a human figure in the encroaching darkness ahead. The figure was moving forward at an unhurried pace. I broke into a jog as I gave chase, and realized that the man was none other than Shi Yitong’s grandfather.

I subconsciously called out to him, “A-are you Shi Yitong’s grandpa?”

But, only silence replied.

“Grandpa! Where are you going?” I wanted to chase after him but the surrounding darkness suddenly vanished.

A voice woke me up with a start.

There seemed to be someone shouting. The voice was very loud as though it came from the room next door.

In one quick movement, I jumped down from the bed and rushed out of my room. The one shouting was Shi Yitong. He didn’t seem to have slept last night as he’d stayed in his grandpa’s room to attend to him. By the time I barged into the room, Shi Yitong was smacking his grandfather’s cheeks. He had a look of despair as he wailed, “Grandpa? Grandpa? Grandpa! Grandpa! What’s wrong with you? Wake up!”

I stood rooted to the spot right outside the room. I really wanted to ask what had happened but when I saw this side of Shi Yitong, my throat dried up and I wasn’t able to even utter a word.

Shi Yitong was the first to turn to me, with his lips tightly pursed and his eyes wide open. The expression on his face was not so much full of sadness, as it was full of shock.

“Gu Yu, my grandpa…stopped breathing.”

Shi Yitong’s grandpa had passed away. The time he breathed his last was around the same time I was trapped in that weird dream.