CH 11

Yu Xiao rested his eyes on the seed pattern that emerged at the center of his right palm with uncertainty in his heart. How come something like this suddenly appeared on his palm? He rubbed it with force until his skin became red, but the pattern still stayed on his palm.

His mind spun unhurriedly. He thought of the wound he got while he was in the tunnel. The details of how his palm was cut open by a stone played back on his mind. He was thinking that perhaps there was something strange with that stone. Come to think of it, if there wasn’t any strange about it, then how come his wound healed by itself?

Yu Xiao’s mind started to work wildly. Should he go to the tunnel if he had time and see what really happened to his palm, at the same time, also see if there were any strange stones on the way inside?

However, for this matter, he had to wait for at least one week. The distance between his home and Weishan Mountain was not short. When school resumed on weekdays, he wouldn’t have the time to go out, and he can only do it on weekends.

Yu Xiao threw a look at the center of his right palm again, and slowly closed his eyes. Let’s leave this matter as it is. As of now, he is still a primary student and he should be minding now how he should get up early for tomorrow’s classes.

Later, during break between classes, Yu Xiao’s eyes would involuntarily fall on his right palm. His mind still held suspicions. He was awakened from his thoughts when a hand reached and held his right hand before looking at it, “Xiao Yuzi, what are you looking at? I see that you’ve been looking at your palm all this time. What’s so nice about it?”

Yu Xiao lifted up his head and the picture of Fan Lie, who was staring at his hand curiously, entered his sight. A question appeared in his heart: Could it be that he couldn’t see the pattern on his palm?

“Fan Lie, can’t you see the patter on the top of my palm?” Yu Xiao inquired carefully.

“Ah? Pattern?” Fan Lie’s eyes wandered up and down on his palm for a long time, then turned to look at him before asking in confusion, “Xiao Yuzi, where’s the pattern? Why didn’t I see it?”

Yu Xiao was now certain that the seed pattern could only be seen by him, and he let go of his taut nerves. Luckily, others can’t see it or else he wouldn’t be able to explain why it inexplicably appeared on his palm.

He looked at Fan Lie who was still looking for his hand stubbornly and Yu Xiao couldn’t stop his loud laugh. This friend of his is sometimes really…

Fan Lie looked at him dumbfounded for a moment and immediately reacted, “Xiao Yuzi, say, are you deliberately playing tricks on me?”

“No, I didn’t, I didn’t play tricks on you.” I’m indeed playing tricks on you, it’s just that you can’t see it, Yu Xiao thought secretly. He held back a laugh and dodged Fan Lie’s ‘ferocious attack’. Starting from the time when Fan Lie learned that he was ticklish, he would tickle him until he felt out of breath and this time was not different.

“Okay, okay, Fan Lie, I, I know, I was wrong. Really, I know I’m wrong.” Yu Xiao panted and apologized, “You, you just let go, let me go.”

Fan Lie looked at his crying and laughing appearance and snorted angrily. After snorting for the last time, he ceased his actions. “I’ll let you off this time, but if you still dare to lie to me next time, see if this young master doesn’t deal with you!”

“I definitely won’t do it in the future!” Yu Xiao apologized with a smile plastered on his face.

“In the future?” Fan Lie threw a glance at him.

Yu Xiao touched his nose, “Alright, alright, there will be no in the future. Don’t be angry.”

“Hmph, I will accept your apology this time.”

Yu Xiao looked at his unruly face and a smile made its way into his eyes, a doting smile to be exact. It’s such a petty temper, and in the future, it will eat Brother Ren alive.

Before long, the day came to an end. The three walked back home. Yu Xiao thought of his plan of taking another trip to Weishan Mountain and brought it up, Fan Lie and Hao Ren agreed. The three of them made a plan to go to Weishan Mountain again in the future once they have the time.

Time passed quickly. It was finally Sunday, and Yu Xiao intended to go to Weishan Mountain today. It was a pity that some people came knocking on the door and didn’t let him do his plan.

Three men with vicious appearance holding wooden sticks about one meter long in their hands kicked open the gate of their house. After stepping inside the yard, they yelled loudly, “Who’s inside? Get out for me!”

Yu Xiao walked out of the house with some guesses in his mind, “I’m the only one in the house this time, do you guys have something to do here?”

“You’re the only one here, kid?” The person in charge took a look at the kid about ten years old in front of him, his expression didn’t change, but his voice was obviously softer, “Kid, where’s your mother?”

Yu Xiao looked up at him and said, “Mom went to work in the factory. Who are you? Why did you come to our house?”

The man in charge put down the wooden stick in his hand, “We have something to say to your mother. Kid, you go and find your mother.”

A flash of understanding fleeted across his eyes, Yu Xiao said, “Are you here to collect debts? Did my father lose money to you again?”

“Yes.” The man in charge initially didn’t intend to tell Yu Xiao about these things. After all, he was also a father and the mistakes that adults made should not be blamed on the children. However, when he saw Yu Xiao’s eyes, he still couldn’t help but reply.

His guess was right. Yu Xiao lowered his eyes and a faint hatred appeared in his heart. His mother worked so hard every day. It was already hard to pay the family’s expenses, but alas, that man was just so shameless!

“How much does he owe you this time?” With a low voice, Yu Xiao asked.

The man in charge hesitated for a while, but still said, “Adding the interests from before, he owes us a total of two hundred yuan now.”

What? Two hundred yuan?

Upon hearing the number uttered by the man, Yu Xiao’s widened in shock. His mother’s salary was only that little, and after deducting the living expenses, only a few yuan were left every month. Such a large sum of money, how long will it take before it can be paid back? Not to mention the interests that will continue to build up during this period.

If nothing goes wrong, then taking advantage of his rebirth, earning lots of money was not impossible. But the problem is, that’s all in the future. The distant water can’t solve the near fire1Chinese idiom used to describe the solutions or ways that are far away, no matter how good they are, they can’t help with the urgent situation happening right now.!

Yu Xiao suddenly turned silent. He was thinking of where he could get that much money. Borrowing was possible, but he didn’t know who to borrow from. Don’t even think about his grandmother, it was already good if they don’t come and take advantage of their family. On his mother’s side, it was not feasible. The youngest aunt was in the process of looking for a partner, the youngest uncle was still studying, and the eldest uncle just got married. There was not much money to lend.

Just when his mind was in disarray, Mother Yu came back. It turned out the neighbors saw that something was not right and immediately went to the factory to find Mother Yu.

As soon as Mother Yu took a step inside the door, her eyes fell on Yu Xiao who had his head lowered. Her heart ached for fear that something bad happened to him, “Xiaoxiao, what happened? Is there anything wrong?”

“Mom, I’m fine.” Yu Xiao looked at his mother who was squatting in front of him and checking his condition worriedly, “By the way, they came here to collect debts.”

Mother Yu straightened her feet and turned to look at the three men with wary eyes, “He’s the one who owes you money. If you want the money, go to him.”

“Although what you said is right, Yu Jun is being held by us now. He asked us to come to you to ask for money.”

“How much do you want?”

“Not much, just two hundred yuan.”

“What? Two hundred?” Right after Mother Yu heard the amount, she screamed, “How can we have that much money?”

“That’s none of our business.” The man in charge shrugged his shoulders, “I’ll give you half a month. If you can’t give back the exact amount within half a month, don’t blame us for being rude.”

After letting out those harsh words, he left their house, towed by the other two men. After they left, Mother Yu slowly fell on the ground. “Two hundred yuan, where can I get that much money?”

“Mom, stand up first.” Yu Xiao made an effort to pull Mother Yu up. “We’ll slowly think about where to find that much money, calm down first.”

“Calm down?” Mother Yu looked at Yu Xiao with blank eyes. Slowly, she came back to her senses, “Yes, calm down first.”

With Yu Xiao’s support, she stood up from the ground and patted the dust left on her body. After that, they slowly walked back to the house.

The money must be returned, even if it was a huge sum for their family. She wasn’t worried about what those people would do to Yu Jun if she didn’t return the money, instead she was worried about her son. Yu Xiao was her only son, she wouldn’t allow others to hurt him no matter what.

At night, just when they were still thinking of where to get that much money, Yu Jun came back in a drunk state, holding a half-filled bottle of beer. “Stinky bitch, the money, did you get the money ready?”

“That’s more than two hundred yuan, our family doesn’t have that much money.” Mother Yu sighed and said.

With a bang, Yu Jun slammed the bottle of beer on the table. “Bullshit! Don’t think, don’t think, I don’t know how much your monthly salary is! It’s now more than 30 yuan!”

“But our family also has expenses. Deducting that, we don’t have that much money.”

“Don’t give me this excuse. Didn’t you have your own money in the house?”

“No, it’s all taken by you, isn’t it?”

Yu Jun heard what she said and immediately exploded. This bitch, was she blaming him for her money? Fuming, he smashed the beer bottle on the ground, pointed at Mother Yu’s nose and cursed, “Stinky bitch, don’t be shameless. If you know what’s good for you, hurry up and give me the money or else I’ll beat you up again!”

“Damn you! If you don’t have money, isn’t your mother’s family still there? And you, bastard, what are you looking at? If you look again, I’ll kill you! What? Look again!

Mother Yu quickly took Yu Xiao in her arms in panic. While doing so, she pressed down his head. She knew that, no doubt, Yu Jun would do what he said. Her Xiaoxiao just got out of the hospital, she couldn’t allow this man to beat Xiaoxiao again until he was sent to the hospital.

Yu Jun shouted and cursed for almost an hour before he staggered to the direction of the bedroom to sleep. Looking at the forced smile on his mother’s face, Yu Xiao’s heart was pulled hard. Once again, he hoped that he would grow faster, and at the same time, his heart became even more firm when it came to getting his parents divorced.

This night was another sleepless night for them. Tomorrow, they have to think of ways to make money.